--- In [removed], a.a.coggins@o... wrote:
> STAM TO MANA/REVITALISE
> I currently use Mana Conversion Mastery IV at the start of my cycle
which
> takes my Mana Conv to 174.
> I currently have 195 stamina. (Should I put points into this?
It's still
> cheap to raise).

What are your health and mana totals? Your stamina should be close
to 80% of your total mana for this to work relatively well.

The reason I ask about your health is you have healing, don't you?
If so, and you are getting decent mana from your healing, by all
means use that route to replenish mana. I have not yet played a mage
with healing (though Elijah will be my first) but it works well
enough for others.

The only benefit for using revit/stam to mana is you don't need to
carry healing kits around, and since you just mentioned how burdened
you are in a previous post, would losing most of your kits allow you
to wear lightweight armor? In that case it might be worth
experimenting with.

To answer your question, I believe mana conversion kicks in when the
skill is approximate to the level of the spell being cast. 174 is
just not high enough for consistent mana conversion of level V spells
(yet), BUT the trick to the Revit/Stam to mana combo isn't mana
conversion (though that helps). Its the fact that you get 135% of
half your stam back as mana. Since it costs 60 mana to cast Stam to
Mana V (with no conversion), if you aren't getting substantially more
than 60 mana when you cast it, you're wasting your time.

With about 200 stamina, casting Stam to Mana V should result in a
return of 100 stamina + 35% or 135 mana. If the spell costs 60 mana,
that's a net of +75 mana, nothing to sneeze at. If you do it again
however, you're now getting 50 stamina + about 17 more or 67 mana.
You'll realize SOME mana conversion in this however so you can
probably get away with two in a row.

I don't do this however, for a simple reason. I get my best return
from a FULL stam base, so here's what Timmy does, with 300 mana and
260 stamina (unbuffed stats).

At around 100 mana I will start thinking about replenishing. I can
kickstart this cycle on less than 20 mana but my mana conversion
buffs to over 200. I stam to mana once, then usually revit twice
with 2 V's if I'm in a hurry or a V and a IV if I have some time back
to full, then do another stam to mana V. By that time I'm usually at
full mana.

The trick is to maximize that Stam to Mana, and that means maximizing
your stamina before you cast it. So try using revit to full rather
than just chain-casting Stam to Mana V. I think you'll see better
results.

Also, avoid the trap of trying to get both stam and mana to full with
this cycle. Don't be afraid to run around at 1/2 stamina or less,
since 90% of the time whatever you're attacking is going to have
stamina to drain, anyway. When I am unrushed in the BSD (i.e.,
nobody's trying to take my tuskers) I will actually drain stam to
full FIRST while the tusker beats on me. Why? That first drain
health is going to net me 67 health anyway and with tuskers hitting
me for 0-10 anyway, Timmy can tank a half dozen of them before health
becomes an issue.

BTW, learn your ring spells if you can. Despite what people they,
they DO have a use and can get you out of a nasty jam (low on health,
low on mana, low on stam and guess what? So are the TUSKERS!). Its
so much fun when the situation warrents it to move from tusker to
tusker without killing them, just to come back to the first batch,
drain a little more stam and then just WHOOMPH 'em into oblivion. ;)

> I use Rejuvenation Self V.

This is fine if you dont' mind resting. As your stamina goes up,
this rest time gets longer however, and if you're in the middle of
battle doesn't help you much.

> FIGHTING SHADOWS
>
> I am currently level 32. With level V buffs, my life buffs to 239
and my
> war buffs to 225.

These numbers are fine, but you will of course get resists.

> I need to know:
>
> What banes to cast
> What Prots to cast
> What kind of damage they do most often (I think everything except
acid?)

The answers to these questions are all the same:

Blade
Fire
Bludgeon (Umbris and Panumbris)
Cold
Lightning

Did I miss anything? Anyone? Buehler?

This of course doesn't count their melee weapons which can be
anything, including bow and thrown weapons.

> What level Magic Def do I need to resist them?

500

Seriously, don't plan on resisting shadows. Rojon resists the lesser
shadows frequently enough with a buffed magic D of 190, but without
200+ you will most likely not resist anything that you care about so
don't worry about it in regards to monsters.

There's better reasons to buff magic D on Darktide and they don't
have to do with monsters.

> What order of spells to cast (Magic Yield, Fire Vuln, Drain Health,
Drain
> Stam, Fire Bolt?)

Wow, lotta questions.

Always start with a low magic yield, I use level II first off. Then
run like hell, cause they are all coming for YOU.

Come back and hit the yield again or a higher level yield if the
first stuck (rare). Remember that Yield is a creature spell, so buff
your creature. You MUST yield the shadows if you wish to kill them
magically. If you're working solo, I suggest just working the
shadows you care about, i.e. luring only the Umbris. If you're in a
group, feel free to clear the spawn lowest level to highest, as you
can draw the shadows while your friends beat the crap out of them.

Magic Yield, Blade Vuln, Imperil (if with friends) and Whirling Blade
V work nicely, though you should feel free to use fire if your
friends are. I like WB because it has better spell economy than
Flame Bolt and does more base damage while the shadows are still vuln
to blade damage.

If you REALLY wanna get creative, try feeblemind/bafflement war/life
inept on them and yes, definately drain their mana if in a group.

A typical Umbris fight goes like this:

Magic Yield II
Magic Yield IV
Drain Health I
Drain Health I
Drain Health I
Drain Mana I
Drain Health I
Blade Vuln IV
Whirling Blade V

Now add in 3 or 4 resists for every one of those spells and you
should get the general idea. :)

> How do I separate the one I want away from the others? I assume
more than
> one will be difficult.

See what I said before about luring. Cast at one and run like hell.
When you come back yield THE SAME ONE and only it will come.

If you're in a group, realize that when someone ELSE hits the one you
lured, the others may come after THEM also. Its usually a good idea
to agree on which one to attack and have them take a few whacks at it
the first time you lure it, then have THEM run away as well, so the
second time you lure it, they'll have already hit it and the rest of
the spawn will ignore them when they beat on it the second lure.

This make sense or too confusing.

> What is their Magic Resistance like? If it's like Fragments it is
probably
> not a goer as Fragments OWN me, still. (Not Duals, just regular
ones)

Be patient, and dont' get discouraged with resists. Remember you
usally only have to make the spell stick ONCE.

> What monsters can I fight to get level 4 jewelry and other death
items?

Olthoi. Mages and olthoi don't mix well because of their insane
attack skill and high magic resistance.

Try some out. Go to an OHN and buff your armor/underclothes for
piercing and try smashing some workers. Go with a group and see how
it goes. I've never really done olthoi with Timmy because I've never
really had to, sorry.

> Ravs don't drop expensive enough stuff.

My experience has been different. About 1/3rd of Raverers have
always dropped something really nice for me, but I haven't hunted
them for quite a while.

I once pulled a nice focus V crown off a rav, but that was the best I
ever got...

> Thanks a lot Phil (I know you're going to be the one who ends up
answering
> this)! I appreciate it :-)

Anytime. And I don't think you're a bad mage at all.