[bhl88]

This is a guide for battle scholars. I made this because the scholars today were battle sages once but after transcending go for Fast Cast Scholars/Professors or Full Support Scholars/Professors.
(Before the alternate 2nd jobs happened, there used to be Battle Wizards)


Fast Cast Scholars are very powerful, they have Double Casting, Spider’s Web, lvl 10 Bolts and Memorize plus all those anti-magic spells. They are matched with a High Wizard in terms of power, thanks to Double Casting. However, if they are in WoE and ganged up upon, their Phen Card would be nullified and they would have no opportunities to cast (Sages are targets of guilds).

Full Support Scholars are very tough on the defense with Endow moves and Land Enchantments plus Spell Break and Magic Rod. They are very fast in casting support spells (0.36 seconds worth of casting a lvl 10 Fire Bolt). Plus their VIT gives them high HP and Energy Coat makes them as formidable as a High Priest. They lack offense due to the concentration of DEX and VIT.


With a Battle Scholar you can fill all these party roles:
FLASH ARMOR - Fast attack speed and flee of an assassin with the formidability of a VIT Lord Knight, all thanks to Energy Coat.
ENCHANTER/SUPPORTER – Land Enchanter/ Weapon Enchant with Elements and you have Safety Wall.
FAST CAST- First, as you have Memorize, you can cut your casting time to that of a 75+ DEX sage. Second, you won’t be a battle sage always. Sometimes, you have to strike from afar without using your melee side.
SOLO - you can tank/support yourself.
ANTI-STRIP/SWISS-KNIFE- even though you have no weapon, your magic is still the 2nd option. Can penetrate most defenses.
ELEMENTAL CONFUSER- see link (1) (2).
ANTI-MAGIC- dispel all forms of magic, from buffs to offensive. Annoys the enemy most as you are officially a Sage/Scholar.
DOUBLE TARGET - take on two targets at once

I’m not going to say that this is the perfect stat build, just an ideal range or something (job bonuses, equips included).

INT: INT must touch 95~100, not lower than 95. As one guy said to me while I was planning out my build and taking my INT to 93:

With that INT level, I think it's pointless to try killing players since your MATK's a weak 267~417. (307~480 w/ a wand & 320~500 with a Sage’s Diary). All players generally have an armor MDEF of 40 in PvP (given by PooPoo Hat and Cranial). Ramifactions would be the reduction of your MATK from 267~417 / 307~480 / 320~500 to 160~250 / 184~288 / 192~300. Real armor MDEF and natural MDEF haven't been applied here yet. Not even Assumptio.

The latest trend in PvP makes everyone wear MDEF armor and even if you have 192~300 MATK left, your MATK will be reduced to 94~147 from a Knight wearing Silk Robe, Ragamuffin Manteau, Mirror Shield, 2 Slotted Rosaries and a LV 10 Endure.

DEX- not too high not too low. 150 HIT is well recommended for Battle-Bolters. For Bolter-Battlers, 50 DEX is not enough (maybe a bit higher will do). 60 DEX will be recommended for this. Or higher.

AGI- 70~75 (as long as flee is 210 or so). You will need attack speed to launch more bolts often. The 210 flee comes with AGI UP.

VIT- 25 (if you are super good) -50 as the minimal point for WoE and PvP. For HP, stun resistance which makes flee 0 and DEF reduction.

STR- The Base should be 50+ but the total should be 60 (can even go higher). Moderate damage. Don’t level this yet until you have your INT level set. I learned this quite painfully.

LUK- All remaining points here.


Equipment: (Good means Cheap gear, Better means another alternative, Best means it is expensive)

Weapon

Good weapon for Battle Sages: Book [3]
Possible combos:
Status Effect Carded Book

Better weapon for Battle Sages: Bible [2]
Suitable because of the INT bonus and more attack power.

Bloody Boned Bible
Bloody Hybrid Bible
Bloody Frost Bible

Best weapon for Battle Sages: Sage’s Diary [2]
The best weapon because of the bonus power upon reaching that stat. Base 50+ STR will get additional attack speed of 5%. Base 70+ INT will receive 20% MATK.


Best Set of Weapons/Cards to go with a Sage's Diary:

Mastersmith MvP card (mini Melt Down)
Swordbreaker + Mailbreaker (same as Melt Down)
Counter Dagger (like a CRIT)


Shield
Good shield: of Retaliation Guard
(Additional damage and attack speed for additional casting power)

Explanation:

1.) You attack the opponent
2.) The opponent attacks you
3.) The opponent receives some damage... makes you look faster doesn't it?
4.) Very versatile indeed, you can use in on maps with strong monsters and watch them deplete their HP to nothing.

Better shield- (Racial) Guard / (Boss) Guard
(Best card to PvP is Thara as it reduces damage and magic)

Best shield- (Racial) Valkyrja's Shield: Elemental Protection and Racial Protection

Shoes

Good Footgear: Verit Shoes
8% HP and 8% SP make it worthwhile

Better Footgear: Verit/Sohee Shoes (if you can afford this: Valkyrie Shoes)

Best Footgear: Firelock Valkyrie Shoes (Additional HP and SP makes this worthwhile, +2 STR)

Armor

Good Armor: Hard Silk Robe
(additional MDEF and HP)

Better Armor: Hard Mink Coat / Status Effect inflicting Mink Coat
DEF and HP

Best Armor: Hard Valkyrie Armor / Status Effect inflicting Valkyrie Armor
Additional Stats, DEF and HP

Garment

Good Garment: Muffler
Good Card Raydric (with the advent of converters, Raydric’s price is 500k~900k)
Better Card Condor/Whisper/Ninetails (additional flee)
Best Card Orc Baby (balance of DEF and flee)

Best Garment Valkyrie Manteau (additional perfect dodge…. Which isn’t needed anyway)
Good Card Raydric (with the advent of converters, Raydric’s price is 500k~900k)
Better Card Condor/Whisper/Ninetails (additional flee)
Best Card Orc Baby (balance of DEF and flee)

Headgear
(unknown which one is good, better or best)

Zealotus Mask- balance of DEF and ATK
Poo Poo Hat- 10% reduction in PvP
Alice Doll Hat- additional attack but puts you to sleep

Middle- any

Accessory:

Any
Possible combos:
Wind Ghost (one of the most powerful moves of the Wizard, JT)
Owl Baron (Lex Aeterna)
Violy (Frost Joke)
Alligator (reduction for SD)

The Sign- adds attack and MATK

Skills:

Increase SP recovery- LV 1 for Indulge and LV 3 for Mind Breaker
Fire Bolt- one of the most useful bolts. MAX.
Lightning Bolt- one of the most useful bolts. MAX.
Cold Bolt- rarely used. If you like the elemental flexibility, MAX.
Fire Wall- nullified in PvP and WoE. Anyone can walk through the side, including Fire, Whitesmiths with Skin Tempering, and Undead types.
Safety Wall- A sage’s full plate and Kyrie Eleison. Escape a number of hits. LV 7-10 recommended.
Stone Curse- leave at LV 1. To get the full potential, MAX.
Napalm Beat and Soul Strike- prerequisite to safety wall. Don't maximize as they are the weakest magic in game (even a LV 5 Bolt can out power them at NB 10 and SS 10).

Energy Coat- a quest skill.
Additional Immune Muffler anyone? This move allows you to have an extra Cranial or an extra Immune in his possession. It will also make you have a Mocking in your garment while maintaining DEF. SP should be well maintained to have the highest reduction (81~100% SP) (30% Reduce)

Sage skills or Scholar skills:

Study- Leave at LV 9-10. Additional attack and attack speed.

Cast Cancel- While Wizards enjoy the might of powerful spells, when a monster comes near them, they don’t have the power to stop casting at will (except get hit by someone of course). Sages can cancel their casting when they are under threat by a strong guy or when the monster they are killing, dies. MAX this.

Free Cast- Wizards don’t escape while casting, sages do. LV 5 is the minimal requirement, LV 10 to enjoy the full attack speed.
From an RB thread (The Elemental Battle Sage):

The Silent One says:In fact, it's very difficult to get SW and the other Prof skills (LP, SBurn, SChange, Indulge, Web, Fog, etc etc) without undermining your build if said Prof was a Battle type, especially if the Battle Prof in question was a Soldier.

We have to be economic to take a look at Freecast and why people rarely maximize it nowadays during their Prof days. First of all:

FREECAST: When casting, movespeed reduced to (25+5x)% and aspd to (50+5x)%, where x is the level of Freecast.

There are four noticeable points here:
Lv 4 - minimum freecast for Supporters and Bolters in general (mspd 45%)
Lv 5 - minimum freecast for Support and Battle Profs who want Foresight (mspd 50%, aspd 75%)
Lv 6 - my personal minimum for Soldier Profs since level 6 ensures aspd marginally larger than original thanks to calculations (mspd 55%, aspd 80%)
Lv 10 - max (mspd 75%, aspd 100%)

IdentityConflict says that Freecast need not be maxed for the Battle Profs. Why? These profs have the LEAST amount of leverage as far as skill points are concerned, and it is possible to reduce the efficiency of their build should they try to go beyond the limits of its leverage. Freecast 10 is the best for Battle Profs - it ensures complete mobility (for the Bolters) as well as 100% aspd (for the Soldiers). That's the point of maximizing freecast. Unfortunately, those 4 (or 5) skill points could be used to gain extra leverage in the skill tree of the Professor.

Besides, as far as Soldiers are concerned, your aspd would drop to just a few points above your raw aspd when Freecast is at level 6. And how long does this last? Around 4~6 seconds depending on dex?

And remember, during the time when the original guide was made (the one on the first page), not much cast-time reducing items were implemented, or even developed, yet. Plus Sages don't have their own version of self-Suffragium.

Remember, my way of categorizing the Prof/Sage class is kinda...different (and more logical): Battle Prof means both Bolters and Soldiers. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

Nway, I'm saying that if they want to have maximum mobility, go for level 10. 75% walking speed is enough to keep a distance from some players and most monsters. Level 5 brings this down to 50%, but it's enough to give enough time to deal lethal damage to a monster before they catch up with you.


The reason why Dchen (in the post you quoted) said that every sage must have level 10 Freecast was perhaps because of the fact that cast-time reducing items weren't abundant then, and spellcasters only depended on AOA, Suff, and really high dex to decrease casting time. The max freecast ensures distance, which in turn keeps the Bolter safe. Lower levels of freecast, reduces the safety shield applied by distance but still permits lethal damage before receiving damage.

But when you include EVERYTHING that is currently implemented... my god. Think about it. Profs have Double Casting, making their bolt spells twice as lethal almost all the time! This also enhances the Soldiers' autobolts and makes it even more lethal when they come out, and it almost eliminates the need for 100% aspd during bolt casting, which only lasts 5 seconds on average. Plus, there's Memorize (Cast time -50% for next 5 spells), Magic Eyes (-10% cast time), Evolved Mini Propeller (Cast time reduced by refine rate), Robe of Casting (-3% cast time), Wing Staff (-5% CT), Kathryne Keyron card (headgear, CT reduced by refine rate of headgear). The Professor set reduces CT by 20%.

The fact that the number of CT reducing methods have increased, one of them ALREADY possessed by the Professor, renders Dchen's statement obsolete. The only benefit you will get from Freecast 7 to 10, is faster mobility, and faster attackspeed, but even so, the reduced mobility (and aspd if below level 10) would only last for 2~4 seconds (4~6 for Soldiers).

And if you place those 5 (or 4) skill points somewhere else... where would they go? Oh, those 4 could be used to get HD 1! Or maybe bring Dispel to 5! Or perhaps even max Double Casting! See what I mean?

That's a REMARKABLE trade-off. For losing a few percentage points on both mobility and aspd, the Battle Prof can acquire so much more, whether he is a Bolter or Soldier.

Spell Breaker- Enjoy breaking the spell of opposing skill casting users and monks. Interrupts EFist, Finger Offensive, Gloria Domini, Grand Cross, and all those with a casting bar. LV 3-5.

Magic Rod- enjoy waiting for them to cast and they will go /gg as they release their bolts but miss (OMG!) because of your magic rod. LV 3 is for professionals, LV 4 is for those who are beginners. Practice while you are a sage a LV 3 Magic Rod.

Auto Cast- All or nothing as in MAX it or go and be a FC Scholar or FS Scholar.
Dragonology- LV 4 as a prerequisite, get LV 5 for bonuses (+3 INT).

Earth Spike- LV 1 for Heaven’s Drive.

Heaven’s Drive- Reveals cloaked and hidden opponents.

Dispell- Watch his triumphant smile go upside down as you take away what was given to him: Buffs. Take and take away all his buffs and he will soon get angry. MAX for immediate success.

Endows- get endows if you like to be an Elemental Battle Sage.

Land Enchantments- if you like to be a little bit of support, get some points in. But since it takes a lot of skill points, I would prefer leaving the Land Enchantment job to the Full Support Sages. Even Land Protector has some uses in a Battle Scholar (but rare).

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Indulge- LV 2 is the economical and conservative level. LV 3 is practical. See graph for explanation. Thanks The Silent One .

Soul Change- get it. Changes your SP and your opponent’s SP.

Soul Burn- get it at LV 4. If you are willing to risk 2x SP damage (SP damage- will go to your HP in case it succeeds or fails. 2000 SP = 4000 HP damage) to yourself and your enemy, get it at LV 5.

Memorize- sometimes, hitting your enemy afar is better. Get it.

Fiber Lock- Immobilization skill. Get this, enough said.

Double Casting- a very powerful spell that allows you to make a double auto cast. Double Casting + Auto Cast + (Spirit of the Sage) + Free Cast = 40, 60, 80, 100 Bolts in one go. Death awaits. Get this. This is priority 1. MAX THIS. (4 out of 5 chances to Double Cast once MAXED).
P.S. A little rumor about a bug on Double Casting. The bug? Double Cast won't work with Auto Cast.

Fog Wall- additional survival from ranged spells, Acid Demo and EF. Try getting it, and you will have to sacrifice many points on it, but worth it.

Personally I'd go
LV 1-12: Novice training grounds
LV 13-25: Mandragora
LV 25-40: Metalings
LV 40-50: Porcellio
LV 55-75: Geographers. Very possible to take on even at level 50 if you get INT and only INT. Without any other stat increased, you can get 99 base INT by level 65, so I see no reason to not be able to go Geographer levelling by then.

Mi Gaos are an alternative to Geographers, but bots and n00bs alike infest the area like a plague, so don't bother. At all.

Leveling places with much help from Yralyn.....

Well-known strategies:

Hindcast + Free Cast
Autocast + Safety Wall (Maintain Safety Wall while smacking your enemy)
Force change elemental armor + Elemental Weakness + Immobilization spell
Mind Break Sage (a good combo). Reason? All magical attacks are DOUBLED.

The Silent One's combo:

1. Act like a firebolter: KEEP casting FB, go for Fiber Lock, and try to SC enemy as much as possible. Slow casting time and slow moving speed would be motivation enough for an enemy to go near. Expectations: opponent is wearing Pasana armor as he enters melee range. An unexpected scenario is the opponent wearing Swordfish armor.

2. Stop running and immediately assault opponents with CB and LB using both autocast and precast; whichever spell used is up to preference. 25% autobolt chance + double bolt = great damage! Throwing in Sage Spirit will make things even more devastating!

This attack is enough to kill the opponent already because:
a. Every time I hit enemy, s/he could be inflicted with stun/silence/bleeding/poison/blind (in random) or be subjected to a status effect that will bring hp and sp to 1 and 0. Applying IC's theory, autobolts also induce these status effects. Every time I hit enemy, there's a 5% chance of autocasting FD 3 (which can freeze opponent and thus allowing me to deal increased physical damage) and Lex Aterna, which will double the damage of any of the succeeding attacks: precast, auto-FD, autobolt, recurred precast (through DB), and recurred autocast (through DB)
c. Every time I get hit by enemy by physical attacks...

- 30% chance of petrifying enemy unless s/he is wearing Deadly armor or Medusa Shield
- 25% chance to bring down an autobolt on opponents. Applying IC's theory, opponent could receive the status effects that way.

Other combos made possible:

Sage description in iRO:
Sages, on the otherhand, rely on knowledge and use various techniques and combinations to get the best out of the elements.

Brent's comment on Sages:

They are the only ones, or rather, Battle Scholars/Sages are the only ones who can abuse four elements at once, leading to this combo called "Elemental Confusion".

Equipment required: Pest Armor, Wind Ghost accessory
Buffs required: Spirit of the Sage
Primary Element: Water type Book (you can use an Water elemental converter)

You can abuse all elements by the following:

1.) Precast Lightning Bolt
2.) Auto Cast Fire Bolt
3.) When opponent hits you, Earth property attack will turn him to Stone.
4.) Your Water physical attack will confuse him. Add with status effects and he will go quadrupletic. (ROFL, four elements and status effects? He will have to switch his armor continuously).

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you get the best of the elements: Using all four elements at one sitting. ROFL.

The only weakness of the Elemental Confusion thing is:

- You can only have 3~4 elements
- Holy Property players will get defense cause your element is Fire Water Wind and Earth. Easily remedied by using Cursed Water, Auto Bolt Element #1, Free Cast Element #2
- You must have Phen or your 2nd element will get cancelled.
- Takes up your whole arsenal

Weapon-Auto Cast-Free Cast-Carded Attacks (possible combos)
Water-Fire-Wind-Earth/Water/Wind
Fire-Earth-Wind-Water
Shadow-Ghost-Fire-Earth/Water/Wind/Fire
Holy-Fire-Fire-Earth/Water/Wind/Fire (Super Undead exorcism)
There are many possibilities to this combo.... use wisely.

Enjoy the power of giving them Homework of 500 pages worth. Along with BBQ parties. (Book and FB and Lightning Bolt). After done eating, place in freezer (Frost Diver or Cold Bolt).

Truth about the "Battle" in a Scholar:

The Silent One says:
Ganito ah. (Like this)

The Professors can be classified into two categories:
1. Battle Profs
2. Support Profs.

Battle Profs encompass both the Bolter and Soldier subcategories because both types have dedicated themselves to the obliteration of the enemy, whether monster or player. However, both of them differ by their preference of achieving that objective.

Bolters are those who have grown accustomed to the normal method of development -- keeping a safe distance from targets and hitting them with offensive spells, e.g. Bolts. It's all about tactics and systems.

Soldiers are those who have acquired a desire to bring their fighting up front. No more cowardly hit-and-runs! They dare to move towards the target and destroy them with spells they call forth from the ether while hitting them with spells they cast, simultaneously engaging the target in pugilistics, with a weapon or no. The Soldier is about innovation (and tactics, too).

Soldier Profs/Sages are commonly known on the international level as "Battle type", simply because they decide to go melee, ignoring the fact that Bolters are in themselves a Battle type as well. ^^ I chose the term Soldier because it fits. Soldiers, in real life, are trained in practically everything. They can support and provide cover fire, they can maim and kill with a weapon or not, and they work with strategies. In other words, just as real soldiers are versatile, so are the melee professors.

My other guides:

Brent's Hybrid Super Novice Guide