Tome IndexWe witches work hard to master our craft,
Our broomsticks can break any spear, pole, or staff!
Nothing will ever hold us back,
Whenever we're challenged we always attack!
I. Intro
II. Skills
- General
- Common
- Class
- Job Awaken
-- EX Passives
- Quest Points
III. Equipment
- Fixed VS Percent
-- Interlude: What is Base Attack Anyway?
- Looking for What to Wear {Useful Endgame Equips}
-- Brooms
-- Armor
-- Accessories
--- Bracelets
--- Necklaces
--- Rings
-- Subequips
-- Magic Stones
IV. Outtro
- Update Log
I. Intro
Off we go! Flying around!
Gather our scrolls and fly into town.
Study the Ancients and practice our spells,
Nothing will ever bring us to frown!
Hello, I'm MissL, your fellow Witch here to help!
This guide here is made to give fellow Witches a firmer standing point in the great scariness that is designing a build for one of the tightest SP classes, and in response to the general lack of an up-to-date guide on the skills, equipment, and general aspects of being a Witch. You can think of this as something like a dictionary of Witchyness, a large collection of information for referencing, built from the knowledge, experiences and success I've had with the class, as well as from fellow Witches. Reading it all in one go might be difficult, but hopefully for most questions a Witch might have, she should be able to find an answer in here. If you want to be a Witch, after all, you should be interested in the numbers and science.
Though, a reminder, this is entirely for PvE gameplay {The dungeoning aspect of the game, including places like the Towers and Suju}. I can offer very little information on PvP.
Witches in general are pretty unique and fun class {As well as the Witch herself embodying Fun-personified at times}. The most notable feature would have to be the trademark broomstick and flying, gained from the subclass skill Broomstick Control, which gives Witches undeniable aerial mastery, especially in terms of air time. The ability to zip around the battlefield and fly over dangerous attacks gives a hefty edge of survivability to Witches, something Mages in general inherently lack as a squishy class. Leather armor helps this, too. This survivability is further enhanced by many of the Witch's spells, which can offer mob control, like in the case of Lava Potion's slowdown, or through the use of a Witch's Machines, which shield the Witch when being used, providing a damage reduction bonus of 80% {Effectively giving her 500% more HP} Note that the machines can break from enough abuse. While there are four machines, one for each element, only three give this bonus: Florae Collider {Light}, Raging Flame Furnace {Fire} and Mega Drill {Ice}. Gravitas {Shadow} is the exception, but more on that later.
Another important aspect of the Witch are the Success chances that are built in many of her spells, based on varying probability. Very few Witch skills lack them, but generally Success is considered the skill working as normal, while Failure usually halves the damage, and Sleeper/Maximum gives about a 50% damage bonus. Depending on the skill, the success also alters a move's behavior, such as the amount of times Enhanced Magic Missile bounces, or the amount of splash Raging Flame Furnace has. You will find Failures to be very common early on, and may even grow use to them, but further towards the end of the game, it's possible to raspberry in the face of luck and use our superiority over math and science to gain full control over probability. Again, more on that later. And while all Witch moves are fully elemental now {As of Revolution, very important}, Sleeper/Maximum successes tend to have much more elemental power behind them, meaning they get bigger bonuses towards elemental stacking. Basically, you'll want as many Sleepers as you can get, while minimizing Failures. Starting out, this will be hard, but there are ways to manipulate success chances as a Witch strengthens, enough that one can nearly eliminate the need to rely on chance completely.
The class is also, for the most part, Fixed, so the main emphasis is stacking Intelligence for increased spell power and finding a broom that has a high Base Attack Strength value. This will be much less frustrating than trying to reinforce something through Kiri, something a Percent class must deal with. There are a few exceptions, where a few moves have some Percent-based calculations in them, but they always have Fixed in there as well, making them Mixed. This makes Witch a relatively easy to fund and equip class, compared to Percent.
So, to summarize, Witches:
- Have the unique ability to fly
- Enhanced survivability
- Probability-based skills
- Fixed class, Easier to fund
Now with the general information out of the way, let's look at the long list of skills.
If you're interested in a skill calculator and have yet to find one, I recommend this very helpful little thing to help calculate what you can get at max level.
II. Skills
Our familiars are near, in your hearts they strike fear.
Snowman and Pumpkin are always right here!
We've lasted for ages, the best of all Mages,
Against us not even an Apostle's courageous!
I will try to cover every skill avaliable to Witch and list it's details, general use, and pros and cons if any. Hopefully I can stay from being too biased about anything, and mostly focus on what a skill can give to a Witch overall.
First, the general skills, avaliable to every character {In order of Sharan's list}.
-General Skills-
Cancel - Item ThrowSP to MAX: 50 {1 level}
This Cancel allows the user to stop their current combo to instantly throw an item. ...Not very handy for anything, considering most Witches won't be using their normal combos to begin with, and there's not much this allows a melee-oriented Witch to do different.
LeapSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
Leap is a fun and occasionally very useful move. It greatly increases the user's jump height for a period of time, and leveling increases the duration {and cooldown, though at a slightly lower rate}. But considering Witches are undeniable masters of the air with Broomstick Control, Leap becomes completely superfluous.
It is fun, though.
Ancient MemorySP to MAX: 250 {10 levels}
Ancient Memory is a simple intelligence buff, which means more damage. It provides an increase in intelligence in short bursts, lasting only 20 seconds with a 40 second cooldown. The amount of intelligence it gives isn't half bad, but compared to Elemental Burn, it's pretty weak. If you have the spare SP, use Ancient Memory if you wish to try and stack more intelligence. Otherwise Elemental Burn will have you covered well enough. {See below} Leveling this increases the intelligence given by 15 a level, or 150 maxed.
Throw MasterySP to MAX: 250 {10 levels}
This simple passive increases thrown item damage by 10% per level at the cost of 1 MP {Does not affect certain things like Oil}. As there's no real bonus or reason for focusing on thrown items over your actual moves, boosting the damage at the cost of SP {and thus at the cost of boosting an actual spell} won't really help any.
SP to MAX: 250 {10 levels}
Indomitable Spirit gives the caster a chance to ignore hits when casting a spell, preventing them from being interrupted and wasting the move. It gains +10% chance to ignore attacks per level, meaning it maxes at 100% chance, and gains a respectable duration compared to cooldown. However, if a Witch were truly afraid of having her spells interrupted, there are other ways of fixing it. Magical Festival, one of our common skills {see below} can boost casting speeds to help in this regard, as well as giving a bonus of reduced cooldown of the cast move. This means it addresses the same issue as Indomitable Spirit as well as a bonus in cooldown reduction. Otherwise, there's not much of a reason for a Witch to be near enemies in the first place. Almost all the moves have at least some range, and the Witch herself can use broomstick aerial dashing to give herself room to cast. That doesn't leave much reason to spend part of the tight SP budget here.
Physical Critical HitSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
Physical Critical Hit boosts the critical rate of all physical moves by 1% a level, or 10%. Criticals are very nice, as they boost damage by 50%. Witch doesn't actually have any real physical moves, however, so this doesn't do anything for her.
Physical Rear AttackSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
Physical Rear Attack boosts the critical rate of all physical moves by 1.5% per level, or 15%. However, the boost only applies to Back Attacks: when striking an opponent from behind. Again, criticals are nice, but Witch doesn't do Physical.
Magic Critical HitSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
Magic Critical Hit is exactly the same as Physical Critical Hit, except for Magic attacks. That means it is useful for Witches, so if you have the spare SP and want to boost your critical rate {Remember, 1.5x damage}, this will help with that.
Magic Rear AttackSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
Again, Magic Rear Attack is the same as Physical Rear Attack, except Magic. Witch can get a fair number of back attacks with her spells, but if you don't have the SP or don't think this will help your playstyle, don't worry about it. Otherwise more critical is always nice.
Quick ReboundSP to MAX: 10 {1 level}
I don't quite understand why this is even in the shop to begin with, it really should be a starter skill. Every class can and will benefit from Quick Rebound. When a character falls to the ground, Quick Rebound can be used to recover quickly to a sitting position. The longer the skill is held, the longer the character stays like this, up to 3 seconds max. While in this position, the character is completely immune to damage due to being in an I-frame, or Invincibility frame. This allows easy recovery and gives one time to watch for an opening, or to simply sit through a damaging attack that would otherwise squish them. After standing back up, the user gains Super Armor for a split second, just enough time to launch a quick counter move at anyone standing nearby. Even as a Mage class that should typically be avoiding damage in the first place, Witch will find as much use in this skill as anyone else when attempting to escape combos {The three rideable machines also cause the Witch to fall down, and Rebound can be used to recover from this unavoidable part}. It's also extremely cheap, only 10 SP, a huge value really. Make sure you don't forget to regrab this whenever you job change and Awaken.
{Special note, it is possible to overlevel this skill with certain Avatar bottom pieces. This gives the skill an additional 1.5 seconds of invulnerability, meaning one can stay in the sitting position 50% longer for a total of 4.5 seconds, nearly overtaking the skill's cooldown. The Super Armor portion also gains a boost, but only by 0.03 seconds}
-Common Skills-
Now the common skills, the ones avaliable to every mage, and used between levels 1-20. These are ordered by Sharan's list.If unspecified by me, assume the skill's element is Neutral. The skills are also colour-coded based on their damage type, red for physical, blue for magical. {Otherwise, gray for neither, such as buffs or cancels}
Also, all common skills are Mixed, this means they used both Fixed and Percent damage calculations. For more info on Fixed and Percent, see the Equipment section.
Remember that Skill Conversion,
a passive learned upon job changing, allows all general skills to
change their damage-type to physical, magical, or default, depending on
which you want. Right clicking will change the current setting. This should change
their damage calculation, as well. {IE: Magic Missile is normally based
on INT/Magical Attack and Base Attack, but when converted to Physical damage it should
be based on STR/Physical Attack and Base Attack} This does not apply to any other skills, only the common class skills. It is also PvE only, and does not work in PvP.
Magic Missile SP to MAX: 435 {30 levels. 1 required for Cancel - Magic Missile. 5 required for Enhanced Magic Missile}
Magic Missile is something you'll most likely be familiar with as any Mage from level 1-20. It's spammable, does pretty good damage {It's percent -and- fixed, so reinforcement, refinement, and stat stacking all boost it}, and can be aimed somewhat. Casting it causes the Witch to charge a short cast bar before tossing the missile forward {or downwards/upwards if you hold a directional key}. The missile can sometimes pierce enemies and continue forward to strike more. A Witch may keep this move and max it for, usually, one of two reasons: Filler damage inbetween the longer cooldowns of higher tier moves, such as the machines, or heavy damage dealing when combined with Magical Festival. The reason the latter is so effective is that Magical Festival lowers the cooldown of all moves while also greatly boosting casting speed. Magic Missile hardly has a cooldown or casting speed to begin with, so it becomes a magical machine gun with this buff on.
Leveling the skill increases damage and range.
Cancel - Magic MissileSP to MAX: 10 {1 level. Requires level 1 Magic Missile}
I feel listing cancels will be merely a formality here. Again, this guide will mostly focus on PvE, so a cancel has little to no use here to begin with. Regardless, this allows you to cast Magic Missile while you're in the midst of a ground combo. Normally you shouldn't have to combo unless you're 'scrubbing', or juggling someone in the air, in which case you'll be unable to cast Magic Missile anyway.
Weapon UppercutTakes Element of Weapon
SP to MAX: 180 {10 levels}
Weapon uppercut is our class-specific X skill. Every class starts with one, and it's generally an uppercut of sorts. Ours is slightly different, however. Weapon Uppercut causes the Mage to hop forward before doing the actual attack, and normally this is simply a step forward. However, using the Up or Down keys, the Mage can be made to hop in that direction before uppercutting back onto their starting X-axis. This is generally only useful for PvP applications, allowing one to uppercut and start a combo without having to get on the same X-axis as their opponent, but with creativity it can be handy in dodging. However, Witches being a magic class, and Weapon Uppercut a physical move, this should probably be left untouched at it's starting level, unless you're going to attempt using the two Dust buffs, Death Dust and Snow Dust. While Skill Conversion can change it to magical, the Dusts will do more to strengthen it.
Leveling the skill increases damage, launch strength, and skill speed.
See Death Dust and Snow Dust for more information. {And note that this move is Percent when using Dusts}
Cancel - Weapon UppercutSP to MAX: N/A {1 level}
As cancels usually do, Cancel - Weapon Uppercut allows a Mage to use Weapon Uppercut while they're in the middle of a ground combo. Not much more to say on that. It's given for free to start with, since this is our class X move.
Dragon FangTakes Element of Weapon
SP to MAX: 450 {30 levels}
Dragon Fang causes the Mage to take her weapon and stab it forward, temporarily immobilizing whoever it hits. From there, it can be canceled in Weapon Uppercut, Palm Blast, or Full Swing {The last being Battle Mage only}. Generally, again, you won't want this move unless you're using the two Dusts, even with Skill Conversion. The move itself is useful for extending melee combos, or even starting them thanks to it's range and ability to cancel into another attack, as well as the short immobilization upon striking a foe.
Leveling the skill increases damage and skill speed.
See Death Dust and Snow Dust for more information.
Lantern FirebombElemental Fire
SP to MAX: 450 {30 levels. 1 required for Magical Festival. 5 required for Elemental Burn}
Casting Lantern Firebomb will spawn a flaming Jack 'O Lantern that flies in a straight line, exploding on contact with someone for fire damage. It's a chargeable move, with damage and explosion size increasing if fully charged before firing. Lantern Firebomb is primarily an Elementalist skill, and there is really only one reason a Witch will get it Post-Revolution, as a Prerequisite to Elemental Burn or Magical Festival. The move is useless otherwise, as Magic Missile accomplishes the same thing, but faster and better, and all Witch spells are now elemental, so there's little utility in using it for it's fire.
Leveling the skill increases size, damage, range and explosion size.
For more on why to get Lantern Firebomb as a Prerequisite to Elemental Burn and Magical Festival, see the skill entries for either.
Elemental Light
SP to MAX: 450 {30 levels. 1 required for Magical Festival. 5 required for Elemental Burn}
Florae Circle spawns three orbs of light that orbit clockwise directly around the Mage for a short time, damaging anyone whose touches them. This is another chargeable skill, with charge time increasing damage, orb size, and duration. Like Lantern Firebomb, Florae Circle is primarily Elementalist, and the only reason for a Witch to get it is as a requirement for Elemental Burn or Magical Festival. The damage and range is too small to consider for damage, and the Witch has Light moves of her own now.
Leveling the skill increases duration, damage and size
For more on why to get Florae Circle as a Prerequisite to Elemental Burn and Magical Festival, see the skill entries for either.
Hired Summon: Panzer HodorSP to MAX: 435 {30 levels}
This move summons Panzer Hodor, a friendly goblin, to aid in combat. Unfortunately, there aren't many reasons for getting the little guy. Cheeky Doll Shururu/Jackyl can handle distractions for the most part, and the Flyswatter moves can create summons of their own. Panzer will normally serve little use to you, though in places such as the Tower of Despair or Suju, he may prove himself much more valuable.
Leveling the skill increases summon level {Health}, attack power, reduces summon's skill cooldowns, and gives new summon attack skills every few levels.
Mana ShieldSP to MAX: 180 {10 levels}
Mana Shield, who doesn't know Mana Shield? In here, Mana Shield creates a barrier around the Mage that absorbs a fraction of incoming damage with mana instead of health, starting with a rather nasty 2.5 mana to block 1 damage ratio. Now, getting it or not is wholly a matter of opinion. Some Witches like any extra protection they get, others rely on broomstick flying for dodging, the 80% damage reduction from machines, and other mob-control abilities like Lava Potion's slowdown. Generally, one level just to have it is fine, but some Witches complain that the damage-to-mana ratio at this level causes them to run out of mana long before they take much damage. The choice lies solely in your playstyle, and how much you'll risk for some extra SP.
Leveling the skill increases damage absorbed and lowers the amount of mana required to block 1 point of damage.
Frosty's HeadElemental Ice
SP to MAX: 450 {30 levels. 1 required for Magical Festival. 5 required for Elemental Burn}
This move spawns a bouncy Frosty's Head that homes in on the nearest enemy for ice damage. Another chargeable, charging increases damage, size, and distance traveled. Holding the up key while casting causes the head to bounce higher upon spawning, while holding down causes it to spawn lower towards the ground. For the same reasons as Lantern Firebomb and Florae Circle, this move is useless to Witches, being another Elementalist skill and having no redeeming qualities, unless one is going for Magical Festival or Elemental Burn.
Leveling the skill increases duration, damage, size, slowdown level and duration when hitting an enemy, and freeze level/chance/duration.
For more on why to get Frosty's Head as a Prerequisite to Elemental Burn and Magical Festival, see the skill entries for either.
Phase ShiftSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
Phase Shift is an extremely useful move. Upon being hit, while fallen on the ground, or otherwise suffering knockback/hitstun, the Mage can cast Phase Shift to teleport themselves in any direction they choose, using the directional arrows. They leave behind a straw dummy, which can be picked up by the Mage or a teammate to buff their attack/movement speeds {If a summon picks it up, they receive a stronger version of the same buff, as well as an increase to STR/INT}. This move is invaluable as it allows the squishy Mage {and Witch} class to escape otherwise fatal combos or follow-up attacks. The buff is generally less useful, as it encourages recklessness to obtain it, while Phase Shift should be saved for critical situations.
Leveling the move increases the buff power, while also lowering the cooldown of the move by one second per level.
Cheeky Doll ShururuSP to MAX: 380 {20 levels. 5 required for Jackyl}
Shururu is a valuable ally, but sometimes confused with Jackyl. Shururu is the summon, Jackyl is basically a passive upgrade for the same doll. Upon casting the spell, the Mage will toss Shururu in front of them, where he will begin to taunt nearby enemies {Causing mobs to target him instead}. He can only attract normal mobs, but everyone in his radius will suffer a decrease in magical defense, thereby increasing your damage. Be wary, though, for Shururu is still a summon, and enemies can and will kill him faster than his duration rate expires, if allowed. He is also unable to taunt higher level mobs, like APCs or Bosses, on his own {Read: Without Jackyl upgrades}, which can sometimes be a problem in keeping them in his radius. However, this can be aided by the Witch's mob control moves {Such as Lava Potion or Mega Drill}, as well as more levels in Shururu to increase his radius.
Leveling Shururu will increase his taunt/debuff radius, as well as his debuff power, and his summon level, effectively increasing his HP.
For more on Cheeky Doll Shururu, see the Jackyl skill entry.
PlutoElemental Shadow
SP to MAX: 435 {30 levels. 1 required for Magical Festival. 5 required for Elemental Burn}
Summoning Pluto causes the sneaky cat to jump forward from the Mage, striking all enemies along the way with shadow damage, before jumping back and striking them all again. Being yet another Elementalist skill, the move can be charged, increasing his size, damage, speed, and distance traveled. Again, hardly useful for Witches, with Magic Missile making a better spammer, and all class moves now elemental, unless you want Magical Festival and Elemental Burn, then get him for the prerequisite.
Leveling the skill increase Pluto's movement speed, range, damage, and size.
For more on why to get Pluto as a Prerequisite to Elemental Burn and Magical Festival, see the skill entries for either.
Palm BlastSP to MAX: 560 {28 levels}
Palm Blast causes the Mage to dash forward, striking everyone in her path and knocking them back. The move can be charged, which increases it's power. When fully charged, the attack animation gains Super Armor, rendering the Mage immune to knockback/hitstun, and any enemies struck by the full charge can bounce off of walls for additional damage and air time. Holding the directional key oppisite to the direction the Mage is facing when the move is used causes the Mage to stand in place instead of dashing. Being a physical move, it's no surprise Palm Blast would be considered rather useless, but unlike Weapon Uppercut and Dragon Fang, Palm Blast is unaffected by the Dusts. You can still use Skill Conversion to change it to Magical, though it will lack the bonuses the Dusts give. It will still retain some usefulness if you really want to melee.
Leveling the skill increases skill speed, damage, and launch strength.
Aerial Lantern FirebombElemental Fire
SP to MAX: 50 {1 level}
You can think of Aerial Lantern Firebomb as a Cancel for Lantern Firebomb that works only in midair. This allows the Mage to cast Lantern Firebomb at a diagonal angel at the ground. It cannot be charged, so the lantern is always at it's weakest strength, but otherwise acts as normal. Casting the lantern also causes the Mage to hop slightly in the air a bit due to recoil. Normally, this could be useful for extending jumps, but Witch is the last class to ever need help with that, rendering the skill rather useless.
LasherSP to MAX: 450
Lasher is primarily a Summoner's move, as it allows the Mage to whip allies for buffs or enemies for damage. Whipping an ally character does 1 damage {and can activate a weapon effect, like poison} and buffs their attack/move speeds, while whipping a summon increases their speed even more, while also giving a STR/INT buff and a slight 'berserker' status {They'll try to attack more often}. There isn't a whole lot of reason to get this move, as Witch summons won't benefit from the buff very much due to their low damage, low summon time, and difficulty summoning at times {Only spawn when an enemy dies to a Flyswatter}. They're merely good at mobbing mobs back and giving you space. As a general skill, it's damage can easily be overshadowed by Macross Magic Missile spam, but it does have slight immobilization stun like Dragon Fang.
Leveling increases damage, immobilization duration, and buff strength.
Ancient LibrarySP to MAX: 400 {20 levels}
Ancient Library is a buff that increases Intelligence {and thus damage} as well as recovery a small amount of MP overtime. This is a Witch skill, and if one has the class-passive Befriend Florae, they can select one other ally to buff as well. This gives both the Witch and the ally the same intelligence increase, but only the ally seems to get the mana regen. Unfortunately, this move is fairly weak right now compared to other intelligent-based buffs avaliable. The mana regen bonus starts small and ends small, will most likely never make a difference later on in the game, and you'll lose it regardless if you wish to aid your allies. The intelligence buff itself is fairly good, but the main drawback is that the duration lasts only 60 seconds, while Ancient Library has a cooldown of 150 seconds. This mean spending 90 seconds of every 60 unbuffed, which is the main reason for the skill being considered weak. Ancient Memory, an intelligence buff avaliable to every class in the game, is slightly better with a 20 second duration and 40 second cooldown. Elemental Burn, which I've been mentioning a lot without talking about yet {Almost there}, has a 60 second duration with a 60 second cooldown. Of the three, Elemental Burn trumps easily in uptime {How often you can have it on}, being able to stay on nearly constantly, as well as raw numbers: Ancient Library maxed gives +186 intelligence, Ancient Memory gives +150 maxed, and Elemental Burn maxed gives up to +448 intelligence. SP-wise, Ancient Library and Elemental Burn cost the same, 400 SP, though Elemental Burn requires the four Elementalist skills as prerequisites, bumping it up slightly more {But still giving more INT per SP, before even considering uptime}, with Ancient Memory being the cheapest at 250.
So, if you're thinking about Ancient Library, be wary of it's poor uptime, large SP cost, and small INT return.
Leveling the skill increases mana recovered and intelligence gained.
{This skill is supposively due for a buff in later patches, so watch for that}
DisenchantSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
Disenchant can be a very handy spell, indeed. Casting the spell removes all buffs from enemies in a radius around the Witch, applying attack/cast/move speed debuffs to enemies hit by it, and buffing the Witch's INT/STR for every buff removed. At first, the spell can only remove one buff per enemy, but leveling increases that up to four. The spell can be useful to Witches for two reasons: One, it removes buffs. This can be very handy against certain mobs, especially certain APCs. The amount of buffs that cannot be removed can be counted on your hands, so basically it'll remove nearly everything {Currently lack an up-to-date list for Revolution, though}. This can vary from merely inconveniencing someone, to breaking certain enemies very hard, if the buff is their main gimmick {Say, in the Towers}. Two, the move can debuff enemy speeds by up to 22%. This can be very handy against extremely quick mobs {especially since the spell radius will be much larger by then}, and can stack with Lava Potion, another spell Witches have that debuffs speed. The debuff lasts for only 10 seconds, however, so without something like Magical Festival to lower the cooldown, the debuff will always wear off before you can recast {Oddly enough, Befriend Jack-O'-Lantern will help with this, as it lowers Disenchant's cooldown}. The INT/STR buff can also be hard obtaining, as it requires the enemies to have a buff in the first place, and works best on large groups of mobs. Against single targets, only the disenchant and debuff portions will be useful. The disenchant works at any level, so feel free to only get one level in it if that's all you wish.
Leveling increases number of disenchants removed per target, INT/STR buff, enemy speed debuff power, and radius size.
SP to MAX: 425 {17 levels. Requires 1 level in Lantern Firebomb, Florae Circle, Frosty's Head, and Pluto}
Magical Festival, one of the moves I've been harping on about for awhile. This powerful Elementalist buff lowers the casting time, cooldown time, and charge time {Elementalist skills only for the last one} for all spells. Maxed, this can knock 30% off your cooldown times and boosts casting speed up to 60% {As a note, casting speed affects spell animations too, not just the casting bar. EX: The entire animation when creating a machine, such as Mega Drill, will speed up with more casting speed}. There's only a few drawbacks to this skill: First, it's duration is only 20 seconds, while it's cooldown is 40. so 50/50 uptime. Second, it does not apply to buffs or physical moves. That means it can not shorten it's own cooldown, or the cooldown of any other buff, and does not apply to moves such as Weapon Uppercut, Dragon Fang, or Palm Blast. Otherwise, cooldown reduction is always fantastic, and the casting speed will make spells nearly instantaneous. Just remember that the cooldown reduction only applies to spells that were cast while Magical Festival is active, it does not apply to moves that were cast before hand.
Leveling the skill increases the power of the casting speed, cooldown reduction, and max charge time buffs.
Elemental BurnSP to MAX: 400 {16 levels. Requires 5 levels in Lantern Firebomb, Florae Circle, Frosty's Head, and Pluto}
The other move I've talked about far too much without describing, Elemental Burn is another powerful Elementalist skill that creates four elemental marks around the Mage. Each mark represents one element, and when a move that does elemental damage is cast, the matching elemental mark lights up, giving the Mage bonus INT for a short period. If another spell with a different element is cast, then the different mark lights up, giving another INT bonus. Casting two of the same elements in a row {Such as two Shadow-based spells}, does not relight a mark, but casting alternating elements will: something like Fire - Ice - Fire will relight the fire mark, restarting it's duration. With enough casting, one can easily have all four marks lit, and gain a substantial intelligence bonus for it. How much? At max level, all four marks lit gives a Mage +448 intelligence. That is a huge number, far more than Ancient Library {184} and Ancient Memory {150}, two other intelligence buffs, combined. Thanks to the spell's 60 second duration and cooldown, it also can stay on nearly constantly, unlike the other two INT buffs.
As of Revolution, Witches no longer have to cast the Elementalist skills {Lantern Firebomb, Florae Circle, Frosty's Head, Pluto} to activate the marks, as their spells now always do Elemental damage. This means simply having Elemental Burn on while doing your usual routine will always give a large intelligence boost, and a bit of management can ensure the largest intelligence buff ever.
Leveling the skill increases the amount of intelligence from each mark, as well as their duration before they go out again.
Note, even though the Witch's EX skills, Giant Flyswatter and Broomstick Bounce, do indeed inflict elemental damage {Shadow and Light, respectively}, they do not trigger Elemental Burn, for some reason.
- Class Skills -
The Class Skills are what Witches gain upon job change, along with the adorable belt of alchemy ingredients {Unrelated to the Profession called Alchemy}. These skills all inflict magical damage, and for the most part are Fixed, meaning they rely on your Intelligence stat and your Base Attack Strength. The more Int/Base you have, the more damage you do, simple as that. Base Attack Strength is a stat on your brooms just like Physical/Magical, but it's slightly different. A few skills are slightly Percent, but still use a large amount of Fixed, making them Mixed, and those I will point out, otherwise assume it's entirely Fixed. For more info on Percent and Fixed, see the Equipment section.
Certain skills, mostly the higher tier ones, also cost cubes to cast. This means they consume Clear Cube Fragments from your inventory to be used. These are fairly easy to come by, though, and you will most always have plenty if you grind/disassemble every Blue item you find. I will label any move that requires cubes, but cube consumption is mostly limited to the machines, so if you find yourself using those more often, the class could become cube-intensive for you. Not a problem, again, as Clears are not hard to come by, but something to note.
First, let's go over the most important class passive gained automatically upon job changed:
Broomstick ControlBroomstick control is what allows Witches to fly on their broomsticks. This can be accomplished in several ways. Holding the jump button while dashing will cause the Witch to liftoff into the air with her broom. Dashing while in the air will cause the Witch to do an aerial dash with her broom, covering a large distance. Both are limited to once per jump/liftoff {This can also be used during a Backstep for instant lateral movement}. The amount of air attacks Witches get per jump is also multiplied by 6, which is what forms the 'scrubbing'. Jumping and attacking once in the air will cause the Witch to bring her broom down over her head, attacking right after will cause her to reverse her grip and bring the broom back up in an uppercut while also causing her to jump again. This can normally be repeated three times, allowing for a quadruple jump, lots of air time, and lots of air juggling {In PvP, the air attacks are brought down to 4, meaning only two air jumps max}. However, attacking after using the broom liftoff will cause the Witch to start with the uppercut/jump first, reversing the alternating process; it still comes out as three jumps, though. The Witch can also hold jump while in the air to 'glide' on her broom for a short duration, up to twice per jump. Combined with the quadruple jump, the Witch can spend a looong time in the air. Mastery over this will come in very handy in many areas, such as the gimmicky Ancient Dungeons or Otherverse, as well as dodging boss attacks or APCs, or even other players, so it's recommended you get use to it; Broomstick Control is a very important and useful skill.
As a note, the passive has an On/Off status which can be toggled with a right click.
Now, for the rest of the moves, again in Sharan's order:
Befriend PlutoSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels. 2 required for Fusion Craft}
The first of the four Befriends, Befriend Pluto enhances all of the shadow-based moves. Unfortunately, it appears that the Befriend tooltips stopped being updated by Nexon, so what they do exactly is not fully known. For the most part, though, I believe the tooltips are mostly right. {Please send me a message if any of these are wrong or if I missed something}
Befriend Pluto boosts:
- Black Manteau: Hit Rate, Blind Rate, Blind Level
- Death Dust: Duration
- Devolution Flyswatter: Success Rate, Sleeper Rate, lowers Failure Rate, Curse Rate, Curse Level, lowers Cooldown
- Gravitas: Success Rate, Sleeper Rate, lowers Failure Rate, increases AoE range
- Giant Flyswatter: Lowers Cooldown
- Boosts 'scrubbing', or the air attacks, damage
Befriend FloraeSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels. 2 required for Fusion Craft}
The second of the four Befriends, Befriend Florae enhances all of the light-based moves. Unfortunately, it appears that the Befriend tooltips stopped being updated by Nexon, so what they do exactly is not fully known. For the most part, though, I believe the tooltips are mostly right. {Please send me a message if any of these are wrong or if I missed something}
Befriend Florae boosts:
- Magic Missile: Size
- Ancient Library: Allows the buff to be applied to one other ally
- Enhanced Magic Missile: Success Rate, Sleeper Rate, lowers Failure Rate, Range,
- Broomstick Spin: Electrocution Rate, Electrocution Level, Spin Duration
- Florae Collider: Success Rate, Sleeper Rate, lowers Failure Rate, AoE Range
- Broomstick Bounce: Unsure
SP to MAX: 200 {10 levels. 2 required for Fusion Craft}
The third of the four Befriends, Befriend Jack Frost enhances all of the ice-based moves. Unfortunately, it appears that the Befriend tooltips stopped being updated by Nexon, so what they do exactly is not fully known. For the most part, though, I believe the tooltips are mostly right. {Please send me a message if any of these are wrong or if I missed something}
Befriend Jack Frost boosts:
- Snow Dust: Duration
- Acid Rain: Success Chance, Sleeper Chance, lowers Failure Rate, Duration
- Mega Drill: Success Chance, Sleeper Chance, lowers Failure Rate, Duration, Hitpoints
Befriend Jack-O'-LanternSP to MAX: 200 {10 levels. 2 required for Fusion Craft}
The last of the four Befriends, Befriend Jack-O'-Lantern enhances all of the fire-based moves. Unfortunately, it appears that the Befriend tooltips stopped being updated by Nexon, so what they do exactly is not fully known. For the most part, though, I believe the tooltips are mostly right. {Please send me a message if any of these are wrong or if I missed something}
Befriend Jack-O'-Lantern boosts:
- Jackyl: Success Chance, Sleeper Chance, lowers Failure Rate, Duration, lowers Cooldown
- Disenchant: Lowers Cooldown
- Lava Potion No. 9: Success Chance, Sleeper Chance, lowers Failure Rate, Duration
- Raging Flame Furnace: Success Chance, Sleeper Chance, lowers Failure Rate, Duration
Elemental Shadow
SP to MAX: 520 {26 levels. 3 required for Devolution Flyswatter. 5 required for Cancel - Black Manteau.}
{This move is Mixed, it uses Percent and Fixed calculations}
Black Manteau is fantastic for several reasons. When cast, it causes Pluto to create a shadowy-ribbon out of himself that wraps up enemies in front of the Witch. As a grab, it has impressive range, and is perfect for shattering super armor, stopping enemy casters, or simply grouping mobs up for another move, such as the Flyswatters. Another large bonus is that nearly the entire animation is made of I-frames, or Invincibility frames. This means that while the animation plays, the Witch is entirely immune to damage {Save for some very specific gimmicks, anyway}. Combined with the low cooldown, Black Manteau makes for one of the best grabs in the game, useful for messing with or grouping up enemies, as well as easy dodging, allowing one to avoid even screen-covering total-party-killing explosions, among everything else if properly timed. Every Witch will want it for at least that and the prerequisite for Devolution Flyswatter. Another sometimes overlooked feature of the move, though, is it's Blind ability. Fully maxed with Befriend Pluto, I believe the blind rate reaches 80%, and the strength of the buff is increased to the point that it messes greatly with mobs. Normally this isn't too useful in PvE, but in certain locations like Suju or the two Towers, mostly fights against APCs or single targets, it can be very handy.
Leveling the skill increases Blind Chance, Blind Level, Visual Range and Accuracy lost when blinded, and Casting Speed.
In actual PvP against other players, note that the move loses it's I-frames and instead gains Super Armor.
Cancel - Black ManteauSP to MAX: 50 {1 level. Requires 5 levels in Black Manteau}
As cancels are wont to do, Cancel - Black Manteau allows Black Manteau to be used during a ground combo. This is relatively useless in any situation, however. Non-melee Witches will only need the move for it's grab and I-frames, and will never need to cancel out of a combo. Melee-oriented Witches will actually find canceling into Black Manteau to be counterproductive, as it ends your comboing by knocking the enemy onto the ground. Nearly no use for this cancel.
Snow DustTurns Weapon Element into Ice
SP to MAX: 340 {17 levels. 3 required for Acid Rain}
Casting Snow Dust enchants the Witch's broom with the element of Ice, and causing all of her melee attacks to do enhanced magical damage as well as increased enemy hitstun duration, and giving attacks a chance to freeze. This is one of the two moves that make Weapon Uppercut, Dragon Fang, and a Witch's basic melee worth something, thanks to all the bonuses and magical enhancement. The damage bonus is entirely Fixed, even Dragon Fang {Though the tooltip will claim otherwise}, which is the same with Death Dust. Generally, Snow Dust is considered the more PvE dust due to the freezing, which can help against regular mobs but tends to break air combos, something very bad in PvPish aspects. Snow Dust also inflicts less damage and less immobilization {Note that the tooltip is in error here too, Snow Dust's immobilization is really +X, not +X%} than Death Dust, another reason it makes more for a PvE than a PvP dust.
Leveling increases immobilization duration, freeze rate, freeze duration, and freeze level.
At least 3 levels are required for Acid Rain, so a Witch will generally have at least three levels in Snow Dust. Utility-wise, the ability to inflict ice damage with melee attacks can sometimes come in handy in certain areas. {Most notably Altar of Ascension}
Death DustTurns Weapon Element into Shadow
SP to MAX: 360 {18 levels}
Using Death Dust enhances a Witch's broom with the power of Shadow, increasing the damage of all her melee attacks, as well as Weapon Uppercut and Dragon Fang, with magical damage. It is Fixed for everything, even Dragon Fang, contrary to what the tooltip claims. Like Snow Dust, Death Dust inflicts increased hitstun on enemies, but instead of freezing, it gives a chance for attacks to poison enemies for 2 seconds. The poison is generally not very strong, but Death Dust itself gives a larger bonus to damage than Snow Dust. Due to this, the higher immobilization duration, and the inability to freeze enemies, which would interrupt your combos, Death Dust is considered the more PvPish dust.
Utility-wise, the ability to inflict shadow damage with melee attacks can sometimes come in handy in certain areas.
As a note, enchanting with both Dusts gives your weapon both elements at once. {You can gain more elements with other effects as well, such as a Salamander Flask} However, the way the game calculates things, you only inflict one element when attacking, and it's chosen based on which is the most effective on whoever you're striking, based on your elemental boosts and the enemy's elemental resistance. Thus, normally, Snow Dust will overtake Death Dust against fire zombies, while Death Dust will work over Snow Dust against ice golems. This means there's not really a need to worry about which dust to use to take advantage of something's elemental resistance, as casting both will simply have the game figure it out for you. Just remember the dust bonuses won't stack.
Enhanced Magic MissileElemental Light
SP to MAX: 650 {26 levels. 5 required for Broomstick Spin. Requires 5 levels in Magic Missile}
{This move is Mixed, it uses Percent and Fixed calculations}
Using Enhanced Magic Missile, normally, calls on Florae to strike a nearby enemy with light damage, and then bounce off them to strike another for slightly less damage, repeating a number of times. The number of bounces vary depending on the success rate, with, I believe, 6 bounces on normal Success, and 8 on Sleeper. Also when the attack Sleepers, it gains a chance to electrocute enemies, damaging them slightly over a short period of time. The attack starts with some homing capabilities, but through Befriend Florae and the EX passive upgrade, can gain extremely impressive range {PvP notably nerfs this}. EMM stands as great filler inbetween larger moves, doing great damage for such a low tier spammable move. It's effectiveness increases against smaller grounds, where the hitstun and damage stacks due to having fewer targets to bounce between. It's most effective against two targets, where it can stunlock them completely as it bounces between them, but against a single target it loses a lot of it's potential damage due to being unable to bounce. Thanks to the homing, though, it is still very useful for being able to hit from afar and on different axises.
Enhanced Magic Missile is incapable of failing with max Befriend Florae.
JackylElemental Fire
SP to MAX: 575 {23 levels. 3 levels required for Lava Potion No. 9. Requires 5 levels in Cheeky Doll Shururu}
Jackyl is a passive upgrade for Shururu and gives him a number of new features as well a few upgrades, it's important not to confuse the two. With one level in Jackyl, Shururu becomes a success-based skill and changes from a doll into a Jack O Lantern. Shururu will now scoot forward constantly when summoned, and after his duration expires, explode with fire damage {Pressing the skill key again causes him to explode in that instant}. A Sleeper success causes him to deal increased explosion damage, while a Failure causes him to lose his exploding ability and attempt to rapidly move behind the Witch at all times. Leveling the skill increases the explosion damage, but also allows Shururu to taunt a higher level kind of mob with every 5 levels. At level 5, he can taunt Champion monsters {Mobs with the randomized special buffs},
Jackyl is incapable of failing with max Befriend Jack-O'-Lantern.
Devolution FlyswatterElemental Shadow
SP to MAX: 575 {23 levels. 5 required for Cancel - Devolution Flyswatter, Gravitas, and Giant Flyswatter. Requires 3 levels in Black Manteau}
{This move is Mixed, it uses Percent and Fixed calculations}
Devolution Flyswatter summons Pluto to possess the Witch's broom and turn into a large flyswatter, which is then used to crush anything directly in front of the Witch. Enemies hit by Flyswatter have a chance of being cursed, lowering their stats for a short period of time. Upon slaying an enemy with Flyswatter, there is a chance that a new monster will be summoned {Hence the Devolution part of the name}, but what is summoned depends on the success rate. A normal success spawns a Goblin Archer allied to you, who can fire triple arrows that have a fairly good chance of immobilizing enemies it strikes. Sleeper success summons a large Tau Warrior on your side, who will attempt to ram and bash enemies {A large enough number of them are capable of juggling enemies for a long period of time}. Failure summons a Hunter who is not allied and will attempt to attack you. The summons do not last long, only 30 seconds, but with a high level Flyswatter, it's possible to turn hordes of enemies into hordes of allies {Or... hordes of more enemies}. The summons' damage is not very impressive, but they make for excellent distractions, though occasionally to your disadvantage, say if a Tau happens to ram a group of enemies off of Shururu. Flyswatter itself does alright damage, and will most likely find itself as filler inbetween your later moves. Leveling the skill increases Curse Rate, Curse Level, Curse debuff power, Summoned Monster Level, and Summon Rate.
An important thing to note is that Devolution Flyswatter has a slight animation before it does damage when cast on the ground. While in the air, however, that animation is skipped, greatly speeding the skill up. For this, it's recommended to Backstep before casting Flyswatter, or to simply be in the air when you use it. The same applies to the EX version, Giant Flyswatter.
Devolution Flyswatter is incapable of failing with max Befriend Pluto.
Cancel - Devolution FlyswatterSP to MAX: 50 {1 level. Requires 5 levels in Devolution Flyswatter}
Why yes, it is another cancel that somehow snuck into the Witch class. In it's defense, Devolution Flyswatter -can- be slightly useful in the middle of a combo. If you're a meleeing Witch, the strike actually causes enemies to bounce slightly, possibly allowing for extended combos. Other than that, there really is no use for the cancel, especially considering you must be on the ground to cancel out of your combo, and Flyswatter has a longer cast animation when used on the ground. In the air, it will be much faster, and you don't need a cancel to use it in the middle of 'scrubbing' {Though you will send the enemy speeding downwards}.
LollipopSP to MAX: 125 {5 levels}
Ah, delicious Lollipop, the candy fuel to our Witching powers, as well as our mastery of math and science apparently. When Lollipop is cast, it creates a timed counter. Whenever a spell with success chances is used during this time limit, the counter goes down by one and the spell's success is boosted. If the counter runs out, or the time is up, the buff ends. Now, ever since Revolution, Lollipop has quickly launched into delicious new territory. Before Rev, it only boosted Success chances by 2% every level, and Sleeper chances by 1%. Not a lot. Now, though, it boosts Success by 2% every level, and Sleeper chances by 10%. At max level, this means a 50% more chance to Sleeper. Combine that with the Befriends or Lucky Feeling, and you have nearly guaranteed Sleepers. Delicious indeed. Leveling the skill increases it's duration {Starts at 20 seconds, gains 5 per level, or 40 maxed} and increases the amount of times it can be used by one per level {5 max}.
An important note, though.
The candy doesn't run out there, since because Lollipop is such a low level skill with amazing stat growth, overleveling becomes much more powerful. Wear an Avatar top that adds a level to Lollipop, and it now boosts 60% at max level. Wear the level 70 purple leather top, and it now boosts 70%, use a Magic Seal Broom with the Lollipop skill on it to get to 80%, with 8 uses before it runs out and a 55 second duration out of a 60 second cooldown. With the EX passives, this can be taken further, with up to 4 upgrades giving 8 more casts {or 10, if you get a subequip to boost the passive}, meaning 55 seconds to cast 16 {or even 18} spells with a 80% boosted chance to Sleeper. This means your skills now have, at the least, a base chance of 95% or more {Read: Guaranteed} chance to Sleeper, before factoring in Befriends {Normal successes become the new failure at this point!}. Because of this, Lollipop has possibly become one of our most important skills as of Revolution, considering how much more power Sleepers give our moves. It's entirely possible to skip Lucky Feeling {See further down for more information on that} or even a Befriend or two if you think you can rely on Lollipop enough to cover the success chances.
Acid RainElemental Ice
SP to MAX: 630 {21 levels. 5 required for Mega Drill. Requires 3 levels in Snow Dust}
Acid Rain is one of two important AoEs that belong to Witches. When cast, it creates a dark rain cloud in front of the Witch. The raincloud emits constant acid rain, hence the spell name, damaging enemies and weakening them in various ways. Enemies hit by Acid Rain suffer a debuff to physical attack, physical defense, and their ice resistance. This last bit not only causes Acid Rain to stack with itself due to being ice damage, but it also syncs well with any other ice-based move. Because of this, it's recommended to combine it with other ice spells, such as Mega Drill, for maximum damage. Success chances affect how much damage the acid rain inflicts, with higher successes being more, and Sleeper also turns the raincloud into a full-out thunderstorm, causing lightning to strike enemies for additional damage and hitstun. The AoE range is rather large, but often hard to discern, due to having no visible presence on the ground. As a rule of thumb, it's about the same size as a normal success Lava Potion. Leveling the spell increases the debuff powers.
Lava Potion No. 9Elemental Fire
SP to Max: 630 {21 levels. 5 required for Raging Flame Furnace. Requires 3 levels in Jackyl}
Lava Potion No. 9 is the other important AoE. When used, the Witch tosses a bottle of the stuff in front of her, where it spills out and covers the ground in lava. Enemies that attempt to wade through the stuff suffer fire damage constantly, as well as a substantial debuff to movement speed, a debuff to jump strength, and loss of fire resistance. Like Acid Rain, this causes Lava Potion to stack well with itself and any other fire-based move, meaning it's smart to combine it with something like Raging Flame Furnace for maximum effect. Success rate affects Lava Potion's radius greatly, with Sleeper causing the lava to increase about 25-50% in size, and failure simply causing the potion to explode, creating no lava, dealing poor damage and inducing knockback. Sleeper also causes the enemy to catch on fire and burn for a few seconds, though the damage from that will probably not be noticeable. The main thing that makes Lava Potion so amazing is it's ability to debuff enemy movement speeds, down to less than 40% maxed. Combined with it's ability to blanket the room in lava, Lava Potion makes controlling mobs much easier, as well as dodging any retaliations. This is very important in both increasing survivability and concentrating damage. Leveling the spell increases Burn Chance, Burn Level, Burn Strength, Speed/Jump reductions, and Fire Resistance reduction.
Broomstick SpinElemental Light
SP to MAX: 720 {18 levels. 5 required for Florae Collider and Broomstick Bounce. Requires 3 levels in Enhanced Magic Missile}
{This move is Mixed, it uses Percent and Fixed calculations}
Broomstick Spin is a fun if sometimes dangerous move. It can only be used in the air, and causes the Witch to rapidly spin forward with her broom extended out, striking enemies in her way. The steepness of the spin can be controlled with the arrow keys, pushing away from the direction you're facing while casting causes a steep drop {thus shorter duration}, while pushing forward causes a more gentle trajectory {extending the air time}. While the Witch is in control of her spinning, she deals rapid strikes of light damage, and spins faster the more times she hits something. After a short period of time, however, the Witch will lose her composure and begin spinning out of control, continuing her normal descent speed. In this stage, she can only strike enemies once until she lands on the ground, removing the multi-hit and leaving her rather vulnerable. Upon landing, the Witch causes a shockwave that damages everything around her. There is a slight chance, I believe around 15%, that the Witch will also become Confused upon landing {reversing the arrow keys}, as well as restoring a very, very small amount of health. {As a note, if you land and become Confused, the shockwave and following attacks can damage and kill friendly summons, such as those from the Flyswatters. Ally players are except from this}
The danger of this move comes from it's super armor. If used irresponsibility, it's possible to impale oneself on enemy attacks due to the super armor, especially if it's multi-hit. The danger is increased if you use the spin too high and at too gentle an angle, as the Witch will lose control and her multi-hit, making her vulnerable to any retaliation until she lands for an extended period of time. Otherwise, this can be useful for stunlocking enemies with hitstun, especially if used against a wall.
Another problem with the move is that the spinning is purely percent based, meaning it relies on the broom's Magical Attack for damage, something brooms aren't exactly good for. This lowers it's ability to do damage without having something drastic such as a +12 broom {Very expensive and hard to get}. The shockwave, however, is purely fixed, and should deal decent damage.
Note that this move has no probability chances, and performs exactly the same every time.
Raging Flame FurnaceElemental Fire
SP to MAX: 800 {16 levels. Requires 5 levels in Lava Potion No. 9}
Consumes 1 clear cube fragment on casting.
Raging Flame Furnace is one of four machines, our highest tier normal moves. Upon casting, the Witch creates a Flame Furnace in front of her in the likeness of Jackie and jumps onto the bellows. Every time the Witch jumps on the bellow, it causes eight flaming coals to launch out of the furnace and pelt the nearby area. If the Witch rapidly taps attack, she can cause more waves of coal to burst forth from the furnace before it ends. {Note that tapping the skill key does not work here, unlike the other machines} Using the directional keys, the Witch can also direct where the coals fall, allowing some aiming. Unique to Raging Flame Furnace, if the Witch jumps, she can cancel the move and immediately return to standing, something the other machines cannot do. This causes the furnace to explode prematurely and deal damage, otherwise it will explode at the end of it's duration.
Success rates affect how the coals behave. In a normal success, the coals are smoldering and will explode upon reaching the ground, dealing splash damage. Sleeper causes flaming coals to fire out, which deal increased fire damage and have a larger splash radius, as well as boosting the end machine explosion damage. Failure causes cold coals to fly out, which break on contact with an enemy, deal no splash, and cause much less damage. It's important to note that no matter how many coals explode on an enemy, only three max can deal damage, the rest will be ignored by that particular mob. Otherwise, the exploding coals will always knock down anyone that lacks super armor, allowing you to basically keep enemies locked down with constant waves of knockdown-inducing explosions.
As one of the three 'rideable' machines, Raging Flame Furnace protects the Witch from 80% of all incoming damage. However, anything that strikes the machine also damages the Witch, increasing the Witch's hitbox size. The machine will also break after taking a certain amount of damage, but by the time you max the machine, it should have at least as much HP, if not more than, you. If the machine breaks, you just avoided death. {Note that certain places nerf machine HP, namely Tower of the Dead, where they seem to be made of glass, and obviously PvP. The machine end explosion also seems to deal Neutral damage, as of testing with Delezie's elemental shield}
Leveling the skill increases the damage and HP of the machine.
GravitasElemental Shadow
SP to MAX: 800 {16 levels. Requires 5 levels in Devolution Flyswatter}
Consumes 1 clear cube fragment on casting.
As proof of our mastery of the sciences, when Gravitas is cast, the Witch creates a machine in the likeness of Pluto's head, which quickly creates a large magical rune in a circle around it. The machine then quickly reverses gravity for anyone caught in the radius of the rune, sending them flying into the air for heavy shadow damage. As the enemy falls to the ground, the machine explodes, causing anyone who lands on it to suffer additional damage.
Success mostly alters Gravitas' damage, with Sleeper doing the most shadow damage, while Failure reduces damage dealt and removes the ability to liftoff enemies {Note that the Failure still does Fixed instead of Percent, the tooltip is in error}. This, as you could expect, is fairly bad, as the liftoff normally gives breathing room and time to set up another spell, even shattering Super Armor.
Gravitas is unique among the machines in that it's the only one the Witch can't 'ride'. While this means it can't be used as a shield like the others, it also means it can be cast and dropped, leaving it to do it's damage while the Witch sets up something else. It's not a long period of free time, the machine finishes quick, but because of it's liftoff, the Witch has time to either combo the enemies with something else {Like the Flyswatters}, or set up another spell or machine. For maximum effect, it's recommended to approach an enemy on the Y axis, the depth axis, and cast the machine so that they run into it. There's very few Y-axis ranged moves, so taking full advantage of Gravitas' AoE helps greatly. Gravitas also seems to have infinite Z range, as it can hit mobs that are so high in the air that they're offscreen.
{Interesting to note, the machine end explosion seems to deal Neutral damage, as of testing with Delezie's elemental shield. Gravitas' explosion also seems to be slightly off hitbox, or at least perception, favouring the higher Y axis over the low}
Leveling merely increases the damage.
Florae ColliderElemental Light
SP to MAX: 780 {13 levels. Requires 5 levels in Broomstick Spin}
Consumes 2 clear cube fragment on casting.
Florae Collider creates a large electric collider topped with a likeness of Florae's head in front of the Witch. The Witch teleports herself into the hamster wheel besides it and begins running to power the machine, causing it to electrify nearby enemies with light damage. The machine strikes fast enough, as well as inducing slight immobilization, that it stunlocks most enemies to a standstill {It's not perfect, however, and certain mobs can work around it}. Tapping attack causes the Witch to run faster, generating more electricity and striking more enemies at once. The electric strikes are capable of slight AoE damage, allowing them to hit enemies not being directly targeted, but do not seem to stack with each other. The collider explodes after a period of time, or if it suffers too much damage.
Success rate alters both damage output and the amount of enemies the machine is capable of striking at once, but in a different way than usual. Normal and Sleeper can target up to 4 individual enemies at once, provided the Witch is running at max speed, and damage more if others are near the strikes to suffer the AoE. Sleeper deals increased light damage and gains a slight chance to electrocute enemies. Failure can only target up to two enemies max because the Witch is too busy being shocked by the Collider to run, disabling the action command that would normally allow two more targets {The Witch suffers no ill effects from this}.
Collider protects the Witch from 80% of all incoming damage, just like the other rideable machines, but has the slight bonus of causing the Witch to not count as touching the ground. Because the Witch is inside the hamster wheel, with it itself being positioned slightly in the air, attacks with zero Z range {the up and down axis}, such as an earthquake, will not harm the Witch or machine.
Because of the hitstun, Collider is generally seen solely as a support move, especially since it's damage trails behind Raging Flame Furnace and the current king, Mega Drill. While the damage isn't as good as the other machines, it's still pretty decent, but the hitstun undeniably plays the most important role, regardless. Using Collider while enemies are under Acid Rain, Lava Potion, and/or Shururu means effective mob control while stacking the damage of everything. In parties, it also helps hold enemies for allies, either to prevent an enemy from attacking and allow allies to attack freely, to keep mobs in ally AoEs {EX: A Soul Bender's ghost auras}, or to simply give a breather for cooldowns. Collider also has rather high Z range, allowing it to catch enemies far in the air, and typically keep them there with the hitstun.
{Note that certain places nerf machine HP, namely Tower of the Dead, where they seem to be made of glass, and obviously PvP. The machine end explosion also seems to deal Neutral damage, as of testing with Delezie's elemental shield}
Leveling the skill increases damage, duration, and HP of the machine, along with the Electrocution's strength, chance, and level.
Mega DrillElemental Ice
SP to MAX: 780 {13 levels. Requires 5 levels in Acid Rain}
Consumes 2 clear cube fragment on casting.
Megadrill, once debated in usefulness, now considered the strongest move Witches have. The Witch summons up a rapidly self-assembling drill tank, shaped in the likeness of Frosty's head, over her head. When the tank is complete, the Witch tosses it on the ground, creating a shockwave of damage, then teleports herself into the cockpit and turns the machine on. While the Witch is in Mega Drill, she can move the machine with the arrow keys, and rapidly tap attack to increase the drill's speed and suction. Enemies near the drill bit are pulled toward the tip and suffer constant ice damage, typically hitstunning anything without Super Armor or high hit recovery into a constant stunlock. The drill explodes after a period of time, or if it suffers too much damage.
Normal success drill does as it described above, while Sleeper gives the drill increased ice damage. If the drill fails, the Witch ends up tossing it at a diagonal angle, where it explodes on impact, dealing pitiful damage in comparison to a success.
As of Revolution, Mega Drill has received a large buff, mostly towards speed, and is now able to inflict massive damage, especially under Acid Rain. It quite possibly even outdamages our Awakening, Fusion Craft {It does roughly twice as much damage as Fusion Craft for my Witch, in my tests}. It's easily the strongest machine, with Raging Flame Furnace pulling up in second place. The drill also functions as excellent mob control, as the suction from the drill and speed from the tank allows you to control where most mobs go by dragging them to where you want, such as under Lava Potion/Acid Rain.
While the drill protects Witches from 80% of all incoming damage, it's possibly one of the most unsafe machines due to it's short range. If the enemy is able to resist the hitstun, or has Super Armor, they can attack through the drill, damaging it and the Witch. Normally this isn't a problem, Mega Drill even receives bonus HP from Befriend Jack Frost and it's EX passive, but there's always exceptions, mostly gimmicky monsters from places like Ancient Dungeons, Otherverse, or Despair.
{Note that certain places nerf machine HP, namely Tower of the Dead, where they seem to be made of glass, and obviously PvP. The machine end explosion also seems to deal Neutral damage, as of testing with Delezie's elemental shield}
Leveling the skill increases the damage and HP of the machine.
- Job Awaken Abilities -
These are the skills learned upon Awakening as the dreaded and feared... Trickster! Awakenings in general always include the super flashy Awakening, a Awakening Passive, and two EX Skills {Different from EX Passives in that they required SP instead of TP, and are active skills instead of passives}, which are always an upgraded version of a class-specific skill.
Lucky FeelingSP to MAX: 210 {8 levels}
Lucky Feeling can be a handy little skill. When the Witch manages a normal success or Sleeper, there is a chance that Lucky Feeling will activate, shown by a spinning piece of candy besides the Witch's head. The candy lasts only a short period of time, depending on the last skill cast {Lasts less for something quick like EMM, lasts longer for something that takes time to use like Florae Collider}, and buffs the next skill's normal success and Sleeper chances. Generally, it's almost like giving all your success/sleeper chances a higher base boost. Unfortunately, it did not receive a substantial buff like Lollipop from Revolution, so at max level it only has a 50% chance of activating, buffing Success/Sleeper by 8%. This skill becomes much more effective with something like Magical Festival and lower tier spell spam, as that gives it many more chances to activate, and Lollipop would normally be used up much faster in such a build. But with the new buff to Lollipop and the possibilities from overleveling it{read Lollipop's entry}, a Witch who focuses mostly on the more time consuming machines can get away with just Lollipop. Either way, if you have the SP, more chances to Sleeper is always a good thing.
Leveling increases the activation chance by 3.33%, starting at 30%, and the Success/Sleeper chances by 1%, starting at 2%.
Fusion CraftDeals all four Elements
SP to MAX: 880 {11 levels. Requires 2 levels in each Befriend}
Consumes 5 clear cube fragment on casting.
Fusion Craft, the ultimate display of Witch knowledge and power...!
...Using a bit of knowledge from other player classes, too.
Fusion Craft starts with the Witch laying down Florae Rasa, a large metallic circle powered by a Florae generator. The move functions similarly to the Soul Bender's ghost Rhasa, Carrier of Plague {Rasa = Rhasa?}. Rhasa debuffs enemies who wander in his aura with a range of debuffs, most notably slow. Florae Rasa causes constant light damage and inflicts the immobilization debuff, trapping most mobs for the rest of the move {Unfortunately, some mobs can completely resist it, especially in later dungeons}. After that, the Witch builds a Lantern Runner Factory, which pumps out Lantern Runners {Obvious alternate versions of Land Runners from Mechanics}. The Lantern Runners move and seek out enemies, which they self-destruct on, causing fire damage. Next the Witch constructs a Frosty Spinner in the center of the Florae Rasa, which acts like Brawler's Junk Spin. {Junk Spin causes the Brawler to kick and punch in place, tossing random garbage out in both directions} The Frosty Spinner, well, spins, and shoots off random junk that deals ice damage. All these machines continue running for a period of time as the Witch finishes building the grand finale, a large machine in the likeness of Pluto. When the Witches finishes hammering on the machine, the mouth opens up and unleashes Pluto Punch {an expy of Gae Bolg from Mechanics}, dealing massive shadow damage, destroying all the other machines, and launching the Witch across the screen.
It's worth watching at least once.
Fusion Craft, unfortunately/luckily, has no Success chances. It will always perform the same way. Like the other machines, though, it still has action commands, and rapidly tapping attack causes the Frosty Spinner to... spin faster, tossing junk out quicker, and the Lantern Runner Factory to pump out Lantern Runners faster. Another interesting thing to note is that Fusion Craft doesn't simply reduce damage like the other machines, the animation becomes entirely made of invincibility frames shortly after the Witch constructs the Lantern Runner Factory. This makes the Witch completely unkillable {Barring a few very and rare cheating gimmicks} while the attack plays, after the start up. This can be very useful, allowing you to flatout ignore retaliation and even most gimmicks {Cinder of King's Relic comes to mind}. There's a few drawbacks, however.
Fusion Craft, like pretty much every other Awakening, is nerfed considerably due to it's extended cooldown {125 seconds} and extremely high SP cost {880}. The extreeemely looong cooooldown reduces Fusion Craft's usefulness greatly, as even though it's capable of decent burst damage, the more spammable moves that can be used several times more during it's cooldown {Which is pretty much everything else} can overtake it through sheer volume. This is a rather common and glaring weakness in most Awakenings, as they're too flashy and don't deal enough damage for the huge costs involved, so it's not really Fusion Craft's fault. This is further made difficult, however, by how tight on SP Witches become. The cost of Fusion Craft means not getting something else, making it's limited use due to cooldown even more of a problem.
Now, that's not to say the move is completely useless, it's just not normally considered worth the cost. If you're a Witch who just has to have the pinnacle of our work and science, and feel you can stomach the cost, it's all yours. {I know I still wanted it} This is merely suppose to be a word of caution, like the rest of the entries, so you know what you're getting into.
Like all Awakenings, though, Fusion Craft is due for a large buff in a coming patch, alongside some massive skill changes and the new 80 cap. It's rather far off, but something to watch for incase the tables completely and satisfyingly turn on us.
Giant FlyswatterElemental Shadow
SP to MAX: 240 {3 levels. Requires 5 levels in Devolution Flyswatter}
Consumes 2 clear cube fragment on casting.
{This move is Mixed, it uses Percent and Fixed calculations}
Take everything you know, love, and hate about Devolution Flyswatter. Make it bigger. Bigger.
Now you have Giant Flyswatter.
Giant Flyswatter acts basically identically to Devolution Flyswatter, except it's larger, hits with harder shadow damage, and has a longer cooldown. Damage-wise, it's one of the best burst moves Witches can have. However, it loses some summoning rate, maxing at around 50% {Believe Devolution can reach 80%} in trade for the huge damage. You still have the basic summon formula, though: Failure spawns enemy Hunters, Success summons ally Goblin Archers, Sleeper summons ally Tau Warriors.
Another difference between the two is that Giant Flyswatter can't curse enemies like Devolution Flyswatter. Instead, Giant Flyswatter has something in the oppisite direction, it buffs the Witch. Normal success does nothing, but Failure buffs Attack Strength by 3%, at the cost of -10% attack/move speeds... Not very useful. Sleeper, however, gives a whopping +10% to all stats at max level. That's on par with some very expensive unique equipment, like Pel Los Glory or Ancient Elven Ring, and it adds it to all of the Witch's stats. That won't seem like much to begin with, but later on when you have 1000+ intelligence in town, that will be a very nice boost to your damage, as well as your defense and mana reserves thanks to the SPI and VIT. The buff also lasts 30 seconds, the same as the summons, while the move's cooldown is only 20 seconds. {16 seconds with max Befriend Pluto}Combine that with the Lollipop overleveling I talked about earlier {See the Lollipop entry}, and you have a rather reliable and large stat buffer. Both buffs also apply to nearby allies, if they're in range to be whacked by the flyswatter, roughly.
Leveling the skill increases damage, summon rate, and Sleeper buff strength.
Note, even though Giant Flyswatter does do Shadow damage {Confirmed on Delezie's elemental shift}, it will not activate the shadow mark for Elemental Burn.
Broomstick BounceElemental Light
SP to MAX: 120 {1 level}
Consumes 2 clear cube fragment on casting.
{This move is Mixed, it uses Percent and Fixed calculations}
Broomstick Bounce is simply fun incarnate, like the Witch herself. The move can only be used in the air, just like Broomstick Spin. Upon casting, the Witch will go into the same spin, with broomstick extended out, but shortly after starting, crashes to the ground. The crash creates a very damaging shockwave as the Witch bounces back into the air, still spinning and moving forward. This is followed by another crash, another bounce, and ends with the Witch slamming herself for a third and final time, pausing slightly before hand for dramatic effect.
Besides the bouncing, Broomstick Bounce functions rather identically to Broomstick Spin. The spinning inflicts light damage, and the Witch will spin faster the more times she hits something. The spinning is also purely Percent, unlike the shockwaves, which are pure Fixed. Bounce can inflict electrocution, just like spin, and occasionally inflicts confusion on the final bounce, while also slightly, slightly healing the Witch.
Unlike Broomstick Spin, however, Broomstick Bounce can be used without the usual threat of impaling yourself. The shockwaves, which are Fixed and so your main source of damage, have some decent AoE range. This means a Witch can simply be on the X axis directly above or below her target, and the shockwaves will still hit while neatly avoiding having to get hit by most attacks. Otherwise, Broomstick Bounce is just as good at stunlocking enemies with the hitstun as Spin, even better thanks to never having the spinning out of control issue. The bounce shockwaves also tend to help juggle the enemy with the spin portion, if used directly on a foe, allowing you to continuously hit them the entire attack. The damage is very good, if you can land all three bounces, easily on par with Giant Flyswatter, with the spin portion being gravy on top.
Remember that this move has no probability chances, and performs exactly the same every time.
Note, even though Broomstick Bounce does do Light damage {Confirmed on Delezie's elemental shift}, it will not activate the light mark for Elemental Burn.
-- EX Passives --
EX passives become avaliable upon Awakening as a Trickster. At least, to look at for the most part. These cost TP instead of SP {Technical Points instead of Skill Points... I think? I'm actually not fully sure}. TP is gained every level, starting at 50, meaning you have 21 in all at 70. Also meaning you can't afford most for awhile, and some are even level locked. Regardless, these can be extremely powerful later on, but are always passives. All they can do is upgrade an existing skill, sometimes simply by giving it more damage, rarely by changing how it works {It should go without saying that the prerequisite will always be the move in question being upgraded}. Before Rev, there wasn't a lot to choose from, but now there's a plethora of new, great passives still mixed in with the old and relatively useless ones. Infact, there's kinda too many to pick from, so the most difficult part is deciding which to get. Allow me to introduce you to them all, and highlight their strengths and weaknesses, as usual:
TP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Aura Shield Upgrade applies to Mana Shield, probably a slight translation error. It boosts the amount of damage Mana Shield can absorb by 1% per level, and I believe it means reduces the MP to Damage ratio by 2% a level {Say, if you left it at level 1, 2.5 mana per damage point, it'd probably be 2.45 with one level of this}. This doesn't really amount to much considering it uses up a whole TP, especially compared to other TP upgrades {Megadrill can gain +12% more damage and +10% health for just 2 TP}, but that'll be a rather common problem, as most of the old EX passives are just tiny compared to most of the new. If you do decide to get a level in this, it'll probably be because new, powerful class-specific TPs always cost an even number, so you'll always have at least 1 TP left over, and this could be an optional place to dump it as one of the 1 TP cost skills.
Florae Circle UpgradeTP to MAX: 2 {1 level}
This TP upgrade changes the way Florae Circle works. Instead of spawning 3 orbs, it will now spawn 4, at the cost of -10% damage. As you probably can guess, that still comes out as a damage boost overall. But this is a skill Witches really have no reason to be using, so the upgrade isn't worth considering in the face of the other powerful Witch-specific ones.
TP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Lasher Upgrade upgrades Lasher's damage by 10% per level, and the buff power by 10% per level. Unfortunately, this one's basically like Florae Circle, as a move Witches have little reason using {There will be a lot like this}. Infact, the second half, the buff power, would be hard to even utilize, as Witch summons aren't damaging to begin with, nor do they last long or can be easily summoned. The increase in damage is also pitiful, considering it'd cost TP that could be better spent upgrading something really damaging, like Megadrill or Raging Flame Furnace, or even Magic Missile, which is the common class skill you should be using over this. TP to damage return is small here.
Ancient Library UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
The Ancient Library upgrade actually addresses the main weakness of Ancient Library: how low it's duration is compared to it's cooldown. It's just a shame that the boost is absolutely tiny. The TP upgrade adds 3% to duration, which comes out as just under 2 seconds {1.8}. That's hardly even enough to cast an additional spell, and definitely not worth wasting your TP on. Once again, the TP to damage return is too small here to normally consider, especially compared to the class-specific TPs.
Palm Blast UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
This TP is a little more respectable than the last few. The upgrade adds +10% to Palm Blast's damage per level, as well as increasing Launch distance by 10% {Thereby making it easier to bounce enemies off of walls for increased damage and air time}. Now how much does that actually amount to, I can't really say, melee-oriented Witches are rather rare, and I don't have a lot of information on them. Of course, if you have the spare TP, possibly from not needing to class-specific upgrades due to focusing on the dusts and melee moves, this would undoubtedly be a bonus. But since Palm Blast is the only melee move that's unaffected by dusts, and relies on Skill Conversion to be decent for Witches, it might not be worth it.
TP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Elemental Burn Upgrade can be rather useful, as it adds a 10% chance per level that a second elemental mark will light up whenever you activate one. That means that sometimes, you might cast a light spell, and both the light and ice markers will light up. It's not exactly reliable, but it could help if you focus mostly on the spells, and less on keeping your markers up all at once. Generally, if you end up with one SP over from all the class-specifics {Which always cost an even number}, this could be a decent dump for that last TP if you wish it so.
Cheeky Doll Shururu UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Shururu, our beloved doll and stalwart distraction! Here's a useful skill a Witch might have, so hopefully the TP upgrade would be just as useful. Well, sadly, it's not. Every level in the Cheeky Doll Shururu Upgrade boosts his debuff by 2% and duration by 1 second. 2% for a maxed Shururu, -8552 Magical Defense, comes out as only 171 more. This is far, far less than simply finding equipment to overlevel him by one {a level 21 Shururu gains 906 to the debuff, or -9458}, and quite simply not worth the TP compared to, well, something like a 12% boost to Megadrill for 2 TP. The duration increase is also even less than Ancient Library's, not enough to get any more damage in for sure.
Basic Training UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Simply put, Basic Training upgrades one's basic attacks. Infact, it adds 10% more damage per upgrade. That... doesn't really do anything for a normal Witch, and for melee-oriented Witches, I don't think it helps either, since it wouldn't affect the Dusts. I could be wrong, but Basic Training is what determines how much you do with your normal melee attacks, and the Dusts go over that, having their damage calculated from the spells.
This isn't something I've tested or even heard talked about, so if anyone knows for sure, just let me know.
Weapon Uppercut UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Weapon Uppercut Upgrade just upgrades Weapon Uppercut's damage by 10% per level, and the casting speed by 2% a level. Again, offers nothing to a Witch unless she is completely melee-oriented, but even then I don't think that will amount to a lot, since Uppercut is fairly weak compared to Dragon Fang, or even Palm Blast {Both of which have their own TPs}. Still, if you somehow have the spare TP, it's there to get.
Pluto UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
This EX passive here gives the skill Pluto a +10% to damage and +10% to range per level. That's not bad, but just like Florae Circle or Lasher, there's no real reason a Witch should have this skill as a normal attack in the first place, what with Magic Missile being the stronger and more spammable alternate. And so, there's no real reason to have this as a TP upgrade.
Dragon Fang UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Every level in this TP upgrade gives Dragon Fang another +10% damage boost, as well as a +8% attack speed. Same deal as Weapon Uppercut and Palm Blast, no reason to have it unless one is a melee-oriented Witch, and if you are, well, you could get this. Unfortunately, I am unsure of how this plays with the Dusts, just like Basic Training and Weapon Uppercut. Still, it should come out as something with Skill Conversion if nothing else.
Magic Missile UpgradeTP to MAX: 3 {3 levels}
Unlike the last few upgrades for skills a Witch might normally have, such as Shururu or Elemental Burn, Magic Missile Upgrade is actually very good. Every level adds +10% to attack strength and +7% to piercing strength. Since this is a skill you'd used with Magical Festival, turning it into a magical gatling gun, the boost adds up to quite a lot. Otherwise, if you merely use Magic Missile for filler, or not at all, the TP can go elsewhere more effectively.
Panzer Hodor UpgradeTP to MAX: 6 {3 levels}
This TP gives a chance to summon higher level Hodor when the spell Hired Summon: Panzer Hodor is cast. Every level in this gives an additional 25% chance and a bonus of 4 levels, so 75%+ chance to summon 12 level higher Hodor maxed. This... would be neat if Hodor was a skill worth getting as Witch. As explained in it's skill entry, though, there's few reasons for learning the spell beyond a gimmick or two, making the TP worth even less.
Lollipop UpgradeTP to MAX: 8 {4 levels}
I discussed this passive before in Lollipop's entry, it gives Lollipop's counter +2 per level. This means you can cast another two probability-based spells and receive the success boost per Lollipop. This helps a lot if you find yourself relying on Lollipop, and even more if you plan on overleveling it, as I talked about. Otherwise, if Lollipop's current counter is fine for you, or if you don't even use it {Which would be... odd}, then there's little reason to get the TP. Just remember you don't have to go max or bust, if just 2 or 4 more casts will do it, then just get 1 or 2 upgrades.
Enhanced Magic Missile UpgradeTP to MAX: 6 {3 levels}
I also talked about this passive a bit before, in EMM's entry. This upgrade gives EMM a +12% to attack strength, as well as increasing it's Y and X axis range by 32 and 52 pixels respectively. {Not the most helpful measurement} +12% is a pretty large damage boost, though EMM isn't exactly a huge damage dealer. The range boost can also add up to an impressive amount, to the point that there's hardly any aiming involved in EMM at max level beyond facing the right direction. Overall it's a good EX passive, but I would caution you to not spend too much on it here in place of something like another +12% damage for a machine. Otherwise, if you have the TP, you'll enjoy this upgrade.
Gravitas UpgradeTP to MAX: 4 {2 levels}
Like most EX passives, this one is simple. It boosts Gravitas' damage by +12% a level, as well as increasing launch strength +10% per level. The boost is good, and the liftoff increase means slightly more breather time as your enemies fly in the air. Not much, though. This will interest a Witch who uses Gravitas often, otherwise not.
Acid Rain UpgradeTP to MAX: 4 {1 level}
This is a slightly unique EX upgrade, which is what you usually get when it costs 4 TP for one level. The Acid Rain upgrade boosts Acid Rain's Physical Defense debuff by 10%, it's Ice Resistance debuff by 30%, and increases duration by 2 seconds. The duration boost is pretty tiny and not worth a whole lot, as we've been through with Ancient Library and Shururu, and the Physical Defense doesn't mean anything to a Witch, but the resistance debuff is interesting. Maxed, Acid Rain will remove -21 ice resistance from an enemy. With the 30% boost, it comes out as -27. That's about a -6 increase in the debuff. That sounds small at first, but something not mentioned in Acid Rain's tooltip is that it's debuff can stack up to three times. That means the EX upgrade's boost is effectively -18. What does that mean in terms of damage? Easiest way to find out with elemental damage is to divide the number in half to find the percent boost: so +12 to fire would mean 6% more fire damage, for example. So, that gives about a +9% to all ice moves under Acid Rain, including itself. If that doesn't sound like a lot, it's because it isn't, especially considering it costs 4 TP to get the boost. For that amount, you could upgrade Megadrill by +24% more damage, which is what Acid Rain primarily boosts in the first place. If you have the TP, this would be nice to have, but considering it's huge cost, you'll probably want to make sure you can max some other stronger EX upgrades first.
Lava Potion UpgradeTP to MAX: 4 {1 level}
This is exactly the same as Acid Rain's upgrade, except instead of increasing the physical defense debuff {Which Lava lacks}, it increases the Burn inflicted from a Sleeper Lava Potion by 1 level, which as discussed in Lava Potion's entry, hardly does any damage in the first place. Otherwise everything else is the same: it boosts duration by 2 seconds and fire resistance debuff by 30%, or -6. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to stack it's debuff like Acid Rain, so it's damage boost should stay around 3%. That makes it even worth less than Acid Rain for the huge TP cost: the duration is tiny and Raging Flame Furnace can gain +24% more damage with 4 TP in it's upgrade rather than 4 TP for +3% damage here for this one.
Black Manteau UpgradeTP to MAX: 6 {3 levels}
Ah, fantastic Black Manteau, what does it's upgrade do? +10% damage and +1 to Blind level, per level. That's... kind of disappointing, isn't it. Manteau is not a real good damage move, even if a Witch were to max it, it's ability to Blind mobs is the main attraction. The would mean the +1 to Blind level would make sense, if it didn't cost so much TP for only a single level. 1-3 levels will hardly register a difference, unfortunately, and put you out a large amount of TP. That leaves no real reason to get this passive upgrade.
Broomstick Spin UpgradeTP to MAX: 6 {3 levels}
Broomstick Spin Upgrade enhances Broomstick Spin's damage by 12% {A common number in EX passives as you've probably picked up on} and reduces the confusion rate by -1.5% a level. As talked about in Broomstick Spin's entry, it's damage isn't great until the shockwave, due to being percent. So, again, the TP here could be better spent on a much stronger move elsewhere. The confusion reduction could be useful, but it would require a hefty amount of SP to get a large boost. From the estimates I've heard, Broomstick Spin seems to confuse 1 out of 8 times, or 12.5%. At max, that would mean this TP would lower that to about 8%, so about 1 every 12.5 times you'd suffer confusion. That means having about an additional 50% more confusion free spins on average {Assuming 1/8 is right to start with}. How much this is worth for the TP would be up to you, but as for the most part the confusion isn't exactly life-threatening, lasts a short period of time, and can be cured with an item if need be.
Devolution Flyswatter UpgradeTP to MAX: 6 {3 levels}
Unlike what you'd expect, Devolution Flyswatter's upgrade does not boost damage at all. Instead, it boosts Sleeper chance by 6% per level, while lowering the Failure rate by -4% a level. Considering Devolution Flyswatter is incapable of failing with max Befriend Pluto, the latter part of the upgrade is meaningless unless you're using Flyswatter without Pluto. That means it costs 2 TP to upgrade the Sleeper chance by 6%. This.. is also rather useless, if you have Befriend Pluto again and Lollipop. The two combine give it an 80% Sleeper chance. Two more levels in Lollipop, which is fairly easy to do with the right top and avatar, means a 100% Sleeper chance without the TP upgrade. So unless you find it impossible to overlevel Lollipop, and just need more Devolution Flyswatter Sleepers, this TP is useless to you.
Florae Collider UpgradeTP to MAX: 4 {2 levels}
Another oddball like Devolution Flyswatter's upgrade, Florae's EX passive does not upgrade it's damage, unlike all the other machines. Instead, it merely boosted Sleeper chances by 5% and lowers the Failure chance by -4% a level. Unlike Devolution Flyswatter, however, this is slightly more useful due to Collider having a much higher Failure and much lower Sleeper base chance to begin with, since it's a machine. Still, as before, with max Lollipop and Befriend Florae, the Sleeper chance is already at 75%, and the machine will be incapable of failing when used with Lollipop. Florae's sleeper offers only the usual damage increase and slight electrocution {The electrocution being very small}, and Florae Collider itself is not well known for it's damage. The TP will be better spent elsewhere, unless you absolutely positively must have more Sleeper Colliders, or would like to have less Failures when not using Lollipop {Though you could simply put the TP into Lollipop's EX, unless you weren't using Lollipop at all, though that'd be odd}.
Mega Drill UpgradeTP to MAX: 4 {2 levels}
Megadrill Upgrade. +12% to damage per level, +10% more health per level. Megadrill is possibly the most damaging move Witches have, and you can add more damage to it, as well as more health so it won't explode before finishing.This is probably the most useful EX passive, as you've seen from my constant comparisons; the TP cost for damage boost is just huge.
Raging Flame Furnace UpgradeTP to MAX: 4 {2 levels}
And just like Megadrill's upgrade, there's nothing to dislike about Raging Flame Furnace's upgrade. It adds +12% to damage and +10% to Sleeper coal explosion sizes {The default is 150% bigger than normal success, so it can reach 160% and 170% with this TP}. The damage bonus is just great, as Flame Furnace is a superb damage dealer, coming in behind Megadrill, and the explosion bonus means extended range with Sleepers, and also easier to strike an enemy with the max of 3 explosions, helping to maximize the possible damage.
- Quest Points -
Though technically not skills persay, this seems as good a place as any to discuss Quest Point skills, or QP for short. Quest Points are gained from doing Epic Quests, making completing those even more important than before. QP skills are always passives, are the same regardless of class, and boost your stats. It's quite simple, really:
+ StrengthQP to MAX: 540 {27 levels}
+6 STR a level, simple as that. Really no use for a Witch, as INT is what we wish to stack.
+ IntelligenceQP to MAX: 540 {27 levels}
+6 INT a level, like + Strength. Since Witches are mostly Fixed, INT is veeeery important to us, making this a wise investment.
+ VitalityQP to MAX: 540 {27 levels}
Like all the stat QPs, this gives +6 per level, but to VIT. This will increase one's health, health regen, and defense, if one feels they should need it. Witches should be fine without it, though, relying more on Broomstick Control, mob control, the machines, or even Mana Shield.
+ SpiritQP to MAX: 540 {27 levels}
Yes, it is +6 to SPI a level. SPI is the magic equivalent to VIT, so it boosts magic defense, max mana and mana regen. Also like VIT, it shouldn't be required, but if a Witch finds herself needing more mana, this could be a way to increase it.
+ Movement SpeedQP to MAX: 100 {5 levels}
This one boosts Movement speed by +0.4% a level. While some may think this would be useless to a Witch, because of the broomstick dashing, that is actually affected by movement speed. So, more movement speed means faster broomstick dashes. However, Witches are pretty much the fastest to begin with, so one could live without it.
+ Physical Critical HitQP to MAX: 175 {5 levels}
Just like the General class skill of the same name, this QP boosts Physical Critical Hits, by 1% a level. Annnnd just like the General class skill, no good for Witches, who are magical, not physical.
+Magic Critical HitQP to MAX: 175 {5 levels}
Same deal with Physical, this is just like the Magic Critical Hit general skill. +1% to critical hits per level for magic attacks. Useful to have, as criticals deal 1.5x more damage than normal.
+ Hit RateQP to MAX: 700 {20 levels}
As the name suggests, + Hit Rate boosts one's Hit Rate, by 0.5% a level. This is extremely useful, especially in late game and on higher roads, where mobs gain extremely high evasion rate. It's recommended to always max this to combat the ever growing mob evasion rates.
QP to MAX: 700 {20 levels}
+0.5% to evasion every level you put into this. Yeap. This can be handy if you have the spare QP, a lucky evasion here or there can help avoid a deadly attack, let you escape a harsh combo, or prevent a cast from being interrupted.
QP to MAX: 160 {8 levels}
Every level here will give you a sold +65 more HP regen. This can be rather useful, as Witch has a low amount of HP compared to most classes, and abilities like Broomstick Control and Machines should give a lot of downtime for it to replenish one's small reverses. It can save one's life rather often, every time you come near death, it would've most likely been full death without it. Otherwise if you don't feel you need any extra health regen, you can stick the QP elsewhere.
+ MP ReplenishQP to MAX: 160 {8 levels}
Basically the same as HP Replenish, this adds +50 MP regen per level. Helpful to combat high MP guzzling moves like the machines and save you any possible money you might spend on potions. Place some QP here if you feel you could use more magic in your life.
+ Elemental AttackQP to MAX: 700 {10 levels}
A handy damage booster, this adds +1 to your elemental attacks every level, so +10 max. If you recall before, that comes out as about +5% more damage on all your element moves. Also recall that basically every single Witch attack counts as an element, meaning this gives a solid +5% boost to your damage overall. Very useful to have, if you can afford the high QP cost.
+ All Element ResistanceQP to MAX: 200 {10 levels}
This is like +Elemental Attack in reverse, adding one to all your elemental resistances, again coming out as +10, or +5%. Handy to have, not super expensive, but not exactly game changing. Best to only get this if you still have QP over from everything else.
QP to MAX: 700 {10 levels}
For every 70 QP you put in here, you get another +5 to your Base attack, or +50 max. Since Witches are mostly Fixed, this is very important. However, it's a bit of a tricky question to say if this gives a respectable damage boost or not. The simplest way to determine how much another +50 Base Attack will aid you is to take 50 divided by *Your Current Base Attack*. This gives you the percentage increase of damage you'll receive {In decimal, multiply by 100 for percent}.
This percentage increase will be lower as your Base Attack increases, but it's a complicated explanation. To see what's going on behind this, see the Equipment section.
III. Equipment
You think us to be young, innocent, and foolish?
We are the ones who put away Ghoulguish!
We are responsible for Seria's tutelage!
Try me, you'll see, I invented hubris!
This section won't be anywhere near as detailed as the skills section, it's just here to try and help explain some things like Percent and Fixed and Base Attack, as well as pointing out what end game equipment a Witch can use most effectively. Mind your head on the numbers, they're everywhere.
- Fixed VS Percent-
The simplest definitions of Percent and Fixed are this:Percent: Damage relies on the stats Physical Attack or Magical Attack, depending on damage type.
Fixed: Damage relies on the stat Base Attack.
That's technically it, oh and both use INT or STR as additional multipliers, depending on attack type again, but mostly focus on the Attack values.
So why the fuss on the difference?
Because Physical/Magical Attack can only be increased in a certain way, while Base Attack has it's own method.
For Percent users who wish to get more Physical/Magical attack, they typically take their weapons to Kiri's Reinforcer. Paying a sum of gold, depending on weapon level and rarity, and Ryan Cokes, depending on reinforce level, you can attempt to reinforce your weapon. Every reinforcement level is shown as +X besides a weapon name, so +7 means it's been reinforced 7 times. Getting up to +4 is easy, but beyond that there's a chance that it can fail and the weapon will lose a reinforce level. After +7, there's a chance it will fail and lose 3 levels. Attempting to go beyond +10 has a high chance of destroying the weapon.
Now, every reinforcement level adds to Physical/Magical attack by giving the weapon Piercing. These values appear in blue under their respective damage type, so Physical Piercing appears under Physical Attack. Piercing is unique to Reinforcing, and ignores enemy armor. How much there is depends on the weapon's base Physical/Magical attack {Higher base, higher pierce} and the reinforce type. The bonus from reinforcing is exponential, giving little at first, but giving more and more as the weapon's reinforcement climbs higher, to the point that +12 can give more bonus Piercing than base Attack values.
Percent-based classes are rather reliant on this piercing to improve their damage, so typically try to reinforce their weapons as much as possible. This is a very expensive and frustrating process, due to it being so luck based.
For Fixed users, such as we Witches, this concept of Base Attack has been a relatively new thing. Originally, most of our time was spent focusing on stacking intelligence instead. But now there's the new stat, Base Attack, which directly affects Fixed damage, and with Suju, there is a new Refiner {Refine, not Reinforce}, which allows a user to refine their weapon and boost it's Base Attack. It works differently from Kiri's, however.
First, the Refiner only accepts Powerful Energy as payment, which can be obtained as a drop in the Suju Tournaments {Level 70 dungeons} and is untradeable. The number of required Energies increases with weapon level, rarity, and refine level. This means a lot of time will have to be personally spent in the Suju Tournaments if one wants to refine their weapon. The actual refining process seems to have a rather high failure rate compared to reinforcing, however, if the refinement process fails, the weapon does not lose a level, and has no chance of breaking. This means the process simply takes a long time to complete, and requires much grinding. Unfortunately for us, Refinement level caps at 7, but it is still a substantial boost, especially considering it's safer to reach.
But, well, what exactly does this Base Attack increase mean for us?
That will require some number crunching.
-Interlude: What is Base Attack Anyway?-
First, an bit of an explanation on how Fixed is calculated from Base Attack.
If you haven't noticed before, the Fixed numbers in your skill descriptions will change alongside your Base. This is easiest seen by simply removing and equipping your broom. This is because the Fixed value is a directly multiplied from the Base. The multiplier for this comes from the skills, which vary between each other, and increase as they level up. The easiest way to find this out is to take the Fixed value of the skill and divide it by your Base Attack stat, and you will get the skill's multiplier for that level, for that particular value {If the skill has several, like our probability-based moves, then you'd have to do it several times}.
For example, let's see what Gravitas' normal success multiplier is at max level {16}.
Here's some calculation examples off of my character, incoming math:
Gravitas deals 43681 damage. Divide that by my base, 1227, to get about 35.6.
43681 / 1227 = 35.6
This means for every Base Attack point I have, Gravitas gains 35.6 more Fixed damage at level 16.
How about Enhanced Magic Missile?
Well, the Fixed portion does 13178 for me on a moderate success, so...
13178 / 1227 = 10.74
That means Enhanced Magic Missile gets 10.74 more Fixed for every Base Attack you have.
Just incase you might be worried this is off because it's based on my stats, and doesn't have any relation to yours, let's see what number I get without my broom:
Gravitas now deals 26166 on a moderate success, and I have 735 Base.
26166 / 735 = 35.6
Still the same, yes?
{Occasionally you will get odd numbers, such as my EMM changing from 10.7 to 10.4, but I believe this can be attributed to the game's internal rounding. Notice it never displays decimal numbers. This won't affect damage, just trip up your calculating}
That explains how to find the multiplier, but doesn't answer how much Base Attack actually helps. Well, another problem with Base Attack is that we can't say "50 points of Base Attack means 8% more damage". This is because the percentage increase {How much damage is gained} from that 50 will vary between people, depending on their Base Attack. However, there is a very simple formula for figuring this out: You take the amount of Base Attack that's being added {Let's say 50, in this case} and divide it by your current Base Attack {Let's say, my 1227}.
For me, that comes out as 0.0407.
50 / 1227 = 0.0407
This means I get about 4% more damage from 50 more base.
How can I be sure this applies to all my moves, since the multipliers vary? Let's crunch some more nuuumbeeers.
Using my character's stats again, let's take EMM's Fixed portion, divide it by my base, getting it's multiplier. Then let's take it's multiplier, and times it by 50, the amount of Base I'd add. That gives us how much Fixed is added to EMM from the additional Base. Now we take that and divide it by the current EMM damage again, to give us how large the additional Fixed is compare to the current overall amount {Thus giving us the percent increase}.
13178 / 1227 = 10.74 * 50 = 537 / 13178 = 0.0407
50 more base gives me 537 more Fixed for EMM, which is 4.07% of my current Fixed damage.
Well, how about Acid Rain?
3018 / 1227 = 2.46 * 50 = 123 / 3018 = 0.0407
Mega Drill?
4427 / 1227 = 3.608 * 50 = 180.4 / 4427 = 0.0407
Gravitas again?
43681 / 1227 = 35.6 * 50 = 1780 / 43681 = 0.0407
I'mm seeeing paatteerrns.
So, 50 more base for my 1227 base is a 4.07% increase in damage.
However, if I lower my base again, 50 for 735 is 6.8% more damage. {50 / 735 = 0.068}
This does not mean that the more Base Attack you stack, the less damage it gives; it still gives the same amount every time. It's just that the bigger your overall Base Attack, the smaller the boost will seem.
The simplest way I can think of to explain this is numbers again:
We can all agree 1 is always worth 1, and never changes.
Adding 1 to 10 is a 10% increase to the number, agreed? {1/10 = 0.1}
Adding 1 to 100 is a 1% increase to the number, also agreed? {1/100 = 0.01}
It's adding the same value to both, but the second number is so big that the 1 seems smaller in comparison, even though it's the same. That's pretty much the same with Base Attack, only we don't know what 1 Base Attack equals {Because it varies between everything}. All we can find out is the % increase it gives the current number.
SO BASICALLY, Base Attack increases your damage by a static amount, but we can only determine the relative amount. To find this out, simply divide the Base Attack being added by your current Base Attack, and you'll get the damage percent boost it will give, which is the closest thing we can measure.
*Base Attack being Added* / *Current Base Attack* = *Damage Percent Boost* {In decimal form, times it by 100 to get the actual percent}
Many thanks to Dice Dragon for information on how Base Attack works.
-Back to Fixed VS Percent-
So now you hopefully understand the basics on Percent, Fixed, and Base Attack calculations. Because Witch has so few Percent moves, most of them being Mixed with Fixed, you shouldn't have to worry too much about your Magical Attack stat, and thus not need to worry about Reinforcement, only Refinement for your Base Attack. Reinforcing is still an option, especially if you use something like Magic Missile spam with Magical Festival, but it's hardly crucial, so you won't even have to risk going beyond +10 and possibly destroy your broom. For the most part, focus on the Base Attack and you'll be grinning.
This brings me to discussing actual equipment.
-Looking for What to Wear-
{Useful Endgame Equips}
For the most part, as you start out with Witch, you will be perfectly fine simply sticking to Magic Seal equipment. The equipment is very strong, basically free Rare drops, and much better than having to wear weaker common Blues, as well as being extremely common {Much moreso than normal rare Purple sets}. For more information on Magic Seals, simply see this guide written by lolwitchlol.
Just keep your Magic Seals up to your level, perhaps with some Pixie Cs or Bs, as well as Intelligence C-Bs, and your damage will be just fine. {You can go higher but it's not necessary, unless you're trying to build something like a level 70 set, which can be very powerful in it's own right} Hit rate will also help a lot early on, since you can't get the QP bonus until level 50. Whatever other bonuses you want/get are up to you.
Just keep your Magic Seals up to your level, perhaps with some Pixie Cs or Bs, as well as Intelligence C-Bs, and your damage will be just fine. {You can go higher but it's not necessary, unless you're trying to build something like a level 70 set, which can be very powerful in it's own right} Hit rate will also help a lot early on, since you can't get the QP bonus until level 50. Whatever other bonuses you want/get are up to you.
Now, if you can get your hands on an actual normal Purple set {Also called Rares} for a Witch class, the bonus levels to the skills will be very helpful. Bonus levels in a Fixed skill are very beneficial, compared to Percent. Same goes for a normal Purple Broom, if you can find one. Otherwise just use those Magic Seals until you get near endgame.
There's also an equipment type called Legacies, and are most powerful in weapon form. Legacy Brooms tend to give +1 to all skills below it's level {Meaning, when a skill is first avaliable to learn}, among other bonuses special to that particular broom. These tend to be very expensive and hard to get, however, due to being avaliable only from Pots, which have an insanely low chance of giving anything besides White {NPC garbage} and Blue {Commons, grind} equipment.
Once you hit around 60-70, you'll start to want to look for endgame stuff. Here's some recommendations on what to get {Remember to also use the Equiptionary, the detailed ingame list of all equipment}:
-Brooms-
{Please note that these values were all taken from the Equiptionary, which tends to low ball stats, like Physical/Magic/Base attack. Most stat values on a weapon can vary, depending on it's quality, so if you actually get one of these, expect the numbers to be at least a little higher}
Also note, just because I didn't list a broom, doesn't make it crap; these are just what I think are ones you can comfortably use anywhere endgame. Brooms to aim for. If anyone thinks I missed good one, just tell me.
Uniques:
Uniques are the second rarest equipment type {not counting Chronicles, which are different}. They tend to be very rare drops, and expensive to make if one somehow manages to find a recipe. Some of the strongest brooms are Unique, though.
Level Required: 60
Physical Attack Strength: +597
Magic Attack Strength: +657
Base Attack Strength: +352
Intelligence +49
Exorcism Parameter +54
Move Speed +3%
Fire Resist +8
Raging Flame Furnace Skill Lvl +1
Lava Potion No. 9 Skill Lvl +1
Increases the Range Attack Strength by 10%.
{Note, this weapon can only be obtained though a recipe from Gabriel, or another player}
What really makes Oil Roller so strong is it's bonus feature, +10% to all range attack. That applies a majority of the Witches spells {Not all, some like the Flyswatters count as Melee}, and is fairly powerful. It also boosts Raging Flame Furnace and Lava Potion by one level, which as I mentioned before, means a lot more to a Fixed class than it would Percent.
The main drawback to using Oil Roller is that it's range boost does affect every move, nor does it stack with the Screaming Necklace, which is loss of +8% damage. For more on Screaming Necklace, see below in the Accessories section.
Titanic Flier
Level Required: 65
Physical Attack Strength: +647
Magic Attack Strength: +712
Base Attack Strength: +444
Intelligence +42
Exorcism Parameter +70
Move Speed +3%
Enhanced Magic Missile Skill Lvl +1
There's only one reason Titanic is considered so good, and that is because it has an extremely high Base Attack, like all of the Titanic series. Infact, Titanic Flier has the highest base attack of all brooms, and the Refiner in Suju can take that up to eleven. Only one other broom has as much Base Attack as Titanic, and that's Extreme Trite, but it itself is an Epic broom and thus extremely hard to get {Read more on it below}. Titanic also doesn't suffer from any stacking issues, like Oil Roller with Screaming Necklace.
Corrupt Blood Sweeper
Level Required: 68
Physical Attack Strength: +677
Magic Attack Strength: +745
Base Attack Strength: +402
Intelligence +44
Exorcism Parameter +80
Move Speed +3%
Light Resist +8
Shadow Damage +8
Hit Rate +1%
Befriend Pluto Skill Lvl +3
Gravitas Skill Lvl +1
Attacks with a 5% chance to summon Fragments of Delezie.
Decrease 1% HP every 30 seconds on equip.
10% Additional Damage on attack.
{Note, this weapon can only be obtained though a recipe from Gabriel, or another player}
Like the penultimate weapon of some RPG games, Corrupt Blood Sweeper is a double-edged broom. It's Base Attack is nearly on par with Titanic Flier, it has some great bonuses, like +4% Shadow damage and +3 Befriend Pluto, but the main attraction is the last bit. +10% more damage when attacking. And unlike Oil Roller, this stacks with pretty much everything, including the Screaming Necklace.
There's only two drawbacks to this:
One, it's still not the current strongest broom in the game, but it does come in a good solid second.
Two, it drains health constantly just by equipping it.
Still, if you can get your hands on this broom, and can work around the life drain, this is a powerful weapon.
Epics:
Oh... Epics...
The current ultimate broom and stuff is an Epic, sure, but getting any Epic at all, let alone the particular one you want, can be quite a headache.
Epics are untradeable, so there's no buying one. The only way you can get an Epic is to challenge a Hell Party, preferably on Insane Mode, and defeat them. This will give you a tiiiiny chance to drop an Epic.
To challenge a Hell Party, you need to collect 15-20 Demon Scrolls, depending on the type {The type required depends on the location}, and trade them for a specific quelling stone. This will allow you to force a Hell Mode with a decent chance at Insane mode. {You can also get Hell Modes by doing enough party runs, but those are a bit random and typically always Hardcore, which don't ever seem to drop Epics}
If you're going for any Epic, be prepared to do this up to several hundred times.
Fortuantly we have a list that at least tells us where these Epics can drop, so I can tell you which scrolls to use and where for a specific Epic.
Mother's Little Helper
Level Required: 45
Physical Attack Strength: +485
Magic Attack Strength: +524
Base Attack Strength: +280
Intelligence +37
Exocrism Parameter +9
Move Speed +3%
Attack with a 3% chance of decreasing enemy's HP by 30% (1/3 for Champions, 1/6 for Hell Monsters)
Drop Locations:
Earth Demon Scroll: Ice Palace, Slum's Gate, King's Rel
Cosmos Demon Scroll: GBL Arad Branch, GBL Laboratory, GBL Hatchery, Moonlight Tavern, Odessa Street, Verdia
Occult Demon Scroll: Brigand City, Hamelin,
This broom has quite possibly the lowest Base Attack on this list, but makes up with it for it's interesting effect: instantly lowering a percentage of the enemy HP {Current HP, not max HP}. Due to all of the Witch's AoEs and Multihit attacks, this should be very easy to activate very often, which should make it very powerful. And from what I've been told, the special effect even works on Bosses, unlike the similar Black Ring series.
The main drawback is, probably obviously, the extremely low broom stats, mostly the Base Attack, due to it's low level. This means sacrificing raw damage for the more luck-based special effect. Considering the special effect ignores armor and easily scale with enemy HP, though, this should still be a powerful broom.
The main drawback is, probably obviously, the extremely low broom stats, mostly the Base Attack, due to it's low level. This means sacrificing raw damage for the more luck-based special effect. Considering the special effect ignores armor and easily scale with enemy HP, though, this should still be a powerful broom.
Witchdoctor's CurseLevel Required: 50
Physical Attack Strength: +541
Magic Attack Strength: +585
Base Attack Strength: +323
Intelligence +41
Exorcism Parameter +25
Move Speed +3%
Attack with a 4% chance of making an enemy bleed
Additional 30% damage on the enemy when attacking bleeding one
Drop Locations:
Earth Demon Scroll: Slum's Gate, King's Relic, Skasa's Lair
Cosmos Demon Scroll: Odessa Streets, Verderia, Vilmark Area 50, Screaming Cavern
Fallen Demon Scroll: Ghent Outskirts, East Ghent Gate, South Ghent Gate, North Ghent Gate, Ghent Battlefield, Midnight Assault
This broom is rather powerful because of it's ability to inflict +30% damage on bleeding enemies. That's on par with the dream broom, though it requires the enemy to bleed first. Luckily, the broom has that built in as well, and Witches are good at multihit, meaning it shouldn't be too hard to get people to bleed for you. For an easier time, partying with players who often inflict bleeding is a smart move, such as Soul Benders {Rhasa} or Berserkers.
Level Required: 55
Physical Attack Strength: +581
Magic Attack Strength: +629
Base Attack Strength: +442
Intelligence +44
Exorcism Parameter +74
Move Speed +3%
Fire damage +11
Water damage +12
Acid Cloud/Lava Potion No. 9 Sleeper Chance +10%/Failure Chance -10%
Drop Locations:
Earth Demon Scroll: City of Noire Ferra
Cosmos Demon Scroll: Screaming Cavern
Fallen Demon Scroll: North Ghent Gate, Ghent Battlefield, Midnight Assault, Kartel Supply Camp, Final Pursuit
Occult Demon Scroll: Blood Sands, Abandoned Mine
Abysmal Demon Scroll: Iron Scale, Ghost Train
Extreme Trite is the other broom with the highest Base Attack in the game, currently tied with Titanic Flier. On top of that huge bonus, it also boosts Fire and Water damage by about 6%, which is the same elements are two of the Witch's most damaging machines. The bonus success chances for Acid Rain and Lava Potion are just gravy on top.
{Note, this broom is avaliable in Grandis' shop. If you grind any Epics you find, they'll give a large number of demon eyes. You can use this to save up and buy the broom}
Awake One's ScribblingLevel Required: 55
Physical Attack Strength: +581
Magic Attack Strength: +629
Base Attack Strength: +355
Intelligence +44
Exorcism Parameter +74
Move Speed +3%
Magic Critical Hit +2%
Attack to inflict 30% additional damage against an enemy
Drop Locations:
Earth Demon Scroll: City of Noire Ferra
Cosmos Demon Scroll: Screaming Cavern
Fallen Demon Scroll: North Ghent Gate, Ghent Battlefield, Midnight Assault, Kartel Supply Camp, Final Pursuit
Occult Demon Scroll: Blood Sands, Abandoned Mine
Abysmal Demon Scroll: Iron Scale, Ghost Train
...Here it is. The Dream Broom for all Witches everywhere.
Scribbling's simple +30% to all damage puts it ahead of the entire pack, nothing else simply competes. It also plays nicely with everything, such as the Screaming Necklace. The only drawback is that, due to it's low level, it's stats are a little low, such as Base Attack. Fortuantly, there's the Refiner in Suju to fix that, meaning Scribbling will easily stay King even into the 80 cap. {Unless somehow there's another broom there that gives +20-30% damage}
Luck be with all who attempt for this extraordinary broom.
-Armor-
Sorry, I can't offer a whole lot here.
The closest dream armor sets I can think of are Chronicles, mostly Chronicle 3s, which are extremely hard to collect {They can only be obtained, very very very rarely, in the player munching Otherverse 3 dungeons: Void Rift, Dark Side, and Castle of Bakal} but the sets are very very powerful.
For more information on the sets, see here. {Again, they are powerful, if you can get them}
For more information on the dungeons themselves, see this handy set of guides.
Besides that, for those interested in overleveling Lollipop, look for the level 70 top Magical Sylph Tunic. Adds +1 to Lollipop, and being a level 70 piece, is fairly strong.
I'll write more here if I can find more information.
-Accessories-
Bracelets:
There aren't many powerful bracelets out there, really. They're primarily designed for defense. There's a few, such as HeartNeck Mask {15% chance to decrease enemy elemental resistence by 6 for 10 seconds when attacking}, Bracelet of Deadly Screams {Boosts Physical and Magic Critical Hit by 7%}, or Yellow Dragon Motif Bracelet {7% damage against human tartgets} that boost damage, but otherwise mostly defense. I sort of recommend Hyde's Crystal Ball {Available in Grandis' shop}, as it gives a very large boost to Abnormal Resistence. Stacking Abnormal can do wonders in late game, as reaching 100 gives full immunity {barring certain gimmicks, surprise} to things such as Poison, Bleed, Stun, Sleep, so on, which is extremely helpful in places such as Resphon, where Delezie the Queen of Diseases resides. Skeleton Bracelet also works as a slightly weaker version. But there's not really a Bracelet to rule them all.
Necklaces:
There are a lot of alright necklaces out there, but these two are undeniably the strongest for now:
Necklace of Deadly Screams
Level Required: 58
Magic Defense +5927
Intelligence +27
Spirit +70
Exocrism Parameter +21
Physical, Magic damage +8%
That's pretty much it: This necklace is amazing because it gives a solid +8% to all damage. There use to be a strange bug with it having trouble functioning in parties, but that seems fixed as of Revolution. There's still however some stacking issues; sometimes the Necklace's damage won't stack with something else, like Oil Roller. For the complete list, check out this handy table of damage interactions compiled by Puritas.
This necklace is also slightly unique in that it's untradeable and undroppable, you can only get it from the Feat Quest called Old Times, for the Screaming Caverns dungeon. The quest requires 300 Nugol eyes {Drops from Nugols in the dungeon}, 30 Black Cubes, and 75 Faint Memories. Faint Memories are a quest item only gained from another quest, this one a Limited, called Faint Memories, which simply requires you to run Screaming Caverns for a monster quest drop. You can also complete Suppressed Screams for more Faint Memories, another Limited Quest, by trading in 10 Nugol eyes if you have some spares.
Soul Chaser
Level Required: 55
Magic Defense +5600
Intelligence +28
Spirit +67
Exorcism Parameter +25
Boost Attack Strength +20% for 60 seconds at the cost of 1 Spirit Crystal
Earth Demon Scroll: City of Noire Ferra
Cosmos Demon Scroll: Screaming Cavern
Fallen Demon Scroll: North Ghent Gate, Ghent Battlefield, Midnight Assault, Kartel Supply Camp, Final Pursuit
Occult Demon Scroll: Blood Sands, Abandoned Mine
Abysmal Demon Scroll: Iron Scale, Ghost Train
+20% more damage, and from a necklace
Unfortunately, it doesn't help at all. Yet.
Soul Chaser reportedly does not modify Fixed damage at all, which is exactly what we Witches rely on. That makes it seem completely useless, but this bug has apparently been fixed in regions who are several patches ahead of us. That means if you do get a Soul Chaser, it won't be any good to you now, but in a few updates down the line it should suddenly become the most powerful necklace you can have.
If you want a powerful Necklace now, just aim for the Necklace of Deadly Screams.
Otherwise, have patience with Soul Chaser.
Rings:
There are quite a lot of good rings out there, far more than Bracelets at least, here's a list of some you'll want to watch for:
Black Pearl - Mist
Level Required: 55
Magic Defense +2183
Strength +37
Intelligence +39
Exorcism Parameter +11
Counter Magic Attack Strength +20%
This ring is pretty powerful, but requires you attack the enemy during their attack animations to obtain the boost {Which is known as counter-attacking}. That isn't too hard for a Witch to do, what with all her various ranged spells, AoEs, and damage reducing machines allowing her to mostly ignore an enemy and attack through their own attacks, making the ring fairly easy to use. The only drawback is that, well, it only works during counterattacks, instead of a constant boost. If you wish for something more steady, you'll have to find another ring.
Note: Black Pearl - Mist does not stack with the Screaming Necklace. You should only use one or the other, and due to the small selection of necklaces, it's probably best to stick with the Screaming Necklace and find another ring, if you can.
Note: Black Pearl - Mist does not stack with the Screaming Necklace. You should only use one or the other, and due to the small selection of necklaces, it's probably best to stick with the Screaming Necklace and find another ring, if you can.
Ancient Elven Ring
Level Required: 55
Magic Defense +2183
Strength +37
Intelligence +39
Exorcism Parameter +11
Magic Attack with a 6% chance of increasing your Intelligence by 9% for 30 seconds.
This ring is the magic equivalent of the Pel Los Glory necklace, with the added bonus of not taking the place of the Screaming Necklace. Witches are extremely good at multi-hits, so don't be surprised if this buff stays on almost always. Near endgame, this should amount to at least 100 intelligence or more, which is quite powerful. {Unfortunately, just how much that amounts to, I'm unsure. But more INT is always good}
Tender Green Ring
Level Required: 65
Magic Defense +2425
Strength +38
Intelligence +38
Exorcism Parameter +24
All Elemental Damage +10 for 10 seconds at a 5% rate upon attack.
Not exactly as powerful as the last two rings, as +10 element is about 5% more damage, but it affects all Witch moves and multihit again should activate it pretty often. Nice to have if you can't get something stronger.
This ring is only left on the list as a warning. Ignore the tooltip, it only works on physical attacks.
This ring is useless to us.
This ring is useless to us.
Level Required: 68
Magic Defense +2521
Strength +39
Intelligence +39
Exorcism Parameter +24
Move Speed +3%
Hit Recovery +100
When attacking a Burning enemy, there will be a 10% chance to consume 1 Clear Cube Fragment and reduce the enemy' HP by 10% (1/3 to Champion Monsters, and 1/6 to Hell Monsters. Does not apply to bosses, or in the Arena).
The Black Rings are an interesting set, and come in every flavour of status effects. Fire is just the easiest one for Witch to use, as Lava Potion always inflicts burn on enemies with it's Sleeper. Curse, Freeze, Poison, and Electrocution are other abnormal statuses Witches can inflict, but no where near as often as Burn.
When attacking a mob suffering from the status effect written on the ring, there's a chance that a clear cube will be consumed to reduce their current HP instantly .This means that wearing the Fire version can quickly drain your cube supply because of how often multihit should trigger the effect, but mobs should just melt from it. The only drawback is that these rings work less effectively on more powerful monsters, and flatout stop working on bosses. Still, you could technically keep one of these for mob clean up, and one of the other rings out there for boss fights, keeping the best of both powers.
{Note that Black Ring: Slow will reportedly not work with Lava Potion, as it only reduces speed instead of inflicting an actual Slow status debuff}
When attacking a mob suffering from the status effect written on the ring, there's a chance that a clear cube will be consumed to reduce their current HP instantly .This means that wearing the Fire version can quickly drain your cube supply because of how often multihit should trigger the effect, but mobs should just melt from it. The only drawback is that these rings work less effectively on more powerful monsters, and flatout stop working on bosses. Still, you could technically keep one of these for mob clean up, and one of the other rings out there for boss fights, keeping the best of both powers.
{Note that Black Ring: Slow will reportedly not work with Lava Potion, as it only reduces speed instead of inflicting an actual Slow status debuff}
Water Spirit RingFire Spirit Ring
Dark Spirit Ring
{All rings share the same base stats}
Level Required: 50
Magic Defense +2080
Strength +38
Intelligence +39
Exorcism Parameter +7
Water/Fire/Light/Shadow Damage +11 {Depending on Ring element}
Respond to enemy attacks with a 20% chance of summoning 1 Naias/Ador/Wisp/Stalker {Elemental summoned depends on Ring element}
Earth Demon Scroll: Slum's Gate, King's Relic, Skasa's Lair
Cosmos Demon Scroll: Odessa Streets, Verderia, Vilmark Area 50, Screaming Cavern
Fallen Demon Scroll: Ghent Outskirts, East Ghent Gate, South Ghent Gate, North Ghent Gate, Ghent Battlefield, Midnight Assault
{These rings are also avaliable in Grandis' shop}
These elemental rings are exactly the same, except for what element they boost and elemental they summon. Fire, for example, boosts Fire damage and can summon an Ador. Dark boosts Shadow and can summon a Stalker, so on. {Please note that they only boost one element, not all four}
It's important to note how far off the Equiptionary is for stats here. Though it says +11 to an element, it can go much higher depending on item quality {Which Kaleido boxes can change}. My ring has +15, for example. This means the Rings give about 5-7% damage for whatever element it's for. Not the strongest of rings, but it's a constant boost, unlike all the others in the list. It's also fairly easy to get, as far as Epics go, since it's in Grandis' shop.
Like with Locky's Bone Ring, this ring is only left on the list as a warning. The tooltip is in error, and the boost only applies to physical attacks, making the ring worthless to a Witch.
-Subequips-
There's not really a whole lot to pick from for Subequips, sort of like Bracelets again. Only a tiny few can boost damage, most just boost defense, Physical/Magical attack, or skill levels. Boosted skill levels is typically a very good thing for Fixed classes like Witch, but most of the Subequips boost EX passives, and not very good ones at that, such as Devolution Flyswatter's EX passive, as we discussed before.For those interested in the Lollipop overleveling I talked about before {see Lollipop's entry}, Veiled Inheritance: Witch will give another +2 to Lolli's counter. It's also fairly cheap on the Auction House, usually, so not very hard to get.
There is also a series of Subequips that boost Exorcism parameter, something required for Otherverse. These would include Soiled Silver Cup, Holy Grail of Remidia, Ancient Treasure Gold Goblet, Wooden Cup of Prophet, and Michael's Blessing. {In order of strength, least to greatest}.
Ancient Wonder: Trickster is a good subequip to go for, but comes in four different forms for the four elements. It always upgrades the Tier 2 and Tier 3 moves of whatever element it's for, as well as Fusion Craft, by 1 level. {Tier 2 moves would be Acid Rain, Lava Potion, Devolution Flyswatter, and Broomstick Spin. Tier 3 are the Machines}. This means Ancient Wonder: Trickster (Shadow) gives one level to Fusion Craft, one to Devolution Flyswatter, and one to Gravitas. Not bad.
There's also the Boss Unique Crawford's Time Bomb, which boosts fire damage by +6 {Which means it should be more like +7-9 when you get it}. That will give a flat +3-4% boost to fire damage, so it's decent if you can't get anything else. Crawford of Shrouded Heiz drops it, but it can also be obtained in the Abysmal Amphitheater; otherwise, being a Boss Unique, it's untradeable, so you can't buy from another player.
-Magic Stones-
Magic Stones have a lot more potential than Subequips in terms of buffing a Witch's power. Here's a few that will help a Witch greatly near endgame:
Level Required: 65
All stats +45
Giant Flyswatter Lvl +1
Iris's Memento: WitchLevel Required: 65
All stats +38
Giant Flyswatter Skill Lvl +1
Broomstick Bounce Lvl +1
Drop Locations:
Occult Demon Scrolls: Resphon - Village of Pain
Abysmal Demon Scrolls: Runaway Westbound, Shrouded Heiz, Battle at Arden City
These two Magic Stones boost our EX Skills. Iris's Memento will obviously be the hardest to get, but Broomstick Bounce currently only has 1 level max, so overleveling it will only do who knows what, but it should be a huge boost. Either one will overlevel Giant Flyswatter, which means even better burst damage, but does not affect the buff's strength as of Revolution, sadly.
Wisp's Tear
Naias's Tear
Ador's Tear
Stalker's TearLevel Required: 65
All four boost stats by +33
Each boosts one Element type by +7
The first of the Elemental tear series, each one boosts the element it matches. Fairly straight forward, pick the element you use most, enjoy boosted damage. These are fairly cheap and easy to obtain, so make for good starters.
{There is a similar set of Magic Stones like these, only they are named after our Familiars: Jack-O-Latern, Florae, Pluto, and Frosty Crystals. However, the stones are rather rare, and only slightly more powerful than these. It'd be easier and cheaper to stick with these four, or upgrade to next tier below. They may be noteworthy, still, considering they're level 70. It may be hinting at two more sets of tiers in the future, like the tears below}
Alicia's Tear
Selist's Tear
Sheyd's Tear
Ratria's TearLevel Required: 65
All four boost stats by +37
Each boosts one Element type by +21
The second and more expensive tier of the tear series, these do the same as the first but are much stronger, at least three times as much. Except them to be far more than three times as expensive, though.
Glaerin's Tear
Flame Hulk's Tear
Dead Murker's Tear
Aquarius's TearLevel Required: 65
All four boost stats by +38
Each boosts one Element type by +36
Drop locations:
Occult Demon Scrolls: Resphon - Village of Pain
Abysmal Demon Scrolls: Runaway Westbound, Shrouded Heiz, Battle at Arden City
The third and final tears, these offer the strongest elemental boost, and it is quite a lot. However, getting them will be a very tough task. Enjoy your newfound power if you manage to find one for an element you use, though.
Level Required: 65
All stats +33
All Elemental Damage +6
Level Required: 65
All stats +37
All Elemental Damage +16
Fused High Spirit TearLevel Required: 65
All stats +38
All Elemental Damage +28
Drop locations:
Occult Demon Scrolls: Resphon - Village of Pain
Abysmal Demon Scrolls: Runaway Westbound, Shrouded Heiz, Battle at Arden City
The Fused Spirit Tear series is for those who are too indecisive for the normal tears, or find themselves attracted to the 'All' in the 'All Elemental Damage' boost. At the cost of not giving as much to a single element as the other tears, Fused boosts the elemental damage of all four elements. This should easily work for any Witch, since all of our moves are Elemental, but works best for Witches who utilize several elements. Those who specialize in one or two may be nerfing themselves picking Fused over one of the single boost tears.
{There is a Magic Stone similar to Fused Lower Spirit Tear, called Purified Lesser Spirit Orb. It's slightly more powerful, but considering it's rarity and cost, not worth pursuing. However, judging by the fact that it's level 70, and the way it's named "Lesser", it may be hinting at a future set of tiers, possibly more powerful than the Fused we have now}
Level Required: 65
All stats +33
Base Attack Strength +46
Titan's Reinforcement BeadLevel Required: 65
All stats +37
Base Attack Strength +114
Samm Jang's MeditationLevel Required: 65
All stats +38
Base Attack +189
Drop locations:
Occult Demon Scrolls: Resphon - Village of Pain
Abysmal Demon Scrolls: Runaway Westbound, Shrouded Heiz, Battle at Arden City
This series of Magic Stones will simply upgrade Base Attack Strength. As talked about often before, this is key to a Witch's Fixed damage. However, it's worth is debatable in comparison tp the tears. For my Witch, I would gain about 9% more damage using the Titan bead {130/1227 = 9.2}. This actually makes it about the same as the Fused Ordinary Spirit Tear, but still a little weaker than an individual element tear of the same rarity. {Remember these values will be different when you actually get these items as a drop, due to how the Equiptionary displays everything so low. Estimations here may be off}
This may sound very good, but also consider how the percent boost will lower as one's Base Attack increases. Assuming I got another +100 Base from Refining, the bead's boost now comes down to 8.6%. The Tears won't have this problem. This doesn't make the beads bad, the problem wouldn't be too apparent until possibly the 80 cap {Unless you got Scribbling, then it shouldn't be an issue for a looong time}, but it's something to think about before spending 40-50mil on either this or a tear.
Harmony Stone of DominationLevel Required: 65
Strength +59
Intelligence +90
Vitality +45
Spirit +45
Attack with a 5% chance to increase your Intelligence by 100 and decrease your Strength by 100 for 20 seconds.
This is an interesting little stone. At first, the +100 Int doesn't sound like a whole lot, but you may have failed to notice how high the stone's base intelligence stat is, almost three times as powerful as the stones we've been looking at. The buff effect can also reportedly stack twice, meaning this stone can give you about +300 more intelligence overall {I'm afraid I can't deny or confirm it, sorry}. Now it's looking more powerful, especially considering most of the other stones are giving only about 10% of that. The Strength debuff also shouldn't be an issue, as Witches shouldn't be relying on Strength for anything.
VI. Outtro
We will poison your crops!
Me and my sisters,
Sugarplum gumdrops,
All shall fear me, I am the TRICKSTER!
- Song of Iki -
Well, hopefully all of that has answered most of your questions about the Witch class. As much as I hope that this will be a compilation of most all the information you'll ever need, it's far from the complete everything a Witch could ever know, and there's always more to learn {I even came across a new titbit or two while writing this}. But we Witches are very inquisitive; our magic is built on science, numbers and the knowledge of ancients, so don't be afraid to experiment yourself. Like I said before, we're a very versatile class.
Infact, if you do find out anything new, or know something interesting I didn't talk about or just got plain wrong, just message or talk to me and I'd be glad to correct and add to this. Likewise, if you have any other questions or are confused about something, I'll do what I can to help. For now, you can reach me ingame as MissL.
Otherwise, good luck fellow Witch, and show those other classes why they should fear the TRICKSTER!
-Update Log-
{Season II: Act VI}October 18th, 2012:
- First version completed and published.
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