So for you high level mages, What route did you go for Astrals? im lvl 4o just trying to figure what astrals i could keep when i get a orange or nice purp astrals..

Not a mage but I can advise you that mages take one of two routes as far as DPS goes.. you can try to push up your critical, but that usually takes investing in several ways that are otherwise freed up by the second and seemingly more popular route, the will destroyer route.

From my own experience, will destroyer is far superior to a crit build. It frees up alot of socket slots and you only take up one astral slot for the will destroyer. The damage is reliable and your average damage will be much higher. At least that has been my experiance. Other than that you will want phy def and mag def and ofcourse mysticality.

% damage reduction and illusion are also good choices later on when you get more slots. Just make shure you save star points to buy the pristines that you fail to gamble. Keep in mind also that gold cost vs actual gain in power is something to consider when trying to decide between leveling astrals and or pumping up guild buffs.

Key thing to remember though is astrals are expensive!!

I'm actually using Sniper's Edge, my crit is 400+ and the procs is really low, not even 1 crit each battle. Looking at high levels mages equip they handle to stack 5k on crit but the only way to make it is using legend equipment and sacrifice MDEF, the astral and the gems on equip, even so your PDEF and MDEF will be close. If someone have 5k on crit maybe can tell how much it procs more or less.
Till here it's a matter of tastes, but if you toss into the equation the -X% crit damg/rate of enemy equip and the fact that you are throwing about 3k MDEF away (Astral and 1 gem each equip piece) maybe it don't worth.

In my opinion, it's better have a solid +% dmg in EVERY attack and much more MDEF than some spikes dmg, that's what i think after tried both ways, you are at 40 so still time to test yourself before you level up the wrong orange astral

EDIT: Sorry mate gonna get advatage of your post to make a question that comes to my mind right now. (I'm good at maths but the % are my bane, so it's more or less).
I'm wondering, if the range damage is 90%-110% and we equip a lv5 Will Destroyer it will be 115%-125%. Till here all clear, but if now i equip Enhanced Ruthlessness lv4 will my damage be in the 87%-153%? If it's right equip this two astrals will leave you min damage at this base but increase greatly you max damage. Someone tried it?

It appears no one has fought a healing critical mage in PvP.

Setup Legend gear so rage is not an issue. Attack, heal or attack as needed, etc.. These are horribly long battles, which end in disappointment. Need huge hits to get by all the regained health. Only issue, can you acquire Legend gear?

This question of Will Destroyer v Crit has been discussed here

http://www.aeriagames.com/forums/en/viewtopic.php?t=1909729

and

http://www.aeriagames.com/forums/en/viewtopic.php?t=1905301

it depends mainly on your build. If you are a damage based mage then Will Destroyer is probably the better route to go, since it saves you both gem and astral slots.

If you are a pure healer though, Will Destroyer gives NO boosts to heals (Saveric and I tested it and it is confirmed) so in order to boost heals high crit is needed - granted this isn't relevant for suntoria but at higher levels restoration and blessed light play a bigger and bigger role.
If you want to go a crit-healer build then legend gear is preferable since it means you do not have to sacrifice defense gems to do it. Legend will also help you with managing your rage build for healing purposes (since mages don't get rage naturally from their heals).

As for other astrals MAtk, PDef, MDef should be standard, with Goddess Blessing as you level up is usually a good one to use.

Non-crit build - will destroyer
crit-build - determination and sniper's edge

hope this helps

If you don't sacrifice def gems then you have to sacrifice HP cause i assume we all agree that MATK is untouchable.

Cacuga wrote:

If you don't sacrifice def gems then you have to sacrifice HP cause i assume we all agree that MATK is untouchable.

from my own experience, and I've heard other players say the same, hp is much less effective than defense. even if you have high hp, if you don't have the defense to support it you will die quick.

Most people who go for pvp 3-slot gear will go for attack and the 2 defense gems for their 3 gems, so to them when they get legend 4-slot gear that 4th slot is a luxury to use according to their build.

Archers will normally chose crit, Knights will normally chose block, mages have the flexibility to go with what suits their playing style. Of course if they want to focus on heal, it may be preferable that the 4th slot is used for crit too, those who want to focus on will destroyer might go for block/hp gems.

I like to be versatile and have both offensive and defensive skills, in fact i'm just 39 and already 2/3 on Restoration and Suntoria and are really useful when you can't get your oponent dow quickly and have to fight long. I have in mind get 3/3 on Restoration and then head all the way to Blessed Light, with Lightning, Fire Rain and Meteoric Destroyer (it's on the way to Blessed Light so you must have it yes or yes) i have more than enought to deal damage. The specials and **** are good skills but waste more than 50 rage in one skill will leave me short of rage to heal.

So my question is if stack Crit to boost some, not all, heals worth over the increase damage of Will Destroyer. I'm not sure but looks like in terms of damage Will Destroyer > Crit build, please let me know if i'm wrong and remember i'm talking just for mage, i don't know how much % of crit you can stack to make and idea.

Cacuga wrote:

I like to be versatile and have both offensive and defensive skills, in fact i'm just 39 and already 2/3 on Restoration and Suntoria and are really useful when you can't get your oponent dow quickly and have to fight long. I have in mind get 3/3 on Restoration and then head all the way to Blessed Light, with Lightning, Fire Rain and Meteoric Destroyer (it's on the way to Blessed Light so you must have it yes or yes) i have more than enought to deal damage. The specials and **** are good skills but waste more than 50 rage in one skill will leave me short of rage to heal. So my question is if stack Crit to boost some, not all, heals worth over the increase damage of Will Destroyer. I'm not sure but looks like in terms of damage Will Destroyer > Crit build, please let me know if i'm wrong and remember i'm talking just for mage, i don't know how much % of crit you can stack to make and idea.

The damage you make from a crit hit is far superior than that of Will Destroyer. But you do need a high crit rate for a crit build.

You mention you're level 39 right now, so unless you're planning to go for pure heal (and it sounds like you're not), which some people do early on, then you should go for a Will Destroyer build for now. Crit builds for mages seems to work better at end game, by that point you have 6+ astral spots open and can afford to use two for the two crit astrals you need for such a build.