RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

After some minor techincal problems, the Strategy Session returns! We’re continuing our look at Dragonica Online this week with a look at the Magician class, possibly the most diverse and frankly bizarre job class available in this game. Magicians split off into the offensive Battlemage and the supposedly defensive Priest class, but both secondary classes have some impressive damage production and can be played a variety of ways.

In the beginning, Magicians may seem rather underpowered. Though they are one of only two classes that get a major stat buff before the first job change, they don’t have very many options for exploiting it. For most of the first 20 levels, the Magician’s most powerful move is Fortress, a bizarre move that transforms the player’s head into a cannon and fires a single shell into enemy ranks. Though it has a small area of effect, it can be upgraded with secondary abilities to improve the shell’s speed and damage, and even cause status effects. The Magician also gets some basic level healing spells that allow it to instantly restore its own HP, but its only means of supporting other players is a largely inadequate spell called Slow Heal. Slow Heal restores a small portion of ally’s HP every couple of seconds, the amount based on the caster’s maximum HP. This reliance on one of the Magician’s weakest base stats makes Slow Heal less than effective, given that it’s one of the only ways Magicians can support other players, it may be a good choice for players looking for some early support options.

From the Magician, players can advance to the Battlemage or the Priest. The Battlemage boasts the single highest damage production rate in the entire game, but it comes at a price. To cause the most damage in the smallest amount of time, Battlemages require two skills; Ball Lightning and Blizzard. Ball Lightning is a skill that releases a slow-moving ball of electricity in front of the caster, damaging any foe it touches as it passes by. Blizzard, on the other hand, is an area of effect spell that drops icicles inside a small circle, causing ice elemental damage and inflicting Freeze. When the two are combined, enemies are frozen, shocked, and battered so efficiently that it can be tough for anyone else to sneak an attack in.

Priests, however, still get a surprisingly high level of raw power. This class gets access to a status buff called Diffusion Cannon, which splits the Priest’s attack into three seperate balls of fire, each of which hit for about half the damage of a single basic attack. The practical upshot of all this is a 50% boost in power, and a quick and dirty way for the Priest to rack up enormous combos without much effort. The only real downside is that the game sees each attack that doesn’t connect with a foe as a miss, which takes off a little more durability from the player’s weapon. Since Diffusion Cannon makes the Priest’s basic attack their primary means of dealing damage, a Priest’s staff will break much faster than other classes’ weaponry.

On the defensive side, Priests skills tend to focus largely on pure healing, with genuine support magic really only coming with a promotion to Shaman. The most effective of the basic healing skills is Instant Heal, largely because it’s the only one that doesn’t require a casting time. In a game that puts as much emphasis on speed and agression as Dragonica does, being able to recover your allies without having to stop for a casting time is essential. Sanctuary, a skill that creates a healing area, is a solid skill, though only really useful in boss fights. In normal combat areas, players will quickly leave the healing area behind. While battling a boss, however, Sanctuary will take some pressure off, and allow you to recover without neglecting your healing duties.

Though they start out slowly, Magicians mature into some of the most powerful characters in Dragonica. Magicians aren’t a bad place for beginners to start; Being a long-range class, they fare better in Mission Maps than most, and with high damage production and useful support moves, they tend to be in demand for parties.