TIL Valheim has magic.
I've either been away too long, or never got to that part.
this post was submitted on 11 Jul 2023
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Yeah, spoilers for you then. It was introduced in the Mistlands update.
Haven't played in a while but even with Epic Loot on a pure mage build wasn't great. The only staff that was really good was the fire staff with double projectile and explosive, the others were subpar, even with BiS armor enchantments on full Eitr set. Shield staff is good as a get out of jail free card but it wasn't dependable due to health cost. Even with Epic Loot, you're better off with maxed out black metal axes with throw and return or frostner.
Vanilla, magic is only good as back up, in case you'd rather not run arrows or ran out of them. Frost is pretty good against soldiers, but again, frostner is better at it than the staff.
Frost Staff does help slow enemies and it's great for close range, but it's too inaccurate for medium and long range. I love the Fire Staff, but the slow projectile speed and fire rate means you can miss some shots. Full mage gear is great for Eitr regen but as you've seen, it makes you a little squishy. It's very helpful to have some tankier targets to draw aggro, playing co-op, and/or using necromancy.
Yeah, I noticed the frost staff has bad projectile spread, it’s close range only really.
I’ve been playing around with magic for a bit now and whilst I think it’s a ton of fun to play it definitely needs some balancing. I never feel ‘safe’ like I do with a melee build, I’m always aware that I could be killed at any moment.
There’s too much stuff to carry, you really need to be taking several of the staffs with you at all times and need to be constantly switching between them. The food situation is not good. You have to eat 2 eitr foods which means you end up taking a load of potions with you to help with health and stamina.
By biggest complaint by far though is the protection bubble. You really need to have this up all the time if you’re wearing the full mage gear otherwise you can just be one shotted. 2 mins is a woefully short time for it to be up. Why not 10 mins like some potions?
Personally I would do away with the timer altogether and have the bubble be around until it gets broken. To compensate, the cost could be increased but honestly it’s expensive already. 40% of your health and like 65 Eitr I think it is, just for 2 minutes, terrible.
So, whilst I do enjoy playing as a mage I’ve switched back to melee, mage just isn’t worth it.
I hope they take a look at the balancing at some point.
Magic builds are really good as part of a team - run around until the tank has aggro and recharge mana, then unload. Repeat. That said, I'd still only do 2/3 eitr foods, and I keep my thorn chest, it's unparalleled mitigation.