When can I get a minion as a black robe?

[dannyboy775]

I completed my conclave test and am now a level 14 black robe. There's a monster trainer where I learn my spells, do I get a monster at some point? If I do, what point would that be? I really enjoy soloing but it's tough to tank the monsters without one.

[Brad]

If it has not been changed, You get the skill "Conjure" at lvl 25. This will allow you to call help. Remember that these creatures earn ranks like you do, so it might be smart to pick one for the long haul.

[dannyboy775]

Jeez that late? Are mages considered hard to solo with? I do plenty of damage but also die every fast. Most of my stats are mediocre apart from my intelligence, though.

[Brad]

In my opinion, mages are terrible solo until you get the conjure skill.  Im sure there are elite mages out in the world who can 1-30 their mage solo...Im not one of them.  The trick I have found to solo mages is to get used to killing a mob and catching tick... if you find mobs that take 20 or 50 secs to kill and give good xp those are perfect. 

In truth mages are in general not good to solo with...even with a conjure they are not comparable to classes like DK/Shaman(who also get charmies...and sustain), but when you rank up your conjure they are much more fun to play.  I always play a mage because I have fallen in love with the idea....travel anywhere as you please... be able to do CRAPLOADS of damage at a moments notice.... You are a glass cannon.

And I'll say this again, Whoever wrote the Black Robe descriptions needs a bigass cookie, they are amazing.

[Gnua]

Jeez that late? Are mages considered hard to solo with? I do plenty of damage but also die every fast. Most of my stats are mediocre apart from my intelligence, though.

if i solo a mage, i go invis, cast hold monster on a mob until it lands, then lightning bolt the thing to death. if it lives through that, i either flee out and mem to try again, or just teleport away because it isnt worth the hassle. another option is to get charm monster or load a charmie, cast improved invis and lightning bolt the mob while your charmie tanks.

[SArT]

Honestly, the biggest mistake new people make on Arctic is trying to do too much while soloing.

Do zones you overpower.  You wont get max exp for blowing through Que Teh.. but you wont die.  You can test this on your own.. but you will actually net higher exp/hr doing zones that are low.

With mages, zones like que teh are super fast.   Remember there is a mem room with Darklight.  And type meditate in eagledawn's room for extra rank mobs and quest exp.

SArT

[gulca]

Go find some leather armors and enchant them on a good moon (ie full). Get many identify scrolls and pick only the best enchant.

You can easily get pieces for the following body parts

body
head
leg
boot
hand
arm

You'll need to look in different places for
wrist
wrist
neck
neck

And some items have -AC on them already
ring
ring
about
waist

Once you get around -100 AC, you'll find that with improved invis, tanking low-mid mobs won't be a problem. Once you get a pet, it'll get easier and switch those enchanted armors out for +CL gears.

[Gnua]

Go find some leather armors and enchant them on a good moon (ie full). Get many identify scrolls and pick only the best enchant.

You can easily get pieces for the following body parts

body
head
leg
boot
hand
arm

You'll need to look in different places for
wrist
wrist
neck
neck

And some items have -AC on them already
ring
ring
about
waist

Once you get around -100 AC, you'll find that with improved invis, tanking low-mid mobs won't be a problem. Once you get a pet, it'll get easier and switch those enchanted armors out for +CL gears.

out of the 14 slots listed, i think 6 enchantables can be bought in palanthas, 2neck + about can be bought in other shops, the 2 wrists can be loaded in low level zones.  i dont know any enchantable rings anymore or waist. That should make almost any character fairly safe until at level 16.

[Brafu]

Mages can be pretty powerful solo, at least once you are 25+ and get some spells. And once legendary... there are entire high zones you can just destroy.

The main thing you need to do, as Sart pointed out, is to not take on more than you can handle and to stick to zones/mobs you can fairly easily kill without much risk to yourself. Sure, that 90k kill is enticing, but its normally better to blast through 20-40k kills that are little risk but that you can kill 3-5 of em a tic.

The key to soloing for xp is to minimize the risk while ensuring a steady collection of xp.

[dodok]

Go find some leather armors and enchant them on a good moon (ie full). Get many identify scrolls and pick only the best enchant.

You can easily get pieces for the following body parts

body
head
leg
boot
hand
arm

You'll need to look in different places for
wrist
wrist
neck
neck

And some items have -AC on them already
ring
ring
about
waist

Once you get around -100 AC, you'll find that with improved invis, tanking low-mid mobs won't be a problem. Once you get a pet, it'll get easier and switch those enchanted armors out for +CL gears.

out of the 14 slots listed, i think 6 enchantables can be bought in palanthas, 2neck + about can be bought in other shops, the 2 wrists can be loaded in low level zones.  i dont know any enchantable rings anymore or waist. That should make almost any character fairly safe until at level 16.

Is this something you would recommend for thieves also (stacking -armor)?  Life isn't as easy when the world merchant isn't stacked with thiefy gear!

[SArT]

Is this something you would recommend for thieves also (stacking -armor)?  Life isn't as easy when the world merchant isn't stacked with thiefy gear!

No.  As a thief just concentrate on not getting hit.  If you are struggling leveling.. go to human zones at night and clean them out.. again lower zones that you can 2 stab stuff.

As soon as you can get an auto invis and hide do so.  Depending on level these are not hard to get.

You should be flee/stabbing 12 on or so.

[Gnua]

out of the 14 slots listed, i think 6 enchantables can be bought in palanthas, 2neck + about can be bought in other shops, the 2 wrists can be loaded in low level zones.  i dont know any enchantable rings anymore or waist. That should make almost any character fairly safe until at level 16.

Is this something you would recommend for thieves also (stacking -armor)?  Life isn't as easy when the world merchant isn't stacked with thiefy gear!

i dont play thieves, but enchanted armor is much better than nothing at all.

[dodok]

Is this something you would recommend for thieves also (stacking -armor)?  Life isn't as easy when the world merchant isn't stacked with thiefy gear!

No.  As a thief just concentrate on not getting hit.  If you are struggling leveling.. go to human zones at night and clean them out.. again lower zones that you can 2 stab stuff.

As soon as you can get an auto invis and hide do so.  Depending on level these are not hard to get.

You should be flee/stabbing 12 on or so.

Cool okay thanks!  I'm now lev 16.  The only autoinvis I know in the game will need me to be around 20-22.  6 hitroll on eq. Additional 2 on main, 1 on offie.  miss bs enough to be annoying. the bigger problem is missing sneak and getting attacked as I walk into room (sneak at bel avg).  I'll keep at it though!  Maybe it's because my dex is only 24.