They get boost on mana then.
But you have to consider between high MATK (2h staff, OEd mage swords or blunts, Demon robe set, Zubei robe set set, NM robe set) , high mana (Mana up or Conversion, Divine set, BW robe set, Majestic robe set), casting speed (Acumen weapon, Karmian, Avadon robe set, DC robe set) or meelee fighting capability (Light armor/Heavy armor + 1h blunt or duals)
Now choose ... :)
Do you want to solo, or does your clan have any other use for you too? Mass buffing at sieges and raids, AoE parties?
What Crawler said, it really depends on what your usual playstyle is. A lot of defense is nice, but no use if you never get aggro anyways. A lot of matk is nice, but no use if you mostly/only buff. And so on.
if youre gonna solo, stick with something leaning on high defense and useful SA to both keep you buffed, and have enough mp for a few drains to help you along the way.
sa: mana up doesnt deplete your HP, has no adverse casting effects as a blunt weapon, and gives a stack of mp useful for you when you solo.
sa: conversion helps you dish out all kinds of buffs for defenders of the castle youre defending. if youre attacking thats another story altogether.
so a great defense = fp armor (with shield), or even composite armor if youre fighting magic mobs.
for grouping you probably want to cast pretty fast and regen fast so grab a blue wolf robe set when you can. keep the mace of the underworld or seek out a hell knife with magic regeneration. this will cast regen3 magic (hopefully) on the target of your buff. can be useful when there arent any other buffers or rechargers around if you get into an "oh cr$p" moment.
again, ++++ your weapons if you can fund it. they make for great solo weapons.
as to orc w/ a bow .... well youre SOL in that area now man. c5 nerfed casting speed of all casters in bows and poles.
For B grade the BW light +AOBA/Health would be ok, but I would really consider putting Haste or even Rsk.Focus on it instead. (You have a drain&Heals why add even more HP on top of that? It's extra where you don't need any.)
If you solo a lot I would suggest using a heavy armor instead. Avadon (+24% block w/shield) or Zubei (+pdef/no shield set) would be best. I'd avoid the other sets as they mess with your str/dex/con and you don't have as much leeway in those as true melee classes do. (A -Con set or tattoo would be the most I would do, but I'd use the health SA weapons if I did that.)
Either way, you'll probably want to have a Robe also for certain party type occasions. (I use mine to regen/buff/switch to Heavy&grind when I solo so I have less regen while buffs are ticking down.) You really only want them for the +MP you get. If your on a tight budget, just keep some C grade robes around. I use Demon Robes w/o the Gloves. (I have them, I just don't use the gloves most of the time.) I also use the robes when I am Raiding or in a siege buffing.
For your weapon you have a few more choices. I have a Hellknife w/Mental Shield....and I really wish it was a Kris w/Focus. I would avoid blunts for the most part. You want a weapon with a good crit rate. Daggers were good when fighting mobs not to far above you in levels. But with the newer 'evasion' mobs in C5 I would strongly suggest a Sword instead as you will need all the ACC you can get against them. (Evasion? They mean ULTIMATE Evasion mobs!) Thus a Sword with Focus or Haste for an SA is good. Or a Dagger with Focus or Guidance is second best.
You should have a secondary weapon for raid/sieges/AOE and sometime you can just use a cheap C grade weapon for this, but you may want to only use one weapon for other reasons. In which cases here's your choices.
Acumen - Only really useful if you regularily do AOE parties. (The C5 mp nerf on drains means a 'nuker' build isn't as do-able as before.)
Mana Up - Your best over all choice. Helps if your wearing light/heavy and not in robes. Also good for robes, since if your wearing them you could use all that they give and more!
Conversion - For when you *really* need the MP. I wouldn't suggest you use this if you solo any, but it's great for siege/raid heals. If you end up using this and still having to solo, I strongly suggest a armor set with a HP bonus.
Those are my main suggestions. There are lots of other SA/equipment combos you could use for other effect but I'd say these are the most simple and straightforward ones.
As for me...here's my current and planned setups. (Even the shared equip my alts use from time to time.)
B grade: (Current)
Avadon Heavy armor set.
Demon (Set) Robes
Hellknife w/Mental Shield
Mace of the Underworld w/Mana Up
A Grade: (Planned choices)
Dark Crystal Shield
Tallum Light (+MP & Regen) [Main armor]
Tallum Robes (+Cast Speed & Cheap) [Secondary]
Tallum Heavy (Atk Speed & weight bonus) [Fallback if the light doesn't work out.]
Tallum Blade (Haste)
Bloody Orchid [Focus] OR Soul Seperator (Guidance)
Eye of Soul [Mana Up]
If I can (eventually) afford it I'd like to try Majestic for A grade and maybe 2 of the weapons from my choices....but atm I'm just trying to get the main parts for my Tallum and one of the weapons...which one is more a matter of what is affordable and available than anything right now.
To tell the truth the nerf was made on sleep . We orcs, didnt get any nerf on dreaming spirit (oh hell yeah :P).
Ok here are my plans and the reason.
Bgrade:
Bw light,Casting + good p.def
Aoba sa health. stun but low m.atack.high hp and with drains i am allright all the time :)
About daggers i really dont want them cuz i need the Hammer Crush really :(.
And also i duo with a SH :s and i really like tanking and buffing at the same time,but in C i mainly tank and i dont use spells very much.
Ah, one last note on SA's now that C5 is in full swing.
SA - Acumen.
Although it's not much use for a 'nuker' setup. (Chaining Drains) It has a bit of a newer use now. Party Sleeper. Since nukers sleep is slower now, OL's and WC's now make very good CC sleeper's. Just add the acumen SA to make it more attractive. Yes there is a new 'trance' skill for some healers, but the duration is quite low for this skill. Thus if you need it slept good...a real sleep is necessary. (Like if you get 3+ adds instead of just one or two.)