20-39 demon fangs is more then enough.
40-51 homu+acumen (always go acumen considering that as a nuker you can actually pvp at any level)
52-60 vahalla+acumen
61-75 sword of miracles+acumen
76+ Arcana mace + acumen
You can go with dmg and use empower weapon but i don't recommend it, unless you can afford both, weapon with acumen and another one with empower for pve.
As for armors, go devotion(1-39)-karmian(40-51)-avadon robes(52-60)-dark crystal robes(62-75)-darkcrystalrobes(76++) (S arcana robes are not as good as an dark crystal robes..)
Same thing here, if you can afford you can set up some pve gear too such as demon set for c grade, zubei robe set for B grade...
However most prefer higher cast speed even pve, no fun in casting like a slow poke, but if you can affor both, enjoy alternating them...
+4int +4wit -8men (or -10 as it is way cheaper)
+4 con -4str (-5str as it is way cheaper)
This applies to any and all nukers.
And he wouldn't go necro if he said he's going sorc, joker :p.
Why would you use devotion 1-39? That's rediculous, the +15% cast speed does not make up the enormous loss of mana. You will be sitting constantly.
20-39 You should go Mithril Stockings & Mithril tunic for extra mana (Not the gloves as they give -1 int) or if you can afford the gloves, go for a knowledge set. Otherwise use the clan oath robe, though I can't remember what the bonus is on that.
Since you will basically not see any pvp 40-51, I would definetly recommend Demon if you can afford it.
Weapon wise I agree with the previous posts, though I would not choose an empower weapon for pve, always acumen. Empower gives a static bonus to your m. atk, not a % and the difference in damage is tiny.
Also 52-60, again if you can afford it, I would go Wizard's tear, it can also have an acumen sa, but the M. atk is better then Sword of Valhalla. Wizards tear is enormously overpriced on most servers though, think about 3x the price of a Sword of Valhalla.
Also always try and get a one handed weapon, even in No grade, so you can wear a shield as well.
Vina is an expert archer (and expert at some other classes as well). However, she doesn't realize that others play the game for different reasons than she does. She is great at fast levelling and PvP (and other things). However, some people like to level slow and do quests, make money on the market, or enjoy the game in other ways like roleplay a character in a book they are fond of. In such cases a toon like a SH may be more fun than an archer. Levelling fast and being uber is only one way to play the game. If we have fun, that is what matters.
Heck, I have great fun and I have never killed a mob.
If you want to be uber pvp/raid then you just go archer, but like the other poster said, we all don't play to zip up to 80 and pvp and raid all day long.
I personally can't stand playing an archer and I do have a HE.
I just love playing mage generally. Overall it doesn't even matter what kind of mage, they are all fun. Right now I am seriously considering sorceress, because thats the mage class I haven't played yet.
I cant stand lvling an archer, I die of boredom before. Especially hawkeye and I have tried, but I get close to 50s and thats it.. I will just fall asleep..
IMO nukers are more brain dead to grind than archers.. reason: they know they can kill every mob in 2 shots, an archer doesn't always crit thus needs to be more careful.
Archer is less boring to me, but for a different reason. With a mage it's basically, ok, hit for 1k every shot, they have 3k health, shoot, shoot, shoot, dead, next. With an archer the damage is a little more off the way, it could take 7 shots, or it could take one shot. You can't predict the battle before it happens, which makes it slightly funner.
20-39 demon fangs is more then enough.
40-51 homu+acumen (always go acumen considering that as a nuker you can actually pvp at any level)
52-60 vahalla+acumen
61-75 sword of miracles+acumen
76+ Arcana mace + acumen
Skip B Grade, try to get a higher OE Homu instead of a B Grade weapon. You won't regret it. +8 Homu/Acumen is almost = +3 Wizard Tear/Acumen and costs about the same.
You can go with dmg and use empower weapon but i don't recommend it, unless you can afford both, weapon with acumen and another one with empower for pve.
Empower is 29 M.Atk. It's useless. Magic Power is 99 bit it will make you worse IRT MP Management and it gets worse as you level while the M.Atk gain gets more and more negligible.
As for armors, go devotion(1-39)-karmian(40-51)-avadon robes(52-60)-dark crystal robes(62-75)-darkcrystalrobes(76++) (S arcana robes are not as good as an dark crystal robes..)
Clan Oath 20-39 unless you have a recharger. Devotion is nice cast speed, but you will have less MP. You gain more by doing +2 WIT -4 MEN for D Grade (like I do) and wearing Clan Oath. Negligible cast speed difference then, if any at all.
C Grade, go Demon Robes. You won't regret it. DC Robes from 61+ and at S Grade use Major Arcana for PvE and DC for PvP. You can use NM for PvE in A Grade if you want.
Same thing here, if you can afford you can set up some pve gear too such as demon set for c grade, zubei robe set for B grade...
Skip B grade, use Demon Robes from 40 to 60. If you really wanna upgrade at B Grade than go for Avadon. Zubei is so much worse than Demon IRT M.Atk it's not worth it, and the negatives to MP Regen is no thanks to a class that struggles to keep their MP Bar up anyways.
However most prefer higher cast speed even pve, no fun in casting like a slow poke, but if you can affor both, enjoy alternating them...
Slower cast speed helps the sorceror in PvE, IMO, unless SOLO AE'ing under GC (Silent Valley) in which case you want the best cast speed possible because some of those mobs Stun.
+4int +4wit -8men (or -10 as it is way cheaper)
+4 con -4str (-5str as it is way cheaper)
Always -5 STR (useless stat for nukers).
If you go -10 MEN, upgrade your tats at A Grade to -8 MEN. DC will add the -2 MEN you just removed.
This applies to any and all nukers.
And he wouldn't go necro if he said he's going sorc, joker :p.
It really isn't worth it to go Sorc, IMO. Even the Prominence graphic gets boring after 20 levels using it, like every other nuke/skill in the game.
Have fun, though.
*** Yes, I seen that the OP went SH, but others may look here with the same question :)
Archer is less boring to me, but for a different reason. With a mage it's basically, ok, hit for 1k every shot, they have 3k health, shoot, shoot, shoot, dead, next. With an archer the damage is a little more off the way, it could take 7 shots, or it could take one shot. You can't predict the battle before it happens, which makes it slightly funner.
NCSoft didn't do this game any justice when they made leveling so stupid. Goes for every class - leveling is downright boring and redundant, horribly predictable in many ways. Mobs don't even resist nukes unless you're extremely lower level than they are - even the High Sleep resist mobs in TOI, I was CC'ing them on 7th floor with level 1 Sleep on my Necro at level 66...........
Used to be fun kiting mobs for 4 minutes @ PoF Tables in EQ on my Necro because they kept resisting snare (mobs that could kill me in one round, ofc), howing you SoW (WW) didn't fade in the process.
But then again at least lower levels when i still switch the hunting places i find it fun to figure out how to do the mp management, to last the longest, how low i can let my hp drop with btm, without being instantly killed.
I love the animation of spells, even when i see them 1000+ more times, the sounds of spells, movement of clothes.
Archer is silent hit, run backwards, hit, run backwards. Most of the time i used middle button to switch the views to see where im going backwards and then i don't even see the mob dieing animation. The only sounds archers make is just.... running.
I might just be the person who enjoys those kinds of things , they make my gameplay fun and i can grind with a mage hours and hours without getting bored :)
Archers do make noises, and we don't run that much in PvE unless we don't have a healer ^^ I never get tired of the sound of soul shots and the sound when you crit, sounds like it really hurts! Also archers can stand in the middle of 5 mobs and still survive, well, at least the HE ^^
IMO nukers are more brain dead to grind than archers.. reason: they know they can kill every mob in 2 shots, an archer doesn't always crit thus needs to be more careful.
Still pretty similar.
Yes, I've tried all the nuker classes.
I love it when I see a field FULL of mobs. I go in and kill one mobs, corpse burst kill another Corpse Life drain, vamp claw the next =D ( think the most mobs I solo'd and survived was 30 at the Northeast spot)...it was fun in VOS...and if I wanted to I could listen to a Book on CD and just grind away too. But at 73+ it gets harder for a necro...I ended up going to Varka Silenos Stronghold. the mobs there are 4-5 shots each and it really sucks if you dont have a recharger+prophet with you..get a BD too and it goes faster.
Once you get to 72/73 on a Necro, you almost want to quit instantly.
And BTW, CDL @ Hot Springs with a Necro is possible from 72 on up. I would not waste my time in Silenos 5 shotting mobs. Best thing about CDL is that you can carry around only a couple hundred Cursed Bones (for those dire situations) and totally load up on Blessed Spiritshots.