Elin:Class/Witch: Difference between revisions

While fully capable of spellcasting, witches prefer to resort to a variety of tools to get them out of sticky situations. With an array of potions, rods, wands, scrolls and other magical knick-knacks at their disposal, witches harness the power and versatility of a full backpack, always having just the right item for the job.  If a [[Elin:Warmage|warmage]] is a split between a [[Elin:Wizard|wizard]] and a warrior, a witch is a split between a wizard and a crafting-focused class.

Witches are a class specialized in the alchemy and magic device skills. Witches have slightly less focus on standard spellcasting than wizards, but in the long run, only the lack of +30 base potential on memorization, +20 more base potential for casting, and one less domain differentiate them.  Witches are roughly as capable of pure spellcasting as warmages, but by default lack the melee skills to fall back on.  Witches are well-suited to a support role for a party of more direct-fighting allies and/or using spells like Summon Animal, throwing potions to either heal and buff allies or damage and debuff enemies. Alternatively, they can choose to blast away with more offensive canes and rods, leveraging their magic device skill into damage. Note that in the patch note translations, both canes and rods are often translated to English as "wand," even though rod and cane are the names used in game. Which one is being referenced can typically be determined by context. Canes can be crafted; rods cannot. Canes use MP; rods do not. Canes do not cast a specific spell; rods do. Canes do not have limited charges; rods do. Canes are especially useful early on and can save spell stock, but in the long run, they scale poorly, enemies will have resistances that render them ineffective, and spells like Element Scar are vital for reducing resistances, so you'll still want to learn spellcasting.

Witches can brew twice as many potions per ingredient when using alchemy to make up for the number they will be tossing around, and they have a floor on their alchemy potential 50% higher than normal.  (Meaning their skill is much easier to train.) Having potions as backup "spells" makes witches resilient to statuses like silence and dim that make it impossible or nearly impossible to cast normal spells, at the expense of needing to carry around large quantities of items.

Witches also have the throw skill and a decent dexterity, so throwing may be more effective than using melee weapons if their MP and potion supply is exhausted. Purchasing an iron mic from Mysilia's church with furniture tickets can make a surprisingly strong backup weapon for witches.

 

 

The first thing early-game witches should do is either craft a wand and boomerang at the carpentry table, the former granting them a ranged attack based in magic device.  Using canes trains magic device, casting, and magic all at the same time.  Magic devices cost MP, so a boomerang provides a no-MP option when you're in negative MP. The starting little girl can be transformed into a broom and ridden for a large speed boost, but a horse from Yowyn (unsurprisingly) makes a better mount as it has nearly twice as much starting speed and strength.  Consider a horse worth being one of your first big purchases, especially as the leaving the little girl free to handle enemies in melee takes pressure off you.  Even with a class-based boost, riding initially comes with a notable speed penalty overcome by high riding skill, so ride as much as possible in the meadow to train it early. Since a witch has few defensive abilities at the outset, keeping distance and pelting enemies with wands is a strategy made more viable by the speed from riding a broom, and if a mount isn't fast enough to open some distance, short teleports can gain more distance at the cost of randomness. Witches should also unlock the weightlifting skill in the Tinker's Camp as early as possible and exercise strength in order to increase their carrying capacity, given all the items they will be expected to carry around.

*[[Elin:Kizuami of Trickery|Kizuami's]] artifact prohibits players from inflicting damage, but does not cover damage over time caused by state abnormalities. This makes it a good match for witches who have fire and poison as their domain and fight mainly against interference by potions.