MapleStory Before Big Bang - Ice / Lightning Mage Skill Build Guide

The Ice / Lightning Mage is a branch of Magician job class in MapleStory and was a popular mobbing class in versions Before the Big Bang Update. This skill build guide will show you all the skills you should max out up to fourth job for old-school MapleStory.

Ice / Lightning mages were a lot different in old-school MapleStory; they were extremely good in second job, not great in 3rd job and then excelled in fourth job with their ultimate skill Blizzard. The three mage classes dominated MapleStory in versions Before The Big Bang and are considered the best mobbers in the game.

If you've started to play MapleStory Worlds old school servers, this guide is perfect for you. If you're looking for the modern-day class, check out our Ice / Lightning Arch Mage Skill Build for the latest version of Maplestory.

Ice / Lightning Mage Highlights

There are many advantages that Ice / Lightning have in old-school MapleStory. If you're planning on making this class, you'll get:

• Great mobility - every Magician class gets the Teleport skill, allowing them to traverse Maple World much easier than many other classes.
• Blizzard - This skill hits the entire map in fourth job and has no cooldown, allowing you to stand in one spot and train.
• Second Job Mobbing -  Ice / Lightning has some of the best mobbing skills in second job, allowing them to blast through those tough grindy levels.

You should also be aware of:

• Low HP - Magicians can be slightly "Squishy" with their low HP. But they also get Magic Guard, which basically adds all your MP as HP allowing you to take damage from tougher monsters.
• Costly First Job - First job can be expensive due to having to buy lots of MP pots at the beginning
• Bad Bossing Class - Unlike Bishops, Ice / Lightning do not provide any support skills for bossing and their single-target damage DPS is quite low.

Overview

Below is an overview of the Ice / Lightning Class.

Main Stat: INT

Secondary Stat: LUK

Weapon: Wand/Staff

Job Branch:

• 1st: Magician (Level 8)
• 2nd: Ice / Lightning Wizard (Level 30)
• 3rd: Ice / Lightning Mage (Level 70)
• 4th: Ice / Lightning Arch Mage (Level 120)

Assigning AP

A Magician's main stat is INT, but it also requires LUK stat to wear equipment. When Maple Weapons are released, LUK becomes less important as these weapons don't require LUK.

When rolling your stats for character creation, you want to aim for:

• STR: 4
• DEX: 4
• LUK: 4
• INT: 13

However, rolling this is called a "perfect roll", and so you should accept anything with low LUK and high INT to get going.

You get 5 AP per level in MapleStory. A regular AP build for Magician is:

• +4 INT every Level
• +1 LUK every Level

In order to job advance at Level 8 to Magician, you need 20 INT.

Magician First Job Skill Build

At level 8 you can job advance to Magician. It is very important that you do not over-level in old-school MapleStory due to how skills effect your stats on Level up.

Each level up gives you 3 SP and your Job Advancement gives +1 SP.

• Level 8: Magic Bolt +1
• Level 9: Improving MP Recovery +3
• Level 10: Improving MP Recovery +2, Improved MAX MP Increase +1
• Level 11: Improved MAX MP Increase +3
• Level 12: Improved MAX MP Increase +3
• Level 13: Improved MAX MP Increase +3
• Level 14: Improving MP Recovery +3
• Level 15: Improving MP Recovery +3
• Level 16: Improving MP Recovery +3
• Level 17: Improving MP Recovery +2, Magic Claw +1
• Level 18: Magic Claw +3
• Level 19: Magic Claw +3
• Level 20: Magic Claw +3
• Level 21: Magic Claw +3
• Level 22: Magic Claw +3
• Level 23: Magic Claw +3
• Level 24: Magic Claw +1, Magic Guard +2
• Level 25: Magic Guard +3
• Level 26: Magic Guard +3
• Level 27: Magic Guard +3
• Level 28: Magic Guard +3
• Level 29: Magic Guard +3
• Level 30: Magic Guard +3

Your first SP you get for Job Advancing should be put into Magic Bolt, allowing you to deal more damage to low-level enemies. Then you need to put 5 SP into Improving MP Recovery to unlock Improved MAX MP Increase skill.

Improved MAX MP Increase will give you additional MP stats on Level Up, so it's vital to max this skill as soon as possible. If you miss this skill out in the early levels, you'll be sacrificing MP Stats that you won't be able to get back.

After that, max out Improving MP Recovery so that you rely less on MP Pots and then finally around Level 17 you can start maxing out your main attack skill Magic Claw.

You'll then use the rest of your points to max out Magic Guard, which isn't very useful yet but will be vital once you hit Level 70+.

Ice / Lightning Wizard - Second Job Skill Build

At Level 30, you can take on the second job advancement and change into an Ice / Lightning Wizard.

Follow this skill build:

• Level 30: Teleport +1
• Level 31: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 32: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 33: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 34: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 35: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 36: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 37: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 38: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 39: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 40: Thunder Bolt +3
• Level 41: Teleport +3
• Level 42: Teleport +3
• Level 43: MP Eater +3
• Level 44: MP Eater +3
• Level 45: MP Eater +3
• Level 46: MP Eater +3
• Level 47: MP Eater +3
• Level 48: MP Eater +3
• Level 49: MP Eater +2, Meditation +1
• Level 50: Meditation +3
• Level 51: Meditation +3
• Level 52: Meditation +3
• Level 53: Meditation +3
• Level 54: Meditation +3
• Level 55: Meditation +3
• Level 56: Meditation +1, Teleport +2
• Level 57: Teleport +3
• Level 58: Teleport +3
• Level 59: Teleport +3
• Level 60: Teleport +2, Cold Beam +1
• Level 61: Cold Beam +3
• Level 62: Cold Beam +3
• Level 63: Cold Beam +3
• Level 64: Cold Beam +3
• Level 65: Cold Beam +3
• Level 66: Cold Beam +3
• Level 67: Cold Beam +3
• Level 68: Cold Beam +3
• Level 69: Cold Beam +3
• Level 70: Cold Beam +2, Slow +1

This Ice / Lightning Wizard build focuses on using Thunderbolt as your main attacking skill due to it's ability to hit multiple mobs. The damage isn't as strong as Cold Beam, but you'll train faster killing multiple enemies than single target hits.

MP Eater comes next to help you save on potion costs, however, if you're funded, you can max Teleport earlier for better mobility.

Mediation provides some extra magic attack and then finally max out Cold Beam to 1-hit single target mobs. Slow is useless.

Ice / Lightning Mage - Third job Skill Build

At Level 70, you can complete the third job advancement and become an Ice / Lightning Mage.

Follow this skill build:

• Level 70: Elemental Amplification +1
• Level 71: Ice Strike +3
• Level 72: Ice Strike +3
• Level 73: Ice Strike +3
• Level 74: Ice Strike +3
• Level 75: Ice Strike +3
• Level 76: Ice Strike +3
• Level 77: Ice Strike +3
• Level 78: Ice Strike +3
• Level 79: Ice Strike +3
• Level 80: Ice Strike +3
• Level 81: Spell Booster +3
• Level 82: Spell Booster +3
• Level 83: Spell Booster +3
• Level 84: Spell Booster +3
• Level 85: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 86: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 87: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 88: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 89: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 90: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 91: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 92: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 93: Elemental Amplification +3
• Level 94: Elemental Amplification +2, Spell Booster +1
• Level 95: Spell Booster +3
• Level 96: Spell Booster +3
• Level 97: Spell Booster +1, Element Composition +2
• Level 98: Element Composition +3
• Level 99: Element Composition +3
• Level 100: Element Composition +3
• Level 101: Element Composition +3
• Level 102: Element Composition +3
• Level 103: Element Composition +3
• Level 104: Element Composition +3
• Level 105: Element Composition +3
• Level 106: Element Composition +3
• Level 107: Element Composition +1, Partial Resistance +2
• Level 108: Partial Resistance +3
• Level 109: Partial Resistance +3
• Level 110: Partial Resistance +3
• Level 111: Partial Resistance +3
• Level 112: Partial Resistance +3
• Level 113: Partial Resistance +3
• Level 114: Seal +3
• Level 115: Seal +3
• Level 116: Seal +3
• Level 117: Seal +3
• Level 118: Seal +3
• Level 119: Seal +3
• Level 120: Seal +2

When you job advance to Ice / Lightning Mage, you'll want to put 1 point into Elemental Amplification for that extra +100% Magic Attack damage.

Then max your main attacking skill, Ice Strike. This can hit multiple mobs and freeze them in place, making it easy to train and use very little potions.

Then you want to add points into Spell Booster to increase your attack speed. Once your maxed both Elemental Amplification and Spell Booster, the rest of your skills are inconsequential.

Elemental Composition and Thunder Spear are both rarely used, apart from finishing off a monster with one-hit as they are both single target damage skills.

Partial Resistant gives you some defense against Ice / Lightning attacks and Seal will prevent magic attacks from mobs.

Ice / Lightning Arch Mage - Fourth Job Skill Build

At Level 120, you can take on the fourth and final job advancement and become an Ice / Lightning Arch Mage!

Fourth job is slightly different to other jobs in that you need to obtain Skill Books to increase the max level of a skill and also take on a few quests to unlock others. This guide assumes you have everything maxed out, but whilst waiting for skill books you can improve other skills.

Follow this skill build:

• Level 120: Blizzard +1
• Level 121: Blizzard +3
• Level 122: Blizzard +3
• Level 123: Blizzard +3
• Level 124: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 125: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 126: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 127: Maple Warrior +1, Blizzard +2
• Level 128: Blizzard +3
• Level 129: Blizzard +3
• Level 130: Blizzard +3
• Level 131: Blizzard +3
• Level 132: Blizzard +3
• Level 133: Blizzard +3
• Level 134: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 135: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 136: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 137: Maple Warrior +1, Chain Lightning +2
• Level 138: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 139: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 140: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 141: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 142: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 143: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 144: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 145: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 146: Chain Lightning +3
• Level 147: Chain Lightning +1, Maple Warrior +2
• Level 148: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 149: Maple Warrior +3
• Level 150: Maple Warrior +2, Ifrit +1
• Level 151: Ifrit +3
• Level 152: Ifrit +3
• Level 153: Ifrit +3
• Level 154: Ifrit +3
• Level 155: Ifrit +3
• Level 156: Ifrit +3
• Level 157: Ifrit +3
• Level 158: Ifrit +3
• Level 159: Ifrit +3
• Level 160: Ifrit +2, Infinity +1
• Level 161: Infinity +3
• Level 162: Infinity +3
• Level 163: Infinity +3
• Level 164: Infinity +3
• Level 165: Infinity +3
• Level 166: Infinity +3
• Level 167: Infinity +3
• Level 168: Infinity +3
• Level 169: Infinity +3
• Level 170: Infinity +2, Ice Demon +1
• Level 171: Ice Demon +3
• Level 172: Ice Demon +3
• Level 173: Ice Demon +3
• Level 174: Ice Demon +3
• Level 175: Ice Demon +3
• Level 176: Ice Demon +3
• Level 177: Ice Demon +3
• Level 178: Ice Demon +3
• Level 179: Ice Demon +3
• Level 180: Ice Demon +2, Mana Reflection +1
• Level 181: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 182: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 183: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 184: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 185: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 186: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 187: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 188: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 189: Mana Reflection +3
• Level 190: Mana Reflection +2, Big Bang +1
• Level 191: Big Bang +3
• Level 192: Big Bang +3
• Level 193: Big Bang +3
• Level 194: Big Bang +3
• Level 195: Big Bang +3
• Level 196: Big Bang +3
• Level 197: Big Bang +3
• Level 198: Big Bang +3
• Level 199: Big Bang +3
• Level 200: Big Bang +2, Hero's Will +1

Your main attacking skill in fourth job is Blizzard and it's what makes mages the best mobbing classes in MapleStory. You'll be able to hit the entire map without having to move, allowing you to train at insane speeds.

Your next main skill to max is Maple Warrior. This is one of the hardest books to get a hold of due to demand, so you might need to leave at Level 10 for a long time due to cost.

Your single-target skill is Chain Lightning and what you'll be using during Bossing.

Finally, Ifrit is your main summon to use and the rest of the skills after that offer little in terms of usability. If bossing, Hero's Will is a good skill to get early on.