Magician build

Three choices shape your first 30 levels: which attack to level, how much defense to buy with SP, and which branch to take at 30.

• Attack: Energy Bolt. Same damage as Magic Claw for less MP.
• Defense: a small Magic Guard to unlock Magic Armor. Armor has no running cost, Guard does.
• Branch: choose by how you want to play. There is no agreed best, and this page will not invent one.

No live EXP-per-hour figures exist yet for any class, so nothing here ranks anything by speed. Damage figures on this page use community formulas that Nexon has not confirmed.

Stats

• INT is your damage. It goes into everything you do.
• LUK adds no damage by our estimate. You need it to wear gear. From level 20, mage wands and armor want LUK equal to your level minus 10: 10 at 20, 15 at 25, 20 at 30.
• Add LUK the day the item is in your bag. By our estimate you get 5 AP a level and 3 SP a level, not confirmed in Classic World. The gates sit at 20, 25 and 30, so at that rate five points at each gate is enough, if LUK starts at 5. LUK added early buys nothing, and taking AP back costs a 7,000 NX .
• STR and DEX do nothing for you. Leave them alone.

Later plans, including no LUK at all, are in Mage build variants.

1st job at level 10

Talk to in at level 10. His room is the . Nexon names level only, so older stat gates do not apply as far as anyone reports. Your wand does need 20 INT, so have that by 10. Reference data says a (26 M.ATK) is free when you advance, not confirmed in Classic World. Keep 3,000 mesos in case: if none arrives, buy from .

Energy Bolt, not Magic Claw

At skill level 20
Total value	130	65 x 2 = 130
MP per cast	16	20
Value per MP	8.13	6.50
Range	350	300
SP to max	20	21, it needs Bolt 1

Bolt wins on cost, range and SP. Claw's one case is an unverified claim that it passes terrain that blocks Bolt. The skill text is silent and we found no test, so do not plan around it.

If you do go Claw, keep Bolt at 1 for last hits. A level 1 Bolt gives 11.25 value per MP against Claw 20's 6.50.

SP order

At the reference rate you get 1 SP at the job and 3 a level: 61 by level 30. Nothing below needs a reset.

Each of these swaps still spends 61:

• Mobs rarely touch you: Recovery 15 and Armor 8 instead of Recovery 3 and Armor 20. A goes from 224 MP to 250, about 10% off every MP potion for the rest of the game. If the bonus applies to fruit, a goes from 168 MP to 187.5, the same saving. That is not confirmed. If it does not apply, Blue Potions beat Lemons from Recovery 2, so test one Lemon after your first point. If you are short on mesos at 25, this is the swap to make.
• You want a safety net: Guard 15 and Armor 8 instead of Guard 3 and Armor 20. Guard 15 moves 80% of damage to MP.

Magic Guard is a trade, not a free shield

Guard turns HP damage into MP damage, and MP costs twice as much to refill. Refill cost per 100 damage taken, at and Lemon prices:

Guard	Mesos to refill
Off	50
Level 3 (36%)	68
Level 15 (80%)	90

That sum leaves out the value of not dying, and a death costs EXP. Nexon has published no figure for that. So turn Guard on when a hit could end you or your HP is thin, and off when mobs die before they reach you. At 0 MP all damage goes to HP, so never let Guard be your last line.

Magic Armor costs nothing per hit. has 29 W.DEF, and Armor 10 adds 76 on top. Keep it up on every map where anything can touch you.

Gear you can actually get

This table lists only what an NPC sells, a recipe makes or a quest gives. The free wand at 10 and the two capes are the exceptions, flagged in their rows. sells wands and sells armor, both in Ellinia. Prices are NPC prices.

Level	Wand	Body	Other slots	Base LUK
10	26 M.ATK, free by reference data. is 27 for 3,000. Buy it only if the free wand does not arrive	and +1 INT each, 3,600 for the pair	+1, 1,200	0
15	34, 5,000	+3, 5,400	+1, 1,800. +1, Tailoring 3	0
20	41, 10,500	Keep the robe. and are +4 for 10,800, only one better	+2, Tailoring 4	10
25	48, 13,500	or +5, 13,500	+2, Tailoring 5. +2, Tailoring 5. +2 LUK, free below	15
30	55, Arcforging 6	Same	+3, Smithing 6. +3 and +3 LUK, Tailoring 6	20
35	62, Arcforging 7	Same	+3, +3 LUK, Tailoring 7. +1 is Tailoring 7 too, with a from players, or buy the finished cape. Stores list both	25
40	69, Arcforging 8	Same	+4, +1 INT +3 LUK, Tailoring 8	30
46	Same	Same	+2, one of three capes rolled by . The step before it wants 20 , and we can show no source for it, so do not stack for this until you know where it comes from. Stores list the finished cape	30
50	83, Arcforging 10	Same	+5, +1 INT +2 LUK, Tailoring 10	40

Bought and crafted together, that is +5 to +9 INT by 25, +11 at 30 and 35, +13 at 40 and +14 at 50. Neither cape is counted. adds +1 from 35 if you buy or make one. adds +2 from 46 if you buy one, or finish its chain and win the one-in-three roll.

What the table hides:

• No NPC sells mage-only gear above level 25. Mage gloves are never sold at any level. From 30 you buy from crafters or players, and prices are on the market page.
• Rank 9 and 10 are uncertain. Recipes exist to rank 10. Reference data mentions a rank 8 limit at launch, not confirmed in Classic World. Check the market page before you plan around Cromi or Blue Penance.
• Women's clothes. Reference data splits clothes by gender, not confirmed in Classic World. is listed as men's and as women's, and tops and bottoms may split the same way. The data has no gender column, so check in game. We show no women's INT robe at 15: and are the +1 and +1 alternative.
• Earrings carry no INT, so they can wait. rolls or . gives but asks for a , sold by at 9,000, so keep one if you roll it.
• Do not plan on a shield. , and have no source in our tables.
• gives you at quest level 22. Do not spend 3,500 on them.
• Level 55+ gear drops are unconfirmed. Only quest gloves and earrings have a sure source. The gear tool also lists reference drops, so treat those as hopes.

If mesos are short, buy wands first. By our estimate each wand step is worth about 7 to 8%, while going from to is under 2% for the same money as . The later robe still matters. Both robes have 10 slots, but it starts +2 INT higher and nothing better has a confirmed source, so it is the one you keep and scroll. sells at 40,000 for +1 INT at 100%. Ten of them make a +15 robe, more than the level 70 robe's +14, for about +5% at 400,000 mesos. Overall scrolls are reported to need a citizenship grade, and whether Ben serves non-Kerning citizens is not confirmed. Details are in Scrolling.

MP and money, levels 10 to 25

Players report that levels 10 to 20 are hard on money, and that it eases by 20 to 25. Only two reports so far put numbers on the good end: 70k mesos and 200 Lemons at 23, and 143k mesos from drops at 24, both in late October. If you are broke at 13, you are not doing it wrong. It passes.

Why it hurts

Your attacks are at their worst and the bar is already filling slowly. Our rough estimate of the MP a full climb asks for, before natural regen, quest EXP or any Guard use. EXP to earn comes from the reference EXP table, not confirmed in Classic World:

Levels	EXP to earn	Typical kill	MP per EXP	Rough MP bill
10–15	about 17,000	, 2 to 3 casts at 8 to 13 MP	about 1.5	25,000
15–20	about 57,000	, 2 to 3 casts at 13 to 16 MP	about 1.2	70,000
20–25	about 148,000	, 2 casts at 16 MP	about 0.85	125,000

Cost per EXP keeps falling, which is why it feels better. It also shows the trap: a mob you three-cast costs half again the MP of one you two-cast.

Etc drops alone do not cover the bill. By our estimate, a 's etc drops are worth about 7 mesos a kill at NPC prices, and it costs about 20 MP to kill at level 13. The difference has to come from meso drops and quests. Nobody has measured mesos per kill yet.

What to buy

Item	MP	Price	Mesos per MP	Where
	50	50	1.00	Town grocers,
	150	150	1.00	Town grocers
	200	220	1.10	Town grocers
	800	1,120	1.40	,

Lemons are the default if Improved MP Recovery boosts fruit, which is not confirmed. Test one Lemon after your first point. If the bonus skips fruit, Blue Potions tie Lemons at Recovery 1 and beat them from Recovery 2, at 222 MP for 220 mesos. Do not buy NPC Pure Water for routine use. It is worth a look only on the player market: at 800 mesos or less it matches a Lemon per MP, with 800 MP in one press. Check the market page.

For HP, at 0.50 mesos per HP is joint best at any level, level with Apple, Egg, Meat and Fried Chicken.

Free MP from quests

Quests hand out far more MP than most mages notice. From level 8 to 25 they pay about 53,700 MP in potions, about 29,000 mesos and about 60,000 EXP, about a quarter of the EXP from 10 to 25 on the reference EXP table, not confirmed in Classic World. That counts town quests only. It skips citizenship, crafting and Omok quests and rolled rewards. Citizenship quests from level 12 list far more, about 190,000 MP and 200,000 EXP across Henesys and Kerning City together, but what gates them is not in our data. See Citizenship. Take the town quests on your way past.

Level	Start with	Quest	MP reward
8	,	,	8 Blue Potions, 10 Lemons
10			8 Blue Potions
10	,	,	10 Blue Potions each
10–11	,	, ,	15 Lemons, 20 Cakes, 10 Blue Potions
11			15 Blue Potions
13	at	,	10 Blue Potions each
15		,	20 Lemons each
17		, ,	15 Blue Potions, 15 Blue Potions, 15 Oranges
18			15 Blue Potions
20			20 Blue Potions
21		,	20 Blue Potions each
23			20 Blue Potions

The Lith Harbor stop matters most. and pay 3,100 MP from level 8. adds 1,600 MP, but it completes with Phil at level 10, so reach 10 around Lith Harbor and hand it in before you go to Ellinia, or plan a trip back. Many of these quests sit inside chains. The second column names who opens the chain, so the earlier steps come first.

What else helps

• Hunt what you kill in one or two casts. Players report this more than any other tip. The numbers are in Magician leveling.
• Do the sum once per map. MP per kill is casts times MP per cast. If drops do not repay it, move.
• Sit between fights. Players report it works and that it is tedious. It is free MP when mesos are at their lowest.
• Sell what you cannot use. Quest scrolls that roll off-class are money, not a waste. Do not vendor them before you check the market.
• Keep ores for crafters. NPC prices are the floor, not the value.

Choosing your branch at 30

You pick one at 30. As of November 2026 Classic World has no 3rd job, and Nexon has said only that it may come later. The test is in Job advancement.

	Fire/Poison	Ice/Lightning	Cleric
Main attack, maxed	180, 28 MP	170, 22 MP	160, 28 MP
Value per MP	6.43	7.73	5.71
Group attack	90, 6 targets	80, 6 targets, widest box	None
Extra effect	Burn, poison	Slow, stun	Heals, party damage cut
Damage buff	+25 M.ATK	+25 M.ATK	None
Pays for it with	Most MP per damage among wizards, and a fire-resist 50s	The weaker wizard spell, few weak maps in the 40s and 50s	Lowest raw damage, no group attack, and Heal is not the Heal you remember

How to choose:

• Money is your main worry: Ice/Lightning runs cheapest per damage. A maxed Energy Bolt at 8.13 per MP stays cheaper than all three maxed spells, so keep using it where it kills in the same number of casts.
• You want the biggest single hit: Fire/Poison, and accept the potion bill.
• You want a party role, or like undead maps: Cleric. Heal and Bless help the whole group, and one report so far calls Cleric strong in parties. Holy Arrow is your attack and Heal is your sustain, so do not expect old-style Heal training.
• You will solo crowded maps: look at the group attacks. Poison Breath needs 3 mobs in the box to match Fire Arrow per MP. Thunder Bolt needs 4 to match Cold Beam. Below that you are burning mesos.

The map pool matters more than most tier lists admit. Share of non-boss spawns that are weak to each element, by mob level:

Mob level	Holy	Fire	Ice	Lightning	Spawn points
30–39	20%	34%	18%	10%	1,112
40–49	60%	22%	5%	8%	755
50–59	43%	11%	0%	0%	275
60–75	46%	0%	30%	0%	127

Resists bite too: at mob level 50–59, 54% of spawns resist fire, 52% resist ice and 32% resist poison. The size of the weak bonus is about x1.25 by estimate. Older guides say x1.5, and it is not tested in Classic World, so a weak map helps without deciding everything.

Tier lists disagree and none shows its method. Most also predate v1.1.0 on 29 Oct, which raised Poison Breath and Thunder Bolt. Pick the play style you will enjoy for the long haul.

Can spells miss?

This is not settled. Some reads of the client say spells use the same hit check as physical attacks, others say every spell lands. Nexon has not said, and we found no test either way and no player report of a spell missing. Treat missing as possible against mobs above your level. Either way, DEX does nothing for a mage.

Not confirmed yet

• Whether Improved MP Recovery's item bonus applies to fruit such as Lemons.
• Whether terrain blocks Energy Bolt and passes Magic Claw.
• Whether gear stats count toward equip requirements.
• Mage HP by level, and how much Guard or Armor really saves.
• Mesos per kill at any level.
• How Beginner AP is assigned, and the exact stats you reach level 10 with. The plans here assume all of it goes to INT.
• AP and SP per level, any job-advance AP bonus, and starting LUK.
• Where and come from. Players sell the first. The second decides the quest route to , and stores list that cape too.

Next: Magician leveling for the route, then your branch guide at 30.