Rakion

[+SupahNoob]

Hello, and welcome to Nick's guide to the Rakion mage! This guide is formatted to fit your needs and will include everything to be known on a mage; everything. In this guide, you will find a newbie section for all the beginners, an intermediate section, and an expert level section.

Before we start, I'd like to say that my guides are not for the low-intelligence person. If you cannot understand a word in this guide then go to Google, and type in, "Define: [enter word here]". Thank you for not complaining. :]

Table of Contents:
Beginner Guide = ¢
Intermediate Guide = ©
Expert Guide = ®
(Use ctrl+F and search for each symbol in order to quick-jump to that guide.)

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I'd first like to start off with a few universal facts that you should know about Rakion, which will help you in all your Owning Needs. ;]

Fact: Rakion bugs; get over it.
Fact: Time is everything, even with you think it's not.
Fact: You WILL get team-killed in a team game; get over it.
Fact: Archers will bug most of your attacks, unless you're good with foresight.
Fact: Ninjas are annoying, they are and always will be, faster than you.
Fact: Movespeed is the most important stat point for a mage, it's allows you to help your teammates faster, run away from danger *ninja*, dodge hits, and makes you an overall more versatile character.

Good, now that we've got that out of the way, you're ready to start learning how to play Rakion with a mage!

***

¢Beginner Guide:

What is delay? The site doesn't explain it well!
Delay is the time, after your attack, that you are left open for every other Rakion player to attack you. Small-damage attacks let you have a small delay time whereas large-damage attacks can leave you open for someone else for up to THREE seconds. This margin of weakness can be eliminated with increased attackspeed (you will learn about stats later).

Nick, why did you say "time is everything" when this is a real-time game?
Because even real-time games have windows of oppurtunity for your opponent. You can be killed in one attack in some cases, and that is why you want to measure your moves carefully.

In Rakion, every character has twelve different moves which you should familiarize yourself with very quickly. You move with the WASD keys, each representing an arrow in which you can move your character on screen. Your vision is controlled by movements of the mouse. The spacebar is used to jump and can be used with any of the WASD keys to jump in a certain direction. The shift key allows you to block most attacks, there are some that cannot be blocked though.

With Short-Ranged Weapon:
{} Basic Attack (1sec delay)
{} Double-Basic (1.5sec delay)
{+Spacebar} Jump Attack (1.5sec delay)
{} Ice [cannot be blocked; goes through shield] (2.5sec delay)
{} Creates a Heal [limit of four per round] (1sec delay)
{} Wind [repels enemies] (3sec delay)
{ From front} Front Grip/Curse [binds an enemy, all people can attack] (2sec delay)
{ From back} Back Grip/Power Projection (2sec delay)

With Long-Ranged Weapon:
{} Bomb [after half second charge-up] (1.5sec delay)
{} Missile [after two seconds of lock-on] (2sec delay)

With both Weapon Types:
{} Rise-Up Attack [after being knocked down] (1sec delay)

In Chaos Mode:
{} Triple Ice [cannot be blocked] (.5sec delay)
{} Missile [after 1.2sec lock-on; cannot be blocked] (.5sec delay)
{} Prayer/Heal (.5sec delay)

Each class also has a transformation that you must earn by earning six kills. To transform, you press the C button on your keyboard. This transformation is called your "Chaos". In "Chaos Mode", your attacks become more powerful and you are more resistant to damage. The only drawback of chaosing is, many players will try to gang up on you, leaving you with the horrible odds of 3v1 or 4v1; chaosed characters do have the advantage of never being knocked down though. Each Chaos has three attacks, as well as a Guard/Block "attack" (shift). In regular mode, you can pivot your character in 360° to block any incoming attacks, in Chaos mode, you cannot.

***

Originally, it is thought for a mage to be a support type of class because they have longer ranged attacks and the ability to heal other players, but it IS possible for a mage to go out and fight just as a warrior does, you just have to be smarter. Mages have the second-weakest starting HP, so they are automatically at a disadvantage. You can customize your character by adding stat points onto your character. There are many types of mage builds, I will list a few which seem to be popular.

Attackspeed Mage: Main attribute is attackspeed.
- Pros
*** You're able to stun grip!
*** You're able to stun kill!
*** Your delay is decreased.

- Cons
*** It's not much of a strategy to just walk up and stun someone to death.
*** It's probably the easiest build to win with.
*** It's limited to only helping the speed at which you attack, if you're double teamed, it's hard to compete with them.
*** Through personal inspection, it seems to dull your skill if you can rely on attackspeed to help you out.


Movespeed Mage: Main attribute is movepseed.
- Pros
*** With enough movespeed, you're still able to stun grip! (Basic, Move-Basic, Move-Basic)
*** You're faster, duhz.
*** You're able to take on more than one opponent with 7.5+ movespeed.
*** You're ale to dodge many attacks.
*** Movespeed allows you to put your reflexes to good use.

- Cons
*** You have to get used to not being able to attack fast.
*** You're weak.
*** You'll need to learn exactly when the most appropriate time to attack is.


Range Mage: Main attribute is range.
- Pros
*** You do mega damage with Ice and Jump Attacks
*** Your bombs are very annoying, and will hurt the other team A LOT.
*** You can damage many people with one bomb, helping your team immensely.

- Cons
*** Being that you're all range, you will still be weak, and have low attack speed.
*** You will be stalked. End of discussion.
*** Having said that, you'll always be watching around you for any incoming enemies.
*** You'd have to switch weapons to damage anyone who is up close.

Many people will combine all three of these basic builds in order to build the best mage. When it comes to stats, it's basically whatever floats your boat. Remember that after 50 stats start to become less and less of a full point. So say you add 50 stat points into basic, and then on the 51st stat point, it'll be worth .9 of a stat rather then 1. At 60 it might decrease to .8, and you really shouldn't increase that stat-type after seventy, because it's pretty worthless. For example, my mage has 100/100 movespeed, with 8.8mspeed as it's total. If I left it at 70/100, the mage's speed would probably only be 8.77, but I wanted that extra .03 :]

Basic Stat improves Basic Attacks.
Range Stat improves Ice, Jump Attacks, and Long-Range Weapon attacks.
Grip Stat improves Front and Back grips.
Special Stat improves Wind time length and Heal powers.
Armor Stat improves the Blue Bar on your character's health bar.
Energy Stat improves the Red Bar on your character's health bar.
Attackspeed Stat increase the speed at which you attack and decreases your delay time.
Movespeed Stat increases the speed at which you move and DOES NOT affect your delay time.
Cell Destruction Stat improves your damage effectiveness against cells (including Master/Gold Golems)
Cell Point Stat raises your cell point limit and the amount of cell points you are rewarded for killing cells and other characters.

***

There are some techniques that you should learn in order to survive as a noob. I highly suggest learning these, they will greatly improve your skill.

Technique One: Stun Grip
Result: A gripped opponent and an unhurt mage. :]
Prerequisites: At least 101 attackspeed.
How to: Approach an opponent and basic once, this will make them have a slight delay due to the damage they will take. In that delay, grip them. Make sure you are close enough to be able to grip them. This does not take long to master if you have enough attackspeed.


Technique Two: Safe Fall
Result: The ability to land from tall heights without recieving fall damage.
Prerequisities: A keyboard; good timing.
How to: When you're about to touch the ground, press press the spacebar repeatedly. Until you're good at it, you'll need to spam the spacebar.


Technique Three: Ice Stack
Result: If completely successful, a six-hit stack on your enemy, normally resulting in their demise.
Prerequisities: Very good timing.
How to: When a character is near a compressable (to find this out, try using the Ice on the wall, if the ice stacks on top of itself, then the wall is compressable.) wall, ice him.


Technique Four: Block Attack
Result: When done correctly, it will fool your offensive opponent into becoming vulnerable easily.
Prerequisities: Planning.
How to: This one is simple. Instead of running up to someone and basicing them, run up and block right before your come into their range of attack. They will most likely basic in an effort to predict your course and hurt you - but you'll have already blocked! This gives you an easy opportunity to slap them back!

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©Intermediate Guide:
Fact: All Rakion characters, but the mage, are left handed.
Fact: Mages hold their short range weapon half-way up the stick enabling them to strike another player behind them with the butt of it. (Contributed by Eztrix)


Something intermediate players should think about is enchanting items. An item with enchants on it will greatly improve your stats. Let's say you have all ten slots filled with items (the two weapons, the four jewelry spots, and the four armor spots) and they're all at +5. First off all, you'll have a cool yellow glow around you, and secondly, you'll get .01 to Basic, Range, Special, Grip, Cell Destruction, Cell Points, Armor, and Energy. Attackspeed gets .02 for each enchant level, many hundreths of a point for cell destruction and cell points (I have no clue, honestly), and movespeed gets .01 for every two enchant levels. With 50 upgrades (10items x 5upgrades [per] = 50upgrades], you'll recieve one full point in attackspeed, a quater of a point in movespeed, and half a point for Basic, Range, etc etc. You probably won't notice much of a difference in the regular stats (Basic->Energy), but the sudden point and half-point increase in your speeds will surely get your attention. Figuring out how the enchantment system works doesn't take much skill, so I'll let you all tamper around with it. Just remember, it will not always succeeed, and there IS a chance of the item breaking (it's pretty low though..). :]

***

Nick, I've seen you a few times in Boss games, how are you able to dodge five people so efficiently?
Well, there are a combination of techniques I use, actually. One of them I have mentioned before, and that is to turn your music down, and your SFX up so that you can hear Archers' shots and your pursuers' jump-grunts. Archers normally shoot ahead of where you're going, so you should be able to judge distance pretty easily with this tip. Also, another technique I use is if I'm knocked to the ground, then you should wait as long as possible (you basically have to memorize the time that you're on the ground for) so that some people get impatient. This allows you to have time to think and look around before moving again, so you can evaluate the situation and not get hurt so easily.

Evaluation is the key.

***

Technique Five: Platform Basic (found and CREATED by Nick; no joke)
Result: A no-delay hit, an enemy on the floor, and a passage to safety.
Prerequisites: Intelligence, Good Timing
How to: Stand on a platform above your opponent. This should be the platform the size of one of the boxes on Cage, a tusk on Mammomth, one of the stairs on Cage, or the middle raised platform of Underground. You opponent will probably be running at you, and will want to jump attack you. As your opponent is jumping at you, run off the platform and basic once. If you've remembered the fact that was mentioned at the beginning of this guide, you'll remember that you should aim to be on their left, so that your cane will successfully hit them. If this is done successfully, then a few things will have happened; you will have dealt damage to the opponent, you will have nearly no delay as it was "used up" during your descent to the ground, your opponent will be on the ground leaving you a good passage to safety. After a few times of getting slammed to the ground by this technique, your opponent will be furiated that you're so easily toying with him, and he'll be even easier to defeat; or he'll just give up and run away like a baby. :]

Technique Six: Feigned AFK
Result: A completely vulnerable enemy, and the ability to do anything to him. :]]
Prerequisites: Ice Stack, Intermediate Skill Level
How to: Stand against the wall and change your fighting mode to Console Control so that you can see your surroundings. Most likely someone will see you from halfway across the map and think, "Hey! An easy kill!". This will dilute their thinking and they'll automatically want to grip or special you, either one is fine for the purposes of this technique. When your opponent runs up he will try to grip you, very quickly you will need to move out of their way. They will be their "invincible mode" squence and that's when you get into position. All invincible modes have a three second delay, which gives you more than enough time to approach them (they will be flat against the wall) and lay down a damned good stack, grip him, basic him for another opponent to help you kill them, whatever you want!

Technique Seven: Shield Movement
Result: The ability to stop on the spot in order to dodge or confuse an opponent.
Prerequisites: Foresight, Movement Skills
How to: This really isn't that difficult of a technique, but the application of using it to your advantage takes quite a bit of skill. Obviously, all you do is hit shift, and your result is limited movement. If you're running diagonally with an opponent, this will cause you to stop and obviously your enemy will keep going. You can take this time to change direction, or jump in the direction of him (this gets them confused, because suddenly you've switched sides with them, haha). Use this to confuse archers as most of them will shoot in your projected path, and not directly at you. This also helps GREATLY when you're falling off a ledge onto another, and don't want to just run off the second ledge.

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®Expert Guide: I am going to now teach you one of the least things known about Rakion, I've only known of three other people who have ever known this secret. It takes quite a long time to master, and I wouldn't expect you to be able to. x3

Fact: In Rakion, if you're in the air, as soon as you touch something else, you are able to block again (this rule isn't valid for elevators).

How does this help me at all Nick?
Well, let's say you've just jumped directly at your opponent and you accidentally hit the wall, or have "double jumped" off of a cell. Your opponent might as well have a free attack against you, but since you've touched the wall/cell, you're able to block! It won't appear as if you're blocking in mid-air (unless you have major FPS lag), but as long as you're holding down the shift button you'll block their hit. Now, this is not to say you can just go around running into walls to block peoples' hits. That'd be ridiculous, and it'd get patched too easily. The pre-hit block after hitting the wall does not ALWAYS work. This is where we introduce the most difficult technique I've ever come up with. x]


Technique Eight: Platzschild (literally: Platform Shield)
Result: The ability to block any shield-able attack.
Prerequisites: Incredible timing
How to: Basically, whenever something is about to hit you, block. You must block at the EXACT moment that your opponent touches you, or it won't work. Even if you're in the air, and you haven't touched ANYTHING, you can still block attacks.

It takes incredible timing to do this, and you probably will only succeed one out of one hundred-or-so times. I honestly don't expect anyone to be able to actually learn this, but at least you've learned something cool about Rakion, that you can block every attack that's thrown at you. :]

Technique Nine: Chain Grip
Result: A completely immoble opponent, never able to run away or escape the front-grip.
Prerequisites: Incredible timing (or be able to use Technique One effectively)
How to: Grip someone in the front. When they unfreeze, there is a small window of time where you can re-grip them before they're able to move again (let's say a quarter-seconds worth). You can either straight grip them, or if you've got enough attack speed, stun-grip them.

This takes a little while to learn, but it's actually not that hard once you've got it down. It will take maybe a week to fully learn, and then practice every other day to be able to do it regularly.

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Well there you have it! There's my full comprehensive guide on the mage! If there is anything you'd like to add, feel free to and if I think it's useful enough, I'll add it in my guide and give you full credits!

Hope you liked my guide, happy gaming!

- Nick
(This guide took me over a week to put together and perfect, so please, if it helped you, show me appreciation by rep+/thanking.)