Stat and Training for Mages/Nukers/Grind Spots

Here are all the mages/casters/nukers available till date in Nine Dragons:

Shaolin :: Exorcist monks - Exorcist Monks accentuate their internal power. Some are so skilled that they can use vocal skills combined
with their internal Chi to strike enemies at a long distance. Their Chi enables them to absorb damage that would have hurt any normal,
untrained person.

The League of Beggars :: Dragon Beggars - Dragon Beggars use Chi or inner spiritual power to enhance their fighting abilities.
Although physically weak, they use mind skills to increase their defense or absorb a physical attack.

Wu Tang :: Black Turtles - They embody the tough spirit of Wu-Tang. They have learned how to handle Chi flawlessly and they
protect themselves using Chi protective skills.

Heavenly Demon :: Storm Demons they are masters of inner spirit skills. They use 'Iron demon' protective skills and 'Gold demon'
long-range chi attacks. They are relatively weak in close combat, but never plan to get in that close anyway!

Sacred Flower :: Mistress of Spirit - Watch out for these ladies because they're great at mind control skills. They can use their
chi powers to deal long-range attacks. But in contrast to their high inner strength, they are physically relatively weak. Not that that
stops them from dominating all around them!

The Brotherhood of Thieves :: Armored Bandits - Armored Bandits do not like to get too close to their enemies. They prefer to
strike from a distance, particularly using the height of the mountains to their advantage. They are good at avoiding or absorbing enemy
attacks and then striking back with long-range counter-attacks.

So here are all the basic classes. I will next go to stats and all the skills to lvl up in detail. However here I will not describe the initial skills
that some clans get before choosing a role as HDs and WTs don't get them. I will focus on all common nuker skills.

How to build your stats
Wisdom: this is the main attibut that you will be increasing. Wisdom increases you chi-kung damage, dodge and accuracy.
Essence: You will see all your major attacks will require a lot of vital energy or mana points. Ess also increases your base CK
damage, so you should add more than 50.
Constitution: Just enough to survive if you get hit, which is bound to happen. However don't put too much CON.
Strength: Minimum points required to wear the relics. for RC ones you need 10, FD 12. However you can/should have STR
elixirs to increase your defense.
Dexterity: Same as STR.

Tips
1. You can/should have STR elixirs to increase your defense and the DEX elixirs to increase your dodge.
2. Ess should stay on like 40-50 till u max Wis, then pump Ess again.
3. Con 25-30 is all, nuker will ever need, coz they dont get in close combat.
4. Try to max wis and def buf asap.
5. Save your gold for that adv-medi. You need it more than anything for quickly gaining you VE. The higher meditation regains VE really slow.
6. Mainly the epithet good for you are Secret Solver/ Lightning Fist/ Killer of Shen mo as they add movement speed to you.
You can get secret solver at early levels.
7. You will need help from your band or friends to get shuan mian/syl/shen mo.
8. My advice is to seek bracers with high crit rate above all
9. Low level bleed spell is useless. Use the one you learn at FD 1.
10. I emphasize again to skip refining, because we do so high a dmg, that refinement dmg doesn't really make a difference. at SM you
will do 7k-8k. And +9 refinement will add max 700-800 damage.
11. Save that BE for Wan Daye's and money for slotted speed clothes.
12. It is life saving to have both basic and adv. light foot ready on quick bar for escape situations.
13. By mid-high RLs your slow movement nuke spell must be level 9-10.
14. You must level to max the bleed spell as soon as you learn it.

Boss Hunting
We will really be weak at boss hunting, especially the dungeons. This is because of our attack style, which is hit and run.

Player vs Player
You will dominate the PvP in one to one. With some practice you will see you can kill players at higher lvl
than you easily. Paralyze, run, bleed, slow, hit.

Items
Nukers also need different kind of equips, best thing is they don't need a lot of blood essence to refine the bracers. Your refine
will add less additional damage to your weapon and the bonus will be significantly low. Unless you refine a lower level weapon to +9.
You still need BE for getting those Wan Daye Bracers. 5 for RL, 10 for FD and 20 for SM wan daye. Which wont be really difficult to
procure. Why I insist on wan daye's bracers is coz of the movement speed bonus you get from them.

Clothes
You need clothes which add your movement speed, Jade Face's set is a good speed bonus one. Try to get the slotted ones
if possible, they are really rare. Or you can get the HP slotted clothes and add the speed ornament to them. Depends on availability
and your budget.

Try to get clothes with two slots, wrist bands hats. Add speed ornaments to them. There are screenies of the speed clothes.

At RL 1 you will get +10% speed bonus shoes, which are very good. As of now I don't have them.

SPELLS
1. You should only use the slow spell and start using the bleed one since fd1.
2. Must max out your wisdom and defense buff asap.
3. Maxing other nukes is good only for pvp or insignificant, because the usefull secondary functions don't improve over chengs
and damage is .. inferior to main nukes even when maxed
4. If you have less then 10% hp, your nukes will gain x2 skill xp, it stacks with manuals. (ty SpiritThief)
Warning: Serious boredom will occur when maxing primary nukes(which pays of and cannot be done a.f.k.)

Skills Grind Spots
I would say before you start levelling up you need to better level your nukes so you kill quickly. Here is where to do them.
The spot in hangzhou will server you till you are mid/ high FD. All clans can go there. White clan players will be at risk though.
The tiger in Song Shan is visited by many white clan nukers. However no black clan can enter this place. WT and beggers if
caught by guards will be exterminated. As white clan I did not go to Song shan instead I preferered Hzou.

Mobs you can hunt

Mid/High OC: You can hunt foxes and bears. Avoid blind madmen, they are too fast and hv bleeds.

RC 1 -4 : Hunt twin brutes, coz the move very slowly you can also kill earthworm demons. Stay clear of giants.
RC8 to RC10, you should be partying and killing monks.

RC10-RL1, you should be killing Drunken Swordsmen

Avoid!!: All Lightning shadows. They have ranged attacks, you can't kite them well.

RL1-RL5/6, you should be killing Raiders or those horse riders in Jinan/Datong.You don't want to level at Blood Thieves
(wolves riders), since there will be too many warriors in that area. You can solo well these horse riders anyway.

RL5-RL8/9, you should be killings Brown Bears. You should aim mainly for regular brown bears, since the warriors
will let them alone, due to a damage bug.

RL8-RL12, you should be killing Shadow Disciples. By this time, you should be able to lure and kill the female ones well.

Avoid Monks!!: as they are too hard to kill, compared to any other mobs near your level and mob very easily.

FD1-FD4/5, you should be killing Green Toad Demons

FD5-FD8, you should be aiming for Axehead Demons and Stoned-skin demon.

FD 8- FD 12 grind on the red wolves.

The toad demons are good for leveling up your skills, if you have leveled your skills well you can kill them even before your level.
For the exp-ing hunt mobs which will be at most 2 levels above orange for you. You will land hits mostly. Any mob above them you will
miss mostly and should be only for leveling skills.

Nuker only party: It COULD be VERY VERY effective, but its kinda hard to get 3+ nukers of same level and coordinated enough.

Note: A friend of mine has done VERY extensive testing when he started grinding evil zombies since like sm2 (they are 1st orange at sm7...)
While drop of red mob is potentially cool, remember, that you'll be killing fewer of them, so less chances to actually get that drop.

Disadvantages
1. Nukers are weak at boss hunting. This really bites.
2. In PvP they get killed if opponent is able to come near them.
3. You do not get any area damage. I really really wish nukers get some area damage.
4. No skill to teleport, a mage should be able to teleport itself.

PvP
1. A good epithet is to get the Lightning Fist. Its a nice epithet for nukers. +7% speed bonus. +50 Defense(we neeed it so much)[ty elcooter]
2. Before that you must use Secret Solver of Clan of Four Gods. It gives +10% speed bonus.
3. All speed clothes, without doubt, slotted hats, slotted wristbands, soon you can get wild tower and
masnsion shoes with 20% bonus as of now they sell for a premium price. Wild tower and mansion items can be worn after FD 12 only.
4. I suggest wait till FD 1 for the bleed skill for real PvP action. Though I started as
soon as I was RC 1.
5. VE shield is very, very important in PvP. It takes long to level, it is worth it because it allows damage you receive to be absorbed
into your VE.(ty falcon)
6 The RL 10 0.5 seconds nuke is very good for PvP, however its very slow to level .)[ty elcooter,rappyboy]

SKILLS to level their damages

Low lvl slow nuke
Cheng 1 - 170-212 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 2 - 298-356 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 3 - 490-559 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 4 - 718-812 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 5 - 1006-1113 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 6 - 1174-1296 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 7 - 1357-1479 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 8 - 1525-1662 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 9 - 1708-1845 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds
Cheng 10 - 1875-2028 damage and slow by 50% for 6 seconds

Wis buff
Cheng 1 - Add 3 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 2 - Add 5 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 3 - Add 7 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 4 - Add 9 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 5 - Add 11 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 6 - Add 13 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 7 - Add 16 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 8 - Add 19 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 9 - Add 22 wisdom for 30 min
Cheng 10 - Add 25 wisdom for 30 min

Def buff
Cheng 1 - Add 13 defense for 30 min
Cheng 2 - Add 24 defense for 30 min
Cheng 3 - Add 39 defense for 30 min
Cheng 4 - Add 57 defense for 30 min
Cheng 5 - Add 77 defense for 30 min
Cheng 6 - Add 99 defense for 30 min
Cheng 7 - Add 122 defense for 30 min

First shield
Cheng 1 - Absorb 200 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 2 - Absorb 226 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 3 - Absorb 255 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 4 - Absorb 288 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 5 - Absorb 325 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 6 - Absorb 367 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 7 - Absorb 415 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 8 - Absorb 469 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 9 - Absorb 530 Kung Fu damage for 1 min
Cheng 10 - Absorb 599 Kung Fu damage for 1 min

Paralyse attack
Cheng 1 - 153 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 2 - 207 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 3 - 261 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 4 - 315 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 5 - 369 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 6 - 423 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 7 - 477 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 8 - 531 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 9 - 585 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds
Cheng 10 - 639 damage and paralyse for 9 seconds

Mana Shield
Cheng 1 - Absorb 300 damage while spending 600 VE
Cheng 2 - Absorb 450 damage while spending 900 VE
Cheng 3 - Absorb 600 damage while spending 1200 VE
Cheng 4 - Absorb 750 damage while spending 1500 VE
Cheng 5 - Absorb 900 damage while spending 1800 VE
Cheng 6 - Absorb 1050 damage while spending 2100 VE
Cheng 7 - Absorb 1200 damage while spending 2400 VE
Cheng 8 - Absorb 1350 damage while spending 2700 VE
Cheng 9 - Absorb 1500 damage while spending 3000 VE
Cheng 10 -Absorb 1650 damage while spending 3300 VE

PVP spell
Cheng 1 - 382 to 433 damage
Cheng 2 - 476 to 535 damage
Cheng 3 - 578 to 637 damage
Cheng 4 - 671 to 739 damage
Cheng 5 - 773 to 841 damage
Cheng 6 - 875 to 943 damage
Cheng 7 - 969 to 1045 damage

High lvl bleed
Cheng 1 - 399-450 bleed 225 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 2 - 567-625 bleed 312 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 3 - 799- 879 bleed 439 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 4 - 1091-1184 bleed 592 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 5 - 1418-1540 bleed 770 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 6 - 1601-1723 bleed 861 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 7 - 1769-1921 bleed 960 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 8 - 1952-2104 bleed 1052 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 9 - 2135-2287 bleed 1143 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds
Cheng 10 - 2302-2470 bleed 1235 every 3 seconds for 12 seconds

High lvl slow nuke
Cheng 1 - 197-222 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 2 - 247-273 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 3 - 294-323 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 4 - 344-373 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 5 - 390-424 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 6 - 441-474 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 7 - 487-529 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 8 - 537-579 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 9 - 588-630 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds
Cheng 10 - 634-680 damage and slow by 50% for 9 seconds

Invincible/ God Mode
Cheng 1 - Become invincible for 12 seconds, both cannot move, change camera angle or do anything
Cheng 2 - Become invincible for 12 seconds, both cannot move, change camera angle or do anything
Cheng 3 - Become invincible for 12 seconds, both cannot move, change camera angle or do anything
Cheng 4 - Become invincible for 15 seconds, both cannot move, change camera angle or do anything
Cheng 5 - Become invincible for 15 seconds, both cannot move, change camera angle or do anything