Magus Guide

Source : http://www.mmomaven.com/forum/showthread.php?p=19037

Before I even start, I'd like to politely ask anyone who feels about whinning, arguing that Magus is useless, explaining why we suck or just trolling to take it to another thread. This is intended to be a guide for people who want to play a Magus, as he currently is.

Thank you.

Edit : In case someone decides to skip this first paragraph, I will simply ignore him and just use the report button. Since Mods already took action and this has been moved out of the flame war area (Magus forums), I decreased letters to normal size

A) Personal Introduction

(This is mainly a who are you and why should we read this guide thing, feel free to skip)

I am someone who you could call a hardcore gamer. In fact, until WAR released, I was kinda over my hardcore days. Just took what you could call a break from RL for 3 weeks.

I have been playing MMOs for ~10 years. List is pretty long so I will forget some for sure : Ultima Online, The 4th Coming, some crappy Korean things I cannot even remember, Knights Online, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars, Dungeons and Dragons Online, Lord of the Rings Online, Eve Online, Tabula Rasa, Age of Conan and now Warhammer. Had some experience with EQ 1 and Daoc as well but not much, so I am not counting them.

In the ones I played "seriously" I was in what could be considered top guilds. Best example was Nihilum in WoW.

As a player, I am inclined to play the "strange" / "utility" / "debuffing" casters in most games, with Healers and Glass Cannons being the other choices.

Currently I have a Rank 40 / RR 31 Magus, a Rank 25 / RR 18 Sorcerer and a Rank 11 / RR 10 Disciple of Khaine at KEP (Core - European server). I actually have lots of fun and success with all of them, but Magus is the one who I liked most. In fact I shelved my Sorcerer to play him.

Typically, I will solo Quest or grind PQs and I join scenarios with premade parties most of time. It is often a full party but I tend to join just with 1-2 rl friends of mine (Chosen and Shaman) from time to time as well.

B) My Opinion on the Magus class

This is highly personal and I am sure many people will disagree. Still, it is needed to explain how I view this class in general in order to continue. Once more, please, if you want to argue feel free to create a new thread. I am not going to answer anyway.

I believe that Magus is a difficult class to play with lots of potential. He is also one of the classes where spec does matter a lot. One could say this is not a class that everybody can play at a level even close to its potential.

To give an example, if the same guy puts same effort into playing (let's say) a Sorcerer and a Magus, he will play the Sorcerer to (again let's say) ~70% of his potential but Magus to 50% of his. However, if someone manages to play a Magus to his full potential, in my opinion, he offers more than most other classes at same levels.

Also, it should be noted that Magi are late bloomers. We require many of our abilities to actually do what we are supposed to do. Best example is the Demonology tree that simply is bad at RvR until Rank 30 (or even 31) and becomes extremely good in an organized party after that point.

C) Class Mechanics

Magus is a RDPS class. This is same category with Sorcerer and Squid Herder. I am not going to compare the effectiveness of the three classes, just point their role.

Sorcerer is all about nuking. He has stronger nukes and a mechanism that really boosts them. He is the most squishy of the three and the less versatile.

Magus is what Mythic calls a Defensive Ranged DPS class. This definition has caused many discussions (and flames). In my opinion, it is better to call him a utility DPS caster. He can do good damage (do not expect to see Sorcerer numbers or Witch Elves bursts in most cases), he has some versatility, good survivability and lots of offensive utility (debuffs and Crowd Control abilities).

Squid Herder is a skirmisher. He is really versatile, has abilities that can be cast on the move and all. I am not really an expert on this class, no more info here.

The tools Magus gets are :

i) Direct Damage spells.
ii) Damage over time spells.
iii) Area versions of i and ii.
iv) Crowd Control abilites.
v) Debuffs
vi) Buffs
vii) A Pet Turret.

While the pet is supposed to be the defining element of the class, most of people (including myself) do not find it defining, at least in its current situation. I prefer to call our CC abilities and our debuffs class defining, when comparing us to other RDPS classes. Just think of it, is is much more possible to hear a "nice Chaotic Rift" or a "wow, this purple debuff boosts my DPS by ~20%" than a "Nice Turret" comment.

Our AoE Dots are also a class defining thing. People argue about their strength and usefulness but the fact remains that we have some of them, more than anyone else, and they can boost our damage to really high levels. More on their usefulness later.

D) Class Masteries

Not getting into the specifics here, just explaining what each mastery is about:

1) Havoc

This is a mastery focused on long range (100 feet with the exception of Bolt of Change at the amazing 150 feet) spells. It has a mix of DD and DoT abilities. With the exception of Tzeentch's Firestorm they are single target ones, with a tactic that turns some of them into AoE. Generally this is a tree focused on damage and not CC/utility. Perils of the Warp and Withered Soul are exceptions but one is a mastery skill and the other does not become useful until Rank 40.

2) Changing

This is a mastery focused on medium range (65 feet with the exception of Indigo Fire of Change at 100 feet) spells. It has a mix of DD and DoT abilities as well. It is kinda balanced between single target and area abilities. This tree has a good number of strong CC/utility, including Glean Magic, Warping Blast and Surge of Insanity.

3) Demonology

This is a mastery focused on close range (30 feet generally) spells. It has mainly abilities that deal their damage over time. All the abilities of this tree are Area Affecting ones. When it comes to utility, this tree has the strongest CC move in Warhammer ( Chaotic Rift ) as well as Daemonic Infestation. Also, this tree has abilities that buff the survivability of Magus (and the party in the case of the corporeal resistance buff).

E) The Abilities

Going to list and analyze a bit abilities by spec and rank here. Mastery ones included.

E1) Core Abilities

All Magi get those and they will get to max level without putting any points to any mastery.

I) Flee
All get this. Use it to flee or even to just run faster when you cannot mount but remember that you will stay without AP and with morale degenrating for 10 seconds. You can cancel the effect earlier and drink an AP pot however.

II) Daemonic Maw
At low levels this is actually nice DPS. I remember using it when I had a mob meleeing me in T1. Later it is not so good but it has a slow side effect. It is a 40% snare (like most in Warhammer) that is spammable. The main disadvantage is that it requires you to be meleeing, removing any defensive uses from it. It is still nice in CTF scenarios to suicide stop guys running after the FC.

III) Strengthen Thrall
Have used it like 5 times in 37 Ranks. Demons do not often get aggro at first place.

IV) Horrifying Visions
Nice detaunt. Keep in mind that it will break if you attack the target but not if the dots you have applied before hand tick on him.

V) Tzeentch's Grasp
Old good PBAoE Root.

VI) Daemonic Armor
Really strong ability. It increases our armor by 100% or so. This brings our mitigation from armor to Medium armor levels (40%). It is a huge boost so remember to keep it on. It is not interrupted as easy as tooltip suggests, I am recasting this with mobs on me all the time. At both RvR and PvE it is a good idea to recast this whenever you have time, even if you have charges left.

VII) Resummon
This ability makes demon turrets much less clumsy. It is also best way to use instability. The problem is that it has some bugs. From time to time it will not work at all (this is rare). Most of times I cast it however, while it works, the demon seems to remain at his old position graphic wise. This could use a fix.

VIII) Instability
Really strong AP Denial ability. It is great to use at choke points or to combine with roots, stuns ect. Its problem is the general clumisness of Demons.

E2) Havoc abilities

I) Flickering Red Fire
Also known as FRF, this is main Havoc nuke. It is kinda weak, doing less DPS than other nukes (hint : Doombolt) and less than our changing nuke as well (Rend Winds). Still, it is spammable and with a relatively small casting time (2 seconds). The advantages of this spell come from tactics. It can hit a second target and can also become undefendable (=cannot be blocked or disrupted). Especially the undefendable thing really boosts this ability's DPS at 40 when 20-30%+ disrupt chance and capped (25%) block chance are / will be common.

II) Summon Pink Horror
First Demon pet we get. This is the Havoc Tree Demon, so, as expected, his abilities are 100 feet ranged. His DPS is nothing special. At level 37 with a Havoc spec he was hitting for 35 or so on mobs of my level. His first ability does some nice damage, while the second one applies a -5% crit debuff. It is not game-breaking but 5% crit is relatively hard to get in this game so you should not ignore this.

III) Baleful Transmogrification
Instant, no Cooldown single target DoT with relatively good damage. Due to the ammount of DoTs we get, you will probably not use this a lot unless Havoc specced. It has the same problems that most of our DoTs have. Long total duration and bad scaling with intelligence. In fact, these two may be related.

IV) Surging Violet Fire
Starts out as a pretty weak instant nuke every 10 seconds. However at high levels (37) you can change its cooldown to 3 seconds, making it a really good spell. It is also possible to buff this further to hit a second target, get a 50% life leech effect or get a +50% damage to its criticals. I do not think those are good options for tactic slots in most cases however.

V) Perils of the Warp
Mastery ability, requires 5 points into Havoc. This is actually a pretty strong ability. It punishes enemy casters for casting. It can kill Bright Wizards, especially when their combustion happens to proc as well. It is also a serious problem for most of the healers who use fast casting spells.

VI) Bolt of Change
Mastery ability, requires 9 points into Havoc. Our strongest nuke. In fact this has highest base damage in the game AND is undefendable. It also gets 150 feet range, being good to kill runners. Its only issue is the long (for a nuke) cooldown. It should be the first spell you use whenever it is on CD as a Havoc Magus.

VII) Tzeentch's Firestorm
Mastery abiltiy, requires 13 points in Havoc. Pit of Shades wannabe. Channeled AoE that does good ammounts of damage and scales extremely well with Intelligence. I would love a side effect for it but it is still a useful spell for a Magus that deep in the Havoc tree.

VIII) Withered Soul
Most of people will think / tell you this is a worthless ability. Its damage is bad and disrupts "are not that common". I beg to differ here. Disrupts chance at higher levels are really high. I myself have over 10% at rank 38, without even trying. In a month or two, there will be a great deal of rank 40 people with ~30% disrupt chance. Add the fact that they can get it even higher with abilities like Hold the line!, and you begin to understand how useful this is on assist targets.

IX) Mutating Blue Fire
Another nice ability. High Direct Damage, nice DoT component. Too bad we get this so late (Rank 35). This is the second ability to cast whenever it is on CD as a Havoc Magus.

Remarks on Havoc :

It is not strange that most people consider this to be underpowered. From its abilities, only Baleful and Perils of the Warp are obtainable and actually good at "low" levels. Surging Violet Fire needs the cooldown reduction tactic, Withered Soul needs enemy to have high disrupt chance, Flickering Red Fire needs both the undefendable tactic and enemy to have high disrupt/block chance and Bolt of Change, while good anyway, is not enough to make this tree viable.

At Rank 40 however, I consider this to be a nice tree and 100 feet range are allways an advantage for the solo Magus who joins PuGs.

E3) Changing Abilities

I) Rend Winds
Nice nuke. Better DPS than FRF (comparing them either at 25 each or at 40 each) and lower casting time. It hits 3 times, so it is really good for interrupting. It also can become undefendable.

II) Glean Magic
This boosts the DPS of someone casting spirit spells a lot (~20% if specced into changing). It is AoE and it also does some weak damage over time. Since both us and Sorcerers do (partly) spiritual damage, this is actually a pretty strong debuff. Do not use this for DPS though, it is not worth it.

III) Summon Flamer
This is my least liked pet. While a Magus with 65 feet range on most abilities is something acceptable since you play as a skirmisher, a stationary Demon with 65 feet range on his spells is hard to use effectively. Its DPS is nice however, if you manage to use him in RvR or just for PvEing as a Changing Magus.

IV) Surge of Insanity
This is one of the Magus highlights. We get it early, it does relatively high damage and is an AoE interrupt. Its main advantage however is its Cooldown. 10 seconds is really low. Also, this will not trigger or be affected by any immunity timers.

V) Pandemonium
One could call this ability class defining. It is a AoE DoT hitting for ok damage. It can also become endless (=50% chance to reapply itself when it is over or dispelled) by a tactic. While many people argue that DoTs are useless, I find that being able to take down 15-20% of the health of a large number of enemies in a 15 seconds period by casting a single 1 sec cast spell is a good option in most of cases. Yes, it can be healed. Yes people will have HoTs on them. But it is still a good part of their health and this game is full of periodic damages that will tick. Even if it just ends half countering a HoT, it is a nice thing to do, since you can often apply Pandemonium on 5-10 guys with one 1 second cast while the enemy healer (if not WP) needs five-ten casts (=7.5-15 seconds) to apply his HoTs to all targets you are hitting.

VI) Warping Blast
Another great spell. Same damage with Surge of Insanity, same cooldown, same casting time but this time it is a single target knockback. The uses of a knockback can be offensive and defensive, especially when you take the ground (hint : Lava) into account. Root + Knockback is one of the best self defense options as well.

VII) Seed of Chaos
Mastery ability, requires 5 points in changing. Frankly, I do not like this one. Its damage over time is much less than Baleful, it is not spammable and the AoE at its end may be nice but it is often hard to predict where this specific guy will be in 15 seconds.

VIII) Indigo Fire of Change
Mastery ability, requires 9 points in changing. Strong single target channeling ability. Should note that this is our highest single target DPS and that it actually has a range of 100 feet despite being in Changing. The Demon it spawns is a joke however and it is actually bad in PvE since it is uncontrolable and will aggro random things.

IX) Dissolving Mist
Mastery ability, requires 13 points in changing. Strange spell. It has some great uses but they are situational. It is perfect at Scenarios where you have to use something. It just does not allow enemies to use it for 30 seconds. It is also extremely good at keep sieges, not allowing enemies to ram down the door and all. Other than that however, it just takes too long until it is upgraded to its high damage level. I have not yet understood exactly how big an area it affects, but it is more than the area that appears on mouse over for sure.

Remarks on Changing :

This is probably our easiest to use spec. It does not require a high level or much support to be effective, it has a nice combination of single target and aoe damage, some strong CC and utility and since it is middle range it is skirmisher friendly. I suggest that new Magi use this to RvR at the beggining.

E4) Demonology abilities

I) Infernal Blast
This is a really strong Cone DoT. It hits hard and hits many targets. Should be the first thing you do in many cases as a Demonology Magus/

II) Daemon Lash
Our Spammable (Frontal) AoE. Deals relatively good damage. In fact it is best thing to spam on someone who is meleeing you as a Demonology Magus. It's only issue is that it has some bugs that make it not hit anything from time to time, depending on the terrain.

III) Summon Blue Horror
This little guy puts out some serious AoE Damage. You will notice it yourself at PvE easily and it is true for RvR as well. I consider this to be our "best" pet.

IV) Daemonic Infestation
Either tooltip is wrong or spell is bugged. It does knockdown but for 1 second, not 2. Anyway, it is a useful spell, especially since you can set it anywhere before even the battle starts. During battle and especially on targets like the enemy caster group, this will usually be reduced to an AoE interrupt like most of AoE CC abilities because of the way CC and immunities work in Warhammer.

V) Agonizing Torrent
Mastery ability, requires 5 points in Demonology. Good damage, low casting time, this is the main reason Demonology is so good for grinding. At RvR, it kinda needs Chaotic Rift to be used and still has some issues because of its casting time and the fact that after the Chaotic Rift you will often get knocked away, either interrupting or wasting this.

VI) Aegis of Orange Fire
Mastery ability, requires 9 points in Demonology. Godly spell. It is an emergency button, a survivability buff and an "I win button" against Witch Hunters. It is also great at PvE for AoE grinding, just like rest of the tree is.

VII) Demonic Resistance
Our only group buff. It is not a bad one. Yes, if there is a Shaman in party, he gives same ammount to all resistances but in the typical case in which you are specced Demonology and he is not specced full Da Green, your is still a nice buff. The main issue is that Zealot's marks (and I do not mean the resist one only) seem to replace / get replaced by this. I guess this is a bug.

VIII) Chaotic Rift
Mastery ability, requires 13 points in Demonology. I cannot really explain how strong this ability is. Even if a Magus could only do this, once per 20 seconds and die, doing zero damage, this would be enough for me to bring him into my premade. Since the description confuses some people, it is a PBAoE spell, with 65 feets radius, that pulls everything to you. In other words, anything that you could hit with rend winds will be knocked to you and slowed. I know that this sounds like a death sentence, since pulling 12 guys can get you killed easily. This is not a solo ability however. Its best use is in a party, with Guard on you, a Chosen Knocking them down after the Rift, 2 AoE Damage Dealers (Marauder / Sorcerer or a second Magus) going full damage and 2 Healers (one should be shaman for instant resses since the Magus WILL die from time to time) to watch over you.

IX) Warpfire
Cannot really say much on this, since I hit 40 last night and I have not really tried this yet. I suspect that it will be often a better option, compared to Agonizing Torrent, after Chaotic Rift - Tzeentch's Grasp - Infernal Blast since even if you get knocked (or die) you will deal some of the damage. Of course, best way to do this is by casting Agonizing, pulling people to you, rooting them, casting infernal and activating warpfire but this cannot allways be done since many times I actually have to run on Mount Disk towards enemy groups, otherwise they just flee.

Remarks on Demonology :

This is a great tree for AoE PvE and organized RvR. It is the strongest tree a Magus has and it will remain so even if Changing and Havoc get huge damage increases. It is kinda sad, but I would say that if Chaotic Rift was given as a 13 point ability to any class in game, this class should spec for it, it is just the best single ability a premade RvR party can get.

F) Tactics

This is pretty basic, but there are 3 types of tactics. Career, Renown and Tome. I will talk only about the Career ones here. We get some Career tactics from being Chaos (shared between all Chaos classes), some from being a RDPS career (all RDPS get those), some from being a Magical RDPS (shared by us, Sorcerers and Bright Wizards) and some Magus specific. I will just list and explain / generally evaluate tactics here. Specifics will come in the section of this guide concerning Specs, since what tactics you choose depend generally on the spec you are using. The only one that you should generally use with almost every spec is endless knowledge.

Tactics' List

I) Warped Flesh
Chaos Tactic. It is in fact a nice one for a large part of the game, since it procs an "ok" damage shield on you. It is not really good at 40, you have better options.

II) Devour Energy
Caster tactic. It is allways a good choice for group PvE (read : When you are not tanking yourself and/or have a healer). I do not usually run out of AP in most RvR situations and the in the ones I run out of it (Demon Lash spam after Chaotic Rift, Infernal Blast and Agonizing / Warpfire) I have more important tactics to bring. This could be different for a changing Magus who spams DoTs but I doubt this is a good choice even in that case.

III) Infernal Flesh
Magus tactic. Useless. 1600 Health is nice but demon survivability is not an issue. Probably Mythic had the idea of a Magus who uses his Demon to tank or something.

IV) Tzeentch's Warding
Chaos tactic. Good one for RvR, since it buffs the most useful resistance (for Destruction) currently in game. Some will argue that corporeal is more important, but Order will usually get your corporeal really low anyway through acid bomb and boiling blood.

V) Fiery Winds
Mastery tactic, requires 3 points in Havoc. Cannot really say I like this one. One extra target for the two most used Havoc spells is good trade for 1 Mastery point but 10 feet is really a small distance. Will give it a try with my fourth tactic slot sometime soon however.

VI) Infernal Pain
Mastery tactic, requires 3 points in Changing. This is actually a nice tactic for low rank Changing magi. I used it until I got endless knowledge and again at 20-22. Respecced to Demonology about there. The problem is that if you stick with changing you will soon get Endless Pandemonium which is generally a much better choice. I cannot think of a R40 spec using this one.

VII) Chaotic Attunement Mastery tactic, requires 3 points in Daemonology. This was a great tactic before introduction of resummon. Currently, resummon is a cheaper way to bring your pet with you, costs less AP and can be done on the move. The only advantage this has is the fact that it does not bug (look on resummon), but I hope this gets fixed anyway.

IX) Endless Knowledge
Caster tactic. Have never removed this from my first tactic slot since Rank 19, on either my Magus or my Sorcerer. It is a really big DPS boost. That does not mean that it is required in all specs. For example, I am considering skipping it for even more survivability for my Chaotic Rift spec.

X) Unearthly shriek
Magus tactic. Seems good on paper, but it is not really. 15% is a low chance, since our Demons are not exactly machine guns and they need to actually hit someone while he is casting to make this worth it. Would be a nice tactic for a Havoc Magus (mainly) if chance was higher, but not in its current condition.

XI) Backlash
Chaos tactic. It is good for AoE grinding, if you have no survivability issues (=Have a healer or mobs just do not hurt). Nothing special otherwise on a Magus.

XII) Changer's Blessing
Mastery tactic, requires 7 points in Havoc. By its own, this is a weak tactic. It can, however, be used together with other ones, changing this to a life tap from two targets every 3 seconds. While this would be pretty strong, I do not think that it is worth the three tactic slots.

XIII) Endless Pandemonium
Mastery tactic, requires 7 points in Changing. This is a great tactic, one of the first to pick for Changing specs. Pandemonium is one of our best DoTs and this makes it last more.

XIV) Daemonic Contract
Mastery tactic, requires 7 points in Daemonology. Really big toughness boost. Useful both for PvE and RvR. Daemonology Magi should definately have this.

XV) Sleight of Hand
Caster PvE tactic. Its uses are apparent, I used it in some of the (few) instances I have done. I do not find it really needed in most cases however.

XVI) Chaos Unleashed
Mastery tactic, requires 11 points in Havoc. No Havoc Magus should play without this, enough said.

XVII) Wild Changing
Mastery tactic, requires 11 points in Changing. No Changing Magus should play without this, enough said.

XVIII) Daemonic Contract
Mastery tactic, requires 11 points in Daemonology. I have not tried this a lot. It is good for PvE but current clumsiness of pets in RvR hurts this, especially since Daemonolgy Magus tend to have some AP issues anyway, especially if they resummon their pet as well.

XIX) Flame's Kiss
Magus tactic. This is (or actually will be) a treasure for both Havoc and Changing Magi. Undefendable means that a spell cannot be disrupted or blocked (resists and toughness still apply). At lower levels, disrupts and blocks may be a rare thing. At 40 however, there are many items giving a flat +disrupt chance. For example I have 2 Rank 33 trinkets giving +2% disrupt each and saw a blue staff on AH giving +6% disrupt by itself. You can easily understand that many players will have extreme disrupt chances soon and this will make this tactic a requirement for most Magi, since it will boost our DPS a lot.

XX) Close Quarters
RDPS tactic. I use this on all my tactic sets as a Demonology Magus. The damage boost is huge and I need to get into 30 feet to do my damage anyway. Could be used by a changing Magus in some cases as well I guess, but not by a Havoc one.

XXI) Lasting Aegis
Magus tactic. While Aegis is a great spell, I do not find a 33% duration boost to it to be worth a tactic slot, sorry.

XXII) Redirection
Magus tactic. Strange one. I do not have enough disrupt chance to use it for AP regen and AP is not usually an issue in most cases. Would be interesting to check this with better gear however.

XXIII) Surging Power
Magus tactic. While all three spells are highlights for their respective trees, a 50% damage increase to their criticals is not worth a tactic slot in my opinion.

XXIV) Swift Flames
Magus tactic. Great one. Reduces the Cooldown of our instant nuke from 10 to 3 seconds. It still is not our best option DPS wise, but being able to chain it with any spell every 3 seconds makes for some nice small bursts. This is one of the best things a Havoc Magus can pick in my opinion.

XXV) Daemonic Mending
This has to be a Mythic's joke. "Let's make the last tactic Magi get a completely useless thing!". No other comment.

G) Morale

Again, the basic things first. At Morale Levelss 1,2 and 3 we get some spells (two for Levels 1 and 2, one for Level 3) shared by all Casters (Bright Wizard, Sorcerer, Magus) and one that is Magus specific. At Morale Level 4 we get one spell shared by all casters and three Magus specific that are at the end of each mastery tree.

Generally, you will mostly be using Morale Level 1 and 2, with the occassional Level 3. Level 4 simply takes too long to become availiable, so generally it is not worth to spec for L4 Morales.

Should note that Morale abilities do flat damage. That means they are not influenced by your +DPS or by enemy's toughness / resists. They can still be disrupted / blocked. I am not sure if they can crit. I have never seen one crit, but have heard people claiming otherwise.

To the list :

Level 1 Morales

I) Mage Bolt
Instant nuke. It is harder than any other nuke we or other casters get. You will use this a lot, both in PvE and RvR.

II) Misdirection
Defensive Morale. It reduces all incming Magical damage by 50%. It redirects half of incoming direct magical damage (single target nukes) back to the caster. It is really strong and I have been using it for my CR spec lately.

III) Grasping Darkness
The Magus specific Morale. My personal favorite of this Level. It slows enemy target by a lot (60% while most snares are 40%) for 6 seconds and deals about 75% damage of the Mage Bolt, over the same period of time.

Level 2 Morales

I) Siphon Power
Steals a large number of AP and reduces target's Intelligence. The problem is that usually I want to AP drain enemy healers, not enemy Bright Wizards, so the 2 effects of this spell do not work together really well. Other than that, it has its uses but I find it subpar with the other 2 options for this level.

II) Focused Mind
You become immune to many effects, important ones being Silence, Root and Snare and your spells cannot be interrupted or set back. They also build 50% faster. This is indeed a nice one but it has two problems. First is that it does not make you immune to Knockbacks, knockdowns and stuns, which are really common ways to interrupt you. Second is that unike Sorcerers and Bright Wizards, Magi do not have many 3 second cast spells. On spells with less casting time, this Morale is (at least partly) "wasted" since even if you bring your Rend Winds casting time to 0.5 second, you still are affected by its Global Cooldown. This affects less a Havoc Magus however, since he has two 3 second cast spells and a 2 second cast spammable one.

III) Roiling Winds
Again my personal favorite is the Magus specific Morale. I need to check this but I am almost sure that this procs five times (0,1,2,3,4) for a total of 1500 AoE damage. It works wonders combined with a Daemonology spec (Roiling Winds just before rifting) and it is good with a Changing one as well.

Level 3 Morales

I) Scintillating Energy
While this is really strong on theory, I have never seen the stun work. Other than that it is same damage with Mage Bolt. It must be bugged, unless I have a really bad luck with unstoppable.

II) Conduit of Chaos
Magus specific (well Sorcerers get it with a different name).AP free spells for 10 seconds. This is actually good both for PvE and (in some cases) RvR. I would not pick it for RvR if Scintillating was not that bad however.

Level 4 Morales

I am not really experienced with those so I am not going to write much.

I) Unleash the Winds
The base one all casters get. It is actually good as well because of the Knockback.

II) Soul Leak
Mastery Morale, requires 15 points in Havoc.

III) Daemonic Scream
Mastery Morale, requires 15 points in Changing. Seems to be the "best" we can spec for.

IV) Firewyrm of Tzeentch
Mastery Morale, requires 15 points in Daemonology. Looks really cool but it is absolutely worthless. Cannot even solo a R40 mob and it is uncontrolable as well...

Note : While I am not generally going to ask for tweaks in this Guide, I have to say that I find the Level 4 Morales to be really bad. This is not Magus Specific. It takes a long time to build that much Morale and it requires either a zerg situation or a somehow unending fight. They should really be "I win" buttons to make them worth saving for, or even more speccing fore. Doubling their damage would be a good way to solve this.

H) Leveling Specs and Tips

In most other games, for many people leveling is the boring process of reaching the "end game" where you can actually play. This is the greatest advantage Warhammer has in my opinion, since I enjoyed my leveling that much that I could do it again. Main reason for that is that you are not forced to just questing / grinding all your way up to 40 but you can actually just RvR your way there.

I decided to mix both aspects of the game, as I suspect most players are doing. There are some bad news and some good news for guys who want to do this. Starting with the bad.

Magus' Masteries are not equally viable for either PvE or RvR. For large parts of the game, some masteries are just bad for one or the other aspect.

The good news, on the other hand, is that you can easily respec since it costs almost nothing and that you always have at least one strong option so I am going to list what specs are good for PvE and RvR through your leveling and explain why. This is my personal opinion but I think most people agree generally. To the specifics.

I) Tier 1

This is generally the worst part of any caster's life. All RDPS get their root at 10, so until then our self defenses are minimal. Things tend to be even worst for the Magi since a large part of the skills we get at those first levels focus arround our three pets. That means that, since you will only be using one of them at a time, a large part of your skills will be wasted.

The good thing is that 1-10 does not take more than a few hours and that a Magus can actually do relatively well in PvE for those few levels. Just summon a Pink Horror (Change to Flamer after you get him), pull with FRF, Glean Magic, Rend Winds, Infernal Blast, Demonic Maw to death and repeat. Just skip the abilities you do not have at lower levels, it will still work. Try to set up your demon at a position where you will pull more than 1-2 mobs to get the most out of him.

RvR at those levels is nothing impressive for you as well since your abilities are not enough and you lack most important ones. Simply nuking is never a good option for a Magus and you are forced to do that at those ranks. Still, if you have a good healer, Infernal Blast and Daemon Lash is a nice thing to do. Otherwise find a nice spot and nuke. Even Glean Magic is not something really important since most enemies lack resists.

II) Tier 2

Things get more interesting here, as you slowly get your important abilities as well as your first tactics. The mastery points you get at this tier are not enough to get anything gamebreaking, so I suggest you just stick with Changing for both PvE and RvR, since they are the strongest and most useful ones generally. That means that you should focus on using changing abilities (like flamer instead of other daemons) but the difference is not really big yet.

For PvE, after getting Daemonic Armor, things become much easier. I remember that I was able to kill 3 enemies of my level even before getting Pandemonium by putting Glean Magic, Baleful and Infernal Blast on them all, rooting them, running a bit back and killing them one by one with Rend Winds. After getting Pandemonium things get even easier since it does good DPS on many targets and benefits from Glean Magic as well. I suggest you pick the first changing tactic (Infernal Pain) as soon as possible and using it until you can get Endless Knowledge and together with Endless at 20.

For RvR, these are actually nice Ranks. Through them you will get some of your most useful spells, like Surge of Insanity and Warping Blast, as well as your main AoE DoT, Pandemonium. Using same Mastery and tactic choices, you can deal some serious damage that is still relatively hard to heal since healers lack AoE heals until level 20. Just make sure you try to interrupt, knock and root people as much as possible and rely on Rend Winds for single target damage and you will do well.

III) Tier 3

Things start getting trickier here. PvE and RvR ask for different specs and you actually need to start focusing on a mastery in order to be succesful.

For PvE, at 21 you can spec Demonology and get Agonizing Torrent. Combine it with Warped Flesh and Endless Knowledge and you can begin learning why leveling a Magus is easier than leveling any other class. Just do AoE pulls in your quests and kill as many mobs as possible. If you feel like grinding for an influence reward, just find a nice Public Quest with a long phase 1, set up your Blue Horror, pull 5-6 mobs with whatever way works with you, cast Agonizing Torrent, Glean Magic, Infernal Blast, (maybe) Pandemonium and spam Daemon Lash. Can make even bigger pulls if you feel like risking it a bit and using your Root and Daemonic Infestation to buy you some time. This is simply the best PvE spec you can have for rest of your ranks up to 40. At Rank 26 you can get Aegis of Orange Fire as well which really boosts your survivability and helps a lot with killing. I recommend skipping Daemonic Pact until you get your third tactic slot.

For RvR, I will split this tier into 3 zones :

a) Ranks 21-24

At those Ranks, you can have the first mastery spell of any tree. Generally, Agonizing Torrent is bad for RvR (for now) and Seed of Chaos is "ok" but not something that will change your gameplay. So I actually propose you spec Havoc for these levels. Perils of the Warp is a really strong spell. In fact it is one of the strongest abilties any class can get at those Ranks. Just focus on applying Perils on every caster you see and using your typical CC as much as possible. At these levels you will be in Tor Anroc probably, so avoiding close range specs is wise, unless you have a reason to do it.

b) Ranks 25-28

You can now pick the second spell of any mastery tree. All three second mastery spells we get are pretty good. However Daemonology is still a weak choice for RvR and Havoc, as I have said earlier in this guide, does not shine until much later. So, in my opinion, best thing to do at those Ranks is to focus on changing. Indigo Fire of Change is actually your best DPS at those ranks and Endless Pandemonium is a pretty nice tactic. Just remember that, while it can make you top the DPS easily, just spamming DoTs is not really a good option as a Magus. You should use Glean Magic + Pandemonium + (perhaps) Seed of Chaos on a bunch of enemies and then focus on interrupting, knocking and dealing your single target damage through Indigo Fire and Rend Winds.

c) Ranks 29-30

Could skip this last level zone to be honest and talk about it in next tier, but for a Magus playing with friends (or a guild premade or something), it is actually worth it to spec for Chaotic Rift as soon as possible. At Rank 29 you can get (just) Chaotic Rift by going full Daemonology. Then you should add all the other useful things, including Agonizing, Aegis and Daemonic Pact as you continue leveling. The idea behind RvR with Chaotic Rift is the following. Focus on survivability stats (Wounds, Toughness, Initiative) and abilities (Misdirection, Aegis) as much as possible. Get a dedicated healer and if possible a tank to guard you as well. Move in, towards enemy caster group and make sure you catch most of the healers otherwise it is a bad rift. Try to keep enemies there (that Tank friend can actually help a lot) and help the Sorcerers and Marauders AoE them to death. You will die a lot at first tries until your party learns how to do it but once you learn you will probably love it.

IV) Tier 4

For PvE nothing really changes. Daemonology remains the best choice and at 32 you will be able to spec like this. You can actually use CR to aggro mobs and close quarters increases your damage done a lot.

For RvR, by now various specs and tactics are viable so I am not going to go into details in this section of the guide. After 35 I find all 3 Magus' specs to be nice, with Daemonology being the best for premades for sure due to Rift.