High wizards are the transcendent class counterparts of wizards that focus on AoE spells.
Important Author’s Note: Since end of 2023, I am focusing my updates on my Warlock Guide. Thus, some information here may be outdated. Please refer to my Warlock Guide for updated discussions, formulas, gear and more detailed tips on game mechanics.
“Take the high road. It’s far less crowded and the view is much better.”
Warren Buffet
Ragnarok mobs generally have high magic defense (MDEF) and it does not take much MDEF to drastically lower magic damage. Hence, if they do not wear the right gear, magic classes in the greater scheme of things have a harder time navigating the RO world vis-a-vis their physical class counterparts. However, if you find satisfaction in taking the high and difficult road, you are in the right place.
High wizards are the transcendent class counterparts of wizards, which stem from the magician class tree. They are party-play oriented and specialize in Area of Effect (AoE) Spells of different elements: fire, water, wind, and earth. Their damage is based off the magic attack formula, which operates on an entirely different dimension than the physical attack formula. They are usually built as glass cannons that can dish out massive amounts of damage to groups of monsters at once, at the expense of survivability.
This guide is made for Ragnarok Online by Gravity Game Hub (GGH). It is an official, low-rate, renewal server. As such, the information in this guide may not apply to other servers.
While this guide is made for a renewal server, this guide will not dwell too much on renewal maps, mobs, and skills for the simple reason that renewal maps, mobs, and skills are meant for third jobs. If you wish to see a more-detailed guide on renewal mechanics, gear, and skills, check out my Warlock Guide here.
This guide is built for Player versus Monster (PVM) or Player versus Environment (PVE) experiences, and not Player vs. Player (PVP).
| Pros | Cons |
| Very respectable Damage Per Second (DPS) | Low base HP and usually no Flee |
| Most spells are AOE-based; good for mobs | Long cast time and long skill cooldown |
| Can switch to different elements anytime | Dependent on party members |
| Has SP recovering skills | Easily overweight |
| No ammunition needed and no catalyst needed for most skills | (Very) Expensive to gear (well) |
| Stat | Comments |
| INT (Intelligence) | This is your main stat. Every point of int adds + 1.5 Status Magic Attack (MATK). Every 6 points adds +1 SP Recovery. This stat also decreases your Variable Cast Time (VCT) by half the effectiveness of dex. It is recommended to max this stat to 99. All of these effects are useful to you as a magic user. |
| DEX (Dexterity) | This is your secondary stat as it affects your VCT. Every 5 points of Dex also gives MATK +1. This stat becomes less relevant as you gather more VCT gears. |
| VIT (Vitality) | This stat is for survivability. Every point adds 1% Max HP. You can choose either to add health through vit or add flee through agi for survivability. |
| AGI (Agility) | This stat is for attack speed (ASPD) and also for survivability. ASPD affects animation delay, which is the delay your character suffers for casting skills between casts. Getting ASPD should not be prioritized because our main problem is global delay and cooldown of skills, which are not affected at all by agi. Agi also gives flee, but it is recommended to get vit instead, as flee needs to be stacked to get the most benefit, and high wizards have no flee adding skills (or gear). |
| LUK (Luck) | This stat is for extra points. If you want to go full glass cannon, you can add points here instead of adding some for survivability stats because every 3 points in luk gives +1 MATK. |
| STR (Strength) | This stat is not that relevant for high wizards except that it helps increase our low weight limit. |
End or final MATK is computed as follows (to verify):
End MATK = MATK × (1 + MATK%) × (1 + SizeMultiplier%) × (1 + TargetPropertyMultiplier%) × (1 + SkillPropertyMultiplier%) × (1 + RaceMultiplier%) × (1 + ClassMultiplier%) × (1 + MonsterMultiplier%) + (other possible multipliers)
In that formula, we compute MATK as follows:
MATK = StatusMATK + WeaponMATK + ExtraMATK + BuffMATK
Each type of MATK explained:
StatusMATK = floor[floor[BaseLevel ÷ 4] + Int + floor[Int ÷ 2] + floor[Dex ÷ 5] + floor[Luk ÷ 3]]
(Side Note: “floor” means you round down.)
WeaponMATK = BaseWeaponDamage + Variance + RefinementBonus + OverUpgradeBonus
While the formula for Variance is:
Variance= ± 0.1 × WeaponLevel × ((BaseWeaponDamage + (RefinementBonus ÷ 2)) + (WeaponRefinement × 2.5))
The formula for Extra MATK is:
ExtraMATK = EquipMATK + ConsumableMATK + PseudoBuffMATK
4. Buff MATK. This is a flat addition and is the usual MATK that comes from skills like Odin Power.
We add all these different categories of MATK and we get our MATK that we use as base for the different multipliers we have in game (see End MATK formula in the beginning of this Section). For example, if you see a SkillPropertyMultiplier like Mavka Card’s increase 20% fire magical damage, it is the MATK we computed above that we multiply with 20% (computed as follows: MATK x 1.20).
Here are some item examples of the usual multipliers:
RaceMultiplier – Example: Witch’s Pumpkin Hat
SizeMultiplier – Example: Valkyrie Drop.
TargetPropertyMultiplier– Example: Windy Shadow Armor.
MonsterMultiplier – Example: Rainbow Angel Hairband
MATKMultiplier – Example: Rainbow Scarf.
SkillPropertyMultiplier – Example: Iron Staff.
ClassMultiplier – Example: Celine’s Brooch.
Inferences from these formulas:
Soft MDEF: Soft MDEF basically is the MDEF you get from stats (int, vit, and dex) and your base level, as you will see in the formula below. It gives a flat reduction to all incoming damage equal to the value of Soft MDEF. In other words, the reduction is direct (and not multiplicative). Basically, 120 MDEF reduces 120 magical damage received. Due to this flat reduction nature, you do not need to focus on Soft MDEF so much, as compared to reducing Hard MDEF, which reduces magical damage much more substantially. The formula for players’ Soft MDEF is:
Soft MDEF = Floor[(Total INT)+(Total VIT/5)+(Total DEX/5)+(Base Level/4)]
The formula for monster’s Soft MDEF is:
SoftMDEF = floor(BaseLvl ÷ 4) + floor (VIT ÷ 10) + floor(INT ÷ 5) Tip: "floor" just means you round down.
Hard MDEF: Hard MDEF is a relative reduction to magical damage and thus, the more (if not, the only) signficant portion of the MDEF formula. It is the MDEF coming from equipment/shadow equipment/cards/options/skills/items (for example: WoE Robe, Goat Card, Arclouse Card). It reduces incoming damage multiplicatively. To compute the percent of damage reduced by Hard MDEF, we use the following formula:
Percent of Damage Reduced = (1-[(1000+Hard MDEF)/(1000+Hard MDEF*10)])*100
Applying this formula, let’s say you have 50 MDEF. This translates to reducing about 30% of incoming magical damage. Note: This also means that 100 Hard MDEF does not mean 100% magic damage reduction, but 45%.
In some cases, MDEF piercing gear is the only way to go, especially when you are against high MDEF mobs (for example when you’re at Abyss Dungeon 4).
MDEF Pierce can come from gears (see Tempest Shadow Set), from skills (see Expiatio). It caps at 100%.
Tip: As of the current patch, it is possible to achieve 100% MDEF Pierce using the Tempest Shadow Set (see suggested equipment section below). It is highly recommended to collect the whole set as you will notice significant damage improvement with it.
In this formula we have:
1. Variable Cast Time (VCT). VCT depends on the stats and gear of the caster. Most cast-reducing effects of gears relate to VCT. For example, the +30% VCT Reduction of Violet Halo. Stat-wise, dex reduces VCT twice as much as int.
Note: VCT-reducing gear STACKS.
VCT = BaseVCT × (1 − SQRT[ ÷ 530]) × (1 − Sum_GearVCTReduc ÷ 100) × (1 − Sum_SkillVCTReduc ÷ 100)
This includes:
Important Note: Gears and skills that reduce FCT by % (for example, Sacrament and Puente Robe) DO NOT stack. The highest % will be the only effect applied. On the other hand, gears and skills that reduce FCT by a fixed amount (for example, Ancient Hero Boots) STACK and are applied before percentage modifiers.
FCT = (BaseFCT – Sum_FCT) × (1 − Max_FCTReduc ÷ 100)
This includes:
Unfortunately, you’ll eventually have to deal with FCT again when you change jobs to Warlock.
As per Sept. 21, 2023, FCT has been added to all skills that should have FCT from the start.
Now that the differences between VCT and FCT have been settled, it’s time to discuss another aspect of skills management that also confuses many people. While Skill Cooldown and Skill After-Cast Delay start at the same time (upon casting of the skill), they have different effects, and they end at different times.
Skill Cooldown:
Note: Please ignore the warlock skill images. I carried this whole block over from my Warlock Guide.
After-Cast Delay (ACD):
As high wizards, one of our key advantages over other classes is our ability to switch elements at will without any converter or ammunition swapping. As such, it would be a waste to be not familiar with how the different elements work with each other.
The table below shows the attacking element in columns (vertical), and defending element in rows (horizontal). If the cell is beyond 100%, meaning the attacking element has increased damage over the defending element . Less than 100% means reduced damage . For example, Fire attacks deal 150% damage to Earth monsters.
In renewal, mobs have different levels of defending elements. The resistances and weaknesses of a defending element are amplified relative to its level. Attacking elements are not separated into levels. The defending elements span until level 4.
Tip: Use Sense (2nd job skill) to see a mob’s characteristics/element/size/race.
(a) Defending Element (horizontal/rows) Level 1
| Neutral | Water | Earth | Fire | Wind | Poison | Holy | Shadow | Ghost | Undead | |
| Neutral | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 70% | 100% |
| Water | 100% | 25% | 100% | 90% | 175% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Earth | 100% | 100% | 25% | 150% | 90% | 125% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Fire | 100% | 150% | 90% | 25% | 100% | 125% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Wind | 100% | 90% | 150% | 100% | 25% | 125% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% |
| Poison | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0% | 100% | 50% | 100% | 50% |
| Holy | 100% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 0% | 125% | 75% | 100% |
| Shadow | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 50% | 125% | 0% | 75% | 0% |
| Ghost | 70% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 125% | 100% |
| Undead | 100% | 100% | 100% | 125% | 100% | −25% | 150% | −25% | 100% | 0% |
(b) Defending Element (horizontal/rows) Level 2
| Neutral | Water | Earth | Fire | Wind | Poison | Holy | Shadow | Ghost | Undead | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 50% | 100% |
| Water | 100% | 0% | 100% | 80% | 175% | 75% | 100% | 100% | 75% | 75% |
| Earth | 100% | 100% | 0% | 175% | 80% | 125% | 100% | 100% | 75% | 75% |
| Fire | 100% | 175% | 90% | 0% | 100% | 125% | 100% | 100% | 75% | 75% |
| Wind | 100% | 80% | 175% | 100% | 0% | 125% | 100% | 100% | 75% | 75% |
| Poison | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0% | 100% | 25% | 75% | 25% |
| Holy | 100% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% | −25% | 150% | 50% | 125% |
| Shadow | 100% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 25% | 150% | −25% | 50% | 0% |
| Ghost | 50% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 75% | 100% | 100% | 150% | 100% |
| Undead | 100% | 100% | 100% | 150% | 100% | −50% | 175% | −50% | 125% | 0% |
(c) Defending Element (horizontal/rows) Level 3
| Neutral | Water | Earth | Fire | Wind | Poison | Holy | Shadow | Ghost | Undead | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Neutral | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0% | 100% |
| Water | 100% | −25% | 100% | 70% | 200% | 50% | 100% | 100% | 50% | 50% |
| Earth | 100% | 100% | -25% | 200% | 70% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 50% | 50% |
| Fire | 100% | 200% | 70% | −25% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 50% | 50% |
| Wind | 100% | 70% | 200% | 100% | −25% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 50% | 50% |
| Poison | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0% | 125% | 0% | 50% | 0% |
| Holy | 100% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 25% | −50% | 175% | 25% | 150% |
| Shadow | 100% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 50% | 0% | 175% | −50% | 25% | 0% |
| Ghost | 0% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 50% | 100% | 100% | 175% | 100% |
| Undead | 100% | 125% | 100% | 175% | 100% | −75% | 200% | −75% | 150% | 0% |
(d) Defending Element (horizontal/rows) Level 4
| Neutral | Water | Earth | Fire | Wind | Poison | Holy | Shadow | Ghost | Undead | |
| Neutral | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 0% | 100% |
| Water | 100% | −50% | 100% | 60% | 200% | 25% | 75% | 75% | 25% | 25% |
| Earth | 100% | 100% | −50% | 200% | 60% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 25% | 25% |
| Fire | 100% | 200% | 60% | −50% | 100% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 25% | 25% |
| Wind | 100% | 60% | 200% | 100% | −50% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 25% | 25% |
| Poison | 100% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 75% | 0% | 125% | −25% | 25% | −25% |
| Holy | 100% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | −100% | 200% | 0% | 175% |
| Shadow | 100% | 25% | 25% | 25% | 25% | −25% | 200% | −100% | 0% | 0% |
| Ghost | 0% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 100% | 25% | 100% | 100% | 200% | 100% |
| Undead | 100% | 150% | 50% | 200% | 100% | −100% | 200% | −100% | 175% | 0% |
| Skill | Description | Notes |
Cold Bolt | Launch cold bolt(s) to target foe, each dealing Water-element magical damage. | Outclassed by second-job skills. Get 5 skill points as a prerequisite for higher tier skills. |
Fire Ball | Attack a target and enemies in a 5×5 area around the target for Fire-element damage. | Usable for very low level parties. But not used in the slightest as a high wizard. Outclassed by second-job skills. |
Fire Bolt | Launch fire bolt(s) to target foe, each dealing fire magical damage. | Outclassed by second-job skills. |
Fire Wall | Put up a small fire wall that causes 50% Fire-element damage to enemies passing through and pushes them back. | Usable for very low level parties. Outclassed by second-job skills. |
Frost Driver | Attack a target with Water-element damage with a chance to freeze it, rendering it immobile and turning it to Water 1 element. | Outclassed by second-job skills. Get 1 skill point as a prerequisite. |
Increase SP Recovery | Passively increases SP recovery speed when not moving. Also increases efficiency of SP-restoring items consumed and thrown by an Alchemist | Helpful even as a high wizard. AoE spells use up a lot of SP and your Soul Drain does not work on them. Max this skill. |
Lightning Bolt | Launch lightning bolt(s) to target foe, each dealing Wind-element damage. | Outclassed by second-job skills. Get 4 skill points as a prerequisite. |
Napalm Beat | Deal up to Ghost-element magical damage to target and all enemies in a 3×3 area around it. | Outclassed by second-job skills. Get 7 skill points as a prerequisite. |
Safety Wall | Use a Blue Gemstone to create a pillar on a cell that protects whoever stands in it from melee attacks. | This is your best available skill for survivability. It protects you from melee physical attacks up to a certain threshold of damage.Tip: make sure to carry a few blue gemstones always. |
Sight | Reveal hidden enemies in a 7×7 area around the user. | Useful to reveal hidden enemies. |
Soul Strike | Ghost-element attack dealing up to 5× magic damage to a single target. Does additional damage to Undead-element enemies. | Outclassed by second-job skills. Get 7 skill points as a prerequisite. |
Stone Curse | Attempt to turn target into stone, rendering it immobile and turning it to Earth 1 element. | Not worth the skill points because stone cursing is generally not needed for PvM. Get 1 skill point as a prerequisite. |
Thunderstorm | Foes within target 5×5 area are hit with Wind-element magical damage. | Outclassed by second-job skills. Get 1 skill point as a prerequisite. |
Energy Coat | Reduces damage from incoming physical attacks while consuming SP | One of the key signature spells of the mage class. This skill reduces up to 30% of all incoming damage.Tip: do not use this for farming. It will eat up most of your SP.Tip: if you are using it for the damage reduction, make sure maintain about 81% of your SP for max reduction. |
Water Ball | Uses water beneath the caster to launch water balls at target foe, each deals water magical damage. | This actually has high damage potential, but most parties do not have professors with deluge available. Tip: This skill works with Ninja’s watery evasion as well. |
Storm Gust | Summons a destructive blizzard in a 7×7 target area that deals water magical damage per hit with chance of freezing enemies. | One of your key AoE spells. Deals good water damage, freezes, and knocks back enemies. Tip: Apart from fire mobs, this skill is also good against Undead monsters. They do not freeze and hence, receive continuous water damage.Tip: Do not cast Storm Gust over another Storm Gust. They DO NOT stack. Cast Meteor Storm or Lord of Vermillion instead. |
Sightrasher | Projects the fireball summoned by the Sight skill to knock enemies back and deal damage. | Use is pretty niche. Get 2 skill points as a prerequisite for Warlock skills. |
Sense | Analyzes a target, allowing the user and any party members to view an enemy’s stats. | If you are new to Ragnarok, this will be helpful for you and your partymates. If not, skip this. Comes in handy for places where mobs differ in element, race, and size. |
Quagmire | Turns a 5×5 area of ground into a marshland that lowers AGI and DEX, and removes certain buffs. | This is an underrated skill. It does not only slow down mobs, but it also lowers their hit. It has no cast time as well. Very good for mobbing.Note: only three (3) quagmires can be active at the same time. |
Meteor Storm | Calls forth meteors from the sky that strike multiple times, each hit deals fire magical damage with a chance to stun a target. | One of your key AoE spells. Deals okay fire damage and stuns enemies. |
Lord of Vermilion | Summons explosive bolts of destruction in a 9×9 area that deals Wind magical damage, with chance of inflicting blindness. | Your wind AoE spell. Deals some wind damage and blinds enemies at a low chance.However, of your 3 AoE key spells, this inflicts the least damage. Get at least level 1 as a prerequisite for warlock skills.Tip: It’s best use to use it after Storm Gust, as wind damage is boosted against frozen targets. |
Jupitel Thunder | Launches an orb of lightning that hits multiple times, each dealing wind magic damage and knocks the target back. | Your best single target spell as a high wizard. Good lightning damage, with short cast time and no spell cooldown (spammable). Pushes enemies back as well. This is a good skill to max if you have +9 Wizard Shadow Armor. It is deadly with insant cast. Get at least 5 skill points as a prerequisite for Warlock skills. |
Ice Wall | Summons a shield of ice 5 cells wide in front of the caster. | This is a good utility spell but usage is still pretty niche. Mainly used to trap non-boss monsters or protect the caster or his partymates. Tip: you can force-teleport boss monsters by trapping them in an ice-wall in case you or your party is not ready to deal with them. |
Heaven’s Drive | Raises the ground in a 5×5 area around a target area, hit foes with the area multiple times, each dealing Earth damage. | Deals earth damage in an area. Apart from the low damage, AoE is pretty small as well.Get at least level 1 as a prerequisite for warlock skills. Tip: you can reveal hidden enemies through this skill. |
Frost Nova | Strikes surrounding enemies within your 5×5 area with water elemental damage with a chance of freezing them. | This is another underrated skill. While damage is negligible, it has a very high freezing rate. Downside is that its range is short. |
Fire Pillar | Summons a pillar of fire on a target spot that acts similarly to a trap, hits foes multiple times each dealing MDEF-ignoring damage. | Use is pretty niche. It’s known for having MDEF-ignoring damage but damage is still negligible. |
Earth Spike | Causes the earth below a target to rise and strike a target multiple times. Each hit deals earth elemental damage. | Deals some earth damage to a single target. Low cast time and short cooldown. Since there are not much wind monsters in leveling spots, this skill is barely used.Get at least level 3 as a prerequisite for warlock skills. |
| Mystical Amplification | Amplifies the MATK of the next skill by 50% for 30 seconds or until the next skill is used. | One of your best skills. 50% is a tremendous boost in damage. Spam it whenever you can. Max this skill. Note: it only affects StatusMATK and WeaponMATK. |
| Soul Drain | Allows to absorb SP from monsters when they’re killed with single target spells. This skill also enhances Max SP. | Very helpful for farming. If you use single target spells, this gives you near unlimited SP.Tip: when you are an AoE damage dealer in a party, you can quickly replenish some SP with this passive skill by inserting a few single target spells here and there. |
| Ganbantein | Casts a spell that has an 80% chance of sweeping any ground skill in its AoE. Consumes a Blue and a Yellow Gemstone. | Removes AoE spells like Land Protector. Has some use for select boss fights. |
| Napalm Vulcan | Strikes a single target with Ghost property magic damage and has a chance to leave them cursed. | Use is pretty niche. Damage is low. |
| Gravitational Field | Inflicts Neutral property magic damage to all enemies in a 5×5 area around the targeted location. | Since the rework, this is one of your strongest spells. Max this ASAP. It has a cooldown, but the damage is worth it. It is also neutral so it works for most mobs except ghost and holy 4. |
| Stave Crasher | Combines attack and magic to strike a single target from distance and inflict ranged physical damage. As such, all features from physical damage are applied to this skill. | Use is pretty niche. This skill is mostly used to status mobs/players by switching to a status-inducing carded weapon . |
