Mage

Mages carry the power of the elements in their souls and sharpen it through long study. They grow up in Geffen, the city of magic west of Mt. Mjolnir. This page follows the current International Ragnarok Online (Renewal) data.

Spells are both their weapon and their shield, since heavy weapons and armor only get in the way of casting. A Mage reads a monster's element and answers with the spell it is weak to. High INT gives a big SP pool and strong MATK, and DEX shortens casting time.

At job level 10 as a Novice, go to the Mage Guild in northwest Geffen. The Mage Guildsman in front of the chalkboard at the end of the main hall makes you a Mage, gives you a Novice Rod [3] and teaches Energy Coat for free.

Older test (Pre-Renewal / Classic): a girl at the guild's blackboard gave you a solution number, and you gathered ingredients such as Jellopy, Fluff and Milk (some numbers also needed a Payon or Morroc solution) and mixed them in the guild's machine with the right code. irowiki marks this test as no longer used on iRO Renewal.

A Mage has 13 skills and 121 skill points (Renewal values). The three bolts work the same way: each level fires one more bolt, each worth 100% MATK.

Icon	Skill	What it does	Max level
	Fire Bolt	1–10 Fire bolts on one target.	10
	Cold Bolt	1–10 Water bolts on one target.	10
	Lightning Bolt	1–10 Wind bolts on one target.	10
	Fire Ball	Fire damage of 160–340% MATK on the target and a 5×5 area around it.	10
	Fire Wall	A small wall of fire that burns (50% Fire damage) and pushes back enemies walking into it.	10
	Frost Diver	Up to 200% Water damage with a chance to freeze the target, which also turns it Water 1.	10
	Thunderstorm	Hits every foe in a 5×5 area 1–10 times with Wind magic.	10
	Napalm Beat	Up to 170% MATK Ghost damage to the target and a 3×3 area.	10
	Soul Strike	Ghost attack up to 5× MATK on one target, stronger against Undead.	10
	Stone Curse	Tries to turn the target to stone, freezing it in place as Earth 1. Costs a Red Gemstone; does not work on Undead.	10
	Safety Wall	Uses a Blue Gemstone to raise a pillar on one cell that blocks melee hits on whoever stands in it.	10
	Sight	Reveals hidden enemies in a 7×7 area around you.	—
	Increase SP Recovery	Faster SP regeneration while standing still, and SP items restore more.	10

Icon	Quest skill	What it does	Job level
	Energy Coat	Cuts physical damage taken while draining SP. Free if you change job at the Geffen guild.	35

• Fire build: many low-level monsters are weak to Fire, so use Fire Bolt on single targets, Fire Ball on groups you have pulled together, and Fire Wall to keep aggressive monsters away. Stone Curse can be added to stop a chaser and make it weaker to Fire.
• Frost Diver + Lightning Bolt build: freeze one passive monster (such as Willow or Bigfoot), which also makes it Water, then finish it with Lightning Bolt. This does not work on Undead.
• With either build, lower the bolt level so one cast just kills the monster; it saves SP and casting time.

With the Catherina Von Blood [1] weapon you can level in the Sunken Ship from base level 3 up to 56: pay Fisk in Alberta 250 Zeny for the trip and use Fire Ball.

Without that weapon: kill Willows for the Payon Bounty Board until level 21 and Bigfoots until 41, then Orcs, Orc Ladies and Orc Babies for the Eden Group quests until 55 and for the Geffen board until 60. The Orc and Orc Lady kill counts of both quests can run at the same time.

• Eden Group equipment quests start at level 12 and give free gear for your class that is good enough up to level 99.
• In Izlude, the Enchanter Mounds quest adds Max HP +100 and Max SP +50 to the Cotton Shirt every new Novice gets, which stays useful after the job change.
• Stat and skill resets are available, so a build can be fixed later; see Stats for what each stat does.