Skip composition or not?

My current skills:
Partial Resistance – 1
Amplification – 19
Ice Strike – 30
Thunder Spear – 0 (skipping entirely)
Seal – 0
Booster – 9
Composition – 11

Once I hit 94 I’ll cap booster at 11 and go back to maxing amp which will take me to level 98. From there I was planning to go back to composition but I’m starting to wonder if that’s a good idea. I’m training at wyverns now and my main attack is ice strike, and on the way to 120 I’ll train at newties and skelegons (unless there’s a better training spot I overlooked) so ice strike will continue to be my main attack. So then composition wouldn’t be stronger than cold beam until around level 101 or 102 and like I said I don’t think it would get much use whereas seal or even magic armor would probably be more helpful.

So really my point is it seems to me like it would be a waste to leave composition where it is because I’ll never use it that way, but it also seems like it would be a waste to spend 19 more points to max it because I still wouldn’t use it very often. Does anyone have any input as to whether I should max it or not? Also, I mentioned training spots before… if anyone knows of a place where I could train faster I would love to hear it

If you have either an ice/lightning weapon, coldbeam/thunderspear both beat comp on neutrals respectively, so there's really no point in getting comp if you have one of those weapons. If you don't, there's really no point not to max comp since it'll be your best single-target attack until 4th job, unless you plan to max slow/mp eater from 2nd job over it.

First of all, try to get your booster to 11 and amp to 30 ASAP.

As for training spots, you could try gobies or showa's bains.

Erm, I had maxed comp and it was like my best friend (next to ice strike) before 4th job. So you should start adding to it. If you plan on going to newties or wyverns soon though, I'd recommend boosting seal too

Assuming you maxed both cold beam and thunderbolt, leaving slow at lvl 1 in your 2nd job, I would recommend you follow this path for 3rd :

Partial Resistance – 20
Amplification – 30
Ice Strike – 30
Thunder Spear – 0
Seal – 20
Booster – 20
Composition – 11
Max Slow from 2nd job to 20

If you can lvl to 120 just using ice strike, go for it. You have places like red kentarus & red wyverns to train at, and even better so if you can get the lvl 70 ice elemental wand. Skills like TS and Comp will never be used at 4th job, so if possible don't add any pts. Adding to TS and comp was my biggest regret. Skills like Slow, PR do help in 4th job, and having max booster is a must, as it is a pain to recast.

I reckon there's not much point in composition for I/L mages in terms of training as Lightning Spear deals more damage and Ice strike covers the freezing effect.
However I love that skill and I would put it up for fun ^^.

What if you've been planning to skip Thunder Spear entirely? Composition would then become your best single-target skill. Is that worthwhile?

(I'm planning to skip Thunder Spear and add points to Slow instead, for use on things like bosses and mobs that don't freeze. I hope that's a sane decision.)

Thanks for the input It sounds like I should be maxing seal next and by the time that's done there won't be much use in maxing comp so I'll probably just skip it

Skip COMPOSITION! It's such a useless skill after you max CL you can't even imagine. I NEVER use compo. /regrets

Don't max it period. If you want to freeze one thing i reccommend cold beam OR EVEN ice demon.

Well... I recommend either getting TS or Comp. Both get replaced at 4th job, but it will make 3rd job more bearable and fun. Cold beam's a decent single attack, but TS or Comp either are better, especially if you're considering bossing.
I maxed TS and skipped Comp... Comp's a fun skill, but the points into slow make it worth skipping.

^Cold beam actually comes out the best of the three attacks when holding an ice wand/staff, lol.

^Cold beam actually comes out the best of the three attacks when holding an ice wand/staff, lol.

Yeah, but it's still pretty hard to get one anyway.

I did max Comp, and I don't regret it. It boosted my damage at Red Wyverns a decent amount, and I still use it since I don't have CL maxed yet.

Hm, it would make sense for Cold Beam to receive the most benefit from an ice wand, as Comp is mixed and Thunder Spear is, well, thunder.

It seems like there's a lot of mixed opinions here about Comp vs. Thunder Spear... I was going to make a new thread to ask this, but I think it fits into this conversation as well, so here goes.

Right now I'm in my lower 80s, and will probably not be hitting fourth job before Christmas. Assuming I will not be getting an elemental weapon of any sort, what do you all think about skills for today's training environment in later third job?

I've seen my friend's maxed TS do massive damage, but I had been planning to skip it in favor of getting Composition and putting the leftover points into Slow, based on the fact that there's not much to train on with lightning. It's also slower (seems that way, anyway) and typically the last attack skill gained in third job, while most immediately get Chain Lightning in fourth.

Is this ignorant or ill-informed? I'm only 82 now so I've got time to make up my mind.

Hm, it would make sense for Cold Beam to receive the most benefit from an ice wand, as Comp is mixed and Thunder Spear is, well, thunder.

dont forget that an ice wand will still boost lightning by 10% so cold beam gets replaced by CL regardless of what benefit cold beam gets.

Right now I'm in my lower 80s, and will probably not be hitting fourth job before Christmas. Assuming I will not be getting an elemental weapon of any sort, what do you all think about skills for today's training environment in later third job?

you'll need nothing but ice strike, and max amp to take you to 120. you can live at red wyverns from 9x to 11x without compo too since your total damage from ice strike is really high.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMPAw1NRAgE

I've seen my friend's maxed TS do massive damage, but I had been planning to skip it in favor of getting Composition and putting the leftover points into Slow, based on the fact that there's not much to train on with lightning. It's also slower (seems that way, anyway) and typically the last attack skill gained in third job, while most immediately get Chain Lightning in fourth.

the reason people max tspear was because for a very long time, vikings in ludi were the only best training spots around, which were weak to thunder. also by the logic "by the time we get maxed tspear, we're 2 seconds away from 4th job advancing and getting CL anyway" should be a reason to drop tspear.

also CL is basically 2x faster than tspear numerically proven here
http://www.southperry.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3217

even though its usage feels like its 3x faster.

the reason people max tspear was because for a very long time, vikings in ludi were the only best training spots around, which were weak to thunder. also by the logic "by the time we get maxed tspear, we're 2 seconds away from 4th job advancing and getting CL anyway" should be a reason to drop tspear.

Yeah, she was getting into her 100s before fourth job hit GMS. I remember she was always at Vikings, and used to complain about the vaccers there. I guess at that time, there was no reason not to get TS. Nowadays, aside from fighting the Headless Horseman, even though it's a powerful attack it doesn't seem very useful.

Thanks for the advice; for now I'm sticking with my decision to skip Thunder Spear.

Isn't the new build for ice mages that you skip cold beam, place it into slowl? Skip thunder spear, place it into elemental resistance and max seal/booster?

Composition is still a useful skill. When I trained on my i/l mage at skelegons, I would kill single targets with compo INSTEAD of chain lightning because they actually freeze ^^;;

Ice strike might be too weak to kill them in 1-2 hits, but compo looks nice, deals balanced damage, and is decently fast.

I never even use chain lightning or ice demon. Hehe :]
Mostly just blizzard, ice strike, and compo....

Heres how i trained (and aparentally i lvled really fast (137 atm in leik 3-4 months>.> on my ILAM) from 74- 94 was Harps(great Drops and nice exp) then at 94 i went to Red Wyverns for ~ 10 lvls (good exp meh drops) then it was either 103 or 104 i went to Newties to only top attack (yes i know u dont leech Nest golems till 105 but it was still better exp then Red Wyvens)[so u can use that theory to go to a JNPT even @ like 100 or w/e Jr. Newtie leeching is] and im not 137 being requested by every bloody priest to pt with even when i have one well thats for Training... i Personally went
max amp
1 resistance
max comp
max seal(i did this cause i saw a great potential for it in many training situations, dont ya just hate it when a jr. newtie is constantly hitting you while ur trying to climb a rope, and your ice cant reach it? lol)
29 Thunder spear (didnt have any points left and it doesnt matter i .. NEVER use this, i was planning to use it to KB pap, but i still havent done the quests cause Ludi is too far away)
Map Amp
Max Ice Strike
and 11 booster

i find this to be a fine build, i dont really even use Comp, TS anyways, Just blizzard really
but personally, i would Max 1 of either TS or Comp just so you have 1 kinda strong 1 monster attack case you ever feel the need to kill any boss before you can get Chain Lightning right?