Good Missions for a Magician to Focus On?

[Safehouse]

I know Gulbasaur posted the stellar “Good Mission Guide”, and I have used that to enjoy leveling up many a character! So I’m more than happy to shout out a recommendation to check out that guide.

 

However, I rolled out a new character and was hoping to do something different: he’s a magician, and i would really love to level him up by focusing on magic-oriented storylines. With a bit of flexibility for things dealing with Rularuu and Rikti. Not sure if Devouring Earth counts as magic but I tend to think of them as magic oriented, haha…

 

Anyway, anybody have any recommendations for how to achieve this? I’m starting off by going to Azuria for my first missions (sorry Matthew Habashy), but really not sure where to go from there.

 

Any suggestions or feedback would be welcome. Thanks!

Edited December 14, 2022 by Safehouse
Words

[Six-Six]

If you're blue-side, you can ignore Habashi and Twinshot and dive right into the Origin contacts. Follow those until you get to 15-ish (or is it 20???) when you can go to the Wards and midnighter-related stuff. those things give me the mage vibe through and through. Most of my toons are tech, so I tend to gloss over those. But I've ran some and they are quite good.

Red-side, you don't get much choice in the beginner levels. You might be able to take Dr. Graves extended arc as magic if you squint because of the ending. But starting level 7, you can head over to Oakes and do Bocoor and the ghost chick until you can head over to the Wards again. Cap has Hammond and the Willie Wheeler which are both semi-magic. Sharkhead has Morty Kal and Tarixus that should fit your bill. Nerva has Psimon and the Mu that gives the treespec trial (forget his name) but he has regular missions.

You can stay in the Wards until 40ish, though not all of the missions there will have magic flavour. 40+ redside has Mage Hunter Zucharia and Abyss that give out magic related missions.

(Sorry, not a blue-sider).

[High_Beam]

I have some half-assed frameworks written somewhere that wont be much of a help, but for me I decided that my level 50's would Flashback the missions that fit their origin.  Magic is perhaps the richest due to the presence of the CoT throughout.  I used the principal that Hellions and Skulls are dark worshippers, Midnight CLub missions are magic even if Rikti or Freakshow are involved (Dirge of Chaos anyone), clearly Circle missions or circle dominant missions are magic.  Hollows I treat as magic to a degree (Talshek the Msytic (spelling)).  Carnies are magic.  Yes Warriors have magical artifacts and Tsoo as well as having magic (Sorcerers) but I kind of am on the fence there treating them as Natural but that would be dealers choice.  Add the villain side with Snakes and Wailers, Legacy Chain, Coralax, Mu . . . Ghost pirates in Oakes there is a lot of magic you can bounce around content wise.

 

Tech (with strong overlap in Science and a little Natural) - Clockwork, Arachnos, Crey, Nemesis, Freakshow, Malta, Column-Council

 

Science and or Mutation (with some natural overlap) - DE, Vahzilok, Outcasts?, Trolls, RIkti, Coralax

 

The list is messy like I said but Magic is actually pretty deep compared to the others.

[Jiro Ito]

Don't forget all of Croatoa plus the Task Force that summons a zombie invasion when completed!

[JasperStone]

Would Envoy of Shadows count?

One of my favs from Live, still is.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Cadao_Kestrel#Story_Arc

 

[UltraAlt]

3 hours ago, Safehouse said:

However, I rolled out a new character and was hoping to do something different: he’s a magician, and i would really love to level him up by focusing on magic-oriented storylines. With a bit of flexibility for things dealing with Rularuu and Rikti. Not sure if Devouring Earth counts as magic but I tend to think of them as magic oriented, haha…

 

The Magic Origin Arcs?

Start with the Magic contact in City Hall.

The last contact the contact will give you should another Magic Origin arc. Do a search on the wiki.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Azuria

 

It will clearly state in the character description something like Azura's "Azuria is a Magic origin contact."

It will let you know the character's level range ("Her level range is 1-4."), so you can lock your XP if you don't want to outlevel the contact before their arc is completed (or outlevel the next contact before you even get them ... yeah, it can happen).

 

You used to be able to follow the Origin Arc path all the way to level 50. I'm not sure if this is still the case and slowly looking into it.

 

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Montague_Castanella is a level 10-50 Magic related contact. He should show up on your contacts list or track him down in the University in Steel Canyon.

"Beyond his interest in all matters arcane, Montague Castanella has a unique ability. He is unaffected by temporal shifts. Somehow, his brain can perceive alterations within a timeline. He did not realize he had this ability until Ouroboros arrived and began adjusting the timeline to better prepare for a future attack."

 

There are several other https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Midnighter_Club related contacts with Magic themed missions as well. These will show up on your contact list as picks once you are high enough level for them.

"A team of mystics, magicians, and scholars, the Midnight Squad originally banded together in 1933 to defend Paragon City from evil occultists like the Circle of Thorns. Unlike other hero organizations, the Midnight Squad typically operates in secrecy and shadow."

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Croatoa Level 25-34 is another set of Magic Arcs.

You will want to start with https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Gordon_Bower level 25-29 contact.

A couple of the contacts overlap level-wise, so you may want to turn off XP gain at like level 28 and level 33 if you are trying to getting all the missions from both contacts in the related level ranges.

"The Paragon City Monorail still takes passengers here, even though the town is filled to the brim with monsters, and the surrounding waterway and forested area are infested with all manner of ghouls and ghosts. .... Witches, goblins, pumpkinheads, and even members of the Devouring Earth can be found here. The dank forests crawl with spooky threats..."

 

I would also suggest checking into the https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Night_Ward Level 30-35.

"The zone is packed with the spirits of the dead who are trapped between worlds. Night Ward gives both the living and the dead an opportunity to view things from the other side of the veil."

 

 

[momentarygrace]

Super low level redside, both Kalinda and Matthew Burke have snakes which is easily magic adjacent. Blueside Matthew Habashy send you against Hellions which are definitely trafficking in magical artifacts. Missed any of these, you can do them in flashback.

[Snarky]

It may have been mentioned but isnt Night Ward mostly a magic story line?

[High_Beam]

5 hours ago, Jiro Ito said:

Don't forget all of Croatoa plus the Task Force that summons a zombie invasion when completed!

Totally forgot about them.  Magic up the yang there.

[SeraphimKensai]

Croatoa, First Ward, Night Ward are all great for magic characters. Even Cimerora/Ouroboros can work.

[Safehouse]

Wow I wasn’t really sure if there would really be much response but as always, y’all are wonderful and delivered me with MUCH food for thought! I’ll definitely be taking the advice posted here and coming up with an idea to move forward.

 

Also fun to see I’m not the only one who’s given a subject like this consideration!

 

5 hours ago, UltraAlt said:

 

The Magic Origin Arcs?

Start with the Magic contact in City Hall.

The last contact the contact will give you should another Magic Origin arc. Do a search on the wiki.

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Azuria

 

It will clearly state in the character description something like Azura's "Azuria is a Magic origin contact."

It will let you know the character's level range ("Her level range is 1-4."), so you can lock your XP if you don't want to outlevel the contact before their arc is completed (or outlevel the next contact before you even get them ... yeah, it can happen).

 

You used to be able to follow the Origin Arc path all the way to level 50. I'm not sure if this is still the case and slowly looking into it.

 

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Montague_Castanella is a level 10-50 Magic related contact. He should show up on your contacts list or track him down in the University in Steel Canyon.

"Beyond his interest in all matters arcane, Montague Castanella has a unique ability. He is unaffected by temporal shifts. Somehow, his brain can perceive alterations within a timeline. He did not realize he had this ability until Ouroboros arrived and began adjusting the timeline to better prepare for a future attack."

 

There are several other https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Midnighter_Club related contacts with Magic themed missions as well. These will show up on your contact list as picks once you are high enough level for them.

"A team of mystics, magicians, and scholars, the Midnight Squad originally banded together in 1933 to defend Paragon City from evil occultists like the Circle of Thorns. Unlike other hero organizations, the Midnight Squad typically operates in secrecy and shadow."

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Croatoa Level 25-34 is another set of Magic Arcs.

You will want to start with https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Gordon_Bower level 25-29 contact.

A couple of the contacts overlap level-wise, so you may want to turn off XP gain at like level 28 and level 33 if you are trying to getting all the missions from both contacts in the related level ranges.

"The Paragon City Monorail still takes passengers here, even though the town is filled to the brim with monsters, and the surrounding waterway and forested area are infested with all manner of ghouls and ghosts. .... Witches, goblins, pumpkinheads, and even members of the Devouring Earth can be found here. The dank forests crawl with spooky threats..."

 

I would also suggest checking into the https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Night_Ward Level 30-35.

"The zone is packed with the spirits of the dead who are trapped between worlds. Night Ward gives both the living and the dead an opportunity to view things from the other side of the veil."

 

 

 

Thanks for the really thorough breakdown and the link to that other thread! I’ll take that into consideration.

 

4 hours ago, Snarky said:

It may have been mentioned but isnt Night Ward mostly a magic story line?

 

Yup! Totally true. I’ve run them as part of the Gulbasaur guide but fully plan to include them in this character’s play through.

7 hours ago, High_Beam said:

I have some half-assed frameworks written somewhere that wont be much of a help, but for me I decided that my level 50's would Flashback the missions that fit their origin.  Magic is perhaps the richest due to the presence of the CoT throughout.  I used the principal that Hellions and Skulls are dark worshippers, Midnight CLub missions are magic even if Rikti or Freakshow are involved (Dirge of Chaos anyone), clearly Circle missions or circle dominant missions are magic.  Hollows I treat as magic to a degree (Talshek the Msytic (spelling)).  Carnies are magic.  Yes Warriors have magical artifacts and Tsoo as well as having magic (Sorcerers) but I kind of am on the fence there treating them as Natural but that would be dealers choice.  Add the villain side with Snakes and Wailers, Legacy Chain, Coralax, Mu . . . Ghost pirates in Oakes there is a lot of magic you can bounce around content wise.

 

Tech (with strong overlap in Science and a little Natural) - Clockwork, Arachnos, Crey, Nemesis, Freakshow, Malta, Column-Council

 

Science and or Mutation (with some natural overlap) - DE, Vahzilok, Outcasts?, Trolls, RIkti, Coralax

 

The list is messy like I said but Magic is actually pretty deep compared to the others.

 

I think we have pretty similar mindsets about where different factions fall, origin-wise.

 

7 hours ago, Jiro Ito said:

Don't forget all of Croatoa plus the Task Force that summons a zombie invasion when completed!

 

Oh right! I always hunt out Sally pretty early in new toons 😛 Which TF is that? Ernesto Hess!

[Snarky]

Now that I am off work I can point to a few more contacts....Redside....Best side!

 

Mr Bocor (already mentioned)

Ghost Widow

Veluna Lunata

Archmage Tarixus

Hardcase (full on demon arc)

Mage Killer Zukhara

Slot Machine, depending on where you think the origins of this strange device lie...

I think you mentioned Rikti?  Timothy Raymond!

 

 

[Safehouse]

45 minutes ago, Snarky said:

Now that I am off work I can point to a few more contacts....Redside....Best side!

 

Mr Bocor (already mentioned)

Ghost Widow

Veluna Lunata

Archmage Tarixus

Hardcase (full on demon arc)

Mage Killer Zukhara

Slot Machine, depending on where you think the origins of this strange device lie...

I think you mentioned Rikti?  Timothy Raymond!

 

 

Thank you for the suggestions! I’ll be saving this for reference.
 

Fun fact: I intend to roll out a magical red side “arch nemesis” to the mage I mentioned in my OP. I’ve neglected redside and never got a villain to 50 on live.

[InvaderStych]

Peter Stemitz (Founders Falls, available at 30) has a Library of Souls arc that, aside from some zone hopping between Talos and Azuria's office in Atlas, is decent and quick.

[UltraAlt]

4 hours ago, Safehouse said:

😛 Which TF is that? Ernesto Hess!

 

https://homecoming.wiki/wiki/Katie_Hannon