I'm a pure int mage. I plan on using BSoL when I get to level 25 (I'm at 14). I'm thinking of trying to use some warrior armor to boost my defense and get some bonus +end from the armor until then. Has anyone had any luck with this?

I don't know if the boost in defense rating of fighter armour since the Chunk has changed things, but prior to that wearing fighter armour with high defense ratings isn't much different from wearing low defense rating mage armour. The thing is, defense rating only affects your chances of getting hit by a physical attack: it doesn't actually negate damage, and neither does it work against magical attacks. That's why I never look at defense ratings to determine the usability of a piece of armour.

+END is good, but a downside is that armour with the most +END, ie. fighter armour, tends to slow you down by a lot, and as a mage maneuverability is quite important: better avoid being hit at all, really. However, if it is only till level 25 there might not be a great difference... personally though, I go for mage armour that splits INT and END bonuses. Gives you the benefit of extra INT as well as much higher speed, maybe some elemental bonus as well.

Wow that's crazy. So the only thing protecting warriors is their HP? I guess they are protected a little by their evade due to def and a small amount if they have a % chance to block on their shield.

So technically, once a pure int mage has a decent amount of training in BSoL, they are as good a tank as a warrior? Crazy.

Thanks for your help.

Not really. BSoL burns away at mana quickly, and even with BSOL your puny HP still fails on you a lot. And if you get too much HP, you might find yourself lacking in mana to supply your BSoL...

Well, I've been testing out my two sets of armor and the percent chance to evade seems to be more helpful than I thought. I seem to lose less health because the monsters miss me more often. I'll stick with this armor for a while after all. Maybe once I get to higher levels and the bonuses on armor matter more, there will be more of a reason to switch back to mage armor.

I'm not saying defense rating is useless, just that it does not seem to be as useful as an END bonus. I have not experienced the enhanced fighter armour after the Chunk though, so I wouldn't know.

Defense rating is pretty usefull when you gain it with large amounts. For example in PvP 30k defense rating can make the other player mis 1/2 of the time. Still when comparing it to Endurance too, I'd say I still go for End, but it also depends on the amount.

But I don't think Defense Rating has any effect on magical accuracy. If that is so, then it is useless against Mages.

As a mage, I look for the following things in relative levels of important from most important to least:

+int/end (ignore str/agi)
+dmg for spells (fire and shadow for me)
resistances
defensive rating

Having a nice defensive rating is not a bad thing to have but having good resistances and better stats are better IMO. +Int helps your offense and a mage's defense is a good offense.

If you're concerned about physical damage, I like having a shield alot. There are some awfully good rainbow 2-H staffs but I've found a shield with 13% blocking (only level 32 here), good resistnces, +int/+end and melee deflection. I've been surprised how often the blocked message comes up when I'm surrounded by mobs.

If I am correct a mage ignores the defense rating mostly, so vs a Mage is has little use, yet against a ranger and expecially fighter it can help LOADS.

It seems to be working pretty well. I use a mage wand, rings, and necklace, but everything else warrior, including a shield. I have been doing SC runs to get some cash and tested out my other set of armor, my int set, and I die much faster than with the warrior armor. It seems to me that the small loss in dmg, around 50 dmg on most spells, is a fair trade for a lot of endurance and defense added from the warrior armor. I like to solo everything, so I don't have any warriors to soak up the dmg for me, and even when I have people to tank when I do an SC run, I can be surrounded quickly and killed if I don't have my warrior armor on.

Just thought I'd share my findings. It might change as I get to higher levels (I'm lvl 20 now).

I'd love to hear other people's experience with doing a similar thing.

I'm a solo mage (occasionally) and I wear mage armor. I like wearing mage gear to fighter gear better, I can move faster to get around things and cast or I can start shooting ice shards/shadow bolt (depends what I feel like) at the mob and run backwards without being hurt or caught up to and keep dishing out damage.