Author - Zoahr

Well since I am a white clan, I don't know how well this guide can benefits those at black side.
But I believe that there isn't much differences.
First, let's start about the mobs you should kill and should not kill, by level.

I will not list mobs below RC8, for two reasons.
All the mobs are below those levels are far too easy to grind, and don't seem to matter if I list them or not.
Second, I was not a mage before RC8, so I don't have any experience to share upon that subject.

RC8 to RC10, you should be partying and killing monks.

Tips #1: While in party, you have two things you can do. And this is good for all the partying you will do in the future.
First, it's to pull/lure mobs to the group for them to kill it.
Or, you can skill up your spells. Mainly, I found the second option more viable.
And by leveling your skills, I meant you should be using cheng 1 of that spell.
Since it is a 0.4sec casting time, you cast it faster, henceforth, more xp gained.
Damage doesn't seem to be a big factor.

RC10-RL1, you should be killing Drunken Swordsmen (Inside the entrance of Death Valley). Again, you can party here.
Mobs you want to avoid: Any version of Lightning shadows. They are range, you can't kite them well.

RL1-RL5/6, you should be killing Raiders outside the first village of Jinan.
They are fast, but they are packed. Kill the lower ones and hit stronger when you gain levels.
Alternative mobs : Blood Thieves (wolves riders).
Not suggested, since there is already too many warriors in that area. You can solo well raiders anyway.

RL5-RL8/9, you should be killings Brown Bears, south east of the 2nd town in Jinan.
You should aim mainly for regular brown bears, since the warriors will let them alone, due to a damage bug.
But you can take on easily Bigger ones, or if you want fast kills, small bears.

RL8-RL12, you should be killing Shadow Disciple, north of Brown Bears (not the ones across the bridge).
By this time, you should be able to lure and kite the female ones well. And warriors won't kill them, cuz they are packed.
If you find that they are not enough (many nukers maybe), there is disciple of same kind just north of Tiantan Shrine.

Mobs you want to avoid: Monks. Three reasons.
One, they are too hard to kill, compared to any other mobs near your level.
Two, they are too packed, respawn can easily kill you.
Three, there is too many warriors there by now. Not a good grinding spot.
Of course, if you want to party, it's your best bet at monks. But you can gain better xp by soloing.

FD1-FD4/5, you should be killing Green Toad Demons, found east of the Exit to Hefei.
They are packed nearby the bridge. One side got normal ones, the other powerful. Take the easier ones first, and so on.
Warriors won't come kill them, because they hit hard and they usually 3-4 gank the melee players.
So you got your grinding spot warriors-free. You can actually go to this area at RL11, if you feel you are good enough.

FD5-FD8, you should be aiming for Axehead Demons and Stoned-skin demon.
They are found south of the toads.
You can easily kill them, and warriors won't go near the boss in the area, but you can lure one by one.
Axehead Demons are also found north of the third small village. They are more packed there and are funner to kill.

Alternative mobs : By FD7+, you can kill Bloodclaws, found on the thousand bridge area.
They are good if you can kite them. Personnally, I hate them. Why? because they are bugged.
If, like my friend, you can kill them easily without caring about the bug, then go for it, since it's a better target.
The bug makes them warp to you instead of actually running/walking toward you. I cannot kite something I can't see.
But that's just me.

FD8-SM1, well, I am around that level. There is a better Bloodclaws called Soulbreaking Bloodclaws.
They are found inside the Hell Valley entrance. They are packed at entrance, so you can kill them by luring them.
Alternative mob: There is some demons a little deeper inside, in a wide area. They are Swordsmen or pole users.
They are not suggested tho, since they either have high Chi Kung Defense, either lots of life.
They move as fast as female disciple.
Another Alternative mob: Four-Armed demon.
There is a corner near the river side, where there is no mobs and you can lure.
Of course, the river side can block your line of sight from time to time, but that's something you are already used to.

Revealing new spot.
FD7+, in Nanchang, there is a place north of of the west-most village that got Red Wolves.
That's the name of the mobs, they are actually yellow to you. Very easy mobs, slow and low life.
North of it, there is their counterparts, blood red wolves, also as easy.
The West-most village can be reached by going south from Hefei's entrance, no need to use the road.
Mobs you want to avoid: Hawkeye.
They move hella fast, even with your slow and paralyze, they might catch you and hit you before you kill it.

Tips #2: Before FD1, don't use the bleed spells, because once you get FD1, you will get a better one.
So, use only the slow spells for the time being, its effect is better, and damage would be the same.
Besides, using only the slow spell will level it quicker, so it's for the best.

Tips #3: Try not to use your shield, if not in danger. If you are leveling, you want to cut your downtime.
Your shield uses about 3-4 spell-worth of mana.
Henceforth, it's like for each shield you cast, you could have done 50% or more of damage to any mobs' life.
If you need the shield to kill the mob, then the mob is probably too hard for you and you should change the area.

Tips #4: Don't use either Steps or Meditation buffs. Their ratings and damage is something you can live without.
If you got them at cheng 10, they both takes 3 mana/each per ticks.
See it this way, are you willing to trade about 2 wisdoms for 1000 mana?

Tips #5: Level your wisdom buff, it's so awesome at higher level areas.
With more wisdoms, you do better damage and miss less. It's a life-saving buff in situations.
Level it with the hold-the-skill-button tricks when you want to go AFK.

Tips #6: Basic and Advanced Lightfoot don't share the same cooldown.
Yep, so in dire situation, you can switch your hotbars and use the basic one and once the other cooldown is done, use the advanced one.

Tips #7: Before SM, I'd suggest you to solo. It's boring I know. But it's better.
At FD7, in group, you will gain about 0.01% while the mobs u solo give you 0.08%.
It means that every single guy in the group needs to kill 1 mob at the same amount of time you kill one to be advantageous.
Besides, in group, the mobs are too crowded, and you will tend to aggro more than usual, without wanting to.
Solo is better, party for you, it's mainly for fun factor.

Tips #8: If you want to start a mage as a new character, don't choose it at first choice.
Take a warrior, then level with it. They kill faster and it will be a lot easier to level.
Then when you level it to around RC8-10, change into a caster.
So you can train some of your skills and can take on higher lv mobs later on.
Bad side of this, if you do this, you may not be able to change your build further on. So think wisely.

New section added.
STRATEGY ABOUT BUILDS
Many people asked me about Essence vs Wisdom builds.
Usually, I would say go search in the forums , but found out there isn't much place to look.
So I'll share my knowledge on that matter, although this is a leveling guide, not a strategy one, but meh.

There is two major differences between Essence and Wisdom.

First, it's their damage power. Let make this clear.
Essence increases Chi Kung base's damage, so it's always a constant upgrade.
Wisdom increases the skill's base damage, so it's not a constant upgrade.
Essence adds exactly 4 damage per skill point, and Wisdom adds X per cheng of that skill.

In a previous post, I said Wisdom added (cheng of the skill)+1, but I found out that it is not the case.
Different spells add different values, or that the mathematical logic I used was wrong.
Either way, Wisdom do increase your damage higher than Essence once you have better cheng of the skill.

Before around cheng 4-5 of any skills, Essence increases better damage than Wisdom.
Last thing, to see your CK damage, open your char menu (press C), then look at your Chi Kung damage.
That's the base, to see your wisdom modifier, use any attack spells, then it shows your real damage.

Second big difference between both, it's the downtime value.
Basicly, with more mana, you will kill longer, and meditate less.
I need ~150 mana to kill one mob. It is about 4 Essence.
So, in theory, every 40 essence you have, you can kill 10 more mobs before you med.
10 mobs at RL lv, means 1.5% more xp before meding.
That is about 10 less meditation than wisdom build with only 40 essence more.
And everyone knows that during a Meditation's time, a caster can kill 1 or 2 more mobs.

As for damage, they probably, at that time, do ~200 more damage than you with the same skill's cheng level.
But as time goes on, you will know that they can do about 400 more damage (at cheng6 of FD1 spells) than you.
Remember that in PvP, damage are cut and in PvE, 400 is not a great difference when your spell do 4k+.
So, in those terms, it's actually your choice on what to do. Level quicker? or do more damage?

A friend of mine said to me, they will start a mage and will go Essence until RL12 Chi breathing,
then reset the stats into wisdom.
But keep in mind, your real damage spells start at FD1.
With so many wisdom, your new spells' damage will be lame compared to a decent Essence-build.
And if you think you can level those spells quick, then you are wrong.
I got those spells at FD1. I am FD10, and they are nearly cheng6. And I used books too. So rethink this strategy.

Last point, it's about Constitution.
Constitution is quite useless for mages, be it in PvE or PvP.
In PvP, you will need to have over 75 constitution to survive a warrior's finishing skill.
And it will leave you enough time to run, and die the next 3 sec, with shields.
Don't waste that much on Constitution.

On PvE matter. To me, Constitution is my error ratio.
In theory, a mage should never get hit, with the paralyze and slow spells.
But it comes sometimes that you make a few mistake or you have a bad luck situation.
Either you miss too much, altho your awesome 200 wisdom, or that you went too deep inside, and mobs respawn.
So, for those mistakes/bad lucks, that it's where my hp kicks in. More life = more forgiveness for those times.
If you are feeling as an exceptional and lucky pro, you don't need a single point in Constitution.

I have 40 Constitution and I kind of regret it. I should have put 30 or less.
Now, most of the time I med, I got over half my life point.
And ya, sometimes, when I have less than 100 hp, I go into a killing frenzy, ignoring the flash life bars.
Because I can do it, so I do it.
The only times I died, it's when I got bad aggro and 2 spells miss succesively. So I die pretty rarely.

Oh god, I just remembered something CRUCIAL on any caster build.
What you need as equipment, it's +movement speed. Seek them out!
With more speed, you will kite better, and less chance to get hit.
There is cloths in the third zone that have slots (hair and shoes). At that place, you can also buy +5% slots-trinkets.
Also, try to do the "secret solver of the four god clan" as soon as possible. It gives you a neat +10% movement epithet.

If you have question/tips/note about this small guide, then let me know.
My In-Game Name is ShinShi (capitals at S). Yes I admit it.

[Source] Official Forum