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ThiefLUK · Fast and evasiveIce/Lightning Wizard Guide for MapleStory Classic World: Skills, SP Build, AP and Gear
The Ice/Lightning Wizard is the Magician's control-and-mobbing path: Cold Beam is a cheap single-target ice spell that slows what it hits, and Thunder Bolt hits up to six mobs around you with a chance to stun. In a community DPS benchmark at level 70 it's the most MP-efficient Magician on a single target.
Quick answer: Teleport 1 at 30, max Cold Beam (31–40), max Thunder Bolt (41–50), then MP Eater 3 → Meditation, MP Eater, Teleport. Go Thunder Bolt first only if you reliably hit 3+ mobs per cast. AP: mostly INT, LUK only for wand requirements. Hunt ice-weak Fire Boars and Copper Drakes; avoid Ligators and Drakes with Cold Beam.
Becoming an I/L Wizard
At Lv 30, Grendel the Really Old in Ellinia sends you with a letter to the Magician Job Instructor in The Forest North of Ellinia. Collect the Dark Marbles (30, per the quest data), trade them for The Proof of a Hero, and bring it back to Grendel to choose Wizard (Ice/Lightning); the 2nd job quest guide has the details. Community guides say 2nd job SP can't go into 1st job skills, so finish your 1st job build by 30.
I/L Wizard skills
Max levels, MP costs, prerequisites and effects are from the Classic World skill data.
| Skill | Max Lv | MP (Lv 1 → max) | Prerequisite | Role |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold Beam | 30 | 11 → 22 | None | Single-target ice hit that slows the target for 3 sec: Basic Attack 110 at Lv 1, 170 at max |
| Thunder Bolt | 30 | 20 → 40 | None | Lightning hit on up to six mobs around you: Basic Attack 40 → 70, electrocute (stun) chance 10% → 25% |
| Meditation | 20 | 15 → 25 | MP Eater Lv 3 | Party Magic Attack +25 for 300 sec at max |
| MP Eater | 20 | Passive | None | 50% chance to absorb 50% of a mob's Max MP at max, once per 5 sec |
| Teleport | 20 | 55 → 15 | None | 150 distance at max |
| Slow | 20 | 15 → 8 | Teleport Lv 5 | Up to 6 mobs: −30 Speed and −5 Evasion for 20 sec at max |
Old numbers you may still see
Some community pages still carry pre-launch numbers (Cold Beam 120 with a freeze, Thunder Bolt 45). The Classic World launch skill data gives the values in the table above. It doesn't list a stun duration for Thunder Bolt (a community source says 2 seconds), and it confirms that lightning-resistant mobs can't be stunned and ice-resistant mobs can't be slowed. Community skill-change logs also list a change to a Cold Beam speed value (50 to 65) between the second Closed Online Test and launch, and say Cold Beam can hit through terrain.
Cold Beam or Thunder Bolt first?
One community test compared both orders at level 40 on the best map from a community training calculator:
| Mobs hit per Thunder Bolt | Cold Beam first | Thunder Bolt first |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3,274 EXP/min | 2,741 EXP/min |
| 2 | 3,274 | 4,148 |
| 3 | 3,274 | 6,222 |
| 4 | 3,274 | 8,296 |
Thunder Bolt pulls ahead from 2 mobs per cast. The common community recommendation is still to max Cold Beam first, because spread-out mobs rarely give you 2+ per cast and Cold Beam works on every map. Swap if you can consistently hit 3 or more mobs every cast. Casting Thunder Bolt on one mob is listed as a common mistake: Cold Beam is much better there on damage and MP.
Community timing notes:
- On neutral mobs, keep Energy Bolt or Magic Claw until Cold Beam hits skill level 22 (around level 38).
- On ice-weak mobs, Cold Beam wins from skill level 15 (around level 35).
SP build: levels 30–70
The default order, from a popular community level 70 I/L build:
| Levels | Spend | Running total |
|---|---|---|
| 30 | Teleport +1 | TP 1 |
| 31–40 | Cold Beam +30 | CB 30 |
| 41–50 | Thunder Bolt +30 | TB 30 |
| 51 | MP Eater +3 | MPE 3 (unlocks Meditation) |
| 52–58 | Meditation +20, MP Eater +1 | Med 20 / MPE 4 |
| 59–64 | MP Eater +16, Teleport +2 | MPE 20 / TP 3 |
| 65–70 | Teleport +17, Slow +1 | TP 20 / Slow 1 |
Alternatives players use:
- Single-target player? After Cold Beam 30, take MP Eater 3 at 41 and max Meditation before Thunder Bolt, for up to 12% more single-target damage between levels 42 and 55.
- Budget route (a community budget build): stay on Energy Bolt 20 at 30, put early SP into MP Eater 3 and Meditation, then use an SP reset into Cold Beam before level 40. It needs an SP Reset Scroll (7,000 NX in the Cash Shop, per Nexon).
- Don't spam Teleport 1. It costs 55 MP per jump.
AP build
That build ends at 299 base INT and 63 base LUK, with 2 more LUK from gear for Angel Wings:
| Levels | AP each level | Base stats at the end |
|---|---|---|
| 31–40 | INT +3 / LUK +2 | 172 INT / 40 LUK |
| 41–63 | INT +4 / LUK +1 | 264 INT / 63 LUK |
| 64–70 | INT +5 | 299 INT / 63 LUK |
Don't add base LUK once your total (with gear) covers the next weapon. Leftover AP belongs in INT.
Gear
Same weapon ladder as every Magician: Mithril Wand (Lv 30, 55 M.ATK, 60 INT / 20 LUK, Arcforge 6), Fairy Wand (Lv 40, 69 M.ATK, 80 INT / 30 LUK, Arcforge 8), Cromi (Lv 50, 83 M.ATK, 100 INT / 40 LUK, Arcforge 10), Evil Tale (Lv 60, 97 M.ATK, 120 INT / 55 LUK) and Angel Wings (Lv 70, 111 M.ATK, 140 INT / 65 LUK). Evil Tale and Angel Wings have no recipe or quest reward in the launch data, so they come from other players. Spell speed ignores weapon speed, so take the highest M.ATK you can equip. Pan Lid blocks more often than Esther Shield (about 8.09% vs 5.30%), while Esther adds 55 M.DEF. Scroll gloves for Magic Attack, and keep Kerning City citizenship for its robe scrolls.
Ice and lightning matchups
Weakness is +25% and resistance -25% (community damage rules agree). The skill descriptions confirm that resistant mobs ignore that spell's slow or stun. The lists below are every live monster with an ice or lightning element in the Classic World monster data.
Ice-weak: Fire Boar (Lv 32), Copper Drake (45), Red Drake (60), Tauromacis (70) and Taurospear (75). Duskmander (Lv 50), which some community lists include, isn't in the world at launch.
Ice-resistant: Ligator (Lv 31), Cold Eye (40), Drake (50), Croco (52), Malady (55), Commander Skeleton (73).
Lightning-weak: Slime (Lv 6), Octopus (12), Bubbling (15), Iron Hog (28), Lorang (38) and Clang (49).
Lightning-resistant: Fairy 2, 3 and 4 (Lv 29), Stumpy (35), Tauromacis and Taurospear.
Map picks by level are in I/L Wizard training spots.
MP and potions
Max Thunder Bolt costs 40 MP, so Lemons go fast on six-mob maps. Cold Beam at 22 MP is the cheapest 2nd job attack of the three Magician paths. Community shop math: 100 incoming damage costs about 90 mesos to refill through Magic Guard 15 versus 50 mesos with Guard off, so only run the Guard level your map needs. MP Eater gets nothing from 0-MP mobs, and the ice-weak Fire Boars in The Burnt Land are the usual example: bring extra MP pots there.
Where I/L stands
From a community DPS benchmark at level 70 (using endgame gear, most of it not available until Ossyria opens):
- Single target: 9th of 10 with Cold Beam, about 151,062 damage per minute; between F/P (159,952) and Cleric (131,599).
- Damage per MP: best of the three Magicians on a single target, 92.8 vs 78.1 for F/P and 72.2 for Cleric.
- Mobbing: 7th of 8 AoE entries with Thunder Bolt at six targets, about 373,233 damage per minute, behind F/P's Poison Breath.
- Party value: Meditation, +25 Magic Attack for nearby party members.
Comparing paths? See which Magician path to pick.
After level 70
I/L Wizards become I/L Mages with Robeira in El Nath, but El Nath and 3rd job aren't in Classic World yet. Community sources report a 3rd job test server planned for early 2027 (unconfirmed); we haven't seen an official Nexon date.