How to play Sage

Written by Sefhi

Published on: 2026-05-12

Updated on: 2026-05-17

When I started to play Sword x Staff in the Chinese server, I decided to go with a support character since it’s a playstyle I tend to enjoy in MMO games.

Funny enough, Sages are not only supports, but have the most variety of builds available in the game, so let’s talk about some of the builds you can run for PVE content with this class.

Sage strengths & weaknesses

The most versatile class thanks to the amount of different playstyles available to use
The only class with multiple sources of healing and resurrection, which is really helpful as harder dungeon levels unlock

Even while scaling with HP, it's still a squishy class just like normal Sorcs and cannot be a tank at high co-op level content
Some playstyles take a month+ to unlock, since Summoner and Erosion based builds don't fully unlock until T3

Experiment with builds!

Remember these are just boilerplates to change based on your gear, playstyle, skills and Fantomons.

Best stats

Since there are multiple ways of playing Sage, there are also multiple ways of where to focus your stats and what gears works best for you.

For support units: Max HP takes priority if you want to stay competitive as a healer. ALL HEALS SCALE WITH CASTER’S MAX HP, so it’s mandatory you focus on this stat first.

For DoT damage: Erosion is a debuff, so you need Effect Hit Rate and Accuracy to make sure you can consistently apply as many stacks as possible on the enemies. Crit DMG/Rate is also really good here to scale your damage even further.

Erosion is also Dark DMG, so you should not forget about that when picking Relics and substats.

Fantomons

If you are a damage dealer, the most common pets will always be Mythical ones; Aegiswing and Nyxarchon .

Having an extra charm really makes those Fantomons stronger.

However, if you want extra heals, you could be running something like Mandragora or Herbote thanks to their charms and techniques.

Not sure if it’s coming on release or later, but Pandarial is another Mythical Fantomon that can be used on support builds.

Companions

Companions give passive stats at specific levels, so we recommend focusing on a few until level 50 that benefit your class directly before you level up all of them.

ALL CLASSES benefit from DMG Boost and Reduction stats to both increase damage and survivability.

For healers:

Accuracy: Akane , Hermes , Jiangwang , Kazuma and Ophelia
Healing Boost%: Aqua , Suimo and Suzu

Gems

Gem tiers

I’m going to use T10 gems as a reference, but the higher the tier, the better the stats they provide. Gems go from T1 to T15.

For sages there are a few options you can pick from:

T10 Obsidian T10 Obsidian Description Inlay gear with it to amplify your ATK and DMG Boost. is good on any class, since everyone benefits from more damage regardless of what playstyle they have.

T10 Moonstone T10 Moonstone Description Inlay gear with it to amplify your DEF and DMG RES. is also pretty popular for all classes to help increase their survivability.

If you are a healer, T10 Amber T10 Amber Description Inlay gear with it to amplify your HP and Healing Boost. and T10 Beryl T10 Beryl Description Inlay gear with it to amplify your HP. are the best options since they will scale both HP and Healing.

Summoner and Erosion based builds can run either T10 Obsidian T10 Obsidian Description Inlay gear with it to amplify your ATK and DMG Boost. or the less popular T10 Ruby T10 Ruby Description Inlay gear with it to amplify your ATK. .

Mage (Tier 1)

Early on the game does not have many available builds since you are limited by the amount of spells you can get.

Most people will play elemental damage builds in this stage, with water being the most popular thanks to Water Assault Water Assault MageTechniqueAttack Description Deals Water DMG once to all enemies in a 3×4 grid area in front of the caster. DMG decreases by 25% for each subsequent hit on the same target. (Large targets may take multiple hits.) and Water to Ice Water to Ice MageCharmAttackAbnormalDebuff Description When the caster's Technique deals Water DMG to an enemy, there's a 50% chance to trigger Condensation, dealing additional Water DMG once, with a 30% base chance to inflict Frozen for 1 turn. .

Summoners are really bad this early on, wait for at least T2 for that.

Techniques

Water Assault

Iron Thorn

Tempest Sphere

Blazing Fire Ring

Charms

Water to Ice

Mana Surge

Unstable Aura

Gale Shield

This build will heavily change techniques and charms based on enemy weakness, but Water Assault Water Assault MageTechniqueAttack Description Deals Water DMG once to all enemies in a 3×4 grid area in front of the caster. DMG decreases by 25% for each subsequent hit on the same target. (Large targets may take multiple hits.) remains the most used skill across T1 mages because it’s damage and AoE.

Gale Shield Gale Shield MageCharmShieldRepel Description Grants a shield based on the caster's max HP at the start of battle. When the shield disappears, deals Wind DMG once to all enemies within a 1-grid square area of the caster, with a 100% base chance to knock them back by 1 grid. is also really good early on to provide extra survivability to a class that can be quite squishy.

If you prefer damage onver survivability, switch that charm for Flaming Path Flaming Path MageCharmFireGrid Description When the caster starts to move in their turn, there is a 30% chance to inflict Burn to grids within 1 grid of the caster. .

Techniques

Tempest Sphere

Wind's Delight

Flame Jet

Water Shot

Charms

Unstable Aura

Mana Surge

Flaming Path

Gale Shield

Great single target damage thanks to having so many different projectiles and damage instances that can proc Unstable Aura Unstable Aura MageCharmAttackRepel Description When the caster's Technique deals DMG to an enemy, there's a 25% chance to trigger Aura, dealing additional Wind DMG once, with a 60% base chance to knock them back by 1 grid. .

Even the skills that “lose” damage if they hit the same target work super well here, since you have so many chances for Unstable Aura Unstable Aura MageCharmAttackRepel Description When the caster's Technique deals DMG to an enemy, there's a 25% chance to trigger Aura, dealing additional Wind DMG once, with a 60% base chance to knock them back by 1 grid. to deal extra damage and make up for it.

Flaming Path Flaming Path MageCharmFireGrid Description When the caster starts to move in their turn, there is a 30% chance to inflict Burn to grids within 1 grid of the caster. is RNG heavy but can provide a huge amount of damage output depending on the stage, so it’s worth a shot depending your loadout.

Techniques

Void Blessing

Healing Touch

Iron Thorn

Charms

Flaming Path

Tough Soul

Elemental Body

Gale Shield

Not recommended since pure support builds are not needed this early on, but can serve as a foundation for higher tiers.

We use Flaming Path Flaming Path MageCharmFireGrid Description When the caster starts to move in their turn, there is a 30% chance to inflict Burn to grids within 1 grid of the caster. to run away from enemies while still doing some damage while we wait for Healing Touch Healing Touch MageTechniqueFriendCureDisperseStatus Description Heals 1 ally within 5 grids of the caster once and dispels 1 random ailment or debuff from them. and Void Blessing Void Blessing MageTechniqueFriendBuffCure Description Selects a grid within 4 grids of the caster. Increases max HP of all allied characters within 2 grids of the target grid by a percentage of the caster's Max HP for 3 turns. This effect is unique. If the target's HP is below 30%, additionally performs a 5% healing. (Casts once before battle starts.) cooldowns.

Iron Thorn Iron Thorn MageTechniqueAttackAbnormalDebuff Description Selects a grid within 3 grids of the caster. Deals Wind DMG once to all enemies within 1 grid of the target grid, with a 30% base chance to inflict Immobilize for 1 turn. allows us to immobilize enemies which also helps you (and your team) stay alive longer.

Last spot for techniques can be another DMG skill based on enemy weakness.

Sage (Tier 2)

Here is where a lot more builds will finally open up.

You can go full support, or switch to summoner, or maybe go for debuff and Dark DMG. You can also combine all of them for hybrid playstyles.

Techniques

Flame Wolf Summon

Treantling Summon

Void Blessing

Radiant Restoration

Charms

Soul Impact

Soul Spark

Unstable Aura

Gale Shield

Summoner becomes viable at T2 thanks to Soul Impact Soul Impact SageCharmAttack Description When the caster's summon dies or expires, deals Dark DMG once to all enemies within 2 grids of it. acting as a “corpse explosion” skill.

You can pair it with Soul Spark Soul Spark SageCharmSummonProp Description Increases the ATK of the caster's summons but reduces their duration by 2 turns. (Summons last at least 1 turn; this Charm does not affect summons without a turn limit.) to spam your summon skills more consistently, since cooldown for summons only starts counting AFTER they’ve died.

For the other two techniques, you can either go for survivability like shown above or more DMG combining with other builds.

Techniques

Dark Bullet

Shadow Impact

Weakening Hex

Iron Thorn

Charms

Shadow Erosion

Insight

Gale Shield

T2 also starts to show Erosion builds, which focuses on stacking as many debuffs and curses on the enemy as possible.

They deal decent damage over time, but it’s not until T3 where they will transform into actual DPS builds that can compete with other classes.

We use Shadow Erosion Shadow Erosion SageCharmDebuffAttack Description Each time the caster's Technique deals Dark DMG to an enemy, there is a 40% base chance to inflict Erosion. for even more Erosion stacks on the enemy and Insight Insight Insight MageCharmProp Description Increases the caster's Effect Hit Rate. to have higher chances of applying said debuffs.

Techniques

Healing Touch

Void Blessing

Radiant Restoration

Iron Thorn

Charms

Healing Mastery

Resurrection

Tough Soul

Gale Shield

Now you start feeling like a proper healer. Radiant Restoration Radiant Restoration SageTechniqueFriendCure Description Heals all allies within 4 grids of the caster once. will be your main skill for a while if that’s your playstyle, so make sure you stack up as much HP as possible.

We also unlock two powerful charms, Resurrection Resurrection SageCharmFriendBackToLifeBuffCure Description When an allied adventurer dies, immediately revives and heals them once, granting Revitalization for 2 turns (cannot be dispelled). This Charm can only trigger once per battle. At the start of battle, if multiple allied adventurers are dead, reviving the one with the highest Power first. and Healing Mastery Healing Mastery SageCharmProp Description Enhances the caster's healing effects. .

Arcanist (Tier 3)

The builds become more “pure” here since you can run full specializations, or you can stick to hybrid builds, that works too.

Techniques

Flame Wolf Summon

Treantling Summon

Frenzy Totem

Charms

Soul Impact

Soul Spark

Elemental Body

Summoner's Frenzy

T3 gives us Summoner’s Frenzy to increase our minion damage and a Frenzy Totem Frenzy Totem ArcanistTechniqueSummonBuff Description Summons a Totem in front of the caster that immediately acts. The summon inherits a percentage of the caster's stats, but cannot be the primary target of attacks or healing. It remains for up to 5 turns. (Zero Initial CD) that will act as a support unit for everyone in the team.

Last spot we recommend a skill without cooldown like Dark Bullet Dark Bullet SageTechniqueAttackDebuff Description Attacks 1 enemy within 4 grids of the caster, dealing Dark DMG once, with a 50% base chance to inflict Erosion. for extra dramage while your minions do most of the work.

Techniques

Dark Bullet

Mana Blast

Abyssal Hand

Shadow of Termination

Charms

Shadow Erosion

Linked Misfortune

Shadow Vengeance

Night's Blessing

T3 Erosion builds are pretty good and can actually deal serious damage.

Linked Misfortune Linked Misfortune ArcanistCharmDebuffAttack Description Each time the caster inflicts Erosion on an enemy, there's a 60% chance to inflict Erosion again. and Night’s Blessing increase our damage, while Shadow Vengeance Shadow Vengeance ArcanistCharmBackToLifeBuff Description Upon taking lethal DMG for the first time, the caster survives with 1 HP and enters Shadow Form, lasting until the end of the caster's turn (cannot be dispelled). In this form, the caster is immune to all DMG, can't be healed, won't be the primary target of attacks, deals increased DMG, and reduces Technique CD by 2 turns. (The caster dies immediately if failing to win when Shadow Form ends, ignoring any effects that would preserve HP.) lets you cheat death for 1 turn and deal huge damage.

Make sure Shadow of Termination Shadow of Termination ArcanistTechniqueAttack Description Deals Dark DMG once to 1 enemy within 3 grids of the caster. If the target carries Erosion, triggers all Erosion stacks immediately. (Prioritizes large targets) is used last always, since you want to stack as many Erosion stacks as possible before using it.

At this point you have multiple skills you can use for damage and applying Erosion, so use the build above as a reference.

Techniques

Healing Touch

Void Blessing

Radiant Restoration

Waterling Summon

Charms

Healing Mastery

Resurrection

Tough Soul

Overhealing

Our new summon Waterling Summon Waterling Summon ArcanistTechniqueSummonCureDisperseStatus Description Summons a Waterling behind the caster that immediately acts. The summon inherits a percentage of the caster's stats, but cannot be the primary target of attacks or healing. It remains for up to 5 turns. (Zero Initial CD) has two skills to heal our allies, while the new passive Overhealing Overhealing ArcanistCharmCure Description Has a 30% chance to additionally heal all allies within 1 grid of the target each time the caster heals allies with a Technique. increases our healing output significantly.

It’s also important to note that running 4 support charms means you have no Gale Shield Gale Shield MageCharmShieldRepel Description Grants a shield based on the caster's max HP at the start of battle. When the shield disappears, deals Wind DMG once to all enemies within a 1-grid square area of the caster, with a 100% base chance to knock them back by 1 grid. or any defensive mechanism to help you if your skills are on a cooldown.

Unless you are in a party with 3 friends, we recommend hybrid builds instead of full support like the build shown above (4 Techniques that deal no damage).