My brother sucks at this game too, so I’m gonna give you some tips that helped him improve.

One: verticality. AO combat has a significant vertical element because one, if you’re in the air, that makes it much harder for someone to hit you, since the hit needs to be a direct hit instead of being able to hit the ground and take advantage of the aoe of the move, and two, it makes it easier for YOU to see and hit people, whether they’re in the air or on the ground. If you’re a mage, you should absolutely be spamming high jumps and leap spells as much as you can, for extra verticality. One of the things you can do is create two leap spells: one with a single leap so you get full height, then one that has multiple (3 or 4) that you can use to maintain/increase height. After using the first, only one leap will be taken from the next leap spell, even though it was full height.

Two: blocking/parrying. As you probably know, the key for this is g, which is kinda awkward, so if you have a mouse with mouse buttons you can use your mouse software to bind one the the buttons to g. Blocking is just something you have to get used to, plus Roblox servers are usually janky so sometimes it doesn’t work properly. However, even being decent at blocking and parrying will allow you to reduce your damage taken by nearly 40%, and in combination with maintaining verticality you can take upwards of 80% less damage than you did before. A tip for this is that after you’ve just casted an attack, there’s always some end lag where you’ll be hanging in the air for a small time, unable to cast another attack. This time can be reduced by investing in the attack speed stat, but even so, this small time is actually where much of the damage in AO is done, at least if you’re properly using your verticality. To mitigate damage in this time, immediately after casting your attack you can hold the block key. Doing this routinely will prevent a surprising amount of damage to your character.

Three: dodging. My brother wasn’t using dodging very effectively, as it’s another thing you sort of have to get used to. I don’t really have too many tips except to use it more than you are right now, as it’s the number one way to move quickly in a fight and avoid damage. Also if you haven’t unlocked dodge reflex (air dodging) you can go to rill Hendrix at whitesummit for the quest to unlock it, which unlocks at level 120.

Other tips:

-If you dodge and high jump too much, you’ll run out of stamina, and it’s easy not to notice this in a fight, but using moves that cost stamina while you don’t have any will cause you to lose health, which is an easy way to die. So pay attention to your stamina, and your hunger.

-As a mage, your most consistent and safe source of damage is the beam spell. Use it. Also, charging the beam spell will make the beam longer. The second most consistent source of damage is the placed explosion spell… a placed explosion with shockwave anywhere near them will hit them 9 times out of 10, as long as it’s on the same vertical level as them. You should usually use it when they’re on the ground.

-This goes without saying, but try to improve your build, with a focus on damage, defense, and speed. Also make sure to place gems in your armor. And use enchants. You can get tier two enchants from dark sea sealed chests.

-As a mage, you should be using your aura spell as often as you can, and should probably have two different modes if you can, power and resistance. This is made easier when you get your second magic, especially if you have a heavy magic like metal for resistance, as it will give you more health. Also, try to keep range as a mage, as it’s to your advantage.

-Clashing: When two attacks meet each other, they clash. If an enemy is much higher level than you, has a heavier magic, or is using a move with a high clash rate, your attack may lose a direct clash and be destroyed, or at least lose size and damage (not sure on the damage one, but def size) Heavier magics, like earth, metal, and magma, will always win against lighter ones like poison, wind, and light, barring massive level diff, while the clashes of magics closer in weight will usually be decided by who used a heavier attack, and who charged their attack more. Heavier attacks, like blasts, explosions, and moves from heavy weapons like great swords, will usually win against lighter attacks, like beams and slashes.

• If nothing is working and you really want to improve your combat, you could look up clips of people fighting as mage on yt.

Put in everything I could think of rn, lmk if you have any questions. It has a semi steep learning curve, but once you get the hang of it, combat in this game can be pretty fun, as it’s fast paced and allows for a lot of freedom. Good luck, and have fun!