Mage Dog
The Mage Dog is a foe in Epic Battle Fantasy 4 and 5, and a summon in the latter. In EBF4, it mostly appears on the upper levels of the Temple of Godcat; in EBF5, it is frequently encountered in the Frozen Valley.
Appearance
The Mage Dog is a black-furred dog with white cloth covering its head and hindquarters. The latter cloth billows out behind it, obscuring its tail.
In EBF4, the Mage Dog has small bands of white cloth tied around the ankles of its hind legs. In EBF5, it has thin red bands around all four ankles, and its toes have small white claws.
Overview
Mage Dogs are the mightiest members of the Dog family with a variety of magical capabilities. They use strong Holy and Dark skills that can inflict various debuffs, along with powerful support skills to assist their allies and leave players at a serious disadvantage.
One of the best ways to deal with Mage Dogs is to inflict Syphon or Berserk on them, which leaves them unable to do anything but use their weak physical attacks. They're also weak to Bio and lack any resistance to Poison, giving players an option to wear them down if direct assault isn't an option.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
Mage Dogs are some of the most annoying foes in the game, with the ability to drain well over half of the target's MP. This may not seem significant, but they can force the party to lose momentum by either shifting to backup or wasting turns eating. Of course, this is not the only trick up their sleeves; Mage Dogs can hit the party with Dark Flare and Holy Fire, potentially inflicting Dispel and debuffing one of the Magical stats. On the support side of things, Mage Dogs can also sharply buff the offenses of a foe and heal the entire wave.
Mage Dogs have above-average Magic Defence and mediocre Defence, so physical attacks are the best way to kill them quickly - their Evade is slightly higher than a normal foe, but not to the point where it'll be noticeable. However, the quickest way to nullify its threat is to use Syphon or Berserk, locking it out of its spells and forcing it to use a weak non-elemental physical attack.
The Mage Dog is weak to Bio, but immune to Holy, Dark, Weaken, Curse, Doom, and Instant Death. If "More Foe Resistance" is enabled, it absorbs Holy and Dark while gaining resistances to Syphon, Dispel, and Stun.
Epic Battle Fantasy 5
The Mage Dog has an interesting combination of elemental spells to use against the party. It mostly uses Dark magic that can debuff the target's Magic Defence; the spell can be single-target, multi-target, or centered, giving it some versatility. It also uses Purging Flame for single-target Holy damage, also having a high chance to debuff Magic Attack and Dispel the victim. Additionally, it can cast Invisibility on a player, doubling the damage they'll take from its spells (and those of other foes); on the defensive side of things, it can use Heal More to keep itself and its allies healthy.
Mage Dogs are intelligent fighters who will prioritize players without resistance to their current attacks and aim Invisibility at the players who aren't Invisible yet; coupled with their debuffs and Invisibility infliction, they can set up a damaging magic combo (especially in groups). Fortunately, they have average defenses, few resistances, and only slightly above-average Evade to protect them; since Purging Flame debuffs Magic Attack, physical skills are slightly more efficient. Syphon and Berserk can prevent them from casting anything in favor of weak, effectless physical attacks; NoLegs can even do this passively if he has the Dog Sausage equipped. Furthermore, they only start using Heal More and their stronger Dark spells after the 65% HP threshold; bursting them down before they reach this point can prevent them from using their most annoying abilities.
The Mage Dog is weak to Bio, but absorbs Holy and Dark. It is also resistant to Chill and Freeze and immune to Doom and Instant Death. "More Foe Resistance" makes it immune to Fire, Ice, Thunder, and Bomb while giving it a resistance to Water, Earth, and Syphon.
Statistics
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
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Mage Dog | EBF4 |
|---|---|---|
| A powerful mage which uses dark and holy magic, and can also heal and buff other foes. Has high magic defence. | ||
| Statistics | ||||||||||||
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| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP |
| 251 | 4 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | 4.1 | 62 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 50 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | -80% | - | - | - | 100% | 100% | |||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
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| Icon | 
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- | - | - |
| Name | Bottled Darkness | Silk | Elixir of Life | Satin | - | - | - |
| Chance | 10% | 35% | 5% | 15% | - | - | - |
| Status Damage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||
| Burn
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Poison
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 Doom(if Death fails) |
 Regen
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| 7% | 5.4% per stack, up to 48.6% |
Immune | -33.(3)% |
| Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||
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Mage Dog | EBF4 |
|---|---|---|
| A powerful mage which uses dark and holy magic, and can also heal and buff other foes. Has high magic defence. | ||
| Statistics | ||||||||||||
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| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP |
| 251 | 4 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 5 | 4 | 4.1 | 62 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 50 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | -80% | - | - | - | 200% | 200% | |||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | 50% | - | - | - | 50% | - | 50% | - | 100% | 100% | 100% | |
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Icon |
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- | - | - |
| Name | Bottled Darkness | Silk | Elixir of Life | Satin | - | - | - |
| Chance | 10% | 35% | 5% | 15% | - | - | - |
| Status Damage | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||
| Burn
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Poison
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Doom (if Death fails) |
Regen
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| 7% | 5.4% per stack, up to 48.6% |
Immune | -33.(3)% |
| Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||
Epic Battle Fantasy 5
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Mage Dog | EBF5 |
|---|---|---|
| A powerful spellcaster. It's good at targeting its dark and holy magic where it hurts the most, and can also heal allies. | ||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||
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| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP | Catch |
| 244 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4.1 | 62 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 50 | 45 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | -80% | - | - | - | 150% | 150% | ||||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | - | 50% | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 100% | ||
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
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| Icon | 
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| Name | Fine Fur | Sacred Rune | Silk | Satin | Dark Rune | ||
| Chance | 33% | 20% | 30% | 15% | 10% | ||
| Status Damage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||||
 Burn
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 Scorch
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 Poison
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 Virus
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 Doom(if Death fails) |
 Regen
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| 3.5% per stack, up to 31.5% |
7% per stack, up to 63% |
5.4% per stack, up to 48.6% |
10.8% per stack, up to 97.2% |
Immune | -33.(3)% |
| Damage taken from first four is decreased by 30% on Easy and 65% on Zero difficulties. Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||||
|
Mage Dog | EBF5 |
|---|---|---|
| A powerful spellcaster. It's good at targeting its dark and holy magic where it hurts the most, and can also heal allies. | ||
| Statistics | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base Statistics |
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Exp | AP | SP | Gold | Hit2HP | Catch |
| 244 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4.1 | 62 | 4 | 4 | 40 | 50 | 45 | |
| Elemental Resistance |
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| 100% | 100% | 100% | 50% | -80% | 100% | 50% | - | 150% | 150% | ||||
| Status Resistance |
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| - | - | 50% | - | 50% | - | - | - | - | - | - | 100% | ||
| Debuff Resistance |
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| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||
| Item Drop Rate | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Icon |
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| Name | Fine Fur | Sacred Rune | Silk | Satin | Dark Rune | ||
| Chance | 33% | 20% | 30% | 15% | 10% | ||
| Status Damage | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage taken from status effects, in % of maximum health (per turn), including elemental resistances: | |||||
| Burn
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Scorch
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Poison
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Virus
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Doom (if Death fails) |
Regen
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| 0 | 0 | 5.4% per stack, up to 48.6% |
10.8% per stack, up to 97.2% |
Immune | -33.(3)% |
| Damage taken from first four is decreased by 30% on Easy and 65% on Zero difficulties. Final damage is randomized by ±5% (except for Doom) and rounded down. | |||||
Attacks and Abilities
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
| Attack List | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | ||
| Backflip | Single | 18 | 
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---- | -- | -- | -- | 100% | 10% | 10% |
Notes: Is used only while under the effect of  Berserk or/and Syphon.
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| Holy Fire | Single | 50 | 
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100%
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80% 30% |
-- 20% |
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130% | 10% | 10% |
| Dark Flare | Single | 45 |
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100%
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40% 40% |
-- 35% |
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120% | 10% | 10% |
| Notes: Prior to the v2 update, this attack had 35% of inflicting Dispel instead of Curse.
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| Mana Drain | Single | -- | -- | ---- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Notes: Drains 50% of a player's current MP, or 75% on Hard and Epic difficulties (66% and 88% respectively pre-v2 update). Post-v3 update, the drain will be reduced based on target's Syphon resistance. | ||||||||||
| Buff | Ally | -- | -- | ---- | 100% 100% |
50% 50% |
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-- | -- | -- |
| Megalixir | Allies | MaxHP * Hit2HP / 100 | -- | ---- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 20% |
| Notes: Depends on target's stats, not user's. See the Hit2HP article for a list of foes' Hit2HP values and resulting heal strength. | ||||||||||
Epic Battle Fantasy 5
| Attack List | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack | Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | ||
| Hit | Single | 16 |
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---- | -- | -- | -- | 100% | 10% | 10% |
Notes: Can only be used when Syphoned or  Berserked.
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| Backflip | Single | 18 |
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---- | -- | -- | -- | 100% | 10% | 10% |
| Notes: Can only be used when Syphoned or Berserked.
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| Dark Shot | Single | 40 |
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100%
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50% | 25% |
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100% | 10% | 10% |
| Invisibility | Single | -- | -- | ---- | -- | 4x | 
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-- | -- | -- |
Notes: Can't be dodged with Evade and bypasses  Bless.Before the v2 update, status strength was only 2x. | ||||||||||
| Gravity Surge | All | 30/3 |
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100%
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50% | 25% |
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100% | 10% | 10% |
| Antimatter Flux | Centered | 65/3 |
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100%
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100% | 25% |
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100% | 10% | 10% |
| Purging Flame | Single | 50 |
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100%
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80% 80% |
-- 20% |
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150% | 10% | 10% |
| Heal More | Allies | MaxHP * Hit2HP / 180 (heals) | -- | ---- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 20% |
| Notes: Heal strength depends on target's stats, not user's. See the Hit2HP article for a list of foes' Hit2HP values. | ||||||||||
Battle Logic
The following describes general logic of the enemy and attack patterns, with chances of each attack to be used. Conditions are listed from highest to lowest priority unless specified otherwise.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
- Berserked or/and Syphoned → Backflip;
- Otherwise → Holy Fire (3/12), Dark Flare (3/12), Mana Drain (2/12), Buff (2/12), Megalixir (2/12).
Epic Battle Fantasy 5
Action
- If catch score >55 and all players are Lovable → Flee;
- If Syphoned or Berserked → Hit (1/2), Backflip (1/2);
- <65% HP → Dark Shot (1/6), Invisibility (1/6), Purging Flame (1/6), Heal More (1/6), Gravity Surge (1/6), Antimatter Flux (1/6);
- Otherwise → Dark Shot (1/4), Invisibility (1/4);
- =65% HP → Purging Flame (1/4), Heal More (1/4);
- Otherwise → Purging Flame (2/4).
* All of the Mage Dog's offensive magic will prioritize targets who aren't resistant to their elements.
* Invisibility will retarget to a different player if their originally selected target is already Invisible (unless no other targets are available).
Counter (only if Counter-Attacking Foes is enabled)
- 50% and not Syphoned;
- ≤65% → Purging Flame (1/2), Heal More (1/2);
- Otherwise → Purging Flame.
Additionally, if any front line player has equipment that scares Beasts, the Mage Dog will inflict 1x Berserk on themselves at the start of their turn (this does not take up their action).
Summon
In EBF5, the Mage Dog can be captured and used as a summon. It casts a powered-up version of Purging Flame on all foes, dealing magical Holy damage with a very high chance to apply three stacks of Curse.
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Mage Dog | SP | 
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| Hits all foes with evil holy magic, which curses them. | 54 | Kept | ||||||||
| Target | Power | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF | |||
| All | 120 |
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100%
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200% | 3x | 
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100% | 10% | 10% | |
| Note: Before the v2 update, costed 53 SP and had 100% chance of 2x Curse.
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