My 53 magi had his piercing at around 70-80 when I as fear kiting in Dulak with my wife's Necro. All the decent camps were taken, so we ended up just duoing Stormwave (? Boat #1) until something better opened up, and hoping for the captain to spawn. I had gotten KEI in a MGB in PoK, so my mana was overflowing, causing me to grab my Putrid Fish and starting to inflict some serious damage (you know, 1 ... maybe 2 points) on the pirates. ;) Now, with the Jumpalot's haste and base delay of 19 on the fish, it took me less than an hour to get my piercing up to 104, and another hour to get it up to 110 (max for INT casters, last I heard).
The moral of the story: speed is everything, necro fear kiting anything will allow you to skill-up, and never underestimate the inexorable fury of a magician with pink robes, boots, gloves ... and a purse. He's so pretty.