Mage

A spellpoint-fuelled arcane caster who deals elemental damage at range, controls the battlefield with roots and walls, and permanently specialises into one of four elements at level 20.

The Mage is the game's glass cannon and its utility toolbox at the same time. You have the widest spell list of any class, from a level 1 homing missile that cannot miss, through roots, stuns, walls and petrification, out to teleports, portals, scrying, invisibility and enchanting. You also have the thinnest survivability, so much of playing a mage well is about never letting anything reach you.

The defining decision comes at level 20, when you specialize into Fire, Ice, Earth or Air. That binding is permanent and irreversible. It does not remove the enormous shared Arcane spell list, but it does gate the elemental passive that suits your path and shapes how your kit plays. Fire is straightforward destruction and burning, Ice is control and slows, Earth is defence and summoning, Air is speed and chaining lightning.

Resources#

The mage spends SP and nothing else. Every spell is priced in spellpoints, from tome at 5 up to blizzard and earthquake at 300, and your effective power level is entirely a question of how much SP you can bring to a fight and how efficiently you spend it.

Because of that, the mage has an unusual number of tools for manipulating its own pool.

style aetherflow is worth switching on and leaving on for most mages, since it is a flat discount on everything with no downside beyond occupying your style slot. Mana Shield is the closest thing the class has to armour, but it burns the resource you need to fight with, so it suits sustained fights more than burst ones.

Passives are equipped with passives, two at a time. Four of the mage passives require a matching specialisation and cannot be equipped otherwise. Talents give one point every ten levels up to ten, spent with talents spend <tree>.

Talent Trees#

Arcane#

The class backbone and by far the largest tree, holding most of what a mage actually casts. Direct damage from missile upward, the defensive layer of shields and wards, the crowd control, and nearly all of the utility: teleportation, portals, scrying, invisibility, astral projection and pocket storage. Several element-themed spells such as Fireball, Blizzard, Stone Spike and Cyclone also live here rather than in their element trees, which means an unspecialised mage still has access to a full spread of damage types.

Enchantment#

Magical enhancement and detection. mdetect reveals auras on items, creatures and rooms, enchantweapon adds elemental damage to a weapon, and enchant puts a persistent bonus on a piece of armour. Small tree, high practical value, and one of the few reliable ways a mage makes money.

Fire#

Fire specialisation material: a passive that trades SP efficiency for damage, a resistance-piercing single-target spell, and the meteor finisher.

Frost#

Ice specialisation material and the largest of the element trees. Cold damage with slows, roots and freezes, plus frostarmor for defence.

Cold#

A single Ice-specialisation passive that strengthens the slow effect of cold spells.

Earth#

A single Earth-specialisation passive that adds an armour-reduction effect to earth spells.

Storm#

A single Air-specialisation passive that makes lightning spells chain to an additional target.

Skills#

Passive rows show the level at which passives equip will accept them.

Arcane#

Enchantment#

Fire#

Frost#

Cold#

Earth#

Storm#

Playing a Mage#

The first twenty levels are about learning to fight at range and to respect your own fragility. missile cannot miss, costs little and works from level 1, so it is your default. spark and shock fill in cheaply, and arcaneshield at 7 is the ability that keeps you alive when something closes the distance. Take detectinvis early; it is not glamorous, but seeing what is about to jump you matters more for a mage than for anyone else.

At level 20 you specialize, and it is worth thinking about this properly because it cannot be undone. The command asks you to confirm twice for exactly that reason. Fire gives the highest raw output, at the cost of a passive that makes your spells more expensive. Ice gives the most reliable control, which is the safest choice for solo play because a slowed or rooted enemy is not hitting you. Earth is the most durable path and the one that gets summongolem, which is effectively a personal tank. Air is the mobility and multi-target option, and its passive turning every lightning spell into a chain is very strong in crowded rooms.

Whatever you pick, the core rotation stays the same shape: open at range with your hardest-hitting single-target spell, apply control the moment something starts closing, and keep a defensive layer up at all times. arcanevuln before a burst window is a real damage increase, and dispel on a buffed enemy caster is often worth more than another damage spell. Learn to weave the cheap spells between the expensive ones rather than dumping 300 SP spells until you are empty, because a mage with no SP is a mage with no class.

Prioritise Arcane with your talent points, since the overwhelming majority of your kit lives there. For passives, Arcane Surge plus Arcane Sight is a good general pair early, your element conduit belongs in one slot from the moment you can equip it, and Glass Cannon is for players who are confident nothing will ever touch them. Keep style aetherflow running.

In a group the mage is ranged damage plus control plus logistics. Nobody else can portal a party to a waypoint, teleport out of a bad situation, scry ahead, enchant the group's gear, or petrify a boss for six seconds while the healer catches up. Ask the tank to establish threat before you open, because your burst will pull aggro off an unprepared one instantly, and remember that mirrorimage and stoneskin are far cheaper than dying.