Undead mage casting Shock Wave
This article is obsolete and features the original Mage specializations: Skyfire and Iced Ground.
Talents[]
Skyfire[]
In-game description:
"The Mage's Skyfire Talent branch gives Mages the master of elemental powers, making them a class to be feared."
Skyfire focuses on AOE as well as DoT spell damage. Most spells in the Skyfire branch are Fire spell. Fire Mages are known for the high damage they can produce, spammable AOE spells, a fearsome skill to Silence other casters, and DoT spells in their arsenals. Despite having high DPS, Fire Mages especially have relatively low health and defense compared to other classes.
A Fire Mage's role in PvE, especially in Dungeons, is to stay back and kill mobs with their long-range spells. Mages are also one of the classes that have a spellcast interrupt skill, which is also considered a Fire spell. As a result, they're highly sought out for Dungeons.
A common problem Fire Mages face is conserving mana. This is especially true in early levels. Their spells deal huge amounts of damage, but are also mana costly. This is mostly counteracted by raising Spell Crits or Spell Critical Chance, as one of the ways for Fire Mages to restore mana is to score critical hits.
Iced Ground[]
In-game description:
"The Mage's Frost Talent branch fives Mages the powers of ice, making them able to freeze their enemies."
Iced Ground mainly consists of crowd control and defense spells. Mages of this branch have higher defense than their Skyfire brethren, and possibly other classes except tanks. But what truly makes this class fearsome is the abilities to slow down enemies significantly and freeze them in place. Ice Mage's tactics include controlling their enemies with slow and freeze spells which are followed by incredible burst damage and back again to control spells, allowing them to kill multiple enemies without letting them move.
Ice Mages can't put out as much damage as Fire Mages, nor as consistent as they rely on early burst damage. Their control spells generally have long cooldowns (up to 40sec), and so learning to master this disadvantage is a must to be a good ice Mage, otherwise, especially in PvP, one will die as quickly as a Fire Mage, though without the DPS skills.
As ice Mages' DPS is low, they are often not preferred for Dungeons. A pure ice Mage can only focus on crowd control; it's almost impossible for them to kill anything. They can perform very well in PvP thanks to their control and defense spells which allow them to survive through other classes' burst damage. An ice Mage is always a important asset in 4v4 arena, for their crowd control can save the whole team and pave way to victory if used at the right time and situation.
Guide[]
Stats Priority (not in order):
- Spell Power
- Spell Hit (recommended for PvP)
- Spell Critical (prioritize for Fire Mages)
- Spell Haste
It is not recommended to be pure Fire or pure Ice; in practice, both have great disadvantages.
- For example, Iced Ground branch has a passive skill that increases Spell Power by up to 100% of the Mage's Wisdom. As a Fire Mage, having this can increase damage output by 3k to 5k (even more depending to the Mage's gears). Therefore, it's advised to put some points in the Iced Ground branch, even when playing as Fire.
- Vice versa, there's also a problem with being pure Ice. Pure ice Mages cannot kill anything, both mobs in Dungeons as well as players in PvP. They shine at crowd control, not damage. Putting some points in the Skyfire branch's passive skill, Elemental Phantoms, is greatly recommended for the extra burst damage. When it activates, frost spells deal many times its original damage, and can even 1-hit enemies.
- Playing as either Fire or Ice, the passive skill Elemental Mastery in the Skyfire branch is a must-have for all Mages. At max upgrade it decreases the casting time of Fireball and Frostbolt by 0.45 second. It allows Mages to deal more damage and is also a lifesaver in many situations that require crowd control.
- Even though almost all spells in the Skyfire branch are damage-focused, it has one of the most important spell for Mages, Blaze Prison. It's a crowd control spell used to Silence other caster. In PvP, having this and using it at the right time can really turn the table around. When fighting against healers, this spell gives a real chance to damage them faster than they can heal.
Take note that the above points are just recommendation. Every player have different play style, and it is up to them to customize their character's talents to fit their gameplay.