Is Melee Mage too weak since the latest update?

[0rion79]

Hi, I have just finished my latest game with a MELEE MAGE BUILT and I want to share my 2-cents opinion about this.

I played at the easiest level and yet playing with the mage has been so frustrating that in some moments I was so furious that I almost wanted to smash my smartphone.
The worst part has been (and still is) the Ark, followed by the ending part of the square labyrinth with shadow creatures, part of Hirge's personal quest. Never happened with any other class.

So far, these have been the causes that made it that hard:
1) limits of the game engine that make very hard to properly aim to foes and to control the adventurers party
2) the peculiarities of the mage, that is very unsuitable for solo playing. (not impossible, yet it is much harder than other classes)

More into detail, I have found problematic the melee mage's ...:
- need of several abilities to properly attack and defend
- high skill points cost to develop these abilities
- high mana cost of the most recent abilities that, even effective, make the mage highly dependent by potions to constantly refuel
- mage's armor spell counts radiation damage as an attack, fading earlier than expected.

Especially within the Ark, I had a very hard life vs. the frog-like robots that deal an impressive melee damage that not even the stone golem may endure long enough (plus it is so dumb that it always get involved into fire explosions), while the "steel wizards" that shot beams are relatively easy to handle due to the high electricity resistance that the mage may achieve thanks to unique equipment.

The new special abilities offered at Icemist are really nice to use, especially at high level when the game offers weapons with high elemental damage, but the extra damage doesn't compensate the mage's fragility. Also, elemental weapons are useless vs. certian foes and the "death" weapons are useless vs. undead and shadow creatures, so it's impossible to rely 100% on these attack forms. Some choices, as having a strong creature to summon, are almost "staple" choices to compensate but they quickly drain out of mana.

Maybe I have built it in a poor way, yet - in theory - a player shouldn't be forced to follow "staple choices" to survive : David himself added several items roughly at the same level right because he wanted players to enjoy variety without being forced into standard solutions.

I can't image what it means to play at harder levels if the easiest has been that hard!

 

[p4ran0id]

lol mage is one of most op characters ever, if you know how to play. with new update it's even more crazy.

I managed only with mage to reach top leaderboard for Ironman player. 100%

Ironman mage finished

Finally did it, all quests including unweakened undermother on Ironman with a mage :cool: Over 53h, 5 times reskilled (last one was only for undermother), lost my ankh and was more than once nearly at heart attack, but I finally did that... XD Ps: and it was lucky number seven, took...

exiledkingdoms.com

it's ok if it doesn't suit your playstile, but don't say mage is too weak, it's one of the most op characters if you know how to play it

ps: started new run with mage on causal and going to kill forsaken with arcane mage build, that will be fun

 

[d36williams]

The Mage benefits from her bag of tricks. Summoning a Sparkling, they block all Electric Attacks. A mage character should also be totally maxed at either the Wand or the Stave, don't bother skilling in both. Once you get the electric wand or stave from the Ark, the Ark becomes easier to manage. You'll want to trawl it again and again to load up on all the sweet gear. Bring electric blocking clothers and some fire blocking for back up. In the radiation areas, you can't make much use of the Elementals and it is harder for that.

I also maxed out Lightening blast. Very clutch against the Robots. You can max out Wand or Stave and have skill points left to develop as a Summoner. You may need to retrain to allocate your Skill points more optimally. Likely you'll want to max lightening, wand or staff, and earth summoning., and mage shield

I will the say the Mage is a harder play through that the Warrior, because of an extra layer of resource management (mana)

 

[p4ran0id]

The Mage benefits from her bag of tricks. Summoning a Sparkling, they block all Electric Attacks. A mage character should also be totally maxed at either the Wand or the Stave, don't bother skilling in both. Once you get the electric wand or stave from the Ark, the Ark becomes easier to manage. You'll want to trawl it again and again to load up on all the sweet gear. Bring electric blocking clothers and some fire blocking for back up. In the radiation areas, you can't make much use of the Elementals and it is harder for that.

I also maxed out Lightening blast. Very clutch against the Robots. You can max out Wand or Stave and have skill points left to develop as a Summoner. You may need to retrain to allocate your Skill points more optimally. Likely you'll want to max lightening, wand or staff, and earth summoning., and mage shield

I will the say the Mage is a harder play through that the Warrior, because of an extra layer of resource management (mana)

well I kind of disagree that it's harder to play, if you know how to play range character it's way easier than warrior to play. if you do it right you will never get to close range fights. sometimes you have to wait for CD or run for your life but it's fun.

That's why I started mage again to test new build, that's so different to old range playstile, with arcane mage you are in close range battles and that's so amazing. I'm so thankful to David for this

 

[Zanza]

"mage's armor spell counts radiation damage as an attack, fading earlier than expected."

It surprised me as well to learn that glowing orbs could get rid of mage armor when so far any non-physical attack seems to not do so. Might be my imagination as well but it seems to reduce its damage... Are glowing orbs partly physical?

At any rate, I think it's true that Mages are fragile and might rely on summons/companions more than any other class, but the whole point is glass cannon + knowing when to use mana. I had 100x easier job handling Ark of Lothasan than as a Warrior.

 

[BOSTACH]

It's okay i cant kill the fire dancer as a cleric on hard arguably the best class while i beat the game on Ironman as a rogue the criticism is welcomed tho
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[Xen]

If not for my nasty controls, I would play Iron Man mode. Mage is actually super easy to use, the only drawback is the lack ot physical defense but that's a minor issue especially if you know how to utilize summons and your companion. The radiation areas' effect can simply be mitigated by Anti-Rad gear particularly the Goggles from the Ark. Another thing is that the Sparkling can tank those lightning damage and Iron Golem is sturdy enough to endure physical attacks

 

[0rion79]

Hi guys, thanks for your answer but probably I didn't make myself clear.

I did play the game with ALL classes before and every possible combo (1h and 2h warrior, melee and ranged rogue, different cleric builds and mage) and now I am referring to the new attempt with a melee mage. I never argued that the traditional mage is a weak class!
I wonder if any of you did properly read my text before commenting or if you just read the subject only

About the modern options, I state again that the new melee ability, Arcane Blade, together with Combustion are not enough to compensate with extra damage the mage's traditional fragility because the skill points needed to maximize these stills are subtracted to other defensive and offensive abilities. Even more, it makes little sense to develop the enhanced mage armor (the ones that pushes back enemies while dealing electric damage), since you want to keep enemies close! So it is quite useless that you suggest me to maximize only staff or wands, because it is not the case.

As well, I perfectly know already how to use anti-rad equipment but I was talking for golem only. In fact, the golem I summon dies too quickly in the Ark because of radiation damage (it gets full damage while it should be immune, as the ark robots are, since it is not alive) and has a too low fire reduction that causes its premature death because of the explosions. Again: I had a much better time when I had a wand because the golem was used to come back to me faster, while with a melee mage it remains still and dies much more often, causing mana squandering. As it is set up now, the Ark is really way too punishing for a melee mage!

The worst think is that the new melee abilities are basically useless in the hardest moments of the game: vs. robots, shadow creatures and demons (immune to fire) but they are drastically expensive in terms of skill points to specialize and mana used to cast spells.
It is not a case that the new demon that has been added, the one that provides the new 2-handed fire sword, is totally out of my reach with the current built while I have slaughtered him with every other built! If I try to use Combustion with him, it is way too slow to work that such monster slaughters me before I may react in any way, not to mention that it heals him! And not even bringing a full stock of resurrection scrolls worked! (I was at level 24, after completing the Ark and with the best possible equipment ever).

At the end of the story, I really think that:

• radiation damage should count as elemental damage and should not impact on Mage Armor uses.
• every summoned golem should be immune to radiations or at least take very little damage and earth golem should have a much higher fire resistance
• Arcane blade (and its Death counterpart) should provide some defensive bonus as well, such as a 5% elemental resistance per level plus a minor bonus to HP and armor class
• Combustion (and its Death counterpart) should have a reduced cost in skill points and mana points, with a shorter cooldown, maybe dealing both fire and physical damage to make it usable in every situation. If it is a pure fire-only spell, it becomes too situational and therefore not worth investing points on it.

 

[Deleted member 28869]

Again: I had a much better time when I had a wand because the golem was used to come back to me faster, while with a melee mage it remains still and dies much more often, causing mana squandering. As it is set up now, the Ark is really way too punishing for a melee mage!

Instead of a golem, try getting lightning bolt instead! Works much better in the ark and is very versatile! And If you want to get close to enemies, just get wisdom of the seas.

It is not a case that the new demon that has been added, the one that provides the new 2-handed fire sword, is totally out of my reach with the current built while I have slaughtered him with every other built! If I try to use Combustion with him, it is way too slow to work that such monster slaughters me before I may react in any way, not to mention that it heals him! And not even bringing a full stock of resurrection scrolls worked! (I was at level 24, after completing the Ark and with the best possible equipment ever).

It's no big deal if you don't kill him since you can't even equip it. But if you really want to kill him, use combustion from the start, it can't heal him if he's already at full health. Just think a bit more if you want to use it again.

• Combustion (and its Death counterpart) should have a reduced cost in skill points and mana points, with a shorter cooldown, maybe dealing both fire and physical damage to make it usable in every situation. If it is a pure fire-only spell, it becomes too situational and therefore not worth investing points on it.

You don't have to rely on the new skills all the time, that's what the other spells are for. Experiment and see what you want to use!

 

[Xen]

Make use of Disintegrate