No damage as Mage

[Amras]

Hi everyone. I've been playing with a friend for a few days now. He's a Warrior and I'm the Mage, because from all the videos on YouTube, I thought the Mage would be pretty strong. We're currently at level 6, and he's dealing a lot more damage as a Warrior than I am. I'm especially having trouble keeping melee enemies at a distance. The wands and staves aren't strong enough, and the mobs are tearing me apart.

I’m currently wearing the full Alchemist Apprentice outfit:

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198057214924/screenshot/2381927486326067940/

And these two weapons:

1) Shepherd’s Lightning and 2) Apprentice Wand
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198057214924/screenshot/2381927486326069049/
https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198057214924/screenshot/2381927486326068546/

I’m a bit of a loss of what to do to make my damage better. The loot we find in chests is random and most of the time not really better than what I currently carry.

I’m open to suggestions from experienced mages 😊 I don’t want to give up on that class just yet.

[J_Fr⭕⃤sty™ ©]

Honestly just play more. and or try out other fits than just mage. being a mage got nerfed a Lot around the Hollow Halls update Which sucks and As a Maxed player I'm having a trouble fight mobs in the new lvl 15 zone. I expect Low level Staffs and wands not to do much damage over all. Wands are more for slowly wilting enemies down while staffs do high damage but at mana cost.

[The Ineffable Qdoggus]

I second that sentiment. Any other class is currently stronger than mage. The devs gave in to public sentiment and basically murdered the Mage class beyond any measure of ever being fun. I'm a max level mage and I need to reclass because it's nothing now but tedium and flashy pew pew balls of nothing. I would say that mages are a glass cannon, except they just don't do any damage and in general, shouldn't be in the game in the state that the class is in.

I'm in a weird place with this game since I love it, but I'm hesitant to build into any class for fear of the devs "balancing" the class into oblivion like they did with mage. Probably just going to put the game down for a while.

[gadfly6363]

Mage is only weak in the early game, and it's because you don't have any skill points, in addition to having low level gear. You also don't have any food to buff it. In the late game, mage rocks, but it takes preparation because you NEED all the food, the gear, and the skill points to MAKE the mage rock. I prefer to play archer early, and switch to mage later when I can prep for it.

[The Big Brzezinski]

I combined the staff with strength weapons and constitution. Didn't care about spirit or endurance. Snap and soul leech in the Tank branch combined with a little mana regen gear can provide enough mana to mix spells into close combat. Magic and melee compliment each other very well used this way.

[grinsekeatzchen]

Mage is all about combining skill-trees now. Mage alone sucks hard, since they nerved it.

And mage in the beginning, whitout skillpoints always sucked.

Some, not even that much, people complained in the beginning. That mage is OP and devs took this as "let us kill the class :D".

[Boejangles]

My gf and I are doing the same thing and early on I had to tank for her because she didn't have enough mana and damage to use the staff. Mage comes online around level 15-17 Now she nukes everything with eternal fireball and I just corral things and get the green guys off her.

[Kriya Takagi]

so we have people who have played mage and said that its no good anymore and we have people who say mage is still op. clearly someone is not being truthful here or are trying to make the class not sound as bad as it really is.
iv always wondered why people do this.

[grinsekeatzchen]

Originally posted by Koyuta kota:

so we have people who have played mage and said that its no good anymore and we have people who say mage is still op. clearly someone is not being truthful here or are trying to make the class not sound as bad as it really is.
iv always wondered why people do this.

I personally think, it's valid to say that mage is good for the one person and not so good for another, as of different expectations.
Like, i rarely play games anymore, for the challenge. I play games to destress and Enshrouded isn't a hard game. It's still not hard, but it got a bit annoying in the fighting term.
This is why i now play as a fighter with life leach, because life leech for some reason was never touched.

But to say mage is or was op is ... meh. He had some bugs, like the acid-stuff. But to make it useless shouldn't have been the solution ... Mage is a class, where most expect a lot of dmg in exchange for squishyness. And the ring-nerv was just unnecessary in my eyes. Like it would be unnecessaryto nerv life leech.
I saw people defend this, by saying this game is designed to combine classes. But i never found any clear answer from dev's or in the game, that you NEED to go into all the skilltrees.

Other people of course just come with the, "well, it's not hard, the game is to easy, so you all have to suffer. Because i, the mighty hardcore-player, says so. It's facts!11!1!!" to then, don't provide any evidence for the claims. Other than mix maxed classes, who kill low level mobs ...

For me personally, mage isn't fun anymore. As i said. Even before all the nervs, mage sucked hard in the beginning, because you where struggling with mana and the wand is just boring and the durability sucks. Then i found the Mana ring and it finaly started to make fun. Until the whiners got what they wanted ...
Now for me personally, mage sucks, when you don't combine it with other traits.

[Ma7hiu5]

Originally posted by Boejangles:

My gf and I are doing the same thing and early on I had to tank for her because she didn't have enough mana and damage to use the staff. Mage comes online around level 15-17 Now she nukes everything with eternal fireball and I just corral things and get the green guys off her.

oh the green guys can go do one.... they hurt so damn much, and their attack speed is high too..
I've been playing mage and only now starting to feel strong enough to take a small beating and still survive...and I've only just made it to fossilized bone and the nomad spire. I'm sure I'll be one tapped at some point...

[Eightball]

So just my observations from mid game (up through lvl 15 or so), survival difficulty, solo play, and yours may be different.

Mage early on is a horrid experience if you try to focus on magic. You don't have enough skill points to increase magic damage as well as your survivability. Stave ammo is extremely hard to come by especially when compared to the amount you will use in a fight. And when you can finally craft some, it is expensive and so becomes limiting.

And wands are problematic. Lots of shots, but terrible auto target selection, lower damage when compared to same level melee/bows and poor range. Wands can be great if you have room to kite or have some high ground, but in a catacomb or small room, not so much.

But once you get to around lvl 10 or so you can start to mitigate some of the issues. You can perk into more INT and spell damage (or focus on wands) and perk into some survivability skills like blink. A few points in spirit and your mana pool becomes reasonable.

You will probably have only one eternal spell (ice) so ammo is still a concern.

However it is around this time I actually felt viable as a focused mage. Yet I still dont think mage really works until you get some of the better spells in eternal form. The ammo is just a huge issue. One large enemy town/stronghold will drain my supply pretty quickly.

My experience so far, and take it as just that - my experience, is that a focused mage build is really a late game thing. Early on it is more viable to play a mix of melee and archer (use a wand too, but dont perk into it) until you can find gear/spells/ammo that will set your mage up for success.

[Grizzled Grizzly]

Bad design.

[J_Fr⭕⃤sty™ ©]

I have a Question for all the other players, How many skill points are possibly in game? One Character is at 111 pts and the other is at like 106 possible, everything unlocked and completed - lvl 25 (except new lvl15 area)

[Kellindell]

I had some issues too. Go wizard first, and get to mass destruction. Then go to trickster and get the stun. This combo makes the stun trigger off wanding. Once you do that hit up battle mage. It takes awhile for the class to come online but its not as bad playing with people.

You also dont have to give up, you can set it aside and revisit it when you have more talent points. Respeccing is 10 runes. Could also play a healer and heal your friends and get the offensive stuff later, you have options

[grinsekeatzchen]

Originally posted by J_Frosty™ ©:

I have a Question for all the other players, How many skill points are possibly in game? One Character is at 111 pts and the other is at like 106 possible, everything unlocked and completed - lvl 25 (except new lvl15 area)

Does he have all the shrout roots and elixir wells?

The last time i checked, Max was 114.

[J_Fr⭕⃤sty™ ©]

Originally posted by grinsekeatzchen:

Originally posted by J_Frosty™ ©:

I have a Question for all the other players, How many skill points are possibly in game? One Character is at 111 pts and the other is at like 106 possible, everything unlocked and completed - lvl 25 (except new lvl15 area)

Does he have all the shrout roots and elixir wells?

The last time i checked, Max was 114.

only missing a few flame shrines and sanctums