EmberMage Late Game?

[Killu@Youkai]

Hello everyone.

The main question I've: do the EmberMage skills scale into late game? Cuz in Torchlight 1 the Mage skills didnt scale as well as the "warrior" and the "archer" ones.

With the same lvl Mage and "Archer" the damage output on the big Boss (end of cave one) was just way too big, and I've been playing (almost only) mages for about 11 years now ... so I was really sad to drop a mage.

This might make me buy the game or not, I'm not going to drop the mage class to play "archer" class again, just cuz of the skillset.

And please tell me there's no "Sword/Spear" mage bullsh*t, like D3 did, cuz I'm not f*cking playing a Mage without a staff.

[Klocko]

I haven't reached max level yet, nor do I play an embermage, but from what I've seen the damage of an embermage is pretty solid throughout the game. Sure, some may be better, but it probably wouldn't hurt to roll as a mage. And yes, you can use a staff. No need to use a sword or spear or anything, unless you really want to.

[Rathia]

Embermage damage is rather intense if you itemize and skill-up properly. It can take a bit of trial to figure out which skills are best for both your style and any given encounter though.

You might feel like you start off a bit weak depending on the difficulty you choose, but by mid-game level when you get some nice +% elemental damage gear you'll clear rooms quite fast. My only issue with the class is its survivability. Embermages have a high focus on area damage and not much on self-preservation.

Other classes have active or even passive skills which improve their defenses and avoidances, but Embermages rely mostly on positioning. "Frost Phase" (a level 14 relocation spell) is your best friend, even with a single point in it you'll be able to teleport around the masses in relative safety. Off the top of my head the only other survival-enhancing ability an Embermage possesses is "Death's Bounty", a level 28 spell that flags all enemies in its target radius to recover some of yours and your allies' health and mana when the targets die.

If you've been playing Mage-type characters for as long as you claim, then surely you're no stranger to their frailty. Just know that they aren't much more resilient than usual here, but they're quite skilled at dealing death.

[Atech66]

Embermage is a solid choice i finished with my Mage first.. every class is actually solid all the way through if you play them correctly. I did end up wand/shield using fire spells and i could take a punch ;)

[Killu@Youkai]

I've no issues to be a glass-cannon, but I do want the cannon part of it. I just checked here, and I found why I hated the Mage skill in Torchlight 1 so much.

The mage skills had 20% weapon DPS in it at lvl 1, while the "archer" had 92% weapon DPS in the lvl 1 skill Explosive Shot. The +XYZ damage the Mage skills had were static, thus making better gears almost useless DPS wise for mages.

That's why my archer with about the same lvl and gears used to Crit alot harder than my mage, and I mean ALOT harder. (and the archer Explosive Shot had a decent AoE too)

I dont care about mana cost, cooldows, delays, or even cast time on skills, as long as I can have the same damage output. Those 20% DPS against 92% DPS was what made me so sad about the mage class on Torchlight 1.

[Lavian]

Two words: Prismatic Brand.

You don't need % damage, trust me. Similarly, Glaive Throw on the Outlander was nerfed a couple patches ago because it was way too strong as it was. They actaully nerfed Prismatic Bolt at the time too, but only the charge build, not the damage or skill tiers.

[Killu@Youkai]

No need for % damage? Are u quite sure? Cuz in Torchlight 1, a friend of mine was doing crits of 50k+ with his warrior skills. I can't see a skill that does 3k static damage going anywhere near that. (Not sure but I think he had dual 1-handed for alot of base damage/DPS)

I don't play RPGs to get default gears and lvls, I'm going to grind it. I farmed a SoJ and a complete Enigma runeset in D2, using a PvP Bone Necro, so u can measure the time I spent on it.

Torchlight 2 might be different, but I can't just throw away the experience I had in Torchlight 1. I want to play it, but I want the very late game to be worth it, before spending so much time.

[Lavian]

http://ww.torchlight2game.com/viewtopic.php?f=43&t=36953&sid=cb4f03fce1d14d145321e46b7930accf
is a thread you might be interested in.

Speaking of the build I mentioned, here's a quote "The basic premise of this build is to spam Prismatic Bolt, and pretty much nothing else. Each bolt has a 24% chance each of dealing any of the four elemental debuffs for 20.8 seconds. If an enemy is burned/frozen/shocked at the same time, each hit will deal an additional 13,287 damage on average (before stat/item boosts)"

We're not talking about 3k static damage here. Also, as said in the quote, this is before stats and item +elemental damage% is applied. At 400 focus you should be getting +200% to all elemental damage (still without equipment accounted for), and then if you crit... well... yeah. Stuff does a lot of damage from a long range without even having to aim since the bolts home... even if the enemy is behind you. Not that you have to use this build to do well, it's just madly easy to use.

[igortroy]

skills I like:
- Magma Spear. scales with level AND weapon DPS. it's a monster when backed with good passives. especially Staff Mastery/Wand Chaos.
- Prismatic Bolt. an insane skill for a level 1. it scales with level and is homing with multiple bolts, which can be devestating when fighting a single enemy like a boss for instance.
- Shocking Orb (the ultimate skill)
- Ice Prison (trap-a-boss).
- Astral Ally. good for extra firepower and another target for mobs to swing at.
- Frost Phase. absolutely essential each time you get into a tight spot.

I was actually disappointed by Arc Beam. it's not even half as devestating as it was in Torchlight 1.

skills I consider useless:
Infernal Collapse (slow cast and non-moving enemies only) and Firestorm (because Hailstorm is better and unlocks at lower level).

[Lavian]

It's also notable to mention that % damage skills can set off Staff Mastery and Wand Chaos effects (if you have a staff or wand equiped of couse). This is particularly notable with Staff Mastery, since that skill lowers enemy defenses to elements.

[Astral Pork]

As an embermage you start off weak but get a lot stronger by act 2. I've only played up to level 50 (end of your first playthrough) so I don't know how it scales at late-late game, but at that level mages are pretty solid. Your health is abysmal though.

[ShinTheDerg]

I have a Lv 47 NG+ Embermage (Normal difficulty) with a focus on Fire skills, and I gotta say that I can basically crush anything in sight. With my equipment setup I have +47% Fire Damage as well as about 250 Focus, so I do a LOT of damage. When I say a lot, I mean that at Lv 45 I did 16,000+ damage in a single hit. My average hits deal around 4,000+ with loads of burn damage/damage-over-time. I can't say anything about a difficulty higher than normal, though.

All I can say, though, is watch your health and keep your distance. You'll find that running will be your best friend.

[Nauzhror]

I beat the game on hardcore elite as an embermage, following build is beyond solid:

http://torchlight2armory.com/skill-calc?i=2#ln-hXtbv-O0w9VkpEvh9P9WpS4rW

[igortroy]

Originally posted by fizban:

I beat the game on hardcore elite as an embermage, following build is beyond solid:

http://torchlight2armory.com/skill-calc?i=2#ln-hXtbv-O0w9VkpEvh9P9WpS4rW

a standard Prismatic-spammer build? and here I was wondering what an epic char you need to have in order to beat HC Elite.

[Nauzhror]

It's cheesy, but because the missiles are homing it's a much better spell than others for high difficulties because you can cast it while kiting without having to stop and turn to face the enemy.

[Killu@Youkai]

Ok guys, I think it's enough. I'll prob spend 1k+ hours in this game. xD

On a side note, no need to tell a experienced mage player that running is important, decent attack-moving or orb-walking is just default. After dealing with the Hell mobs in D2 with a 100% PvP build Bone Necro, I can handle pretty much anything. lol

/Thread (Mods close pls!)