Is it me or does Mage suck ?

[GR|M " 死神 " Reap3R]

As title said, or is it that I suck. I really feel like dropping mid way and play Warrior / Cleric instead...
Attacks are slow, damage feels mediocre...movement slow, low armor. Nothing great about Mage...the freeze attack only actually powerful at melee but the attack animation takes forever...
Unlike Warrior its more tank even if it take hits it be fine.

[Rithm Fluffderg]

Mage's advantage is that his default attack is ranged and pierces to hit multiple enemies.
As far as raw damage goes, his final weapon quite literally melts enemies, and his third weapon does high single target damage.
His second weapon does still deal decent damage even if you aren't melee, and the ice statues can block enemies, so it has some tactical advantage.

To be honest, back in the day, I remember people complaining more about Cleric than Mage. Cleric's default weapon is weak, its only advantage being you can smack enemies from a deceptively far distance, though Wraithverge is obscenely overpowered.

[GR|M " 死神 " Reap3R]

Originally posted by Rithm Fluffderg:

Mage's advantage is that his default attack is ranged and pierces to hit multiple enemies.
As far as raw damage goes, his final weapon quite literally melts enemies, and his third weapon does high single target damage.
His second weapon does still deal decent damage even if you aren't melee, and the ice statues can block enemies, so it has some tactical advantage.

To be honest, back in the day, I remember people complaining more about Cleric than Mage. Cleric's default weapon is weak, its only advantage being you can smack enemies from a deceptively far distance, though Wraithverge is obscenely overpowered.

It's funny how I use Mage's first weapon more than the rest, the lighting skill is decent for single enemy I guess.
I haven't gotten the bloodscourge staff...I'm playing Deathkings now actually. I think it be a while before I even get it...

[Latharion]

I play the mage as a kind of sniper. He can hit from extreme range and his default weapon has unlimited ammo. The main thing to remember is not to get caught up in melee range because the mage is clothed in tissue paper.

[GR|M " 死神 " Reap3R]

lol I gave up, I just switch to a Cleric, use Console Command jump to my current map and give me the weapons etc.
Continue as Cleric, having a blast now !

[Blue]

I prefer Mage to Warrior, but Cleric is still my favourite.

[GR|M " 死神 " Reap3R]

Originally posted by Blue:

I prefer Mage to Warrior, but Cleric is still my favourite.

Cleric was so much more fun ! I seriously won't ever use Mage again...

[nixos]

Originally posted by GR|M " 死神 " Reap3R:

Originally posted by Blue:

I prefer Mage to Warrior, but Cleric is still my favourite.

Cleric was so much more fun ! I seriously won't ever use Mage again...

well, i made a gameplay mod that boosted weapons and items (reworked all mage and cleric weapons, left fighter unmodded)

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?t=77593

fighter fletchette speed has been boosted
cleric slot 1 mace now is "vampiric" giving back 1 hitpoint each time it hits a monster or a player
cleric slot 2 serpent staff now gives poison to monsters and players, 5 cumulative damage each second for 4 seconds... the short range life-drain mode now also forces a painstate stun on the target
cleric slot 3 firestorm now shoots 2 projectiles (they occupy the same position in space, so it looks like one but damage is doubled and the circle of flame graphic effect is more evident)
cleric slot 4 ghosts have life reduced to 80%
cleric fletchette now creates a wider area of poison gas
mage slot 1 weapon has the projectile moving at half speed (which boosts the effective damage) and reduced half in size (to avoid damaging 2 monsters in a line, it is still useful to damage monsters in a column)
mage slot 2 ice weapon now shatters ice corpses (both close and long range), melee range is the same as warrior axe, the weapon shoots faster (reduced idle time)
mage slot 3 lightning weapon now the projectile travels longer (+25%) and reduced half in size (to avoid getting stuck against an obstacle)
mage slot 4 lose seeker, gain bounce 7, dies against non boss monsters dealing no extra damage, at death each projectile spawns 3 more projectiles (this happens only to the first 3 projectiles)
mage fletchette now deals double damage and explodes 4 frames earlier

[T-Dog]

Mage's gets a free ranged attack, so you get the partial safety of always being able to do damage while keeping your distance. With that said, you might as well mess around with all three for the fun of it.

[Rithm Fluffderg]

Yeah, all three have fun gameplay, IMO, so playing as all three is worth it.

[Phoenix]

Basic weapon descriptions:

Fighter
Fists - Decent.
Axe - Great.
Hammer - Awesome.
Sword - Meh.

Mage
Wand - Great. Weak, but infinite ammo and goes through multiple enemies.
Frost Shards - Meh.
Arc of Death - Great.
Bloodscourge - Awesome.

Cleric
Mace - Meh.
Staff - Great.
Flame - Meh.
Wraithverge - OMFG THIS THING RULES.

[TheTimso]

Originally posted by Phoenix:

Basic weapon descriptions:

Fighter
Fists - Decent.
Axe - Great.
Hammer - Awesome.
Sword - Meh.

Mage
Wand - Great. Weak, but infinite ammo and goes through multiple enemies.
Frost Shards - Meh.
Arc of Death - Great.
Bloodscourge - Awesome.

Cleric
Mace - Bad.
Staff - Great.
Flame - Meh.
Wraithverge - OMFG THIS THING RULES.

[Macario]

I've always seen it this way

-Figther is the best in general, all his weapons kill relatively fast compared to the other two characters and his final weapon is good if you know how to use it. Yes, it does not have a range at the beginning but that is when you should take advantage of the inventory the most.

- Cleric, He has a horrible start with the weakest weapon in the whole game and you have to rely a lot on using poison vials against enemies, but now the horrible sounds destroy your ears, he has the most powerful weapons but if he runs out of magic you generally feel very helpless and it's annoying to wait for the poison clouds to go away.

- Mage is not only the worst by far, but actively the game is worse with this character, he does have a decent starting weapon but he is a complete slug to play with this character, it doesn't help that his only powerful weapon is lightning and the rest it's very meh. I've never finished the game with this character because he's just boring.

Fighter I just feel that it is the best way to play this game, Hexen 2 has better balanced characters with the exception of the assassin who is very weak in general.

[GR|M " 死神 " Reap3R]

Playing HeXen 2 now lol...as the Demoness.

[Phoenix]

The Assassin would do better in Hexen II if the "Hide In Shadows" was actually useful.

[Syro System]

Originally posted by GR|M " 死神 " Reap3R:

As title said, or is it that I suck. I really feel like dropping mid way and play Warrior / Cleric instead...
Attacks are slow, damage feels mediocre...movement slow, low armor. Nothing great about Mage...the freeze attack only actually powerful at melee but the attack animation takes forever...
Unlike Warrior its more tank even if it take hits it be fine.

So, here's what you need to know about the mage.

The wand can pierce enemies, so if you line them up you can multi-hit.

Arc of death can kill most things in 1 cast.

Frost shards has a unique way of working. Basically, when you cast the spell, it spawns a few projectiles. These projectiles then multiply as they fly, while also spreading out.
Due to the way this happens, it makes it so that the spell does less damage at close range than it does at medium range (beyond medium they spread out to much for all shards to hit one target), but if you hit an enemy point blank it turns into a melee touch attack that deals heavy damage.
So basically, you want to either melee with it or hit an enemy at medium range, or a crowd at medium or longer.
You do not want to hit things at close range with it.

Centaurs usually go into defense mode when they take a hard hit so a couple of melee touch attacks from this can kill them without you taking any return damage, and I'm pretty sure 2 touch attacks is a guaranteed ettin kill.

Blodscourge pierces enemies similar to how the wand does so for both of these you want to line the targets up.

The flechettes are used by him as time bombs. Drop them when you get crowded by enemies at close range (drop 2 or three per use).