Huntsman vs Scoundrel vs Polymorph teleport skills for mages

[Red]

I just reached Driftwood, and noticed that my 2 mages don't really have any teleportation type move to help them back away and stuff.

So, I was wondering which teleport like skills from Huntsman/Scoundrel/Polymorph would be best for them. Huntsman is Tactical Retreat. Scoundrel is Cloak and Dagger and Polymorph is Wings.

All 3 of them need at least 2 points to get the skill, atm I have 0 in each for both my mages.
All 3 routes have different advantages from what I can see.

Huntsman - I can get tactical retreat and first aid, and a lil bit of bonus dmg from high ground.
Scoundrel - I get Cloak and Dagger and Adrenaline.
Polymorph - I get Wings and extra 2 attribute points. And if I go even further upto 3 points, I can get the skill that resets all cooldowns.

What do you guys think would be best for a mage?

[DarkFire]

I would argue Huntsman. Not only because being hasted for a couple of turns after moving is itself useful but also because points in huntsman also give you benefits from attacking from altitude which can help mages with their spell attacks.

Cloak & dagger is very useful for stealthy characters but that isn't really a mage thing. Wings is great for avoiding damage whilst moving but isn't as good as the others for height adjustments.

If you're using a fire mage with >100% fire res then you could consider phoenix dive which will set fire to the terrain so will give your fire mage a small amount of per-turn healing.

All that being said, skin graft is a god tier skill so maybe it would be worth experimenting with wings. You can always use the mirror to respec if it doesn't work for you.

[Chaoslink]

What kind of mage? It matters. In general, Cloak and Dagger > all. The out of combat use for positioning and sneaking into place is too useful. Plus chloroform and adrenaline are incredibly useful. On a Geo mage however, Throw dust and the source version are both very useful, meaning you might go huntsman to use those spells. Instead of looking at the self teleports themselves, you might want to look at the combined skills related to your mage elements and the teleport skills in question. The benefits of both the teleports themselves as well as the bonuses from the skills don't compare to the benefits of the combined spells you get mixing spellbooks together. Note that the combinations are done with just the four elements, Pyro/Geo/Aero/Hydro being mixed with skillbooks of the other skills. The specific spells used don't matter. Rain and blood sucker makes blood rain, but if you use infect and restoration you'll get the same thing. So each skill combination yields only one spell option. You'll get the source version if either of the two spellbooks are a source spell. Geo and Huntsman makes throw dust and if either is a source spellbook, you get the source spell Dust Blast that targets everything.

Figure out what spell combinations are the best for your mages and you'll have your answer.

[Red]

My mages are Aero+Hydro (Loshe) and Geo+Pryo+abit of necro (Fane).

Fane has Blood rain, and Loshe has Cleanse. Thats it for combined skills on my mages so far.

I did read here and there that adrenaline is super useful for everyone. So, I was kinda leaning towards Scoundrel at first, but I wasn't sure how useful Huntsman Tactical Retreat's haste buff would be + ofcourse the bonus dmg from high ground, but tthat would only be a little, coz I would at most have only 2 points in huntsman.

The only reason I considered Polymorph's Wings, was coz of the 3 point skill - skin graft, which resets all cd's. The 2-3 bonus attribute points I would get is probably negligible.

[Chaoslink]

In the end, you would probably have them all. Generally, you only want one skill maxed, one at half and two or three skills with 2-3 each for support. You don't want to try to keep both Aero AND Hydro even with one another. You pick one and focus that to 10, then bring the other up, using their natural synergy to overcome the damage loss of not investing in them. Midgame, you'd have 10 Pyro, 2 Geo, 2 Necro and 2 in whatever other support skill you want before you bump Geo to 5. This generally works better than keeping Pyro and Geo equal. There's more advantage in burst damage than sustained damage, so having one skill higher that deals more damage is better than having both be strong, but weaker than a fully invested skill.

[baggybaf]

Chaolink is right.
in fact all three (Huntsman vs Scoundrel vs Polymorph) are used. the order of priority also depends on your level of knowledge of the game and mage schools.

For a geo / pyro mage, the ideal is to have 2 Huntsman for hybrid spells
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Throw+Dust
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Dust+Blast
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Throw+Explosive+Trap
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Deploy+Mass+Traps

Cloak and Dagger is better but these 4 spells are very powerful and very interesting for a pyro / geo mage
so if you put 2 P in Huntsman, you can have Tactical Retreat and just put 1P in Scoundrel for adrenaline and chloroform. moreover i think haste is more useful for a beginner that doesn't take glass cannon and additional hustman damage is most useful before Savage Sortilege.

for a hydro/aero the needs are not the same
Huntsman is less useful and it's better to put 2P in Scoundrel mainly for hybrid spells like
Blessed Smoke Cloud or Smoke Cover (to combine with bless to create a Blessed Smoke Cloud)
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Smoke+Cover
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Blessed+Smoke+Cloud

anyway, it's better to have all of these spells while looking for good armor that will give you the statistics you need.
so I advise you to use the teleport spell according to the choice of hybrid spells (defensive or offensive) that you will take in priority.
Poly teleport spell is not suitable for mages so if you put points in poly it's for other spells like skin graft

[Red]

Thanks guys! I appreciate all the advice!