Challenge Dungeon Mage Guide

How to stay Alive in the Challenge Dungeon (Hard Difficulty). The layman's guide to sucking less.

How to not die Immediately... sometimes.

If you don't want mage spell and tactic spoilers, do not read this...

I will add to this guide more in the coming days and try to spruce it up a bit.

I've had a few successful mage runs on hard difficulty, including the second highest Hard Challenge Dungeon score (Soon to be the highest Hard Challenge Dungeon Score as well... I just need to die first).

Current record floor updated 6/4:

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1760705872

Using this system I have been able to get to mid or late game almost every time (assuming I don't die in the first 3 floors of the challenge dungeon... which I do... a lot).

Rest whenever you run low on mana, and always keep the best melee or ranged weapon you find as a back up. Keep a pick axe in your inventory whenever possible. If you make a hole in the wall, in an L shape, so that enemies cannot see you while you rest, you will most likely be able to rest in peace if a closed room is not available.

To make constant resting possible, buy all the food you can from merchants early on. This is only needed for a few levels, as soon you will have the create food spell, and you can rest as much as you like. The upside of resting a lot is that the more time you pass, the closer you will get to the Healthy and Very Healthy bonus, which will give you +15% and +30% spell learning, which is very important. If you see a create food wand in the merchants inventory, this is the most important thing to acquire for your young mage, imo, as it allows infinite resting. One level of the spell learning perk is also very helpful in this endeavor.

Buy all of the mana (always) and health (early on) potions you can afford. AND USE THEM. No point in hoarding potions and dying before your time. The one caveat to this advice, is to keep at least 1000 coins around (early on, and exponentially more as you progress) to purchase crucial spells that you don't want to miss.

Always try and back your way into a defensive position where only one enemy can attack you at once. You can use a pick axe as mentioned previously, to create these scenarios. The Twister spell can get a nasty enemy up and out of your grill, and allow you time to retreat to a good spot.

Always keep any gear that is lightweight, and has Intelligence buffs on it, ie; robes, sandals, leather bracers, cloth hoods, etc. Equip this gear, along with an intelligence & fate potion, before a spell learning session, and then re-equip your combat gear afterward (Don't forget this last part... don't be like me) Later on you will want to gather Spell Power and Fate gear to keep in reserves for certain occasions... but start with the INT gear.

Speed affects action economy, which is a crucial aspect to any roguelike. The more Agility, the better, which will be augmented by any items of speed you attain. Acting before your enemies is obviously crucial, especially in the challenge dungeon, where your enemies are potentially getting faster with every descending level.

In regard to level up choices, Agility increases come only behind Int, SP, and Fate. In late game scenarios (level 20+) I will only choose Spell Power before Agility upon level up. Perception is the runner up stat, and it is not useless at all, as it determines your sight range. I just find it to be of less impact. Some level of Strength is needed obviously, and I will take it if the other options are Constitution or a stack of potions.

I won't cover races further in this guide, as there are advantages and flavor to each choice. Plants (Never hungry) and Dwarves (Minimal damage shrug Masters) are great for newbs, Elves should be saved for more experienced players, but have the highest Water Shield buff potential, and Trolls can really stay alive and kicking early on (until Water shield renders their health bonus useless). Naga are deadly crit monkeys, yet vulnerable to one of the most common damage types in the game. But imo, Humans, for the extra perks, and the kitty folk for their increased speed, are the Kings of Mage hill.

Useful Early Spells

Early on, there are several spells that are crucial...

-Holy bolt is an extremely mana efficient way to deal with undead.

-Water splash's knock back is very helpful with enemies that attack fast and aggressively, like panthers, or tigers.

-Fireball is an incredible tool for dealing with groups.

-Lightning bolt is one of the best single target damage spells you can get, respective to other spells at equivalent levels.

-Wind shield can seriously nerf range attacking enemies, for only 2 reserved arcane thread points.

-Unlock: Even 1 level of Unlock, will allow you to sell all keys you find, which will help fund all the scrolls, wands and books you are going to need to buy to enhance your spell slinging.

-Frost Bolt & Shattering Bolt: Frost Bolt can be hard to find early, but when you find it, buy it.... seriously it is vital. One level of frost bolt allows you to freeze an enemy, followed by a Shattering Bolt, to cause pretty much the highest damage possible to almost all enemies in the game.

-Divine Aegis is a great tool to allow you to deflect all damage from a few enemy attacks that catch you off guard, while you establish a game plan. Cast this always, before and after resting.

-The Teleport spell is absolutely vital. The moment you see a group of enemies you know you can't handle, cast it... and cast it again until you find a more suitable/defensive position. I always learn the Teleport spell, buy every teleport scroll I find, and try and find a teleport wand that has the most mana reserve available. This is what I use almost all my mana recharge stones on. Using a wand or scrolls to teleport, will get you out of really nasty situations, without depleting your mana, which you will need to fight the enemies in the zone you decide to stop in.

-The regen health spell is nice, and I use it at the beginning of long battles sometimes and after a tough combat a lot of times, but you're often better off using health potions, as it requires 4 arcane threads to use. This spell is a prime example of one which starts off strong and rapidly decreases in usefulness.

There are many more useful spells, but the aforementioned spells are definitely pivotal in keeping any mage alive.

Responsible spell leveling, AKA living within your means.

Thank you to Waladil for pointing out that I neglected to mention this topic.

Waladil says...

" Oh, one pointer that you didn't mention: Do not level most spells too early! Many spells' cost increases far more quickly than their utility, and they'll drain you of mana in the middle of a fight if you overlevel them.
There are a bunch of exceptions but I've lost a lot of mages to leveling my Water Splash up to 3 or 4 too quickly and constantly running out of mana."

...

Waladil is 100% correct. It is very important that you don't just level certain spells when you are able, for the sake of leveling them. Apart from the buff spells, ie; Water Shield, Bark Skin, etc. and to some extent the summoning spells, most spells should only be leveled to the point that they are appropriately powerful, relevant to your current need. If your level V Lightning Bolt is killing every opponent you cast it on, don't level up to VI, until you begin to notice that it is no longer dealing a lethal blow. Over leveling will soon result in your mage being without mana, burning through mana potions faster than you can acquire them, and eventually dead.

Certain spells only need to be raised to a specific level, where their effect is increased to the desired point.

-Water Splash is one such spell. Regardless of spell level, Water splash will push all enemies in a row back 1 tile. If you only want the pushing effect, there is no need to level Water splash further. I personally like to level Water Splash to the highest level I can afford, because when I'm casting it I want to not only push back enemies, but to damage them at the same time. But, there is no point in being able to push them back, if you can't afford to cast the spell several times. There are strategies that would only require 1 level of water splash. In the case that you are playing a Kitty folk and have more speed than your enemies, perhaps you will only be casting water splash to push enemies into advantageous positions. In this scenario, you will be setting enemies up for spells such as Fireball or Chain Lightning to have greater effect, creating groupings of mobs that allow said spells to maximize their damage.

-Frost Bolt (and Frost Nova) is another such spell. 1 level of Frost Bolt will freeze an enemy for 3 turns, and allow the casting of a Shattering Bolt (or two) for massive damage. Therefore, why raise Frost Bolt higher than level 1, when you can just save on mana? Well, I for one like to level Frost Bolt to the point that the duration of the freeze effect, with the Quicken Spell perk activated, is at least 4 turns. The one extra turn of freeze may not seem overly important, but at higher levels you will deal with enemies that are able to use Nature's Twister on you , and move you many squares away. The extra freeze duration may allow you to get back in range of the frozen enemy before they can thaw out. It also allows you to freeze a melee enemy, then freeze a ranged enemy that is a more pressing threat. You can then kill the ranged threat and have time to eliminate the melee enemy before they close the gap. Regardless, some players may find that 1 level of Frost Bolt is all they need to achieve the damage multiplier for Shattering Bolt to take effect. Experimentation is your friend, leave it at level 1 until you decide you want more freeze.

-The Nature's Regeneration spell is the final example I'll mention, although as you play, you may recognize other examples to reflect your own particular play style. If you are using the spell post combat, you only need the total amount healed to be roughly equivalent to slightly less than your total health pool. This will reduce resting time, as your health regen will invariably be slower than your mana regen. If you are going to be casting this spell in response to dangerous, damaging scenarios, you will want to over level this spell. The main drawback of Nature's Regeneration is its Arcane Thread cost of 4, the mana cost is secondary, as the amount of healing needs to be relevant according to the amount of damage incoming. If the damage healed vs damage taken is negligible, then you are better off just using healing potions.

In general I would suggest using healing potions during combat, and Nature's regeneration for after combat. Perhaps a Water Infusion (or whatever) spell that heals your mage instantly for a greater mana cost, will someday make it into the game, but for now the Regen is just too slow to be truly effective for its mana and arcane thread cost cost. When you need healing, you need it now, not 10% of what you need for the next 16 turns. Most combats will end in 8 turns or less, so using a potion to guarantee survival, vs using a regen spell to increase your odds is a no brainer for me.

To go back to the original paragraph, obviously buff spells should be raised as high as possible. These spells are being cast during non combat situations, so the mana cost is irrelevant. You want the greatest possible effect from these spells, and you will cast them very infrequently. Usually they will be recast only when you have achieved a new level in one these spells, or a large jump in spellpower.

In regard to why I over level Summon Spells, it is because of the few circumstances which must apply before I will be casting one of these spells. I (Typically) only cast a summon spell when:

A) I am overwhelmed by more enemies than I can effectively deal with. For example, if for whatever reason I have run out of Teleport charges on my wand, and burned all of my scrolls, and I simply must stand and fight the 2 Greater Earth Elementals, 2 Greater Air Elementals, a Lich, and 3 Champions simultaneously. In this situation I need the best summons I can get. The Summon spells cost a massive amount of mana to cast, regardless. What matters is that they can stand up to the threat that you are faced with. Saving a few mana points is pointless if your summons don't fulfill the desired role.

B) I am heading into a new floor of a challenge dungeon, and I have been having trouble staying alive in recent floors. Once I start hitting the trouble levels respective to my current mage's power, the safest way to progress downward is to cast the best summons you have, preferably with a Spell Power Influence modifier, the turn you arrive on the new floor. This will buy you time, and allow you to decide your best course of action. But once again your summons must be of appropriate level to survive the challenge for a few turns, or hopefully deal with the first several threats entirely.

C) I lastly may cast a summon spell to counteract an enemy('s) with a Divine Aegis buff. It can be hard to deal damage between lapses of the buff (Magic Missile does a great job of this though). Although the rapid attacks of any level summons will accomplish this, the level must be sufficient enough to knock down the enemies's shield, and to preferably succeed in the two previous scenarios (A & B), and thus the spell must be leveled indefinitely.

Lastly, I don't like to over level Teleportation. I DO like to get it to a decent level, that I can afford to cast, when the Shlitz hits the fan. I always have a fully charged teleport wand, and scrolls that I will use first, preferring to keep my mana for whatever lays at the destination point. Having a moderately leveled Teleport will allow you to more likely travel greater distances, when desired, but not be so cost prohibitive, as to be unavailable when you need it. I don't like to cast Teleport on enemies, because It is no guarantee, and have lost past mages in the process. I don't like that level of risk, and wanting to teleport enemies away, would be the only true reason to level the spell indefinitely.

Arcane Surge and why it's the best

The Arcane Surge perk, and its higher level versions, is incredibly useful. At first glance, 100% increased spellpower influence with a 10 turn cooldown does not seem that useful.

BUT!!!

You can activate this ability right before casting a buff spell, such as Bark Skin, Wind Shield, Divine Aegis or Mana Shield, and the newly buffed spellpower will remain intact for the duration of the buff. Using a Spellpower potion before buffing, will also greatly impact the power of your buffs, and if possible, you can keep spellpower gear on the side, like I had mentioned previously with Intelligence gear. But most the time, you will want to be wearing spellpower gear anyway.

As a bonus, this following combo will even one shot most bosses if you have a decent level of shattering bolt.... Cast Frost Bolt at enemy, activate Arcane Surge, Cast Shattering Bolt... best thing ever.

Useful Spells for the Midgame Mage

Later on, Summon Elementals, Water Shield, and Clear Path will be your best and most pivotal spells.

-You can use Summon Elementals (Or Undead, or even Animals if it's the best you have) when you first enter a new floor. This will stop you from getting ganked right out the gate or surrounded. It is also VERY useful against enemies with Divine Aegis buffs. The pets will attack the target over and over, taking down the shield, so you can focus on the damage. You can activate Arcane Surge, just before casting, to create an especially staunch group of allies.

-Water Shield is THE most important spell to a late game mage. Buy every version of this spell you can, and use Arcane Surge, SP potions, and even the Ancient Staff of Qtak's ability to get the buff as powerful as possible. On my Mage who made it to floor 40 of the hard challenge dungeon, I had achieved a ratio of 1 mana used for each 12 points of health damage taken. This made my effective Health pool over 7,000 with that particular mage.

(I kept the above description here for the memories, My current mage is on Challenge Dungeon level 94, and has a Water Shield ratio of 16.5 Health to 1 Mana, and an effective health pool of 28K. The mage never stops getting more powerful)

Obviously once you get to a stage where you are using Water Shield effectively, you will want to buy every mana potion you see. Regardless, you should be buying every mana potion you see as soon as it is financially feasible.

-Clear Path should be called gold digger. This spell, once you find it, will drastically increase your gold income, as you can literally destroy every solid tile on a map. Under all those walls and gates on each floor are potentially thousands of gold coins worth of random gear, as well as ability potions and high end gear. Sell what you don't need to fuel your burgeoning magical monster.

In my experience, I've found this spell in a Merchant's inventory as early as floor 8. It may be worth it to camp the 8th floor for as many merchants as it takes to find the spell, so that you can clear as many paths as possible, thereby maximizing your loot and spell accrual... but that might be an overly power-gamey notion, and definitely beyond my level of patience.

Other Useful Perks

Here are some useful perks, not named Arcane Surge...

Mana Compression: You will want this perk with any Mage approach, as it increases your total mana pool by +25%, +45%, and +100% at it's respective levels, and is especially important for increasing your total effective "health pool" while using the Water Shield buff, and still having the ability to afford to cast your spells.

Enhanced Arcane Weave: You need arcane thread to maintain your buffs and cast any spells. This buff adds +2, +3 & +5, respectively, to your total Arcane Threads, allowing you to maintain Water Shield, Bark Skin, and Wind Shield (6 total AC's reserved) and still actually defend yourself with spells.

Staff Damage Enchantments: This perk simply returns the mana you spend on a staff shot to your mana pool, as well as drastically increasing staff damage, which actually makes it a useful combat tool. Staff Range Enchantments is not useless, but hardly a requirement imo. The only scenario where the staff range perk really comes to shine, is when coupled with the damage perk, and on a floor where mana does not regenerate. This perk combo gives you the ability to actually regen mana by using your staff. Not really relevant though if you have an ample supply of mana potions... buy mana potions.

Heavy Lifter: Increases your carry capacity, and increases the weight you can equip before impacting your mana regeneration rate. I like to keep a complete set of intelligence gear, tons of wands and books I'm not ready to use yet, and massive amounts of potions on my mage, always. I also like to be able to loot. Also you want the ability to put on that ridiculously heavy shadowsteel armor with +12 Int and +20 Spell Power that you just found, and not have your Mana Regen nerfed massively. This perk is awesome.

Thorough Corpse Looter: When playing the Challenge dungeon you will randomly get reduced loot multiple times as a penalty for descending. This helps offset that penalty, and is sheer profit if no loot penalty has yet been accrued. This will greatly help in finding scrolls, wands and books, as well as funding your rabid mana potion purchasing.

Quicken Spell: This ability has many uses, and allows you to get off spells without time passing, which makes very fast enemies much easier to deal with. It also has synergy with one spell combo that completely changes the combo's effectiveness. Using Quicken spell, followed by Frost Bolt, freezes an enemy without passing time, which allows you to Shattering Bolt (preferably preceded by Arcane Surge) and take advantage of the huge frozen damage multiplier. This reduces the damage that Summoners, fast creatures, and Champions, can do over the 2 turns this combo usually requires.

Advanced tactic for dealing with groups of enemies: As you learn the game, you will notice certain groupings of enemies, that will allow you to destroy groups of enemies in one combo. Use Quicken Spell, followed by Frost Nova, to freeze all nearby enemies and locking them into their current advantageous position. Now use Arcane Surge, followed by Fireball, Chain Lightning or any "ray spell", depending upon enemy formation, to wipe several targets in one turn. Anything that survives is still frozen (assuming they did not resist the freeze), and can be picked off with Shattering Bolt, or another casting of the aforementioned spells.

Honorable mention to the Jump Over Perk: I don't usually take this perk until late in the game. It is not often useful, but when it is, it can be utterly game changing. Jumping to the outside of a pinned combat scenario, for instance against Harpies, or Shadow Assassins, followed by a Lightning Shock, or Fire Flare, can help escape situations where more damage is coming in than you can deal with. It also has random positional uses that can be potentially life saving.

SPELL COMPENDIUM AND FEATURES

Following is each spell in the game and a description of it's uses and usefulness in my opinion. The spells are categorized according to type.

Damage Spells (Rays)

Below are the "Ray Spells", they deal damage in a given row of tiles and can work through wall corners and obstacles. They are good for hitting enemies pursuing in a tight corridor, and work best in smaller areas in general. They are of limited endgame utility as other spells just take over.


Fire Flare

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721756842

Adds a chance of burning damage over time. Can be useful early on, but burning damage will quickly become progressively more useless.


Lightning Shock

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721755912

I prefer Lightning Shock and it's energy penalty to Fire Flare and it's small damage over time effect. The energy penalty stays relevant longer than the DOT, as you level up. Less energy for your enemies means less incoming damage.


Water Splash

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721754895

The Water Splash spell is pretty useful early on, it can help keep enemies back who are really fast. It deals less damage than other rays, but keeps you from taking damage as it whittles away your opponents health. As a side note Water Splash can push you back a tile if you hit something solid. That can be used to your advantage for positioning.

Damage Spells (Single Target)

Below are the spells that target a single enemy. These are the spells that you will be using to eliminate dangerous enemies. As you play you will identify what threats need to be dealt with immediately, due to extreme damage output, immobilizing attacks, or negative effects, these spells will deal with them.


Lightning Bolt

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721756273

One of the best single target damage spells available, and also reduces enemy energy. Raise it as high as you can without crippling your mana pool. Great spell!


Holy Bolt

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721756062

Will one-shot almost any undead without a huge investment. Only level this spell when you find you are not instantly killing most undead opponents.


Frost Bolt

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721753090

Use this spell to freeze an enemy in place, although the enemy will get a chance to resist the frost, independent of the chance to hit. This spell is highly useful for stopping deadly fast or strong enemies. Use it to set up...


Shattering Bolt

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721755530

This is the most damage you can you do to any enemy in the game (apart from Holy Bolt vs undead), as long as it is frozen. Whether they froze from your Frost Bolt, Frost Nova or another effect, they will take a huge damage multiplier from the Shattering Bolt. Note this will also unfreeze the enemy.


Flaming Bolt

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721752818

Just as I am not impressed by fire flare and it's damage over time burn effect, I am unimpressed by this single target higher damage fire spell, with added lackluster burn effect. Scales poorly, cucked by Lightning Bolt in every way.


Falling Boulder

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721752114

A great spell that cannot be dodged! I repeat, it cannot be dodged. Use this vs highly evasive enemies to great effect. It has very high, single target damage, and can be used through corners and permanent obstacles. This spell is great for destroying summoners or spell casters, who are not in your line of sight, but are visible around a corner, and otherwise only able to be targeted via less powerful Ray spells.


Dimensional Shatter

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721753226

This spell deals high damage vs mana required to summoned creatures. Ok I suppose, but I would rather kill the one who summoned them and not fuss with the followers. But when you cannot target or see the summoner, this spell can have limited usefulness.


Nature's Twister

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721754728

This spell picks up an enemy and launches them randomly away from you. Great for getting a nasty melee enemy off your junk, but be careful, as where the enemy lands is random.

Damage Spells (Multiple target)

The following spells will hit multiple targets each in their own way, great for clearing out large groups. These can be especially useful when opening a locked door that leads to a dense cluster of enemies.


Chain Lightning

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721752677

This spell will travel randomly from it's initial target to an adjacent tile occupied by an enemy, and repeat a number of times according to the spells current level and caster spellpower. If at least 2 enemies are next to each other, the spell will fulfill all of it's jumps and deal massive damage to a few, or a bit of damage to a lot of opponents. Beware the high Arcane Thread cost.


Fire Ball

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721754010

This spell is handy for softening up groups of mobs, preferably proceeded by an arcane surge. Great for casting right after opening a locked room, or for dealing with Vine Walls or a dense pile of mushroom spawn.


Magic Missiles

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721753657

This spell will shoot missiles at random toward any enemy in range of the spell for a very high Arcane Thread cost. I find it most useful versus a single enemy with a Divine Aegis buff, to quickly take down their shield. I do not recommend raising this spell too high, as a reasonable level will take down Divine Aegis shields, and it quickly becomes quite expensive, given its randomness vs multiple opponents.


Frost Nova

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721752954

This spell is amazing. A burst of frost extends in all directions from the mage, having a chance of freezing anything it hits. Great when followed by a series of Shattering Bolts to one shot your enemies, one at a time, as they sit paralyzed. Also useful before entering a new area or locked room, so that any enemies inside will hopefully be frozen and easier to deal with. Can also be used to see where and how many enemies are beyond a door, as you will see the damage or miss pop up in red for each opponent.

Buff Spells

Each of these spells will provide a passive buff that will be maintained not for mana, but for a portion of your Arcane Threads. Each of these spells can be maintained simultaneously for a reserved 2 Arcane Thread per spell. You must balance which buffs are most important to your mage, vs the impact of the arcane thread usage, limiting the number of spells you can cast over time.


Bark Skin

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721755305

Raises your Armor, but not your armor coverage %. Rises dramaticly in armor given, but the resultant damage mitigation reduces rapidly via diminishing returns. Can easily get your mage into the 60% range of damage mitigation, which is obviously quite powerful. Wear gear with high coverage when possible to take most advantage. Mages, compared to all other classes, need actual armor from gear the least, due to this spell.


Water Shield

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721754491

The most important spell in the game. This spell converts health damage into mana damage, at an increasing ratio as you level and power the spell up. Although modest at first, using Spell Power buffs and lots of levels, this spell can reach Health to Mana ratios of 10+ in not too much time. My current mage has around 1300-1700 Mana depending upon gear set up, and a Water Shield Ratio of 16.5-1. This equates to roughly 21,000 to 28,000 effective health, which offers plenty of time to react to even overwhelming groups of enemies.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1747601780

Take note that my mana total is reduced in the screenshot, as I had on my spell power gear, not my battle gear, when casting the Water shield.


Divine Aegis

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721754172

A great spell that provides a number shields based upon power and level, that completely negate damage from a source. I have some difficulty in determining when Water Shield or this spell activate first, but regardless it is a great spell to protect you from heavy hits that would otherwise one shot your mage. Beware rapidly attacking foes, or enemy mages casting Magic Missile.


Wind Shield

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721758677

Gives from 50% at first, to 100% later on, chance to completely negate incoming nonmagical ranged attacks. Obviously awesome.


Detect Traps Enchantment

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721757064

Does what it says. Increases your chance to detect traps within the spells range. Yay. For 2 Arcane Thread reserved, I can't imagine ever wanting to use this spell.

Summon Spells

Summoning Spells... summon monsters as allies. Use these when you are overwhelmed, before opening a locked door full of enemies, when going down to a new floor, when trying to get through a floor with rapidly spawning mobs, to swarm an enemy with a Divine Aegis buff on, etc. Just be careful as these spells use a large portion of Arcane Thread. Results may vary, but it can be difficult to keep your summons relevant in the later levels, vs the extreme mana and Arcane Thread cost. Leveling these spells increases the number of allies and their power level. Your Spell Power Influence determines how long they stay around before snuffing out.


Summon Beasts

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721758930

Pretty weak. Cheaper to cast.


Raise Lesser Undead

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721758243

Generally less weak than Beasts. More expensive to cast.


Summon Lesser Elementals

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721757983

Better than Beasts and Undead, sometimes significantly, apart from certain specific matchups. Most expensive Summoning Spell.

Utility Spells

Phantom Presence

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721752432

Shows you a random part of the dungeon for a small time, including any enemies. I'm sure there are some next level strats tied to this spell, but I never use it.


Clear Path

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721753880

Destroys permanent dungeon fixtures such as walls and gates, potentially revealing loot in the process. Quality of loot is determined by your Fate score, so put on the Fate gear you have stored in your inventory after clearing a stage of enemies, and go to town. Destroy every block on the map for maximum loot. Can also be used like a pick to create defensive positions when you are under attack from many enemies at once, and also to create safer places to rest.


Teleport to Random Location

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721755143

Teleports you to random spot of the dungeon, within a range determined by spell level and spell power. Use this when you are facing a nasty group of enemies you think will kill you, and keep casting until you find a safer place to stop. Can be best utilized via wands and scrolls, so that you have all your mana to defend yourself wherever you stop. Can also be used offensively to teleport away a nasty enemy, but it can be resisted, and is completely random, and may teleport your opponent to an even worse spot.


Nature Regeneration

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721756529

A high mana cost, high Arcane Thread cost healing over time spell. Useful early on, as you will not be swimming in health potions. Quickly becomes a liability, as the AC/mana cost does not provide enough healing rapidly enough to justify its casting. Stock up on healing potions instead, and when you have a high ratio Water Shield, you will almost never use these again.


Raise Vine Wall

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721757782

Creates a 3 by 3 wall of vines, go figure. Can be used to pinch off an oncoming mob of enemies, and slow them down while you pick them off from safety. Not really that useful in my opinion. I'd rather spend my mana and arcane thread actually removing enemies from the battle field.


Create Food

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1721759586

Creates food. Once you get this you can rest whenever you want, for you will never be without food. Need a merchant? Rest as long as it takes for one to appear. Having trouble with the difficulty level of a floor? Rest after each couple of enemies, unafraid of the no longer relevant food requirement.


Unlock

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722008965

Unlocks doors and chests. Once you are level 15 or so, you can most likely just kick down doors, but you want this to open chests especially, as there is no kick option. Sell all keys you find for fun and profit. You may still want to unlock doors which appear to have a mass of enemies behind it. this gives you more time to access the threat, and also allows you to lock the door again if you don't like what you see.


Lock

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722008812

Lock doors. Extremely... not that useful. Use it to create a safe room to rest, or stop an oncoming horde.


Create Door

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722008885

Create a door and lock it so you can rest in safety... I suppose this spell is marginally useful, although I've only cast it once for the novelty of it. You can theoretically create a door and then lock it when you have 3 turns before an oncoming horde of death is about to smash you to bits. Meh.

LEGENDARY MAGE ITEMS

I will start first by saying that the mage staff below is far and away the best in the game for purposes of spell casting and sheer damage. You will want to keep the staff with the highest intelligence bonus you've found, for when it is time to undergo a bout of spell research.

In regard to the set pieces, and whether or not they scale well, I would say that in general they do not. They are fun and may be your best gear when you find them, but eventually you will find gear that individually provide greater value for you in combat situations.

This is not to say that the set bonuses do not have value. You will find that the bonus gained from 2 pieces (+10% Intelligence) is probably mathematically superior when creating your highest INT score, for spell learning purposes.

Also, the Spell Power bonus for equipping 4 pieces of Legendary mage items will probably garner a greater overall SP total than equipping individual pieces with spell power and fate bonuses. This is not necessarily true early on, but at level 55, my mage is getting over 100 spell power from that 10% bonus (as his max SP is well over 1000, which you simply cannot achieve by replacing said pieces with other gear.

This gear is useful for casting your buffs such as water shield. Wearing 4 pieces of this Legendary gear, plus a SP & Fate potion, plus activating Arcane Surge, finally activating the power of the Ancient Staff of Qtak, will accrue for you the greatest possible Spell Power Influence, the turn you cast a given buff.


Ancient Staff of Qtak

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722078116


Frenx Arcane Hood

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1703718620


Frenx Arcane Vesture

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722075596


Frenx Arcane Shoulder Pads

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722075433


Frenx Arcane Regalia

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722075026


Frenx Arcane Gloves

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722075242


Walkers of Fortune

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1703718430


Ancient Spell Book of Learning

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1703718936

This item counts against your weight threshold for determining when you accrue a mana regeneration penalty. So only equip this item when you are about to sit down and learn some spells. Put on your Intelligence gear, take an INT & Fate potion, equip your book, and then activate it's power for every 5 spells learned. Be aware that this ability is random, and may level a spell that you would rather not have leveled. So maybe wait until you have your mana situation relatively under control.

PERKS COMPENDIUM

Following is a list of all but 4 of the perks available to the mage. I can easily update this list with the last 4 missing perks, upon achieving level 58, but these days the levels come slow, so don't hold your breath lol. Just know that I have lived through 80 levels of the Hard Challenge Dungeon, without said 4 perks, so in my opinion they are of limited usefulness.

I will add further advice and perspective to the individual perks in the coming days. Some such info is available previously in the guide.

Legendary Perks

There are two, if you see them, take them. You may never see them again.


Quicken Spell

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722105475


Extreme Arcane Threads Regeneration

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722102931

Early Useful Perks

Arcane Surge

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722105339

After the above Legendary perks, this one is of highest priority. Take it, love it, live it.


Focus

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722105216


Thorough Corpse Looter

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722104439


Heavy Lifter

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722104239


Quick Study

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722104145


Staff Damage Enchantments

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722104025


Enhanced Arcane Weave

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722103860


Greater Intelligence

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722103562


Mana Compression

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722103371

Perks to take in the Midgame

Greater Spell Power

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722103222


Staff Range Enchantments


https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722102573


Arcane Coupling

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722103067


Master of Summons

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722102699


Lightning Mastery

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722102337


Freeze Mastery

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722102184

I've taken everything else, why not take these perks

Intimidate

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722104553


Friends in High Places

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722104946


Side Step Moves

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722104724


Jump Over

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1722105084


What else should I add? Please let me know :)

[Teralitha]

From what i can tell, healing and regen are no longer available for mages to learn.

[Mal]

2 iirc.

There shouldnt be a hard cap, but there's a soft cap in that exp becomes much harder to get as levels go higher.

[Niedersachse_tm]

@mal: how many potions perks do you need to get stat points potions? 2? or more?
when i got only perk1 it gave only hp/mana potions

[Niedersachse_tm]

thanks for your guide.
it helped a lot to get into the game..even if i play the mage only in the campaign.

when is the midgame you talked at the perks about?
lv 15+? 25+?

and for curiosity: is there a levelcap at the endless dungeon?
not that i get to level 100 but for those whowere there, which charactlerlevel is that?

at least for humans it could be interesting for their extraability..but maybe those some extraperks are not so importatn if you get so far.

[Rod_Shaft]

NO doubt! The assassin is so brutal in the challenge dungeon.

[Bijat]

GL and thanks for all the responds . I guess the real "endgame" is do that with assasin =D

[Rod_Shaft]

This has awoken in me the desire to play again though lol. When I hit challenge dungeon floor 100 I just stopped playing. It seemed like such an "endgame" achievement back then, and I guess I just lost the drive to press on. I doubt my old save is still usable, but I am intrigued :)

[Rod_Shaft]

No clue how I missed Arcane Flow when spending all those hours on this guide, last year. In general I would agree with Mallorn's points, and add that Mana regen is only so effective in a fight, as you will usually run out of mana quickly regardless, and of much less impact than raw mana. Also, once you have access to infinite food, the regen between fights is irrelevant.

[Mal]

Look at it like the equivalent of mana compression - pretty good, will give you extra effective hp, but arcane surge and the like take priority.

[Bijat]

You don´t even mention arcane flow, don´t think its any good?