Well okay, at first I thought Ice might be a good way to go. I'll admit this was a flashback to my early Diablo days...so the question is, now that I see Ice isn't all that viable, what should I try?

I saw a great post from several high levels talking about AoE, but apparently that build has been nerfed?

Is there a replacement? What do you all swear by for chaotic damage and giggle factor?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Edited by Tessevia (09/05/07 03:11 PM)

An Ice Mage is far from defunct. You may not be high enough of a level for it to work as you would like though. I know for mages ice spells work well again bosses and in pvp

as i am only lvl 82 but i like using ice bolt when kiting things around as it slows their movement and attack speed while dealing some good dmg..as far as in a group of mobs there are probably better spells to use for damage then ice..such as lightning, gas, ring of fire, the aoe was nerfed but still is handy to use in a group of mobs.. dont forget you have ice shards as well

imo aoe was not nerfed it wasfixed, the way it wasfixedwas that all aoe spells now have a limit on how many mobs they effect...this means that u cannot train an entireinstance and then aoe the whole thing down...aoeis still extremely effective...

having said that all spell type/builds can be viable, some excell in certain situations more than others.

ice is really a single target spell type focused reasonable dmg + debuffing the target.

when i initially started my mage i used a lil bit of everything, and had +dmg gear for all class's of spells. i have found myself to be happier with stacking 1 spell dmg type and using mainly that spell type with a few other spells as a backup (like some aoe spells).

i think the great thing about this game is that there is no real "cookie cutter" builds...sure thereare 1's that aremorecommon but essentially u can use pretty much ne build/combo of skills and be viable at least for dungeons (pvp may be a lil dif)

I agree with JoeB. The ice skills seem better suited to single targets especially melee targets.

Ice shards is very good when monsters are toe-to-toe, all three shards will inpact & deal dmg; versus ranged the monster AI (at least in build 75) will keep moving until only two shards impact instead of three.

This is likely a reason that mages use shadow bolts which follow their targets regardless of melee or ranged instead of ice bolts.

You mentioned D2 where you are rigidly defined by the skills where you put your skill points. If you wanted to change from a fire sorc to an ice sorc you basically have to reroll a new character (unless you can hack your character or D2 added skill respec after I stopped playing).

In DR with the "classless" system you are able to swap skills in and out whenever you want like GW.

I would suggest reading the forums to get ideas & then just play the game by yourself to get used to the skills and play with others to see 1)what skills they are using, 2)when they are using them, & 3) why they are using them. Talk to people in-game (not bug or spam people). You might find out something new.

I'm a level 85 obsidian mage, which just means that I use primarily shadow and fire spells. I keep lightning on the right button, fire bolt on the left. Lightning is my utility/fallback attack that tops 4k dmg on its own, add in improved lightning, and it's over 6k dmg (over several mobs) without buffs. Fire bolt is for when I have one or two mobs left who are mostly stationary and firing somthing on me. It has range enough to hit whatever is firing on me, and it does around 3.5k dmg without buff.

I have ring of fire, and gas blast in my tray for dispersing large numbers of mobs that surround me.

It's entirely up to you how you want to attack, and what you want from your char.

Ice shards is a good spell but I dont like that it doesn't target mobs like shadow bolts does. Just my opinion.

Thanks guys, you gave me quite a bit to think about! I appreciate all the posts and the time you took to reply

After mulling it over, I decided last night to try the Shadow/Fire route. Due to the gentle reminders here that there is no wrong or set-in-stone builds, I figured I'd give it a shot.

I must say while I miss the ice based debuffs, I do like the shadow lightning and bolt combo. Mostly I think the shadow bolt is more damage efficient (not necessarily more mana efficient) because of the tracking feature (but maybe it all evens out in the end). I found myself missing mobs quite a bit with ice bolt because it was purely point a to point b direct-line attack with no inherent compensation for mob movement. I took note of some mages in game, advice in this thread, and in-game advice as well..and am pretty happy so far.

I have shadow bolt on my left button, lightning on my right. On the hotbar I have ring of fire and gaseous blast for close up AoE moments, as well as a few agro helpers like shadow-word:smackdown and the meaty bait (giggle factor) for when I'm overwhelmed with the little guys. I'm still kicking around my choices for passive skills. I think right now I have bookworm up there, and I forget what the other one is. I keep trying new combinations to see what I like best.

Anyhow, thought I would update ya! Again thanks for the help, I think I finally broke out of my old habits and the fun factor has increased now that I'm letting myself experiment.

Kudos to you all!
Cheers!!

Your basically an AoE mage. Gaseous/RoF/Lightning Might as well add the lightning passive to boost that up.

Edited by DD2146 (09/06/07 06:45 PM)

That's what I'm talkin' bout! Glad you are having fun.

I think the big trick is to go with what strengths your character has through gear. If you have +25 to fire and don't use any fire spells, that's wasting the additional dmg. I tend to change spells and buffs depending on where my dmg is coming from.

Overall, experiment, have fun and good luck

Ice build is weak, but it has it nice purpose if used right thats. Like snare and slow down if you know where to aim it. xD

I know I'm coming in kinda late with this this, but one thing to keep in mind with the bolt spells, Tessevia, (like Ice/Fire Bolt) to aim accurately with these spells you should have your cursor at the feet of the mob. You'll find that you'll hit more often that way.

Also, you'll find that you'll change your skills depending on what gear you're wearing as well as what mobs you're fighting. So, when you go from one dungeon (or one area in a dungeon) to another you might change from your shadow to fire or ice. Heck, when I took a trip to HDoL I kept my skill window open for a while because I was swapping skills out in the middle of fights - we were getting champions and heroes coming in that were resistant to shadow, then fire, then ice, then poison, then shadow again, etc. all in 1 fight! hehe - that was a blast.

But the main thing is you'll find that you will need to be a bit flexible with your skills. When you find that one skill you're using isn't working, try another one instead. And don't when using true bolts - don't forget to aim at the feet!

Im only level 30 but I love my mage. I consider myself mainly shadow. I have lightening on my left mouse. Ice shards on my right which I switch out to fire bolt when Im doing Ice mobs. Like its been said, I change out as needed against whatever mobs I find myself against even inside a dungeon. I like the fact you can experiment find what works for you & change on the go. I use to have the warriors knock back spell (cant think of its name) but changed that to my new passive shadow enhancer. On my hot keys I have Gas, fire ring, & rangers acid blight. I have the shadow increaser the 90 sec one along with whatever element resists I happen to be fighting (Usually find I keep 2 up). I found that Im needing more armor defense then I use too, but on the whole I dont die much unless I accidently forget to switch back from insane doh.

Ive heard everything from melee mages to ranger mages. Enjoy