title pretty much sums it up. I want to play on the higher difficulties for the better loot and want to play as a mage. Can anyone recommend a build(stats and skills) that will get through the game without tons of trouble?

http://www.threeplanetssoftware.com/software/dr/profile.php?character=lolololololololol

thats my char i basically went all int until lvl 17 then i started needed a little end so i put 4end 1 int til lvl 20 n now im back to all int again. im using gym freak for a hp boost til i get blue screen of life(lvl 25) i use firebolt because i have +fire gear and firebolt does a [censored] of dmg. i use gaseous blast and ring of fire for some nice aoe dmg i also use righteous stomp and monster bait to keep the enemies at bay. and of course i use shadow lightning/ shadow bolt because i have alot of mana and shadow bolt shoots insanely fast.

this isnt really a build at all lol but i have no trouble whatsoever soloing hdol n sc insane. but basically to sum it all up i went all int for damage i use gym freak until i can get bsol because gym freak gives me alot of hp and it costs me very little mana which i have tons of anyways so its no big deal. i doubt this helped you one bit but if you can sort of see what i did with my char youll be set because i rarely ever die n i dont use more than 10mana pots every like friggen 2days

that helped quite a bit actually. I've been going 2 end, 3 int, but i think i might switch to 1 end, 4 int for a while. If I can find some shadow equip i might focus on shadow with fire secondary.

more input is welcomed

well since it seemed to help may i offer some more advice, pump int until you start dieing(at this point just buy a [censored] of potions and then NEXT level up go all end until it holds you over) like i said i did this at lvl 17 because from lvl 1-16 i did 5 int and i had no trouble whatsoever, i actually had no trouble at 17 either i never had problems staying alive on insane difficulty and the high int provides for kills as if it was formidable difficulty. anywyas at lvl 17 i did 5 end until lvl 20 and then went all int again i did this because i needed to solo sissi and once i hit 20 i decided i had pumped all int for 16lvls so i could afford to use gym freak for a big hp bonus to hold me over until bsol.

so basically i think i repeated myself in this post but just pump all int(including gear) until you feel that you 100% need endurance because in my opinion all int provides for amazing kills and gym freak will hold you over until you get bsol which ,in combination with your high amounts of int, will allow you to remove(or maybe keep your choice) gym freak (which will lower hp but give you mana) and will allow you to survive solely on your mana. what i do is i carry around 10mana potions and no more because i simply dont need it i have the mana regen spell(dont know the name)and im thinking of getting the heal self not other spell too because i use about 80potions when i solo(but keep in mind i bring back 2-3 times the cost of those potions and i also can solo all 7 levels of a dungeon on those 80potions).


basically to sum it all up once you hit lvl 25 you should be able to survive off your int while also doing insanely high amounts of damage(preferably if you go pyro, and my shadow does very high damage also because of the int bonuses)

oh and i have mage rbs around lvl 20 (brain on a stick and a deaths head) trhat im willing to trade to you so just add me to friends and send a pm ingame. my char name is lolololololololol (i know what your thinking....save yur comments about my name i was simply not in a creative mood when i made this char lol)

You may not think it much help, but its not clear that spells do more damage the more int you have. Usually, damage only goes up with levels. I just respec'ed my mage to go all int as well as equip int items (at a great cost to my defense and health pts), but I am finding that since I can kill things FAR faster, I am actually doing as well or better than I was when I was armored up and using items to boost health. Doing it over again, I might still armor up for the first 5-8 levels, but not after that.

just look at your spells when you level up the second you click that int + button the spell damage goes up. so yes it is clear