Mage is a Hero focused on arcane magic, wands and scrolls. He can imbue a wand into his unique magic staff, which lets him use that wand much more frequently. After beating the second boss, he can become the Battlemage who heavily benefits from using his staff as a melee weapon or the Warlock who can replenish health and satiation by fighting enemies after zapping them with his wand.
Mage starts with a magical staff as his unique item.
Staff of Magic Missile
Crafted by the mage himself, this staff is a unique magical weapon.Rather than having innate magical power in it, this staff is instead imbued with magical energy from a wand.
The staff can be imbued with the powers of any identified wand the Mage has in his possession, providing the staff with the effect of the base wand. The staff charges almost twice as fast as a wand of equal level and has an extra charge. Charges still cap at 10. When imbued, the staff will emit particles at the end that align with the wand that is imbued.
Staff Level after imbuing a wand
Wand Level
Staff Level
+0
+1
+2
+3
+0
+0
+1
+2
+3
+1
+1
+2
+3
+4
+2
+2
+2
+3
+4
+3
+3
+3
+3
+4
Explanation of table:
When the staff is +0, the imbued wand's level overwrites the staff's current level.
When the staff is upgraded, but its current upgrade level is less than or equal to the wand's, the imbued wand's level overwrites the current staff level, and then one upgrade is carried over from the staff to add increase the result upgraded level by 1.
When the staff's level is higher than the wand being imbued, the wand's level is completely ignored and the staff level is left unchanged.
While this lets the Mage focus upgrades on his staff and allows flexibility in wand imbue, the wand will be destroyed in the process without the Mage's tier-2 Wand Preservation talent (which has a 67% or 100% chance of returning the old wand at +0), and the staff will lose its enchantment. This means that aggressively imbuing every wand found can be somewhat counterproductive. Also, the staff is treated as a tier-1 melee weapon with poor base stats (1-8 damage w/ +1/+2 scaling), making it a somewhat poor solution for a majority of the Mage's damage.
+1: Eating food grants the Mage 2 bonus damage on his next 3 wand zaps.+2: Eating food grants the Mage 3 bonus damage on his next 3 wand zaps.
Scholar's Intuition
Scholar's Intuition
+1: The Mage identifies wands 3x faster.+2: The Mage identifies wands when he uses them.
Lingering Magic
Lingering Magic
+1: When the Mage zaps with a wand or staff, his next physical attack deals 1-2 bonus damage.+2: When the Mage zaps with a wand or staff, his next physical attack deals 2 bonus damage.
Backup Barrier
Backup Barrier
+1: The Mage gains 3 shielding whenever he spends the last charge in his staff.+2: The Mage gains 5 shielding whenever he spends the last charge in his staff.
Tier 2[]
Empowering meal
Energizing Meal
+1: Eating food takes the Mage 1 turn and grants him 5 turns of wand recharging.+2: Eating food takes the Mage 1 turn and grants him 8 turns of wand recharging.
Inscribed Power
Inscribed Power
+1: When the Mage reads a scroll, his next 2 wand zaps get +2 levels.+2: When the Mage reads a scroll, his next 3 wand zaps get +2 levels. The number of enhanced wand zaps is doubled when reading a scroll of upgrade, transmutation, enchantment, or metamorphosis.
Wand Preservation
Wand Preservation
+1: When the Mage imbues a new wand into his staff, the old wand is returned at +0, but this can only be done once.+2: When the Mage imbues a new wand into his staff, the old wand is returned at +0, this can be done once per hero level. If this talent is gained by a different hero it will instead increase the amount of arcane resin gained when putting a wand into an alchemy pot by 1 at +1, or by 2 at +2.
Arcane Vision
Arcane Vision
+1: When the Mage zaps an enemy, he gains mind vision on them for 10 turns.+2: When the Mage zaps an enemy, he gains mind vision on them for 15 turns.
Shield Battery
Shield Battery
+1: The mage can self-target with a wand to convert its charges into shielding at a rate of 4% max HP per charge.+2: The mage can self-target with a wand to convert its charges into shielding at a rate of 6% max HP per charge.
Tier 3[]
Desperate Power
Desperate Power
+1: The Mage's wands and staff gain +1 level when they are down to their last charge. +2: The Mage's wands and staff gain +2 levels when they are down to their last charge. +3: The Mage's wands and staff gain +3 levels when they are down to their last charge.
Ally Warp
Ally Warp
+1: The Mage can tap an ally to instantly swap places with them, with a 2 tile range. +2: The Mage can tap an ally to instantly swap places with them, with a 4 tile range. +3: The Mage can tap an ally to instantly swap places with them, with a 6 tile range.
Tier 4[]
Heroic Energy
Heroic Energy
+1: The hero's armor ability has a 13% reduced charge cost.+2: The hero's armor ability has a 24% reduced charge cost.+3: The hero's armor ability has a 34% reduced charge cost.+4: The hero's armor ability has a 43% reduced charge cost.
Subclasses[]
Battlemage[]
Imbuing wands into their staff will add special effects to its melee properties (often imitating the enchantments on weapons). Battlemage also still gains charges into their staff via melee attacks; every 3 melee attacks using the staff will restore 1 charge. Since the staff is classified as a melee weapon, it can be enchanted by a scroll of enchantment or a stone of enchantment, allowing for up to two different enchants to proc on each hit!
+1: The Battlemage's first melee strike with his staff after zapping with it deals +16% damage and the staff's bonus effect gets +50% power. +2: The Battlemage's first melee strike with his staff after zapping with it deals +33% damage and the staff's bonus effect gets +100% power. +3: The Battlemage's first melee strike with his staff after zapping with it deals +50% damage and the staff's bonus effect gets +150% power.
Mystical Charge
Mystical Charge
+1: Striking with his staff grants the Battlemage 0.5 turns worth of artifact recharging. +2: Striking with his staff grants the Battlemage 1 turn worth of artifact recharging. +3: Striking with his staff grants the Battlemage 1.5 turns worth of artifact recharging.
Excess Charge
Excess Charge
+1: When the Battlemage's staff is fully charged, its next zap will grant him 0.67 shielding per level of the staff. +2: When the Battlemage's staff is fully charged, its next zap will grant him 1.33 shielding per level of the staff. +3: When the Battlemage's staff is fully charged, its next zap will grant him 2 shielding per level of the staff.
Warlock[]
Instead of automatically consuming a soul for hunger and HP by killing an enemy, the warlock will need to soul mark a target by zapping it with a wand or staff.
Soul Marked
The warlock has tapped into the soul of this creature. He will heal and satisfy his hunger as it takes physical damage.
Any character zapped by an uncursed wand, friend or foe, has a chance of being marked, wand of corrosion also can also mark characters adjencent to the target. If the target already has soul mark, marking the it again prolongs the duration. Attacking marked characters will restore the warlock's health by 40% of the damage inflicted. The marked character must get attacked by the warlock for this effect to trigger unless soul siphon talent is active. Soul mark is considered a major debuff, which gives warlock a decent advantage when using a wand of corruption.
Inflicting Soul Mark
Level
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
N
Chance (%)
15
22
29
35
41
46
51
56
60
64
Duration (turns)
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
N + 10
If multiple charges are spent, level is multiplied by charges spent on chance calculation
Essentially, upgrading a wand noticably raises the soul mark chance until after +7, whereupon upgrades raise the chance by less than 10%, getting even less effective as more upgrades are invested.
Subclass talents[]
Soul Siphon
Soul Siphon
+1: Melee damage dealt by other characters triggers the Warlock's soul mark at 13% effectiveness. +2: Melee damage dealt by other characters triggers the Warlock's soul mark at 27% effectiveness. +3: Melee damage dealt by other characters triggers the Warlock's soul mark at 40% effectiveness.
Soul Eater
Soul Eater
+1: Soul mark grants 0.33 turns of satiety for each damage dealt. Soul marked enemies have a 10% chance to trigger on-eat effects when they die. +2: Soul mark grants 0.66 turns of satiety for each damage dealt. Soul marked enemies have a 20% chance to trigger on-eat effects when they die. +3: Soul mark grants 1 turn of satiety for each damage dealt. Soul marked enemies have a 30% chance to trigger on-eat effects when they die.
Necromancer's Minions
Necromancer's Minions
+1: When a soul marked enemy dies, the Warlock has a 13% chance to raise them as a corrupted wraith. +2: When a soul marked enemy dies, the Warlock has a 27% chance to raise them as a corrupted wraith. +3: When a soul marked enemy dies, the Warlock has a 40% chance to raise them as a corrupted wraith.
Class Armor Abilities[]
After defeating the fourth boss the warrior can use Dwarf King's Crown to transform his armor into mage robe and pick one of three class armor abilities.
Elemental Blast[]
Elemental Blast
The Mage emits a blast of magic, which covers a circular region up to 4 tiles away and deals up to 10-20 damage. The specific effect of elemental blast will vary by the wand imbued in the Mage's staff. Charge cost: 35
+1: Elemental blast's radius is increased to 5 tiles.+2: Elemental blast's radius is increased to 6 tiles.+3: Elemental blast's radius is increased to 7 tiles.+4: Elemental blast's radius is increased to 8 tiles.
Elemental Power
Elemental Power
+1: The power of elemental blast is increased by 20%.+2: The power of elemental blast is increased by 40%.+3: The power of elemental blast is increased by 60%.+4: The power of elemental blast is increased by 80%.
Reactive Barrier
Reactive Barrier
+1:The Mage gains 2 shielding for every character affected by elemental blast, to a max of 5 characters.+2: The Mage gains 4 shielding for every character affected by elemental blast, to a max of 5 characters.+3: The Mage gains 6 shielding for every character affected by elemental blast, to a max of 5 characters.+4: The Mage gains 8 shielding for every character affected by elemental blast, to a max of 5 characters.
Wild Magic[]
Wild Magic
The Mage unleashes the power in his wands, randomly firing them up to 4 times in a single turn. The Mage's staff is not included in this effect.Each wand also has its level boosted by 2, up to +3. This ability uses half a wand charge for each zap, and no one wand can be fired more than 2 times. Charge cost: 25
Requires 25 energy to cast.
Ability talents[]
Wild Power
Wild Power
+1: When using wild magic, wands will be treated as either +1 or +2, instead of +1.+2: When using wild magic, wands are now treated as if they are +2, instead of +1+3: When using wild magic, wands will be treated as either +2 or +3, instead of +1.+4: When using wild magic, wands are now treated as if they are +3, instead of +1.
Fire Everything
Fire Everything
+1: Wild magic now fires 5 times, up from 4.+2: Wild magic now fires 6 times, up from 4.+3: Wild magic now fires 7 times, up from 4.+4: Wild magic now fires 8 times, up from 4.
Conserved Magic
Conserved Magic
+1: Each zap from wild magic now uses 0.56 charges, instead of 1.+2: Each zap from wild magic now uses 0.31 charges, instead of 1.+3: Each zap from wild magic now uses 0.18 charges, instead of 1.+4: Each zap from wild magic now uses 0.1 charges, instead of 1.
Warp Beacon[]
Warp Beacon
The Mage places a beacon, which can then be warped to at will. Placing the beacon takes 1 turn, but warping to it is instantaneous.The Mage cannot warp between floors by default, or use the beacon to reach inaccessible places such as locked rooms. The Mage can teleport into enemies, which will push them aside. Charge cost: 35
Ability talents[]
Telefrag
Telefrag
+1: If the Mage warps into another character he deals 10-15 damage to it, but also takes 5 damage.+2: If the Mage warps into another character he deals 20-30 damage to it, but also takes 10 damage.+3: If the Mage warps into another character he deals 30-45 damage to it, but also takes 15 damage.+4: If the Mage warps into another character he deals 40-60 damage to it, but also takes 20 damage. The hero cannot be killed by this talent, the self damage can be reduced by magic resisting effects.
Remote Beacon
Remote Beacon
+1: The Mage can place a beacon at any location within 4 tiles.+2: The Mage can place a beacon at any location within 8 tiles.+3: The Mage can place a beacon at any location within 12 tiles.+4: The Mage can place a beacon at any location within 16 tiles. The Mage cannot place beacons in locations that are inaccessible.
Longrange Warp
Longrange Warp
+1: The Mage can now warp between floors, at 150% charge cost.+2: The Mage can now warp between floors, at 117% charge cost.+3: The Mage can now warp between floors, at 83% charge cost.+4: The Mage can now warp between floors, at 50% charge cost. The Mage cannot use longrange warp to leave a locked floor.
2 comments
I just noticed this game is all about killing enemies there is 0 finesse in your approach or in-fighting
Best class. I made it only to a character-level 10 warrior and thought I give the mage a try, after all other classes:
I upgraded the first scale mail (tier 3) armor to 10. I used wand of prismatic light and fire to finish the game. Wand of prismatic as main weapon on level 7 with 10 charges. Fire wand was level 0 and only used for DoT.
I enchanted the armor several times and stopped in awe when I read that it refills charges on being attacked.
Took the 7.5% of max HP per charge as shield. Went on battle mage. I didn't need no potions, I had over 100 shields most of the time... just make sure in Yog fight to let some larvas alive recharging your wands
I went blindly in all bosses starting from Tengu. It was a blast and very tactical
And made the 6 challenge badge.
Class armor elemental blast/strike is really strong with wand of warding:
It heals them for 16 + the percentage AND provides shields as if wards were enemies, up to 8 per ward affected.
I didn't use the 7.5% anymore...