Mages: Where to put points next?

[Gabrien]

I have two mages in my group, both are currently level 10, and both have specced up to the improved bolt in their respective lines (ice/fire) as well as up to 18 in Spellcraft for the 50% faster cast. My dilemma is what to start putting points in now, both with respect to finishing the game as well as with a view to further expansions. The latter is probably of primary concern so I'm inclined to take the long term view.

Putting more points into ice/fire is out unless I'm missing something, since the resists alone seem hardly worth it.

Defense (again, unless I'm missing something) feels a bit counter-intuitive as my goal is to keep my mages away from taking damage as much as possible.

So that leaves me with either continuing to spec Spellcraft for the long term view of 50 for the reduced cast cost as well as the willpower/energy bonuses along the way, or starting to put points into a second spell line for each of them. Honestly, I'm split right about down the middle about which route to take. Curious to hear what thoughts others might have on the matter.

[Saice]

Like weapon skills each point in your spell line makes the spell do more damage.

But if you not up for there Staff defense can bit slightly helpful.

Honestly I went mageless because I was not finding them overly useful and rerolled without one. Completed the game fine with no mage in my party.

[Drax]

If you've got a rogue in the group, Invisibility can be useful for backstabbing. But, otherwise I'd pour them into Fire. Frostbolt's good for rooting, but with the secret item, Firebolt is the hardest hitting spell. Only downside is some mobs immunity to Fire.

[Gabrien]

Ah, ok, so I was missing something then: more points into a spell line will do more damage. That makes sense. Any idea how much more though? i.e. How much more damage will my Fireball do at 50 spec into Fire than at 24 spec? Cheers.

[Saice]

Ah, ok, so I was missing something then: more points into a spell line will do more damage. That makes sense. Any idea how much more though? i.e. How much more damage will my Fireball do at 50 spec into Fire than at 24 spec? Cheers.

I did not get far with my mage I rerolled after mid way through level 3 because I was starting to hate the bastard. Always out of power and the casting system slowed down my fighting to much. So no idea how much just something I noticed leveling my mage was his fire was doing slightly more as I was dumping all my points in fire.

[blackwoodforest]

I love my mage, beacuse in the backrow he slighty gets damage but is a perfect damage dealer - went only into firebolts. SO I add almost every point into spellcraft.

[Hissssa]

You should really focus on getting your mages to 32 in their element and then 15 to infinity in spellcraft. The resistances really DO make a huge difference. With fire shield you basically start getting hit for 0-9

SpoilerShow

or less if you have the fire resist necklace

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Seems like I got them to the best spell first with 2 points for the early +2 wisdom very early in their careers. Why you might ask? Try wearing a +2 wisdom hat when you level up... you WILL get more energy than if you didn't. Anyway I got my mages to around 15 in their element and then worked on spellcraft to get them near 10 (the faster casting is nice but you can't make good use of it until later when you have more mana). From there I got their elements up to 24 as it gives them a tremendous damage boost. After that I got the +2 more wisdom for 15 spellcraft then I went all the way to 32 in their element. From there I just boosted spellcraft.

I don't know how you fight stuff but generally I lead with a ranged spell from each mage then have the fighters melee the rest of the way. For the rest of the fight my mages just throw stuff unless it's something really nasty like an ogre or if I need to kill this enemy quick before another arrives. Using this method I can kill 4-5 enemies without problem and my mages do not have mana problems until the very end.

[Saice]

You should really focus on getting your mages to 32 in their element and then 15 to infinity in spellcraft.

This is my current plan

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On my Toorum play to get his fire to 32 and it spellcraft to 15 and since he is solo so will get all the wisdom tomes toss the left overs in armor or axes

[Hissssa]

I would put the first 8 points into spellcraft so you'll have more mana in the long run from the +2 wisdom bonus. You won't notice the difference with getting 2 levels late on the fire spells. But you will have a lot more mana in the end. Then again I don't know if you can kill anything that way.... hmmmmm. You would be doing a LOT of strafing!

[Patchumz]

I recommend heavily dumping into Spellcraft. The extra energy and stuff is EXTREMELY valuable. Running out of energy is the major problem with mages, so solving that problem is extremely worth it. And if you haven't gotten it yet, 50% faster casting is awesome too. People seem to undervalue Spellcraft.