How the heck are you supposed to play a mage and survive?

Seriously, title. I got a pure mage build (staff/magic school/egypitan magic/magical law/tourist/promethian/ley walker) and I can't even get past a quarter of the 1st floor without dying. I want to play a mage because it's a lot more varied then walking around beating things with a sword/mace/dagger/whatever, but if you can barely take a single hit from a enemy how are you supposed to play it?

 

If you want to stay pure mage, try taking Golemancy or Fleshsmithing. Both provide an early game pet (Lvl 1 Flesh gives zombies, Lvl 2 Golem gives Moustache) which are incredibly useful for surviving the first few levels until you can get your build going. The pets stop being effective after a few levels, but by then you should be able to burn/sandblast anything in your way with the build you are using.

 

With that build, try to soften up enemies with Dragon's Breath, and lead them to a choke point (which should cluster them nicely for Dragon's Breath too!). If only one (injured!) enemy can reach you at a time, you should be able to kill it with your Staff (and Asp if you've got the mana to spare). Don't be afraid to use a few charges from your Camera!

If you put your first two points into Promethean, the Dragon pet can handle quite a few enemies on his own.

 

Tourist spawns with a camera , that should have reasonable odds of stunning enough monsters to not get cornered. Then it's just a matter of killing them with fire.

Given that the Glyph of Asp consumes one mana every 10 turns , which is less than base mana regen on Going Rogue , you can just cast it and skip turns before you open the first door , leaving you with that buff and full mana. In fact , the extra mana regen from your build should make it very easy to spam fire if you can keep enemies running in circles.

I found Staff to be a poor starting skill , while Warlockery helps your survivability a lot more.

 

This. A mustache golem can pretty much clear out the entire first floor for you; you won't even need to recast it more than two or three times. To get that elusive first level, dance around a Gargoyle Arrow Trap or something with single enemies. With a square of open space around the trap it's possible to walk around it multiple times without getting hit. Dredmor statues help as well. Your mustache will continue to be effective until at least the end of floor 2, by which time you'll have enough other levels and mana/gear to survive on your own.

 

Archery gives you a crossbow to start, which you can use to take out enemies from afar. Emomancy's Love Will Tear Us Apart spell is good for survival. It's really a matter of surviving that first level or two, then make sure you have a healing or summoning spell to protect you (Emomancy and Flesh Smithing have level 2 heals, for example, and Golemancy has the many times mentioned mustache golem at 2).

 

Note that even as a pure mage, you may find that it's occasionally beneficial to do a little bit of melee.

When I play a mage, regardless of my build, I set up a series of goals for my character (luck and various other things may interfere with my goals, though, and nothing can guarantee success, but this will help)
1. First goal is to survive long enough to start working towards skills that will help you clear zoos, and kill bosses/higher level critters. Pets, knock-back effects, teleports, invisibility (potions or skills), heals, ranged attacks, better gear, can all contribute to this. A decent weapon is also good for when, inevitably, you may have to take some swings at enemies (mana hunters are the bane of mages).
2. Once your survival goal is achieved, work towards zoo-clearing/boss-killing skills. Even Alchemy, with its AE gas bombs can be exploited for this purpose. But you need something more spammable and/or effective. At this point, you also may need to work on your mana maintenance, depending on your build of course.
3. Same as 1 and 2, but moreso, as needed.

In other words, make goals, but be realistic based on the tools at hand.

 

One way to cushion your extra squishy self is to invest in a crafting skill that lets you make items which give . Mossy Shields from Alchemy can do it. Or you can make Emerald Rings with Smithing. Battle Mycology has The Prince buff which gives you a lot of HP for a few turns. There's a couple of other items out there that will do it, at least until you get really powerful ranged AOE spells.

Tinkering is a good complement for any mage build as well. Save up brimstone all game and once you get it maxed, make a billion Concussion Bombs for cheap AOE knockback. It also seems to get blocked a lot less than Psionics' knockback skill. Tesla Mines can be dropped at your feet to stun enemies, and so on.

Unarmed is an excellent complement to any mage build. You can max it early game and breeze through the rest of the game with the block, dodge, etc it gives you. Later on, higher level tomes have some powerful effects like AOE confuse.

 

The main way to survive as a mage includes three things:
1) Proper skill selection
2) Positioning
3) Trial and error

Please check out my thread on general mage building tips and theme building. It's a WIP but I've got the spell trees outlined at the moment. It should give you a rough guide to proper skill selection. I still need to do some testing and may adjust some of the information but I feel for the most part it's pretty accurate:
http://community.gaslampgames.com/threads/mage-tips-and-theme-builds.4332/

Pet trees like Fungal Arts, Golemancy, Flesh Smithing, and Promethean Magic are imperative as an early mage. Burning your first few skill points to get a pet is a very good way to survive. In both Fungal arts and Golemancy it is very worth spending every point you get on the first dungeon level until you get to the second pet (Fungal Master of Yuggoth and The Mortal Machine respectively). These pets will easily solo most enemies down until floor 4. Then you'll need to start giving them a bit of help. This gives you time to really pour the next couple floor's worth of points into mana trees (Ley Walker or Magic Training) and your Primary damage tree.

Positioning is something you learn for the most part. It differs from build to build but for the most part you never want to get into melee, EVER. It's hard to notice when you first start out but soon you'll notice the word COUNTER showing up in combat. What that means is when you swing at an enemy (and sometimes when they swing at you) the attack is negated and the defender gets a free swing. That means that if you swing at an enemy he can get two hits at you! Early on this can easily one shot you or leave you at single digit life. It's important to NEVER be in melee as a mage unless you understand the consequences and mechanics fully. Or you have a stupidly good one shot sword and just want to run around cackling in a robe and lopping off heads. Either one.

Trial and error is exactly what it says. Keep playing! You'll get better over time and notice patterns and skilling orders that work well with you. As a primarily mage player I often find myself dying on floor 1 more often than anywhere else. It's a rough start. Traps, hard hitting enemies, and carelessness will punish you harder than other classes. It's OK. Just take that first floor slow, be cautious and stick behind that beater you've summoned to help you. With each death, analyze why you died and try not to repeat it. I often find my carelessness and restlessness get the best of me, cause me to smash a few buttons and I die. It happens and it happens often. Just keep playing through the learning curve and once you hit the double digit floors for the first time you'll really feel accomplished.

Good luck, and may your spells strike true. Just don't blow your own head off.

 

Yeah, Pets can make a big difference, even if they're dumb as rocks. I even like the Blade Golem ( or the Cutlery Golem ), though it takes strategy to manuever critters into them. Despite what some say it's also effective on 2nd and even 3rd DL; it's cheap to cast, and I spam them once I get a good head start.

You really need (also) good door opening & getting away strategy. You need some skill where, once you open a door, you can get some distance, quickly. Concussive bombs are good, as is the Handy Wand, or Psionic's Push. I also leave my pets to die while I get to safety (probably why I only get dumb applicants, come to think of it ). Mathemagic's random teleport is not bad, although it can land you in trouble as easily as get you out of it.

It's all about distance - you need to maintain it. Always be prepared to run like a coward on crack. Never step into a room, or hall, etc, place where you cannot immediately back up (or teleport )

Like they say, once you get to a point where survival isn't a minute to minute thing, it's time to start thinking about clearing Zoo's. Thaumites (Golemancy) are cheap & great, it renews itself. So is Unliving Wall, almost a must-have. My personal favorite is Mathemagic's Curse of The Golden Ratio, which not only wounds and kills, but fills your gold purse in the process (yes, even my manly-man hero carries a purse).

The latter (CotGR) is mana-expensive, though. Be on the lookout for items that increase your magic power.

EDIT: (ooh, and Savvy, for spell costs. Corrected. Thanks, Turbo164)

 

While helps save *some* mana (kill a monster with 2 spells instead of 3 etc), it doesn't reduce mana costs like it used to; that role was patched to Savvy a while back.

 

I meant to mention that as well Kablooie, but I got wordy and forgot. Yes, around early-mid game you should probably pick up a teleport skill (DL 4-5). I always pick up Invisible Geometries from Ley Walker, but any reliable teleport will do.

I actually kill myself more with Thaumites more than I find them useful. I personally find them average for Zoo clearing and I always manage to step in them with no way to tank it. I've forbidden myself from using them for the most part. That's more my issue than the Thaumites though.

 

Well, a REAL good way to clear Zoo's is with Noxious Brimstone Blast bombs, Poisonous Bombs, Bolts of Mass Destruction, and Puffballs. Have something to knock them back (and, again, Unliving Wall here is good sheet mister) and then throw 'em. There are other ones, like that Narwhaal wand, Squid Bolts, Tenticular Wand . . . .etc. Lots of them! I haven't used Plague Bolts but I bet they're good.

Anything that's a killer and especially AOE (Area of Effect) (like the Squid and MD bolts), I always save up - hoard - for Zoo's. My favorite is first a Puffball, then a Brimstone Blast. Confuse 'em and melt 'em, a nasty combo.

eh, I don't know just what's been nerfed, but the general info applies - get some killah AOE stuff for Zoo's.

 

I've finally met someone else who loves puffballs.

...Will you marry me?

 

*sniffle, and eyes the diamond ring on the finger* Oh, yes, YES!

.oO ( Wait, is that Zirconium? )

OT: squid bolts are pretty gnarly!

 

Well, you could try with a decent build for starters?

 

I got my first Dredmor kill with a mage build, I find it a lot easier than whacking things over the head. Trial and error is your best bet, but a few things that helped me are:

• Mathemagic's 5th skill - that teleport will make sure you are never in harms way. (The final skill is amazing, too)
• On the first few levels there's nothing stopping you from using a nice high damage melee weapon
• Necronomiconomics isn't actually that scary
• Psionics can be used in nearly every build and is incredibly helpful
• Alchemy. Try it, Use it, love it, take it to a nice seafood dinner for two.
• You don't need to pick a weapon skill
• Killer Vegan is a great pick for a mage. Since you aren't actually hitting animals when you cast, you don't get the debuff. It gives you quite a bit extra HP and that should keep you alive much longer.

Good luck and die plenty

 

To get past the first floor on a mage build can be quite tricky. Be prepared to restart once or twice - I've had a dungeon spawn with one door out of the starting area, opened it into a potato commander and a pack of potatoes. Thanks, that was necessary.

With that skill build, do the following:

1) Kite. I dunno if it's a bug, but monsters will frequently lose track of you as you wander about now. They're not very aggressive. Feel free to run around like a madman, chances are they will get confused and stop following you. This helps.

2) Promethian GO! You must sink the first two points into Promethian magic with that build. The pet can handle the first two floors on his own.

3) Statues - they're utterly amazing if you can find them. If you're midway through level 1, save it for level 2. It will get you almost from 1>2, and a lot of the way from 2>3. And level 3 means pet.

There's a few things you can fix in the build, but overall you can pick that up later.

 

2 floors? I use him well into the 4th and sometimes 5th floor. If he absorbs 2 rounds of hits for 1 cast, that's a net gain in turns!

 

Oh he's useful past two floors, but he can literally solo floors 1-2. Like, you walk behind him and loot stuff while he kills everything.

Floor 3 he can need substantial support and monster zoos just aren't going to fall to 1-2 drakes, and by floor 4 he's mostly a cleanup bit for single monsters and a speed bump for packs (and to group them for obvious fireballs).