A good mage build?

Astrology and Psionics at earlier levels are the only trees that lack offensive capability IMO. Since there's no spell cooldowns, you only need one good offensive spell in a tree really, unlike the 5 in Promethean. The only reason Promethean is not thrown aside in favour of more versatile trees is because of its AoE capabilities.

 

Well, AoE damage and raw damage. Up until I crashed on floor 7, Obvious Fireball was still one-shot killing every monster on a direct hit on Going Rogue difficulty.

 

I have a really hard time effectively using Necronomiconomics on Going Rogue difficulty. The level 6 spell is incredibly awesome, but everything up to that point has penalties that are far too steep for the kind of payoff you get.

It's just easier to use other schools, since you get equal reward for less risk.

 

I never delved deep into Necronomiconomics, but from what I've heard Mark of Chthon alleviates the penalties of most of its spells.

 

Mark of Chthon alleviates the damage from several abilities which is a help, but costs quite a bit of mana which will drain you dry in the early levels. I have tried to play with Necronomiconomics as my primary offensive ability and it just doesn't work. Deathly Hex also reduces your MAXIMIMUM health by 2 points every time you cast it, which means spamming the spell to clear out enemies can leave you with very little health.

Necronomiconomics Level 2 is actually really potent but drains your mana dry ridiculously fast and annihilates your spellpower. It's not a sustainable offense.

Necronomiconomics Level 4 deals pathetic damage and causes numerous annoying side effects.

Necronomiconomics Level 5 deals good damage, but the downsides are drastic and not worth enduring for repeated uses.

Necronomiconomics Level 6 is amazing and wipes the floor with enemies and is the only real reason to suffer through the whole tree.

 

Yeah I attempted to do Necronomiconomics along with Flesh Shaping for the health and regen buff. You pretty much have to rush to Level 6 in order to get anywhere (which unfortunately I did not since I had no idea how good level 4-6 were). Even if you manage to mitigate the negative effects of your lower level spells, they do not scale well beyond level 1 (level 2 has Deths and Zombys which resist necromatic damage, level 3 you do a little better). You also have to hope you don't encounter any small swarms of enemies within the first couple of rooms since your only offensive spell effectively kills you. Seriously, your first level spell does 6 damage or so to yourself and debuffs your health by 2 each cast.

Necronomiconomics should just be renamed Kill Yourself. Master the art of killing yourself without the aid of monsters or traps. XD

 

The risk simply does not equal the reward. I think the skill needs to be looked at and possibly rebalanced. While they are at it, they can nerf Promethean a bit. It's way too good.

 

Don't forget to buff Ley Walker and Wand Lore.

And why is Vampirism a Mage skill anyway? Seems to me Mages are the ones least likely to use it, unless you're some kind of Viking Battlemage.

 

Ley Walker definitely needs a buff. Wand Lore would be okay if you could reduce burn below 5. That's the really big issue. Perhaps a skill that negated a burned out wand, if we're feeling generous.

Vampirism keys off your Magic Power and Haywire, and also it's spoooookey.

 

@Embolus - I partly take it to make surviving the first floor much easier. Also, it becomes a very simple way to heal later once you have summonable pets, since you can just bash them for a renewable source of health. That and it makes the occasional melee a lot safer in my opinion, since you hit quite a bit harder with Vampirism.

 

I've been having some success with (Staves, Mathemagic, Astrology, Promethean, Magic Training, Blood Mage, Ley Walking) but I keep getting killed by traps. Did anyone else have problems with that.

 

I don't, possibly because I take Archaeology (which provides some bonuses against traps) and Psionics allows you to push traps away.