Rift Mage Class

Mage Soul Specs for Healing, DPS, and Support

While not as versatile as the other caster calling (Clerics), the Mage more than makes up for this shortcoming through sheer elemental power. They are obviously at a disadvantage in melee combat and have virtually no hand to hand ability whatsoever. Despite this, a Mage is a powerhouse in ranged DPS output and excels in support and healing roles, rivaling even Clerics in this department. Below, I will explain the various Mage souls, their primary elements, and give a brief insight into their purpose for creating various roles.

Charge
Unique to Mages, Charge is an energy pool that increases as they cast spells which is used to power certain abilities, some of which are quite powerful. Casting spells which require Mana is the only way to build charge: spells that require Charge obviously will not increase it. A lot of people suggest that the key to a Mage's success is wise management of Charge, but this is not the case for the most part. Most battles will not last long enough for you to effectively use it, but it can be particularly useful in boss battles or pvp, or for abilities that use Charge to restore Mana (most of which can only be used out of combat anyways).

Mage DPS Souls

Elementalist
Fire, air, water and earth based spells. Elementalist is one of a Mage's many choices of DPS souls and works very well as a primary soul for a DPS build. While it doesn't do quite as much damage as some souls, it's largest benefit is summoned pets that can serve as blockers. Crystalline Missiles, one of this soul's mainstay spells, has a tie in passive ability available that will increase your pet's damage, and also works with Icy Carapace (a DOT spell) to inflict a significant amount of damage all at once by removing the debuff. There are two must have spells from this soul: Exposure applies a debuff that increases all magical damage, and Revitalize utilizes charge to restore Mana. Both of these are available at relatively low point cost, and will compliment any other soul in any type of build.

Necromancer
Death based spells. Necromancers are primarily DOT specialists with some minor support abilities and undead pets. As a primary soul, Necromancers do not have a high survivability at lower levels since they don't have a lot of straight DPS spells, however their aggressive pets do compensate for this to some extent. But with higher levels come more durable pets that deal more damage, as well as more powerful DOT spells that will not only increase your survivability dramatically, but will make the Mage a valuable asset in any party.

Pyromancer
Fire based spells. The Pyromancer is the juggernaut of Mage DPS souls. While on par with the Elementalist by way of damage output, they have several conditional abilities that remove or prevent control effects and increase their damage, allowing them to unleash a relentless stream of destruction. While they lack pets, they have a small array of control abilities that will root, stun, and disarm enemies to allow the mage to continue their assault in relative safety. Pyromancer works well as a support soul for any DPS build, as the Flicker (removes control effects) and Glyphs of Power (increases damage by 5% and Mana regeneration by 100%) are both available with 10 points invested in the soul.

Warlock
Death based spells. Warlocks, like Necromancers, are DOT and party support specialists, however any similarity ends there. They do not have access to pets, but many of their DOT and support abilities are AOE and inflict more damage, and they have access to two straight DPS spells, too. This makes them a handy addition to a party at any level.

Mage Support Souls

Archon
Fire, air, water and earth based spells. This is a support soul that a Mage can use to temporarily sacrifice their own stats to boost the stats of the entire party for 4 minutes (spells called Auras). While this might seem like a crippling disadvantage to an already physically vulnerable calling, there are ways to offset these penalties in combat: the Archeon has damaging spells that inflict debuffs on the enemy that will boost the Mage's corresponding stats. The Archon's DPS is nothing spectacular, but virtually every spell an Archeon casts will have a buff or debuff applied along with it, removes debuffs, or strip buffs from the enemy, making it one of the best choices for a primary soul in a support build.

Dominator
Death and air based spells. Dominator is another support soul which relies a bit more on DOT spells and control abilities than it does on buffs and debuffs. A Dominator can cause chaos in the ranks of the enemy, making them less effective in combat, can cause enemy spells to reflect back on the caster, can put an additional drain on their opponents energy/mana, and can even take an enemy out of the fight completely with Transmogrify spell (so long as that enemy isn't attacked).

Mage Healing Soul

Stormcaller
Air and water based spells. The Stormcaller is the big gun of Mage DPS. It is largely considered a "glass cannon," due to it's all offense, no defense combat style, but the effect is quite dramatic. It's a tricky soul to figure out, because the only way it is really effective is understanding how the different spells interact with each other. Most spells inflict debuffs on the enemy that increase subsequent damage, and these debuffs can be affected by other spells to increase this damage even further. At higher levels, Stormcallers have access to two AOE spells, which can be cast on top of each other to set up a veritable no-man's land that inflicts heavy damage on any enemies in the area. Stormcallers are also the only Mage DPS soul to have access to a combat resurrection spell, which can make the difference between a close call and a complete wipe.

Chloromancer
Life based spells. This is the Mage's healing soul and fits well into almost any solo build, but is particularly useful as a secondary soul for support roles. It has a passive ability that increases the caster's Intelligence score by a percentage, depending on how many points are spent in that ability. Must have abilities are Lifegiving Veil and Lifebound Veil, which converts a specific percentage of the Mage's damage into healing for your entire party (the amount is higher for Life based spells). This soul really shines with a 51 point build, which gives access to the Void Life ability: a channeled spell with no cooldown, that works with Radiant Spores to not only inflict some decent DPS, but an incredible amount of healing.