If you're playing a mage, choosing between the different Rift mage builds can seem overwhelming.
This article aims to clarify and inform you about this situation, thus enabling you to make the best choice.
In Rift, there is DPS (Damage Per Second). There are strong damage dealers, and also mages.
Okay, to be honest, mages can also heal reasonably effectively. But most of their souls and possibilities have to do with damage dealing. And they can do just that in an almost infinite number of ways.
You have the following mage souls:
- Archon.
- Dominator.
- Elementalist.
- Necromancer.
- Pyromancer.
- Stormcaller.
- Warlock.
- Chloromancer.
- Archmage (PvP-soul)
If you like to heal, you should choose Chloromancer. Chloromancer has a type of hit'n'heal function, and you can use AoE (Area of Effect) damage to heal the tank at the same time.
Since Archon has a large amount of buff, this would be a good mix.
As your third soul, you can use Warlock, which will add a worthwhile damage bonus to your healing-soul.
Except for Choloromancer (which is a great healing tree) you will now have the choice between several damage souls.
Warlock is one of the best balanced trees. Between DoTs (Damage Over Time), buffs and spell damage, the Warlock is awesome to play, but can't really stand alone. The best trees to pare it with are Chloromancer for healing and Necromancer for DPS.
By doing this, you can have your pet to tank for you, or to do damage. You have possibilities of self healing and feign death.
In PvE, you can very quickly solo different elites and, in PvP, deal heavy damage. The only problem in PvP is that, because of the amount of damage you are able to deal, you will be one of the first opponents the enemy will try to take down. You might very quickly find yourself a "fan club".
Dominator is mostly about crowd control. This soul's tree is filled with rooting, exhausting, damage over time, stunning and polymorphing.
It's a very good soul and mostly used in PvP. If you are going to use it as main soul, with a filled tree, you won't be dealing much damage, so another damage-dealing soul is a must. Pyromancer is a good one, but you can choose almost any damage dealing soul.
As a third soul, you can take Archmage (the PvP soul).
You want Area of Effect damage? Use Stormcaller, which is unbeatable in AoE damage and possibly the best burst damage in the game. It will be good to pair it with Elementalist or Warlock (or both together) to gain better survivability and single targets possibilities.
If you are more pet-oriented, you can use Elementalist, which is a soul with a pet; in fact, with three types of pets: Water (pet that slows the target); Earth (tank pet) and Air (high damage pet, which gives a spell buff). Even if the Elementalist seems filled with possibilities, you will gain the most out of it if used to support another primary soul, such as Pyromancer or Stormcaller.
The other soul with a pet is Necromancer. This is definitely a must for questing. One of the interesting possibilities is Consumption, which takes one buff away from your enemy and gives mana regeneration to you. A must in PvP, Consumption can be a great help in some dungeons (it can be very amusing to see bubbles pop up). You can pair Necromancer with Warlock and Chloromancer.
As you can see, there are many possibilities when dealing damage with a mage, and those mentioned are but a few of them.
I would suggest that, unless you go into a dungeon with a healer and a tank, it is best to find a mix with self-healing and damage for PvE, as well as for PvP.
After that, mix as you want for AoE or single target.
Any choice between these Rift mage builds will offer hours of fun and enjoyment.