Mage Tank.

[King Semos]

So I've seen a lot of talk about Mages, some people love em, some people don't use them. In terms of people feeling Mages got the short end of the stick, one thing mentioned many times is that they have hardly any gear. Though I haven't herd of people giving them a try as tanks, so I thought I would put it to the test. This opened up a ton of new potential Mage gear.

Here is the end result.

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I found him actually a very effective tank. His health is similar to that of a Rogue tank, his protection value was in between a Fighters and a Rogues, his evasion was much higher than a typical Fighters, and his resistances were very good. Overall he tanked like a champ. I used Shock the entire time, only getting some in fire for the resistance.

There were some advantages and disadvantages. The major advantage I found using a mage tank is that I was able to have two Missile Weapon Rogues in the back shooting volley upon volley. This is because I didn't need a torch. His damage was very high in the early part of the game, but it slowly scaled off a bit later on. I could have gone for Fireball and Zhandul's Orb for higher end game damage but I liked the casting speed with the Orb of Radiance, it synergized very well with the attack speed of the rest of my group. His energy pool didn't suffer considering he was only casting a basic spell.

The largest disadvantage if it is one. Is that you need all the Tomes of Wisdom in my opinion, and of course the Tome of Health. Mage tanks definitely aren't for someone on their first go.

There are definitely a lot of different options to how you chose to build a mage tank. You could definitely try to balance damage and durability, I went for as durable as possible.

Here is a picture of him around level 6, just to show he was very tanky even during the early-mid parts of the dungeon.

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So yeah, I highly recommend using them as tanks, you could try different races and traits and make your own version of a Mage tank.

[Merethif]

Interesting idea. I've got to try it at some point. That is after I finish game with my classic party... and three monks party... and cloak and dagger party... and four titans party...

I like the fact that LoG gives you surprisingly lots of possibilities for creating eligible parties, each providing different gaming experiences.

[King Semos]

I like the fact that LoG gives you surprisingly lots of possibilities for creating eligible parties, each providing different gaming experiences.

Yeah, it really does.


So I went and gave the Mage tank another go and instead of going as durable as possible, I went for as damaging as possible. Getting 24 in Fire, holding Zhandul's Orb, and getting 50% faster spell casting in Spellcraft. Anyone who has made a fire Mage like this knows they can deal a ton of damage. So, here is my end result. Still durable enough to take multiple hits from anything. Though I wish I called her Melisandre, would have been very fitting I think, for those of you who get the reference.

[Kostas]

How did you get 73 evasion wow :p

[RedOwl]

Why do you even need a tank with mages?

my 4 mage party just turns everything it sees in ashes or kites multiple enemies without being hit. Well you get a hit time to time, but you can survive that without any armor at all from what i see.

[Merethif]

Why do you even need a tank with mages?

my 4 mage party (...)

OP haven't mentioned his playing with four mages. Please read before post.
As I understand OP wanted to have two Missile Weapon Rogues in the back row while still having a Mage in a party, hence Tank Mage idea.

[RedOwl]

If you have 2 mages 2 archers you have all ranged weapon. With ranged weapon you can play without taking any damage most of the time.

Why tank damage if you can kill most of mobs in one volley, and if there are more than one you can kite or 2x2.

[King Semos]

Well, the point of testing out a mage tank was not to build a group that had the easiest time defeating the dungeon. It was for the purpose of trying something unconventional, to shed a new light on the mage class for people that had doubts on the class all together. Or for people who wanted to try new dynamics for replay value. As I said in my original post.

Yes, dancing around enemies is the easiest way to defeat them. But I have more fun face tanking mobs, and succeeding this way by building characters well in terms of balancing durability and damage. Building a mage to be as damaging as possible is fairly strait forward, building Mage to be a tank, and to be as damaging as possible is a different story. Though it seems simple when you see it all at the end result, it took a fair bit of planning.

Mage tank may not be the best tank, but I very much enjoyed putting it to the test.

Why tank damage if you can kill most of mobs in one volley, and if there are more than one you can kite or 2x2.

That's like saying, why try when you don't have to.

[RedOwl]

Did you try that mage tank with hardcore mode? Whats you second front guy?

You first mage tank does not have enough levels to enchant arrows, why is that? dont you think its wasteful, I thought that having 2 archers and a mage kinda implies enchating.

[King Semos]

Did you try that mage tank with hardcore mode? Whats you second front guy?

I do all my "testing" on normal mode just for the sake of better gauging the viability of whatever it is I am testing. Especially when it comes to tanks. Hard mode favours evasion over everything, and though evasion is extremely important for good tanks, it is technically pseudo-durability.

My other tank in front was a Human Fighter, specializing in swords and heavy armor.

You first mage tank does not have enough levels to enchant arrows, why is that? dont you think its wasteful, I thought that having 2 archers and a mage kinda implies enchating.

That's a good idea. With the first build I could have gotten either fire or lightning arrows. But my first mage I wasn't sure how he would turn out. Not knowing exactly how health gains per level worked and a few other things, I figured I had to go for the 50 in staff defence. So I designed him completely to benefit himself only. Getting both fire and shock resistances. With potentially low health, I wanted to make sure things that were going to hit me would do as little damage as possible. My second one had fire enchanting which was useful on tougher encounters.