Questions for your Mage build...

[XghostzX]

Hey guys, in case you aren't sure, my in game name is Sonic.

I'm a mage at the moment, and I"m just curious as to which path you're taking your mages. Heal without a doubt needs points invested in, what other spells do you recommend for an all around, top-notch build?

[ninjaduck]

Put 1 in heal. Put 1 in curse/root. Max fire. Almost max Light. Put a few in wind but only if you have a fetish for scatter bears.

[mike1298]

I am doing about 3 in heal, 2 or 3 in time stop, and almost Max light and fire.

[bronislav84]

Wind seems to be the only true AOE (when charged). It doesn't scatter that much. It knocks down, which is helpful on non-bosses.

[ninjaduck]

Heal is unnecessary IMO. Sorcerers are stereotyped as support classes. Sorcerers are damage outputs.

[mike1298]

Heal is unnecessary IMO. Sorcerers are stereotyped as support classes. Sorcerers are damage outputs.

I got the two mana expansions with heal and it saves me a lot of potions, I still use a lot but it cut down on needing them even more.

[bronislav84]

I'm considering dropping heal. Sure it's nice, but it doesn't actually heal that much. Thoughts?

[XghostzX]

Including 2-3 points in heal, can anyone be a bit more specific with skill points? I like being able to heal is all^^

[Reunegade]

Damage output mage: Level 16
5 Fire
5 Light
3 Gale
1 Heal
1 Arcane Shield

Why low heal?
You're trying to get the most damage done to ALL the enemies around you. AoE damage is the mage's specialty.
Support mage: Level 16
5 Heal
5 Arcane Shield
3 Curse
1 Light
1 Fire

[mike1298]

Damage output mage: Level 16
5 Fire
5 Light
3 Gale
1 Heal
1 Arcane Shield

Why low heal?
You're trying to get the most damage done to ALL the enemies around you. AoE damage is the mage's specialty.
Support mage: Level 16
5 Heal
5 Arcane Shield
3 Curse
1 Light
1 Fire

4 skill slots, not 5.

[bronislav84]

Heal or Shield? What do people recommend?

[superdoom]

where should i put points in my stats to become output mage?support mage?

[Demoknight]

LOL

[gundamsone]

1 heal
3 fire (increase aoe, knock down)
6 light (max this it's your spam skill and dps skill for bosses)
6 clock (max this it's amazing for farming mobs, the intial dmg + continous dmg + root is amazing, I do 5 dmg per s with my gear at lvl 16)

a pink pet with high m/s and preferable h/s too like flap jack. With good gear and this pet, you won't need any pots.

For me I use Ribbit for clearing the map (pink frog with 250 hp, 7% crit, and spec +40% crit bonus)
and Granite to take down any boss with ease (pink goat with aoe stun, and 4 m/s)
Pets like mallison which gives 20/20/20 and 5% crit is overated and really not that useful atm

The goats are hands down the best pet for bossing. Combine the stun spec with charged fire knockdown and stun from charged Light = a sitting dummy boss.
Me and 3 other decked out 16's took down the last elite boss with 4 goats. Although it took 30min, non of us took any major damage as our goats were stunning him throughout the fight.

[XghostzX]

1 heal
3 fire (increase aoe, knock down)
6 light (max this it's your spam skill and dps skill for bosses)
6 clock (max this it's amazing for farming mobs, the intial dmg + continous dmg + root is amazing, I do 5 dmg per s with my gear at lvl 16)

a pink pet with high m/s and preferable h/s too like flap jack. With good gear and this pet, you won't need any pots.

For me I use Ribbit for clearing the map (pink frog with 250 hp, 7% crit, and spec +40% crit bonus)
and Granite to take down any boss with ease (pink goat with aoe stun, and 4 m/s)
Pets like mallison which gives 20/20/20 and 5% crit is overated and really not that useful atm

The goats are hands down the best pet for bossing. Combine the stun spec with charged fire knockdown and stun from charged Light = a sitting dummy boss.
Me and 3 other decked out 16's took down the last elite boss with 4 goats. Although it took 30min, non of us took any major damage as our goats were stunning him throughout the fight.

Hey Gunda, have you tried whirlwind (the tornado spell) rather than clock? It stuns your enemies for two seconds, and can get you out of trouble. What makes clock better?

[gundamsone]

at max level with decked out gear the clock will do more dps.
if you can add me in game, i'll do an upper hauntlet or crypt III run and show you

if you really want gale (whirlwind), I would remove heal, and take a point off light and clock

edit: or swap light for gale, and put any extra points you don't want in gale into fire (burn dmg overtime + reduce enemy hit chance by 25%)

[bronislav84]

Wow good advice there Gun.

Question: I haven't used Light yet. Is it a cone or a true AOE? The reason I use Gale is cause it can be made into an AOE when charged.

I see the bonuses on Light are great, but I can't decide between that and Gale cause one is a lot of damage and the other one has utility (knockdown) and AOE.

Also, heal but not Shield? Assume I don't wanna put points in more than 4 skills. Is heal that much better?

[gundamsone]

shield and gale might be more useful at lower levels
but pay attention the the description of shield (up to 500 points in damage part....at end game the monsters will 1 shot your shield down)

when you max lvl you'll want to respec and invest in more "damage" skills over debuffs, heals, and dmg reducers
personally this is how I think of it, what's the point of getting heal and debuffs and investing in high str for high hp when you're just going to be killing ALOT slower & taking more hits
So why not invest in a nuke build and 2 hit mobs? That's what I do and I don't find myself pot spamming either b/c monsters die before they do enough damage to me.

With my current build and gear at lvl 16:
my hp and mana are at 1300/1700 (around 4:5 str/int build)
320s armor, 83 dmg+, 177% bonus dmg
over 50% crit with pink frog pet

This is enough to 1 hit lower map mobs and 2 hit higher map mobs, so there really is no reason to invest heavily into defensive support skills

[bronislav84]

Thanks for the advice. I'm officially subscribed to this thread with all the useful info being thrown around.

I looked at Granite. It seems to be both a drop and buyable for plat?

So is Lightning a cone or Dan be made into full AOE?

[Superduper]

5 health 5 fire 5 lightning 1 clock.

[Bless]

Gale is OP

[Cero]

1 heal
3 fire (increase aoe, knock down)
6 light (max this it's your spam skill and dps skill for bosses)
6 clock (max this it's amazing for farming mobs, the intial dmg + continous dmg + root is amazing, I do 5 dmg per s with my gear at lvl 16)

a pink pet with high m/s and preferable h/s too like flap jack. With good gear and this pet, you won't need any pots.

For me I use Ribbit for clearing the map (pink frog with 250 hp, 7% crit, and spec +40% crit bonus)
and Granite to take down any boss with ease (pink goat with aoe stun, and 4 m/s)
Pets like mallison which gives 20/20/20 and 5% crit is overated and really not that useful atm

The goats are hands down the best pet for bossing. Combine the stun spec with charged fire knockdown and stun from charged Light = a sitting dummy boss.
Me and 3 other decked out 16's took down the last elite boss with 4 goats. Although it took 30min, non of us took any major damage as our goats were stunning him throughout the fight.

1 heal
3 fire
5 lightning
5 clock
-----------
14 skill points
+1 at lvl16

I like ur idea. And then u said on ur later post having full dmg than a support mage.


Yea. I ve been leeching on Patrick with my alt. He kills so fast that made me reach lvl15 in no time.

Afaik he use

Heal
Ice
Lightning
Tornado/wind.


Though i dont know the skill points but his mage skill build is superb.


(My bad Patrick telling them the skills your using without your consent:P)

[XghostzX]

In the future, I'll be finishing points into heal. It's actually really beneficial if used properly (so is any skill). I just can't decide between galeforce and Time Shift.

[Nightarcher]

In the future, I'll be finishing points into heal. It's actually really beneficial if used properly (so is any skill). I just can't decide between galeforce and Time Shift.

You might just want to try them both and use a respec or two; it's really personal preference.

Gale Force is quick to cast, requires only 2/5 skill points to get max damage output, and has a short cooldown; whereas Time Shift hits harder, has damage over time and root inside it, but has a longer cooldown.

[Mage till the end]

Mage to warrior ratio

3:1

[Chickenrunnn]

Light isn't an AoE skill right? I thought it was only damaging 1 guy...

[Nightarcher]

Light isn't an AoE skill right? I thought it was only damaging 1 guy...

Correct. It does have a chance to explode to nearby enemies if your lightening kills your target, but it's mostly single-target and is extremely useful for bosses. It's a good skill to have if you want to increase your mage's boss-killing-ability. :)

[dmspker]

3 fire 5 light 5 ice n rest in heal.

[Technique]

Light isn't an AoE skill right? I thought it was only damaging 1 guy...

Correct. It does have a chance to explode to nearby enemies if your lightening kills your target, but it's mostly single-target and is extremely useful for bosses. It's a good skill to have if you want to increase your mage's boss-killing-ability. :)

Any chance the stun upgrade works on bosses? I'm pretty sure it doesn't but just wanted to ask.

[Nightarcher]

Any chance the stun upgrade works on bosses? I'm pretty sure it doesn't but just wanted to ask.

It might briefly on some bosses, I can't really tell, but I would generally say no. It's strength is in the low cd, high damage and super high critical hits. :)

[Holychit]

Hi I'm a lvl 15 mage with 3 fr 5 light and 5 time with 1 in heal. I have 1185 HP 1520 mana and 249 arm. I have 9% crit with 168% bonus and 71 DMG. Firstly at 16 where should I put that 1 skill point? How are my stats also? I am farming eggs and chests to build up $$

[Nightarcher]

Hi I'm a lvl 15 mage with 3 fr 5 light and 5 time with 1 in heal. I have 1185 HP 1520 mana and 249 arm. I have 9% crit with 168% bonus and 71 DMG. Firstly at 16 where should I put that 1 skill point? How are my stats also? I am farming eggs and chests to build up $$

Put it into fireball: at level 5 it will knock down and stun enemies. :)

[Technique]

Any chance the stun upgrade works on bosses? I'm pretty sure it doesn't but just wanted to ask.

It might briefly on some bosses, I can't really tell, but I would generally say no. It's strength is in the low cd, high damage and super high critical hits. :)

I currently got lighting with the two damage upgrades, I got one extra point since I hit 16 and don't really know where to put it. I currently got max fire, heal+health regen, light+15% damage+crit and time+all upgrades besides the exploding clock one. I don't think any of the other heal upgrades are really worth it, so ill probably max out time shift.

[inevitable]

Heal is unnecessary IMO. Sorcerers are stereotyped as support classes. Sorcerers are damage outputs.

you support by your team by healing team dude

[Luniette]

Currently playing a lv15 mage and in the beginning I went with Fire, Wind and Heal.
On later levels I respecced to try out different things. For me the Frost and Lightning didn't fit well because of the single target effect, Timeshift for some reason seemed slow, even the initial impact damage.
Curse I didn't try and replacing Heal with the Shield just made me feel more frail, or it might have been the part where I didn't include the 25% hit malus and 75% dodge bonus from Fire and Wind.

None of the builds described here really didn't fit me. This said after trying the Hauntlet first level with each build.

So what I was thinking now is going full Fire, Wind and Heal, maybe add one point on Time to get the stragglers that still live after fireball and gale force.
Another build I might try is equally dipping in Heal, Shield, Fire and Wind.

As fir the stats I've added naked 500 HP and the rest in INT. Usually I run places alone but often times there's some people running around me.

When it comes to bosses it seems often I'm the tank which means me spamming heal crying momma while running circles. Not sure if it's because of sucky Warriors or my Dragon pet but often I don't even need to hit the boss to keep the aggro.

[Shonex]

Currently playing a lv15 mage and in the beginning I went with Fire, Wind and Heal.
On later levels I respecced to try out different things. For me the Frost and Lightning didn't fit well because of the single target effect, Timeshift for some reason seemed slow, even the initial impact damage.
Curse I didn't try and replacing Heal with the Shield just made me feel more frail, or it might have been the part where I didn't include the 25% hit malus and 75% dodge bonus from Fire and Wind.

None of the builds described here really didn't fit me. This said after trying the Hauntlet first level with each build.

So what I was thinking now is going full Fire, Wind and Heal, maybe add one point on Time to get the stragglers that still live after fireball and gale force.
Another build I might try is equally dipping in Heal, Shield, Fire and Wind.

As fir the stats I've added naked 500 HP and the rest in INT. Usually I run places alone but often times there's some people running around me.

When it comes to bosses it seems often I'm the tank which means me spamming heal crying momma while running circles. Not sure if it's because of sucky Warriors or my Dragon pet but often I don't even need to hit the boss to keep the aggro.
I did the same thing,I put 5 on fire,4 on Gale(not the 75% thing because it adds 75% of your current dodge chance),3 on heal (I didn`t put skill points on Lifegiver which recovers lost health and mana,Lifegiver restores the amount of mana that you have used to cast heal + increasing the range to 8m is useless and you will waste points there....unless you are making a full support mage then,yeah put 5 on heal) and now I`m at Lvl 15 and I have 2 unspent skill points and don`t know where to put them....I was thinking of putting them on Time Shift.You can make quite a terror with these skills,you can use the fireball+gale and then use time shift to slow them and then repeat fire + gale...this destroys them completely + you can recover some health by using heal...IMO this is a good skill build,but I don`t know if I`m going to put these points into Time Shift,any thoughts? :02.47-tranquillity:

[Luniette]

I did the same thing,I put 5 on fire,4 on Gale(not the 75% thing because it adds 75% of your current dodge chance)

Ye, I forgot the questions part.
Was gonna ask whether it gives straight 75% dodge increase on top of my current ~2% dodge making it 77% or increase my 2 cents by 75% making it around 3,5%.
If the latter is the case then I'ma ditch that upgrade. Heck, that increase wouldn't be useful even for a rogue.

Another one about heal. I had the mana return thing but didn't notice it so I figured the heal upgrades would only affect allies, not the caster. If they indeed work on caster as well then I guess there is a point in skilling for it.

[Shonex]

Well not so sure about heal there...At Lvl 15 you only get your mana back(the amount of mane needed to use the skill) and the skill does affect the allies but it heals health and mana for a small amount...IMO it doesn`t need upgrading,it`s better if you put these skill points into something else... ;)

[Shun Takashi]

so the increase health and mana doesnt affect the caster ?

[Shun Takashi]

my build so far is

Heal 3 (mana back, mana increase) if this doesnt regen my mana back i guess i made a wrong choice. ><....
Lightning ( 5)
Fireball 3 (
i dont know how many else i have left for skill but i think its 4. can anyone help.
and i dont know where to put that 4.
im thinking if its ICE or Time Shift.
and one on the Fireball (extend range/engulf)
if i choose ice 3 (jagged ice, arctic shatter)
if i choose time shift 3 (countdown of pain, timebomb)

any insight comment ?suggestion? opinion?
thanks welcome to all.

[Shonex]

my build so far is

Heal 3 (mana back, mana increase) if this doesnt regen my mana back i guess i made a wrong choice. ><....
Lightning ( 5)
Fireball 3 (
i dont know how many else i have left for skill but i think its 4. can anyone help.
and i dont know where to put that 4.
im thinking if its ICE or Time Shift.
and one on the Fireball (extend range/engulf)
if i choose ice 3 (jagged ice, arctic shatter)
if i choose time shift 3 (countdown of pain, timebomb)

any insight comment ?suggestion? opinion?
thanks welcome to all.
Well...You put 5 on Lightning,which is ok(if you want high damage on a single target),you need more than 3 on the fireball +I would suggest to add some points on Time shift just to have something to slow those enemies down.As I said if you want to fight some enemies use fireball+lightning then use time shift.... ;)

[limitbreak]

My set of skills everytime im going to rush on mobs,

Initial skill = fireball

Knockdown enemies+damage+damage overtime.

2nd skill= Time shift with root.

Heavy damage when hit + damage over time + Lock root (close range enemies cant touch you except range/mage type mobs) + upgrade the exploding clock to be more effective

3rd skill = Gale

Decent amount of damage + blowing them away from the caster

Then get an aoe pet. Voila

Then last skill i have is lightning for boss purpose.

[ShadowGunX]

ice is too cool in elite to freeze nd while warriors swipe them out. time shift hav longer cooldwn so nt mch use atm. in future wen there will b more then 4skil slot then it wud b nice. gale is nice as it does aoe+knockdwn. lightning for boss kill only. shield almost useless in elite. heal is for only those who dnt lije eating potions fireball is most imp.

[Libria]

Not sure if some of you realized this (I didn't at first) but you don't need to upgrade sequentially.

For lightning, I prefer the upgrades that do reliable damage rather than a chance for damage. I struggle to find a use for the Electrical Discharge upgrade. I don't need to cherry pick in a mob, and it's only 25% chance of being AOE. Against the lone end-level boss, it's pointless. I can spend that skill point a lot better.

20726

[ArticBlast]

Would you guys invest in positve surge? and others with a % chance?
I mean how often does it happen that you do a critt.

[Skeazeti]

ok the build i have is my version of a hybrid build. it does well vs both groups of mobs and single bosses.

Fireball 4/5 no scorch. Knockdown/Damage/DoT (i then spam my weapon AOE till they stand up)

Gale Force 2/5 outward squall use this to knock the enemies down again after they stand up. Spam weapon AOE then fireball again.

Lightning 4/5 no electrical discharge (its only there for boss killing uberness :D)

Livegiver 5/5 mana/HP regen for non stop killing action :).

[primaeva]

You're not going to be using Gale Force much in elites, just warning everyone. It scatters mobs out of taunt + AoE damage spells.

It's also one of the most pathetic damage spells you have. No DoT, no crit bonus, no increase damage.

The sole plus side is the fun combo-ing and 25% runspeed boost-- but prepared to fork out 10 plat once you hit 15/16 and endgame.

[Skeazeti]

yes you make a lot of sense prim, so where do you suggest i put my 2 points from gale force? time shift w/DoT?

[primaeva]

yes you make a lot of sense prim, so where do you suggest i put my 2 points from gale force? time shift w/DoT?

Yup. That's the highest damage boost you can get from a spare two points. If you have an extra one point, you can put it in the root or bomb spec. Root allows you to really amass a bunch of enemies because they can only take one step- stop - step - stop - etc while inside the globe, meaning they'll stack up near its perimeter once it's cast.

The bomb does a fireball's worth of damage once the clock expires (more obvious in elites, not so useful when you're levelling on normal mobs that die too fast anyway.

[Delirium]

4 fire (minus scorch)
4 lightning (minus the chance to AoE)
4 time shift (minus the dodge chance)
3 heal (pick your poison)

good AoE with fire+clock, still got lighting for bossing, and even have heal to boot! hard to beat that setup for all around goodness.

[Cody musiak]

Only if we can have 5 powers at the same time then ill add shield

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[Cody musiak]

My mage build for pve good for elite inan hesh is all your points in intelligence then upgrade fireball 5/5 and have heal 4/5 skip the one that has it expand its meters then have lighting 5/5 then for passives u should put agility 5/5 then might 5/5 then intelligence 5/5 then critical 1/5

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[Striderevil]

Delete mage char, start a rogue or war char lol

[Newcomx]

Hey guys, in case you aren't sure, my in game name is Sonic.

I'm a mage at the moment, and I"m just curious as to which path you're taking your mages. Heal without a doubt needs points invested in, what other spells do you recommend for an all around, top-notch build?

If u want to use heal, upgrade only for mana and that is Empower and Recharge Mana.

[Newcomx]

Would you guys invest in positve surge? and others with a % chance?
I mean how often does it happen that you do a critt.

My Crit passive stats 5/5 and often appears, not always. I usually use high crit pet, like ribbit, mccraw, colton, aspen, etc.

[Raymond05]

If u want to use heal, upgrade only for mana and that is Empower and Recharge Mana.

If you are going to use heal, only upgrade Empower. Mana recharge is only great when you are low level. But when you are capped or close to capping, it is quite useless. It is better to invest points on other skills and passives.

[Newcomx]

If you are going to use heal, only upgrade Empower. Mana recharge is only great when you are low level. But when you are capped or close to capping, it is quite useless. It is better to invest points on other skills and passives.

I'm using mana recharge because if my mana drop more than half, 1 time cast of lifegiver cannot full the mana. My playstyle is if I'm running solo, only cast lifegiver if health or mana drop more than half, but if with party, I'm always cast it whenever it ready.

[Raymond05]

If u want to use heal, upgrade only for mana and that is Empower and Recharge Mana.


I'm using mana recharge because if my mana drop more than half, 1 time cast of lifegiver cannot full the mana. My playstyle is if I'm running solo, only cast lifegiver if health or mana drop more than half, but if with party, I'm always cast it whenever it ready.

Well, if you really want those small amount of mana to be returned to you then use your heal and upgrade. But IMO, there are more better skills/passives to invest those 3 points. You can always use mana pots to be able to recharge your mana. They are cheap. Because when you use heal especially in higher elites where mobs hit hard, you already need a heal again but the cooldown is too long so you still use some potions. Do not worry about players asking for mana. They can always use their pots too. Sorcs are far more effective having 3/4 offensive skills. They are the best AOE damage dealer in the game.

[Newcomx]

Well, if you really want those small amount of mana to be returned to you then use your heal and upgrade. But IMO, there are more better skills/passives to invest those 3 points. You can always use mana pots to be able to recharge your mana. They are cheap. Because when you use heal especially in higher elites where mobs hit hard, you already need a heal again but the cooldown is too long so you still use some potions. Do not worry about players asking for mana. They can always use their pots too. Sorcs are far more effective having 3/4 offensive skills. They are the best AOE damage dealer in the game.

My playstyle more to supporting role of Sorc not go for damage. Beside, my passive already all 5/5 for Armor, Int, Crit, & Damage If i want to go for damage and bored playing supporting sorc, i'm using my roque. As warr type Tank and offensive, there sould be Offensive and supporting type of sorc also :D

[Aneheazatek]

should i drop heal for light or shield?

I have 4/5 in fire , 4/5 in frost , 4/5 in time lock , passive i have 5/5 Knowledge , 1/5 in agilty ,

I am level 21 atm.

I feel heal is good to a certain extent as the cooldown is very long and beside , all of us are spamming hp pots as we cant afford to wait for the cooldown.

I need some advise to buff up my mob kill ability.

Thanks all. :)

[Newcomx]

If u don't wanna use heal, drop heal for shield, choose between frost or time to drop, change with light, because light is sorc ultimate weapon against boss..

[Aneheazatek]

i am currently soloing map like tomb 3 and sometimes lock hunt.

i only have 2 spare points if i were to drop heal.

put both to lighting?

[Newcomx]

Use 4/5 FB (No scorch), 4/5 Lightning (No shock), 4/5 Time (No freeze), 3/5 (No displacement & hardened), 5/5 Knowledge. Is it enough skill point for Lvl 21?

[Aneheazatek]

Use 4/5 FB (No scorch), 4/5 Lightning (No shock), 4/5 Time (No freeze), 3/5 (No displacement & hardened), 5/5 Knowledge. Is it enough skill point for Lvl 21?

Right now my fire is 4 , my ice is 4 , my clock is 4 , my heal is 2 , my knowledge is 5 , my agilty is 2.

I am level 22 at the moment.

[Socrates]

I use fireball4/5 except the extented range thunder 3/5 shield 4/5 except the knockdown heal 4/5 except the extented range and 5/5 knowledge,agility,might this build I use it for PvE and if my teams has good tanks I use like 30-60pots in an elite run.As for PvP I use the passives I mentioned and the skills above except of thunder. To replace thunder I use curse 5/5. So in PvP I use fire,curse,shield,heal. Or when I do 1vs1 with rogues or mages that it obvious that I can kill I use fire,thunder,shield,curse it's really good build if you have the health to support it

[Nesox]

There is no such thing as a 'top notch all round build' for mage. Any build will have compromises if you are looking to mix pve and pvp. As for support vs offensive build... the best support IS offense.

Fire - 4 (no Scorch)
Light - 3 (add 15% dmg and 250% on crit)
Ice - 4 (no Arctic Shatter)
TS - 4 (no Time Bomb)
Shield - 4 (no displacement wave)

The rest of your points go into passives Int, Str, Dex, Dmg in that order.

I run full offense most of the time and will swap in shield for bosses where the limited range of TS is a liability anyway. Heal has no place in any pve build except at low levels. In pvp it gets 1 point. Pots are faster and heal just uses up space better used for offense. Unless you are one of the 0.5% of mages who use gale properly, or you like to solo, then skip that too. Curse also is useless in pve. This is what I run for pure pve. PvP is a very different build and does not hybridize well with pve.

[Daniel Banuelos]

If your a support stunner ill choose fireball all except scorch timeshift all gale all except dash heal all except the fsster regeneration on both health and mana

[Sky_is_epicgearz]

Just a heads up if you plan to do elites. using gale in elite can annoy some people xD and yes clock is hands down better than gale. reason being is that i would rather have a root for 8 seconds rather than a stun for potentially 4ish seconds and clock lasts the entire time of its cooldown so basically you can continuously root mobs, how awesome is that?
my general build is a hybrid (pve/pvp):

fire - 4/5 (without scorch)
lightning - 3/5 (no stun and no AoE)
clock - 4/5 (no bomb)
curse - 5/5
shield - 4/5 (no knockback)

reason i dont use heal is it arguably the worst heal in the game xD my mana pool can last for a very very long time. and the heal is next to useless for me in elites as well im better of spamming pots :)

passives are 5/5 for might, knowledge and agility
all stat point goes into int

if youre going for pve only get rid of curse and allocate your point elsewhere

good luck

[Sceazikua]

Actually scorch (upgrade of fireball not pet) is very awesome for PvE because the mobs always hit you with their normal attacks, not with skills like in PvP which means scorch is effective all the time, so they will miss 25% of the time. It adds up for the low dodge of your squishy smurf.

[Nesox]

Actually scorch (upgrade of fireball not pet) is very awesome for PvE because the mobs always hit you with their normal attacks, not with skills like in PvP which means scorch is effective all the time, so they will miss 25% of the time. It adds up for the low dodge of your squishy smurf.

Yes, but since they are already stunned for the first three seconds that means that Scorch effectively has a 2 second effect. That defensive buff is so minuscule as to not be worth the skill point to most.

[bachhus]

For my lvl 36 mage i use:
5 FIRE
4 ICE
5 CLOCK
4 SHIELD

Ice is better that light in pve just for the reason of damage over time and it has same base damage of light also it freezes mobs and light inly damages
But for pvp purposes light is better because quick damage and high crit

The reason clock is alot better then gale
Is because once again damage over time and mob control which roots mobs
So they cant touch you then you throw fire and ice at them. The damage over time on clock is insane as well as it covers a large area.

Shield is typically better then heal because it just gives you more survivability and the upgrades for heal are pretty much useless engame when you have a health pool of 3 k at least and a mana pool of 5 K

The mages job to me is aoe disables, aoe means area of effect, which is excatly what the skills do. Fire stuns for about 2 seconds Clock roots ice freezes.
And all of these skills have damage over time if you get the right skill points and adding all these damage over times your mage will start doing incredible damage.

[Magnumpyro]

My pve mage : fire (4/5) no reduce hit chance
Clock (5/5)
Shield (4/5) no knockback
Heal : only recover mana