Flashy particle effects and spammy spells are what made the mage class of Torchlight so amazing. In Torchlight 2 the ‘Embermage’ packs more spells to mess around with and a nice charge ability leaving us to fire at our heart’s content without worrying about the mana cost. They’re still focused on damage though, much like our Berserker, and as any good mage knows, they’re a squishy bunch. Let’s build our ‘Embermage’ to dish out the damage while avoiding a broken wand.

Warning: The Embermage relies on micromanagement. That means you’ll be doing lots of clickng to avoid enemy fire while using every available keyboard skill button to dish out the damage. This isn’t for the casual player – unless you decided to play on the casual mode.

Before we get into the skill trees of the Embermage, just remember this. The Embermage is centered around skills and elements. To mazimise your damage output you’ll want to choose 1 element and stick with it adjusting your gear to fit that element. After that, stack your stat points into ‘Focus’ to gain more from your spells and start blowing monsters up left, right and center!

 Inferno Skills

• Magma Spear

• You’ll start off with this skill, and it’s not a bad one to have; but it’s main appeal is to pierce everything infront of it like a… spear. Too bad Torchlight II is a much more open-spaced world. I’d suggest removing it from the skill shop and placing the point elsewhere. It’s your call.

• Magma Mace

• It’s like having Eviscarate again! Magma mace deals a healthy amount of fire damage to everything it its 5m arc and setting them on fire. Good old fire. Grab this and wave it around a bit.

• Firebombs

• A nice little AoE trap to have in your arsenal. When you see a group of enemies in the distance, taunt them over and cause a pit of flame to erupt in their path. You’ll get the first strike and potentially cause them to enter a panic.

• Blazing Pillar

• Flying balls of foe-seeking fire? Sounds good! What’s better is it builds a healthy amount of charge; something we’ve focusing on with this particular character.

• Infernal Collapse

• Now a giant extenting fireball? This tree is great! Throw a point in here once it unlocks at 28 and get ready for some extreme skill management with this one.

• Immolation Aura

• Basically fire armour around you for anyone who comes close. We’re planning on this being a kiting character will lots of micromanagement so don’t expect to get hit all that much. Avoid this.

• Firestorm

• Now that’s an enticing name if I ever heard one! If you’re focusing on fire damage over ice (we’ll be focusing on ice) then the added fire damage susceptibility on top of the fiery AoE makes this a no-brainer.

• Charge Mastery

• Pump points into this! Your charge rate will increase a nice amount with each point meaning more time to proc that 0-mana casting state!

• Elemental Attunement

• A base 1% boost to each of your elemental effects makes this passive skill sound boring. And it is. Avoid it.

• Fire Brand

• An additional 33% fire damage when you strike a burning foe? If you’re heavily invested into fire then you’re sure as hell going to want this. If not, just avoid it. I don’t even need to explain why.

• Icy Blast

• I picked this up with the point saved from Magma Spear and never looked back. It’s a set of 5 frost bolts firing outward toward enemies. Good for multiple hits on lots of enemies – or even a single if you’re stood close enough. Get this with your first skill point.

• Hailstorm

• If you’re up for some speedy skill micromanagement then get this at level 5 or so. A wide area of hail will fall from your cursor location when you fast and the 2 second cooldown will mean lots of tabbing between this and your primary skill.

• FrostPhase

• You’ll blink from one place to another with this skill causing frosty death upon each location. A lot of fun can be had with this considering it lacks a cooldown period. Just be aware of its fairly low damage and keep an eye open for any frozen enemies at the end!

• Elemental Boon

• This boosts damage and armour values of every element availble to you – and your allies. For that reason, it’s probably only best to pick this up whenever you have a spare point. And even then only when you’re planning to play with other people. It’s just a hassle to keep 18 second buffs applied consistently.

• Frost Wave

• You’ll gain access to a set of piecing ice bolts at 28. You can’t go wrong here!

• Ice Prison

• Encase foes in a prison only you can traverse while they damage themselves trying to break it? This sounds like a reason to just cast, stare and laugh. Go for it!

• Astral Ally

• You’ll want this for those champion fights. Use this every minute to summon a 20-second clone of yourself to copy your every move. What’s better than 1 high-damage Embermage? Two!

• Staff Mastery

• Staff Mastery is obviously only useful to those using staves. Sadly, they’re melee only. If you decide to go with a staff then rely on this to cause all of your staff-damage skills to lower the elemental resistances of your enemies by a good amount per point. We’re going with dual-wands however, we get our own version.

• Frozen Fate

• A base 20% chance to freeze 4 enemies after we kill another. Freezing is always good for the kiting mage and a speedy killing spree will blow this fairly often. Put at least one point in this at around level 7.

• Ice Brand

• Just like its fire counterpart this passive ability conveys a further 33% ice damage to frozen enemies as you strike them. Obviously chose this one of the fire/electric versions if you’re focusing on ice damage.

• Prismatic Bolt

• The storm skill houses every element you could think of all in a single skill. If you don’t want to focus on a single element then Prismatic Bolt will fire 5 shards of magically charged poison, ice, fire… you get the picture. Elements everywhere.

• Shocking Burst

• If you like Star Wars you’ll probably enjoy this one. Using your hand you can send bolts of electricity flying everywhere for as long as you hold down the skill button. Get this and nail it down whenever your charge kicks in.

• Thunder Locus

• You summon a nice thunder storm for your enemies to bask in for it’s breif duration. You can just leave it there too as you cast other magical hell at the ugly buggers. It’s just one of those skills!

• Arc Beam

• Channel this ability to pierce foes in a straight line. Any sad little demon killed by the beam will explode causing the beam to split and hit enemies outside of the line. This looks like a good Charge sink to blast out during your 0-mana phase after level 21.

• Death’s Bounty

• Binding all foes within 6 meters of the target, you’ll get a healthy portion of life and mana returned to you as they each fall by other means. This effect can also float to heal other allies should you be playing with company. Too bad it isn’t passive. You’re probably better off sticking with your potion button.

• Shockbolts

• This reminds me of my Warcraft days. 4 electrical bolts travel along the ground and striking whatever decides to connect. For a level 35 skill we can probably go with something a little more… entertaining. It’s a miss.

• Shocking Orb

• It’s the more interesting version of the above skill! Too bad we need to wait until level 42 to get it. A slow moving ball of electrical death which discharges onto nearby foes as it drifts by… it sounds so relaxing to watch. Lets get it.

• Prismatic Rift

• You’re a mage. You don’t want to get hit. And the off chance to teleport striking enemies away from you is a perfect compliment to that focus. Get this and never look back.

• Wand Chaos

• A base 8% chance to cause a ‘bizzare effect’ to any enemy struck by our dual-wand set up sounds exciting. Put 3 or 4 points into this. That should be enough. We’ll be more focused on skills later on anyway.

• Lighting Brand

• It’s the obligitory electrical element damage boost! If you’re heavily invested in your electricity then you’ll probably want this.

Remember to build around a single element and you’ll be seeing your focus-heavy embermage blowing things up before your friends even manage to get within range. Next up we’ll be taking a look at the Engineer – because we love Team Fortress 2.