Hexen/Mage



The only character without a starting melee weapon, Daedolon the Mage is at his best at medium and long distances. His 2nd and 3rd weapons require more mana than other characters’, but he’s the only one who can deal damage with frost and electricity. The Mage is generally considered to be the high-risk high-reward character of the three, having the most powerful arsenal in terms of overall effect but having lower speed and armor protection than the others. With a bit of strategy, the Mage overcomes his weakness and is the deadliest of the three characters.

Weapons

 * Sapphire Wand is the only long-range weapon which doesn’t require mana. It’s fast and accurate, but deals an awfully small amount of damage, at least on one opponent. However, it penetrates through multiple enemies, damaging them all at once, giving it a higher max damage potential than the other weapons. What's more, centaurs/slaughtaurs and the Heresiarch can't deflect the projectiles. While the first weapons of other classes generally become outclasses upon acquiring the second weapon, the wand retains much of its usefulness, especially against far away enemies.


 * Frost Shards are good in a close combat. Mage fires a lot of shards, each of them being not very effective, but if all of them (or at least most of them) hit an enemy, they will deal a significant amount of damage. When fired point blank, it deals a good amount of melee damage instead of firing shards. Not effective against far away targets, obviously. Still, shards deal frost damage, freezing enemies. This means, monsters will shatter just like Wendigos always do. It’s useful when you don’t need monster to leave dead bodies behind (like Dark Bishops, who explode on death).


 * Arc of Death creates a lightning pole which moves chaotically. Whenever this pole hits an enemy, it continues hitting it about 3 seconds. It’s the only weapon which cannot be deflected by Centaurs’ shields. Moreover, it’s extremely effective against them, dealing tripled damage to Centaurs.


 * Bloodscourge fires three deadly self-guided fireballs, which explode on impact on strong enemies or walls. It also has a lesser penetration value, allowing it to go through weaker enemies.

Usage of Artifacts

 * Mystic Ambit Incant: Gives a lot of mana. First of all you will receive blue mana. If you got your maximum, and this artifact can give you more, the rest will go to green mana, but won’t exceed the limit anyway.
 * Flechette: Mage uses this potion just like it was used in Heretic. Flechette is put down and explodes after about a second, dealing a significant amount of fire damage. The damage bypasses protection offered by Centaur/Slaughtaur Shields or the Heresiarch's reflection spell.
 * Icon of the Defender: Invincibility (doesn’t protect against instant death). As long as Mage is invulnerable, enemies’ projectiles are reflected back just like from Centaurs’ shields and Disks of Repulsion.