Mage

''' is a class in '.

Description
"Mages are keen intellectuals who have spent years studying arcane knowledge. This allows them to make their victims more vulnerable to magic damage."

List of Mages

 * Ogre Magi
 * Crystal
 * Puck
 * Razor
 * Lina
 * Light Keeper
 * Lich
 * Zeus
 * Winter Wyvern

Trivia
Mage is a class with high damage output. Similar to Naga, each buff/debuff acts as a multiplier to magical damage received by affected unit. Thus these debuffs stack multiplicatively.


 * 3 Mages: -35% magic resist means x1.35 magical damage received multiplier. So affected unit take 100% * 1.35 = 135% magical damage received.


 * 6 Mages: Another -45% magic resist. Affected unit take 100% * 1.35 * 1.45 = 195.75% magical damage received. Equivalent to a single debuff of -95.75% magic resist.
 * As Interaction with the Mage bonus, a unit affected by (3) Mage debuff and (2) Naga buff take 100% * 1.35 * 0.65 = 87.75% magical damage received.


 * It is easy to get their final class bonus since you only need 6 of the available 8 mages in the game. With just two of them are legendaries ($5) and just one Mythic ($4).

Species
There are 8 mages in the game, from the following species:


 * 1 Ogre
 * 3 Human
 * 1 Elf
 * 1 Elemental
 * 1 Undead
 * 1 God
 * 1 Dragon

Combination strategy
Mages bonuses increase the magical damage dealt by any unit, not just mages. Therefore, units with lots of magical damage can be very effective when paired together with mages. For example:


 * Tinker
 * Juggernaut
 * Wind Ranger
 * Viper
 * Shadow Fiend
 * Gyrocopter

Mages General Guide
Mages is an extremely powerful end game build, albeit an all-in strategy, because of the glass cannon-like nature of mages. It completely counters Warriors and Goblin builds, since armor and regen are useless against magical nukes. It is however countered by Knights, since the shield grants 75% reduction to magic. This means mages essentially wins 2 out of the 4 end game matchups, loses 1 and is even on 1 (other mage lineups).

Chesses rundown

 * Ogre magi (OM): Universally good early/mid game piece, good priority, likes tank items.
 * Crystal Maiden (CM): Terrible early/mid game piece, no damage no control, top priority late/end game piece.
 * Puck: Good multi-target nuke, awful sustained dmg, good for Dragon bonus.
 * Razor: Decent sustained dmg, amazing AoE nuke+slow. Top priority always, falls of end game, unless you can get lvl 3, in which case it's basically broken.
 * Lina: Very nice sustained dmg, outwordly single target nuke. Lina lvl 2 with 6 mage bonus can one shot basically any piece on the board.
 * Keeper Of The Light (Kotl): Insane AoE nuke. Top priority, keep in the corner for maximum AoE (usually)
 * Lich: Unfair-level nuke power. Insane damage, and it slows up to 9 targets at lvl 2 Lich. Extremely high priority, it's worth rerolling at lvl 10 (or even 9) to get it lvl 2 asap.
 * Zeus: Insane damage, and an even more insane passive God ability with mages : however, it is currently impossible to get 6 mages and the god bonus, considering 3 mages are Humans, and you can't even have 2 humans in your line up for the buff to activate, neither OM since it's species bonus is always active. Worth picking up even without the God bonus for it's excellent ulti, but it is significantly weaker without the absurd cooldown reduction, especially considering it has random aspects that were balanced by the fact that you could just spam this ulti.

Early Game
Early to mid game mages are terrible, so the strategy is to get all the mage pieces you can get, but actually use any other early game lineup until you can get the core pieces. Prioritize lvl 2 Crystal Maiden (CM) and Ogre Magi (OM), if lucky enough, get Razor/Lina/Shadow Fiend. Play OM as tank, especially if lvl 2. Basically nothing you get now will stay (apart from mages obviously) so just try to go for whatever the game is giving you, while getting mages. Knights is good to go for if you can, high survivability and many humans, great synergy, dragon is also a Mage/Knight link and goes with both. Anything tanky enough is good, Knights, Goblins/Mech or Warriors, don't matter. Even Druids if you get lots of em, you just want something tanky enough to front line in mid game, and get the edge in the early game. Tiny is a good unit, tanky and has elemental bonus with Razor, not vital tho.

Mid Game
Courier levels are important for mages, since all the good stuff is high cost. As soon as you get some mages upgrades, Razor and/or Lina, and at least 3 mage bonus, you made it into the mid game. You should have some sort of beefy front line by now. Now you should be getting your Razor and Lina to lvl 2, possibly get Kotl, start looking for Dragon Knight and Viper (optional strategy), and get an SF asap and try to fit it in your lineup. SF with 3 mages is actually the strongest unit in this phase of the game, humongous amounts of damage. Consider using it instead of CM (especially if lvl 2) as long as you have 3 mages. Assassins and Knights are your worst matchup at this stage, just try to protect your back lines and hope for the best. This is the toughest part for a mage lineup, you haven't power spiked yet and if your economy is bad you will lose. Keep yourself open for other lineups and switch to them if you're super unlucky with mages rolls. You can always stick to the initial lineup you made in the Early Game if your rolls are luckier for that. Beware tho, going back for Mages is hard. But also keep in mind a win is a win, maybe mages will work next match, don't stubbornly stay on a lineup that you don't get pieces for.

Late game
Boom baby, you made it, we power spiking now. Unless you have completely crap economy and you're dying, in that case you probably can only fight for a top 4, better than nothing. Look out for those upgrades if you don't have them yet. Get that Kotl if you can, it's a big power spike. If you get a lucky Lich put it it no matter what, it's basically a gg for this phase. Now it's time to start thinking about the complementary pieces. Go for Dragons if you had knights and/or dragons pieces. In that case try to get a DK and Viper to complete the set. Depending on the level of the Mage pieces and Dragon pieces, and if you have knights or not, decide if it's better to stick to mages, or if you can just use 3 mages and then put in dragons. As a rule of thumb, 6 mages with good levels are OP in this game phase, but so is 3 dragons with 3 mages and a couple Knights. Viper and DK ults are actually magical, so they become fairly broken with even just 3 mages. If you had the mages but not many dragons, or you had dragons but not many mages, keep them for safety. In the end game with 10 units you could still play them all.

Be mindful of humans, CM and Lina are humans, so is DK, it's fairly important to have the 2 humans bonus, since it's the only control you have, having 4 humans might be good, something like Omni + DK + Lina + CM. Not necessary but nice to have if it fits the lineup.

End game
If you get here with good economy and/or HP you're probably gonna win. Now concentrate on those upgrades and that Lich, it's imperative to get it to lvl 2 to seal the deal. Also you need 6 mages, but that should be done by now. You want 6/7 mages, which means you can drop one. You either drop Ogre in favor of something equally tanky that fits the lineup, or Puck if you haven't got dragons.
 * 1) Mage/Dragons : That means 6 mages + 2 dragons, the last 2 units should probably be knights. You can drop Ogre for a knight like Omni, Aba, CK or whatever tanky, that gives you the bonuses 6 mage, 4 knights, 3 dragons, 2/4 humans. This lineup should be basically invincible if you have good levels on your units. You can always go for 2/3 knights + something else if you really need it, like a Tidehunter if you really need the control. Don't make the mistake of taking even more dmg units, at this point Mage/dragons have all the dmg you want, you just want to survive long enough to win with that dmg.
 * 2) Mage/Goblins : Not as straightforward as the previous one. Goblin/Mechs are a fine front line, and Tinker, Clock and Gyro are amazing with mage bonus. However, 6 mages with 6 goblins is impossible, and 6 mages 3 goblins is kinda meh. 6 Goblins + 3 mages is good, but you won't transition into that now most likely. Your best bet is probably to drop Puck, and get a super beefy Goblin/Mech front line with Clock, Timber...Alch? And maybe a Gyro in the back or Tinker if you don't have Gyro (or Tinker is lvl 3 and Gyro NOT lvl 2). Don't get me wrong, Gyro with 6 mage bonus and CM pumping mana to him is broken. Or maybe 6 mages + 3 goblins + Tide or something. More testing required on this lineup, but it might be a good surrogate to Mage/Knights/Dragons
 * 3) Mage/Warriors : Again, you can't go 6 Mages + 6 Warriors, so you have to settle for 3 Warriors + something on the side, or 4 Warriors. Kunka and Juggernaut deal magical dmg with their ulti, the problem is, both of em use their ulti after quite a bit. Probably the worst Mages paring. But then again, it can work, all you need at the end of the day is for all of your abilities to go off and insta nuke those poor guys off of your game.

Little bonus: You might want to put SF in especially if lvl 3, just because of the damage he does with 6 mages, hard to combo with anything else tho.

End game counter
As i mentioned, Knights are the counter to this lineup. If your opponent is smart, he will actually use the Naga bonus as well which is easy to get with Tide + Medusa. That means 137% magical damage amplification with your 6 mage bonus, and a terrible 34% dmg with the Knight shield. Even without Naga bonus, the shield reduces the dmg to a measly 49% with the shield. You can still win, since Knights don't give the shield to everyone like 6 Goblin do, and the shield is luck based. If your opponent is countering you with Knights/Naga, there is nothing you can do. It basically becomes a RNG battle, who's gonna get the shield? Who's gonna get nuked? Who's gonna get silenced? Since Knights shield counters magic AND physical dmg, you don't have much of a choice in general, just outlive and outdamage and outluck them. Work on positioning to try and take down his control units if he has them, like Doom or Tide

God + Mage Strat
Gods + Mage:

Core Build: Mars Winter Wyvern Crystal Lich Zeus Puck Razor

Good to add:

Disruptor + Shadow Shaman + Tide/Medusa -> Instahex vs Level 35,40,45 + lockdown

Witch Doctor + Alchemist + Venomancer Lifesteal + annoying Plague wards(even more DMG with Zeus/fast game) + lockdown

Tinker + Timber + X -> Damage + tankyness

Shadow Fiend + Sven + Doom/Terrorblade strong tankline + nice harmony with magic resistance reduce

Second Razer 2 Stars is always a good choice.