Mage - Leveling Build
- Good for Solo Play
- High Single Target DPS
- Easy to Play
- Good Mobility
- Squishy
- Low AOE DPS until high level
Overview
Even though the Mage offers great AOE DPS at end game, this class also offers incredible damage throughout the leveling experience, making for a fantastic choice for those players looking to play solo without having to rely on others to level up in Ashes of Creation. Its incredible single damage DPS is also very easy to pull off early with simple rotations.
Skills
Ignore the skill unlock order for the time being. Upgrade as you see fit depending on the content you do and if you are leveling solo or in a group.
Equipment
Graveplate set instead of Sandbastion is another good and easier to get option, there isn't a huge difference but you'd be missing out on the unique Sandbastion set stats and get some Intelligence instead.
Weapons
Stamina
As a Mage and especially while leveling and particularly in solo play, avoid focusing on 
Sustained Guard, as your primary strategy relies on dodging and sprinting. Instead, start by prioritizing 
Escape Velocity to boost your sprinting speed in combat (default key C). This becomes essential later on, allowing you to kite enemies during cooldowns or escape danger quickly.
Next, invest in 
Recuperation Training and Evasive Maneuver to increase your dodge evasion rate. These upgrades also unlock 
Springstep, significantly enhancing your mobility by improving dodge distance.
Finally, use any remaining points on Guard Training to lower stamina costs when blocking (default key E). Adding 
Mental Fortification can also be useful, as it reduces your chance of being crowd-controlled (CC’d) while blocking, which can help in specific situations.
Rotations
- Start the rotation by casting 3
Firebolts before using 
Combust for quick burst damage. Follow up with 
Blink to make your next 
Lightning Strike cast instantly and deal incredible damage.
- Once you've unlocked
Fuse, make sure to start the rotation with Lightning Strike to make use of the extra damage you deal while applying burns to Shocked targets.
- This rotation focuses on dealing high burst damage to single targets, being the bread and butter of the build at early levels once you've unlocked
Shatter and 
Shattering Shards so comboing frost and lightning spells becomes much more powerful.
- Start the rotation with Frostbolt then continue to auto-attack using your wand until the target is frozen and your Frostbolt cooldown is reset. Once frozen, use Lightning Strike but don't cast the entire channel just to trigger Shatter for extra damage. Use Frostbolt next to also trigger Shattering Shards for extra damage before using auto-attacks again until the target is frozen once more.
- Once the mob is frozen, use
Chain Lightning to trigger Shatter instead of waiting for Lightning Strike cooldown to come back up. You can then repeat the rotation from the beginning either on the same mob or on a new one.
- This rotation is best for group PVE when you have a Tank who pulls and keeps aggro well while you're AOE farming in places like Sunheaven, Oak, etc. This lets you deal damage without being attacked. Start by placing
Arcane Circle to increase the damage of your next skills. Stay inside the Arcane Circle area to keep the damage bonus. This also lets you apply several elemental effects at the same time, which increases your total DPS.
- Use
Hoarfrost to apply Chill, then use 
Cone of Cold to freeze the enemies together. This also makes it easier for your teammates to deal damage and your Tank to do his job. Place 
Magma Field on the enemy group so it applies burn and deals damage while you channel other skills. Channel 
Ball Lightning to hit all frozen enemies, trigger Shatter for extra damage, and apply Volatile so Chain Lightning deals more damage.
- Follow up with Chain Lightning so
Prismatic Beam hits with all elements and deals very high damage.
Shell: Use this as an emergency skill. It creates a large shield that reduces damage taken. Do not use it on cooldown, as you may need it when the group takes AOE damage or if the Tank loses aggro.
Enchant Weapon: This should usually be active on a melee DPS in your group. The Frost effect is recommended to help freeze enemies more often.
Consumables
While leveling, make sure to also use the appropiate level consumables, starting with 
Novice Scroll of Adventuring Experience at level 1 & 
Apprentice Scroll of Adventuring Experience at level 10 before working up to 
Journeyman Scroll of Adventuring Experience once you reach level 20. Level 20 is also where you can start using 
Elixir of Intelligence for extra damage while 
Fruit Salad can be used from level 1 to max while 
Chicken Salad is another good choice if you can get access to it once you have the level requirement.
