Mage - PvP Build
- Good for Solo Play
- High Single Target DPS
- Easy to Play
- Great Mobility
- Squishy
- Difficult to play well
Overview
This PVP Mage DPS build focuses on dealing high damage to targets while remaining very mobile and reasonably tanky thanks to 
Shell. This build also makes use of many instant cast skills to both kite and deal high damage, making it very dangerous when played well as its very hard to pin down. 
Slumber is the main CC ability and is one of the strongest skills in the game as it allows you to do a full rotation on a target before they can react. While this build does best in small scale PvP and 1vs1 duels, it can still perform well in larger PvP content with an aggressive playstyle.
Skills
Feel free to ignore the skill unlock order for the time being. You can also consider the use of 
Arcane Circle when fighting in a stationary situation like on boats and you can actually put it down and blast damage down in the water or on other boats, however, it is quite rare to actually get to use this.
Magma Field is another very situational skill that can do good damage if your enemies are stacked together and caught in AOE CC but it depends a lot on the PVP situation you find yourself in as this is much less likely to happen during small scale PVP. 
Enchant Weapon is also good if you have melee players to apply Chilled so you can follow-up and Freeze them.
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. Another important item piece you should keep in mind is the 
Anchorite's Stole which can be expensive but gives a lot of mag power for cheap. Rosethorn pieces can also be replaced with Seafoam but make sure you keep 5 pieces of heavy, either Graveplate or Sandbastion to have the 12% physical damage reduction.
Mirageborn Sandwrought Great Mace can replace 
Shadowfang Gloomfang Greatsword, normally being a cheaper choice that can last a long enough time at end-game.
Weapons
Stamina
As a Mage in PVP, don’t focus on 
Sustained Guard since you’ll mainly rely on dodging and sprinting to reposition during PvP instead of staying in place and blocking unless of course you are caught and CC'd and cannot move out. And so, start with 
Escape Velocity to increase your sprinting speed in combat (default key C). This is very useful later for kiting enemies during cooldowns or escaping danger quickly.
Next, put points into Recuperation Training and Evasive Maneuver to boost your dodge evasion rate. These also unlock 
Springstep, which makes dodging smoother and improves your mobility.
Finally, spend any leftover points on Guard Training to reduce stamina use when blocking (default key E). Adding 
Mental Fortification can also help by lowering the chance of being crowd-controlled (CC’d) while blocking, which is useful in some situations.
Rotations
- This rotation relies on hitting enemies with Slumber before using Arcane Circle to boost your
Lightning Strike damage as they are still CC'd and you can channel the entire spell using the extra damage gained from Arcane Circle.
- Use
Blink next to make your 
Frostbolt cast instantly and Chill the target before using 
Firebolt 3 times then following-up with 
Combust for extra damage (This damage is also increased by 
Fuse). Get in close range and use 
Cone of Cold to refresh the Combust duration and deal even more damage while freezing the target which will allow you to channel a full cast of 
Chain Lightning and also trigger 
Shatter on the same target.
- This is the perfect rotation to pick kills or AOE DPS. Use
Hoarfrost on top of a stack of enemies or a single target before using Cone of Cold to freeze the target in place. Follow up with Blink so you can instantly cast Lightning Strike to also trigger Shatter for extra damage.
- Finish up the rotation with 3 Firebolts followed by Combust. Once done, you can transition into a Slumber if your target is still alive and you need to disengage. However, you can add this part of the rotation before freezing the target in order to reset Combust duration and deal more damage, but this is mostly meant for single targets.
- This rotation is intended to deal high burst damage to enemies caught together in a clump. You can clump them up using Slumber and put a small group to sleep before moving closer and using Hoarfrost to apply Chill. Once chilled, quickly use Cone of Cold to freeze the targets before using
Ball Lightning.
Blink to remove cast-time from Lightning Strike and hit all enemies while also proccing Shatter. You can also do this without the Blink depending on the situation.
Prismatic Beam: Use this to finish off CC'd enemies, either frozen by yourself or rooted by allies. While the damage isn't very high, it is still more than capable of finishing off targets and applying pressure in larger group fights.
Shell: This is your main defensive skill, offering a massive barrier for you and it helps a great deal with sustaining damage. You generally want to use this before beginning a fight and on on cooldown throughout extended fights.
