Welcome back for the second rider spotlight of Dragons of Elanthia. This time we have a studied practitioner of the arcane arts, who can strike down distant enemies with astonishing accuracy … because a wizard did it. This is The Mage.
Not every rider or dragon has to have some amazing support skill that enables teammates. Some are perfectly comfortable being selfish about their skills, and the Mage is a perfect example of this. You won’t see her helping out allies in any way, unless you count blasting the enemy team away with a storm of dark energy as helping.
Speaking of dark energy, there’s the matter of her primary ability, Darkblast. This sends a projectile spinning off across the battlefield, homing in on the unfortunate foe you’ve targeted. It might not be as fast as a Fireball or a volley of Magic Arrows, but it makes up for this in accuracy. Enemies have a chance to duck behind cover or outrun the missiles, but more often than not enemies just end up with a procession of purple orbs chasing them to their death. And if you’ve caught them in the open … that’s their problem.
" The mage is a formidable foe to face in the open skies."
While the Mage is more than capable of leading an assault from afar, she’s also comfortable charging into the middle of the fray. Of course, if you had the powerful shielding of her Nightshade ability on your side, you’d feel fine about it too. While Nightshade is active, you take drastically reduced damage from any and all sources, whether it’s a fireball to the face or crashing into a wall. This extra survivability can give you the time you need to launch that last, critical Darkblast.
Now if all of this makes the Mage seem like a loner, that’s because she is one. She can lead a sustained charge by herself, particularly with the aid of her Energy Sap passive. Every time she strikes an enemy, she regains some endurance based on how much damage was dealt. So sometimes you’ll launch a Darkblast at an enemy, then get into some sort of tangle with another foe, only to have Energy Sap grant you that last little bit of endurance you need to escape.
That about sums up the Mage. She might not be much of a team player, but she’s a formidable foe to face in the open skies. Join us next time when we take a look at one of the environments we’ve been working on for Dragons of Elanthia, and don’t forget to leave questions and suchlike in the comments!
