Favorite mage archetype?

Part 2 or something, choose multiple if multiple/hybrid

 

Despite the amount of hate Arcanist gets, I think the concept of a Mana Bank fits mage the best. And while the lack of sustain is certainly a big issue, I think if Riftwalker didn't have the insane damage potential that it has, Arcanist would be a lot more popular

 

˙˚ଘo(∗ ❛ั ᵕ ❛ั )੭່˙ Lightbender! I want to be focused on being a support and sitting in the back healing. If anyone can help me become the number 1 healer message me. ♡ uwu ♡ *smooch* (˵ᵕ̴᷄ ˶̫ ˶ᵕ̴᷅˵) The orbs flying around you fit the color scheme of your diamond armor your forced to where endgame so it's so cute and matching. ‧⁺( ᵒ̴̶̷̥́ ◡ ᵒ̴̶̷̣̥̀ )⁺‧

 

what are you inhaling? but the last point is true

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actually arcanist is the most fun but pathetic, lightbender is also fun and all riftwalker is good for is buffing bender or speed, it had so much potential like ive said a million times but itnwas never acted upon

 

Arcanist is really cool, but not having access to mage heal makes the other paths a lot more attractive. I get that arcanist seems to fit well with manasteal/lifesteal builds, but the nullification of the heal spell makes the other paths much more attractive.

 

It is either lightbender or arcanist for me, I don't really like riftwalker that much even though the idea is cool, if arcanist got more compensation for how squishy and soft it is in its current state, it would probably place slightly higher than lightbender for me as a 1.20 mage main.

 

riftwalker= bad the other 2 are cool designs tho

 

I like arcanist but it needs buffs

 

From what I've tried:

Riftwalker is pretty nice but feels too vanilla for my liking.

Arcanist is very fun but also super reliant on potions which is a pretty big drawback imo.

Light Bender is by far my favorite as it incorporates a sustainable solo healer playstyle that's still pretty fun. A criticism I've heard about Light Bender tossed around a lot is that the gameplay is repetitive, and that I kind of agree with. However, you gotta keep in mind you don't just R-L-L, R-L-R, Left click, repeat last 2 five times, repeat all over again, you still have Ice Snake and Teleport, and not to mention combining a bit of Riftwalker with it honestly makes a pretty great playstyle. This is the biggest one so far cuz I've played this archetype the most and I do not regret a single thing. I will live a Light Bender enjoyer and will die a Light Bender enjoyer.

Also feel like I should drop this in here too about the mage tree - swap the placements of riftwalker and lightbender so that arcanist also gets to enjoy some of the former.

 

I disagree with this because then it ruins the Light Bender Riftwalker hybrid. If anything, I think Riftwalker should be thrown in the middle since Light Bender doesn't sync at all with Arcanist, and Riftwalker can blend with both Light Bender and Arcanist

 

I should've worded it better, but what I was trying to say is what you said

 

arcanist = meteor spam
thats to me, though.

 

Somehow all three archetypes encourage a melee hybrid type approach to building but none of them work very week for melee, especially lightbender

 

Arcanist is the most fun to play definitely. Lightbender is good but doesn't have a great gameplay loop, I haven't really played Riftbender considerably except for hybridizing it a little, but I just levelled up an Arcanist Mage to 105 and the gameplay loop of building up your bank until you can absolutely carpet bomb the area with spells is really fun. However, as people have already said, the actual sustain and dps practically isn't that great, and it's not really viable for the endgame in comparison to both other archetypes.