- Blazing Pillar: Four intense pillars of flame seek out and immolate any enemies within range. Mana Cost: 38, +77-138 Fire Damage. This was one of the coolest looking skills at PAX. The pillars actually use pet code so often all four will converge on one foe, burning him over and over while he tries unsuccessfully to run away. Watch the videos and you will notice it instantly.
- Frost Phase: Teleporting through the cold void of the nether realms, icy concussions freeze enemies near the points of entry and exit. Mana cost: 29 +82-123 Ice Damage, +15 Knockback, 74% Chance to Freeze Target for 3 seconds. I can't imagine playing an Embermage without this ability... Interestingly, it goes up in mana cost as it levels so I think a lot of people will keep it at level 1 and just use it for the movement utility.
- Frost Wave: Shards of ice burst forth in a long column, impaling and freezing foes in two pulses of damage. Mana Cost: 25, +113-194 Ice Damage. This did the job, but I didn't use it much. Her other skills were just a lot sexier and flashy.
(Webbstre's Note: In the recent gameplay videos you can see this skill bounces off of walls.)
- Icy Blast: Five icy bolts chill and slow your foes. Mana Cost 7, +14-23 Ice Damage. This didn't have any points in it during the PAX build so I didn't try it. It looks similar to prismatic bolt but with ice. I'm not sure if they seek out enemies like prismatic bolt does or not.
- Infernal Collapse: A core of heat collapses at the target location, and then expands outward in a devastating blast. Mana Cost: 57, Cooldown: 1 seconds, +254-388 Fire Damage, +35 Knockback. This was an incredibly fun skill to play with. The delay was like meteor in D2, and it completely destroyed everything at it's point of origin. It left a cool lava pattern on the ground.
- Lightning Storm: A bolt of lighting from the heavens shatters into a mass of erratically moving bolts. Mana cost 35, +153-189 Electric Damage. This was like a point blank nova of charged bolts. It was effective for softening large groups, but most effective if you were in the center (which I didn't usually want to be as a sorceress).
- Magma Spear: A bolt of liquid flame that passes through foes, igniting them in its wake. Mana Cost 19 per second, +50-62 Fire Damage. This skill basically turns the caster into a fire-bolt gatling gun. The rate of fire is incredibly fast and its mana cost is low enough that you can basically replace your normal attack with it and still regenerate mana. Low damage, but effective.
- Prismatic Bolt: A flurry of fire, ice, and electrical bolts seek out nearby targets. Mana cost: 15, +99-144 Fire Damge, +99-144 Ice Damage, +99-144 Electric Damage, +99-144 Poison Damage, 15$ Chance to Poison Target, 15% Chance to Burn Target, 15% Chance to Shock Target, 15% Chance to Freeze Target. This fired a spread of enemy seeking missiles that could would even turn around and hit things behind you if that was the only target. Useful against monsters that resisted my main attack and could kill almost anything.
- Shocking Burst: Crackling engery bursts from the Embermage's hands, shocking and stunning all foes within about a 4 meter range. Mana Cost: 27 per second, 72-133 lectric Damage per Second for 2 Seconds. 50% Chance to Stun for 2 seconds, +2 Knockback. Hmm, “About 4 meter range?” Perhaps it's sometimes off by a centimeter or two. Anway... this skill turns you into Emperor Palpatine and the monsters writhe on the floor like Luke in Return of the Jedi... true story... Only this time Darth Vader isn't around to stop you and they end up popping like popcorn in a movie theater...pop...pop...pop...pop...splat. I normally don't like inferno style abilities, but this one is a lot of fun.
- Wild Magic
Passives are in the works for every character, and while the Embermage isn't set in stone, Marsh or Travis (forget who) told me that they are planning on adding some kind of wild magic abilities to the Embermage. Basically crazy stuff will happen, much to the monsters chagrin. This sounds pretty cool, but the concept is still in the early stages of development... Who knows what will happen?
- Charge Mechanic
Supposedly all classes are getting a type of charge mechanic... last review I talked about the Beserker's rage ability. While it may be subject to change, the Embermage will also get one. One of the ideas the devs talked about was that if she casts enough spells in a certain amount of time, she will enter a clear casting mode, where all spells only cost 50% mana for an unspecified amount of time. Perhaps this is when the wild magic stuff will occur more regularly?
- Conclusion
If you want to play an explosive, mobile artillery style character that thrives on staying one step ahead of the monsters and while lobbing death and chaos on them, this is the class for you. The Embermage plays like a cooler version of the D2 sorceress.
Ich hoffe es doch sehr.
