THE best combat mage ?

[flix]

The best school is probably one with the least immunes/least resistant mobs. I dont know which one it is.

Lightning. With Fire, you get the Skath, Morden, and other desert creatures that are resistant, immune, or even healed by Fire. Same with the undead and the Vai'Kesh for the Death mage, and Snow Varth/Kurgans/pretty much anything in Snowbrook for the Ice mage. But Lightning? Not so much. Plus, casting speed is high, you can attack through walls and obstructions, and the Gathered Bolt power is devastating, if you can time it right.

[Xzeihoranth]

well the corrosive eruption is a devastating skill with enough power ups i managed to get to 130% of max hp at level 2 but the most damage at one hit is 140-150k: brutal attack with elemental rage on! how is that possible?? with enough skill, dexterity, and fierce renewal at 25% or +. add the corrosive eruption from weaker creature next to the boss and you can do like 200k DAMAGE!!! truly devastating.... but the most powerful chars are the nature archmage and combat warlock grasping vine IV can get up to 20k per one although its hard to achieve that damage because the key is 4 "elven wedding ring" 1 "protector oath" 1 "harmony to all" 1 "guardian of the north" and that nackless from circle of four set: 25% nature magic!!

BW recipe Archamges Amulet. INT, 25% NM/CM damage, +2 CM/NM skills
And yes my Taar always has 4 Weddings and Harmony.

[unlimited]

Best combat mage?

The one that didn't die once during the game.

Not true.... my party kills insanely fast and many memberes go unconcious extremely often but with two healers they get up almost instantly.

Against a high dmg character CM can often be killed.

[Fiberfar]

Not true.... my party kills insanely fast and many memberes go unconcious extremely often but with two healers they get up almost instantly.

Against a high dmg character CM can often be killed.

And if I made a character that didn't die once, it'd say it would still be better than yours. I'm not trying to compare here. I can focus on survivability, damage or both, but I don't use parties, I solo. Therefore I prefer not to die once over doing the most damage.

Speaking of aether blast, it's counted as death magic/damage. It's probably the best offensive power in terms of pure damage (not counting corrosive eruption, which is counting on killing off a high HP monster), but as soon as you meet someone immune to death damage you're done for.

[Garena_sucks]

I find death magic the best, for it not only gives good spells at low mana cost but also health steal and corrosive eruption. Corrosive eruption is peerless as far as the AoE clearing ability is concerned.It gives over 100% of monsters health as damage at higher levels. I used this tactic many times. I just entered into large hordes like those in Zaramoth's horns in invulnerability of my nature mage, used corrosive eruption, a few soul lances and ka-boom. Chain reaction. All dead. But is also worthwhile to improve other skills as many standard monsters in particular regions are immune to death. Best thing about death is that the curse used to amplify its damage amplifies it by 75% or so(am I right I know for sure it is above 65), and that's really high. On top of that it decreases CAST RATE by same percent and that's really difference making, also the dps, though it might well be lower.Debilitation and death magic really works well. But also improve a bit in lightning and lots in quickened casting. Grave beams and soul lances are devastating with quick cast.

[Ishtarr]

If we count out immunities, I'd go fire. Arcing and The Life Leech aren't as useful as ignite in my opinion. With Fireball it's as good as a curse since you get AoE ignite. Detonation is a nice power for some raw damage. But in all honesty, the best CM is the one you're geared for. If you've got a full Elven Battlemage Set, then by all means go ahead and roll lightning...