Mage.
Your Arena of Champions guide.

Your Mage game plan

Mage offers two damage plans built around a shared control toolkit. Fire looks for opportunities to turn critical strikes and prepared casts into a threatening window. Frost makes roots part of its damage and stun setup. Neither plan removes the need to manage Mana, distance and the opponent you are deliberately leaving alone. Our recommended first goal is a clean sequence: create space, establish useful control, then spend damage while your partner can contribute. That is more dependable as a learning plan than opening with every available cooldown.

Choose your Mage specialization

Fire

DamageB tier

Fire gives a pair an identifiable attack window and access to the shared Mage control kit. It asks the partner to help create usable casting space and avoid undermining that control with unrelated pressure.

Pyroblast

A major Fire attack with a continuing burn component.

Combustion

A dedicated offensive window for the Fire plan.

Polymorph

A shared Mage control whose damage-break conditions matter to the team.

Watch the tradeoff: A planned burst can lose value when interrupted or forced into an unsafe position. Familiar spell names do not establish a guaranteed free-cast sequence.

Try this: Use practice to distinguish your available instant opportunities from casts that need your partner to create room.

See the placement notes →

Frost

DamageA tier

Frost offers a coordinated pair useful links between creating space, controlling a target and applying pressure. That flexible contribution to an exchange earns an A here without asserting that its damage beats Fire in every matchup.

Ice Lance

A Frost attack with a specific relationship to controlled targets.

Deep Freeze

A specialization control to evaluate with its stated target conditions.

Frost Nova

A shared close-range root that can help create space.

Watch the tradeoff: Control states and target conditions require attention. A partner who breaks the intended setup can remove the opportunity the Mage was trying to create.

Try this: Call the control target separately from the damage target, and read Deep Freeze’s current conditions before relying on it.

See the placement notes →

Make one opponent unavailable

Polymorph is a way to remove an opponent from the immediate exchange, not a damage amplifier on your current victim. Its native aura breaks on damage and heals its bearer over time. We would normally reserve it for the opponent your team is leaving untouched. Frost Nova roots nearby enemies, while Cone of Cold affects a cone and slows; face the threat before expecting that cone to connect. Counterspell interrupts a cast rather than replacing every other control tool. Agree who handles the next cast so you do not spend both players' answers on a single spell.

Give Fire and Frost different setups

Fire's long Pyroblast cast needs protection or a relevant talent effect. The current Hot Streak choice specifically turns Fire Blast critical strikes into an instant Pyroblast; do not import a different version's trigger. Combustion raises critical-strike chance, so we would align it with a target your team can keep exposed. Frost gives Ice Lance extra damage against rooted targets. Deep Freeze normally needs a rooted enemy; Winter's Chill removes that condition but lengthens its cooldown. Without that talent, establish the root first. Roots can break under damage, so execute the window deliberately rather than expecting a permanently frozen target.

Trade an escape for a better position

Blink can remove stuns and roots while moving you; using it for a small positioning improvement may sacrifice an answer to the next setup. Ice Barrier provides an absorb, while Mana Shield asks for a larger upfront Mana payment. We would avoid refreshing defenses without considering the remaining fight. Ice Block clears harmful effects and grants immunity, but its incapacitation also stops you acting. Use the pause to plan where your teammate is and what will threaten you afterward. Shimmer, if selected, adds Blink charges at increased Mana cost: extra movement is useful capacity, not a reason to ignore resource management.