Needless to say, the sorceror is one of the most powerful characters in hellfire and certainly the most devastating character class in diablo classic. Even without any equipment (or wearing cursed items only at that), the sorceror can easily overwhelm most monsters in hell/hell. An experienced mage will certainly have no problems at all with any monster, even the triple-immunes. The key to the sorceror's power lies in the proper usage of magic.

Introduction

Magic is an extremely unbalanced part of diablo. Three spells (one in each realm) are the sorceror's most powerful weapons against the minions of hell. Fireball is by far the single most devastating weapon for a mage, being capable of doing way more than 1500+ damage (even with fire resist, the damage is still a fantastic 400+). Throw in splash damage and you have a weapon that deals 2500+ damage to one monster and 1000+ to its neighbours. Chain Lightning wield properly can devastate whole mobs of non-lightning-immune creatures due to the huge number of chains that can be released with one cast. And these weapons cost only 10 and 18 mana (minimum) respectively, an extremely cheap cost compared to the damage they inflict. Throw in Flash to kill the non-magic-immunes and you have a class that simply rocks. Triple immunes a problem? The combination of the two 'stone' spells -- Stone Curse and Golem simply renders all enemies harmless. For greater information on spells, check out Armin's Spellcraft 101.

Styles

Essentially, there are two basic styles to playing a mage. One is the Artillery Mage, the other the Tank Mage (aka Tin Can Mage). Both these styles utilize the mage's heavy magic arsenal to crush the enemies but the fundamental difference lies in their approach to killing the enemies. Of course, there are other approaches to playing a mage, such as melee mage (ie Muscle Mage) and archer mages (ie Moor). However, such approaches tend more towards variant characters and will not be discussed since the point of discussion here is about normal, sane mages.

Artillery Mage

Usually characterized by a tremendous mana pool (often exceeding 1000) and high spell levels (19 or 20 depending), the artillery mage gives little care about the AC. Who needs the armour class anyway when most of the enemies usually die even before having a chance to hit me? From the style of artillery mage emerges two further sub-styles -- the staff-using mage and the shield-using mage. Both have advantages but IMO, the shield-using mage is far superior.

HELM - There are basically two good headgears for artillery mages.
#1: Thinking Cap (Stats: ac 2-4, +20% resist all, +30 mana, +2 spell level)
With +2 spell level and +20% resist, the Thinking Cap provides much firepower and magical defence that an artillery mage would gladly take. Graphics looks cool too.
#2: Obsidian Cap of Sorcery/Harmony (Stats: ac varies, +31-40% resist all, +16-20 magic or fastest hit recovery)
Provides excellent resistance, and together with either +magic, or improved hit recovery, aids the artillery mage greatly.

The Royal Circlet comes in very close but its lack of resistance might be a slight problem for certain setups. Does not have any +spell level or hit recovery too.

ARMOR - In my opinion, three good armour exists for artillery mages.
#1: Naj's Light Plate (Stats: ac 45-50, +20% resist all, +20 mana, +5 magic, +1 spell level)
No strength requirement, resistance bonus, +magic, +mana and +spell level. What else can you possibly ask for in a mage's armour?
#2: Obsidian Shirt of Sorcery/Harmony (Stats: ac varies, +31-40% resist all, +16-20 magic or fastest hit recovery)
Similar argument as for the Obsidian Cap of Sorcery. But no point having two harmony items though. The combination of an Obs/Sor Shirt with an Obs/Sor Cap should give max resist already, so saves you some space for +mana in the jewelry section.
#3: Scavenger's Carapace (Stats: ac -6-10, +40% resist lightning, +5 dexterity, -15 damage from enemies)
Doesn't look very mage-like but the -15 dfe really helps a lot to prevent being stunned. 40% resist lightning can be helpful too.

WEAPON - This is where the two 'sub-styles' come in. Choose either shield or staff.
#1: Dreamflange (Stats: +50% resist magic, +50 mana, +30 magic, +1 spell level, +10% light)
IMO the best and most common mage weapon possible. With such great bonuses to magic and spell level, you really shouldn't ignore this. Furthermore, use of Dreamflange permits shield usage too.
#2: Arch-Angel's Staff of Wizardry/<spell> (Stats: +2 spell level, +21-30 magic/<spell>)
The use of staves disallow shields but is also the only way to get level 20 spells. People say that staff graphics on a sorceror looks better than that of a dreamflange/shield mage.

SHIELD (if applicable) - There's basically only two choices.
#1: Emerald Shield of Something (Stats: ac varies, +41-50% resist all)
Obviously a resistance shield. With a max emerald, a Thinking Cap or Naj's Light Plate would be enough to push the resist all to a very decent 70%.
#2: Jade Shield of Brilliance (Stats: ac varies, +21-30% resist all, +12-15 magic)
Provides some little bit of resistance and adds magic.
#3: Holy Defender (Stats: ac 15, +20% resist fire, -2dfe, fast block)
Mainly for fast block, but the artillery mage don't really need it all that much. -2 dfe and +20% resist fire helps a bit though.

Obsidian/Absorption comes quite close too, with good resist and up to -3 dfe. A bit rare though as Obsidian is ilvl 24, while Absorption is ilvl 12.

JEWELS - No arguments here. +mana, +magic simply rules. Throw in +resist, +magic only when necessary. Dragon's/Wizardry and Obsidian/Wizardry are the best available.

DREAM SETUPS - Lots of variations here but here are what i deem to be two of the better ones. Other setups such as a harmony-using mage is also very viable and offers great prospects as well.

COMMENTS - In general, the artillery mage would not have problems with anything not triple-immune. Fireball and Chain Lightning will destroy anything not immune to fire and lightning respectively whereas Flash can easily take care of the rest which are not magic-immune as well (if any). Against triple immune, the only option would have to be Stone Curse-Golem combo which is extremely time consuming or the more troublesome action of changing to 'melee mode' using Zods (hopefully Dragon's) and Civerb's Cudgel.

Tank (Battle) Mage

The major and perhaps only difference between this and the artillery mages is the emphasis by Tanks on armour class. They will seek to get optimum AC (with fast block perhaps) at the cost of some spell levels and mana.

HELM - Mainly two helms for the Tanks.
#1: Royal Circlet (Stats: ac 40, +40 mana, +10 all, +10% light)
Good ac, highest mana provider, +magic as well. Only disadvantage is that it doesn't add spell levels or resistance.
#2: Gotterdamerung (unidentified Stats: ac 60, the rest irrelevant)
Very high AC but that's about it, a Godly Awesome Great Helm of nothing.

ARMOR - No options here. A saintly or awesome full plate providing at least 150 AC. Suffixes would be a bonus of course but the main bulk of the AC should come from here.

WEAPON - Not very much choice but...
#1: Dreamflange (Stats: +50% resist magic, +50 mana, +30 magic, +1 spell level, +10% light)
IMO the best and most common mage weapon possible. With such great bonuses to magic and spell level, you really shouldn't ignore this. Furthermore, use of Dreamflange permits shield usage too.
#2: Civerb's Cudgel (Stats: -2 magic, -5 dex, +200% dmg vs demons)
The ultimate triple-immune-bashing item. Nothing more needs to be said.
#3: King's Sword of Slaughter (Stats: +100% to-hit, +175% damage, +20 damage)
The weaker alternative to Civerb's Cudgel since to-hit is a bit irrelevant against statues.

SHIELD - Fast block would probably be essential, but some Godly shields might help tip AC to optimum values.
#1: Stormshield (Stats: ac 40, +10 strength, +4 dfe, fastblock, indestructible)
Strength adders would certainly help put on that hefty full plate you use. Fastblock and high AC are good but +4 dfe serves only to 'improve' your chances of being stunned.
#2: Godly Shield (or some Awesome/Holy Shield of Tiger)
High AC, which should ideally be higher than Stormshield's value of 40. Suffix is largely irrelevant to mages anyway. Of Ages would reduce repair costs (though you wouldn't need it).

JEWELS - Enough Zods to wear that plate, Wizardry otherwise. Two Obsidian and one Dragon for prefix should do the trick.

DREAM SETUP - The suffixes and prefixes can be thrown around but ideally, this is what most dream Tanks would look like.

COMMENTS - Tanks are basically invincible at high levels. Against triple immunes, they can easily switch to Civerb's Cudgel/KSOH outfit and join his lifeless pal (ie Golem) in the statue bashing act. difference is likely to come in the 40-60% difference in fireball damage compared to Artillery Mage.

The In-Between Mage

Most people tends to play the Artillery Mage or the Tank Mage but my personal favourite lies in between. Combining the high spell level of the Arty with the high AC of a Tank (of course lower than both though).

You might be left thinking... lower resist, comparable mana, rather low ac, lower magic, so what good is this? The purpose of this middle-AC setup is to give enemies only about 50% to-hit or less. This level of to-hit, together with prefect or near perfect blocking, will give the mage many chances to recover in case of accidental swarming (ie when blind teleporting for quick experience). At the same time, the level 18 spells is high enough to make a difference in the number of FB's needed to kill most creatures. A level 18 Chain Lightning is also pretty much more devastating than a level 16 one if channeled properly. To me, 70% resist and 75% makes almost no difference, so...

Conclusion

In any case, whichever of these styles you follow, it makes little difference. Normal mages are a joke in Diablo, even naked mages or beyond naked mages are rather grossly overpowered and is merely a test of mouse-clicking skills. Perhaps the only way to go is muscle maging, as the melee skills of a sorceror is really 'fantastic'. =P.

After all, with such powerful spells at his disposal, what more can a mage possibly want? Equipment are but a luxury, whereas skill is what makes a mage.

Ice(BNR)

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