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So, after three years of putting this off (actually, four years if we count that I started this playthrough to finally just get to Aman'lu), my mages (PC combat mage, Lothar combat mage, Deru and Taar nature mages) defeated the remaining bosses: Dark Wizard 1, Talon, Talon in the reliquary, the other dark wizards, the Archmage, and finally Valdis himself.

Now that mercenary is mostly complete (I need to do the arena and some quests specific to characters I don't use), I think it's time to summarize the ups and downs of my approach.

First, the good stuff:

4 summons: 2 combat 2 nature. These are an immense help, a rough equivalent of having a few fighters to soak up the problems that I meet. The combat mage summons are mostly there for damage, to synergize with the curses I use (e.g. thrusks for dehydrate) or be useful with resists against common damage types.

Spirit Embrace, Wrath of Magic, Drown/Dehydrate. between buffs, curses and the summons, I can do a solid +20-50% damage (averaged for the party), or barely take any damage.

Easy to control. With mirror mode on, and similar casting time spells (Frost Beam, Static bolt, Grave Beam, and Firespray), it becomes easier to avoid boss attacks and do solid DPS at the same time. Which leads to...

Easy boss fights. Barely needed potions, barely took damage (One accidental wipe at the ice cave dark wizard, the rest were handled easily). If somebody fell, I kept resurrect in hand's reach, and heal/nurture popped everyone back to full health when needed.

Multiple elements to handle resists: Fire, Lightning, Ice, Death and non-elemental.

Chance to freeze (20% on 2 characters with fast striking/area attacks), coupled with a reliable root spell. Now looking back... why was I dodging those Ganths again?

2 copies of summon provoke.

2 strong, reliable healers.

And for now, the negatives:

I die from a stiff breeze. The plagued death mage miniboss wiped my party in windstone fortress once.

I need mana steal or I'm chugging mana potions. around 8-10% is enough.

Strangely, it's not the bosses, but the minibosses or particularly large groups that had me reach for my power hotkeys. Instant hits (Qatall runecasters, Vai'Kesh Seers, and Plagued Windstone Fortress mages) are my bane as they can't be dodged or soaked up by my minions.

AoE attacks (Impale and friends), since I'm often working in mirror mode, AoE hits everyone. in the party.

some summing up:

I am currently level 43, some of my resists reach 70% (with spirit's embrace), my intelligence reahced close to 200, my single target damage (per character) is around 200-300 without curses (but with wrath of magic and enemy armor factored in).

so, yay.