The role of a Mage in a MOBA game is one of the most important roles as mages have the highest crowd control and burst magic damage. Being a mage requires patience and good positioning as mages are extremely squishy at any given time (early/mid/late) in game. Mage not only has the job of dealing heavy burst damage but to also support Fighters and Tanks early game as they lack damage at start.
There are 3 things you will need to follow to survive in the game while playing mage :
Positioning
Map awareness
Enemy items
Further explaining the points mentioned above,
Positioning
POSITION – behind tank
Mages deal heavy burst damage throughout the game but are extremely squishy so the best way is to hide behind a Tank/Fighter. Always let the tank take the damage instead of you and position yourself in a way that you can easily cast skills and damage the enemy and dominate the lane.
Map Awareness
Keep an eye on the Map
As being extremely squishy mages are free/easy kills for enemy assassins as mages lack mobility so if you learn positioning well combine it with map awareness to avoid getting ganked by enemy assassins and fighters.
Enemy Items
Check enemy items to counter
Weird point? No believe me, while playing mages always keep eye on enemy items especially fighters, supports and tanks as items provide a way to counter enemies. For example, you can reduce enemy’s life steal or healing from supports or increase penetration to melt beefy tanks.
Mages are fun to play as you can deal tons of damage without going to the front lines. MLBB provides a wide variety of mages with mechanism which are absolutely fun to play. As of September 2018 there are 18 mages namely: Lunox, Selena, Chang』e, Valir, Pharsa, Zhask, Odette, Vexena, Aurora, Cyclops, Kagura, Gord, Eudora, Nana, Alice, Harley, Karina, and Gusion.
Top picks
Vexana
Vexena is a mage whose specialty is Poke and Crowd Control (CC).
Her abilities are high damaging and cause CC effects on multiple enemy heroes
making her one of the top picked heroes in Epic rank and above.
Harley
Harley specializes in dealing heavy damage and is best for Poking.
He is a mage who has a blink ability allowing him to play aggressively.
He is not the best pick for ganking but is more effective when soloing or partnering with an aggressive fighter or assassin.
Kagura
Ever thought of perfect mage who can CC enemies has crazy burst damage and is gank proof then kagura is the one who has all the required skills. Kagura is one of the mages with highest difficulty and complicated mechanics. Kagura is one of the top picked heroes in legend and above ranks.
Alice
Alice is a mage who has the most AoE skills with decent Burst, CC and Blink.
Having complicated mechanics and difficult play style Alice is mostly seen in Mythic rank.
Cyclops
Cyclops is a mage with high amount of Damage and Poke. He does stupidly crazy burst damage mid game but is highly vulnerable. He lacks long range except for his ultimate which is a nightmare in 1 v 1 situations.
Best for Beginners
As for starting games with mages, in early ranks I』ll suggest playing these mages as they have good damage and decent mechanics which are easy to learn.
Eudora
Eudora is perfect for beginners as she has easy mechanics and top notch damage which can easily kill assassins, marksman.
Recommended Emblem: Magic Emblem with Magic Power Surge talent or Mage emblem with Magic Worship
Recommended item set: Arcane Boots, Enchanted Talisman, Lightning Truncheon, Divine Glaive, Winter Truncheon, and Blood Wings
Aurora
Aurora is a mage who can deal heavy burst damage and is skill shot based but being AoE they usually hit so not to worry if you are completely new to MOBA.
