Rogue Legacy 2: Mage class guide — Weapon, ability, and passive

The Mage is the main magic-user in Rogue Legacy 2. This class goes all-in on the game’s new spell mechanic, providing you with a variety of tools to keep up your Mana. Since Mages can spam magic, they have some of the best DPS output of any class. However, this comes at the cost of its low health which can make it difficult to stay alive for longer runs. This Mage class guide — going over how to unlock the class, and best spells — will help you add some sparks to your next run in Rogue Legacy 2.

How to unlock the Mage in Rogue Legacy 2 is a simple process. After unlocking the Ranger, you’ll gain access to the Mess Hall castle upgrade. This increases your vitality stat, boosting your total health pool. Put one point into this upgrade and you’ll be able to purchase the Mage plus two other new classes, the Barbarian and Valkyrie.

Wand of Blasting

The Mage utilizes a wand called The Wand of Blasting. Its “Blasting” is well deserved, as this one-handed magic weapon has some explosive characteristics. Every projectile it fires explodes into a beautiful blue flame after a certain distance. This distance is surprisingly short, making the Wand of Blasting more of a close- or medium-range weapon than a long-range one.

As with most other weapons in Rogue Legacy 2, the Mage’s Wand of Blasting has a mechanic to guarantee critical hits. Simply spend 50 Mana by using spells and the next projectile fired from the Wand of Blasting will deal critical damage. This isn’t something you have to do consciously. Just rotate between spells and primary fire and damage will come naturally.

Extra spell — best Mage class spells in Rogue Legacy 2

Unusually, the Mage doesn’t actually have a talent. At least not in the same way as every other class. Instead, the Mage gets access to a second spell. This additional spell is always utility-based with the main spell being an offensive damage-dealing one.

In total there are 16 spells available to the Mage: seven utility, and nine offensive. Most spells are useful, but the ones you’ll want to keep an eye out for are Flame Barrier, Magic 8-Ball, Prismatic Spectrum, Wind Wall, Fireball, Blaze Bellow, and Fungal Spread — those are some of the best Mage class spells currently in Rogue Legacy 2. The only spell you’ll want to actively avoid is White Star, as its tendency to self-damage is not worth the tradeoff.

Siphon — the game-changer

Keeping up with the Mana cost to cast spells is difficult. It’s one of the main reasons that spells aren’t that impactful for most classes, as they can only be used on occasion. Rogue Legacy 2‘s Mage has no such weakness thanks to its incredible passive ability.

The Mage’s passive is Siphon. It leeches Mana from any enemy hit with the Wand of Blasting. Mana restores at a rate of 1 Mana for every 0.1 seconds that Siphon is active. This lasts 2.5 seconds, but the counter resets every time an enemy is hit. If an enemy has been defeated, the Mage gains 20 Mana. To take advantage of Siphon, it can be a good idea to tag enemies as you proceed through the dungeon. Even on floors where it would usually be better to move through them without combat, triggering Siphon is a good idea. You should never go into either a boss fight or a difficult room without full mana, as Siphon makes it easy to sustain.

Note: For more information, check out our Rogue Legacy 2 guides and features hub.