Warhammer Online Career Info:

High Elf Archmage

Official information from EA Mythic

“While Lesser races must study magic in its corrupted broken form, our Mages harness its power as pure mystical energy. Our minor spells, those Lores taught to the humans by might Teclis, are but a pale reflection of the power that can be wielded by an Asur fully trained in the magical arts of the White Tower.” - Loremaster Haydrel, Archmage of the White Tower

South and east of Avelorn, on the shores of the Sea of Dreams, lies Saphery, the land of Wizardry. The heart of Saphery is the Tower of Hoeth, the shrine of the God of Wisdom. This is the greatest repository of magical knowledge in the world, compiled over the centuries by High Elf mages and scholars, many of whom still dedicate their lives to the accumulation of magical lore. The most powerful of these scholars are known as Archmages, and are capable of manipulating all the winds of magic weaving powerful sorceries known only as High Magic.

Archmage Specialty The Loremasters of Hoeth are capable of manipulating the winds of magic with a grace and subtlety that only comes with centuries of study. An Archmage does not waste the power he draws upon; instead they efficiently weave the winds of magic into destructive spells conserving a small amount of arcane energy with each spell they cast. The Archmage can then draw upon this reserve of power to weave the most difficult spells of High Magic capable of leaving even the most terribly wounded warrior hale and hardy with nary a scar to show for it.

Playing as a Archmage An Archmage is a powerful caster both offensively and defensively. However they must strive to keep a balance between the powers they manipulate. Weaving only powerful healing or destructive spells will leave the Archmage tired and unable to assist his allies in their darkest hour. However by carefully applying force in critical places the Archmage can reserve a wellspring of magical energy that allows him to aid his allies when a normal mage would be all but spent.

Fighting the Archmage As with all magic users, the Archmage is not a capable close combatant. You’re best tactic one-on-one is to quickly close the distance and drop him with powerful close combat attacks. In a group situation, an Archmage is best countered by forcing him to use his powerful healing on wounded allies early on. Unable to build up a magical reserve from casting lesser destructive magics, the Archmage will find himself exhausted and his allies will be easily overcome with a strong final assault.

The Look of the Archmage

• Ornate embroidered robes with high collars and large billowing sleeves
• Graceful circlets and ornate headdresses engraved with powerful runes of protection.
• Wields elegantly crafted staves and wands encrusted in gems and arcane Elven runes

The Ten Ton thought:

To those who like to surf the internet and chat while playing a healer, this is not the class for you!! The Archmage takes the time honored tradition of semi-AFK healing and destroys it by forcing players do to massive damage first in order to build up the healing magic needed for the group. This means constantly having to be doing damage in order to heal. Having played long hours with a healer whose catch phrase became "I WASN'T POSTING ON THE FORUMS! I SWEAR!", I have to say I LOVE this idea. It sounds like the Archmage may not be the best choice for solo play though and will do their best work in groups. I'd expect this to be the favored healing class in the game at launch as it combines things everyone loves, Elves, decent DPS, and healing ability. And ya gotta admit, their swanky robes and staves don't look all that bad either.

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