Enshrouded 1.0 is the mage patch: 9 new spells, summons, wand heavy attacks and 22 Eternal tier 7 spells. Skill picks, spell roles and gear targets.
Best Enshrouded Mage Build in 1.0: Spells, Skills and Gear
Play the mage as a wand character whose staff is the finisher. Wands are your working weapon because the 1.0 patch gave them a heavy attack that pierces enemies and interrupts weaker ones, plus two unlockable attacks. The staff carries the big single hits, and everything else exists to buy you the second you need to cast. Skeletons and totems hold the front line so you do not have to kite alone.
- 1.0 added 9 new spells, and summons are a brand new spell category.
- All spells now have Eternal versions, with 22 tier 7 Eternal spells in 1.0 that upgrade like weapons and carry perks.
- Five new skills feed the mage: Aerial Wand Attack, Wand Evasion Attack, Advanced Necromancy, Totem Mastery and Blast and Cast.
- 1.0 reworked spell mana costs and cast times, so a big spell takes longer than a small one.
Blast and Cast only pays out when you mix the two. A wand critical strike gives your next staff attack within 10 seconds +50% base damage, so open with the wand and finish with the staff.
Why 1.0 is the mage patch
Keen Games opened the combat preview for 1.0 by saying mages needed love, and the numbers back that up. This is the update where the mystic classes stopped being a side project, and it arrived with the full release on October 15, 2026 (Steam store page).
| Change in 1.0 | What it means on your bar |
|---|---|
| 9 new spells | Mana Drain, Entangle, Pillar of Flames, Blizzard, Ball Lightning, Summon Fire Totem, Summon Ice Totem, Summon Shock Totem, Summon Hollow Skeleton |
| Summons added as a spell category | You can field minions instead of only casting at enemies |
| 22 tier 7 Eternal spell versions | Eternal spells cast without consuming spell ammo, and they can be upgraded with perks such as reduced mana cost |
| Wand heavy attack | Available immediately, pierces enemies, and interrupts weaker enemies |
| Mana cost and cast time rework | Spells are balanced around their damage and usability, so an AoE nuke costs more time than a quick cast |
| Two new summon skills | Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery raise how much you can field |
Official source: 1.0 Combat: changes and additions
The practical read is that mage damage in 1.0 is spread across three layers: wand chip damage, staff burst, and summons or totems that keep enemies off you. A build that ignores one of the three works, but it works noticeably worse in the new biome.
Core skill picks
Keen documented these five mage skills in words rather than numbers. Where the changelog gives no figure, there is no figure to give - treat any percentage you see for them elsewhere as unconfirmed.
| Skill | Official description | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Blast and Cast | After a critical strike with a wand, the base damage of your next staff attack within 10 seconds is increased by 50% | High for any wand plus staff setup |
| Aerial Wand Attack | Triggered in mid-air, and it is an area of effect attack for wands | High, it is your answer to packs while gliding or jumping |
| Wand Evasion Attack | Adds flow to wand gameplay and fires wider, piercing projectiles | High if you get closed down often |
| Advanced Necromancy | More skeletons | Take it only if you actually summon skeletons |
| Totem Mastery | More totems | Take it only if you actually run totems |
The summon skills are the interesting trap here. They look like free value, but the game counts the creatures you have spawned and enforces a maximum, and when you go over it the oldest creature is replaced. Extra capacity is only worth points if you are consistently fielding that many summons in the first place.
Spell roles, not a level list
1.0 widened the range where your favourite spells stay useful, so you are not forced to drop a spell every time you cross a biome border. Build a bar around roles and swap the names as you go.
| Role | Spells from 1.0 | When it earns its slot |
|---|---|---|
| Crowd damage | Blizzard, Ball Lightning | Groups, camp pulls, anything with more than three bodies |
| Single-target burst | Pillar of Flames | Elites and bosses, ideally while they are busy with a summon |
| Control | Entangle | Enemies that close distance fast and punish a long cast |
| Resource sustain | Mana Drain | Saps a fixed amount of mana per second from enemies into your pool |
| Front line | Summon Hollow Skeleton, Summon Fire Totem, Summon Ice Totem, Summon Shock Totem | Solo play and Hollow Halls, where enemies arrive from more than one direction |
Mana Drain is worth calling out because it is a sustain spell, not a damage spell. On a long Shroud run, or in a dungeon where you cannot stop to drink, the mana it returns is the difference between finishing the room and running dry halfway through it. The full 1.0 spell breakdown goes deeper on what each new spell does and how Eternal versions change the bar.
Summons and totem play
Summons change how a mage fights, and they also changed the balance around necromancy gear. Two things to know before you build around them.
The first is the cap. The game tracks the creatures players have spawned and enforces a maximum, replacing the oldest when you exceed it. That is official behaviour, and it means spamming a summon spell does not stack infinitely - it rotates your front line.
The second is necromancy gear. 1.0 added Necromancy weapon gems and support skills, and the changelog says the Gem of Lesser Necromancy now has a limit on how many resurrected companions it can spawn, because the new spells and the additional Gems of Necromancy made the old numbers too strong. It also notes that companions from the Gems of Necromancy start to lose health. Treat gem-based minions as reinforcements rather than a permanent army.
In practice: one totem for the element your current biome punishes, one skeleton or gem companion to hold aggro, and your wand doing the actual work. Three or four bodies is enough to keep you casting.
Wand handling and the new attacks
Wands got the most mechanical attention. The heavy attack is available from the start, pierces enemies so it hits past the first target, and interrupts attacks on weaker enemies. The two new skills add a mid-air AoE and an evasive attack with wider, piercing projectiles.
Two smaller changes matter more than they look:
- Wand special abilities are no longer interrupted by enemy attacks while casting. Casting through pressure is now possible.
- Wand targeting was improved, and soft lock and hard lock now weigh the centre of the screen as well as enemies closer to you. There are separate targeting settings for ranged weapons and melee, and the change makes wand aiming noticeably more predictable.
- You can now target explosive barrels with wands, which turns ordinary camp fights into set pieces if you are willing to spend one cast.
Gear and gem priorities
Three official gear facts shape a mage build in 1.0.
| Gear rule | What it changes |
|---|---|
| Player level cap is 50, equipment cap is 55 | Your gear keeps scaling past your own level, so keep upgrading |
| Armor sets unlock when the Flame is upgraded | You no longer need to find a specific resource or quest to unlock the tier's sets |
| Legendary items need legendary runes one upgrade step later | Plan one extra rune step into a legendary upgrade |
On gems, the changelog lists direct numbers for one of them: the Gem of Toxic Reaction had its damage buffed, working out to about +21% damage per second at level 10 and up to 65% at level 50. Gem of Battle Mania and Gem of Obsession had some stats lowered, so sets built around them in early access need a second look. The weapon gems guide tracks which gems came out ahead after the rebalance, and the armor sets guide covers the Flame-tier unlock change in more detail.
Sustaining casts got cheaper too. Mined gems were added as a resource in spell charge recipes, while several rare or hard-to-gather resources were removed from those same recipes. If you avoided spells in early access because topping up charges was a grind, that reason is mostly gone.
Official source: Release trailer, changelog and everything you need - the 1.0 notes confirm the level 50 player cap, the level 55 equipment cap and the Flame-tier armor unlock change.
The official Enshrouded site is worth checking after patches, because Keen has shipped hotfixes since launch that touch skills and world settings.
FAQ
Is mage good in Enshrouded 1.0? Yes, 1.0 is the update built around mages. Keen described the patch as bringing variety to the mystic classes, with 9 new spells, a new summon category, two new wand attacks and five new mage skills.
Do Eternal spells consume spell ammo? No. Eternal spells are the versions that do not consume spell ammo to cast. 1.0 has 22 tier 7 spell versions, and Eternal spells can now be upgraded like weapons and armor with perks such as reduced mana cost.
How many summons can I have at once? Keen has not published a number. What the changelog confirms is that the game counts active player-spawned creatures, enforces a maximum, and replaces the oldest creature when you exceed it. Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery raise the limits.
What does Blast and Cast actually do? After a critical strike with a wand, the base damage of your next staff attack within 10 seconds is increased by 50%. It is the one skill number in the mage kit that Keen stated outright.
Related Guides
- Enshrouded Skill Tree in 1.0: Reset, Respec and Points - the 1.0 tree reset changed skill placement, so plan points before you respec into any build.
- Best Enshrouded Ranger Build in 1.0 - the other new-skill class, and a useful comparison if you are deciding between magic and bows.
- Best Enshrouded Warrior Build in 1.0 - front line melee is the build that benefits most from the boss fight redesign.
- Elixir Well Locations and What They Do - Elixir Wells and their Shroud Roots are where a large share of your extra skill points come from.
More Enshrouded Guides
What Enshrouded 1.0 changed about bosses, including the reworked Albaneve Summits fight, stun tactics, and boss health recovery.
How to reach Cinder's Cradle in Enshrouded 1.0, what the lava ruins and floating islands contain, its 12 new Shroud Roots, and the Flame level to bring.
How crafting works in Enshrouded 1.0: which stations exist, crafting from storage, the Gem Forge and Quick Stash Station, and the recipes the patch rebalanced.
Enshrouded has no crossplay at 1.0, so PC and PS5 cannot share a world yet. Here is how co-op works, the player cap, permissions and progress sharing.
The server tool ships free with the game and is Windows only for now. Config fields, UDP port 15637, user groups and the new Automatic enemy scaling.
An Enshrouded Elixir Well is a Shroud pocket with a Shroud Root at the bottom. What it awards, why it may not reset, and what 1.0 did and did not change.
How many enemy types Enshrouded 1.0 adds, which factions got new variants, and how the reworked damage susceptibility system changes fights.
What the Flame Altar controls in Enshrouded 1.0, the 15 and 16 Altar caps, cheaper Flame level 6 to 9 recipes, and the level 11 Shroud pushback.