I am just curious about how viable a pure mage build would be in either game.

By pure mage, I am referring to a build that focuses on using magic as a sole or primary means of offense, and which avoids investing in non-magic active abilities.

It is viable quite well in the 2nd game (can't say about 1st as didn't play it for ages, 2nd is better in most of aspects anyway). However, you will have to keep your distance from monsters as you won't survive in close contact with them for too long.

In TL2, all classes are viable at all levels of play. There are however a handful of skills that don't work well - Astral Ally in particular for the mage.

I just started an ice mage build. I'll keep you posted but I doubt I'm going to find out how truly good she is until way later in the game.

Most classes have at least a few skills that scale off of Focus and levels, but not weapon DPS. Berserker too. But I don't know if a Focus Berserker is viable, even if the magier skills have more range.

With Embermage, it isn't necessarily better to not use skills that scale off of weapon DPS. I think they still scale off of Focus as long as they're elemental, but those skills may still scale with Strength as well (but Strength would still not be useful).

I'm not sure which scalings add and which multiply, but there might not be much of a point in getting any Strength points at all on an Embermage. The question of how much Vitality you need depends on the difficulty level and how many NG+'s you have racked up, probably. Notice that Vitality scales up your flat damage reductions a bit, making it more useful than just having +Health gear. Maybe you can go glass cannon, but I can't promise it'll work out.

Wolfpack is the skill for focus zerkers. It's about as OP as Emberquake for engineers. Strength adds to weapon damage, and focus adds to all forms of magical damage. Strength also increases critical damage, which multiplies. Everything except damage over time can crit. Not even close. Armor ratings are worthless. More HP is always better. Vitality should only be used to meet equipment requirements and increase block chance if you use a shield.

I was going to ignore Staff Mastery but I've heard it has some kick ass rebuffs even to the point it kind of makes having wands useless.

Also, god forbid something were to get through your reign of fire and ice, a staff makes a much better last resort weapon.

Actually no, Staff Mastery is a waste since enemy armor is just as weak as player armor, and it only works with a handful of skills. Staffs, as with all twohanded weapons, have the additional issues:

- DPS is typically no higher than onehanded counterparts due to slow attack speed
- fewer sockets than dual wielding or carrying a shield
- only half the enchanting potential of dual wielding or carrying a shield
- no possibility of blocking

Not to mention a staff is a melee weapon, where the wand would at least allow you to keep your distance.

If you can't keep your distance a staff makes a much better club than a wand.

Does this include healing or other non-damage effects?

If you want to make a pure focus build, the staff is a very viable weapon until you can find a different weapon of your choice that only does elemental damage.

Here is the thing:
- Focus multiplies all elemental damage. This allows you to efficiently use all weapons that do only elemental damage and all skills that do elemental damage. Staffs do elemental damage. This means, their base damage is affected by Focus, because Focus increases all elemental damage. However, this allows you to efficiently use skills that use weapon DPS as basis and convert it to elemental damage.This way, you kind of get a double bonus from Focus.

I have been playing pure Focus builds with Engineer, Embermage, and Outlander, just by using the pre-set skill and a staff until my main skill became availabe and until I was able to find some unique weapon different than a staff that only did elemental damage and fitted with my character (for example two poison pistols for the Outlander). Just bear in mind that these are no close combat characters, but have to use skills that do damage from a distance. For your equipment you should invest heavily in +Health, Damage Reduction, +Mana/Mana Recovery and +%Elemental* Damage (*based on your main damage skill and weapon damage type). Edit: and +Focus, of course.

I know for 1, alchemist. VERY well. Should you raise your magic stat and not forget your defense stat entirely, dual wield wands, utilize spells like ember lance and ember shield, you can deal quite dangerous amounts of damage.

I thought summoner was all the way to go with alchemist in 1, but boy, once i tried magic, was i surprised! Totally viable and in default difficulty, too easy, actually!

In TL2, an Embermage focusing on the low level spell Prismatic Bolt is viable in any level and difficulty afaik. The long range and autoaim makes the game almost too easy, especially in multiplayer when you don't have to approach the monsters to make them pop up. Just stand away from the action, put something heavy on the mouse button, and go get a coffee or something.
When alone, especially in higher difficulty, it's harder to stay away from the enemies, but spells like Teleport and Ice Prison will help.