Infernal Mage

Infernal Mage
Type	Magic Tower
Introduced	Vez'nan's Tower

“

From fire reborn!

”

The Infernal Mage is the first Magic Tower to be introduced in Kingdom Rush: Vengeance. The most straightforward of all mages in the game, it shoots simple fireballs that deal high magical damage per shot but has a slow fire rate, like the basic mages in the previous games.

Description

Slow but powerful, these fiendish demons are able to harness magical infernal forces and blastaway their enemies, turning them into fine ash. 

Hailing from the hellish fires of the Rift of Cinders, the Infernal Mages devout their immortal lives to serving their Demon Lords with their pyromancy.

Although most mortal mages get their spellcasting powers from studying grimoires, harnessing the innate abilities of their bloodline or even making pacts with dark entities, the infernal mages cast their spells by channeling flames from the depths of the nether world itself.

They specialize in turning their enemies into fine ash and roasting chicken.

Stats

	Level	Magic Damage (With Upgrades)	Fire Rate	Range	Build Cost
	1	5-16 (5-17)	1.8s	Short 300	100
	2	16-49 (17-53)	1.8s	Short 315	180
	3	33-100 (36-110)	1.8s	Average 330	250
	4	49-146 (53-160)	1.8s	Average 350	300

Abilities

Affliction

"Suffer my wrath!"

Places an infernal rune over the path, which reduces resistance* of enemies** for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 12 seconds)

*: Both physical and magical.

**: Includes bosses.

Level	Cost	Reduction
1	150 (127)	25%
2	150 (127)	50%

Lava Fissure

"Burn to ashes!"

Casts a spell that erupts 8 lava geysers, each dealing magic damage in a small area (area: 60). (Cooldown: 20 seconds)

Level	Cost	Damage
1	200 (170)	28-42
2	200 (170)	56-84
3	200 (170)	80-120

Infernal Portal

"Back to where you're from."

Teleports a group of enemies 15 nodes back along the path. (Cooldown: 25 seconds)

Level	Cost	Enemies
1	220 (187)	3-4
2	220 (187)	3-6

Strategy

• Infernal Mages are the first mage unlocked in the game and, fittingly, they fulfill the archetype of the mage from previous games, doing consistent burst damage to enemies. Their abilities focus more on what the tower itself lacks: support and group damage.
• In keeping with the mage archetype, Infernal Mages are slow, but their attacks are powerful, especially when they reach the 4th tier and upgrade their abilities.

• Compared to the other free magic towers, the Infernal Mages strikes a balance of sorts. They have a lower damage variance than the Orc Shaman, and higher burst damage than an uncharged Specters Mausoleum. Conversely, this means their burst damage can be lower in ideal circumstances than the other towers.
  • Comparing to the two premium magic towers: Blazing Gems and Wicked Sisters, which are DPS-centric and mainly used to defeat strong and/or heavily armored foes, Infernal Mages do well for every enemy that crosses its range. Compared to the Deep Devil's Reef, the Infernal Mage has superior damage but inferior crowd control.

The tower's abilities are analyzed below:

• Affliction is a powerful support skill. It briefly forms a small zone that inflicts enemies with a debuff, somewhat akin to that of the Sorcerer Mage in appearance and effect, reducing both armor and magic resistance equally.
  • Archers and other Mage Towers benefit the most from this ability. Try to surround the Infernal Mage with high damage towers to make use of the skill's short duration.
  • Since it reduces magic resistance, the skill indirectly increases the Infernal Mage's own damage output against magic resistant targets. This could be utilized to take down strong magical enemies, such as the Ice Witch.
• Lava Fissure is a bread and butter area damage skill. It summons eight lava geysers, each doing damage separately. The geysers cover a fairly large portion of the path.
  • For the price, the skill offers some solid area damage to make up for the Infernal Mage's focus on single target DPS. The damage is not especially great, but it can decimate weak enemies such as the Footman and Recruit.
  • The skill is not good versus strong enemies. Purchase this skill only when the tower is expected to face many low level threats. The main strength of Infernal Mage is their high per-hit damage; even with Lava Fissure, they are a subpar crowd control tower.
• Infernal Portal allows the Infernal Mage to do more damage by teleporting enemies back, buying more time for other towers to deal damage. However, it is much weaker than Arcane Wizard's Teleport. It has a long cooldown time and its transfer distance is only 15 nodes; a half the distance of Arcane Wizard's level 1 Teleport.
  • Fast enemies can practically ignore the teleportation of this skilll. Glacial Wolf and Apex Stalker are prime examples.
  • Combo the Infernal Mage with Melting Furnace, Orc Shaman and Melee Towers will help stall teleported enemies. Placing Infernal Mage near the end of your main kill zone can place teleported enemies back into the grinder.
  • The main downside of this skill is its price. With the basic cost of 220 gold (or 187 with Guild of Merchants), Infernal Portal offers no major increase in DPS. This could be problematic if gold is scarce, as it might deprive another tower of a needed upgrade or skill.

Range

Related Upgrades

• RUNES OF POWER (2 souls): All mage towers have a slight chance of dealing double damage on each attack. (10% chance of double damage)
• GUILD OF MERCHANTS (2 souls): Costs of towers' special skills is now reduced. (15% cost reduction)
• MASTER ARCHITECTS (2 souls):All towers gain extra bonus damage. (10% additional basic attack damage)

Related Achievements

NUMBER OF THE BEAST (30 gems) |Teleport 666 enemies.

Quotes

• "Fight fire with fire."
• "Burn, Burn, Burn!""
• "Light my fire."

Tier 4:

• "From fire, reborn." (building)
• "Eternal agony!" (Affliction)
• "Growing mayhem!" (Lava Fissure)
• "Back to your place." (Infernal Portal)

Trivia

• The Infernal Mage is based on the Demon enemies from the first Kingdom Rush.
• "Fight fire with fire."
  • A common metaphor used to imply fighting something using the same tactics or measures.
• "Light my fire."
  • The title of a song by 1967 rock band The Doors. 

Gallery

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