Footmen frenzy heroes: Archmage

The Archmage is a very newcomer-friendly hero. He rakes in the gold and does mass destruction with Blizzard. However, the Archmage is only good for very new players or very good players -- there is no middle ground. A particularly annoying Archmage will find himself the butt of every attack in the game and it takes a good player to successfully level him all the way up in an expert level game. You must stick with hit and run attacks, and force players into playing defensively. I would max Blizzard, Brilliance, and Mass Teleport, with 3 points in Water Elemental, because the high level Mass Teleport is excellent for army harassment. If you don't have any allied heroes that desperately need Brilliance, try maxing Water Elementals and leave Brilliance at level 3. The Archmage can always use life or armor items but mana items are redundant.

Spells

Blizzard

Blizzard is THE defining spell for an Archmage. It is your source of income and destroys troops by the dozen. When I use blizzard, I have no problem with destroying some of my team's units, as long as the enemy units killed give me more gold than I would have lost on my troops. Blizzard is only 10% effective against buildings, but is a great hero killing spell if you know how to anticipate a hero's path. Blizzard always costs 150 mana to cast and has no maximum damage cap.

Level	DMG/Wave	Cooldown	Mana	Area	Range
1	40 dmg x 5 waves	6 seconds	150	200 AoE	800
2	55 dmg x 5 waves	7 seconds	150	225 AoE	800
3	70 dmg x 6 waves	8 seconds	150	250 AoE	800
4	85 dmg x 6 waves	9 seconds	150	275 AoE	800
5	100 dmg x 8 waves	10 seconds	150	300 AoE	800
6	150 dmg x 10 waves	11 seconds	150	350 AoE	800

Water Elemental

Water Elementals are useful for keeping fire off of the Archmage. This is a decent spell when you don't want to max Brilliance, but Elementals are not as scary as other summons -- it could be their big blue complexion. All water elementals cost 150 mana and last for 35 seconds and Level 3 and 4 Elementals have Fortified armor and Chaos damage.

Level	Unit(s)	Cooldown	Damage	Hitpoints	Duration
1	1 Water Elemental Lv1	25 seconds	34-44 dmg	675 Hp	35 secs
2	2 Water Elementals Lv1	25 seconds	34-44 dmg	675 Hp	35 secs
3	2 Water Elementals Lv2	25 seconds	47-55 dmg	900 Hp	35 secs
4	3 Water Elementals Lv3	25 seconds	57-65 dmg	1200 Hp	35 secs
5	3 Water Elementals Lv3	25 seconds	57-65 dmg	1200 Hp	35 secs
6	3 Water Elementals Lv4	15 seconds	77-85 dmg	1200 Hp	35 secs

Brilliance Aura

The Archmage himself doesn't really need this skill to be maxed out, but your allied heroes will love you for it. If you are on a team that constantly controls the center, this spell becomes less important. This aura only affects allied heroes.

Level	Regeneration	Area
1	+0.7 mana/sec	900 AoE
2	+2.7 mana/sec	1000 AoE
3	+3.7 mana/sec	1100 AoE
4	+5 mana/sec	1200 AoE
5	+7 mana/sec	1300 AoE
6	+9 mana/sec	1400 AoE

Mass Teleport

Mass Teleport allows you to transport the Archmage and the nearest units to any allied unit's location. This spell is excellent for breaching an enemy base, especially late game where walking through the middle will get half your army killed. Remember that it will only teleport your own units, but you can target any friendly unit with the spell.

Level	Units	Cooldown	Mana	Area
1	50 units	20 seconds	75	700 AoE
2	100 units	15 seconds	20	800 AoE
3	999 Units	12 seconds	1	900 AoE