Mages tend to suffer greatly from poor skill selection and inclinations. Mages with multiple weapon enchantments and the Guardian and Utilitarian inclinations tend to just get caught in a loop of repeatedly overriding weapon buffs on the Arisen rather than actually doing anything. It's not a good look. I usually look for Mages that have only a single weapon buff and either Scather or Challenger in either their primary or secondary inclination slot. They usually seem to contribute the most in combat, and they'll still heal you up in an emergency and when the battle's over without engaging in obsessive Anodyne spam every time a sliver of gray appears in your life bar.
My main pawn Mage (on my Assassin playthrough) is set for Mitigator/Utilitarian. Seems to work out farily well. Challenger would make the pawn attack the enemy with the highest health first, which isn't what I want my pawns to be doing. I also don't bother picking up rented Mages (Sorcerer playthrough) that have more than a single weapon buff, because I assumed that they wouldn't actually use the right one half of the time, or that they would do nothing but waste time overriding as you said.
The biggest problem I have with Mage pawns aside from the geneally stupid AI is the fact that their targeting seems horrible compared to a player caster or even a pawn archer type. It takes me an eternity to kill spirits with my Assassin because the Mage will start channeling up for a Levin and then just shoot the ground where the enemy was, instead of hitting where the enemy is. I have no idea why that happens either, unless it locks on while charging, but after a spirit disappears briefly, the Mage does not wait for it to reappear before casting, or it simply does not reacquire a target.
Also, what would be considered a
challenging, yet fun class for Hard mode? I like my Sorcerer, but often I tire of walk for a bit, charge for a lot, walk for a bit, charge for a lot. They also seem comparatively weak early on and also a bit "hands off" and passive if that even makes any sense. Maelstrom is great and all, but it doesn't really put you into the action. The Assassin on the other hand doesn't really seem like they play any differently at all compared to the Ranger/Strider. Each of them focuses a bit more on either melee or ranged, but they all play relatively similar, with the Assassin simply getting the edge in strength growth. I like the Assassin, but my fights usually just revolve around me mashing Cutting Wind (such an awful name) on all of the trash and Hundred Kisses on anything tough that doesn't require a bow. Warrior doesn't have enough skills to be interesting, and the only class I'm unsure of is the Mystic Knight, but I'd have to spend 50+ levels as a Sorcerer anyway. I actually like Fighters somewhat, but the taunt seems to have such a tiny range, and I've never seen more than a single enemy ever run to any of my pawn Fighters when they use it.
Good advice.
Dear Arisens, please keep in mind that Fire Affinity is the only enchantment you need for 90% of the game, and Holy Affinity is the only enchantment you need for the last 10%. If I see your mage with either ice or shock enchantments or, God forbid, all of the enchantments at once, I'll be tempted to hire them only to immediately fire them with a 1 star usefulness and battle rating and a rotten beast scrag as a parting gift.
Thank you.
I tried out all of the boons with my Sorcerer to see if any were effective besides Fire, and most just don't seem to be at all. The actual shooting mechanic of the various boons sucks ass too if it's not fire. Why do I want a bunch of delayed orbs, or some that even look almost like sperm? Fire is the only one that launches the way you would want it to. However, Ice is actually probably the second most useful (although not entirely required since it would just replace what Fire does on *most* enemies). It's almost mandatory for the Wyvern in Devilfire Grove, and it absolutely wrecks any of the Saurians, since they are typically wet. Fire could work almost as well, but Ice tends to freeze them and then they can get shattered on the next hit.
