Enshrouded Skill Tree Builds - Mage and Summoning#
The mage in Enshrouded was an awkward class throughout early access: flashy area damage, but slow casting, expensive mana, and almost no way to fight back once enemies closed in. The 1.0 full release treats this entire set of shortcomings as the core of its overhaul. Combat Mechanics and the 1.0 Combat Changes in Depth has already broken down the overall impact of the official September 23 combat changes post item by item; this page walks through the whole 1.0 skill board from a mage player’s perspective: the full list and usage of the 9 new spells, the 22 Tier-7 Eternal Spells and the affix system, the staff’s five new changes, and the brand-new summoning build built around fire, ice and lightning totems plus Hollow Skeletons, ending with point-allocation routes after the skill tree reset.
1.0 launches on October 15, 2026 (Steam and PS5 leave early access at the same time), and the official full changelog has not yet been published. All mechanics descriptions on this page are limited to what has been officially announced; specific values always defer to the live implementation, and will be re-verified against actual testing after launch.
What 1.0 Brings Mages#
| Change Area | Official Position | What It Means for Mages |
|---|---|---|
| New spells | 9 added: 5 directly cast spells plus units from 4 brand-new summon categories | The three weak spots of damage, crowd control, and sustain are reinforced at once |
| Eternal spells | Tier-7 Eternal Spells reach 22, and casting no longer consumes spell charges | Spells turn from hoarded consumables into a gear line you can invest in |
| Mana and cast times | Mana costs and casting times rebalanced; large area spells get longer wind-ups | The damage loop is reshuffled, and cast safety becomes priority one |
| Staff moves | New piercing heavy attack, aerial attack, and dodge attack; projectiles can detonate explosive barrels | The off-hand staff gains three new roles: interrupts, mobile damage, and environmental kills |
| Summon system | Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery allow maintaining more summons simultaneously | The summon build becomes an official mage playstyle from zero |
| Level and reset | Level cap raised from 45 to 50, full skill tree reset at launch | Everyone allocates points from scratch, a perfect chance to replan the mage around the new system |
The Full List of 9 New Spells#
The 9 spells mages get in 1.0 come in two groups: 5 directly cast spells, plus the three totem lines and the Hollow Skeleton under the brand-new “Summoning” category.
| Spell | Category | Role and Usage Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| Mana Drain | Sustain | Damages the target while restoring your own mana; after the mana rebalance it is a key mana recovery tool for mages |
| Entangle | Control | Roots a target, buying full cast time for long-windup area spells |
| Pillar of Flames | Fire | Sustained area damage, the first pick against dense trash mobs and fire-weak targets |
| Blizzard | Ice | Wide-area suppression; one of the large spells with longer wind-ups, so control the field before committing |
| Ball Lightning | Lightning | A roaming projectile with the best payoff in narrow passages and straight corridors |
| Fire Totem | Summoning | Placed fire damage output, the counterpick against fire-weak enemies |
| Ice Totem | Summoning | Placed ice damage output; keep it away from ice-resistant enemies |
| Shock Totem | Summoning | Placed lightning damage output, staggered element coverage against the fire and ice totems |
| Hollow Skeleton | Summoning | A pet-style summon that tanks and harasses on the front line, covering the mage’s casts |
The official post lists the 9 spells and their roles but has not published their mana costs, damage, or casting times. Once these go live on October 15, this page will fill in the value tables based on hands-on testing.
A Brand-New Summon Category: The Three Totem Lines#
The most noteworthy part of the 9 new spells is the “Summoning” category - the first fully built summon system in the two years since Enshrouded launched. Totems are placed summons: cast at a chosen spot, they keep delivering that element’s damage in place without taking up a staff or spell bar action. Duration, area of effect, and damage values have not been published; confirm the distance between the totem spot and where enemies cluster before placing.
The criteria for picking among the three totem lines can directly reuse the enemy weaknesses already verified in early access:
- Fire Totem: deploy first against Vukah Brawlers (fire-weak) and regular Cyclopes (weak to fire and shroud); in cave fights across the Albaneve Summits it can practically be a permanent fixture.
- Ice Totem: your ice damage source; note that the Fell Cyclops resists ice, so switch to fire without hesitation when facing it rather than letting the totem idle.
- Shock Totem: a supplementary damage source for multi-target scenarios, staggered element coverage against fire and ice totems so the whole team’s damage is not single-element.
Placement criteria: put the totem behind and to the side of your casting position, covering the choke point enemies must pass through, not right next to them; the totem’s own threat mechanics (whether enemies will attack it) defer to the live implementation. For the Cyclops family’s weaknesses and locations, see Boss Compendium (III): Hollows and Summits.
Hollow Skeleton: The Only Pet-Style New Unit#
- The Hollow Skeleton is the only pet-style unit in the summon category, with a tanking-and-harassment role: let the skeleton hold the melee units’ approach so the mage can cast in peace from the back line.
- Division of labor with totems: totems are stationary damage, the skeleton is a moving threat source; only the two stacked together form a complete summon position.
- How many summons you can maintain at once and how long skeletons survive depend on the bonuses from the two new skills below.
Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery: The Two Cornerstones of the Summon Build#
The official position is clear: the new skills Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery allow maintaining more summons at the same time. These two skills are the foundation of the summon build - the damage structure shifts from “the mage casting in turns” to “there are always summons on the field soaking hits and producing continuous damage.”
Judging by their names, each covers one line: Necromancy covers pets like the Hollow Skeleton, Totem Mastery covers the three totem lines; but the officials have not spelled out the boundary, so the actual coverage defers to the in-game skill descriptions.
Recommended point-allocation order for the summon build:
- Max summon count first: prioritize Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery; the number of summons on the field is the multiplier behind the whole build.
- Then add control: Entangle’s opening root pins enemies inside the totems’ coverage.
- Then add mana recovery: Mana Drain carries the sustain axis; the maintenance cost of the summons themselves is unpublished, so err on the side of extra mana.
- Stagger elements between damage spells and summons: in fights where the Fire Totem is permanent, spend mana on ice area spells like Blizzard instead - wider coverage beats stacking same-element damage.
22 Tier-7 Eternal Spells and the Affix System#
Tier-7 (Eternal) spells reach 22 in 1.0, and the officials have set three rules for this system:
| Rule | Content | Investment Criteria |
|---|---|---|
| No ammo | Casting Eternal Spells no longer consumes spell charges | From “use sparingly” to “cast freely,” a direct candidate for your permanent damage slot |
| Upgradeable | Upgrade them like weapons and gear | Eternal Spells now have a progression line; spend upgrade resources on your main damage spells first |
| Affix farming | Affixes can drop, such as reduced mana cost | Mana-cost affixes stack with the mana rebalance, the highest-value affix direction |
Three additional notes:
- The exact list of 22: the official post only gives the headline “22 now exist” without listing them one by one; this page will not fill names in from memory, and the list table will be completed once the official full changelog ships.
- How affixes are obtained: drop or crafted, and how big the affix pool is - none of it has been published; defer to the live implementation.
- Interaction with the mana rebalance: longer wind-ups on large area spells mean every cast costs more, so a reduced-mana-cost affix directly enlarges your effective mana pool - prioritize mana-cost affixes when farming Eternal Spells.
Staff: The Off-Hand Weapon Plays Differently Too#
The staff is the mage’s close-range weapon, and this time it was redesigned alongside the spell system, with five official changes:
| Change | Mechanic | Usage Criteria from a Mage’s View |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy attack | Can pierce enemies and interrupt weaker enemies’ attack animations | Interrupting a trash mob’s windup beats backing off; one projectile pierces multiple enemies lined up in a row |
| Aerial attack | A new airborne action | Counterattack while taking high ground without landing, pairing with your casting-position choices |
| Dodge attack | Counterattack mid-dodge, with a wider projectile that pierces | The dodge turns from a pure survival action into a damage window; attack while dodging when enemies close in |
| Detonating barrels | Staff projectiles can detonate explosive barrels in the environment | When enemies cluster, hit the barrel first - a free chunk of area damage; check your distance to the barrel before firing |
| Lock-on targeting | Biased toward screen center and nearby enemies | Point the crosshair at whoever you want to lock; to target a backliner past the front line, turn the camera first, then press lock |
The combined effect of these five changes: a mage who gets closed in on no longer has gliding away as the only option - heavy-attack interrupts on weak enemies, dodge-attack piercing counters, and blowing up nearby explosive barrels are all legitimate close-range answers.
The Rebalanced Damage Loop: An Executable Rotation#
Assembling all the pieces above, the 1.0 mage’s loop can be organized like this:
- Opener: Entangle to root the front line, or throw a Hollow Skeleton straight into the enemy pack to grab threat.
- Set the field: place totems at choke points and flanks, choosing the element by enemy weakness - Fire Totems against fire-weak targets, Shock Totems as the fallback when resistances are unclear.
- Cast: long-windup spells like Pillar of Flames and Blizzard only after control lands or the summon position is set.
- Sustain: weave Mana Drain into casting gaps to pull your mana back to a safe line.
- Emergency: when closed in on, heavy-attack to interrupt a weak enemy’s windup, or dodge-attack to pierce while creating distance; detonate explosive barrels first if the environment has them.
The core idea of this loop is one sentence: once wind-ups get longer, every cast needs an answer to “who is holding the line for me during this window” - the answer can be control spells, the summon position, or terrain.
Skill Tree Reset and Level 50: The Mage’s First Hour Back#
- Reset facts: the skill tree resets for everyone when 1.0 launches, triggered automatically on login with all skill points refunded in full. This is the second full reset in two years, the previous one being Update 8 “Forging the Path” on April 21, 2026; the officials have said they hope it is the last.
- New headroom: the level cap rises from 45 to 50 and the gear cap to level 55; the number of new skill points corresponding to those 5 extra levels defers to the live implementation.
- Respec route: skill points could already be reset at the Flame Altar during early access (see Flame Altar System Explained), so the 1.0 full reset amounts to the officials doing it for you once.
- Point-allocation reminder: in the officials’ own words, leaving base without allocating points “will be rough.” In the first hour after the reset, follow the order in this page’s “damage loop” section - restore control, summoning, and mana recovery first, then add damage skills.
The Data Gap and Re-Verification Plan#
- The official full changelog and highlights video are planned for release within October; as of writing (October 14, 2026) they are not out yet: each spell’s mana cost, damage, and cast time, the maintenance details of totems and Hollow Skeletons, and the exact list of 22 Eternal Spells and their affix pool all have no official numbers.
- After the full release goes live on October 15, this page will re-verify each item against actual testing: completing the value table for the 9 new spells, the list and affix notes for the 22 Eternal Spells, and verifying how Advanced Necromancy and Totem Mastery actually increase summon counts.
Further Reading#
- Enshrouded 1.0 Full Release Changes Explained - an overview of the level cap, the new biome, and the skill tree reset
- Combat Mechanics and the 1.0 Combat Changes in Depth - a full breakdown of the mana rebalance, lock-on changes, and interrupt mechanics
- Boss Compendium (III): Hollows and Summits - the Cyclops family’s weaknesses and locations, the counterpick basis for totem element choices
- Flame Altar System Explained - the skill point respec route and altar upgrade path
- FAQ and Getting Stuck - a quick reference for the skill tree reset and returning players