Its much better with nature mages. Their main spell is not only probably the most damaging spell in the game, but also disables the target, preventing them to reach the mage. Unless the mage is targeted first, which shouldnt really happen often.
Dieing from spells means lack of resists and should be easily fixed, especially for nature mages who have absorb. Taar rarely dies in my games, and recently in the arena final round she was the only one alive most of the time, just unkillable, she is.
Combat mages are good.. until lvl34. After that they are just a sad joke.
