Ant-Mage Strategy (in General)

After trying out (and liking) an anti-tank strat during this NCB, and with only a week left on it, I'm trying to think of an anti-mage strategy that is geared ONLY to kill mages.

One of the main troubles I'm having is with the way AMF works. Unlike EC, which I could just pile up on as much as necessary, AMF becomes less effective the more XP you put into it (or, at least that's what I get from the Wiki).

I can't decide what tattoo to use, either. If I want to use GA, I'm stuck with AS + RoS, otherwise DM (which most mages probably have, as I just don't see mages using EC or AMF that much) will nuke it, and I won't have enough health to make use of it. Also, I'll want to keep FB and CoC damage spread amongst my minions as much as possible, to increase the effect of GA and lower the XP I need to invest in it for max effect.

I still have yet to decide whether to have a mage or tank damage-dealer. I'm leaning towards mage, because a tank would need ToA to get through evasion.

So, basically, this is what I have so far:

1: Small DM, Protection, 1/2 HP, 1/2 CoC
2: 1/2 AMF, 1/2 GA
3: 1/2 AMF, 1/2 AS
4: Small AMF, rest in AS + RoS

Don't bother rattling off the "You need EH + MgS on your back minion to protect against MM", because I can't afford those, which is why my damage dealer is in the front.

Any opinions on this? Anybody able to figure out how effectively it would work? Any ideas for improvements? Is CoC a good idea? Will opposing GA make me stalemate every battle, and I should invest in DM as much as I can without hurting my AMFs?

I'm like a two-year old when it comes to strategy. Help a kid out here. :)

If you want an antimage strategy look at Little Devil.

in any event, an antimage strategy should use 4 minions to disperse the FB or COC damage, a TOE, and a mage wall in back with a MgS to stop MM backed by a PL HP sink wearing a TSA.

The HP you get from the ROS is more then offset by the damage reduction HP savings you get from the same level TOE.

AMF is certainly the way to go. It is the bane of all mages everywhere.

main anti-mage out there, defensive ammo, retarded...

I know you say you can't afford stuff, but that's what rentals are for!

Anyway, personally PM has said what I would advise. What you also need to work out is whether or not they have AMF or DM as well.

I used to run a team that targeted FB mages who used DM. The set up was a CoC mage wearing a ToE, one AMF enchanter, and TWO mage shield walls.

Basically the DM was rendered useless by the fact that there were not any ED's on the team, all HP was trained on the minions. FB spread fire was reduced by the AMF and spread out over the wall minions until it was almost zeroed out. Sometimes they were equipped with a FF. In which case the fact that I had no ranged attack made it possible for them to reach melee. At which point my CoC hit them hard AND they killed themselves with friendly fire.

AMF works really well if you match it with damage reduction and the ToE is King in that particular field, especially when coupled with AC.

If you're going for three enchanters then focus each one on a particular enchantment, it will be that much more effective. At least that's my particular experience.

There's a lot of mage teams out there who don't use enchantments, so DM might not be the best idea. But if you are considering CoC you really really really need the damage reduction in order to stay alive long enough to use it. And then hope they don't have blasters. Sorry AMF.

Heavy Tank w/Morg, DM & VA
AMF/AS
AMF/AS
EC/GA

and an RoS should do something, the EC is to help lower evasion in melee should the silly mage live past your GA and AMF. You could also go triple AMF and watch the sparks fly.

An MgS EH SC CML HoC Bg AoM wearing tank in a two minion setup with the other minion wearing a ToE and training PL and HP in addition to AMF could also rock.

Mage teams might have enchant defences so the DM might work, but most single mages don't use them and big single mages will be harder then teams, so I might just go with the a lot of AMF. Also GA from a 4 minion team is the main thing that hurts my team, (single FB mage) even worst then AMF.

I recommend this:

M1: 100% CoC
M2: 10% PL, 90% AS + RoS
M3: 10% PL, 90% AMF

As you can afford them, 2 EH's. Also, I wouldn't even use a HoC on the mage.

Basically you let the mage suicide to your large hp + amf until melee, and then CoC finishes any remaining minions off. The reason not to use HoC is so the mage is ideally dead before you start firing so that you take less damage from enemy GA/AMF.

If you want enemy mages to kill themselves Nerevas has a good strat but I would also toss some GA in there, they'll really blow themselves up then :)

From watching what works against my (mage) team, here is what you need:
-At least a medium size AMF (protects and kills)
-MgS on the last minion (to buy your AMF time to work)
-At least one damage dealer, that is not in the last slot, to clean up the enchanters after the mages are dead.

If you have this, you can beat mages of roughly the same PR, assuming that the rest of your build is at least moderately competent (and it doesn't really matter what it is past that). If you have seekers, this makes it so you can beat mages of higher PR.

I think that for a single minion setup mine is a very effective anti-mage strategy although I use Evasion and an axbow as I like to try and combat many strategies hence the low score :P