Need Hard mode mage tips, Never played other KB's.

[marc]

I found that damage spell scale just as well as in the previous games. For example, at lvl 27, a single blizzard spell will hit practically every enemy unit for around 6500 dmg. That's assuming you have around 45-50 int, which would be normal for a mage of that level. Two blizzards will destroy stacks of 1500 skellie archers.

If you didn't find geyser or blizzard, then you'll have to make do with Rain of Fire. Greasy Mist lvl 3 + Rain of Fire lvl 3 is an excellent opener if you don't have the other spells. It'll easily do in the 6000s, but won't hit as many as the other spells. It has the advantage of crippling their ranged though, and the mist will stay, allowing you do to a double rain whammy on the next turn if anything's still alive. If you only found ice snake / fireball, then you might want to concentrate on control spells such as Phantom / Trap to do damage until you find something better.

Traps aren't something to neglect either. They'll hit just about anything's that no hovering, will do damage scaling to your int, and more importantly, they'll make whatever steps on them lose their turn. In the late game, a single trap and one-shot a stack of 15 black dragons. Pure joy when that happens!