I am trying to learn multiple roles so I can help round out my team during champ select. Currently I would really like to improve and find a champ that really fits with my play style as a Mage.

My attempts at Anivia were pretty bad probably because I am kind of weak at skill shots. Also I was told I am the worst Annie in the world. I picked up Ryze because he seems to be easy to do OK with and I have done OK with him.

I guess my real question is how everyone feels about Cassiopeia’s viability as the primary mage in a group? I played her quite a few times last week and really enjoyed it. Primarily I felt that I had greater lane dominance with her then I have had with any other caster.

When it came time for team fights I think I did alright with a few kills here and there, but didn’t bring the utility I could have with my W and R. I am under the impression that mages are supposed to nuke the whole team, where as I did mostly single target damage.
In most of the games I played our team either rocked or got rolled hard.

So does a Cass player have the potential to be a really sold mage, or do I want to keep trying other mages that the community seems to be implying are stronger and better suited to the role?

Please don’t tell me to save my IP I would be spending the RP I got for Christmas and had planned to spend on a champ I just didn’t want to be disappointed with it in the long run.

Hi,

My favorites:

1-Target nukes are: Veiger (actually his W can target multiple enemies) and LeBlanc {Fiddlesticks, Malzahar, Evelynn}

Multi-Target nukes are: Ryze and Annie {Anivia}

First of all it's really good that you're thinking about the team composition and rounding it up, it's good to see people who don't think only for themselves XD

About mages - I would say you've had sam bad luck in your choices. Anivia is one the difficult champions due to her skillshot dependance. A good Anivia wins games, but don't feel ashamed to leave her aside for now, it took me a long time before I could do well with her and even now she's not my forte XD

Cass is very close to her in difficulty. Riot wanted to make a very intensive caster to challenge some of the hardcore players. You've picked among the hardest

If you don't feel comfortable with Annie, I suggest you try Veigar, Nunu and Fiddlesticks. All of them are cheap (IP wise, don't worry - you'll get to spend your RP), they're fun and easy to pick up.
Veigar is one of my personal favourite mages, with insane bursting potential and good utility.
Nunu is not a pure mage, but he can be build like one and in all cases has excellent magic damage. A well executed ult feels very satisfying.
Fiddle is the incarnation of the AoE in mages, his ultimate can destroy whole teams and win battles. He's not too easy but I wouldn't call him hard. Just takes a bit of practice. He, as well as Nunu, are able to jungle, so feel free to try that.

If you want to spend your RP on a challenging mage I will recommend you consider Karthus. He's specific and a bit tricky, but also very enjoyable and rewarding.

I've played a bit of Cass, and she's very fun to play, difficult to master. She's definitely a solid single target nuker, and brings little support to her team. There are easier mages to use that bring more damage and utility to the entire enemy team, as others have mentioned. But if you enjoy her playstyle, I don't see why you should shy away from her.

The crux of her gameplay is landing Q. It procs movespeed increase, so you can move in, Twin Fang, run out, Q, Twin Fang, rinse and repeat. If you want to provide your team more utility, I would suggest Rylai's as long as you can land your Qs. Running away and hitting champions with Q is a great escape maneuver, for you and your teammates if you have Rylai's.

I personally enjoy playing her and find her a strong caster, but she definitely needs her team's support to do well in teamfights.

Thanks for the replies. Another question I would ask is, do you feel that mages have a specific role or are they really just additional damage dealers?

I think she's somewhere in between, she's not quite as bursty as your standard mage, but she doesn't have the full out sustained damage to be a carry (she's restricted to hitting someone with her poison to keep dishing out dmg with her E, so if you miss one you're done for a good bit).