i dont see the point

whatever you do, going melee at lvl 1-3 is always better, and putting a spell with a so low cost in mana is bad for later in the game imo

they are both very strong they just scale differently

magic is too op because its too easy

dart scales with lvl

traits gives immense scaling

shards are random but can improve even more

so basically without any effort and  a naked mage can do 150 dmg with 1 shot

but in some game you may be surrounded early so not having cities and much mana to cast you would feel going warriorish is still the best even for a mage, at least until you have mana to burn in combat etc

I kind of like a mixture of both. I usually pair up fighter and mage champions together. The spells that win me the day are usually haste and slow. My sovereign managed to beat the Burning Lands at quite a moderate attack/defense because I hasted her, slowed Dellin, and cast sticky mud in the middle of the battlefield and proceeded to skirmish him to death.

I kinda feel damage spells go from mana-inefficient and low damage to over-powered too fast. Also, if mages are meant to be viable in the early game, the robe that reduce tactical spell costs should be available in the shop mid to early game. I keep wishing I can find one among treasures for my spellcasters. 

Also to note, Porcupine's crown is overpowered. 99% of my custom sovereign will start with it no matter whether they are spellslingers or fighters. Dropping regeneration, courage, flame blade without upkeep onto my sovereign at the start of the game is a bit too good to miss.

That is exactly how I balanced things in my mod. Great minds...

In the staff mod I am working on, spell resist and mastery determines hit or miss. The early tier staves do damage to a single unit, have no init penalty, and give a bonus to either mastery (fire staff), or resistance (ice staff). Midgame staves do radius damage and have bigger bonuses, but have a slight init penalty. Endgame staves do damage to all enemy units and also cast spells like wither or pandemonium. It boggles the mind why this is not already in the game. 

It's balanced splash damage though. It will do something like 40% of the normal staff's damage to all units in a radius of 1. So you don't kill them all at once, but the overall damage is higher. It also looks epic.

staff need a great improvement and balance in vanillla game and sean idea is very good

i agree with kong about end game staves but ofc need to see the final balance to judge

maybe add evoker bonus to make them scale better end game on champions