Starting fresh imo will be a bit hard if you wanna wait untill you can get lightning, for leveling i consider fire/ice being easier to use because it has more control effects and lower cast times. In terms of aoe you wont be able to pull alot untill you'll have like lvl 5 runes, 3 mobs your own lvl are already too much when you have low lvl runes.(my mage is an alt with lvl 4 runes and dies if i pull more than 3

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For start take Luck rubies,Sage intelligence,Master of intuition rubies, those are a must have in any build.