The hero ability does 1 direct damage to any target, bypassing taunts. It's a class that has access to very powerful spells, many of which do significant damage to individual units or have area-of-effect capabilities. Its spell damage is more efficient than other classes, and benefits from spell damage increases or spell cost reduction. It also has access to the most powerful Secrets. Finally, Mages have a sub theme of freeze with both minions and spells.