So what mage build would you recommend to create? For example let says I want to either create strong CC mage, or Healer or Damage Dealer.
What abilities would you recommend and stats?
There are many, many possibilities. The most important thing is to determine the best order of encounters and for each encounter the order in which you focus targets. This is based on the strengths/weaknesses of your party, so it's better (though more complicated) to talk about a party's build rather than an individual character's build.
In a particular encounter, you will have some enemies with high physical armor, some with high magic armor, etc. Suppose you decide to roll a 100% physical squad. Initiate the encounter by targeting low physical armor enemies. In general it helps to have at least half of your party with high Initiative so that you get 2 consecutive turns to deal serious damage to one target before they can do anything. If you are able to CC that target first round, and you've positioned your squad in such a way that you're not particularly susceptible to AOE, you will mitigate the damage enemies will do to your squad in the first round. There will be enemies wasting AP trying to support their downed ally, meaning less enemy AP spent doing damage to your characters.
This general strategy applies to all kinds of party compositions based on their strengths/weaknesses.
At the moment, I have Lone Wolf mage with Far Out Man, points in each elemental school, and summoning. Wits and Memory are my highest stats, then Intelligence. Having the summon allows you to help your Physical buddies with their targets, and also waste enemy AP. Having access to all schools allows you be extremely flexible in all encounters, and you'll often find yourself trying out different combinations of skills for different battles. On the other hand, having a Huntsman with the new Elemental Arrow skill helps your mage buddies with magic armor while still primarily being a damage dealer.
The moral of the story here is that strategy and preparation rules all. Magic, in my opinion, is not weak. It's about having a balanced party composition where your physical mains can help with a little magic damage and vice versa. Hope this helps.
Side note: there are some cool little tactics which might help you out as a mage. Say you start out with dual wands and an enemy manages to get close to you and bring down your armors. Switch out one of your wands for a shield. This will help massively if your other buffs are on cooldown.
