Anyways, I soloed very large chunks of the game including the most difficult fights on nightmare with the trials on, with a mage, I speced to necromancer eventuially as I am most familiar and confident in playing that mage spec. Here a definitive summery of my findings and tips.
Pre Skyhold barebone essentials (especially with trial of fool)
You need two types of crowd control, protection and damage, with golden nug it is soloable - without it would be very tedious from 10 minute auto ttacks to take out elite enemies and you could do it by ccing a dangerous enemy and running. God help you with rifts though without tier3 golden nug schematics, you would probably have to skip them /really on ai companions like dorian or leliana in hushed whispers, I would not recommend facing mage envy incarnation without golden nug either as he will toast you to a crisp. Mana surge freezes enemies that get too close and you can burst damage them with winter's ruin. Fade step is a luxury and won't actually do anything for you against the most dangerous enemies (ranged archers/ wraiths). You are better of strafing/ dodging their attacks. And learning to bunny hop 
If you are not doing trial of fool, move down the fire tree and get either firemine or firewall both are good but firewall would be more "safe" early game in case you realize you can't win a fight, you have to avoid/ disrupt enemies and run.
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Mid game post In your Heart priorities:
-get ring of doubt from exalted plains
-get specialized
-if not farming fade touched snowfleur / unlocking emprise (I did not until after HLtA and WEaWHs) get the Deathward staff from asteriums in Emerald Graves.- this is recommended for any mage as that staff is a lifesaver not just for necromancers (hello 1% heal on hit- btw, it is also more time efficient to just get the Deathward staff at this stage rather than spend god knows how much time farming snowfleur)
Get more ability perks from crestwood amulet of power / war table perk
@ lvl 10 all three mage specs:
solo necromancer:
solo necro @ lvl 13 (you should be able to solo HLtA no problem with this setup and deathward staff)
Group necro @lvl13/14
Note: see how I prioritize defenses (winter tree while soloing and avoid the fire tree actually at this stage in both builds. Justification: lightning cage is as good or better than fire wall for your purposes, though you should only respec for lightning cage once you know you have 2 spare skill points to immediately take it with the upgrade, before that points going into the generally useless lightning bolt etc should be spent elsewhere. As for firemine, its best upgrade is flame array and for that you have to be ready to be relatively close to the action, which you can be at later stages of the game is risky. In essense all you need is 1. Energy Barrage, 2. Walking bomb, as those two abilities synergize very well to allow you to stack either a second energy barrage or a second walking bomb if cast in quick succession. No need for mana (beyond the first 65 for wb) or flashpoint to do this. If you are very reckless and have deathward staff, you do not even need to stay alive, as in similicrum you can cast for free and self revive with an energy barrage at the last second, just get your timing right and watch for dots like fire and poison against you as those can REALLY kill you as they are persistent damage.
The KE @ (about) 10
I soloed the crestwood dragon with Vivs in a recent all trials nm playthrough with this barebones setup. Grab clean burn and afterwards the dispel upgrade next, then go for firemine. Some may argue that chain lightning is better than eb on ke, but with eb you can change damage type and it is better against elites/ bosses.
Rift:
The Rift mage is a late bloomer more so than the others, it is difficult to get everything clicking at low teens and you will be seeing you need to make compromises. Again prioritize defenses (winter) because they work well with stonefist until you have the ability points to take the big damage toys ie firemine / pull of the abyss.
The rift at about lvl 12:
Grab veilstrike upgrade next to have more flexibility with weaken status application. You can probably drop barrier to save skill points if you are running with another support mage but it is more risky than with a necro to just drop barrier.
High levels (yawn)
Necromancer:
These are solid all round. On occasion I dump the winter tree/chaotic focus if I only use flame array to actually take spirit wisps and or dispel, depending on situation.On others I dump static cage / lightning tree to take the ice array+flame array combo and have room for dispel +upgrade that is more useful when facing 4 elite spellbinders or something like that. Take the upgrade to energy barrage if fighting dragons.
Big notes: I am not a fan of firewall anymore on necromancer. You generally do not have the ability points even late game to justify investing in it over Horror should you need to panic troublesome enemies, just throw a lightning cage or firemine and destroy them.
AND Dots were changed since a patch or two ago so they do not really count as hits for heal on hit effects, and they can't crit. What does count as a hit is the last damage tic of walking bomb which will self revive you.
Once you get the Ultimate Necro Staff (imo) The Heart of Pride (+50% attack speed) consider static charge too and just go all lightning with storm pact. With gathering storm you can cast so fast your barrier with the 5s upgrade will be off cooldown before it expires in most cases. And double the rate of the static cage+2x energy barrage + walking bomb combo.
KE:
Don't use barrier of course anymore, just mind blast + dispel. And fadetep+fade cloak for mobility and defense.
If you have spare points you can get the other ke passives next. With this setup you have all the mobility and versatility you need at your disposal.
Rift:
Switch immolate and energy barrage and barrier depending what is more useful to you atm and if you want to focus on damage and or which firemine upgrade you are using.
Anyways, I think the early builds (pre lvl 20) would be more interesting to look at than when you are lvl 22+ with any spec and can rompstomp anything.
And as you see I prefer to diversify my mages and not go "all out" on a single element type. Rather switch belts /staffs when appropriate to prioritize damage type.
my videos:
https://www.youtube....LP2wh3a2v0p3Wuw
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