RarityGuide.com - http://www.rarityguide.com/articles
Rift Souls Guide: Mage Souls
http://www.rarityguide.com/articles/articles/593/1/Rift-Souls-Guide-Mage-Souls/Page1.html
By chronodev (Ron)
Published on 03/5/2011
 
A guide to the Mage Souls in Rift, including advantages and disadvantages

Archon
"An Archon is a support specialist who has mastered the art of stealing an opponent’s strength and converting that raw energy into beneficial magic. This allows him to bolster his allies, instantly turning the tide of battle when things seem bleakest."

Choose this soul if you enjoy playing in a support role.
Advantages: Weaken your enemies and at the same time make you and your allies stronger.
Disadvantages: Vulnerable between power transfers.

Chloromancer
"A Chloromancer is a healing specialist who draws on the vital energies of plants and nature to find a balance between life and death. This allows her to harness energies into a devastating force and recycle destructive magic to heal her allies."

Choose this soul if you like to do damage while also having the ability to heal yourself.
Advantages: Deal damage and heal at the same time.
Disadvantages: Does less damage then other mages.

Dominator
"A Dominator is a support specialist who excels at terrorizing his opponents, leaving them unable or unwilling to act. Those who can muster the courage to assault a Dominator will find themselves at the mercy of arcane shields that turn the fury of their own blows against them."

Choose this soul if you enjoy playing in a control role.
Advantages: Powerful debuffs.
Disadvantages: Less efficient when soloing.

Elementalist
"An Elementalist is an offensive Mage who specializes in manipulating and controlling the raw energies of the planes. Through fierce discipline and strict study, she has learned to master the primal forces of the elements and bind them into physical form to serve her will."

Choose this soul if you enjoy dealing damage and also having a pet by your side to help you.
Advantages: Ability to summon powerful elementals, as well as deal good damage on their own.
Disadvantages: Most effective with a pet out, if pet dies the elementalist becomes a lot more vulnerable.

Necromancer
"A Necromancer is an offensive Mage who has mastered the forbidden art of reanimating the dead and binding them to his will. His twisted magics allow him to siphon off the vital essence of his opponents, leaving them frail and unable to defend themselves from his undead minions."

Choose this soul if you like to fight with pets, and also have powerful debuffs at your disposal
Advantages: Pet fights alongside you, as well as the ability to cast useful debuffs. Also can heal allies by sacrificing own health.
Disadvantages: Dependency on the undead pets, can be in trouble when they die.

Pyromancer
A Pyromancer is an offensive Mage whose sole focus is the mastery of fire. She is capable of harnessing this power for a multitude of uses, from massively destructive fireballs to more subtle manipulations that trap her opponents behind blazing walls of flame."

Choose this soul if you like dealing direct, massive damage.
Advantages: High DPS and massive damaging fire spells
Disadvantages: Mostly damage spells but not much else, low utility.

Stormcaller
"A Stormcaller is an offensive specialist who has learned to harness the power of the weather. He can devastate a large area by drawing on the power of wind and water, chilling his opponents with freezing rain or stopping their hearts with a bolt of lightning."

Choose this soul if you like AoE attacks.
Advantages: Capable of launching massive Area of Effect attacks.
Disadvantages: The powerful spell combinations required to achieve maximum devastation take a long time to cast, vulnerable during that time.

Warlock
"A Warlock is an offensive specialist who embraces the darker forces of entropy and death. From within a cloak of protective shadow, this Mage directs deathly energies, inexorably consuming her enemies’ lives and feeding herself on their stolen breath."

Choose this soul if you like debuffs and dealing damage over time.
Advantages: Powerful debuffs and damage over time spells.
Disadvantages: Spells take long to deal their full effect, vulnerable to fast bursting attacks.

Archmage (PvP Soul)
"Archmages rain magical doom across whole swathes of terrain, until the enemy faction has no place to stand. These spell-casters study the currents of magic itself, and are able to alter and dispel arcane forces at play upon the battlefield. "

Choose this soul for PvP combat.