Saving for a poke mage.

I would personally say Vel'koz, but that's cause he's one of my favorite champs. He is able to throw out a lot of damage, especially his ult if you get your passive. Idk if he is the best, but he is really good, especially if the enemy has a ton of tanks, because he can do true damage.

Velkoz. His damage is all skillshots so its a champ than you get a progressively higher winrate the better you become at him. He also has the ability to do true damage to an entire team which mages him really good come mid to late game. Xerath is good but too immobile (they all are but especially him). Hes fairly useless without peel or frontline and cant kite while casting spells as easily as Velkoz can. Ziggs is good but his damage is less reliable than Velkoz. Id say hes an easier but slightly weaker version of Velkoz. Kogmaw and Varus.... just no lol. theyll be blown up by any decent mid.

When I have to play a mage, I play Ziggs. You can poke out people AND he has strong pushing power through his passive and tower killing Satchel.

gets my vote because she's not just a poke mage. She's also a utility mage, and has good CC. She will always be useful, no matter the game.

If you really want to poke you should get Ziggs or Xerath. If you want to land devastating combos get Vel'Koz or Lux.