Mage solo strategy question

[Pyrion]

I beg to differ. Especially in the first levels the fire pet is superior to water while soloing. You don't need to use mana for its damage shield + the damage shield is much bigger than what you can cast yourself. It's probably the main damage source, resulting in faster kills. You need to be aware though that the fire pet is not as sturdy as the water pet, so depending on what you want to kill, NegaStoats advice can still apply, just not in the general case.

The best solution for avoiding xp loss due to pet is to just DUO. Even if the other person is contributing absolutely nothing you still get the same xp as if you are soloing without killing pets all the time. Any partner contribution is adding to your xp.