What’s a battle mage and how do I make one?

Ragebull · August 2018

People say it’s not possible in ESO, but I’m not sure what it is...

Is it like dual wielding with magic or something like that?

jcm2606 · August 2018

It really depends on how you define the mage archetype.

If you define a mage as somebody who casts magic(ka) abilities, then battle mages are really only a thing in PVP, and even then they are very niche. Battle mages, ie magicka builds that dual wield, went out of meta in PVE a year ago when Morrowind nerfed sustain so hard that heavy attacks became mandatory just to keep your magicka/stamina going throughout a fight. They can be useful in PVP when building for pure damage with Overload on a Magicka Sorc, or when building for melee ganking on a Magicka NB. Outside of that, staves are the best option for magicka DPS in PVP.

If you define a mage as somebody who generally just visually looks mystical, then basically all stamina classes could be considered battle mages. Stamina NB is a cross between a blood mage assassin and a warrior, DK involves a lot of flame and poison magic, Templar has a lot of holy magic including an Aedric spear as your primary "weapon", Sorc controls the elements of wind and lightning with a touch of dark magic, and Warden just oozes druidic magic.

Tryxus · August 2018

Stamina Sorcerer

Davor · August 2018

A BattleMage is a sorcerer/wizard/magician who is also acts like a Warrior at least that I know of in Elder Scrolls lore. So how to make one? I just say pick any class you like and play like you want. I believe you will be using Heavy Armour and it seems they like to use axes or double axes but not sure if that is really the case or not.

There is no set way. I just say go and play what you want. Pick the skills that are fun for you and if you want to look like a BattleMage then use Heavy Armour and go for the magic skills you like. Heck I say go for stamina skills you like and pretend they are magic spells as well.

Beardimus · August 2018

I'm unsure of any official / lore description, however as a MagDW fan ive describes that as a battlemage personally. Rather than a robed old Wizard with a big wand.

abigfishy · August 2018

To me it is a Sorc in heavy armour. Not that rare in PVP however in PVP they use staves. In PVE there are Sorc tanks, they are what I consider a battlemage.

ADarklore · August 2018

Ragebull wrote: »

People say it’s not possible in ESO, but I’m not sure what it is...

Is it like dual wielding with magic or something like that?

What you're asking for is a hybrid character who uses both magic AND weapons... but that is not possible in ESO (depending on the content you want... quests sure, you can do it, end game content, NO). The problem is that so many things in ESO are tied to your attributes- weapon/spell damage, etc. So if you try to divide your attributes between both, you'll spend far too much time in combat trying to defeat enemies versus someone who has focused on only one attribute.

Someone suggested a Stamina Sorcerer... the problem there is, a StamSorc is focused on weapons and thus spec'd all attributes into Stamina... there are very few actual class damage skills available to a StamSorc because they're based upon Magicka.

Jack_Of_Shades · August 2018

jcm2606 wrote: »

It really depends on how you define the mage archetype.

This is a [one of many] description of a battlemage according to morrowind:

In-game Description: Battlemages are wizard-warriors, trained in both lethal spellcasting and heavily armored combat. They sacrifice mobility and versatility for the ability to supplement melee and ranged attacks with elemental damage and summoned creatures.

Specialization: Magic
Attributes: Intelligence, Strength

Naturally, these don't totally coincided with ESO's gameplay. But, essentially, a battlemage is a spellsword. A warrior who uses magic, along with melee weapons and heavy armor.

Beardimus · August 2018

Jack_Of_Shades wrote: »

jcm2606 wrote: »

It really depends on how you define the mage archetype.

This is a [one of many] description of a battlemage according to morrowind:

In-game Description: Battlemages are wizard-warriors, trained in both lethal spellcasting and heavily armored combat. They sacrifice mobility and versatility for the ability to supplement melee and ranged attacks with elemental damage and summoned creatures.

Specialization: Magic
Attributes: Intelligence, Strength

Naturally, these don't totally coincided with ESO's gameplay. But, essentially, a battlemage is a spellsword. A warrior who uses magic, along with melee weapons and heavy armor.

Well id count my MagDW magsorc then with heavy breastplate

sargethepoet · January 2020

All my characters are heavy armor builds with attributes spread being 2 points magicka 1 Health 1 stamina Restoration staff primary weapon Infused with Shock on it. Secondary whatever I think needs further leveling to be useful. I only do PvE for the most part Just a couple trips into PvP land On First character. Depending on armor setup I have peaked on one character well over 30 K health with enough magicka using meals to survive in the Seekers archive solo.

I have used variations of this build since Morrowind came out then Oblivion now in the ESO Build. CP distribution to fill in weak areas and maximize target effects. Build your weapons up to gold once you have a set you trust and keep a lot of charged soul gems to recharge every break in the action if that is needed.

Being able to Heal yourself and others while keeping a fight going is part of being a Battle Mage being comfortable using any weapons and magic that will do the job a particular target needs to take it down is the other part in my mind.

Above all have fun in this world be play in.

Neoealth · January 2020

When I think of battle mages, I think back to oblivion, those mage guards that would patrol the arcane university in the imperial city. They wore heavy armor for the most part and used a longsword (although in Oblivion you didn't need a spare hand to cast a spell)

In ESO you would lose your light armor 5 piece bonus if you wore 5 heavy armor. So you would damage your magicka ability. But I suppose it's a trade off between a warrior's protection but still having the means to use magic to aid in battle. Even in oblivion wearing heavy armor would cause your spells to less effective, at least until you got much better at that school of magic.

I've never liked the armor passives in eso as I feel it funnels players into build paths that exclude types of builds like the battle mage. Unless you're willing to take a huge hit to great magic passives in the light armor skill line.

TheShadowScout · January 2020

Ragebull wrote: »

What’s a battle mage and how do I make one?

Well, for the "what" you may want to ask ealier TES games:

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Arena:Classes#Battle_Mage

Battle Mages are trained and bred to manipulating the essence of magic in battle. They are highly skilled at delivering offensive spells at their targets.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Daggerfall:Classes

Battlemages use their mastery of magic for combat purposes. They are naturally adept at casting offensive magic spells.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Morrowind:Classes#Battlemage

Battlemages are wizard-warriors, trained in both lethal spellcasting and heavily armored combat. They sacrifice mobility and versatility for the ability to supplement melee and ranged attacks with elemental damage and summoned creatures.

https://en.uesp.net/wiki/Oblivion:Classes#Battlemage

Able to resolve most conflicts with either spell or sword. They are a deadly mix of scholar and soldier.

...as you can gather, the archetype has shanged a bit over various games. But... some things stay the same.
"...highly skilled in offenseive spells" - meaning a magica-heavy build, with a destruction staff as their main weapon.
"...heavily armored combat" - meaning wearing (mostly) heavy armor, an mixed DPS/Tanky type of build.
"...summoned creatures" - usually meaning a sorceror class
"...wizard-warriors, either spell or sword" - May or may not be a little hybrid-ish with a melee option on their secondary weapon.

...

And there you have it. Put a sorceror into heavy armor, put at least half your attribute points into magica equip a destro staff, and call it a battlemage... may or may not have a little in stamina and a sword as back up weapon, or (since hybrid builds are very ineffective in eso) wait until they someday might give you some sort of melee magica skill line...

Danikat · January 2020

Battlemages have appeared in several previous TES games (definitely Daggerfall, Morrowind and Oblivion) and there are various enemies in ESO called battlemages. The specifics vary between games but the general idea is they're mages who can be on the front lines of a battle instead of staying back out of harms way casting spells. In other words a tank/magicka DD hybrid.

Since all ESO classes have some magical abilities you could, in theory, make a tank of any class you like, use a few class skills and it'd be pretty much a battlemage.

But since they tend to use conjuration magic and mysticism as well as destruction in the other TES game I'd be inclined to say a sorcerer would be the best choice. So sorc class, attribute points in magicka, heavy armour (maybe 5 heavy, 3 light), sword & shield (maybe a staff back bar?) and then whatever else you think would work.

(Incidentally I find it amusing that usually this forum is full of people saying everything is too easy, normal dungeons don't need tanks and healers, everyone can 1-shot anything etc. but if anyone asks about a hybrid build suddenly it's absolutely out of the question to play anything except the top-tier meta builds because it will be impossible to get anywhere.)

Dragonnord · January 2020

Sorry, but there can be only one Abnur Tharn, Battlemage extraordinaire.

Grianasteri · January 2020

Ragebull wrote: »

People say it’s not possible in ESO, but I’m not sure what it is...

Is it like dual wielding with magic or something like that?

Its a label without a universally accepted definition, and it means different things to different people, across different games.

To a certain extent, every magica build is a battle mage, they wield magic, in battle. But beyond this many folks ideas of a traditional battle mage, is indeed a melee wielding magica user.

This is very difficult in ESO because of the division between Stamina for weapons, and Magica for skills/spells. Trying to create an effective hybrid using both Magica and Stamina based skills/attributes is really difficult. You can do it, but it will do neither role very well.

While experimenting Ive made at least 2 hybrid builds, neither really worked despite my best efforts and the use of specific sets like Pelinal and were eventually changed into entirely new builds. That said, for overland content and normal dungeons, they were fine.

Note that you CAN make some effective hybrid characters as long as the two resources pool from the same one, so Magica or Stamina. The difficulty comes when trying to combine these, in my experience.

One idea many in the community are in favour of, is a new Skill tree that specifically allows the use of a 1 handed melee weapon, with magica spells cast from the other hand. I am unsure how this would be achieved given the Stam/Magica issue.

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What’s a battle mage and how do I make one?

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