Skyrim Character Building » Discussions


Character Build: The Imperial Battlemage

Tags: #Character Build Elementalist  #Character Build Mage  #Character Build Enchanter  #Rank:Legendary  #Hall of Fame Build  #Race:Altmer 
  • Member
    May 9, 2014

    This is really nice, can't believe I missed it before!

    Love the use of Alchemy on a pure mage. Cool gear -- though I do think Jo has a point; the Telvanni Robes are very specific to a purely Dunmer faction, so even though I don't think the Imperial Battlemage needs to be reeking of the Empire/Legion, it does seem like a bit of an odd aesthetic. Cool skill set as well -- fairly straightforward, but effective and engaging.

    My only question/concern: How do you manage on defense in the early- and mid-game (i.e., before Master Alteration for Dragonhide)? Even with Greater Ward + Ebonyflesh, you're only getting 180 AR -- maybe around 215 with the helmet (including its hidden AR). I mean, it's not terrible, but it's pretty poor, and it requires a lot of maintenance. And since you have no cost reduction enchantments for Restoration, that ward will drain your Magicka very quickly, won't it?

  • May 9, 2014
    Ok so I played this guy very thoroughly but it was quite a while ago! Firstly, the robes were chosen purely for aesthetic reasons. If there were any other grand looking robes that worked (the arch mages robes didn't look right for this one and nothing else looked particularly impressive). Shame they were called "Telvanni Robes" but there you go.

    As for defence, conjuration is in an important part of this guy's repertoire so don't forget to summon! Having Ebonyflesh, Wards, the helmet and the fact that you increase stats in a 1:1:0 ratio means he can take a hit or two unlike regular mages but he is a ranged combatant. Also I play tested him on Expert difficulty so on Master/Legendary you will most likely want a tanky follower (or Marcurio maybe if you want to play the Master/Apprentice angle).

    Finally, with the enchantments, and in the longer fights, potions (dragons, dragon sages, bosses, very large groups etc) and the fact that no magic is spent on distruction means you can indeed use wards without running dry of magicka for sure. On the very rare occasion that a battle drags on too long pop the highborn racial and your golden!
  • Member
    May 9, 2014

    I think this build features one of the most cool mage armor combos!

  • Member
    May 16, 2014

    I've been looking around a little bit, do you have any other builds? I can't seem to locate any. This one is very good and I would like to see more.

  • May 16, 2014
    Hiya Matt, no I haven't posted any other builds. I had a couple of ideas a while back but nothing I ended up fully fleshing out. One was looking good but then Mason brought his Nephilim which was basically a better version of what I was doing.

    Another was an idea I had when the races contest was happening which was a sneaky, magey Breton that was basically motivated by his desire to rise socially and politically (a Machiavellian sort of guy). Aesthetically I saw him in Steel Plate armor with the Shrouded Hood, using followers and summons to fight for him so he could take the credit and wielding some type of illusion staff. That's as far as I got with that idea unfortunately. I may revisit it one day.
  • May 17, 2014
    *Seraphim rather
  • Member
    November 24, 2014
    So far, I've enjoyed this build. Once I found an easy way to lvl Destruction I found myself more in love with the build.
  • Member
    November 24, 2014
    Oh and +1.
  • Member
    December 1, 2014

    I LOVE how the elven helm matches the staves! Definitely going to start this right now. One of the best aesthetics I've seen yet!

  • Member
    December 7, 2014

    love it, especially how instead of using the atronach stone you just use a staff combined with the apprentice stone to make it so you have a large pool of magicka