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WIP Character Build: The Battlemage

Tags: #Character Build Bound Weapons  #Race:Argonian  #Mods  #Ordinator 
  • November 8, 2019

    Welcome to my first build, based off my personal character. I’m not very strong, so I doubt I’d be able to wear armor or swing a sword. As such, my character can’t either. She instead uses weightless bound weapons and magic to make her skin into armor. Supplemented by Alchemy to give her a connection to her ancestral home, this is the Battlemage.

    Backstory

    The Battlemage grew up on the docks of Windhelm, raised as a dock worker. She wasn’t as strong as the other Argonians, being forced to carry the smaller boxes of books and clothes when ships docked. She often talked with adventurers that passed through, eager to hear tales of the rest of Tamriel. She heard tales of magic, of ruins, artifacts, treasure and tales of home. Of Black Marsh. She soon dreamed of becoming an adventurer herself. One day, she accidentally dropped a box of books. As she scrambled to pick up the scattered tomes, a few of them caught her eye.

    Bound Battleaxe, Bound Bow, Stoneflesh, Healing. Spell tomes. For a merchant? Or the court wizard? She slipped them into her tunic and placed the rest back into the box, sealing it with a couple nails before putting it with the other cargo. That night, she read each book cover to cover while everyone slept. And she began to practice.

    After many months of practice, a couple accidents involving summoned scamps, and some pilfered mage robes, The Battlemage felt that she’d mastered these spells. She could summon the spectral Battleaxe and Bow with a thought and could make her skin as hard as stone. It was finally time for her to explore Skyrim.

     

    The Build

    Race: Argonian

    Stats: 1:2:1

    Standing Stone: The Warrior

    Spells: Bound Battleaxe, Bound Bow, Ebonyflesh, Ocato’s Recital

    Gear: Archmage’s Robes, Archmage’s Boots, Diadem of the Savant

    Major Skills: Conjuration, Alteration, Two-Handed

    Minor Skills: Alchemy, Block, Archery

    Essential Mods

    Ordinator: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1137

    This mods more than doubles the amount of perks available, making tons of builds viable. Notable perks for this build are as follows.

    -Dark Whispers: "Bound weapons induce a battle rage in their wielder, granting 20% extra attack damage and 100 points of armor rating for 5 seconds when a target is struck."

    -Wild Shrines: "Five shrines dedicated to nature's mysteries can be found in Skyrim. Each shrine grants a permanent bonus to one school of magic, making all spells from that school 15% more powerful or last 30% longer."

    -Execute: "Forwards power attacks with a battle axe execute targets below 30% Health, delivering a critical strike that deals twenty times critical damage."

    -Timed Block: "Assume a defensive position for 1 second after raising your shield or weapon, blocking 30% more damage and staggering attackers in melee range. (If you do not block an attack during this time, you cannot attempt another Timed Block for 2 seconds/1 second.)"

    -Thread the Needle: "Bows and crossbows ignore 25/50% armor if the target is not moving."

    -Advanced Lab: "You may choose to upgrade one alchemy lab to an Advanced version for 2500 gold. Potions you mix are 25% stronger at an Advanced Lab. Can be "Disassembled" by sneaking, allowing you to upgrade another."

    Andromeda: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/14910

    An overhaul for all the Standing Stone effects. In vanilla you'd just use the The Atronach and ignore every other stone. With Andromada, you actually have choices. For this build, I chose the Warrior Stone.

    -The Warrior:

    Fierce Spirit: "Power attacks do 15% more damage, and ranged weapons do up to 15% more damage based on distance."

    Warrior's Path: "Learn all Warrior skills 10% faster."

    Star of the West: "1/day - Invoke the Warrior to refill Health and Stamina and fortify them by the amount restored for 30 seconds." Only unlocked after discovering all 13 Standing Stones.

    Apocalypse: https://www.nexusmods.com/skyrimspecialedition/mods/1090

    This mod is mostly for Ocato's Recital, but there are other Alteration spells you can use for utility.

    -Ocato's Recital: "Stores the (beneficial self-targeted non-concentration) spell in your left hand and casts it for no cost whenever you enter combat. Up to 3 spells. Empty left hand to reset." Store Ebonyflesh to have it activate when you enter combat.

    -Longstride: "While concentrating, grants X% movement speed and 25 carry weight, tripled when out of combat." Free with Intuitive Magic.

    -Drop Zone: "Creates a ring of cushioning magic at the target location. The caster takes no damage when falling into the ring."

    -Spell Twine: "Bind a chosen effect to the spell in your left hand. It is triggered whenever the spell is cast. Up to 3 spells. Empty left hand to reset." Recomended to bind effects to Ebonyflesh, Bound Battleaxe, and Bound Bow.

     

    Perks

    Conjuration: Bound Battleaxe is the Battlemage’s primary source of damage, followed by Bound Bow. Conjuration perks make them cost less, give them more damage, and give them bonus effects like Soul Trap.

    Alteration: Armor spells are your source of protection. Alteration gives them more armor rating while Ocato’s Recital lets them auto-cast at the beginning of combat. It can also give you further resistance against magic, certain elements, boost one of your stats, and can even generate gold.

    Two-Handed: Your Bound Weapons cannot be upgraded through smithing, so Two-Handed and Archery are your only real ways of upgrading your damage output other than Mystic Binding. Two-Handed gives your battleaxe bleed damage, makes your attacks ignore armor, and can even allow you to execute weakened enemies. 

    Block: Block gives you access to Timed Blocking and Power Bashing. Block 1 second before an attack hits to reduce damage taken and maybe even stagger the opponent. Power Bashing can knock an opponent to the ground, giving you plenty of time to hit them.

    Archery: Archery Perks give you more damage at long range, staggers foes in close range, and allows you to zoom in to hit farther targets.

    Alchemy: Alchemy is this build’s way of recovery. Restoration would need you to dispel your weapon in order to heal, while Alchemy allows you to chug potions of healing while never letting go of your battleaxe. The Alchemy perks mostly focus on giving you better potions and allowing you to make more of them.

  • November 8, 2019

    Hey there Zilla, wanted to welcome you to the site and say that it's awesome to see you jumping in with a build :D I don't quite have the time right now to just jump in with my full thoughts on everything, but the core of the build is pretty interesting, I love the idea of focusing on the Bound Battleaxe at all because it's incredibly underused and it's just a really nice, well connected build. The only thing that I think is worth pointing out immedietly is to provide links to the mods you've mentioned (half to give proper credit to the modders, half to make it easier for people to quickly head over and check them out in case they haven't used the mod) and maybe to go into a bit more detail on how the mods changed the build. 

    I'll drop by with a more detailed explanation on that second thing (if you want) later on, and maybe throw in a few links to other builds that focus on mods. But yeah, cool build so far and I'm glad to see you jumping in :D

  • November 9, 2019

    Thanks for the feedback! I'd love for a more in depth look at my build when you have the time, but for now I'll definetly flesh out the mod section of the build.