Mercurias said:
Warlocksg said:
Hi Guys,
I wonder if anyone's made a War mage build in Skyrim?
I've recently felt my creative juices for character building again and was wondering if anyone's created such a build.
Let me know?
Thanks.
I'd say the majority of mage builds in this game are oriented around battle, though there's a certainly a long list of support mages also.
When you say "War Mage", that makes me think of the Battle Mage class which most Elder Scrolls games feature. Rather than using actual armor, most versions in the series used conjured armor/flesh spells and dodging. The real emphasis for the class was to deal out as much damage to as many enemies as possible.
The typical Warmage in Skyrim from that sort of build would use One-Handed, Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Illusion, and Alchemy.
Alchemy supplies healing as well as enhancements to your spell schools, magicka recovery on the fly, and poisons to enhance weapon strikes.
Destruction is the source of raw damage. Emphasis on Fire spells usually provides the mose DPS with the least cost.
Illusion is the Battlemage's control skill. It's also great for stealth.
Alteration is for utility, defense, and control. Flesh Spells are our friends.
I find that Alchemy kind of eliminates the need for staves as a means of stretching magicka. Likewise flesh spells eliminate the need for armor. The overall combination ends up being highly devastating and versatile in combat.
Hey Mercurias,
Thanks for the input mate.
Agreed with some of the points, but mostly, am going off the grid with this one.
See, it's builds like these that interest me, cause it's so obscure that there is no one definition to call it right, but there is a preference.
So, let's start with the basics.... the war mage.
From what i've read thus far, there is a distinction between it and a battlemage.
Whilst like the battle mage & spellswprd clases, the Warmage itself is a support archetype, it distinguishes itself by 3 factors:
- Reliance on the arcane for all matters relating to offense & defense.
- Battlefield Arcane Controller
- Edge Mechanisms & Metamagic feats when utilizing in spells.
This is unlike the battlemage and spellsword classes in skyrim, in which playstyles and concepts sometimes overlap each other.
The above 3 points led me to think of the definition of the following:
- Armor
- Control Spells
- Ways to improve and utilize combat magic (a term in Skyrim, usually referring to destruction & healing spells combined)
Armor - Expert Alteration:
With light armor taking meaning from anything relating to simple leather to studded leather in other games, in Skyrim, it would be a waste of perk points, requiring investments in blacksmithing (at least 2), light armor (all the way to custom fit) & Alchemy & enchanting.... it's too much of a significant investment.
Even with mods that allow NPC's to craft items and/or improve items for the player, there is still a significant amount of perk points needed to make light armor workable in Skyrim (think about 8 in light armor)
Since the concept of a Warmage is to rely only on arcane methods for battle, I'm currently leaning heavily towards alteration and cloth... only 3 points needed for mage armor.
Control Spells - Expert Paralyze & Frenzy type:
Whilst the illusion tree provides a variety of spells, not all of them are about control and some are unrealistic and not lore friendly.
Being able to affect machines & undead by "Controlling their minds, affecting the status of the user" seems unrealistic to an archetype that is not known for abusing or going to extreme methods to gain that type of ability.
Which is why Illusion is not heavily perked till "Master of the Mind", going till the requirement needed for expert spells to have an effect.
With fear spells, unwarranted attention might be brought into the battle, as enemies flee, especially in a crowded area.
With frenzy spells, the aggro range is contained only to the specific battle area, grouping them up and making them easy targets.
Paralyze spells allow for greater precise controls of individuals, disabling the most powerful enemies till the rest are dealt with.
It also makes sense lore wise, as Alteration spells deal with bending reality itself and having all users in the affects area be subject to it's effects, as opposed to their minds.
Hence, the decision for the Warmage to rely only on frenzy & Alteration spells, since it provides the most tactical advantage.
Battle/War Magics - Adept Destruction & Restoration
The nature of the Warmage Archetype deals with the maximum impact of spells that can be further augmented (will cover in next section)
It also relies on arcane methods for self-sustenance, though this doesn't mean it will help heal others.
Given that the Warmage is a support that doesn't come within melee range, this means the following:
- Area of effect destruction: Flames / Frostbite (From range, you can hit 2 or more enemies), All runes & All Fire, Frost & Lightning AOE Spells
- Area of effect restoration: Poison Rune
- Self Heals: Adept Healing Spells
Edge Mechanisms & Meta Magic feats - Buffs: Alchemy - Heavy Potions with Light Poisons
To re-create the War Mage Edge & Meta Magic feats mechanics, I decided to utilize Alchemy full on.
- Potions that focus on increasing destruction & illusions effects & prolonging alteration effects
- Potions that regenerate Magicka & Health
- Poisons that make a target more susceptible to Overall magical Damage (Weakness to Poisons + Weakness to Magic Poisons)
In addition, perks that boost the effects of destruction & illusion spells can be taken as well to mimic edge mechanisms.
The Metamagic utilized for this build is "Spell Widening", which takes on the form of the area of effect spells in the spells as mentioned above.
Therefore, only AOE spells are utilized for all types of magic (illusion, destruction & restoration). Alteration remains largely singular.
Weapons usage:
Given that this class is supposed to be proficient in light weaponry, including staves (as taken from a variety of sources that contain this archetype), I'm inclined to go with staff usage as opposed to melee. Whilst a follower might be able to apply the poisons necessary, it's not beneath the warmage to apply a coating on a dagger to inflict the poison himself, whilst his targets are under the effect of a frenzy spell, but it's applications are rare.
With Staves, their magical usage would come in handy whilst waiting on Magicka to regenerate, even with aid from regenration potions & enchanted apparel.
Either this or the staff can be used from the get-go, as form of Magicka conservation when facing multiple enemies (which would most probably be the case).
Agreed with the notion of using fire spells, as that inflicts the most damage, best utilized via staff. This way the more expesive spells can be cast by hand and utilize the fill effects of augmented perks.
I'm almost there with the build.
Probably gonna post it on the workshop next.
The full build in itself will have to await the playthrough, with more specifics to come with the actual build.
This might take a while though, so stay tuned.
Thanks.
[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Mercurias]Mercurias[/url] said:[/b]
[blockquote][b][url=/profile/Warlocksg]Warlocksg[/url] said:[/b]
Hi Guys,
I wonder if anyone's made a War mage build in Skyrim?
I've recently felt my creative juices for character building again and was wondering if anyone's created such a build.
Let me know?
Thanks.
[/blockquote]
I'd say the majority of mage builds in this game are oriented around battle, though there's a certainly a long list of support mages also.
When you say "War Mage", that makes me think of the Battle Mage class which most Elder Scrolls games feature. Rather than using actual armor, most versions in the series used conjured armor/flesh spells and dodging. The real emphasis for the class was to deal out as much damage to as many enemies as possible.
The typical Warmage in Skyrim from that sort of build would use One-Handed, Destruction, Conjuration, Alteration, Illusion, and Alchemy.
Alchemy supplies healing as well as enhancements to your spell schools, magicka recovery on the fly, and poisons to enhance weapon strikes.
Destruction is the source of raw damage. Emphasis on Fire spells usually provides the mose DPS with the least cost.
Illusion is the Battlemage's control skill. It's also great for stealth.
Alteration is for utility, defense, and control. Flesh Spells are our friends.
I find that Alchemy kind of eliminates the need for staves as a means of stretching magicka. Likewise flesh spells eliminate the need for armor. The overall combination ends up being highly devastating and versatile in combat.
[/blockquote]
Hey Mercurias,
Thanks for the input mate.
Agreed with some of the points, but mostly, am going off the grid with this one.
See, it's builds like these that interest me, cause it's so obscure that there is no one definition to call it right, but there is a preference.
So, let's start with the basics.... the war mage.
From what i've read thus far, there is a distinction between it and a battlemage.
Whilst like the battle mage & spellswprd clases, the Warmage itself is a support archetype, it distinguishes itself by 3 factors:
- Reliance on the arcane for all matters relating to offense & defense.
- Battlefield Arcane Controller
- Edge Mechanisms & Metamagic feats when utilizing in spells.
This is unlike the battlemage and spellsword classes in skyrim, in which playstyles and concepts sometimes overlap each other.
The above 3 points led me to think of the definition of the following:
- Armor
- Control Spells
- Ways to improve and utilize combat magic (a term in Skyrim, usually referring to destruction & healing spells combined)
Armor - Expert Alteration:
With light armor taking meaning from anything relating to simple leather to studded leather in other games, in Skyrim, it would be a waste of perk points, requiring investments in blacksmithing (at least 2), light armor (all the way to custom fit) & Alchemy & enchanting.... it's too much of a significant investment.
Even with mods that allow NPC's to craft items and/or improve items for the player, there is still a significant amount of perk points needed to make light armor workable in Skyrim (think about 8 in light armor)
Since the concept of a Warmage is to rely only on arcane methods for battle, I'm currently leaning heavily towards alteration and cloth... only 3 points needed for mage armor.
Control Spells - Expert Paralyze & Frenzy type:
Whilst the illusion tree provides a variety of spells, not all of them are about control and some are unrealistic and not lore friendly.
Being able to affect machines & undead by "Controlling their minds, affecting the status of the user" seems unrealistic to an archetype that is not known for abusing or going to extreme methods to gain that type of ability.
Which is why Illusion is not heavily perked till "Master of the Mind", going till the requirement needed for expert spells to have an effect.
With fear spells, unwarranted attention might be brought into the battle, as enemies flee, especially in a crowded area.
With frenzy spells, the aggro range is contained only to the specific battle area, grouping them up and making them easy targets.
Paralyze spells allow for greater precise controls of individuals, disabling the most powerful enemies till the rest are dealt with.
It also makes sense lore wise, as Alteration spells deal with bending reality itself and having all users in the affects area be subject to it's effects, as opposed to their minds.
Hence, the decision for the Warmage to rely only on frenzy & Alteration spells, since it provides the most tactical advantage.
Battle/War Magics - Adept Destruction & Restoration
The nature of the Warmage Archetype deals with the maximum impact of spells that can be further augmented (will cover in next section)
It also relies on arcane methods for self-sustenance, though this doesn't mean it will help heal others.
Given that the Warmage is a support that doesn't come within melee range, this means the following:
- Area of effect destruction: Flames / Frostbite (From range, you can hit 2 or more enemies), All runes & All Fire, Frost & Lightning AOE Spells
- Area of effect restoration: Poison Rune
- Self Heals: Adept Healing Spells
Edge Mechanisms & Meta Magic feats - Buffs: Alchemy - Heavy Potions with Light Poisons
To re-create the War Mage Edge & Meta Magic feats mechanics, I decided to utilize Alchemy full on.
- Potions that focus on increasing destruction & illusions effects & prolonging alteration effects
- Potions that regenerate Magicka & Health
- Poisons that make a target more susceptible to Overall magical Damage (Weakness to Poisons + Weakness to Magic Poisons)
In addition, perks that boost the effects of destruction & illusion spells can be taken as well to mimic edge mechanisms.
The Metamagic utilized for this build is "Spell Widening", which takes on the form of the area of effect spells in the spells as mentioned above.
Therefore, only AOE spells are utilized for all types of magic (illusion, destruction & restoration). Alteration remains largely singular.
Weapons usage:
Given that this class is supposed to be proficient in light weaponry, including staves (as taken from a variety of sources that contain this archetype), I'm inclined to go with staff usage as opposed to melee. Whilst a follower might be able to apply the poisons necessary, it's not beneath the warmage to apply a coating on a dagger to inflict the poison himself, whilst his targets are under the effect of a frenzy spell, but it's applications are rare.
With Staves, their magical usage would come in handy whilst waiting on Magicka to regenerate, even with aid from regenration potions & enchanted apparel.
Either this or the staff can be used from the get-go, as form of Magicka conservation when facing multiple enemies (which would most probably be the case).
Agreed with the notion of using fire spells, as that inflicts the most damage, best utilized via staff. This way the more expesive spells can be cast by hand and utilize the fill effects of augmented perks.
I'm almost there with the build.
Probably gonna post it on the workshop next.
The full build in itself will have to await the playthrough, with more specifics to come with the actual build.
This might take a while though, so stay tuned.
Thanks.
