Elden Ring Mage Build Guide - Battlemage
May. 7, 2024Elden Ring Mage Build Guide – Battlemage
In this Elden Ring Mage Guide, I’ll be showing you my Battlemage build. This is a level 100 version of the Enchanted Knight. If you like the Enchanted Knight’s playstyle, this will be how it plays at a higher level.
A melee mage Build that uses Sorceries as their only means of damage while wielding a Shield in their off-hand to protect themselves and buff their damage.
We have over 110Elden Ring Buildsnow, for all classes and playstyles. This build is recommended for level 100.
The weapon we’ll be using for this build is theCarian Glintstone Staff. The reason for that is that it boosts Carian Sword Sorcery damage. The damage boost is significant enough that it outperforms Azur’s Glintstone Staff, which speeds up the rate at which you cast spells in exchange for costing more FP.
If you were thinking you’re going to do more damage per second with a fasterCarian Slicewith the faster cast time, you can test this out on a tough enemy, and you’ll find that you kill enemies faster with Carian Glintstone Staff thanAzur’s Glintstone Staff, even though you’re attacking faster with the latter. This is also true for other spells, such asGlintstone Pebble. You’ll deal more damage Carian Glintstone Staff over the Azur’s Glintstone Staff in most scenarios. In tough bosses, if you use the Azur’s Glintstone Staff, you’ll find yourself running out of FP due to its higher cost.
Another option is theLusat’s Glintstone Staff, which increases the damage you deal but increases the FP cost substantially. FP management is such a huge part of being a mage, and I don’t think Lusat’s Glintstone Staff increased damage justifies the increased FP cost for this build.
We’ll be using theJellyfish Shieldon our offhand. What’s great about it is that its buff increases your damage by 20% for 30 seconds for 9 FP. Instead of getting a big damage buff for a short period of time, you’re getting a small buff over a long period of time. You can also block with this shield, which is fantastic because if you’re playing as a mage, you don’t need burst damage as much as you need a little bit more damage to finish off one target. I find the 20% damage increase to be just right, and since it lasts longer, you don’t have to re-cast it as often. This only weighs 8, which is pretty light, and it has 50 Guard Boost, which is pretty great. As you’re roaming around on the landscape, you can use your spells and Carian Slicer with the buff from the shield, do fantastic damage, and still have a tanky feel to your character as you can block when you need to. As you upgrade the Jellyfish Shield, its Guard Boost maxes out at 55. You definitely want to upgrade this over time, so that you gain more Guard Boost with your blocks. It’s not a ton, but every little bit helps.
When it comes to our headgear, we’ll be usingHaima Glintstone Crown, which gives +2 to Strength and Intelligence. You need 20 Strength in order to use Jellyfish Shield, so that extra Strength is not wasted. Extra Intelligence helps your damage and meet the requirements for the spells. The downside is you lose 10% FP, but at this point in the game, having 25 Mind, you only lose 12 FP. That’s only about 2 points in Mind, and you get that back at this point since you’re gaining four additional attribute points in exchange for that. As you progress through the game, it won’t be worth it. At this point, however, I think it definitely is worth it.
As for our armor, it really is up to you. You’re not going to be wearing very heavy armor with this build, because you are going to use a heavy shield, and carry two weapons in your right hand most of the time. Since we’re trying to make it as light as possible, you’re going to wear either a light or medium armor most of the time. Just make sure that you can still do a medium roll.
The four talismans I use for this build are:Graven-School Talisman,Green Turtle Talisman,Radagon Icon, andStargazer Heirloom
Graven-School Talismanincreases sorcery damage by 4%, which will give you a nice boost since this will be your primary damage type.
Green Turtle Talismanhelps you regenerate stamina faster. You swing Carian Slicer really fast, and that’s going to chew through your stamina. You’ll also be blocking with this build, so you want to regain your stamina quickly. You will be spamming spells such as Carian Slicer and Glintstone Pebble frequently, so this is what you want to use.
Radagon Iconincreases the speed at which you cast. This is going to help you cast Carian Slicer and Glintstone Pebble faster. This will also makeLoretta’s Greatbowcharge up faster, so that’s just fantastic.
Stargazer Heirloomgives you a +5 to Intelligence. You want to get as much damage out of this build as you possibly can so you melt things as quickly as possible when you’re in melee range.
Alternative options are:Ritual Sword Talisman,Magic Scorpion Charm, andWinged Sword Insignia. Ritual Sword Talisman increases your total damage by 10%, but you have to be at full health. This is better for a pure mage, as you’ll be in melee range with this build. I find it hard to maintain this buff with this build, but it’s an option for you. Magic Scorpion Charm increases your magic damage by 12%, but also increases physical damage taken by 10%. If you want to be a glass cannon and crank out as much damage as you can, if you can dodge attacks, this can be used. I tested out the Winged Sword Insignia, and it works with Carian Slicer. However, by the time you hit enough times to trigger its effect, you will either have to roll away or your enemy will be dead.
This build is extremely flexible, which I really like. The way it works is that you’ll useGlintstone Pebbleto pick-off things that are just very melee. Either the moveset’s erratic, or you can’t get to it because it’s in a different level. It could be above you or below you, and that gives you ranged flexibility which is fantastic.
You’re going to useCarian Sliceras your bread and butter. It’s actually cheaper than Glintstone Pebble. When you’re attacking, you’re going to save FP by using it. When you can, you should use your shield to block as you move up and then attack with it which is good.
Carian Greatswordis there for AoE situations and on horseback. You’re probably not going to use this that often, but it’s very nice to have when you’re on horseback.
Carian Pierceris very situational as well. It’s very good against invading NPC phantoms and against aggressive enemies that keep charging at you. It has incredible range, and it can hit through pillars and walls. If you position yourself properly and have a pillar between your enemy, you can use that to your advantage with Carian Piercer.
The last spell I use with this build isLoretta’s Greatbow. This is fantastic for really long range. It has a longer range than Glintstone Pebble, as there are some scenarios where you can’t hit enemies with Glintstone Pebble. This works really well when you want to get the drop on a difficult enemy and you want to rip off a chunk of their health before you engage with them in melee range. You’re going to switch around spells depending on the situation, and that’s what I like about this build.
When it comes to the attributes for this build, I have: 30Vigor, 25Mind, 15Endurance, 20Strength, 14Dexterity, 61Intelligence, 14Faith, and 9Arcane. You don’t need any Faith or Arcane in this build. Those are the values of the attributes because of the starting class I picked.
30 Vigor is there to give you additional health because you’re going to be in melee range. You want to be able to take a couple of hits, and you’re wearing light or medium armor. You’re not going to shrug off as much damage, and this is what’s going to help keep you alive.
When it comes to mind, I have at least 25 for two reasons. First, if you’re using Haima Glintstone Crown, you need to be able to get at least 6 points per FP to make this worth it. Second, you’re going to be using spells 99% of the time, so you definitely don’t want to run out of FP.
Endurance is simply there because you’re using a Greatshield and you want to be able to use some armor that isn’t the lightest in the game. You can add more Endurance here if you want to use heavier armor, but you don’t really need it.
20 Strength and 14 Dexterity are there to meet the requirements of the shield. You don’t really need any more than this for these attributes. You only need to have 18 Strength there, as Haima Glintstone Crown adds 2 points towards Strength.
We have really high Intelligence here. Not only did we dump a lot of points into it, but we also have a lot of points from Haima Glintstone Crown and Stargazer Heirloom. The reason for that is you want to melt enemies as quickly as possible. It’s not about how fast you can swing, although that’s good, but it’s about how much damage you do per swing. I like having 60 Intelligence at this point, but you can get away with less if you want. If you’re considering taking points out of Intelligence, you should put them into Mind so you have more FP to play around with.
One final tip is that you can use theMagic-Shrouding Cracked Tearin yourFlask of Wondrous Physickto increase your magic damage by 20% for three minutes. This is really good before going into boss fights. If you’re going for a blender strategy and you just want to melt them with Carian Slicer, getting that damage up even higher, this is going to help melt them even faster.
That’s it for our Battlemage Build Guide! As always, let us know if you have questions or other tips in the comments below. We have a ton more builds coming for Elden Ring andShadow of the Erdtreeso stay tuned for those. If you need help finding items, and securing some personal objectives, make sure to check theElden Ring Map. Happy building!
Castielle
Senior Editor at Fextralife. I enjoy gaming, playing and watching sports, cooking yummy food, watching a good movie and hanging out with Fex.
