Making a Battlemage in PoE 1

[TomReneth]

I've decided I want to try to make a battlemage-ish character in PoE 1. Base class will be Fighter and I'll pick up the cross-class talents for Wizard, Druid, Cipher and Priest in the course of level 2, 4, 6 and 8 so I get a few actual spells to cast in combat.

 

Does anyone have suggestions as to how I should allocate my attributes and what sort of equipment I should be going for?

[Boeroer]

High MIG, PER and INT. Disciplined Barrage works very well with all sorts of spells.

 

I guess Confident Aim works as well.

 

Spell-like abilities of the fighter are Into the Fray and Clear Out. Both don't actually use your weapon(s) and don't profit from Weapon Focus, Specialisation or Mastery.

 

Equipment:

- Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath: 3 Sunbeams per rest or The White Crest Armor: 1 Overbearing Wave and 1 Dancing Bolts per rest

- Amulet of Summer Solstice: 3 Sunbeams per rest or Shimmering Cloak: 3 Minoletta's Minor Missiles per rest

 

- The Flames of Faîr Rhian: 3 Fireballs per rest (maybe duplicate that with the Helwax Mold) or Scath Gwannek: 3 Winter Winds per rest or Bittercut: 2 Vile Thorns and 1 Infestation of Maggots per rest or Badgradr's Barricade: unlimited Thrust of Tattered Veils on critical hit

 

- Taluntain's Staff: 3 Fireballs per rest

 

- Animancer's Boots: 3 Jolting Touch per rest

 

- Munacra Arret: 3 Whisper of Treason per rest

 

- Spirit Spiral: 3 Whisper of Treason per rest

 

- Ring of Searing Flames: 3 Combusting Wounds per rest

 

- Ring of Changing Heart: 2 Dominates per rest

 

- Sentinel's Girdle: 1 Watchful Presence per Rest

 

That way you will have a ton of spells. Some of those items you can get pretty early. As I said Disciplined Barrage works really well with all sorts of spells that do an attack roll. It's a fun concept and viable.

 

Maybe don't take Acolyte's Radiance and Enigma's Charm: they are not that great. Just pick talents the fighter part can make good use of: Weapon Focus and stuff. Aspirant's Mark and Prestidigitator's Missiles are good. Although you might need Penetrating Shot to make the Missiles worthwhile after early game.

[firkraag888]

I think the OP means he is going to select caster talents when he levels up as fighter so he can cast spells........which you can't do of course.

 

@OP

 

If you want to make a battlemage in pillars 1 you need to roll a Mage from the beginning . Deadfire will have multi classing.

[draego]

I think the OP means he is going to select caster talents when he levels up as fighter so he can cast spells........which you can't do of course.

 

@OP

 

If you want to make a battlemage in pillars 1 you need to roll a Mage from the beginning . Deadfire will have multi classing.

 

No there are cross class talents that are spells. so a fighter can select spells. Not whole levels of spells just one at a time but still spells https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Talent#Cross-class_talents_.5BWM1.5D

Edited September 12, 2017 by draego

[Boeroer]

Base class will be Fighter and I'll pick up the cross-class talents for Wizard, Druid, Cipher and Priest in the course of level 2, 4, 6 and 8 so I get a few actual spells to cast in combat.

Sounds like he knows what he wants and how to get it.

[ColeTrain9192]

 

I think the OP means he is going to select caster talents when he levels up as fighter so he can cast spells........which you can't do of course.

 

@OP

 

If you want to make a battlemage in pillars 1 you need to roll a Mage from the beginning . Deadfire will have multi classing.

 

No there are cross class talents that are spells. so a fighter can select spells. Not whole levels of spells just one at a time but still spells https://pillarsofeternity.gamepedia.com/Talent#Cross-class_talents_.5BWM1.5D

 

 

Not to mention, a high Lore and some powerful scrolls means a Fighter can roll out a fireball just as well as the next guy (given good stat disbursement, obviously).

Edited September 12, 2017 by ColeTrain9192

[JerekKruger]

Not to mention, a high Lore and some powerful scrolls means a Fighter can roll out a fireball just as well as the next guy (given good stat disbursement, obviously).

 

Indeed. Boeroer has a build (admittedly for the Rogue, not the fighter) which is completely designed around the idea of a non-Wizard using scrolls and bound spell items.

[Boeroer]

Yes - works really well. Reason for rogue is that Deathblows doubles spell's base damage and that Deep Wounds works with spells that do crush/Pierce/slash damage.

 

But this works as well with a fighter: more accuracy and sturdiness, less damage.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Boeroer

[Redbard]

I’m currently playing a rogue and a fighter that uses scrolls and spellbound times and it’s a lot of fun but I haven’t managed to choose between them yet. At least they are far more fun to play than my melee muscle wizard.

[Jojobobo]

Boeroer mentioned a while back that Blood Thirst can be used on Barbarians to cast spells with zero recovery when they get a kill. With the new soulbound Belt of the Royal Cannoneer you get a pretty sweet spell-binding in Torrent of Flame that could be used for this purpose.

 

In addition to Torrent of Flame, Belt of the Royal Cannoneer also activates Flame Shield once per encounter on crit (perfect for a Barb with their sucky Deflection, and pairing nicely with Barbaric Retaliation, regular Retaliation and Battle-Forged) while offering great stat boosts for a Barb (+3 Might, +3 Dex, +2 Int) and giving you the option of Firebrand which is pretty lethal with Carnage (and can now be used with Gauntlets of Swift Action, unlike before where you had to use the Forgemaster's Fingers for it). The belt is super easy to upgrade (take 100 ranged damage, then take 200 melee damage, then deal 500 fire damage), I've been using it casually on my current Barb and it's really good.

 

On top of the belt, you can throw in either in either Amulet of the Summer Solstice or Sun-Touched Mail of Hyran Rath as Boeroer mentioned and have 3-6 Sunbeams too (though no slot for regular Retaliation if you use both and are a Fire Godlike). For a tricky encounter, you now have a situation where you can chuck out a Sunbeam to damage and blind the enemy, summon Firebrand, Dragon Leap into the middle of them, use Heart of Fury, use Barbarian Blows (remembering that Firebrand has Annihilation, so the existing blindness coupled with hit to crit conversion of Blows is great here), then use Torrent of Flame, then chuck out some more Sunbeams to the edges of the mob (avoiding yourself and you can blind yourself with it), and then keep at them with Firebrand or start spamming spell scrolls. At every stage of this when you get a kill, Blood Thirst means you do the next attack almost instantly, and of course you'll be putting out Barb Retaliation and Flame Shield damage with possibly Battle-Forged and regular Retaliation too.

 

This is personally would be my pick for a battlemage sort of archetype, given that the casting is so damn fast and your main weapon fits the bill by being magically summoned.

Edited November 23, 2017 by Jojobobo