Elden Ring lets you tweak your character according to any playstyle and even make versatile builds that are suited for multiple playstyles. This guide will tell you in detail about different Battle Mage builds for Elden Ring that allows you to play as a melee or ranged character.
Elden Ring Battle Mage Builds
Being a Battle Mage means being able to fight both up close and personal and from a safe range. With these builds we aim to utilize both sorceries and weapons that complement this playstyle.
The aptly named Battlemage Set is perfect for our builds. While the Robe, Manchettes, and Legwraps provide serviceable protection, the Haima Glintstone Crown headpiece features the armor set’s buff that Elden Ring Battle Mage Builds desire. For better clarification, the Battlemage Set’s helm decreases one’s max FP by 10% while boosting Int and Str by +2.
Arcane Battle Mage Build
Flask Spread: Mostly FP
Weapons: Clayman’s Blood Harpoon, Blood Uchigatana
Shield: Any Lightweight shield
Armor: Battle Mage Set
Talismans: Graven-School Talisman, Lord of Blood’s Exultation, Godfrey Icon, Magic Scorpion Charm
Stats: Arcane and Intelligence (Primary), Vigor and Mind (Secondary)
Skills: Ash of War: Royal Knight’s Resolve, Contagious Fury, Ash of War: Bloodhound’s Step, Ash of War: Seppuku
Spells: Glintstone Cometshard, Comet Azur, Loretta’s Greatbow, Adula’s Moonblade, Canon of Haima, Magic Glintblade
Battle Mage End Game Build
Class: Prophet or Samurai
Flask Spread: Mostly HP
Weapon: Carian Glintstone Staff
Shield: Jellyfish Shield
Armor: Battle Mage Set
Talismans: Stargazer Heirloom, Green Turtle Talisman, Graven-School Talisman, Radagon Icon
Stats: Intelligence (Primary), Vigor and Mind (Secondary)
Skills: Royal Knight’s Resolve, Contagious Fury
Spells: Carian Greatsword, Glintstone Pebble, Carian Slicer, Carian Piercer, Loretta’s Greatbow
Best Stats for Battle Mage Builds
For the Arcane Mage Build, you should focus mostly on FP flasks, as this build will be using many spells and FP-dependent skills frequently, for which you will need FP to always be available.
Our main focus for the Arcane Mage Build will be on Arcane and Intelligence to scale our magic damage more. Whereas Vigor and Mind will be the secondary focus in this build.
Following is the stat distribution you should be following for this Arcane Mage Build.
- Vigor: 32
- Mind: 30
- Endurance: 22
- Strength: 24
- Dexterity: 26
- Intelligence: 60
- Arcane: 40
We will mostly utilize HP flasks for the Battle Mage End Game build as this build does not depend on high FP usage. This Battle Mage End Game build will have Intelligence as the main stat focus and Vigor and Mind as the secondary stats.
Following is the stat distribution you should be following for this Level 100 Battle Mage build.
- Vigor: 30
- Mind: 25
- Endurance: 15
- Strength: 20
Best Weapons for Battle Mage Builds in Elden Ring
For Arcane Battle Mage Build, the staff we are using is the Albinauric Staff, and that is because it essentially allows us to double-dip since we are leveling Arcane and we are leveling Intelligence. This is going to outperform any other staff you have, so this is absolutely the best staff to use for this build.
Our main hand weapon is the Clayman’s Harpoon because it scales well with Intelligence, but it also allows us to apply an Ash of War.
You can get higher attack power with other options like Moonveil, but you cannot apply an Ash of War and use the Bloodhound Step, which is insanely powerful for a caster.
For our secondary offhand weapon, we are using the Uchigatana because it has blood buildup on it naturally. It can take an Ash of War, and it can take the Seppuku Ash of War, which gives it a total blood buildup of 101.
For the Battle Mage End Game build, the staff that you want for this build is the Carian Glintstone Staff. The reason for this is that it boosts Carian’s Sword sorcery damage.
The damage boost is significant enough that it actually outperforms Azure’s Glintstone Staff which speeds up the rate at which you cast spells in exchange for costing more FP.
Best Armor for Battle Mage Builds
For the Arcane Battle Mage build, we will be using the Battle Mage set with this build. Besides its stat benefits, its lightweight helps balance out the weight of all your weapons and shield.
Along with the Battle Mage set, any lightweight shield will work fine. The main aim is to have fast movement speed as you will be engaging in long-range combat.
Coming to the Battle Mage End Game build, you will again be wearing the Battle Mage set with this build. We will also use Haima Glintstone Crown for this, and it’s because it gives two points to strength and two points to Intelligence. You need 20 strength in order to use the shield for this build, and extra Intelligence helps your damage and meets the requirements for spells.
Best Talismans for Battle Mage Builds
In the Arcane Battle Mage build, we will be using the Graven-School Talisman, which boosts our sorceries, a no-brainer since we want more Int. We’ll also be using The Lord of Blood’s Exultation.
This is because it gives you a huge boost to your attack power when you proc a bleed effect on something. Since we are running the Seppuku Ash of War on our offhand weapon, you’ll cause a lot of Bleed and get the buff from the Blood’s Exaltation Talisman.
Next up, we’re using the Godfrey icon. This just boosts our spells even more. We’re using a set of spells that are almost all charge spells, and this gives you a huge damage boost to said charge spells.
We are also using the Magic Scorpion charm because it boosts any magic damage you do, and that’s good for our Flask of Wondrous Physick.
For Battle Mage End Game build, the four talismans that we will use for this build are Graven-School Talisman, Green Turtle Talisman, the Radagon Icon, and Stargazer Heirloom. Graven-School talisman boosts your sorcery damage that’s going to apply to all your sorcerers.
The Green Turtle talisman helps you regenerate stamina faster. You swing Carian Slicer really fast and just chew through your stamina. You’ll also be blocking with this build, so you want to regain your stamina quickly so you can spam spells like Carian Slicer and Glintstone Pebble more frequently.
Radagon Icon increases the speed at which you cast. This is going to help you get Carian Slicer and Glintstone Pebble out faster when you’re casting or spamming those. It’ll also make your Loretta’s Greatbow charge up faster.
Stargazer Heirloom increases your Intelligence by five. 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.
Ritual Sword Talisman increases your total damage by 10, including spells, but the issue is that you have to be in full health. This is far better on a pure mage at this point in the game that’ll stay back and will be less likely to get hit than one that’s going into melee range.
Another option for this build is the Magic Scorpion Charm. This increases your magic damage by about 10 to 12 percent in exchange for losing about 10 resistances.
Best Spells for Battle Mage Builds
For the Arcane Battle Mage Build, we will be utilizing the combination of the Glintstone Cometshard and the Magic Glintblade. There will be times when there are going to be groups of enemies, and from a distance, you’re going to want to blow them up with the Cometshard.
Comet Azur is your Boss Melter. Most of the time, it will work, but other times, enemies will be able to get close to you before you can effectively get damage in from casting this.
Once something gets up close to you and is all up in your face, that is when you’re going to want to use a combination of Bloodhound Step to back up a little bit and retaliate with the Moonblade.
It’s going to absolutely melt the target and proc frost on it, which will drastically increase the damage you’re going to do to it. If it’s a situation where you can get in an attack with the melee weapon quicker than using the Moonblade, you are going to use the melee weapon instead of the Moonblade.
Magic Glintblade is super handy for targets that don’t recognize you’re there. You can absolutely melt them before they even realize what the heck is happening. You can also charge this up and run in to attack the target with melee before the Glintblade fires.
Then the Glintblade will hit the target and just give you that extra boost of damage while you are in there attacking the target.
For Battle Mage End Game Build, you’ll use Glintstone Pebble to pick off things that are just very difficult to melee and deal with enemies constantly in your face.
You’re going to use Carian Slicer as your bread and butter. It’s actually cheaper than Glintstone Pebble. So, when you’re attacking, you’re going to save FP by using it when you can.
You can use your shield to block as you move up and then attack with it. Carian Greatsword is there for AoE situations. On horseback, we won’t use this that often, but it is very nice to have when you’re on horseback.
Specifically, Carian Piercer is very situational as well; it’s very good against invading NPC phantoms, and it’s good against some really aggressive enemies that keep charging at you. Since it has incredible range and it can hit through pillars and walls.
Sometimes, if you position yourself properly and get an enemy between you and the pillar, then you can stab through that pillar with it to deal damage.
The last spell we will use with this build is Loretta’s Greatbow. This is fantastic for long-range. The damage is excellent, and its range is longer than Glintstone Pebbles. If you can’t hit enemies with Glintstone Pebble, Loretta’s Greatbow works really well.
Loretta’s Greatbow is best used when you want to get the drop on a faraway enemy. Simply cast it and charge it up to get a huge chunk of damage before the fight even begins!
Best Skills for Battle Mage Builds
For the Arcane Battle Mage builds, we are using the Bloodhound’s Step: Ash of War, and the reason we are using it is that it gives us insane mobility, just like the Clayman’s Blood Harpoon. You are invincible for a longer period of time when you dodge, and you are so insanely quick that you can do laps around the target before it even realizes what’s happening.
It also allows you to keep a huge gap between you and other targets. Some targets are really fast and will hug you no matter what you do, and that is why we are a Melee Spellcaster hybrid because it only costs 5 FP, and we have a really decent mana pool; you can just spam this spell.
Our second Ash of War, as mentioned before, is the Seppuku, and it is on our katana. You could put this on pretty much anything you want. The reason we have this is if the boss you’re facing is easier to beat with Bleed rather than magic (a large majority of them)
Between the blood buildup on this with Seppuku and the attacks that you’re going to get with the Clayman’s Harpoon, you’re going to melt pretty much anything that comes at you.
We are using this because it allows us to proc the talisman that gives us a massive boost to our damage anytime there is blood loss nearby.
