Memories of a veteran battlemage

[johnn9977]

man it must have been a long time to level 75.

[Benitot]

yeah like over 300hrs. Good experience. Dnt knw if i can do it again though

[Benitot]

Manticore
Here's my battlemage fighting the manticore. I always set my core dweller to aggressive for a boss fight so it automatically engage the fight. Put you battle standard somewhere safe. It's important to take them down quickly else your CD won't survive. If you lack a bit of damage summon another core dweller when its life gets low, ancestral warriors also can help as a diversion. I always thought manticore dropped only trash, to be honest I don't usually make runs often on him but during this very run it dropped Hesione's Golden Veil. That was interesting maybe I'll start making more runs on manti to see what he can drop.

http://youtu.be/VqsBv63qxg0

Act 2 Telkine
Aktaios is just a telkine and my battlemage eats telkines as a snack. Your battle standard really improves your killing power so put it somewhere safe, don't drop it in the middle of the room, it will get toast. I even managed to mind control one of aktaios' clone. He can drop glorybringer arcane formula but I think it can drop from pretty much any boss



Chimera
Again set CD to aggressive and cast battle standard somewhere safe. Chimera's thunderclap can surprise you. It does a lot of damage, my lighting resistance isn't the best so getting hit by all 3 of them at the same time could be deadly. No real trouble apart from that.

http://youtu.be/drM-ohsppew

Barmanu
Ok this guy is a real pain. He pawned my core dweller. Don't try to fight all 3 of them at the same time. Try to take them one by one. Cast battle standard and protect it, try to bring barmarn in its radius, avoid his ice meteors at all cost! Really apart for the challenge it's really not wort doing xmax runs on barmanu except if you are farming for it's MIs. Barmanu also sometimes wield legendary clubs, the last one he dropped was Scepter of Thanatos. But I really don't know if the risk is worth the reward.

http://youtu.be/NJxIo5BRWko

Dragon Liche
Glorybringer is helpful here as dragon liche is an undead. Always put you battle standard somewhere safe. Reduce freeze duration from Mantle of Sa'jun is really important so you can keep on fighting. He managed to freeze my pets and mind control my ancestral warriors. Took them all down anyway!

http://youtu.be/tq9ykLwGV04

Yaoguai
What can I say. This demon bull is a real pain. Don't fight all three of them at the same time. It can be done but your timing must be right else you're toast, literally! Put your battle standard somewhere safe, its pretty borderline in this video and defend it at all cost, you can use ancestral warriors to do so. Use stone form if you are fighting more than one of them at once when you see them dancing. Again glorybringer is helpful here as is my max heat shield.

http://youtu.be/ynRDeevvs9M

Ormenos
Humm another telkine yummy! They totally smashed my core dweller though. High damage resistance, battle standard and attack damage converted to life allows my battlemage to tank them, no problem.

http://youtu.be/vZK7amBevRI

[Relord]

Hi Benitot,

Very good read, and after reading this i decided to start my own battlemage, getting a little tired of my Haruspex
I have one question tho and i know you reached lvl 75 a long time ago.
But if you where to start a new BM. what mastery would you start with
earth or warfare?
and i recon i can skip the core dweller for most of normal right?

thanks in advance for your reply

Regards Relord

[Benitot]

Hi thanks for the comment. Looking for a challenge eh
When I started I choose warfare but since then I understood earth more and I regret a bit not to have enjoyed those fire skills early on so I would advice you to start with earth. Just 1 point in earth enchantment and a tourch at level 2 you pwn. Skills like ring of fire/soften metal is more effective early on. At level 8+ putting 1 point in it wnt be as helpful as when you are level 3. Use volcanic orb as it still hurts. You can buy back the points on higher difficulty and use it just for the stun. At level 8 you can then start investing in onslaught which will increase the physical damage of your spells. You can read my juggernaut guide from level 2-7 to help you out. Feel free to ask if you need help, here or by creating a thread. Oh yes the dweller is more of a chore on normal, you won't nee it. But buy +earth skills amulets when you find them to help you in summoning later. Good luck and have fun

[Relord]

Thank you for the reply Benitot.

yeah i was indeed looking for more of a challenge. Haruspex is fun. but pretty overpowered even without the best gear.

thanks again

Relord

[Benitot]

No prb, a little tip for summoning the core dweller especially in legendary. I dnt use any -recharge items for my battlemage but you can equip some, like a shield of focus, oddyseus armor, polaris, huo qubing helm for summoning the core dweller. The reason is because the cooldown is 90secs, which is quite a lot. In act 4 legendary he could die in less than 90secs so you will have to wait to be able to summon it again. If you equip -recharge items before you could summon 1 right away if it dies in a middle of a fight.

[Relord]

I see what you mean. thanks for the tip mate