I've never, in any ES game, wanted to make a battlemage (defined here as a hybrid warrior/mage, using spells, heavy armor, and perhaps a weapon). It always seemed like a juvenile fantasy, the zomgastic epitome of powergaming. I wanted my characters to have weaknesses, to have a challenge, to have to scurry & claw to survive.

But lately, I've been tempted.

So here's what I'm thinking. Advice welcome!

Race will be Imperial. The skill bonuses fit the concept perfectly, and it's a good fit for RP purposes - I'm thinking this guy came to Skyrim from Cyrodiil, having served in the Legion as a battlemage in skirmishes around the Empire. Voice of the Emperor is also useful, I find.

Skills:
Restoration - for healing and the occasional ward while I blast away with a staff in the other hand.
Destruction - primary ranged damage (supplemented by staves)
Heavy Armor

I intend to work up Encanting, but not to go crazy with it.

... and then I'm torn. I don't think I want any more magic skills for this build. Illusion and Conjuration are powerful, but don't seem to quite fit. They seem too subtle I guess, and this guy is intended to be about as subtle as a sack of bricks.

Alteration seems redundant; I'd rather not spam tons of Oakflesh just to get to Paralyze.

I need (I think) a method of up-close damage, to really put the 'battle' in this battlemage. So I'm thinking of carrying around a 2-handed weapon. I've never used magic + 2-hander before, and I know it will have some challenges (having to put away a weapon in order to cast), but I imagine I'll do a lot of casting at range first, then switch when enemies close.

Question is, which 2-handed weapon best fits the concept of a battlemage? Greatsword, Battleaxe or Warhammer?

Aside from that, I intend to use plenty of magical gear - staves & scrolls - to augment my abilities.

Any other thoughts on battlemagery in general?

I'd level alteration up to the point of getting those magic resists at least. The flesh armors are redundant though.

I wouldn't bother with 2handed. Not that it can't be viable. In fact, it's *sort of* fun and challenging to have to shuffle switching out weapons and spells at first... but it gets old. Better to have your melee action and spells ready. imo

Skills should be:

Alteration
Destruction (commit yourself to one element, I do lightning)
Restoration (You're already adept in the arcane, why bother with Alchemy?)
One-Handed
Heavy Armor
Enchanting
Smithing

The first twenty levels are going to be painfully agonizing, but after that it gets much better. You want to invest in Alteration for the Magic Resistance and Atronach perks, along with Paralysis (as you mentioned). And if you feel like you have to power-level, leveling Alteration is pretty easy. I'm sure you know why you need the rest. And there's no need to use a Two-Handed sword for damage.

This is what your enchantments should be:

Main piece/Helm/Necklace/Ring - Alteration/Destruction
Gauntlets - Increase One-Handed Att. This will alleviate the lack of damage that you're able to dish out with only a sword.
Boots - Stamina, this will also save you from being spread thing with your attributes, you can focus more on Magicka.

If you want, you could also be a Redguard, their racial ability is equally if not more helpful for Battlemages and they share most of the bonuses that Imperials get.

A greatsword sounds like the best weapon for this type of character,at least to me.
I generally go with battleaxes or warhammers on two handed fighters but the greatsword will not only swing faster but you will put it away and take it out faster as well.That should be helpfull when you are switching between weapons a spells.

Carrying around all this gear,heavy armor weapons and staves will require plenty of stamina.
Have fun.

If I were to go full resto like the OP, 2handed just becomes less of an option. Not just for the healing, but I think one of the more unique features of the mage/resto gameplay are the wards. There's no real point in going high in restoration if you're not going to make use of them. And whether you switch from destruction or a one handed weapon, you have good defense option in the left with wards. With 2handed you don't. You could train block for a little dmg mitigation, but it's a waste when you already have wards.

In addition, you should utilize shouts like Elemental Fury, Slow Time, Storm Call, Unrelenting Force, Ice Form, etc.

Hmm, I haven't thought about Shouts yet. In fact, haven't thought about quests (or the MQ) in general.

I'm not going 1-handed, because I'm planning a character who will be a similar setup but more of a paladin/cleric (healing/ward & longsword or mace). I don't want my characters to be too similar. Also, I've done more of a traditional wizard with 1-handed and restoration as the main skills, wearing robes, so I have explored that kind of thing before.

You make a good point about wards being harder to pull off as well. If I use them situationally (with a staff in the other hand), this will probably be less of an issue, but it could get wonky with 2-handed.

Do you think I can just *not* use a weapon? I hesitate, because my past magic users have been rather squishy, and without any crowd control I could get killed fast. But maybe this guy's heavy armor will make it more viable to use just Destruction?

Well, I guess try it. I tried it with 2hander before. Like I said, it's kind of fun at first. Maybe you'll like it. It makes you run around more and dodge attacks while you're flipping out weapons or spells.

Restoration for wards and healing is good.
Destruction for combat is also good; stick to one element.
Conjuration is good, but only if you perk the right and left-most branches of the tree IMO
Alteration will be redundant, provided you use the Lord Stone or the Atronach Stone

Go with One-Handed; they switch out faster than Two-Handed and you can pair it with magic.
Heavy Armor is recommended, especially at higher levels as it offers the greatest protection and with perks it's only difference to Light Armor is that it protects better.

P.S. Get Spellbreaker; it is a ward and a shield in one

I agree with pretty much everything ConnivingEagle has said. His builds exactly like mine, literally.

But I've been thinking of making mine a Breton instead, don't get me wrong Imperials are LOVELY at being Battlemages, they were my 1st choice when I made mine but now the Breton's really appealing to me because of the Dragonskin. Plus I just like Bretons > Imperials. And with High Rock being above Skyrim I can do the same thing RP wise like you with Cyrodiil. (I played the hell outta TES4, that's what gave me the idea).

Why does everybody shout on about restoration for a battle mage, attack is the best form of defence. Spell resistance and spell asorbsion is much better than wasting magicka on wards. So Destruction and Alteration are probably the best skills for a Battle Mage, add 1 hand, hvy armour and enchanting and you are ready to go. Take The Lord stone or Atronach stone for the extra magic resist/spell asorbsion and magic users with no longer be a problem.

My Imperial Battlemage didn't use Alteration at all, but used Block and put some perks into it. My only weapons were swords with Banish, Soul Trap and Absorb Magicka enchants.

Major Skills were:

Illusion
Destruction
Restoration
Smithing

Secondaries were:

Heavy Armour
Block
Enchanting
Speech

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-nZ9A3JSDM&context=C4cda796ADvjVQa1PpcFMOtn5E1y6ALiJX-yazSxfA5f8Tl6960wU=

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOk4fKgtYmQ&context=C4aa252aADvjVQa1PpcFMOtn5E1y6ALu2oH6O5eUtQwiSiRg6Sog8=

What kind of sword - 2 or 1-handed?

If 1-handed, you would have to juggle a shield in order to block, then, yeah? Seems like that could be awkward.

That's begging for an unarmed khajiit battlemage, but having to manually unequip spells every time you wanted to use your claws would get really annoying really fast.

I merely advocate Wards because it's kind of a fun mechanic. Not necessarily the most efficient. But if you go high up in that tree, may as well make use of them.

I must be missing something then, as I found Wards to be a pain to use and a total waste of my time. They can't beat the possible 95% magic resistance (Breton) or the 80% spell asorbsion with Alteration and standing stones.

No, they can't beat that. I mean, it's a fun mechanic because requires extra vigilance. I like the shield Spellbreaker for the same reason. It breaks down, so you gotta pay attention. With high resistance, you can just act like the terminator.

Breton is equally useful - for the resist magic - you'd be cut apart as an imperial by mages from range. Redguards racial power can close the gap more quickly.

I'd recommend avoiding crafting skills until your defensive skills are at high levels.

My character build right now is a heavy armored magic use that wields Wuuthrad.

Talk about spreading a character thin, this one was fragile as hell up until around level 44 or so. Now he's okay but he still can't get through a decent battle without conjuring up the badass Dramaura Lord.

It's a build that's taken forever to become viable. But that's because I tried to employ all the magic trees (except aleration). Focus on one or two and the rest on the armor and two-handed.

Yeah, I think I'm going to go:

Destruction
Restoration
Heavy Armor
2-handed

Enchanting will definitely be something I work at, but not until I feel more viable.

Still unsure about Alteration. Some of the perks encourage you to be unarmored, and the majority of the spells seem to reinforce that idea. Plus there's the magicka issue. I doubt at early levels I'll have enough magicka to cast defensive spells, then blast with destruction, heal/ward when necessary, etc.

On the other hand, I've never used Paralyze yet. Seems like it would be pretty excellent.

I've had a lot of luck with heavy-armor, 2-handed warriors, so it will be a nice challenge I guess to add magic into that mix.

It's much better if you perk the necro branch instead of the summons branch. You don't lose much, and you gain 100 points of health for any Dead Thralls, who can be extremely powerful.


Any armor can very easily hit the armor cap. For this reason, and the fact that light armor allows for better mobility, I prefer light.

Roleplaying reasons. Using wards seems a bit more badass; throwing a wall in front of you that blocks -- and even absorbs -- magic while you advance to make the killing blow

If you don't do Alteration you might want to pick up the Atronach Stone for the absorb. And it might not be much, but since you are leveling destruction you might try the cloak spells for a little extra damage in melee.

This is what I do with my Altmer build.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeIuE_2raPs

Although I spent perks on other magic schools, I reckon alteration is probably the only thing you need, if you are going to melee as well.

shield +spell = win