Hey guys does anyone have a good Starter build for battle mage maybe one with some faction gear and what not. Not really sure how to build him without sets any advice would be great!
not worth it…
class just sucks … 
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I believe most of the faction gear support physical and fire damage, so if you’re okay with that you can play using forcewave as with the new update there is several MI option for forcewave either physical or fire
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Hi!
My first battle mage build was physical FW build. I started with soldier mastery and focused on forcewave as main attack skill. I mostly used self found fear. As for faction gear look at Devil Crossing at first.
P.S: If I remember correct @Stupid_Dragon has beginners guide for battle mage build.
I do not, it was never finished.
I see.
BTW, could you give any advices on the thread question?
Easiest way to build a budget battle mage is Forcewave. But is isn’t much of a “mage”, more like soldier with some Arcanist support.
True, but Arcanist skills are nice - mirror, nullification and etc.
BTW, what kind of gear do you use in your beginners physical builds? Gear setup was one of questions on battle mage build.
That’s why it is “Battlemage” 
With spellscourge set situation changes.
You’re wrong, Krieg battlemage with Mindwarps makes 5.38 in crucible, so he’s strong enough
https://www.grimtools.com/calc/vNQLogRZ
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Green axe and assorted FW factions gear. Easy enough, Glenn had a DK and WL like that before he purged his stuff in yet another tantrum.
Names carry a lot of weight, even though it might seem silly.
For example, there is Death Knight. People imagine a melee warrior with some spooky spectral powers. Or a vampiric knight. Or someone leading an army of the dead. I’ve seen them ask whether it’s possible to level somehow like that. Some literally said they are fine with anything but Forcewave. And I kind of understand them, because Forcewave doesn’t exactly has a Death Knight-ish feel. Just because Forcewave is one of the easiest levelling methods doesn’t mean that people like it.
It’s the same for Battlemage. You can level it with Forcewave, like I said I even tried and it is probably the strongest levelling option for Battlemage, especially since Battlemage has some casting speed. But that’s kind of not what you think when Battlemage comes to mind. People want it to be some warrior that throws spells from time to time. Or a durable caster with a shield. Or just an elemental damage warrior at least. It has to feel m a g i c a l. Forcewave isn’t to most people.
Which is why I abandoned that battlemage idea halfway. Even if I finished it it wouldn’t had been popular. Not because battlemage got a stigma of garbage tier class, but becase “another forcewave? meh”
Wouldn’t DW Cadence with new Cleavers work? After that you can add Krieg set to the mix.
But I agree with BM not being easy class for leveling, lack of any -RR is painful.
Interesting idea is leveling/budget class ranking. 
Uh, perhaps? I still don’t have a good grasp on possibilities new MIs offer.
It’s trivial to level a forcewave bama, especially with OA arcanist offers, making proccing Assasin’s Mark non-issue compared to some other physical builds during levelling.
Personally I think picking up a strong high end class with multiple build options and somehow coming up with something budget is better in the long run.
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What abou CT + OFF combo for leveling up?
Spam or cooldown? I haven’t tried cooldown CT, as for spam it doesn’t really need OFF. In theory you can make a pretty unique CT build with a shield, that would had justified battlemage pick. In practice it’s going to be rather slow 
Trash mobs just disappeared, but heroes and bosses take forever to kill one, especially high resis ones. Trozan and PRM without mod sets are mediocre too, so just stick with FW is the best option til you have enough points and level to use AAR + Pulsing shard, you become immortal until vs celestial bosses.
Leveling my first HC character like this. Interesting to use your main defensive cooldown as a somewhat offensive nuke. Chew through anything in MC with mirror up.
Thank you guys so much for the replies Really amazed how great the community for this game is very constructive information!
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Not sure why you’re all talking about Forcewave so much. Blitz is great, even before 1.1.7 levelling Sword and Board with Blitz was good fun.
Gearing to hit rank 24+ Blitz and Blindside is pretty easy in just MI, faction gear and crafted belt and relic for +1 soldier.
Taking Aeon’s Hourglass makes it even quicker. You zip through the Main Campaign. Basically move from one trash pack to another with one shots.
Something like this for levelling: https://www.grimtools.com/calc/4NOqYrPV
Edit: forgot to mention you can use component for single target attack. severed claw, oleron blood. Cadence just for deadly momentum and Assassin Mark proc.
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