What weapon is the best for a battlemage?

[Senki]

title

[tonypa]

I assume you mean default class:
https://divinityoriginalsin2.wiki.fextralife.com/Battlemage
One- or two-handed melee weapon (sword, mace, axe) until you plan to raise Strength. Staff is Int based weapon, while Daggers and Spear use Finesse.

But you would probably do better by using some build like described here:
https://fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-builds-battlemage/

For example I use Juggernaut build for my Tank character:
https://fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-builds-juggernaut/

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Depends on the kind of battlemage, hybrid or int. I don't recommend hybrid unless you plan on making a team that has at least 2 different specialized damage characters (knight and wizard as an example) and a conjurer(but anything works really, you just have to find the proper synergy). A battlemage can serve as a support character using stuns on enemies softened by your heavy hitters with warfare skills and air spells or he can become the heavy hitter himself with a staff. Usually you want to dual wield to get dodge, but again it all depends on the build and your team.

[Senki]

The battle mage I'm using right now(just escaped fort joy so it's still early) only has skills that are stuns/knock downs,what weapon should I use on him?The game started me with 2 one handed axes but i switched to staff recently and i don't know which one is more effective.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Originally posted by L a n c e:

The battle mage I'm using right now(just escaped fort joy so it's still early) only has skills that are stuns/knock downs,what weapon should I use on him?The game started me with 2 one handed axes but i switched to staff recently and i don't know which one is more effective.

It depends on your team, what are your other characters builds?

[Aku]

I'm a pretty casual player of this game and I have two hybrid sword and board mages. Fane is my necro/pyro and Red Prince is my geo/warfare. Lohse handles air/water and summoning, and Ifin doubles as a hunter and scoundrel. Maybe not the greatest but it works well enough.

[Senki]

Originally posted by Bully Maguire:

Originally posted by L a n c e:

The battle mage I'm using right now(just escaped fort joy so it's still early) only has skills that are stuns/knock downs,what weapon should I use on him?The game started me with 2 one handed axes but i switched to staff recently and i don't know which one is more effective.

It depends on your team, what are your other characters builds?

My main character is an elf using two handed physical damage weapons and warfare skills,a ranger,a summoner and then the battlemage.

[Godwoken Dovahkiin]

Originally posted by L a n c e:

Originally posted by Bully Maguire:

It depends on your team, what are your other characters builds?

My main character is an elf using two handed physical damage weapons and warfare skills,a ranger,a summoner and then the battlemage.

Then dual wield weapons seems like the best choice as you have a lot of physical damage.

[Stabbey]

Yeah, I'll go with Dual-Wielding weapons. Battlemages have two distinct builds in the game: A melee-range, INT-based spellcaster, and a Self-Buffing, STR-based physical attacker.

It sounds like you're going for the second build, which means your points into magical schools will be specifically to take buff/healing spells, and not damaging spells.

[ColorsFade]

Originally posted by tonypa:

But you would probably do better by using some build like described here:
https://fextralife.com/divinity-original-sin-2-builds-battlemage/

Those builds on that site are pretty good. I used that Pyro Battlemage as my first run through character, and it got really strong at the end.

This game really rewards you for focusing on a single ability (STR, INT, FIN).

A split-battlemage is generally going to be weaker because you need to poke points into both STR (to wield weapons) and INT (to cast spells).

But let me explain why it's bad to split a Battlemage:

For each point you put into STR and Warfare, you're going to add damage to melee attacks.

For each point you put into INT, you're going to add damage to all your int-based magic attacks.

You're going to be much stronger if you focus on one damage type (physical or magic).

Thus, a "Battlemage" that focuses on one stat (STR or INT) is going to have significantly more powerful attacks of that kind. A fighter that focuses entirely on STR and Warfare, with only a few Skills/Spells that augment his/her ability to fight in melee (and not using any INT-based magic attacks) is going to do WAY more Physical damage than a Battlemage that wields a melee weapon and tries to cast Fireballs.

Also, a "Battlemage" that focuses entirely on INT and magic-based attacks, is going to do way more Magic damage than if they split between STR and INT and wielding a sword.

Since you started with game with the default "Battlemage" template, that means you go the Knockdown and Bull Rush; you're more tank than Mage. If you want to keep that design, and keep using a 2-sword or other melee weapon, then I'd take a look at the Juggernaut and Eternal Warrior builds on the fextralife site. You're setup early to be more warrior than mage.

The Pyro-Battlemage is very, very powerful in the last 3rd of the game. It's a bit weak early, but my lord does it come into it's own late. The guide on Fextralife is pretty good, but I've tweaked it to my own liking (I spend more on Memory than he does and apparently I rely on Skin Graft less than he does).

The thing with a Pyro-Battlemage, or any Battlemage that is magic-focused (so Air or Water as well) is that you really want to use a Staff. You're still going to take some Warfare Skills (Knockdowns and Whirlwind), but you're going to do the majority of your damage with your spells. For that, you just want to slam points into INT (to do more damage) and Memory (to have access to more skills/spells). And if an opponent gets too close to you and you need to melee, you use your Staff like a 2-handed sword, and your Warfare skills will come into play.

The Pyro-Battlemage is... freaking fun man. Red Prince makes a great one, since he has a natural 10% Fire Resistance, and his racial spell is a Dragon that breaths fire for a single AP (which is fantastic).

[ColorsFade]

Originally posted by Stabbey:

Yeah, I'll go with Dual-Wielding weapons. Battlemages have two distinct builds in the game: A melee-range, INT-based spellcaster, and a Self-Buffing, STR-based physical attacker.

It sounds like you're going for the second build, which means your points into magical schools will be specifically to take buff/healing spells, and not damaging spells.

Yeah. This.