The Deadraiser Staff.

[fenlander]

I have just got the Blood Magic items in the game, which was one of my goals for this solo play through.
Tested them out and I am rather disappointed with their initial performance for a late game weapon and armour set.
I would of thought at level 1 Blood Magic that a skeleton you summon could at least go toe to toe with a standard seeker, instead they get wiped out in a few hits. So I tried two and the same results.

I tried two skeletons against a troll and found that the troll wiped them out in quick succession.

For a late game item that adds new mechanics to the game I find it odd that it forces you back into the Meadow/ Black Forest to level it up to a significant level as to be useful in the Mistlands where it is the first place you can obtain it.
The crossbow does okay mind you due to the damage output it can do at level 1 when you obtain it. 200 Piercing damage + the bolts. Now if the magic was on par with this then fair enough, but as it is; if you wish to use magic you better go back to the Black Forest and grind.

The progression doesn't flow like it does for the other items in the game. If we could of learned magic along the way like we do with all the other weapon types, then this wouldn't of been so bad. Or if it was actually useful when exploring the Mistlands right off the get go then I can see why the devs put the items where they are.

I feel we should be stealing items from the Fuling Shaman to learn this new skill before we go into the Mistlands, and possibly obtain a magic staff from them.

As for the Etir food and potions, if the Skeletons can't tank then you are screwed. One health food and then you MUST have two Etir foods otherwise you can't do much magic wise. Let alone summon a skeleton.

TLDR: The magic feels like it has been shoehorned into the game because the devs have seen a mod that adds magic and thought it looked cool. Didn't want to mess with the early game so shoved it into the Mistlands.

[Hawk Eye]

Skeles are much better tanks if you buff them with the protection staff.

Edit
I beat mistlands and it's boss with all magic.
Magic makes the biome pretty easy.
The only thing I struggle with is large groups of Drev Mages now.
Carry a strong polearm for back up. If in case you dog-piled you can swat everything off you. Or for a finishing move when magic is low and your desperate.

[loppantorkel]

Originally posted by fenlander:

TLDR: The magic feels like it has been shoehorned into the game because the devs have seen a mod that adds magic and thought it looked cool. Didn't want to mess with the early game so shoved it into the Mistlands.

Idk. Two of us managed to kill the queen, me meleeing while he used skeletons and fireballs. No skills in magic, but the skeletons drew some attention and I think the fire did most of the damage to the queen. Worked fine in this setup, and a decent addition to the game, more diversity than core gameplay perhaps, but still not a bad addition imo.

Anyway - it's my 2 cents about magic so far. Little experience, but seems okay, at least in coop and if you use the skeletons as distraction rather than main source of damage output.

[vinyblaster]

I think the intent is for you to have all 4 staffs and combine them. Like skeletons + protection for example.

Other than fire staff I feel like the other 3 taken alone are really lame. Protection can be the exception if you multi with a group.

Anyway, I also think magic wasn't well thought out.

[i have 2026 vision fear me]

That's the issue with adding a new weapon skill type so late in the game, i think they need to rework the system down the line imo. Though magic is pretty damn powerful, especially in solo. Blood magic is riskier as you have to be more careful when using it, but the protection staff is basically meant for the skeletons which helps them survive a lot more. Walked around the plains summoning skeletons and buffing them with a shield, and they faired quite well, though as imagined, archers generally seem to be the best. If your own skelets could block when equipped with a shield, they'd feel better than archers, but alas no. Though i do feel disappointed as the protection staff you either need to go mainly Eitr to use, or you can't at all solo. It feels like a weapon made for people playing together, or only when using skeletons. Pretty sure post-mistlands, coop is going to be a lot easier than solo due to magic too.

EDIT: Protection staff seems to only use 60 eitr, i was thinking it took 100 but that's the skeleton staff i was confused with, so you only really need on eitr food to basically have 200+ extra health for two minutes which is pretty worth it. Pretty sure getting hit with the shield as well protects you from being staggered, so when you want to fight a tough enemy head on without spending stamina on dodging or blocking, you can just use the staff.

[Steve]

Using the various staff together is the key for magic, but you also should use melee/ranged as well.

Prot your skellies and yourself (teammates and other pets too). Stay back a bit and the skellies will distract mobs for you. Then swap weapons, e.g., you can freeze staff, AoE fire staff, then swap to your favourite melee weapon, throw bombs, etc. Keep casting while you have eitr then swap to melee / ranged when eitr is empty. In theory this lets eitr charge as you burn stam, and lets stam recharge as you burn eitr.

Bubble will also stop dots from being applied to you through blocks like poison and burning and it will get damaged before your armor/shield reduction is calculated. So don't be afraid to get in there and parry as a mage. You can even bubble and then parry things with your bow/arbalest to get stagger damage with them.

Blood gains xp with each hit the skellies do and you get x2 that base amount when *your* bubble breaks from damage. After you level blood a bit your shield gets quite powerful and the summons do a fair amount (I think their health is linked to blood levels as well, but I don't remember atm). Summons really are more meant for a momentary distraction on stronger mobs than a pure dps source. But with elemental / melee swaps that is all you need.

[Hawk Eye]

Originally posted by Steve:

Using the various staff together is the key for magic, but you also should use melee/ranged as well.

Prot your skellies and yourself (teammates and other pets too). Stay back a bit and the skellies will distract mobs for you. Then swap weapons, e.g., you can freeze staff, AoE fire staff, then swap to your favourite melee weapon, throw bombs, etc. Keep casting while you have eitr then swap to melee / ranged when eitr is empty. In theory this lets eitr charge as you burn stam, and lets stam recharge as you burn eitr.

Bubble will also stop dots from being applied to you through blocks like poison and burning and it will get damaged before your armor/shield reduction is calculated. So don't be afraid to get in there and parry as a mage. You can even bubble and then parry things with your bow/arbalest to get stagger damage with them.

Blood gains xp with each hit the skellies do and you get x2 that base amount when *your* bubble breaks from damage. After you level blood a bit your shield gets quite powerful and the summons do a fair amount (I think their health is linked to blood levels as well, but I don't remember atm). Summons really are more meant for a momentary distraction on stronger mobs than a pure dps source. But with elemental / melee swaps that is all you need.

In theory but not in practice. Your eitr stops regenerating when you engage in combat. Doesn't hurt to carry a back-up weapon but that's all it should really be used for if your casting skeles in the first place because your gonna be squishy and around 100 or so stamina and health, eating two eitr foods and one health food. You could eat two eitr and one stamina but that's rather insane. Not saying you can't still fight hand to hand because you can but you probably shouldn't unless you fight perfect and patiently and do less damage if you just waited for your magic.

You can do a hybrid "battle mage thing" but no skeles. Sacrafice a health food for a eitr food and keep buffing yourself with protection. That'd probably work pretty good. Maybe carry a fire staff if you need some range. Mix of heavy armor and mage equipment.

Otherwise your better off specializing in magic only or combat only. IN MY OPINION

[chewer]

Originally posted by Hawk Eye:

Otherwise your better off specializing in magic only or combat only. IN MY OPINION

Not sure about that. I feel pretty confident waltzing around in melee range, hiding behind my bubbled skeletons, throwing fireballs left and right.

In general, stamina is much more important than health. You don't need to chug down a ton of health food to be safe.

Plus, after the Swamp, the Mountains and the initial grind in the Mistlands, you should have developed some form of spatial awareness. Fight mobs on your own terms, let them come to you, run away, sneak around them, lure them into a Dvergr camp, kite them, make them run around obstacles, ...

Battle mage is actually super fun to play, IMO. Use light armor, never stand still, think of it as a hit and run style. The good thing is that running around (stamina) and attacking (eitr) are decoupled. Summoner is fun too. Skeletons can hold their own if you put them in a bubble.

[OctoberSky]

Agree with @chewer. It may depend on your blood magic skill level as well. At BM level 52, protected skeletons were perfect diversions for The Queen while I was able to use the Staff of Embers on her from behind. For a solo player, this provides some of the advantage of multi player without the cost (e.g. increased HP for The Queen).

[Happy]

Dead Raiser is good, summon Skeletts & bubble them up with protection staff and away you go, let them go ham. 20 or so 2 star Wolves & a Lox is a good idea too, if you want to bring them along for a big raid or attack, and keep them protected at the same time.

Also really useful in group play. First outing into the Mistlands had four of us (2 Melee, one ranged & one support Mage) using Dead Raiser, summoned Skellies for Aggro and 2 tanks put the hurt on em while a ranged player shoots & mage supports us all.

So there is that.

[Rhapsody]

The consensus is that skeletts are adequately durable when buffed with blood barrier. They can also deal respectable damage, and their physical damage also contributes to staggering enemies nicely, which is important when you're slinging spells that cannot stagger to same extent as melee weapons. Fortunately fireballin' inflicts blunt damage as well, so cast that just before your minions land their strikes to reap the damage and prevent the enemy from harming your allies, with or without the bubble.

[Hawk Eye]

Originally posted by chewer:

Originally posted by Hawk Eye:

Otherwise your better off specializing in magic only or combat only. IN MY OPINION

Not sure about that. I feel pretty confident waltzing around in melee range, hiding behind my bubbled skeletons, throwing fireballs left and right.

In general, stamina is much more important than health. You don't need to chug down a ton of health food to be safe.

Plus, after the Swamp, the Mountains and the initial grind in the Mistlands, you should have developed some form of spatial awareness. Fight mobs on your own terms, let them come to you, run away, sneak around them, lure them into a Dvergr camp, kite them, make them run around obstacles, ...

Battle mage is actually super fun to play, IMO. Use light armor, never stand still, think of it as a hit and run style. The good thing is that running around (stamina) and attacking (eitr) are decoupled. Summoner is fun too. Skeletons can hold their own if you put them in a bubble.

Fight at whatever range you like.
The point was that eitr doesn't regenerate when your swinging a sword.
The term "Battlemage" is subjective apparently.
Sorry for to be broken record but...
In my opinon that means one half brawler the other half magician.
You know a spectrum Mage(Most Magic)--->BattleMage(half&half)--->Warrior(No Magic).
Thus no skeles(not enough eitr if your half&half). Mix of mage robes and heavy armor. Probably works well.

Further more, in my opinoin, it doesn't make sense to eat two eitr meals, have more eitr than either stamina or health; to then not wear full mage robes; and then to also
participate in melee. No offense, but that's kinda insane. You're just clipping your own wings. Maybe I just can't see it. Maybe we both have different definitions of "battlemage"

[chewer]

Originally posted by Hawk Eye:

Fight at whatever range you like.
The point was that eitr doesn't regenerate when your swinging a sword.
The term "Battlemage" is subjective apparently.
Sorry for to be broken record but...
In my opinon that means one half brawler the other half magician.
You know a spectrum Mage(Most Magic)--->BattleMage(half&half)--->Warrior(No Magic).
Thus no skeles(not enough eitr if your half&half). Mix of mage robes and heavy armor. Probably works well.

Further more, in my opinoin, it doesn't make sense to eat two eitr meals, have more eitr than either stamina or health; to then not wear full mage robes; and then to also
participate in melee. No offense, but that's kinda insane. You're just clipping your own wings. Maybe I just can't see it. Maybe we both have different definitions of "battlemage"

No offense taken :)

It might indeed come down to definitions, but what works for me is: Full Eitr Set (for the style bonus, obviously), 1 or 2 eitr food, and then mostly fire and ice magic. However, I always carry a bow (against Gjalls) and an Atgeir. I summon skellies on demand to pull some aggro. Or to have some fun. The staves and the Atgeir serve a similar playstyle, I think, one very mobile and aggressive. You're not tanking nor parrying, but dodging, sprinting, stunning.

I feel pretty safe most of the time because of (a) high mobility and/or (b) the bubble. It's not op, but very flexible and as said, quite fun.