The Battlemage is the mage who fights on the front line: a wand in one hand, a ward (shield) in the other. It scales with Intelligence, survives by blocking and refilling mana, and keeps a staff for area damage. 1.0 made it stronger — wards now grant elemental resistances as well as mana — which is why it's one of the best solo-and-small-group builds in the game.
This is a verified plan: every node cost below was read from the 1.0 skill tree (234 nodes), and the spend order follows the tree's own tier structure. Nothing here is guessed.
One-screen version → Battlemage cheat sheet — the whole spend order on a single dark page for a second monitor.
Attributes
Intelligence first (magic damage and wand power), Constitution for the health pool, a little Spirit for mana. Life Essences and Exalted turn Intelligence into health and extra Intelligence, so the attribute pays double duty.
The Battlemage tree — all 14 nodes, in tier order
| Tier | Skill | Cost | Ranks | Maxed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intelligence | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Arcane Deflection | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Eternal Spark | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 3 | Intelligence | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 4 | Blink Attack | 2 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Unity | 1 | 3 | 3 |
| 5 | Sting | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 5 | Wand Specialization | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Arcane Proliferation | 3 | 1 | 3 |
| 6 | Life Burst | 4 | 1 | 4 |
| 7 | Life Essences | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Wand Mastery | 2 | 3 | 6 |
| 8 | Exalted | 5 | 1 | 5 |
| 8 | Intelligence | 1 | 1 | 1 |
The whole tree = 30 points (44 with every rank filled in).
Detours
- Blink — Healer, tier 3, 4 points. A true blink (replaces dodge roll). Your escape.
- Water Aura — Healer, tier 4, 1 point ×3. Passive healing pulse for you and nearby allies.
- Evasion Attack — Tank, tier 3, 4 points. Dash-melee, only if you actually swing.
With the detours that's 39 points base, 55 fully ranked — before the "travel" points you spend walking the branches outward to reach them.
Spend order
The tree forces you out tier by tier, so spend in tier order and take the pair in each tier by priority:
- Tiers 1–4 — the engine. Intelligence → Arcane Deflection → Eternal Spark + Intelligence →
Unity. Wand hits now feed mana and parries refund it, so you can fight non-stop.
- Tiers 5–6 — damage. Wand Specialization + Sting (repeat wand hits +20%), then Arcane
Proliferation (30% chance to double projectiles) + Life Burst (kills heal the party within 15 m).
- Tiers 7–8 — scaling. Wand Mastery (+5% wand damage per rank) + Life Essences (max health =
2× Intelligence per rank), then Exalted (+1 Intelligence per two Flame levels) and the last Intelligence node.
- Detours when they fit. Blink early if you're dying; Water Aura once you group; Evasion Attack
only if you melee.
How it plays
Stand at wand range, poke, and parry — every parry (Arcane Deflection) and every wand hit (Unity) puts mana back, so you never run dry. Blink out of trouble and swap to the staff when a pack closes in. Killing things heals everyone nearby (Life Burst) while Water Aura ticks healing on its own, so you're soft support without spending a cast. Exalted + Life Essences make Intelligence a health stat — that's what lets a "mage" wear heavy armour and tank.
Gear (from the build guide — not yet verified by us)
Primary Polymath's Wand (Fire Damage + Multishot); armour Vorgoth's Soulbound, Hailcaster, Flaming Gauntlets; Ring of the Mother Flame; Gem of Burning. Consumables: Cabbage Mushroom Rice, Meat Wrap, Strawberry Milkshake, Coconana Smoothie. Spells: Eternal Fireball III, Eternal Ice Bolt IV, Eternal Heal Cascade II.
These gear names come from the third-party build this plan is based on. We've verified the skill costs against the 1.0 tree, but not the gear against a 1.0 item database — treat the list as a starting point.
How this page was made
Node names, costs, ranks and tier positions are read from the 1.0 skill tree data (234 nodes). The spend order follows that tree's tier structure. The level-by-level split isn't charted, because the total point budget at level 50 hasn't been read off a live character yet.
Guide changelog
What has changed in this guide, newest first.
- 2026-10-18Published — verified Battlemage build (node costs from the 1.0 tree).