Sienna - Battle wizard (help request)

Fatshark Lounge
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So I’m going back though all the classes and completing each level with each class and I’m back to my least favorite class the battle wizard.

I’m after some useful tips on building playing this class.

The Ult seems to have a nice knockback effect, which seems to be able to free player from chaos spawn, but mostly I’m unsure how to effectively use it, other than a really short hop to reduce overcharge and that requires the lvl 25 talent.

To be honest the Ult seems worthless to me, to get use from the fire trail you have to be running away, you cant do it in the air, there are several things like some rocks and banisters that if you stand on it does not work, if you use it into a horde its a death sentence, the enemy seem to avoid it if they can and the damage seems low. How do most people use it? is it useful for much other than removing overcharge?

I’m struggling with staff selection too, I’ve tried all of them but i cant seem to find a rhythm with any of them, (I’d rather have Saltz infinite ammo crossbow than any of the staffs to be honest, though that could be a bad build on my part.)

I’m struggling with heat management and weapon swapping, I find that at high overcharge levels I weapon swap, block and the explode as the staff does not get swapped out, (I presume due to heat lag,) an I start to charge my next shot… resulting in an exploding mage.

Conflag staff: This has some nice area denial and the no charged shot seem to be somewhat powerful vs armour, but it’s shot has some drift which make head shots hard. The over charge on this seems very aggressive too, it’s the staff I find easiest to overcharge with…

Bolt staff: the light click and hold for spam fireballs works well vs hordes and unarmour foes but I struggle to get the charged bolt to work, no zoom, plus charge time, means that saltz crossbow/ranged elf/hobo kruber has killed it before I get my shot charged and off…

Beam staff: This staff pisses me off, it works as described I just don’t like it, its easier to use than the bolt staff, seems to do comparitive damage, and have better horde control.

I’ve not gone back to the FB staff yet, so I won’t comment on it, but previously it was my most used staff.

I’m using the mace as the melee weapon of choice, but I’m finding that at high overcharge levels it becomes a very slow weapon, and I’m wondering if this is affecting weapon swap speed which is adding to my overcharge issues.

So any advice on how to play the mage better? :slight_smile: (links to relevant reading materials are great as well.)

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rofl i see you have missed out one of her best options, the flamer staff

basically just using her really quick buildup ult for heat clearing and a mace to handle armor, and you have eliminated hordes and anti armor for the team. at least that’s how i play her (based on a guide made by someone on the forums, i can’t find the link)

the fireball staff is really good because it wrecks horde and bosses, however i feel it doesn’t synergize as well as using it on the unchained.

just my 2cents, i’m not a sienna main tho, because i overall dislike her playstyle.

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battlemage can be tailored to have infinite block, paired that with fireball and u can be really good c:

edit: oh did i say battle mage? i meant battle wizard

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Battle Wizard, with her charge time reductions, uses the longer-charge staves most efficiently. That is, Conflagration, Fireball and Flamewave. Bolt too, but that one’s harder to use effectively, especially as it’s a sniper weapon that lacks zoom. With any of these options, you can get off two quick charges from one use of Tranquility as long as you start charging the second one immediately after the first. First charge a full shot, then maybe another depending on the situation. If you still have room, do more. Then get rid if the heat fast, by either using the Career Skill and relevant Talent or active venting. Do not be afraid to vent. If you have high permanent HP, it doesn’t really matter, and if you have even moderate temp health (as you should have after the mass spells you should be getting off) it’ll just eat that.

Beyond that, try to avoid getting hit. BW’s fragile and hits taken disrupt Tranquility, delaying your next fast charge. The Career Skill can be used to make room, either for whipping your melee weapon out or just getting a fast charged attack out when Tranq is active. It’s also usable for zooming out of tight spots. Don’t get stuck with the heat removal, it’s a fast skill and yo have other methods for that.

Personally, while the mace is certainly a good weapon, I find it a too slow starter to use as the backup it is. If you’re able to make good use of the Dagger, try it. Either sword is also possible, though I prefer the Flame one. They’re faster to start swinging than the Mace, a feature that’s quite important when your primary weapon is the ranged one. The Flame Sword also makes space wonderfully with its charged attacks, and those damage normal armor too well enough.

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i thought so at first, but after using it awhile, i’ve noticed that the weapon switch to block is EXTREMELY quick

block-attack light light also is great for clearing of spaces in an ambush.

i would really love to use the flamesword, but the problem is that sienna doesn’t have enough options against chaos warriors, so mace it is for me.

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Battle Wizard is, by no means, a bad carreer. The conflag, flamer and fireball staff are absolutely devestating in her hands. What BW suffers from is an active and a passive ability that work, but are underwhelming and need some love for her to be truly amazing. She suffers a little bit from the same problems as the Witch Hunter Captain: BW can be made to work very well, but the choices are very limited weapon- and talentwise and you need to be very specialised and jump through alot of hoops to accomplish the same level as other carreers in general and her character’s other choices. BW’s problem is that she has to run against Pyromancer and Unchained, both of which are equally strong imho and are amongst the strongest carreers overall in the game.

While the posibility for infinite block stamina is actually a surprisingly good concept, it is very specialised and narrow and requires you to make use of her mobility alot. The level 25 overcharge clearing on active is almost a must, since BW has no means to inrease her overcharge bar or reduce spell cost, and since your charge speed can be very fast, you need to vent very often even with her passive ability. That severely hampers her otherwise great ranged damage and CC ability. When compared to Pyro, BW needs to make up for Pyro’s better overcharge management and her very good active ability. When compared to Unchained, BW needs to make up for Unchained’s almost unparalleled overcharge management, CC and melee ability.

The only staff that she can shoot virtually indefinitely is the flamethrower. Put some power vs. chaos and infantry on weapon and charm, put barrage on it, and you have one of the best horde-clearing and CC setups available. You will melt through anything and can even give CW a rough time.

My go-to mace for any Sienna has turned out to be Stamina, Block Cost, Off balance. Obviously work on BW, buys you more time as Pyro if you need to reposition and it is an absolute beast on Unchained when paired with block cost reduction on necklace. You have almost unlimited block stamina with Unchained’s passive block cost reduction ability and it really shows if you let all the mobs around you hit you before firing your active ability.

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I personally prefer fireball-staff with the less overheat trait + the flamesword or dagger. (flamesword on BW, dagger on pyro/unchained actually)

I speccd that tranquility works faster and that my ultimate removes all overcharge.
Just spam RMB to clear any horde and your ultimate bar should be full while you´re nearly full-charged. Press F and do the same over and over again. Just look on the ground, so you won´t jump into your death. ^^

If you´ve to fight a boss, just give it 2-3 shots, vent, 2-3 shots vent etc. If you´ve got a strong/conpot, just spam RMB too and spam your ultimate to stagger the boss and remove all overcharge / just kill it with the strong pot. ^^

Flamesword with attack speed: Nice waveclear and good vs shieldvermin with the loaded attack.
I just love to use it on BW. It´s just fun, but the Dagger is much better, since your lack of dmg VS CW with sword/flamesword. The mace is just too slow.

Actually you really just have to spam your fireball staff, running around and dodging back. If there is a wall behind you, use your ultimate through the enemies and kite in the other direction. You just have to abuse the high mobility from the BW and all should be fine.
If you´re overcharged and got no ultimate, tranquility will do the rest for you within 10s. Then start spamming again.

Btw i play with power VS armor/chaos.

I love that career and it´s really strong in the right hands.

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Staves that actually have a good synergy with BW are Flamethrower and Conflag.
Personally, I think Conflag is mostly a worse Fireball staff, but it does have it’s niche:
Extreme stagger.
If you time it correctly, you can loose a charged blast and start charging the next one before tranquility ends - the extra charge speed on overcharge also helps.
This allows the conflag staff to ‘double-tap’ and is really strong against SV.
While CW don’t care too much, they are staggered, so you can stagger a whole patrol for your team;
Meanwhile, against a Skaven patrol you can actually kill the entire patrol - in 5 seconds with a strength pot.
Sadly, the staff is worse against everything else compared to FB. You’ll essentially fire two blasts, maybe a third, then go into melee for a bit, then repeat on the next wave.

The active takes some getting used to.
I believe venting in general is too easy, and vent on active far too strong, but as long as we have it, use it. Even a jump of a meter could get you out of a horde, and you’re right: Enemies avoid it. Allows you to temporarily funnel enemies where your team is best set up.
You can ignore the actual damage.
For melee, try to stay a few millimeters away from the second heat threshold - then the slowdown is quite manageable.
BW, to me, is mostly a slightly worse pyro, but it has character, and it’s certainly usable.

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First, Thanks for the replies/info… I’ll be trying to implement most of it.

Doh, Totally forgot about the flamewave staff, I’ve never used it, other than in the keep, I’ll take a look at it again. (I’m not even aware if it has any armour penetration…I’ve always presumed not, to be honest I presumed it was crap.)

I’ve not tried the 100% block cost reduction build yet, It’s always seemed like a gimmick to me, I’ll take a look at building my mace for it. (I’ve got 2 of the bloody things.), I can see it might be more valuable than I wanted to admit.

The Pryomancer ruined my venting skills, I’ve only just started again since creating this thread, (thanks for the reminders.) though now I’m topping the “damage taken” charts just from the venting,

I’m back to running Conflag at the moment, (I have a red Conflag and a red bolt staff) I’m aware of and actively trying to use the stagger effect, occasionally I feel I stagger too many of a group of armoured enemy, (like a patrol) towards us as oppose to away… though I hope the meat shields can deal with them. (Bolt staff feels pathetic in my hands, I may just need more experience with it.)

Thanks for the advice on Tranquility I’ve not really been paying any attention to it, I’ve just figured it was a nice to have when it gets used but otherwise, I’ve been very “Tranq… what? dunno what your talking about.”

I am starting to use the ULT like a stagger attack, which works well in tight situations, It’s very rare that I actually aim more than a meter from where I’m standing, it seems to get blocked on all kinds of BS obstacles, (also it does not traverse height differences?) which makes it very unreliable as a “Traversal” escape mechanism, where as the stagger remove over charge allows for 3 more charged conflag attacks, with their stagger effect I feel I’m more able to run out of danger.

I focus on Str potions when I can, but to be honest she seems to deal fairly well without potions in general, (I’m actually content to just pass them to other characters if requested) or should I be revising that opinion? I avoid conc pots though for some reason people feel compelled to hand them to me, I keep passing them on…

Again thanks for all the help so far.

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i was in love with the conflag staff… until i found out that the fireball staff absolutely wrecks bosses. now i can’t use anything except the fireball staff. lol

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Charged attack or normal attack?

I quite liked the FB staff when I was using it, but thought I’d try the Conflag out when I got the red staff.

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spamming charged attacks on a boss depletes their hp real quick. you don’t even need to full charge it, just churn out the charged fireballs as quick as you can. combined with a str pot, it’s pretty awesome.

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Speed pot is even more amazing :wink:

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Speed pots sadly cause misfires.

Oh yes, people always pass wizard the purples.
They don’t even really think about it. They see a Sienna, no mask, must be a pyro. Even if they know otherwise, they don’t reflect on why they normally give her the purples. Deeply ingrained behavoir.
A lot easier to get rid of them if you have a shade in the team.

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never had that problem happen to me. Not saying it doesn’t but it seems like it doesn’t misfire for everyone.

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Note that when you stagger something with Conflag, they will always turn to look in the direction of the damage source after they stagger. So if you stumble a shield stormvermin towards you, they will turn around and present their back to you.

Conflag is the staff I use the most because sudden hordes don’t usually cause wipes, but unexpected groups of plague monks, berserkers, and armored often do. I like being able to knock around 5 CW while the team is dealing with the rest of the surprise chaos patrol. Plus it’s satisfying to knock things off of heights.

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It doesn’t help that the portrait for Pyro and BW are a bit too close to each other, unless you know them very well or look more carefully. And there’s rarely that much time (even if you remember it) to check before you’re in the middle of action.

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That I did not realise… those bastards have been plaguing me playing the wizard, I’m going to have to experiment with this, also I’ll pay more attention when someone else is using the conflag staff. They’ll actually turn 180 degrees from all the players??? For how long?

I’ve finished the BW now and I’ve moved on to Unchained, In the end I found that once I got the tips here down and remembered to vent like my health pool was infinite most of my problems with the class vanished.

I still need to look at maximising tranquility, and trying out 100% block. While I found that using the Ult like a emergency stagger worked well, I’m yet to find a good way to use the fire trail part, the travel distance you can get is just too unreliable, and as I said before there seem to be a lot of places on the map where you just can’t use it at all.

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Whether or not they turn to face away from players depends on everyone’s position relative to the center of your conflag geyser. But it’s real easy to quick shot stumble a stormvermin towards you, switch to mace, and heavy1 it in the back of the head.

There are a lot of places you can’t use firewall well because it got crippled in response to all the out of bounds exploits with it. Now it’s only slightly more difficult to get out of bounds, but flamewalk is pretty meh. You can’t use it to jump across gaps, even though foot knight, handmaiden, and Slayer all can.

Unchained is going to feel so beefy for you in comparison to the fragile glass that battle wizard and pyro are. 50% more HP base, 50% damage taken since half goes to overcharge. You don’t need to vent much since blocking vents for you. Using heat sink on conflag and the heat reduction talents, you can full charge conflag like, 7 times.

Try to host as unchained since your bonus melee from heat doesn’t fully work as client. The +hp talent doesn’t work at all as client either, so I generally just used higher overcharge limit.

I prefer mace for the easy overhead heavy1, and the push+sweep light3 light4 sweep sequence on hordes. I also fully recommend parry as your melee trait. I like +sta and block cost reduction as well but whatever suits you.

Overall, you’ll be able to clutch just as hard as handmaiden can since you can drop conflag pretty instantly, which also helps keep you from getting pinned, block to dissipate all heat and repeat. Or push, dodge back, drop large conflag, block some more. You can stagger all non-bosses except for a chaos warrior who is in the overhead slash animation.

Honestly my favorite class and the first one I finished Legendary challenge on.

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Hello. There are a lot of posts here already, so I’m not if I’m just being repetitive or not.

aBattle Wizard is my favorite class in the game. With the right setup/playstyle she can be a walking artillery piece. She is both devastating and fun.

  • For skills, I pick:
    lvl 5: increased overcharge.
    lvl 10: increased power per enemy nearby.
    lvl 15: charge speed.
    lvl 20: I shouldn’t even need to say.
    lvl 25: clear overcharge.

The only ranged weapon you should be using as Battle Wizard is the Fireball Staff. With all the buffs to charge speed stacked up, it charges up to max in an instant. The horde-clear on this beast is incredible. The charged fireball penetrates all chaff enemies, so once you get used to the arc, just find a good position and go to town. Charged shot after charged shot after charged shot. In most situations, you will be able to solo an entire horde like this. If something goes wrong, you can simply spam weaker charged fireballs ar your feel to create an opening. The only tricky thing about this is managing your overcharge. They key is to not wait until the last possible moment to switch to melee - plan it out beforehand, but give yourself room to adapt. Lesser-charged shots can also be etter in close quarters, because of less spalsh damage, and also against Skaven, because they die so fast. This thing is crappy against Chaos Warriors and bosses, but with the standard attack it can kill any other special/elite in a matter of seconds. Just aim for the head!

When your overcharge is getting high, don’t bother venting, unless you have copious amounts of temporary health (which happens a lot as Battle Wizard, because she cwn stack up kills so fast). Tranquility dictates a playstyle where you need to swap between “aggressive ranged” mode to “defensive melee” mode in an instant. Understanding your overcharge limits is key, as well as feeling comfortable in melee. If you play more on the defensive while waiting for your heat to cool down, you whould usually be able to get firing soon enough. Anything can happen though, which is why I always keep a little heat in reserve - usually enough for 1 or 2 stronger fireballs.

As for melee weapons, it’s really up to you. Use the one you feel most comfortable with. I personally prefer the standard sword, because it’s easy to dodge with and the charged attack provides decent stumble against hordes. All of her options are pretty good though. You shouldn’t be attacking on the highest tier of overcharge if you can avoid it. It doesn’t have a long way to cool down.

Honestly, trinkets are up to you. I use: health/push block angle, power vs armored/attack speed, and movement speed/stanima recovery.

The firewalk would be perfect if it was,able to bridge gaps and obsticals like rocks. It was like this in the beta, and people kept on finding exploits to get to spots where the AI couldn’t get to you, so Fatshark changed how the ability worked. In unonatruced areas this ability shines bright as ever, however. The kockbsck is great for things like saving pinned teammates, stumbling gunners, running away, and positioning yourself to better fight hordes. With Sienna, position is especially important since you have a real risk of burning teammates.

I hope this helps. I love this class, so if you have any questions let me know! I would be more than happy to answer.