[Top 5] Mage Builds in Shadow of the Erdtree that Are Powerful (level 200+)

Updated:

14 Sep 2024

Casting Your First Spells in the Shadow Lands

Dusty tomes, legendary staffs, and powerful magic, these are what we think of when we think of mages in the high fantasy setting. When we think of mages, the ideas of powerful sorcerers like Merlin, Harry Potter, or even Gandalf come to mind. Now, in the Lands Between, we have the chance to master our own spells and explore a vast land of dragons and high fantasy. In fact, when it comes to mage skills, any player of Skyrim will probably feel right at home with all the interesting spells and powers the mage build has to offer.

Playing A Mage in the Shadow Lands

It was true in Skyrim, and it's true here, playing a mage is usually a ranged build and requires knowing your spells well. On top of that, the Shadow Lands brought us an all new set of incantations and sorceries that we can conjure for our needs. If that's not enough, the DLC released some great new seals for the clerics, and we get the Maternal Staff and the Staff of the Great Beyond here in Shadow of the Erdtree. One of these conjures an all new type of sorcery that's great for poise, physical, and magical damage while the other gives us the first time ability to use incantations and sorceries without having to equip multiple pieces of gear.

Shadow of the Erdtree made the mages a powerful force to contend with, and with the new patches we saw an increase in some of the old sorceries that we used to use as well. Old builds have also been improved greatly and we see a lot of moves that we had only hoped we would see come available to us.

The real question then becomes how is the best way to play a mage? For all intents and purposes, sorcery users usually break down into three major groups: Magic Knights, Spellblades, and Mages. The Magic Knight is essentially a knight that focuses on the use of their magical weapons and armor to deal the damage, with little spellwork really put into the build. These end up your most aggressive magic players and there are some overwhelming magic weapon builds out there. The Spellblades seem to be our mostly mid range option, since they balance a mix of using their weapons and special skills, with a host of longer range attack spells and some buffs.

The mage is essentially the ranger of the sorcery users. This is the player with usually the most ranged spell options, and very little in the way of offensive unless you get into builds that focus on an accompanying weapon like Radagon, or a Death Mage. Both of these builds have great weapons to use, but the focus still revolves around the use of spells to blast away your enemies.

Picking the Top 5

Picking the top 5 in any build type can be hard, and Shadow of the Erdtree gave us a few new strong contenders that we didn't see before. We also have great padding added to old builds which have made it a whole new world in trying to figure out which is the right build for us. Old concepts like the Gravity Sorcerer, Meteor Mage, and Gravity God have all been buffed thanks to the new gravity sorceries.

For the purpose of this article, I chose the top 5 based on new releases and the best of the buffed up older builds that saw new options within the Shadow of the Erdtree. There are sure to be patches that will inevitably change the build dynamic, but these top 5 are chosen for their potential and their consistency.

5. Mother of Sorcerers

The Mother of all Sorcery Jobs

What is the Mother of Sorcerers

The Mother of Sorcerers is the first name on the list and it is a DLC exclusive build. Finger sorceries received four great spells in the Shadow of the Erdtree expansion, including a mix of both magic and physical damage. The Maternal staff boosts our finger sorceries by 15% while the robes give us an extra potency. On top of that, this build combos well with some weapons and can even mix well with some of the other powerful sets like gravity weapons and spells.

Playing the Mother of Sorcerers Pros and Cons

This build gives us a good blend between physical damage and magical damage which makes it well rounded for different types of foes.
If you're playing this build for a unique experience, you'll be mostly disappointed. Most of the spells in this build are a re-skinned version of a different spell, which makes it easy to learn how to play but not original.
This build has a good consistency with spell ranges. We see long range in our nail spells, Fleeting Microcosm for a good mid-range AOE, and Cherishing fingers
This set comes complete with armor and boosting gear, which makes it easier to build a specialized build.

Spell Loadout

1. Glintstone Nail

Requirements: 18 Intelligence
Spell Description: Fires a single shattering nail that deals magic damage

2. Glintstone Nails

Requirements: 32 Intelligence
Spell Description: Fires multiple shattering nails that deal magic and poise damage

3. Fleeting Microcosm

Requirements: 42 Intelligence
Spell Description: Fires a brief singularity at the enemy before causing an explosion of AOE damage

4. Cherishing Fingers

Requirements: 36 Intelligence
Spell Description: Summons up a group of fingers from the earth that deals physical damage to nearby enemies and protects the caster from damage when fully extended

5. Terra Magica

Requirements: 20 Intelligence
Spell Description: This spell increases magical damage done by 22.5% for 30 seconds

Weapons and Staffs

1. Carian Regal Scepter

Requirements: 8 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 60 Intelligence

The Carian Regal Scepter is great for both full moon sorceries and the fact that it increases intelligence scaling immensely. That means that this is one of the most damaging staffs in the game without having to give up the cost of extra FP like Lusat's Glintstone Staff. Full moon sorceries can always be added to this list, but really we use this staff for the pure damage output in our main hand and run the maternal staff in our offhand for the buffs.

2. Maternal Staff

Requirements: 7 Strength, 21 Intelligence, 21 Arcane

The Maternal staff is the staff that boosts finger sorceries by 15%. Naturally, having two would be fantastic but that always requires an extra playthrough. This staff has two fun effects. The first is that it boosts finger sorceries which makes it perfect for the finger mage builds. The second effect is that this staff causes bleed buildup. That's right, it can be mixed with any build that causes bleed for dramatic effect.

3. Rosus' Axe

Requirements: 18 Strength, 10 Dexterity, 18 Intelligence

The Rosus Axe was originally seen in a Youtube build that featured a combination between the Rosus Axe and the Cherishing Fingers sorcery. Essentially the player summons the Cherishing fingers and then hits the enemy with the Rosus's Summons special ability about the same time. This combo serves to deal a fair bit of physical and magic damage which make for a powerful combo that can hurt any foe.

Gear Loadout

Helms

Spellblade's Pointed Hat- Increases magic and frost damage by 2%
Queen's Crescent Crown- Increases Intelligence by +3
High Priest Hat- Boosts Intelligence and Arcane +1
Rakshasa Helm- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%

Armor

Spellblade's Traveling Attire- Increases magic and frost damage by 2%
Rakshasa Armor- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
Finger Robe- Increases finger sorcery damage by 8%

Gauntlets

Spellblade's Gloves- Increases magic and frost damage by 2%
Rakshasa Gauntlets- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
Radahn Gauntlets- Heavy armor for poise and defense

Greaves

Spellblade's Trousers- Increases magic and frost damage by 2%
Rakshasa Greaves- Increases damage dealt and received by 2%
Radahn Greaves- Heavy armor for poise and defense.

Extra Essentials

Talismans

Magic Scorpion Charm- Increases magic damage by 12% and damage receive by 10%
Graven-Mass Talisman- Increases the potency of sorceries by 8%
Godfrey Icon- Boosts charged skills and spells by 15%
Radagon Icon- Increases spellcasting speed
Blade of Mercy- Increases damage by 20% after each critical strike
Talisman of Lord's Bestowal- Increases poise by 54% after drinking from a flask of tears

Stats

50 Vigor
35-50 Mind
25-35 Endurance
40-80 Strength
12-21 Dexterity
80 Intelligence
7-25 Faith
40-65 Arcane

4. The Death Mage

A death spell for you, and a death spell for you..

What is a Death Mage

The Death Mage is a type of build that focuses on the Death sorceries specifically. These are sorceries that for lack of a better explanation, cause the buildup of Deathblight. When this triggers in a player, it causes instant death and is game over. On monsters, we see less of that but we see some hard hitting spells that really have a good way to stagger enemies and whittle down foes.