21 réponses à ce sujet

[Brako Shepard]

Hello to all,

If the title of the thread puzzles you. It was a catch phrase used in a comedy show called 'The Fast Show'.

Anyway....
After going through Dragon Age as both two handed sword wielding warrior, and the other as a duel wielding rogue. I have decided my next character will be a mage.
The reason for this post is simple. I do not have a clue about the magic in RPG's. I have always favoured the sword swishing lovelyness of warrior type people, to someone who shoot fire out of there hands.

Due to how each origin is different in this game though. I feel it only right that I give the Mage a shot. As I mentioned I favour sword play mostly, but thinking about it...the odd spell would be a charm too.

So don't worry about spoiling anything for me. I just want to know which spells and abilties would be best for a kick arse mage. Also I will need a run down on what potions etc would be useful to create.

Thank you.

[BubbleDncr]

My favorite spell by far was Blood Wound as a Blood Mage. It's an area of effect spell that doesn't take any time to cast, and it basically paralyzes everyone while it boils their blood for a short amount of time. And it recharges pretty fast, so it's especially awesome for dealing with mobs of one-hit-kill guys in the battle for Denerim. Tho I play on Normal, so I don't know if it will affect your allies if you play on hard or nightmare...

[Brako Shepard]

That spounds like it could be a good substitute for my warrior war cry which kills almost all around him.

[AlanC9]

You gotta do something pretty awful to learn Blood Magic, though.



Don't you have a pretty good idea about how mages work from the companions? Or do you let them run on AI?

[Valaz]

I set tactics for my mages and control the aoe's myself, dont think you cam macro them anyways so friendly fire isnt really an issue.



It also depends what specs you want to take, I have always gone SH its always handy to have a damager who can unleash the gh one in a while.

[old book]

Well, if you don't want to micro-manage too much, the Fire line, Earth line, Glyph line, and Force line are the way to go, plus Heal and then other spells by your specialization. Arcane Warrior, Blood Mage, and Spirit Healer are all good, with AW/BM being more of a power house.



If you don't mind micro-managing and are willing to cheese it up a bit, go for Storm of the Century; the Ice, Shock, and Mana lines. Plenty of moderately useful spells and finishes with access to a map clearing combo spell and an instant mage killer. For a really maxed out DPSer go with BM/SW, or BM/AW if you want access to the best protection spells. Force line remains a must have, as with almost all Mage builds (imo and all that).



The Sleep line is good for quick crowd control and a single target one shot kill (once your Spellpower is 100+) with the Nightmare combo.



The Force line includes three of the best spells in the game. Mind Blast is useful all the way through the game when you're mobbed, Force Field is a great way to save a party member in trouble or to remove an enemy from the field while you deal with others, and Crushing Prison is a one shot kill on weak enemies and can stop and hurt most things long enough to deal with them.



Spell Wisp is optional but worth it.

[BubbleDncr]

i guess I forgot to mention that my mage was evil.

[DWSmiley]

You can hardly go wrong with any selection of spells but one to avoid is chain lightning - it is the only primal spell that does not scale with spellpower, so it becomes useless by mid-game.  Probably a dev oversight.
Specializations are trickier, though, as shapeshifter and arcane warrior play much differently than "regular" mages.  I'd recommend not taking those for your first mage and if you don't, then the most important mage tip is - put *all* your attribute points in magic.  The more powerful your spells, the better, and you can always suck back a lyrium potion if need be.

One specific nuke 'em selection of spells:  By the time you leave Lothering you could have cone of cold, fireball and glyph of repulsion.  That gets you some very good prequisute spells, too - winter's grasp, flaming weapons and glyph of paralysis - and some nifty combinations - paralysis explosion and shattering.  Anything after that is just icing on the cake!

Modifié par DWSmiley, 11 mai 2010 - 05:23 .

[FFTARoxorz05]

I find playing a mage is pretty awesome since you HAVE to bring two normally (healer and damage/cc). Playing as a warrior meant I could never fit a rogue in so I didn't even get my trap disarming achievements and the like until this playthrough.



Cone of Cold wins encounters btw, and the fist spell auto-shatters afterwards.

[Brako Shepard]

Thanks for the info chaps.



One another thing came to mind. I have just been playing Awakening and already there are two members who are Mages. Would a third not seem strange, or can it all work out well enough? I mostly have Anders and Nethaniel in my company, so I guess I could just pick a warrior team mate I suppose.

[Tirigon]

I don´t know if it has been said already, but if you like sword take Arcane Warrior as specialization. Most of the time it will play like a usual mage, but when you´re out of mana, the enemy resists most spells, or when you just feel like it, you can fight with a sword and - if built right - have as high damage as a warrior.

[lastpatriot]

Tirigon wrote...

I don´t know if it has been said already, but if you like sword take Arcane Warrior as specialization. Most of the time it will play like a usual mage, but when you´re out of mana, the enemy resists most spells, or when you just feel like it, you can fight with a sword and - if built right - have as high damage as a warrior.

Can you explain the builds for an AW that give you more damage to melee attacks?  I have played as a caster-type for years in other games but I'd also like to just be able to "wack" something sometime and not have them point at me and laugh.

[old book]

As an Arcane Warrior, your Magic score gets partially swapped for your STR score (adds to damage, not to hit). For max damage in melee and max damage when casting, pump everything into your Magic score, use a good sword with 3 rune slots or use Spellweaver, use at least a couple of buffs & de-buffs (Flaming Weapons, Miasma, etc) and use Swift Salve or Haste to get your attack speed up to something decent. Alternatively, you can pump your Dex up to 30+ and use two daggers with rune slots, though that will cut into points you'd otherwise sink into Magic or Will. Then buff / de-buff to taste.

The AW's real strength is high defenses when fully buffed. I usually cast and snipe with a staff, then switch to sword & shield only when a target is immune to spells or when everything is on recharge.

Modifié par old book, 12 mai 2010 - 01:51 .

[Unrefined-Nemesis]

If sword slashing is your kind of thing like me, I say go the Arcane warrior route.



Arcane warriors can equip massive armour and use other weapons.



I usually go for the buff skill trees since I don't really like using magic all the time and a few primal spells.

[lastpatriot]

old book wrote...

As an Arcane Warrior, your Magic score gets partially swapped for your STR score (adds to damage, not to hit). For max damage in melee and max damage when casting, pump everything into your Magic score, use a good sword with 3 rune slots or use Spellweaver, use at least a couple of buffs & de-buffs (Flaming Weapons, Miasma, etc) and use Swift Salve or Haste to get your attack speed up to something decent. Alternatively, you can pump your Dex up to 30+ and use two daggers with rune slots, though that will cut into points you'd otherwise sink into Magic or Will. Then buff / de-buff to taste.

The AW's real strength is high defenses when fully buffed. I usually cast and snipe with a staff, then switch to sword & shield only when a target is immune to spells or when everything is on recharge.

Thanks for the advice!  I spoose that BM is a good second class to pick up as well?

[AmalieWiz]

I sort of backed into Arcane Warrior in my second play through. Decided to be a mage and then picked AW up as a specialty. Now that I'm in the tower and picked up Wynne, I decided to drop Sten from the party and do a 3 mage team until the Fade. Just before entering the Sloth Monster's lair, I picked and choosed between all the good stuff Wynne and Morganne had and put them on my PC. I picked up a great axe with two rune slots and a shield with extra attributes. So now just entering the Face, I can hack and slash with the best of them or switch to staff and spells as required. The only thing I wish I had done different was to pick up a cross-bow with some magic bolts as a secondary weapon so I could do ranged attacks as AW as well as ranged spells. "Next time!"

[Tirigon]

lastpatriot wrote...

Thanks for the advice!  I spoose that BM is a good second class to pick up as well?

Yea it is. But then, thanks to Blood Wound, Bloodmage is probably the best specialization for every mage no matter what build.

[Sabariel]

I enjoy 'Walking Bomb' myself. It's always fun to cast it on a nearly dead enemy and have it blow up or infect its fellows when it dies.

[Riot Inducer]

I would also recommend trying out the hex spell line in entropy magic. Vulnerability and Affliction hexes can give any elemental damage spells you use a lot more bite and Misdirection hex can absolutely neuter hard hitting enemies like Revenants.

[old book]

lastpatriot wrote...

Thanks for the advice!  I spoose that BM is a good second class to pick up as well?

Yup, as others said Blood Mage is probably the best second specialization for an Arcane Warrior. Cast until you're almost out of mana, turn on all of your sustainable spells, then switch to Bloodmagic and cast more if you feel like it or just start hacking. Blood Wound is one of the best area attack spells in the game, maybe the single best, and Blood Control can make an enemy switch sides in the middle of a fight. OTOH, Spirit Healer is also quite good if you're trying to keep your team alive. It comes down to what you're going for.

Shapeshifter is IMO a very poor choice unless you're using mods to boost it up, but there are people who like it.

[Sammy0721]

Shapeshifter has some subtle advantages to an AW.

1. You never miss as long as you keep your wand during the shape shift

2. You kill a lot faster heavily armored foes (highest melee armor penetration) in the game

3. You need to pump up strength (maybe 40/40) magic split each

4. As a SS/BM and the right gear (lifegiver, reaper vestments) you always have plenty of mana

5. You get high damage spells (avoid sustainables/buffs as a SS)

6. The increase in armor and health for a bear is insane (around 360 health)

7. Pretty much a dragon/revenant killer in the bear form (high health, good armor, never misses, high damage (30ish), good armor penetration)

8. Fatigue issues (don't exist) for SS, using really good robes, light armor

9. Overwhelm can take out 60-80% health of some elite mages (Hermit, Refugee Quest Emissary) and instant kill normal mages

[old book]

Again, some people like SS, and I agree with your list of things the SS can do. The problem (for me) is the same as that of the dual dagger weilding Arcane Warrior; you have to put too many points in stats other than Magic. Sure, both alternate builds can work. But a Mage gets the most bang for the buck from spellcasting. If you're pumping STR to 42+ as a Shapeshifter or DEX to 30+ as a dual dagger weilder, you get an interesting boss killer, but your spells that depend on Spellpower will suffer for it. It's a very different playstyle.