16 réponses à ce sujet

[jason.williams14]

Hello everyone.
I'll keep it brief and to the point.
I have DA:O and Awakenings. Still finishing DA:O (have all the DLC) as well.
This is my first RPG in a very very long time, so I would classify myself as a noob here.

I have ran through DA:O with a Dual wielding warrior (almost done), but wanted to run through it a second time with a Mage.

For those who are seasoned veterans, whare are some key things to keep in mind when building a mage?
I would assume magic and willpower are super imporant. SHould I ignore strength/dexterity/stamina? or pump in just a little?

Spells. Magic is going to be interesting. Gone is hack and slash, so it will be new. Tips for selecting spells? I was really excited when I found out you can combine/stack spells to have some awesome affects. I look forward to trying that out.

Specialties. The good? The Bad?

Looking forward to trying out a mage. Should be a lot of fun.

Cheers,

Jason

[Njorls]

For stats, dump almost all your points into Magic. Maybe a few for Willpower but not too many. You can ignore str, dex and con.

The most important thing to know at higher levels is, friendly fire is BAD. This makes half the Primal line (fire, lightning, and some of earth) pretty much useless at difficulties higher than Normal. Cold is good with cone of cold, take Stonefist from Earth to set up combo insta kills on minions. Mind blast is also good to set up the cone of cold. And heal is always helpful.

Mana Clash from the Mana line is also great, enemy spellcasters are the most dangerous and this spell can kill most with 1 shot.

Blood Mage is a great specialization. It has a great damage/CC spell with a huge AOE that doesn't do friendly fire. Spirit Healer is also good. People like Arcane Warrior though I've never tried one.

There's a guide in the sticky at the top of this forum to all the spells, and I found this guide helpful as well though it's for Awakenings: http://social.biowar...6/index/1786981

Modifié par Njorls, 02 juin 2010 - 10:24 .

[jason.williams14]

Thanks Njoris. I will keep that in mind.

Any spells to avoid or are not that great?



Many thanks.

[Elhanan]

Not a seasoned vet, but here is a bit of what I have experienced.

The staff is your best friend, IMO; get the best one you are able to afford. I even keep mine when playing an AW, as the ranged combat is helpful when at long distance, seems to aid boosting spells, and your DEX is generally limited.

Only specs in DAO I have used are AW and Spirit Healer. I plan on trying Blood Mage once, now that I have unlocked it in a less Evil manner. Shifter is reportedly so bad I avoid, plus it does not appeal to me on paper.

I am wrong: Spells are your bestest friend. There are many good ones, and even the less powerful ones appear to be useful on occasions.I have found the Cold spells to be invaluable, and take them every time, as they are quite good at single attacks and AoE. Mind Blast and Force Shield are also on my lists each time, too. And I now have become a fancier of the Glyphs; versatile and helpful for many possible functions.

Enjoy!

Modifié par Elhanan, 03 juin 2010 - 12:02 .

[Rhys Cordelle]

I'm a huge fan of fireball. It not only deals AoE damage, it knocks your targets off their feet, continues to burn them, and recharges quickly.

[Giggles_Manically]

For a Mage, play on casual or you do a good bit of friendly fire inadvertently. Learn most of the Elemental School but skip the big AoE ones, pricy and limited in uses. Fireball and COne of Cold are must haves, also grabbing Heal helps a good bit.



For Specilizations Arcane Warrior is the ultimate one. While unable to do the fancier moves of Warriors it lasts for a long time, and gets to be a great tank.



Blood Warrior is great offensivly and allows for more Spell Casting

Spirit Healer is a great party buffer, but that is what Wynne is for.



Look for the Libertarian Cowl, The Reapers Vestments, Magus War Boots, The MAgisters staff for the best mages gear.



Finally give the tanks in your party the ability to pull agro or you will die alot early on.

[Arthur Cousland]

There's no friendly fire damage on normal difficulty as well as casual.

I've liked my spirit healer/blood mage so far. Group heal is awesome to heal everyone at once, or if you need to double heal someone who's low in health and you want to cast that right after heal. Blood mage gives you basically endless mana, and good crowd control. A spirit healer/blood mage is a good combo if you plan to be the only mage in your party.

Favorite spells are cone of cold, crushing prison and fireball. Force field is a decent backup, if you need to disable an enemy and your better alternatives are on cooldown. You'll have it anyway, if you have crushing prison.  Have yet to invest in glyph spells, but those are next on the list.

Tevinter Mage Robe is also nice for it's +5 spellpower and +2 mana regen. If you really need the armor and constitution from Reaper's Vestments, perhaps you pull too much hate from the tank.

Arcane shield is a great defense buff and increases your defense based on your spellpower. Higher spellpower=higher defense.

Put all stat points into magic and buff the other stats with gear if needed.

Modifié par Arthur Cousland, 03 juin 2010 - 06:08 .

[yasuraka.hakkyou]

I have a decent amount of experience here...

The decent spells IMO are: fireball, stonefist, cone of cold, blizzard and tempest with spell might, the glyph line, anti-magic ward (though I haven't tried it yet), mana clash (some say OP), virulent walking bomb, crushing prison, and pretty much most of entropy. blood magic is all good, spirit healer is good (though I don't take more than group heal on my Wardens), and arcane warrior doesn't appeal to me. which is kind of a shocker, since I usually love that kinda character.
I personally put a decent chunk of points into willpower, but I am a wee bit of a roleplayer. plus its not like you have to powergame, almost at all, to kick so much arse you'll need special shoe polish.

[jason.williams14]

Thanks for the help everyone.

I have a level 5 mage going right now. Can someone tell me if this build so far is ok?



Spells: Arcane Bolt



Primal: Flame Grasp, Winters Grasp

Creation: Heal, Spirit Wisp

Spirit: Walking bomb, mind blast

Entropy: Weakness



Skills: 2 in coercion, 1 in survival, 1 in combat tactics.



Stats wise, most has been put into magic and willpower. Some in cunning.





Figured I would ask now since I was low and could quickly reroll if needed to.



Thanks.

[lazorexplosion]

You're doing OK. I'm personally not that crazy about the paralysis line or Spell Wisp, though. Other than than, all is good. I'd go for cone of cold next and then either fireball or regeneration and then maybe the glyph line.

[Elhanan]

I have not used Spell Wisp myself, and also found myself wanting something more with the Paralysis line. I do recommend adding the respec mod to avoid having to restart, if that conclusion is also reached.

You may wish to gain upper tier spells as opposed to gathering several lines, as lesser spells may not have the desired punch to remove opponents from the battles, though both Hexes and Glyphs are exceptions. I find these lines are actually more useful in the shallow end of the mana pool.

Modifié par Elhanan, 04 juin 2010 - 01:49 .

[soteria]

None of the lines you've started are terrible, but you'll find yourself a lot more effective if you invest more heavily in a single line. Cone of Cold and Fireball, for example, are great spells that eclipse the rest of their respective lines. Force Field and Crushing Prison are also great. My recommendation would be to pick fireball or cone of cold, and get it, and to get crushing prison and virulent walking bomb. Those 7 spells will give you enough aoe, direct damage, and cc to handle most everything with what spells you already have. Beyond that, you have lots of options.

[old book]

Don't be afraid of Friendly Fire damage, even on Nightmare level.



You can clean out huge numbers of enemies as a Primal mage. Storm of the Century (Spell Might + Blizard + Tempest) can allow you to wipe out rooms full of foes, even the toughest bosses, on your own. Fireball & Inferno are no slouches either. Just learn to tell your party members to attack at range or Hold while you're pouring Primal hell down on the enemy.



The Force line is very good. Mind Blast to stop enemies who get past your Tank, Force Field to save a character who is about to go down or take a tough foe out of the fight for a while, Telekinetic Weapons for boss fights, Crushing Prison to stop and hurt mages and any foe not a boss until you can deal with them. Not a wasted spell in the bunch.



The Mana line has two very weak spells, and two of the best in the game. Spell Might makes every spell better and is required for Storm of the Century (and the improved version of Animate dead). Mana Clash is great not just against enemy Mages but to any spell casting foe, including many types of demon.



The first three spells in the Glyph line are excellent. Glyph of Paralysis will stop most foes for a while, Glyph of Warding is always nice for extended fights, and Glyph of Repulsion is one of the best protection spells in the game. The Paralysis Explosion (Glyph of Paralyisis + Glyph of Repulsion) can stop a room full of targets very quickly. Don't like Glyph of Neutralization much; some spell casting enemies seem to ignore it.



The Sleep line is better than the Paralysis line. Disorient is weak, but Horror can be useful by itself and Sleep is a fast, party friendly Crowd Control spell (great vs Archers and Melee attackers both). Nightmare (Sleep + Horror) is a very strong single target damage spell.



Ranged Stuns and Overwhelms are your worst problem as a Mage; Scattershot can cost you valuable actions. It's when facing Archers, Wolves or Spiders that you really can use Fireball or Sleep. Target those foes first and knock them down or out before they can stop you from acting.

[jason.williams14]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I really appreciate it.

And thank you very much for the mention of the respec mod. I downloaded that and installed it last night. I did not want to reroll so this works out perfectly for me.



Funny thing is, I have to get used to playing a mage. I was so used to playing a warrior and rogue, and playing a mage is different. A good different though.



Thanks again.



Cheers,



Jas

[Thomas9321]

I never get the ignore willpower mindset. I'd go mad with rage if my mana kept running out and I had to rely on potions. I normally go with 2 points in magic and 1 in willpower every level. It usually ends up quite affective.

[yasuraka.hakkyou]

^ exactly.

[MindYerBeak]

My Arcane Warrior has the full fire, cold and glyph line, along with sleep, crushing prison and a few others. I find the big battles more time consuming than anything. Other than that they're a doddle.



Everything into Magic. When you get Blood Mage bring Con up to 20 and giggle at the Darkspawn.