25 réponses à ce sujet

[terrs33]

I was thinking about starting an AW but this build is a very foreign concept to me (Mage=caster and Warrior=melee).

Can anyone tell me how viable this build is and what spells/gear to use?  any tips are appreciated

[mousestalker]

It's a lot of fun. AW's are absurdly overpowered once you hit the higher levels. Plus it's the only way a mage can use the cool finishing moves animations. Not to mention, all DA romances are better (and safer!) when both partners are fully protected by dragonbone armour.



This thread has lots of useful info.

[Elhanan]

AW is the fave Mage spec for me. Wanna wear armor? Tired of waiting for your mana pool to refill? This spec allows you to keep on treading thru the most difficult battles,

And item customization just became a a lot more fun, as there are so many more designs from which to select. My usual approach is wearing Evon's and Wade's heavy combo at the end of the game, but this time I am going to try and use some robes and other gear. It is a little more difficult at this point, but my gal looks a bit more stylish in her dress blues.

[Maverick827]

40% of the Arcane Warrior allure is the ability to wear heavier armor. Or, inversely, 40% of the Arcane Warrior allure is that all other Mage gear looks absolutely terrible.

[SOLID_EVEREST]

Its not very fun, if you play with just auto attacks. I usually make my Arcane Warrior have more offensive mage powers like Cone of Cold, Fireball, Stone Fist and whatnot. I'm playing a two-hander for the first time, and its way more fun because of the micro-managing.

[Elhanan]

Haste is one way to make auto-attacks less of a burden, though I skip it often and go for spells.

[CoM Solaufein]

It probably is fun, like a fighter/mage of the AD&D world but when I decided to go that route and didn't plan it out very good.

[Elhanan]

I have fun thining of the look an their foolish faces when the opposition believes I am out of spells, rush this mage, and I pull out Marics arms, or unleash Blood magic! This game keeps on giving and giving....

[Elhanan]

I have made both oth them AW's, but only used it to give them armor. I find a more hand's on approach for mana considerations.

Usually I am in Lothering when I gain AW abilities, and can grab some better Warrior items for a temp boost in armor and accesories. By the time I hit the Circle, I have Warden Commander plate, Cailan's armor, or some decent robes and a nice sword for toe-to-toe meetings. I usually do not activate Combat magic until I have the second talent with the boost. Most of the time I prefer to cast spells in the comfort of the added protection.

[Maverick827]

follis2 wrote...

Hmm... I've only experimented with making Morrigan and Wynne arcane warriors and I'm not impressed. Combat magic and Shimmering shield are of course very useful but the mana drain is depressingly fast with Shimmering shield on. Morrigan for instance simply had no chance as an arcane warrior against the desire demon when trying to free Connor. (I had no back-up saves from before Morrigan entered the Fade so I simply had to start a new playthrough since I refuse to lower the difficulty.)

You're supposed to get mana/stamina items to offset the drain of Shimmering Shield.

[ewen]

I loved my AW he just destroyed everything in his way

[Elhanan]

follis2 wrote...

Sure, that would help, but I am still not impressed that for an arcane warrior to truly be an arcane warrior and not just a mage with massive armor s/he needs a particular and/or exclusive and expensive set of equipment. And let's say that I give my arcane warrior a piece of armor that gives +25 or +50 stamina, s/he would still not last very long with Shimmering shield on. Maybe with Nug crusher (or something) which gives +100 stamina could an arcane warrior last a whole fight. 

Who requires special gear? Remember I mentioned Lothering? But if there is restorative gear available, it would be prudent to use it, be it for AW or not; correct?

[Elhanan]

AW expands the item list for the mage to include gear which requires STR. And a wider inventory list helps any build, at least for customization. This time around, I am stilll using Robes, though I did get a more expensive set when the funds became available. While a good set of armor appears to work somewhat better for melee, this time I get to alter the helm, gloves, and boots to any available, as opposed to being stuck in one look.

Now Blood Mage is the spec that appears to require some extra attention, though I admit to having only used it a little. And I have never tried Shifter due to the bad reports. But AW has plenty of threads and posts supporting it; not just mine. Give it a shot, and if you do not like it by the time you gain the final ability, then my bad....

[Elhanan]

S&S is a tad boring to me, too. I find 2H more pleasing for a Warrior, and prefer Rogues and Mages to soldier designs anyway.

For the AW, I recommend spellslinging for your primary attack form, and utilizing arms for those times when Mana is low, spells could endanger the party, etc.

[mousestalker]

My favourite AW's use spells most of the time. When an interesting big bad (dragon, alpha ogre) nears death they switch to melee weapons in hopes of getting the finishing move animation.



That right there is the main appeal of an AW for me.

[chefbobby203]

You realize that you don't even have to melee with the AW right? You can just throw on some heavy armor and just keep casting. In my current playthrough I have morrigan equipped in the full heavy dragonscale armor set and she can cast all day. I plan on snagging Zathrian's staff for even more mana regen. The reason people love AW is because you can do anything with it....

[Maverick827]

follis2 wrote...

Of course, using every item available at the moment to increase your performance is all good. My point was that for an arcane warrior to truly be an arcane warrior you need to actively find and/or buy these items. A rogue doesn't need special equipment to be quite an effective rogue. Rose's thorn is very good for a rogue, but a rogue can do well without it. Anyway, maybe my opinion was too much based on Morrigan's performance in the battle with the desire demon. It didn't help that the demon used Lightning/Shock which of course drained mana even faster.

You play mostly a typical caster until around level 14.  Then you pick up Blood Mage, and use a ton of Tomes to catch up on AW/BM talents, and by then you should have access to the "required" gear.

[ObserverStatus]

mousestalker wrote...

It's a lot of fun. AW's are absurdly overpowered once you hit the higher levels. Plus it's the only way a mage can use the cool finishing moves animations. Not to mention, all DA romances are better (and safer!) when both partners are fully protected by dragonbone armour.

This thread has lots of useful info.

Wait, don't they take it all off?

[MonkeyKaboom]

AW is fun. I played mine as a tank. But not in the way everyone else did it seems. I hated sheathing so I used spells that required that as little as possible. The major one in that regard being Mass Paralyze, which is just too useful to pass up regardless. Rather than trying to hold a lot of hate through spells, I maximized the ability to CC. Mass Paralyze, Glyph of Paralyze/Repulsion, Single Paralyze, Crushing Prison, Blood Wound and Mind Blast. The rest of the stuff went into buffs: Rock armor, Arcane armor, Shimmering Shield, Miasma, Death Syphon. The only really DD spells I used were Mana Clash for casters and Virulent Walking Bomb which doesn't require sheathing.



Since I controlled pretty much the whole fight my team could maximize dps since we took little damage in return. And it only got more fun in Awakening when you add battlemage specialty to the mix.