46 réponses à ce sujet

[JFRiley]

Sorry for the noob type questions.  I just started playing DAO a few weeks ago, great
game but I’m getting ass kicked.  I
wanted to play as a mage and I currently have Allister, Morigan, and the
assassin guy in my party.  My Mage’s
spell tree has Fireball, Tempest (I thought I wanted to be the primary damage
giver); Paralyze, Vul Hex, and Death magic. 


 

I don’t know if those spells all suck, or if I missed too
much equipment so far (I finished redcliff, then moved on to the Dwarven realm),
or if my party composition is bad.  I’m
totally stuck in the final fight of the proving.  I’m just getting crushed.  I’ve fought it about 20 times and have not
even been close.  Maybe I’m just not
using the spells correctly, but I keep reading about how overpowered mages are
and I’m not seeing it yet.  (BTW, I’m playing
on normal).  Any tips for a new player on
getting started, building the right way, picking the right people, and staying
alive?  Thanks. 

[Elhanan]

The Cold line is my fave line in Primal, as Cone of Cold will even freeze foes immune to cold dmg, and Winter's Breath can also give a momentary breather. Fireball is also good as a workhorse spell, so I would keep that line. Tempest is decent, but is not as effective as the other two lines, so I take it after gaining Fireball and Cone of Cold.

If you are playing on the PC, try getting the Respec mod to help in making spell changes.

That last Proving fight is tough. I find it best to take out the lessers initially (ie; archer, and all lowbies), and leave Aeducan until last.

[Ferretinabun]

I think the problem may actually be that Orzammar is a very difficult level. On my first playthrough I went straight to the forest (which is also tough) and got stuck too.



The middle section of the game does give you the freedom to choose in what order you do the treaty missions, yet some levels are notably harder than others, and Orzammar is the hardest. Redcliffe is the right one to start off with. I'd recommend doing the mage tower next, and then coming back to Orzammar only when everything else is done.



Besides that, you seem to have a well managed party - Alistair to tank, Zevran as DPS/general rogue work and two mages - seems a pretty balanced party. You've picked good spells, though I would recommed getting Heal for both yourself and Morrigan. One little spell that pays for itself a hundred times over throughout the course of the game. Every mage should have it.

[miltos33]

All you need is to combine the entropy school with the cold line and you should be able to keep your enemies locked most of the time as well as deal some great damage.

[Elhanan]

I am also a fan of the Glyphs. The Glyph of Repulsion can be used on yourself as a barrier, on ranged and magic weilding foes to knockdown, and/or set up foes for the paralysis combo. Well worth the investment.

[Wyldsong]

With my mage I maxxed out four lines as quickly as possible: Fire, Ice, Summoning, and Telekinesis.

If I can hit large groups of enemies before they have a chance to get to me, I'll cast Grease, Blizzard, Inferno and a few Fireballs.

You also have 2 cones (Cone of Cold for some openers, followed by a Flame Blast), you also have a Mind Blast for enemies that get too close, and Crushing Prison helps to shatter enemies that get frozen. I also like to throw in a Stinging Swarm here and there for good measure on weaker foes, since the swarm will jump to other enemies once the current target dies..

And, if you have a troublesome foe in the attacking group, throw a Forcefield to lock them down while you finish off everything else.

Another good opener for some groups is the classic Grease then Fireball combo.

Something else that helps, pause a lot in a battles and check on what your party members are doing. Sometimes you'll set them to tasks and they will get sidetracked. Pause often and make sure you don't need to redirect them. Also, make heavy use of your tactics slots.

Modifié par Wyldsong, 13 septembre 2010 - 02:16 .

[termokanden]

People have recommended the frost line. I agree with this.

Random other good tricks:

1. You can almost always use Fireball, even if fighting someone. Just make sure it hits somewhere behind them but doesn't hit you. Knocks them down, deals damage.

2. Virulent Walking Bomb does insane damage. It's best when combined with other aoe. Make sure the target stays where it is. Winter's Grasp is really good here.

3. Glyph of Repulsion in a doorway, then aoe.

4. Mana Clash takes out abominations and enemy mages, often in one hit.

5. Blood Mage has the spell Blood Wound. This is one of the most powerful in the game.

6. Force Field is extremely powerful. Does your mage have too much aggro? FF on the mage. Someone grabbed by a dragon or overwhelmed by a werewolf? FF on them. Hit by Crushing Prison? FF on the victim.

With two mages: One mage goes nuts with aoe and grabs as much aggro as possible. Then FF on that mage. The other mage can now do the same.

There are so many ways to play a mage. But they are certainly not weak.

Modifié par termokanden, 13 septembre 2010 - 03:52 .

[Wyldsong]

termokanden wrote...
3. Glyph of Repulsion in a doorway, then aoe.

This right here is a beautiful tactic.  Between my mage and Morrigan, we could drop this on a doorway and get Blizzard, Inferno, and Death Cloud running with Virulent Walking Bomb. 

Overkill, yes.  Fun, heck yes.

[Kiely]

Acharnae wrote...

And also as Wyldsong said, pause often and check things. This is also very important. Dedicate all your attacks on a single enemy and if there is a mage amongst them, on the mage first.

Also, if you're going to take this approach, (and I recommend you do) make sure your party is set to hold not follow. I find if they are set to follow they tend to do their own thing in combat, especially when it comes to movement and who they attack.

[Damballah]

Why would you drop inferno on top of blizzard when blizzard adds a large amount of fire resistance on targets?

[HellWyrm]

All good tactics.



But a few things should be pointed out. Denerim and Orzammar were INTENDED by Bioware to be harder than the other areas, forcing you to wait a little longer. That's why Ser Landry(Denerim) and the Bounty Hunters(Orzammar) are there.



I would recommend the Mage's Tower first actually, because of all the extra stat bonuses from the Fade, and the fact that it is very easy, especially for mages.



Paralysis Explosion (Glyph of Repulsion + Glyph of Paralysis) is Great for CC, especially if you can can one of the glyphs (preferably Repulsion, so no one triggers it and causes it to vanish) prior to the enemies going hostile.



Storm of the Century (Spell Might + Tempest + Blizzard) is also ridiculously powerful and makes great AoE damage. This especially holds true if you get high + elec spell damage (Storm Talons give +20%, but I think those are only found on the High Dragon). Combine SotC with Blood Wound, and it makes things so easy it's not even fair. Obviously for the average small (4 or 5 enemies) fight, SotC may not be worth the cast time, in larger groups or against large enemies (like the Archdemon or the High Dragon, it's great. Especially useful vs. Flemeth since she just sits there, so she will never move out of the spell )

[jasiones]

Orzammar is pretty long and hard I always do that one last. Have you messed with your tactics at all? Your party make up seems pretty good. Also at the last battle in the proving are you using your original party or are you using the two guys that were supposed to fight for lord harrowmont (assuming your siding with him)

[Lord of Fangs]

termokanden wrote...

People have recommended the frost line. I agree with this.

Random other good tricks:

1.
You can almost always use Fireball, even if fighting someone. Just make
sure it hits somewhere behind them but doesn't hit you. Knocks them
down, deals damage.

2. Virulent Walking Bomb does insane damage.
It's best when combined with other aoe. Make sure the target stays where
it is. Winter's Grasp is really good here.

3. Glyph of Repulsion in a doorway, then aoe.

4. Mana Clash takes out abominations and enemy mages, often in one hit.

5. Blood Mage has the spell Blood Wound. This is one of the most powerful in the game.

6.
Force Field is extremely powerful. Does your mage have too much aggro?
FF on the mage. Someone grabbed by a dragon or overwhelmed by a
werewolf? FF on them. Hit by Crushing Prison? FF on the victim.

With
two mages: One mage goes nuts with aoe and grabs as much aggro as
possible. Then FF on that mage. The other mage can now do the same.

There are so many ways to play a mage. But they are certainly not weak.

The tactics described in this post are very, very powerful if used correctly. I'll also add:

- Cone of Cold or Petrify + Stone Fist or Crushing Prison = instant death most of the time (only sometimes for yellow ranked mobs)

- Crushing Prison alone is ridiculously powerful against mobs since they won't Force Field other mobs afflicted by it. I would say don't bother using it on orange or yellow mobs though.

- Crowd control magic in general is very strong in this game...Sleep/Mass Paralysis have ridiculous areas of effect and will only rarely fail against normal mobs. There are a lot of single target CC options as well (Glyph of Paralysis, Petrify, Force Field, Crushing Prison, Paralyze...etc...many spells across many trees), especially if you have two mages.

- Sleep followed by Waking Nightmare on sleeping mobs will have mixed results but is generally very powerful in your favor. Any sleeping enemy hit by Waking Nightmare (which has a pretty good area of effect itself but not as wide as Sleep) will either be stunned, disoriented, or attack other enemies for a pretty good duration.

- Casting Horror on a mob affected by Sleep will deal a massive amount of damage to a single target.

[Wyldsong]

Damballah wrote...

Why would you drop inferno on top of blizzard when blizzard adds a large amount of fire resistance on targets?

Because I had Fire on the brain when I typed that stuff, but was meaning Tempest and the electricity line of spells.  That's what I get for typing something and having to leave several times during my musings (IE - typing and then having to make ambulance runs before I finished...life of a paramedic, what are you going to do?).

So, to clarify...substitute Tempest for Inferno, and Shock for Flame Blast.  And, if you can get a little Spell Might, Blizzard and Tempest running, you can get a fun little surprise.

[Lord of Fangs]

Don't neglect the healing line either. It's possible to go through the game without any healing spells at all but I wouldn't recommend it for a new player, especially if you're having trouble.

Modifié par Lord of Fangs, 14 septembre 2010 - 07:00 .

[Addai]

Try putting the difficulty down? No shame in going to Easy if you're beating your head against a wall. It also eliminates the risk of friendly fire. As a mage, you can easily be knocking health off your own allies if you're not careful.

Set everyone's tactics to take a health potion at 50%. Self-->  Health < 50 %  --   >Use lowest health poultice. This will help take some pressure off you to Heal everyone. This is assuming you have lots of health poultices, which hopefully you do.

Since you have the paralysis line, are you using Miasma?  It's pretty good for melee.  Expect to get a lot of aggro from it, though.  Have your warrior(s) use Taunt to draw off the heat.  Combine Vulnerability Hex with Drain Life for extra effect.  Fireball is not useful in close quarters due to friendly fire, but Flame Weapons will help your allies and is quite powerful at lower levels.

It might not help you now, but for future reference:  Mind Blast is a useful, temporary crowd control spell. Cone of Cold is great for saying "stop, hold the phone" and will also allow you to shatter opponents if you have Stonefist or if one of your melee members scores a critical.

Glyphs also help with crowd management in close quarters like the Provings.  Just be careful laying down Glyph of Repulsion and Glyph of Paralysis close together.  This makes a spell combo called Paralysis Explosion which is ace if you have some distance between you and the mob- it sends out a cloud that paralyzes everything in its field- but it will paralyze you and your party if you're inside the field.

Modifié par Addai67, 14 septembre 2010 - 10:48 .

[Damballah]

Wyldsong wrote...

Damballah wrote...

Why would you drop inferno on top of blizzard when blizzard adds a large amount of fire resistance on targets?

Because I had Fire on the brain when I typed that stuff, but was meaning Tempest and the electricity line of spells.  That's what I get for typing something and having to leave several times during my musings (IE - typing and then having to make ambulance runs before I finished...life of a paramedic, what are you going to do?).

So, to clarify...substitute Tempest for Inferno, and Shock for Flame Blast.  And, if you can get a little Spell Might, Blizzard and Tempest running, you can get a fun little surprise.

No worries, just curious   I don't know if everyone knows (or really reads all the tooltips) on what the spells are doing, but its good info for new players or people who dont.

Sorry Im a big time theorycrafter and number cruncher

[Wyldsong]

Damballah wrote...

Wyldsong wrote...

Damballah wrote...

Why would you drop inferno on top of blizzard when blizzard adds a large amount of fire resistance on targets?

Because I had Fire on the brain when I typed that stuff, but was meaning Tempest and the electricity line of spells.  That's what I get for typing something and having to leave several times during my musings (IE - typing and then having to make ambulance runs before I finished...life of a paramedic, what are you going to do?).

So, to clarify...substitute Tempest for Inferno, and Shock for Flame Blast.  And, if you can get a little Spell Might, Blizzard and Tempest running, you can get a fun little surprise.

No worries, just curious   I don't know if everyone knows (or really reads all the tooltips) on what the spells are doing, but its good info for new players or people who dont.

Sorry Im a big time theorycrafter and number cruncher

Nah, it's cool.  I should have paid a little more attention to what I was typing.  Don't want to confuse new players and all.  Theory Crafting and number crunching is alright in my book, so no need to be sorry:D

[Janni-in-VA]

You've gotten some excellent advice, so you should be better able to handle this fight. Remember, there is no shame whatsoever (especially for a new player) in lowering the difficulty setting for a battle where you just seem to be beating your head against the wall. Do be sure and set up that health poultice tactic which Addai recommended. It can be a real lifesaver. I always set that one up and then move it to the top of the list.



Since you have Paralyze, try that on the Aeducan supporter to keep him out of the fight as much as possible while you deal with the underlings. Hit him with a Vulnerability Hex and keep it on him as much as you can manage. (If you and Morrigan alternate casting this spell, you should be able to have one on him all the time.) If you use a Vulnerability Hex on him, be sure to use the cold or fire spells which enchant your party's weapons. Make sure that you have lyrium potions for yourself and Morrigan. It sucks to have to rely on staff attacks because you're out of mana. Pause often and be sure to direct Morrigan's casting as well as your own mage's. She has more spells than her early tactics are set for and so works better if she's micro-managed a bit. (I once beat the high dragon at a certain temple with only two normal health poultices by liberal use of Pause.)

[RogueWarrior626]

freeze them,then walking bomb always works for me.Stone armor too.

[Elhanan]

I like VWB, followed by Stone Fist to place the detonating bomb in the midst of his fellows. I am guessing Shattershot would work well, too.

[termokanden]

Yep, Scattershot + VWB = fun



Just have to take into account that Scattershot takes a while to charge.

[Elhanan]

I meant Shattering Shot, for the KD effect. But I reckon watching them stand around waiting to explode is good, too.