100 réponses à ce sujet

[Colma]

Just beat nightmare with this over powered killing machine. Thought I would share it to help some people out and give them some ideas.

Just to note, I'm not into role play or any of that stuff, this is a power gamer kind of build to put the smack down on the darkspawn .



My main allies were Wynne(healer), Lelianna(spec'd to dual wield, her bard buffs are nice), Alister/Shale for support tanks.

So here's the build...
Elf
Mage->Arcane Warrior->Blood Mage

Basic Spells:
Arcane Shield
Rock Armor
Spell Shield
Mind Blast->Force Field->Telekinetic Weapons->Crushing Prison
Weakness->Paralyze->Miasma->Mass Paralysis

I took other spells, but just for fun and never really used them. TW is much better than the other weapon buffs since nothing resists armor penetration as far as I know and in most cases gives you more extra damage than the others.

With all the buffs (arcane sheild, rock armor, TW and spell shield) you dont have a lot of room to use your crowd control spells.  Thats why I chose blood mage to use my health as mana. If you add 2 points to mana and 1 to constitution every level this is easily managable with Wynne constantly healing. Willpower isn't really useful for this build.

When I got surrounded I just used the stunning spells. Force Field and Crushing Prison are great for difficult ranked enemies and bosses.

I used armor with the higest armor value I could find at the time (like the juggernaut plate) with little heed for fatigue and never ran into any problems. You should never be taking more than 10 damage a hit from weapons in combat, even from 2-handers. In most cases a group of enemies is trying to take you out doing 1 damage a hit.

[Voor]

What about stats? I'm trying to figure out if Dexterity does anything for an Arcane Warrior. I am under the impression that Strength is a completely useless strat and you should avoid putting points into it, is that correct as well?



I've heard Arcane Warriors are supposedly overpowered, but I haven't had much luck with damage output -- I've been trying to focus on the abilities like Frost Weapons, Haste, and Heroic Offense -- so I seem to be doing decent damage (comparable to my 2-handed Warrior I played before).

[Jamster1990]

If you add 2 points to mana and 1 to constitution every level this is easily managable with Wynne constantly healing. Willpower isn't really useful for this build.

Is that a typo thats spose to say 2 in Magic rather than mana? If so does that pretty much cover stat allocation for all level ups?

[Colma]

dexterity really doesn't do much for this build, unless you really want to use a bow or daggers. At level 14 or so I was getting hits of 60+ damage not counting the runes on my great sword.



As far as I remember I never increased any stats outside of magic and con other than the freebies in the circle tower. Constitution should take the place of willpower if you use blood magic.

[cookj71]

it sounds like the big lever here is the fact all the active spells perma drop your mana bar. And with blood magic active your health not mana which is potentially full, covers the mana cost.
Then pumping up your health improves survival and allows actual casting of spells. Does spell shield when active depleate your health with blood magic? Assume yes?
I also just realized you haven't experienced the stun and on backside nightmare a similar build I have causes you.  Via con you are pumping up your physical resistance a good degree as well.

I have gone through a lot of pain and frustration trying to build out a valid character period, as well as a valid team party. Since you can't roll back anything it has been painful.

Thanks for the wisdom.

Question:  What was your ending magic and constitution stats if you don't mind.

Modifié par cookj71, 12 novembre 2009 - 05:21 .

[Tyrax Lightning]

This is a character i'm considering running as a Blood Mage - Arcane Warrior:



Here's what i've planned for him: Entropy - Life Drain, & Primal - full earth line. All Blood Mage & Arcane Warrior skills when they become available. Not yet sure about the rest of the abilities yet, but likely to be additional Entropy skills. (This guy is goin villianous & is gonna romance Morrigan ) Heavy Magic & rest in Con. Since i'm romancing Morrigan, i'll likely have her permaglued to my team so I can let her do the cc spells, leaving me free to blow stuff up!  (& maybe back-up 1/2 tank)

The idea was to Blood Magic cast from Health until I get fairly low on it, then if I still don't have aggro, turn off Blood Magic for a bit to Life Drain my health back from my Mana pool, & if I do have aggro, leave Blood Magic on to use the Blood Magic health drain from an ally to heal. (Punishment for failing to keep aggro for their master! ) Once healed up, resume Blood Magic health-casting & repeat. Has this been tried yet?

Any consensus on what the best AW weapon wielding choice is? I think a Maul would be cool-lookin for the theme this guy's gonna have, & he'll have strong Magic to do damage with, but on the other hand, I dunno if the Maul is bein used to full power if it's not backed up by high Cunning to combine with the Maul's high armor penetration i've heard of...

Minor side note: Why the buggers does the AW specialization give a class stat bonus of +1 Dex if Dex isn't actually of much use? (Maybe at most 1 single dodge throughout an entire game log that wouldn't have happened otherwise?) Imho, +1 Magic woulda been WAY better.

Interested in input for my 1 1/2 cents-powered plan!

[pokemaughan]

Awesome character, Tyrax.

[Emoire]

This is what I've decided to go with as well. Sort of a mix of death, healing and frost spells.. mainly death. I love Walking Bomb and Virulent Walking Bomb. The entropy spells for sucking mana and health from corpses is nice too.... The healing spells allows me to heal my party members from the damage they've suffered from my reckless exploding mobs. Arcane Warrior will be nice since it should allow me to wear the blood dragon armor... mmm..

[Colma]

cookj71 wrote...

it sounds like the big lever here is the fact all the active spells perma drop your mana bar. And with blood magic active your health not mana which is potentially full, covers the mana cost.
Then pumping up your health improves survival and allows actual casting of spells. Does spell shield when active depleate your health with blood magic? Assume yes?
I also just realized you haven't experienced the stun and on backside nightmare a similar build I have causes you.  Via con you are pumping up your physical resistance a good degree as well.

I have gone through a lot of pain and frustration trying to build out a valid character period, as well as a valid team party. Since you can't roll back anything it has been painful.

Thanks for the wisdom.

Question:  What was your ending magic and constitution stats if you don't mind.

For spell shield, no, mana is still used. By level 14 or 15 you should have at least 150 or so mana left for spell sheild to do its thing. It wont let you tank spells very long but it will buy you enough time to throw a paralyze or crushing prison at the mage.
Ending stats were magic in the 70s and constitution in the 40s I believe.


I never liked the mana/health drain from corpses buffs. Amounts seem too small (unless they increase with spellpower-I never bothered to check) and it comes to slow to be any better than a heath pot in combat.

@Tyrax
I used greatswords most of my game, since I used Telekinetic Weapons armor pen was a non issue.. But a maul would look pretty hardcore for your evil guy haha.

[Mortear]

I like the builds for the Arcane Warriors so far. I'm going to be starting one of my own once I finish the game with my Warrior. However I've already a build for him and would like to point out that you only need about 40-45, as its used to equip the heavier armor in the game and no armor goes beyond a 45 STR (Mana in this case) requirement.



Willpower and constitution should be the next, if you're going to use a lot of spells Willpower, if you're going to be more Melee then Constitution. Willpower is my bet, as it allows you to use a lot more AoE spells when you are surrounded by enemies, thus making those parts a bit less stressful. Con for the health, obviously, but if you do things right you shouldn't be taking almost any damage from anything. So its a toss up really.

[Tyrax Lightning]

@pokemaugan: Many thanks!
@Colma: Many thanks for input! I'm not likely to delve into Spirit as Xion, i've managed to find intel on the rough amount of spells a mage may be able to get on a playthrough, & it's lookin like Xion will be able to roughly full Earth tree + full Blood Mage tree + full Arcane Warrior tree + grab at least most of the Entropy line at minimum! Will of course also aim for full base Mage skills, & if I manage all that & full Entropy & still have a couple skills left, then maybe i'll grab a little tertiary Spirit power as leftovers.

I won't manage Telekenetic Weapons, so maybe the Maul will partially offset this, for it might help vs light - medium armor, i'll be favoring blowing up/CC heavy - massive armor enemies, & foes in bathrobes won't get as much damage from Mauls as from bladed weapons, but they should be squishy enough to where that won't matter.

Now, what to do with Morrigan... Since I can afford at least most of the Entropy tree after all, maybe I can divide CC duty between Morrigan & myself. With 2 CC in the team at the same time, we will make the most devious couple Ferelden has ever seen! MUA HA HA HA HA HA ha ha ha ha!!!

Morrigan

[Colma]

glad to help .



either way you go its hard to make a bad move with arcane warrior. Most of nightmare was on cruise control for my party...same is holding true for my rogue that dual wields long swords and wears the warden commander armor.



I might make a bad character just to make nightmare an actual nightmare.

[Leonceo]

Just curious to how you built your mage early on stat wise, I have been planning on doing something similar to your build, with a AW/BM however I was wondering how important you have found Willpower to be.



It seems if one was to go as a Blood Mage and Arcane Warrior Stacking COnstitution and Magic would be the best path, did you do that from the start? or still grab some willpower?



Cheers

[Colma]

I basically ignored willpower. It was at 20 when I beat the game I believe.



Level your mage with futue build goals in mind, not just what will help you in the current area. Keep your eye on the prize so to speak.

[Takrandro]

Hi all, i'm trying to figure out what tree is the best for your main char mage, since i'm at the final battle now and find myself completly outgunned. i got fire for fireball and all the hex spells, but i think i'd really should have skipped the shapeshifter class, since its completly worthless... so now i have a mage who is to spread out... and there's no way to unlearn your talents...(witch sucks) also. they should give u a 5 man party, not 4 man...

[Takrandro]

any tips on that? just so thaty i don't make the same mistake again.

[Lorong14Division]

dont you need str to use sword and armour??

[Takrandro]

nope, just have a high magic score, read the combat magic talent, it explains everything.

[Lorong14Division]

agghhh i got it !!

[Lorong14Division]

does magic give you dmg to your 2hd sword or str??

Modifié par Lorong14Division, 15 novembre 2009 - 05:46 .

[Colma]

Lorong14Division wrote...

do you stick to staff as an arcane or use 2hd sword and charge into frontline to bash???

Either one you want. You could have a mail-clad caster throwing fireballs and healing spells (what I always do to Wynne) or a frontline fighter with crazy buffs.

Modifié par Colma, 15 novembre 2009 - 10:39 .

[Tyrax Lightning]

Colma wrote...

Lorong14Division wrote...

do you stick to staff as an arcane or use 2hd sword and charge into frontline to bash???

Either one you want. You could have a mail-clad caster throwing fireballs and healing spells (what I always do to Wynne) or a frontline fighter with crazy buffs.

A staff AW might be kinda like a Warrior Archer, except there's no styles for staves. Instead, ya could have buffs &/or CC.

[Arius777]

Would the hex/ice chain be worth getting? would other spells would you recommend to maximize this build?

Modifié par Arius777, 18 novembre 2009 - 06:40 .

[Lorong14Division]

Lorong14Division wrote...

does magic give you dmg to your 2hd sword or str??

magic give you raw damage to your melee weapon or str as a aw??

[Takrandro]

I think to your raw melee damage, as well as to defence and hit.

and A@ Arius777, i recommend u get hex/ice on morrigan since she already starts in it and both are great support builds, but for raw damage go fire and the Crushing prison tree for AW, to max your party's melee damage and crushing prison is a great elite enemy killer, just put a vulnability hex on the target and use the spell

For more CC outside of ice i'd recomend the Paralyse spells or the glyphs. the sleep spell in combination with horror/waking nightmare is also devastating against big groups! nothing is more fun then see an elite enemy kill his own minions!