30 réponses à ce sujet

[NobleJms]

Is Merrill more powerful if you play her like a blood mage than not?

[Simz1986]

best blood mage, better than the pc..
you dont have to put points into will at all just pump magic and con and load up on sustains than cast your stuff

[AcidRelic]

yeah, I respeced her for blood mage with all the good BM equipment and with me deactivating bloodmage at less than 50% heath she has over 1,200 in manablood LOL

[kane442]

not more powerful no ....she has better lasting power however

[MadDjinn]

she also has a fun combo spell set.

Her Ensnare spell is great (with fully upgraded Nat.) as it pulls in enemies (no FF) and then you mindblast (upgraded) to launch them all back again. (stunned generally)

very nice 'normal' mob control. If you've also dropped in a tempest where she ends up (not nightmare friendly) with the mob, they'll just melt.

[Domitrix]

I avoided Merill's blood mage ability completely (Never turned it on in either playthrough) And she did fine. To be honest I didn't really like the idea of mage's (Already squishy) getting more squishy by using their health to cast and being unable to be healed.

At least with Merill though you wouldn't have to worry about needing to get 31 or 32 willpower (Can't remember) to wear the best armor...

[MetallicaRulez0]

I agree with Domitrix, I don't like the idea of my squishiest party members sacrificing what little survivability they have to cast a few more spells. My Merrill does fine with just her mana pool.

I really only use her for combo Chain Lightnings, Crushing Prison, Horror, and Elemental Weapons though. I keep quite a few lyrium potions on me as well.

[Smags]

Except that by spec'ing Merrill as a blood mage, she becomes far from squishy--in fact, she's probably tougher than anyone else you have barring a straight tank. Here's why:

Since you're spec'ing into blood magic, you don't need Willpower AT ALL. You can't equip armor to her, so she never needs to meet the Willpower requirements for it. This means that you just pump Magic and Consitution. I believe the best blood mage staff requires 34 o so Magic, so Merrill ends up with a monster CON score, giving her well over 400 hp (likely more than any other character you have).

And for a bonus, items that increase blood mage hp-->mp conversion stack. Yup, stack. For example:

Blood magic base = 2 mana for 1 health
Friendship with Merrill = 1 more mana for 1 health
1 blood magic item = 1 more mana for 1 health
1 blood magic item = 1 more mana fo 1 health

Just with this, Merrill is getting 5 mana per health point. And she has over 400 health. A spell that would cost her 20 stamina now costs her 4 health. Which is nothing compared to her health pool. (And you can conceivably get a blood magic item for every slot, so you'd end up at 7 mana per 1 health.)

If you're not using Merrill as  blood mage, then you're severely limiting your party. She's borderline overpowered as a damage dealer/CCer.

[Smags]

(Ugh, forum ate my post. Too tired to type it all out, but:)

Merrill as a blood mage is amazing, and if you're not using her as such you're severely limiting yourself.

First, she's not squishy at all--far from it.. You don't need Willpower at all for Merril, so you just pump Magic and Con. Merrill will end up with the highest health of any character you have--well over 400 in Act 3. Which means she can easily take a hit.

But she loses health when she casts, you'll say. Yes, but also...well, see, blood magic items stack. And you can get one for every NPC item slot. So with Merrill's blood magic spec (2 mana for 1 health), friendship with her (1 mana per 1 health), and 5 blood magic items (5 mana for 1 health), she's suddenly getting 8 mana for every point of health. So that 20 mana spell you want to cast? Costs her slightly over 2 health. Out of 400+ health.

She's borderline overpowered as a blood mage. Use it, love it.

[Chandr]

Domitrix, Metallica, you're wrong...
As blood mage Merrill is much more effective.
1) With BM equipment (amulet, staff, rings, belt) she spends much less HP then regular mage spends mana. And with HP regenerating equipment all spells are almost free. Only her pariah armor has +20 HP regeneration.
2) You can use any protection and support spells like rock armor etc. up to 100 % of mana pool (you don't need mana for spells)
3) Because you put points into const instead will, Merrill has mach more HP then regular mage.

Just try, I'm sure you'll like it

[Graunt]

MadDjinn wrote...

she also has a fun combo spell set.

Her Ensnare spell is great (with fully upgraded Nat.) as it pulls in enemies (no FF) and then you mindblast (upgraded) to launch them all back again. (stunned generally)

very nice 'normal' mob control. If you've also dropped in a tempest where she ends up (not nightmare friendly) with the mob, they'll just melt.

Tempest has no FF.

[SlamminHams]

What Smags said. Merrill has the benefit of being able to completely neglect Willpower in lieu of Constitution. She reminds me a ton of Leshrac/Torturer (if anyone gets the reference), and how rigged they would be if they could cast spells at a 5:1 ratio

My Merrill will be sporting 100% of her mana into Sustained spells (if that's possible) while still being a powerhouse in terms of damage and being amazingly sustainable and durable.

[bayes1881]

Huge design flaw to make you need willpower for mage gear, really doesnt give room for bloodmages :/

[SlamminHams]

bayes1881 wrote...

Huge design flaw to make you need willpower for mage gear, really doesnt give room for bloodmages :/

The Blood Tree layout (for Hawke) is pretty atrocious IMO too.  

[Rallion01]

Chandr wrote...
...
2) You can use any protection and support spells like rock armor etc. up to 100 % of mana pool (you don't need mana for spells)

You have shown me the light.

I just never saw the point, because my Merrill regens mana substantially faster than I can spend it, but that sounds pretty good.

[themaxzero]

SlamminHams wrote...

bayes1881 wrote...

Huge design flaw to make you need willpower for mage gear, really doesnt give room for bloodmages :/

The Blood Tree layout (for Hawke) is pretty atrocious IMO too.  

Merril is probably the only occasion where a NPC is better at a class then Hawke can be (although Avelina goes close).

[Jaws_Victim]

Well thats pretty incredible. The problem with that is that I like to play Mage for my own game, and I don't like healing, so it falls to Anders. I don't want to have three mages and Aveline tanking, so Merrill will always get the short stick, unfortunately. I prefer to let all the other characters automate themselves while I do whatever I want.

I think it should be mentioned this doesn't matter if you play on casual.

[Krule777]

I ignored Merrill 's blood mage stuff at first, then I picked it up half way though the game, and a character who I considered Mediocre in combat suddenly came into her own.. it was scary how much more effective she suddenly became. I have sense begun getting her blood mage specific gear, as the others said, and it's made all the difference, she's a great damage dealer, and a good choice as an offensive mage (As Anders is better on the healing angle)

[Adhin]

Yeah I did this, have her using up 90% of her mana via sustained and just using her HP pool for spells. Took rock armor to up her survivability in close quarters too. She's pretty devastating though I wouldn't say being able to ignore willpower makes her a better mage then Hawke. Going Bloodmage, as hawke, is absurdly powerful. The grave healing spell, when upgraded, is 10% life back per enemy you hit with it.

You basically can setup Hawke as a bloodmage to be nearly unstoppable with all that stuff its pretty disgusting, add into that Force Mage, if nothing else for the +100 fortitude and he can throw people around, force them into groups (that isn't ON him) and generally blast the **** out of everything while continue sucking the life from stuff to keep his HP high.

Frankly, Merrill needs to ignore willpower to compete with that =P

[We Tigers]

Blood Mage Merrill is really only at her best starting around level 11 or 12. You want to enough points to have a big array of spells for all health-mana, but also several sustains to really get the most out of blood magic. Rock Armor and Arcane Shield should be must-haves that are on at all times, and you can save the remaining 20% for Wrath of the Elven, if you want it. With her Blood Magic talent, that leaves you, at level 11, with 8 points to put into spells. With a couple upgraded spells, that's worthwhile. I kept her regular and then used a Maker's Sigh once I had everything I needed.

[MetallicaRulez0]

Chandr wrote...

Domitrix, Metallica, you're wrong...
As blood mage Merrill is much more effective.
1) With BM equipment (amulet, staff, rings, belt) she spends much less HP then regular mage spends mana. And with HP regenerating equipment all spells are almost free. Only her pariah armor has +20 HP regeneration.
2) You can use any protection and support spells like rock armor etc. up to 100 % of mana pool (you don't need mana for spells)
3) Because you put points into const instead will, Merrill has mach more HP then regular mage.

Just try, I'm sure you'll like it

I'll give this a try in my next playthrough. I didn't think about being able to ditch all of my sustained abilities from Anders and dump them onto Merrill, while still having the ability to cast CC. I love Merrill for Crushing Prison, Horror, Sleep/Coma, and Chain Lightning.

Thanks for the tip!

[Rookee]

Chandr wrote...

Domitrix, Metallica, you're wrong...
As blood mage Merrill is much more effective.
1) With BM equipment (amulet, staff, rings, belt) she spends much less HP then regular mage spends mana. And with HP regenerating equipment all spells are almost free. Only her pariah armor has +20 HP regeneration.
2) You can use any protection and support spells like rock armor etc. up to 100 % of mana pool (you don't need mana for spells)
3) Because you put points into const instead will, Merrill has mach more HP then regular mage.

Just try, I'm sure you'll like it

Ive been able to find one ring [Ring of Minor Cantrips] and Amulet of Saberas which further increases the hp ro mana ratio. Are these items random drops or is there any specific location/vendors i can find the remaining slots? I am in act 1 atm btw.

[skippy1776]

i used merril one my first playthrough and only kept her around because i romanced her, but than again i never used her blood mage abilities, definitely going to try that now that i started a new one.

[SuicidalBaby]

Hawkes blood gear is scattered but you can find quite a bit in the first half. there is more than enough for every slot. but i would abuse the immune to ..... gear after + 5/6 ratio. it has low willpower req as well

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 14 mars 2011 - 06:31 .

[atheelogos]

skippy1776 wrote...

i used merril one my first playthrough and only kept her around because i romanced her, but than again i never used her blood mage abilities, definitely going to try that now that i started a new one.

Yes you MUST try it. I tried it out a few hours ago and let me tell you she is like a god! LOL She's one of the best mages I've ever built.