So, I figured i wanted to hear your thoughts on this build, the Force/Primal mage, or as i call him, the Jedi Mage (since he reminded me of my old KOTOR playthroughs; throwing people around, shooting lightning out of every orifice, being a general bad ass).
Did it on my second mage playthrough (the first one was quite the mess; abilities everywhere since i was quite clueless
), and figured those two schools looked like the better ones. Playthrough was on normal, will get going on Hardcore next.
Basically:
Primal: All abilities.
Force: All except for Telekinetic Blast upgrade and Makers Fury.
Attributes: Healthy mix of Magic and Willpower, starting to stack consitution towards the end for durability.
Why?
Primal has some sweet damage in there. Upgraded CL on a group of staggered targets unleashes hell. Tempest takes care of large groups of weak enemies, or deals decent damage over time to a large group of regular ones. Stonefist is good for interrupting casters, getting melee off the mage, or dealing decent damage to a disoriented target.
Petrify is possibly one of the most important spells here, since it works on almost all targets. Disable a mage, boss or Assassin AND be able to burn them down fast due to damage resistance reduc.
And not to forget Rock Armor. I stacked Armor runes in my armor rune slots, and ended up with 70 % damage reduc (normals; 60 % lieutenants, 50 % boss), which, combined with a few att points in constitution made Hawke quite durable.
Force has some of the most tasty spells in game. Makers fury is so-so, basically a bit of damage with a knockdown effect. Good enough for groups of enemies, and buys you some mitigation through control.
Telekinetic Burst is good for getting melee off your soft targets. In combination with Mind Blast and all the other control in here, my Mage Hawke barely had enemies on him, even when I threw caution to the wind.
And then there is of course Gravitic Ring and Pull of the Abyss.
Pull of the Abyss is beautiful for positioning your foes where you want them. Pull in everything you face, rush in with Fenris, AOE Staggers with warrior Sunder and/or rogue, chainlighting --> Dead stuff. If not, then the incoming Whirlwind and Scythe will make it so.
Ever more powerful is the Gravitic ring. Enemies caught dead in the center (which is even easier with PotA) are immobilized for the duration, and their attack speed comes to a crawl as well. Along with Petrify i was actually able to win the Arishok Duel without too much hassle by kiting, and nuking when he was in GR or Petrify.
Remaining points:
I am still unsure on what to do with the remaining points. I ended up with points in heal (upgraded), Mind Blast (not upgraded), Arcane/Elemental shield (for even more durability) and Dispel (which i found quite lovely when you get used to it, and VERY powerful on certain encounters). That being said, these last points I would say are quite up for debate. I just picked for utility and survival.
Gear I used the Eye of the Storm staff (15 % electrical damage, 5 % knockback) with a 10 % damage rune for some lovely extra damage on my CL and Tempest.
Champions armor (ofc) with Armor runes, Ring of the Ferryman (+2 magic, 9 mana/sta regen, 24% fire and electricity damage, stun immunity) as the key pieces for this playthrough. I dont recall finding anything better.
General strategy:
Against last blobs of enemies, i use a combo of GR and PotA, followed by tempest-->Warrior/rogue stagger-->Chain Lightining to devastate anything standing. Picked off stragglers with Makers fury and the rest of my spells/team mates.
Tough Stuff:
High Dragon, Arishok (non duel), Rock Wraith (though i barely had any spells at this time):
Petrify when possible (wasnt on High Dragon>_>) to reduce incoming damage. Same with Gravitic Ring (even when you have your tank taking the big guy. The reduction in attack speed is quite neat). If an enemy is susceptible to both, i ran them on Cool down. Used Fenris/Rogue(Varric/isabela) with CL/Tempest to take care of smaller adds. and then dealt damage to the main enemy when those were all dead.
Companions:
I ran with either aveline and/or Fenris (semi tank build for when i didnt bring Aveline), a rogue (typically Varric) and a free spot. Aveline, Fenris, Varric seemed the best combination, but I found i could switch out one of the warriors without too much hassle and bring along another companion when i felt like it or when i did their specific quests.
Anders was rather useless. I have so much control that I didnt need a dedicated healer, potions did the trick. Though my party was pretty much inkillable when i ran with him, it did seem to loose a lot of the power it had with other companions.
Merril i built with a combination of Primal spells and Dalish Pariah spells. Double petrify, double CL, double upgraded temptest made short work of anything.
Isabela i switched for Varric when need be. But in all honesty, it just came down to preference. I made sure they both had the ability to aoe Disorient and Stagger.
Since i only just bought Sabastian, i would imagine that he could fill in as well for Isabela/Varric. Will try it on hardcore when i get to that.
What are your thoughts on this build? And, where would you suggest putting those last Ability points? Suggestions for gear? Tactics? Please fire away ^^
Regards;
M
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