367 réponses à ce sujet

[Ace Attorney]

EDIT1: I noticed the typo, fixing it soon.
EDIT2: Fixed.

I though of giving something to the topic, a Bloody header:

http://i52.tinypic.com/21ls9rs.png

Hope everyone likes it.

Modifié par T3hAnubis, 29 mars 2011 - 03:18 .

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

T3hAnubis wrote...

EDIT1: I noticed the typo, fixing it soon.
EDIT2: Fixed.

I though of giving something to the topic, a Bloody header:

http://i52.tinypic.com/21ls9rs.png

Hope everyone likes it.

Very cool!

[Ace Attorney]

If it wasn't obvious, the hand is my crude redrawing of the handprint in the Blood Magic/Blood of the First icon.

[DamnThoseDisplayNames]

That has style T3hAnubis, great piece.

Modifié par DamnThoseDisplayNames, 29 mars 2011 - 03:42 .

[DamnThoseDisplayNames]

Fenris: pending

60% STR 40% CON (at least 25 CON is mandatory methink), with willpower for about 150 stamina. I played him straight as Vanguard guide suggests, but with one point in Taunt and a bit of siding to CCC's and survivability over damage. He still could wipe my whole party with just one Cleave nevertheless.

Varric: pending

Now this guy could be played in different manners, either as damager, controller or CCC'ser or a bit of both just as utility thief. One thing is clear, though - he does't need high amount of Dexterity to be Deadpool-marksman. His passives are ridiculously cheesy as that. I found a good idea to at least give him around 20 CON and WP.
And Archer's Lance is mandatory of course, with Petrify*2.

Merrill:

Nothing to add here, with her scaling armor that does't require Willpower to wear, she is a best little cuttie blood mage you could pant for, load her with CON and a box of neko-ears headbands (just look for those nekobands that have blood magic bonus on 'em). I would add a bit of more Magic though, if she's goin for damaging spells, no?

Modifié par DamnThoseDisplayNames, 29 mars 2011 - 05:36 .

[Ace Attorney]

DamnThoseDisplayNames wrote...

One thing is clear, though - he does't need high amount of Dexterity to be Deadpool-marksman. His passives are ridiculously cheesy as that.

Yeah, I find it hilarious that a Crossbow user like Varric easily out performs a Bow user like Hawke / Sebastian in shots per minute.

[HippeusOmega]

If having my Hawke be a Primal mage should i pick my Blood Mage or Force Mage specializations first? Basically i wanna try and have the primal tree, crushing prison maxed, Winter Grasp, and cone of cold maxed also.

[DamnThoseDisplayNames]

Panznerr , most of people playing mages point out that grabbing Gravitic Ring is your first priority before any blood magic.
I don't share that opinion, tho.

I for myself also avoid Arcane tree for main character. I find it too point costly in what you actually get.

[Besetment]

Its not just Gravitic Ring. Its Unshakeable too. The thought of having to deal with another 7 levels of getting stunlock killed by archer mobs spawning on top of me actually turns my stomach.

[DamnThoseDisplayNames]

The thought of having to deal with another 7 levels of getting stunlock killed by archer mobs spawning on top of me actually turns my stomach.

It's not that unavoidable if you just stay out of spawning zone and concentrate fire from your other artillery units in a way of, maybe, "If Hawke attacked by: Ranged Attack, Then -> Something".

[Ace Attorney]

DamnThoseDisplayNames wrote...

The thought of having to deal with another 7 levels of getting stunlock killed by archer mobs spawning on top of me actually turns my stomach.

It's not that unavoidable if you just stay out of spawning zone and concentrate fire from your other artillery units in a way of, maybe, "If Hawke attacked by: Ranged Attack, Then -> Something".

Unshackable is too good.

[SuicidalBaby]

Nice work Anubis

[Ace Attorney]

At Suisidal's request, a tweak:

-Drop Shadow added:

http://i51.tinypic.com/e6vdc8.png







-Drop Shadow added and red darkened a bit:

http://i51.tinypic.com/20uwlqe.png

Modifié par T3hAnubis, 29 mars 2011 - 11:37 .

[SuicidalBaby]

Added darker version and revamped the format at the top of OP in order to stylize it further.

added Fenris build to Companions

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 30 mars 2011 - 02:19 .

[SuicidalBaby]

DamnThoseDisplayNames wrote...

Varric: pending

Now this guy could be played in different manners, either as damager, controller or CCC'ser or a bit of both just as utility thief. One thing is clear, though - he does't need high amount of Dexterity to be Deadpool-marksman. His passives are ridiculously cheesy as that. I found a good idea to at least give him around 20 CON and WP.
And Archer's Lance is mandatory of course, with Petrify*2.

I can not endorse Archer's Lance on here.  That god damn thing has killed more party members than enemies.

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 30 mars 2011 - 02:49 .

[Roxlimn]

SuicidialBaby wrote...

DamnThoseDisplayNames wrote...

Varric: pending

Now this guy could be played in different manners, either as damager, controller or CCC'ser or a bit of both just as utility thief. One thing is clear, though - he does't need high amount of Dexterity to be Deadpool-marksman. His passives are ridiculously cheesy as that. I found a good idea to at least give him around 20 CON and WP.
And Archer's Lance is mandatory of course, with Petrify*2.

I can not endorse Archer's Lance on here.  That god damn thing has killed more party members than enemies.

There are three settings in the game that don't involve Friendly Fire.  There is only one that does.  Due to the nature of Friendly Fire, strategies and builds that are advisable on Nightmare will usually be underoptimized on lower settings.

[HippeusOmega]

DamnThoseDisplayNames wrote...

Panznerr , most of people playing mages point out that grabbing Gravitic Ring is your first priority before any blood magic.
I don't share that opinion, tho.

I for myself also avoid Arcane tree for main character. I find it too point costly in what you actually get.

I kinda hate this game when it comes to mages. If i wanted to be a blood mage or arcane warrior in the first game i picked them as my first specialization. In this its like well u need this ability and such before anything else in the game matters.

[Graunt]

DamnThoseDisplayNames wrote...

Now this guy could be played in different manners, either as damager, controller or CCC'ser or a bit of both just as utility thief. One thing is clear, though - he does't need high amount of Dexterity to be Deadpool-marksman. His passives are ridiculously cheesy as that. I found a good idea to at least give him around 20 CON and WP.
And Archer's Lance is mandatory of course, with Petrify*2.

It takes so many points in the Archery tree to reach that, and the majority of the skills in that tree are just awful on Nightmare. FWIF, this is typically my build with him by level 12:

biowarefans.com/dragon-age-2-talent-builder/#8tBD1zoMm0riuQw

Rumination made me a believer with fog.  It doesn't seem like it would be all that, but the enemies can't stand to be in it, so they run away most of the time, and it has the benefit of making your harder to hit.  Later on you upgrade it again for the disorient damage for Assault/Spirit Bolt/Walking Bomb.

This is my lvl 24:

biowarefans.com/dragon-age-2-talent-builder/#8tBD1zoMm0riuQwHbWR1kc0OSGCIU

By no means am I suggesting this is "the best Varric build".  It's just what I've found to be the most user friendly on Nightmare for both defense, threat, CC and being able to sustain moderately good DPS with him without him dying too much. My group also ends up having three characters that can take advantage of disorient, and Pinning shot is just there as a filler for when everything else is on cooldown, or if it's a single large target.

Panznerr , most of people playing mages point out that grabbing Gravitic Ring is your first priority before any blood magic.
I don't share that opinion, tho.

I for myself also avoid Arcane tree for main character. I find it too point costly in what you actually get.

I completely avoid Arcane like the plague myself, but I always have Anders go through it just to hit the 50% barrier (it's all you need, and it's extremely good).  This also has the side effect of netting you Elemental Weapons.  As for going Force first -- as others have already said, it's for Unshakable and Gravitic.  I can't honestly say which is actually the most useful of the two, since both are phenomenal.  I also really...I mean really have no idea why anyone would go Blood first other than for RP reasons and the +25 health.  You don't even have access to your primary spell until lvl 13, and it doesn't even get "good" until you can upgrade it at lvl 15.

Modifié par Graunt, 30 mars 2011 - 07:26 .

[Graunt]

My lvl 12 Aveline: biowarefans.com/dragon-age-2-talent-builder/#2riQPSBZ1mR0zkRa - you wouldn't know it by the description, but Shield Defense actually prevents you from being knocked back and knocked down.  For that reason alone it makes it indespensible, and one of the single best abilities for the Rock Wraith for her.  It also sees frequent use later on during the much more difficult bosses.  For this reason, she doesn't need to be respecced at all, unless you really want damage abilities earlier, and that as your final ability prior to the fight.

My lvl 12 Anders: biowarefans.com/dragon-age-2-talent-builder/#1qbWgdUtEeIAS

On my very first playthrough as a Mage on Nightmare, I had Anders as mostly Primal with no Arcane or even Haste, and the game was literally cakewalk.  But I hit a brick wall completely once reaching the Rock Wraith.  You can always respec, but on my consecutive playthroughs I decided to go for a less "destroys everything easily until the end of ACT 1 and then having to respec" to more of a middle ground that had more options.  

Upgraded Haste is also phenomenal, and my reasoning for the Spirit line is just because Walking Bomb does not care about your Magic score or weapon, and his Magic is typically pretty low compared to his WIL before much later on.  It also gives him a "spammable" spell to use on the Rock Wraith.  

On another playthrough I used Winter's Grasp/CoC instead just to have an anti Qunari spell, but with his lower than average MAG, it didn't do that much more than just cold staves + elemental weapons.  Glyph of Paralysis is also another fantastic ability -- if you've never really used it, you honestly don't know what you're missing. It ups party survivability immensely.  I do think if you can fit at the very least, Chain Reaction in for him, you should.  It will see much more use through the game than Spirit Bolt/Walking Bomb (I actually ended up filling out most of the Spirit tree with him and it was mostly useless).  You'll only have it being "useless" for the most part against Qunari, but for them there are cold/nature weapons and Elemental Weapons + Walking Bomb.

And yes, Panacea completely sucks with a Hawke Blood Mage, especially if your Hawke already has at least the 40% heal as backup.  You already have the 50% barrier, which is almost like a heal in itself.

Modifié par Graunt, 30 mars 2011 - 07:59 .

[SuicidalBaby]

Roxlimn wrote...

SuicidialBaby wrote...

I can not endorse Archer's Lance on here.  That god damn thing has killed more party members than enemies.

There are three settings in the game that don't involve Friendly Fire.  There is only one that does.  Due to the nature of Friendly Fire, strategies and builds that are advisable on Nightmare will usually be underoptimized on lower settings.

and now youve forced me to add the damn disclaimer to the OP. It would insult the reader to assume that they play on anything but NM. I will never corrupt this compendium with less than that standard.

And for the record, I have never played a single portion of this game on any setting lower than Nightmare.

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 30 mars 2011 - 08:18 .

[aethernox]

Roxlimn wrote...
There are three settings in the game that don't involve Friendly Fire.  There is only one that does.  Due to the nature of Friendly Fire, strategies and builds that are advisable on Nightmare will usually be underoptimized on lower settings.

Optimization isn't needed for lower difficulty settings.

[Roxlimn]

SuicidalBaby:

Why is it insulting to assume that people don't play on Nightmare? Does playing on Nightmare make you a better gamer than me? If you haven't played any part of the game on any setting under Nightmare, I have to question your ability to advise a playthrough on Hard or Normal.

aethernox:

True enough. Even so, if you're going to optimize a party under Hard, the recommendations would be different compared to that on NIghtmare.

[Graunt]

Roxlimn wrote...

SuicidalBaby:

Why is it insulting to assume that people don't play on Nightmare? Does playing on Nightmare make you a better gamer than me? If you haven't played any part of the game on any setting under Nightmare, I have to question your ability to advise a playthrough on Hard or Normal.

aethernox:

True enough. Even so, if you're going to optimize a party under Hard, the recommendations would be different compared to that on NIghtmare.

Like he said, you don't really have to "optimize" for anything below Nightmare.  All you really need is at least one healer, and you actually have a lot more freedom to pick "whatever" abilities (like you said you like to do).  That's not optimizing, nor is optimizing even necessary for sub Nightmare.  I also see Suicidal changed the original post, but I could have sworn he had already stated this was for Nightmare even before that.  Maybe I just imagined it, or just have Nightmare on the brain.

[DamnThoseDisplayNames]

I can not endorse Archer's Lance on here. That god damn thing has killed more party members than enemies.

Well that's what positioning your party is for.

Btw my mistake about Fenris - he killed my party with Scythe, not Cleave (though he can be in that state too of course). What game suggests for him in tactics is Enemy Close/Medium Range -> Scythe, so it goes like this - he rans into monsters to kill someone, one of them runs for me or Varric, so Fenris makes 180* turn, and, with Cleave up, Scythes all our support including me into the Abyss.
So you should be really careful with them TH-Vanguards and try to stay away or snipe monsters on loose, or just use another tactics.

Modifié par DamnThoseDisplayNames, 30 mars 2011 - 10:52 .

[Roxlimn]

Graunt:

You don't HAVE to optimize for Hard settings, but if you did, even though it is absolutely and completely unnecessary for super-hardcore elite gamers like -insert handle here- who I should worship because he's just that good, then the recommendations would be different.

I'd also have to call into question your ability to project play on Hard from play on Nightmare.  I've played a significant amount of encounters on Nightmare (over 20 or so across various Acts using save points) and I've replayed those encounters using various configurations (on Nightmare), but it appears that you don't have a very good handle on how Hard works.

For one thing, you don't even need a healer on Hard.  I blasted through Hard with Warrior Hawke without using Anders at all.

Modifié par Roxlimn, 30 mars 2011 - 11:06 .