18 réponses à ce sujet

[prostatus13]

Can people post the best mage builds from this forum or any wesbite. Preferablly not a spirit healer guide. Thanks

[godlike13]

Just play the mage u want to play.

[SolidSnake7]

I found this to be useful http://social.biowar...5/index/6583350

Just started my character and I find it very very useful. Bomb is mad useful when timed right and force Fist of the Maker is really useful as well. Haven't gotten to Entropy talents yet since I just started but according to the OP in that thread it's good. I have seen some Force/Blood trees somewhere and have seen a lot of people mention Blood being OP so not really sure.

[prostatus13]

Will check that out. Any other guides?

[aethernox]

This isn't really a guide, per se, it's more of a "put all of your points into the primal tree, then dip entropy for Horror, then go into Force Mage" since that's among to easiest paths that you could take. Mage builds depend heavily on the difficulty level, and we don't know what you'll be playing at...

For example, on Hard, I strongly suggest that you take Walking Bomb. On Nightmare, you'd probably be better off with Crushing Prison, The primal tree, though, is excellent on every difficulty.

[prostatus13]

I'm probably gonna do hard, but i want an ultimate beast that can destroy everything in his path.

[odin1999]

Roll 2h warrior then and use specs for templar and reaver if you want to laugh at the game.

[Ruben Thomas]

I don't know of any super builds that will let you cream every opponent you face as a mage, but here are some of the spells I found myself consistantly impressed with and glad I picked. My go to spells, bread and butter, so to speak I'll include the upgrades and passives I was really impressed with too.

Petrify
-Dessicate

Chain Lightning
-Chain Reaction

Tempest
-Strikes Twice

Galvanism

I didn't pick up Rock Armor, I know it's a good sustained spell, I know tons of people use it, but its whole purpose is reducing damage you take when you get hit. And I didn't find myself getting hit very often, so I'd rather have the mana to destroy my opponents instead.

Horror
- Despair

Cone of Cold
-Deep Freeze

Winter's Grasp
-Winter's Blast

Mind Blast
-Stunning Blast

Crushing Prison
-Paralyzing Prison

Heal

I didn't bother with the upgrade for Heal, it really heals alot at it base level anyway, it's a decent upgrade though I guess.

Glyph of Paralyzis
-Glyph of Binding

Unshakable

Pull of the Abyss
-Edge of the Abyss

Unshakable is probably the best passive of all the talents you could ever pick in my oppinion. You'll practically never get knocked back, knocked down or anything like that after you pick it. Which is a major annoyance as a mage before you get it.

These are my favourite spells and passives. In my experience they're extremely effective and fun, and you can lock down whole groups of enemies, toss them around, and fry them up. I hope you find this helpful

[Gaidren]

Am I the only one who isn't a huge fan of Tempest? I guess with Strikes Twice it does a fair amount of damage, but when I tried it there were just too many fights where the action left the area of effect a bit quickly or things died from other causes before it finished anyways. Maybe I need to give it another look, but I literally AVOID going all the way to Galvanism in Primal *because* of how little I like Tempest.

/shrug

But yeah, most of the Primal tree is amazing (esp Chain Lightning), Horror is incredible for a single point (don't bother upgrading), Heal is good without the upgrade, and Heroic Aura/Haste are great. Elemental Weapons is a solid way to spend a point if you aren't already sustainable-heavy. Unshakable is incredible, and worth the point in Fist of the Maker to unlock it even if you never use Fist. I want to like Fist, since it works well with Stagger....but on Nightmare the friendly fire aspect makes it a pain to use properly.

Winter's Grasp and CoC are good, but I always feel like the fact Primal is better keeps me away from the Elemental tree.

[Gaidren]

A note on Rock Armor....I personally don't use it, but a Galvanism boosted Rock Armor is probably the only reasonable way for a mage to survive an assassin's backstab attack on Nightmare.

There's other ways to deal with the few fights that involve multiple assassins though (including reloading over and over until they decide to backstab the tank instead, lol).

[MorphlingV2]

If you are going to play on Hard then there is little reason to not go both Elemental AND Primal. Max one tree first, then the second (except for Fireball upgrade, this spell is too weak). Pick up Horror, basic Heal, and the Force Mage passive as well. You will still have a few more points left by the end. Inferno + Tempest will simply destroy the lesser mobs and between Petrify, Horror, and the cold spells you will have plenty of CC for elites. There is also a lot of opportunity for cross-class combos.

Walking Bomb is also excellent, but I find it is not always easy enough to set up and it won't do that much against tougher opponents.

Modifié par MorphlingV2, 24 mars 2011 - 07:14 .

[FedericoV]

MorphlingV2 wrote...

If you are going to play on Hard then there is little reason to not go both Elemental AND Primal.

I do not agree (always talking of hard difficulty). You have to choose one of the two and max them because they are redundant and they are nearly equal at the end (Primal is better for CCC while Elemental is better for raw damage since the game is full of +% fire/cold damage items and the best staves are cold/fire based). But the effect are mostly the same and they mirror each other.

I think that the base of any mage build for hard are elemental (or primal) fully upgraded for the mastery + force mage (all the spells + fist of the maker upgrade). The rest is optional. But I would go for spirt bolt+walking bomb (and upgrades) if you choose elemental (so you can take full advantage of disorient CCC and you have the best AoE spell of the game). While I would choose Mind Blast (not upgraded)+Crushing Prison and Mage shield (both upgraded) if you choose primal (for the stagger CCC).

Then choose between creation for heals/buffs or entropy for disables. I prefer the second but it's a matter of tastes. I think that heals does not make a lot of difference in that game, but speed and the glyphs are very good spells (still, redundant with force mage and not very usefull in boss fights if you compare them with the entropy spells).

The other specs are not worth it imho. I choose blood magic for the bonus to health and that's all.

For attributes: go 2:1 magic/willpower untill you reach 31 in willpower. Then, you can spend all the remaining points in magic or try to raise your constitution. I have 20 in Con and I must say that I do not regret the choice.

Modifié par FedericoV, 24 mars 2011 - 07:35 .

[aethernox]

Once you reach act 3, you'll only need a total of 23 or 24 in willpower. I'd suggest either respeccing or rushing through act 2 with slighly gimped willpower. As soon as you hit act 3, grab the rune of valiance + the required materials and socket your champion gloves.

[MorphlingV2]

FedericoV wrote...

MorphlingV2 wrote...

If you are going to play on Hard then there is little reason to not go both Elemental AND Primal.

I do not agree (always talking of hard difficulty). You have to choose one of the two and max them because they are redundant and they are nearly equal at the end (Primal is better for CCC while Elemental is better for raw damage since the game is full of +% fire/cold damage items and the best staves are cold/fire based). But the effect are mostly the same and they mirror each other.

I think that the base of any mage build for hard are elemental (or primal) fully upgraded for the mastery + force mage (all the spells + fist of the maker upgrade). The rest is optional. But I would go for spirt bolt+walking bomb (and upgrades) if you choose elemental (so you can take full advantage of disorient CCC and you have the best AoE spell of the game). While I would choose Mind Blast (not upgraded)+Crushing Prison and Mage shield (both upgraded) if you choose primal (for the stagger CCC).

Then choose between creation for heals/buffs or entropy for disables. I prefer the second but it's a matter of tastes. I think that heals does not make a lot of difference in that game, but speed and the glyphs are very good spells (still, redundant with force mage and not very usefull in boss fights if you compare them with the entropy spells).

The other specs are not worth it imho. I choose blood magic for the bonus to health and that's all.

For attributes: go 2:1 magic/willpower untill you reach 31 in willpower. Then, you can spend all the remaining points in magic or try to raise your constitution. I have 20 in Con and I must say that I do not regret the choice.

Why do you have to choose only one exactly? Elemental and Primal do not mirror each other really except for Inferno and Tempest, but they are actually even better when cast one after another. I agree that one of them should be maxed out first, but that was what I said as well in my earlier post. Choosing only one does not provide enough spells to not have gaps between cooldowns and limits you against opponents resistent to a particular element type. Another point in favor is that you can both set up Brittle with 3 spells for other characters and exploit Stagger yourself.

Other options just seem to be much more weak to me. The only useful spells in Entropy are Horror and Hex of Torment which you will still have enough points for anyway. Bomb is nice, but only against weak opponents you should have no problem with anyway. Elemental Weapons I usually pick on another mage in the party, Arcane Shield won't really bump your defense enough to matter and gives only 5% to the party. Mind Blast I found to be useless with a proper tank and Cone of Cold while Crushing Prison is so-so although I ended up the game with it anyway.

Modifié par MorphlingV2, 24 mars 2011 - 11:03 .

[FedericoV]

MorphlingV2 wrote...

Why do you have to choose only one exactly? Elemental and Primal do not mirror each other really except for Inferno and Tempest, but they are actually even better when cast one after another. I agree that one of them should be maxed out first, but that was what I said as well in my earlier post. Choosing only one does not provide enough spells to not have gaps between cooldowns and limits you against opponents resistent to a particular element type. Another point in favor is that you can both set up Brittle with 3 spells for other characters and exploit Stagger yourself.

They mirror each other (imho) because you have a line that is AoE (fire and electricity) and one line that is single target (stone and cold). Cold is better than stone while electricity is better than fire. If you take both you will have a lot of AoE power and more CCC opportunities and you'll cover any kind of damage that's true.

The problem I see are:

-Yes, you will have two more chances to brittle your enemies but then you'll need a 2H tank to take full advantage of them beside your archer. Your archer alone will never be able to take all the advantage from 4 brittles in a battle (for stamina and power limitation). But as far as I can see, it's not that 2H are so deadly with brittle CCC and I do not know if you can build a party without Aveline if you do not take any Heal Spell.

- Yep, you'll be even stronger against mobs but you won't gain any edge in boss battles where you'll remain weak as before, gaps or not, because is not that stone will grant you any edge... so, I see your point but one should ask itself if mastering aoe with 5 form of damage is better than having some utilities for  boss battles.

-Hex of Torment and Horror (upgraded) are better in most boss fights than any primal spell.

- Upgraded Sleep is a great aoe/cc spell ingnored by many players.

- Fist of the Maker and Explosive Strike are better to exploit Stagger than Golem Fist (imho).

Both options have pros and cons but actually I do not feel the need to have more AoE/Damage/CCC spells when you have both fire spells, walking bomb, cone of cold and all the spells from force.

Bomb is nice, but only against weak opponents you should have no problem with anyway.

Untrue (imho). If you cluster enemies you can clear an entire swarm with a couple of spells saving precious time. No AoE is so efficient and most important: no mage aoe spell exploits CCC. I've killed a lot of liutentans (revenants, stone golems, desire demons, rage demons etc.) and even some boss (spider queen) with a simple disorent+bomb+spirit strike against a mob near him. And spirit bolt has a very short cooldown (just like fatiguing fog) so you can abuse it in Boss Fights. Not sure if confusion+chaos is worth it though.

Modifié par FedericoV, 25 mars 2011 - 08:13 .

[Curry Noodles]

FedericoV wrote...

Untrue (imho). If you cluster enemies you can clear an entire swarm with a couple of spells saving precious time. No AoE is so efficient and most important: no mage aoe spell exploits CCC. I've killed a lot of liutentans (revenants, stone golems, desire demons, rage demons etc.) and even some boss (spider queen) with a simple disorent+bomb+spirit strike against a mob near him. And spirit bolt has a very short cooldown (just like fatiguing fog) so you can abuse it in Boss Fights. Not sure if confusion+chaos is worth it though.

Well, actually, upgraded chain lightning takes advantage of stagger, and you can usually one hit kill or almost one hit kill a ton of enemies using it.  I haven't used walking bomb though, it might be better.  

Also, about spirit healer; it's not really something you need to (or want to ) stay in for more than 2 or 3 seconds.  I used primal, force, and spirit healer trees.  I was mostly using force and primal abilities, and then when someone needed a heal or everyone dropped dead I'd revive and heal them up, then go back to using primal and force.  It also gets you an additional 50 health and some good regeneration, so you can do a little bit of tanking too with rock armor.   I think I only ever turned on spirit healer to use those spells, then would immediately turn it off. 

Also, gravitic ring is super powerful, especially upgraded.  Enemies in the center can't do anything, but you can still attack them.  It even works on stuff like pride abominations.  The only problem is sometimes enemies caught at the center will glitch out and cause some sound and graphics problems until the spell ends.  

Modifié par Curry Noodles, 25 mars 2011 - 10:32 .

[FedericoV]

Curry Noodles wrote...

FedericoV wrote...

Untrue (imho). If you cluster enemies you can clear an entire swarm with a couple of spells saving precious time. No AoE is so efficient and most important: no mage aoe spell exploits CCC. I've killed a lot of liutentans (revenants, stone golems, desire demons, rage demons etc.) and even some boss (spider queen) with a simple disorent+bomb+spirit strike against a mob near him. And spirit bolt has a very short cooldown (just like fatiguing fog) so you can abuse it in Boss Fights. Not sure if confusion+chaos is worth it though.

Well, actually, upgraded chain lightning takes advantage of stagger, and you can usually one hit kill or almost one hit kill a ton of enemies using it.  I haven't used walking bomb though, it might be better.  

Oh, you're right sorry. But then you'd need a 2H tank right to have AoE stagger, right? With shield bash is really difficult to hit more than 2 enemies.

[KodiakAsh]

Primal/Ice/Force/Entropy was my build and it was strong the whole game throughout.

First I started as Primal going up with Lightning. Tempest is very powerful because it has kinda a passive shocking thing that when it strikes it's like a mini stun. Petrify is also great because you can use it on just about anything to lock them down. Rock Armor is good because it basically makes Assassins a joke when they backstab you.

Next I went into Force and picked up the 100% resistance. That was pretty good, but I still found myself getting knocked around occasionally (not a big deal). I think it had to deal with abilities that ignore that resistance and just automatically do their effects. When I got Improved Fist it was great because my Warrior would Stagger everything then I'd Fist for 900% more damage (same with Chain Lightning). It's on a faster cool down so that is nice as well. In the end I went up to the Grav Pull so I could pull everything together, but was disappointed it only worked on humanoids (ignored the large amount of spirits/demons you encounter unfortunately).

I also picked up the Ice skills as well. Frost is just too damn powerful to ignore against most opponents. Kinda worked well when you Grav Pull, Fist of the Maker, then Winter's Grasp and it blast freezes everything together in a nice pile.

Best skill set I got (unfortunately not till mostly through the game) was Entropy. Entropy was simply amazing. Horror works on just about every boss with a few exceptions. Throwing down 100% chance to be crit on a boss or tougher opponent will make your team just demolish it. Even Sleep procs (that stuns when improved) were great when enemies were clustered (but it has a high resist rate). When you spec into the Entropy tree you can really see what a mage is capable of bringing to the table.


Unfortunately by the end of the game I found myself more and more on my Warrior/Rogue party members and turning my mage more into a controller bot simply because those other characters are more fun to play (as opposed to just sitting there waiting for cool downs).