12 réponses à ce sujet

[Grimling]

Hate Aveline so gave up on my mage and made a SnS tank to play through my first time.  Playing on nightmare and need more DPS.  At level 7 and having a hard time killing stuff in a timely manner.

hawke= SNS tank
anders =heal/support
merril=dps
varric=dps

Going to use some maker's sigh and redo my dps builds.  Going mostly primal with merrill as i've been unimpressed with fireball etc in elemental.  And the AOE affects really hurt in nightmare.  

But need help building varric.   Any suggestions?  Plan on doing about 1 dex 2 cunning per level with a point thrown into willpower every now and then for stamina.    Was advised that for attk power try and keep dex 1.25x lvl +10 for best gains.

[SuicidalBaby]

So far you're good. Another dps gain would be not to run shield wall the whole time. I only use it for rogues. Your tank is a demon with out it on.

Anders and Merril should have Chain lightning, stone armor and Chain Reaction.(chain lightning's upgrade) have it trigger off your shield bash/pommel strike stagger effects.
Anders is best with the lower half of creation + glyph of paralysis, it god vs untaunted rogues. Having him sparce points into arcane for crushing prison later, adds to his overall control/damage. Don't get vengence, allow him to naturally gain the ability during Dissent later on in act 2.

At this point your going to focus on pinning shot for a single target incapasitation + ccc combo. Works great to set up rogues for shield bash + Chain Lighting/Crushing prison. Dip into scoundrel for Blindside:120% damage vs targets attacking other people and Twist the Knife: 100% crits vs stunned opponents. Use mismatic flask for stuns to cut defenses and reduce damage. Rush is good if Varric is positioned well.
Later Varric can either give you grounded support with Fatiguing Fog and Confusion, both of which allow your scatter to do its crazy damage. Watch the FF with scatter and its cousin, this will cut your team in half. Confusion on its own is a monster in changing the battle. Obscuring effects from fog will generally cut damage on your tank by at least 25% overall. Not to mention the attack debuffs on the enemies.

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 28 mars 2011 - 04:56 .

[knownastherat]

Could (re)spec Varric to Harmony/Blindside around that level. Stun from flask is pretty short, not easy to setup in tactics, does not contribute to DPS. With high DPS Varric could run to problems with aggro, but there are tools/ways. Disorient via Confusion or Fog is pretty expensive, but depends how much CCC one is looking for. Can be played as mage, but his 'speed talents' can give him DPS you might be looking for.

[SuicidalBaby]

Stun drops all defenses also gives Varric 100% crit rate when you go one more step in scoundrel.  I didn't say to tactic the flask, did I.  Fatiguing Fog pulses its effects.  Making it worth every point you put in to it.  You can scatter enemies out of the fog, they walk back in, disorient is reapplied, you hit Assault or  Stonefist, Spirit Bolt, walking bomb.  All kinds of fun options.

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 28 mars 2011 - 05:01 .

[Atmosfear3]

I suspect that your lack of DPS is probably because your Hawke probably isn't specced for DPS tanking and just straight defensive tanking. Throw some points into Vanguard and pickup the upgrades for Scatter for sweet CCCs.

[knownastherat]

*shrugs*

Well, one cant have it all. I prefer 10 Speed + 20 Embellishment + 20 Well-Oiled + 5 Friendship + 5 Lightning Speed + various Attack, Critical, Cooldown bonuses for DPS Varric. If someone prefers fun options, there is no measure to taste.

Though admittedly, I haven't stood in front of ARW pumping bolts into it to test the best setup.

Modifié par knownastherat, 28 mars 2011 - 05:12 .

[Grimling]

No i haven't spec'd for DPS tanking, not even aware of how to. Pretty much maxed weapon and shield. Just going to delete and restart as I took over two weeks off from playing due to spring break and have forgotten a lot of what I was doing etc. Plus I'm not far in.

I'm also not using CCC at all which I'm sure is a HUGE mistake on nightmare level. Playing on PS3 and having a hard time getting the tactics to cooperate. Plus only having 6 "hotkeys" really hinders me.

I like your suggestions SuicidalBaby and will give it a shot. As far as Varric's dps is it largely his autoattack ability enhanced by speed, blindside, and CCC or do you focus a lot on triggered abilities? Right now he''s constantly stamina poor but then I haven't been pumping his willpower. Just dex/cunning as I mentioned earlier, trying to keep dex around level*1.25 +10.

With Anders, I was looking at making him pure support with Panacea running most of the time (remember relying heavily on tactics on the ps3) and casting his heals and party buffs/support. I like your suggestions of chain lightning but that means I have to micromanage panacea. Which I guess isn't that big a deal, just try to set up a tactic to cut it on and group heal and cut it back off.

[Grimling]

Oh and if a ring says +3% physical damage, that applies to stonefist or any spell that does physical damage correct? Or does it apply to physical autoattacks?

[SuicidalBaby]

Yes, but most enemies have at least some physical resistance.(armor)  It isn't really worth stacking on a mage that isn't using constant physical attacks.  Attack is more important for mages early on.  All those little numbers are glancing blows. 10% of your attack damage.  Attack raises your rate of full power attacks.  Be aware that your mages spell damage is based off the base weapon damage of the staff they are using.  In act 1, Magister's Scythe is the best staff before the deep roads.  No immune targets and its attacks ignores armor.  But you lose out on damage type vulnerabilities which will double damage of the right type vs certain enemies.  Knowing when to change staffs will improve your damage. 

here:
Enemy elemental resistance reference sheet (Nightmare)
Enemy non-elemental immunity reference sheet (Nightmare)

Varric will be starving for stamina throughout most of the first 2 acts. If you just feed him the stamina draughts you find, more will pop up. There is a min level the game will allow you to fall under. Forcing poultice and draught drops on just about every enemey till you reach the threashold. Works the same with health and lyrium, so drink away. Youll get more.

Since your sword and shielding it, pick up shield bash and its upgrade early.  With a little practice you can trap large groups in doorways and hit all of them.  Which then your mage will cast an upgraded Chain Lightning, upgraded  @ level 6,  with extreme prejudice on all in their line of sight.  Makes the shadow rogues on Sundermount die in like 5 seconds because of undeads weakness to lightning.  Its sexy as hell.  btw, fireball isn't cool like origins.  it blows.

**note: Do not put a second condition on Chain Lightning.  With only a 15 second cooldown and the fact you control the targets that will be staggered.   Do not add an additonal condition of:
enemy: clustered with X enemies: use condition for the next tactic.

just leave it as 1 line:
enemey:status: Staggered: use ability: chain lightning. 

Grimling wrote...

With Anders, I was looking at making him pure support with Panacea running most of the time (remember relying heavily on tactics on the ps3) and casting his heals and party buffs/support. I like your suggestions of chain lightning but that means I have to micromanage panacea. Which I guess isn't that big a deal, just try to set up a tactic to cut it on and group heal and cut it back off.

Panacea is dumb.  How dumb?  So dumb it went out side with a bowl and spoon cause you said it was chili out there. 

I can not express how much you should not go panacea.  You shouldn't touch Anders' personal tree untill you do his personal quest in act 2.  It will give you vengeance for free.  which you still shouldn't use with out proper deactivation tactics that are very strict on turning it off if he falls below 75-90% health since he takes double damage from all attacks while it is active.  You also get access to a passive 80% cooldown duration.  Giving you a faster regular heal and barrier to suppliment.  Besides his Primal base spells, Anders support should come from 2 main trees, Arcane and Creation. 


Primal:
Stone Armor: 25% less damage, get it.
Chain Lightning: Upgraded it kills things, lots of things. Get it.

Arcane:
Barrier: use it preemptively, Tank or ally<75% hp buys enough time to move them or kill what ever is doing the damage.
Crushing Prison: upgraded: Shield bash's cooldown is short, so having this to hit elite+ targets is really worth the extra point for 100% paralysis on ANY target.
enemy: status: staggered: use condition for next tactic
enemy: target rank is elite or higher: Crushing Prison
(note: if you bash something that isn't elite and there is an elite present, the elite will get crushing prison cast on it. so target your staggers well.)
Arcane Weapons: all spell effects from the type of damage are applied through this.  Cold being a monster of an effect.  Change with immunities and vulnerablilities.
Creation:
Heroic Aura: Upgraded is one of the best buffs in the game.
Glyph of Paralysis: Upgraded Can stifle incoming damage on your tank from just about any source.  If a rogue gets away from your tank and isn't/cant be taunted in time, cover your ranged with this to protect them.  You will see the rogue get hit by it and then be able to AoE the area with a radial Scatter, mismatic flask or Shattering Shot by varric, or mind blast in order to expose him to you.
Heal: I don't bother upgrading because of +healing, A trinket sold at Sol's in the Gallows gives +8% healing by and to the wearer.  making ally: hp<50% heal a full heal pretty much.  This also affects Anders self heal in the Vengeance tree.
Haste: upgraded is godly. 

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 28 mars 2011 - 09:56 .

[knownastherat]

Level 10 DPS Varric:

biowarefans.com/dragon-age-2-talent-builder/#8ILnjtEv1zco



Kept at distance, often grabs aggro, giving time for teammates to eliminate threats running past them. If not ~ nail gun. 60 - 260 damage per shot, by a guess over 110 on average on auto-attack. If he goes to hug: Back-To-Back. Sure, no CCCs, but no stamina issues either. Kickback for those times mages get in trouble. Dex/Cun debatable.

I'd say How to ..? is largely based on party set up, their abilities and well .. style.

Modifié par knownastherat, 30 mars 2011 - 09:25 .

[Grimling]

Finally got around to being able to play some dragon age again.

In knownastherats link would you keep both bianca's song and one of the sustains from specialist up at the same time? Thinking precision.

Anders is working out great suciidalbaby, ty.

How exactly do I spec for DPS s/s tanking in nightmare?

[ussnorway]

For NM S&S DPS tanking, take Vanguard with an eye towards Cleave (upgraded).

[Lumikki]

Varric you can't much do anything, just try to add his DPS as any way you can. In defensive skills, I find Evade best for him.

There is many ways to build mages and not only what here is suggested. Example I don't take defensive skills, why would I? My DPS doesn't go up from defensive skills. Best two defence in game is offence and run away.

Modifié par Lumikki, 17 avril 2011 - 05:55 .