This is my second playthorugh and I am trying characters I didn't really use the first time.
One of them is Merril. Not sure how to use her unique skill tree. I'm thinking of using the lower branch, but not sure how useful it is.
Any help on what I should pick for her tree and why? Thanks.
Also, what about Aveline? I'm going to try to use her too, but not sure how to effectively use her special skill tree.
Merril skill tree question
Débuté par
conanthelibrarian63
, avril 05 2011 11:08
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#2
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 11:24
Apathy1989
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Both of those characters have awesome personal trees, I'm surprised you didn't use them.
Merrill has 2 branches. One is her Wrath of the Elven and associated skills, other is blood magic.
If you want to use her blood magic then pump points into consitution from the start instead of willpower and make sure you friendship her to get better mana to health conversion. Wounds of the Fallen is a fairly good AoE skill that doesn't friendly fire.
Wrath of the Elven is fairly good defensive skill. Deals damage to nearby enemies, eventually heals merrill once upgraded. Its not good enough that she can sit in the middle of a mob, but she can kite people and steadily get a little bit of healing. Ensnare is a fairly good skill when she gets surrounded, it sucks enemies through her on the ground (generally I have "If surrounded by 4 enemies use"). Stones Throw lets her jump to a friend on the battlefield, but since tactics are hard to setup for it I never use it.
You will want to rival merrill if not using blood magic for the +10% damage resistance. Basically just take an anti-blood magic stance and tell her to drop the mirror stuff for her own good.
Avaline has the Guardian specialisation, which is awesome for tanking (and makes turning hawk into a tank pointless). You will want shield defense and some SnS skills, but then you really want avalines skills as they become avaliable. Immovable reduces damage as she takes blows, but reduces her damage. Obviously as a tank, her damage does not matter. Then you got 2 passive bonuses to damage resistence, stun and knockback resistence. All very useful.
Eventually you will want Retaliation skill, since she will be attacking so poorly against large mobs. Retaliation deals damage to any enemy that attacks her, so large mobs pounding on her will steadily die. Bodyguard again is a useful skill. It uses a fair amount of stamina to sustain, but nothing will keep your dedicated healer alive so well with a 50% damage transfer. Sustain battle synergy (from battlemaster tree) and you got even more damage transfers.
Merrill has 2 branches. One is her Wrath of the Elven and associated skills, other is blood magic.
If you want to use her blood magic then pump points into consitution from the start instead of willpower and make sure you friendship her to get better mana to health conversion. Wounds of the Fallen is a fairly good AoE skill that doesn't friendly fire.
Wrath of the Elven is fairly good defensive skill. Deals damage to nearby enemies, eventually heals merrill once upgraded. Its not good enough that she can sit in the middle of a mob, but she can kite people and steadily get a little bit of healing. Ensnare is a fairly good skill when she gets surrounded, it sucks enemies through her on the ground (generally I have "If surrounded by 4 enemies use"). Stones Throw lets her jump to a friend on the battlefield, but since tactics are hard to setup for it I never use it.
You will want to rival merrill if not using blood magic for the +10% damage resistance. Basically just take an anti-blood magic stance and tell her to drop the mirror stuff for her own good.
Avaline has the Guardian specialisation, which is awesome for tanking (and makes turning hawk into a tank pointless). You will want shield defense and some SnS skills, but then you really want avalines skills as they become avaliable. Immovable reduces damage as she takes blows, but reduces her damage. Obviously as a tank, her damage does not matter. Then you got 2 passive bonuses to damage resistence, stun and knockback resistence. All very useful.
Eventually you will want Retaliation skill, since she will be attacking so poorly against large mobs. Retaliation deals damage to any enemy that attacks her, so large mobs pounding on her will steadily die. Bodyguard again is a useful skill. It uses a fair amount of stamina to sustain, but nothing will keep your dedicated healer alive so well with a 50% damage transfer. Sustain battle synergy (from battlemaster tree) and you got even more damage transfers.
#3
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 08:16
conanthelibrarian63
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I probably wont go the blood magic route, so it will be the wrath of the elvhen part. I guess my question is, is it worth the skill investment? Not sure how good it is. Thanks again for the help.
#4
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 08:20
mesmerizedish
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conanthelibrarian63 wrote...
I probably wont go the blood magic route, so it will be the wrath of the elvhen part. I guess my question is, is it worth the skill investment? Not sure how good it is. Thanks again for the help.
Wrath of the Elvhen has always struck me as something that's only useful with either blood magic or a good rogue. It requires her to be in melee range, so she either needs a lot of health or constant armisticing. Since it heals her (even while Blood of the First is active), it's really designed to compliment her blood magic, not operate independently of it.
But, I'm sure that you can still build her viably. The two branches just optimally work together.
#5
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 08:22
Kalthorine
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Actually, if you take the advice of pumping up Merrill's constitution and equip here with just two or three of the "Blood Magic" items (which are more common than you think) then Merrill is unstoppable as a blood mage - from mid-game onwards I cannot remember her health (i.e. her blood mage mana pool!) EVER dropping below halfway no matter how many high power spells I cast. In similar situations Anders's mana bar constantly needed replenishing. Not to mention the bonus of a high constutition mage (especially with rock armor!) being strong enough to survive anything thrown at her.
#6
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 08:46
conanthelibrarian63
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So for blood magic I should pump up con. as she will be using it instead of mana, correct? then what is the point of mana then? Can I get say the arcane weapon enchantment that takes 10% of mana, but doesn't really affect her since she uses health for mana?
Maybe I will have to dabble in blood magic... you guys are corrupting me.
Maybe I will have to dabble in blood magic... you guys are corrupting me.
#7
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 08:49
mesmerizedish
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conanthelibrarian63 wrote...
So for blood magic I should pump up con. as she will be using it instead of mana, correct? then what is the point of mana then? Can I get say the arcane weapon enchantment that takes 10% of mana, but doesn't really affect her since she uses health for mana?
Maybe I will have to dabble in blood magic... you guys are corrupting me.
Yes, mana is useless to a blood mage. It's great, because you can just toss as many sustained powers as you want without negatively impacting her casting potential at all.
#8
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 08:56
Matterialize
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The only irritating part is when, with 100% of her mana consumed by sustained abilities, she'll constantly be saying those OH I'M SO TIRED lines in combat. A small oversight by Bioware.
#9
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 08:57
mesmerizedish
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Matterialize wrote...
The only irritating part is when, with 100% of her mana consumed by sustained abilities, she'll constantly be saying those OH I'M SO TIRED lines in combat. A small oversight by Bioware.
I agree. That is incredibly obnoxious.
#10
Posté 06 avril 2011 - 12:38
DW2511
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Kalthorine wrote...
Actually, if you take the advice of pumping up Merrill's constitution and equip here with just two or three of the "Blood Magic" items (which are more common than you think) then Merrill is unstoppable as a blood mage - from mid-game onwards I cannot remember her health (i.e. her blood mage mana pool!) EVER dropping below halfway no matter how many high power spells I cast. In similar situations Anders's mana bar constantly needed replenishing. Not to mention the bonus of a high constutition mage (especially with rock armor!) being strong enough to survive anything thrown at her.
Is it confirmed that the effects of those items stack?
#11
Posté 06 avril 2011 - 12:40
hoorayforicecream
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DW2511 wrote...
Kalthorine wrote...
Actually, if you take the advice of pumping up Merrill's constitution and equip here with just two or three of the "Blood Magic" items (which are more common than you think) then Merrill is unstoppable as a blood mage - from mid-game onwards I cannot remember her health (i.e. her blood mage mana pool!) EVER dropping below halfway no matter how many high power spells I cast. In similar situations Anders's mana bar constantly needed replenishing. Not to mention the bonus of a high constutition mage (especially with rock armor!) being strong enough to survive anything thrown at her.
Is it confirmed that the effects of those items stack?
Yes, they stack. I think the cap is like 1 hp being the equivalent of 11 or 12 mana. Most people suggest a 1hp:6mana ratio so you can get other good items.
#12
Posté 06 avril 2011 - 03:20
Apathy1989
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ishmaeltheforsaken wrote...
Matterialize wrote...
The only irritating part is when, with 100% of her mana consumed by sustained abilities, she'll constantly be saying those OH I'M SO TIRED lines in combat. A small oversight by Bioware.
I agree. That is incredibly obnoxious.
Hawk does it aswell. Rather annoying.
And yes blood mage items stack. There are rings early on, then you will find staffs and get a necklace from the serebas. Plenty for 1 blood mage, running hawk as blood mage and merrill usually run out of nice items.
