603 réponses à ce sujet

[ISI-Society]

SuicidialBaby wrote...

Do not forget to stock up on cheap Mage Adept gear in act 1 with +% fire and + .25 BM conversion.
Suggested gear: Boots, Cowl, Robe, Gloves will be Hands of Fate from Emporium in act 2, and 3 minor cantrip rings asap, +spirit/bm ring in act 2 will be the 4th.

Yes, if I go the bloodmage route at level 14 I'll probably do all the BM accessory bling.  I already did it twice before for Merrill, so doing it for Hawke will be a cinch.

Since the patch, the bloodmage bling has been scaled way back, so even with a nearly full set you're only looking at a 3:1 conversion instead of the 2:1 default in the new system (whereas before it was possible to hit 6:1), but in a long drawn out fight, with little breathing room between hefty DD/AOE spells, I suppose the extra 1:1 will help.

Regardless of whether or not people go bloodmage at 14 in this build, it's a no-brainer to beef the elemental bonuses (both bling and talents) as much as possible before deeproads, and to max-out & prioritize all possible cross-combo damage bonus exploits. 

[AreleX]

the reason for the tactics change is that varric fires the fog right after the enemy gets paralyzed by the glyph. it also reduces the chances of the game counting a 'frozen' target as 'paralyzed' as well.

[SuicidalBaby]

Since the patch, the bloodmage bling has been scaled way back, so even with a nearly full set you're only looking at a 3:1 conversion instead of the 2:1 default in the new system (whereas before it was possible to hit 6:1), but in a long drawn out fight, with little breathing room between hefty DD/AOE spells, I suppose the extra 1:1 will help.

what are you talking about.... before 11:1 was possible.

right now you're looking at 5.75 maxed out, although 4.0-4.5 would be suggested when it comes to sliding in premium purchases.

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 30 juin 2011 - 08:04 .

[AreleX]

i don't use blood conversion items, and don't know anything about them post patch. i defer to suicidal here.

[AreleX]

added fenris build to op

[Relix28]

AreleX wrote...

the reason for the tactics change is that varric fires the fog right after the enemy gets paralyzed by the glyph. it also reduces the chances of the game counting a 'frozen' target as 'paralyzed' as well.

Is Varric supposed to disorient the first target via Pinning Shot?

Maybe it's just me, but the way I see this working is:
step 1 - Varric disorents a target via Pinning Shot?
step 2 - Anders infects the target with WB (Enemy: DISORIENTED - Walking Bomb).
step 3 - Anders casts a glyph (Enemy: DISORIENTED - Glyph of Paralysis).
step 4 - Varric fires up Fog on the target affected by the glyph (Enemy: Paralyzed - Fatiguing Fog).

Am I correct or am I not seeing something here?


Also, a question about the Fenris build. A Spirit/Fire Warding rune on his armor gives him 90% spirit/fire resistance. Isn't (upgraded) elemental aegis a bit of an overkill, since elemental resistances cap out at 95%?

Modifié par Relix28, 30 juin 2011 - 11:55 .

[AreleX]

you can do whatever you want with the last 2 points, it doesn't really matter

[AreleX]

varric's pinning shot is to disorient elites below 25% health, it has nothing to do with the fog tactic

[ISI-Society]

SuicidialBaby wrote...

what are you talking about.... before 11:1 was possible.

right now you're looking at 5.75 maxed out, although 4.0-4.5 would be suggested when it comes to sliding in premium purchases.

I'm sure you're probably 100% correct, SB.  In all honesty, I confess to having stopped looking for ways to pack on still more BM bling in my pre-patch play a few weeks back once I hit 6:1, which is already far more than is required to keep the offense going.

[ISI-Society]

Possible Merrill tactics tweak ? (revised glass cannon section):

Self: Health <50% - Deactivate: Blood of the First
Self: Health <25% - Use Potion
Enemy: Target of Hawke - Use current condition for next tactic
Enemy: Target rank is Elite or higher - Hex of Torment
Enemy: Attacking Anders - Ensnare
Enemy: Clustered with at least three four** enemies - Wounds of the Past
Enemy: Target rank is Elite or higher - Winter's Grasp
Enemy: Clustered with at least three enemies - Chain Lightning
Enemy: Using melee or ranged attack - Stonefist <-- change to "Enemy: DISORIENTED - Stonefist" ?
Enemy: Clustered with at least three enemies - Fireball
Enemy: Target between short and medium range - Tempest
Enemy: Target between medium and long range - Firestorm
Self: Health >=50% - Activate: Blood of the First
Self: Any - Activate: Wrath of the Elvhen
Self: Any - Activate: Rock Armor
Self: Any - Activate: Elemental Weapons
Self: Health >=50% - Skip tactics
Self: Mana or stamina <10% - Use: Lyrium Potion
Enemy: Using melee attack - Attack

** Four: WotP has a fairly large AoE radius, so a slightly larger trip conditional (followed as it is by other trips with the same value) might squeeze out a bit more bang for the casting buck. 

Another possible varric tactics tweak (revised glass cannon section): Is there any reason why the bursting arrow vs BRITTLE line is further down the tactical list, instead of higher up (e.g., just before the archer's lance vs brittle) ?

^bump^

Oh, and 1 last question: I see that you have a lot of your pre-battle buff activations parked at the bottom of your tac lists, rather than up top.  Is there a slight response time avantage to be gained (for the combat stuff) by doing so, or is it just aesthetic ? 

Modifié par ISI-Society, 30 juin 2011 - 12:56 .

[AreleX]

a tactic fires, the list restarts from the top. once your sustains are active, they're irrelevant, unless you need them deactivated. the higher priority abilities are near the top so there are less checks to go through before they are potentially activated.

[ISI-Society]

I fully grok how the tac lists are executed iteratively (I have professional degree in comp sci), and that the pre-battle buffs work either down below or up top ... I was just wondering if the difference in performance for allowing the combat stuff to bubble slightly higher was/is noticable or not. Given today's fast processors, I'm guessing it isn't.

BTW, in case it hasn't already been said enough by others, kudos again on the helpful & informative guide(s). Having adminned multiple public fora on various sites, I know linchpin members when I see em, and members like you and suicidalbaby are the cornerstones that make communities like this worth visiting.

And on that note, I'm soon off to the deep roads.  I'll send postcards.

Modifié par ISI-Society, 30 juin 2011 - 01:23 .

[Relix28]

EDIT: nevermind

Modifié par Relix28, 30 juin 2011 - 04:35 .

[ISI-Society]

Another possible tac tweak for varric that might be worth considering: it just occured to me that the following change ...

Replace "Enemy at short range - Rush" with "Enemy SLOWED - Rush"

... could result in the amusing occasional spectacle of Dwarf Bowling, by essentially exploiting the slows generated by the fatiging fogs and gravitic rings that are in regular combat rotation, and resulting in 80 pts of damage plus knockdown(s).

I'll play around with it, and see if it pans out.  Obviously not recommended for nightmare mode, due to the potential for friendly fire.

Modifié par ISI-Society, 30 juin 2011 - 08:09 .

[ISI-Society]

Sorry ... double post.

Modifié par ISI-Society, 30 juin 2011 - 05:54 .

[ISI-Society]

AreleX:  I believe I found a typo in the Anders tactical list (revised glass cannon section):

"Enemy: Target of Anders - Spirit Bolt" <-- should probably be "Enemy: Target of Hawke - Spirit Bolt" (or perhaps target of Varric).

Modifié par ISI-Society, 30 juin 2011 - 08:07 .

[frustratemyself]

@ Isi I believe the Spirit Bolt tactic is for Anders to detonate an enemy that is infected with WB without him switching targets. If an enemy is disoriented then Anders should use WB, paralyse it then detonate with Spirit Bolt.

[SuicidalBaby]

it forces anders to stay on the same target he just cast wb on, which will most likely have fatiguing fog already used on it given varric has the same tactic set, allowing for ccc and faster detonation.

everything in the original build and linked adv tactics redux has been tested and used by countless individuals.  this paticular tactic is one of Arelex's finer moments, if I do say so.

Modifié par SuicidialBaby, 30 juin 2011 - 11:32 .

[ISI-Society]

Frustratemyself wrote ...

@ Isi I believe the Spirit Bolt tactic is for Anders to detonate an
enemy that is infected with WB without him switching targets. If an
enemy is disoriented then Anders should use WB, paralyse it then
detonate with Spirit Bolt.

SuicidialBaby added...

it forces anders to stay on the same target he just cast wb on, which will most likely have fatiguing fog already used on it given varric has the same tactic set, allowing for ccc and faster detonation.

everything in the original build and linked adv tactics redux has been tested and used by countless individuals.  this paticular tactic is one of Arelex's finer moments, if I do say so.

Oooh, delightfully clever.  That calls for an official Wedge Antilles 'stay on target' award. 


That particular gimmic didn't occur to me, and thus it appeared like a cut and paste typo at first glance.


p.s.  Havent had the dwarf bowling trick trip yet, but I expect it will during an upcoming flurry of coterie battles. I'll report back when it does.

Modifié par ISI-Society, 01 juillet 2011 - 12:14 .

[AlexDeLarge]

God damn it.. I'm actually stuck at the quest Shepherding Wolves with the Glass Cannon build. I find it impossible to kill Arvaraad and his countless spawns of fire immune qunari with this build, seeing how both Hawke and Anders are invested heavily into the Fire tree (which is useless here). Must have reloaded like 20 times, trying to approach every possible angle. In the end if doesn't even come close, Arvaraad is always left alive with 30%+ HP and a few lackeys left. Note, i am lvl 9 with everyone, almost level 10 but not quite there yet. And i cant reload from a previous save to skip the quest.. Any ideas?

Edit: Nevermind, i finally managed to do it, scoring some ultra lucky disables on Arvaraad, almost perma stunning him. My whole party except Hawke died (injured), with 4 Qunary left, i kept running around and resummoning dog, waiting for the cold spells to reset cooldown. Managed to find a few more potions on the corpses, used every single last one of them, both lyrium and health, and finally managed to kill the last one with 15% health left. Clutch! 

The force mage tree doesn't help out so much atm, but maybe it's because i'm still low level. I'm sure it will come into great use later on.

Modifié par AlexDeLarge, 01 juillet 2011 - 07:37 .

[AlexDeLarge]

Ok just owned Ancient Rock Wraith on my 2nd try with Glass Cannon party. Not that hard once you learn his behaviour. Also, fire immune dog is surprinsingly helpful here to distract the big guy.

[ISI-Society]

Re: Shepherding wolves.  I'm only about 1 day ahead of you (15th level) as I type this.

I've been saving my nightmare run for my next (4th playthough), so I'm currently on normal, and as a result I had a fairly easy time with that particular battle (I'd saved it as long as possible, so I think I was 10th level). In any case, even with enemies resistant to the elemental forces, the force tree is very helpful ... with a little practice.

Case in point (for the benefit of others soon to arrive at the same section): as soon as you see a large knot of them standing helpfully close together, fire off the PotA+GR combo, which will give you 20s of them stuck together in a tight slow-moving clump, out of direct melee range. That's a 2:1 attack advantage right there, even without spells. Add ander's 20s haste atop that, and you have and additional 50% speed boost on your side to up the melee DPS advantage past 3:1 (and free damage time for ranged attacks). Have at it with cleave/scythe/whirl if you brought a tank, or varric's bursting arrow and ander's upgraded WG if you dont. That should take care of almost half to one third the fight, right there, in the opening flurry.

PotA+GR become more effective later, as the AoEs increase with upgrades.

Modifié par ISI-Society, 01 juillet 2011 - 01:21 .

[ISI-Society]

AlexDeLarge wrote...

Not that hard once you learn his behaviour. Also, fire immune dog is surprinsingly helpful here to distract the big guy.

Yep ... duck behind the pillers whenever rocky gets his energy blast funk on, then do your thing.

I'm just as surprised as you are about how much more convienient the hound is in DA2 vs DAO ... he no longer burns a precious party slot, doesn't have to be programmed, doesnt have to be cured of post-battle injuries, etc.  Just summon/dismiss whenever you want him (0 mana cost too).  That, and he tanks like a champ ... not a lot of DPS there, and he no longer has talent abilities, but despite that he's still good at temporarily locking down elites (and drawing threat to help cluster charging enemies), thus buying you time to wham em with a fireball, WG, or FotM.  And afterwards mabby trots back as happy as if he'd just retrieved a downed duck. 

Modifié par ISI-Society, 01 juillet 2011 - 01:41 .

[ISI-Society]

AreleX: I'm 16th level now, and things are starting to fire on 6 of 8 cylinders. So far so good.

BTW, the build could use an update with regards to some of the more recently released DLC items (even if only as a footnote).

Examples: The Valdasine Staff (spirit based) has been obsoleted not once but twice - first by Allure's Crook (Exiled Prince DLC, "Repentance" quest), and by "Malcolm's Honor" (Mage item pack). As a result, Valdasine is no longer needed at all - the latter can be used by anders, with allure loitering in reserve, as a backup to a good elemental staff (I'm currently using Staff of the Primal Order as I type this, but it too will eventually be superceeded). Also, of particular note to Mage Hawkes using the elemental mage build is "The Apostate's Mask" (Mage pack), which can either partially replace (or supplement) the expensive Ring of the Ferryman ... thereby possibly saving 110gp.

There's other stuff in both DLCs that warrant integration into the mage build ... and on a related note, the new "Empresses' Point" {2H greatsword} is now the new pinnacle 2H weapon in the game, trumping even the blade of mercy.  Since this mage build lacks a tank, I'll probably give it to Fenris (since he
has the best Crit % chance) for climactic qunari battles of act 2. Also, it'd make a nice capstone to your mach-5 massacre build ... particularly since the sword has no strength requirement - just level 17 and the 2H warrior tree (meaning it's accessible mid-way into act 2, and you can dump extra strength points instead into dex, to boost your crit chance for a big boost in stagger generation). That sword will be a real game changer for 2H warriors as a result.

Modifié par ISI-Society, 01 juillet 2011 - 10:21 .

[Mr_Raider]

Valdasine is useful because it helps meet will requirements for gear for people who don't have malcolm's honor.