The guide you linked to is excellent. It's the one I used when I built my first Arcane Warrior (who was actually my first character ever) and it has served me well. But I'd put more weight on the importance of dexterity.
The primary Arcane Warrior's dilemma is this: once you gain that specialization, you gain a sustained ability that allows your magic score to be applied to your melee
damage but not your melee
attack score (your magic score is used in place of your strength score for the purpose of determining of equipping weapons and armor at all times, regardless of which abilities you're using). The specialization itself gives a small flat bonus to attack score, but it's not enough. You want to focus primarily on magic for your damage and the potentcy of your spells, but you need enough dexterity to hit often (just how often is a matter of personal preference). This is the balancing act.
The key point the author makes is to factor in party buffs (the primary ones being song of courage, champion's rally, and heroic offense) and your own sustained abilities (such as debuffs like miasma that lower an enemy's defense and thus let you hit more often) and figure out where that leaves you. Chances are you'll need to bring your base dex score (before items) to 30. Minimum. I think you'll be terribly frustrated with your hit rate otherwise. Once you gain more levels, you may switch out items that boost dex for others. I'd recommend items that give bonuses to all attributes (like Key to the City), since no build gains more from such a variety of abilities than Arcane Warrior.
Constitution is only important if you're choosing Blood Mage as your second spec. If you're going with Spirit Healer instead, Willpower is your third most important ability. Again, it requires some experimentation to find the right balance. You need enough willpower to run all your sustains, but you probably want at least a little leftover for other spells. Likewise, finding a balance between how many sustains you run at the start of combat and how many you activate as needed is a balancing act that will require you to experiment to find what you're comfortable with.
The Glyph spells are quite good. Hex spells are good too, but not necessarily good for you as an Arcane Warrior. Both Vulnerability Hex and Death Hex require sheathing your weapon in order to cast them, which is detrimental while you're in the middle of combat (Affliction and Misdirection Hex, by contrast, can be cast with your weapon out--as can Crushing Prison and all the Glyphs, btw). Overall, I'd say it's better to give the Hex line to a companion mage instead.
On the whole, I think it's a very good guide. I've used it and have recommended it to others. Your spell selection will vary depending on personal preference, but I think it makes solid points about spell choice and stat allocation.
I can also say that throwing every point into magic is a distinctly horrible idea for an Arcane Warrior. Unless you don't mind having no leftover mana to cast spells and having a hit rate below 50%. (Or if you're not building a real Arcane Warrior using a weapon and wading into melee. If you're just building a mage who runs Shimmering Shield all the time, magic is probably all you care about.)
[Edited for clarity after re-reading guide.]
Modifié par BlackEmperor, 20 octobre 2011 - 12:51 .
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Affliction Hex can be cast with your weapon drawn.
