39 réponses à ce sujet

[luckyirish.dowd]

It's really strange to say, but there are almost too many spells to choose from in this game.  I've tried to play a mage my first time through and ended up with him being blaise; not good, not bad.  I also seem to keep messing up Morrigan because I can't figure out what I direction I should go in.  The spell discriptions are too vague and I'm not sure what are some good spells and what really isn't worth my time (and all of those talent points).  I'm also not sure what specializations are really worth it.  If anyone is willing to give suggestions, that would be great.

Here's what I'd like to try for:  how I play is pretty much 2/3 damage, 1/3 support.  I definitely want to beat down on all types of enemies (not just speciallizing against warriors or mages), but I also like to help out with stuns, passive buffs, and heals.  In otherwords, a jack-of-all-trades druid type build.

Are things like spell wisp, spell might, or arcane mastering even worth the amount of points, or do they provide too little boosts?  I never use traps, ever.  Are glyphs worth getting?  Can I place one directly on top of an enemy and make it act as a normal spell, or do they have to run into it?  It seems to me that the blizzard chain just rocks (my hardest battle with my warrior was with a freakin' mage casting winter's grasp on me and freezing me, then my team.  I had to repeat it 3 times before I could kill him.  The other 7 enemies posed no threat without him).  For someone who's more stun, then mash and bash in quick sussesion, are hexes even worth getting?  I don't really plan on battles lasting long enough for individual hexes to matter because the enemy is usually dead in about 10 seconds or less.  What about the disorient --> walking nightmare chain?  I've been hearing people compliment that.

And then there are the specializations.  I don't really like the idea of using health to cast magic, but I've heard that the 3rd and 4th blood mage abilities are exceptional.  And since I already have a 2H warrior, I'm not too interested in playing an arcane mage.... but then again, I've never tried anything like it in Balder's Gate or Neverwinter Nights, so... maybe.  Shapeshifting sounds fun.  Like I've said, I love druids, and that's usually one of their perks.  But the problem comes were I can't cast magic.  Is it worth using when I get surrounded or when I run out of mana, or is it more of a party favor, something nice but never really useful?  I'm also sick of Also having to use Wynne all of the time.  She's great, but I want to see how some other characters interact and I'd also like to use Morrigan for a change (which I never do because I don't want to overload on weak armor mages).  I don't want full spirit healer, but the first 2 abilities sound nice.  Should I get a specializaion in spirit healing or is there an efficent way of turning Morrigan into a spirit healer?

You see what I mean?  There's so much choice it's hard not to make an average or horrible mage.  At least with my warrior I know to choose abilities in the 2H catagory.  My only problem comes from choosing what order I'm going to get everything, not what abilities are best for the play style.  So if anyone has any recommendations to give me based on the way I want to play (or if it's even possible), I would me more than happy to hear your opinions.

[thisisme8]

Lot's of people here specialize with the mages as they are "overpowered." I just want to throw in my 2 cents, and here it is: Shapeshifting is bugged. The stat bonuses right now are based off of STR instead of Spellpower, so unless you want to build your mage with all STR (which is actually viable), I'd advise against it and specializing in something else.

[ToJKa1]

If you're on PC, get the detailed tooltips mod: http://social.biowar...m/project/1117/



Personally, i just focus on one magic school and specializations, current one is primalist arcane warrior, that kicks ass and looks good doing it

[Midgetface]

Choice is good! Choice makes fun. To me, the weapon system is boring and dull, I'm glad Mages get ti mix and match so much more versatilely.



You actually have to choose depending on your ideal party set up. If you have an Archer and a 2H Warrior, you probably won't need any stuns, and damage would be better. If you have a good tank, then maybe you'd want to get more healing spells. If you have a lot of damage dealers, maybe you need controlling spells!



Fire and Frost are generally the best primal schools if you need damage.



The Entropy Horror - Sleep - Waking Nightmare line is pretty good for controlling, as is the Glyph and the Paralyze line.



The Hex line is really good if you have a ton of melee, it weakens enemies very much.



If your party doesn't have any range, you could use Mana Clash to take down casters.



Etc. etc.



Some abilities are not worth it, that's true. But that's a more case by case scenario and you can find mods to fix the broken or just lame abilities.

[Midgetface]

I've seen many Shapeshifting fixes, but if you want to roleplay Druid, it's perfectly viable.



Get the Earth Primal line, it has pretty good abilities. Get Heal and Regenerate. Get Spell Wisp, maybe Grease to combine with Fire spells.



This game is more about RP than anything.

[Brunopolis]

Cone of Cold, Crushing Prison, Fireball, & Blood Wound(blood mage spell). These spells are all broken and very OP. If you can get any of them battles will become...MUCH easier.



So just try to get these if you're building a good mage and you'll fly through the game.

[druidofwarp]

I honestly see no reason other than from a desire to RP, to choose shapeshifting. It drops your sustainables and anything you can do in a form you can do better as simply a mage. Plus turning into a swarm of bugs sucks. Alot. Why can't we turn into a dragon(drake even) or something cooler than a swarm of insects?



All i can say for your mage is that mana clash and forcefield/crushing prison are Godsends

[vizering]

If you want 2/3 damage 1/3 support your support side will either have to be buffs or heals.

As for damage, she is already down the cold/lightning tree. Have you thought of getting all cold, lightning and heal spells and see where you want to go from there?

[Serenity84]

The glyph line is also pretty nice. You can keep people away from you and stun them

Agreed on the hexes. Very useful.

Then combine that with one or two chains from the primal school.

Get heal and possibly group heal from the spirit healer specialization.

Sleep is very good when you are surrounded

Winter's Grasp and Cone of Cold are incredibly useful. You can even freeze some high-end enemies with them. Then you can shatter them with stone first. Don't get Earthquake though.
But in my current playthrough, I'm not taking CoC and focus on the fire chain instead. CoC makes some fights almost too easy.

but then again, I've never tried anything like it in Balder's Gate or Neverwinter Nights, so

Dungeons and Dragons has literally hundreds of spells. Granted, a lot of them aren't that useful, but DAO is simple compared to that . The difference is that you can get very powerful spells early on, while it takes a while to get powerful in D&D

Modifié par Serenity84, 05 décembre 2009 - 06:28 .

[luckyirish.dowd]

Choice is definitely good. I'm just trying to figure out how to chose the best of the best for how I play. It's really hard in this game because you can't learn everything (like in NWN's) orunlearn abilities and you don't have guides for builds and what TRULY works vs. what just sounds nice. Plus, if I have to spend 4 levels worth of growth just to get that 1 "totally awesome" ability, it's not worth it to me because I won't have fun with the other 3.



As for party configuration, I'm pretty much open to any combo, but I tend not to use archers. I always have at least one tank (naturally, I'm not suicidal) and at least one other dps, usually heavily armored (at least until I get high threat abilities for my tank, otherwise NPC rogues tend to draw too much attention). My 3rd choice is completely up in the air. If i've got good healing and don't mind taking that role, then I will and add in whoever I want. If not, then I have a mage healer and I take over the missing role (dps or dps/stun are my preference, but always a large portion dps so I don't get bored).



I'm also playing on the 360, so if there are patchets to fix flaws like shapeshifter using strength, then I'm not sure if I get them.

[MerinTB]

Man, I had tons of fun with Morrigan turning into the corrupted bear form and into insects - the spider quickly got boring for me, though.

Overwhelm is a very nice ability.

I have a funny feeling at least some of the people who dislike shapeshifting also probably either love arcane warrior OR think arcane warrior is too powerful.

I just started play my mage MC, so I'm not far in, but I can tell you what I have planned:

the Mage school full, the fire spells probably full (though after flaming weapon I'm probably holding off for awhile), the Spell Wisp line full ASAP, and the Walking Bomb line full ASAP. That should be most of my build, and I'm probably taking Blood Mage as one (if not my ONLY) Specialization this time.

The real question is are you trying to min-max, or are you looking for a fun but effective way to play your mage? While not mutually exclusive, the latter way of building your character definitely will often not coincide with the former.

Fun stuff to try - the Cold Line and the Telekinetic line (Mind Blast on) for a lot of rooting and enhancing your melee weapons; you could go with the Glyphs and the Disorient lines for a lot of controlling your enemies; for an Arcane Warrior some fun might come from using the Heroic Offense line and the Mana line to supplement your fighting and to hold back pesky spellcasters until you can close with them; if you are going support, then the Drain Life line and the Weakness line along with at least some from the Heal line would make you golden.

My suggestion is to come up with a theme for your mage, either a role or a personality, and then look at the spells and think of what that theme or personality would fit with.

Modifié par MerinTB, 05 décembre 2009 - 06:34 .

[Midgetface]

One of the bigger shortcomings of this game is lacking a more classical mage specialization line, something as Elementalist or Summoner.

[luckyirish.dowd]

I definitely am more focuses on fun than JUST maxing out. My warrior's fun because of the craziness of wading into combat and beating everything down while getting attacked, kind of like a gamer's adreneline junky. Ultimately, however, it's just point and click to kill. Mages for me are fun because I can vary tactics for different events or simply when I get bored. So stuns and your more active statis effects(like paralysis and DoT's) are my prime options for combat support, as well as healing. Just standing back and flinging status effects gets boring after a while, so I want to make sure that I also have a variety of dps options to kill things. Kind of like instant gratification by seeing bodies drop.



As I've mentioned before, the druid model best fits the role that I want to play. I like the druid in NWN 2 and I loved the druid back when I played WOW years ago. For Mass Effect I played the vanguard so that I could get descent gun damage but also a change of pace with biolic abilities.



I hope that this helps everyone try to get an idea of my play style. Thanks for responding and especially the info on the shapeshifting. I haven't been able to find anything conclusive on that from other sources yet.

[weism]

Mana clash, one of the most overpowered spells in this game and it is an AOE spell too.

The most feared mobs in this game after all are enemy mages.

[arrrasdgaehjskmszkm]

it depends on the type of role you want your mage to do. Creation and Spirit healer for party buffing and healing or the ice, fire and terra group of primordial magic to be a high DPS mage (and i found very useful corpse bomb and such)

[Bibdy]

Step 1: Pick your favourite Primal line.

Step 2: Get some healing spells, if you're the only mage in the group (the first line of Creation)

Step 3: Pick some supplementary spells in Spirit or Entropy

Step 4: Commit to the lines of spells you choose. Don't be schizo and try to get a little of everything.

Step 5: Kick some ass.

[luckyirish.dowd]

Does anyone have a FULL build that I should consider? Possibly with levels that I should get abilities? I not only want to know WHAT'S good, but also when it's best to GET it. Some abilities you don't really need till higher levels because it's not until then that you start to fae harder mobs that require more than just smash and bash tactics to defeat.



Also, what stats are good for the build? Should I focus on one stat first (like magic so that I can fulfill spell requirements) and then get up other stats, or is it better to do a more even spread between escentual stats and only worry about focusing on one when I'm about to get the level requirement for a spell?



I've learned that a good mage build is definitely not for beginners!

[GriffinRed]

MerinTB wrote...

Fun stuff to try - the Cold Line and the Telekinetic line (Mind Blast on) for a lot of rooting and enhancing your melee weapons....

I'm far from an expert -- first play-through and only just reached Level 8 -- but I'm very happy with the Cold & Mind lines so far.  They seem like a good mix of damage and cc; plus, they work well together (i.e. use Crushing Prison after Winter's Grasp or Cone of Cold).  Force Field alone has saved my (or Alistair's) butt on more than one occasion already.

I don't know how much I'll use Morrigan with this build, however, since she also has a few of these spells.  Probably just as well, as nothing I say or do seems to make her happy...

Aside from picking up the basic Heal spell for myself, I've been using Wynne's heals a lot.  There really doesn't seem to be much point in picking up the Spirit Healer specialization* if she's going to be in my party.  (And she's not just a healer.  I set up a tactic for her to cast Stonefist at someone I've frozen.  That's been working out well, too.)

* I'm probably going to go with Arcane Warrior; perhaps exclusively.  I know people say Blood Mage is awesome, but the game has pretty much turned me against wanting to be one.

[luckyirish.dowd]

I also hate to ask this, but is there a way to cheat and get more spells abilities on the xbox version? Are there any books that give an extra ability on level up? I haven't really tried buying the books yet because I'm saving up my gold for better equiment in my warrior game.

[Serenity84]

Talents and spells are the same, so the general talent books also work for mages. There are some "arcane tome"s that are mage-only.

[Blue_dodo]

understand that some combination of spells, that are otherwise deemed use by themselves are very effective good example is grease



grease +earthqauke= massive slow down and constant nock down



above plus glyph of repulsion/paralysis



try and experiment by useing the experiance glitch

[Pennoyer]

Get force field. Have your tank use taunt. Put force field on tank. Watch enemies plink away at invincible tank while you kill them all.

[Seraphael]

The below links has just about all the vital numbers you'd ever want:



http://social.biowar.../index/217944/1

http://dragonage.gul...bilities/spells

[Grumpy Old Wizard]

The Cold line gives damage and crowd control. It is weak against undead, but can still freeze them.

Lightning won't wake up frozen creatures. I have not tried Chain Lightning but others say it is too weak. Fire will. The second earth spell has the possibility of shattering a frozen creature and can knock back a creature that is coming at you.

The glyph line is quite nice and very versatile. The repulse gllyph makes a big enough circle to put three of your party members in and will keep out most creatures that are not bosses. It can also be used to block doorways or narrow passages. The paralyze glyph can be cast on a location on a creature and will paralyze one creature. Ward cast around an ally gives him a big boost to his defence. The last glyph makes a circle that drains magic and prevents spell casting in it. The enemy mage can only shoot.

The line of spells with force field + spirit prison is great too.

I specialized my mage as spirit mage and blood mage. But did not chose a single blood mage spell, I just chose that for the stat boots. I only chose group heal from the spirit speciality. The other mage in my party is the dedicated healer and I use heal and group heal as necessary to back her up.

I DO NOT recommend going all magic. You'll be frustrated with having to gulp a mana potion after every spell. I think you'll be happier and a more effective spell caster if you spit your attributes between magic and will power. I'd rather be constantly casting than constantly gulping potions, but that is just my opinion and my prefered play style. My mage is level 20 so is nearing the end of the game.

Yeah, in the beginning of the game focus on magic to let you learn the spells you want earlier.

Anyways, there are too many spells to give a description of. Just chose a mixture of damage spells (single target and area effect) and crowd control spells and you'll be fine. Mages start off a little slow so don't be frustrated by your weakness in the beginning of the game.

Modifié par Grumpy Old Wizard, 05 décembre 2009 - 08:12 .

[Kage Kobura]

Blood magic was pretty good for me. If I ever did somehow run out of mana, I could switch to blood magic, use my health instead and take a tiny amount from Alistair to fully heal myself. It also had a brilliant crowd control on enemies that had blood. Controlling giant ogres to smack around the weaker darkspawn was fun, too.



Chain lightning was pretty weak, especially considering it's a final lightning skill and the previous ones were much stronger.



I never really had an issue with mana after around level 15 and could cast a generous amount of spells before I lost half my mana. Most things were dead before then, anyway.