Race: Elf
In Dragon Age: Origins, the arcane warrior is hands down the most powerful build in the game. Their ability to absorb damage like no other (capable of having an armor rating of 60+) and use their spellpower score to determine damage, all while retaining the ability to cast powerful spells, gives them the ability to solo tank the entire game. Rogues will have a much higher DPS capability, however lack in survivability in comparison. Below I will outline ideal stats and end game scores.
Note: A lot of the gear I will mention has come from the Return to Ostagar and The Golems of Amgarrak DLC. If you do not have these, please use Spellweaver and Fade Wall for Weapon and Shield slots as well as replacing The High Regard of House Dace with Ring of the Ages (or any other ring you deem to be important).
Attributes
In order of importance: Magic/Willpower, Dexterity/Strength, Constitution, Cunning.
All arcane warriors start off as mages, thus they can use their magic score to determine armor and weapon requirements instead of strength, including bonus to damage on melee attacks. Since magic is the primary attribute in determining spellpower for spells, it is the primary score in determining all damage output for the arcane warrior.
Almost as important is willpower. This is the only attribute that contributes to the arcane warriors mana pool, which you need an abundance of to cast all the required sustained abilities and have anything left to cast your offensive and defensive spells.
Dexterity increases the arcane warriors defensive score and increases the likelihood of successfully landing a hit; an important factor for melee weapons.
Strength is almost as important, determining only the accuracy of the melee attack, playing a role in determining the average amount of damage in melee combat as well as increasing the likelihood of scoring a critical hit.
Constitution is not as important, but should get some points to ensure that when your arcane warrior is damaged, they can absorb anything that is above and beyond the armor score.
Cunning is not important at all, only needing flavor points if you want to improve on herbalism, etc. If you desire to be more persuasive, put a little extra here and deduct from magic or use some attribute tombs here.
Specializations
This primarily depends on your subjective choice, however I found that the most effective specialization to support the arcane warrior is Spirit Healer; group heal, revival, and cleansing aura are excellent supportive abilities.
Spells
This is where your arcane warrior can shine, or flop. Spell selection is crucial.
Arcane warrior: full tree
Spirit healer: full tree
Mage: full tree
Creation: full trees in first two rows, spell wisp
Spirit: spell shield, walking bomb, death siphon, virulent walking bomb, fourth row full tree
Though there are other great spells, there is a limited supply of points to allocate only after the mandatory selection is completed: arcane shield, spell shield, rock armor, shimmering shield, and haste; which also happen to be the sustained active spells. All spell types listed to take as full tree are done so because these spells amplify the listed mandatory ones in some fashion.
Gear
The gear selected needs to have high stamina/mana regeneration in combat, as well as improve base stats. Below is a list of the best options for Origins. (Please see full list of item abilities and set bonuses at www.dragonagewiki.com)
Headgear: Helm of Honnleath
Gloves: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Gloves
Chest: Evon the Great's Mail
Boots: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Boots
Weapon/Shield: Cailan's Arms set/ Duncan's Sword + fade wall
Belt: Andruil's Blessing
Necklace: The High Regard of House Dace
Ring1: Key to the City
Ring2: Lifegiver
End Game Stats (lvl 20+) Note: These are based off of my own Warden, variances are more then welcome and appreciated for different play styles.
Armor: 60-63
Defence: 90
Spell power: 49
Damage: 53.3
Strength: 24 (18)
Dexterity: 26 (18)
Willpower: 44 (38)
Magic: 53 (44)
Cunning: 32 (20) (I made a persuasive Warden)
Constitution: 28 (12)
*Numbers in brackets are stats prior to equipment modification.
Physical Resistance: 100
Mental Resistance: 100
Fire Resistance: 75%
Cold Resistance: 75%
Electric Resistance: 75%
Nature Resistance: 75%
Spirit Resistance: 75%
* Resistances are shown after activating sustained spells.
In Dragon Age: Awakening, the expansion pack for Origins, you have more option choices and an additional, but more complicated, build option. You will need to import your arcane warrior to get the specialization.
In both builds, attribute stats are the same and both take the third specialization of battle mage. You may wish to purchase some manuals of refocus from vigils keep. Below I will outline the two different builds. Note both armor sets and weapons will require you to spend a lot of time crafting items and paragon runes.
1. Tank
Very similar to your Origins build.
Gear
Headgear: Helm of the Sentinel
Gloves: Gauntlets of the Sentinel
Chest: Armor of the Sentinel (with Paragon Stout, Dweomer, and Reservoir runes)
Boots: Boots of the Sentinel
Weapon/Shield: Vigilance (with Menacing, Grandmaster Silverite, and Paragon Paralyzing runes) + Fade Wall
Belt: Andruil's Blessing
Necklace: The High Regard of House Dace
Ring1: Key to the City
Ring2: Ring of Mastery
* Note that this sword/shield combo has a lot less stamina/mana regeneration when compared to Cailan's Arms set, but has a higher damage output. Keep Cailan's Arms set as secondary and switch between them as needed.
Added Spells
Battle Mage: full tree
Mage: second row, full tree
Entropy: first row, full tree
End Game Stats (30+)
Armor: 68-70
Defence: 132
Spell power: 94
Damage: 95.5
Strength: 44 (25)
Dexterity: 32 (25)
Willpower: 78 (56)
Magic: 80 (61)
Cunning: 27 (16) (Lowered to increase Willpower)
Constitution: 42 (15)
*Numbers in brackets are stats prior to equipment modification.
Physical Resistance: 150
Mental Resistance: 150
Fire Resistance: 75%
Cold Resistance: 75%
Electric Resistance: 75%
Nature Resistance: 85%
Spirit Resistance: 75%
* Resistances shown are after activating sustained spells. If you wanted, you could Switch Ring of Mastery for Ring of Ages or switch Dweomer rune for Master of Immunity rune to max resistances at 85%.
2. Rooted DPS (this is a personally created build, no official name).
This requires some gear and spell changes and is very difficult to continuously monitor, but highly effective.
Gear: Origins gear with same runes as in sentinel armor (switch Lifegiver for Ring of Mastery).
Specializations: Arcane Warrior, Battlemage, Keeper
Sustained spells active: elemental chaos, elemental mastery.
Point of this build is to get aggro and damage without attacking, though still an option if desired when mobs are in immediate range. Being rooted immobilizes your physical movement, however enemies slain in the area add to you health. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY HEAVY MANA UPKEEP COMBO!!! Need to eliminate any and all abilities or spells not mentioned that have an upkeep. You want to get hit in this build, at least more often, bc physical damage replenishes mana. As such, you need to monitor your health and mana levels, drinking pots as needed. With the right gear and attribute points, you should not have a problem. Adding in the occasional mass paralysis and rejuvenation will make things easier. If needed, only run elemental chaos, eliminating all other sustained spells or even cast force field on yourself if your mana is not draining rapidly, if at all.
If you really want to be creative, combine these builds (my favourite play style). Run around in tank mode and if you are surrounded, pause, re-gear, and go rooted DPS. Switch back after.
Hope you enjoyed this post, and my humble opinion on the topic.
Modifié par HellsChaos, 07 octobre 2012 - 04:26 .
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