19 réponses à ce sujet

[Viridius]

Hey,
I have just reinstalled DAO after a long hiatus, had two playthroughs as a DW Rogue three years back and am looking for something different, was thinking I would go Arcane Warrior for a mage/tank experience, add on Spirit Healer because I do not meddle in Blood Magic, and was wondering about my party setup. I have mostly made up my mind that Leliana will be in there always (I like her, she opens locks and does a decent ranged DPS), and Morrigan/Wynne will come along for CC/Healing/Ranged DPS. Wynne may make more sense because she doesn't waste the specialization point in SS, but I think it will Morrigan anyways.

Who should be my fourth party member?

- Dog for Overwhelm/finding things?
- Shale for banter (what role)?
- Alistair as off tank?
- Zevran DW DPS rouge, because I can put my main on auto attack when he's cast his first spells and that lets me manually get the most out of Zevran?

What do you think will be the most fun addition? Thanks!

[keeneaow]

Shale stone aura gives + life & + mana regeneration, and with excellent fire crystals also boost melee crit., I managed to get it to 16.2 melee crit on AW

http://social.biowar.../index/17056304

[Ferretinabun]

Good choice picking Morrigan over Wynne. An Arcane Warrior built right is pretty damn near indestructible, so a Healer Mage would be a total waste. I suppose even Morrigan is less than optimal considering you are a mage yourself and can throw around essential spells at a push, but if you're determined to take her then a second mage is never really a bad thing. I'd advise speccing her for CC though - your weakness as an Arcane Warrior is that you do not have much in the way of threat generation, and a tank that doesn't hold aggro is not an ideal one. Give her the Sleep line, the Telekinesis line, as well as buffs (Haste is always nice...) and debuffs so she doesn't draw too much aggro away from you.

As for the fourth companion, the fact is that I doubt it matters much. You've got a fairly solid team just with those three. But just considering your options: a tank would be unnecessary in your party. Zevran rarely gets much of a look in for me simply because he generally needs a fair bit of nannying, and Leliana is better for locks and traps. Dog doesn't scale very well, so get quite crappy around the mid game. So I suppose that leaves the heavy hitters - Sten, Oghren or a DPS Shale. Either one of them would be a boon, though I think Shale is the strongest of them simply because of the crystals. And, of course, she is HILARIOUS. 

Modifié par Ferretinabun, 15 octobre 2013 - 10:58 .

[Viridius]

Thanks, guys, it's great that there is still an active community around DAO! Sounds like Shale is a take. I prefer definitely her to Sten and Oghren from a banter perspective, and I don't think I've ever had her a regular.

Ferretinabun, I get what you're saying about me not actually needing Morrigan OR Wynne. But on the other hand, I suppose the only reasonable replacement for her would be Sten or Oghren, and so that's a second heavy hitter. That doesn't seem better than the CC-Morrigan you described.

When I look at the likely setup (AW/Leliana/CC-Morrigan/Shale), I suppose I need to rely on Leliana (lategame) and Shale for DPS. How do I go about that - Pulverizing Blows, mostly?

[Ferretinabun]

Morrigan's not essential, but thinking about it, you're right; she probably is one of your better options.

Shale is a simple build - pump Str and Cons to 36 (or is it 38?) so you can fit the largest crystals, then just continue to pump one exclusively depending on the role you want for her. So Str in your case for a DPS. And yes, the Pulverising Blows tree should be your default tree.

Leliana is a late bloomer - archers generally are. But once she's up, she's golden. Pump Cun to 30 so she can open any lock and trap (with all the lockpicking talents) and the rest in Dex. Assassin as a 2nd spec for the Mark of Death talent.

Actually, the most difficulty you will have is at the start of the game, as Arcane Warriors don't get off the ground much before you unlock the later talents, which have high level restrictions. So you will be just a plain mage before then and might want a slightly different team. Leliana's still good for roguing, and Shale is generally great, but as you'll be a regular mage, I'd suggest swapping Morrigan out for Alistair or Sten/Oghren until you're ready to take the front line yourself.

[mousestalker]

It's 38 for Shale.

[Viridius]

That sounds like good advice. I may even just keep Dog until I am able to hold my own. I will try and get the Mana Regeneration Setup I found in another thread

Evon the Great's Mail - 1 point per second
Wade's Superior Dragonscale Gloves - 0.5 points per second.
Wade's Superior Dragonscale Boots - 0.5 points per second.
Duncan's Sword - 2 points per second (From Return to Ostagar DLC)
Andruil's Blessing - 2 points per second.
The Wicked Oath - 1 point per second.
Improved Combat Training (skill) - 0.5 points per second.
Fade Shroud (talent, active with Combat Magic) - 1 point per second.
Base mana regen - 1 point per second.

or even use Cailans arms and armor. I dislike the seemingly OP DLC items, and still am always tempted to use them. First world problems, I guess.

[keeneaow]

Rock armor and spell shield makes a world of difference in survivability until you get SS at lv 14,
and they are sometimes vital even after.
One thing i've always wondered is if combat training bring anything at all to AW after 2nd ?

[Viridius]

Yeah, I am planning to survive on Rock Armor and Spell Shield :-)

BTW: any opinion if an AW profits more from being an elf than from being human? I guess it hardly matters, does it?

[Blazomancer]

^Min-maxers profit from being an Elf, for the rest it doesn't matter.

[Viridius]

Thx. Then I guess I'll be human. I like my mains to have beards. If they are male, at least, and this one will be.

[Viridius]

Viridius wrote...

That sounds like good advice. I may even just keep Dog until I am able to hold my own. I will try and get the Mana Regeneration Setup I found in another thread

Evon the Great's Mail - 1 point per second
Wade's Superior Dragonscale Gloves - 0.5 points per second.
Wade's Superior Dragonscale Boots - 0.5 points per second.
Duncan's Sword - 2 points per second (From Return to Ostagar DLC)
Andruil's Blessing - 2 points per second.
The Wicked Oath - 1 point per second.
Improved Combat Training (skill) - 0.5 points per second.
Fade Shroud (talent, active with Combat Magic) - 1 point per second.
Base mana regen - 1 point per second.

or even use Cailans arms and armor. I dislike the seemingly OP DLC items, and still am always tempted to use them. First world problems, I guess.

Looking at this again and would like to try playing without any DLC items, to see if I can. I assume that AW is pretty powerful even without them. That means Duncan's sword, Cailan's Arms and The Wicked Oath are of limits. My goal will probably be Starfang and Wade's Superior Dragonbone set. Will that be enough to maintain Shimmering Shield and do some casting? Maybe I will just ban Cailan's set, but allow myself everything else to make it work ...

[Blazomancer]

That would be enough, barely enough more like.

Spellweaver(+1), Dead Coat of Arms/Fade Wall(+1) & Song(s) of Valor( [+0.5,...)) - viable alternatives.

Bonus regen below critical mana levels(+0.5 if <50 & +2.5 if <10) would keep Shimmering Shield from deactivating unless the last few drops are deliberately expended. Since blood magic is out, the attribute points in CON would be going into WILL, right? Though casting spells forever without drinking potions wouldn't be an option - say thanks to fatigue.

Whether all this is frustrating or fun, would depend on you. Gameplay most likely would be a bit more stimulating than that with a post-DLC build.

[keeneaow]

With both Inner Reserves and Renewed Assault, Stone Aura grants +4/+8 mana/stamina regeneration to all other party members in the aura.
it also add attack, defense, health regeneration, and fire crystals also boost melee crit.
http://dragonage.wik...wiki/Stone_Aura

My experience with SH cleansing aura is very bad, i think it is a friendly fire mana drain spell.
I dont really use BM in origins, except in one particular case:
since i run around with all sustainables at all times, i dont have the mana pool to cast a mana clash at the start of the fight unless i either 1] use WC boots + battledress of provocateur + other mana reserve items, or 2] use BM at this single cast

[Viridius]

You guys have been very helpful! Any advice on where I can find good tactis setups for an DPS Archer Leliana, a CC/Debilitator-Morrigan and a DPS Shale? Most setups I find via search seem to be for different builds ...

And I am looking at Shale's Talents again. Is she really better than a well-built and equipped Oghren or Sten? I remember she is strong, but having only four talents she regularly uses, seems like waste compared to the other available warriors. Am I wrong?

Modifié par Viridius, 17 octobre 2013 - 08:16 .

[dainbramage]

Archer is very simple tactics. This is because most archery skills are trash.

Up top are defensive ones. Self-attackedbymelee-distraction, self-lowhp-potion, etc

First combat is probably enemies-clustered-scattershot.
Then shattering either high armor or high rank
Then just autoattack

Then make sure she's using her sustains. Self-any-SoC, that sort of thing.



Shale is a lot more complicated, and generally you'll need to use her yourself to be fully efficient. But try (you won't have enough slots for this until high levels though)

self-surrounded by 0-skip to 6
self-activate pulverizing blows
self-surrounded-quake
enemy-nearest-slam
enemy-nearest-attack
6. self-activate rock mastery
enemy-high rank-earthen grasp
enemy-clustered-hurl rock
enemy-clustered-rock barrage
enemy-nearest-attack

This still leaves out regenerating burst and bellow, both of which are very powerful. Killing blow is a pretty bad skill, shale's autoattacks aren't strong so using talents is important. For that reason not draining all your stamina is also important.

Modifié par dainbramage, 17 octobre 2013 - 09:01 .

[Viridius]

Thank you, Dainbranage, that's very interesting. While I charge into battle headfirst like the AW tank that I am, Shale stays back with the other girls, throwing rocks. And when enemies get through to them, Shale engages them with Pulverizing Blows while the girls pull back and keep doing their thing. Then, I may chose to help out Shale, depending on how it's going. Is this what you are suggesting, basically?

[dainbramage]

Yeah, that's the general gist. However the one I posted includes an attack command after her rock mastery skills, so once she's used them she'll head into melee.

[Ferretinabun]

For a CC Morrigan, good spells include Cone of Cold, Forcefield, Crushing Prison, the Sleep line, Hexes and the Paralyze line. Mana Clash is basically an insta-kill for enemy mages, but it's a level 4 spell that sits at the end of a line which is otherwise underwhelming, so it's an expensive investment in XP.

As far as tactics go, taking control of Morrigan will make her most efficient, as spells such as Sleep, Cone of Cold and Waking Nightmare are all about placement. However, you can set up the easy stuff to be done automatically.

enemy-mage-mana clash
enemy-high rank-misdirection hex
enemy-high rank-death hex
enemy-clustered-mass paralysis

Stuff like that,

[Cobra's_back]

AW nice build. It help to know what enemies are around the corner. In the deep roads two magic wielders took down the shields of the AW. The spell shield is really easy to take out. If you know where they are then Mana Clash works great. Crushing prison is not worth the four points anymore. It does not even work on yellow enemies.