22 réponses à ce sujet

[mousestalker]

Darth Gizka's posts on the superiority of the Arcane Warrior has inspired me to try a new foray into DA. The idea is that the PC will be an arcane warrior mage. As will Morrigan and Wynne when they get their second specialty. The fourth party member will either be Shale or Leliana depending upon the situation.

Needless to say all the mages will be plated. Please assume that all official DLC's and bonus items are available. Game play will probably be either nightmare or hard.

My question is this: How would you equip them? Assume that all three mages, plus Alistair, will be sword 'n boarders. That means a full set of heavy or massive armour for the PC, Wynne, Morrigan, Alistair, Oghren and Sten. Who gets what and why?

Lelli will be used when sneakery is called for, Shale as the perfectly lovely mana pump that she can be.

Suggestions, ideas, brainstorms?

[DarthGizka]

Good thing that you can swipe up to three shields from Vartag then...

[Elhanan]

I have used them all as AW's, but still select staves as the primary weapon. Also, Leliana is a good choice as a fourth; however for some strange reason, draws more hostility from her longbow than all three mages with spells. Weird; not a fan of MMO-like tactics anyway.

[Ferretinabun]

Ideal equipment for an Arcane Warrior is:

 

Evon the Great's Mail 
Wade's Superior Dragonscale Gloves 
Wade's Superior Dragonscale Boots 
Duncan's Sword 
Andruil's Blessing

The Wicked Oath (if poss - it's DLC)

 

All these provide mana regen. And these, along with Improved Combat Training and Fade Shroud, should give you 10 mana regen per second, which is enough to keep Shimmering Shield up indefinitely. Which is key to making an arcane warrior pretty much invulnerable.

[mousestalker]

Good thing that you can swipe up to three shields from Vartag then...

Now that's a happy thought.

But that leaves two mages to equip assuming the PC snags the Evan's + Wade's combo.

[metatheurgist]

There's an exploit to get more Wade armor from one set of scales. I can't remember how it works but it's in the wiki.

[Mike3207]

The Maric's Sword and Cailan's shield combo gives 6.5 mana regeneration on console. It's hard to beat that, along with the 1.5 health regeneration on Maric's Sword.

[Nintendali]

Interesting idea. Are all 3 mages going to be wading into the fray often, or will any of them stay back and cast? Will you be taking Blood Mage, too? Will they all run Shimmering Shield at all times? I know on PS3 I once put together a kit that gave nearly 20 mana regen per tick, but rates are doubled on consoles. With Shale in statue mode, you'd need +6 on each mage's equipment to keep the Shield up on PC. Is that possible for 3 characters?

 

Someone will definitely want to be using Cailan's Arms (RtO) for that +5 regen bonus.

 

Edit: My bad. I forgot about the character's natural mana regen, the bonus from Fade Shroud, and Combat Training 2. That's 2.5 right there.

[mousestalker]

The PC will be arcane warrior and blood mage. Wynne and Morrigan are spirit healer and shapeshifter respectively. Everyone fights.

So far I'm thinking Phoenix Matriarch for the PC, Wade's 'n Evon's for Morrigan and Cailan's for Wynne. Starfang for the PC, Maric's and Cailan's for Wynne and Veshialle's for Morrigan.

[Nintendali]

Ha! You can keep Shimmering Shield on all 3! Wynne's covered, the PC could use Andruil's Blessing, and give Morrigan The High Regard of House Dace or The Wicked Oath. Unless you're talking dual Veshialle's, then she's covered, too. That Phoenix Armor is pretty slick. Sounds like fun.

[Blazomancer]

Something like this might work:
(I'll only list those accessories that provide mana regen as the remaining are a matter of preference)
 

 

 

The Warden - Evon the Great's Mail, Gloves of Diligence, Boots of Diligence, Andruil's Blessing, Spellweaver, Fade Wall.

Total Mana Regen: at mana>50 = 5.75;  at 50>mana>25 = 6.0;  at mana<25 = 7.25

Reason: Since the warden is a Blood Mage reliance on the mana pool can be expected to be less typically. Hence, the more juicier equipments are saved for Morri and Wynne.

 

 

Wynne: Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale Armor Set, Executioner's Helm/Longrunner's Cap, Cailan's Arms.

Total Mana Regen: at mana>50 = 7.75/8.25;  at 50>mana>25 = 8.0/8.5;  at mana<25 = 9.25/9.75.

Reason: Wade's Set for fatigue reduction - Wynne as a healer might just need that little bit of leverage. With a few lyrium potions, mass rejuvenation, spellbloom, she might just pull off the feat of having Shimmering Shield and Haste sustained and being a healer at the same time.
 

 

Morrigan: Warden Commander Armor Set, Destructionist's Belt, The High Regard of House Dace, The Wicked Oath, Longrunner's Cap, Duncan's Sword, Warden Tower Shield/Dead Coat of Arms/Duncan's Shield.

Total Mana Regen: at mana>50 = 7.25;  at 50>mana>25 = 7.5;  at mana<25 = 8.75.

Reason: Warden Commander Armor Set for fatigue reduction, mana regen and bonus. I guess Cailan's Armor Set is also an option.

 

 

 

As evident, it's apparently not possible to sustain Shimmering Shield simultaneously on all the three mages with the bonus from equipment alone. Shale's Stone Aura talent can be used strategically to provide +4 mana regeneration bonus for the whole squad. Let's say, for example, Shale rushes first into the enemy's radar, uses Taunt, Killing Blow and then activates Stone Aura. The mages join the fray after that, Force Field'ing Shale or simply taking care to keep her alive. Similarly, the Spellbloom spell can be quite handy since we can expect the three mages to be in close proximity when using melee weapons. It has a cooldown of 30 seconds and provides +3 mana regen for 20 seconds. Pretty neat in this scenario I'd say. Rejuvenation and Mass Rejuvenation can also help a little bit. Mana regen doesn't hold much significance though if you are going to use Lyrium Potions frequently and/or not going to use Shimmering Shield much/at all.
 

 

If the mages are going to dump the staves completely, they might want to keep things simple and go double Haste, triple Miasma, whack! whack! whack! Or something like that.

[mousestalker]

Phoenix matriarch is pretty good. If you're going with stylish heavy armor that's always a plus.
 
It has decent stats as well.

It has an excellent look if you also use the slim female body mod. Sometimes I really wish i were better at modding and had more time for it. There is a lot of skankwear and bikini mail, but there really isn't all that much original practical armour in the mods.

Of course, if you use the UDK, you can always dye the boys' armour pink, which is usually good for a laugh or two.

[Mike3207]

Are you looking to have your PC stack dodge instead of go down the Shimmering Shield path? If so, after you get the 60% gear in origins. The sustains Fade Shield and the last AW one should get you to 100% dodge.

 

I forgot you were looking at heavy/massive armor. Maybe Evan's for the 10% dodge, then add in Wade's hands and boots for some additional mana regen. Use Evasion runes on your armor to make up for the lack of dodge on the gloves/boots.

[DarthGizka]

I've never played the 'physical' kind of Arcane Warrior, and so I cannot understand why people are so fascinated by Shimmering Shield - even to the point of letting it dominate their choice of equipment and abilities.

 

Of course, it's perfect for fighting boss-level mages and desire demons. But there aren't a whole lot of those, and only two of them are a bit tricky (Zathrian because of his adds and the presence of friendlies in the battle zone, and Gaxkang because he is Gaxkang). All other mages go down before they get off even one single spell, especially if you have Mana Clash in the family or good CC/nukage capabilities.

 

Against non-magic enemies, Shimmering Shield gives you huge resistance boosts and 15 points of damage reduction. The resistance boosts are nice against shrieks (Terrorise, mental) and spiders (Web, physical), if you want to slice them up and want to do it while they're conscious. But there aren't a whole lot of them around. That leaves plain physical combat, and physical resistance. Shimmering Shield essentially frees up rune/equipment slots by eliminating the need for Hales and things like Rock-Knocker or Deadhead Charge, but is that enough to justify its cost?

 

What am I missing? Please, help me out here...

[Mike3207]

I've never played the 'physical' kind of Arcane Warrior, and so I cannot understand why people are so fascinated by Shimmering Shield - even to the point of letting it dominate their choice of equipment and abilities.

 

Of course, it's perfect for fighting boss-level mages and desire demons. But there aren't a whole lot of those, and only two of them are a bit tricky (Zathrian because of his adds and the presence of friendlies in the battle zone, and Gaxkang because he is Gaxkang). All other mages go down before they get off even one single spell, especially if you have Mana Clash in the family or good CC/nukage capabilities.

 

Against non-magic enemies, Shimmering Shield gives you huge resistance boosts and 15 points of damage reduction. The resistance boosts are nice against shrieks (Terrorise, mental) and spiders (Web, physical), if you want to slice them up and want to do it while they're conscious. But there aren't a whole lot of them around. That leaves plain physical combat, and physical resistance. Shimmering Shield essentially frees up rune/equipment slots by eliminating the need for Hales and things like Rock-Knocker or Deadhead Charge, but is that enough to justify its cost?

 

What am I missing? Please, help me out here...

The truth is you might just be better off using Spell Shield. It gives you 75% spell resistance, and stacks with other spell resistance.There is a mana cost when you get hit by a spell, but you might be better off just putting the one point in SS. 

[Blazomancer]

If it's battle efficiency we are concerned about, then there is hardly much justification for using melee weapons and a full set of sturdier armor on a mage in the first place, let alone Shimmering Shield.

But folks do like to keep it sustained all the time and enjoy a sense of invulnerability, cost efficient or no. Just minimizes hassle and micromanagement is all, if I were to make a guess.

[DarthGizka]

The truth is you might just be better off using Spell Shield. It gives you 75% spell resistance, and stacks with other spell resistance.

Yes, that's odd, isn't it. The Spell Shield description does not mention spell resistance at all, and getting 75% stackable spell resistance at such low cost is nothing short of amazing. Especially as spell resistance is not capped at 75% internally as elemental resistances are. It looks like the spell was scripted by yet another bright young intern...

Here's the deal according to the toolset version of the game.

(De-)Activating Spell Shield modifies the spell resistance score. If a spell gets resisted and Spell Shield is active then the first 75% of resistance is assumed to have come from this ability, and the nominal mana cost of the spell is deducted (plus a service charge of 10). If your mana is too low then the spell is not resisted, regardless of how much other spell resistance you have.

There are other oddities as well. Like that spells only get resisted if the caster is hostile. Or that the cost - without the surcharge - of getting saved from Storm of the Century is less than that for Shock, which does exactly the same damage as an SotC bolt. It's only half a Tempest and roughly one third of a Blizzard.

All in all, Spell Shield is just as amazing as Mana Clash, especially if combined with the Spellward. And it costs only one spell point instead of four.

Fortunately, all of my mages so far were strong enough to resist the temptation of either spell. Two succumbed to the call of the Cudgel, though, and they are also wearing the Sash and the Vestments...
 

(...Shimmering Shield...)

But folks do like to keep it sustained all the time and enjoy a sense of invulnerability, cost efficient or no. Just minimizes hassle and micromanagement is all, if I were to make a guess.

I know what you mean. Caster mages need 100% micro and they just don't play well with others, unless you tie their hands behind their backs by using them as CC/heal/buff bots and anti-mage artillery. "Morri, be a dear and clash those mages for me"...

It is very satisfying to wade in with the whole team and give the opposition what-for, which is the raison d'être behind mousestalker's A Team I suppose. For a CC/nuker that just isn't in the cards, unless you want to direct operations blow by blow or relegate companions to ranged background DPS.

[mousestalker]

It is very satisfying to wade in with the whole team and give the opposition what-for, which is the raison d'être behind mousestalker's A Team I suppose. For a CC/nuker that just isn't in the cards, unless you want to direct operations blow by blow or relegate companions to ranged background DPS.

Pretty much that, as well as the visual appeal of the elderly Wynne and the stand offish Morrigan wading into battle. After all, one of Morrigan's battle cries is "Now we get our hands dirty."

[DarthGizka]

This reminds me of Anora, who looks irresistibly cute in her guard armour...

[DarthGizka]

Fiona: "Aren't you a little short for a guard?"
Anora: "I look more the part than you do."


 
Anora must have taken the Arcane Ruler specialisation, allowing her to use the sum of WIL + CUN for equipment requirements...

[Nintendali]

I've never played the 'physical' kind of Arcane Warrior, and so I cannot understand why people are so fascinated by Shimmering Shield - even to the point of letting it dominate their choice of equipment and abilities.

 

 Shimmering Shield essentially frees up rune/equipment slots by eliminating the need for Hales and things like Rock-Knocker or Deadhead Charge, but is that enough to justify its cost?

 

Now that I know more about the game, I can see that SS isn't as spiffy as I once thought it was. But if you are going to play a physical mage, aren't you going to take Fade Shroud anyway? On PS3 I can get a mana regen rate of +24 w/o Shale. What am I missing out on by building my mage to be able to sustain SS, whether I actually do or not?

[Mike3207]

Now that I know more about the game, I can see that SS isn't as spiffy as I once thought it was. But if you are going to play a physical mage, aren't you going to take Fade Shroud anyway? On PS3 I can get a mana regen rate of +24 w/o Shale. What am I missing out on by building my mage to be able to sustain SS, whether I actually do or not?

It's not so much missing out, it's the other areas you may not have your mage improve in by focusing exclusively on mana regen.Health regeneration, dodge, elemental damage, elemental resistance, magic resistance, mental resistance, physical resistance, et al. That's one of the advantages of being a mage-there's so many ways to make a good one. 

 

I keep wondering if it is worth it for my mage to switch over to Cailans Armor Set when i get to Awakening-but I'll lose something in dodge and elemental damage if I do that.