6397 réponses à ce sujet

[Adhin]

@Zeypher : Yeah, Dragon-Rage can hit in an arch in front. but then most Warrior skills do, so I don't think you really need to stack a lot of skills that do it. I like combat roll for a lot of reasons, honestly. First and foremost is it's ability to strip hostile effects and just get you the **** outa places. For example, Terror Demon. Say it's about to jump up on you, dodging in time will get you out. Say it HAS jumped up on you and it's doing it's AoE? Well, dodging is the only way your getting out before it pulses it's dmg on the third thing.

 

The way I'm looking at it right now, Counter + Dodge is the combo you need to come close to Shield Wall. I originally wasn't sure what skill I would ultimately settle on but after a bit of playing, dodge just became the absurdly obvious choice for my 8th slot. And, more then that, has become a skill I want immediately.

 

-edit-

Oh also, dmg vs barriers is something I think I'd want to find a reliable way to do in the party. Dispel works, some times. CC can be a pre-emptive way. There's an enemy in the game that has this charge up time thing where, once its done, it gains barriers (that take foreeeever to drop on its own) all the while there is this huge AoE dump of dmg around it. And I mean huge, on NM it was doing 150 dmg per second to me. Not physical, magic based, no armor mitigation was happening.

 

My only option as a 2H warrior was try and chain CC moves in an attach to interrupt them, or get a mage to Dispel. In the fight I was in where i ran into this the first, dispel was rarely a valid option as there was simply to many of them in general. It was a pain in the ass, but wouldn't you know it Shield Wall can BLOCK the whole goddamn AoE and it just functions as an auto-guard builder.

 

F Shield wall man, I dunno why it can block everything. I'm pretty convinced if a dragon ate you, you'd be able to block its stomach acid while being drowned in it at this point.

[zeypher]

Yea i think ill roll with cass or blackwall as main tank, while I focus on pure damage. Cass has her spell purge which will help immensely. Not sure which skills to actually get in 2 handed tree but plan to get quite a bit in battlemaster as it has grapple, roll , horn of valour, stamina regen and lot of good stuff.

Guess two handed probably few of its passives.

[Adhin]

Pro-Tip for having Cass tank with AI (or, as well as she can). Turn Payback strike off. The AI works off the skills primary conditions for what it'll do, payback strikes is 'have I been hit?' in which case yeah, yeah she has... which ultimately results in her wasting all her stamina on it and not being able to block as effectively. Favor Shield Wall, keep Payback off of her AI use list. Shield Bash works good, so does lunge, she wont spam them unless theres guard or a frozen state, lunge if shes far away.
 

-edit-

Oh and set her stamina reserve to 0%. Last thing you need is her not blocking cause shes at 40% or something silly.

[zeypher]

Good advice thanks, what about her templar abilities any good conditions for those?

[Adhin]

No idea, haven't gotten to that part yet, sadly. But just going off things I'll end up setting her base skill to favored, keep her dispel off so I can use it when I need it, and probably leave the smite-ish like skill (stun/demon dmg) at base. I'd imagine she'll use it in groups or if theres demons but not sure, sadly.

[SgtSteel91]

Does anyone know if Templar skills like Blessed Blades work only for demons? Because their description is kinda vague.

[ElginRoko]

Add Charging Bull to the list of skills not to let your AI tank use.  That solved the brief mystery of why every time I switched to Cassandra she seemed to be further away from the battle than my ranged characters

[Adhin]

Hah yeah, Charging Bull is a good skill but AI will use it constantly as a CC/knock down. I wont be giving it to any of the characters and on the off chance I do (say on Iron Bull in another playthrough) I'd keep it as a non-AI use skill cause... yeah.

[zeypher]

I wonder if can i run a 2 reaver 1 mage 1 rouge setup on normal. If i can should be fun.

[Hellion Rex]

@Zeypher : Yeah, Dragon-Rage can hit in an arch in front. but then most Warrior skills do, so I don't think you really need to stack a lot of skills that do it. I like combat roll for a lot of reasons, honestly. First and foremost is it's ability to strip hostile effects and just get you the **** outa places. For example, Terror Demon. Say it's about to jump up on you, dodging in time will get you out. Say it HAS jumped up on you and it's doing it's AoE? Well, dodging is the only way your getting out before it pulses it's dmg on the third thing.

 

The way I'm looking at it right now, Counter + Dodge is the combo you need to come close to Shield Wall. I originally wasn't sure what skill I would ultimately settle on but after a bit of playing, dodge just became the absurdly obvious choice for my 8th slot. And, more then that, has become a skill I want immediately.

 

-edit-

Oh also, dmg vs barriers is something I think I'd want to find a reliable way to do in the party. Dispel works, some times. CC can be a pre-emptive way. There's an enemy in the game that has this charge up time thing where, once its done, it gains barriers (that take foreeeever to drop on its own) all the while there is this huge AoE dump of dmg around it. And I mean huge, on NM it was doing 150 dmg per second to me. Not physical, magic based, no armor mitigation was happening.

 

My only option as a 2H warrior was try and chain CC moves in an attach to interrupt them, or get a mage to Dispel. In the fight I was in where i ran into this the first, dispel was rarely a valid option as there was simply to many of them in general. It was a pain in the ass, but wouldn't you know it Shield Wall can BLOCK the whole goddamn AoE and it just functions as an auto-guard builder.

 

F Shield wall man, I dunno why it can block everything. I'm pretty convinced if a dragon ate you, you'd be able to block its stomach acid while being drowned in it at this point.

Only spell or talent I can think of that does damage versus barrier directly is Spirit Blade, which has 200% Bonus.

[Adhin]

Yeah, I mentioned vs barrier more in a item capacity. You can get bonus dmg vs barrier via Magic stat or via just dmg vs barrier items. I still probably wont be doing that on my main though as I want to focus on having as much HP as I can possibly muster so that takes priority. But getting rid of barriers quickly on certain mobs can make a hell of a difference. But then so can CC'ing them before they get the chance to activate their barriers.

[Hellion Rex]

Yeah, I mentioned vs barrier more in a item capacity. You can get bonus dmg vs barrier via Magic stat or via just dmg vs barrier items. I still probably wont be doing that on my main though as I want to focus on having as much HP as I can possibly muster so that takes priority. But getting rid of barriers quickly on certain mobs can make a hell of a difference. But then so can CC'ing them before they get the chance to activate their barriers.

Ah, mea culpa.

[Duelist]

A question to the regulars of this thread: how are your builds holding up?

[Adhin]

So far relatively well. Though I can see a few places late game where I might change things up a bit. I'm also a bit at odds with War Cry or Challenge. War Crys 200% armor bonus for 10 seconds is amaaazing for not dying. But challenges 15 stamina per second is just as amazing for skill use. Atm, sticking to War Cry... hoping Ring of Pain isn't to big of a pain in the ass to keep going with Devours absurd stamina costs.

[VilhoDog13]

• Rupture: Heavy damage over time, ignoring armor
• Shatter: Heavy cold damage
• Discharge: Strong electric damage to all nearby enemies
• Nightmare: Strong damage and causes panicked status (Creature runs away in a panic. After 1.5 seconds any direct damage will break the effect.)
• Weakness: Strong damage and causes weakness status (Creature’s damage reduced by 15%.)
• Basic combo: Moderate bonus damage

Cross-Class Combos

Warrior stun: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Basic combo),
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Rupture),
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Weakness)

Rogue sleep: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Rupture)
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Basic combo),
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Nightmare)

Mage Freeze: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Shatter)
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Shatter),
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Basic Combo)

Mage Paralyze: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Discharge)
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Discharge),
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Basic Combo)

Edit: Bad formatting, tried to make it better but kinda late and lying in bed

I'm still confused about combos. I never know if I've done them. I do wish tactics were a little better though. I'm finding my Cass isn't taunting with War Cry, even when there are multiple enemies and I set it to preferred.

Could you elaborate on what works for basic abilities? I understand the detonators, but not really what sets up for them.

[VilhoDog13]

Pro-Tip for having Cass tank with AI (or, as well as she can). Turn Payback strike off. The AI works off the skills primary conditions for what it'll do, payback strikes is 'have I been hit?' in which case yeah, yeah she has... which ultimately results in her wasting all her stamina on it and not being able to block as effectively. Favor Shield Wall, keep Payback off of her AI use list. Shield Bash works good, so does lunge, she wont spam them unless theres guard or a frozen state, lunge if shes far away.

-edit-
Oh and set her stamina reserve to 0%. Last thing you need is her not blocking cause shes at 40% or something silly.

Holy **** thank you. I think this was the exact problem I was mentioning in my previous comment. Definitely going to fix this when I get home. Seriously, thank you. I was having to manually walk her into places to freaking taunt because enemies were running all over the place attacking me.

[lastpawn]

I'm still confused about combos. I never know if I've done them. I do wish tactics were a little better though. I'm finding my Cass isn't taunting with War Cry, even when there are multiple enemies and I set it to preferred.

Could you elaborate on what works for basic abilities? I understand the detonators, but not really what sets up for them.

 

From a Combat forum thread called "How detonations work."

 

Basically, there are 4 primers: STUN (Warriors only), SLEEP (Rogues only), FREEZE (Mages and Tempest Rogue), PARALYZE (Mages).

 

There are 3 detonators: IMPACT (Warriors and Rift Mages), PRECISION (Rogues only), ELDRITCH (Mages and Templar Warriors).

 

When look at the skill trees, you'll notice things like Lightning Bolt being able to paralyze enemies. This makes it a primer. Once the enemy is paralyzed, you can use any of the detonators on it for a combo. Examples of detonators are Shadow Strike, Mighty Blow, and Energy Barrage.

 

The chart below shows you what the outcome of that combo is.

 

For example. if your mage paralyzes the enemy with the Lightning Bolt, and then casts Energy Barrage on the same enemy, you get Basic combo. But if your Mage paralyzes the enemy with the Lightning Bolt, and then your warrior uses Mighty Blow, you get Discharge.

 

And so on. Hope that clears it up. The game is certainly not very user friendly when it comes to documenting these things.

 

Rupture: Heavy damage over time, ignoring armor
• Shatter: Heavy cold damage
• Discharge: Strong electric damage to all nearby enemies
• Nightmare: Strong damage and causes panicked status (Creature runs away in a panic. After 1.5 seconds any direct damage will break the effect.)
• Weakness: Strong damage and causes weakness status (Creature’s damage reduced by 15%.)
• Basic combo: Moderate bonus damage

Cross-Class Combos

Warrior stun: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Basic combo),
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Rupture),
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Weakness)

Rogue sleep: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Rupture)
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Basic combo), 
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Nightmare)

Mage Freeze: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Shatter)
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Shatter), 
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Basic Combo)

Mage Paralyze: Impact Detonator (Warrior, Discharge)
Precision Detonator (Rogue, Discharge), 
Eldritch Detonator(Mage, Basic Combo)

[Adhin]

That also means a Rift Mage is the best mage spec for self-detonations. That is, Cold or Lightning CC effects + Rift mage skill for detonation is the same as a warrior doing it. So you hopefully don't get the weaker base combo.

 

As for Cass and AI tanking (or AI in general). Another issue I kept running into (and am currently experimenting with) is the whole defense/follow and AI target. Sadly theres no target highest HP or ranged, or mages or any of that. All there is, is whos target they should priorize more or less. Which is weird when you think about it, If everyone is targetting everyone elses target it just... well that would fail horribly in DAO/2.

 

Anyway, currently Vivienne and Sera on follow and going off Cassandra's Target. Cassnadra is going off... Cassandras target lol. And my main is going off his own target. Ultimately this means if I let go of my main to control someone else, he keeps doing what hes doing. Cass doesn't all of a sudden jump targets cause I've jumped targets, and the 2 DPS/Support roles focus on whatever Cass is doing freeing me up to play the tanky skirmisher.

 

It's not perfect, mind you, and in any real fight I will point my ranged to hold specific positions to stop them from derping them selves up a Templars bum but... yeah. Seriously the amount of times I've had Sera, as an archer decide she has to RUN UP to someone in an OPEN FIELD because... I dunno, she wants to steal there pants or something... *sighs*

 

Eventually Vivienne will be a KE and as such will start doing more melee which I'm fine with, she'll be drowning in barriers by that point. Sera needs to keep her butt away though.

[Ou_Deis]

 

Eventually Vivienne will be a KE and as such will start doing more melee which I'm fine with, she'll be drowning in barriers by that point. Sera needs to keep her butt away though.

 

"Eventually"---do you mean you haven't been able to give her specialization abilities yet? At what level can you start using companions' spec abilities?

 

Awesome point about Stonefist, missed that on first reading. Wonder if the upgraded Stonefist's AoE weaken/stagger also acts as an AoE detonator. Cross-class detonators give you Focus, right? Any idea if the Rift Mage's Impact Detonator on Frozen/Paralyzed also builds Focus? How often do you get to use Focus---is it a viable part of strategy for any tough battle, or only usable very rarely? Do characters draw from the party's Focus bar, or just their own Focus bar (i.e. should I plan on only using one character's Focus ability, or multiple Focus abilities in the same battle)?

 

Rift Mage could be interesting if its strategy revolves partly around building as much Focus as possible through cross-class Detonators to use Firestorm frequently....

 

Does Damage Resistance % stack additively or multiplicatively? How hard is it for Tempest to get 100% DR with Flask of Ice?

 

When text says "your barrier" does it mean any barrier spell the mage has cast (including on other party members), or specifically the barrier on the mage? Wondering especially about Mana Surge, could be awesome cast on a tank or melee DPS'er (AoE freeze + next spell at no cost)....

 

Would Reaver be viable as tank in Normal/Hard if you've got a Tempest as temporary (8-second) off-tank? Would it require massive investment in tanking instead of DPS, or could we still use the offensive Reaver and two-handed skills? Can you direct combat roll to specific area, and will enemies generally follow after you?

 

How does flanking with Easy to Miss work? It says 100% threat reduction when flanking... but enemies still turn around when you attack them, right? What if they're already busy attacking your tank? What if your tank is also attacking them, but your flanking rogue is doing more damage?

 

[Also: how good is Mind Blast's threat reduction? Which is better for mage survival, Mind Blast or Fade Step? Does Fade Step's 2 seconds let you run far enough to be safe from enemies even if your mage has massive threat from having just nuked? Does CC without damage still build threat on mages?]

[Adhin]

No idea, I'm pretty sure it's the story event where we get to choose ours. Not going into spoilers on that but I hadn't done it (or started it) and ended up restarting my character cause... BioWare RPG, I have a long tradition of starting in a manner which I don't like and immediately reset after 2 full days of trying to keep at it. I'd say one of these days ill learn buy im 32 now, that **** aint happening anytime soon.

 

As far as Reaver, I'm Reaver tanking in NM (or will be). That is to say I've create a rather tanky 2H warrior who shares the fight with Cassandra, Reaver on normal/hard would be considerably easier. Add to this later on you can start crafting weapons (and mods for weapons) that give you guard 'per' hit? Yeah, you could tank with a Reaver just fine. Hell with the guard per hit you could probably make a pretty tanky Dual Wielding Rogue with how fast they attack, especially the spinny slash daggers that hit more then 1 enemy. Granted, that's mid-late game not something you can just start doing.

 

Oh my, so many questions ok so um... Damage Resist is multiplicative and I have no idea if it comes before, or after Armor - but I would imagine from a balance perspective it's 'after' Armor. Only because if it came before Armor we would find are selves nearly immune to physical dmg rather quickly. As far as the barrier question the vast majority of them mean the individual in question has barriers (via any source).

 

The Flanking thing should just reduce all threat you generate which is generally based off dmg. That doesn't mean an enemy will ignore you. If an enemy isn't specifically 'tied' to anyone, your proximity might be enough to get them to turn around. If a tank is already actively hitting them, that's another story. And on Mind Blast its a reverse taunt. It's effective as it forces the disengagement but it's not time based like a taunt. That is, the enemy doesn't actively ignore you for a set time, it just dumps your threat, if nothing else is hitting them, or your still right next to them and your the only real 'threat' after a second they're gonna probably resume hitting you in the face.

 

No idea on the CC part, I think so, but i think it's the DMG not the CC. My Archer using Long Shot that puts enemies to sleep for 20 seconds? Enemies rarely go after the archer after they wake up again. It's almost like they have 0 thread upon waking up and start a fight as if they had just spawned. Small duration freezes don't necessarily work that way but if you got warriors attacking the target, they generally beat out mage threat by that point.

 

Anyway Fade Step launchs you a considerable distance, and if your quick enough with it, you can actually do a U-turn and kinda use it as an offensive ability returning generally to where you started. Personally, for KE, I'm kinda thinking of using Fade Cloak upgraded specifically cause of terror demons. See one disappear and about to pounce on you? Fade Cloak - reappear inside them for 1k% dmg! Suck it fear demons.

 

-edit-

To answer the question... personal preference? Fade Steps super speedy, mind blast is good threat reduction + barrier when upgraded. So... different styles, personally I'd probably lean toward mind blast, don't always have room to play ice flash you know? can't accidently launch your self off a bridge/cliffside with it lol.

[Adhin]

If anyone finds out how many Power amulets are in the game that the 'player' can use - if any - I'd love to know. Been trying to find something, anything on it and I can't find much other then companion specific stuff. I could of sworn I've found 2 for Varric early on. Seems odd companions would get more bonus points then the player so theres gadda be ones for the quizzy.

[konfeta]

Sigh, we need a fast compilation of which ability bugs so Bioware can fix them in the first patch, not 4+ years down the road. AFAIK:

 

1. Firewall does no friendly fire damage.

2. Immolate doesn't detonate.

3. Gathering Storm passive (staff attack cooldown reduction) doesn't actually work.

 

4. I am also 99% certain that Flashpoint is bugged to not have an internal cooldown. I am occasionally able to fire off 3+ chains of Immolate or Chain Lightning or Fire Mine with it. The Flashpoint indicator doesn't show up during these explosion sprees, though.

[LexXxich]

Gotta have to ask still, if anyone experimented and found out. Mana surge says "when your barrier is depleted by enemy attacks". Does it mean barrier on yourself (regardless of who cast it)? Or barrier you cast (regardless of target)? Or barrier you cast on yourself? Gave it to Solas, but I don't think I've ever seen it in action, and barriers he casts definitely gets depleted by enemies from time to time.

[Adhin]

Tell ya what, I was gonna wait till after Vivienne had KE but on next lvl up I'll nab it and see if it procs on my char or cass. I'm 99% sure it only effects Cassandra though. Keep in mind it's not 'just' an explosion on barrier destruction it's also no mana cost on next spell. Not exactly something that would make sense triggering from all 4 people in the party but then who knows... I guess I will in an hour or 2 lol.

[Murloc Knight]

Can someout post a good companion's build?