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Shapeshifting Guide ***OP Updated 2/8/10***


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#26
soteria

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Oh, ok, I guess I misunderstood.

#27
meho12

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this is good how adding arcane warrior so you use magic as your str buffer. making your bear form more powerful.

#28
daddytat

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Also, Swarm is the best form for backtracking because I think it is the fastest form in the entire game. It goes so fast infact I sometimes can't keep up with where I'm at on the map.



I wonder what pouring points into cunning would do? If you keep the regular bonuses that the form gives you and just pump up the stats that it doesn't then it seems that you might be maximizing all of your stat points. If one animal form had a strength of 27 then you would have to spend alot of precious points for your human form getting your strength up to 28 so you could get 1 point above the animal form. If you started the game w/ a strength of 17 then you would have to spend 11 points to get 1 point in strength for that animal form. (If I'm understanding this correctly). What if you took those 11 points and spent them on cunning instead or some stat that would have been the same in animal or human form. Then 11 points would be 11 points and not 1 point. Does that make since?



I think smarter forms look for greater weaknesses.

#29
upacreek78

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Well done for trying this. I keep checking back here to see your progress. After reading this I'm seriously tempted to try a solo shapeshifter build.

#30
Mr_Raider

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meho12 wrote...

this is good how adding arcane warrior so you use magic as your str buffer. making your bear form more powerful.


My understanding was that sustainables in your human form do not carry over when shifted. Nevertheless, if you can wear armor in human form, will it carry over?

#31
Gaidren

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Mr_Raider wrote...

meho12 wrote...

this is good how adding arcane warrior so you use magic as your str buffer. making your bear form more powerful.


My understanding was that sustainables in your human form do not carry over when shifted. Nevertheless, if you can wear armor in human form, will it carry over?


I was wondering this too. 

#32
guiskj

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How does the merging of equipments work?



It would be nice to get WinterForge and make some equipment tailored for a shapeshifter.

#33
guiskj

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Also, if this image is correct (http://www.dragonage...-1262140708.jpg), does anyone know if there is a peek on the bonus, or will it keep rising as long as you pump spellpower?

#34
Rolenka

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It's actually really easy to see what the bonuses are by using the toolset. But I'm lazy. Maybe later.

#35
x-president

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If a Shapeshifter casts a sustainable like Frost Weapons and then changes to Spider, Frost weapons does NOT stay active.  Everyone will loose it.

BUT, If a mage casts Frost weapons and then a different mage shapechanges in to Spider, then the Spider will keep the Frost Weapons ability.

So only if the mage who casts a spell does a shapechange, will the sustainable be lost.


- Also if you recieve a buff like Heroic Offense, and then shapechange after you recieve it, you will keep the buff.  Plus if you are the shapechanger and buff yourself, you'll keep it.  The only downfall is the time you waste going into a different form.


Tests with Gear and No Gear:

- Armour does not stack.  Whether you are naked or wearing gear, the number adjust to the same amount increasing or decreasing the bonus from shapechanging.

- Defense and Damage stack.  It'll add the shapechanger bonus onto any number you have.  So if you are a Arcane Warrior and have a strong weapon, it should stack the bonus on top.

This would make an AW and Shapeshifter combo VERY beneficial.  You could then use magic score to arm high dmg weapons and boost the overall dmg score along with defense.  This way you do not have to boost strength.  In fact I would probably go for AW first and prepare to get a very strong Shapechanger at 14.  Definitely save up 4 points though so you can get Master level right away.


***Also just boosting strength may nnot be the best route for a shapeshifter.  Spellpower gives you the overall boost to all attributes effected.  I think trying to catch up boosting strength would only work against you when you get a decent boost from shapechanging.  Actually it would kinda work against you.  You really want the minimal amount of strength points so you can get the full benefit from the boost you get in different shape.  That's why AW would really be healpful in this situation.

But you would have to force yourself not to use AW abilities and really push Shapechanger more.  Otherwise it defeats the purpose of using Shapechanging.  IMO I would probably get Shapeshifter 1st, then use AW as a boost to only improve Shapeshifter even more at lvl 14.

In fact I will probably try this with one of my mages.


- So I'm gonna have 3 tests.

1.  PC Mage - I'll boost strength and see how it works out.  Infact I may leave my Magic Score as is then.

2.  Wynne - Strictly boost Magic score for a higher Spellscore.

3.  Morrigan - I'll make her Arcane Warrior.  She currently has the lowest Strength at 14 I think with a good magic score. 

This would have been a better test from the start, but I'll see what I get.  I am 2 lvls from 14 so I'll really see how it works out once I have 3 shapeshifters.

#36
x-president

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I just gotta get this up here.

I just did the final battle in the Abandoned building angainst that Blood Mage Boss and it was sweet.  At first I had some trouble with it.  I tried to shapeshift right away and it didn't work.  The I tried to just stay human and push through it, didn't work.  After I tried it about 4 or 5 times failing I went back to shapshifting.


It was a sweet combo of some crowd control spells combined with shapeshifting to finish it off.  I initial paralyzed the 1 qunari warrior coming in from the side and then paralyized the white level mage in corner and tossed force field on the boss mage.

Alistar was sent to take out the white level mage.  I went left lining up opposite side of Allistar.  Morrigan went into Spider form right away.  By now Allistar killed the white level mage, Morrigan is moving in behind for support and I'm helping Wynne kill the Qunari warrior.  Also the Force Filed has worn off on Boss Mage.

The yellow level warrior attacks Morrigan from behind after she webbed and posioned the Boss which was resisted.  But I have her turn around and overwhelm the yellow level warrior totally disabling him and almost killing.  It was perfect timing becasue Morrigan wa almost dead.

So now Wynne is in healing mode after Qunari warrior is dead and heals Morrigan while she tears up the yellow level warrior.  Allistar has boss about 50%.  I tranform into Bear and come over and help Morrigan.  Morrigan ends up deiing, but I killed the yellow level warrior with a few swipes from the bear.  Morrigan had pretty much killed him with the spider.

Then in Bear form with Allistar we just pummel the Boss to death within seconds later.


I wish I had that recorded.  It was a beatiful combination of crowd control spells mixed in with shapeshifting mid battle.  It's probably one of the best strategic mixes I have done yet.

#37
GM23

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Man, this guide is getting better by the minute. Nice job! :)

#38
dkjestrup

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I really hope Bioware patches it, so that sustainables carry over, it's instant, and you get a bigger boost from spellpower. Because it would be so cool if it was as strong as the other specs, like Arcane Warrior.

#39
x-president

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Finally, I got my 3 man team of all Master Shapeshifters.  :wizard:

3 Swarms is awesome.  Nobody has to heal and the continues dmg makes life so much easier for the warrior.  I love how the archers run away as soon as the swarm gets by them.  They'll try to melee but fail and just turn around and run.   Plus you are able to just fly over all the traps at Jarvia's hideout.


Sense I got the full team here are some screenshots.  Allistar with all spiders and the 2nd shot is a 4v4 cooridinated attack using Overwhelm.  You can see the Spiders just gnawing away at the dwarves.   :)  The 2 spiders kinda landed on top each other.  Otherwise it's a pretty good shot.

Posted Image

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#40
x-president

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Update:

Specializations: I plan on doing 3 different combos.

1. PC Mage: Shapeshifter/Blood Mage - I plan on either taking control of an enmey or stunning the crowd to give me time to shapechange.  Or use Blood Magic and cast some spells, then change into Swarm to regain health as well as not use the health of the Swarm which is mana.  It really helps both human and Swarm form.

2. Wynne: Shapeshifter/Healer - I think starting in a form will save her mana so she can heal later in battle if need be.  Or use her to buff out everyone and then change forms.

3. Morrigan: Shapeshifter/Arcane Warrior - I'm not really gonna fill out the AW line.  I really only want it for the gain in defence, armour, and damage.  I'm hoping it will boost a Mage with low strength.  Currently Morrigan has the lowest strength at 14.  Sense Defense and Damage stack I think it's gonna work out good.


- So for PC Mage, I am only increasing Strength, Wynne I am increasing Magic Level (Spellpower Score) and maybe constitution to see how it will benefit shapeshifting, Morrigan I think I'm only gonna boost Magic lvl (Spellpower score).

So 3 different test subjects should offer some good info.

#41
Mr_Raider

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Here is an interesting tidbit:



I cannot confirm if the armor bonus transfers over to shifted forms.



The item set bonus from armor sets do go over. Stat bonuses from any equipment also seems to be retained.



Can someone test if the fire resist from wade's armor goes over too?

#42
Mr_Raider

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x-president wrote...

Tests with Gear and No Gear:

- Armour does not stack.  Whether you are naked or wearing gear, the number adjust to the same amount increasing or decreasing the bonus from shapechanging.



Can someone test this again. I find that armor does transfer over.

#43
x-president

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Mr_Raider wrote...

x-president wrote...

Tests with Gear and No Gear:

- Armour does not stack.  Whether you are naked or wearing gear, the number adjust to the same amount increasing or decreasing the bonus from shapechanging.



Can someone test this again. I find that armor does transfer over.


I only tested with mage robes, gloves, boots, and cowls.  I will be able to test stronger armour once Morrigan becomes an AW.  I'll let you know then.  It should be soon.

#44
x-president

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Update:

Ok, so I did some testing with high level armour and stronger weapons.  Morrigan is now a Shapeshifter/Arcane Warrior.

Morrigan was setup with complete Blood Dragon Armour along with the Yusaris (2 handed weapon high dmg).  My focus was on Armour, Defense, and Damage rating.

- They are setup just like the Attributes.  They have a cap and if you are high then that cap it stays the same.

Exception:  Weapon dmg will NOT stay the same.  It will actually decrease.  It's kind of a bummer and I'm not sure why they did it this way.  My dmg rating was 23.4 and it didn't matter what form I took, it would always decrease.

Weapon Dmg

Human - 23.4
Spider  - 16.2
Bear     -  21.5
Swarm - 11.9

- Those are the drops I got and you can see some are almost 50% lower.

**It looks like everything does come down to Spellpower.  The higher Spellpower allows for higher bonuses.  Arcane Warrior does help boost armour rating and any other benefits you recieve from the stronger gear.

It doesn not let you keep the higher weapon dmg.  The only way I've seen high weapon damage was from higher spellpower.  I have to double check and see if Strength helps.  Currently my PC Mage does that highest dmg in other forms.  It does have the highest strength, but I also have the highest spellpower.


Any type of elemental resistance does carry over except Nature Resistance in Spider form.  From some reason it will not exceed 75%, but anything else shows up.  So you can balance the -10% fire resistance in Spider form by wearing something that gives +10% fire resistance.  It'll show as 0% in Spider form.

Then Bear and Swarm take on whatever you already have in the resistance categories.

Modifié par x-president, 27 janvier 2010 - 04:28 .


#45
x-president

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It's partially confirmed.  Damage rating will not drop always.

- From what I can tell the weapon in your hand does not effect this number while in a different form.  It is based of Spellpower, Strength, or both.  I'll know for sure the next time I level up.

My PC mage is doing the strength test, but I have much higher score in both Spellpower and strength then Morrigan has.

Human Form

SP - 49
Str - 29

Dmg:
Spider   - 24
Bear      - 24
Swarm - 20

As you can see much higher then Morrigan.  I am strictly increasing strength and I am no longer increasing magic.  So next time if dmg goes up I'll know for sure if strength can increase it by itself. 

Modifié par x-president, 27 janvier 2010 - 04:45 .


#46
daddytat

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I would assume then that a Shapeshifter/AW who cast SpellMight b4 going into animal form would yield the best returns and a creature like that would probably survive Nightmare on Solo for those who were thinking of trying.

Modifié par daddytat, 27 janvier 2010 - 07:15 .


#47
lordrawker

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It is true that Strength has the greatest contribution to damage.
I have a level 25 Morrigan, SS/AW... naked, and I've done a little experiment.

Magic Type
Strength 11 + 0
Dexterity 11 + 2
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 93 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 2

Armor 1
Defense 43
Spellpower 89
Damage 7.1
===
Bear Shape

Strength 11 + 22
Dexterity 11 + 26
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 93 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 32

Armor 19
Defense 67
Spellpower 89
Damage 25.1
===
Spider Shape
Strength 11 + 10
Dexterity 11 + 31
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 93 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 24

Armor 11
Defense 72
Spellpower 89
Damage 16.4
===
Flying Swarm
Strength 11 + 0
Dexterity 11 + 2
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 93 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 2

Armor 1
Defense 43
Spellpower 89
Damage 6.5
=====

Strength Type
Strength 79 + 0
Dexterity 11 + 2
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 25 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 2

Armor 1
Defense 43
Spellpower 21
Damage 48.9
===
Bear Shape
Strength 79 + 0
Dexterity 11 + 12
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 25 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 15

Armor 16
Defense 53
Spellpower 21
Damage 51.8
===
Spider Shape
Strength 79 + 0
Dexterity 11 + 14
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 25 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 10

Armor 8
Defense 55
Spellpower 21
Damage 51.3
===
Flying Swarm
Strength 79 + 0
Dexterity 11 + 2
Willpower 14 + 0
Magic 25 + 6
Cunning 12 + 0
Constitution 10 + 2

Armor 1
Defense 43
Spellpower 89
Damage 49.2

I guess with this data, we can get how much stat we get on with each point of Magic.

Modifié par lordrawker, 27 janvier 2010 - 11:31 .


#48
Red.Murder1

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I already posted a sheet showing what you get for each point of magic...

#49
lordrawker

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Oh... sorry. Didn't see that. Mea Culpa.

Each point of Magic(detailed)
Bear:
Strength +0.2
Dexterity +0.2
Constitution +0.2

Spider:
Strength +0.1
Dexterity +0.3
Constitution +0.2

Anyway, add these to your data(Master Shapeshifting).
Bear:
Strength +2
Dexterity +2
Constitution +2

Spider:
Strength +1
Dexterity +2
Constitution +2

Modifié par lordrawker, 27 janvier 2010 - 12:56 .


#50
x-president

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lordrawker wrote...

It is true that Strength has the greatest contribution to damage.
I have a level 25 Morrigan, SS/AW... naked, and I've done a little experiment.


I will have this confirmed shortly.

But, Spellpower determines the overall stength of the shape and how high of a boost it gets in all categories.  For strength to influence the shapes dmg, from what I can tell you would have to be beyond the cap of the spellpower bonus.  Otherwise it doesn't matter.


Also if you were to strictly increase strength and let spellpower go at a low rating, you would negatively effect the bonus you would get for dexterity, constitution, armour, & defense.  UNless you wanted to manually increase those but it kinda defeats the purpose of a Mage Shapeshifter.