145 réponses à ce sujet

[ZaroktheImmortal]

It seems a bit much of trying to mesh two classes together. Does it actually work well?

[soteria]

I hear it does. It doesn't look like a lot of fun to me, but the idea is you wear heavy armor, and once you activate all your sustains--shimmering shield, rock armor, miasma, etc, you're mostly invincible. You can't cast much of anything, though.

[NyackDarkSoul]

I am just completing a playthrough as an arcane warrior tank. It works, it's better than a sword and shield tank, with three downsides.



1) AWs do not have immunity to knockback/knockdown/grab etc. effects. Very irritating unless overpowered vs certain bosses, but otherwise hardly noticeable. (For two specific fights, Flemeth and High Dragon I swapped Alistair into the party to tank.)



2) Early in the game the AWs only way to really get aggro is by doing damage and wearing heavy armour. It is only when you get Blood Wound (Blood Mage skill) that aggro becomes less troublesome. (Fireball, Cone of Cold work but you have to sheath sword and shield to cast them. Do not use Mind Blast, it reduces aggression.)



3) You need to research the class like hell because depending on what you want your AW to do, you need to plan every attribute, every skill, and plan in conjunction with your party. I strongly suggest getting the Raven Respecialisation Mod if you do not want to restart the game 20 times.



Otherwise, and I say again, AS A TANK, I have great experiences with AW. In fact I would go as far as to say that using and AW to tank made this playthrough on Hard easier than my playthrough on Normal with Alistair tanking.



P.S. Do arcane warrior after you have unlocked AW and BM specs.

[Lord Phoebus]

I think it's the best spec in the game. Not because it's powerful (though it is), but because it lets you play a class in an entirely different way, which is what the specializations should be doing. A mage with the arcane warrior spec, is no longer a mage, he's an arcane warrior. You really can't say that about any of the other specs.

You can just use it to wear armor and cast your spells, which works well enough (since hexes generate insane amounts of aggro, it can be a useful to do this with a hex mage). You pick up fatigue, but you can use +stamina gear that increases your mana pool (so it balances out) and it turns you from a glass cannon into a panzer. Or you can embrace the specialization and become something like a D&D cleric.

It's not like the D&D Eldritch Knight, which makes you a mage who can fight. You basically have to choose to be either a warrior or a mage, but you get to pick which one dependent on the circumstances. You should start combat with your buffs down, then you cast until you're out of mana (so you run as a full mage). Once you're out of mana you turn on your abilities and attack any remaining enemies (this is the warrior part).

It's okay as a warrior, great damage per hit, but it's hard to get a good enough attack value unless you raise your dex to around 30 or so. That said, you really do win out on the survivability side of things (more armor than a sword and shield warrior and/or a defence in the mid 100s) so you might want to use an AW to tank some bosses, where your CC spells are less effective.

Modifié par Lord Phoebus, 25 janvier 2010 - 09:10 .

[Tirigon]

My first playthrough was as AW and it was quite funny, but on my second playthrough now I´m hardly using my AW skills because as a classical mage I do more damage.

I´d recommend it as a second spec after bloodmage, though. In the lategame AW is good since sword damage increases much more with the attributes than spell damage. Bloodmagic allows you to cast without mana, so it´s definitely way to go.

[Eudaemonium]

Blood Mage is definitely the second-spec to take with AW if you want to do damage (and not just take it). You run sustainables off your mana (which makes you almost invincible) and cast offensive magic from your HP. You don't really take damage, and if your HP is too low either use Blood Sacrifice or turn Blood Magic off briefly to heal back to full with poultices. AW/BM makes the game a bit too easy, IMO, particularly on Normal, but even on Hard.



But yes, AW is not to everyone's tastes, and its is difficult in the way you have to carefully choose *every* talent. If you want a pure-casting mage, go Blood Mage/Spirit Healer instead.

[Vuokseniska]

i donno, i thought the arcane warrior was a very nifty D&D paladin mine is level 22 and could cast while having all of his buffs on.



He had all the AW buffs on + arcane shield, Rock armor, Kinetic weapon and death magic. (and spellshield only for mages)



leaving miasma off in the beginning of fight and i could still use spells like cone of cold, mass. paralyze, forcefield and death cloud combo or a crushing prison. even after those spells i could still turn on miasma



and ofcourse i had some minor spells if i drank some lyrium like heal, weaken, lifedrain, dispell magic and curse of mortality



it can be a very versatile buff/debuff tanker (and even a better templar lol)



and i do had BM but hardly ever used it, maybe from time to time blood control to use a ogre as an ally.



It does has a bit more micromanagement than the typical warrior. but it isn't as bad as a rogue or mage. just pick the right buffs for the right situation.

[BlackVader]

AW is pretty good. I have no real use for the Dragonscale armor on any of my Warriors in my current playthrough, so I had Wade make the Dragonskin set (that's the medium armor one) and gave it to Wynne (she has AW as second spec). Since the complete set has only about +15% fatigue and the setbonus is -25% fatigue, she can now actually cast all of her spells with a discount ^^

Oh, and the +25 mana and +2 mana reg don't hurt either.

[Mr_Raider]

Anyone bother getting haste on their AW? The upkeep of haste + shimmering shield seems problematic at best though.

[stribies]

I never liked arcane warrior that much. I would usually just pick it up just so I could wear whatever I wanted. I tend to use my mages for their aoe damage and control.

[LightSabres]

Arcane Warriors are at their best in Fatigue Reducing armor, staff in hand casting their hardest hitting spells to start a fight then changing to a sword and wading in for "cleanup duty"

[Treason1]

It's been noted in the past that having an Arcane Warrior as your Warden tends to make the game run on EZ mode, despite whatever difficulty level you're actually playing on. They're a powerhouse, when used properly.



For the most part, I like running an elven Arcane Warrior, with the Juggernaught armor, a shield and Spellweaver. Just seems to fit the ideal of what the ghost of the imprisoned elf who you learned the spec. from talked about, when showing a vision of "elven warriors in silver armor." For meta gaming, though, Wades Dragonskin/Dragonbone armor is the way to go. You end up with a discount on fatigue levels (negative fatigue), which helps mitigate some of the fatigue boosting when having Combat Magic activated. Let's you play as both a heavy hitting warrior and spell-slinging mage at the same time.

[Starcrunchy]

I just finished an AW and basically used it as an armored mage (Evon the Great's plus Wades Dragonbone for decent low fatigue armor with some nice stamina (a la mana) regen. Used a staff for most fights unleashing AOE/crowd control magic on the enemy then switching to Sword and shield and wading in once we were on clean up. One exception was revenents, where I tended to armor up and keep them occupied while letting the party do the job from range. These guys tended to cut my other tanks up pretty well and it seemed to go much easier having the AW do the tanking. Shimmering shield also served to help me out if I made a mistake when in casting mode (it can buy you some time). Also I got good use out of the mage spell Arcane Shield it made the build much more forgiving with respect to mistakes when fighting mages (and is really handy for some cut scene battles where it's almost impossible to beat enemy mages to their first cast).

Modifié par Starcrunchy, 26 janvier 2010 - 04:25 .

[wwwwowwww]

I think Arcane Warrior is the best specialty in the game. Just my thoughts though. However, I only use it as an elf as it reminds me of the Bladesinger from D&D.

[wby87]

Is arcane warrior any good?

Yes?
No?


When you had enough about your squishy mage not being macho enough to take the beating of that single annoying genlock, that would be the time to pick up AW and get manly.

[Mr_Raider]

Modifié par Mr_Raider, 26 janvier 2010 - 05:35 .

[Jannamarie]

I had my second run through with an arcane warrior. The most mana bonuses you have ever seen. Use the Warden's armor boots from Soldier's Peak - 25% stamina ( = mana). Use one of the shields from Redcliff for another 25% mana. Use an executor's helm for another 25% mana. Don't activate the arcane ability, just use your regular spells. I think I had 425 or 450 mana around level 18? I can go back and look at the stats if you are interested.

[SusanStoHelit]

m14567 wrote...
and you have sheathe your sword/dagger to cast a number of spells.

Not on pc you don't. There's a mod to fix that.

edit: I love AW by the way, and yes it works. I'm a full caster who, if I run out of mana, can run in and mix it up. And I don't die if someone hits me with a pointy stick - instead I kill them, with either a spell or my own pointy stick. And since I went AW/SH I don't need another mage in my party. Wynne and Morrigan can sit back in camp and knit socks for all I care. I heal, I hex, I AoE, I CC, and I thump the billy-o out of anything that gets in my way. So there.

Modifié par SusanStoHelit, 26 janvier 2010 - 08:10 .

[NyackDarkSoul]

Meh - why does everyone keep saying AW can "go in for cleanup" at the end? I send mine right at the start, Blood Wound. Gives me enough time to cast Tempest+Ice Storm+Inferno, then Sleep and Mass Paralysis. My AW is the centre of these of course, who pops combat magic at this point whilst they are blood wounded / sleeping / paralysed / (+ waking nightmare).



Having 2 mage an AW and a ranged rogue makes this game too easy.

[daddytat]

I've played the AW twice but it wasn't until playing as a traditional mage that I got the 'Heavy Hitter' achievment (250 dmg points). I've played a sword wielding AW and a spell casting AW. I prefer the spell casting type. I was dissapointed with the lack of combat moves because essentially you are NOT a warrior but a mage who swings a sword.



It would be great if the AW branch opened up the Dualist, 2H, and Sword/Shield lines but it doesn't.

I've played as a mage and now I am playing as a warrior and my games are as different as night from day. Its my opinion that the AW is a jack of traits and master of none. Alot of people like it and it DOES have its own appeal but it basically comes down to game style.



The advice given above is 100% true. You MUST plan ahead, even to the point of not spending some of your spell points so that you can get shimmering shield ASAP.



Bloodmagic or Spirithealer are good seconds. Shapeshifting is GREAT despite its bad critique but it doesn't go well w/ AW.

[LightSabres]

Yes - Shimmering Sheild is reason #2 to get the AW spec. Best defensive spell in the game.

[Tirigon]

Imo Shimmering shield sucks. Unless you don´t patch or use the mod that resets the spell nerfs. But without that it turns off at 0 mana = it´s useless.

[SusanStoHelit]

I actually seldom use Shimmering Shield - it's for rare emergency use only, and only briefly. Fade Shroud is where it's at for me - after I'm done casting.