145 réponses à ce sujet

[RangerSG]

Mr_Raider wrote...

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

That's why you have Wynne cast haste.

I only use Shimmering Shield when I don't have an attack spell handy and a big beastie is bearing down on me. Use it for those few seconds to save my bacon, then turn it off and go back to attack mode.

[Vanderbilt_Grad]

Arcane Warrior is good. You can play it more than one way too.



It’s pretty easy to just use AW and still be mostly a caster type. If you wear the robes (Reaper’s Vestments), light armor (the Felon’s Coat), or stamina boosting items (like The Fade Wall as these boost mana on the Arcane Warrior) you can still cast plenty and then activate Combat Magic and join melee once your mana starts running low. The advantage of doing this is that you can still be a primary caster and have some melee fun in nearly every combat. The downside is that you are unlikely to be able to tank nearly as well as other types of AWs and that you really need those defensive sustanables like Rock Armor to avoid eating a ton of damage at close range.



The other main approach is wearing massive armor you can and keeping a lot of sustained spells up & have great AC. With that setup you are less likely to cast much. Instead you become a flexible tank that can heal, fireball, or whatever every once in a while but mostly auto-attacks and lets the sustainables make you strong. The advantage of this approach is that you can have insane AC pretty early and are nearly always going to end up being one of the most durable folks on your team. The downside is that you are no longer a primary anything. You don’t grab aggro as well as a warrior tank nor do you resist knockdowns & backstabs. You don’t cast as well as a less specialized mage most of the time. You certainly aren’t a DPS rogue even if you can do impressive autoattack damage. You are really strong and flexible … but you no longer really fit a clean party role.



It’s not too hard to stake out a middle ground there either. You can aim for stamina boosting heavy armor (the Warden Commander’s set from Warden’s Keep DLC is particularly good) or get a secondary specialization in Blood Mage so that you can cast away even when armored up. Alternately you could just wear good Medium Armor (Wade’s Superior Dragonskin or Dragonscale both grant very good AC while offsetting fatigue).



In play I tend towards starting light and then switching over to the heavy armor approach as I get better gear. Even moreso than most mages Arcane Warrior’s are really vulnerable to Templars and other foes that can get rid of their sustainable spells at certain points in the game. In melee the AW really needs those sustainables to be effective and when they go it’s a real pain, especially if your equipment isn’t great.



I also strongly recommend reading Arcane Warrior Spellcasting on the DA Wiki if you want to play one. Essentially some spells require you to sheath your melee weapons to cast … and this can really slow down the character’s response time. I tend to aim for the spells that you can cast with weapons out more than not just to avoid this … but that’s not really mandatory at all.

[mosspit]

There is a way to circumvent sheathing. Just quick change your weapons and they automatically sheath. A little micro to save a little combat time.
Haste is not recommended if aw is pure magic.
I feel +mana/stamina items are very impt for aw, next are fatigue reductions.

Modifié par mosspit, 27 janvier 2010 - 01:22 .

[NyackDarkSoul]

In response to people who do not use shimmering shield which is still awesome even after patching. 75% resist to all magic types + 100 physical + 100 mental resistance (basically maxxed with gear) ... erm hello? Compensate for the lost mana regen by using gear with stamina regen, another mage with mass or normal rejuvenation and a rogue with high cunning and song of valor. With that kind of setup I have only ever had shimmering shield drop when I cast a spell that dropped my mana to 0. It's also nothing a lesser lyrium potion with your high magic rating can't solve.

[mgass]

AW is ok. It basically gives you a tank (magic used for Str) with spell casting.



In order for it to "work", you must hotkey Swap Weapon Set, so that you go from sword to staff. This is how you get around the two-second pause to swap and cast.



AOE spells are best. Then swap to sword as you get swarmed.



Other than that, not too keen on it, myself.

[Snorepoke]

These days I get AW w/ combat magic just so my mage can wear Wade's Medium or Wade's Heavy.

[mgass]

Snorepoke wrote...

These days I get AW w/ combat magic just so my mage can wear Wade's Medium or Wade's Heavy.

That means fatigue and that takes away from the amount of mana to heal.

I find pumping most points into Willpower and Constitution for Mages (I rarely use a character Mage) works best and I only need basic robes.

[Tirigon]

mgass wrote...

Snorepoke wrote...

These days I get AW w/ combat magic just so my mage can wear Wade's Medium or Wade's Heavy.

That means fatigue and that takes away from the amount of mana to heal.

I find pumping most points into Willpower and Constitution for Mages (I rarely use a character Mage) works best and I only need basic robes.

Wades medium armor actually LESSENS the Fatigue due to the set bonus.

[hexaligned]

It's the best solo capable toon in the game, in coordinated group play, you are just throwing away a caster to gain another tank.

[DKJaigen]

mgass wrote...

Snorepoke wrote...

These days I get AW w/ combat magic just so my mage can wear Wade's Medium or Wade's Heavy.

That means fatigue and that takes away from the amount of mana to heal.

I find pumping most points into Willpower and Constitution for Mages (I rarely use a character Mage) works best and I only need basic robes.

full set is 4% fatigue. and fatigue isnt a problem if you use BM especially if you spec some chars as a ranger

[mgass]

Tirigon wrote...

mgass wrote...

Snorepoke wrote...

These days I get AW w/ combat magic just so my mage can wear Wade's Medium or Wade's Heavy.

That means fatigue and that takes away from the amount of mana to heal.

I find pumping most points into Willpower and Constitution for Mages (I rarely use a character Mage) works best and I only need basic robes.

Wades medium armor actually LESSENS the Fatigue due to the set bonus.

It lessens the fatigue from normal to about 7% fatigue (not counting helm or weapon).  That is still higher fatigue than basic robes/cowls. 

Given that the Libertarian's cowl has +12 Defense and +.25 mana regeneration, and mage leather gloves only have a .5 fatigue factor, the additional protection isn't worth it for the higher fatigue for me.

[High Magus]

mgass wrote...

Tirigon wrote...

mgass wrote...

Snorepoke wrote...

These days I get AW w/ combat magic just so my mage can wear Wade's Medium or Wade's Heavy.

That means fatigue and that takes away from the amount of mana to heal.

I find pumping most points into Willpower and Constitution for Mages (I rarely use a character Mage) works best and I only need basic robes.

Wades medium armor actually LESSENS the Fatigue due to the set bonus.

It lessens the fatigue from normal to about 7% fatigue (not counting helm or weapon).  That is still higher fatigue than basic robes/cowls. 

Given that the Libertarian's cowl has +12 Defense and +.25 mana regeneration, and mage leather gloves only have a .5 fatigue factor, the additional protection isn't worth it for the higher fatigue for me.

Is the mana regen worth it?

[dkjestrup]

Don't listen to mgass. Wade's Medium gives you negative fatigue. And the mana regen is worth it.



Also, Mgass, you should pump magic. Willpower and Con are unnecessary, when you have negative fatigue, infinite lyrium pots, Blood Gorge Amulet, Lifegiver, Spell ward, Andruils Blessing, key to the City to increase your willpower and con.

[Wompoo]

wwwwowwww wrote...

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.

My thoughts exactly. I love playing them for this reason only.

[sabreene]

How much Dex do you usually put into your AW? I'm finding mine misses her target often, so I'm not doing as much damage as I'd like.

[flagondotcom]

So far in three playthroughs (with current one as an AW whose second spec will be BM) I've tried various combos. Giving Wynne AW as her second spec, just for combat magic so she can wear Wade's Superior armor, worked well. Morrigan as a SS/AW in heavy armor not so much. PC mage as AW/SH in Felon's Coat (but with no other points in the AW tree) worked well. Current AW is running in Tevinter Mage robes and maxing out the AW tree, and will continue in light robes until I get Wade's Superior or another equivalent armor. (which won't happen until after I round up enough gold to get the Felon's Coat and Evon the Great's Mail).



Alistair's in the Warden Commander armor for now; that's another option for the PC AW I suppose.



@sabreene: Your to-hit (attack) score for an AW with Combat Magic should be based on (magic-10) + (dex -10) so the only reason to put points in Dex instead of Magic is to improve your defense score--unless I completely misunderstood the game mechanics. Current PC mage that often goes hand-to-hand does miss with 14 dex (and ~14 STR) if I don't turn on Combat Magic, but with CM seems to miss no more often than Ali/Shale.

[miltos33]

sabreene wrote...

How much Dex do you usually put into your AW? I'm finding mine misses her target often, so I'm not doing as much damage as I'd like.

The first time I played as an AW I didn't put any points in Dex and I lived to regret it. The second time I decided to put one point in Dex every other level and that worked miracles. Along with the bonuses from the Fade etc I finished at level 22 with 30 Dex and only Morrigan had a better hit rate in the party as a staff wielding mage.

Besides, Superior Dragonskin Armor is way better than any robes in every single aspect. It gives you +15 armor at -12.5% net fatigue, so you can cast all your spells at a discount until you activate combat magic to clean up. And the +25 mana and 2 mana regeneration greatly help your shimmering shield to stay active for much longer.  

Modifié par miltos33, 28 janvier 2010 - 04:02 .

[LightSabres]

I prefered the Wade's Heavy Dragonscale on my AW. With the Helm of Honnaleath(sp?) equiped my fatigue was about 5.8%. Add Shimmering Shield and I had a 9.8% fatigue, AC above 35-36 and most could ignore most damage.



By the time I expended most of my mana casting spells 60% of fights were over, another 35% were so close to being over I didn't even bother pulling out my sword/shield and the last 5% of fights were "Elite" Boss fights like the end of Anvil of the Void.

[Skadi_the_Evil_Elf]

The mana consumption of AW class can be mitigated through spells like mana drain and death syphon.



If playing AW, the spirit school is your friend. Your best friend.



I've played as an AW spellcaster, seldom charging into battle to tank, so to speak. That's Alistair's job. The defensive bonuses are well worth it, even though I seldom don heavy armor to do so.

[-Jaren-]

Just got done soloing Gaxkang Nightmare lvl 19 with my AW last night using no potions (I used Lyrium pots but thats it) When my life would go down below 40% I would pop on my Health Regeneration gear, Force Field (On myself) and regen HP while he was in Revenant form. I would normally get to 90% or so when FF wore off.



Miasma is worthless on Nightmare because his spell resist is so freakin high in both forms. I had enough points in willpower to sustain Haste, SS, Arcane Shield, Combat Magic, Tele Weapons (For Revenant form) and Spell Might. Leave Rock Armor off in case his Arcane form gets off that damned dispel. Mana Clash is your friend.



Long story short AW is the most broken class in this game. You can solo anything with the proper knowledge. Oh and I havent tried AW/SH because BM is too good.

[mosspit]

@Jaren: Rock armour has 0.5 sec cooldown. It can be turned on within a second of being dispelled literally.

[-Jaren-]

I realize that but 40 upkeep on top of everything thats essential is a little overkill. I was more concerned with regenerating mana (I was really trying to not use many lyrium pots for the hell of it) than having a little more Def.

[-Jaren-]

On second thought Haste isn't really "essential" but it can vastly improve the speed of the fight overall. And I was going for a no Pots fight. Hard fight was hard. But do-able. FF trick was he real saver.



AW is just too good TC!