52 réponses à ce sujet

[HippeusOmega]

I've been a mage in both games before this so I know how to play one. However I just feel so underpowered atm. My party members are scaling in dmg. However my Qunari mage is struggling. Can anyone offer some advice on what to get?

Just hit level 7 but still using staff of dragon and armor of the dragon. Cause I've not found anything better yet.

[Goutan]

I strongly disagree. I'm currently running as a Mage and feel that it makes the game fairly easy - even on nightmare. I have, however been using both of my mages primarily for CC and barriers. The all out attack spells are tempting to use but end up burning through mana for little reward.

Armor seems to show up based on RNG. I've been taking advantage of the crafting system and it seems to give some of the largest stat buffs early on (my Mage has 37 magic at level 7).

Try crafting some gear and maybe try rerolling for a support Mage build.

[Aethelwolf]

Mage takes a bit longer to get going in this game, I feel. But you need to make use of Mage utility to get the most out of the class, at least until you get enough skill points to make a strong damaging build. Barrier and some CC spells do wonders in mitigating party damage. Have rogues or 2H warriors handle the damage portion while mages and S&S warriors control and mitigate. 

 

Once you get specializations and more skill points I feel that mages can add in some powerful damage in addition to their control and support.

[Necroe-]

i highly suggest getting barrier, peaceful aura and a cc ability of sorts, i personally bee-line  to static cage.

[finc.loki]

Some of us do not want to play support and sit back and play nanny for COMPUTER character actually playing the game instead of ME.

 

I want to be a mage that lay waste to enemies, Bioware has been so annoying of late with every single game they make. They lost the touch.

[Luk3ling]

Some of us do not want to play support and sit back and play nanny for COMPUTER character actually playing the game instead of ME.

 

I want to be a mage that lay waste to enemies, Bioware has been so annoying of late with every single game they make. They lost the touch.

While I'm gonna agree that BioWare has slipped, if you're not laying waste to your enemies as a Mage, you're just plain doing it wrong.

[akabane_k]

upgraded fire mine and fire wall

[Tevinter Soldier]

I've been a mage in both games before this so I know how to play one. However I just feel so underpowered atm. My party members are scaling in dmg. However my Qunari mage is struggling. Can anyone offer some advice on what to get?

Just hit level 7 but still using staff of dragon and armor of the dragon. Cause I've not found anything better yet.

 

do what i have done, spec into offensive spells, first and upgrades that either increase mana or its regen rate. 

the more dps you can do the better, means you need a second mage thats pretty defensive but its doable.

 

don't listen to the bullshitters i haven't touched spirit tree or taken a single spell that's defensive. instead focusing on fire and ice schools (mainly fire) i have only taken the chain lighting from storm. ice tree has an amazing passive where you get mana back fast simply by standing still.

 

Lvl 9 (human so i have an extra ability point) 

 

Chain lightning (arching surge)

Immolate (wildfire)

Flashfire

Winter's grasp (winter's chill)

Frost mastery

Winter Stillness *get this *******

Fade step

 

i currently have one ability point to spend and now looking at it im getting flashpoint as dump to unlock the more badass fire spells.

I have a cooldown amulet +5 belt of health +2 enchanced ring of magic 5+ ring mana +2

 

I use I have all other mages specc'd for defensive or support. and now have a sweet staff that does 53DPS, 33 cold damage and has 3 empty upgrade slots!

 

the only person that does more damage then me is varric.

[Soulgazer]

Feeling underpowered as a mage, with too little durability and not enough damage?  Join the Ice Knights!

*Regenerating barrier!

*Almost no cost cooldownless spirit blade attack that does 200% damage, 200-300% bonus damage against barriers and guards, and deflects ranged attacks back at the owners, be the Jedi!

*Telefragging, for your 1000% damage needs!

*Ice dash, to charge down cowardly archers and spellbinders!

*Did I mention the regenerating barrier?  Seriously, you keep attacking, you're bloody invincible.  Solo a dragon!

*If you stand still with the frost meditation passive, your mana regen almost completely negates the cost of spirit blade.  Swing forever!

[Tevinter Soldier]

damn now i dont know if i want to be necro of KE

[Aureliano120]

I think I'm starting to get the hang of mage, OP. I'm level 11 now (taking my time, still don't have specializations unlocked yet), and I recommend a few things:

Spirit: Barrier is almost required because damage mitigation is so darn important without active healing spells. It IS required if you run with only one mage. Peaceful Aura is great as well. And Dispel is incredibly useful, as it stops demons from spawning during rifts, strips enemy barriers, and cures status debuffs on your party. Originally I put almost all of my points in here because the abilities are all useful to the party, but I found it gimped my damage. You should diversify by expanding to other trees. If you have two mages it might be worth having one go deep for better barriers and revive. Otherwise, I think just those three points are sufficient.

 

Winter: Fade Step is wonderful to get away from an enemy that has closed, and it's useful for running around the world. Even better, you can use it as a stepping stone to Winter's Stillness, which let me go from casting a spell every several seconds to every couple seconds. Other spells here are good for CC (Frost Mine) or causing the Chilled/Frozen status debuffs. That's great setting up cross-class combos like Shatter.

 

Inferno or Storm: Your choice really. I currently have several points in Storm but will likely respec to Inferno, because there's a lot of damage potential and Fire Mine looks amazing. I do like the abilities in Storm, but Chain Lightning tends to pull extra baddies toward me and Energy Barrage moves your character forward, making you lose Winter's Stillness for three seconds.

 

 

Also, as mentioned by others, invest some time and materials into making/enhancing your gear. I noticed a big jump in my combat prowess once I added custom enhancements. Your weapons will always be weaker than the other classes', but that's made up for by the large weapon damage % modifier on our spells. The best advice for all classes: synergy. Learn to exploit cross-class combos like Shatter, which will do huge damage.

[Bayonet Hipshot]

Here are some mage builds for you. They are all Level 30 ones so scale them down accordingly. 

 

 

Non-Specialized 1

Inferno – 7 (Immolate⁺, Fire Mine⁺, Flashpoint, Clean Burn, Pyromancer)

 

Winter – 7 (Winter's Grasp⁺, Fade Step⁺, Mana Surge, Winter Stillness, Frost Mastery)

 

Storm – 8 (Energy Barrage⁺, Chain Lightning⁺, Stormbringer, Gathering Storm, Static Charge, Conductive Current)

 

Spirit – 8 (Barrier, Dispel⁺, Mind Blast, Peaceful Aura, Guardian Spirit, Rejuvenating Barrier, Strength of Spirits)

 

Skills – Fire Mine, Immolate, Fade Step, Winter’s Grasp, Energy Barrage, Chain Lightning, Dispel, Barrier

 

 

Non-Specialized 2

Inferno – 7 (Immolate⁺, Fire Mine⁺, Flashpoint, Clean Burn, Pyromancer)

 

Winter – 9 (Winter's Grasp, Fade Step, Wall of Ice, Blizzard⁺, Mana Surge, Winter Stillness, Frost Mastery, Ice Armor)

 

Storm – 8 (Energy Barrage, Chain Lightning⁺, Static Cage⁺, Stormbringer, Gathering Storm, Conductive Current)

 

Spirit – 6 (Barrier, Dispel⁺, Peaceful Aura, Guardian Spirit, Rejuvenating Barrier)

 

Skills – Fire Mine, Immolate, Winter’s Grasp, Blizzard, Chain Lightning, Static Cage, Dispel, Barrier

 

 

Knight Enchanter

Knight Enchanter – 9 (Spirit Blade⁺, Fade Cloak⁺, Resurgence, Combat Clarity, Fade Shield, Veiled Riposte, Knight Protector)

 

Inferno – 5 (Immolate⁺, Flashpoint, Clean Burn, Chaotic Focus)

 

Winter – 5 (Winter's Grasp⁺, Fade Step, Mana Surge, Winter Stillness)

 

Storm – 7 (Energy Barrage, Chain Lightning⁺, Stormbringer, Gathering Storm, Static Charge, Conductive Current)

 

Spirit – 4 (Barrier⁺, Peaceful Aura, Guardian Spirit)

 

Skills – Spirit Blade, Fade Cloak, Fade Step, Immolate, Chain Lightning, Winter's Grasp, Barrier, Resurgence

 

 

Necromancer

Necromancer – 10 (Horror⁺, Spirit Mark⁺, Walking Bomb⁺, Death Siphon, Blinding Terror, Simulacrum, Power of the Dead)

 

Inferno – 4 (Immolate⁺, Flashpoint, Clean Burn)

 

Winter – 4 (Winter's Grasp⁺, Mana Surge, Winter Stillness)

 

Storm – 7 (Energy Barrage, Chain Lightning⁺, Stormbringer, Gathering Storm, Static Charge, Conductive Current)

 

Spirit – 5 (Barrier, Dispel⁺, Peaceful Aura, Rejuvenating Barrier)

 

Skills – Horror, Spirit Mark, Walking Bomb, Immolate, Winter's Grasp, Chain Lightning, Barrier, Dispel

 

 

Rift Mage

Rift Mage – 11 (Veilstrike⁺, Stonefist⁺, Pull of the Abyss⁺, Firestorm, Restorative Veil, Encircling Veil, Smothering Veil, Twisting Veil)

 

Inferno – 4 (Immolate⁺, Flashpoint, Clean Burn)

 

Winter – 4 (Winter's Grasp⁺, Mana Surge, Winter Stillness)

 

Storm – 7 (Energy Barrage, Chain Lightning⁺, Stormbringer, Gathering Storm, Static Charge, Conductive Current)

 

Spirit – 4 (Barrier⁺, Peaceful Aura, Guardian Spirit)

 

Skills – Veilstrike, Stonefist, Pull of the Abyss, Immolate, Winter's Grasp, Chain Lightning, Barrier, Firestorm

 

 

The + sign represents upgrades. 

 

Knight Enchanter is Theodosian Jedi. They are very good at defense, survivability and close quarters combat. Being one gives you really high flexibility and a lot of options.

 

Necromancer is a combination of Entropy Mage, Spirit Mage and Blood Mage, without the Blood Magic. They are very good at damage over time because almost all their spells have a damage over time effect. They are also good at enduring a fight because they have a passive that gives them temporary lichdom and they have a passive that gives them health regeneration and mana regeneration for every enemy killed. They are also good taking aggro away with a temporary undead pet. 

 

Rift Mage  is an upgraded Force Mage combined with a bit of Mass Effect's Adept. They are very good at doing consistent high damage, at locking down enemies and at debuffing enemies. Properly upgraded, their abilities do high damage, do area of effect damage, debuff enemies and have low cooldown. 

 

A non-specialized mage has the potential to grab almost all the passives in the magic tree and loads of spells thereby making them really powerful without needing any specialization at all. 

 

So pick what suits you best. 

 

Fade Step and Barrier are really good to have on a mage. Dispel is extremely useful for demon banishing. 

 

Respec out of Flashfire the first chance you get. The spell drives enemies away in a very random direction and if they get attacked by anyone in your part, be it even side effects, they will gain their aggro back again. Flashfire is rendered even more useless by Horror in the Necromancer tree since that spell can panic enemies and do damage over time.

 

Both Fire Mine and Ice Mine take time to prime so laying them down as traps or under a Static Cage or Disruption Field or Pull of the Abyss is best. However, unlike their description, they will hit all the enemies that is above them when they are primed and ready. 

 

Mind Blast is also relatively useless with proper investment in Barrier or Fade Step or lockdown spells like Static Cage, Mines, Disruption Field and Pull of the Abyss. However the Strength of Spirits passive which comes after Mind Blast is really useful since it grants you 50% extra barrier. 

 

Additionally, getting the Revival spell is not necessary unless if you are roleplaying. You can always give it to your secondary mage and barrier spam instead.  

 

Do not get the Barrier cooldown upgrade if you are planning to get Clean Burn and Gathering Storm unless you have extra points. 

 

Guardian Spirit passive sounds useful on paper but in practice it only procs when you hit 25% health or below. If you are at 27% health, it will not proc and the next attack might kill you. Again, spec into that passive only if you have extra points.

 

Passives like Frost Mastery and Pryomancer sounds cool on paper but they only increase the chance of secondary effects of spells to proc. If you are playing as a damage oriented mage, investing in them later when you have leftover skill points are recommended. Stormbringer is actually more useful than Pyromancer or Frost Mastery since it at least gives you random lightning that does damage.

 

Clean Burn, Winter Stillness, Gathering Storm, Conductive Current and Peaceful Aura are super useful passives. 

 

Some spells like Haste feel out of place in the Necromancer tree so I did not use it. Mark of the Rift is a far more suitable focus spell for a Necromancer. Of course, your mileage may vary. 

 

Spell upgrades like Static Field which upgrades Disruption field is useless unless you plan to use Disruption Field as a way to take enemies out of a fight.

 

Mages have very far auto-attack range. I mean really far. As such open your fight from long distances with mage staff attacks. Chances are they will be dead. Plus, when a melee enemy gets within melee reach of you, move away a bit, stafe them and attack them. Chances are you can avoid most of their damage. Archers are a pain in the arse though. Being an Elf helps since you get free 25% ranged defense. 

 

At early levels, at least up until Level 10, due to mana restrictions and low staff damage, at least initially, play cautiously with your mage. Don't just go in guns blazing especially if you are playing on higher difficulties. 

 

Additionally, dip a little into each spell tree. You do not have to do it to get the spell but the passives, they are too useful to simply ignore. I tend to make my mage have at least one elemental AOE spell to make them really versatile. Of course, your mileage may vary. 

 

Inferno is focused on damage over time and crowd control. Winter is focused on debuffs and escape mechanism. Storm is flat out a damage dealing torture tree. Torture tree because upgraded Static Cage becomes the ultimate mage torture tool. Spirit is a support oriented tree. 

 

So mages are not underpowered. They are not as godlike as they used to be in DAO but they are not underpowered.

 

If any class is underpowered, it is dual wielding rogue since their positioning is wonky, their hit points even more so, they have to be reliant on stealth as well as hook & tackle, they have no damage protection ability and worst of all, they have to deal with two-handed enemies which can hit in an arc.

 

So far in this game, ranged characters are far superior to melee characters unless if you are a guard generating warrior or a Knight Enchanter.

 

Hope this helps.

 

#magesuperiority, #magemasterclass. 

 

Cheers.

[Indomito]

Bioware need to pin Ishten post, its good for new mages.

[Jester]

I've been a mage in both games before this so I know how to play one. However I just feel so underpowered atm. My party members are scaling in dmg. However my Qunari mage is struggling. Can anyone offer some advice on what to get?

Just hit level 7 but still using staff of dragon and armor of the dragon. Cause I've not found anything better yet.

Try crafting - that staff is quite weak for level 7 - I'm also level 7, and my staff has ~30% more damage and boosts my atributes as well.

There are some nice schematics in Val Royeaux if I remember correctly. 

For single target damage, the best (from early abilities at least) is probably the first spell on the right side of the Storm tree - Energy Barrage -  it shoots 12 staff projectiles at once dealing 12*66%  ~800% weapon damage, doesn't drain too much mana and has short cooldown. 

 

Upgraded Immolate is also excellent - at level 7 I hit with it for 200-250 damage + a lot of further damage over time. 

 

Now excuse me, I'm going back to my futile efforts in defeating Alexius.

[Exodus]

After testing with respec amulets mage is pretty simple.

 

Get fire mine.  Get barrier.  Profit.

[Lunatic Pandora]

I felt underwhelming with my mage too... Until I got KE. instant pwnage. I started soloing dragons. Its insane

[robadob]

Also I don't know how many are aware of it there's a mission on the war table to find a lost war axe I highly suggest doing that mission if you're a Mage that wants to do more damage

No the war axe isn't a typo btw

[Kestral]

Here are some mage builds for you. They are all Level 30 ones so scale them down accordingly. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The + sign represents upgrades. 

 

Knight Enchanter is Theodosian Jedi. They are very good at defense, survivability and close quarters combat. Being one gives you really high flexibility and a lot of options.

 

Necromancer is a combination of Entropy Mage, Spirit Mage and Blood Mage, without the Blood Magic. They are very good at damage over time because almost all their spells have a damage over time effect. They are also good at enduring a fight because they have a passive that gives them temporary lichdom and they have a passive that gives them health regeneration and mana regeneration for every enemy killed. They are also good taking aggro away with a temporary undead pet. 

 

Rift Mage  is an upgraded Force Mage combined with a bit of Mass Effect's Adept. They are very good at doing consistent high damage, at locking down enemies and at debuffing enemies. Properly upgraded, their abilities do high damage, do area of effect damage, debuff enemies and have low cooldown. 

 

A non-specialized mage has the potential to grab almost all the passives in the magic tree and loads of spells thereby making them really powerful without needing any specialization at all. 

 

So pick what suits you best. 

 

Fade Step and Barrier are really good to have on a mage. Dispel is extremely useful for demon banishing. 

 

Respec out of Flashfire the first chance you get. The spell drives enemies away in a very random direction and if they get attacked by anyone in your part, be it even side effects, they will gain their aggro back again. Flashfire is rendered even more useless by Horror in the Necromancer tree since that spell can panic enemies and do damage over time.

 

Both Fire Mine and Ice Mine take time to prime so laying them down as traps or under a Static Cage or Disruption Field or Pull of the Abyss is best. However, unlike their description, they will hit all the enemies that is above them when they are primed and ready. 

 

Mind Blast is also relatively useless with proper investment in Barrier or Fade Step or lockdown spells like Static Cage, Mines, Disruption Field and Pull of the Abyss. However the Strength of Spirits passive which comes after Mind Blast is really useful since it grants you 50% extra barrier. 

 

Additionally, getting the Revival spell is not necessary unless if you are roleplaying. You can always give it to your secondary mage and barrier spam instead.  

 

Do not get the Barrier cooldown upgrade if you are planning to get Clean Burn and Gathering Storm unless you have extra points. 

 

Guardian Spirit passive sounds useful on paper but in practice it only procs when you hit 25% health or below. If you are at 27% health, it will not proc and the next attack might kill you. Again, spec into that passive only if you have extra points.

 

Passives like Frost Mastery and Pryomancer sounds cool on paper but they only increase the chance of secondary effects of spells to proc. If you are playing as a damage oriented mage, investing in them later when you have leftover skill points are recommended. Stormbringer is actually more useful than Pyromancer or Frost Mastery since it at least gives you random lightning that does damage.

 

Clean Burn, Winter Stillness, Gathering Storm, Conductive Current and Peaceful Aura are super useful passives. 

 

Some spells like Haste feel out of place in the Necromancer tree so I did not use it. Mark of the Rift is a far more suitable focus spell for a Necromancer. Of course, your mileage may vary. 

 

Spell upgrades like Static Field which upgrades Disruption field is useless unless you plan to use Disruption Field as a way to take enemies out of a fight.

 

Mages have very far auto-attack range. I mean really far. As such open your fight from long distances with mage staff attacks. Chances are they will be dead. Plus, when a melee enemy gets within melee reach of you, move away a bit, stafe them and attack them. Chances are you can avoid most of their damage. Archers are a pain in the arse though. Being an Elf helps since you get free 25% ranged defense. 

 

At early levels, at least up until Level 10, due to mana restrictions and low staff damage, at least initially, play cautiously with your mage. Don't just go in guns blazing especially if you are playing on higher difficulties. 

 

Additionally, dip a little into each spell tree. You do not have to do it to get the spell but the passives, they are too useful to simply ignore. I tend to make my mage have at least one elemental AOE spell to make them really versatile. Of course, your mileage may vary. 

 

Inferno is focused on damage over time and crowd control. Winter is focused on debuffs and escape mechanism. Storm is flat out a damage dealing torture tree. Torture tree because upgraded Static Cage becomes the ultimate mage torture tool. Spirit is a support oriented tree. 

 

So mages are not underpowered. They are not as godlike as they used to be in DAO but they are not underpowered.

 

If any class is underpowered, it is dual wielding rogue since their positioning is wonky, their hit points even more so, they have to be reliant on stealth as well as hook & tackle, they have no damage protection ability and worst of all, they have to deal with two-handed enemies which can hit in an arc.

 

So far in this game, ranged characters are far superior to melee characters unless if you are a guard generating warrior or a Knight Enchanter.

 

Hope this helps.

 

#magesuperiority, #magemasterclass. 

 

Cheers.

 

I would like to thank you. I re-specked my mage, and did some different things on her, following your guide, which is great by the way. I put points into a few of each of the four, inferno, storm, spirit and winter. My mage is a heck of  a lot better dealing damage now. Thank you again. 

[Ganen]

mage is a slow pickup from the early game but once you have enough skill points to make an actual build it wont become so much as a problem.

its just the talent point requirement that hurts early on, dependency on the spirit tree that doesnt offer anything but agro control and barriers make the mage appear weak, try to get the low tier talents that help party and survival and play support CC mage, like flashfire wintersgrasp and the blink thingy (awesome and must have)

when you get to lvls 10-12 you can make a spirit + something else build combo and once you get specializations you become as powerful or if not even more powerful than all other classes.

 

in this short guide I also discuss the most effective mage builds (for nightmare diff) I found so far

http://forum.bioware...oles-nightmare/

[themaxzero]

Mages just take a bit to get going. Once you get to about 6-7 I pretty much 3 x Mage 1 x Warrior for all my big fights.

 

Barrier->Static Cage->Immolate->Fire Wall

 

Simple and very effective.

 

Wait till you see how Static Cage stacks. So when you triple stack your Barrages do an extra 150% weapon damage per hit. That's ~2600% weapon damage. Even regular auto attacks do 250% (100 +150%) a hit.

 

THEN you start abusing chance to proc Hidden Blades with Barrage...

 

Its kinda dumb.

[Laureola]

Static Cage is crazy good. Upgrade that first thing, perfect CC AND crazy damage. Have a rogue use a multi-hit move or flask of lightning while it's up and things just melt. Then there's you hiting it at the same time with something like immolate.

[Melca36]

I've been a mage in both games before this so I know how to play one. However I just feel so underpowered atm. My party members are scaling in dmg. However my Qunari mage is struggling. Can anyone offer some advice on what to get?

Just hit level 7 but still using staff of dragon and armor of the dragon. Cause I've not found anything better yet.

 

You need to learn to craft.  I've made some pretty badass staves for mages.  You are also not searching enough. There are some great drops that will help you.

[revan017]

Technically, Mage Warden is more powerful than Mage Inquisitor for one easy reason:

 

STORM OF THE CENTURY.

 

Mage Inquisitor, however, is more powerful than dear little Mage Hawke for one other reason:

 

KNIGHT ENCHANTER.

 

 

So yes in the heirarchy

 

WARDEN (Storm of the Century) > INQUISITOR (Knight Enchanter) > HAWKE

 

 

EDIT Actually you know what. No. Like say Warden vs Quizzie in a Pokemon Battle. Warden leads with Storm of the Century. Quizzie does Fade Step, ends up right behind the Warden. Does the whole intangible explosion thingy just as Warden hits with Cone of Cold. C of C won't affect Quizzie because he's invulnerable, he materializes inside the Warden. BOOM!. Spirit Blades just in case Warden's still breathing.

[Shahadem]

Staff damage needs a hefty buff. The damage they do is ****.

 

Also mp regen is **** and spells just aren't as satisfying as the DA:O and DA2 spells. Mages just feel so much weaker in DA:I, especially since you can't even cast that often whereas in the other DAs I was casting all the time.

[Norwood06]

As someone who made a similar post recently, I relate to the feeling of being underpowered.  But as others have said, with more levels and better gear, it improves.  Also, do experiment with different spells to find a style you like. 

 

My preference:  flashpoint, fire mine, wall of fire, barrier, all upgraded, plus fire & spirit passives.  In most fights half of all enemies are running around, screaming & on fire, while I nuke the party's focused target with fire mine, which I alternate with barrier on cooldown.  Once I add rift mage abilities (starting tonight) I will be unstoppable! 

 

Mage combat is different now.  But keep playing and you'll get used to it.  I even like it, after 40 hours.