11 réponses à ce sujet

[Maimed Dan]

So, going in for my Nightmare playthrough, playing as a mage this time around, and I really don't have the knack for it. I'm well aware that in later levels, you can get some crazy combos going on with them, but I don't have access to any of that until I get through And Now Your Heart Shall Burn, which I can't really get a handle on. I don't know what's missing, whether I've got poor builds, should be running a different party, should be running the party differently, etc. I've got enough gold to respec anyone I might need to, so any advice would be welcome, the more detailed, the better.

[Manki]

Well actually, if you were a bit more detailed on what you're currently doing, build/party comp etc. We could probably help you out a bit more efficiently.

[Maimed Dan]

To be honest, I've been mixing it up a lot because, again, I haven't really found how to make it work. My mage has some lightning and barrier, how much of either varies, right now I have upgraded Static Cage and down the left side of the Spirit tree. Usually, I have Blackwall tanking, with a lot of points in Vanguard, none in Shield yet. Varric has a lot of points in archery, plus poisoned weapons. As for the fourth, it varies a lot. Either have Solas or Vivienne as a second mage for more barriers + ice/fire, usually fire, or I have Bull, with Pommel Strike and Mighty Blow to stun, Grapple Chain for mages, and upgraded whirlwind because that gets ridiculous if you can keep it going, but someone usually kills me before I can pull it off.

 

 

I need advice on most everything, but I suspect more than most is how to spec/operate Blackwall/Cass properly as a tank.

[Sevitan7]

To be honest, I've been mixing it up a lot because, again, I haven't really found how to make it work. My mage has some lightning and barrier, how much of either varies, right now I have upgraded Static Cage and down the left side of the Spirit tree. Usually, I have Blackwall tanking, with a lot of points in Vanguard, none in Shield yet. Varric has a lot of points in archery, plus poisoned weapons. As for the fourth, it varies a lot. Either have Solas or Vivienne as a second mage for more barriers + ice/fire, usually fire, or I have Bull, with Pommel Strike and Mighty Blow to stun, Grapple Chain for mages, and upgraded whirlwind because that gets ridiculous if you can keep it going, but someone usually kills me before I can pull it off.

 

 

I need advice on most everything, but I suspect more than most is how to spec/operate Blackwall/Cass properly as a tank.

 

No talents in shield? Change that, that's one of the best tress in the game with great passives. Get turn the blade ASP. Shield Bash is amazing CC too. From the Vanguard tree Warcry+ is good enough, but the right side has decent passive.

 

If you haven't, go to Val and buy Tier 2 schematics. Craft everyone armor and weapons + upgrades and you will noticed a huge boost in performance.

[Maimed Dan]

I've crafted everything I could, yeah. Which other Vanguard abilities are useful? Challenge? Charging Bull? Unbowed? Bodyguard? I can only fit so much, so I need to figure out which is better. Also, any advice on mage builds, very welcome.

 

I've been considering trying 2 tanks and 2 mages. It'd be a bit of a slog, but it should probably be pretty durable. Anyone tried that, had any success/failures there?

[Firky]

The hardest thing I've found playing NM (although I'm only level 6) is that I couldn't control Cassandra for the first half of the tutorial and she kept dying and ending the game.

 

Otherwise, I use a warrior with parry/shield wall and focus the rest of my efforts on ranged attacks, control, combos. (And I have all behaviours off.)

 

I'm really not finding NM super hard yet - I loved how hard it was on DA2.

[Firky]

PS. Just read more of your questions. My advice is not to use the warrior at all until you're engaging someone frozen or paralysed or whatever. They can get taken out in 2 hits on NM. So, just challenge enemies and block while your ranged does its thing.

[Basheda]

Which other Vanguard abilities are useful?

 

Both taunts with their upgrade and the passives with more max block amount, more armor and +20% damage to taunted enemies. Thats 7 points in vanguard and you can move on.

The most important are both taunts with upgrades. They should always come first on any tank. Warcry give an giant +200% armor boost and Challenge gives you +15 stamina/second for 8 seconds

[Maimed Dan]

Okay, going to give it another few tries, does anyone have advice on the best way to build a mage, good strategies with them?

 

Also, any advice on how to handle tactics? Are they useful? Rubbish?

[Manki]

I've made a couple of posts on tactics already, however while mostly they are useless, the setup I currently use seem to make them derp a lot less than normal.

 

Tank - "Follow Controlled Character" - Stam Threshold 0% - Potion Threshold 0 - All Guard generating abilities on Preferred, the rest on normal

 

Mages (support) - "Defend:<Tank>" - Mana Threshold 10% - Potion Threshold 3 - All support abilities on preferred, CC on normal, rest off

 

DPS (any) - "Follow:Controlled Character" - Mana/Stam Threshold 10% - Potion Threshold 3 - All DPS abilities on preferred, CC/Support on normal

 

This setup works for me on nightmare with minimal micro managing playing as a DPS character.

[knownastherat]

Useful tips on party composition and abilities are contained in topics like these:

 

---

How do detonations work? - http://forum.bioware...tonations-work/

 

[GUIDE] Attributes Theorycrafting & Testing - http://forum.bioware...afting-testing/

 

Resistances and Elements - http://forum.bioware...s-and-elements/

 

What exactly is focus? - http://forum.bioware...actly-is-focus/

---

 

Once understood, the rest follows. So the best advice is to learn game mechanic in theory and through trial and error. Best mage is Necromancer. Not in terms of damage but who will get the Spirit Mark?

[Maimed Dan]

Useful tips on party composition and abilities are contained in topics like these:

 

---

How do detonations work? - http://forum.bioware...tonations-work/

 

[GUIDE] Attributes Theorycrafting & Testing - http://forum.bioware...afting-testing/

 

Resistances and Elements - http://forum.bioware...s-and-elements/

 

What exactly is focus? - http://forum.bioware...actly-is-focus/

---

 

Once understood, the rest follows. So the best advice is to learn game mechanic in theory and through trial and error. Best mage is Necromancer. Not in terms of damage but who will get the Spirit Mark?

 

Thank you. Alas, all of your information is irrelevant, as this thread is focused on dealing with the story mission before I gain access to focus, or necromancy, or need any real resistance, except to fire.

 

To everyone else, thank you very much, your advice on re-speccing tanks worked wonders, and I got through it with 2 tanks and 2 mages pretty much on autopilot, I only really had to tell them who to attack, and manually use shield bash and charging bull to continually knock Fiona off her feet once I'd killed all her minions. I barely used any potions, in the rare event a tank died, a mage revived them and they got so much guard so fast I usually didn't bother healing them.

 

Interesting thing I found - enemy fire mines can be ignored if you step on them, then jump - thing detonates, but doesn't hit you. Hopefully someone will find that useful.