32 réponses à ce sujet

[SporkFu]

Every time I level up my little elf mage, and I get one of those shiny ability points to spend, I think that everything sounds impressive and will propel her into the realm of being an unstoppable juggernaut of destruction. As a result she's become a jack-of-all-trades with abilities scattered among the four schools. Keeping in mind that I'm only level 7 as yet, is it better to keep her that way, or is it preferable to focus on one school?

[Magma_Axis]

1 point must go to Barrier in Spirit school

Other highly recommended skills : Fade step and WInter Stillness in Winter school, Static Cage+ in Lightning school

Before Specialization, focus on 1 or 2 school only

Want DOT, go Fire

Want CC, go Cold

Want mixed, go Lightning

Want Support, go Spirit

[duskl1ght]

The spells deep in the schools are really powerful like Static Cage and Fire Mine. At level 6-7 Static Cage will make you incredibly powerful in comparison to any other build that you could do with the points that you would have at that point. I wouldn't get Blizzard though, that spell just kind of sucks. If you are playing Nightmare you need to have at least one mage with Dispel.

[duskl1ght]

at level 7 try having one mage with Static Cage and another with Fire Mine and tell me if you like that

[SomeoneStoleMyName]

You dont want to play nightmare without fade step. 
Flash point and clean burn are extremely good with all mage specs, even spirit/support build. To be able to cast barrier and dispel more often is really good.
Static cage + upgrade /w Double energy barrage (flashpoint) is OP.

[SporkFu]

1 point must go to Barrier in Spirit school

Other highly recommended skills : Fade step and WInter Stillness in Winter school, Static Cage+ in Lightning school

Before Specialization, focus on 1 or 2 school only

Want DOT, go Fire

Want CC, go Cold

Want mixed, go Lightning

Want Support, go Spirit

The spells deep in the schools are really powerful like Static Cage and Fire Mine. At level 6-7 Static Cage will make you incredibly powerful in comparison to any other build that you could do with the points that you would have at that point. I wouldn't get Blizzard though, that spell just kind of sucks. If you are playing Nightmare you need to have at least one mage with Dispel.

 

at level 7 try having one mage with Static Cage and another with Fire Mine and tell me if you like that 

You dont want to play nightmare without fade step. 
Flash point and clean burn are extremely good with all mage specs, even spirit/support build. To be able to cast barrier and dispel more often is really good.
Static cage + upgrade /w Double energy barrage (flashpoint) is OP.

Thanks for the tips everyone, much appreciated. Gotta say I've already discovered how useful Barrier is; it's saved my neck a few times. I just picked up Dispel after reading one of those loadscreen tips about how it can stop a demon from fully materializing at a fade rift. I looked at Static Chain and thought to myself, 'okay next level'... but I might have to use my respec amulet and tweak things a bit now. 

[Magma_Axis]

Static Cage+ is one of the best abilities in the game, combines CC, DPS and Combos in 1 package

 

If you want to get it from Storm tree, go directly to it : energy barrage --> Conductive current -->  Static Charge --> Static Cage + Upgrade

Other lightning spells and passive are not wort it

[Coyote X Starrk]

If you put 2 points into Spirit to get the Barrier and the threat reduction passive then proceed to build into the Fire tree you will hit a much higher level of dominance early on than if you went into the other trees. 

 

Basically I went like this. 

 

Spirit Tree

 

~ Barrier - Oh crap button

 

~ Threat Reduction - Obvious Reasons

 

Lightning

 

~ Chain lightning -  Great all around spell for any situation where there is more than one enemy. 

 

~ Stormbringer - 300% damage every 15 seconds free of charge. Hard to argue against that. 

 

Fire

 

Basically build your way into fire rune at all costs once you have the above. The damage that the spell puts out relative to the low cooldown and the low cost makes it arguably one the the best skills the mage gets PERIOD. 

 

Frost

 

This class is okay on its own, but compared to what the other classes can do in terms of utility and damage this class is simply woefully underpowered. Avoid at all costs in my opinion. 

[Rakschas]

If you put 2 points into Spirit to get the Barrier and the threat reduction passive then proceed to build into the Fire tree you will hit a much higher level of dominance early on than if you went into the other trees. 

 

Basically I went like this. 

 

Spirit Tree

 

~ Barrier - Oh crap button

 

~ Threat Reduction - Obvious Reasons

 

Lightning

 

~ Chain lightning -  Great all around spell for any situation where there is more than one enemy. 

 

~ Stormbringer - 300% damage every 15 seconds free of charge. Hard to argue against that. 

 

Fire

 

Basically build your way into fire rune at all costs once you have the above. The damage that the spell puts out relative to the low cooldown and the low cost makes it arguably one the the best skills the mage gets PERIOD. 

 

Frost

 

This class is okay on its own, but compared to what the other classes can do in terms of utility and damage this class is simply woefully underpowered. Avoid at all costs in my opinion. 

 

I have to agree on most parts, but mana management is a thing so only obtaining a large arsenal of different damage spells isnt really enough. So what for example really impresses me about the fire tree arent the damage spells (although they are really really good) but Flashpoint and Clean Burn.

Frost is somewhat unexciting, but the fade step ability is really really good as mobility is important in a lot of situations and simply is too slow.

[GuyNice]

I can echo the sentiments about Static Cage, it's all sorts of good. I'd like to add that Winter Stillness is another gem which shouldn't be overlooked. Not only does it boost your mana regen like the tooltip says, it also gives you 30%(!) cooldown reduction (after not moving for 3 seconds).

 

This is my current build on my level 7 mage (2nd playthrough on nightmare):

 

Fade Step and Winter Stillness from Winter

Immolate, Flashpoint and Clean Burn from Inferno

Barrier, threat reduction and Dispel from Spirit

Energy Barrage and Conductive Current from Storm

 

From here on I plan to continue down the Storm tree for Static Cage.

 

Having Dispel early on makes life much easier against rifts and enemy mages on Nightmare (you can dispel enemy barriers and those nasty Mine spells the mages in Hinterlands cast). I actually took it on both mages in the party.

 

Another synergy of note is Energy Barrage and Flashpoint. 12 projectiles means a very high chance at least one will crit and activate Flashpoint. Also I think the internal cooldown on that passive is bugged because it often procs back to back. Makes for a very active playstyle.

[Magma_Axis]

I can echo the sentiments about Static Cage, it's all sorts of good. I'd like to add that Winter Stillness is another gem which shouldn't be overlooked. Not only does it boost your mana regen like the tooltip says, it also gives you 30%(!) cooldown reduction (after not moving for 3 seconds).
 
This is my current build on my level 7 mage (2nd playthrough on nightmare):
 
Fade Step and Winter Stillness from Winter
Immolate, Flashpoint and Clean Burn from Inferno
Barrier, threat reduction and Dispel from Spirit
Energy Barrage and Conductive Current from Storm
 
From here on I plan to continue down the Storm tree for Static Cage.
 
Having Dispel early on makes life much easier against rifts and enemy mages on Nightmare (you can dispel enemy barriers and those nasty Mine spells the mages in Hinterlands cast). I actually took it on both mages in the party.
 
Another synergy of note is Energy Barrage and Flashpoint. 12 projectiles means a very high chance at least one will crit and activate Flashpoint. Also I think the internal cooldown on that passive is bugged because it often procs back to back. Makes for a very active playstyle.

Your ability tree is the same as mine. I dont use clean burn until after i get Rift mage though

The only downside of static cage is long CD time, Clean burn with unlimited mana from rift mage will take care of that

[themaxzero]

The long cool down wouldn't be so bad if Gathering Storm actually worked.

I am working on a build that abuses Winter Stillness to the fullest. That means no Barrage or Fire Mine.

Walking Bomb is proving to be a very good substitute. 400% weapon damage initial hit (2x 200%), 10 x 200 ticks then an explosion for 600%. The explosion area is actually quite large (roughly Blizzard size).

Unlike Immolate, Fire Mine and Fire Wall its skill ring increases damage instead of duration so increase all those numbers by 30%.

Mix it up with Chain Lightning to cause Shock status (increases magic damage taken).

[abearzi]

I just finished my Nightmare mage, which never placed any points in Frost. It was full Fire and Rift for horrendous AoE spam. I did always bring a second mage who was Spirit/Frost for the barrier/cc spam. But comboed with a Rogue for shatter combos, it becomes pretty face-roll when you can just Abyss all the mobs onto a fire mine and a double-cast immolate. That also gathers the mobs up nicely for a Warcry to mass taunt them all afterwards. Fire Wall and Fire Mine are also wonderful for dealing with those **** Terrors who just hop around the battlefield. Stone Fist also has such a low cooldown that the knock-down effect can essentially perma-CC a mob and work as an interrupt. 

[The Grey Ranger]

My current build is abusing pull of the void, static cage and energy barrage.  Pop pull of the void to induce weakness, a few staff shots to recharge mana, followed by static cage, and energy barrage.   It is a thing of wonder.

[GuyNice]

My current build is abusing pull of the void, static cage and energy barrage.  Pop pull of the void to induce weakness, a few staff shots to recharge mana, followed by static cage, and energy barrage.   It is a thing of wonder.

Bring Dorian along for Walking Bomb and enjoy the fireworks

[Selea]

IMO the best route for nuking mages is to pick and choose from the early spells in the various lines (that are all useful), to then go deeper into one tree depending what you want to do (for example if you want less cooldowns go deep into fire for Flashpoint and Clean Burn; btw this is probably the most useful thing to do for nuking).

Going for one tree is good only if you want to build a support mage with spirit, if you want to go for damage sticking with only a single tree is limiting because: 1) you remove the possibility of doing damage against enemies that have immunity to that line, 2) the early spells are often times as much as powerful as the ones later in the lines, 3) having multiple pickings with the various elements permits you to have better synergies with the party members.

For a nuking mage must have spells are: immolate, barrage, winter's grasp, barrier or fade step.
Must have skills are: winter stillness
Very good spells to have are: lightning bolt, dispel, fire mine, static cage
Very good skills to have are:  flashpoint, clean burn,  conductive current, stormbringer, gathering storm (if it worked but it is now bugged and does nothing).

[Jester]

Flashpoint and Clean Burn are both crazy good. 

Fade Step is awesome. Don't underestimate it. It increases mobility (which is very poor when it comes to combat in this game, because you move so slowly), runs away from melee range, shielded warriors charge, escapes arrows and projectiles, moves away from AOE, you can quickly move to fallen party member to revive...possibilities are endless. 

Energy Barrage is the best single target spell in base trees.

Barrier is a must for any mage. 

 

Those abilities you really need. The rest is up to you.

I didn't mention Static Cage and Fire Mine - because while those are one of the best spells in the game, they require you to invest into trees more havily. 

 

Immolate is also useful - although later on Fire Mine does the same things, but better, so you can drop it to free a quickbar slot  if you need one (although you still want it as a prerequisite - it's better than Fleshfire - but remember to respec to remove the upgrade if you're dropping the spell from your quickbar!). 

[Magma_Axis]

Basic trees only
Must have spell : Barrier, Fade Step, Energy Barrage
Good basic spells : Immolate, Dispel, Winter Grasp
Good Advanced Spells : Static Cage, Fire Mine
Must have passives : Winter Stillness, Peaceful Aura, Flashpoint, Clean Burn

Bad spells to avoid : Lightning Bolt, Fleshfire, Ice Wall, Blizzard, Mind Blast
Mediocre spells : Chain Lightning, Fire Wall, Revive

Must Have Spell Upgrades : Static Cage+, Fire Mine+, Energy Barrage+

[Selea]

Immolate is also useful - although later on Fire Mine does the same things, but better, so you can drop it to free a quickbar slot  if you need one (although you still want it as a prerequisite - it's better than Fleshfire - but remember to respec to remove the upgrade if you're dropping the spell from your quickbar!). 

Sure, but if you go for Fire Mine then you have to delve deep into the fire line, a thing that depending on the build you want to do can also not be appropriate. Immolate is the most powerful AOE spell of the 1 points to get ones skills and it remains useful for all the game if you don't go deep in the fire line and take fire mine.

All in all, as I said, the 1 points to get spells in the various lines are the most avantageful to get in all circumnstances if you want to go the nuke direction. Then the choice is of the player depending on the build s/he wants to create on which line to go deeper into and in that case those first spells can also be exchanged for something more effective.

[Shahadem]

at level 7 try having one mage with Static Cage and another with Fire Mine and tell me if you like that

 

I don't. There is no reason why it should have a delay. In fact having a delay just makes it feel so weak and so little like a spell.

[Capeo]

Something important to consider if you want to spec into rift mage or have one with you: shocked + weakness = sleep. A very strong sleep where enemies take damage without waking. Throw in Horror and you have Nightmare. That's been my go to combos since I got the Rift Mage spec on my nightmare run. Chain lightning + to keep everything shocked, pull of the abyss to keep everything together plus stone fist or veil strike to keep weakness applies. Throw a walking bomb + from Dorian onto the weakest creature in the pack for more fireworks.

[Jester]

I have one question. Why do people consider Winter Stillness to be very good? 

You have to stand still for 3 seconds for the buff to work. After you cast a spell, you break the buff and have to wait another 3 seconds, doing nothing but autoattacking.

 

Is there something I'm missing?

[GuyNice]

I have one question. Why do people consider Winter Stillness to be very good? 

You have to stand still for 3 seconds for the buff to work. After you cast a spell, you break the buff and have to wait another 3 seconds, doing nothing but autoattacking.

 

Is there something I'm missing?

First off, it gives 30%(!) cooldown reduction on top of the mana regen. Most spells don't break the buff, only ones where the animation makes your character move do. Sadly one of those spells is Energy Barrage which is amazing. Overall it's great, but can be skipped if you find yourself using a lot of spells that cause you to lose the buff.

[Jester]

First off, it gives 30%(!) cooldown reduction on top of the mana regen. Most spells don't break the buff, only ones where the animation makes your character move do. Sadly one of those spells is Energy Barrage which is amazing. Overall it's great, but can be skipped if you find yourself using a lot of spells that cause you to lose the buff.

Oh, that would explain a lot.

I use heavily both Energy Barrage and Walking Bomb, both of which seem to break the buff.

[Thibax]

Some tips for the best mage in nightmare mode?

What is the best abilities progression?