52 réponses à ce sujet

[draken-heart]

I do not know where I am going to put the ability points yet, but I think I may go a more offensive KE (while still being able to take a hit and survive), focusing more on the abilities that actually are offensive in nature.

 

Any ideas on that front?

[Cmpunker13]

Not because it has 'Rift' in the name, but because it has to do with the fade, and the entire story has to do with the fade. You are right that it comes down to RP, but from a story standpoint, Rift mage is more sensible because of how the story functions.

 

Inquisition in not a stand alone game, it's part of a (vast) universe, where DA:O and DA2 exist too.  From a story standpoint being a blood mage, a shapeshifter, and arcane warrior, a force mage, a rift mage, a necromancer or a knight enchanter is just a specialization thing. All those mage are pure mages and they all access to the Fade to use their powers.

 

Also you can easily emulate a rift mage in DA2, where rifts don't exist yet (tbh all mages in DA2 are Force mages, since Blood and Spirit specs don't have synergy with each other.

[Hermes_tri]

Just one thing I noticed today.. When you cast Firestorm, look up and if you look carefully you can see that all of the meteors are coming out of a small rift, and then spread over AoE circle. Neat!

[draken-heart]

I found this build on another thread:

 

 

 

• Knight Enchanter - 11 (Invest in all)
• Inferno - 4 (Immolate upgraded, Flashpoint, Clean Burn)
• Winter - 4 (Winter's Grasp upgraded, Mana Surge, Winter Stillness)
• Storm - 4 (Chain Lightning upgraded, Energy Barrage, Conductive Current)
• Spirit - 4 (Barrier upgraded, Peaceful Aura, Guardian Spirit)

1. Spirit Blade
2. Fade Cloak
3. Disruption Field
4. Immolate
5. Winter's Grasp
6. Chain Lightning 
7. Barrier
8. Resurgence

 

I think it is a good hybrid.

[JaegerBane]

It's a nice enough build, but I think it's got a few mistakes. For one thing Energy Barrage isn't on the active skill list.

 

I'm doing a new run for my Mage and I have to admit... Energy Barrage..... ouch. Packs a hell of a wallop (and that's pre-upgrade). I'm thinking upgraded Chain Lightning/Energy Barrage/Immolate is a *very* potent trio of nukes that would allow any Mage, KE or not, to act as ranged artillery, so I'd imagine they'd fit well into a Hybrid mage build.

[draken-heart]

It's a nice enough build, but I think it's got a few mistakes. For one thing Energy Barrage isn't on the active skill list.

 

I'm doing a new run for my Mage and I have to admit... Energy Barrage..... ouch. Packs a hell of a wallop (and that's pre-upgrade). I'm thinking upgraded Chain Lightning/Energy Barrage/Immolate is a *very* potent trio of nukes that would allow any Mage, KE or not, to act as ranged artillery, so I'd imagine they'd fit well into a Hybrid mage build.

 

I believe that Energy barrage was more meant to be used to get the bonus damage when low on mana passive (Conductive Current).

[Kestral]

The best thing about energy barrage, is that it uses what ever element that you have for a staff. If you have a fire staff, it uses fire. If you have a ice staff, it uses ice. I really like it, and it is good for both up close and distance.

 

My build consist of

 

Spirit - barrier, peaceful aura, transmute magic, dispel, fortifying blast, mind blast and strength of spirits.

Storm - energy barrage, conductive current

Inferno - immolate, wildfire, flashpoint, clean burn

Winter - winters grasp, winters chill, fade step, winter stillness

KE - spirit blade, combat clarity, fade shield, fade cloak, veiled riposte, knight protector

 

I do not have all the perks yet, but that is my plan for my build

Modifié par Kestral, 05 décembre 2014 - 11:37 .

[Crackseed]

And poor Necromancer sits in the corner and sobs quietly.

 

I made the mistake of going Necro - not because I didn't research it, but because I honestly loved the theme of the spec and it's sadly an overall let down. Walking Bomb is too ineffective given how mobile mobs can be and how little it chains. The heal from things dying is great as is turning dead mobs into spirits on your side, but overall the spec needs some serious love to compete with Rift/KE.

[Kestral]

Sorry to hear that. (tears falling). I loved walking bomb in Origins, and noticed that in DA2, it was really toned down to almost nothing. I do not care for the Rift, for there is nothing there for me but the 2 fists. lol

 

Hope you make another character and try the KE.

[Crackseed]

Yeah, it just needs some tweaking really - it has a great overall theme/framework, just in execution and compared to Rift/KE it's blah. Plus the conversation choices that pop up after you pick it are...interesting.

 

To be honest, I was never an Arcane Warrior fan (too cheese) and I find KE to be just as boring. I'm stoked to do a Rift mage when I recreate mine (abandoning my 40 hour playthrough to restart armed with all this newly gained knowledge xD) but I DO appreciate the thought that went into all the various spec abilities, just feel that KE is too one-dimensional in it's application while Necro flounders on account of weak spells/odd synergy in some ways.

[Kestral]

I hear you there. I like the KE not because of the spirit blade, but because of combat clarity which gives 50% mana regen, the veiled riposte cause there is 20% damage returned, and the knight protector with its barrier decay reduction of 35%.

 

Rift is good, as stonefist give 500% spirit damage, and smothering veil gives damage reduction of 30%. But those are the only 2 that either give damage or hav anything to do with the barrier.

 

I do not mess with the tactics because everytime I do I mess up my game. I killed my first dragon in the Hinterlands the other day with my other 3 members, and even though I had to do it twice, I discovered that a good crafted frost staff, and Solas and I just stood back and fired and the dragon took damage at 175 to 250 each hit. To me, that was good at level 13, although to some it might not be. Solas and I both had no problems with getting stunned for we were out of that range, nor did we have problems with her flapping her wings, for we were out of range for that also. It was a grand fight.

 

I do not think I could play as anything but a mage because it is easier to kill and blowup things from a distance. I saw how my 2 warriors got stunned and sucked in when the dragon flapped her wings. Not this chick. lol

[Crackseed]

I tend to be a ranged person myself - though Dragon Age is one of the few games where the dagger rogue is probably my ALL time fave class/spec option. 

 

But they did a great job with the mages this time around. Even if Rift tapers out at 2 actual DPS spells, the supporting stuff it has to me is super tasty. And pull of the abyss too >.>

 

I intend most of my damage to come from other trees anyway

[Kestral]

I forgot about pull of the abyss. It is a good one to use and then throw immolate/fireballs onto. Nice dead enemies. lol

 

Playing a mage in DA3 is not the same as playing a mage in Skyrim, as I found out. In Skyrim one has to plan and playing as a mage is not at all easy if one is not use to it. In DA3, it is a lot easier, for one picks what they want, and uses a staff and spell. The only bad thing about playing a mage is watching the mana regeneration. With the winter stillness, one just has to stand still for 3 seconds, and watch your mana just jump back.

 

On well, I will quit now as I do not wish to de-rail the thread. Besides, I got a new female mage character to make, after I finish homework.

[Crackseed]

I don't think we're derailing at all - contributing our own personal experiences in the feedback for mage advice. 

 

Winter Stillness is iffy for me, but I do see the attractiveness of it if I can sit still and pew pew.

 

Energy Barrage is my one true love in this game though xD SO good. And Static Cage with it's passive proved to be insanely fun too. I did find as a lightning/necro though that I emptied my mana pool far too easily >_<

[Kestral]

That is true on the static cage. When I upgrade armor I try to look for things that have equal will and magic, and also on my weapons. I do hope that when a patch comes out, they put at least 3 storage chests in the bedroom in Skyhold. One for armor, one for weapons and one for everything else. They did that with the dlc for Origins.

 

I also noticed in DA3, which I liked, was that if one went into an area where the enemies were way to high a level for your character, there were red skulls over the heads of the enemies. That means that they can one-shot you and you followers. Found that out the hard way in the Fallow Mire. Deader than dead, the whole party, in about 5 minutes. lol Also, in the Fallow Mire, if you meet the Sky??? (do not remember his name) and then leave, even to empty your inventory, he is gone and no longer there and you cannot get him as an agent.

[draken-heart]

Any ideas on how to build the inner circle (Companions). I think for Dragons It will be myself, The Iron Bull, Blackwall, and either Solas, Dorian or Sera.

[Xhaiden]

Sera is basically a blender you can point in a general direction. With Solas vs Dorian, Dorian is more fabulous but Solas has the rift mage specialization which is honestly more useful as a support and control too. Necromancer has some bugs that honestly impair its usefulness atm. Though it can do some nasty things with the panic status.

 

Necro pets can be really aggravating however in that it doesn't seem like a mob counts as dead until the raised spirit expires. Meaning you sometimes have to stand around waiting for the necro's pet to die in order for the loot to drop.

[Sinfest]

Just beat the game on nightmare mode and from what I saw, Knight Enchanter is the best spec in the game, since it actually has meaningful synergy with a lot of spells outside the KE tree and every point you spend changes your game. The same cannot be said for most other specs.

 

The barrier advantage has already been discussed, but KE also lets you use Fire Mine as a reliable opener, which is usually not that easy to pull off. Normally, when you start off with the mine, you have to predict where the enemy is going to be when it's armed and then make sure your tank doesn't taunt them in the wrong direction. With the KE tree and 2 points into Fade Step>Frost step, you can place the mine right under a group of enemies, Fade Step right into them and the chill guarantees the mine will go off. Now that you're in the middle of the fight, you can start spamming Fade Cloak and Spirit Blade, until your Immolate and Fire Mine are off cooldown.

 

Fade Step is pretty decent damage with the upgrade and it's free. With the cooldown reduction talents in fire, you'll find out very quickly that the only thing that limits your damage is mana, so a free 300% weapon damage AoE spell is nothing to sneeze at. It's also great for mobility. You can use it out of combat, too. Just make sure to spam Disengage after you cast it, though, to avoid the speed reduction from combat.

 

My build when I finished the game was:

Spirit: Barrier, Guardian Spirit

Lightning: Chain Lightning, Stormbringer, Energy Bar., Conductive Current

Fire: Everything except Firewall and Flashfire

Frost: Fade step, Frost step

Knight Enchanter: All the good stuff

 

This is a late game build, but the basic points in KE and Fire are essential, as well as the 2 points in Frost for Frost Step. After that, it's just extra trimmings. 

 

I ran with Cass(tank), Solas (Rift mage is awesome for a support) and Iron Bull (great against bosses and dragons).

[Todd23]

OP build:
Knight Enchanter all abilities
Fade step plus upgrade
Then start working on the spirit tree and work toward every ability (you won't get there until lv 25)
I did this with Sera too, and went with Iron Bull and Dorian. But really any warrior (though Iron Bull really complimented this team) and any fourth companion would work.

[Todd23]

I believe that Energy barrage was more meant to be used to get the bonus damage when low on mana passive (Conductive Current).

Any long-range ability just slows you down, since every hit with your spirit blade improves your barrier and cost very little mana once you get the other KE abilities. With my build I took on the toughest high dragon in the game at level 21 without companions and I had very little trouble with it (I only used 1 health potion and no resurgence).

[Fullmetall21]

And poor Necromancer sits in the corner and sobs quietly.

 

I made the mistake of going Necro - not because I didn't research it, but because I honestly loved the theme of the spec and it's sadly an overall let down. Walking Bomb is too ineffective given how mobile mobs can be and how little it chains. The heal from things dying is great as is turning dead mobs into spirits on your side, but overall the spec needs some serious love to compete with Rift/KE.

 

I think that the necromancer relies on large chains of spells to be effective and i belive a necromancer Inquisitor would have incredible synergy with Solas.

Pull of the Abyss with Static Cage is strong enough in itself now add to it a Fire Mine and Walking bomb and you end up melting whole groups. Of course I have yet to try necromancer mage so I could be saying nonsense right now but that's how I feel the necromancer would be.

[godlike13]

I think that the necromancer relies on large chains of spells to be effective and i belive a necromancer Inquisitor would have incredible synergy with Solas.

Pull of the Abyss with Static Cage is strong enough in itself now add to it a Fire Mine and Walking bomb and you end up melting whole groups. Of course I have yet to try necromancer mage so I could be saying nonsense right now but that's how I feel the necromancer would be.

 

Thats kind of part of the let down with Necro though. It sounds better on paper then it is in practice. 

[draken-heart]

I decided to switch my human mage with a warrior (Shield and weapon) I will keep this up for my future Dalish mage.

[stonerbishop]

Pull of the abyss with fire mine is rediculous. If the mine doesn't kill them, the stone fist follow up will.

I'm on my 3rd playthrough. First was necro. Second was rift . Now I'm doing ke. So far rift is my favorite for groups of enemies drop. A little weaker on a hard single target. I actually like necro better for tthat. So far I'm finding ke to be... boring.

[xaragon]

Pull of the abyss with fire mine is rediculous. If the mine doesn't kill them, the stone fist follow up will.

I'm on my 3rd playthrough. First was necro. Second was rift . Now I'm doing ke. So far rift is my favorite for groups of enemies drop. A little weaker on a hard single target. I actually like necro better for tthat. So far I'm finding ke to be... boring.

Yeah i actually stopped playing it like you say its just boring. using limited abilites while having more dps and more survivability then your other teammates combined just takes away from the enjoyment.