29 réponses à ce sujet

[Precursor Meta]

I've done a warrior on normal and Rogue on hard, but can anyone give me tips for playing as a mage on nightmare?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

[OmegaXI]

The Specializations you get once you get to skyhold  depending on what you choose will change your play style.

 

Early on I prefer to focus on frost spells so I can control the battle field, and remember early on distance is your friend.

 

I finished up my nightmare mage play through as a knight enchanter, but I have a really aggressive play style so I used fade step a lot.

 

If your having problem in specific battle try to make sure your sending your "tank" and melee in first to get ass much aggro as possible then let them have it.

 

Last but not least, barriers keep you alive so try to put as many points into barriers as you can. Hope this helps.

[RamonNZ]

2x mages is a good idea early on with nightmare for the 2x barrier, mainly because your tank early on will be flimsy. You'll have that with Solas, so that is good. Later on when you have better tanks you can take 2x tanks instead. For the really tough fights 2x tanks + 2x mages is good for holding agro and staying alive with barrier.

 

Your tank will die easily on nightmare in the beginning, so he'll be doing taunt and kite tactics for some battles. Get him tier 2-3 crafted armor asap then your life will be a lot easier.

 

You'll want to take Barrier (+ upgrade), Peaceful aura, guardian spirit, and possibly dispel (if you're going after rifts). These are life savers in the beginning. After that what can be useful is energy barrage (dps), lightning bolt (stun), gathering storm (faster cooldowns), and static cage. Once you have static cage (and possibly its upgrade) things will be a bit easier because you will be able to lock down groups of enemies for a time.

 

Then you can consider winter's grasp (freeze), fade step (dodge) and maybe winter stillness (more mana regen). or you can go the fire route with immoliate (fire it into the static cage), flashpoint (instant 2nd cast sometimes) and clean burn (quicker cooldowns).

 

At that point you should be at Skyhold, so you get your specialization and respec into either rift mage for lots of casting ability, or knight enchanter for near immortality. You'll know many of the tricks by that point, so you'll have a good idea what to use your points on.

 

When doing the "get to skyhold" quest I fully recommend 2 tanks and 2 mages for barrier and tanking because that quest can be hell on nightmare. 

[xPez]

I'm a Mage on Nightmare and I've just gotten to Skyhold, doing quite well so far.

 

I've got Solas, Blackwall and Sera with me and I'm going to spec as a KE.

 

It's really not as hard as I thought it would be. If there is a boss or certain part you can't do then just go somewhere else and level for a bit. I got to the Envy Demon at the recommended level and it destroyed me. I loaded the last milestone save (lost two hours of my life) and levelled up a bit, went back later and did the entire level and the boss in a much quicker time and with no real problems. The trebuchet bit in Haven took a while as well. I didn't need to reload anything but I did run to the ladder/platform back at the main gate a few times so I could revive everyone.

 

A lot of people have said that pre-Skyhold is the worst of it, so when you've gotten there it should pick up. I never use tactical view either, if you use that a lot you may find it a little easier?

 

Skill wise I've got Solas with Static Cage and myself spamming Fire Mine. It does big damage and the fire passives are great. Not great against some Venatori or Rage Demons but I've never run into any trouble with it.

[Kage]

There are some spells that are awesome.

Wall of Fire is awesome, forget about the damage, its all about CC.

Fade step is awesome, fun to use and really helpful against terror demons.

Static cage upgrades is awesome, tons of damage inside it with many other abilities.

 

Flashpoint passive from inferno is awesome.

[Attacktaur]

Pre-Skyhold:

 

Static Cage + Jar of Bees

 

Throw this out BEFORE your tank rushes in on groups of enemies.

 

By the time the cage and bees are gone, tank will have grabbed aggro on all enemies before they could scatter and a good portion of their health will be eaten away.

 

This got me through some really tough spots.

 

Once you get your specializations, the rest is cake.

[SpaceV3gan]

I've just finished a Rift Mage playthrough on Nightmare yesterday after 80 hours in and it was a blast.
My advice is to play offensively, go heavy on either the Fire or Lightning tree and use Fade Step upgraded (this power makes a world of difference) for survivability, utility and damage.
Having a secondary mage playing support role helps at the beginning. Actually, early game is by far the toughest part, so you might want to abuse Jars of Bees.
Later game you can pretty much walk over the enemies, dragons included. I was getting 2-3k AOE damage with Immolate and 7-9k damage with Fire Mine late game.
Mage (pure mage, not KE) is awesome DPS-wise and probably the most fun class of all.

[Molohk]

The most important tip I can offer is to be patient at start. The first few levels can get tough, but the fun is worth it. You might feel discouraged at first, but it pays off.

 

Also, it helps a lot to carry dispel for rifts and barriers. And it's ok to use the rift stun against tough enemies.

 

Also, embrace the tac-cam! (if you haven't already done so)

[rocklikeafool]

I never use tactical view either, if you use that a lot you may find it a little easier?

I've no idea why you wouldn't use the TacCam...

 

You do realize that, if you mouse over enemies in TacCam, it shows their vulnerabilities and/or immunities, right? No dang reason to be spamming a fire spell on an enemy immune to fire. TacCam just makes life in DA:I so much easier.

[Matth85]

Mages struggle early game. Though it gets a lot better after level 6-7. This is because you lack any kind of decent spells to begin with. Each class get some solid starting abilities: Long Shot, Twin Fangs, Mighty Blow. But not a mage. Your only solid early spell is Energy Barrage, which by itself won't get you far. 

Mages also suffer from low damage staves and elements.

 

That said, after a few levels you become the god of both CC and AoE. End-game you can do the sickest **** ever. Static Cage + Sera FoL + Solas Energy Barrage + you Energy Barrage? Mother of god!

 

3 points - Level   3:  Energy Barrage [Storm, Left side] + Winter's Grasp --> Fade Step[Winter]

6 points - Level   7:  Immolate --> Flashpoint --> Clean Burn --> Pyromancer --> Fire Mine + Upgrade [Inferno, Everywhere]

2 points - Level   9:  Conductive Current [Storm, Right sides] + Winter Stillness*[Winter, center]

2 points - Level 11:  Barrier --> Guardian Spirit [Spirit, Right side]

1 point   - Level 12:  Upgrade Energy Barrage [Storm, Left side]

 

This worked flawlessly for me on Nightmare. At level 6 I had Fire Mine, at which things looked a lot better. 

[QuantumAdam]

It will be tough, but I'd imagine the basic set up is two barrier mages on rotation. and then two melee to draw aggro, spec one mage into ice, the other fire, but give both a point in fade step.

[xPez]

I've no idea why you wouldn't use the TacCam...

 

You do realize that, if you mouse over enemies in TacCam, it shows their vulnerabilities and/or immunities, right? No dang reason to be spamming a fire spell on an enemy immune to fire. TacCam just makes life in DA:I so much easier.

 

Apart from using it for that obviously

 

Saying that, I'm ashamed of the amount of times that I don't bother with that and don't notice all of my spells doing 1 damage to Venatori.  

[Selea]

Mage (pure mage, not KE) is awesome DPS-wise and probably the most fun class of all.

 

Yeah, Rift Mage and DW Rogue Assassin (well, rogue in effect is fun in all specs and roles, but I guess Assassin DW is my personal preference) are in my opinion the two funniest classes to play, especially on nightmare. The playstyle of them is completely opposite, but this is a plus in itself as you can do two very fun runs one completely different than the other (and they go well on this also because you can do opposite story choices too for roleplay).

If with a mage you haven't tried Rift then you don't yet know what a nuke mage is and what it can do. KE is completely and utterly boring in comparison (and also much weaker apart for the immortality).

[Capeo]

I just hit 17 on NM as Rift Mage and stuff is pretty much a face roll now except the high level dragons.  I went with a two mage setup, tank and archer.  Early I'd say both mages having barrier makes things easier.  I rescpecced both mages asap, myself heading right to upgraded Static Cage through Energy Barrage then worked to Fire Mine.  I let the other mage grab Winter's Grasp and Dispel.  Next was upgraded Fade Step  Early on you're not dealing with too many resistances so I found splitting the trees between mages worked better.  Static cage then throw a fire mine in the center of it is pure win.  Once I got my specialization I respecced both mages again into what I've been using since.

[Taura-Tierno]

I've no idea why you wouldn't use the TacCam...

 

You do realize that, if you mouse over enemies in TacCam, it shows their vulnerabilities and/or immunities, right? No dang reason to be spamming a fire spell on an enemy immune to fire. TacCam just makes life in DA:I so much easier.

 

Aside from TacCam being an abomination on PC? I mean, for moving around etc, and not just viewing immunities.

[Molohk]

I agree. 1st play through was a dw assassin and loved it, now for a change of pace I'm going for Rift Mage, and it's been a blast even pre-spec, I'm sure once I spec it will be tons of fun (tried it a bit taking control of Solas on my first PT).

 

I do think I need to adjust my play style though. I've been taking control of Cassandra too often, just because it makes it easier to control the battle field. Hopefully when I have better CC abilities from my mages I can rely less on tank control and more on CC. Currently thinking about going Lightning/Rift, because Static Cage looks awesome, but Firewall looks fun, so fire is also an option.

[Capeo]

I do think I need to adjust my play style though. I've been taking control of Cassandra too often, just because it makes it easier to control the battle field. Hopefully when I have better CC abilities from my mages I can rely less on tank control and more on CC. Currently thinking about going Lightning/Rift, because Static Cage looks awesome, but Firewall looks fun, so fire is also an option.

 

Lightning and the Rift tree go hand in hand due to the shocked + weakness = deep sleep combo which then can be detonated a number of ways.  You want both Flashpoint and Clean Burn in Fire.  Don't bother with Winter Stillness after you get your spec because you will be a mana generating machine.  Craft gear with as much crit chance as possible because with Flashpoint it's not unusual to have a couple Static Cages and/or Pull of the Abyss up at the same time.  The key is Energy Barrage with your high crit chance.  Barrage hits 12 times pretty much guaranteeing a crit and each Static Cage upgraded shock can crit.  With Dorian, Cass and Sera it's a not stop detonation party.

[Gigamantis]

My early strategy with a Mage on Nightmare was to get the respec potion immediately and make sure I had Static Cage, Barrier and Fade Step as soon as possible.  Then pick up Solas and spec him into Dispel and then go fire abilities until he gets to Fire Mine.  That build will hold up fine until you get specializations, and once you get specializations even Nightmare becomes easy enough. 

[Molohk]

Lightning and the Rift tree go hand in hand due to the shocked + weakness = deep sleep combo which then can be detonated a number of ways.  You want both Flashpoint and Clean Burn in Fire. 

Yes, thats the idea. I'm running 2 mages, so probably will have mage 2 go Fire/Spirit for Rez/Dispel and Firewall. Dispel will be a nice detonator for clumped up targets, or hopefully they will fix Immolate.

 

One question, I know Static Cage paralyzes, but it also shocks? Since I'm not that deep into the trees atm, my main primers are Winters Grasp, Lightning Bolt, Sweet Revenge, Stunning Shot, and for detonators mostly Energy Barrage, Long Shot, and Dispel. But I'm really itching to mix it up with the AoE Madness off deep Rift/Lightning.

[Molohk]

...Then pick up Solas and spec him into Dispel...

 

Heh, I'm currently running double Dispels. Feels kind of cheesy during rifts, but I don't mind it.

[Capeo]

Yes, thats the idea. I'm running 2 mages, so probably will have mage 2 go Fire/Spirit for Rez/Dispel and Firewall. Dispel will be a nice detonator for clumped up targets, or hopefully they will fix Immolate.

 

One question, I know Static Cage paralyzes, but it also shocks? Since I'm not that deep into the trees atm, my main primers are Winters Grasp, Lightning Bolt, Sweet Revenge, Stunning Shot, and for detonators mostly Energy Barrage, Long Shot, and Dispel. But I'm really itching to mix it up with the AoE Madness off deep Rift/Lightning.

 

Anything that does enough enough lightning damage shocks.  Your staff attack shocks on the last attack in its basic attack rotation (the one where you slam it on the ground and two projectiles come out of it).  Chain Lightning is a guaranteed shock but I dropped it as I'm producing more than enough from Cage and Barrage.  This game isn't good with explaining its mechanics.  Hell, the weakness/shock combo isn't even mentioned anywhere let alone the different kind of detonations.  I run with Dorian so one of my favorite is the nightmare combo sleep+horror while they're trapped in a cage as the run around even more and get zapped.  Have an upgraded Walking Bomb in there on the weakest creature and it gets even more silly.  I went with Dorian because his spirit damage covers a few of my build's weaknesses.

 

I went with Cass as a tank because, one, her Templar dispel detonates just like normal dispel, and two, she has a passive that gives the whole party a chance to inflict weakness.  The only thing I've run across that has been immune to weakness is giants.  Everything else so far, including dragons, hasn't been.

[Molohk]

I went with Cass as a tank because, one, her Templar dispel detonates just like normal dispel, and two, she has a passive that gives the whole party a chance to inflict weakness.  The only thing I've run across that has been immune to weakness is giants.  Everything else so far, including dragons, hasn't been.

 

Cassandra's AoE Stun is pretty awesome too. She can prime them with wrath of of heaven then detonate with purge for a 1 man (woman) AoE cross-class combo. About as nasty as it gets.

[luism]

Be sure to be at least level 11 before trying in your heart shall burn.

[Capeo]

Be sure to be at least level 11 before trying in your heart shall burn.

I did it at 9 without much issue. Didn't even use potions until the last trebuchet. Then I had to use them though lol. I relied on static cage and fire mine plus barrier on both mages. I dropped my range behind the trebuchet so enemies were funneled between the switch and the wall and archers couldn't hit my ranged. For the boss I pretty much had to keep alternating barriers between my mages to keep Cass up though. And I had to use the cache midway through that part. Deal with the waves individually and save inbetween them and you should be alright.

[sunnydxmen]

on nightmare you have to get fade step to get away from enemies  lightning cage is good to stop enemies  ,also get guardian spirit  in barrier is a must of course fire wall is good too  to burn melee enemies that come after you.