14 réponses à ce sujet

[Stormbringer3]

I'm currently playing a Mage and I was planning to keep on using Solas. I was going to specialize as a Rift Mage but if I do, then the party will have two Rift Mages. Should I consider another specialization or does it not make any real difference?
Thanks for any opinions.

[Slapstick83]

I find having two rift mages extremely rewarding. The ability to chain cast Pull of the Abyss while throwing out AoE spells and always fighting weakened mobs are just too good to pass up. The other mage specializations are not that interesting (tactically) IMO. Knight Enchanter is a bit 'meh' for tactical magickery and Necromancer is a fear-machine. Necro is fair to good, but I found 2x Rift Mage to be quite fun. "Oh, I just rained firy death and destruction on everyone while they were bunched up in a black whole? LETS DO IT AGAIN!"

[EngineerEd]

Two rift mages=enemies weakened more often=more mana regen for yourself and Solas=more spells to use in a fight.

[Fullmetall21]

Is walking bomb broken? because if it is not a combo of Pull of The Abyss, Chain Lighting, Stone Fist with Walking Bomb rolling should be enough to completely melt most things even on nightmare. And if its not add a Fire mine at the center. The only benefit I see of having 2 rift mages is permanent lock of almost every enemy (each has 2 Knockdowns on the spec alone) otherwise I think Dorian would work better with a rift mage Inquisitor. 

 

To answer the original question, you can play with whatever group you want after a point you will just destroy everything anyway.

[RamonNZ]

2+2 knockdowns + permanent weakness/mana regen sounds perfect. I've tried rift myself, but sometimes the weakness wears off or the guy dies, and I'm left in the slow lane. I should have thought of this myself.

 

Also I'd rather listen to Solas talk than Vivienne flaming everybody.

[volkoff]

Is walking bomb broken? because if it is not a combo of Pull of The Abyss, Chain Lighting, Stone Fist with Walking Bomb rolling should be enough to completely melt most things even on nightmare. And if its not add a Fire mine at the center. The only benefit I see of having 2 rift mages is permanent lock of almost every enemy (each has 2 Knockdowns on the spec alone) otherwise I think Dorian would work better with a rift mage Inquisitor. 

 

To answer the original question, you can play with whatever group you want after a point you will just destroy everything anyway.

idk why people need 2x rift mage. i'm doing a playthrough on nim atm with dorian. me being rift. best combo ever. i'm able to keep weakened up on enemy's all the time by stonefist alone.(might be because i have alot of cd-reducing talents + the necklace and upgraded stonefist) but i never run out of mana. and dorian is my barrier ****** whom throws out static cage(upgraded) and walking bomb(upgraded) (and dispells)when needed(he got -20% mana cost on chest when he's not being hit). the damage we're able to do is ungodly. and i do mean that. ungodly.

pop static cage. pop pull of the abyss on the edge of cage (so the enemy's get pulled into/to the edge of static cage so some of em get paralyzed (and you'll have more enemy's in the cage because you cover more ground.) chain lightning, fire mine, stone fist. so. stonefist hitting the paralyzed guys and you'll have a aoe cross-class combo. then you got -20% resist due to chain lightning on 6 guys. you'll have fire mine hitting a bunch of people and you'll also have walking bomb exploding all over the place. it already was a strong combo. but now with very good gear i'm seeing 2k walking bomb aoe crits, 1.7k stonefist aoe crits, cross-class combo aoe(havent seen how much damage they do), chain lightning(havent seen. to much numbers) and firemine(seen 7k crits very rarely.) and then the 50% wep dmg for everytime they get hit by something in static cage. then you got varric brewing tea on the background telling story's and blackwall trimming his beard. seriously, they're practically useless nowadays. all they're there for is to give a buff (20% more dmg vs taunted and the 10% dmg/duration.)

walking bomb does more damage(total) then you're able to do with fire mine. imagine 6 guys all exploding for 1k+ damage to everyone in their area. and the dot on everyone. it even makes taking down bosses/elite mobs easy. use your tank to pull a bunch of random mobs (if they're close to the boss/elite) then focus on the little ones and watch their exploding asses take down the boss.

now you can also rotate pull and static if you're in trouble to keep throngs of enemy's locked down (ha, as if you ever get in trouble with dorian around.)

[NextGenCowboy]

Walking Bomb's issue is that the detonation is 200% damage, not 600% as listed. Unless the enemy's killed by the explosion, that kind of cripples its usefulness. It still has use as a support mage, and WB will still do a combined 2200% weapon damage (beating out Fire Mine), but when one's expecting 2600% Weapon damage, and the whole tree is based around the two skills at the bottom, with their enourmous mana cost, that really hurts the build.

 

Yes, panic + Static Cage is awesome, but one doesn't need a Necomancer for that.

[Fullmetall21]

Walking Bomb's issue is that the detonation is 200% damage, not 600% as listed. Unless the enemy's killed by the explosion, that kind of cripples its usefulness. It still has use as a support mage, and WB will still do a combined 2200% weapon damage (beating out Fire Mine), but when one's expecting 2600% Weapon damage, and the whole tree is based around the two skills at the bottom, with their enourmous mana cost, that really hurts the build.

 

Yes, panic + Static Cage is awesome, but one doesn't need a Necomancer for that.

 

Thing is you don't really need a second rift mage either. I'm running a rift mage at the moment and my group is Cassandra/Dorian/Varric when questing and Blackwall/Cole/Vivienne for when I go dragon hunting. It works like a charm weaken is not so hard to maintain once you get the whole rift mage tree everything you cast there causes weakness and by the time it runs out things are dead at least for me.

 

So in the end if you want more damage go with Dorian if you want more of a support mage go with Vivienne. Nothing is wrong with 2 rift mages though it's just not optimal in my opinion.

[volkoff]

Thing is you don't really need a second rift mage either. I'm running a rift mage at the moment and my group is Cassandra/Dorian/Varric when questing and Blackwall/Cole/Vivienne for when I go dragon hunting. It works like a charm weaken is not so hard to maintain once you get the whole rift mage tree everything you cast there causes weakness and by the time it runs out things are dead at least for me.

 

So in the end if you want more damage go with Dorian if you want more of a support mage go with Vivienne. Nothing is wrong with 2 rift mages though it's just not optimal in my opinion.

i wonder, why do you prefer cassandra ? is it for the detonation ? the dmg increase is only for demons isn't it(find the descriptions rather... vague) ?
 

 

Walking Bomb's issue is that the detonation is 200% damage, not 600% as listed. Unless the enemy's killed by the explosion, that kind of cripples its usefulness. It still has use as a support mage, and WB will still do a combined 2200% weapon damage (beating out Fire Mine), but when one's expecting 2600% Weapon damage, and the whole tree is based around the two skills at the bottom, with their enourmous mana cost, that really hurts the build.

 

Yes, panic + Static Cage is awesome, but one doesn't need a Necomancer for that.

 

well that sucks, i suppose those 2k's i've seen must be from something else then. hmmm.
you forgot the fire mine upgrade tho. making it a whopping 3200% wep dmg.(the dot) but still. thing is fire mine has an long cooldown, only usable once a fight really. (unless you're fighting bosses) on such fights walking bomb (even the bugged one) still does more overall because you're able to keep it applied on everyone all the time.

[NextGenCowboy]

Walking Bomb also has the spirit damage-type advantage. Stone fist seems to too, but that makes it preferable to Fire Mine, to me at least.

 

I generally consider Cass the better tank. Her skills offer a wider range of use, she has an AOE buff, party-wide passives, and her focus skill is far better than Blackwall's. Yes, Walking Fortress makes for an amazing tank, and To the Death has practical use, but you don't really need that much tanking, even with a lone tank, on Nightmare, Cass suffices, and she offers a better, more versatile skillset.

 

I run with Varric, which compliments Rift Mage extremely well, so I really don't need 2 either. I just find Knight Enchanter rather boring... ish. Status Duration + Damage Increase for the party, boosted critical chance for the whole party for Flashpoint etc. Double Rift Mage has some practical application, in that you have 2 self-contained mages who can detonate their own combos. I wouldn't call it the optimal build at all, but optimal generally means taking KE anyway, even without the synergy offered by Artificer + Rift Mage.

 

Artificer + Rift Mage also means, I honestly don't need 2 mages at all. This run's purely for fun, and story reasons. Both classes can detonate combos and apply status effects.

[volkoff]

Walking Bomb also has the spirit damage-type advantage. Stone fist seems to too, but that makes it preferable to Fire Mine, to me at least.

 

I generally consider Cass the better tank. Her skills offer a wider range of use, she has an AOE buff, party-wide passives, and her focus skill is far better than Blackwall's. Yes, Walking Fortress makes for an amazing tank, and To the Death has practical use, but you don't really need that much tanking, even with a lone tank, on Nightmare, Cass suffices, and she offers a better, more versatile skillset.

 

I run with Varric, which compliments Rift Mage extremely well, so I really don't need 2 either. I just find Knight Enchanter rather boring... ish. Status Duration + Damage Increase for the party, boosted critical chance for the whole party for Flashpoint etc. Double Rift Mage has some practical application, in that you have 2 self-contained mages who can detonate their own combos. I wouldn't call it the optimal build at all, but optimal generally means taking KE anyway, even without the synergy offered by Artificer + Rift Mage.

 

Artificer + Rift Mage also means, I honestly don't need 2 mages at all. This run's purely for fun, and story reasons. Both classes can detonate combos and apply status effects.

aye, but arent those buffs demon only ? except for the weaken and the dmg resistance.

[NextGenCowboy]

How it's worded I can't tell. If we go by the tooltip, it's a bonus to damage to demons, and a lesser one to everything else. That said, the tooltip in this game is iffy, at best.

 

That said though, demons are by far the most common enemy, and even without Blessed Blades working at all times, she still has a better skillset. For manual play she has a self-detonating combo (works wonders with Rift Mage + Artificer), she has a passive that restores HP of  the whole party if she goes down (in a game with limited healing), and innate elemental resistence for the whole party.

 

The big thing is, Rally is better than Counterstrike. Counterstrike has a few good uses, mostly on large, physically oriented boss-type enemies. Rally's all purpose, works on everything, and is useful in any big fight, it also last a long time for what it does.

[Fullmetall21]

i wonder, why do you prefer cassandra ? is it for the detonation ? the dmg increase is only for demons isn't it(find the descriptions rather... vague) ?
 

 

 

well that sucks, i suppose those 2k's i've seen must be from something else then. hmmm.
you forgot the fire mine upgrade tho. making it a whopping 3200% wep dmg.(the dot) but still. thing is fire mine has an long cooldown, only usable once a fight really. (unless you're fighting bosses) on such fights walking bomb (even the bugged one) still does more overall because you're able to keep it applied on everyone all the time.

 

I prefer Cassandra when questing because she brings a lot against demons and when I'm questing chances are I'll be closing a lot of rifts. Defensively speasking Cassandra and Blackwall don't differ much when they both have tier 3 gear the only real advantage Blackwall has is To the Death for bosses. Cole's mark of death is super strong against bosses but otherwise an overkill so Varric takes his place when questing and I found Dorian to have the maximum synergy with the Rift mage but I take Vivienne against dragons so I can have a guard breaker at all times.

[NextGenCowboy]

Cass can break Guards with Shield Bash too. And therein lies another of her strengths. With her Dispel, and Shield Bash, she has bonus damage against all defense-types. Not to mention, extra elemental resistences help against Dragons, and can free up slots on armor/belts for more health, or something else.

 

Counterstrike works wonders against dragons though. That said, so does Rally assuming you're not caught in direct fire. Rally can also increase the damage output of any class that has things coming off cooldown fast, and needs Mana/Stamina (Varric, Assasin, Reaver, Etc.)

[Fullmetall21]

Cass can break Guards with Shield Bash too. And therein lies another of her strengths. With her Dispel, and Shield Bash, she has bonus damage against all defense-types. Not to mention, extra elemental resistences help against Dragons, and can free up slots on armor/belts for more health, or something else.

 

Counterstrike works wonders against dragons though. That said, so does Rally assuming you're not caught in direct fire. Rally can also increase the damage output of any class that has things coming off cooldown fast, and needs Mana/Stamina (Varric, Assasin, Reaver, Etc.)

 

Indeed she can but I found using Vivienne with spirit blade to be easier and faster. Elemental resistances are very good don't get me wrong but To the Death simply outshines everything a Templar can do against a boss. I think spell purge doesn't remove the lightning rings from the lightning dragons or is this wrong? If it is then Cassandra is worth having against lightning dragons.

Rally is indeed a lot better than counterstrike. I wonder why did they put that on the champion since he already has To the Death.