Hey,
I went through the game once as a tempest archer(blackwall as champion/tank, solas as rift/dps, vivienne as KE). The tempest playstyle wasn't a lot of fun and am sort of regretting not going assassin or artificer. I'm going to start a new game on hard or nightmare. I'm considering playing reaver warrior. Is it a similar playstyle? If anyone has some time and expertise and could breakdown the playstyle of the various classes or specializations I would really appreciate it.
Warriors
The reaver is a 2 button class Dragon's Rage is just superior to anything a warrior has access to and if you use heal on kill items +healing crafting and devour you can destroy everything and remain at low health doing extra damage. It is very strong but monotonous after a time. I hear going S&S instead of 2H improves the experience a lot but I have yet to try it.
The templar is basically your base warrior that has access to a lot of useful team buff and a huge burst every now and then and is of the very few classes that can prime and detonate cross class combos on its own. In combat the Templar fills the support-ish role but is still viable for either tanking or dps (either 2H or S&S). It also performs exceptionally well against demons.
The champion is the most defense oriented spec of all the warriors and as such is more suited to S&S (none of your champion skills is weapon damage based). As a champion you are virtually invincible and To the Death makes boss fights a lot easier. I had some fun playing S&S champion but I really like tanking. The champion spec add the least to the playstyle of warriors.
Rogues
The assassin has the highest single target dps of all the classes. Viable as dual wield and archer (although the spec favors dual wield a bit more) I had a blast playing assassin. It relies on very heavy stealth play as you reset your stealth cooldown with each kill. So the playstyle would be something like stealth-burst 1 target down-stealth repeat. In my opinion it is the most rogue-ish of the specs. Finally while the assassin can completely destroy almost everything in the game it is very fragile a lot more than the tempest and thus has to remain very mobile moving from target to target all the time. That makes a very powerful and engaging class to play. I found it is also incredibly rewarding if played right.
I don't have much on the artificer since I have yet to play it but here is my two cents.
The artificer for some people is the most fun of all the rogue specs. More viable as an archer by a rather large margin (it lacks active skills in the spec) the cooldown reduction passive you get on your teams critical hits allows to you effectively spam your skills resulting in very high damage (still not as high as the assassin's) while providing your team with a lot of helpful buffs. With a high critical chance team you can't go wrong as an artificer.
Mages
The knight enchanter if you haven't already seen the countless posts here on this very forum is considered the most broken class in the game. Reason for that is a talent that allows you to generate barrier based on your damage making you almost impossible to kill even on nightmare. For the playstyle this is where things gets wrong since you can play the class with 3 buttons. The whole spec is based on the Spirit Blade and as such suffers the same way as the reaver. It becomes incredibly dull and boring after a time.
The rift mage works almost the same way as the artificer. You get a skill set that allows you to weaken enemies reducing their damage by (I belive) a whooping 30%. Pretty sweet right? well we are not done yet as all damage you do on weakened targets restores your mana. This allows you to have virtually infinite mana for as long as the weakened status is up. In combination with some of the other mages talents you become a turret of devastating spells. The most important thing the rift mages offer though is control. As a rift mage you have absolute control over the battlefield with a rather large set of control abilities. The rift mage is also the best combo class in the game.
Unfortunately I have nothing on the necromancer although I hear the high mana cost of the spells diminishes the fun factor of the class. Take that as you will.
Good luck.
holy ****. Thanks so much. Noone was even posting on this before.
Warriors
The reaver is a 2 button class Dragon's Rage is just superior to anything a warrior has access to and if you use heal on kill items +healing crafting and devour you can destroy everything and remain at low health doing extra damage. It is very strong but monotonous after a time. I hear going S&S instead of 2H improves the experience a lot but I have yet to try it.
The templar is basically your base warrior that has access to a lot of useful team buff and a huge burst every now and then and is of the very few classes that can prime and detonate cross class combos on its own. In combat the Templar fills the support-ish role but is still viable for either tanking or dps (either 2H or S&S). It also performs exceptionally well against demons.
The champion is the most defense oriented spec of all the warriors and as such is more suited to S&S (none of your champion skills is weapon damage based). As a champion you are virtually invincible and To the Death makes boss fights a lot easier. I had some fun playing S&S champion but I really like tanking. The champion spec add the least to the playstyle of warriors.
Rogues
The assassin has the highest single target dps of all the classes. Viable as dual wield and archer (although the spec favors dual wield a bit more) I had a blast playing assassin. It relies on very heavy stealth play as you reset your stealth cooldown with each kill. So the playstyle would be something like stealth-burst 1 target down-stealth repeat. In my opinion it is the most rogue-ish of the specs. Finally while the assassin can completely destroy almost everything in the game it is very fragile a lot more than the tempest and thus has to remain very mobile moving from target to target all the time. That makes a very powerful and engaging class to play. I found it is also incredibly rewarding if played right.
I don't have much on the artificer since I have yet to play it but here is my two cents.
The artificer for some people is the most fun of all the rogue specs. More viable as an archer by a rather large margin (it lacks active skills in the spec) the cooldown reduction passive you get on your teams critical hits allows to you effectively spam your skills resulting in very high damage (still not as high as the assassin's) while providing your team with a lot of helpful buffs. With a high critical chance team you can't go wrong as an artificer.
Mages
The knight enchanter if you haven't already seen the countless posts here on this very forum is considered the most broken class in the game. Reason for that is a talent that allows you to generate barrier based on your damage making you almost impossible to kill even on nightmare. For the playstyle this is where things gets wrong since you can play the class with 3 buttons. The whole spec is based on the Spirit Blade and as such suffers the same way as the reaver. It becomes incredibly dull and boring after a time.
The rift mage works almost the same way as the artificer. You get a skill set that allows you to weaken enemies reducing their damage by (I belive) a whooping 30%. Pretty sweet right? well we are not done yet as all damage you do on weakened targets restores your mana. This allows you to have virtually infinite mana for as long as the weakened status as up. In combination with some of the other mages talents you become a turret of devastating spells. The most important thing the rift mages offers though is control. As a rift mage you have absolute control over the battlefield with a rather large set of control abilities. The rift mage is also the best combo class in the game.
Unfortunately I have nothing on the necromancer although I hear the high mana cost of the spells diminishes the fun factor of the class. Take that as you will.
Good luck.
For the playstyle this is where things gets wrong since you can play the class with 3 buttons. The whole spec is based on the Spirit Blade and as such suffers the same way as the reaver. It becomes incredibly dull and boring after a time.
People keep saying this... Yes, you CAN finish the game by using Spirit Blade exclusively (you could probably make a similar statement with other abilities/classes), but if you -choose- to do that and find it boring, you only have yourself to blame.
The class is based on defence and barriers, regardless of SB. In fact, I'd say it's potentially the most versatile mage class, since it allows you to mix and match magic attacks (Chaotic Focus deserves a mention here) with melee, and even heal your party every now and then.
People keep saying this... Yes, you CAN finish the game by using Spirit Blade exclusively (you could probably make a similar statement with other abilities/classes), but if you -choose- to do that and find it boring, you only have yourself to blame.
The class is based on defence and barriers, regardless of SB. In fact, I'd say it's potentially the most versatile mage class, since it allows you to mix and match magic attacks (Chaotic Focus deserves a mention here) with melee, and even heal your party every now and then.
Indeed but if you feel that way why go for the knight enchanter in the first place? being in melee spamming spirit blade is where the knight enchanter shines if you want to play as a "hybrid" caster you are better off with any of the other specs. Chaotic focus only affects fire spells which turns the Spirit Blade/Fade Cloak spam to Fire Mine/Immolate spam which is essentially the same thing.
What you are saying is the same as saying the reaver can play without dragon's rage, which is true but dragon's rage IS what makes the spec what it is same way as spirit blade is what makes the knight enchanter spec.
In any event all I did was share how I personally feel about each class and whatever insight I have after my playthroughs however I was hopping someone other than me would reply to add what I would most likely have missed so your feedback is appreciated.
Indeed but if you feel that way why go for the knight enchanter in the first place? being in melee spamming spirit blade is where the knight enchanter shines if you want to play as a "hybrid" caster you are better off with any of the other specs.
What you are saying is the same as saying the reaver can play without dragon's rage, which is true but dragon's rage IS what makes the spec what it is same way as spirit blade is what makes the knight enchanter spec.
How so? I mean, unless I'm missing something, if the definition of "hybrid" here includes melee (it did in my post), I don't see it being viable with the other specs.
As for why to play a KE, I can tell you why I did, personally, and it's because of the reasons stated above:
1) Defence. I completed my first playthrough with a KE, and I had read words such as "unkillable" several times on these forums when referring to it. I figured that'd make it a safe bet for a beginner (safer than other mages at least).
2) Variety. I.e. the ability to melee if I get tired of casting, and vice versa. Healing is nice too.
Like I said, I just don't consider Spirit Blade to be the main class feature. At least in practice (RP wise, the trainer basically just talks about the blade). I don't consider the blade necessarily more effective than other spells.
I can't talk much about other classes because I haven't played them for long enough. Currently playing a DW rogue; might try a warrior afterwards (definitely not a reaver; can't stand those claws).
Hey it's your opinion and I respect that, in fact I'm quite happy about it and hope the OP would read what you wrote here so he can see a different perspective. The point of this post was to help a fellow inquisitor not argue about what's best and what's not. As for the KE itself I'm a melee at heart I don't care much for rangers since attacking from afar ruins my roleplay as the leader but that's just me. Anyway thank you for adding what I could not.
The assassin has the highest single target dps of all the classes. Viable as dual wield and archer (although the spec favors dual wield a bit more) I had a blast playing assassin. It relies on very heavy stealth play as you reset your stealth cooldown with each kill. So the playstyle would be something like stealth-burst 1 target down-stealth repeat. In my opinion it is the most rogue-ish of the specs. Finally while the assassin can completely destroy almost everything in the game it is very fragile a lot more than the tempest and thus has to remain very mobile moving from target to target all the time. That makes a very powerful and engaging class to play. I found it is also incredibly rewarding if played right.
Very nice rundown of the different classes. And - agreed about DW Rogue Assassin.
The point of this post was to help a fellow inquisitor not argue about what's best and what's not.
I don't have much on the artificer since I have yet to play it but here is my two cents.
The artificer for some people is the most fun of all the rogue specs. More viable as an archer by a rather large margin (it lacks active skills in the spec) the cooldown reduction passive you get on your teams critical hits allows to you effectively spam your skills resulting in very high damage (still not as high as the assassin's) while providing your team with a lot of helpful buffs. With a high critical chance team you can't go wrong as an artificer.
Not to be a [expletive], but I can never really understand why the Artificer is the ONLY rogue with a cooldown reduction when all warriors and mages get that option available (Hell, I think the mages would have been ahead in that department if one of their TWO CD reducers was not broken.
Unless playing with Varric or as an artificer Quizzy, you kind of have to deal with the cooldowns reducing effectiveness.
Don't rogues get Shadow Strike as their cd reduction though? I believe a Tempest spamming Shadow Strike while on Flask of Fire has greater cd reduction than even a mage with Flashpoint and Clean Burn. That said the absolute worst cd reduction belongs to the warriors since it's tied to crit chance and unless you are a reaver you can't make full use of it. While Flashpoint is also tied to crit chance Energy Barrage 12 (or was it 16?) hits crit often enough to make it worth it.
Don't rogues get Shadow Strike as their cd reduction though? I believe a Tempest spamming Shadow Strike while on Flask of Fire has greater cd reduction than even a mage with Flashpoint and Clean Burn. That said the absolute worst cd reduction belongs to the warriors since it's tied to crit chance and unless you are a reaver you can't make full use of it. While Flashpoint is also tied to crit chance Energy Barrage 12 (or was it 16?) hits crit often enough to make it worth it.
It's pretty easy to reach 50%~ crit chance as a warrior via gear. You also get alot of cunning from quests (10 from a villa in Emerald Graves and a bit more from the fade). If you animation cancel with a 2-handed greatsword/axe you can refresh cooldowns really quickly.
Also Champions have access to cooldown reduction via Walking Fortress+ (1 sec reduced cooldown when hit).
It's pretty easy to reach 50%~ crit chance as a warrior via gear. You also get alot of cunning from quests (10 from a villa in Emerald Graves and a bit more from the fade). If you animation cancel with a 2-handed greatsword/axe you can refresh cooldowns really quickly.
Also Champions have access to cooldown reduction via Walking Fortress+ (1 sec reduced cooldown when hit).
Yes that is true but when going for crit chance you unavoidably lose +attack and warriors can't truly utilize the critical chance because of their low critical damage. As an assassin rogue I can manage up to 250% critical damage and 60% critical chance and while a warrior can get as high as 50 or 60% critical chance their critical damage will be stuck bellow 120% at all times. So I think +attack benefits the warriors a lot more than critical chance. In the end Critical chance is just that a chance while +attack statically increases all your damage done, hence why Flow of Battle isn't really that good.
The assassin has the highest single target dps of all the classes.
Highest burst, but outdone by tempest for sustained fights really, especially if you factor in focus ability use.
Highest burst, but outdone by tempest for sustained fights really, especially if you factor in focus ability use.
Well I don't know you can do some insane stuff with mark of death and that is not a focus ability meaning you can use it more than once per fight. I do not include exploits and bugs because then Flask of Fire + Thousand Cuts can faceroll the whole game no questions asked. In my opinion Tempest and Assassin stand on equal grounds with both offering a lot and doing good damage I didn't include that on purpose since the OP already played Tempest and was looking for something else.
Yeah, I just wanted to point out that bit about KE's playstyle, in case the OP was thinking there was only a way to play the class. I agree with your rundown of the rest of the classes overall.
That, and repeating the tired old 'KE is boring because it only uses two buttons' spiel doesn't help anyone, whether it was supposed to be an argument or not.
Well I did say this was my personal view of the classes based on my own personal experience with them and I did welcome any help or addition to my post so what is the problem again? I never used anything as an argument I just noted how the classes felt to me personally.
Don't rogues get Shadow Strike as their cd reduction though? I believe a Tempest spamming Shadow Strike while on Flask of Fire has greater cd reduction than even a mage with Flashpoint and Clean Burn. That said the absolute worst cd reduction belongs to the warriors since it's tied to crit chance and unless you are a reaver you can't make full use of it. While Flashpoint is also tied to crit chance Energy Barrage 12 (or was it 16?) hits crit often enough to make it worth it.
1) The rogue Shadow Strike is an active that normally has a cooldown unless a tempest. 2) I think that they need the upgrade for that, while artificer has a passive, and Mage and Warrior have theirs in the base trees. Clean burn works with spells cast, so every spell post WoF or FM = less time to wait for those spells (making things like Immolate good filler). Rogues do not get a passive CD reduction like the mage or warrior unless playing as an artificer. Might as well rename the entire spec the "Opportunity knock"/steady DPS spec because it is the only rogue that can actually do that easily.
I agree that the rogues could do with a passive for cd reduction and it would be awesome. As of now though only Opportunity Knocks and Clean Burn are good as Flow of Battle is in my opinion the worst talent for reducing cds because it's tied to critical hits. Even upgraded Shadow Strike is better since it reduces cd by 4 seconds. I think Opportunity Knocks is the best one though if utilized correctly besting even Clean Burn on a Rift Mage.
Well I did say this was my personal view of the classes based on my own personal experience with them and I did welcome any help or addition to my post so what is the problem again? I never used anything as an argument I just noted how the classes felt to me personally.
Well people getting touchy because Bioware may nerf KE, for some interesting reason Bioware does have a criminal record of nerfing skills with patches while not buffing underpowered skills, so there is that ^^
However actualy KE does get killed if he doesn't use other skill sets because only through fire mine, chain lightning or energy bombardment KEs can regen good amount of Barrier.
Because when fighting on front line i can drop fire mine, ice mine or wall of fire on archers/mages, this class makes me feel as i'm in full control of the battle, ironic considering i seldomly felt like that with Rift Mage because there were many encounters where my Rift Mage didn't have necesary tools to counter(like every single boss fight or mobs with too many archers).
I played Rift Mage(NM) and Necromancer(Hard) and honestly i found KE most fun spec as it can buff or protect the party, take down defenses(guard and barrier), crowd control and dish out impressive AoE damage, be effective at any range and you can make this role changes in flow of battle. Funny thing KE gameplay felt more close to my templar char than my other mage walkthroughs, due to its versatile nature.
It's my favorite class along with templar. Only reason it may feel OP because it's versatile. For example one may argue that Assasin is OP because it can break the encounter design by literaly one shootting any boss in the game(which is clearly not what developers intended), my assasin took fun out of many encounters because the boss died before before his lackeys even got hurt, is Knight Enchanter OP or boring like this? I don't think so since it never breaks the design or takes fun out of any encounter.
I use Knight Enchanter without Spirit Blade. I choose the specialisation for it's awesome synergy with the fire tree. One fire mine alone is enough to fill up your barrier, which you can then use to add potency to wall of flames and immolate. The slowdown spell is also excellent in combination with fire, as you can prime mines or drop walls for slow cooking action. It's a powerful play style, but not godly, and it feels less repetitive than endlessly spamming your urine coloured lightsaber and effectively being immortal. The constant barrier build up doesn't feel too over powered if you're using said barrier as fuel.
I don't get why people say the KE class is the most broken class in DA. The tempest class is every bit as broken if not more so. The only difference is, bosses and mobs go down a lot quicker with a tempest rogue than if you opt for KE. You've basically got the most powerful focus skill on tap when used with flask of fire.
You can take Cory down in two cut scenes, on nightmare, in less than 10 seconds.
The idea of it being OP comes from fact it is tough to kill. A magical tank, as it were.
But you could say the same about The Champion.
As a damage dealer, it's far from broken. It's waaaaaaaaay behind rogues when it comes to pain dished out.
Not to be a [expletive], but I can never really understand why the Artificer is the ONLY rogue with a cooldown reduction when all warriors and mages get that option available (Hell, I think the mages would have been ahead in that department if one of their TWO CD reducers was not broken.
Unless playing with Varric or as an artificer Quizzy, you kind of have to deal with the cooldowns reducing effectiveness.
Cause when you think about it, the assassin does not need cooldown reduction, the assassin is about having insane burst potential, most of the time your target is dead when you pop out of stealth, or at least near dead, and by the time you switch targets, your main damaging attacks such as twin fangs have probably reset already anyway. Tempest has FoF and associated talents to extend it's effect, it has 8 seconds of free power spam. It's a good thing that artificer has this unique feature because that leaves more reason to try it out as a spec, if you look at this forum alone for example, people rarely even talk about artificer despite it being really good, it's always tempest or assassin. In my mind, there is no reason to homogenize these specs, give them each strengths and weaknesses to encourage variety.
Well I did say this was my personal view of the classes based on my own personal experience with them and I did welcome any help or addition to my post so what is the problem again? I never used anything as an argument I just noted how the classes felt to me personally.
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