56 réponses à ce sujet

[Rolenka]

Chain Lightning strikes up to four enemies. Taking the Arcing Surge upgrade bumps that up to six.

 

It seems really, really rare though that there are five or more enemies clumped together. Almost unheard of. And if there are, they are weak.

[HencetheFence]

An individual enemy can be struck more than once, so the upgrade provides an overall damage increase of 50% as long as you cast it when more enemies than one are present. If it bounces between two enemies, it can deal 750% damage to both of them. Nothing to scoff at.

I find the upgrade to be what truly makes chain lightning worthwhile. Not only because of the increased number of strikes but also because of the larger bounce radius, which reduces the risk of the spell ending prematurely due to lack of viable targets.

[Bayonet Hipshot]

The upgrade is useful but somewhat situational. Chain Lightning in Dragon Age's version of Chain Overload. The upgrade makes it hit more enemies. This can be useful at Haven, for example. 

 

However, as I stated, it is very limited and an upgraded Static Cage covers as much ground as Chain Lightning does and can be used as well as combo-ed more effectively. Its other first tier lightning counterpart, Energy Barrage, also has more utility. 

 

When it comes to the Storm tree, I find that, for almost all mages, unless if you want to roleplay as a Storm-focused mage or something, it is best to pick the right side of the Storm tree exclusively. 

 

This means Upgraded Energy Barrage + Conductive Current + Static Charge + Upgraded Static Cage > Upgraded Chain Lightning + Stormbringer + Gathering Storm + Upgraded Static Cage. 

[Satinpuppies]

I have watched it multiple times strike the same two enemies 3 times, not useless at all.

[HencetheFence]

There are definitely better spells than chain lightning, but if one decides to use it, getting the upgrade is a good idea. Although, I guess that holds true for basically every spell/skill in the game. Seeing as you only have 8 skill slots, there is little reason not to upgrade the ones you keep slotted.

[Bayonet Hipshot]

Here are the best and most useful magical spells in the game

 

Basic School

• Energy Barrage (upgraded)
• Static Cage (upgraded)
• Barrier (upgrade is optional)
• Revival (upgraded)
• Fade Step (upgraded)
• Frost Mine (upgraded)
• Wall of Ice (upgraded)
• Immolate (upgraded)
• Fire Mine (upgraded)
• Wall of Flames (upgraded)

Specialization 

• Spirit Blade (upgraded)
• Fade Cloak (upgraded)
• Walking Bomb (upgraded)
• Stonefist (upgraded)
• Pull of the Abyss (upgraded)

Focus

• Mark of the Rift is the best focus ability for a mage Inquisitor. For companions, use their specialized Focus abilities. 

The rest are mediocre or terrible. 

[JaegerBane]

The upgrade is useful but somewhat situational. Chain Lightning in Dragon Age's version of Chain Overload. The upgrade makes it hit more enemies. This can be useful at Haven, for example.

However, as I stated, it is very limited and an upgraded Static Cage covers as much ground as Chain Lightning does and can be used as well as combo-ed more effectively. Its other first tier lightning counterpart, Energy Barrage, also has more utility.

Tbh I think you need to try it out a little more before slating it. The chain effect bounces between enemies multiple times, so any more than one but less than six will take multiple 250% hits. In the vast majority of situations, where there's 3-4 opponents in range, that means the majority are taking ~500% damage plus getting Shocked. This is not a 'mediocre' spell.

I don't really see your point comparing it to Static Cage, either. Aside from the colour and tree, it doesn't have much in common. One is a wide area nuke, the other is a crowd control/damage amplifier hybrid. They combo well, of course. The comparison to Energy Barrage is a bit weird too, given that Barrage is a dedicated single-target nuke. It's like arguing your knife is better than your fork.

[devSin]

This means Upgraded Energy Barrage + Conductive Current + Static Charge + Upgraded Static Cage > Upgraded Chain Lightning + Stormbringer + Gathering Storm + Upgraded Static Cage.

Isn't Gathering Storm still broken (it's completely non-functional)?

Upgraded Chain Lightning is definitely worth it given how many ways there are for mages to get enemies to clump. The shocked status causes AoE damage to accumulate (though the window is really small), and the way it bounces keeps it effective even against pairs of enemies.

Static Cage is situational (used to control the battlefield and set up combos), and Energy Barrage is best saved for detonations. For a lightning mage, Chain Lightning is an incredibly useful general AoE, though it can be outclassed by spells from the other trees.

[Exalus]

Chain lightning also synergies very well with weaken(either via rift mage, templars or crit warriors) by inducing deep sleep which in turns lets you aoe detonate with immolate to cause 800% aoe damage and cause fear.

 

Rift mages have infinite mana as long as their doing damage and static cage will be on cooldown at least sometimes even with superb micromanagement of flashpoint. 

 

Overall, the lightning tree is one of the better ones if only the passives werent so grossly underwhelming.

static cage+ - ultimate multi hit amplifier

chain lightning - multi hit sleep combo

energy barrage - huge single target early on

 

The 8 slot limit is a really limiting mechanic that makes your skill selection rather dull because there are so many 'staple' spells too good to pass up for any build.

[JaegerBane]

Chain lightning also synergies very well with weaken(either via rift mage, templars or crit warriors) by inducing deep sleep which in turns lets you aoe detonate with immolate to cause 800% aoe damage and cause fear.
 
Rift mages have infinite mana as long as their doing damage and static cage will be on cooldown at least sometimes even with superb micromanagement of flashpoint. 
 
Overall, the lightning tree is one of the better ones if only the passives werent so grossly underwhelming.
static cage+ - ultimate multi hit amplifier
chain lightning - multi hit sleep combo
energy barrage - huge single target early on
 
The 8 slot limit is a really limiting mechanic that makes your skill selection rather dull because there are so many 'staple' spells too good to pass up for any build.

+1 to all of this, particularly that last part.

Once you factor in Fade Step, Barrier, your 2-3 specialisation spells, your cc spell, at least two nukes and your focus ability, you have a whole 1 slot to try at best. Meh.

Chain Lightning always makes it on board, tho.

[Rizilliant]

An individual enemy can be struck more than once, so the upgrade provides an overall damage increase of 50% as long as you cast it when more enemies than one are present. If it bounces between two enemies, it can deal 750% damage to both of them. Nothing to scoff at.

I find the upgrade to be what truly makes chain lightning worthwhile. Not only because of the increased number of strikes but also because of the larger bounce radius, which reduces the risk of the spell ending prematurely due to lack of viable targets.

 

I played 178 hours as a pure storm mage, and never did i see multiple strikes on a single target... 

 

@OP: it actually does hit more targets, over a slightly larger area.. I ended up passing it on until i ran out of places to put points (lvl 20+) and took it...Many ability upgrades, and passives, for all classes are broken, not working, or mislabeled..

[JaegerBane]

I played 178 hours as a pure storm mage, and never did i see multiple strikes on a single target... 
 

It's easiest to see when casting on 2 targets - the bolts are pretty quick and any more than this and it's hard to see who was getting hit by what without looking at the damage numbers. Beyond that tho, I don't know what to tell you, I see it practically every time I use it.

[KaiserShep]

I love playing a pure storm mage, and I always upgrade this ability. When I come across a group of bandits, Venatori or Red Templars, I usually fire this first and it will usually strike 3 or more when they're close together. When you're powerful enough, it will seriously diminish the health of two or more enemies, but more importantly, it makes them more vulnerable to attack from your other companions.

[Elhanan]

When playing a caster Storm Mage/ Spirit/ Knight Enchanter, Chain Lightning is very nice to keep Barrier intact, with the correct Passives chosen of course. As I chose to drop one Active slot, I chose to keep Static Cage and drop Lightning Bolt; reversed that with Dorian until he gets them all.

[VilniusNastavnik]

Here are the best and most useful magical spells in the game

 

Basic School

• Energy Barrage (upgraded)
• Static Cage (upgraded)
• Barrier (upgrade is optional)
• Revival (upgraded)
• Fade Step (upgraded)
• Frost Mine (upgraded)
• Wall of Ice (upgraded)
• Immolate (upgraded)
• Fire Mine (upgraded)
• Wall of Flames (upgraded)

Specialization 

• Spirit Blade (upgraded)
• Fade Cloak (upgraded)
• Walking Bomb (upgraded)
• Stonefist (upgraded)
• Pull of the Abyss (upgraded)

Focus

• Mark of the Rift is the best focus ability for a mage Inquisitor. For companions, use their specialized Focus abilities. 

The rest are mediocre or terrible. 

I am inclined to disagree with you. 

There is very few moments where Pull of the abyss is actually useful over an upgraded Veilstrike.

Likewise for Static cage over an upgraded chain lightning. 

If you bring a second mage, only one needs barrier.. stick it on the support and leave yourself to DPS.

For me, my favourite build is a crit built rift mage.

Immolate+
Winters grasp+
Frost step+
Chain lightning+
Energy barrage
Veilstrike+
StoneFist+
Mark of the Rift

With all the rest of the points dumped onto the passives. 

[Exalus]

I would have to disagree.

 

Pull of the abyss is arguably the single best spell in the entire game. No other spell can setup the kind of power combos it does.

POTA->fire mine->static cage->veil strike+(sleep on shocked enemies)->immolate(eldritch detonates sleep). Everything is dead or near dead even with crappy gear on NM after factoring damage from allies. Static cage+ and barrier are close contenders. 

 

Having more spells to choose from does not necessarily increase dps unless you can consistently use all of them (rift mage). I cant see a reason to not have barrier on every mage in your party for a NM playthrough that avoids crafting. Mages are not really meant to do sustained DPS(you can certainly make them do so with enough crafting but a rogue with the same could trivialize the game even harder), we have rogues for that, they should be there to provide temp barrier invincibility, CC, aoe setups with POTA and static cage and the occasional burst damage with fire mine or immolate detonation. 

[JaegerBane]

+1, Veilstrike's only real purpose in most fights is to inflict weaken, as many are outright immune to the CC, and those opponents that are not recover from its CC so fast that it wasn't worth the mana otherwise. PotA allows a lot of precision for maximising the effects of mines and other AoEs. There's not much point going Rift Mage if you're going to ignore it. Since both upgraded PotA and Stonefist inflict Weaken too, it's hard to justify taking Veilstrike on your bar.

That being said tho, I do agree Tishen-13's list is a bit dubious. A lot of a spell's use will come down to how it slots into your arsenal, but calling Chain Lightning 'mediocre' while promoting stuff like Wall of Ice and Revival - both *highly* situational - doen't sound right.

[Gya]

That being said tho, I do agree Tishen-13's list is a bit dubious. A lot of a spell's use will come down to how it slots into your arsenal, but calling Chain Lightning 'mediocre' while promoting stuff like Wall of Ice and Revival - both *highly* situational - doen't sound right.

Personally, playing with friendly fire on, I'd agree with Tishen-13 that chain lightning is a bit average. It will quite happily almost insta-gib your PC and chunk your tank, and without a target reticule, targeting can get a bit dicey. I suppose with a crazy amount of micromanaging you could get a lot of use out of it, but I wasn't able to use it much mid-fight once my tank had engaged.

On the other hand, without friendly fire, it becomes an insane way of regaining mana after weakening enemies, and setting them up for a sleep combo.

[Jeremiah12LGeek]

I played 178 hours as a pure storm mage, and never did i see multiple strikes on a single target... 

 

Wow, weird. I see it hit the same target all the time. In fact, the only time I don't, is when I use it on a single target, because there's no other enemy for it to jump back and forth between.

[Rizilliant]

Wow, weird. I see it hit the same target all the time. In fact, the only time I don't, is when I use it on a single target, because there's no other enemy for it to jump back and forth between.

 

ok, now i see.. I use it alot on single target and clearly strikes only once.. but with two or more, i could see it bouncing back n forth.. Thats not exactly what i considered to be multiple strikes. But now i understand what u meant

[Veovim]

Here are the best and most useful magical spells in the game

 

Basic School

• Energy Barrage (upgraded)
• Static Cage (upgraded)
• Barrier (upgrade is optional)
• Revival (upgraded)
• Fade Step (upgraded)
• Frost Mine (upgraded)
• Wall of Ice (upgraded)
• Immolate (upgraded)
• Fire Mine (upgraded)
• Wall of Flames (upgraded)

I'm curious: what do you use wall of ice for?  So much of the game takes place out in the open where it's not much of an obstacle to enemies.  I know it can be used for ice armor, which is ok but not spectacular.  Is there something else I'm missing?

[goofyomnivore]

Wall of Ice can line of sight ranged enemies such as archers, and their AI gets kind of funky trying to get around it. But yeah it is a niche spell. I wouldn't consider it a must have or good skill.

 

Offtopic: I think the Ice Tree needed an Ice Lance type of skill personally. Maybe the passive to Winter's Grasp lets it detonate other frozen/chilled targets for significant damage. IDK Ice has too much random utility. Winter's Grasp and the CD skill are above average at best. Ice Mine is too expensive point wise to justify it just being just a combo skill. The whole tree is niche other than Frost Step. Altho I make all my companion AI's Ice mages when I play rogue, shatters galore.

 

Ontopic:

 

I think Immolate getting fixed to detonate abilities again helps Chain Lighting quite a bit. You can do some pretty fluid combos as a Rift Mage. Chain Lightning would be too costly for my liking on other specs. The passive for it is okay. Detonating six person sleep combos is pretty satisfying to do. I dunno the math/#s, but I didn't really notice much difference in time to kill compared to Fire Mine or Static Cage builds for Rift Mage anyways.

[JaegerBane]

Personally, playing with friendly fire on, I'd agree with Tishen-13 that chain lightning is a bit average. It will quite happily almost insta-gib your PC and chunk your tank, and without a target reticule, targeting can get a bit dicey. I suppose with a crazy amount of micromanaging you could get a lot of use out of it, but I wasn't able to use it much mid-fight once my tank had engaged.
On the other hand, without friendly fire, it becomes an insane way of regaining mana after weakening enemies, and setting them up for a sleep combo.

Fair point, it didn't occur to me that many played with Friendly Fire on, but you're right, it's not worth using in such a case. I was mainly responding to Tishen's points rather than his overall argument

[VilniusNastavnik]

I would have to disagree.

 

Pull of the abyss is arguably the single best spell in the entire game. No other spell can setup the kind of power combos it does.

POTA->fire mine->static cage->veil strike+(sleep on shocked enemies)->immolate(eldritch detonates sleep). Everything is dead or near dead even with crappy gear on NM after factoring damage from allies. Static cage+ and barrier are close contenders. 

 

Having more spells to choose from does not necessarily increase dps unless you can consistently use all of them (rift mage). I cant see a reason to not have barrier on every mage in your party for a NM playthrough that avoids crafting. Mages are not really meant to do sustained DPS(you can certainly make them do so with enough crafting but a rogue with the same could trivialize the game even harder), we have rogues for that, they should be there to provide temp barrier invincibility, CC, aoe setups with POTA and static cage and the occasional burst damage with fire mine or immolate detonation. 

Whilst I agree it does give a lot of set ups.. I have to disagree once more to it's worth. There are very few times when the enemies are actually clustered together in such a way to make full use of it. Thus I prefer Veilstrike. There is a Melee ability that gives more damage to knocked down opponents.. neither PotA or SC knocks enemies down, just pulls them to the centre.. Veilstrike allows for a bit more of a damage boost for melee units.  

Same for Static cage. If you have a lot of enemies around you that you can nuke with Static cage / PotA.. perfect.. if not.. it is another wasted ability. 

I played my mage on nightmare.. only time I actually needed barrier on my mage was Post Heart shall burn when you are in the tunnel learning to use the focus abilities. The rest of the time dorian kept it up whilst I just spammed spells. Rift mage crit built ignores cooldowns with flashpoint (?).

Guess we are going to have to Agree to Disagree because I personally think it is a rubbish ability.. but then everything is usually dead before they even get close.

[Elhanan]

Whilst I agree it does give a lot of set ups.. I have to disagree once more to it's worth. There are very few times when the enemies are actually clustered together in such a way to make full use of it. Thus I prefer Veilstrike. There is a Melee ability that gives more damage to knocked down opponents.. neither PotA or SC knocks enemies down, just pulls them to the centre.. Veilstrike allows for a bit more of a damage boost for melee units.  

Same for Static cage. If you have a lot of enemies around you that you can nuke with Static cage / PotA.. perfect.. if not.. it is another wasted ability. 

I played my mage on nightmare.. only time I actually needed barrier on my mage was Post Heart shall burn when you are in the tunnel learning to use the focus abilities. The rest of the time dorian kept it up whilst I just spammed spells. Rift mage crit built ignores cooldowns with flashpoint (?).

Guess we are going to have to Agree to Disagree because I personally think it is a rubbish ability.. but then everything is usually dead before they even get close.

Static Cage is terrific for single targets, too. This is my current CC of choice, though there are several (ie; Rift Mage, KE, Ice,Storm). I prefer to design for self sufficiency in case I need to change the party dynamics, so I supply my own Barrier.