35 réponses à ce sujet

[Wyldfire]

So I've played the game for several weeks now, but mostly in the multiplayer. Well after some issues with disconnects and just poor games, I decided to get into the single player more. I started out playing single player when I first got the game, but didn't make it past level 6 before I got sucked into multiplayer.

So now I'm level 9 and have several options for party members. I'm playing on hard for my first run as a mage inquisitor. I really don't like the micro management that rogues seem to need, so I've been thinking about a two warrior, two mage build our maybe a three mage, one warrior build. How often am I going to need to unlock doors with a rogue? Is a rogue-free build a good idea?

If I do the 2/2 build, I will use Blackwall for tank and Cassandra as 2h Templar dps with my main since I feel like the AI doesn't handle health management with the Reaver that we'll for Iron Bull. Then I'll either use Dorian or Solas (Vivienne gets on my nerves) for the AI mage. Which mage requires less baby-sitting, Rift or Necro? And which main specialization pairs best with the answer to the last question, KE or Rift?

I love control spells, which is why I think I will like Rift better. I want to pair either KE or Rift specialization with ice spells and fire wall to control the battlefield. I will freeze my enemies, then have my warriors shatter them. Or panic them with fire wall.

Any tips for someone only 15 hours in?

[SomeoneStoleMyName]

Blackwall as tank (Champion).
Solas as Barrier bot + CC (Rift mage, spirit + Fire) Fire wall is one of the best CC spells in the game.
Cole as archer (Crappy ultimate but has ranged hidden blades)

 

Inquisitor: Any, but KE if you want an easy time. That or Assassin / Tempest.

 

[PapaCharlie9]

In 3 PTs, I don't think I've spent a single second of adventuring time without either Sera, Varric or Cole in the party. And that includes when I was playing a Tempest DW rogue myself. Lately I've been doing duos as KE + Sera. I agree that the AI doesn't do too great with DW rogues, but with archers it's fine. So include Sera or Varric, or respec Cole as archer as @SomeoneStoleMyName suggested. You'll appreciate them for ranged attack ability, specializations, and for the occasional locked door. If you are a completionist at all, having a rogue is a must, since some collectibles are accessible only behind locked doors.

 

You're playing a mage, right? Have you gotten to Skyhold yet? Party composition matters more before Skyhold, but after Skyhold I think @SomeoneStoleMyName's party is pretty close to ideal. Unless you can't stand Blackwall's or Cole's personalities, which some can't. I sub Sera for Cole, mostly because I like her character more and, you know. Flask of Lightning is pretty awesome on an archer, almost makes up for lack of HB/MoD.

 

Given that party, don't go Rift for yourself. You'll have Solas for that and can switch to him for CC. Go KE.

[Wyldfire]

I like the traditional caster role more, but I like being up close to the battle as well. I think I will be a fire and ice KE mage focused more on casting while on the front line. Solas can use PotA while my main nukes them with Chaotic Focus fire. I can use Resurgence for potential wipes and Mark of the Rift for DPS focus use.

I love Blackwall's personality, but Cole is creepy, Sera's babbling rides my nerves, and Vivienne's stuck up attitude makes me hate her. LOL

I will go with Varric for my rogue since I am a completionist and I do want to unlock all the doors I come across. Plus his passives will help my mages proc flashpoint.

Any thoughts on if Dorian or Solas is more fun to play with (either for their banter or for their specializations)?

I see a lot of people saying they prefer to tank with Cassandra. Is there a reason to choose her o er Blackwall?

[Maker Be Damned]

I been using a pure fire with a pure lighting together both with barrier. I seems like a really good combo lightnings paralize makes enemies sitting ducks for my fire mage and archer.

[DomeWing333]

Some warrior abilities can actually bash open regular locked doors (the ones that don't require the Deft Hands perk). I know Shield Bash, Mighty Blow, and Charging Bull can do it. Solas's Stone Fist spell can do it as well, I think. Sometimes I've had it not work, though, so bringing a rogue along is still your best bet.

 

Solas is good to bring along on story missions since he has a lot of information about magical and historical lore. Dorian does this a bit as well, but not quite as much, although I think his banter is more consistently funny than Solas's. In terms of gameplay, Rift Mages are better for their crowd control and weakening effects.

 

For pure tank purposes, Blackwall is your guy. That being said, I like using Cassandra more for her group-stun, dispel, and passive party buffs.

[Tharkun]

I like triggering cross class combos and so I bring a rogue and mage in my team almost every time.  Because I like the sleep + eldritch detonator combo.   I also prefer Cass for this reason since Stun is great for combos as well.  The Freeze+ Precision/Impact Detonator is not as interesting but it works nicely as well.

 

I didn't realize that you can do that with doors though.  I tend to use those abilities on bash points rather than locked doors.   Explosive Arrow works on those as well.

[happy_daiz]

I use pretty much everyone, except Varric. Mostly because it seems like it takes me forever to get better upgrades for Bianca. To be fair, I rarely take rogues, because I keep finding myself playing as one.

For regular adventuring early on, I prefer one rogue (my pc), two tanks, and a Mage. Once I get a bit higher level, with better gear, I switch one of the tanks to a Mage. By then, I take Dorian and Solas the most. With dragons, Vivienne for her KE abilities.

If you switch Iron Bull to sword and shield, and Cole to an archer, it helps a lot. Blackwall is a beast pretty much no matter what.

Mostly I just bring whoever I think might add the most commentary on the surroundings, enemies, or quest. Always subject to change.

[Wyldfire]

So I rerolled a Qunari mage after doing some reading. I didn't realize the Qunari helms added to base damage, which drastically increases spell damage. Plus the thought of my massive ox-man swinging a spirit blade around the front line just feels right. I'm 10 hours into his gameplay and loving it do much more than my female human mage.

My plan is for a fire KE, but I don't know whether I should go down either the ice or lightning trees. Ice has great control on paper, but most of the actives spells are inefficient/expensive or are very situational/difficult to trigger. Lightning has lightning cage for great control, but efficiency dictates I take the right side for the best passives and I absolutely hate energy barrage (I know....blasphemy LOL).

Basically I'm looking at ice passives that I'll probably get anyways and maybe ice mine (thinking ice mine a bunch of targets through the use of PotA, then warrior or rogue detonating them). Or I head for lightning cage by either taking chain lightning with poor passives or take the good passives and the active I don't like.

Thoughts?

My team is looking to go one of two ways. 2m/1r/1w:
Blackwall/Cassandra, Varric, Solas & main

Or 2w/2m:
Cassandra, Blackwall, Solas & main

This will depend largely on if the warrior/stone fist abilities work out for me on my console.

[Alan Drifter13]

So I rerolled a Qunari mage after doing some reading. I didn't realize the Qunari helms added to base damage, which drastically increases spell damage. Plus the thought of my massive ox-man swinging a spirit blade around the front line just feels right. I'm 10 hours into his gameplay and loving it do much more than my female human mage.

My plan is for a fire KE, but I don't know whether I should go down either the ice or lightning trees. Ice has great control on paper, but most of the actives spells are inefficient/expensive or are very situational/difficult to trigger. Lightning has lightning cage for great control, but efficiency dictates I take the right side for the best passives and I absolutely hate energy barrage (I know....blasphemy LOL).

Basically I'm looking at ice passives that I'll probably get anyways and maybe ice mine (thinking ice mine a bunch of targets through the use of PotA, then warrior or rogue detonating them). Or I head for lightning cage by either taking chain lightning with poor passives or take the good passives and the active I don't like.

Thoughts?

My team is looking to go one of two ways. 2m/1r/1w:
Blackwall/Cassandra, Varric, Solas & main

Or 2w/2m:
Cassandra, Blackwall, Solas & main

This will depend largely on if the warrior/stone fist abilities work out for me on my console.

 

As a KE you'll want to do a lot of damage, so I prefer to go with fire skills (upgraded immolate worked well for me). Anyway, you'll be using spirit blade a lot if you want to play KE the easy way, so you don't need to think it too much.

 

I wouldn't recommend not bringing a rogue, since you want those cross-class combos to build focus. Also, since your KE is already a good tank, bringing Cass & Blackwall at the same time will give you 3 tanks and no DPS, which will result in long and boring fights. Try replacing a warrior for Cole or Sera, for a lot of DPS (Varric can do a lot of damage too, but you need to remember to craft good upgrades for Bianca).

[DomeWing333]

Lightning has lightning cage for great control, but efficiency dictates I take the right side for the best passives and I absolutely hate energy barrage (I know....blasphemy LOL).

May I ask why? Is there something about how it functions that bothers you?

 

Any way, if you don't take energy barrage, the ice tree is probably better for you. Fade Step is a great utility ability for a mage and the passives are better for your mana pool.

[Wyldfire]

May I ask why? Is there something about how it functions that bothers you?

Any way, if you don't take energy barrage, the ice tree is probably better for you. Fade Step is a great utility ability for a mage and the passives are better for your mana pool.

The animation is clunky to say the least. The spell doesn't work in enclosed areas as they can impact objects/walls and miss their target. Plus it isn't truly a lightning spell unless you use a lightning stafg and I prefer to carry a fire or ice staff.

I think ice is the way to go as long as I bring Solas along. Upgraded ice mine will help eliminate tougher enemies faster with the armor reduction, even if it is a little tough to trigger. And it can freeze multiple targets if Solas uses PotA, then I have a warrior or rogue detonate them, which will fuel my focus bar. Though ice is probably a terrible choice if shatter doesn't work properly. Last I read it was bugged.

Maybe I'll just focus on fire, spirit and knight enchanter trees. If I bring Solas, he can use some ice spells with spirit and rift spells. Or maybe I'll just have my main be the only mage. S&S Blackwall and 2H Cassandra might be a nice fit. Our maybe I'm just over thinking this. LOL

[PapaCharlie9]

As a KE you'll want to do a lot of damage, so I prefer to go with fire skills (upgraded immolate worked well for me). Anyway, you'll be using spirit blade a lot if you want to play KE the easy way, so you don't need to think it too much.

 

I wouldn't recommend not bringing a rogue, since you want those cross-class combos to build focus. Also, since your KE is already a good tank, bringing Cass & Blackwall at the same time will give you 3 tanks and no DPS, which will result in long and boring fights. Try replacing a warrior for Cole or Sera, for a lot of DPS (Varric can do a lot of damage too, but you need to remember to craft good upgrades for Bianca).

This.

 

Plus, it's a crime not to give Fade Step to your KE. KE is melee first, spells second. Which means closing to melee distance.

 

FWIW, after Skyhold I haven't given my KE elf mage any combat magic skills. None. I have Mind Blast, but only because it is a prereq for the Strength of Spirits passive, and that's kind of a defensive spell anyway. Well, okay, hang on. Maybe the upgrade for Fade Cloak counts as an attack spell? 1000% weapon damage ain't too shabby.

 

I'm losing out on cross class combos for focus points, but that is intentional, for reasons that aren't relevant to this thread.

 

EDIT: Okay, sorry, I forgot that there is a variation of KE where you use the barrier passives exclusively for buffing defense and don't use Spirit Blade. That's completely valid. So I shouldn't say that KE is melee first.

 

I prefer fire myself, but really, any of the combat magic skills work well. Just make sure you staff for a second element. If you go with fire spells, make the staff cold, etc.

[Wyldfire]

So how does this sound?

Blackwall - tank
Varric - ranged dps
Cassandra - SnS or 2h dps (I've read masterworks make 2h much less efficient than SnS)
KE main - dps/support

I know this setup is tankier and fights will take longer, but the survivability seems great (at least to me on paper). My main would focus on fire dps with ice down to Blizzard for CC and barrier spam since my main and both warriors would be on the front line.

Or I could do this:

Iron Bull - tank
Varric - ranged dps
Dorian - ranged dps/support
KE main - dps/support

The goal of this build would be to use Varric's crit passives with Dorian and Iron Bull's auto crit on feared enemies passives to just burn through enemies. My main would do much the same as the previous setup with a little more focus on dps since Dorian could assist with barrier application. My concern here is the AI's management of Iron Bull's health and Dorian's dots.

As far as Spirit Blade goes, I will have it to utilize with Clean Burn to reduce cooldowns on important spells like Barrier, but I want to be much more of a frontline spell slinger than a melee mage. I'll build a warrior for my next play through for pure melee carnage.

[Maker Be Damned]

tank rogue and 2 mages.

[PapaCharlie9]

So how does this sound?

Blackwall - tank
Varric - ranged dps
Cassandra - SnS or 2h dps (I've read masterworks make 2h much less efficient than SnS)
KE main - dps/support

I know this setup is tankier and fights will take longer, but the survivability seems great (at least to me on paper). My main would focus on fire dps with ice down to Blizzard for CC and barrier spam since my main and both warriors would be on the front line.

Or I could do this:

Iron Bull - tank
Varric - ranged dps
Dorian - ranged dps/support
KE main - dps/support

The goal of this build would be to use Varric's crit passives with Dorian and Iron Bull's auto crit on feared enemies passives to just burn through enemies. My main would do much the same as the previous setup with a little more focus on dps since Dorian could assist with barrier application. My concern here is the AI's management of Iron Bull's health and Dorian's dots.

As far as Spirit Blade goes, I will have it to utilize with Clean Burn to reduce cooldowns on important spells like Barrier, but I want to be much more of a frontline spell slinger than a melee mage. I'll build a warrior for my next play through for pure melee carnage.

 

Blackwall/Varric/Cass/KE

 

Yes, SnS can have an edge over 2H because you get one additional masterwork slot.

 

Your absolute survivability, against total party wipeout, is great, but Cass and Varric can still be vulnerable, depending on gear and party protection.

 

This party is a bit weak in CC. Blizzard costs a lot of skill points for not the greatest CC option, compared to, say, Rift mage's Pull of the Abyss or even just Veil Strike. It will work, but you are giving up points that could be used elsewhere. On the other hand, you could have Blackwall spam War Cry for CC. He should be able to take it.

 

Since you are going for fire for DPS, consider using Fire Wall or Fire Mine for CC, saving some points over Winter that you can use for the fire passives. Or you can stick with Winter and use Ice Wall or Ice Mine for CC and not go all the way to Blizzard.

 

Iron Bull/Varric/Dorian/KE

 

This party is less survivable, particularly if Iron Bull uses Reaver skills that drain HP. You will have to focus more on gear and spamming barrier. And you are right, you'll have to do a lot more micromanaging of Iron Bull. Bull left to himself will die alot. Dorian's AI seems to work fine for spellcasting, and he'll have that "sh*t-eating grin" and laugh alot while he's doing it.

 

Dorian has some good CC skills, so that will likely be his focus, in addition to spamming barrier. Since Dorian can do CC, you could redeploy some of those skill points you had planned for CC to something else for your KE.

 

I dunno about your idea for Varric's crit boost. It seems a shame not to have another Dex focused party member, like Sera or Cole, to benefit from the crit boost. It means you'll have to be much more selective about gear, using slots that boost Dex over anything else. Otherwise you're high crit chance might be subpar with low crit damage levels from Dorian and Iron Bull.

 

The party banter for this combo is superior to the other combo, if that's of any importance. Particularly if your KE romances Iron Bull ...

[Wyldfire]

I'm not too interested in a lot of micro managing. I'll make a SnS reaver main on my next play through. I look forward to how well it might work with Dorian. Might just make a "dark/brooding" themed team with Blackwall, Dorian, Cole and a reaver main.

I specifically meant Varric's passive that gives him a cooldown for each crit his team makes. It would allow him to have virtually limitless Leaping Shots. But I take your point on the team crit chance boost passive.

I plan to take upgraded Immolate and Fire Wall for my KE. I think Fire Wall may be the best/funnest CC in the whole game. I wanted to take Blizzard because it sounded fun too. The Ice Mine seems like a good CC and dps tool with the armor reduction, but I hear it doesn't trigger easily, making it difficult to use. Fire Mine just seems lackluster without PotA since it also has trigger issues. I'll get Dispel and passives from the spirit tree for support.

Any thoughts on how well the mine spells work without strong CC to back them up?

I might just suck it up and take Energy Barrage to get to Static Cage. Does the DoT from Fire Wall cause Lightning Cage to activate or does it have to be direct damage?

[Tharkun]

Burning damage will trigger Lightning Cage strikes.

[PapaCharlie9]

Any thoughts on how well the mine spells work without strong CC to back them up?

I might just suck it up and take Energy Barrage to get to Static Cage. Does the DoT from Fire Wall cause Lightning Cage to activate or does it have to be direct damage?

Like for any triggered AoE, they work best when you have choke points that enemies are forced to move through. In a wide open battlefield they are better used to defend ranged attackers. In the grand scheme of things mines are probably the weakest CC options, but on the other hand, they are a bit more flexible/multipurpose.

 

You won't regret going for Static Cage, but you really ought to drop most or all of your Winter skill tree stuff if you do that. Spreading your points between three elements just makes everything mediocre.

[Wyldfire]

Like for any triggered AoE, they work best when you have choke points that enemies are forced to move through. In a wide open battlefield they are better used to defend ranged attackers. In the grand scheme of things mines are probably the weakest CC options, but on the other hand, they are a bit more flexible/multipurpose.

You won't regret going for Static Cage, but you really ought to drop most or all of your Winter skill tree stuff if you do that. Spreading your points between three elements just makes everything mediocre.

These are the skills I'm looking at for my 8 actives:

Dispel
Barrier
Immolate
Fire Wall
Fire Mine
Fade Step
Spirit Blade
Fade Cloak
Disruption Field
Static Cage

As I mentioned several posts ago, I really enjoy control spells, so I would love to squeeze as many in as possible without severely hurting my dps.

Fire Wall, Spirit Blade and Barrier are the only three spells set in stone for me. They are just too good to pass up.

Disruption Field is a fairly hard CC best used in conjuction with Fire Mine, but I don't see it having much other purpose.

Fire Mine is great in conjuction with a good CC ability or with chokepoints, but would likely be much more difficult to use otherwise.

Dispel is something I will likely pass up since Spirit Blade destroys barriers, but it has the minor added bonus of destroying a demon during rift encounters.

I will likely take Immolate since it is pretty spammable and works great with Chaotic Focus.

Fade Step is almost a given because of it's awesome mobility benefits. I could take or leave the upgrade. I know its free damage, but I only find myself using the skill to either get out of range of an attack (heavy hitters or behind cover from ranged attackers) or to close the gap to get into melee combat. I don't think I physically come into contact with many enemies with the spell, so the extra point seems wasted to me.

Fade Cloak is great for its high damage, little bit of CC and damage mitigation. So it's probably going in there.

Static Cage is a great CC, though not as hard as Disruption Field. Plus the added dps is just icing on the cake. And the passives getting to it are great.

Sorry for all the "thinking out loud". Are there any holes in my logic? Whice 8 of these would you all recommend?

Edit: I just realized I had completely forgotten about focus abilities, which just makes deciding that much harder. If I run with a group, I would run Resurgence. If I run solo, I would run Mark of the Rift. Actually, does focus even build up if I don't have a group to create combos with?

[Alan Drifter13]

So how does this sound?

Blackwall - tank
Varric - ranged dps
Cassandra - SnS or 2h dps (I've read masterworks make 2h much less efficient than SnS)
KE main - dps/support

I know this setup is tankier and fights will take longer, but the survivability seems great (at least to me on paper). My main would focus on fire dps with ice down to Blizzard for CC and barrier spam since my main and both warriors would be on the front line.

Or I could do this:

Iron Bull - tank
Varric - ranged dps
Dorian - ranged dps/support
KE main - dps/support

The goal of this build would be to use Varric's crit passives with Dorian and Iron Bull's auto crit on feared enemies passives to just burn through enemies. My main would do much the same as the previous setup with a little more focus on dps since Dorian could assist with barrier application. My concern here is the AI's management of Iron Bull's health and Dorian's dots.

As far as Spirit Blade goes, I will have it to utilize with Clean Burn to reduce cooldowns on important spells like Barrier, but I want to be much more of a frontline spell slinger than a melee mage. I'll build a warrior for my next play through for pure melee carnage.

 

Blackwall is a much better tank than Iron Bull. I think these 2 kits are too extreme. Why not mixing them? Go with the first build, but change Cass for Dorian. You'll have Blackwall and your KE tanking, with Varric and Dorian doing damage from distance. That should work ok.

 

Also, in general, it's easier to get a high ranged DPS with Sera than Varric (especially in the late game), and when you go hunting dragons you'll probably want to bring Cole along for quick kills with Mark of Death. But a lot of people love Varric, and his focus skill can also get you quick dragon kills if crit chance is maxxed up, so that's really up to you.

[Wyldfire]

Blackwall is a much better tank than Iron Bull. I think these 2 kits are too extreme. Why not mixing them? Go with the first build, but change Cass for Dorian. You'll have Blackwall and your KE tanking, with Varric and Dorian doing damage from distance. That should work ok.

Also, in general, it's easier to get a high ranged DPS with Sera than Varric (especially in the late game), and when you go hunting dragons you'll probably want to bring Cole along for quick kills with Mark of Death. But a lot of people love Varric, and his focus skill can also get you quick dragon kills if crit chance is maxxed up, so that's really up to you.

For me it's a matter of personal taste. I don't like Cole, Sera or Vivienne. I'm a little flexible when it comes to Cole, but Sera's babbling driving me nuts and I hate Vivienne's stuck up attitude. So that's why I run with Varric.

I had the Cass/Black/KE/Varric setup so that most of my team was close together in melee range for barrier reapplication. The only reason I didn't choose Iron Bull over Cass for that setup is because of the AI's poor management of his health.

[Alan Drifter13]

For me it's a matter of personal taste. I don't like Cole, Sera or Vivienne. I'm a little flexible when it comes to Cole, but Sera's babbling driving me nuts and I hate Vivienne's stuck up attitude. So that's why I run with Varric.

I had the Cass/Black/KE/Varric setup so that most of my team was close together in melee range for barrier reapplication. The only reason I didn't choose Iron Bull over Cass for that setup is because of the AI's poor management of his health.

 

Yeah, the AI is terrible at handling the reaver skills. Anyway, even if you bring Dorian with Varric, as long as Blackwall gets the barrier from Dorian and taunts everything you should be ok. The ranged characters shouldn't need any barrier, and you'll generate lots of it for yourself with the KE.

[PapaCharlie9]

These are the skills I'm looking at for my 8 actives:

Dispel
Barrier
Immolate
Fire Wall
Fire Mine
Fade Step
Spirit Blade
Fade Cloak
Disruption Field
Static Cage

As I mentioned several posts ago, I really enjoy control spells, so I would love to squeeze as many in as possible without severely hurting my dps.

I remember, but the fact that you went KE is what makes it a bit challenging. Rift has the best control spells and this would all be a lot easier if you went Rift or took Solas with you.

 

Given all the constraints, that list looks as good as it is going to get to me. I'd drop Disruption field and Fade Cloak. Also make sure everything with an upgrade is upgraded, in this priority order: Barrier, Static Cage, Immolate, Dispel (if you will use it often), Fire Mine, Fire Wall, Fade Step.

 

What element will you put in your staff? I'd suggest cold to get threeway coverage for elemental damage. If you can't go cold or when you are up against enemies with either electric or fire resistance, you can always resort to Fade Step and Spirit Blade.

 

If you want to save one active slot, you could set the AI on yourself to be Defend self and then disable all skills except Barrier, which you set to Preferred. Then if you want to cast barrier on yourself and the skill is up (enough mana and cooldown over), just switch to another character and the first thing the AI will do is cast barrier on you. Then switch back. I haven't tried this myself, but it should work. Of course this means you can't cast it on anyone else.

[Wyldfire]

I remember, but the fact that you went KE is what makes it a bit challenging. Rift has the best control spells and this would all be a lot easier if you went Rift or took Solas with you.

Given all the constraints, that list looks as good as it is going to get to me. I'd drop Disruption field and Fade Cloak. Also make sure everything with an upgrade is upgraded, in this priority order: Barrier, Static Cage, Immolate, Dispel (if you will use it often), Fire Mine, Fire Wall, Fade Step.

What element will you put in your staff? I'd suggest cold to get threeway coverage for elemental damage. If you can't go cold or when you are up against enemies with either electric or fire resistance, you can always resort to Fade Step and Spirit Blade.

If you want to save one active slot, you could set the AI on yourself to be Defend self and then disable all skills except Barrier, which you set to Preferred. Then if you want to cast barrier on yourself and the skill is up (enough mana and cooldown over), just switch to another character and the first thing the AI will do is cast barrier on you. Then switch back. I haven't tried this myself, but it should work. Of course this means you can't cast it on anyone else.

I've been doing some looking into the rift mage weakness bug. All the info I find on the net seems to be a couple months old. The rift mage has a lot of appeal to me because of its great control, but the bug pretty much ruins the spec, right?