6 réponses à ce sujet

[PapaCharlie9]

Inspired by StarFlorge's thread:  http://forum.bioware...mage-buildtips/

 

I haven't tried this build yet, but I have tried this combination of Winter abilities and they work great. Why not on a low level mage?

 

8 skill point build, in priority order (drop the last skill if you only have 7 points, etc.)

 

Winter's Grasp

Winter Stillness

Ice Mine

Ice Array

Ice Armor

Fade Step

Frost Step

Mana Surge (if you have a Barrier spammer in the party), otherwise, Winter's Ruin upgrade

 

The downside of this build is obviously the lack of peak damage spells, though Winter's Ruin is nothing to sneeze at. It's more defensive than offensive, but for low level, that might be okay. You can put all of your offense into tossing grenades.

 

Between Frost Step and Ice Array, you can keep Ice Armor up for most of any battle. That 50% damage reduction is incredibly valuable at low level with crap gear.

 

This build should work particularly well against the Venatori during the Haven raid In Your Heart Shall Burn, but might not be so good against the Envy demon in Champions of the Just or Alexius in Hushed Whispers, particularly with only 6 skill points towards the build.

[Dabrikishaw]

I'm using this build right now on my level 9 Elf Mage. It kicks ass as far as crowd control goes, but the boss damage, as you said, is lackluster.

[StarFlorge]

Sound CC on that, it's great if you want to do something similar to my Mine Mage late game too which i find so fun atm i think this build is extremely viable even without the huge damage like fire cause of the CC. sometime people dont like Fire low level mage builds cause it's basically all damage, so this build is what you should go or similar too if you cant stand not having great CC. Thanks for the mention too, and a great low level mage build

[PapaCharlie9]

Quick update. I'm running this build now on Vivienne, NM, Even Ground + Grizzly End, in a new playthrough. Even before she got Ice Armor she rarely took any damage, now she never does. Plus, as a side benefit, since I'm playing an Archer, I just stand in one of the Ice Mines next to Viv. Anyone tries to get in my grill to beat on me turns to ice, hah! Then I Long Shot them for combo damage. Sweet!

[Jason1990]

I feel like there are tons of creatures with high cold resistance though.. I just made a mage for my second PT and i have respecced several times already from frost to fire and back because so many mobs are frost resistant..

[PapaCharlie9]

I feel like there are tons of creatures with high cold resistance though.. I just made a mage for my second PT and i have respecced several times already from frost to fire and back because so many mobs are frost resistant..

 

Viv has a fire staff. Auto-attacks for cold resistance. I also have Solas in the party built for Fire Mine and such, so I have cold resistance covered two ways.

 

We mopped the floor with a Hinterlands Bear, even with Grizzly End enabled. Fire Mine + Explosive Arrow did most of the work.

[RiverHillBlue1]

Quick update. I'm running this build now on Vivienne, NM, Even Ground + Grizzly End, in a new playthrough. Even before she got Ice Armor she rarely took any damage, now she never does. Plus, as a side benefit, since I'm playing an Archer, I just stand in one of the Ice Mines next to Viv. Anyone tries to get in my grill to beat on me turns to ice, hah! Then I Long Shot them for combo damage. Sweet!

I've used your tips from this and another thread to set up Solas as a Barrier spamming defensive stalwart (pre Sky hold).  This is my first full play through after a long hiatus, so I'm experiencing the new and improved Winter tree for the first time.  The combination of Ice Array, Ice Armor, and Ice Storm makes AI Solas virtually untouchable.  Ice Armor always seems to be up, and combined with his 25% ranged defense, never seemed to take damage.  The Ice Array freezes any targets that try to rush/teleport into his vicinity.  The Ice storm assists with damage and CC, at a bargain cost of 40 mana.  It's always great to find a combination the AI has difficulty screwing up.  

 

With Cassandra and Iron Bull drawing all of the aggro, my Inquisitor mage (Static Cage+ and Fire Wall) and Solas (Barrier+ spam and CC) can check our texts while mobs die.

 

I've arrived at Sky Hold now and I'm about to get the Rift Mage spec, and will be trying the Rift/Winter combo and eventually mix in Fire Mine upon obtaining enough skill points.  But the Rift/Winter will be the foundation of the build.