109 réponses à ce sujet

[-Jaren-]

Vanderbilt_Grad wrote...

Before RtO Fade Wall was hands down one of the best options for an Arcane Warrior.

Maric's Sword & Cailen's Sheld set though outclasses it now for any build that needs sustained spells with mana drain.

Sustained spells yes but damage no.  Ill take my Spellweaver and Fade Wall tyvm.  With the right gear anyways Cailen's arms dont hold a candle. 

[soteria]

Nice guide, and I like the formatting. A couple things, though: I think you underrate crushing prison. It's basically a death sentence for most white enemies, and has no travel time, making it a great way to stop an archer firing off Scattershot or a white mage. Also, you should really recommend alternative gear for people who don't have the DLC. That gear is crazy good, but it doesn't really help people with only the original game if you don't mention alternatives.

[Mr_Raider]

Yup. Wihtout RtO, it's tough to get the regen needed for SS and another spell like haste or cleansing aura. You need to be more careful with your sustainables.

[RangerSG]

Mr_Raider wrote...

Yup. Wihtout RtO, it's tough to get the regen needed for SS and another spell like haste or cleansing aura. You need to be more careful with your sustainables.

This is a common issue on the forum's "guide" threads these days. Everyone assumes that everyone has bought all the DLC.

[-Jaren-]

m14567 wrote...

I haven't tested this but some people say you can use Evon the Great's mail with the Wade's dragonscale armor and still get the item set bonus. So with Evon the Great's mail, Cailan's greaves, Spellward and Fade Shroud you have 65% dodge (assuming it stacks), high armor and you still have pretty decent mana regeneration.

EDIT: Err, well except the item bonus went out the window with Cailan's greaves :innocent:

Yes Evon's works.  Tested on Xbox.  And 45% is still 45%

[beancounter501]

soteria wrote...

Nice guide, and I like the formatting. A couple things, though: I think you underrate crushing prison. It's basically a death sentence for most white enemies, and has no travel time, making it a great way to stop an archer firing off Scattershot or a white mage. Also, you should really recommend alternative gear for people who don't have the DLC. That gear is crazy good, but it doesn't really help people with only the original game if you don't mention alternatives.

I think the telekinetic is good, all of the spells are useful. However, the whole line has an extremely big weakness - they are all long cooldowns. Mind Blast is a 30 second cooldown. Forcefield is a 30 second cooldown and Crushing Prison is a 60 second cooldown. I think that makes the line much weaker in practice then on paper. Crushing Prison may be a death sentence for one white mob a minute, but Cone of Cold/Winters Blast + Stone Fist is a death sentence for 4 white mobs in a minute. Probably 7 or 8 white mobs if you have multiple party members that can shatter. I think the line is still worth getting, just latter on after you have already picked up some faster cooldown spells.
Another point I do not see mentioned in your guide is that Combat Magic has a fast cooldown at only 10 seconds and a fast cast time. For the spell sword type characters I think you could start the battle off with a staff and toss out some high dmg AOE/CC spells. Turn on Combat Magic and melee until your Mana recharges or you get through your cooldowns. Then switch to staff, turn off combat magic and cast another 3 or 4 spells. Then turn on Combat Magic again. I think that gives you the best of both worlds.

[DJ0000]

Mr_Raider wrote...

Yup. Wihtout RtO, it's tough to get the regen needed for SS and another spell like haste or cleansing aura. You need to be more careful with your sustainables.

I have shimmering shield, combat magic, spell might and flaming weapons active.

All I need to offset the mana loss is Wades Dragonbone Plate, Andruils Blessing and either Staff of the Magister Lord or the Fade Wall/ SpellWeaver combo. Sometimes I switch to other weapons and still don't run out of mana.

None of this come from dlc, so it can be done easily.

Modifié par DJ0000, 05 février 2010 - 04:12 .

[EnchantedEyes1]

Great guide! I'm working on my AW now and although it looks like I've made some less than desirable choices up to now, this helps immensely! I think I'll have to print out your guide so I can use it while I'm playing

[asfaltowy]

hey, will you add info on awakening spells/specs/items to the guide?

[Majere613]

My AW uses dualwield, with Spellweaver and IIRC the Black Rose's Thorn (or whatever the heck it's called). She actually did DA:O with Wynne and Morrigan both as AW, with Wynne sword-and-boarding and Morrigan wielding 2H Starfang, and Leliana as a dualwield dagger Duellist. With Flaming, Telekinetic and Frost weapons up and three characters who were basically invulnerable to 90% of the mobs, that was a fun playthrough

Getting a bit worried about Glyph of Neutralisation flying about in the DA:A endgame though- it doesn't seem to be resistable and shuts an AW down hard

Oh, and it looks like Battlemage is a pretty perfect fit for an AW, neh?

Modifié par Majere613, 23 mars 2010 - 07:16 .

[Xeremius]

Nice guide !

I just wonder if it's really so useful to wear permanently dweomer runes with your spellweaver sword ? I found more useful to put a grandmaster Hale rune (+25 physical resistance) and cast Spell Shield only when some magic-user survived Mana Clash...

My 2 cents...

[stonehead227]

Xeremius wrote...

Nice guide !
I just wonder if it's really so useful to wear permanently dweomer runes with your spellweaver sword ? I found more useful to put a grandmaster Hale rune (+25 physical resistance) and cast Spell Shield only when some magic-user survived Mana Clash...
My 2 cents...

You get maxed physical resistance just by putting on Shimmering Shield.

[stonehead227]

All of the stuff that is not a Quest Reward is incredibly expensive. Do you think you could release a guide where every item isn't the best in the game.

[Koross]

Just wondering, how many sustainables can you keep up at one time? Is there a limit?

[Elhanan]

Great write-up here; will have to bookmark as another ref! Thanks! Only see a few things worthy of mention:

*Earth line - Rock Armor is solid; pardon the pun. Stonefist appears to work a vast majority of the time on Ranged and Magic wielding opponents, though perhaps not on Bosses. Earthquake is better named as a Slow spell, and usually delays the foes getting to the caster. Petrify is rather weak, but will work on bosses for an occasional breather but at medium-high mana cost.

* Telekentic line - Mind Blast seems to be a solid CC spell, and works against most foes except maybe for demons. Force Shield works well as offensive delay, or as a defensive save if needed. Tele Weapons makes for a nice non-primal addition, and is apparently effective against all types of foes. Crushing Prison has a long cooldown, but can work well with Force Shield on both foes or friendlies to lay down surrounding opponents; just watch Friendly Fire.

* Glyph of Neutralization appears to neutralize most casters, and has a silver line of prereq spells to get it. Mana Clash also does damage, but the prereq spells are costly investments.

Thanks again for the time!

Modifié par Elhanan, 08 juin 2010 - 09:02 .

[Swoo]

Koross wrote...

Just wondering, how many sustainables can you keep up at one time? Is there a limit?

I've run with six to seven with plenty of mana for more, just no extra spells to cast. I love Blood Magic!

[swk3000]

stonehead227 wrote...

All of the stuff that is not a Quest Reward is incredibly expensive. Do you think you could release a guide where every item isn't the best in the game.

Alright. If you don't want to spend any money, and don't have any DLC, then you could probably go with the following:

Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage
Weapon: Spellweaver
Shield: Fade Wall
Helm: Duty
Hands: Gloves of Diligence
Plate: Armor of Diligence
Feet: Juggernaut Plate Boots
Belt: Hardy's Belt
Amulet: Lifedrinker or Warden's Oath
Ring 1: Key to the City
Ring 2: Blood Ring

There are three items in the vanilla game that give Combat Health Regen: the Lifegiver, Evon the Great's Mail, and the Armor of Diligence. Evon the Great's Mail and the Lifegiver cost money, however, so the Armor of Diligence is the only choice. Everything else is free, though you'll have to do some work to get them.

This set only gives +1 Combat Health Regen (+0.5 on the PC), so you will have to rely on Blood Sacrifice quite heavily. That means you'll need either a Tank with a lot of Health, or your Rogue will need to be a Ranger.

Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer
Weapon: Spellweaver
Shield: Fade Wall
Helm: Executioner's Helm
Hands: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Gloves
Plate: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Armor
Feet: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Boots
Belt: Belt of the Magister Lords
Amulet: Shaper's Amulet
Ring 1: Key to the City
Ring 2: Ring of Study

With the Spirit Healer, you need to go light on the Sustainables so you can have the Mana to cast spells. This setup gives you +4 Combat Mana Regen and +50 Mana total, so you'll be able to cast more spells and recover Mana more quickly. I went with the Dragonscale armor (the heavy stuff) because it tops out at a whopping +3.5% Fatigue. Fade Wall and the Executioner's Helm add about 8%, so you're looking at a grand total of 11.5% Fatigue for the entire set. Turn on Combat Magic, and that jumps up to 61.5%, which is actually amazing for a set of Heavy Armor.

To be quite honest, though, refusing to buy any equipment is crippling your choices. The Blood Mage would seriously benefit from having the Lifegiver, and the Spirit Healer wouldn't mind having the Spellward at all. And the Andruil's Blessing would help both builds out, as well.

I understand getting the money up for those items can take a while, but they're well worth the investment. Besides, why would you use sub-par equipment anyway? Unless you think it's a great challenge to deliberately cripple yourself, but if that's the case, then why not just run through the entire game nude and try to take everything out with your fists?

[Xeremius]

stonehead227 wrote...

Xeremius wrote...

Nice guide !
I just wonder if it's really so useful to wear permanently dweomer runes with your spellweaver sword ? I found more useful to put a grandmaster Hale rune (+25 physical resistance) and cast Spell Shield only when some magic-user survived Mana Clash...
My 2 cents...

You get maxed physical resistance just by putting on Shimmering Shield.

But SS is waaaay too expensive when you want to play a spellcasting AA...
I suppose it all depends on your playstyle

[Rhys Cordelle]

I'm not sure I understand the Nuker build. None of the equipment requires you to be an AW, except for the boots.

[swk3000]

Just to throw it out there, I did the math on the Attack bonus provided by Combat Magic. Each point you put into Magic increases your Attack score by 0.2 points. Each point in Dexterity increases your Attack score by 0.5 points. Unfortunately, given the very low Dexterity score that Mage characters have normally, this means that you'd have to spend nearly 6 levels getting Dexterity up to a decent level. You'd hit more often, but your spells would be far weaker, and you'd be doing less damage at the end of the game.



Personally, I'd simply pump Magic, and have another party member keep casting Heroic Offense on you, rather than put any points into Dexterity.

[yoda23]

Thanks so much for this post. It's these types of forum posts that really illustrate the complexity and fun of DA:O and Bioware games generally. Very very nice job!

[Gershank ur mom_]

What if you don't have the add-on content Warden's keep and the others. Any suggestions of different gear I can get with just origins?

[Gershank ur mom_]

swk3000 wrote...

stonehead227 wrote...

All of the stuff that is not a Quest Reward is incredibly expensive. Do you think you could release a guide where every item isn't the best in the game.

Alright. If you don't want to spend any money, and don't have any DLC, then you could probably go with the following:

Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage
Weapon: Spellweaver
Shield: Fade Wall
Helm: Duty
Hands: Gloves of Diligence
Plate: Armor of Diligence
Feet: Juggernaut Plate Boots
Belt: Hardy's Belt
Amulet: Lifedrinker or Warden's Oath
Ring 1: Key to the City
Ring 2: Blood Ring

There are three items in the vanilla game that give Combat Health Regen: the Lifegiver, Evon the Great's Mail, and the Armor of Diligence. Evon the Great's Mail and the Lifegiver cost money, however, so the Armor of Diligence is the only choice. Everything else is free, though you'll have to do some work to get them.

This set only gives +1 Combat Health Regen (+0.5 on the PC), so you will have to rely on Blood Sacrifice quite heavily. That means you'll need either a Tank with a lot of Health, or your Rogue will need to be a Ranger.

Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer
Weapon: Spellweaver
Shield: Fade Wall
Helm: Executioner's Helm
Hands: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Gloves
Plate: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Armor
Feet: Wade's Superior Dragonscale Boots
Belt: Belt of the Magister Lords
Amulet: Shaper's Amulet
Ring 1: Key to the City
Ring 2: Ring of Study

With the Spirit Healer, you need to go light on the Sustainables so you can have the Mana to cast spells. This setup gives you +4 Combat Mana Regen and +50 Mana total, so you'll be able to cast more spells and recover Mana more quickly. I went with the Dragonscale armor (the heavy stuff) because it tops out at a whopping +3.5% Fatigue. Fade Wall and the Executioner's Helm add about 8%, so you're looking at a grand total of 11.5% Fatigue for the entire set. Turn on Combat Magic, and that jumps up to 61.5%, which is actually amazing for a set of Heavy Armor.

To be quite honest, though, refusing to buy any equipment is crippling your choices. The Blood Mage would seriously benefit from having the Lifegiver, and the Spirit Healer wouldn't mind having the Spellward at all. And the Andruil's Blessing would help both builds out, as well.

I understand getting the money up for those items can take a while, but they're well worth the investment. Besides, why would you use sub-par equipment anyway? Unless you think it's a great challenge to deliberately cripple yourself, but if that's the case, then why not just run through the entire game nude and try to take everything out with your fists?

oops my mistake. didnt see this eariler

[swk3000]

I can actually come up with better sets, if you'd like. As I mentioned, those sets are without spending any money. You can do much better if you're willing to spend some cash on the better items.