Dragon Age: Tactics

[Enoch]

Yes I have been looking for the tome to make me arcane warrior or bloodmage for some time now for just that reason, armor. Weapons aren't going to make much of a difference what with my attack rating still so low. What area is the arcane warrior tome/npc in ?

Go visit the Dalish. You'll stumble upon it while doing their big quest.

[Monte Carlo]

Arcane Warrior spoiler

 

 

On the second level of the elven ruins in the Brescilian forest is a phylactery and an altar. It's easy to find, it looks like an old library. Pick up phylactery, the spirit inside asks you to put it to rest... follow the dialogue options and it will offer to teach you the arcane warrior path... matters not which class your character is.

 

[jaguars4ever]

ZOMG, it's jagtastic official: Blood Wound (3rd Blood Mage power) is the best AoE power in teh game; Shimmering Shield (3rd Arcane Warrior power) is teh best buff in teh game!

 

Enter room or any level:

 

1) Cast fireball on mob;

2) Cast crushing prison (2nd best power in the game) and forcefield (3rd best power) on the 2 strongest enemies;

3) Turn on Blood Magic;

4) Cast Blood Wound on any remaining mobs (****ing hell, this is ridiculous: it's like an AoE crushing prison!)

5) Turn off Blood Magic, & turn on Combat Magic;

6) Activate Shimmering Shield (I'm not sure why the enemies carry on fighting at this point!!), Miasma, Combat Armor, Arcane Shield, & Flaming Weapon sustainables;

7) Auto-attack remaining fools as unkillable manifestation of walking death;

 

Nb - you can skip straight to steps 5, 6 & 7 and just leave your sustainables on all the time as well (it's almost as effective but a little less fun).

 

Behold teh POWA of Arcane Warrior / Blood Mage!!!1

Edited December 6, 2009 by jaguars4ever

[jaguars4ever]

Arcane Warrior's attack rating is always going to be mediocre, unless your spellpower is very high which is a no-go since AWs need high willpower to toggle all the sustainables. I only picked it for Shimmering Shield so I could solo dragons.

 

Even without wearing armour, my mage has a higher armour rating than Sten/Oghren in dragonbone armour with Rock armour activated & dressed in Reaper's vestments. Even Alistair's armour rating isn't too far away.

 

From what I'm reading, there is a tactics trick to keep Leilana from dumping her bow and backstabbing at the first opportunity. Please share. I'm sick of screaming at her to put down the daggers and pick up the stupid bow. Yes, I could take away all of her melee toys, but that takes away an option that I may need to use on occasion... when I want to use it, not when she wants to use it.

 

Stubborn woman. Come on, gimme tactics secret... please?

I set her from "default" to "ranged" behaviour.

Arcane Warrior attack rating can be sky high (as well as damage, defense, & all resistances) - all you have to do is put EVERY point into Magic. Not only will this increase your spellpower, but it'll also vicarioulsy increase your attack, and also your damage. You only need around 20 or so willpower to activate all your sustainables and this can be achieved without putting any points into willpower if you equip the right gear & cash in on every Fade freebie font point (there's 4 st, 4 dex, 3 will, 2 mg, 5 cun, & 2 con points up for grab - make sure you grab 'em all since even str & dex will further increase your attack, and the con will help with blood maging, while the cun will help with getting those PC coercion skills). As for needing mana for casting? That's what blood magic is for!

Edited December 6, 2009 by jaguars4ever

[HoonDing]

If enemy 'blood' mages would actually use blood magic spells the game would be much harder. As it is now, the tag above their heads should be changed to "Amateur Poser".

 

If enemy mages would use Mana clash, the game would be nightmare for PC mages. The only time my mage fell in her playthrough was when by chance that special mage in the Temple of the urn used Mana clash on her = instant 202 damage & knock-out. *giggle*

 

Usually when Emissaries use Curse of Mortality or Crushing Prison, it's knock-out time for one of the party members too. But they hardly ever do.

 

In Baldur's Gate at least enemy mages didn't hold back... but usually cast 500 spells instantly as soon as they spotted the party.

Edited December 6, 2009 by virumor

[jaguars4ever]

If enemy 'blood' mages would actually use blood magic spells the game would be much harder.

 

If enemy mages would use Mana clash, the game would be nightmare for PC mages. The only time my mage fell in her playthrough was when by chance that special mage in the Temple of the urn used Mana clash on her = instant 202 damage & knock-out. *giggle*

 

Usually when Emissaries use Curse of Mortality or Crushing Prison, it's knock-out time for one of the party members too. But they hardly ever do.

 

In Baldur's Gate at least enemy mages didn't hold back... but usually cast 500 spells as soon as they spotted the party.

Someone should make an AI enemy mod for that kind of thing. It would be awesome.

 

Mana Clash still wouldn't hurt the Arcane Warrior / Blood Mage w/ all sustainables on though, since the sustainables would reduce the mana pool to a mana puddle (meaning the total mana lost & thus damage inflicted would be low). That, and I don't believe losing your mana will disable any active sustainables. Epic, no? Not to mention you still have your health to use as a mana battery for casting with blood magic.

Edited December 6, 2009 by jaguars4ever

[Gromnir]

"2) Cast crushing prison (2nd best power in the game) and forcefield (3rd best power) on the 2 strongest enemies;"

 

am gonna complete disagree 'bout crushing prison... 'least on hard. is a very effective spell to use on individuals in mobs. use to debilitate 1 o' those pesky archers with scattershot? great. a fourth tier spell to incapacitate 1 archer? unfortunately, crushing prison is endured or resisted by most elites and boss types. forcefield, on the other hand, is resisted far less often. crushing prison is a nice spell, but one of Gromnir's big melee damage party members can does more hurt in far less time. is ironic, but at high levels, on hard, Gromnir is using tier-2 forcefield on the bosses and elites, but am using crushing prison on individual mob archers n' such. am placing force field considerably ahead of crushing prison in our repitoire.

 

side note... enemy mages never cast force field on our party mates, but they does use crushing prison. cast force field on our character victimized by crushing prison will free him, albeit with an explosive side effect.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Leferd]

Interesting exploit.

 

I sold my Warden Commander armor to the shopkeeper at Soldier's Peak. By late game, there are bettter armors made of Dragonbone or Silverite anddespite the bonuses you get from it, Steel just wasn't gonna cut it.

 

When I went back to that same shopkeeper sometime later, he's selling that same armor as Level 7 Dragonbone. I bought the set right back and now it's the best armor I have again.

[jaguars4ever]

^Then of course, there is the ubertastic synergy by casting crushing prison on top of a forcefield. Great crowd control, which sadly I don't use, since I need that forcefield in place.

 

--

 

Interesting exploit.

 

I sold my Warden Commander armor to the shopkeeper at Soldier's Peak. By late game, there are bettter armors made of Dragonbone or Silverite anddespite the bonuses you get from it, Steel just wasn't gonna cut it.

 

When I went back to that same shopkeeper sometime later, he's selling that same armor as Level 7 Dragonbone. I bought the set right back and now it's the best armor I have again.

Holy Crap! Does it work with just the plate or the entire set too? 'Cause you know, the boots are the best piece.

[Leferd]

The whole set. I tried to do the same thing with my Shield of Highever. No dice.

[jaguars4ever]

The whole set. I tried to do the same thing with my Shield of Highever. No dice.

Damn, I'm not sure I can part with my Warden Commander Boots. I need the +50 mana (as well as the +50 health from my Blood Dragon plate).

 

I wonder if it will regen if I just sell the plate...

[Monte Carlo]

That'll be me selling that armour next time I boot the game up.

 

I have another aesthetics versus power problem though, in that I have the juggernaut armour which is OK. But that helmet, y'know with the blue feathery plume? Yech. Had to sell it.

[jaguars4ever]

That'll be me selling that armour next time I boot the game up.

 

I have another aesthetics versus power problem though, in that I have the juggernaut armour which is OK. But that helmet, y'know with the blue feathery plume? Yech. Had to sell it.

No to mention that you only get the item set bonus for Juggie if you wear the god-forsaken-butt-ugly-helmet, whereas you can get the item set bonus for teh Blood Dragon armor w/o wearing the helm (even though it's amazingly awesome looking, Bergen's Honor or Helmet of Honnleath is SO much better).

 

Unfornately, Blood Draggie plate makes me look fat.

[Monte Carlo]

My next experiment is going to be archer / melee warrior - even split between 2W fighting and archery talents (because of the Dexterity synergy between the two, I really wanted 2H weapon / archer but it was stretching it a bit).

 

Probably go Elf, possibly death-wish ghetto avenger.

[Monte Carlo]

^ My rogue game rocks but I can't find any really awesome light armour. Wasn't looking for it during my warrior playthrough, just gave the Drakeskin stuff to Zev. Anybody know where I can get me some?

[Oner]

^ My rogue game rocks but I can't find any really awesome light armour. Wasn't looking for it during my warrior playthrough, just gave the Drakeskin stuff to Zev. Anybody know where I can get me some?

Ash ruins, maybe Brescillian forest?

[jaguars4ever]

^ My rogue game rocks but I can't find any really awesome light armour. Wasn't looking for it during my warrior playthrough, just gave the Drakeskin stuff to Zev. Anybody know where I can get me some?

Go do your Urn of Sacred Ashes questing, kill plenty of drakes, and take 'em to Wade. Get him to make you a set of Wade's Drakescale Armor, and then give him more drakescale and pay him for the better, Wade's Superior Drakescale Armor.

[Leferd]

I meant the exploit works for the whole set.

 

You can sell your gloves, chestpiece, and boots and they will all be upgraded.

[Gromnir]

^Then of course, there is the ubertastic synergy by casting crushing prison on top of a forcefield. Great crowd control, which sadly I don't use, since I need that forcefield in place.

 

maybe your definition of ubertastic is different than ours. the spell combo knocks folks down... at range. fireball knocks down, does persistent fire damage, and is a single tier-3 spell. 1 tier 3 spell v. 2 spells: tier2 and tier 4. however, the spell combo does add to the usefulness o' the spell line.

 

*shrug*

 

as we already stated, we find that we gets more use from the synergy as a defensive tactic to remove enemy-cast crushing prison effects. a single tier-2 spell instantly removes effect of crushing prison... but again, you not need crushing prison to make use of this defense. am only wishing there were a similar useful way to overcome curse of mortality.

 

wade's superior is what Gromnir is using for his rogue. there were some intriguing sounding light armours for sale, but our frugality prevents us from partaking.

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited December 6, 2009 by Gromnir

[HoonDing]

Only way to get rid of Curse of Mortality is Cleanse Area or Dispel Magic. But putting the schmuck in a Force Field probably helps too.

 

Wade's drakescale sucks since it looks like generic leather armour. At least Ancient Elven armour looks slightly different from chainmail.

Edited December 6, 2009 by virumor

[Tigranes]

Got to agree with Gromnir, the FF / CP combo isn't as effective as it first seems - it's much more useful to have FF and CP separately in place, either to easily disable two enemies or use the FF on an ally for tanking.

[Monte Carlo]

I've currently got a set of armour from Mikhail at Warden's Keep that looks like the Shadow Legion armour from BG2... ain't optimal for my level but looks to cool to get rid of.

 

I will go the Drakeskin route for my rogue after Sacred Ashes, for my next fighter / 2H / archer build will probably go with the ancient elven armour.

[Volourn]

"100% magic resistant"

 

Is that possible?

[jaguars4ever]

"100% magic resistant"

 

Is that possible?

Knight Commander plate = 40% MR

The Spellward (amulet) = 30% MR

Key to the City (ring) = 4% MR

Starfang with 2 grandmaster dweomer runes & 1 expert dweomer rune = 26% MR

 

Total: 100% magic resistance

[Volourn]

Talk about bogus. No character shoudl have 100% resistance to anything.