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Posted: **Fri Dec 11, 2009 11:28 pm**

Poisons are very powerful, considering that all different types stack.

I played on normal and after getting Miasma, I could hit everything almost all of the time.

Posted: **Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:34 am**

I found that Miasma was sufficient for everything except Nightmare difficulty. Of course, you should have your AW Combat Magic buff and its passives up and running too, although on lower difficulties (Easy) even this wasn't needed because Miasma was powerful enough by itself. You may be forced to use your AW Combat Magic buffs and passives if you don't have access to the mage spells. The solution to the problem in Nightmare was either adding + attack gear or casting Heroic Offense on your character in addition to the AW combat magic buffs and passives and miasma.

You do miss in some of the lower difficulties from time to time...hitting is never 100% in DA:O. It can become a royal PITA in Nightmare and having spells resisted starts becoming a problem, so stacking may become necessary depending on what enemies you are fighting. [Revenants anyone?] If you don't like your hit rate, then I suggest first turning on the AW combat magic buffs and passives. Next add Miasma. Finally, add Heroic Offense. You could at any stage add + attack gear if you can find it. These all stack, so following this escalating script should negate all of your hitting problems. I would never put points into DEX or STR as an AW. Points are much better going into MAGIC since this powers everything for a mage.

As for cranking up the damage once you do hit, I agree that poisons are excellent, so be sure your AW has a least one skill level in poisons so you can add them to your weapon. And yes, different poisons stack and since you don't have any melee related talents, this really helps. It's also a very good idea, especially with armored enemies like golems and ogres, to use telekinetic weapons.

Posted: **Thu Dec 17, 2009 2:32 pm**

I am finding that I hit quite a bit more often now with the additional passive talents/spells (2 & 4) to Combat Magic.

Vulnerability Hex + Miasma works on the tougher opponents. (..and in fact Vulnability Hex occasionally is listed as "Resisted" by the opponents, but actually isn't.)

HOWEVER,

I think that an Arcane Warrior is NOT best for melee. The biggie is Combat Magic + Fade Shroud for a Dodge bonus + enhanced Mana regen. + equipment modifiers and/or defensive runes from weapons. In other words *defensive* measures in addition to your casting ability.

Shimmering Shield IMO is a *waste*. Not only does it knock-down your mana pool, but it once it "blocks" something it drains your mana pool so fast that it is nearly worthless - AND it cut's hugely into your ability to cast spells. You are *far* better off getting your Resistances from other sources that are "always ON" and neither drop your mana pool nor drain it.

The reason I particularly like the ability to use multiple Runes (from Spellweaver and the Beastman dagger and latter the Rose's Thorn), is particularly for PHYSICAL RESISTANCE. *IF* you are paralyzed you can't attack - be it a Magical attack or a Melee attack. It's rare that the opponent uses Crushing Prison, so that pretty much means that Physical Resistance is *it*. Of course there are other pieces of equipment that give physical resistance bonuses.. BUT they may occupy equipment "slots" that you might prefer for another piece of equipment with other "bonuses".

Posted: **Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:48 pm**

Shimmering Shield increases your armor and resistances (mental and physical resistances included) but does not block spells. Spell Shield does that.

In the previous patch, Shimmering Shield would not turn off even if the mana hit zero, so you could keep it on indefinitely. While I have the PC version, I've heard that the console version of Shimmering Shield does not drain mana at all, just requires the upkeep.

What I'm thinking is that it may be worth it to take a single level of Arcane Warrior to use the armor and perhaps use Wade's Superior Dragonscale (since with a full set it gives only five to fatigue) and then use either a staff or a shield with NO weapon. This way, your character has a high armor and defense without too much fatigue, thus being more focused in spell casting rather than melee combat.

Posted: **Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:02 pm**

Crenshinibon wrote:Shimmering Shield increases your armor and resistances (mental and physical resistances included) but does not block spells. Spell Shield does that.

In the previous patch, Shimmering Shield would not turn off even if the mana hit zero, so you could keep it on indefinitely. While I have the PC version, I've heard that the console version of Shimmering Shield does not drain mana at all, just requires the upkeep.

What I'm thinking is that it may be worth it to take a single level of Arcane Warrior to use the armor and perhaps use Wade's Superior Dragonscale (since with a full set it gives only five to fatigue) and then use either a staff or a shield with NO weapon. This way, your character has a high armor and defense without too much fatigue, thus being more focused in spell casting rather than melee combat.

Shimmering Shield may stay "ON" when man drops to 0, but the resistances go. I remember heading into a dark spawn "swam" ( 1 emissary, 4 corrupted spiders, and 4 hurlocks) to see if it was worth while to melee it with Shimmering Shield, and the Shield lasted all of 15 seconds (..on "normal" difficulty and with only combat magic "ON" and fair chunk of mana pool.) Needless to say, I was quickly "rolled" by the spiders - literally. :speech: :laugh:

Also, I realize Shimmering Shield's benefits, and really - anything that raises ALL or your resistances effectively gives you spell resistance (..because spells rely on at least one of those resistances). (..the "tail-end" of the calculation rather than the "front-end" like spell resistance.)

On the other hand if people on consoles aren't suffering a drain when effected - then I'd definitely recommend Shimmering Shield for them.

I decided on the Blood Mage/Arcane Warrior route, basically a Tevinter Magister Lord. Reaper Vestments, Imperium Boots, and the Spellward necklace - for several reasons but largely for Dodge bonus that with Fade Shroud (and some Dexterity bonus to Defense and with a certain cowl) means you only have about a 50% chance of being hit (..if that). It's fantastic for casting spells without really being disturbed. When I run-out of mana I switch to Blood Magic, and I can always use Blood Sacrifice on Lelianna or her ranger bear summon. (..also Elfroot for Healing poultices is a LOT easier to come-by than Lyrium dust.) With proper "management", you don't need to ever stop casting spells in favor of staff use because of mana depletion. For those single-tough opponents with high resistance and their support eradicated I can switch to melee with miasma and a hex.

Posted: **Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:08 pm**

My experience does not match yours at all. Mind you, this was before the first patch came out. The resistances still stayed when my mana hit zero. With patch 1.02 I don't think you can keep it up indefinitely.

Spell resistance, or magic resistance can actually achieve a hundred percent, thus you being simply immune to the spell's effects. Having 75% resistance to cold is not that same as having 75% to simply resist the spell. The spell's damage relies on these resistances but not the effects, which is the important part. Who cares about the damage that Crushing Prison deals when you're incapacitated and surrounded by enemies?

Currently I'm soloing with a Dwarf Noble Templar, and I'm seeing a huge difference between having spell resistance and every other type of resistance. The Arcane Warrior enjoys huge damage reduction, which is useful for when you're fighting dragons, characters with elemental weapons or suffering the effects of a spell you failed to resist. As such, my character just stands through a cone of cold, unscathed, while the enemies behind him are standing frozen. Note that some spells, such as fire ball require two resistances as well. A mage might toss one at me, and I'll resist it, taking no damage, but still get knocked down because I failed the physical check.

The idea that I mentioned was intended for a solo character. Also, Elfroot and Lyrium Dust are equally easy to find and unlimited supplies of each are sold at certain merchants, meaning that you can make ninety nine of each potion by paying three gold a bulk.

My Arcane Warrior had a similar item build as yours, though I only had 40% dodge. The items that provided it were: Imperial Weavers, Reaper's Vestments, Spellward and First Enchanter's Cowl.

Posted: **Thu Dec 17, 2009 7:40 pm**

Crenshinibon wrote: What I'm thinking is that it may be worth it to take a single level of Arcane Warrior to use the armor and perhaps use Wade's Superior Dragonscale (since with a full set it gives only five to fatigue) and then use either a staff or a shield with NO weapon. This way, your character has a high armor and defense without too much fatigue, thus being more focused in spell casting rather than melee combat.

This is EXACTLY the path I would advocate for an AW. I personally feel it is the most flexible build. You also can fire off any spell without sheathing issues. I strongly recommend going with the staff over the shield because the shields are rather underwhelming, especially if you play as an armored mage and stay out of melee. The nice thing now (especially in nightmare) is that if monsters get past your tank, you can now take the punishment, thanks to your armor and buffs.

I agree with you about Shimmering Shield...it is very expensive upkeep-wise with the new patch. I frankly prefer to play a mage who stands back in armor bombing away. If you really want to use a Sword/Shield combo, I'd use a Spellsword and Redcliffe Elite Shield or maybe Aeducian Family Shield. There's also Duncan's shield as well should you not give this to your tank. You could still bomb away with this setup and maybe wade into combat and kick a little axe if the mood strikes you. Still, I feel like a mage throwing spells does more damage and is more flexible than a warrior swinging a sword, especially an AW that has no combat talents to speak of.

One advantage I do see in keeping the melee AW option open is that there are times when you fight one-on-one in the storyline, so its valuable to be able to deal magic damage and also go toe to toe. I might even consider a weapon switch set up where I have a staff as the primary and a Sword/Shield as a secondary. That sure is a lot of options for one class.

I wonder if it can do the dishes, too? :laugh:

Posted: **Fri Dec 18, 2009 1:58 pm**

Crenshinibon wrote: The spell's damage relies on these resistances but not the effects, which is the important part. Who cares about the damage that Crushing Prison deals when you're incapacitated and surrounded by enemies?

The idea that I mentioned was intended for a solo character. Also, Elfroot and Lyrium Dust are equally easy to find and unlimited supplies of each are sold at certain merchants, meaning that you can make ninety nine of each potion by paying three gold a bulk.

The effects ALSO rely on the resistances, it's not just the damage. For the "bottom" listing of resistances it's damage + DURATION, and on some opponents outright immunity. Fire damage that continues to linger on past the initial "blast" is a good example of duration. (..for Immunity look to nature damage on undead.)

Effects of paralysis hinge on the "upper" listing of resistances: Physical and to a far lesser extent Mental. A Knockdown effect either has no resistance or is Physical.

With Shimmering Shield it seems to "cap" the "bottom" listing of resistances to 75% regardless of any additional items. On the other hand there is no "cap" for the "upper" listing of Physical and Mental resistances, it stacks.

The "point" here is that having high resistance to everything, effectively acts as spell resistance "+", particularly if your Mental and Physical resistances are 100. (..though personally I'd prefer *both* when you consider level differences.)

..and yeah, you can purchase unlimited quantities from select vendors, but it kind'a kills the game. (..though perhaps is a necessity in a "solo" context.)

BTW, it seems as if we are "flipping" are builds. I started off with the armor + staff, and progressed to the Dodge bonus + weapons. Really though, the only reason I can see having a staff for is for a very long range attack for provocation and any additional bonus to damage/spell power it would provide. Other wise just use spells.

Posted: **Tue Dec 29, 2009 6:07 pm**

After finishing up my AW, I'd like to note that:

Miasma is only semi-effective with even a good Magic/Spell Power rating.

HOWEVER, if you are spending more than 90% of your attribute points on Magic at all level-ups, OR you are spending more than 80% AND you use the spell: Spell Might and have some decent modification to Spell Power or Magic, then:

I found that I hit more than 50% of the time (with only a good bonus to attack form the weapons I used) - with even the most difficult opponents.

What I'm trying to say here is that for an AW to be really effective with Melee against ALL opponents that it needs Miasma AND a very high Spell Power score (opponent-dependent).

Against the Arch Demon I averaged almost 3 times the damage of a good staff blast with a dual-weapon melee attack (..and even then only with two damage modifiers Ice and Fire, and no poisons nor telekinetic weapons, and only one +4 damage rune).

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2009 12:52 am**

I found Miasma to be a great help in hitting. By the time I finished, I had a 90% hit rate. For a melee mage, I thought that Spell Might was counter productive, with Spellpower not offering much help and the mana degeneration making it difficult to keep other spells, such as Haste, running.

My first character, the Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage had ALL attribute points allocated into Magic, which probably explains the success I had with this build.

Fully buffed, according to the character sheet, my mage did about one hundred and twelve (or twenty) damage.

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2009 2:42 am**

Crenshinibon wrote:I found Miasma to be a great help in hitting. By the time I finished, I had a 90% hit rate. For a melee mage, I thought that Spell Might was counter productive, with Spellpower not offering much help and the mana degeneration making it difficult to keep other spells, such as Haste, running.

My first character, the Arcane Warrior/Blood Mage had ALL attribute points allocated into Magic, which probably explains the success I had with this build.

Fully buffed, according to the character sheet, my mage did about one hundred and twelve (or twenty) damage.

What was the net Spell Power at the end for you? Mine with Spell-Might was 76 I think (..and about 20 points less than that without it).

I also never used Haste, not even from party members (..my build was more focused on the spell casting than melee.)

Also, as a Blood mage did it pull haste from your mana or your health with Blood Magic active?

My net damage for both on and off-hand resulted in about 85 assuming both attacks hit (..and the off-hand dagger didn't "hit" as often for me, though it wasn't far off of the main weapon.) Of course the net damage was less because each attack was subject to a miss - so I'd estimate a net damage of about 60 on tough opponents. Again, both Fire and Ice weapons active but no poisons or damage runes except the single Master lightening Rune (using the Spellsword and the "Rose"). I think with a basic staff I was doing around 20 damage per attack (without staff mastery).

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:01 am**

Fully buffed, I had about one hundred and fifteen spellpower, of course I just had gear that I thought would be good in melee combat, so it wasn't optimized for maximum spellpower.

Unfortunately, both, Spell Might and Haste both use mana.

I had my character use a shield for the extra defense and stamina.

From Flaming Weapons, I had fifteen bonus damage, though I used Telekinetic Weapons the most. While I had all Grandmaster damage runes I could find in Spellweaver during my first playthrough, if I were to replay the game again, I would surely use all Dweomer Runes.

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:15 am**

Crenshinibon wrote:Fully buffed, I had about one hundred and fifteen spellpower. .

That's got to be the major difference, hell I was using 2 weapons to your one and still didn't come close.

That's to bad about Haste.

Posted: **Wed Dec 30, 2009 3:21 am**

It was fine for my purposes as I had more than enough mana regeneration to offset the drain.

Posted: **Sat Jan 23, 2010 6:08 am**

Crenshinibon wrote:In my opinion, the best route to go is to dump EVERYTHING into Magic. Willpower is a useless stat for mages since Lyrium potions are dirt cheap (some three to five gold for ninety nine Lesser Lyrium Potions).

Spells to get:

Mage - Arcane Shield
Arcane Warrior - Combat Magic, Aura of Might, Shimmering Shield, Fade Shroud
Blood Mage - Blood Magic, Blood Sacrifice, Blood Wound
Creation - Heal, Glyph of Paralysis, Glyph of Warding
Entropy - Weakness, Paralyze, Miasma, (Mass Paralyze)
Primal - Rock Armor, (An offensive tree of your choice, I like the fire one as towards the end of the game, Flaming Weapons adds about fifteen damage. Cone of Cold is also a great crowd control spell, so you may want to consider it.)
Spirit - Mind Blast, Force Field, Telekinetic Weapons, Crushing Prison, (Walking Bomb, Death Siphon, Virulent Walking Bomb, Animate Dead - The bomb spells seem to be good AOE spells and Death Siphon could possibly help recover as much health as a Lesser Health Poultice, which is enough, given the fact that you are near invulnerable. The main point of this is to get the Animate Dead spell, which would tank for you while you fling spells, of course then, you should also get Spell Might, which is three talent points, so it's something to consider. I would only use this if I were to solo though. Maybe. I don't have a lot of experience with this tree, so it's all theory.)

Generally you have two ways of playing: walk around with all your sustained skills on and act as a tank or play as a normal mage. The beauty of Arcane Warrior is in the sustained spells: you can activate them when you have no mana. So, you can walk onto the battle field, fire off some spells, drain your mana supply, activate all of your sustained spells and auto-attack everything to death. The noly reason for more Willpower is to sustain more spells.

The Arcane Warrior is the best tank you can have. Even the High Dragon barely did any damage to me, so I was able to solo him.

Anyway, for equipment, this is what I used towards the end of the game:

Head: First Enchanter's Cowl
Weapon: Spellweaver OR Blood-Gorged Amulet
Belt: Anduril's Coil
Neck: Spellward
Off-Hand: The Rose's Thorn OR Fade Wall
Boots: Imperial Weavers
Body: Reaper's Vestments
Gloves: Wade's Superior Dragonbone Plate Gloves

This is the best setup for a nice balance between tanking and casting, with a nice 40% dodge bonus.

Weapon: Spellweaver OR Blood-Gorged Amulet << i don't understand because Blood-gorded ain't a weapon and why cant u have both equipped ?

im not saying ur build and stuff is wrong is gr8 i just dont get the above part

:mischief::mischief:

Posted: **Sat Jan 23, 2010 11:07 am**

Oh I must have been looking at the amulet section when I typed that. xD

There's also a few new weapons that were revealed during the brief time that Return to Ostagar was downloadable. One of the is a dagger, that provides the user with four to stamina/mana regeneration (meaning that with this item as well as a few others, you could actually offset the mana degeneration caused by Shimmering Shield) and the Nug-Crusher, which is a maul that grants a hundred stamina/mana bonus.

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 12:04 am**

So I just created my first AW, and I'm confused about how exactly the "fatigue trade-off" that is in the description of the Combat Magic works. Is says "Trading increased fatigue for an attack bonus". Does that mean the higher your fatigue is, the higher bonus you get to your attack? Or, is it just referring to the 50% fatigue penalty you get by activating the spell?
Also, can you offset the mana drain from Shimmering Shield with enough mana regen? You mentioned it above but I just want to make sure. Thanks

Posted: **Tue Feb 15, 2011 1:37 am**

SirSponge wrote:So I just created my first AW, and I'm confused about how exactly the "fatigue trade-off" that is in the description of the Combat Magic works. Is says "Trading increased fatigue for an attack bonus". Does that mean the higher your fatigue is, the higher bonus you get to your attack? Or, is it just referring to the 50% fatigue penalty you get by activating the spell?
Also, can you offset the mana drain from Shimmering Shield with enough mana regen? You mentioned it above but I just want to make sure. Thanks

It "just" subtracts 50 mana.. it isn't doing anything to an on-going fatigue.

The attack bonus is 5 + (Spellpower/5) and +5 from Aura of Might.

Apparently you can offset the + 10 mana drain..

Spellweaver +2 combat. or Staff of the Magister Lord +4 in combat.
Andruil's Blessing +2 combat.
The Libertarian's Cowl + .5 combat.
Tevinter Mage Robes +2 combat. or Tevinter Enchanter's Robes +1 combat.
Fade Shround (AW spell) +2 combat.
Spellbloom (spell) +3 combat.

Posted: **Thu Feb 24, 2011 1:37 am**

If my game is any guide then any plus stamina/mana in combat items will work, so the list is longer than you have there.

Of course, I use Combat Tweaks and the Rule Fix mod so I can't even really comment on the vanilla game anymore.

I played a AW/Spirit Healer through Nightmare DAO, DAA and all the DLCs without even needing any skills from the advanced DAA classes. With high magic I still had only a 60% to hit ratio, and that was average, some fights took quite a long time. I still think the hardest fights in the game, on nightmare, are in the city elf origin and Sir Cauthrien later in the game. Somehow her two handed skills pounded through my AW defenses. I don't quite get the mechanics there but she was tough.

Combat Tweaks shows the negative drain on your mana regen and any +stamina/mana regen items help it, so it was easy enough to counter. I used Wade's Heavy with Evon the Great's mail because you retain the set bonus. Nice armour with high fire resist (probably the most common damage type through much of the game, from a spell perspective) and a huge boos to fatigue regen from the set bonus. None of the tier 8 and 9 armours could beat the combo.

Posted: **Thu Feb 24, 2011 5:57 am**

If you have return to ostagar DLC, then a certain sword + shield combo gives you +10 regen.

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