For Act 1 it says the only non-random staff for this build is The Magister's Scythe, as it's the only one with an +Attack bonus. This is not true - there is also They Hypnotist's Staff (Electricity Damage, +59 Attack, +8% Magic Resistance). You can't get it until you kill Decimus in the Act of Mercy quest, so depending on what order you do the Act 1 quests it could be the middle or near the end of the act before you can get it. But it does have some benefits over The Magister's Scythe: - It doesn't have any prerequisite for the Magic attribute. - It does electrical damage instead of just physical damage. - If Hawke has Galvanism (which this build is all about working towards) then that gives you +25% electricity damage, which means all damage from this staff is +25%. - It's +Attack bonus is only 4 less than TMS' bonus, so it's almost equal.
I've played this a couple of times and I find that the Death Syphon - even with the upgrade - is more trouble than it's worth. The Health benefits are almost negligible, and it destroys loot that you can get from enemies' corpses.
I understand that this guide is for a solo Mage, but I play this with a party so I replace Death Syphon with Elemental Weapons - it does nothing for Hawke but it gives a bonus to the rest of the party. It doesn't use up 100% of your Mana with sustainables - there is 10% left, but there are no other sustainables to use to get to that 100%.
Also, I usually leave Healing Aura turned off when I'm wandering around so when a battle starts I have some Mana to cast some offensive spells, then I turn Healing Aura on to heal, and when those offensive spells have respawned I can turn HA off, use a Lyrium Potion, and cast those offensive spells again. So having 10% of my Mana not taken up with all of my sustainables helps a little bit with my available Mana for these offensive spells. Just my 2 cents.
In Act 2, shouldn't the "Death Syphon" you get be "Death Syphon plus upgrade" for the health regeneration bonus? Without the upgrade it just regenerates Mana, which doesn't matter because your sustainables are using 100% of your Mana.
I know this guide is intended for soloing, but if you're not soloing, does having a Rogue in the party constantly using Goad on your "Arcane Warrior" help attract threat to them?
tnx for the heads up for Act 3, but I thought to get some of your opinions on how to improve this build with the recent item pack. http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Mage_Pack http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Rogue_Pack http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Warrior_Pack
Just want to hear your opinions on whether or not some of those items listed can improve your build. Curious, that's all.
@AnthonyDraft, Sorry for not updating this much. I got side-tracked with other projects, did a bunch more playthroughs testing nightmare mode, then I got very bored of the game.
Reusing the same maps over and over really killed the game for me. I think I've visited every one of the 6 maps 100x.
But generally speaking, stick with the heaviest armor you can -- kite when needed to regen health (which is very fast with this build) and you're basically untouchable. Since you don't have mana to cast spells, it's irrelevant what spells you learn after lvl 13/14. =D
Oh, for accessories try to pick up items with resist. Swapping in 3-4 items with Fire Resist when faced with Rage Demon for example, makes them trivial.
I got my mage to ACT 3, but when I had to play the same maps yet again for all of act 3, I decided DA2 is a great game, implimented wrong.
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- It doesn't have any prerequisite for the Magic attribute.
- It does electrical damage instead of just physical damage.
- If Hawke has Galvanism (which this build is all about working towards) then that gives you +25% electricity damage, which means all damage from this staff is +25%.
- It's +Attack bonus is only 4 less than TMS' bonus, so it's almost equal.
I understand that this guide is for a solo Mage, but I play this with a party so I replace Death Syphon with Elemental Weapons - it does nothing for Hawke but it gives a bonus to the rest of the party. It doesn't use up 100% of your Mana with sustainables - there is 10% left, but there are no other sustainables to use to get to that 100%.
Also, I usually leave Healing Aura turned off when I'm wandering around so when a battle starts I have some Mana to cast some offensive spells, then I turn Healing Aura on to heal, and when those offensive spells have respawned I can turn HA off, use a Lyrium Potion, and cast those offensive spells again. So having 10% of my Mana not taken up with all of my sustainables helps a little bit with my available Mana for these offensive spells. Just my 2 cents.
Where is this mod? I can't find it anywhere.
Thanks again for sharing =)
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Mage_Pack
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Rogue_Pack
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Warrior_Pack
Just want to hear your opinions on whether or not some of those items listed can improve your build. Curious, that's all.
Sorry for not updating this much. I got side-tracked with other projects, did a bunch more playthroughs testing nightmare mode, then I got very bored of the game.
Reusing the same maps over and over really killed the game for me. I think I've visited every one of the 6 maps 100x.
But generally speaking, stick with the heaviest armor you can -- kite when needed to regen health (which is very fast with this build) and you're basically untouchable. Since you don't have mana to cast spells, it's irrelevant what spells you learn after lvl 13/14. =D
Oh, for accessories try to pick up items with resist. Swapping in 3-4 items with Fire Resist when faced with Rage Demon for example, makes them trivial.
I got my mage to ACT 3, but when I had to play the same maps yet again for all of act 3, I decided DA2 is a great game, implimented wrong.