Post by vixsyn on Oct 29, 2016 12:48:50 GMT
I am attempting to preserve some of the guides and information from the old forum by reposting it here. I do not claim authorship of any of these guides unless explicitly stated. Where necessary I have added links to various videos included in the guide where the original links failed to copy. In some cases I have also tried to tidy up/unify formatting. Edits/addendums from me are in this lovely orange colour! I hope these guides continue to be relevant and helpful to players of these excellent games. -Vix
Guide credit: ezrafetch
No, I don't think "maging" is a word, but I can make up my own word, thank you very much.
Archmage: A Guide to Maging in Nightmare
I. Introduction: HIstory, Goals
II. Specializations, Skill Set
III. Stat Distribution
IV. Companions
V. General Strategy
VI. Cross-class Combos
VII. Gear [incomplete]
VIII. Extras
more as the guide is filled out
--------------------------------------
I. Introduction: History, Goals
This build started by trying to emulate the "Archmage" from Diablo II. At least in the Diablo II world, the "Archmage" was a Sorceress who had skills in all three trees. Prior to the introduction of skill synergies in Patch 1.09 (as far as I remember), it wasn't actually the worst path in the world. Nova + Frozen Orb + Fire Wall could get you places, with a well-equipped mercenary at least. Sure, your damage was lower than a two-tree who could dump points into masteries, but there was literally no enemy you didn't have the silver bullet for.
Of course, that's not how it works in DA2. In the first Archmage builds, I tried to build around that approach with only meh results. The fact of life is that mages simply don't have the DPS that the nukers in DAO had, so focus must be directed elsewhere. The answer is in the Cross-class Combos (CCC). With CCCs, your mage can begin to emulate the damage output of the nukers in DAO. So the goal here is to create a build that maximizes DPS through CCC potential As an ARCHMAGE, you're not supposed to really be wading into the thick of the battle, per sé, so don't constantly go run off like that or you'll end up like Bethany (ba dum tsch?). If you want to play a Battlemage, look here for tips and tricks on that.
II. Specializations, Skill Set
For those purposes, the key specialization here is Blood Mage. Paralyzing Hemorrhage is a particularly good skill (key CCC component) but moreover Blood Magic gives the mage a second pool of mana to work with. Since we do not try to wade into battle, we will, in fact, be casting tons and tons of spells. Mana will run out, so it's important to have a backup pool of mana besides chugging Lyrium Potions.
However, do note that you should decide whether or not you want to go offensive or defensive and choose that specialization FIRST (so choose Force Mage or Spirit Healer as your level 7 specialization) before Blood Mage, because you don't have the health pool to make Blood Magic worth working with prior to level 14. Plus, Paralyzing Hemhorrage isn't unlockable until level 15. You can go with Blood Mage as your first specialization on lower difficulties, though, as optimization is hardly required on those difficulties.
While this will be discussed in greater detail in section VI, it is important to at least introduce the CCCs that are worth working with on this mage: DISORIENTED and STAGGERED. When inflicted, DISORIENTED enemies receive -50% defense while STAGGERED enemies receive -25% attack and -25% defense. The real key, however, is that these effects can be applied quickly, often, and amongst the masses to maximize your CCC potential (BRITTLE isn't really worth the effort, as only Petrify + Dessicate and Winter's Grasp + Winter's Blast consistently do so).
Taking advantage of STAGGERED and DISORIENTED takes us to two trees: Primal and Spirit. You have, at the base, FOUR spells to take advantage of STAGGERED and DISORIENTED effects:
Stonefist + Golem's Fist: DISORIENTED
Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike: DISORIENTED
Hemorrhage + Paralyzing Hemorrhage: STAGGERED
Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction: STAGGERED
Throwing in some one-point wonders, at base your Archmage should look something like this:
Primal:
Stonefist + Golem's Fist
Petrify + Dessicate
Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction
Spirit:
Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike
Walking Bomb + Corrosive Walking Bomb + Virulent Walking Bomb
Entropy:
Horror (1pt wonder, you can try getting this elsewhere if need be)
Creation:
Heal (1pt wonder)
Blood Mage:
Blood Magic + Bloodlust
Grave Robber + One Foot In
Hemorrhage + Paralyzing Hemorrhage
Blood Sacrifice
This is 20 skill points and 1 specialization spent, leaving you around level 16 given all the tomes and such. You can find it layed out here (as you can tell, you may have to save points or simply get to a point where you can respec into what you want/need and level normally from there). The next question is: what second spec?
I think this is where you can divide it up into the more Offensive-oriented Archmages and a more Defensive-oriented Archmages:
Offensive-oriented Archmages should take Force Mage to get another CCC via Fist of the Maker + Maker's Hammer. They also get some crowd control options via Gravitic Ring and Pull of the Abyss. In this tree you take:
Force Mage:
Fist of the Maker + Maker's Hammer
Unshakable
Telekinetic Burst
Pull of the Abyss
Gravitic Ring
Defensive-oriented Archmages should take Spirit Healer. You have less offensive power, but you can heal and revive folks effectively, and Vitality is quite the boon if you see yourself spending a lot of time in Blood Magic (+Constitution and health regeneration can help offset health lost via Blood Magic). This is also the option to take if you hate constantly toting around Anders as a whiny "I'm a mage, I'm oppressed!" healbot, allowing you to take the much more bodacious Merrill if that's your fancy. In this tree you take:
Spirit Healer:
Healing Aura
Group Heal + Unity
Revival
Second Chance
Vitality
Either path takes you to 26 points, which puts you at level 22, which is pretty much endgame. If you have extra points to spare, I'd suggest picking up Glyph of Paralysis + Glyph of Binding, upgrading Heal to Greater Heal or filling out the Entropy tree some. You could also fill out Primal or Spirit trees to try to get to the Mastery skills in their trees. Regardless, you shouldn't have a whole lot of points to work around with after this build is done.
Do note, however, that if you take Spirit Healer and you use Merrill, you may want to de-emphasize a tree (Spirit or Primal, up to you) to buff out your Creation tree to get Haste, Valiant Aura and the like, which will help everyone out, make CCCs easier to pull off and to execute.
III. Stat Distribution
So now that you have your skill set, we can look at the stat distribution. Most guides determine stat distribution before, but with the passives granted it's probably more effective to look at them after.
Strength: [Base]
Dexterity: [Base]
Cunning: [Base]
Willpower: 31, enough for Champion's set
Constitution: enough for ~175 to ~250 life, after gear
Magic: the rest
Since you have Blood Magic as a "mana pool," you can leave Willpower to the point where you can wear your endgame gear. Constitution should be enough so you feel comfortable casting in it, and make sure you include your bonuses from gear, and Vitality if you went the Spirit Healer route. 175 would probably be the minimum, especially for those who take Force Mage. Your healing isn't as good, so you have to be able to maintain a respectable life total so you can run away if you get surrounded. Spirit Healers should aim for 200 minimum, because they aren't immune to staggers, but they have nice healing powers to help remedy any damage taken.
IV. Companions
Unlike DAO/A where you could get away with all-archer and all-mage parties, DA2 has (for better or for worse, though I say for worse) made it absolutely necessary to maintain at least a semi-balanced party, especially for higher difficulties. So yes, you will need some semblance of a tank. And yes, you will need a secondary/support mage. And yes, you will need a rogue to pick locks unless you enjoy the feeling of inadequacy when you can't open a chest.
So ideal companions include:
Tank
Aveline
Carver/Fenris
Support/Secondary Mage
Anders
Merrill (much less of a support mage, more of a secondary source of DPS)
Rogue
Varric
Sebastien
I personally would take Aveline, Anders/Merrill (depending on second spec), and Varric (seems like Anders and Varric are in everyone's parties, eh?). Fenris can off-tank and has good DPS (also good for CCC, see later), Anders is a perfect support/secondary mage with a bit of a respec, and Varric is simply pro (by far the best character in the game, and dare I say he's cooler than Hawke? Maybe he's the real Champion of Kirkwall, with an actual sense of humor and all...). I'm not an expert on tactics, but if you refer to Sabresandiego's über-ridiculously über-good Ultimate Vanguard guide you will be able to see pretty good tactics setups for at least Anders, Merrill, Varric, and Sebastien. If someone comes up with some good good tank tactics before I come up with them, I'll put them into the guide with full credit given.
SAMPLE BUILDS (a reasonable start, by no means supremely definitive)----
Aveline
Anders
Fenris
Merrill (Merrill's build heavily depends on what yours looks like, because she can cover offensive capabilities if you're playing more defensively)
Varric (as you can tell, the Specialist Tree is...filler)
V. General Strategy
What to do when you actually go into a battle? At least for yourself, it should be pretty easy. Cast spells. If you see a dude low on health, cast Heal. If you find guys close to you, use Cone of Cold to slow enemies down, allowing you to reposition. Cast more spells. See a bunch of dead guys. Move on.
But to be more detailed:
1. Look for rogues (rogues are THE WORST!). If you see one, cast Petrify or Horror. Get everyone to focus on them. Rogues are the most troublesome, because they like to disappear and all that stupid stuff, and backstabs actually really hurt.
2. Look for mages. They aren't actually that big of a problem since they don't Fireball-snipe like they used to in DAO. They usually just cast Force Field (or whatever it is in DA2) and sit there and do nothing. Watch out for Blood Mages, though, as they have the tendency to try to Hemorrhage-snipe you.
3. Then look towards mobs. You can start tossing around some spells, but use your companions to get CCCs going, they'll speed up battle significantly. Fog and Chaos will get DISORIENTED combos rolling (Virulent Walking Bomb is great for mobs), and STAGGERED via your warrior's Sunder/Shield Bash + Pummel/Cleave + Claymore will get those combos off the ground. Dudes should be dead, but if they aren't just toss around some spells to clean up the mess.
4. If you need to heal a single target, obviously just cast Heal. If you have Spirit Healer, work your magic. If you have Anders as your healbot, let him take care of it.
5. If you're running low on mana, activate Blood Magic and continue to shoot spells at dudes until they die.
6. Ideally you don't have to get this far, but if you're still fighting, when you get under 30-40% health you can turn off Blood Magic. Heal yourself via Spirit Healer skills if you have them or old school Heal (or have Anders do it if you have him), then go crazy again.
7. Have a party when all that's left are...ex-enemies.
As a note, playing as a mage will likely be very, very tactical pause-intensive, so be aware. If you don't like pause-and-play, you, um, may want to consider another build or class.
VI. Cross-class Combos
Cross-class combos (CCC from here on out) are what can greatly increase your killing speed, and being able to set them up can actually save your butt. They're not necessary but if you can pull them off battles move a lot faster and are therefore a lot safer. If you rolled with the [1] setup above, you have these CCC options:
Petrify + Dessicate >>>>>> BRITTLE >>>>>> __________
__________ >>>>>> DISORIENTED >>>>>> Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike
__________ >>>>>> DISORIENTED >>>>>> Stonefist + Golem's Fist
__________ >>>>>> STAGGERED >>>>>> Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction
__________ >>>>>> STAGGERED >>>>>> Hemorrhage + Paralyzing Hemorrhage
if you took Force Mage, you also get
__________ >>>>>> STAGGERED >>>>>> Fist of the Maker + Maker's Hammer
As you can see, the Archmage is quite good at setting up BRITTLE for others to take advantage of, while being good at exploiting both DISORIENT and STAGGERED effects. So the question is, what exploits BRITTLE and how can the party set up DISORIENT and STAGGERED?
Here's a full list of things that will take advantage of BRITTLE:
Bursting Arrow + Shattering Arrow [Archery]
Archer's Lance + Punishing Lance [Archery]
Mighty Blow + Shattering Blow [Two-Handed]
Scythe + Reaper [Two-Handed]
And now a list of stuff that sets up DISORIENT:
Pinning Shot + Disorienting Shot [Archery]
Fatiguing Fog + Overpowering Fog [Sabotage]
Confusion + Chaos [Sabotage]
Last, a list of the stuff that sets up STAGGER:
Sunder [Two-Handed]
Shield Bash + Pummel [Weapon and Shield]
Cleave + Claymore [Vanguard]
Just looking at all of these, it becomes rather obvious that a Rogue and a Two-Handed Warrior ensures the ability to set up and exploit CCCs with devastating effect. You'll definitely want some combo of Varric/Sebastien and Aveline/Fenris/Carver. Each of them has pretty good STAGGERED/DISORIENTED options. Fenris may have slightly STAGGERED opportunities given Sunder than Aveline, but he's basically emo. Varric has a better personality than Sebastien, but otherwise pick who you want (personally I think Varric's Marksman spec is better than Sebastien's, plus the personality). Pick from those based on who you dislike less...
So I guess by the end of this you can figure out that your party will be 3/4 locked, with:
Hawke
Varric/Sebastien
Aveline/Fenris/Carver
Then your last companion. Can be either Anders, Merrill, or Sebastien. If you went with Force Mage, you're pretty much locked into toting around Anders since you need someone to be able to consistently heal. If you picked up Spirit Healer, you can pick up Merrill or Sebastien to execute more CCCs, Merrill being an extra "finisher" and Sebastien being a better "setup" man. You could run others, but they'd be suboptimal, especially if you have Fenris going berserk, because he WILL clean out your teammates without abandon if they get too close. Happened to me a few times.
So yeah, in general, the more ranged, the better, makes for safer executing of CCCs.
VII. Gear [incomplete]
I'm not far enough into the game to be able to spout out "here's X, Y, and Z, get on with it," but as far as I know for any mage the Champion's set is the best for your endgame. If you know of good Act 1 and Act 2 stuff, post them and they'll be put into the guide.
VIII. Extras
There is actually a way to get around the skill point constraint. It is, however, a definite glitch so take it as you will. Take it or leave it. Obviously you're not really playing the intended game if you do so, but I wanted to make you aware of it in case you want to, you know, not have to deal with waiting around to pick up tons of your skills. All you have to do is save, use a Maker's Sigh, redistribute the points, reload that last save. At least on X360, you'll have the aggregate of your pre-Maker's Sigh and post-Maker's Sigh skills and spells. So in a sense it's a much cheaper spell Tome (helps if you're trying to cobble together the cash for the Deep Roads in A1), but in another sense it can break the game in two. So use it to your taste. If you like it legit, don't bother. If Mage development is a little slow to you, you can speed it up. Just a forewarning.
--------------------------------------
This is a set of incredibly long musings (a lot of theorycrafting), so advice is needed and welcome, hopefully this will become more of an open-source guide!
[and, of course, credit will be given where credit is due, if you really care for that sort of thing]
Thanks for your input, everyone. Without feedback this guide would still be terrible.
-e.
Guide credit: ezrafetch
No, I don't think "maging" is a word, but I can make up my own word, thank you very much.
Archmage: A Guide to Maging in Nightmare
I. Introduction: HIstory, Goals
II. Specializations, Skill Set
III. Stat Distribution
IV. Companions
V. General Strategy
VI. Cross-class Combos
VII. Gear [incomplete]
VIII. Extras
more as the guide is filled out
--------------------------------------
I. Introduction: History, Goals
This build started by trying to emulate the "Archmage" from Diablo II. At least in the Diablo II world, the "Archmage" was a Sorceress who had skills in all three trees. Prior to the introduction of skill synergies in Patch 1.09 (as far as I remember), it wasn't actually the worst path in the world. Nova + Frozen Orb + Fire Wall could get you places, with a well-equipped mercenary at least. Sure, your damage was lower than a two-tree who could dump points into masteries, but there was literally no enemy you didn't have the silver bullet for.
Of course, that's not how it works in DA2. In the first Archmage builds, I tried to build around that approach with only meh results. The fact of life is that mages simply don't have the DPS that the nukers in DAO had, so focus must be directed elsewhere. The answer is in the Cross-class Combos (CCC). With CCCs, your mage can begin to emulate the damage output of the nukers in DAO. So the goal here is to create a build that maximizes DPS through CCC potential As an ARCHMAGE, you're not supposed to really be wading into the thick of the battle, per sé, so don't constantly go run off like that or you'll end up like Bethany (ba dum tsch?). If you want to play a Battlemage, look here for tips and tricks on that.
II. Specializations, Skill Set
For those purposes, the key specialization here is Blood Mage. Paralyzing Hemorrhage is a particularly good skill (key CCC component) but moreover Blood Magic gives the mage a second pool of mana to work with. Since we do not try to wade into battle, we will, in fact, be casting tons and tons of spells. Mana will run out, so it's important to have a backup pool of mana besides chugging Lyrium Potions.
However, do note that you should decide whether or not you want to go offensive or defensive and choose that specialization FIRST (so choose Force Mage or Spirit Healer as your level 7 specialization) before Blood Mage, because you don't have the health pool to make Blood Magic worth working with prior to level 14. Plus, Paralyzing Hemhorrage isn't unlockable until level 15. You can go with Blood Mage as your first specialization on lower difficulties, though, as optimization is hardly required on those difficulties.
While this will be discussed in greater detail in section VI, it is important to at least introduce the CCCs that are worth working with on this mage: DISORIENTED and STAGGERED. When inflicted, DISORIENTED enemies receive -50% defense while STAGGERED enemies receive -25% attack and -25% defense. The real key, however, is that these effects can be applied quickly, often, and amongst the masses to maximize your CCC potential (BRITTLE isn't really worth the effort, as only Petrify + Dessicate and Winter's Grasp + Winter's Blast consistently do so).
Taking advantage of STAGGERED and DISORIENTED takes us to two trees: Primal and Spirit. You have, at the base, FOUR spells to take advantage of STAGGERED and DISORIENTED effects:
Stonefist + Golem's Fist: DISORIENTED
Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike: DISORIENTED
Hemorrhage + Paralyzing Hemorrhage: STAGGERED
Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction: STAGGERED
Throwing in some one-point wonders, at base your Archmage should look something like this:
Primal:
Stonefist + Golem's Fist
Petrify + Dessicate
Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction
Spirit:
Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike
Walking Bomb + Corrosive Walking Bomb + Virulent Walking Bomb
Entropy:
Horror (1pt wonder, you can try getting this elsewhere if need be)
Creation:
Heal (1pt wonder)
Blood Mage:
Blood Magic + Bloodlust
Grave Robber + One Foot In
Hemorrhage + Paralyzing Hemorrhage
Blood Sacrifice
This is 20 skill points and 1 specialization spent, leaving you around level 16 given all the tomes and such. You can find it layed out here (as you can tell, you may have to save points or simply get to a point where you can respec into what you want/need and level normally from there). The next question is: what second spec?
I think this is where you can divide it up into the more Offensive-oriented Archmages and a more Defensive-oriented Archmages:
Offensive-oriented Archmages should take Force Mage to get another CCC via Fist of the Maker + Maker's Hammer. They also get some crowd control options via Gravitic Ring and Pull of the Abyss. In this tree you take:
Force Mage:
Fist of the Maker + Maker's Hammer
Unshakable
Telekinetic Burst
Pull of the Abyss
Gravitic Ring
Defensive-oriented Archmages should take Spirit Healer. You have less offensive power, but you can heal and revive folks effectively, and Vitality is quite the boon if you see yourself spending a lot of time in Blood Magic (+Constitution and health regeneration can help offset health lost via Blood Magic). This is also the option to take if you hate constantly toting around Anders as a whiny "I'm a mage, I'm oppressed!" healbot, allowing you to take the much more bodacious Merrill if that's your fancy. In this tree you take:
Spirit Healer:
Healing Aura
Group Heal + Unity
Revival
Second Chance
Vitality
Either path takes you to 26 points, which puts you at level 22, which is pretty much endgame. If you have extra points to spare, I'd suggest picking up Glyph of Paralysis + Glyph of Binding, upgrading Heal to Greater Heal or filling out the Entropy tree some. You could also fill out Primal or Spirit trees to try to get to the Mastery skills in their trees. Regardless, you shouldn't have a whole lot of points to work around with after this build is done.
Do note, however, that if you take Spirit Healer and you use Merrill, you may want to de-emphasize a tree (Spirit or Primal, up to you) to buff out your Creation tree to get Haste, Valiant Aura and the like, which will help everyone out, make CCCs easier to pull off and to execute.
III. Stat Distribution
So now that you have your skill set, we can look at the stat distribution. Most guides determine stat distribution before, but with the passives granted it's probably more effective to look at them after.
Strength: [Base]
Dexterity: [Base]
Cunning: [Base]
Willpower: 31, enough for Champion's set
Constitution: enough for ~175 to ~250 life, after gear
Magic: the rest
Since you have Blood Magic as a "mana pool," you can leave Willpower to the point where you can wear your endgame gear. Constitution should be enough so you feel comfortable casting in it, and make sure you include your bonuses from gear, and Vitality if you went the Spirit Healer route. 175 would probably be the minimum, especially for those who take Force Mage. Your healing isn't as good, so you have to be able to maintain a respectable life total so you can run away if you get surrounded. Spirit Healers should aim for 200 minimum, because they aren't immune to staggers, but they have nice healing powers to help remedy any damage taken.
IV. Companions
Unlike DAO/A where you could get away with all-archer and all-mage parties, DA2 has (for better or for worse, though I say for worse) made it absolutely necessary to maintain at least a semi-balanced party, especially for higher difficulties. So yes, you will need some semblance of a tank. And yes, you will need a secondary/support mage. And yes, you will need a rogue to pick locks unless you enjoy the feeling of inadequacy when you can't open a chest.
So ideal companions include:
Tank
Aveline
Carver/Fenris
Support/Secondary Mage
Anders
Merrill (much less of a support mage, more of a secondary source of DPS)
Rogue
Varric
Sebastien
I personally would take Aveline, Anders/Merrill (depending on second spec), and Varric (seems like Anders and Varric are in everyone's parties, eh?). Fenris can off-tank and has good DPS (also good for CCC, see later), Anders is a perfect support/secondary mage with a bit of a respec, and Varric is simply pro (by far the best character in the game, and dare I say he's cooler than Hawke? Maybe he's the real Champion of Kirkwall, with an actual sense of humor and all...). I'm not an expert on tactics, but if you refer to Sabresandiego's über-ridiculously über-good Ultimate Vanguard guide you will be able to see pretty good tactics setups for at least Anders, Merrill, Varric, and Sebastien. If someone comes up with some good good tank tactics before I come up with them, I'll put them into the guide with full credit given.
SAMPLE BUILDS (a reasonable start, by no means supremely definitive)----
Aveline
Anders
Fenris
Merrill (Merrill's build heavily depends on what yours looks like, because she can cover offensive capabilities if you're playing more defensively)
Varric (as you can tell, the Specialist Tree is...filler)
V. General Strategy
What to do when you actually go into a battle? At least for yourself, it should be pretty easy. Cast spells. If you see a dude low on health, cast Heal. If you find guys close to you, use Cone of Cold to slow enemies down, allowing you to reposition. Cast more spells. See a bunch of dead guys. Move on.
But to be more detailed:
1. Look for rogues (rogues are THE WORST!). If you see one, cast Petrify or Horror. Get everyone to focus on them. Rogues are the most troublesome, because they like to disappear and all that stupid stuff, and backstabs actually really hurt.
2. Look for mages. They aren't actually that big of a problem since they don't Fireball-snipe like they used to in DAO. They usually just cast Force Field (or whatever it is in DA2) and sit there and do nothing. Watch out for Blood Mages, though, as they have the tendency to try to Hemorrhage-snipe you.
3. Then look towards mobs. You can start tossing around some spells, but use your companions to get CCCs going, they'll speed up battle significantly. Fog and Chaos will get DISORIENTED combos rolling (Virulent Walking Bomb is great for mobs), and STAGGERED via your warrior's Sunder/Shield Bash + Pummel/Cleave + Claymore will get those combos off the ground. Dudes should be dead, but if they aren't just toss around some spells to clean up the mess.
4. If you need to heal a single target, obviously just cast Heal. If you have Spirit Healer, work your magic. If you have Anders as your healbot, let him take care of it.
5. If you're running low on mana, activate Blood Magic and continue to shoot spells at dudes until they die.
6. Ideally you don't have to get this far, but if you're still fighting, when you get under 30-40% health you can turn off Blood Magic. Heal yourself via Spirit Healer skills if you have them or old school Heal (or have Anders do it if you have him), then go crazy again.
7. Have a party when all that's left are...ex-enemies.
As a note, playing as a mage will likely be very, very tactical pause-intensive, so be aware. If you don't like pause-and-play, you, um, may want to consider another build or class.
VI. Cross-class Combos
Cross-class combos (CCC from here on out) are what can greatly increase your killing speed, and being able to set them up can actually save your butt. They're not necessary but if you can pull them off battles move a lot faster and are therefore a lot safer. If you rolled with the [1] setup above, you have these CCC options:
Petrify + Dessicate >>>>>> BRITTLE >>>>>> __________
__________ >>>>>> DISORIENTED >>>>>> Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike
__________ >>>>>> DISORIENTED >>>>>> Stonefist + Golem's Fist
__________ >>>>>> STAGGERED >>>>>> Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction
__________ >>>>>> STAGGERED >>>>>> Hemorrhage + Paralyzing Hemorrhage
if you took Force Mage, you also get
__________ >>>>>> STAGGERED >>>>>> Fist of the Maker + Maker's Hammer
As you can see, the Archmage is quite good at setting up BRITTLE for others to take advantage of, while being good at exploiting both DISORIENT and STAGGERED effects. So the question is, what exploits BRITTLE and how can the party set up DISORIENT and STAGGERED?
Here's a full list of things that will take advantage of BRITTLE:
Bursting Arrow + Shattering Arrow [Archery]
Archer's Lance + Punishing Lance [Archery]
Mighty Blow + Shattering Blow [Two-Handed]
Scythe + Reaper [Two-Handed]
And now a list of stuff that sets up DISORIENT:
Pinning Shot + Disorienting Shot [Archery]
Fatiguing Fog + Overpowering Fog [Sabotage]
Confusion + Chaos [Sabotage]
Last, a list of the stuff that sets up STAGGER:
Sunder [Two-Handed]
Shield Bash + Pummel [Weapon and Shield]
Cleave + Claymore [Vanguard]
Just looking at all of these, it becomes rather obvious that a Rogue and a Two-Handed Warrior ensures the ability to set up and exploit CCCs with devastating effect. You'll definitely want some combo of Varric/Sebastien and Aveline/Fenris/Carver. Each of them has pretty good STAGGERED/DISORIENTED options. Fenris may have slightly STAGGERED opportunities given Sunder than Aveline, but he's basically emo. Varric has a better personality than Sebastien, but otherwise pick who you want (personally I think Varric's Marksman spec is better than Sebastien's, plus the personality). Pick from those based on who you dislike less...
So I guess by the end of this you can figure out that your party will be 3/4 locked, with:
Hawke
Varric/Sebastien
Aveline/Fenris/Carver
Then your last companion. Can be either Anders, Merrill, or Sebastien. If you went with Force Mage, you're pretty much locked into toting around Anders since you need someone to be able to consistently heal. If you picked up Spirit Healer, you can pick up Merrill or Sebastien to execute more CCCs, Merrill being an extra "finisher" and Sebastien being a better "setup" man. You could run others, but they'd be suboptimal, especially if you have Fenris going berserk, because he WILL clean out your teammates without abandon if they get too close. Happened to me a few times.
So yeah, in general, the more ranged, the better, makes for safer executing of CCCs.
VII. Gear [incomplete]
I'm not far enough into the game to be able to spout out "here's X, Y, and Z, get on with it," but as far as I know for any mage the Champion's set is the best for your endgame. If you know of good Act 1 and Act 2 stuff, post them and they'll be put into the guide.
VIII. Extras
There is actually a way to get around the skill point constraint. It is, however, a definite glitch so take it as you will. Take it or leave it. Obviously you're not really playing the intended game if you do so, but I wanted to make you aware of it in case you want to, you know, not have to deal with waiting around to pick up tons of your skills. All you have to do is save, use a Maker's Sigh, redistribute the points, reload that last save. At least on X360, you'll have the aggregate of your pre-Maker's Sigh and post-Maker's Sigh skills and spells. So in a sense it's a much cheaper spell Tome (helps if you're trying to cobble together the cash for the Deep Roads in A1), but in another sense it can break the game in two. So use it to your taste. If you like it legit, don't bother. If Mage development is a little slow to you, you can speed it up. Just a forewarning.
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This is a set of incredibly long musings (a lot of theorycrafting), so advice is needed and welcome, hopefully this will become more of an open-source guide!
[and, of course, credit will be given where credit is due, if you really care for that sort of thing]
Thanks for your input, everyone. Without feedback this guide would still be terrible.
-e.
