Dragon Age 2 - A Guide to Spirit Healers: Being Repressed as of 1.02-1.03
Oct 29, 2016 13:02:45 GMT
adrianbc likes this
Post by vixsyn on Oct 29, 2016 13:02:45 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
Not the most popular of Hawkes, but hardly the least powerful. Not the flashiest of Hawkes, but it gets the job done...really well.
Mostly updated for post-1.02/1.03 world.
SH got a bit of a nerf, but at least not as bad as the Warrior nerf LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I. Introduction: Why Spirit Healer?
II. Base Skill Allocation
III. Complementary Skill Allocation
IV. Attribute Point Allocation
V. Companions: Skills, Strategies, Tactics
VI. Leveling Up, Progressions
VII. Equipment
VIII. Extras, credits
You may need to beware of tl;dr as it is long; Ctrl+f (or Apple+f) is your BFF here.
I. Introduction: Why Spirit Healer?
Why build a Spirit Healer Hawke?
The biggest thing is flexibility. Flexibility in party choices, flexibility in skill choices. If you run FM/BM, your party is already decided for you, and your skill set is basically already set into stone from level 1. With Spirit Healer, it's hardly the case. You can go with a traditional 2 Mages, 1 Rogue, 1 Warrior setup, go with a 1 Mage, 2 Rogues, 1 Warrior setup, 1 Mage, 1 Rogue, 2 Warriors setup, or even go 2 Mages, 2 Rogues, or even 3 Mages, 1 Rogue, or 1 Mage and 3 Rogues, and...well, you get the picture.
And there's flexibility in the skill set. You don't have to dump all your skill points into a second spec for "optimization." You can pick up extra trees for damage, CC, or a mixture of the two for a balanced approach. You can take Elemental because nuking is awesome. You can invest in the Creation tree for CC and buffs if you so choose. You can still invest the points into Force Mage or Blood Mage for a mixture of offensive or defensive output. And the best part is that you can respec to fit the needs of a quest or battle. You can respec to make the Deep Roads easier, or respec to make the Qunari fight to end A2 much easier. You can play a traditional DA:O nuker role with Spirit Healer Hawkes; the FM/BM counterparts are unable to completely replicate that experience. Spirit Healer Hawkes get the benefit of flexibility compared to their FM/BM counterparts, which I think is a boon.
Personally, my biggest reason for building a Spirit Healer Hawke is that Anders is a chach-wagon. Meaning that Spirit Healer has a terrible rep in DA2, and it's up to Hawke to change that. Take that as you will.
The fact of the matter is that Hawke is a better Healer than Anders is. Upgraded Group Heal by Hawke outpace's Anders's Aid Allies. Even with Swift Justice, Anders's Aid Allies cooldown is slightly more than Hawke's cooldown for Group Heal, while Hawke's Healing Aura only occupies 30% of the mana while Anders' occupies a whopping 40% of his mana. The only real advantage is that Reviving is slightly faster on the whole with Anders thanks to the Swift Justice cooldown. But the biggest advantage of Hawke over Anders healing is simple: Hawke is durable as a healer, while Anders is not. Anders likes to die in fights, whether it be intermittently drawing aggro for nothing, or waltzing into friendly fire to be a martyr. And if you lose your healer in a fight, the difficulty of the battle increases ten-fold, so why not actually make your healer a good healer?
II. Base Skill Allocation
Obviously, there's Spirit Healer, because you are a Spirit Healer Hawke. The biggest reason to take Spirit Healer is Vitality, that epic +10 Constitution passive, which is a whopping 50 Health. It's nothing to sneeze at, and it could mean the difference between getting offed by an Assassin's backstab or not. The rest of their spells serve their purpose. Facing a little too much heat on the whole? Group Heal. If you lost track of a teammate, leading him/her to get offed, you can simply cast Revival and get them back. Sometimes Revival makes all the difference if you accidentally lose your Warrior, or your extra DPS member of the party. Battles can be moved back from "brutal" to "breeze" thanks to the presence of that lost party member. Second Chance is largely superfluous, but it's a nice touch to not really bother with Injury Kits anymore.
Your Spirit Healer tree should look like this:
Spirit Healer
Healing Aura
Group Heal
+ Unity
Revival
Second Chance
Vitality
The only variation here I could see is dropping Second Chance for a Revival upgrade (i.e. Refusal), but I think if you have to Revive more than once every two minutes...something's wrong with your tactics more than the battle being difficult.
Since you're a healer, it's probably helpful to dip into the Creation tree for Heal. A secondary, on-demand Heal can never hurt your survivability:
Creation
Heal
The next thing is to pick at least one offensive tree. There are two routes to go with this. You can go with either the Primal or Elemental trees. The Primal tree has a good mix of CCC exploitation, just the right amount of single target lockdown and extra survivability via Rock Armor. Stonefist is great for keeping dudes out of your grill, Tempest is one of the few AoE skills that DOESN'T generate FF, and Petrify is exceptional single-target lockdown. Therefore, I think the Primal tree should look like this:
Primal
Stonefist
Rock Armor
Chain Lightning
+ Chain Reaction
Tempest
+ Strikes Twice
Petrify
+ Dessicate
Galvanism
This is an additional 9 points. At base, that takes Hawke to 16 points, which in handy-dandy tree format looks like this.
Note that in a post-1.02/1.03 world, Chain Lightning is not as good as it used to be, while Tempest is slightly better. Just a note of caution
However, you can also go with Elemental as your primary offensive tree. This is sweet for those of us that love to nuke the bajeezus out of maps. CCCs are possible via Brittlemakers Winter's Grasp + Winter's Blast, and Cone of Cold + Deep Freeze. The best AoE spell in the game, Firestorm + Apocalyptic Firestorm, is also in this tree. Only thing I can say besides how epic this tree is to be conscious of Friendly Fire. Or don't be, and just Revive teammates if you accidentally off one of them. The Elemental Tree should look like this:
Elemental
Winter's Grasp
+ Winter's Blast
Cone of Cold
+ Deep Freeze
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery.
This is another 9 points, which takes Hawke to 16 points total. See here if you are allergic to blocks of text (I am allergic to some forms of blocks of text, true story).
Regardless of which offensive tree you take (I definitely prefer Elemental), that's the base of the Spirit Healer Hawke, which is theoretically accomplishable at level 13 (Vitality is a lvl13 passive). That obviously leaves you a bunch of skill points left to tinker with...
III. Complementary Skill Allocation
As I said before, past the base 16 there are tons of options for Spirit Healers. For awhile I tried to boil it down to "here's an Offensive build, here's a Defensive build," but it's simply not like that. Sure, there are more offensive builds than others, but there is still plenty of room for adding "defensive" aspects for others; the beauty of the Spirit Healer is that you can largely mix and match some trees...some with a great emphasis, some with less emphasis, but there's still a lot to do. Therefore, I simply want to highlight skills that would be worth taking for a quick dip in a tree, and then highlight the skills worth taking if you plan to venture farther into the tree. Skills for trees that require an emphasis will be in italics, meaning that if it's italicized, maximum effectiveness means investing more heavily into that tree.
Overall, you have approximately another 10-12 points before you reach endgame, so pick and choose which trees you want and allocate your points from there. After I go through these trees, I will suggest perhaps which work best compared to others, but there's opportunity to find the right mix for you as a Spirit Healer.
Elemental
Winter's Grasp
+ Winter's Blast
Cone of Cold
+ Deep Freeze
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery
Elemental Mastery definitely harks back to DA:O and the nukers of yore. This is a highly offensive tree to take, yielding great DPS. With Elemental Mastery, Winter's Grasp and Cone of Cold can set up Brittle CCCs fairly well, while the Fire side of the tree brings considerable DPS to the table (Fireball is not good, but Firestorm does very well here). In 1.03, Fire skills got a buff meaning that Elemental is an even more savory pick, meaning if you didn't take it earlier it's definitely a good pick here. Do keep in mind that on Nightmare, this is the least friendly tree for your teammates. Watch where you place your Cone of Cold and Winter's Grasp, and your Firestorms. However, it's easy to watch your Cone of Colds and Winter's Grasp, but it's not for Firestorm. The cure-all solution for FF with Firestorm is sticking Fire Warding runes in your tank's armor (and whoever you think would get caught in the AoE. You can make your allies almost immune to fire damage, meaning you can Firestorm without abandon. But yes, overall a very offensive tree.
The Elemental tree does occupy 9 points, leaving few left for just supplementary skills and spells. unfortunately for the Elemental tree, it's a "going whole-hog into the tree" sort of deal; there's no "dipping" for a couple skills that makes it worthwhile; the only thing I could see worth dipping in to for Elemental is a 1pt Winter's Grasp.
Primal
Rock Armor
Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction
Stonefist
Tempest + Strikes Twice
Petrify + Dessicate
Galvanism
So if you decided to take Elemental as your primary offensive tree, you can take Primal as extra offensive support. Stagger exploitation via Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction, and Rock Armor are the essentials of this tree. Petrify locks down guys and when upgraded sets up Brittle. Overall, a very good tree. You will notice that I bolded the "Chain Reaction" upgrade. See immediately below bolded for remarks:
Unfortunately, Primal got a bit of a nerf in 1.03. Chain Lightning is not as good since staggers are A. a lot less prevalent given a metric ton of Warrior nerfs, in addition to a 2x reduction of the CCC damage boost.
Spirit
Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike
Walking Bomb + Corrosive Walking Bomb
Death Syphon
Dispel Magic + Transmutation
Spirit Mastery
The biggest reason to take the Spirit tree would be the fact that it does Spirit damage and that it makes available the exploitation of Disoriented effects if you choose to pursue those. However, Walking Bomb is kind of finicky and can explode your own teammates too, which is...undesirable. You can stack Spirit Warding runes in the same way you stack Fire Warding runes to minimize Friendly Fire, but it's only worth doing in the end game. You end up wasting a lot of points because Dispel Magic, and Death Syphon are underwhelming. Overall, I would not consider this the best of trees when you consider efficacy of skill points:output, but Spirit damage is pretty useful. You can dip two points into the Spirit tree for Walking Bomb and Spirit Bolt, which is of moderately reasonable use since it cools down so quickly and a good application of Walking Bomb will wipe a room. Completely. If you only have a few points laying around, WB is some of the best bang for the buck. You'll need something to hold enemies in place to get Walking Bomb off safely, which is nicely satisfied with a Creation dip for Glyph of Paralysis + Glyph of Binding.
In 1.03, however, Walking Bomb got a major nerf. It only deals 50% as opposed to 100% of health, which makes it pretty much useless. Meaning an already struggling tree struggles even more. It could only really work if you're good about AoEs and you want to try to get as many folks under 50% before WB goes off, but that's too much work when you may as well finish dudes under 50% using easier means. However, with finagling, some Blood Spatter chain explosions and/or DISORIENT, WB can be used with reasonably pre-patch effectiveness.
For WB tactics, refer to the VIII. Extras, credits portion of the guide.
Arcane
Elemental Weapons
You will notice for this tree I only really consider Elemental Weapons. It's moreover to indicate that this tree is largely unnecessary for Spirit Healer Hawkes. The only thing really worth taking is Elemental Weapons, but it's easier to occupy another Mage's mana with it. If you're the only mage, then taking Elemental Weapons would be good. Otherwise, the rest of the skills are lackluster. For companions, it's a reasonable tree to dip into, but for Hawke it's merely a "meh" tree since you have much better uses for your skill points.
Entropy
Hex of Torment
Horror + Despair
This is a 1pt wonder tree with Hex of Torment. Death Hex is largely superfluous but could help maintain boss/single-target DPS. Horror (with or without Despair) aids in single-target lockdown, but the length of the spell is reduced drastically on the guys you really want to lock down, unlike Petrify, so it's optional. You don't exactly need this tree either since companion points can also be spent here.
Creation
Glyph of Paralysis + Glyph of Binding
Heroic Aura + Valiant Aura
Haste + Great Haste
Greater Healing
This is, as you can see, a very very defensive/support oriented tree. Glyph of Paralysis upgraded will lock down a few targets, which can work in a pinch to save your hide. Further into the tree, Haste and Heroic Aura will contribute to overall party success, but it eats up mana through sustains like a champ, so you won’t likely be having all the cake to yourself. That doesn’t mean you’re not ensuring victory, however...you’re the one running behind the scenes guaranteeing success, which is nothing to scoff at.
In 1.03, however, the Haste bug has been fixed. And given the revelation that multiple Hastes will stack, it becomes entirely palatable to run Anders + Hawke and run double Haste to end battles in no time at all. It's pretty gross and I think Haste is pretty essential to 1.03 Hawke, which is why it's bolded. The same principle applies to Valiant Aura, though it mostly provides damage increases rather than attack speed increases.
Force Mage
Fist of the Maker + Maker’s Hammer + Maker’s Fury
Unshakeable
Telekinetic Burst
Gravitic Ring
Pull of the Abyss + Pull of the Void
This is an offensively minded CC tree. Unshakable is bolded because it's really optional. You shouldn't have knockback problems in a post-1.02/1.03 world but if you keep running into them, you can pick it up (also, Black Silk Gauntlets from the Mage Pack will make Unshakable redundant at level 13). You can also get Gravitic Ring and Pull of the Abyss, which are enormous CC. Telekinetic Burst is unfortunately a wasted point. Since Spirit Healer Hawkes have a tad less offensive capabilities than their FM/BM counterparts, I think a fully upgraded Fist of the Maker is viable since it becomes super-spammable, though a somewhat subpar option. This is a strong tree for spending a lot of points in.
Blood Mage
Blood Magic + Bloodlust
Blood Sacrifice
Hemorrhage
Grave Robber + One Foot In
Blood Slave + Blood Spatter
You will notice that I italicized all the skills in the tree. Why? Because as a Spirit Healer, while Blood Mage skills help, you don’t NEED them. You can just pick up the specialization for the hefty +25 life bonus and be done with it and invest your actual skill points in another tree. But you could also invest 1pt for Blood Magic, which gives you an extra mana pool to work with, hence why it’s bolded (i.e. it’s a second option for dipping into this tree). That being said, if you want to invest heavily in the tree, there’s a good reason for it since post-patch, Grave Robber + One Foot In and Blood Slave + Blood Spatter (the new Walking Bomb) received major buffs, making them useful.
--------------
The most common tree combinations for Spirit Healers are:
1. Elemental/Creation/Force, which post-1.02/1.03 is the best combination to me
2. Elemental/Primal/Blood Magic (credit goes to rumination888 here and here for video proof that Elemental doesn’t suck in NM, making this [and Spirit Healers in general] a viable option)
3. Elemental/Force Mage/Primal
4. Primal/Force Mage/Creation
IV. Attribute Point Allocation
How to allocate Attribute Points? I think it's pretty simple, but there is a variation worth exploring:
Strength: Base
Dexterity: Base
Magic: 42 after gear, rest after that
Cunning: Base
Willpower: 18-24 after gear (i.e. just enough for gear, more to taste)
Constitution: Enough for 250-350 health, to taste after gear, more if you really want to.
If you gun for a hefty life total (i.e. 300+), it will actually allow you to off-tank, which is hilarious. After that, you can pump more magic for an additional boost to your spells. If you have the Item pack DLC, you should have the Black Silk Gauntlets which makes getting by with a smaller health pool more bearable.
V. Companions: Skills, Strategies, Tactics
In the process of post-1.02/1.03 apocalyptic overhaul
Fortunately for Spirit Healer Hawkes, your party is infinitely flexible. Run whoever you want! Generally, there is another consensus that the most efficient party consists of Merrill, Anders, and Varric (yes, regardless of class). I’m only going to go in depth with that party setup, since I’m assuming most people just want the most efficient route. I can produce other party member skills/strategies/tactics on demand, though.
Why Anders? Because he has a second Haste. That's about it. Half of the world hates him with a passion, but because of Haste he becomes invaluable. Stacking two Hastes is a world-ender, no lie.
Why Merrill? Because she's a Mage who can bring tons of AoE to the table.
Why Varric? Chest hair. No, just kidding. He has the best single-target DPS in the game. He is a beast.
No tank? The reason why is simple: thanks to 1.02/1.03 changes, you don't need a tank because damage is king. You don't need a tank if you're killing them so fast. While it was a rare and masochistic exercise in the past, 1.02/1.03 exacerbated that and made it so you really don't need it. In addition, a tank's secondary role as a CCC setup man suffered extremely with the Sunder bug, the Cleave nerf, and the general nerf of Warriors. You deal much more damage just dropping bombs on people's heads.
The typical setup would therefore be Anders, Merrill, Varric. Therefore:
Anders
Elemental
Winter’s Grasp
+ Winter’s Blast
Cone of Cold
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery
Spirit
Spirit Bolt
+ Spirit Strike
Walking Bomb
+ Corrosive Walking Bomb
Creation
Heal
Glyph of Paralysis
+ Glyph of Binding
Heroic Aura
Haste
+ Greater Haste
Vengeance
Vengeance
+ Wrath
Martyr
Swift Justice
Blood of My Enemy
Tactics forthcoming
Merrill
Elemental
Winter’s Grasp
+ Winter’s Blast
Cone of Cold
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery
Primal
Stonefist
Petrify
+ Dessicate
Rock Armor
Chain Lightning
Tempest
+ Strikes Twice
Galvanism
Arcane
Elemental Weapons
Entropy
Hex of Torment
Dalish Pariah
Blood of the First
Wounds of the Past
+ Deep Wounds
Wrath of the Elvhen
+ Loss of the Dales
Tactics upcoming
Varric
Bianca
Bursting Arrow
+ Shattering Arrow
+ Smoking Arrow
Pinning Shot
+ Disorienting Shot
Archer’s Lance
+ Punishing Lance
Specialist
Speed
Scoundrel
Blindside
Back-to-Back
Brand
Subterfuge
Evade
Chameleon’s Breath
+ Chameleon’s Cloud
Marksman
Rhyming Triplet
+ Nameless Graces
Bianca’s Song
+ Embellishment
Well-Oiled
Kickback + Backlash
Overtime
Tactics forthcoming
SPECIAL! ARISHOK STRATEGY!
1. Equip a cold staff.
2. Turn on Healing Aura.
3. Tank the Arishok.
4. Use Gravitic Ring/Glyph of Paralysis/Petrify to get extra shots in. Cast Heal if you get really careless (I only needed to once or twice)
5. Laugh.
6. Feel bad for the Arishok.
7. Rinse and Repeat until dead (it will be a long while before he dies, though), because he can't damage you fast enough to counteract Healing Aura.
VI. Leveling Up, Progressions
Hawke
I'm going to speak very generally since Spirit Healer builds can drastically vary. But obviously pick up the good spells when you need to. Also, I'm going to assume you have the Black Emporium DLC for Maker's Sigh access, because the road will be super crappy if you have to do it without respecs...
Through Lothering, I'd pick up Winter's Grasp and Fireball. The ogre used to suck a bunch, but he doesn't suck terribly anymore.
Through Act 1, I focuse on the Elemental tree and picked up my first specialization. As you max out your primary offensive tree, drop points into your first spec, it doesn't really matter which it is. If you want to slide into Healer as soon as possible, obviously go ahead and take Spirit Healer. If you're managing without it just fine, then I'd select your other planned spec first.
In Act 2, finish your first specialization and start your second emphasis tree, whether it be your second specialization or another offensive tree. As I usually do, I respec here at level 14 to dive into the build I want (eliminate some chaff you need to get through Act 1).
In Act 3, put the finishing touches on your Spirit Healer Hawke. By now, you should be steamrolling. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Companions
Generally, their unique trees are really good so get cracking on those ASAP. The only exception is Aveline, and you want her to get through the Vanguard tree ASAP for the Cleave upgrade, and Varric for Brand. Otherwise, fill in the skills you need in between the levels where you unlock unique tree skills.
VII. Equipment
Generally, you can get through Act 1 entirely with trash robes, the Staff of Parlathan (DLC), and the Magister's Scythe (the Black Emporium, Act 1). I wore the Smuggler's robes until I realized the trash robes I picked up near the end of Act 1 had double the Armor, so I figured it was time to switch. You can pick up trash staves to make sure you have a staff for every elemental weakness. Saving up your gold is important, especially in Act 1. One thing to buy though is Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt, that thing can last until the endgame.
Act 2 you can get through pretty much with the Robes of the Notorious Pirate. No real purchases needed here. Buy a random stave or two if you're lacking a particular type of damage, but Allure's Crook [Repentance] will allow you to get by without not having every type of staff. If you really really want Cold-Blooded, go ahead but there's honestly better uses for gold. If you find yourself getting stunlocked repeatedly (shouldn't happen often with smart playing, really), then you may want to clear the gauntlet to buy the Etched Ring of the Twins off of the Nexus Golem vendor. If you have the Item Pack DLC, then Etched Ring of the Twins is unnecessary as Black Silk Gauntlets fulfill the same function. As you make your way through this act, if you got the Item Pack DLC, start throwing all that stuff on, most if it lasts until the endgame.
Act 3, once again you don't REALLY need to buy anything. If you only have the core game, the Champion's set is probably the top dog because of the solid all-around bonuses, plus it looks sweet/is canon. It's also likely better if you're just going with support/CC on your mage.
If you have the DLC, then you can stack Elemental damage very well. Essential pieces include Robes of Unblemished Cleanliness (Black Emporium DLC, ~140g), Ring of the Ferryman (Magnus's Wares, ~105g). The rest are things you should have had for awhile: Black Silk Gauntlets, Apostate's Mask aka Apostateface, Orlesian Silk Boots, Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt, Dura's Blue Flame, etc etc.
-----
ALERT!
With the arrival of the first DLC pack, the mage gets some good toys that basically make it unnecessary to really buy anything outside of the couple pieces of endgame gear (i.e. Robes of Unblemished Cleanliness, Ring of the Ferryman, other various rings and belts), so just slap those on when you're at a high enough level and roll with them as you level up.
-----
Endgame staves:
Torch of Falon'Din [Fire]
[random staves of various elements you're looking for]
Cold-Blooded [Cold: Blood Magic]
Malcolm's Honor [Spirit] (Item Pack DLC)
Generally I run with Torch of Falon'Din with the Primeval Lyrium Rune and another Fire Rune for extra awesome, though Rune of Devastation will be better here (I think I missed the recipe somewhere so I had to make do). The rest of the staves are just drops, which works out because the majority of your DPS gains are from having the correct element.
Survivability/ease of use setup:
Torch of Falon'Din (Primeval Lyrium Rune + Fire Rune), assorted staves
Hood of the Champion
Gloves of the Champion (Rune of Valiance)
Robes of the Champion (Rune of Protection + Rune of Protection)
Boots of the Champion (Rune of Protection)
Urzara's Tooth [Dura's Blue Flame also works here, it's the better option if you go Elemental]
Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt
Rings will depend on what extra tree you took. If you went with Elemental, Ring of the Ferryman is key, fill out the rest with +Fire% or +Cold% or +Lightning% damage rings, Ring of No Wishes or the Fallen Star.
Elemental/DPS setup:
Torch of Falon'Din (Primeval Lyrium Rune + Fire Rune), assorted staves
Apostate's Mask (Rune of Protection + Rune of Protection)
Black Silk Gauntlets (Rune of Valiance)
Robes of Unblemished Cleanliness (Rune of Protection + Rune of Protection)
Orlesian Silk Boots (Rune of Protection)
Dura's Blue Flame
Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt
Ring of the Ferryman
additional +Damage% ring, Ring of No Wishes, the Fallen Star, etc.
Notes:
To see which elemental damage types you want by Act, refer to IN1's epic elemental resistance chart/sheet/thread here.
If you want to see what you can/can't do to torment your foes, refer to IN1's other epic immunities chart/sheet/thread here.
VIII. Extras, credits
If there's anything extra, it'll be here.
Walking Bomb tactics, via the DA BA, AreleX...
Quote
AreleX wrote...
copy/paste from my Nuke Mage thread
Updated, better version of Walking Bomb tactics:
Anders/PC Hawke
(Spirit Bolt/Spirit Strike, Walking Bomb/Corrosive Walking Bomb/Virulent Walking Bomb, Glyph of Paralysis/Binding)
Enemy: Paralyzed - Walking Bomb
Enemy: Clustered with at least three enemies - Glyph of Paralysis
Enemy: Paralyzed - Use current condition for next tactic
Enemy: Target of Anders - Spirit Bolt
Enemy: Target of Anders - Attack
Sebastian/Varric
(Fatiguing Fog/Impenetrable Fog/Overpowering Fog)
Enemy: Paralyzed - Fatiguing Fog
Enemy: Paralyzed - Use current condition for next tactic
Enemy: Target of Anders - Attack
use as you see fit
Credit due to rumination888 who pointed out that Fire damage in Nightmare will destroy a good 75% of the trash mobs you meet.
Credit due to IN1 for compiling the epic elemental resistances and the immunities into two handy-dandy threads.
Credit due to everyone here who contributes, and asks the questions. Can't learn anything new if the questions aren't asked.
May you Mage harder, mage better, mage faster, and mage stronger.
-e.
Guide credit: ezrafetch
Not the most popular of Hawkes, but hardly the least powerful. Not the flashiest of Hawkes, but it gets the job done...really well.
Mostly updated for post-1.02/1.03 world.
SH got a bit of a nerf, but at least not as bad as the Warrior nerf LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL
I. Introduction: Why Spirit Healer?
II. Base Skill Allocation
III. Complementary Skill Allocation
IV. Attribute Point Allocation
V. Companions: Skills, Strategies, Tactics
VI. Leveling Up, Progressions
VII. Equipment
VIII. Extras, credits
You may need to beware of tl;dr as it is long; Ctrl+f (or Apple+f) is your BFF here.
I. Introduction: Why Spirit Healer?
Why build a Spirit Healer Hawke?
The biggest thing is flexibility. Flexibility in party choices, flexibility in skill choices. If you run FM/BM, your party is already decided for you, and your skill set is basically already set into stone from level 1. With Spirit Healer, it's hardly the case. You can go with a traditional 2 Mages, 1 Rogue, 1 Warrior setup, go with a 1 Mage, 2 Rogues, 1 Warrior setup, 1 Mage, 1 Rogue, 2 Warriors setup, or even go 2 Mages, 2 Rogues, or even 3 Mages, 1 Rogue, or 1 Mage and 3 Rogues, and...well, you get the picture.
And there's flexibility in the skill set. You don't have to dump all your skill points into a second spec for "optimization." You can pick up extra trees for damage, CC, or a mixture of the two for a balanced approach. You can take Elemental because nuking is awesome. You can invest in the Creation tree for CC and buffs if you so choose. You can still invest the points into Force Mage or Blood Mage for a mixture of offensive or defensive output. And the best part is that you can respec to fit the needs of a quest or battle. You can respec to make the Deep Roads easier, or respec to make the Qunari fight to end A2 much easier. You can play a traditional DA:O nuker role with Spirit Healer Hawkes; the FM/BM counterparts are unable to completely replicate that experience. Spirit Healer Hawkes get the benefit of flexibility compared to their FM/BM counterparts, which I think is a boon.
Personally, my biggest reason for building a Spirit Healer Hawke is that Anders is a chach-wagon. Meaning that Spirit Healer has a terrible rep in DA2, and it's up to Hawke to change that. Take that as you will.
The fact of the matter is that Hawke is a better Healer than Anders is. Upgraded Group Heal by Hawke outpace's Anders's Aid Allies. Even with Swift Justice, Anders's Aid Allies cooldown is slightly more than Hawke's cooldown for Group Heal, while Hawke's Healing Aura only occupies 30% of the mana while Anders' occupies a whopping 40% of his mana. The only real advantage is that Reviving is slightly faster on the whole with Anders thanks to the Swift Justice cooldown. But the biggest advantage of Hawke over Anders healing is simple: Hawke is durable as a healer, while Anders is not. Anders likes to die in fights, whether it be intermittently drawing aggro for nothing, or waltzing into friendly fire to be a martyr. And if you lose your healer in a fight, the difficulty of the battle increases ten-fold, so why not actually make your healer a good healer?
II. Base Skill Allocation
Obviously, there's Spirit Healer, because you are a Spirit Healer Hawke. The biggest reason to take Spirit Healer is Vitality, that epic +10 Constitution passive, which is a whopping 50 Health. It's nothing to sneeze at, and it could mean the difference between getting offed by an Assassin's backstab or not. The rest of their spells serve their purpose. Facing a little too much heat on the whole? Group Heal. If you lost track of a teammate, leading him/her to get offed, you can simply cast Revival and get them back. Sometimes Revival makes all the difference if you accidentally lose your Warrior, or your extra DPS member of the party. Battles can be moved back from "brutal" to "breeze" thanks to the presence of that lost party member. Second Chance is largely superfluous, but it's a nice touch to not really bother with Injury Kits anymore.
Your Spirit Healer tree should look like this:
Spirit Healer
Healing Aura
Group Heal
+ Unity
Revival
Second Chance
Vitality
The only variation here I could see is dropping Second Chance for a Revival upgrade (i.e. Refusal), but I think if you have to Revive more than once every two minutes...something's wrong with your tactics more than the battle being difficult.
Since you're a healer, it's probably helpful to dip into the Creation tree for Heal. A secondary, on-demand Heal can never hurt your survivability:
Creation
Heal
The next thing is to pick at least one offensive tree. There are two routes to go with this. You can go with either the Primal or Elemental trees. The Primal tree has a good mix of CCC exploitation, just the right amount of single target lockdown and extra survivability via Rock Armor. Stonefist is great for keeping dudes out of your grill, Tempest is one of the few AoE skills that DOESN'T generate FF, and Petrify is exceptional single-target lockdown. Therefore, I think the Primal tree should look like this:
Primal
Stonefist
Rock Armor
Chain Lightning
+ Chain Reaction
Tempest
+ Strikes Twice
Petrify
+ Dessicate
Galvanism
This is an additional 9 points. At base, that takes Hawke to 16 points, which in handy-dandy tree format looks like this.
Note that in a post-1.02/1.03 world, Chain Lightning is not as good as it used to be, while Tempest is slightly better. Just a note of caution
However, you can also go with Elemental as your primary offensive tree. This is sweet for those of us that love to nuke the bajeezus out of maps. CCCs are possible via Brittlemakers Winter's Grasp + Winter's Blast, and Cone of Cold + Deep Freeze. The best AoE spell in the game, Firestorm + Apocalyptic Firestorm, is also in this tree. Only thing I can say besides how epic this tree is to be conscious of Friendly Fire. Or don't be, and just Revive teammates if you accidentally off one of them. The Elemental Tree should look like this:
Elemental
Winter's Grasp
+ Winter's Blast
Cone of Cold
+ Deep Freeze
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery.
This is another 9 points, which takes Hawke to 16 points total. See here if you are allergic to blocks of text (I am allergic to some forms of blocks of text, true story).
Regardless of which offensive tree you take (I definitely prefer Elemental), that's the base of the Spirit Healer Hawke, which is theoretically accomplishable at level 13 (Vitality is a lvl13 passive). That obviously leaves you a bunch of skill points left to tinker with...
III. Complementary Skill Allocation
As I said before, past the base 16 there are tons of options for Spirit Healers. For awhile I tried to boil it down to "here's an Offensive build, here's a Defensive build," but it's simply not like that. Sure, there are more offensive builds than others, but there is still plenty of room for adding "defensive" aspects for others; the beauty of the Spirit Healer is that you can largely mix and match some trees...some with a great emphasis, some with less emphasis, but there's still a lot to do. Therefore, I simply want to highlight skills that would be worth taking for a quick dip in a tree, and then highlight the skills worth taking if you plan to venture farther into the tree. Skills for trees that require an emphasis will be in italics, meaning that if it's italicized, maximum effectiveness means investing more heavily into that tree.
Overall, you have approximately another 10-12 points before you reach endgame, so pick and choose which trees you want and allocate your points from there. After I go through these trees, I will suggest perhaps which work best compared to others, but there's opportunity to find the right mix for you as a Spirit Healer.
Elemental
Winter's Grasp
+ Winter's Blast
Cone of Cold
+ Deep Freeze
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery
Elemental Mastery definitely harks back to DA:O and the nukers of yore. This is a highly offensive tree to take, yielding great DPS. With Elemental Mastery, Winter's Grasp and Cone of Cold can set up Brittle CCCs fairly well, while the Fire side of the tree brings considerable DPS to the table (Fireball is not good, but Firestorm does very well here). In 1.03, Fire skills got a buff meaning that Elemental is an even more savory pick, meaning if you didn't take it earlier it's definitely a good pick here. Do keep in mind that on Nightmare, this is the least friendly tree for your teammates. Watch where you place your Cone of Cold and Winter's Grasp, and your Firestorms. However, it's easy to watch your Cone of Colds and Winter's Grasp, but it's not for Firestorm. The cure-all solution for FF with Firestorm is sticking Fire Warding runes in your tank's armor (and whoever you think would get caught in the AoE. You can make your allies almost immune to fire damage, meaning you can Firestorm without abandon. But yes, overall a very offensive tree.
The Elemental tree does occupy 9 points, leaving few left for just supplementary skills and spells. unfortunately for the Elemental tree, it's a "going whole-hog into the tree" sort of deal; there's no "dipping" for a couple skills that makes it worthwhile; the only thing I could see worth dipping in to for Elemental is a 1pt Winter's Grasp.
Primal
Rock Armor
Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction
Stonefist
Tempest + Strikes Twice
Petrify + Dessicate
Galvanism
So if you decided to take Elemental as your primary offensive tree, you can take Primal as extra offensive support. Stagger exploitation via Chain Lightning + Chain Reaction, and Rock Armor are the essentials of this tree. Petrify locks down guys and when upgraded sets up Brittle. Overall, a very good tree. You will notice that I bolded the "Chain Reaction" upgrade. See immediately below bolded for remarks:
Unfortunately, Primal got a bit of a nerf in 1.03. Chain Lightning is not as good since staggers are A. a lot less prevalent given a metric ton of Warrior nerfs, in addition to a 2x reduction of the CCC damage boost.
Spirit
Spirit Bolt + Spirit Strike
Walking Bomb + Corrosive Walking Bomb
Death Syphon
Dispel Magic + Transmutation
Spirit Mastery
The biggest reason to take the Spirit tree would be the fact that it does Spirit damage and that it makes available the exploitation of Disoriented effects if you choose to pursue those. However, Walking Bomb is kind of finicky and can explode your own teammates too, which is...undesirable. You can stack Spirit Warding runes in the same way you stack Fire Warding runes to minimize Friendly Fire, but it's only worth doing in the end game. You end up wasting a lot of points because Dispel Magic, and Death Syphon are underwhelming. Overall, I would not consider this the best of trees when you consider efficacy of skill points:output, but Spirit damage is pretty useful. You can dip two points into the Spirit tree for Walking Bomb and Spirit Bolt, which is of moderately reasonable use since it cools down so quickly and a good application of Walking Bomb will wipe a room. Completely. If you only have a few points laying around, WB is some of the best bang for the buck. You'll need something to hold enemies in place to get Walking Bomb off safely, which is nicely satisfied with a Creation dip for Glyph of Paralysis + Glyph of Binding.
In 1.03, however, Walking Bomb got a major nerf. It only deals 50% as opposed to 100% of health, which makes it pretty much useless. Meaning an already struggling tree struggles even more. It could only really work if you're good about AoEs and you want to try to get as many folks under 50% before WB goes off, but that's too much work when you may as well finish dudes under 50% using easier means. However, with finagling, some Blood Spatter chain explosions and/or DISORIENT, WB can be used with reasonably pre-patch effectiveness.
For WB tactics, refer to the VIII. Extras, credits portion of the guide.
Arcane
Elemental Weapons
You will notice for this tree I only really consider Elemental Weapons. It's moreover to indicate that this tree is largely unnecessary for Spirit Healer Hawkes. The only thing really worth taking is Elemental Weapons, but it's easier to occupy another Mage's mana with it. If you're the only mage, then taking Elemental Weapons would be good. Otherwise, the rest of the skills are lackluster. For companions, it's a reasonable tree to dip into, but for Hawke it's merely a "meh" tree since you have much better uses for your skill points.
Entropy
Hex of Torment
Horror + Despair
This is a 1pt wonder tree with Hex of Torment. Death Hex is largely superfluous but could help maintain boss/single-target DPS. Horror (with or without Despair) aids in single-target lockdown, but the length of the spell is reduced drastically on the guys you really want to lock down, unlike Petrify, so it's optional. You don't exactly need this tree either since companion points can also be spent here.
Creation
Glyph of Paralysis + Glyph of Binding
Heroic Aura + Valiant Aura
Haste + Great Haste
Greater Healing
This is, as you can see, a very very defensive/support oriented tree. Glyph of Paralysis upgraded will lock down a few targets, which can work in a pinch to save your hide. Further into the tree, Haste and Heroic Aura will contribute to overall party success, but it eats up mana through sustains like a champ, so you won’t likely be having all the cake to yourself. That doesn’t mean you’re not ensuring victory, however...you’re the one running behind the scenes guaranteeing success, which is nothing to scoff at.
In 1.03, however, the Haste bug has been fixed. And given the revelation that multiple Hastes will stack, it becomes entirely palatable to run Anders + Hawke and run double Haste to end battles in no time at all. It's pretty gross and I think Haste is pretty essential to 1.03 Hawke, which is why it's bolded. The same principle applies to Valiant Aura, though it mostly provides damage increases rather than attack speed increases.
Force Mage
Fist of the Maker + Maker’s Hammer + Maker’s Fury
Unshakeable
Telekinetic Burst
Gravitic Ring
Pull of the Abyss + Pull of the Void
This is an offensively minded CC tree. Unshakable is bolded because it's really optional. You shouldn't have knockback problems in a post-1.02/1.03 world but if you keep running into them, you can pick it up (also, Black Silk Gauntlets from the Mage Pack will make Unshakable redundant at level 13). You can also get Gravitic Ring and Pull of the Abyss, which are enormous CC. Telekinetic Burst is unfortunately a wasted point. Since Spirit Healer Hawkes have a tad less offensive capabilities than their FM/BM counterparts, I think a fully upgraded Fist of the Maker is viable since it becomes super-spammable, though a somewhat subpar option. This is a strong tree for spending a lot of points in.
Blood Mage
Blood Magic + Bloodlust
Blood Sacrifice
Hemorrhage
Grave Robber + One Foot In
Blood Slave + Blood Spatter
You will notice that I italicized all the skills in the tree. Why? Because as a Spirit Healer, while Blood Mage skills help, you don’t NEED them. You can just pick up the specialization for the hefty +25 life bonus and be done with it and invest your actual skill points in another tree. But you could also invest 1pt for Blood Magic, which gives you an extra mana pool to work with, hence why it’s bolded (i.e. it’s a second option for dipping into this tree). That being said, if you want to invest heavily in the tree, there’s a good reason for it since post-patch, Grave Robber + One Foot In and Blood Slave + Blood Spatter (the new Walking Bomb) received major buffs, making them useful.
--------------
The most common tree combinations for Spirit Healers are:
1. Elemental/Creation/Force, which post-1.02/1.03 is the best combination to me
2. Elemental/Primal/Blood Magic (credit goes to rumination888 here and here for video proof that Elemental doesn’t suck in NM, making this [and Spirit Healers in general] a viable option)
3. Elemental/Force Mage/Primal
4. Primal/Force Mage/Creation
IV. Attribute Point Allocation
How to allocate Attribute Points? I think it's pretty simple, but there is a variation worth exploring:
Strength: Base
Dexterity: Base
Magic: 42 after gear, rest after that
Cunning: Base
Willpower: 18-24 after gear (i.e. just enough for gear, more to taste)
Constitution: Enough for 250-350 health, to taste after gear, more if you really want to.
If you gun for a hefty life total (i.e. 300+), it will actually allow you to off-tank, which is hilarious. After that, you can pump more magic for an additional boost to your spells. If you have the Item pack DLC, you should have the Black Silk Gauntlets which makes getting by with a smaller health pool more bearable.
V. Companions: Skills, Strategies, Tactics
In the process of post-1.02/1.03 apocalyptic overhaul
Fortunately for Spirit Healer Hawkes, your party is infinitely flexible. Run whoever you want! Generally, there is another consensus that the most efficient party consists of Merrill, Anders, and Varric (yes, regardless of class). I’m only going to go in depth with that party setup, since I’m assuming most people just want the most efficient route. I can produce other party member skills/strategies/tactics on demand, though.
Why Anders? Because he has a second Haste. That's about it. Half of the world hates him with a passion, but because of Haste he becomes invaluable. Stacking two Hastes is a world-ender, no lie.
Why Merrill? Because she's a Mage who can bring tons of AoE to the table.
Why Varric? Chest hair. No, just kidding. He has the best single-target DPS in the game. He is a beast.
No tank? The reason why is simple: thanks to 1.02/1.03 changes, you don't need a tank because damage is king. You don't need a tank if you're killing them so fast. While it was a rare and masochistic exercise in the past, 1.02/1.03 exacerbated that and made it so you really don't need it. In addition, a tank's secondary role as a CCC setup man suffered extremely with the Sunder bug, the Cleave nerf, and the general nerf of Warriors. You deal much more damage just dropping bombs on people's heads.
The typical setup would therefore be Anders, Merrill, Varric. Therefore:
Anders
Elemental
Winter’s Grasp
+ Winter’s Blast
Cone of Cold
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery
Spirit
Spirit Bolt
+ Spirit Strike
Walking Bomb
+ Corrosive Walking Bomb
Creation
Heal
Glyph of Paralysis
+ Glyph of Binding
Heroic Aura
Haste
+ Greater Haste
Vengeance
Vengeance
+ Wrath
Martyr
Swift Justice
Blood of My Enemy
Tactics forthcoming
Merrill
Elemental
Winter’s Grasp
+ Winter’s Blast
Cone of Cold
Fireball
Pyromancer
Firestorm
+ Apocalyptic Firestorm
Elemental Mastery
Primal
Stonefist
Petrify
+ Dessicate
Rock Armor
Chain Lightning
Tempest
+ Strikes Twice
Galvanism
Arcane
Elemental Weapons
Entropy
Hex of Torment
Dalish Pariah
Blood of the First
Wounds of the Past
+ Deep Wounds
Wrath of the Elvhen
+ Loss of the Dales
Tactics upcoming
Varric
Bianca
Bursting Arrow
+ Shattering Arrow
+ Smoking Arrow
Pinning Shot
+ Disorienting Shot
Archer’s Lance
+ Punishing Lance
Specialist
Speed
Scoundrel
Blindside
Back-to-Back
Brand
Subterfuge
Evade
Chameleon’s Breath
+ Chameleon’s Cloud
Marksman
Rhyming Triplet
+ Nameless Graces
Bianca’s Song
+ Embellishment
Well-Oiled
Kickback + Backlash
Overtime
Tactics forthcoming
SPECIAL! ARISHOK STRATEGY!
1. Equip a cold staff.
2. Turn on Healing Aura.
3. Tank the Arishok.
4. Use Gravitic Ring/Glyph of Paralysis/Petrify to get extra shots in. Cast Heal if you get really careless (I only needed to once or twice)
5. Laugh.
6. Feel bad for the Arishok.
7. Rinse and Repeat until dead (it will be a long while before he dies, though), because he can't damage you fast enough to counteract Healing Aura.
VI. Leveling Up, Progressions
Hawke
I'm going to speak very generally since Spirit Healer builds can drastically vary. But obviously pick up the good spells when you need to. Also, I'm going to assume you have the Black Emporium DLC for Maker's Sigh access, because the road will be super crappy if you have to do it without respecs...
Through Lothering, I'd pick up Winter's Grasp and Fireball. The ogre used to suck a bunch, but he doesn't suck terribly anymore.
Through Act 1, I focuse on the Elemental tree and picked up my first specialization. As you max out your primary offensive tree, drop points into your first spec, it doesn't really matter which it is. If you want to slide into Healer as soon as possible, obviously go ahead and take Spirit Healer. If you're managing without it just fine, then I'd select your other planned spec first.
In Act 2, finish your first specialization and start your second emphasis tree, whether it be your second specialization or another offensive tree. As I usually do, I respec here at level 14 to dive into the build I want (eliminate some chaff you need to get through Act 1).
In Act 3, put the finishing touches on your Spirit Healer Hawke. By now, you should be steamrolling. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Companions
Generally, their unique trees are really good so get cracking on those ASAP. The only exception is Aveline, and you want her to get through the Vanguard tree ASAP for the Cleave upgrade, and Varric for Brand. Otherwise, fill in the skills you need in between the levels where you unlock unique tree skills.
VII. Equipment
Generally, you can get through Act 1 entirely with trash robes, the Staff of Parlathan (DLC), and the Magister's Scythe (the Black Emporium, Act 1). I wore the Smuggler's robes until I realized the trash robes I picked up near the end of Act 1 had double the Armor, so I figured it was time to switch. You can pick up trash staves to make sure you have a staff for every elemental weakness. Saving up your gold is important, especially in Act 1. One thing to buy though is Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt, that thing can last until the endgame.
Act 2 you can get through pretty much with the Robes of the Notorious Pirate. No real purchases needed here. Buy a random stave or two if you're lacking a particular type of damage, but Allure's Crook [Repentance] will allow you to get by without not having every type of staff. If you really really want Cold-Blooded, go ahead but there's honestly better uses for gold. If you find yourself getting stunlocked repeatedly (shouldn't happen often with smart playing, really), then you may want to clear the gauntlet to buy the Etched Ring of the Twins off of the Nexus Golem vendor. If you have the Item Pack DLC, then Etched Ring of the Twins is unnecessary as Black Silk Gauntlets fulfill the same function. As you make your way through this act, if you got the Item Pack DLC, start throwing all that stuff on, most if it lasts until the endgame.
Act 3, once again you don't REALLY need to buy anything. If you only have the core game, the Champion's set is probably the top dog because of the solid all-around bonuses, plus it looks sweet/is canon. It's also likely better if you're just going with support/CC on your mage.
If you have the DLC, then you can stack Elemental damage very well. Essential pieces include Robes of Unblemished Cleanliness (Black Emporium DLC, ~140g), Ring of the Ferryman (Magnus's Wares, ~105g). The rest are things you should have had for awhile: Black Silk Gauntlets, Apostate's Mask aka Apostateface, Orlesian Silk Boots, Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt, Dura's Blue Flame, etc etc.
-----
ALERT!
With the arrival of the first DLC pack, the mage gets some good toys that basically make it unnecessary to really buy anything outside of the couple pieces of endgame gear (i.e. Robes of Unblemished Cleanliness, Ring of the Ferryman, other various rings and belts), so just slap those on when you're at a high enough level and roll with them as you level up.
-----
Endgame staves:
Torch of Falon'Din [Fire]
[random staves of various elements you're looking for]
Cold-Blooded [Cold: Blood Magic]
Malcolm's Honor [Spirit] (Item Pack DLC)
Generally I run with Torch of Falon'Din with the Primeval Lyrium Rune and another Fire Rune for extra awesome, though Rune of Devastation will be better here (I think I missed the recipe somewhere so I had to make do). The rest of the staves are just drops, which works out because the majority of your DPS gains are from having the correct element.
Survivability/ease of use setup:
Torch of Falon'Din (Primeval Lyrium Rune + Fire Rune), assorted staves
Hood of the Champion
Gloves of the Champion (Rune of Valiance)
Robes of the Champion (Rune of Protection + Rune of Protection)
Boots of the Champion (Rune of Protection)
Urzara's Tooth [Dura's Blue Flame also works here, it's the better option if you go Elemental]
Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt
Rings will depend on what extra tree you took. If you went with Elemental, Ring of the Ferryman is key, fill out the rest with +Fire% or +Cold% or +Lightning% damage rings, Ring of No Wishes or the Fallen Star.
Elemental/DPS setup:
Torch of Falon'Din (Primeval Lyrium Rune + Fire Rune), assorted staves
Apostate's Mask (Rune of Protection + Rune of Protection)
Black Silk Gauntlets (Rune of Valiance)
Robes of Unblemished Cleanliness (Rune of Protection + Rune of Protection)
Orlesian Silk Boots (Rune of Protection)
Dura's Blue Flame
Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt
Ring of the Ferryman
additional +Damage% ring, Ring of No Wishes, the Fallen Star, etc.
Notes:
To see which elemental damage types you want by Act, refer to IN1's epic elemental resistance chart/sheet/thread here.
If you want to see what you can/can't do to torment your foes, refer to IN1's other epic immunities chart/sheet/thread here.
VIII. Extras, credits
If there's anything extra, it'll be here.
Walking Bomb tactics, via the DA BA, AreleX...
Quote
AreleX wrote...
copy/paste from my Nuke Mage thread
Updated, better version of Walking Bomb tactics:
Anders/PC Hawke
(Spirit Bolt/Spirit Strike, Walking Bomb/Corrosive Walking Bomb/Virulent Walking Bomb, Glyph of Paralysis/Binding)
Enemy: Paralyzed - Walking Bomb
Enemy: Clustered with at least three enemies - Glyph of Paralysis
Enemy: Paralyzed - Use current condition for next tactic
Enemy: Target of Anders - Spirit Bolt
Enemy: Target of Anders - Attack
Sebastian/Varric
(Fatiguing Fog/Impenetrable Fog/Overpowering Fog)
Enemy: Paralyzed - Fatiguing Fog
Enemy: Paralyzed - Use current condition for next tactic
Enemy: Target of Anders - Attack
use as you see fit
Credit due to rumination888 who pointed out that Fire damage in Nightmare will destroy a good 75% of the trash mobs you meet.
Credit due to IN1 for compiling the epic elemental resistances and the immunities into two handy-dandy threads.
Credit due to everyone here who contributes, and asks the questions. Can't learn anything new if the questions aren't asked.
May you Mage harder, mage better, mage faster, and mage stronger.
-e.