inherit
✜ Forge Mechanic
352
0
Aug 30, 2023 16:01:17 GMT
6,256
PapaCharlie9
3,851
August 2016
papacharlie9
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by PapaCharlie9 on Dec 1, 2016 18:39:25 GMT
THIS BUILD REQUIRES THAT TRESPASSER BE INSTALLED.Pre-SkyholdStandard low-level Winter mage build: archive link
(Assuming some other mage is doing Barrier spam duty, otherwise, buy Barrier first.) First Respec after attaining KE specialization13 point build minimum 1. Barrier 2. Spirit Blade 3. Combat Clarity 4. Fade Shield 6. Fade Cloak 7. Decloaking Blast 8. Energy Barrage 9. Fade Step 10. Winter Stillness 11. Ice Mine 12. Chilling Array 13. Ice Armor The next 5 points should go into Inferno to get Flaming Array: 14. Immolate 15. Flashpoint 16. Pyromancer 17. Fire Mine 18. Flaming Array Then go back to fill in more passives and upgrades, your choice: Inferno: Clean Burn, Chaotic Focus KE: Amplified Blade, Veiled Riposte, Knight-Protector Winter: Frost Step, Winter's Grasp, Winter's Ruin, Mana Surge Spirit: Peaceful Aura (but note works against tanking aggro), Dispel, Rejuvenating Barrier Full build active loadout
1. Barrier 2. Spirit Blade 3. Ice Mine/Chilling Array 4. Fire Mine/Flaming Array 5. Energy Barrage 6. Fade Cloak/Decloaking Blast 7. Fade Step/ (upgrade of your choice) 8. focus ability GearAndraste's Sacrifice amulet is an absolute must. It's the only way a tanking KE can attract aggro. Enhanced Belt of Inferno Pact. Rings of Critical Chance or anything that boosts Magic or Willpower or Attack. Armor should boost Magic, Willpower, Health and Guard or Barrier Damage. Staff should boost Attack and Criticals. Consider using the Blade of Tidarion instead of Spirit Blade, if you need to free up a slot in your active abilities. Fade-Touched Masterworks should be Walking Bomb, Veilstrike, and mana cost reduction.
|
|
inherit
✜ Forge Mechanic
352
0
Aug 30, 2023 16:01:17 GMT
6,256
PapaCharlie9
3,851
August 2016
papacharlie9
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by PapaCharlie9 on Dec 1, 2016 18:39:38 GMT
Q: Please explain the pre-Skyhold Winter Mage build.
A: It's almost entirely defensive. The goal is to get Ice Armor and keep it constantly active with Chilling Array, Frost Step and Winter's Grasp. After casting Barrier and Chiling Array and stepping into the middle of one of the mines, a mage is practically invulnerable to melee attacks and has decent protection from ranged attacks. For offense, there's auto-attacks and Winter's Grasp.
Q: What, no Energy Barrage?!
A: Yes, that is a drawback of focusing so many skill points on defense. EB should be the first ability purchased after completing the listed build.
Q: What, no way to detonate combos?
A: Same problem, priority on defense. Fortunately Energy Barrage is an eldritch detonator, so two birds, one stone.
Q: Please explain the rationale for the first respec as KE.
The first priority is Barrier and Fade Shield. Once those are on board, KE barrier regen from damage becomes the main defense that enables a mage to act as a tank. Regenerating barrier allows the mage to soak up melee damage from the front line without even using an active ability. Next is Fade Cloak/Decloaking Blast for an ability that serves two purposes: 1) deal massive damage to a mob of mooks crowding around you while you tank, or 2) use it as a evasion/fallback plan in case you're about to take a major hit, like from a dragon tail swipe. Energy Barrage gives you both a powerful offensive weapon as well as a way to quickly recharge your Spirit Blade, and the rest of the abilities reprise the suite of defensive abilities from the pre-Skyhold build, as a backup in case barrier is completely exhausted.
Q: Why do I need Barrier if I have Fade Shield? It takes up a slot.
A: Well, if you have another mage who can do support duty and if you aren't facing any enemies that can take down your barrier in one hit, maybe you don't need it. But keep in mind that you are tanking and constantly taking hits, so having a way to "top up" your barrier if Fade Shield can't get it up above 50% is nice to have.
Q: Is 13 points really enough to be an effective KE, let alone a tank?
A: Yes, just. You can do most of the full build attack routine.
Q: With the full KE build, what is the usual attack routine?
A: At start of combat, Fade Step to close to melee distance, Chilling Array to freeze mooks in place and activate your Ice Armor (step into the center of a mine glyph for 360 degree protection), then follow up with Flaming Array if you have mana, otherwise auto-attacks if you do not. Then your choice of Spirit Blade, Decloaking Blast, Flaming Array, or Energy Barrage -- the last refills the charge on your Spirit Blade. If 2 or more mooks are close enough to touch, Decloaking Blast them. If a ranged attacker in the party is in trouble or you run out of mooks to kill, use Fade Step to reposition. Use Barrier on party members as needed, if you are the only mage. If you have another mage that can do Barrier duty, you can drop that ability in favor of something like Immolate or if you have a lot of points, Static Cage.
Q: But tanks need to draw aggro, how can a KE do that?
A: With the amulet Andraste's Sacrifice. No one is sure how high the "chance to taunt" is, but it's better than nothing. Plus, reduced cooldowns and increased mana regen make the wait between taunts worth it.
Q: The build doesn't seem to have very much for peak damage. Am I going to be weak if I play it?
A: Decloaking Blast does 1000% in an AoE, that's not chicken feed, but in general, that's right. This is not a super peak damage or even sustained damage build. It's a tank build. You can take a hit from the biggest bruiser there is and laugh, using Fade Cloak. Even without Fade Cloak, you won't take much damage, but you might get knocked back or knocked down, until you get to Trespasser and find the Amulet of Physical Immunity.
Q: Isn't there a way to get more active abilities that do damage into the loadout? It seems wasteful to pay for Immolate and not use it!
A: Well, every ability is there for a tanking reason, and Amplified Blade does more damage than Immolate (see below), but if you really want to make some trade-offs, you could dump Barrier or Spirit Blade and swap in Immolate, or Chain Lightning or Static Cage, whatever.
Q: What's the best way to recharge Spirit Blade?
A: Auto-attacks or Energy Barrage. Anything that does damage will help, but those two fill it up the quickest. If Energy Barrage is on cooldown, fast casting of Immolate in succession can help.
Q: Why the Amplified Blade upgrade?
A: It dumps all your charges into a single attack, increasing peak damage. Since you can't spam SB for damage effectively anyway, might as well turn it into a single-activation ability that does more damage (although, see next item for a counter-argument). At full 100 charges, a single Amplified Blade will do an effective 785% damage bonus attack, which btw also chews through guard and barrier. Plus, Amplified Blade makes your SB recharge twice as fast.
Q: Did the nerf kill the Spirit Blade to Clean Burn hack?
A: Sort of. You can still spam Spirit Blade to fuel Clean Burn. It just won't do very much damage with zero charges.
Q: Please explain the recommended gear.
A: We already talked about Andraste's Sacrifice. Enhanced Belt of the Inferno Pact boosts the damage from Flaming Array and Energy Barrage if you equip a fire staff (I think), at the cost of 50% of your max health. But since you've got defense to spare, the sacrifice is worth it. No one is quite sure how much the belt boosts damage, but it's not small. It's probably in the 75% to 100% bonus range. So effectively, half your health for double damage. The rings or buffs to crit, attack and willpower or magic are standard for mages. Crit helps trigger Flashpoint for a cooldown free ability. Armor and staff is also standard for a mage. The element of the staff should not be ice -- you've got enough of that element in abilities. Fire is best, but have an electricity staff as a backup in case you run into fire resistance enemies. Though your spirit-based abilities also fill that gap. The other stuff is broken out separately next.
Q: What's the Blade of Tidarion and why should I consider it?
A: It's a staff whose auto-attack combat animation is that of a 2H sword. It's a reasonable alternative to Spirit Blade if you end up wanting to dump that ability, or if you only want to use Spirit Blade to fuel Clean Burn or as a single use attack with Amplified Blade. It feels more tanky to wield a 2H sword, even if it's just an illusion.
Q: Why Walking Bomb, Veilstrike and mana cost reduction Masterworks? Instead of Immolate or Mind Blast or Shield Bash?
A: Any of those would be fine. Veilstrike is good if you don't have any other crowd control ability in the party. It only procs 10% of the time, but it's still useful to have mooks on their backs for part of any combat. There is a downside for a tank, though. If you Veilstrike 3 mooks you were planning to sweep with a single Spirit Blade attack, it can be inconvenient. So feel free to drop Veilstrike in favor of something else. Shield Bash is a nice one for lulz on any mage.
|
|
inherit
1331
0
1,330
ProbeAway
1,009
August 2016
probeaway
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by ProbeAway on Dec 4, 2016 12:22:06 GMT
Interesting idea, but your final build doesn't have fade step as an active power, which is the first power you recommend using in your attack strategy. Maybe swap out immolate or focus power?
Also, how would your armour create guard without using a guard on hit masterwork?
|
|
inherit
✜ Forge Mechanic
352
0
Aug 30, 2023 16:01:17 GMT
6,256
PapaCharlie9
3,851
August 2016
papacharlie9
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by PapaCharlie9 on Dec 4, 2016 18:35:18 GMT
Interesting idea, but your final build doesn't have fade step as an active power, which is the first power you recommend using in your attack strategy. Maybe swap out immolate or focus power? Also, how would your armour create guard without using a guard on hit masterwork? Oversight. I'll fix it by removing Immolate. "Boost ... Guard" was a typo, I meant "Damage to Guard". I also forgot Barrier Penetration. Also, guard on hit comes from the AI controlled warrior in the party spamming Horn of Valor/Fortifying Blast. Thanks for the pointers!
|
|
inherit
1331
0
1,330
ProbeAway
1,009
August 2016
probeaway
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by ProbeAway on Dec 4, 2016 20:57:14 GMT
Interesting idea, but your final build doesn't have fade step as an active power, which is the first power you recommend using in your attack strategy. Maybe swap out immolate or focus power? Also, how would your armour create guard without using a guard on hit masterwork? Oversight. I'll fix it by removing Immolate. "Boost ... Guard" was a typo, I meant "Damage to Guard". I also forgot Barrier Penetration. Also, guard on hit comes from the AI controlled warrior in the party spamming Horn of Valor/Fortifying Blast. Thanks for the pointers! Ah, no worries! Yep that's what Cassandra/Blackwall is for in my current run.
|
|
joserayber
N1
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights
Posts: 15 Likes: 21
inherit
1650
0
21
joserayber
15
Sept 22, 2016 12:35:49 GMT
September 2016
joserayber
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights
|
Post by joserayber on Dec 9, 2016 1:56:55 GMT
Personally I would swap Fade Step for Disruption Field, which excels at deliberating elite enemies without worrying about random status and elemental immunity.
Ring of Doubt works great for both defensive and offensive purposes since it adds a plain 50% damage bonus to all attacks within 1.5 seconds upon de-cloaking, just like rogue's Stealth. As a result it is better to invest on cunning/dexterity instead of magic/willpower.
BTW, guard on hit has very little effect on KE since the amount is marginal due to health reduction from elemental pacts and most physical damage on Barrier negates armor rating. For protection other than Fade Cloak and Ice Armor, I'd resort to Toxic Cloud and "stagger on being hit" properties.
|
|
inherit
✜ Forge Mechanic
352
0
Aug 30, 2023 16:01:17 GMT
6,256
PapaCharlie9
3,851
August 2016
papacharlie9
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by PapaCharlie9 on Dec 9, 2016 3:26:14 GMT
BTW, guard on hit has very little effect on KE since the amount is marginal due to health reduction from elemental pacts and most physical damage on Barrier negates armor rating. That's a good point. One shouldn't rely on guard on hit if you face enemies that eat your barrier for breakfast. Still, something is better than nothing, and since for me guard on hit is a party-wide buff from Horn of Valor, it's doesn't cost anything for my KE. The impact to max health and derived stats from Pact belts should not be underestimated. I stopped using Superb Pact belts because, despite having a level-capped build with awesome powers, I kept dying. WRT Disruption Field, I'd prefer to dump Barrier and take a support mage with me. Fade Step is too useful in too many contexts, including outside of combat. Also, bosses I'd use Disruption on are the same I'd use MotR on, and since MotR works on big bosses too, I usually don't take DF.
|
|
inherit
✜ Forge Mechanic
352
0
Aug 30, 2023 16:01:17 GMT
6,256
PapaCharlie9
3,851
August 2016
papacharlie9
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by PapaCharlie9 on Dec 18, 2016 0:19:17 GMT
Finally got around to writing up the rationale, in post #2.
|
|
inherit
2510
0
Sept 6, 2017 13:02:14 GMT
7
bixran
5
Dec 30, 2016 17:23:06 GMT
December 2016
bixran
|
Post by bixran on Dec 30, 2016 21:14:55 GMT
What armor schematic did you use? I'm only level 13, and I want to know what armor(or schematic) to look for in particular
|
|
inherit
✜ Forge Mechanic
352
0
Aug 30, 2023 16:01:17 GMT
6,256
PapaCharlie9
3,851
August 2016
papacharlie9
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
|
Post by PapaCharlie9 on Dec 30, 2016 21:56:46 GMT
What armor schematic did you use? I'm only level 13, and I want to know what armor(or schematic) to look for in particular What difficultly level? Below Nightmare, it doesn't matter, the best you can find. For Nightmare, it will depend on whether you have access to the Golden Nug or not and whether you have DLCs or not. I'll suggest for either. No Golden Nug, base game only: Find a light armor schematic that has the most Utility cloth slots. Something like the Superior Enchanter Armor Schematic (Tier 2) or the Sturdy Battlemage Armor Schematic (Tier 3). Fill the cloth slots for Willpower or Magic. Golden Nug, with at least Trespasser: I like to cross-class with the Superior Prowler Armor (Tier 3, Short List) and fill it with Cunning to increase Critical Chance. The Skin That Stalks is good if you got it from Trespasser in a previous run. In all of the above, get the upgrades that give the most cloth and metal offense or utility slots. If you can't get those, leather utility is good with Cunning.
|
|