Dragon Age Origins Combinations

[Ignignokt]

I went elf mage my first time. I think I only ended up with Arcane warrior spec, which I rarely even used.

I recently started a second playthrough, and I'm going human rogue. Probably assassin/duelist.

Btw, how do you keep Wynne from blowing through all her mana in the first 3 seconds of every fight? She was always drained right away in every encounter. I guess I should tweak her tactics settings, but it seems ridiculous that she would use it all that quickly with the defaults. Also how necessary is she? I kind of wanted to try other characters, but it seems like there are times when you would be doomed without her.

 

[D-Cypher]

Just finished my 1st playthrough tonight. Main character was a Dalish Elf rogue specialising as duelist+assassing. Maxed out assassin tree+evasion+momentum and duelist sustained skills+dirty fighting+2 enchanted daggers=slaughter anything 1 on 1.

The party I used through 80% of the game was:

Morrigan - Primal+Entropy magic
Alistair - Templar/Champion tank
Zevran - Assassin/Duelist

Yeah I had 2 almost identical characters in main char and Zevran, but I found him way too charming and hilarious to let go... until near the end when Wynn took his place.


Next playthrough will be as female human mage as healer/primal mage, i'm going to try and build up and use every party member this time aswell, purely to hear the excellent banter between them (imo the best thing about the game).

 

[Xtrail232]

I am a Berserker if i train for a templar too.Will that be good?

 

[Talshere]

My first play through was as a Rogue/Duelist/Assassin - this seems to work perfectly well and you end up being able to deliver absurdly high DPS to single targets while having enough durability to survive for long periods if you draw the attention of a few enemies.

My secon play through was as a Mage/Arcane Warrior/Spirit healer. This combination works fairly well and is immensely flexible, almost to the point of a fault. It was potentially more durable than my tank and could theoritically do more damage than my rogue but never at the same time. It was, if nothing else, the more interesting character to play as simply because I had so many options available to me.

My current playthrough is as a Warrior/Reaver/Beserker. This is the least interesting combination because you do high single target DPS but there is very little flexability in your approach. You are either highly durable but low dps, or have low durability (and sustainabiliy) but high DPS. As such I generally leave my main to the tactics pre-sets and focus my management duties on others.

Generally speaking, there are only a few combinations that really make sense in the long run.

Rogue:
Duelist/Assassin
Bard/Ranger
Bard/Duelist(or assassin)

Warrior:
Champion/Templar
Reaver/Beserker

Mage:
Arcane Warrior/Spirit Healer
Shapeshifter/Spirit Healer
Blood Mage/Arcane Warrior

There is nothing preventing different combinations of course, the combinations I liste just have a natural synergy. Shapeshifter for example has zero synergy with Arcane Warrior as the two trees have a similar result - increased DPS and durability in melee combat.

Someone told me if you go Arcane Warrior/Shapshifter, sit in bear form with full plate on you become pretty much immune to physical damage. I havent tried this though so I cant say if works for sure.

Im hoping to go Arcane warrior/Bloody mage with my current human mage. As an arcane warrior I have picked up every sustained spell its possible to get and basically made myself a melee mage with 0 mana in full plate and a 2H sword. So Im hoping Blood mage lets me use my health pool as a mana pool so I can still cast some spells.

My first toon was a Dalish rogue. Assassin/Duelist. So OP once you get momentum and always backstab while opponent is stunned Every little survived a stun after that.

 

[jthm]

Mage - Blood Mage & Shapeshifter.

Stupidly, I missed out on even collecting the Arcane Warrior speciality as I misinterpreted the manual as stating you could only acquire two specialisations. Gutted.

Anyway, so far I haven't really used the blood magic skills very often, but then again, I've only acquired one of the skills so far.

Shapeshifter is quite good though. Especially with the final skill unlocked, having a large bear or spider join the fight has got me out of a fair few pinches.

As for the weapons - I'm not too sure, but just out of curiosity, do you have the dwarf trader and his son at the party camp? I'm not sure what he has weapons-wise but the little guy can enchant some weapons which is quite useful.

Negative on your advice bud. Shapeshifter would be okay if it didn't cancel ALL your buffs. On the harder modes, there are really only two usable mage builds, Damage based or Buff based. Neither of those benefits from shapeshifter.

 

[keptsimple]

Human Mage with Spirit Healer and Arcane Warrior Specializations.

As an Arcane Warrior, I wore the the medium dragon scale armor that you can have made by armorer in Denerim. This actually allowed me to cast more spells (because of the stamina bonus) than with a robe, while still making me much harder to kill.

I didn't stick with a set party, but I used Leliana, Shale, Alistair, and Sten the most.

 

[Loves2spooge]

In my first playthrough, my group were unstopabble, and the Archdemon was incredibly easy (I only summoned the dwarven army, and they barely lost anyone too).

My character was a mage who specialized in Blood Magic and Arcane Warrior (both skill-sets maxed out), and was focussed on offensive spells, especially fire.

I used Alistair as the tank, mixed with Berserker and Templar specialization, with most two-hand skills filled.

I used Leliana as the off-tank, with duelist and bard specs, maxed lockpick (her skills were quite spread out, but it worked well as she could be adequate backup for most scenarios, and got easy backstabs with Alistair taking most of the flack).

Finally, I had Wynne as a healer and buffer. Obviously she was a Spirit Healer but I also made her a Blood Mage (despite her being so pissy about them). Most heal spells maxed out, some buffs, and maxed out her nature spells in case she needs to defend herself.

All in all, they were great. I even kicked my own team's arse in the ashes of Andraste trial.

 

[MarsProbe]

Negative on your advice bud. Shapeshifter would be okay if it didn't cancel ALL your buffs. On the harder modes, there are really only two usable mage builds, Damage based or Buff based. Neither of those benefits from shapeshifter.

Good heavens, this is a blast from the past! How long ago did I post this? Anyway, regardless of what you may think it was Shapeshifer that allowed me to thoroughly pound Loghain into the ground during our duel without too much trouble. So nyah.

That, and it wasn't advice, actually, just the way I happened to play through the game.

 

[WolfThomas]

Blood Mage and Spirit Healer is actually a potent combo if tweaked right, you should never run out of health or mana. Shapeshifter is crap as it doesn't work the way it should, magic should be used instead of strength, but it isn't, I hope they fix/fixed it in a patch. Also if you want a bear, just get a ranger rogue in your party, that way you can have an extra fighter without sacrificing your mage.

Arcane warrior and either spirit healer/blood mage are really good combinations, spirit healer means the party never completely dies, but blood mage allows massive damage while maintaining your defensive buffs.

Well, when I do get it, I plan to have a big ol' sword and shield combo. Any recommendation for that?

Don't do it, it's a great skill set, but it makes one of the best companions Alistair useless.

 

[Altorin]

Female Human Noble Cunning Rogue - Assassin/Bard
Main group was Alistair, Wynne and Shale

Spoiler: game choices

Ultimately, I sided with the Mages, the Werewolves and Harrowmont. I saved Alistair from the Archdemon by making him sleep with Morrigan. I sided with Caridan and destroyed the Anvil of the Void. I also defeated the Reaver Cult, and also their Dragon Matriarch

 

[jthm]

Negative on your advice bud. Shapeshifter would be okay if it didn't cancel ALL your buffs. On the harder modes, there are really only two usable mage builds, Damage based or Buff based. Neither of those benefits from shapeshifter.

Good heavens, this is a blast from the past! How long ago did I post this? Anyway, regardless of what you may think it was Shapeshifer that allowed me to thoroughly pound Loghain into the ground during our duel without too much trouble. So nyah.

That, and it wasn't advice, actually, just the way I happened to play through the game.

I dunno man, someone posted something and the thread caught my eye in Latest Content. Hey, if it worked for you, awesome. Just saying though, buff mages are tremendous and DPS mages are much better suited with Blood Mage or Spirit Healer and Arcane Warrior.

 

[JimJamJahar]

Can somebody help me? I am currently a Human Noble Warrior and a Berserker and I need to know which specialization can help me to take more damage and last longer in fights that works effectively with my Berserker specialization.