I just use barrier + immolate + chain lightning + energy barrage + mind blast + fire mine By level 12, I was using barrier followed by dropping 1-5k immolate on a crit. I have been able to get chain lightning up to that dps now, at level 20+. If anything survives the first couple spells, they get hit by fire mine which 51% of the time hits for at least 10k to 20k damage. If they are still alive I hit them with mind blast and move to a new location. I will post videos if there is any interest. For a straight up Mage build, I have almost every passive unlocked. I have the following skill trees only: spirit, cold, fire, lightning (storm) and inquisitor; that is all.
if any one plays on psn my name is Retrodark719 as ps3 not ps4 not gonna even attempt to get ps4 till its at least 190 lol cause 280-350 way to much for console specially when i got 2 kids and single parent lol
"For big damage..." I think we have a different mindset on what "big damage" looks like. :3 Anyway, if anyone's doing a new-game with golden nug recipes a fun trick you can do is use the Encore staff schematic and every time you get the "Mark of the Rift" buff, green diamond with a gray-ish upside down triangle, if you cast energy barrage it will benefit from that buff making every bolt of energy deal multiple hits of all three types of elemental damage. Also, note all encore buffs are party wide. :3 Or if you get the "Sing-Along" buff, dark circle with four white ghostly faces in it, you can barrage to heal 24% of your hp. As the buff makes you heal for 2% per strike while it's active and barrage does 12 strikes, so math. :3 Note: a single Encore staff can only generate one of the tree buffs at a time, so if you want to benefit from having more than one buff active at a time bring another mage with their own Encore staff. The third buff that I haven't mentioned yet is a 20% time haste buff.
The only thing I disagree about this build is the non-dispel, since if you play with trials one of the biggest use of a mage is the dispel ability, which negates the multiple barriers enemies keep constantly popping up, apart from that this built is perfect. If you want "BIG" damage like you say you picked the wrong class mate, sorry to tell you. A mage is mostly a crowd control AOE class and this built is perfect for that, it doesnt have fire Mine is that your problem? Also please dont talk about golden nug while discussing big damage builts, this built is meant for proper gameplay. Not for a guy that boost his stats and gimps the game. Fact is this built gives you protection with barrier and damage reduction, gives you cc to bail out your party when it needs to and gives them combos and it gives you damage with winters grasp, immolate and blizzard. Play with all the trials ON and with pick up gear only and lets see your big damage build save you. Recognize what you are, you are a mage, a support class.
Also StarFlorge plays the game with all the trials on, having 2 mages in a party? Stop being a noob, please. You are the type of guy who could not complete DA Origins in Nightmare without flooding the game with mobs so shut up.
Just an idea: If you're not playing solo and you intend to become a Knight-Enchanter later on, it would be interesting to use Frost Step, Winter's Ruin and Chilling Array (as well as Barrier, naturally), so that your freezing CC and Winter's Ruin combos can be very easily set up. It will require you to be close to the fray, AND zipping through enemies, but that's not problematic if you have a tank. It's what I've done in my last mage playthrough, and it's a very effective loadout to have very early on. AND it already gets you into the KE mentality of fighting mid-to-close range, so the transition will be smooth when you do unlock the specialization.
I'm level 11 and just got to Skyhold. It's my first DA game so I've just been adding skills almost randomly. If I'm to respec for KE what skills do you recommend first?
if you take Fade Step with Frost Step upgrade you can get the big Winter's Grasp way earlier. Right after you get to Haven and reset your skill points, you'll have 4 or 5 so that makes enough for those 2 spells + upgrade, and Barrier. I think that's way more must have right in the beginning.
By the time you get all the skills you suggest in this build, you aren't low level anymore. When I think low-level, I'm thinking "under level 10" at least. I appreciate what you're trying to do here, but it's kind of hard to gain a good perspective on a low level build when you can't how the skills you suggest would work with a low-level character.
Tbh as a mage I just play support till skyhold. I'll put up shields on my tank and dispell demons and shields to help my DPS since enemies with shields SUCK early game. Around level 12-14 I'll spec into what I actually want to do but on god I always keep dispell! I never play nightmare without friendly fire so if I'm using an AoE everyone gets a sheild and then dispelled to make sure they don't die because they froze/got set on fire
I really appreciate all of your build guides! Definitely going to subscribe. I was wondering how you would modify this build for someone who doesn't have the trespasser DLC and cant use winters ruin?
First I would recommend getting the dlc xD But without it you can run the same build just with winter's chill and change the playstyle a bit. Low level as a mage CC is everything and the other specs cannot grant the same CC as frost, therefore I feel it's best just to run the same build with less damage.
Here i am in 2021 just starting a new game and heading towards your fab rift mage build. But i thought i should check out your low level build to help me on the way. Love your vids...but...unless you are playing on nightmare barrier is a waste of those valuable and oh so limited slots if you play on console. Just get one of your warriors to use the upgraded horn of valor - fortifying blast. That way everybody gets guard instead of the short lived barrier. Ps. Your builds have helped me a lot in the past and not just your DA builds. Cheers.
Just started myself lol Fortnite is getting too annoying with all the og sweats returning, so I figured I loved dragon age n waited for inquisite to come out n then never played it, so why not try now... Anyways what build did u start off with... I didn't chose barrier but I went with the winter build to start with... I did start a game and went with fire, then googled n restarted n went with winter lol
Love your videos! I currently just have the Legacy edition, with only Black Emporium DLC. Would Rift Mage be the way to go as a Mage? I was Thinking of a Rift/Fire/Barrage build.
You sir, just earned a new sub . I was sceptical at first, with your rough build, so I tried it out for myself and was impressed . If I ever do ,gather the courage, to grind again ,I’ll try out your mage build . Has anyone come across, some way to save all your level 3 schematics, weapons and other gear ,you gather running around the world ,in your perceives completed game, so that it can be imported, in to a new game .
Chanley Rudiger Thanks for the sub :D I'm not sure you can import saves to get schematics but the golden nug is a big feature that syncs all your characters schematics. So when you have a high lvl char with most schematics go click the golden nug and then I'm when you click it on a low level char you will get everything you high lvl char had. Not sure if you knew that but hope it helped.
No i have never heard of this rat thing. Do i have to run around, the world looking for a golden rat, or is it some sort of statue? On a different note, I have a two handed warrior, I am playing on nightmare difficulty ,i play solo ,with this human character . What should I select, out of these training classes? I was thinking templar , what’s your thoughts ?.
The golden nug is normally near the crafting posts. Not 100% if you need the Trespasser DLC or not. For Warrior, it depends on your play style if you want to deal a lot of damage and quite fast paced go reaver. If you want to be a bit tankier that can double up as an off-tank go champion. Templar doesn't bring as much that the other 2 do but it does bring some nice big aoe damage. I hope that helps a little bit. One thing I always say is just try look at builds and then decide. I have a 2h reaver and champion build no templar but they can give you an idea of how they play.
:D this is a build I've used in my solo nightmare + trials mage playthrough. And as long as the mobs aren't immun to frost it's okay. But also stating that in my solo playthrough I swap my low level build around many times for the situation.
KARNE viva Yeah I was just using my character to show the build if that makes sense. My streams use this build thats why I say go watch them for a better look.
yea sorry i was just reading the comments when i saw your answer to the other guy. Hey u seem like an expert can u tell me a good solo nightmare melee warrior build??
TheSchultzZ I have a few videos of great warrior builds. Depends what you're looking for. If going Reaver then I would say take my fury Reaver build and for champion if you're going tank something along my never ending warrior build. Those builds should give you a build or give you the right idea to edit them to your own liking. I hope that helps :)
I know the gear isn't realistic but the build is. This build is mainly inspired from my lets play of solo nightmare run with mage no crafting, and this is the exact build i was using with bad gear and low damage. This build 100% works I wouldn't of made it otherwise :)
