Dragon Age II brings a new 30 hour role playing story to the Dragon Age universe. As the game begins you get to choose between the Warrior, Rouge and Mage classes for your character. Your enjoyment or frustration playing as the Mage class is tied directly how well you setup your character’s attributes and abilities. To help keep your quests manageable and your deaths to a minimum here some tips and hints for the Mage in Dragon Age II.
Dragon Age II Mage Tips – Attributes and Abilities As a Mage you will need to put the majority of your attribute points into Magic and Willpower. The magic attribute defines the amount of damage you do, and the Willpower attribute determines how much mana you have to cast spells with. For every 3 points you put into magic try to put 2 points into willpower. Every few levels you also should put a point into Constitution or Cunning which increase your health and defense rating. When it comes time to pick your abilities the first time look through all of the abilities categories of Elemental, Prima, Spirit, Arcade, Entropy and Creation. Find the one category tree that fits how you want to play, and as you level up keep upgrading within that tree until it is completed. Once your primary tree is completed then work on one of the advanced ability trees of Force Mage, Spirit Healer or Blood Mage. It will take you two thirds of the game to fill both your primary ability tree and then the advanced one, but going this route over picking multiple trees allows your abilities to be stronger overall.
Dragon Age II Mage Tips – Equipment As you complete quests and come across shops in Dragon Age II keep an eye out for armor pieces that have a better rating than the ones you currently use, but that are focused for a Mage. These will have magic and willpower requirements to be worn. When comparing statistics between items take into account the base armor rating as well as any rune slots or other bonuses. Try to find a staff for your Mage that does the same damage type as your primary attribute tree. For example, if you pick the Primal ability tree use a staff that does electric damage since your passive abilities will amplify the damage.
Dragon Age II Mage Tips – Combat The Mage in Dragon Age II is a ranged fighter who can do both large amounts of direct damage to a single target or across a wide area. Keep at least one Warrior in your party to focus on melee combat so that enemies have someone with a large health pool to focus their direct attacks on. For your second party member another warrior or a rouge who focuses on dual wielding is the best choice. Finally, for the third party member you can put in any companion you prefer, but another mage or a rogue with ranged attacks allows for quickly taking down bosses. Using this party setup with two melee fighters and two ranged fighters allows for good combat management.
Sources:
Dragon Age 2, Bioware
Dragon Age 2, Xbox.com
