Recommended weapons for arcane warrior build

[Conner]

Never had a mage character and was wondering if i should use a two handed sword or not.

[voehringer_nitron]

Personally I went with one handed weapons for my Arcane Warrior. I used Starfang (there's also a two handed variant, but you can only get one) and Spellweaver (which is restricted to Arcane Warriors only). Too bad Blightblood is Rogues and Warriors only.

[Simple Man]

Two handed might be the most frustrating choice on an Arcane Warrior, because one of his (very big) problems is attack rating. A weapon that swings that slow and then misses just doesnt work. 2H tend to benefit warriors the most, since they have an entire tree to make proper use.

Get two weapons maybe, or a weapon and a shield at least.

1. you'll have up to 6 runes instead of up to 3.
2. you can stack attack score more easily.

A Keening blade and an Imperial Edge are good examples. Both have +6 attack. From there get high spellpower, combat magic, spec into heroic offense for some more attack, and off you go. It will still be somewhat painful, particularly in bosses, but doable.

[H0t_Air_Buff00n]

I've heard the "Cailan's Arms" set is a good choice for Arcane Warriors, primarily because of the stamina bonuses.

[Conner]

so i should basically use a good sword and shield, as for armor will it be better to go heavy or light in that case?

[Simple Man]

The whole thing around the AW is survival, extreme tank. So, massive armor.

You don't cast enough to have the added fatigue make any real difference. And stuff like cailans set of armor have a -25% fatigue stat, stacking as little fatigue as a leather set, maybe less.

[Xerica]

there are several different armor pieces you can use ill list them below


If you have the warden's keep DLC, use the warden commander's boots, they give +50 stamina which for an arcane warrior (maybe any mage?) translates into +50 mana. Also it is good to know that +stamina regen converts to +mana regen, making a lot of armor much more reasonable for arcane warriors to use than you would think. =)

One piece of equipment that you cannot ignore as a mage is the Reaper's Vestments, these give great resistances and bonuses in addition to +12 armor with no fatigue. When Combat Magic is coming in at 50% fatigue, having a no fatigue chest piece with that kind of armor is wonderful.

Also, Helm of Honnleath is great as it gives +3 armor and +2 to all attributes.

For gloves I would find something with mana/stamina regen or +mana/stamina/good stats. I prefer to use the +20% lighting gloves as this is my elemental damage of choice.

And yes, with shimmering shield and even decent armor on, Arcane Warrior are absolutely beastly in combat.

Spellweaver (Arcane Warrior only sword) and Branka's shield with the Warden Commander armor and my mage just looks badass .

I usually go with the warden comander armor with spellweaver sword for my arcane warrior goodness.

Spellweaver is the only sword in the game mind you that is for arcane warriors.

You CAN download mods from http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/?

ill give a few links for arcane warrior armor and weapon mods from talented modders.




This link below is for changes and fixes that you might find interesting for the arcane speciization.
http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/searchresults/?src_order=1&src_sort=0&src_view=1&src_tab=1&src_name=arcane__warrior&src_language=0&src_showadult=1&page=1&pUp=1


Armor links

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/2092/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/140/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/693/?

Armor + weapons

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1385/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1329/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/46/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/182/?

Weapons only

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/312/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/72/?

http://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage/mods/1240/?

[Smoke Eater]

dual weild.

[Conner]

Thank you all for your responses. It was very helpful considering I never played a mage character and always went rogue. I wanted to see if being an arcane warrior is really as OP as my friends tell me

[Smoke Eater]

Originally posted by batassassin:

Thank you all for your responses. It was very helpful considering I never played a mage character and always went rogue. I wanted to see if being an arcane warrior is really as OP as my friends tell me

Mage alone is op arcane warrior is insane.

[Gracey Face]

Arcane warrior + Shape shifter is pretty silly because you can stack mage and arcane warrior sustained bonuses on top of the shape shift..

At lvl 31 for example Morrigan who is built full magic has 845 HP, 191 Def, 183 Att, 57 Armour, Magic resists ranging from 80-100%, and does ~120-150 per basic attack (Displayed DPS 117.9 with AP 21) with a critical melee skill and with the overwhelm skill which "1 hit kills" anything humanoid.

I have never really gone full hyper survival arcane warrior, so dont know quite how it compares, but she is capable of soloing prettymuch every fight. Due to your main char having more stats than followers a main char AW+SS would probably be markedly better.


But not as stylish as an arcane warrior for sure, only reason I pick the spec really, so my mages dont have to wear those fugly robes.

[Simple Man]

Originally posted by Troy:

Arcane warrior + Shape shifter is pretty silly because you can stack mage and arcane warrior sustained bonuses on top of the shape shift..

At lvl 26 for example Morrigan who is built full magic has 699 HP, 170 Def, 150 Att, 50 Armour, Magic resists ranging from 70-90%, and does 100-130 per basic attack with a critical melee skill and with the overwhelm skill which "1 hit kills" anything humanoid.

I have never really gone full hyper survival arcane warrior, so dont know quite how it compares, but she is capable of soloing prettymuch every fight. Due to your main char having more stats than followers a main char AW+SS would probably be markedly better.


But not as stylish as an arcane warrior for sure.

Where are all the bonuses coming from. 700 HP maybe in bear shape or something, 50 armor, sure, quite easy to do, but 150 att and 170 def? bear doesnt buff either att or defense, and AW doesn't buff defence either, so how is yours shooting to 170 ontop of all the other stats.

Where you getting all that? not sure i understand how to reach those numbers. Didn't even know a SS could stack with AW sustainables. Always heard it all turns off soon as you shift. Maybe its bugged like rangers pets.

Care to link a video or screeshots or anything to show that kind of thing? don't think i ever seen it.

[Gracey Face]

Originally posted by kodiak.pw:

Where are all the bonuses coming from. 700 HP maybe in bear shape or something, 50 armor, sure, quite easy to do, but 150 att and 170 def? bear doesnt buff either att or defense, and AW doesn't buff defence either, so how is yours shooting to 170 ontop of all the other stats.

Where you getting all that? not sure i understand how to reach those numbers. Didn't even know a SS could stack with AW sustainables. Always heard it all turns off soon as you shift. Maybe its bugged like rangers pets.

Care to link a video or screeshots or anything to show that kind of thing? don't think i ever seen it.

Bear buffs defence and attack due to it buffing stats.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=378833181

It is a playthrough with mods, however I do not have any which mod mages or shapeshifting, so unless "Not fugly Wynne"/"As many specialities as you can level up to" or "100% Deathblow animations" covertly mod shape shifting (who knows) it should work that way normally.

If you have an unmodded game you can use console commands to test, the DA.wikia says no abilities work while shapeshifted, but it isnt always right.

[Simple Man]

Link does not work.

And i just tested, you cannot stack Arcane Warrior with Shapeshift, it immediatly turns everything off, combat magic, shimmering, heroic offense, everything. Infact, it even provides a whole new hotbar, no AW sustainables remain in your stats, and the animal forms are quite weak by themselves. It doesnt work like the ranger pets at all, where you can stack pets if they're cast quick enough.

So, im either missing something, or you were full of ♥♥♥♥ :P

It did look too good to be true tbh.

EDIT: well link works now, and i take it back. But thats gotta be modded, normal game doesnt allow that. In a normal game your hotbar does not provide you with the AW buffs, but the 4 bear skills, and thats it.

[Gracey Face]

Originally posted by kodiak.pw:

Link does not work.

It did look too good to be true tbh.

It is because I set it private, assuming links would still allow, public now.

I dont have a mod that edits either, but I guess it is not unreasonable something else entirely screwed something up that broke it (such is modding).

Trying to think of a way I can get a clean install without breaking my saves or my "Thank ♥♥♥♥ Leliana and Wynne arent frightening gargoyles anymore" mods...

[Simple Man]

Yea your game is modded, i just checked your stats and you got almost 500 stat points across all attributes. lol.

My level 25 warrior has 227, normal game. I don't thik hes gonna get another 250 in 6 levels (not like there are even buffs to such a tremendous increase of stat points, or gear).