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Brecilian Forest | The Camp | Circle Tower | Denerim | The Final Battle | Haven | Landsmeet | Lothering | Orzammar | Ostagar | Redcliffe | Ruined Temple Areas available as Downloadable Content: Honnleath | Return to Ostagar | Warden's Keep |
Alistair | Leliana | Loghain | The Mabari War Hound | Morrigan | Oghren | Sten | Wynne | Zevran Available as Downloadable Content: Shale Sample Characters created for this walkthrough Aldarion | Zarathos |
Aldarion - a sample development guide
Aldarion, an Elven Arcane Warrior
Strength: 10
Dexterity: 10
Willpower: 16
Magic: 22
Cunning: 10
Constitution: 10
First Level: Winter's Grasp, Frost Weapons
Winter's Grasp is a useful spell in its own right, but I'm also racing for Cone of Cold at the same time.
Second Level: Cone of Cold
A staple in Aldarion's arsenal. Find just the right spot so that you can freeze several of the enemies in place without touchering your comrades. Whether party members hack away with physical attacks, or Wynne follows up with Stonefist, both stand a good chance of outright shattering their victims.
Third Level: Mind Blast
Now I start to develop this Spirit spell tree, beggining with one that allows temporary relief from getting swarmed.
Fourth Level: Force Field
This can be quite a useful spell for decoy purposes. Basically, if a character does a thing or two to aggravate a horde of enemies that cause them to swarm that character, Aldarion can place a Force Field over that character so that their efforts will be in vain. The monsters will often waste valuable time on the protected character, giving your comrades more time to go to work.
Fifth Level: Telekinetic Weapons, Spirit Prison
At this point, Aldarion gets an extra talent for passing The Joining at Ostagar. I pump my magic to 31, and complete the development of this talent tree. Telekinetic Weapons is a sustained ability that steadily increases the damage output of your party members over the long haul. Spirit Prison is a great spell that has a number of uses. One is to use it on an individually powerful foe, holding him up and scoring spirit damage for a length of time. This gives your comrades time to go to work on the less powerful enemies. Another is to use it on a frozen enemy and possibly shatter him as part of the Shatter combo. Another one is if you notice that party member is both separated from his or her comrades, and is getting surrounded, then you can cast Force Field followed by Spirit Prison to unleashed the Shock Wave spell combo.
Sixth Level: Blizzard
One of the so-called storm spells. This is an awesome spell for mass combat in that it not only inflicts cold damage over the long haul, but can keep the hordes frozen in place as well.
Seventh Level: Lightning
Starting the development of the Lightning spell tree.
Eighth Level: Shock
A spell that can score pretty heavy damage on a group of foes in a cone-like area.
Ninth Level: Combat Magic
The first ability of an Arcane Warrior. Its basically a sustained ability that augments fighting prowess, and is subject to further enhancement by other passive abilities in the Arcane Warrior tree.
Tenth Level: Tempest
A very useful storm spell that both inflicts damage over the long-haul but also drains stamina. Of course, its also part of the Storm of the Century combo.
Eleventh Level: Mana Drain
This can be useful against a single mage, but the real point is that its a stepping stone to Spell Might and then Mana Clash.
Twelvth Level: Aura of Might
Further developing my Arcane Warrior talents and also augmenting Combat Magic along the way.
Thirteenth Level: Mana Cleanse
Again, a stepping stone to Spell Might and Mana Clash.
Fourteenth Level: Shimmering Shield
This is a top-notch defensive spell that allows the Arcane Warrior to tank it, and survive intense combats, with the best of them. It drains mana rapidly, so if you are planning on using it on a prolonged basis for certain fights, have some Lyrium potions in tow.
Fifteenth Level: Spell Might, Mana Clash
And now Aldarion can trigger the ultimate Storm of the Century combo. Mana Clash is the other talent that makes the Mana tree worth pursuing. Basically use this to drain a group of enemy spell casters of all of their mana, and inflict the same amount of spirit damage at the same time.
Sixteenth Level: Fade Shroud
Another great passive ability that both confers a bonus to mana regeneration, and enhances Combat Magic so that it provides more defensive benefits as well.
Seventeenth Level: Walking Bomb
A spell that can be useful if you know how to use it. That is to say, use it only when you can be sure that an explosion won't infect you (e.g. archers, mages). Its also a stepping stone to the Greater Animation combo.
Eighteenth Level: Death Syphon
I didn't use this very often, since I was often reluctant to add another sustained ability on top of Combat Magic and Shimmering Shield. It is however a stepping stone to Animate Dead.
Nineteenth Level: Virulent Walking Bomb
As the name implies, a more powerful version of Walking Bomb.
Twentienth Level: Animate Dead
A summoning spell that can be used on a humanoid corpse of a slain enemy, to rise as an ally on your behalf. With Spell Might already in place, I can already do the Greater Animation spell combo.
Twenty First Level: Chain Lightning, Stone Armor
Adding another offensive option to Aldarion's arsenal when he is so inclined. My Arcane Warrior did fine without it until now. But towards the end, there may be a few fights where it helps to maximize the armor rating as much as possible.
