Dragon Age: Mage Damage Dealer
March 9th, 2010 by Samodean

(For a full listing of Character Guides, please go here)

Plain and simple: In DA:O, Mages are OP. With an almost limitless array of abilities ranging from healing and buffs to debuffs and straight-up damage, there is no role a Mage can’t fill. Bring a tank and 3 Mages and walk all over the game.

Hell, build you Mage right and YOU can tank.

This guide will focus on building a damage-dealing Mage.

Party Members

Morrigan starts as a Shapeshifter, which is nearly useless. However, she can easily be molded into any role.
Wynne comes pre-built as a Spirit Healer. Even if you recruit her late, it’s very easy to switch her to a damage-dealing role, though her pre-selected skills will likely make her more of a support-damage-dealer, with a focus on buffs and debuffs.

Stats

Strength: Minimum – You’re not whacking stuff with your stick. Even when you use your staff, the damage is based off your Magic stat.
Dexterity: Minimum – Ever-so-slightly more useful than Strength. Still not worth any points.
Willpower: 20/40 – This depends on how much you intend to rely on Blood Magic. Think of it as playstyle. Do you prefer a Mage with lots of Mana or a Warlock that can use their health for casting?
Magic: Maximum – Every single extra point goes here. Big boom.
Cunning: 16 – This is the minimum amount required for max-rank Coercion (for your main character) and Combat Tactics (for your companions).
Constitution: Minimum/20 – Again, this depends on your choice for Blood Magic. Though, you really don’t need that large of a health pool.

**Note: I have included information for non-Blood Mages. While Blood Mage is by far the best choice for damage-dealing, I understand that some players will not have that option for roleplay and morality decisions.

Specializations

Arcane Warrior: Arcane Warriors are their own guide. None of the stats or skills benefit a standard Mage.
Blood Mage: The best, really only, offensive caster specialization. Blood Magic allows you to drain your health instead of Mana for casting. Running low on health? Disable Blood Magic and use the Mana you’re sitting on to heal yourself, then reactivate Blood Magic. Even better, use Blood Sacrifice to steal health from an ally. EVEN BETTER, use it on a Ranger’s pet. If it dies, they can just summon another.
Shapeshifter: I suppose Shapeshifter is a fun playstyle, but not terribly effective. That said, IF you choose not to go Blood Mage, it’s an acceptable secondary specialization, statistically.
Spirit Healer: The extra utility is always welcome. Having a second Group Heal or Revival can be game-saving. Additionally, if you go the non-Blood Mage route, this is your best choice, statistically.

Spells

Instead of listing EVERY spell, I will just point out the important ones, both good and bad.

Arcane Bolt/Winter’s Grasp/Lightning: The three basic single-target spells. Pick a flavor. Winter’s Grasp has a slight edge in damage.
Flame Blast/Cone of Cold/Shock: The three “cone” attacks. Not recommended, as you’ll have to get up close to use them effectively.
Staff Focus: Extra staff damage is great, right? No. Adding 1/3 extra damage to crap is still crap.
Arcane Mastery: 5 additional Spellpower is always welcome. That said, the prerequisites aren’t very good. Once you get all the spells you want, you can start working your way to this.
Flaming Weapons & Telekenetic Weapons: These two spells should be available between the Mages in your party. Use Flaming for normal fights, Telekenetic for nasties like Revenants.
Mana Clash: Potentially one of the most damaging abilities in the game. It costs a lot to cast, but enemy spellcasters can shred your party.
Walking Bomb/Virulent Walking Bomb: These spells seem like a good idea, until you take friendly fire into account.
Mind Blast: An essential spell for any Mage. Stun and run!
Force Field/Crushing Prison: Absolute must-haves. Crushing Prison is devastating, but causes quite a bit of aggro, so be careful. I like to use Crushing Prison on Yellow Elite enemies to take them out of the fight quickly and Force Field on really scary enemies to keep them out of the fight while dealing with their minions. Additionally, Force Field can be used defensively. Cast it on your tank and use AoE without fear of friendly fire.
Spell Might + Blizzard + Tempest: These three spells combine to form Storm of the Century, the most damaging spell in the game. Use it when you want something dead FAST. Additionally, Blizzard and Tempest are great AoE spells on their own. Just watch the friendly fire.

And there’s plenty more spells to choose from! That’s the fun of playing Mage. You obviously won’t have enough points to get all the spells I’ve listed, so pick one path that interests you, then branch out a bit. It’s highly suggested to bring more than one Mage in your party, so if you can, have one build toward Storm of the Century while the other goes for Crushing Prison. Once you have the essentials covered, you’re free to explore any side-spells that interest you. Some of the Glyphs and Hexes are very fun and useful.

Tags: character, DPS, Mage