A Dragon Mage Build

[belgarathmth 21]

Hello, I've got a new Dragon Mage build going and up to about level 30 so far.

 

The basic idea is to make a Jedi Knight/fighter-mage who is very good in melee and also wields powerful spells. For role-playing, I can pretend the Familiar is an Artoo unit, since Artoo is basically Anakin's and then Luke's familiar in the movies. As a tongue-in-cheek joke, I call the Protector "Threepio", although he's more like that NPC droid in the KOTOR games.

 

This build is meant for lightsabers. It is very helpful that I have a chest full of them at all levels from 1-60 from my old shopper Inquisitor. If anyone wants to try this, and you don't already have a lightsaber collection, you should make a beeline to Benny's Corn Circles to get one ASAP.

 

I am splitting attribute points between Dexterity (for defense), and Vitality. You don't need Strength, because lightsabers are governed by Willpower, and your Familiar is going to make Willpower skyrocket.

 

I throw all my unwanted runes, which is most of them, into reading Familar runes, and let those absorb the malus, thus I don't really need Dragon Magic Focus.

 

The build so far is:

-Concentration, 1 point; for two buffs; will probably eventually master it for three

-Tactics Lore, 5 points; to open sword lore

-Sword Lore, maxed; for lightsaber attack bonus and better lightsabers

-Dragon Lore, 9 points; to mod the Familiar to gold - Insight, Prot from Fire, Life

-Armor Lore, 1 point; obvious

-Elemental Lore; maxed; for mods on Gust of Wind and Destroyers

-Elemental Focus; as many points as can be spared, at least 5; for mods, regen and spell levels

 

Planned:

-Mentalist Lore; for mods

-Mentalist Focus; for mods, regen, and spell levels

-either Ancient Magic, Dragon Magic Focus,Constitution, Shield Lore, Toughness, or even Enhanced Perception, depending on where I feel weak in Gold

 

It is very important that "Expert Touch" be turned OFF at character creation! The Dragon Mage can cast three very powerful combos in a row without any cooldown! This ability is his special power, and without that ability, he becomes a much weaker version of the Inquisitor.

 

Tactics:

-Mobs: Combo One, Destroyers, Gust of Wind; Combo Two, Mind Strike, Energy Storm (I forget the exact names); Combo Three, if outdoors and needed, Eternal Flame and Dragon Strike. Clean up anything left with the lightsaber, or start again with Combo One, which is usually recharged by the time you activate Two and Three.

 

-Bosses: pretty much the same; the character can use two-handed swords with +*%LifeLeech if available and needed.

 

I don't think this build can afford utility skills because of the three aspects. I equip as much +*%Find Valuables as possible to make up for no Enhanced Perception or Bargaining. I took Insight on the Familiar (10% to xp, not stackable), so that I wouldn't need to equip +*%xp items.

 

Any feedback, especially about where you think I should take that last skill, would be appreciated.

Edited March 27, 2011 by belgarathmth

[Furian67 14]

Interesting concept you have going there. I assume that you are playing on the CM-Patch, you mentioned Lightsabers being wisdom based. Another great way to get an awesome Lightsaber is to start the epic office quest and run to the most southern point in the orc lands and see the big ogre on the way to the Ice Lord. that will net you the Power of SIF.

 

As for your build.... I think its doable, my current Dragon mage is at 143. I started about 5-6 different variations of the Dragon Mage. Always loved the triple aspect build but..... he would always die, or felt lacking somewhere between 75 and 100 range.

 

Elemental magic is great. always loved the gust of wind. Great boss killer. If you do protector buff chose only one protector. 2 was fun to watch but they did get in the way often. I really didnt care for the destroyers... dumb bombs to me. Like lobing a grenade and hope it goes where you want. Just wasn't for me.

 

My current build I dropped the triple aspect and went with Dragon Focus and Lore. The dragon strike is absolutely awesome! Eternal flame I feel there is something wrong with it. Even fully modded and runes eaten to malus it just didn't do much.

 

Mental Lore and Focus. This was my main aspect. Make sure to get the silver mod expansion on the Mind Strike. I believe I have nailed 6 mobs at once with this. They do need to be close together.

I would start every combo with Maelstrom modded for Grind, Extension, Demoralize. Nothing better than to lower mobs attributes and armor.

 

The point in my build that differed from the other 5-6 builds was the use of Constitution and Toughness. Toughness I mastered I believe right along side Armor Lore. they work great together. Which is really needed because the Dragon mage has no weapon combat arts, while you are casting you basically need to be able to just stand there and let mobs bang on you.

Also combat discipline to get that forth CA. Concentration for two buffs Runes of protection and Familiar. And last of course Ancient Magic. The Dragon mage is a pure caster, as I mentioned he has zero weapons based combat arts.

 

If your interested, I'll see about writing down all my info (or at least taking screen shots) of my build. ohh by the way he is still burning up the mobs in Closed net HardCore

[belgarathmth 21]

@Furian, thanks for all the great advice. I will study it and reflect on it carefully. Don't do any extra work just for me though; what you have in the post already gives me the summary I need.

 

Yes, I'm on the CM Patch.

 

Since I definitely want Mentalism Focus and Lore, and I am trying to make a toon that can melee as well as cast, I only have that last slot left to make a decision on.

 

Which means, I have to decide between Ancient Magic for more damage, or a defense.

 

Between Constitution and Toughness, which do you like better? I think maybe Toughness, since we already get a big hit point boost from the Familar.

 

BTW, I am playing softcore - if I die, I will mourn the loss of Survival Bonus and the slow process of having to build it back, but I won't give up on the character. I'm in it for fun and relaxation after work, in single player, not for keeping up with everybody on a server or getting the adrenaline rush from fear of permanent death.

 

It seems like the Dragon Mage has become one of the least popular characters, perhaps because of his late arrival to the game. But he's already become my favorite, because I've always missed my beloved Battle Mage characters from Sacred 1, and I think the Dragon Mage was designed for Battle Mage fans, right down to the ever-popular Gust of Wind build.

 

Playing the Dragon Mage has made me nostalgic for Sacred 1. When I finally get ready for a break from Sacred 2, I'll probably go build a new Battle Mage for old time's sake.

[Furian67 14]

 

BTW, I am playing softcore - if I die, I will mourn the loss of Survival Bonus and the slow process of having to build it back, but I won't give up on the character. I'm in it for fun and relaxation after work, in single player, not for keeping up with everybody on a server or getting the adrenaline rush from fear of permanent death.

 

Well in that case I would take Dragon Focus! You want fun....... call in the Airstrike and giggle as your Dragon Strike flies in to devastate the area. Also with increased runes eaten the cooldown lowers, the regen grows but that can be managed very well with regen per hit. I have had many a laugh watching 3-4 dragons mid flight bombard the masses.

[chattius 2,522]

The last of my own characters is an experimental dragon-magic dragon-mage who was designed for survibility when nasty real life events (5 kids) didn't allow 100% concentration on the screen.

 

armour, constitution, spell resistence (idea was to free slots for damage over time effects and able to play with a polearm), toughness

concentration, combat discipline, ancient magic, dragon magic focus/lore, mentalism focus

 

I had planed it to recharge dragon strikes with weapon hits, kinda a Sohei Next Generation. Understanding hit chances I got a 100% hit chance without a weapon skill. Now after half a year playing it is level 108, doing the niob campaign and 2 teleporters away from the great machine.

 

It did a metamorphosis: With just a change of the weapon slot I turn a 100% hit chance Sohei (played from silver to platin) into a dragon mage who has a 100% chance of half regeneration time. So 3.4seconds dragon strike with 1.4s cooldown and 2s regeneration is at only .9 regeneration in a combination. Adding the 2 mentalism Area of Effect spells to the combination I can spam the combination without waiting.

Edited March 28, 2011 by chattius

[claudius 104]

Chattius,

 

Do you mean you used a weapon which gave 100% chance to half or do you mean socketing or something else?

 

The last of my own characters is an experimental dragon-magic dragon-mage who was designed for survibility when nasty real life events (5 kids) didn't allow 100% concentration on the screen.

 

armour, constitution, spell resistence (idea was to free slots for damage over time effects and able to play with a polearm), toughness

concentration, combat discipline, ancient magic, dragon magic focus/lore, mentalism focus

 

I had planed it to recharge dragon strikes with weapon hits, kinda a Sohei Next Generation. Understanding hit chances I got a 100% hit chance without a weapon skill. Now after half a year playing it is level 108, doing the niob campaign and 2 teleporters away from the great machine.

 

It did a metamorphosis: With just a change of the weapon slot I turn a 100% hit chance Sohei (played from silver to platin) into a dragon mage who has a 100% chance of half regeneration time. So 3.4seconds dragon strike with 1.4s cooldown and 2s regeneration is at only .9 regeneration in a combination. Adding the 2 mentalism Area of Effect spells to the combination I can spam the combination without waiting.

[chattius 2,522]

I was discussing quick CA recharging in this thread. One weapon slot is a kaldurs with a mirror shield. All 5 sockets filled with arni rings. Arni ring give half regen and -x% regen time.

 

http://darkmatters.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=17118

Edited March 30, 2011 by chattius