Elementalist, Mentalist, Dragon Magic Specialist, ....

[chattius 2,653]

You want to play your first dragon dragon mage? But you are unsure which aspect is the best or which is the playstyle you will like the most? I played a riding Elementalist and a polearm swinging mentalist and I can hopefully give some advice:

 

The elementalist can do a lot of damage , single and multi target, but lacks a buff with a good defense.

 

The dragon magic specialist has a very good buff which gives spell damage, spell resistance and hitpoints. But it has only 2 attack spells. The dragon strike is clumsy to use in caves and at obstacles but can do nice damage and it reduces hit chance of opponents. Eternal fire lacks the damage boost from the lore in the current patch. The transformations are fun and nice to play in the early game, but lack defense as soon as they run in mobs with non physical damage.

 

The mentalist has a nice buff which gives physical protection, can stun and block spells. Its Maelstrom slow opponents. Mind strike modified to area effect is very quick and sometime enough to kill small groups except the champion.

 

I will describe some possible builds.

 

Dragon magic specialists

Dragon magic specialist lack a single target damage spell later in game. So the easiest way to get this would be to add mentalism tree, because we well need mentalism focus for the buff anyway we offer just 1 skill to add mentalism lore for single target damage. We win better physical protection this way too. So Dragon magic specialists are either mentalists or elementalists. There is no pure dragon magic specialist.

 

The mentalist:

The companion from dragon magic tree gives a BIG boost to intelligence and therefor damage. It can give a nice boost to hitpoints too and a even BIGGER boost if we take dragon magic lore too. Since the hitpoints are protection and the intelligence will boost all our yet unmodifed spells we will take dragon magic aspect first and modify companion as our first combat art.

 

So a mentalist or dragon magic specialist would look like this:

• 02 concentration (companion and protector if having the runes from a common chest)
  
• 03 armour (unlock modifiers on early no set-armour)
  
• 05 dragon magic focus - its fun in the beginning to fight as (unmodified) berzerker
  
• 08 dragon magic lore - not really necessary for a mentalist with enough defense
  
• 12 mentalism focus
  
• 18 mentalism lore
  
• 25 constitution
  
• 35 ancient magic
  
• 50 free , if bargaining take it way earlier
  
• 65 free
  

 

The elementalist

• 02 concentration (companion and protector if having the runes from a common chest)
  
• 03 armour (unlock modifiers on early no set-armour)
  
• 05 dragon magic focus - its fun in the beginning to fight as (unmodified) berzerker
  
• 08 dragon magic lore - not really necessary for a mentalist with enough defense
  
• 12 elementalism focus- modify destroyer first
  
• 18 elementalism lore
  
• save 8 point to modify protection runes at 25
  
• 25 mentalism focus
  
• 35 mentalism lore
  
• 50 constitution
  
• 65 ancient magic
  

 

I would consider the elementalist build as the best way to test a dragon mage: all aspects of it and you won't have to worry that you did anything wrong if you want to play the character into niob.

 

For attributes, there are several ways:

 

You will get hitpoints, willpower and intelligence from your companion.So stamina mixed with vitality would be a possibility.

 

Or you decide to do some sockets with '-enemy chance to evade' and some sockets with 'regeneration per hit'. So each time you hit an enemy with a weapon your spells will be recharged a bit. You don't have a weapon lore or alchemy so hitting bosses will be a little difficult. But you can modify all 15 spells, so you can keep either gust of wind or mind strike at low regeneration times to be used without recharging from a weapon. For this regeneration per hit design stamina is not needed and we can put all in vitality.

 

Final Words:

The elementalist has not much possibilities to free a skill to insert bargaining. Removing constituion or dragon magic lore could be considered by non hardcore players.

The mentalist allows the most flexibility in skills.

The dragon magic specialist needs support aspects.

Edited June 18, 2010 by locolagarto

[locolagarto 15]

Thank you so much Chattius! this is great insight as many of us are lost with this new Char. Makes me want to start one today!

[wraithking 1]

truly fantastic chattius,just a couple questions I have now is what level was the elementalist based on with this-

 

The elementalist

 

* 02 concentration (companion and protector if having the runes from a common chest)

* 03 armour (unlock modifiers on early no set-armour)

* 05 dragon magic focus - its fun in the beginning to fight as (unmodified) berzerker

* 08 dragon magic lore - not really necessary for a mentalist with enough defense

* 12 elementalism focus- modify destroyer first

* 18 elementalism lore

* save 8 point to modify protection runes at 25

* 25 mentalism focus

* 35 mentalism lore

* 50 constitution

* 65 ancient magic

 

is this lvl200 based:) or based around just starting lvls:)

and how many runes/Combat Art lvls in each Combat Art's is recommended:)

 

I know its not an exact guide but any tips/hints most welcome

[chattius 2,653]

It was a step by step:

 

First levels unmodified protector and companion are already useful. As soon runes of protection aer modified the protector is swapped for this. We can keep Protectors at its malus because we won't use it anymore after level 18 till we have concentratio nat mastery.

 

You reach level 3 choose armour just to unlock modifiers on items.

 

Level 5-11 we work to modify the companion and only it. Extra runes we don't need can be put into berzerkerform or dragonform to have some fun testing them. I would test them early, because there damage leaks late in came. But Kept up to their malus they can help in bossfights as long they do mainly physical damage.

 

12-17 is used to play with destroyers while the shifted forms regenerate.

 

Level 18 we can modify runes of protection fully and use it as second buff for protectors.

 

The following levels we just choose the skills.

 

You can bring concentration to 75 as soon as possible for a 3rd buff and choose a full aspect you like to brings its focus and lore to mastery at level 75 too.

 

Or you say you don't need a mastery at 75, you go equal in all school and reach masteries later than 75, all up to the player...

 

My advice:

For an elementalist I would just put 8 in lore and 1 in focus at dragon magic for the buff, and same for mentalism for the other buff. And push elementalism focus and lore to mastery together with concentration.

 

Bring one skill after the other to its mastery and do the rest with + all skills.

 

concentration, elementalism lore and focus

ancient magic

dragon magic focus (damage and hit point in buff)

mentalism focus (stun and combat block in buff)

dragon magic lore

constitution

mentalism lore

armour

 

Then you are at 750 of 921 points spend already.

 

For the regeneration times: for a non Reg Per Hit build (*) I would keep them around Animation speed. My riding dragon mage did way better experience with a quick destroyer/gust of wind combination than with a one hitting one. The sheer numbers (42) of 7 waves of 6 destroyers will do a hell of damage in a big area if you can do them quick,

If enemies come to close the destroyer between you and the enemy will explode and the following gust of wind will blow a perhaps still living enemy away.

Hard to describe, you have to play it.

 

(*): it's hard to hit an enemy with a weapon to recharge spells if it is blown away by gust of wind

Edited November 27, 2009 by chattius

[wraithking 1]

you should post the elementalist build on the forum guide section this

is fantastic work chattius,you must of spent ages on the dm to figure him out,

at least I know dragon magic isn't a complete waste of time now,

 

I love using a combo of energy blaze+mindstrike(for cast distance) then combo of destroyer+gust of wind(closer range/when mobs come running after been hit

with first combo) any survivors get second combo again if needed

 

is there any way to drop one skill choice for Combat Art discipline on your elementalist build? just for quick combo's or isn't it worth it?

[chattius 2,653]

I won't post something as a guide which is based from experience with other characters: similiar but not the same. The build can fully modify all 15 combat arts. But in which order to allow powerful and save playing from start to end is not tested yet.

 

If you don't play hardcore:

Constitution would be my candidate. But you need the damage mitigation stuff (set shoulders, the unique ice shield, ...) and have to reduce damage over time. You can get many hitpoints from the buff if you have the lore.

[wraithking 1]

I'll forget Combat Art discipline then,and stick to your advice chattius,it seems to be best as allways

[chattius 2,653]

The Elementalist

There are two ways to play the elementalist:

 

You can play it as an allrounder, doing standallone killing damage in all 3 aspects

You can play it as a 'real' Elementalist

 

The 'real' Elementalist would use the 2 other aspects not as Killers but for support. So the damaging combat arts in dragon magic or mentalism are modified for support not maximized damage:

 

dragon strike would be modified for stun, reducing enemy CtH, radius

mind strike to last longer, multiple enemies, slow down

energy blaze to slow enemy attacks, radius, ?

...

 

If you plan to play several dragon mages, I would do the elementalist as a real one, having the other aspects modified for support. Another dragon mage mentalist could modify the mentalism spells to maximize damage, so it wouldn't be like playing a very similiar character again.

[fraz 0]

The elementalist

 

* 02 concentration (companion and protector if having the runes from a common chest)

* 03 armour (unlock modifiers on early no set-armour)

* 05 dragon magic focus - its fun in the beginning to fight as (unmodified) berzerker

* 08 dragon magic lore - not really necessary for a mentalist with enough defense

* 12 elementalism focus- modify destroyer first

* 18 elementalism lore

* save 8 point to modify protection runes at 25

* 25 mentalism focus

* 35 mentalism lore

* 50 constitution

* 65 ancient magic

 

Ok I'm somewhat new to the game and trying to understand the elementalist build you describe, so I can get my build exactly as you describe. Please can you answer the below questions to ensure I do this right:

 

1) Is this build for an end game dragon mage, I.e. level 200 or will there be more points made available that will make the above build obsolete later in the game.

2) What order do you take the skills, I.e. in what order and at what level? I don't believe they are listed as I should take them because you can't take focus before lore.

3) I'm not sure which modifiers to take on each of the modifier branches. Can you spell it out for me exactly.

4) What do you mean by 'companion and protector if having runes from a common chest'?

 

Thanks for helping,

 

Fraz

[Furian67 15]

Bare with me for a few hours, when I get to my pc after work I'll help you out here. I've been running Triple Aspect Dragon Mages for a bit now

[wolfie2kX 528]

The elementalist

 

* 02 concentration (companion and protector if having the runes from a common chest)

* 03 armour (unlock modifiers on early no set-armour)

* 05 dragon magic focus - its fun in the beginning to fight as (unmodified) berzerker

* 08 dragon magic lore - not really necessary for a mentalist with enough defense

* 12 elementalism focus- modify destroyer first

* 18 elementalism lore

* save 8 point to modify protection runes at 25

* 25 mentalism focus

* 35 mentalism lore

* 50 constitution

* 65 ancient magic

 

Ok I'm somewhat new to the game and trying to understand the elementalist build you describe, so I can get my build exactly as you describe. Please can you answer the below questions to ensure I do this right:

 

1) Is this build for an end game dragon mage, I.e. level 200 or will there be more points made available that will make the above build obsolete later in the game.

2) What order do you take the skills, I.e. in what order and at what level? I don't believe they are listed as I should take them because you can't take focus before lore.

3) I'm not sure which modifiers to take on each of the modifier branches. Can you spell it out for me exactly.

4) What do you mean by 'companion and protector if having runes from a common chest'?

 

Thanks for helping,

 

Fraz

 

Actually... He DID mention the order and the level where he took the skills. The numbers at the begining in his list above IS the level (and consequently, the order) in which he took the skills.

 

Companion (Familiar) and Protector are two of the Dragon Mage's buffs... The Familiar is a small dragon that follows you around and gives your Dragon Magic CAs a boost. The protector is a largish Earth Elemental that follows you around fighting at your side.

 

 

 

The common chest thing he's refering to likely means he's storing runes in the Shared space in his Player Chest and retrieving them as needed.

[fraz 0]

Bare with me for a few hours, when I get to my pc after work I'll help you out here. I've been running Triple Aspect Dragon Mages for a bit now

 

Furian that would be great, I've really been looking hard to find a comprehensive guide, I've seen some very detailed posts for other classes which give you a step by step on how to build their character, combos etc, but Dragon Mage info seems to be a bit lacking a wee bit.

 

Thanks for helping and look forward to reading your post later.

 

The elementalist

 

* 02 concentration (companion and protector if having the runes from a common chest)

* 03 armour (unlock modifiers on early no set-armour)

* 05 dragon magic focus - its fun in the beginning to fight as (unmodified) berzerker

* 08 dragon magic lore - not really necessary for a mentalist with enough defense

* 12 elementalism focus- modify destroyer first

* 18 elementalism lore

* save 8 point to modify protection runes at 25

* 25 mentalism focus

* 35 mentalism lore

* 50 constitution

* 65 ancient magic

 

Ok I'm somewhat new to the game and trying to understand the elementalist build you describe, so I can get my build exactly as you describe. Please can you answer the below questions to ensure I do this right:

 

1) Is this build for an end game dragon mage, I.e. level 200 or will there be more points made available that will make the above build obsolete later in the game.

2) What order do you take the skills, I.e. in what order and at what level? I don't believe they are listed as I should take them because you can't take focus before lore.

3) I'm not sure which modifiers to take on each of the modifier branches. Can you spell it out for me exactly.

4) What do you mean by 'companion and protector if having runes from a common chest'?

 

Thanks for helping,

 

Fraz

 

Actually... He DID mention the order and the level where he took the skills. The numbers at the begining in his list above IS the level (and consequently, the order) in which he took the skills.

 

Companion (Familiar) and Protector are two of the Dragon Mage's buffs... The Familiar is a small dragon that follows you around and gives your Dragon Magic CAs a boost. The protector is a largish Earth Elemental that follows you around fighting at your side.

 

 

 

The common chest thing he's refering to likely means he's storing runes in the Shared space in his Player Chest and retrieving them as needed.

 

Thanks yeah I figured that out, however the amount of skill points to invest in each is not clear to me. Ah the buffs right, doah!

Edited November 23, 2010 by fraz

[Furian67 15]

I haven't written a guide for the Dragon Mage yet. Would be difficult to bring something new to the table that Chattius hasn't already done. So far I've ran a high combat art build with no weapon lore but used RpH to regen the CA that were way over malus. Was awesome. My current build isn't doing any RpH and keeping all non cooldown spells at 1.6 to 2.0 seconds regen. With combat discipline mastery I can spam 8 differant spells in three combos. Maelstrom leads all combat combos.

[Furian67 15]

The elementalist

 

* 02 concentration (companion and protector if having the runes from a common chest)

* 03 armour (unlock modifiers on early no set-armour)

* 05 dragon magic focus - its fun in the beginning to fight as (unmodified) berzerker

* 08 dragon magic lore - not really necessary for a mentalist with enough defense

* 12 elementalism focus- modify destroyer first

* 18 elementalism lore

* save 8 point to modify protection runes at 25

* 25 mentalism focus

* 35 mentalism lore

* 50 constitution

* 65 ancient magic

 

Ok I'm somewhat new to the game and trying to understand the elementalist build you describe, so I can get my build exactly as you describe. Please can you answer the below questions to ensure I do this right:

 

1) Is this build for an end game dragon mage, I.e. level 200 or will there be more points made available that will make the above build obsolete later in the game.

I'm running pretty much the same thing, except for the constitution (which is a very good idea actually) I went with Combat Discipline, Which I have at mastery and is so very wonderful. The synergy of the differant types of CA that you can cast is most remarkable. So I believe that this is a full on level 1 to 200 effective Build. I'm currently at level 87 and half of the CA I use are not even modded yet but still are so very effective. I can't wait to see them fully modded.

 

2) What order do you take the skills, I.e. in what order and at what level? I don't believe they are listed as I should take them because you can't take focus before lore.

When you take Concentration as a first skill and get 5 points into it, that will allow you to take the Focus first before the Lores. But yes you can take these skills in the order that Chattius has them listed.

 

3) I'm not sure which modifiers to take on each of the modifier branches. Can you spell it out for me exactly.

Are you wanting to know how each and every combat art is modded? It would depend on how you play your build. Personally for me I use Gust of wind as my main damage dealer with ALL other combat arts modded to support this style. If your interested I can write them all up on how I did mine. I'm interested to see how Chattius would chose his too, but I think I'm close to what he might have..

 

4) What do you mean by 'companion and protector if having runes from a common chest'?

Wolfie2kX got the answer on this one.

 

Thanks for helping,

 

Fraz

 

Any other questions fire away! We're here for you

Edited February 22, 2011 by Furian67

[chattius 2,653]

Whow, this was never planed at a full guide. The moment it was written there were no dragon mage guides around and I was playing a sohei (polearm-mentalist). But by playing my sohei I noticed that a dragon mage could be played which could use every spell. So my oldest daughter did a full 3 aspect approach and had real fun with it. Many attack Combat Arts of the DM can also be modified for some defense, so by mixing up several dual purpose Combat Arts you can cut down on defensive skills.

A good 3 aspect dragon mage overwhelms his enemies with a lot of attacks which also lower the enemy's chance to strike back. I think Furian has way more experience with triple aspect DM's than I have.

 

I fear that this thread even it helped many players also made possible guide writers think there is no need to write a real guide

[Furian67 15]

You honor me Chattius, Thank you. Looks like I will go ahead and write up a Dragon Mage Guide, At least the one I am running. I just can't get away from a Triple Aspect DM. So much fun really. So far the only real danger I have ran into are the Eye Balls in the blood forest. That Life Leech is something else. I can stand in the middle of multiple Eyes with my Shadow warrior but the Dragon mage can't, even with his high level bonus to Willpower. I have not tested him against the known threat of the bugged Demons in the wastelands. My SW can handle them well enough, but I don't think the Dragon mage can easily do the same.. Not to say going through the area on top alert and using some serious tactical management won't get you through them but I'm playing this one safe.

[chattius 2,653]

Yes even runes of protection modified for spell block (a must have in my opinion) it is not 100%. So adding some combat art block or combat art reflect only reduces the chances to be hit.

Since you can't lower life leech damage when you are hit you have to reduce the other damage parts of the attack and can only hope that you are never hit by 2 life leech attacks and have healed up the moment the next attack may hit.

[fraz 0]

Thanks for the replies Chattius / Furian, things are making more sense, but the more you learn, the more you realise there is to learn.

 

Furian, yes a complete guide would be awesome. Can't vouch for others but personally I probably need something like "Dragon Mages for Dummies". I found this guide for inquisitar which seem very comprehensive, but so far other then Chattius excellent thread, guidance on builds seems a bit space, probably because its the newest class!

Edited November 24, 2010 by fraz

[Furian67 15]

but the more you learn, the more you realize there is to learn.

 

Amen, that's why we love Sacred 2 so much!

[kovu2296 0]

can someone please put this guide in a context I can understand fully without getting confused like the diffrent skills buffs ect

[gogoblender 3,305]

 

 

Furian, yes a complete guide would be awesome. Can't vouch for others but personally I probably need something like "Dragon Mages for Dummies". I found this guide for inquisitar which seem very comprehensive, but so far other then Chattius excellent thread, guidance on builds seems a bit space, probably because its the newest class!

 

I'm seconding the vote for another guide. Chattius has done stellar work with explaining precepts of this class. But every person executes data differently, so every build is unique and has it's own place. Guides are good, in that they have a walk through on how to assign puts in order, what equipment to be using, challenges that came up, and most importantly, specially when you're playing on HC, those dastardly foibles that pop up that become an invaluable piece of wisdom for someone following in a guid writer's footsteps.

 

Step up friend Furian, release the guide!

 

 

gogo

[Furian67 15]

Doh, ya just had to throw the gauntlet back at me didn't ya? Ok buddy you asked for it. I get tomorrow off (I'm on call so hopefully nothing breaks at work) I'll fire up my Draaken and see how photogenic he is.

[chattius 2,653]

As I mentioned a few posts earlier: I feared that this 'guide' stopped writing new special guides for the dragon mage. The time the dragon mage came out most people had already lot of experience in Sacred2 so a short explaining how to play the diffrent dragon mages was enough for them. But now many people bought the gold version and start with a dragon mage as one of their first characters. The overview article may be having too few guideline for them.

 

I am not the best guide writer for super-power characters, never had english classes, I was never interested in quick level climbing. So my guides started mainly just as a descriptiopn how I designed a character which fitted best for the playstyle I was looking for.

 

My last dragon mage is a dragon-magic dragon-mage which I did mainly to research the usefull of items with half-regeneration time and if a dragon mage with only having a lore in dragon magic can be plaqyed. So it is a test-bed for comparing regeneration per hit builds like the sohei with more pure dragon mage approaches who use half-reg time items. The character is apple to do both, but being able to do both he is not so effective as a high specialized character. For me it is more fun to play if I can do diffrent playstyle in a single character.

[gogoblender 3,305]

Doh, ya just had to throw the gauntlet back at me didn't ya? Ok buddy you asked for it. I get tomorrow off (I'm on call so hopefully nothing breaks at work) I'll fire up my Draaken and see how photogenic he is.

 

Woo Hoo! There's so few Dragon Mage Guides out, this is going to be a welcome addition. No rush here Furian, guides are supposed to be enjoyable and full of the stuff you liked about your build.that you want to share with others.

 

 

As I mentioned a few posts earlier: I feared that this 'guide' stopped writing new special guides for the dragon mage. The time the dragon mage came out most people had already lot of experience in Sacred2 so a short explaining how to play the diffrent dragon mages was enough for them. But now many people bought the gold version and start with a dragon mage as one of their first characters. The overview article may be having too few guideline for them.

 

I am not the best guide writer for super-power characters, never had english classes, I was never interested in quick level climbing. So my guides started mainly just as a descriptiopn how I designed a character which fitted best for the playstyle I was looking for.

 

My last dragon mage is a dragon-magic dragon-mage which I did mainly to research the usefull of items with half-regeneration time and if a dragon mage with only having a lore in dragon magic can be plaqyed. So it is a test-bed for comparing regeneration per hit builds like the sohei with more pure dragon mage approaches who use half-reg time items. The character is apple to do both, but being able to do both he is not so effective as a high specialized character. For me it is more fun to play if I can do diffrent playstyle in a single character.

 

 

 

This would actually be useful if we can see the dragon mage work you've done broken into builds that elevate a particular ca or play style to give it a flavor that players would like? With the new downloads section now, the scope of this game has increased ten fold. For example, a build that focuses on a single CA as being dominant can be written out, and if the builder has gotten it to a fair level, let's say 75, we'd have something to offer to share. In fact, I'm even thinking of making a bunch of fun builds and quickly get them to level 100 just to see how the mechanics work, and if they're fun, then maybe others will think so as well.

 

Dryad Vines build

Ping Pong Build

 

The possiblity for unique builds like this is huge, and I am hoping that this kind of variety exists for dragon mages with guides/builds that can be written out and shared.

 

 

gogo

[parky73 0]

Using parts from this guide and a couple other places I've finally completed the game (and I've had it since it FIRST came out!!), so thankyou VERY much for the posts about DM !

 

I've gone down the elementalist/dragon magic route, using GoW as my main dealer, 2 protectors (modded), and a combo of GoW & defenders (5) modded for extra damage.

 

Although I struggled a bit early on (didn't realise how good GoW actually was), once he had it I never looked back at the build and have now just started Gold at level 42