Arcane Hunter - Arcane Warrior Dual Wield Build - Dragon Age: Origins (DAO)

Arcane Warrior Dual Wield Build - Arcane Hunter

The build is an interesting take on mage class. Its specialization Arcane Warrior is well known for Blood Mage Tank Build. This is a different take, where most spellcasting is forgone to maximize the number of sustained abilities active at the same time.

What do I mean by that? Your mana pool will be used to activate spells like Haste, Miasma, Rock Armor, etc. With all of them, you will gain substantial attack speed, attack, defense, and various other bonuses.

Another important aspect is that you will be dual-wielding daggers. This simplifies the build as you can concentrate on a single attribute point - Dexterity. Still, you will want decent Magic, to be able to equip the most powerful armors in the game.

With everything set up, you will be clearing enemies left and right with fast dagger attacks. Various runes and other buffs can help you wonders in improving this as much as possible.

Character Creation

If you are into optimizing there are a few things that you can do to optimize your build a bit.

Race

There are 2 race options in my opinion:

Class

The choice here is obvious:

Background

Sadly only one choice is possible here:

Attributes

For the start of the game, all points should be invested - +5 Magic. You will want the mage spells to be effective, especially on Nightmare difficulty. Moreover, this stat will play a crucial role in becoming a powerful Arcane Warrior.

Skills

I would recommend getting Coercion, this will help with some early-game dialogues and quest options.

Spells

As the build will mostly use sustained abilities, the idea is to get those spells that will help obtain them.

Quest Priority and Locations

Once you have finished Ostagar and Lothering, the world will open up and you can visit multiple areas. Below I will cover some progression recommendations, to obtain a few core items needed.

If you do not have Specializations unlocked:

1. Soldier's Peak - obtain Warden Commander Armor Set.
2. Brecilian Forest (at least until you unlock Arcane Warrior)
3. Circle Tower - additional attributes for progression. I would make sure to have Mana Clash or be close to getting for this quest.
4. Your preferred quests

For those that have Specializations:

1. Soldier's Peak - obtain Warden Commander Armor Set.
2. Circle Tower - additional attributes for progression. I would make sure to have Mana Clash or be close to getting it, for this quest.
3. Your preferred quests

Full Build Setup

In this section, I will go with in-depth explanations of each important selection for attributes, talents, and skills. This will give you a better understanding of what role each decision will have on your overall build. The explanations can also be used to better decide your picks for optimizations

Attributes

In this section, I would like to go through the recommended attributes for Arcane Warrior Dual Wielder Build. You will be required to pick them every level up, so optimizing and not wasting any of them will prove vital for the build.

Skills

The goal in my opinion is to get Combat Training and Coercion to a maximum. This will cover all the aspects that the main character would need in my opinion.

Specializations

Okay, so the build core is 2 Specializations. When playing the game for the first time you will have access to neither. But there are ways to unlock all of them if you are curious, check the internet for that.

The first one should be Arcane Warrior. This will allow you to wear heavy armor and you can start using the build very early.

Talents and Spells

So the build only uses spells early in the game, and it will mostly be control ones. Later on, you will stop utilizing them and continue activating Sustained Abilities + mele weapon hits.

Arcane Warrior Tree

Get all the talents. They will maximize your resistance, damage, and armor.

Mage

This tree has a very low priority and I would delay it once you have everything else covered.

Primal Tree

This tree mainly provides elemental spells.

Path of Fire Tree

Path of Stone Tree

Creation Spells

These spells will give access to a few sustained abilities improving the combat performance of Dual Wield Arcane Warrior.

Heroism Tree

Nature Tree

Spirit Spells

Mana Drain Tree

Entropy Spells

Equipment

This is another important pillar of Arcane Warrior build, as good gear will make or break it. Due to the nature of the game and various story progression paths, it's hard to recommend a single-gear path.

In this section, you will find the gear that should be used with the build. Generally, the lower the item is in the table the lower its priority and the earlier you can get it. So the top ones are generally the best.

So what are my gear recommendations?

Weapons

Going with daggers allows one to concentrate on Dexterity and reach very high defense values. Going with a Longsword would result in more damage, but in turn this would require a bigger investment in magic and lower defense values. So this is the reason I recommend picking daggers:

Item	Description
The Rose’s Thorn	Quite expensive but an excellent dagger all around, boosting critical rate, critical damage, and dexterity – all things that you need
The Edge	Has two rune slots and also provides the largest bonus to damage out of all daggers
Duncan’s Dagger	Large boost to dexterity, great against dragon fights due to bonus damage.
Thorn of the Dead Gods	Tier 2 version can be obtained in Lothering. Great value early in the game

Helm

Item	Description
Corruption Helm	Excellent helmet for this build for it's big boost to dexterity. Sadly, it is obtained very late in the game.
Helm of Honnleath	The best helmet in the Dragon Age Origins game all around. Get it in Stone Prisoner DLC
Helm of the Red	A decent Heavy Helmet, that provides +1 to dexterity.
Free Scout Arming Cap	It is a light helmet, so you will lose some armor, but it gives +2 to dexterity

Armor

Item	Description
Armor of the Legion	Legion of the Dead armor set is best in terms of damage potential as it gives a flat boost. The build does not care about fatigue, so wearing massive armor just benefits the build with higher armor values.
Evon the Great’s Mail	The Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale armor set is lighter on the fatigue stat and gives a bit less armor. Still, you won't be casting anything. The highlight is Evon the Great’s Mail which can be used instead of Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale Armor. Besides that, this set is more aimed at improving defensive and utility stats.
Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale Armor
Battledress of the Provocateur	If you can land your hands on this, it is extremely good early-game armor for this build, before you obtain anything else.
Warden Commander Armor	The Warden Commander Armor set gives +50 stamina which is a significant boost, especially in the early game. Now you can easily stack more sustained spells, before obtaining some of the later game expensive items.

Gloves

Item	Description
Gloves of the Legion	Part of the Legion of the Dead armor set.
Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale Gauntlets	Part of Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale armor set
Warden Commander Gloves	Part of the Warden Commander Armor set.

Boots

Item	Description
Boots of the Legion	Part of the Legion of the Dead armor set.
Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale Boots	Part of Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale armor set
Cailan's Greaves	These greaves are very powerful if you are not using a set. The 20% chance to avoid attacks is big.
Warden Commander Boots	Part of the Warden Commander Armor set.
Cadash Stompers	Gives a boost to critical chance and dexterity, but comes with the drawback of attracting more hostility
Silverhammer’s Tackmasters	Gives +2 to dexterity but has low armor
Fade Striders	Excellent starting boots giving +1 to Magic.

Accessories

Item	Description
Andruil’s Blessing	The best belt available all around. The bonuses to stamina regeneration are great to counteract the sustained abilities like Shimmering Shield, Haste, etc.
Sash of Forbidden Secrets	Gives a significant boost to the core stats of the build. This is a truly powerful option but requires to finish The Golems of Amgarrak DLC
Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering	You will need to finish Witch Hunt DLC to unlock this accessory. The chance to dodge is excellent for survivability improvement.
Destructionist's belt	A decent belt that boosts spellpower and damage.

Amulets

Item	Description
The High Regard of House Dace	Great amulet as it gives increased critical chance. But to obtain it you need to finish The Golems of Amgarrak DLC
The Spellward	One of the best amulets as it increases the mana pool for more sustained abilities, adds a chance to dodge, and has significant spell resistance.
Pearl of the Anointed	The +1 to all attributes is a significant boost, especially at the start of the game.
Heart of Witherfang	Provides +1 to magic

Rings

Item	Description
Key to the City	One of the best rings in the game. It gives +2 to all attributes. Can be obtained in Orzammar
The Lucky Stone	Gives +1 to all attributes
The Wicked Oath	Improves armor penetration and mana regeneration to counteract sustained ability mana drain.
Ring of the Warrior	Gives +2 to dexterity for increased damage and improved defense values.
Keeper’s Ring	+1 to dexterity, boosting your attack and damage
Ring of Study	A great ring at the beginning of the game that you can obtain if you chose Magi origin

How to use the Build

In this section, I would like to go through some general tips on how to correctly utilize the build.

Main mechanics

In this part, I would like to go through the core mechanics of the build. Using them you can construct your preferred playstyle and utilize everything that the various talent and equipment picks have to offer.

Sustained Spells

As with all Arcane Warrior Builds, this one will heavily rely on Sustained spells, and a lot of them. More or less you will skip all mana and use it for one thing - maintaining sustained abilities:

1. Combat Magic - well this will ensure that your sword attacks deal sufficient damage.
2. Spell Wisp - a simple and cheap spell that will improve everything for the Arcane Warrior Build.
3. Haste - increases attack speed by 25%. Stack it with another mage's Haste and you have a 50% attack speed bonus...
4. Miasma - debuffs enemies by lowering their defenses and slowing them down, this in turn makes it easier for you to hit your foes.
5. Arcane Shield - a decent boost to defense stat. Because the build heavily invests into Dexterity this will ensure you can avoid almost all enemy physical attacks in the late game.
6. Flame Weapons - an easy investment that improves damage against most of the enemies in the game.

And here are some optional ones, that I might use depending on the situation:

1. Spell Might - increases spellpower and in turn your hit chance. I would use this if you have mana to spare, especially in the late game.
2. Rock Armor - Improves armor, this will improve survivability, but I would leave it only if you have mana to spare.

Maintaining Mana and Sustained Spells

Although this build skips the huge mana-draining spells like Shimmer Shield, having some regeneration will help immensely to maintain Haste or Spell Might.

• Andruil’s Blessing - 2 Mana regeneration
• Improved Combat Training - 0.5 Mana Regeneration
• Wade's Superior Dragonscale Armor Set - 2 Mana Regeneration
• The High Regard of House Dace - 1 Mana Regeneration

So a few items and Combat Training should be enough to maintain those few sustained abilities.

Ensuring high Attack

The build needs high attack values to hit. The good thing is that it is quite easy to improve with this build

• Invest into Dexterity - this is the main attribute of the build and each point will improve it by 0.5.
• Magic - this is the main stat that improves spellpower and in turn weapon damage, spell damage, and hit chance.
• Spell Wisp - gives spellpower that increases Attack.
• Spell Might - improves spell power that increases Attack
• Miasma - does not increase attack directly, but reduces enemy defenses.

Early Game Combat

For the early game, you will be playing a normal mage. I recommend pushing through with the spells available

• Use Paralyze to disable particular foes, especially Archers, Mages, or bosses.
• Arcane Bolt, allows for some instant spirit damage, between auto attacks.
• Use Heroic Offense and Heroic Defense to boost allies' combat capabilities, until you get Arcane Warrior specialization.
• Miasma should be always active so that enemies that come close to you get slowed and you can run away.

Late Game Combat

• Enable all the sustained abilities that I have mentioned in the mechanics section. Remember to reactivate Miasma each time you enter a new map.
• Attack, attack, and attack. The build is simple and you just pick a target and unleash your attacks until they are obliterated.

Conclusion

This post covered in-depth how to build Arcane Warrior Dual Wield Build for Dragon Age: Origins. The build is a fun variation of mage, offering a truly unique playstyle, that replicated Dual Wield Warriors. This does require some support from group members, but that should be easy.

Feel free to leave feedback below