War Mage?

[Hightower]

So, I don't play a war mage in GS. I've always been a rapid fire wizard! But I love the concept I have for my character. You know? That particular way you envision your character from personality and appearance to their skillset and how they perform and behave in combat (among other scenarios)?

Now I'm playing Guild Wars 2 and I'm quite taken with their version of a wizard. They call it an elementalist and it can be played in a variety of ways (including the stereotypical old man with a staff lobbing fireballs!). My particular variant (known as a Fire Weaver) is very much the image of a warrior-mage, in my mind. I wield a sword and fight at melee range, but my damage comes primarily from burning my enemies with fire magic. I dodge and dance and weave, blinding and evading to cause my opponent to miss while I aggressively pressure them at close range and pursue them when they attempt to escape me. I also have strong healing and can absorb some damage with an effect we call barrier. I'm lightly armored and have only the additional health of my amulet to sustain me otherwise, but I'm a tenacious, in-your-face fighter that uses magic in a variety of ways by weaving the elements of earth, air, fire, and water.

Unlike GW2, GS doesn't have visuals to demonstrate how your character plays. But you probably have some sort of vision in your own mind, right? Cmon, nerd out with me here! How does your war mage play?

Here's a quick video I recorded of my GW2 weaver fighting a ranger. Feel free to check it out and see how my "war mage" plays!




~Taverkin

[mgoddess]

Haven't played a GS War Mage (yet!)...

... however, I absolutely *adore* any/all War Mage types in the Dragon Age world. Arcane Warriors in DA:O and Knight-Enchanters in DA:I are some of my most favorite characters to play. The fact that it's a mage who can sling spells, but works best at melee range, take the hits and keep right on killing... so. much. FUN.

And now I wanna get my wizard out and see if I can fixskill him into a warmage. *sigh* So many GS character-ideas to play with.

[Hightower]

Haven't played a GS War Mage (yet!)...

... however, I absolutely *adore* any/all War Mage types in the Dragon Age world. Arcane Warriors in DA:O and Knight-Enchanters in DA:I are some of my most favorite characters to play. The fact that it's a mage who can sling spells, but works best at melee range, take the hits and keep right on killing... so. much. FUN.

And now I wanna get my wizard out and see if I can fixskill him into a warmage. *sigh* So many GS character-ideas to play with.

Yeah, there's something about melee builds. Although in GW2, most classes (but not elementalist!) can swap between two weapons, so they don't necessarily have to use only melee attacks or only ranged attacks. For instance, the ranger in the video is using longbow and greatsword. But because the weaver has 26 weapon skills per set and a rather complex method of accessing them, they are stuck with what they have equipped when the fight begins. It's okay though, having 2.6 times as many weapon skills has its advantages to offset the limitation of being locked into one weapon!

I like the idea of this nimble, lightly armored fighter that employs an extensive kit of melee-oriented combat spells. It feels really cool!

~Taverkin

[Taernath]

My wizard was originally a war mage in GS3. He would stun or disable an enemy, then haste and carve them up with his longsword. I kind of imagined him as a magical duelist. These days he uses a runestaff but still carries his old longsword on his hip.