I'm trying to decide which spells to learn on my mages for play in Nightmare mode. I currently have a mage Hawke, Varric, Anders and Fenris in my party.
I cast Firestorm, Tempest and Hail of Arrows at the start of each battle (unless the enemies are immune to fire and/or electricity) then start focusing down enemies one by one with my ranged characters. When enemies get out of the AoE spell killzone, I try to aggro them with Fenris and use Mighty Blow and/or Whirlwind if it seems possible to do it without hurting party members.
If I can pull off a good positioning for Cone of Cold I will cast it, especially vs. fire immunes like dragons or Qunari.
I have Rock Armor on my Hawke and I have upgraded Heroic Aura on Anders. My party just hit level 10. I gave Anders Heal and Panacea. Heal is useful but I have never found Panacea to be of any use.
Which spells are good for Nightmare mode? (In other words, friendly fire needs to not be an issue. I'm worried that I'll end up getting a lot of friendly fire with walking bomb for example.)
I'm wondering which if any spells in the Force Mage specialization are worth learning. They don't seem so exciting, but I refuse to do Blood Mage for roleplaying reasons and Spirit Healer is obviously just defensive. For example, how will I use Telekinetic Burst on Nightmare mode since it will affect my characters, too? Pull of the Abyss seems ok but is it worth the talents needed to unlock it?
Thanks in advance for any advice you all may provide! :)