There's my problem then. I play a rogue + Alistair and sometimes I have a third melee character with me. My party is very melee-ish!HSIAMetalKing said:
Also, I believe FF on hard is 100%, or am I remembering it wrong?
Dragon Age is hard....
- Thread starter MiracleOfSound
- Start date
Recommended Videos
Also, I believe FF on hard is 100%, or am I remembering it wrong?
They're very useful for micromanagement. Cone of cold is a guaranteed (?) freeze and winter's grasp is great to keep enemy mages busy. Frozen enemies can be shattered, also usefull. Fireball is about the only instant damage AoE spell, with a rather rather small cooldown, combine it with earthquake and the weaker enemies have no where to go. Blizzard and tempest are nice for long battles but meh, I never used them much.achilleas.k said:
The "problem" I was referring to was the friendly fire from AOE. Wasn't trying to ninja the topic so let's not deviate into this now 
Yeah im exactly same background and class and im struggling. I use Alistair to run in with lots of tanking and try to get my rogue behind their lines. that works well but soon as a mage appears i run as they seem to trounce me and then mop up my team!Furburt said:
Any help on beating enemy mages out their?
Here's a few tips:
BEWARE!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-Hey, are you only 2nd level? Done with Lothering? Hit Denerim. It's loaded with sidequests that are easy money and XP.
- Supporting Harrowmount gets you in the dwarf Arena o' Conflict Resolution to fight. Guess what that gets you? MORE XP.
- Buy the codex xp-up and money-up belts. Getting money is better than getting useless crap you have to sell. You will be rich before you're done with the 2nd subquest.
-If you're going to use Morrigan a lot, then be sure to get her in bed. All of your party members get MAJOR bonuses if you're buddy-buddy with them. There are 4 tiers of bonus level: be sure to get them all buy buying/finding presents for your pets and listening to their stories. When your fighters got Inspired Major Strength (or Con) and your mages get Inspired Major Magic, all of a sudden your party will be made up of Bruce Lee, Samurai Jack, Gandalf, and the Death Star.
- Beware your own mages. It's very easy to friendly-fire your own party into oblivion. Left on auto-kill mode Morrigan did this to me constantly, until I got sick of it and left her ass behind.
- With all due respect to those people who like to play mages, the ultimate damage spell is a WELL-PROGRAMMED FIGHTER. Select one and set one of his tactics to protect your healer (Wynne), then set the rest of his tactics to use his super-whatever attacks on the bad guys. Then set his friend the same way. You will not be disappointed.
- Shale is the cheapest character you will ever outfit. (s)He only needs armor and weapon crystals, and is super easy to be buddies with. Program him to ground-pound, slam, and rock-hurl at everything in site. He's an absolute brick.
- ALWAYS pickpocket everyone in a given area. If you're not a thief, learn to love Leliana, cuz she'll be your best friend between that and Song of Valour. I hate the fuck out of Zevran and left him in camp practically the whole game. In the second playthrough I killed him with no appreciable repercussions.
- Dragons: wear fireproof gear. I beat the smeg out of both dragons at around 14th level. Get both drake-scale armors from the dude in Denerim and put fire crystals on Shale for armor (and ice for his hands). Go to the Circle Tower and complete the Shade in the Basement (or whatever it's called) sidequest and you'll get a 2-handed sword that's has bonuses SPECIFICALLY VS DRAGONS among other things. Then go kill the fuck out of them.
-Darkspawn: Go load up on Silverite runes and then put them in your 2 and 3 slot runic weapons. You'll scythe them down like wheat.
- Here's something you can exploit like a champ. The game levels enemies according to what level you are when you first encounter them. Put on some fireproof gear and go kill Flemeth when you're around 12th level (safety tip: STAND BEHIND HER THE WHOLE TIME). Then when you counter that dragon during the Urn of Sacred Ashes and you're level15 or so? Guess what? Big as it is, that dragon is lower than you! Now here's a pop quiz: what were you killing at Ostagar?
- You'll probably have problems with something called the Broodmother during the dwarf quest. People make this out to be harder than it really is. With Wynne set up as your healer and one of your fighters programmed to attack whatever's attacking her, run up to the Broodmother and wail on it till it dies. Don't bother with the tentacles or Darkspawn. Kill it. Easy-peasy.
When all is said and done, PLAY A ROGUE: You'll be able to do the following:
- Sneak into groups of enemies and drop bombs on them.
- Sneak into enemies and first-strike their mages with 2 weapons
- pickpocket everybody in creation, even the major NPCs and children. Yes, even children have cash. Take it from them, otherwise
they'll just spend it on internet gambling and booze.
- Do all of the above wearing heavy armor just like a fighter. In fact, why play a fighter? They have fewer abilities and can't sneak up
and whack enemy bosses like a Predator. Get your strength and Dex stats up around 36-38, and keep building up Cunning and Const
and you'll be just fine. There are also TONS of stat boosting items (Helm of Honnleath, Key to the City) to help you.
- THIEVES GET EXTRA XP: for opening traps and unlocking chests and doors. Because of this, they level up faster than any other class.
Even if the battle's over you can run around disabling traps and earning XP for each one you disarm.
- THIEVES GET A WHOLE SET OF SIDEQUESTS JUST FOR THEM: Slim Caudry shows up in Denerim (he's right there as you walk into the
market district and gives you a bunch of sneak-in-and-steal and pickpocket quests. You'll get extra XP and cash.
Everything else (potions, "kill mages first") has already been said. HASTE is your number one support spell next to revive and heal, b/c even a dwarf will zip around like a bumblebee on meth with it active. If you HAVE to play a mage (how many of you named theirs Dr. Orpheus?) then you'll love Crushing Prison, Fireball, and Petrify. Just don't put your damage mage on automatic b/c the AI will decide to fry the party, and, as an old soldier once said, Friendly Fire isn't.
Hope this helps.
Now go take Ferelden to the cleaners.
BEWARE!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-Hey, are you only 2nd level? Done with Lothering? Hit Denerim. It's loaded with sidequests that are easy money and XP.
- Supporting Harrowmount gets you in the dwarf Arena o' Conflict Resolution to fight. Guess what that gets you? MORE XP.
- Buy the codex xp-up and money-up belts. Getting money is better than getting useless crap you have to sell. You will be rich before you're done with the 2nd subquest.
-If you're going to use Morrigan a lot, then be sure to get her in bed. All of your party members get MAJOR bonuses if you're buddy-buddy with them. There are 4 tiers of bonus level: be sure to get them all buy buying/finding presents for your pets and listening to their stories. When your fighters got Inspired Major Strength (or Con) and your mages get Inspired Major Magic, all of a sudden your party will be made up of Bruce Lee, Samurai Jack, Gandalf, and the Death Star.
- Beware your own mages. It's very easy to friendly-fire your own party into oblivion. Left on auto-kill mode Morrigan did this to me constantly, until I got sick of it and left her ass behind.
- With all due respect to those people who like to play mages, the ultimate damage spell is a WELL-PROGRAMMED FIGHTER. Select one and set one of his tactics to protect your healer (Wynne), then set the rest of his tactics to use his super-whatever attacks on the bad guys. Then set his friend the same way. You will not be disappointed.
- Shale is the cheapest character you will ever outfit. (s)He only needs armor and weapon crystals, and is super easy to be buddies with. Program him to ground-pound, slam, and rock-hurl at everything in site. He's an absolute brick.
- ALWAYS pickpocket everyone in a given area. If you're not a thief, learn to love Leliana, cuz she'll be your best friend between that and Song of Valour. I hate the fuck out of Zevran and left him in camp practically the whole game. In the second playthrough I killed him with no appreciable repercussions.
- Dragons: wear fireproof gear. I beat the smeg out of both dragons at around 14th level. Get both drake-scale armors from the dude in Denerim and put fire crystals on Shale for armor (and ice for his hands). Go to the Circle Tower and complete the Shade in the Basement (or whatever it's called) sidequest and you'll get a 2-handed sword that's has bonuses SPECIFICALLY VS DRAGONS among other things. Then go kill the fuck out of them.
-Darkspawn: Go load up on Silverite runes and then put them in your 2 and 3 slot runic weapons. You'll scythe them down like wheat.
- Here's something you can exploit like a champ. The game levels enemies according to what level you are when you first encounter them. Put on some fireproof gear and go kill Flemeth when you're around 12th level (safety tip: STAND BEHIND HER THE WHOLE TIME). Then when you counter that dragon during the Urn of Sacred Ashes and you're level15 or so? Guess what? Big as it is, that dragon is lower than you! Now here's a pop quiz: what were you killing at Ostagar?
- You'll probably have problems with something called the Broodmother during the dwarf quest. People make this out to be harder than it really is. With Wynne set up as your healer and one of your fighters programmed to attack whatever's attacking her, run up to the Broodmother and wail on it till it dies. Don't bother with the tentacles or Darkspawn. Kill it. Easy-peasy.
When all is said and done, PLAY A ROGUE: You'll be able to do the following:
- Sneak into groups of enemies and drop bombs on them.
- Sneak into enemies and first-strike their mages with 2 weapons
- pickpocket everybody in creation, even the major NPCs and children. Yes, even children have cash. Take it from them, otherwise
they'll just spend it on internet gambling and booze.
- Do all of the above wearing heavy armor just like a fighter. In fact, why play a fighter? They have fewer abilities and can't sneak up
and whack enemy bosses like a Predator. Get your strength and Dex stats up around 36-38, and keep building up Cunning and Const
and you'll be just fine. There are also TONS of stat boosting items (Helm of Honnleath, Key to the City) to help you.
- THIEVES GET EXTRA XP: for opening traps and unlocking chests and doors. Because of this, they level up faster than any other class.
Even if the battle's over you can run around disabling traps and earning XP for each one you disarm.
- THIEVES GET A WHOLE SET OF SIDEQUESTS JUST FOR THEM: Slim Caudry shows up in Denerim (he's right there as you walk into the
market district and gives you a bunch of sneak-in-and-steal and pickpocket quests. You'll get extra XP and cash.
Everything else (potions, "kill mages first") has already been said. HASTE is your number one support spell next to revive and heal, b/c even a dwarf will zip around like a bumblebee on meth with it active. If you HAVE to play a mage (how many of you named theirs Dr. Orpheus?) then you'll love Crushing Prison, Fireball, and Petrify. Just don't put your damage mage on automatic b/c the AI will decide to fry the party, and, as an old soldier once said, Friendly Fire isn't.
Hope this helps.
Now go take Ferelden to the cleaners.
I'm on normal mode, so I haven't had to worry much about what my party is doing. I set their tactics and then let them go to it really, I mostly only take care of myself in battles. I suppose you could try pausing and micromanaging everyone, but I'd find that too confusing and time consuming. With many of the battles that have killed me repeatedly, I've just had to keep retrying - the dragon in the old temple ruins was one, that thing was a *****. I finally beat it by running circles around it to distract it while the others hit it.miracleofsound said:
I'm currently in the Circle of Magi tower, and there are a couple of rooms I've just had to leave until I'm a higher level; on one floor is a Revenant who keeps killing me, on another there is a room with a demon and a bunch of possessed Templars who plow through me, kill my healer mage and then take the rest of the party apart. The trick is to just keep fighting the same battles until you figure out the right strategy. One that always stands is kill the mage first. This also applies to demons or anything else that buffs, heals, or casts offensive spells on you. You will take a lot of damage by running to the middle of the enemy group and attacking the mage, ignoring the other incoming attacks, but it'll be worth it.
I usually take Sten or Alistair with a double-handed weapon for heavy damage, Morrigan as a ranged tactics support character who will heal anyone whose health dips below 50% and cast lightning instantly on any mage we encounter, and either the dog or Leilana with a longbow. My character is human noble warrior, using a sword and shield. In most battles, Sten and I rush in to deal direct damage while the other two stand back and attack from distance or heal us as necessary.miracleofsound said:
Really? Because Morrigan and Wynne die way easier in my party than anyone else. If something badass gets past my front line and attacks them, I know they aren't going to last for very long. I'm only one my first playthrough though, so maybe its different when you play as a mage.miracleofsound said:
Upgrade constantly. Loot everything, check it to see if it is better armour/weaponry than you are currently using, or if its a trinket-type thing, whether it confers a more useful bonus.miracleofsound said:
Enchant your weapons.
Have your mage cast frost or flame weapon all the time for added damage.
Don't spread your skill points out in the fighter classes, pick one thing (weapon+shield, two-handed, etc) and pour points into that. If you do have a shield, never underestimate a well timed shield bash to knock down or stun a troublesome enemy.
A good use of a tactics slot is to have the character chug a minor health potion when they hit 25% HP. This works well with a healer mage, as they will often go from almost dead to full HP when both come into effect at once.
Walk away if things get too hairy. Always remember that you can just come back later - I am very close to the end of the werewolf quest, but got pissed off at a spot where I kept dying so left it and went to Redcliffe instead.
Most of all, have fun!
It's more like KotOR (if your only point of reference is the two) with a splash of WoW (interface on PC) and heavy on the D&D.Lostpropht said:
I'd just have said "More like KoTOR" because its absolutely bugger all like Mass Effect, except for the massive, massive amounts of reading material that both games dump on youachilleas.k said:
. Oh, and the fact that both are really good, absorbing RPGs.In ME I got bored of reading through all the codex stuff, in DA:O I haven't even bothered. I just read notes and quest-related stuff, because I'd spend all day reading if I did choose to.
ok i dont mean to troll.....
but ive never played or read much about dragon age but it seems like the game being described here is WoW, i mean the tactics just seem so similar to 5 man heroics (obviously before you could do them in 10 mins with a 45kunbuffed tank)
but ive never played or read much about dragon age but it seems like the game being described here is WoW, i mean the tactics just seem so similar to 5 man heroics (obviously before you could do them in 10 mins with a 45kunbuffed tank)
Hey thanks! I never played WoW, But i did roll D&D for awhile. I appreciate it!achilleas.k said:
I guess it'll save money on buying books then lolSonicWaffle said:I'd just have said "More like KoTOR" because its absolutely bugger all like Mass Effect, except for the massive, massive amounts of reading material that both games dump on youachilleas.k said:
In ME I got bored of reading through all the codex stuff, in DA:O I haven't even bothered. I just read notes and quest-related stuff, because I'd spend all day reading if I did choose to.
This man has it. (Or woman, I didn't check.)veloper said:
Basically, aim for the weakest oppenents first. If possible, also aim for the ranged enemies first too. Trying to take on the strongest enemy whilst fifty archers whittle down your health doesn't help.
Using the squad commands also helps too. If you make your teammates hold their positions, then equip them with a ranged weapons or ranged spells whilst you bait the enemies away from attacking them. Also, try not to have all your team focusing on one enemy at once.
