that high dragon, what's the best lineup? What really gets me is when it flys away and just pew pews fireballs while dragonlings are everywhere.
This was my strategy. Got it on the first try.
On Hard mode I had a Mage specced Arcane tossing barriers up and rolled with 3 rogues. Isabella, myself, and Varric basically did infinite DPS and any time I started to take too much damage, Isabella would cast Across the Bow, and I would cast Throw The Gauntlet when she started to get low. We would tank the dragon alternately like that while he was on the ground and when the dragonlings came out they didn't last two seconds with 3 rogues and a Mage. The fireballs don't hurt much with Group Barrier up, either. Still, dodging them > taking 'em to the face.
I'd go with a 2 handed warrior if I was you starting out. The DPS is off the chains and you can still tank and have a good amount of fortitude. I'm playing on hard at the momment and the 2 hander tree is just insane. I've cleared most of Act 1 with Bethany DPS/Heals, Aveline Tank, myself, and Varric, nasty team right there.
I've been tanking this playthrough and find that the defense tree to feel a little lacking. I maxed out sword and shield. Got improved rally and taunt the got the regen talents from that other tree.
There seems to be a huge problem for me with the amount of sustained mana or stamina abilities use. When fights keep going because they just spawn enemies over and over Anders having 60% of his mana tied up because he has 2 sustains on just sucks. He can cast 2 maybe 3 heals before he's oom.
I would find the teleporting baddies a lot less annoying if it weren't for the lack of a top-down view. It's just annoying to not realize X damage per second is actually coming from the archers back there because they actually just popped in while you were looking the other way.
It is weird to me that CRPG combat tends to be so lackluster, when by all rights that seems like the easiest part to perfect and story seems like it would be the hardest. But my few pen and paper D&D games I still remember for the cool and creative combat and not the atrocious story, and the CRPGs I love I tend to remember for interesting story elements.
Bodahn is a pretty nice guy. His voice actor did a really bang up job selling him as a kindly, harmless merchant.
Sandal: I want some salamanders!
Bodahn: Don't do it! That's where the boom comes from, I think.
Edit: I hope to god they never ever explain Sandals abilities. It works so much better as this quirky little mystery that doesn't need explaining. Making it a serious plot point would be a mistake.
It's a joke
I dunno.
Clearly there's something up with Sandal; he may be a joke character, but between his Deep Roads origins, his uncanny powers ("NOT ENCHANTMENT", piles of monster corpses), and the fact that he's been right there with us through two of the biggest stories in modern Thedas, he could be something important. Is there an Old God of ENCHANTMENT? He may be a dwarf paragon that discovered the secrets of immortality, Merill-watching, and bannister-swinging.
One minor question regarding Sandal:
He gives me a special rune at some point (not the one from Varric's quest, before that), but all that the UI tells me is that it does "." like the description got erased or something. I put it on Bianca; anyone know what it actually does?
Act III weapon stuff:
Early on in the act I got Bloom, the axe that does cold damage and heals you, and stacked +cold damage gear; I laughed and laughed as I flash froze entire packs of enemies and never needed healing. So great.
Merril: Gascard likes ancient artifacts, just like me!
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
Merril: Gascard likes ancient artifacts, just like me!
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
You're a trespasser. He's exercising the Castle doctrine. A man's home is his castle, and he can defend it with lethal force.
Speaking of a tanking duelist, how does defense work in DAII? I've heard mention of glancing blows but I don't know how that works at all. Does this mean that >100% defense doesn't mean invariably dodging most types of attacks? And does anyone know offhand the ratio between attack for mooks, lieutenants, and bosses?
Merril: Gascard likes ancient artifacts, just like me!
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
You're a trespasser. He's exercising the Castle doctrine. A man's home is his castle, and he can defend it with lethal force.
With demons. It's clearly a good idea to let mages that summon demons do whatever they please.
Pancake on
0
David_TA fashion yes-man is no good to me.Copenhagen, DenmarkRegistered Userregular
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
Take two steps anywhere in Kirkwall and you get accosted by demons.
David_T on
0
CorehealerThe ApothecaryThe softer edge of the universe.Registered Userregular
Merril: Gascard likes ancient artifacts, just like me!
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
You're a trespasser. He's exercising the Castle doctrine. A man's home is his castle, and he can defend it with lethal force.
With demons. It's clearly a good idea to let mages that summon demons do whatever they please.
But you forget, the templars are evil totalitarian mage racists. So using demons is justified because templars forced me to do it and therefore prove everything they say about mages.
Early on in the act I got Bloom, the axe that does cold damage and heals you, and stacked +cold damage gear; I laughed and laughed as I flash froze entire packs of enemies and never needed healing. So great.
The good thing is, because your axe uses elemental damage, that means it'll completely bypass the armor of enemies, while a physical damage weapon wouldn't. However, it seems to me that this +cold damage only affects basic attacks with the axe, and probably not any of your abilities like Mighty Blow or Whirlwind. Abilities for a Warrior would probably be considered physical damage, logically. So while that +cold damage gear bumps up your normal attacks, your abilities won't get any benefits.
On the other hand, if you use a physical damage weapon, you'll have to deal with armor, but you'll be confident in knowing that any % physical damage stats on your armor will boost both your basic attacks and abilities.
ZarathustraEckUbermenschnow with stripes!Registered Userregular
edited March 2011
Regarding Sandal/Flemeth connection
He's no more Flemeth's child than Morrigan is. But I'd say she definitely has had contact with him at some point. She likes to move her chess pieces around, and I'd wager Sandal is one of them.
Merril: Gascard likes ancient artifacts, just like me!
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
You're a trespasser. He's exercising the Castle doctrine. A man's home is his castle, and he can defend it with lethal force.
With demons. It's clearly a good idea to let mages that summon demons do whatever they please.
Well, he thought it was going to be Quentin showing up, who's a powerful blood mage, so he had to fight fire with fire. It's for a greater good.
You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
Merril: Gascard likes ancient artifacts, just like me!
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
I did enjoy his later re-appearence during All That Remains
If you go to him in Darktown instead of meeting with Gamlen in Lowtown, he can track us to the killer's lair right away. I was hoping that we could get there in time to save Mom...
...but no, she still gets frankenhookered and Gascard joins the killer, against Hawke's advice
Bethany as a full Elemental mage (with some off healing), Merrill with full Nature spec (tempest, woooooo) + her AoE talents, Fenris as a full 2h warrior, and Hawke as a full duelest/dual blade rogue.
Merril: Gascard likes ancient artifacts, just like me!
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
I did enjoy his later re-appearence during All That Remains
If you go to him in Darktown instead of meeting with Gamlen in Lowtown, he can track us to the killer's lair right away. I was hoping that we could get there in time to save Mom...
...but no, she still gets frankenhookered and Gascard joins the killer, against Hawke's advice
Early on in the act I got Bloom, the axe that does cold damage and heals you, and stacked +cold damage gear; I laughed and laughed as I flash froze entire packs of enemies and never needed healing. So great.
The good thing is, because your axe uses elemental damage, that means it'll completely bypass the armor of enemies, while a physical damage weapon wouldn't. However, it seems to me that this +cold damage only affects basic attacks with the axe, and probably not any of your abilities like Mighty Blow or Whirlwind. Abilities for a Warrior would probably be considered physical damage, logically. So while that +cold damage gear bumps up your normal attacks, your abilities won't get any benefits.
On the other hand, if you use a physical damage weapon, you'll have to deal with armor, but you'll be confident in knowing that any % physical damage stats on your armor will boost both your basic attacks and abilities.
Actually, I'm pretty sure my special attacks still did cold damage.
EDIT: Scale that down to "sorta sure". I thought I remembered freezing a wide area with my Whirlwind, but my normal attack can hit a huge mob of dudes. I'll have to check. I also think that Sebastian was doing like 800 fire damage with the fire bow and an Archer's Lance.
Dracomicron on
0
GoodKingJayIIIThey wanna get mygold on the ceilingRegistered Userregular
Wow, uh, can you change Bethany's face anywhere? She looks like she has Downs Syndrone. And Carver looked awsome as well.
Their faces changed based on which of the presets you use to create your Hawke. But other than that I don't think you can really change their appearances.
Also, watch out for Bethany's hands. For some reason they don't have any skin.
They should've worked that into the game somehow. Bethany should get a melee attack that absorbs demons or something, that claw is so godawful scary.
Speaking of a tanking duelist, how does defense work in DAII? I've heard mention of glancing blows but I don't know how that works at all. Does this mean that >100% defense doesn't mean invariably dodging most types of attacks? And does anyone know offhand the ratio between attack for mooks, lieutenants, and bosses?
Defense gives you greater avoidance. It's right near the bottom of the attributes menu. Avoidance is capped at 80%, so you can't dodge everything. Going from one class to the next lowers your avoidance by 20%. So if you just barely hit 80% for normal enemies, you'll dodge Elites for 60%, and Bosses for 40%. You can raise your defense much higher then 80% which counteracts this however, to the point where your avoidance to Normals and Elites are both 80%, while Bosses are something like 70%. This is because you've stacked the defense so high that the true avoidance doesn't register on the menu. This helps defeat the 20% drop. However, the cap for all is still 80%.
Default avoidance with zero Defense is 8% for Normals, and 5% for Elites and Bosses.
Glancing blows has to do with your attack score versus an enemy's defense. I don't think enemies can hit you for glancing blows, unless you use Shield Wall. If your attack is only 80%, then 20% of the time you'll hit an enemy with a glancing blow, which does a certain percentage of your normal damage. The percentage varies based on the difficulty of the game.
Man, both mages and templars have some bad apples in this game. Makes choosing between them entertaining. A plague on both their houses.
That's sort of the point of the game, I think.
Both sides have good some good people and reasons for doing what they do. Both sides have some absolutely terrible people who are mucking things up. And both sides have someone in charge who is starting to lose it and can't find a way out of the situation that's brewing. Throughout all three act, everything just grows and grows.
And then Anders goes and lights the powder keg to set it all off.
Wow, uh, can you change Bethany's face anywhere? She looks like she has Downs Syndrone. And Carver looked awsome as well.
She looks hot with default Hawke. You should just start the game with the default face, and then use the Black Emporium to create your custom face. That way you get the best of both worlds.
Pretty much the only good ones are the ones I told to get out of dodge who sent me letters later. By the time the end of Act 3 rolls around all that's left is some nameless cannon fodder, the rest are 100% maelificars. Templars on the other hand are a more varied group, there are several decent ones, and some real geese.
Speaking of a tanking duelist, how does defense work in DAII? I've heard mention of glancing blows but I don't know how that works at all. Does this mean that >100% defense doesn't mean invariably dodging most types of attacks? And does anyone know offhand the ratio between attack for mooks, lieutenants, and bosses?
Defense gives you greater avoidance. It's right near the bottom of the attributes menu. Avoidance is capped at 80%, so you can't dodge everything. Going from one class to the next lowers your avoidance by 20%. So if you just barely hit 80% for normal enemies, you'll dodge Elites for 60%, and Bosses for 40%. You can raise your defense much higher then 80% which counteracts this however, to the point where your avoidance to Normals and Elites are both 80%, while Bosses are something like 70%. This is because you've stacked the defense so high that the true avoidance doesn't register on the menu. This helps defeat the 20% drop. However, the cap for all is still 80%.
Glancing blows has to do with your attack score versus an enemy's defense. I don't think enemies can hit you for glancing blows, unless you use Shield Wall. If your attack is only 80%, then 20% of the time you'll hit an enemy with a glancing blow, which does a certain percentage of your normal damage. The percentage varies based on the difficulty of the game.
Ah, okay, I wasn't clear on how much had changed. So the highest I should bother raising defense is 120% (which won't display, but can be calculated), translating to 80% avoidance for each class?
Speaking of a tanking duelist, how does defense work in DAII? I've heard mention of glancing blows but I don't know how that works at all. Does this mean that >100% defense doesn't mean invariably dodging most types of attacks? And does anyone know offhand the ratio between attack for mooks, lieutenants, and bosses?
Defense gives you greater avoidance. It's right near the bottom of the attributes menu. Avoidance is capped at 80%, so you can't dodge everything. Going from one class to the next lowers your avoidance by 20%. So if you just barely hit 80% for normal enemies, you'll dodge Elites for 60%, and Bosses for 40%. You can raise your defense much higher then 80% which counteracts this however, to the point where your avoidance to Normals and Elites are both 80%, while Bosses are something like 70%. This is because you've stacked the defense so high that the true avoidance doesn't register on the menu. This helps defeat the 20% drop. However, the cap for all is still 80%.
Glancing blows has to do with your attack score versus an enemy's defense. I don't think enemies can hit you for glancing blows, unless you use Shield Wall. If your attack is only 80%, then 20% of the time you'll hit an enemy with a glancing blow, which does a certain percentage of your normal damage. The percentage varies based on the difficulty of the game.
Ah, okay, I wasn't clear on how much had changed. So the highest I should bother raising defense is 120% (which won't display, but can be calculated), translating to 80% avoidance for each class?
Yep.
Forgot to mention, but Elites and Bosses lower your Attack score, just like avoidance is lowered. I'm going by memory, but I believe attack drops by 15% for each class. So if you're 100% attack, it's 85% for Elites, and 70 for Bosses.
Wow, uh, can you change Bethany's face anywhere? She looks like she has Downs Syndrone. And Carver looked awsome as well.
She looks hot with default Hawke. You should just start the game with the default face, and then use the Black Emporium to create your custom face. That way you get the best of both worlds.
Shit. I wish they would patch it so that attack and defense display over 100%, or at least that stats relative to enemy rank are displayed on mouseover, or something.
Posts
And just to be sure, there is a talent respec option this time round, right?
Warrior Hawke will never be as good of a sword and board tank as Aveline.
I wouldn't recommend it. All of Hawke's specs are much better suited to BALLS TO THE WALL DEE PEE ESS
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
This was my strategy. Got it on the first try.
Sandal to be a secret party member in DA3. His only attacks are 'Enchatment!' and 'Not enchantment!'
It'll just be Sandal riding on Dragon Flemeth's back, throwing runes at darkspawn and shouting ENCHANTMENT as they burst into flames.
3DS: 1607-3034-6970
There seems to be a huge problem for me with the amount of sustained mana or stamina abilities use. When fights keep going because they just spawn enemies over and over Anders having 60% of his mana tied up because he has 2 sustains on just sucks. He can cast 2 maybe 3 heals before he's oom.
3DS FC: 5086-1134-6451
Shiny Code: 3837
This is not a joke.
White FC: 0819 3350 1787
It is weird to me that CRPG combat tends to be so lackluster, when by all rights that seems like the easiest part to perfect and story seems like it would be the hardest. But my few pen and paper D&D games I still remember for the cool and creative combat and not the atrocious story, and the CRPGs I love I tend to remember for interesting story elements.
I agree so hard I pulled a muscle somewhere.
My rogue Hawke is specced full in the Duelist tree and she can solo Pride Demons with their full entourage of Shades.
Throw that gauntlet, yo!
I dunno.
One minor question regarding Sandal:
Act III weapon stuff:
A damning testimony if ever I heard one. Also I dunno why I let him go the first time, take two steps into his mansion and you get accosted by demons >.>
You're a trespasser. He's exercising the Castle doctrine. A man's home is his castle, and he can defend it with lethal force.
With demons. It's clearly a good idea to let mages that summon demons do whatever they please.
Take two steps anywhere in Kirkwall and you get accosted by demons.
But you forget, the templars are evil totalitarian mage racists. So using demons is justified because templars forced me to do it and therefore prove everything they say about mages.
On the other hand, if you use a physical damage weapon, you'll have to deal with armor, but you'll be confident in knowing that any % physical damage stats on your armor will boost both your basic attacks and abilities.
Even though the dialogue for the completed quest comes up will I still get the quest she's talking about later?
And she has a scary laugh.
-Z
You should, yeah.
You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
I did enjoy his later re-appearence during All That Remains
Man, both mages and templars have some bad apples in this game. Makes choosing between them entertaining. A plague on both their houses.
Bethany as a full Elemental mage (with some off healing), Merrill with full Nature spec (tempest, woooooo) + her AoE talents, Fenris as a full 2h warrior, and Hawke as a full duelest/dual blade rogue.
Played on hard, everything dies so fast.
Our first game is now available for free on Google Play: Frontier: Isle of the Seven Gods
Wow, makes me glad I
Our first game is now available for free on Google Play: Frontier: Isle of the Seven Gods
Actually, I'm pretty sure my special attacks still did cold damage.
EDIT: Scale that down to "sorta sure". I thought I remembered freezing a wide area with my Whirlwind, but my normal attack can hit a huge mob of dudes. I'll have to check. I also think that Sebastian was doing like 800 fire damage with the fire bow and an Archer's Lance.
Their faces changed based on which of the presets you use to create your Hawke. But other than that I don't think you can really change their appearances.
Also, watch out for Bethany's hands. For some reason they don't have any skin.
They should've worked that into the game somehow. Bethany should get a melee attack that absorbs demons or something, that claw is so godawful scary.
PSN: Threeve703
Defense gives you greater avoidance. It's right near the bottom of the attributes menu. Avoidance is capped at 80%, so you can't dodge everything. Going from one class to the next lowers your avoidance by 20%. So if you just barely hit 80% for normal enemies, you'll dodge Elites for 60%, and Bosses for 40%. You can raise your defense much higher then 80% which counteracts this however, to the point where your avoidance to Normals and Elites are both 80%, while Bosses are something like 70%. This is because you've stacked the defense so high that the true avoidance doesn't register on the menu. This helps defeat the 20% drop. However, the cap for all is still 80%.
Default avoidance with zero Defense is 8% for Normals, and 5% for Elites and Bosses.
Glancing blows has to do with your attack score versus an enemy's defense. I don't think enemies can hit you for glancing blows, unless you use Shield Wall. If your attack is only 80%, then 20% of the time you'll hit an enemy with a glancing blow, which does a certain percentage of your normal damage. The percentage varies based on the difficulty of the game.
That's sort of the point of the game, I think.
And then Anders goes and lights the powder keg to set it all off.
She looks hot with default Hawke. You should just start the game with the default face, and then use the Black Emporium to create your custom face. That way you get the best of both worlds.
I'm pretty sure they'll explain his being at some point, especially considering the hidden dialogue you can get out of him. for those not in the know:
I would love to see his skill trees.
Enchantment! --- Boom! / Enchantment! --- Enchantment? \ Enchantment!Ah, okay, I wasn't clear on how much had changed. So the highest I should bother raising defense is 120% (which won't display, but can be calculated), translating to 80% avoidance for each class?
Yep.
Forgot to mention, but Elites and Bosses lower your Attack score, just like avoidance is lowered. I'm going by memory, but I believe attack drops by 15% for each class. So if you're 100% attack, it's 85% for Elites, and 70 for Bosses.
That's a good tip. Thanks.