1. Dragon Age Origins Tactics Reducing
2. Dragon Age Origins Tactics Reduce
3. Dragon Age Origins Alistair Tactics

This post is part of the series: Dragon Age: Origins Tactics. The use of tactics in Dragon Age Origins is important in completing the game. Without effective assistance from the NPCs in a player’s party, they will most certainly be defeated, especially in the later stages of the game. Dragon Age: Origins - Tactics - Healing. Runes in Dragon Age Origins can be used as enchantments to give weapons special powers. These powers open up new tactics in Dragon Age Origins. For example, a good tactic in Redcliff is to use Cold Iron runes on your weapons to stack damage against the undead you fight there. This Dragon Age Origins Runes and Enchantments Guide tells you all you need to know to use runes in tactical combat.

Just over a year ago, I started playing Dragon Age: Origins. Over the course of a year, I finally managed to complete it, which you can hear my thoughts on here. I found myself hooked to the game, but in short bursts, hence why it took so long to actually complete. Once I completed the game, I began the sequel and was skeptical as to how Dragon Age II would fare against the absolute beast of a game that was Origins.

A week and a half, 80 hours of playtime later, and I was finished with the base game and both DLC’s, and I was thoroughly satisfied.

Long before playing Dragon Age II, I’d heard of it’s disappointment from fans, and how it is generally regarded as the weakest in the series, some even straight up calling it a bad game, so I came in having my doubts. One thing that I was told, however - which I think is important to note when addressing Dragon Age II with a critical eye - is that the game had a rushed development thanks to the small window that Bioware were given to actually finish the game. And make no mistake, you can see it in the final product; some textures look god awful, especially the Elves, which is especially noticeable when characters from Origins make an appearance and you can really see the difference. The story at times feels awkward and duct-taped together with the three act system, and the reuse of environments can make the second and third acts of the game feel incredibly stale at times, as you wander through the same identical cavern for the 10th time.

But is the game bad? Absolutely not. In fact there are ways in which it personally supersedes Origins, most notably the characters (and the ways you can interact with them), and the combat system. In fact it feels that until the third act, the main story takes a backseat while your relationships with your companions begin to bloom, and your relationships with these characters will shape the important moments that occur in the final act.

Combat in Dragon Age II was immediately a noticeable change for me, and one that was done for the better. Combat is a lot more fluid and fast paced: you attack faster, move faster, and feel like you’re dealing more damage when in combat. Combat in Origins was mostly very static. Mages would mostly turret in the far corner of the room and moving them was so much of a hassle that it wasn’t worth it, Warriors often did the same thing just in the center of combat, and Rogue’s main issue arose from trying to attack a moving target, usually one that was advancing on your mage. In DAII, Warriors have a lot of freedom to their movement, with many of their attack abilities having wide movement integrated into them or knockdown effects to enemies around them to free them if they are surrounded. Mages can attack much faster and the increased in-combat movement speed allows them to really be a mobile powerhouse on the battlefield. Rogues will leap through the air to intercept targets that are just moving out of reach and can successfully continue to attack targets that try to get away if they remain close enough. To balance this, enemies come in much greater numbers, sometimes even coming in several waves. Some players found this a source of critique but I personally enjoyed it; it matched the hectic pace of combat and it played on the unreliable narration of the story in a believable and fun way.

Narration is also Dragon Age II’s strong point, even if the story itself isn't necessarily. The story is being retold to a third party, the (then) mysterious Cassandra Pentaghast, from the perspective of Dwarven companion Varric, a friend and party member of playable character Hawke and a proficient storyteller of verbose and hyperbolic proportions. Such a narrator leads to some pretty wild scenarios that the player takes part in, even some that Cassandra herself will question Varric on regarding their validity. Varric’s storytelling nature is brought up frequently but very organically, so it doesn’t feel forced as a means of narration and genuinely makes for a really interesting method of delivering a story. They also lead to some pretty good comedic moments, such as when Varric insists that he single-handedly wiped out a mansion full of bandits as you take control of his character with the addition of a massive damage buff, ability cooldown reduction, and the power to make people explode when you shoot them. Or the beginning of the game, when Varric tells an exaggerated version of Hawke’s escape from Lothering that pairs up as a nice tutorial to the game's mechanics. One of your siblings, either Bethany or Carver, will be in this section depending on your class. If you’re a non-mage, you will be joined by Bethany, who will have mammoth sized breasts that are subsequently (and noticeably) absent when Varric is cut short and begins to tell the ‘real’ story of how they escaped.

This leans greatly on the game's other great strength; the characters. As the story is not as grand as what Origins had on display, it was important that the game made the internal conflicts between characters engaging enough to carry itself, and thankfully, it does just that. The voice actors/actresses for the main cast do a superb job, and every character feels intricately fleshed out and interacting with them, as well as watching them interact with each other, is absolutely the highlight of the game. Some smaller characters from Origins make a return as fully fledged companions, such as Merril (temporary Companion in the Dalish Origin), Isabela (pirate captain found in The Pearl in Denerim) and Anders (possible companion in Awakening). Each character is expanded greatly, and will even make reference to The Warden from Origins if they ever crossed paths. Some fans argue that returning characters were changed too much from what they were in Origins and should have just been new characters, but these changes are all explored and given adequate explanation. Even Anders, who faces the most criticism when it comes to the ruining of a character, behaves in a way that can be understood, even if not necessarily agreed with, and such mannerisms of his behaviour even have their groundwork laid out in party conversations you can hear in Awakening between himself, Justice and Nathaniel.

The characters are also given greater agency thanks to the changes to the approval system, which in turn makes it easier to make your character act how you want them to without the risk of having members of your party leave you because you call them out on their bullshit. Instead of just gaining or losing approval with characters, you instead have friendship and rivalry points. Actions you take and things you say will either gain friendship points, or rivalry points, and your total will sit on a scale that has 100 total points in both directions. Having high or maxed rivalry with someone will not mean that they leave in a strop, and in some cases they may actually try to change the part of their behaviour you find disagreeable if you can convince them of reason. One perfect example of this is Merril, a Dalish Blood Mage with a penchant for dangerous artifacts who I found myself frequently gaining rivalry with due to my character's disdain towards Blood Magic and meddling with unknown forces. On a rivalry path, Merril may begin to see error in her ways and try to change, whereas a friendship path with her will encourage her use of Blood Magic and meddling with the dark and dangerous forces that come with it. This system gives players the ability to be more concrete with how they speak to their companions and the actions they take, as you won’t be penalised for rubbing a companion the wrong way, and in fact, you tend to get punished more if you’re inconsistent with your actions, as certain events in Act 2 and Act 3 can cause some interesting results from your companions if you haven’t reached a certain point threshold in either direction with them.

Dragon Age Origins Tactics Reducing

As Hawke themselves, who is fully voiced, can have their personality tailored to how you want, this feature works wonderfully. You can either be ‘Green’, which is considered friendly, optimistic, or helpful; Purple, which is humorous, sarcastic, or neutral; or Red, which is considered direct, aggressive, and violent. The one you choose most consistently will actually affect parts of the story, as sometimes an action can only be successfully done if you are a certain ‘personality’; for example, sometimes only a ‘Red’ Hawke can successfully intimidate a character to get what they want. As you don’t have to necessarily worry too much about companion reactions, this feature works beautifully in making Hawke really feel like your character.

If there’s one thing that the story does well, it’s showing you the effect you’ve had through your choices over the years. Each Act takes place several years apart, and the ability to see how your decisions have shaped the city of Kirkwall, as well as watching your companions grow, makes for rather ingenious worldbuilding. The party dialogue of your companions when they barely know each other in Act 1, versus the way they speak in Act 3 after nearly a decade of being together is rather poignant, especially with pairings like Aveline and Isabela.

Dragon Age II took what was good about Origins and did its best to make them even better in the small window it had. If given more time, I don’t doubt that DAII would be hailed as the best in the series. The story isn’t as ‘epic’, but it doesn’t need to be when you’re so heavily invested in Hawke and their companions. The exceptional voice acting for the player character and downright hilarity of some of the voice lines (Purple Hawke is the best Hawke and I will fight you) makes it incredibly easy to get lost in your character, even more so than Origins. I don’t care about the blight, all Isla Hawke wants is gay pirate booty and for everyone to stop killing each other for just five minutes.

COMBAT GUIDELINES

Below are a number of general guidelines for the conduct of combat in Dragon Age Origins (Nightmare), which will be fleshed out through specific examples in other parts of the guide.

Maximize your Physical Combat Advantages: Attack and Defense, then Armor and others

I started this thread even though I for the most part agreed with Blackthorne TA's response in order to start some debate. Armor remains static, and gets chipped away as higher level foes have more Armor Penetration. Attack and defense can always be built up on level ups. Given this dynamic it is usually more important to minimize the number of times you get hit, and maximize the number of times you hit the enemies, than to rely on damage reduction.

There are times when both your party and the monsters are crowding around each other and mixing it up. It is often the 'default situation'. It therefore pays to maximize your attack and defense ratings for your characters, with armor and other factors coming second.

This is not to say that every battle can be run on auto-pilot. Prudence dictates calling upon other strategies as well, like exercising crowd-control. Even so, paying attention to attack and defense and armor ratings is still important. Higher attack and defense ratings can accentuate other strategies like crowd-control and holding the swarm at bay. For example, if only a few monsters make it past crowd-control, your higher attack and defense ratings will make themselves that much more effective on the fewer number of foes that reach you. Likewise greater attack and defense ratings also mean taking down monsters stunned by Captivating Song for example much more quickly.

Minimally Scripted Mage as the Quarterback, Highly Scripted Warriors and Rogues

I'll provide more specific examples of this when I go over how I develop my Grey Warden and the companions. Many of the Mage's abilities are capable of friendly fire, or otherwise require precise placement in order to be effective such that their operation should not be left to scripting. I thus tend to prefer minimal scripting of activated abilities for a Mage, whom I have as the character that I control manually while the Warriors and Rogues go to work according to their much more extensive scripting. This also has the advantage in that a Mage who hangs back will have a much better view of the field of combat, thus allowing you to stay on top of things as they progress. *Note* This concept assumes holding the camera in an over the shoulder view instead of a straight down from the top view.

Avoid the Rush

It can be tempting to rush through the door and get the fight over with quickly. But this can lead to disaster. Sometimes other options are preferable. Sometimes you can seize the initiative right away and cast spells through the door. If the foes are right at the door when you open it, retreat a little and let them come to you so you're not relying on one or two characters against many right at the door. Take your time, be patient, and assess the situation as it develops.

Drawing them Forward

The idea is to pull a few foes away from the main force so that you can deal with them piecemeal.

One way to do this is to toggle the button on the left side of the screen so that your party members won't follow each other around. Send one character ahead of the party and bring the outlier enemies into view. When they start following the lead character, the lead character runs back and allows the party to easily kill them. The Mabari Hound, with his running speed, is probably the best suited for this role.

The other way is to open missile fire on the foremost among the enemy, which often encourages them to come forward ahead of the rest of the force. In fact Leliana often took this as far as wiping out whole parts of the enemy force one by one with her bow.

Turn the Corner

If you're faced with a large group of archers, an effective method is to run back and around the corner. Once they come around the bend they'll be within easy reach.

Crowd Control at the Bottleneck followed by Offensive Spells

This tends to work best when the foes are at the other end of a hallway, allowing you to use the hallway itself as a bottleneck. The idea is a simple and effective one. Start off with crowd-control spells in order to keep the monsters from passing the bottleneck. Good choices include Earthquake and the Glyph of Repulsion. Now fire away with offensive spells. It gets even better with storm type spells like Tempest, Inferno, and Death Cloud.

Keeping the Swarm at Bay

Sometimes this is unavoidable. You'll get swarmed with foes in an instant from all sides. It is therefore important to have talents that will halt the swarm in its tracks, both to stop you from getting overwhelmed but also to buy you time to go to work on them. Some of the best ones include Waking Nightmare, Blood Wound, and the Captivating Song.

The Singularly Powerful Foe

Sometimes you run into a particularly powerful monster like a Dragon, a Revenant, or a Pride Demon. It is recommended that you bring along abilities that can fulfill any one of three purposes. One purpose is to bring the monsters to a temporary halt, allowing your party members to score as much damage as possible until it manages to break free. Examples include Cone of Cold, the Glyph of Paralysis, and Petrify. Another purpose is to reduce its ability to inflict damage on you. One example is Misdirection Hex. Another purpose is to increase your ability to physically inflict damage on it. Examples include Death Hex and Telekinetic Weapons.

Enemy Mages

For enemy Mages the name of the game is to kill them as quickly as possible, interrupt their spellcasting whenever possible, or hold them up long enough for your party members to reach them (or some combination of those strategies).

Mana Clash is arguably the best anti-Mage ability in the game since it often kills enemy mages outright. Even if it doesn't, they'll be drained of their mana. It covers a large area as well and does not inflict friendly fire.

Crushing Prison is also a good ability since it both damages and paralyzes an enemy Mage for a decent amount of time.

Sometimes you need to interrupt Mages when they're in the middle of spellcasting though. Abilities that can knock opponents down or stun them can get the job done. Examples include Fireball, Scattershot, and Stone Fist.

Alistair makes one of the best Mage killers in the game, since he can combine delay with spellcasting interruption. He can start off with Holy Smite on a Mage, temporarily stunning him. Alistair then has enough time to walk up to the Mage and stay on top of him with Shield talents that can keep the Mage off his feet. Death is usually a matter of course.

'Aggro' Management

'Aggro' is CRPG jargon for a monster's tendency to make a bee-line for the character who has recently inflicted considerable damage on the monster, or otherwise has done something to get that monster's hostile attention.

A properly designed tank character is one that scores reliable damage, and has both good attack and defense ratings, and perhaps good armor to boot as well. As much as possible you want enemy aggro focused on your tank, to minimize the risks to other party members.

Dragon Age Origins Tactics Reduce

The more difficult question is when a physically more vulnerable character, like your Mage, does something to aggro the monsters. Spells like Earthquake and Fireball tend to produce a lot of aggro. The question then becomes how to neutralize that aggro. Aggro neutralization requires follow-up abilities that minimize the monsters' abilities to inflict damage on the vulnerable character. This will become clearer when I explain how I develop my Grey Warden character, Aldarion, as well as Wynne.

*Note* If you want specific examples of how I employ these guidelines, the rest of the guide contains numerous examples of how I conduct battles throughout the game.

Dragon Age Origins Alistair Tactics