Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough :
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Walkthrough - Class/Character Build Guide%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Dragon Age: Origins PC Class and Character Building Guide By: KerathArcwind %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The purpose of this guide is to take a look at the different classes and specializations open to the main character (generally referred to as 'The Warden' throughout the guide) and the various stat and talent builds that I have found to work well. It also highlights some of the better endgame equipment to keep an eye out for, and provides some suggestions on how to build your allies based on the stats and talent sets that they start with. This is my second guide for GameFAQs. I've played Dragon Age entirely too much over the last few months, finishing the game with nearly every origin and nearly every class/weapon build combination, so I am speaking almost wholly from actual in-game experience and only occasionally from informed speculation. I've tried to go into pretty good detail to help out players that are having trouble making various builds work or just plain finding the combat encounters in the game too difficult. This guide is based on game version 1.02b, with The Stone Prisoner, Blood Dragon Armour, and Warden's Keep DLCs. If I get a chance, I'll update with info from Return to Ostagar and the upcoming expansion. Version History 01/26/2010 - Version 1.0 submitted to GameFAQs Acknowledgements - The Dragon Age Wiki for some supplementary info - The Gamebanshee Dragon Age database for brushing up on some gear stats Please follow GameFAQs' rules and guidelines regarding how this FAQ can and should be used. They're kind enough to provide such a lovely resource for us all at no cost, after all. If you borrow from it, it'd be nice if you give credit where credit's due :) Comments and corrections can be sent to bturnereebATgmailDOTcom. Other people who have gotten my permission to post the guide: rpglord.com supercheats.com neoseeker.com %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Table of Contents and Navigation %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Section I: General Starting Class Overview [DAOS1.0] 1.1 - The Warrior [DAOS1.1] 1.2 - The Rogue [DAOS1.2] 1.3 - The Mage [DAOS1.3] Section II: Class Specializations [DAOS2.0] 2.1 - Warrior Specializations [DAOS2.1] 2.2 - Rogue Specializations [DAOS2.2] 2.3 - Mage Specializations [DAOS2.3] Section III: Building the Warden [DAOS3.0] 3.1 - The Tank [DAOS3.1] 3.2 - The Two-Hander [DAOS3.2] 3.3 - The Dual Wielder [DAOS3.3] 3.4 - The Archer [DAOS3.4] 3.5 - A Preface on Mage Builds [DAOS3.5] 3.6 - The Nuker [DAOS3.6] 3.7 - The Support Healer [DAOS3.7] 3.8 - The Debilitator [DAOS3.8] 3.9 - The Spellsword [DAOS3.9] 3.10 - A Quick Guide to Spell Combos [DAOS3.10] Section IV: Noteworthy Gear [DAOS4.0] 4.1 - Amulets, Belts, and Rings [DAOS4.1] 4.2 - Mage Armour [DAOS4.2] 4.3 - Light Armour [DAOS4.3] 4.4 - Medium Armour [DAOS4.4] 4.5 - Heavy Armour [DAOS4.5] 4.6 - Massive Armour [DAOS4.6] 4.7 - Shields [DAOS4.7] 4.8 - Waraxes, Maces, and Longswords [DAOS4.8] 4.9 - Battleaxes, Greatswords, and Mauls [DAOS4.9] 4.10 - Bows [DAOS4.10] 4.11 - Daggers and Staves [DAOS4.11] Section V: Building and Developing Your Team [DAOS5.0] 5.1 - Alistair [DAOS5.1] 5.2 - Morrigan [DAOS5.2] 5.3 - The Dog [DAOS5.3] 5.4 - Leliana [DAOS5.4] 5.5 - Sten [DAOS5.5] 5.6 - Zevran [DAOS5.6] 5.7 - Wynne [DAOS5.7] 5.8 - Shale [DAOS5.8] 5.9 - Oghren [DAOS5.9] 5.10 - Final character **SPOILER ALERT** [DAOS5.10] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% SECTION I: GENERAL STARTING CLASS OVERVIEW [DAOS1.0] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% This is just a very generalized overview to give some idea of what each class is all about. More details, such as what stats to prioritize or what exact abilities everyone gets, will be covered in later sections on actual character builds. I'm generally assuming that the reader already knows the basic mechanics of the game, such as what each stat does, what the difference between defense and armour is, what fatigue is, etc. If you don't, then you may want to read up on that first. 1.1 - The Warrior [DAOS1.1] Warriors are largely what you'd expect from an RPG - they are the most versatile weaponry specialists of any base class, able to learn all three melee styles (sword and shield, dual wielding, and two-handed weapons) as well as archery. Their class-specific talent tree allows them to make better use of heavier armour than anyone else, improves their performance when they're engaging large numbers of enemies, and gives them some control over the degree to which enemies will prioritize them as a target, which is particularly important for warriors filling the tank role. However, you shouldn't go into the warrior class expecting them to be the easiest class to play, as they tend to be in many other RPGs. Like rogues and mages, warriors require strategy to use well and can't simply go charging head-on into any battle they encounter, as tempting as that might be. In general, warriors will be at the forefront, but recklessness and/or lack of preparation can rapidly result in defeat and death. Pros: + High HP + Best heavy armour users + Large weapon selection + Work relatively well on AI 'auto-pilot' + Can achieve very high damage output across a wide variety of battlefield conditions Cons: - Smaller bag of tricks than the other classes - Greater need to manage stamina due to fatigue - Not as sturdy as warriors in a lot of RPGs; caution and tactics still required to survive - More one-dimensional than the other classes 1.2 - The Rogue [DAOS1.2] Rogues provide a broad blend of damage, crowd control, support, and general utility. While not as sturdy or well suited to heavy armour as the warrior, rogues have a nice bag of tricks that gives them as much (or even more) survivability as their meaty frontline friends. Rogues probably require the most positional tactics of any class type, scouting ahead to clear out hazards or assassinate particularly dangerous targets before the rest of the group charges in, staying on the move and making use of battlefield positioning to maximize their impact. Rogues are more limited in their selection of fighting styles than warriors, typically using either dual wielding, archery, or some combination of the two. However, because of their class mechanics, rogues are generally regarded as being better than warriors at both of these styles of combat. There's almost never a time when you won't want at least one rogue in your group, if only to clear out traps and pick locks. Pros: + A lot of versatility in roles and combat style + Tons of utility + Great survivability if built correctly + Best skill users of any class Cons: - Generally relegated to using light armour - Less margin of error than warriors due to lower hp and less armour - Require somewhat more micromanagement than warriors to be effective - Limited weapon selection - Tend to be defensively weak and vulnerable in the early game 1.3 - The Mage [DAOS1.3] If you've played BioWare RPGs before, you're probably expecting the mage to be a complete and utter powerhouse. If so, you guessed correctly. Mages have the most raw power of any class, in addition to having an enormous bag of tricks for keeping themselves alive against the odds and horribly incapacitating and mangling even the strongest enemies. Many of their spells are extremely potent on their own, but the spell combo mechanic can ramp up the destruction to even greater levels. For sheer battlefield control and dominance, nothing exceeds the potential of a mage. They also make excellent group support characters, and can even be melee tanks if you pick the Arcane Warrior specialization (more on that later). Pros: + Far and away the highest damage output of any class + The only class that can heal + Enormously potent spell combinations + Surprisingly high survivability and crowd control with the right spells + Can become the heaviest armour tanks in the game with the Arcane Warrior specialization Cons: - Require the most micromanagement of any class to be effective, unless you just use them as a healbot - Low hit point pool and poor armour, so positioning and defensive spells are necessary for survival - Very little equipment variety - Actually kind of too strong; have a lot of overpowered abilities and tricks that can trivialize encounters that would otherwise be very challenging. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% SECTION II: CLASS SPECIALIZATIONS [DAOS2.0] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% Class specializations become available at levels 7 and 14. All humanoid characters other than Sten can learn 2 specializations, though only the PC actually gets to pick both, as the others generally start with one. Level requirements for each talent are in parentheses. 2.1 - Warrior Specializations [DAOS2.1] CHAMPION Source: Reward from Arl Eamon Bonuses: +2 Willpower, +1 Cunning The Champion specialization is a solid choice for almost any type of warrior, as it provides nice group buffing and crowd control abilities. It is particularly well suited to tanks, since they'll usually be in the thickest parts of the fight. This is the only warrior specialization that bolsters allies. Champion talents: War Cry (7) - An AoE attack debuff. Nothing spectacular on its own, though if you've got stamina to spare, it never hurts either. Rally (12) - A sustained AoE defense buff. Very handy for shieldtanks and for giving a survivability boost to any rogues in your party. The main downside is that it knocks allied rogues out of stealth when they enter its AoE, which I've always thought was bloody silly. Motivate (14) - Adds an attack buff to Rally. If you use Rally a lot, it's worth getting. Superiority (16) - Adds an AoE knockdown to War Cry, turning it from a mediocre debuff to a potent crowd control ability. TEMPLAR Source: Can either be acquired through a manual from Bodahn Feddic or taught by Alistair once his approval is high enough Bonuses: +2 Magic, +3 mental resistance The Templar specialization serves one role and one role only - anti-magic duties. Every ability they get is oriented toward countering magical enemies in some way or other. This is a common choice for heavy tanks, but can be useful for nearly any warrior, though less so for warrior archers due to some of their abilities being melee-based. Templar talents: Righteous Strike (7) - A passive ability that lets you drain mana from mages every time you hit them in melee. Sounds cool on paper, but to be honest I've never noticed it making much of a difference. Cleanse Area (9) - The most useful Templar ability. This is basically an AoE dispel, allowing you to get rid of a lot of nasty status effects and other damaging and/or incapacitating magical afflictions. Mental Fortress (12) - A permanent passive bonus to mental resistance. Fairly useful, since warriors tend not to have very good mental resistance, but I wouldn't make it a priority. Holy Smite (15) - A small AoE attack that does damage based on your Willpower and can also be stunned or knocked back. Kind of limited in usefulness unless you have very high Willpower. Mainly designed to be used against mages, as it drains mana from them and inflicts additional spirit damage based on the amount of mana drained. This would be kind of a useless ability if mages weren't so ungodly powerful; killing enemy mages as soon as possible is usually a good strategy in any fight, so this talent may be worth taking to accomplish that, though I find the damage a bit underwhelming for its cost, even with a decent Willpower modifier. BERSERKER Source: Can be learned either from a manual bought from Gorim, or taught by Oghren once his approval is high enough ADDENDUM (from S. Baker): you can also learn the Berserker specialization through a course of action during the random encounter with the incompetent ambushers - listen to them natter for a bit, and then charge them to spring your own ambush. Apparently there's things like this for learning some of the other specializations; as I learn them, I'll add them. Bonuses: +2 Strength, +10 hit points Berserker is the DPS warrior specialization. The entire purpose of the abilities gained is to boost your damage output, so it's generally the clear choice for 2h or dual wielding warriors. Unlike in many games, Berserkers in DA:O don't have to sacrifice survivability in exchange for this damage. Just watch your stamina early on. Berserker talents: Berserk (7) - a sustained ability that boosts your damage and mental resistance, but imposes a penalty on your stamina regeneration. In general, there's no reason why a Berserker should ever not have this on in combat. The major drawback is its obnoxiously long cooldown. Resilience (8) - contrary to the in-game description, this talent actually boosts your health regeneration while Berserk is active. Worth getting. Constraint (10) - neutralizes the stamina regeneration penalty from Berserk while it's active, meaning there's even less reason not to have it active in combat. Final Blow (12) - uses all of your stamina to unleash one big attack. Does 1 damage for every 2 stamina spent. Kind of situational, and be aware that it can miss just like any other attack. REAVER Source: Taught by Kolgrim if you defile Andraste's ashes Bonuses: +1 constitution, +5 stamina Reaver is probably the least useful of the warrior specializations, having rather situational abilities and somewhat lesser stat bonuses. Reaver can be a decent choice for tanks and damage dealers. Devour (7) - consumes nearby corpses, and restores health, with the amount based on your Magic stat, like health poultices. Probably the most useful Reaver talent. Frightening Appearance (12) - causes your target to cower in fear if they fail a mental resistance check, and also boosts the effectiveness of Taunt and Threaten. Pretty useful for tanks. Aura of Pain (14) - an AoE DoT that hurts both you and enemies within range with each pulse. Considering it hurts you for the same amount as it hurts them, and also imposes a penalty on your health regeneration, this is far from a great ability. Tanks don't really want to be dropping their own hp and regen rate, and since it's an AoE, it'll tend to attract hostility toward DPS warriors. Kind of useless. Blood Frenzy (16) - Adds between 0 and 10 damage depending on how low your health is, and imposes a penalty to health regeneration. Basically a really shoddy version of Berserk. 2.2 - Rogue Specializations [DAOS2.2] ASSASSIN Source: Can either be learned from a manual bought from Alarith, or taught by Zevran once his approval is high enough Bonuses: +2 Dexterity, +2.5% melee critical hit chance Assassin is a great choice for any melee rogue, since it gets really useful stat bonuses and a talent set oriented toward maximizing your damage output. Not so useful for rogue archers. Assassin talents: Mark of Death (7) - a targeted debuff that increases all incoming damage against the afflicted enemy. Great for dropping priority targets faster, like mages and bosses. Exploit Weakness (12) - adds a passive damage bonus to every backstab hit based on your Cunning score. Since you probably have a pretty high Cunning modifier as a rogue, this is a solid investment. Lacerate (14) - causes your backstabs to inflict a non-stacking DoT. More damage means a target that's dead sooner, particularly against tougher enemies. Feast of the Fallen (16) - passively allows you to regain stamina any time you kill an enemy with a backstab. Note that this only works for true backstabs where you're flanking the enemy, and not Coup de Grace hits from the front against incapacitated enemies. If you find yourself getting low on stamina early on in battles, this is worth considering. BARD Source: Can either be learned from a manual bought from Alimar, or taught by Leliana once her approval is high enough Bonuses: +2 Willpower, +1 Cunning The Bard specialization allows rogues to take on more of a group buffing role. Because their buffs automatically affect the whole party no matter where they are, unlike Champion buffs which are a circular AoE, this pairs up particularly well with ranged fighting styles. A solid choice for any rogue looking to play more of a support role. The effect of all Bard songs are based on Cunning. Bards can only have one song active at a time. Bard talents: Song of Valour (7) - a sustained party buff that boosts stamina and mana regeneration. Extremely useful in nearly every situation. Distraction (8) - a sustained ability that decreases hostility and can disorient enemies that fail a mental resistance check. Pretty situational and generally not necessary. Song of Courage (10) - a sustained party buff that boosts attack, damage, and critical hit chance. A good choice if you have a melee-heavy party that just wants to mow through grunts quickly. Captivating Song (12) - a sustained ability that continually inflicts a weak stun against all enemies in an AoE around the bard. While using this song, you can't move, attack, or use any other abilities. Useful if you get swarmed, but not something you'd want on all the time. DUELIST Source: Taught by Isabela at The Pearl Bonuses: +2 Dexterity, +1 damage Duelist is an amazing specialization, providing extremely useful bonuses for any type of rogue, though particularly for melee rogues. Provides a great blend of offensive and defensive capabilities. Duelist talents: Dueling (7) - a sustained ability that grants a bonus to attack. Particularly useful in the early game, and for making archery more reliable. Upset Balance (12) - a targeted melee debuff that lowers the defense and movement speed of an enemy Keen Defenses (14) - grants a bonus to defense when Dueling is active. Since rogues generally rely on defense dodging to survive, this is almost always useful. Pinpoint Strike (16) - an activated self-buff that turns all melee attacks into critical hits for a short time. Quite useful when fighting shield users that are immune to flanking or any other time when backstabs are not possible. RANGER Source: Learned from a manual you can purchase from Bodahn Feddic Bonuses: +1 Constitution, +5% Nature resistance Ranger is the most unusual rogue specialization, as it is purely pet-based with no abilities that the character themself actually uses. If you like summoning classes, this is the specialization for you. Pets can provide additional damage and abilities and/or act as disposable tanks. Rangers also pair up well with Blood Mages (explained in the Mage Specializations below). The drawbacks are the mediocre stat bonuses and the fact that if a summoned animal gets a killing blow, your party receives no exp for the kill. Summon Wolf (7) - summons a wolf. Can howl, which is an AoE defense debuff. Summon Bear (8) - summons a bear. Can slam, which is an automatic critical if it hits and may knock the target back. Summon Spider (10) - summons a giant spider (noticing a pattern?). Can use Web, which immobilizes an enemy, and Spit Poison, a ranged attack that inflicts a Nature DoT. Master Ranger (12) - Gives a power boost to all your summons, so you should get it if you use your summons regularly. The wolf becomes a blight wolf, the bear becomes a great bear, and the spider becomes a poison spider. 2.3 - Mage Specializations [DAOS2.3] SHAPESHIFTER Source: Can either be learned from a manual bought from Varathorn, or taught by Morrigan if her approval rating is Neutral. Bonuses: +2 Constitution, +1 Armour The Shapeshifter specialization is one that had a lot of cool potential but unfortunately fell short in practice. While each of the abilities is useful in its own right, the long casting time on shapeshifting and the extreme reduction in tactical options (you can't use any of your spells) while shifted make it the least useful of the mage specializations. Shapeshifter talents: Spider Shape (7) - caster becomes a giant spider, gaining the Web (single target paralysis) and Spit Poison (ranged DoT) abilities as well as Nature resistance Bear Shape (8) - caster becomes a bear, gaining a bonus to armour and Nature resistance as well as the Slam (critical hit/knockback) and Rage (damage self-buff) abilities Flying Swarm (10) - caster becomes a swarm of winged stinging insects that inflict Nature damage based on the caster's spellpower. Mana regeneration drops to 0, and any damage the swarm takes is removed from mana instead of hit points. The swarm is immune to normal missiles and has high evasion versus melee attacks, but is very vulnerable to fire. Master Shapeshifter (12) - boosts the capabilities of each shifter form. Spider becomes Corrupted Spider and gains the Overwhelm attack; bear becomes a Bereskarn and gains the Overwhelm attack; and the Flying Swarm gains health with every attack. ARCANE WARRIOR Source: Learned from a spirit in the ruined temple of the Brecilian Forest Bonuses: +1 Dexterity, +5 attack The most unusual of the mage specializations. Basically allows you to become a heavy melee fighter with unsurpassed defensive potential, but with greatly diminished active spellcasting ability due to massively boosted fatigue. Arcane Warrior talents: Combat Magic (7) - a sustained self-buff that lets you use your Magic stat rather than Strength to determine weapon damage (while active) and to satisfy weapon and armour prerequisites (passively once Combat Magic is learned). Also gives up to +10 attack based on your spellpower. Greatly boosts fatigue. Aura of Might (12) - adds bonuses to attack, defense, and damage while Combat Magic is active. This is pretty essential - learn ASAP. Shimmering Shield (14) - the best defensive self-buff in the game, Shimmering Shield is a sustained ability that grants a sizeable bonus to armour, and adds 75 points to all resistances except spell resistance (note that 75% is where elemental resistances are capped, but mental and physical resistance can go up to 100). Imposes a heavy penalty on mana regeneration. As of patch 1.02, it will deactivate once mana reaches 0. Try and have this up as much as possible. Fade Shroud (16) - grants a small bonus to mana regeneration and a 25% chance to avoid incoming attacks while Combat Magic is active. Another essential skill that should be learned right away. BLOOD MAGE Source: Taught by the Desire demon possessing Connor Bonuses: +2 Constitution, +2 spellpower Unbeatable for sheer offensive potential, Blood Mage is the way to go if you want your mage to just be a spellcasting powerhouse. Be cautious when using Blood abilities, though, as they have significant penalties that can result in disaster if employed at inopportune times. If you like to nuke things into oblivion while hanging well back from the front lines, this specialization was made for you. Blood Mage talents: Blood Magic (7) - a sustained self-buff that uses hit points rather than mana to cast spells, and reduces the effectiveness of any healing spells or items used on you to 10% of their normal strength. The health cost of the spell is 20% lower than its mana cost, and can be further reduced by Blood Mage- specific items found in the game. Blood Sacrifice (12) - heals the caster by sucking life force out of an ally. Can only be used when Blood Magic is active, and does not suffer the 90% healing penalty, but can kill the ally. A ranger's pets can be used as a 'battery' of sorts for a Blood Mage ally with this ability. It's easier to manage than it sounds, as damage to your ally never exceeds 50 points, and you gain 2 hit points for every 1 drained. Blood Wound (14) - one of the most powerful crowd control spells in the game, Blood Wound paralyzes all enemies in a large AoE and inflicts a very strong DoT. Since Blood Mages tend to stack their Magic stat, this is nearly impossible to resist. Blood Magic must be active, and enemies without blood (such as golems) are unaffected. Used wisely, this attack can turn normally difficult encounters into a joke. Blood Control (16) - allows you to turn an enemy into a temporary ally if they fail a mental resistance check. Depends on whether or not these abilities are your cup of tea. SPIRIT HEALER Source: Learned from a tome that can be bought either in The Wonders of Thedas or outside Warden's Keep. Contrary to what you'd expect, Wynne cannot teach it. Bonuses: +2 Magic, bonus to combat health regen The most support-oriented of the mage specializations, Spirit Healer is a solid choice for nearly any kind of mage, whether it's making you a better healer than you already are or giving you the option of being a great healer if things take a turn for the worse. The bonuses are great and the spells are all useful. Spirit Healers are the only characters other than Shale in statue mode that can heal more than one character at a time. Group Heal (7) - heals everyone in your group, regardless of how spread out they are. Extremely useful, particularly when recovering from a large AoE attack like a fireball. Revival (8) - this spell is the only way to revive an ally in combat. Usually not necessary, but always nice to have as an option. Lifeward (12) - places a latent buff on the recipient that instantly heals them for a decent amount whenever their hit points fall below 1/3 of their maximum. A good spell to throw on your tank in any tough fight. Cleansing Aura (14) - a sustained AoE buff centred on the caster that sends out pulses of healing energy to all allies in the area, with the heal amount decreasing as allies move further away. Also heals all injuries of allies in close proximity. Good for saving money on injury kits and in battles where your characters tend to stay tightly grouped, but you don't want to leave it running as it drains mana very quickly. %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% SECTION III: BUILDING THE WARDEN [DAOS3.0] %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% The first thing you need to do when building your character is to decide what kind of character you'd like them to be - what play style you prefer, what role you'd like them to fill, what you'd like them to be best at, etc. Below, I'll provide some guides for general character archetypes and how I'd approach building them. If you've played through the game before and are familiar with your possible companions, you may want to build your Warden to fit the same role as a companion you don't like so that you don't have to bring them along, or a role that complements a party of 3 companions you do like. Bear in mind that whatever role the Warden chooses, they will be the best at it. Because of the bonus stats, skills, and talents you can and do pick up throughout the game, you will end up being better built than any of your NPC companions are capable of being. For stat recommendations, I will specify whether the amount is the base amount (the amount shown when you're allocating stat points after leveling up) or the modified amount (the base amount plus all bonuses/penalties you are receiving from your specializations and equipped gear). When choosing skills, it should be noted that the Warden is the only character that may learn Coercion, and thus it's a good idea to put at least a point or two in here, as it will unlock a lot of very profitable options along the way. This is true for all builds, and is particularly easy to do as a rogue. It should also be noted that I strongly advocate taking both lockpicking/trap disarming and stealth skills on rogue Wardens. They're just plain too useful to pass up, even if it means having to delay other talent choices. You can have the lockpicking role covered by Leliana or Zevran if you wish, but there'll be a few locked chests where you won't have access to them and won't be able to open unless you can do it yourself. The exception to this is if your rogue happens to have very high Cunning modifiers, as they will not require as high a rank of lockpicking/disarming talents if they do. A quick summary of the roles covered and what they excel at: The Tank - combining spectacular dodging with huge armour absorption and 360 degree defense, the Tank maximizes the Warrior's survival potential while keeping their allies safe. The Two-Hander - the king (or queen) of spike damage, this build can shred bosses and crank out huge damage numbers but is more limited in drawn out combat. The Dual Wielder - unleashing a constant barrage of smaller but still potent blows, these melee fighters have unsurpassed sustained damage output and great potential for inflicting on-hit effects, such as runic boosts. The Archer - master of harassment from afar, you can inflict status effects, respectable damage, and a little crowd control from the safety of the rear. The Nuker - a mage focused on maximizing their pure destructive potential. Whole armies can be levelled by the spells you'll unleash. The Support Healer - even a tank can't do as much to keep their team alive as a good support mage. You are your team's best friend. The Debilitator - while not as spectacularly damaging as many other mages, the Debilitator can make any enemy cry with the sheer volume of debuff and crowd control spells available to magi. The Spellsword - built around the Arcane Warrior, this unusual mage becomes a walking wall of magic-infused melee damage absorption. Relatively low damage and greatly decreased spellcasting potential, but almost unsurpassed defensive might via sustained abilities. I'll provide a relative difficulty rating at the end of each role based on my experience playing them. 3.1 - The Tank [DAOS3.1] The tank's whole purpose in life is to make enemies attack them rather than their companions and soak up as much damage as possible for as long as possible without dying. The two critical characteristics of a tank are maximized survivability through some combination of hit points, defense, armour, talents and healing sources, and management of monster hostility so that they can protect their allies. This role is a bit weak at first, as you have access to only weak armour, which won't change until you can boost your stats to meet prereqs and get to areas where you can acquire or purchase better gear. In addition, the stat you have to raise first is one that won't help your survivability much in and of itself, and you have to raise it a lot. Bear all this in mind. Base class: Warrior. You can also make a fair argument for Mage with the idea of going Arcane Warrior, but management of enemy hostility is far more difficult as a mage than it is as a warrior. Critical talents: Powerful - you will spend your whole life in the heaviest armour possible, and more hit points is never a bad thing. Threaten - one of the ways you make things attack you and not your allies. Essential. Taunt - to draw enemies onto yourself when Threaten isn't enough. Shield Wall - the lifeblood of your survivability. Get this ASAP and have it on at all times. Shield Tactics - immunity to flanking is a lifesaver in a number of tough fights. Shield Expertise - immunity to knockdown in Shield Wall mode is extremely useful. A tank that's on their ass isn't doing their job. Shield Mastery - this goes without saying, as it makes all your shield abilities better. Good talents: Bravery - you will spend most of your life being surrounded by lots of enemies. Might as well make the best of it. The Shield Bash Tree - all the attacks in this tree are useful when you can spare the talents, both for supplemental damage and for crowd control. Death Blow - might as well get some stamina for killing things once you can spare the talents. Shield Defense - good to use until you get Shield Wall; if you rely more on dodging than armour, you may want to continue using this. Precise Striking - the critical hit bonus can be useful if you get hit with an inopportune Misdirection Hex. Depending on your preferences, you may wish to have this on all the time. Specializations: Champion - a great choice if you want to support your party. The bonus to defense will also help out your tanking, and War Cry can aid your survivability and crowd control. Templar - Cleanse Area is always useful, but probably the best thing about this specialization is some of the gear it unlocks. A favourite for tanks. Reaver - useful for the corpse eating heal (particularly if you have no mage healer) and the boost to Threaten and Taunt. The last two abilities probably shouldn't be used. Berserker - probably the least useful specialization for a tank. Doing damage isn't really your job. General stat spread: Strength: 42 modified Dexterity: as high as possible Willpower: 20-30ish modified depending on how much you like using active talents Magic: 20ish modified Cunning: 16 base Constitution: 30ish modified The general idea with tank stats is that you want to focus on Strength first, so that you can start wearing heavier armours as soon as possible. If you have the Blood Dragon Armour DLC, then this can allow you to get into a very nice set of armour quite early on in the game, which will do wonders for your durability. While investing in Dexterity or Constitution early on would do more to keep you alive during the first few levels, it's a worse option in the end. A lot of the other stat recommendations I listed can be fulfilled simply by doing the Broken Circle quest and getting all the permanent stat bonuses there. Willpower and Magic are really totally up to you, depending on how much you use stamina and how important you think it is to get more or less healing from poultices. Cunning should be 16 base so that you can max out any skill you want, like Coercion; anything above that is up to you. Constitution is also largely up to personal taste; some people like to put a lot of CON onto tanks, but in general, it's not as helpful as you might think. Each point of CON only gives you a 5 hp boost, which is pretty paltry and generally only delaying the inevitable in a tough fight. By contrast, high Dexterity can turn your tank into an unholy walking wall. Great dodging ability from a combination of Dexterity and boosts from your sustained shield abilities will mean that on top of your spectacularly high armour absorption value, you're also difficult to hit. When I've played around with stacking DEX versus stacking CON, I've found DEX does a lot more to keep my tank alive than CON does. You can actually achieve very high defense values with a DEX- stacked shieldtank. Difficulty rating: Early game - Hard Mid game - Average to easy Late game - Very easy 3.2 - The Two-Hander Two-Hander builds tend to be designed to do as much single-hit melee damage as possible, while having enough survivability to live to tell about it afterward. On top of having great damage output, you can make use of heavy armours and gain yourself a respectable hit point pool to keep you going after a hard knock or two. The Two-Hander also excels at inflicting debuffs on tough single targets, like bosses, while being highly resistant to status effects yourself. Add in a little crowd control and AoE capability into the mix, and you have a melee force to be reckoned with. You will be focusing a fair bit on your activated talents, as spike damage is truly where this build excels. Because of your painfully long swing time, you really don't want to rely on autoattacks any more than you absolutely have to; stamina management to keep dishing out active talents is key in this build. Base Class: Warrior. The other two don't make sense because you can't learn any two-handed talents. Critical talents: Powerful - armour and hit points will be your major way of living through battles. Sunder Arms - on top of debuffing attack, this is actually one of your best DPS skills, as it hits twice, doesn't cost much stamina, and has a relatively short cooldown. It'll regularly do more damage than Mighty Blow and will be ready again sooner. And you can get it nice and early due to its low placement in its talent tree. Sunder Armour - a more useful debuff than Sunder Arms and about the same damage output, but with a longer cooldown, a higher stamina cost, and more prerequisites. Still a must-have. Bravery - you'll be in the thick of it very often, and damage bonuses are always welcome in this build. Death Blow - with your huge hits, you'll get killing blows pretty often. Gaining stamina for each one will help power your active talents. Indomitable - damage bonus and knockdown/stun immunity? Score. Sign me up. I'd use this for the stun immunity alone, particularly later in the game when you get swarmed by scattershotting archer hordes. Stunning Blows - once you have this talent, every critical hit you land will have quite a good chance of also stunning your opponent. A great passive. Mighty Blow - your bread-and-butter DPS skill for the early levels, and still useful later on. Destroyer - basically a passive Sunder Armour with every attack. Why the hell not? Two-Handed Sweep - probably the best melee AoE in the game. It's 360 degrees, like Whirlwind, but seems to do slightly better damage and has a powerful knockdown. Good talents: Pommel Strike - being able to knock an annoying baddie on their ass is always handy. Unfortunately, you can usually only get one swing in before they're up on their feet again. However, its low cost and how early you can learn it make it handy, particularly for disrupting spellcasting. Precise Striking - good to pair up with Powerful Swings or Indomitable, particularly in the early levels when your attack bonus isn't that high yet - after all, a miss hurts a lot for a two-hander because of how long your recovery is. You'll barely notice the decrease in speed, since it's absolute rather than relative, and you'll get a nice crit bonus too, which works particularly well with the Stunning Blows passive. Powerful Swings - good for mowing through grunt-level enemies. Since it can be used at the same time as Indomitable, it's good to have it on once you get Two-Handed Strength to reduce the penalties. Critical Strike - another good spike DPS skill, much like Mighty Blow but with a slightly different effect. Get it eventually, but it's not a priority. Disengage - to lose enemy hostility in a pinch. Definitely not a priority, but it can come in handy. Specializations: Berserker: Yes, yes, and more yes. This specialization is all about improving your damage, and that's what you do. This is pretty much a no-brainer. Reaver: This specialization can work out okay. Corpse eating to heal is good in a pinch, and if you do happen to lose some hit points, you may as well get a damage bonus for your trouble. Be careful with the AoE DoT, because that can take hostility away from your tank and stick it onto you, which is bad news. Champion: Not a bad choice, as more Willpower means more stamina, War Cry can be good for giving yourself a bit of breathing space if you get surrounded, and buffing your group is rarely a bad thing. Templar: Cleanse Area never hurts, but you'll already be getting a mental resistance boost from Berserk and you attack so slowly that the mana drain thing will have minimal impact. I'd only take it if you want to wear templar gear. General stat spread: Strength: this should be where most of your stat points go Dexterity: 18 base Willpower: 25-40 modified depending on your style and what gear you have Magic: irrelevant Cunning: 16 base Constitution: put whatever points aren't going into Strength or Willpower here The idea with this stat spread is that you should be doing damage rather than taking it. High Strength from the early game onward means access to great gear and more damage output, as well as a high attack rating. It's hard to go wrong with Strength in this build. Dexterity is just high enough to get Disengage; if you don't want Disengage, it can be lower. You could try making a two-hander that uses dodging for a bit of emergency defense, but I haven't found that to work very well so far. I like to use high Constitution instead, since two-handers can't benefit from the defensive bonuses that shieldtanks get, so even with fairly high Dexterity, they still won't be very good at dodging. For the times that you take damage, you'll generally be better off relying on armour absorption and a decent hit point pool. Strength is definitely a higher priority than Constitution though, as each point of Strength will give you more benefit in general. Magic's only effect is to make poultices heal you for more, and you shouldn't be taking damage all that often if your tank is doing their job. Cunning to base 16 for skills. The end goal is to create a character that can hit like a mack truck and can survive a beating long enough for your group's tank to get enemies under control. Alternately, you can forgo Constitution and focus on stacking Strength for some hideously high damage output, but it's a riskier path and requires that you put a lot of faith in your tank's ability to control hostility. Make sure that between gear and Willpower that you have a decent stamina pool, as this build really only shines when you are unleashing chains of Sunder Arms/Armour, Mighty Blow, Critical Strike, and Two-Handed Sweep. I like to get my base Willpower somewhere around 20 and supplement with nice Willpower or stamina-boosting gear, then build 2 Strength 1 Constitution per level until I have a comfortable pool of hit points into the 300s or so. After that, it's pretty safe (and very effective) to just pile on the Strength. Difficulty rating: Early game - Average Mid game - Easy Late game - Easy 3.3 - The Dual Wielder [DAOS3.3] This will actually be two different guides, as you can do this effectively as either a rogue or a warrior. The role of the dual wielder is to crush enemies with many lightning fast attacks as opposed to single large hits. The focus will be more on finesse, incapacitation and the element of surprise than brute frontal power. Dual wielders can get maximal effectiveness out of runes that activate on a per-hit basis, like damage and paralysis runes. When built correctly, dual wielders have the highest sustained melee damage output of any character type. 3.3a - The Rogue Dual Wielder I feel that this is a more well-rounded dual wield build than the warrior variant, though both are very strong in their own ways. Rogues can take this build to a truly frightening level due to how well their class mechanics and specializations synergize with the dual wielding style. Base Class: Rogue, obviously. Critical talents: Momentum - this should always be the talent you work toward in dual wielding builds. It is the backbone of the entire build and one of the most powerful sustained abilities in the game. The only time you shouldn't prioritize this is if you're planning on having Haste up all the time, because the two do not stack. Dirty Fighting - probably the very first talent you learned, and one of the best single target stuns in the game. Useful right off the bat, and extremely useful once you pair it up with Coup de Grace. Combat Movement - makes it far easier to flank enemies. Coup de Grace - automatic backstabs on stunned/paralyzed enemies? Very yes. Lethality - your Cunning will almost certainly end up higher than your Strength, and +10% critical hit chance is nothing to sneeze at. Combat Stealth - the ultimate in losing hostility and repositioning for more backstabbing. Stealth also makes you a terrific mage neutralizer. The Dual-Weapon Training tree - the better you are at dual wielding, the more likely you are to land hits. Always a good thing. Get the first two in the tree sooner rather than later. Riposte - another stun for your arsenal; a perfect trifecta with Dirty Fighting and Coup de Grace. Punisher - lets you work in some excellent spike damage with your sustained DPS output. Good talents: Cripple - a solid single target debuff, good for bosskilling. Flurry - useful when an enemy can't be backstabbed. Not as good as Punisher, but it costs a bit less and you can get it earlier. Dual-Weapon Sweep - a quick, cheap attack to boost your AoE damage. Specializations: Duelist: An excellent choice. Keen Defense will give a nice boost to your survivability, and Pinpoint Strike will let you shred even backstab-immune targets with ease. Assassin: Another excellent choice. The various boosts to your damage will all let you do your job better. Bard: Not a bad choice if you want to support your group while also fighting, but not nearly as complimentary as Duelist or Assassin. Ranger: The powers of this specialization generally won't help you all that much. Not useless, but not a great synergy either. General stat spread: Strength: 20 modified (22 if you want to use Cadash Stompers) Dexterity: as high as you can get it Willpower: pure personal preference Magic: irrelevant Cunning: at least 30 modified Constitution: irrelevant Since patch 1.02, I feel that there's only one good way to go with the dual wielding rogue: a pair of good daggers and as much DEX as you can humanly cram onto yourself. With Lethality, the only thing you need Strength for is equipping items. You can wear any drakeskin leather armour with 20 Strength, so that's where you should cut it off. Willpower will depend entirely on how much you like using activated talents - this build can work fine either skillspamming or almost purely relying on autoattacks from Momentum. Magic only boosts your poultice healing, which shouldn't really be necessary, and you shouldn't be getting damaged enough to warrant boosting Constitution. You'll likely want 30 modified Cunning so that you can disarm any trap and pick any lock in the game, as well as giving you a boost to other relevant skills like Coercion and Stealing. Cunning will also help your armour penetration, though that'll already be pretty good thanks to dagger stats, and with Lethality it'll also give you a general damage boost. If you chose Bard as one of your specializations, you may wish to raise Cunning higher to boost your buff strength. With Dexterity as your stat focus and a good set of gear, you'll find that both your damage output and your dodge tanking ability will both be extremely high, making all but the toughest fights a breeze to waltz through. This build is easily one of the most potent in the game. Pop into stealth, disarm any traps waiting for you, and walk behind the target you want to neutralize first (mages are always a good choice). Move your party's tank into view, pop out of stealth, stun your target and watch the backstabs fly. Difficulty rating: Early game - Average Mid game - Average to easy Late game - Very easy 3.3b - The Warrior Duel Wielder This build is similar to the rogue version, but will have some noticeable differences. Because you do not have backstabs to supplement your damage, you will be focusing more on head on combat and making your normal strikes as effective as possible. Also as a result of losing backstabs (and, by extension, losing extremely high damage output from well-placed autoattacks), you will be more focused on active skill use in this build than in the rogue build, making Willpower proportionally more important. Having high Strength and two full-sized weapons will go a long way toward making up the backstab damage deficit, and being able to use heavier armour without incurring as much fatigue helps to offset having less dodging than your rogue counterparts. Base Class: Warrior, obviously. Critical talents: Momentum - while this is somewhat less awesome without backstabbage, it's still a cornerstone of any dual wield build. Get ASAP, unless you're planning on using Haste all the time. Powerful - there's really no warrior builds where this isn't a useful talent. Less fatigue and more hit points all from an early talent is bitchin'. |
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Another Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough :
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