[Dragon Age: Origins] A Roguish Type's Best Friends

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

Erm... Why does everyone insist on having a healer in your party? I went through three playthroughs without taking Wynne places, because she's incredibly annoying and I hate her and yes, I know that hating pixels is irrational.

I mean, it's not like there's a cooldown on potions in Origins. Not to mention, if you murder everyone quickly enough, you won't need to be revived, which is where Morrigan comes in. Sure, the shapeshifting is absolutely useless, but teach her Blood Wound and Mana Clash and you practically don't need to take anyone else with you. Bring Alistair and Oghren anyway. If not for tanking and wounding people below the waist, then for amusement.

Although now that I think about it, you might not want to learn blood magic.

while it's true you don't need a healer mage, hell I didn't use one for my first two playthroughs, it generally makes things easier, especially if you aren't that great at rpg's.

 

[The_Darkness]

Take Dog.

No really, I'm not actually kidding. But I'll get to that in a while.

Alistair is a great tank. You'll find an excellent healer a short while into the game. An archer, tank and healer is already an excellent squad.

For Alistair, you'll want to build him on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, ultimately focusing on Dext and Const once he can wear the best armour that you have at any given time.

For the healer, just focus on Magic and Willpower. Pick healing spells - there's an absolutely awesome one that will give constant healing to anyone standing nearby.

For your Archer, focus on Dexterity and Cunning, and focus more on passive abilities like Aim rather than one-shots like Arrow of Slaying. Pinning shot and Shattering shot are good though since they can disrupt mages. Scattershot is awesome when you get it.

****

Why Dog is awesome:

If you're willing to mess around in the tactics menu a bit, Dog can be a life saver. Why? Because he's the fastest squadmate you have, and he comes with Overwhelm and Charge.

Enemy mages can be a real pain. There are a handful of really nasty spells that you do NOT want to be on the receiving end of. But in the tactics menu, you can tell Dog to always attack anyone using magic, and to use Charge or Overwhelm if he can.

Dog will start each fight charging across the battlefield to the nearest mage and quickly tearing them apart (mages are squishy opponents - mostly). Charge knocks them over - disrupting any spell they were about to cast - while Overwhelm knocks them over and then has Dog pounce on top of them and let rip. Once he's killed the first mage, he'll move onto the next. If there aren't any more, you can use him to distract any archers, or to start taking some pressure off your tank.

Spoiler: Tactics specifics, since tactics are tricky:

Input the following (some of these will only be possible once the appropriate talents have been unlocked):

1. Enemy using magic attack => Overwhelm
2. Enemy using magic attack => Charge
3. Enemy using magic attack => Attack
4. Enemy using ranged attack => Attack
5. Enemy attacking Alistair => Attack

Then make sure that when you leave the tactics menu, you don't accidentally cancel everything you just did. (Very easy to do on consoles, don't know about PC.) If it offers for you to save the tactics as a custom set, make sure to click YES.

****

In reality, your fourth character can be almost anyone since you already have a strong squad. So if there's a character you find yourself liking, bring them along. Oh, and hang around in Lothering - there are two squadmates that are easily missed if you go through the town quickly and don't go back soon enough.

 

[Riddle78]

Alright,got through Lothering (Suicidal refugees aside...) and I'm liking Morrigan more and more. To Hell with it,she's going to be pulling double duty as AoE nuke dropper and party healer. I found Leliana to be... Interesting. She seems to be the calm kind of insane. And Sten. I've heard stories that the DLC golem is more expressive than him.

My best advice is just to use your favorites. There are surely party builds that are easier to win with than others, but Dragon Age is fairly forgiving in that even if you don't optimize very well, you can usually find your way through almost any encounter. I've probably used most of the possible party configurations in the over a dozen times I've played, and only once can I remember feeling underpowered through a whole game. In a game that excels so much in characters and their interactions, you should use the ones you like to be around to get the most enjoyable experience.

Also, it may sound like a dream build to make your rogue an archer/assassin type, but you really don't get enough skill points to specialize in both. The level cap is 20, and there are 16 skills in each group, plus 4 skills per Specialization class times two Specializations. Even with the skill points you can buy from vendors, you only have enough to really take advantage of one skill group. So I would recommend committing to either archery or dual-wielding. There are always subsequent playthroughs if you want to experience everything the game has to offer.

I'm actually not going to be 100% filling out the archery or dual wielding trees. I'm just going to be picking and choosing. This should allow me plenty of leeway.

Take Dog.

No really, I'm not actually kidding. But I'll get to that in a while.

Alistair is a great tank. You'll find an excellent healer a short while into the game. An archer, tank and healer is already an excellent squad.

For Alistair, you'll want to build him on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, ultimately focusing on Dext and Const once he can wear the best armour that you have at any given time.

For the healer, just focus on Magic and Willpower. Pick healing spells - there's an absolutely awesome one that will give constant healing to anyone standing nearby.

For your Archer, focus on Dexterity and Cunning, and focus more on passive abilities like Aim rather than one-shots like Arrow of Slaying. Pinning shot and Shattering shot are good though since they can disrupt mages. Scattershot is awesome when you get it.

****

Why Dog is awesome:

If you're willing to mess around in the tactics menu a bit, Dog can be a life saver. Why? Because he's the fastest squadmate you have, and he comes with Overwhelm and Charge.

Enemy mages can be a real pain. There are a handful of really nasty spells that you do NOT want to be on the receiving end of. But in the tactics menu, you can tell Dog to always attack anyone using magic, and to use Charge or Overwhelm if he can.

Dog will start each fight charging across the battlefield to the nearest mage and quickly tearing them apart (mages are squishy opponents - mostly). Charge knocks them over - disrupting any spell they were about to cast - while Overwhelm knocks them over and then has Dog pounce on top of them and let rip. Once he's killed the first mage, he'll move onto the next. If there aren't any more, you can use him to distract any archers, or to start taking some pressure off your tank.

Spoiler: Tactics specifics, since tactics are tricky:

Input the following (some of these will only be possible once the appropriate talents have been unlocked):

1. Enemy using magic attack => Overwhelm
2. Enemy using magic attack => Charge
3. Enemy using magic attack => Attack
4. Enemy using ranged attack => Attack
5. Enemy attacking Alistair => Attack

Then make sure that when you leave the tactics menu, you don't accidentally cancel everything you just did. (Very easy to do on consoles, don't know about PC.) If it offers for you to save the tactics as a custom set, make sure to click YES.

****

In reality, your fourth character can be almost anyone since you already have a strong squad. So if there's a character you find yourself liking, bring them along. Oh, and hang around in Lothering - there are two squadmates that are easily missed if you go through the town quickly and don't go back soon enough.

Huh. Thanks for the insight on Barkspawn. Yeah,I've been focusing on Tactics for Alistair,and I'll be doing so for Morrigan,as well,once I fill out her spellbook. Having Barkspawn as a line runner would be pretty damn sweet,too... He'd keep the enemy ranged support tied up.

 

[Terminal Blue]

And Sten. I've heard stories that the DLC golem is more expressive than him.

Sten is.. actually quite interesting, especially if you want to find out more about the wider setting.

He is however one of the hardest characters to get on with, as it's often very difficult unless you've played the game a few times to preempt his reactions. If you travel with him though, it will sometimes open up new dialogue options in which you can get him to talk about various aspects of his society and how it differs from that of humans. Generally, it's best to be open minded and respectful and to argue back rationally and decisively when Sten challenges you on something (which he will).

His banter is not always the funniest (although he does excel at badass putdowns) so it's really personal whether you'll find him interesting to have along or not.

 

[queenie]

while it's true you don't need a healer mage, hell I didn't use one for my first two playthroughs, it generally makes things easier, especially if you aren't that great at rpg's.

I agree that healers are essential in Bioware's previous titles and plenty of other RPGs, but DA:O is an easy RPG. You can get away with just maximising your party's damage output.

Also, I think getting the most out of Wynne as a healer is a bit tricky, since you need to be really careful with her tactics.

 

[Riddle78]

Let's talk spell combos. The wiki was quite helpful in this regard,pointing them out for me. However,since you all played the game far more than I,I have to wonder: Which are worth it? Entropic Death and Storm of the Century seem like insane combos to me,but... I don't know.

 

[Fdzzaigl]

Haste is what you'll want as a dagger wielding rogue, so bring a mage. You'll also want to pick up momentum on the rogue, but combine that with precise striking in the vanilla game. The reason is detailed in the last note here: http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Momentum.

If you download a mod to fix the bug that doesn't allow you to go over a 0.5 added speed modifier, you can go really crazy with rogues and stack double haste + momentum + quick salve and kill everything in the blink of an eye.

Let's talk spell combos. The wiki was quite helpful in this regard,pointing them out for me. However,since you all played the game far more than I,I have to wonder: Which are worth it? Entropic Death and Storm of the Century seem like insane combos to me,but... I don't know.

I always played on the highest difficulty (aka: friendly fire on) and those big spell combos were more of a death sentence to my party than anything else. I used mostly a ton of controlling effects like sleep + horror for nightmare / shattering & shockwave / improved drain.

 

[Amaror]

As many allready said tank (Alistair), rogue (You), Healer-mage (Wynne) and DPS/CC-Mage (Morrigan) is usually the best party composition. You will not need a second Warrior.

 

[happyninja42]

You can do just about any combination you want and it can work pretty well in that game. My personal favorite was 3 Rogues/Rangers, and my Mabari Hound - Anklebiter. I specced them all to summon wolves, and then specced the wolves' protocol trees to follow Anklebiter's lead.

I set Anklebiter to immediately rush attack any mage in the party, and maul/rend/charge them until dead. The summoned wolves would do the same, and this would result in every caster in the combat being dead in about 10 seconds, while my humanoid characters messed with the other threats. I had the wolf pack set to disengage and attack anything attacking me, and drag it to the ground with maul/charge/rend attacks. So healing was very rarely needed for most of the game, as well as just being fun as hell to watch 4 canines rush a robe wearing mage and slaughter him in seconds. xD

So yeah, pretty much any party combination you can think of is viable honestly. You just have to sit down and consider where your weak points are in regards to enemy types, and be mindful of it and how to counter it.

Other than that, go crazy with whatever you want.

 

[spartan231490]

So,I picked up Dragon Age: Origins on Origin,because free is free. It's a BioWare RPG,so bonus points for me,and after playing through the Human Noble Origin,I think I like what I see. Decided to go with an Archer/Dual Weapons character,and gonna focus on crits n' backstabs. So,I think that'll mean Cunning and Dexterity as primaries,with Strength in minimal order for gear reasons.

Here's the question,though: Party members. I can take three allies with the Warden,and I think I'm going to need a mage to pull double duty as healer and AoE,Das Uberpanzer (Alistair's looking like a good candidate,with his sword & board default),and a melee off-tank/side DPS.

Is this even a good idea? Or am I setting my party up for disaster? I really want to keep my Warden an archer,especially considering that the Archery tree is home to some sweet debuffs and snares. Ranged support can make or break a fight.

So,that a decent enough party comp? Or should I mix things up? The Player Warden's a Rogue,as an FYI. Sorta wondering how to get these specializations that taunt me on the stats screen,too.

It's a solid build. I beat nightmare with a rogue. my party was allistair and morigan and Sten until I got wynn, when I swapped her in for sten. Only thing is that archery is really weak in DA: O. It can probably be done, though I wouldn't try it on nightmare. AOE mages can also be troublesome on higher difficulties in my experience, as you run out of mana long before they run out of health, but they're a ton of fun on casual and normal. As for the specializations, check the wiki is what I did. You can buy some of them in wonders of thedas or from the dwarf guy who's name escapes me. Most of the better ones though, you have to make unusual choices, like defiling the urn of sacred ashes.
Overall, rogue is probably the strongest starting class, and allistair is a great party member, especially with his damage potential against mages through the templar top level skill. Damn, I really need to go back and replay that game. anyway, good luck, and you should really be able to make any party combo work so long as it isn't on nightmare difficulty, though having all the specializations unlocked helps a ton.

 

[queenie]

Let's talk spell combos. The wiki was quite helpful in this regard,pointing them out for me. However,since you all played the game far more than I,I have to wonder: Which are worth it? Entropic Death and Storm of the Century seem like insane combos to me,but... I don't know.

Well, Storm of the Century is nice if you have a good target and a safe spot to cast from, since it takes a while. I don't think that Entropic Death is worth it unless you're already investing heavily into the Entropy tree, but if you go full Entropy, you'll see some excellent results. Eventually. The entire drain life tree is pretty handy for any mage built for diversity, but the hexes... eh, I've never found much use for them, but you might.

Shatter is brilliant though, and you have quite a few ways to make it happen, so you can pick and choose. Shockwave is a bit underrated, but if you're investing in Spirit, it's not bad for cc.

 

[Happiness Assassin]

Let's talk spell combos. The wiki was quite helpful in this regard,pointing them out for me. However,since you all played the game far more than I,I have to wonder: Which are worth it? Entropic Death and Storm of the Century seem like insane combos to me,but... I don't know.

Storm of the Century is straight up the most ridiculous power in the game. Long ass cast time on 2 spells and a sustainable that increases mana costs. If you use it, you will need a lyrium potion afterwards. On hard and nightmare difficulties it is nigh on useless, as the friendly fire and the MASSIVE area coverage are incredible liabilities. There was only one fight in the whole game I felt it was justified and telling you that would be a spoiler.

One combo I actually like is Shockwave, which is casting Crushing Prison (one of the best standard powers in the game) on a target locked in a Force Field. Force Field is an odd power as it can be used offensively to control the battle, but it is best used on your party tank to protect it from damage. Basically let your tank aggro the enemy hordes, cast Force Field on him, wait for them to bunch up as tight as possible, and BOOM! Also the tank will NOT take damage from this attack, even with friendly fire on.

 

[JennAnge]

As a couple other posters pointed out, it depends on which level you're playing on, and what you're aiming for. If you're playing on nightmare level and you're aiming for the awesomest combine-harvester team, Alistair (Shale if you have her), two mages and your rogue will fit the bill, with other variations as posted above. I rolled through wtih Alistair, Zevran, Morrigan and my own heal/CC mage, and it was just the right mix of fun, challenging, and micro management that a lot of modern RPGs don't seem to be able to grasp.

If you're looking to roleplay your warden and fully explore the characters and story, then I'd say you can build a team with just about anybody - as long as you're not playing on nightmare, as then certain combos will be quite challenging and possibly frustrating. After my high level play through, I explored other origins, story options and groups. I made a mercenary type Warden only out for herself (sword and board warrior dwarf castless origin if I remember right), and rolled with Zevran, Morrigan and Sten, because it's pretty hard to offend anybody in that party with self-serving decisions, except for a few quibbles from Sten here and there. I don't think I could have played that one on Nightmare, though; lack of heals. And I couldn't have swapped Wynne in in a pinch,


as I'd nuked the tower. My warrior thought of the hassle of sorting out sane from possessed mage before they went demony and ate my eyeballs, and then thought 'screw it, it's just a bunch of magic wielding non-dwarfs in skirts'.


I played the game through with nearly every origin, some of them twice (yes, I love that game), and each time I roleplayed a somewhat different warden and brought out a different mix of companions, and listened to their banter, and earned their approval or royally ticked them off, depending. And it was fun But I only played on nightmare one other time, a rogue noble with Alistair, Morrigan and Wynne. I found that two mages really are needed at high level, though that might have just been my playstyle.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Storm of the century is great if you follow the MOAR PARALYSIS! school of mage character building, which is in my opinion the best way to build a damage-dealing caster. Without that, it's kind of a mess because you can't realistically stand in it and since it doesn't slow enemies down they'll usually get out of it too quickly for it to be worth it's immense casting cost.

It works best with two or three mages with every single crowd control spell they can lay their grubby, lyrium-drenched hands on.

On a similar note, paralysis explosion (glyph of repulsion + glyph of paralysis) is also a great spell combo and definately the one I've ended up using most across all playthroughs. It's far quicker to cast than mass paralysis, and can crowd control a whole room while you set up to AOE everyone to death. The only thing to be wary of is that unlike mass paralysis it doesn't discriminate between friend and foe.

Entropic death is pretty damn good, but it requires a pretty significant investment of skill points to be able to cast it. It's good when you face a bunch of weak enemies and one tough enemy at range, as with paralysis death cloud can kill off hordes while the death curse will do significant damage to a single target. With the exception of one encounter (which I won't spoil) very few enemies in the game are particularly resistant to spirit damage so death curse definitely has its uses, it's just whether it's worth the price of admission for you.

 

[Riddle78]

I've finalized my party: Jaufrey Cousland (Me; Rogue Bard and eventually Assassin. Dual daggers + Longbows),Morrigan (Double Duty AoE Nuker + Healer. I have a respec mod,so she'll be a Blood Mage and Spirit Healer),Alistair (Sword n' Board Tank n' Spank. Keeping his Templar specialization for obvious reasons,gonna toss on Champion or Berserker when I get them,whichever seems more appealing at the time.),and Barkspawn (Charger + Magebane). Difficulty's set to Normal,since that's how the game's meant to be played... I hope. If Barkspawn falls flat,I'll swap him out for someone else. Probably Sten.