Magic, Ranged Weapon, or Melee??

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After playing through the game and setting up the NPC with tactic this is my thought on the three types of attacks.

Magic – this is the best attack in the game for multiple targets and providing a good source of damage. The draw back to this type of attack is that the character runs manna depletes very quickly if powerful spells are used one right after another.

My favorite combo in the game was the spell Tempus followed by Inferno than to finish most foes off with the magic staff or other ranged attacks.

Ranged Weapons – I found a few good long/short bows and two very good crossbows. The damage outputs of bows found throughout the game are very weak; however, they do provide the character with a range attack to weaken some of the stronger enemies rushing them. Also, when you use the various arrows they add some elemental damage or do something specific that definitely makes a character with a bow a decent for those unique situations.

Melee Weapons – The character draws this weapon when approached, either it be 2 handed, sword and shield or dual weapons. These types of attack provide decent damage but the character is in the heat of the fight. If the character is not equipped with a shield, no heavily armored, or wearing nothing but clothes or nothing at all they tend to be KO very quickly.

When playing the game I had all NPCs equipped with the best ranged weapon (expect the mages) so that they could shot off a few arrows before engaging in melee, like BG1 and BG2. I find this to be very useful as I made all of them target the strongest enemy. From there the melee fights were a bit easier. The first boss I fought I did not do this and I quickly regretted this decision as I had to reload and try another tactic. It took me a few tries and than I remember I had some unequipped bows, which made the difference in the fight.

For those of you playing on consoles, you would know what I’m talking about if you play the game on Hard or Nightmare. The bow becomes one of your best friends on the higher settings. I didn’t realize until the end of my first game just how good some of the arrows are in the game. My second play through I plan to use bows and arrows more than my first play through.

Though, I still prefer Magic over ranged or melee attacks.

 

I go for melee with some spellcasting when needed and a little archery support to take out the enemy when they are rushing in or distant spellcasters.

You don't have to run around to hit someone with a bow... er, an arrow.

I once did 619 damage points with arrow of slaying. It's situational but it rocks and when you have a bunch of enemies between you and a spellcaster it's often the faster way to eliminate the threat.

 

The 619 damage done was by a specific arrow. Without that arrow your maximum damage with a bow is 30-50. Maybe a bit more, if you are lucky.

My average cone spell did around 100 per a hit. The area affect spells did 20-50 points of damage until the enemy was dead, if they stayed in the area affect, or about 100 points by the time they got out. Magic I believe is the most useful as you are able to damage mutiple targets for a good amount of damage from a distance.

My favorite type of attack is melee, because you get to chop off heads, etc... with a final blow. Also, the most damage I seen in the game so far by a melee character was by Sten with a 2 handed sword. He did over 200 points with one hit.

 

No argument about arrow of slaying. It's a one shot thing and its major drawback is that damage is reduced when you target higher ranking foes. It is still a convenient option though. Strength modifies damage with bows (but not crossbows).

I don't like magic that much, it's powerful but less satisfying and it feels a bit cheap (IMO) since it can abused with cheesy tactics (you can cast area spells through walls).

The last patch reduces the duration of some spells, I haven't played the game since I last patched it so I can't comment on the changes.

Melee rocks but the finishing moves can be dangerous, I don't know if you've noticed but you can still take damage while finishing a foe (especially ogres).

 

I like magic because my mage would freeze the most powerful foe and than use other spells to get rid of the lower enemies as the rest of the group concentrates their attacks on the stronger enemies. Usually by the time the mage finishes off the weaker enemies, the most powerful ones are also slain. Typically my mage would kill 3+ enemies for each monster slain by one of the group members. My mage did 70% of all party damage by the end of the game.

Another thing, if you freeze an Orge before the final finishing blow, you don't take damage. Once I had an Orge down when my character started his final blow. It was quite entertaining watching my character strike the air as a finishing move.

 

I use the area spells as a cover for my position, much like you would use a minefield in front of your trench.

I learned to never rush into enemy groups - they might include a mage overlooked, and there is a reasonable chance that you will be swarmed by enemies you can't see. Rather, fire off a shot and withdraw into a fortified position and let them have it ...

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like that darkspawn master of the forge ...

I have the golem support the party, main char and Leliana using bows (Leliana is my dedicated archer) and Morrigan casts tempest and then lightning storm between us and the enemy. Leliana and main char then start picking off the enemies, luring them into the spell area, with my main char finishing off in melee whatever comes through.

I went through most of the deep roads with that strategy pretty well. I had to fight

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the broodmother and the tainted spider queen

with sheer endurance (i.e. a lot of healing potions) though. Tough fights.

Sad only that I have to use that runty dwarf now to find Branka, and had to ditch Shale for the rest of the deep roads. He is formidable.

I find that the Emissaries are from all darkspawn the by far most troublesome.

 

Yeah, Shale is pretty awesome. During my first runthrough with Morrigan as my only spellcaster (I killed Wynne in the Circle Tower), Shale kept my entire group alive

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during the Flemeth encounter

using his maxxed out Support Aura. Granted, I did have to use health poultices, but that aura is just insane.

 

I use support aura a lot. When enemies are in close quarters I also use his mighty blow ability and slam. It's particularly funny since I have given Morrigan stone fist which means I can send enemies flying a lot, run of the mill bosses in particular. Oh, and then there is earthquake ...

In some ways Shale is a surrogate spellcaster/melee type. Unique character.

 

Rogues with Momentum.. Hoooo boy.

 

I may have to play a warrior specializing in bows to see how good that build would be. I would put 2 points in STR and one in DEX per a level up. That should make for a decent damaging bow/arrow specialist.

 

I generally use a combo of bow and magic to take down enemy casters asap, while my main (dwarven dw warrior/berserker) and Alister holds the melee enemies at bay. when the enemy casters are down (which happens fast with morrigan and leliane focus on the same target). I start to focus on the different melee targets, often using frost spells to freeze them or stun them with other spells.

my DW berzerker, puts out some decent damage with a combo of momentum and berzerk.

 

Yay, I just beat the final battle at the Anvil of the Void, siding with Caridin. I eventually beat it. It was all melee or magic. No fight for ranged combat. This has so far, by far, been about the toughest fights in the entire game.

I'm glad it's done, because in that one the difficulty seriously started to take the fun out of the game. I reloaded about five times yesterday night, before I had enough of it and decided to go to bed. Starting an hour ago I had to reload five times again, twice with my sole surviving char being killed off by the also sole surviving boss. It is IMO impossible to defeat that enemy solo. Alas, it was doable after all, even though I lack all of the spells that others who posted about how to solve it used and had.

The key was to use blizzard, cone of cold, stonefist and Shale's slam attack. Amazingly, not only did I appear to do everything right this time, everyone in my party survived and my potion consumption was minimal.

 

There's one that I would consider worse closer towards the end of the game. I seriously had to reload at least 10 times trying different stratagies just to beat it, and still had 2 characters get KO'd.

Spoiler

It's the fight with Ser Cathrien when you're trying to rescue Anora from Howe's estate. Cathrien by herself is a beast, easily hitting for over 100 damage a swing. You also have about 10 archers to deal with all using that Scattershot stun, plus an enemy mage on top of that. By far the toughest fight I've tried.

 

Oh yeah, KJ, that one sure is a tough cookie.

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You don't have to fight though, in my second playthrough I surrendered and eventually fought her later (it seemed easier than before). There seems to be an option to get on her good side but I didn't bother.

 

Yeah I did that my first time through just messing around with dialogue options out of sheer frustration at getting my tail kicked repeatedly.

 

Hah, that's my next fight you're talking about. So far I reloaded three times. At least, I now have the general idea how to deal with her. Ser Cathrien has a pathological dislike of mages though, and Morrigan is my main 'incapacitator' ...

The first time I almost had her, but then she killed off my main char with a lucky punch, and everything went downhill quickly after that.

 

It all depends on the difficulty setting and what spells you picked for you mage(s). Some spells are just silly (Crushing Prison anyone?) and the Hexes are great in a pinch.

After being incapacitated by spells I enjoy keeping Alistair around for his cleansing ability.

 

Ah, I did it

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I separated her from her supporters with an AOE spell and then another one that they couldn't pass and in the meanwhile whacked her. She still managed to kill two of my characters. A formidable opponent she is.

 

I chose to

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Spoiler

couple Morrigan and Alistair.

I wonder where that will lead to ... DLC? Or an add on even?

Anyway, I ponder my next character. Male human noble, probably. My last char was a city elven fightress, eventually dual wielding two Tewinter swords. She romanced Leniana.

What about a strength focused ranged fighter using crossbows for ranged combat and a decent melee weapon for close combat - two handed or shield fighting?

Alternatively, I find an arcane warrior intriguing as well. I'll have to think about that. The AOE spells are amazing. Blizzard especially. And then, cone of cold is awesome. Any spell build or recommendations for arcane warriors btw? Anyone here ever played one?

Any ideas?

 

I'm on my second playthrough with a female elf arcane warrior. I'm only a level 7 and just left Lothering. I really like the Glyph of Paralysis, it gives sometime to get Alistar to tank and me to start using more powerful spells. There is also a combo with Glyph of paralysis and repulsion. It create a wider, longer paralysis AoE.

In addition, the whole Crushing Prison line of spells are great, from Mind Blast to Force Field and even telekinetic weapons. They help tremendusly (sp?)

Beyond those and any elemental spell, I picked spells to keep me alive like Rock Armor or Arcane Shield.

I plan to go to spirit healer afterwards, for further survival. However, blood mage is great to offset the disadvantages of a low mana using health instead!