Ok, first off, I'm probably not playing this game as well as many other people here. And, for that matter, I'm totally ignoring tactics (in the sense of not customizing them - leaving tactics on default). With that said I still managed to kill this boss on normal the first time without too much of a headache.
My setup:
Hawke (main tank)
Aveline (melee DPS)
Varric (ranged DPS)
Bethany (ranged DPS/Healer)
Ok in my case, Aveline died early on because initially she had aggro on the boss (she taunted off of my main tank Hawke). So her death served as a means seeing the Boss' pattern. (Note, I admit I was expecting to wipe after she died.) . The trick I think was I fell into a rhythm of healing and minimized the damage Hawke took. The healing spell has a long cooldown (40 seconds) so at around 50% I would heal Hawke. By the time another 40 seconds had passed Hawke had taken enough damage that her health was again at 50%. Of course this wasn't easy - as I had to minimize the damage that Hawke took. To do this, I would use Varric's Cameleon's breath which made Hawk harder to hit for a few seconds. I also had Hawke use Shield Defense the entire fight. At many times during the fight I admit to using potions. But looking back on it now I know I could have used less potions knowing what the fight is about. In my opinion I could have done this fight using only 3-5 lyrium potions and maybe 1 or 2 health potions instead of what I really used (about double that).
Ancient Rock Wraith
Débuté par
stylepoints
, mars 09 2011 03:15
Retour en haut
#77
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 05:11
Da3mon
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I tried this encounter on Hard using Carver (2H, wanted him to be a Grey Warden), Primal/Force Hawke, Varric, and Healbot Anders. It was kinda stupid as Carver had almost no tank talents, and I didnt want to switch to Aveline, so for stories sake I lowered to normal. Next time with warrior hawke however 
#78
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 05:20
monopoly1888
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i had to lower to normal to finallly beat it.
#79
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 06:46
kullendorff
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Darkshore wrote...
Well beings you have two rogues, two mages, and no tank your going to have one hell of a time. This is the only point in the game so far that I've noticed you truly need a tank for. Goodluck. Also I get some good use out of Varric how do you find him useless?
What part do you need a tank for?
#80
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 06:54
Kaesebreze
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None. The fight is a lot saver, easier and probably faster with a group full of ranged and no tank.kullendorff wrote...
What part do you need a tank for?
I didn't have one with me and didn't miss him.
There actually was no part at all on nightmare where i felt a tank was necessary.
#81
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 07:45
soteria
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@Veovim: Yeah, I've seen party members on hold run off and do stuff, too. It ticks me off.
What are people doing with their ranged during the vacuum part? I let melee just attack normally, but my ranged characters always fall on their butts no matter the range. Keep 'em near the crates so they can hide more easily or somethign?
What are people doing with their ranged during the vacuum part? I let melee just attack normally, but my ranged characters always fall on their butts no matter the range. Keep 'em near the crates so they can hide more easily or somethign?
#82
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 07:53
0x30A88
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Cone of Cold and Fireball = a big no. They'll inevitably agrro it and turn it onto your mage. Have your ranged party members stand in the corners and watch your mage(s). Never stop trying, learn as you go and check if you have the elfroot potion -- it isn't on the auto-potion button and is greater than the standard potion.
Have them hide behind pilalrs when he is to burst out electicity or when he starts sucking people into his personal space.
Have them hide behind pilalrs when he is to burst out electicity or when he starts sucking people into his personal space.
#83
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 08:07
ThomasAndrew
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How long did it take people to kill on nightmare? I just got to him and it took me around 30 minutes using tank Hawke, Anders Merill and Varric. I managed to not need any potions or revive and found it to be quite manageable. It just took stupidly long... The only other fight I've had difficulty with is one with 2 rogues backstabbing my bloody mages.
#84
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 08:18
soteria
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I didn't time it, but I doubt it actually took 30 minutes for me. I'd guess half that, assuming we're only counting the successful attempt.
#85
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 08:54
Sheonite
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Nightmare difficulty, only gripe I had about this was the smash attack the boss does immediately after finishing it's ball attack seems to be unavoidable, even hitting characters after I have moved them clear across the room.
Has anyone found a reliable way to evade the swing he does out of ball form?
Has anyone found a reliable way to evade the swing he does out of ball form?
#86
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 08:56
Teahouse Fox
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My first playthrough on normal, I did this with Varric, Anders and Bethany. The hardest thing is that you put people on Hold, and they don't bloody well Hold.
I sent Hawke in to DPS it and keep everyone else partially obscured by the columns and firing away. When it does it's AOE, tuck everyone behind a column, watch to catch the ones trying to jump out to their death and keep tucking them back in.
The casters and Varric are responsible for AOEing all the adds that come out of the woodwork, and when the rockwraith lands in the center, I send Hawke in to DPS it down. Lather, rinse repeat, ????, profit.
I sent Hawke in to DPS it and keep everyone else partially obscured by the columns and firing away. When it does it's AOE, tuck everyone behind a column, watch to catch the ones trying to jump out to their death and keep tucking them back in.
The casters and Varric are responsible for AOEing all the adds that come out of the woodwork, and when the rockwraith lands in the center, I send Hawke in to DPS it down. Lather, rinse repeat, ????, profit.
#87
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 09:02
soteria
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Has anyone found a reliable way to evade the swing he does out of ball form?
Other than having Dog out as often as possible, no. He seems to roll toward and attack whoever is closest when he's in that stage of the fight, so I just park my ranged at one end and have my warrior run back and forth up at the other end.
#88
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 09:03
termokanden
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Sheonite wrote...
Nightmare difficulty, only gripe I had about this was the smash attack the boss does immediately after finishing it's ball attack seems to be unavoidable, even hitting characters after I have moved them clear across the room.
Has anyone found a reliable way to evade the swing he does out of ball form?
It was my impression that it just has a longer range than it seems. I was able to dodge it sometimes, but maybe that's just because it only works on anyone close to him when he's done rolling. If he rolled too near me, I wouldn't have the time to get away. Hard to tell exactly how it works.
So yeah I forgot to mention that earlier. That, and the fact that characters do not always HOLD when you set them to HOLD, is why I didn't like this fight. It made complete sense to me to position characters behind different pillars, to minimize the risk of AoE hurting everyone. Sadly I ended up hurting myself instead because just as I thought everyone was safe, Anders would walk into the AoE and get killed. Frustrating beyond belief!
This fight felt like something that would have been an extremely basic boss fight in an MMO but ends up being frustrating here because instead of not standing in fire, you have to manually avoid standing in fire for every character, but at the same time they will move around on their own when you are not directly controlling them.
Modifié par termokanden, 13 mars 2011 - 09:08 .
#89
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 09:06
Iosev
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I just beat the Ancient Rock Wraith on Nightmare this morning. After failing three times, I finally managed to beat it (without anyone getting injured).
My group consisted of Hawke (Primal Blood Mage), Varric, Carver, and Anders.
First Phase:
Make sure your tank establishes threat first (turn off your companions tactics so that they don't attack the wraith yet). Once the wraith goes after your tank (Carver in my case), turn on your companions' tactics, and position them by a pillar. With your tank, kite the wraith away from your party and hug pillars to avoid the wraith's projectiles (if your tank has threat, the wraith will not go for your companions (at least with my team's meager DPS). Once the wraith takes enough damage he'll move to the center, so position behind the pillars to avoid the blast. Afterwards, focus fire on each of the adds to take them out before the wraith begins its attack again.
Phase 2:
During this phase, the wraith seems to randomly target people, so spread out your party and keep them moving in order to avoid as much damage as possible. Since the only warrior I brought was Carver (who is more of a 2H DPS warrior instead of a tank), He had a limited role during this phase (he mostly just stayed in the corner with the crates). This phase is very tedious because you have to be constantly mobile (since the wraith targets anyone). Once he goes to the center again, hide behind the pillars, and then focus down the adds.
Phase 3:
Like the first phase, it is important to have your warrior establish threat initially, so once the adds are down, momentarily keep your companions from attacking the wraith. Once your tank has threat, you can have your companions attack again. Much like the first phase, just have your tank kite the wraith around, while your companions hug pillars and shoot from range. Once he does the vacuum ability, just slightly position your companions to get out of line of sight, and then reposition them once the vacuum is over. Continue this until the final adds are spawned.
During my first try, I died to the last set of spawns (since there are more of them), so be sure to focus fire AND make sure that your warrior establishes threat with most of them. Use AoE abilities to quickly defeat the spawns. Once the adds are down, it's just more of Phase 3, so kite with your warrior, and damage from range with your companions. Make sure to keep your companions separated, because on my second try, I got the wraith down to less than 5% health, but since I had my range grouped up, the wraith randomly teleported underneath them and killed them all. If anything, at least keep your magi separate, so that they can heal each other if one gets knocked down.
Ultimately, this battle took awhile (at least 30 minutes, maybe even more, lol, since I wasn't really keeping track of the time), since my warrior didn't contribute damage for most of the fight. However, on my last attempt, none of my companions fell (the most dangerous time was during the spawning of the final adds). It's definitely one of the toughest fights that I've played recently in RPGs (I thought Harvester on Nightmare was exponentially easier), but overall, it's the tediousness of the encounter that makes it difficult.
My group consisted of Hawke (Primal Blood Mage), Varric, Carver, and Anders.
First Phase:
Make sure your tank establishes threat first (turn off your companions tactics so that they don't attack the wraith yet). Once the wraith goes after your tank (Carver in my case), turn on your companions' tactics, and position them by a pillar. With your tank, kite the wraith away from your party and hug pillars to avoid the wraith's projectiles (if your tank has threat, the wraith will not go for your companions (at least with my team's meager DPS). Once the wraith takes enough damage he'll move to the center, so position behind the pillars to avoid the blast. Afterwards, focus fire on each of the adds to take them out before the wraith begins its attack again.
Phase 2:
During this phase, the wraith seems to randomly target people, so spread out your party and keep them moving in order to avoid as much damage as possible. Since the only warrior I brought was Carver (who is more of a 2H DPS warrior instead of a tank), He had a limited role during this phase (he mostly just stayed in the corner with the crates). This phase is very tedious because you have to be constantly mobile (since the wraith targets anyone). Once he goes to the center again, hide behind the pillars, and then focus down the adds.
Phase 3:
Like the first phase, it is important to have your warrior establish threat initially, so once the adds are down, momentarily keep your companions from attacking the wraith. Once your tank has threat, you can have your companions attack again. Much like the first phase, just have your tank kite the wraith around, while your companions hug pillars and shoot from range. Once he does the vacuum ability, just slightly position your companions to get out of line of sight, and then reposition them once the vacuum is over. Continue this until the final adds are spawned.
During my first try, I died to the last set of spawns (since there are more of them), so be sure to focus fire AND make sure that your warrior establishes threat with most of them. Use AoE abilities to quickly defeat the spawns. Once the adds are down, it's just more of Phase 3, so kite with your warrior, and damage from range with your companions. Make sure to keep your companions separated, because on my second try, I got the wraith down to less than 5% health, but since I had my range grouped up, the wraith randomly teleported underneath them and killed them all. If anything, at least keep your magi separate, so that they can heal each other if one gets knocked down.
Ultimately, this battle took awhile (at least 30 minutes, maybe even more, lol, since I wasn't really keeping track of the time), since my warrior didn't contribute damage for most of the fight. However, on my last attempt, none of my companions fell (the most dangerous time was during the spawning of the final adds). It's definitely one of the toughest fights that I've played recently in RPGs (I thought Harvester on Nightmare was exponentially easier), but overall, it's the tediousness of the encounter that makes it difficult.
Modifié par arcelonious, 13 mars 2011 - 10:21 .
#90
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 09:29
Andronic0s
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Ran into this fight just now in nightmare, must say imo it is quite challenging and boring as it requires you to follow a script to win, and derives the challenge from making you start all over again if you fumble a script line once... my biggest beef with this fight is the length was it really necessary to make it last so long? I don't want to spend 2 hours of my life fighting this one thing.
So I ask the folk that have done it in casual is the fight shorter in that difficulty? or does he just does less damage and has lesser spawns?
So I ask the folk that have done it in casual is the fight shorter in that difficulty? or does he just does less damage and has lesser spawns?
#91
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 09:31
soteria
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It's faster on easier difficulties. I hate the length, too.
#92
Guest_iOnlySignIn_*
Posté 13 mars 2011 - 09:56
Guest_iOnlySignIn_*
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I'm in Act 3 and I haven't seen a fight as fun as this one. A few suggestions:
(1) Bring Anders and keep him a live. You'll need his group healing powers a lot, and you'll need to revive Varric a lot.
(2) Preferably also bring another Mage with Heal. 2 Heals is a thousand times more handy than 1.
(3) Set your tank tactics to Self => Any => Stonewall if you're not microing them. Shower them in stamina droughts.
(4) Forgo electricity spells on your Mages. Rock creatures have near total immunity. Ice spells are better.
(5) Spread out your ranged characters into different corners so they don't all die at once to the rolling rock ball.
(1) Bring Anders and keep him a live. You'll need his group healing powers a lot, and you'll need to revive Varric a lot.
(2) Preferably also bring another Mage with Heal. 2 Heals is a thousand times more handy than 1.
(3) Set your tank tactics to Self => Any => Stonewall if you're not microing them. Shower them in stamina droughts.
(4) Forgo electricity spells on your Mages. Rock creatures have near total immunity. Ice spells are better.
(5) Spread out your ranged characters into different corners so they don't all die at once to the rolling rock ball.
#93
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 02:01
Darkshore
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kullendorff wrote...
Darkshore wrote...
Well beings you have two rogues, two mages, and no tank your going to have one hell of a time. This is the only point in the game so far that I've noticed you truly need a tank for. Goodluck. Also I get some good use out of Varric how do you find him useless?
What part do you need a tank for?
With my group set up I found that i needed someone to soak up the damage from the wraith while i kept them alive with a healer, as my ranged dps widdled down his health.
#94
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 04:40
Stranglebat
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I managed it on Nightmare using Tank hawke, Varric, Anders and Fenris. I had to have them all on Hold position and tactics off and controlled everything they did manually. Was hard though i only had 2 health pots and 1 stamina pot. Battlemaster points on my hawke for the Rally and second wind really helped however.
#95
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 11:43
Herakleia
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I am starting to despair of getting past this even on Casual mode. My party is Hawke (DPS warrior), Aveline (tank), Varric (unwantedly replacing Isabela in the rogue spot) and Merrill. I did not run with Varric much in chapter 1, so I have not upgraded him much.
If I go back and refuse to make a deal with the talking rock demon, do I get out of having to fight him? Or do I jiust have to bring a party of mages into chapter 2? (I avoided bringing Bethany here, because I didn't want to also bring Anders either. Should I restart the chapter?)
If I go back and refuse to make a deal with the talking rock demon, do I get out of having to fight him? Or do I jiust have to bring a party of mages into chapter 2? (I avoided bringing Bethany here, because I didn't want to also bring Anders either. Should I restart the chapter?)
#96
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 05:04
Iosev
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Herakleia wrote...
I am starting to despair of getting past this even on Casual mode. My party is Hawke (DPS warrior), Aveline (tank), Varric (unwantedly replacing Isabela in the rogue spot) and Merrill. I did not run with Varric much in chapter 1, so I have not upgraded him much.
If I go back and refuse to make a deal with the talking rock demon, do I get out of having to fight him? Or do I jiust have to bring a party of mages into chapter 2? (I avoided bringing Bethany here, because I didn't want to also bring Anders either. Should I restart the chapter?)
While I won't say that it is impossible with your group composition (I've only played this encounter on Nightmare, so I don't know how much easier it is on casual), I imagine that it will be really hard without at least one mage healer. Bringing Anders on this quest makes this encounter much more manageable.
#97
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 05:13
Herakleia
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arcelonious wrote...
While I won't say that it is impossible with your group composition (I've only played this encounter on Nightmare, so I don't know how much easier it is on casual), I imagine that it will be really hard without at least one mage healer. Bringing Anders on this quest makes this encounter much more manageable.
I suppose I am stuck starting over, even though the plot apparently sticks you with the two party members you chose. My one goal here is to put the Deep Roads behind me; I dislike extended, linear dungeon crawls where nothing of interest other than extended combats take place, and doors are always closing behind you. I was spoiled enough to know not to take Bethany, at least. I try to keep an all-female party on my first playthrough, but that isn't an option here either. Will start the chapter over so I can get it over with.
#98
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 05:31
DrekorSilverfang
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Sabresandiego wrote...
Here is a video of me killing the rock wraith on nightmare.
The Ultimate Vanguard: Rock Wraith
I was going to make a long post but honestly Sabre's video shows it all... and he does it with no pause which is damn impressive.
Modifié par DrekorSilverfang, 14 mars 2011 - 05:32 .
#99
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 05:37
Ron Brugal
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I cheapen out and turned Nightmare down to normal to complete it with full party. my last straw before this was varric, and two hand tank died. was just me (mage) and lady s/s tank. I kept her out of the fight as much as possible and kited boss with my mage. died with it started to roll at me I accidentally switched characters to do a heal. didnt get back in time and my mage died. after that ....
#100
Posté 14 mars 2011 - 05:47
x-president
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Has anyone tried soloing it with Varric?
By solo I mean just not caring about the rest of your party and letting them die, which should happen right away. If this is possible then it really doesn't matter what team you have, you can win no matter what.
By solo I mean just not caring about the rest of your party and letting them die, which should happen right away. If this is possible then it really doesn't matter what team you have, you can win no matter what.
