Sigh. Bethany, Aveline, and 2H Warrior Hawke with no respec potions. Needless to say, I quickly gave up after failing to get his health down by more than 25% on 3 tries even with this advice.
Dialed it back to preschool difficulty and didn't have to drink a single pot. Will try it on normal and hard, but once I get past the 5 minute mark on any battle, I'm officially through with it.
My self esteem will remain in tact without kiting that thing around for 20 minutes just to say I beat it on Nightmare.
Stategy against Ancient Rock Wraith (Nightmare Difficulty)
Débuté par
Naitaka
, mars 09 2011 11:06
Retour en haut
#202
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 02:35
Rrend
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gdmfx wrote...
I have been getting decimated just on Hard difficulty. Thing is I do not have a bunch of those skills at all and I cannot respec my chars. I did not buy any of those potions from the black emporium.
So now I am left with the disgusting option of having to go down to normal or easy to finish this boss and then put the difficulty back up. Real shame
The alternative is to spend days trying to make this work and hope it doesn't take you 100 tries to get lucky just to say you did it on nightmare. Not worth it imo. To massage my ego, I spanked it on casual with no pots used. I'll give it a run on normal and then hard. But there is no way I'm going to kite that thing for 30 minutes on the off chance that I pull off a miracle with my strong but not optimized for this boss fight party.
#203
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 05:58
sevenplusone
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For those of you still having a hard time and don't know what he's weak to, spirit specced mages are boss here.
#204
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 06:54
Rrend
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How do you remove Varric from your party to solo?
#205
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 07:00
sevenplusone
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devconsole
runscript zz_dae_debug
Select clear party, done.
runscript zz_dae_debug
Select clear party, done.
#206
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 08:36
Lumikki
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I play in normal difficulty. I have tank and archer and two mage. I also have done this with two archer and two mage. Base idea is stay away from it as far as possible and hit him from distance. When some special attack starts, avoid it by goind behind something. When he comes closer, run some other spot. Not much anyting is needed.Tank can tank if wanted, but not sure is it good place to be for other melee classes.
Modifié par Lumikki, 29 mars 2011 - 08:37 .
#207
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 09:33
Rrend
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I've found that on lower difficulties dog can actually keep the big guy distracted for quite a wall and the cooldown on summoning dog isn't that long. Allows me to have my non-tank warrior beat on him from behind for a while... anything to speed up the battle without too much risk is worth it my opinion.
#208
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 10:08
DaewaNya
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I beat it on nightmare with Bethany, Varric, Aveline and Warrior Hawke. It was boooooooooooorrrrrring. Kiting with Aveline and Hawke. The rest just shoot at it and... that's it. When mobs appear, quick wipe and that's it. It takes forever.
#209
Posté 29 mars 2011 - 10:51
Alamar2078
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For me this boss was vast orders of magnitude more difficult than the others the first time through. I suspect I'll be better prepared this time ... we'll see 
#210
Posté 30 mars 2011 - 06:03
-Frog-
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sevenplusone wrote...
So it kinda of went like...:
Boss turns into a ball, targets Varric who's in between the 2 pillars at max range.
Each of my other ranged are to Varric's left and right.
I move Varric while casting a spell on Merrill, giving me just enough time to get out of the bosses AoE and ball of doom on her. While my support mage is getting in a few auto attacks because he has room due to his position.
Spell is off cooldown by the time Merrill is back in position.
More damage, shorter fight.
How can you tell who he is targeting?
It isn't clear when he starts to ball up and roll because at that distance from him, the path to each party member is pretty similar and I can't tell untill he is close to his target, which means I have to move them all to cover.
Modifié par -Frog-, 30 mars 2011 - 06:04 .
#211
Posté 30 mars 2011 - 09:25
Fadook
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Did it on Nightmare with a party that really wasn't optimised for the fight. My party was DW Hawke, Fenris, Anders and Varric (ldo). Nothing in the way of threat management skills which would have been useful. Despite all that, I managed to do it (eventually) using basically the same strategy as one of those described earlier in the thread, which I think is basically foolproof.
The key is to hit the Wraith from range and spread your party out a bit. I I put a bow in Hawke's hands and summoned the Mabari. In the first phase, Fenris and the dog would engage the Wraith in melee. I'd use Fenris to dash in, hit a couple of times, then dash out. I'd run away because after taking a couple of hits the Wraith always lashes out with a quite damaging attack. While Fenris is in his face, the ranged characters are attacking. It's important to spread them out a bit because the Wraith shoots this lightning bolt that will damage multiple characters if they're standing together. Kept doing this throughout the first phase, keeping the ranged characters away whenever the Wraith teleports.
The recovery phase after the Wraith does the exploding attack is simple. Sent Fenris in to whack the Wraith while my ranged focused on the Profanes. When one Profane was left, I'd re-equip my Hawke with daggers and send her in to attack the Wraith while Varric and Anders killed the last Profane. This was in order to maximise the damage to the Wraith as the recovery period is when he's most vulnerable.
The second phase is the trickiest part. I relied on my ranged characters for damage. Fenris was a liability during the rolling ball phase, so I just kept him away. Keep your characters near pillars so they can hide behind them when the Wraith does the rolling ball attack. I found it helpful to split my party into two pairs because if you have 3 or 4 guys grouped together, at least one tends to get hit by that swipe the Wraith does immediately after the rolling ball. Paused a lot and kept my characters moving. Took a bloody long time but got to the third phase eventually. Just whack the crap out of him when he does that gravity attack.
There are certainly more efficient strategies but the one I used will work with any party. Though if you don't have healing then you better have a lot of health potions.
The key is to hit the Wraith from range and spread your party out a bit. I I put a bow in Hawke's hands and summoned the Mabari. In the first phase, Fenris and the dog would engage the Wraith in melee. I'd use Fenris to dash in, hit a couple of times, then dash out. I'd run away because after taking a couple of hits the Wraith always lashes out with a quite damaging attack. While Fenris is in his face, the ranged characters are attacking. It's important to spread them out a bit because the Wraith shoots this lightning bolt that will damage multiple characters if they're standing together. Kept doing this throughout the first phase, keeping the ranged characters away whenever the Wraith teleports.
The recovery phase after the Wraith does the exploding attack is simple. Sent Fenris in to whack the Wraith while my ranged focused on the Profanes. When one Profane was left, I'd re-equip my Hawke with daggers and send her in to attack the Wraith while Varric and Anders killed the last Profane. This was in order to maximise the damage to the Wraith as the recovery period is when he's most vulnerable.
The second phase is the trickiest part. I relied on my ranged characters for damage. Fenris was a liability during the rolling ball phase, so I just kept him away. Keep your characters near pillars so they can hide behind them when the Wraith does the rolling ball attack. I found it helpful to split my party into two pairs because if you have 3 or 4 guys grouped together, at least one tends to get hit by that swipe the Wraith does immediately after the rolling ball. Paused a lot and kept my characters moving. Took a bloody long time but got to the third phase eventually. Just whack the crap out of him when he does that gravity attack.
There are certainly more efficient strategies but the one I used will work with any party. Though if you don't have healing then you better have a lot of health potions.
Modifié par Fadook, 30 mars 2011 - 09:26 .
#212
Posté 02 avril 2011 - 08:10
GodLikeDevil
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I hate this fight for the sole reason the AI tends to have bad path-finding. Using a Dual-Wield Rogue Hawke, Bethany, Anders, and Varric was not the optimal set-up I wanted. Hawke essentially becomes the squishy tank.
I finally killed him but at the cost of 2 party members on Nightmare.
Gonna try the fight again for zero casualties.
I finally killed him but at the cost of 2 party members on Nightmare.
Gonna try the fight again for zero casualties.
#213
Posté 02 avril 2011 - 08:28
GodLikeDevil
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Oh, and it really helps if you can damage the beast for a crapload after he does his nuke move. Some of the tries I even managed to skip the ball-phase of the ARW.
Stack + Mark of Death + Hex of Torment + Winter's Grasp (brittle effect) + Assassinate (fully upgraded)
Stack + Mark of Death + Hex of Torment + Winter's Grasp (brittle effect) + Assassinate (fully upgraded)
#214
Posté 03 avril 2011 - 02:29
terminatorxxi
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Finally beat rock wraith on hard with a PC mage (and Aveline, Varrick and Fenriel) using a combination of the strategies posted on this forum:
1) Equip Stone Breath because it does spirit damage
2) Pick Elemental Tree, Spirit Healer Tree, and rock armor for spells
3) Enchant Aveline's shield and Varrick's upgraded armor with lightning ward
4) Make sure Aveline has upgraded Taunt
5) Stock up on potions so you have about 10 in each category
6) Position PC and Varrick at a mid-to-long distance from the rock wraith
7) When the rock wraith is charging, manually move the entire party behind a pillar
8) After the rock wraith explodes killing dog, resummon dog
9) When the rock wraith spawns, kill the spawns first by casting inferno then having the entire party target each spawn in turn
10) Then have the entire party gang up on the rock wraith in his vulnerable state, drinking potions to make sure everyone has full stamina and mana.
11) When the rock wraith rolls around, manually move the PC and Varrick behind a pillar to avoid the rock wraith, and heal Aveline or Fenriel if they get hit.
12) When the rock wraith sucks everyone in, manually move the PC and Varrick back to a mid-to-long distance away
13) After casting all of his offensive spells, have your PC stand right behind Aveline and Fenriel at a medium distance from the rock wraith with healing aura activated and auto-attack with staff, ready to cast aid allies or regroup as necessary.
14) Defense first--always keep your eye on the health gauges, and have patience. The rock wraith expodes and spawns three times, and the entire battle takes about 30 minutes if you don't die, persevere, and win.
1) Equip Stone Breath because it does spirit damage
2) Pick Elemental Tree, Spirit Healer Tree, and rock armor for spells
3) Enchant Aveline's shield and Varrick's upgraded armor with lightning ward
4) Make sure Aveline has upgraded Taunt
5) Stock up on potions so you have about 10 in each category
6) Position PC and Varrick at a mid-to-long distance from the rock wraith
7) When the rock wraith is charging, manually move the entire party behind a pillar
8) After the rock wraith explodes killing dog, resummon dog
9) When the rock wraith spawns, kill the spawns first by casting inferno then having the entire party target each spawn in turn
10) Then have the entire party gang up on the rock wraith in his vulnerable state, drinking potions to make sure everyone has full stamina and mana.
11) When the rock wraith rolls around, manually move the PC and Varrick behind a pillar to avoid the rock wraith, and heal Aveline or Fenriel if they get hit.
12) When the rock wraith sucks everyone in, manually move the PC and Varrick back to a mid-to-long distance away
13) After casting all of his offensive spells, have your PC stand right behind Aveline and Fenriel at a medium distance from the rock wraith with healing aura activated and auto-attack with staff, ready to cast aid allies or regroup as necessary.
14) Defense first--always keep your eye on the health gauges, and have patience. The rock wraith expodes and spawns three times, and the entire battle takes about 30 minutes if you don't die, persevere, and win.
#215
Posté 03 avril 2011 - 02:31
qebab
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Yeah, that really is the key to having a fast(er) and more fun ARW fight.GodLikeDevil wrote...
Oh, and it really helps if you can damage the beast for a crapload after he does his nuke move. Some of the tries I even managed to skip the ball-phase of the ARW.
Stack + Mark of Death + Hex of Torment + Winter's Grasp (brittle effect) + Assassinate (fully upgraded)
Have just enough AoE to wipe the adds quickly, then pop every damage increasing ability you have (Save haste for this) and wail on the thing while it's safe for everybody to do so. I'm not sure just how much time you have, but you will reduce the amount of time you spend kiting the damn thing significantly if you synch up abilities for that moment.
#216
Posté 03 avril 2011 - 03:35
GodLikeDevil
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Hahaha, finally did it on Nightmare again, this time without anyone dying.
Bethany with Winter's Grasp, Hex of Torment, Firestorm
Anders as primary healer with Haste
Varric with Hail of Arrows and the speed boosts from his tree
Alucard Hawke switching it up between his daggers and the Nevarran Lancer with most of the Assassin Tree filled, and Decoy
Special mention to Bowzer, the Mabari tank
It was epic, Bethany, Varric, Anders, and my DW Rogue were running around sniping the thing during the first phase with the dog keeping the ARW from getting close to us. ARW nukes, the party wails on it. The rolling thunder phase was where most of my party gets wiped out in my previous attempts, so I made sure I split them into pairs and hid them behind 2 pillars while sniping away, my Rogue dropping a decoy or so every now and then to ensure that the ARW does not roll into everyone else. He nukes, we wail again
The vortex phase was not so bad, just made sure to keep the party members split into pairs, always behind pillars, and always running away. ARW nukes. Party wails again. I was hoping we would kill it this time, but like before, no such luck.
Now I lost Bethany and Anders before because I did not manage them properly, and I did not realize that after the third nuke phase, the ARW's health was whittled down enough such that I can probably use my spells and talents there to kill it even if it was not nuking.
So that's what I did. ARW was preoccupied with my Mabari while everyone else was sniping from 2 separate pillars, waiting for skills to cool down. ARW sucks us in, I constantly issue move orders since one good explosion from the ARW will wipe out everyone. ARW reassembles itself, and I know it is going for the long range swipe attack, but most of the burst skills of my party is good to go. Bethany casts Hex of Torment, my Rogue casts Mark of Death, Varric does the Rhyming Triplet, Anders just auto-attacks. Bethany casts Winter's Grasp, I switch to daggers, Assassinate for massive damage and ftw.
Bethany with Winter's Grasp, Hex of Torment, Firestorm
Anders as primary healer with Haste
Varric with Hail of Arrows and the speed boosts from his tree
Alucard Hawke switching it up between his daggers and the Nevarran Lancer with most of the Assassin Tree filled, and Decoy
Special mention to Bowzer, the Mabari tank
It was epic, Bethany, Varric, Anders, and my DW Rogue were running around sniping the thing during the first phase with the dog keeping the ARW from getting close to us. ARW nukes, the party wails on it. The rolling thunder phase was where most of my party gets wiped out in my previous attempts, so I made sure I split them into pairs and hid them behind 2 pillars while sniping away, my Rogue dropping a decoy or so every now and then to ensure that the ARW does not roll into everyone else. He nukes, we wail again
The vortex phase was not so bad, just made sure to keep the party members split into pairs, always behind pillars, and always running away. ARW nukes. Party wails again. I was hoping we would kill it this time, but like before, no such luck.
Now I lost Bethany and Anders before because I did not manage them properly, and I did not realize that after the third nuke phase, the ARW's health was whittled down enough such that I can probably use my spells and talents there to kill it even if it was not nuking.
So that's what I did. ARW was preoccupied with my Mabari while everyone else was sniping from 2 separate pillars, waiting for skills to cool down. ARW sucks us in, I constantly issue move orders since one good explosion from the ARW will wipe out everyone. ARW reassembles itself, and I know it is going for the long range swipe attack, but most of the burst skills of my party is good to go. Bethany casts Hex of Torment, my Rogue casts Mark of Death, Varric does the Rhyming Triplet, Anders just auto-attacks. Bethany casts Winter's Grasp, I switch to daggers, Assassinate for massive damage and ftw.
#217
Posté 03 avril 2011 - 04:47
Jack-Nader
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Probably already mentioned but here is the strategy I use. This strategy makes the battle a cakewalk.
Best party for a deep roads nightmare run is 3 ranged characters and one sword and shield tank.
If your Hawke is the tank. Use the blood dragon armour (mine was completely decked out with runes of fortune) + a good shield. I used Lady rosamund's shield decked out with runes of fortune. I boost constitution to 20 for the armor requirements and then put every other point into strength. If aveline is the tank you may want to put a little more points into constitution.
Which ever tank you bring to the deep roads ensure to give them the Thunderpucker's fist which is bought from the merchant located underneath the dock sewers and upgrade it with a cold damage rune.
The sword and shield tanks tallents are fully upgraded taunt and all the shield talents minus the shield defence upgrade. However, the only talents required for this battle are shield defence and taunt.
Varric should have atleast 30 cunning before you hit the deeproads so that you can get the extra XP from disabling traps and opening chests. If you don't care for the XP or the loot then simply put all attribute points into dexterity. You can put some points into constitution if you like but it is not necessary as the tanks taunt should be able to keep him and the rest of the party from being attacked. Equip bianca with a cold damage rune and his armor with runes of fortune.
Bring 2 mages into the deep roads, either Anders and Bethany (both with fully upgraded heal) or Anders and Merrill. I usually leave Merrill out of my party until she is level 13 and is capeable of healing herself through her aura effect. She becomes a powerhouse late game. Make sure to buy the staff of primal order before you head into the deep roads. Give it to one of your mages and use the staff that is given to you by sandal for the second mage. Equip both with a Cold damage rune.
Ok so the anceint rock wraith spawns behind you.
1) Select your 3 ranged characters and move them towards the center of the room.
2) Select your tank and enable shield defence. Taunt him and then forget about your tank. Shield defence prevents your tank from being knocked on his ass and also acts as a road block when the rock wraith turns into a ball and attempts to roll over your party.
3) Unload everything you have on him until the wraiths phase 2 attack begins.
4) The moment the wraith teleports back into the center of the room hide your party behind one of the pillars. Be sure to tell them to HOLD POSITION. Now is also a good time to disable all offensive spell scripts on your mages in order to conserve mana. This makes sure you will always have enough mana ready in case you need to cast your heal/haste spells.
5) When the wraith powers down summon your dog and deselect shield defence on your tank. The dog is only a distraction for the profanes. Focus fire on the profanes as they spawn. Be sure to attack all the closest ones to your ranged characters first so that they are not targeted. Once the profanes are dead unload everything you have on the rock wraith. As the wraith stands up select SHEILD DEFENCE again on your tank and then forget about him. Draw your ranged characters away and spread them out.
6) If the wraith targets one of your ranged characters simply juggle them around keeping them away from him. It is pretty easy to do but it really shouldn't be happening a lot as your tank should be blocking the wraith with shield defence most of the time.
7) When the wraith telepots back into the center of the room for phase 3 repeat step "5."
8) Phase 3 is a gravity wave that draws everything to the wraith. Just take the damage he dishes out here as it is dismal. Move your ranged characters away when his gravity wave powers down.
9) He will then teleport back into the center of the room for phase 4. Repeat step "5"
10) Unload until hes dead.
It should take between 5 and 10 minutes to kill him.
Best party for a deep roads nightmare run is 3 ranged characters and one sword and shield tank.
If your Hawke is the tank. Use the blood dragon armour (mine was completely decked out with runes of fortune) + a good shield. I used Lady rosamund's shield decked out with runes of fortune. I boost constitution to 20 for the armor requirements and then put every other point into strength. If aveline is the tank you may want to put a little more points into constitution.
Which ever tank you bring to the deep roads ensure to give them the Thunderpucker's fist which is bought from the merchant located underneath the dock sewers and upgrade it with a cold damage rune.
The sword and shield tanks tallents are fully upgraded taunt and all the shield talents minus the shield defence upgrade. However, the only talents required for this battle are shield defence and taunt.
Varric should have atleast 30 cunning before you hit the deeproads so that you can get the extra XP from disabling traps and opening chests. If you don't care for the XP or the loot then simply put all attribute points into dexterity. You can put some points into constitution if you like but it is not necessary as the tanks taunt should be able to keep him and the rest of the party from being attacked. Equip bianca with a cold damage rune and his armor with runes of fortune.
Bring 2 mages into the deep roads, either Anders and Bethany (both with fully upgraded heal) or Anders and Merrill. I usually leave Merrill out of my party until she is level 13 and is capeable of healing herself through her aura effect. She becomes a powerhouse late game. Make sure to buy the staff of primal order before you head into the deep roads. Give it to one of your mages and use the staff that is given to you by sandal for the second mage. Equip both with a Cold damage rune.
Ok so the anceint rock wraith spawns behind you.
1) Select your 3 ranged characters and move them towards the center of the room.
2) Select your tank and enable shield defence. Taunt him and then forget about your tank. Shield defence prevents your tank from being knocked on his ass and also acts as a road block when the rock wraith turns into a ball and attempts to roll over your party.
3) Unload everything you have on him until the wraiths phase 2 attack begins.
4) The moment the wraith teleports back into the center of the room hide your party behind one of the pillars. Be sure to tell them to HOLD POSITION. Now is also a good time to disable all offensive spell scripts on your mages in order to conserve mana. This makes sure you will always have enough mana ready in case you need to cast your heal/haste spells.
5) When the wraith powers down summon your dog and deselect shield defence on your tank. The dog is only a distraction for the profanes. Focus fire on the profanes as they spawn. Be sure to attack all the closest ones to your ranged characters first so that they are not targeted. Once the profanes are dead unload everything you have on the rock wraith. As the wraith stands up select SHEILD DEFENCE again on your tank and then forget about him. Draw your ranged characters away and spread them out.
6) If the wraith targets one of your ranged characters simply juggle them around keeping them away from him. It is pretty easy to do but it really shouldn't be happening a lot as your tank should be blocking the wraith with shield defence most of the time.
7) When the wraith telepots back into the center of the room for phase 3 repeat step "5."
8) Phase 3 is a gravity wave that draws everything to the wraith. Just take the damage he dishes out here as it is dismal. Move your ranged characters away when his gravity wave powers down.
9) He will then teleport back into the center of the room for phase 4. Repeat step "5"
10) Unload until hes dead.
It should take between 5 and 10 minutes to kill him.
Modifié par Jack-Nader, 03 avril 2011 - 04:51 .
#218
Posté 03 avril 2011 - 07:32
GodLikeDevil
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How much HP does the ARW have on Nightmare, anyway? I was pretty shocked one time I did the Hex of Torment + Mark of Death + Winter's Grasp + Assassinate combo with my DW Rogue for roughly 27k damage and it took a noticeable, but not impressive portion of health from the ARW.
#219
Posté 04 avril 2011 - 08:21
Kslo42
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Couldn't beat this guy on hard difficuly... my tank is a 2h warrior that relies on stuns and knockdowns to control the fight and basically the tables had been turned on him. Every single hit he takes sends him flying, losing agro that he cannot get back since I don't have taunt or threat generating abilities.
I get the whole kiting aspect... and I do it as best I can, but some hits are unavoidable, knocking me to the ground where I usually take another hit or two. And with 2 mages and varric in my party that means death to 3 out of 4 of my characters.
After 10 or so attempts of getting him down to about 75% I put the difficulty on normal and one shotted him with out trouble at all. I didn't even kite him... My 2h tank was not getting knocked around like he was on hard, and I was able to control the fight. Overall I am disappointed that I had to put down the difficulty level for this fight, it was the first time I had to do so and I was really hoping I could navigate through the entire game on Hard. However, I think it could be done if I were better prepared; allowed to change characters/gear/talents before the fight. My characters are built to fight 10+ enemies at once, since that's what 95% of the fights have been thus far, and it's clearly inadequate for this fight.
For my second play through I was considering using 0 mages and playing as sort of a templar-esqe, anti-mage unit, but this fight is making me second guess that... I just don't see how it would work on hard or nightmare.
I get the whole kiting aspect... and I do it as best I can, but some hits are unavoidable, knocking me to the ground where I usually take another hit or two. And with 2 mages and varric in my party that means death to 3 out of 4 of my characters.
After 10 or so attempts of getting him down to about 75% I put the difficulty on normal and one shotted him with out trouble at all. I didn't even kite him... My 2h tank was not getting knocked around like he was on hard, and I was able to control the fight. Overall I am disappointed that I had to put down the difficulty level for this fight, it was the first time I had to do so and I was really hoping I could navigate through the entire game on Hard. However, I think it could be done if I were better prepared; allowed to change characters/gear/talents before the fight. My characters are built to fight 10+ enemies at once, since that's what 95% of the fights have been thus far, and it's clearly inadequate for this fight.
For my second play through I was considering using 0 mages and playing as sort of a templar-esqe, anti-mage unit, but this fight is making me second guess that... I just don't see how it would work on hard or nightmare.
#220
Posté 04 avril 2011 - 11:31
Hypevosa
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I just beat him on nightmare, my second time through. Here's my advice:
1. Have at least 3 people in the party who can used ranged attacks, this speeds up the process greatly.
2. Assure you have a good number of health potions just in case (anders died, but the health potions helped me stay alive after "accidents"), a few lyrium and stamina potions can also help.
3. Ironically enough, your dog will end up as your tank for most of the battle if you have the black emporium DLC, he does wonders to keep the thing distracted, and takes hits rather well.
The first part of the boss fight will be the hardest - but what you want to do is spread out your party members as best you can to the "4 corners" though still attempting to make it so they can fire at him as often as possible. Once he's chosen a target have that person run around their respective pillar and out of melee range so that he can't hit you with his chain lightning or his melee attacks - it's important to keep people spread out (so multiple people aren't hit with lightning) and near a pillar. Heal as necessary.
Once he's damaged to the point where he nukes the place (hide behind the pillars to not get hit), have everyone focus on the adds to destroy them and limit the damage your party takes, focusing on the boss once they're all gone. After he recovers repeat the same strategy as before - it will be noticeably easier now since he has no long distance attack, as long as you make sure his target runs with enough distance to not get caught.
Repeat for the next nuking.
Once he starts using his vortex to draw people in, this is where the melee users actually get their licks in. Have the ranged attackers hide behind their pilllars to not get sucked in, while the melee user rushes in. At close range the vortex doesn't trip people, and the attack does remarkably little damage to them (relative to their HP). If they have cleave, use it - and beat it senseless until the attack has ended (and then run away and hide in a corner again). Wash, rinse, repeat for the whole battle. Once you realize melee is futile and that running efficiently is actually the path to winning, the fight becomes winnable.
Alternately one can use the upgraded taunt and have the fighter be the distraction, I went with carver who didn't have upgraded taunt and so he hid in the corner with the crates for 99% of the fight...
It still makes me mad thinking they made a fight where the average melee user is entirely useless.
1. Have at least 3 people in the party who can used ranged attacks, this speeds up the process greatly.
2. Assure you have a good number of health potions just in case (anders died, but the health potions helped me stay alive after "accidents"), a few lyrium and stamina potions can also help.
3. Ironically enough, your dog will end up as your tank for most of the battle if you have the black emporium DLC, he does wonders to keep the thing distracted, and takes hits rather well.
The first part of the boss fight will be the hardest - but what you want to do is spread out your party members as best you can to the "4 corners" though still attempting to make it so they can fire at him as often as possible. Once he's chosen a target have that person run around their respective pillar and out of melee range so that he can't hit you with his chain lightning or his melee attacks - it's important to keep people spread out (so multiple people aren't hit with lightning) and near a pillar. Heal as necessary.
Once he's damaged to the point where he nukes the place (hide behind the pillars to not get hit), have everyone focus on the adds to destroy them and limit the damage your party takes, focusing on the boss once they're all gone. After he recovers repeat the same strategy as before - it will be noticeably easier now since he has no long distance attack, as long as you make sure his target runs with enough distance to not get caught.
Repeat for the next nuking.
Once he starts using his vortex to draw people in, this is where the melee users actually get their licks in. Have the ranged attackers hide behind their pilllars to not get sucked in, while the melee user rushes in. At close range the vortex doesn't trip people, and the attack does remarkably little damage to them (relative to their HP). If they have cleave, use it - and beat it senseless until the attack has ended (and then run away and hide in a corner again). Wash, rinse, repeat for the whole battle. Once you realize melee is futile and that running efficiently is actually the path to winning, the fight becomes winnable.
Alternately one can use the upgraded taunt and have the fighter be the distraction, I went with carver who didn't have upgraded taunt and so he hid in the corner with the crates for 99% of the fight...
It still makes me mad thinking they made a fight where the average melee user is entirely useless.
#221
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 10:21
El Dani
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OK I finally did this on Nightmare yesterday. Good lesson since I failed with my first party, then went back to the Autosave before Deep Roads, configured my party in a better way and then did the entire Deep Roads again and beat the Rock Wraith on the 2nd attempt quite easily.
What DIDN'T work the 1st time:
- Bethany. Not enough healing, and AoE effect spells were useless.
- Too few health potions (11)
What DID work the 2nd time (and in general)
- Runes of Lightning resistance. I put 2 of them on my rogue Hawke (Armor, boots) and 1 on the Seeker's Bulwark Shield for Aveline.
- Anders. Aid Allies is perfect against the many AoE effects of the Rock Wraith. Haste also works wonders. I did NOT use the bugged Regroup spell.
- 20 health potions (6 restoration, 6 elfroot, 8 generic).
Most things have already been said, but most important is the use of your tank. It's best to keep a small distance while taunting, as to avoid the high damage attacks in between the lightning attacks in the 1st phase. In the 2nd phase, taunt as much as possible again to attract the rolling ball, and keep dodging to avoid as much damage as possible. It's no problem if one or even two of your heroes die during this phase, as long as you keep 2 ranged attackers alive. After the 2nd lightning explosion scene, the fight gets much easier and I managed to take him down with Hawke+bow and Varric, just by running and shooting and summoning the Dog.
What DIDN'T work the 1st time:
- Bethany. Not enough healing, and AoE effect spells were useless.
- Too few health potions (11)
What DID work the 2nd time (and in general)
- Runes of Lightning resistance. I put 2 of them on my rogue Hawke (Armor, boots) and 1 on the Seeker's Bulwark Shield for Aveline.
- Anders. Aid Allies is perfect against the many AoE effects of the Rock Wraith. Haste also works wonders. I did NOT use the bugged Regroup spell.
- 20 health potions (6 restoration, 6 elfroot, 8 generic).
Most things have already been said, but most important is the use of your tank. It's best to keep a small distance while taunting, as to avoid the high damage attacks in between the lightning attacks in the 1st phase. In the 2nd phase, taunt as much as possible again to attract the rolling ball, and keep dodging to avoid as much damage as possible. It's no problem if one or even two of your heroes die during this phase, as long as you keep 2 ranged attackers alive. After the 2nd lightning explosion scene, the fight gets much easier and I managed to take him down with Hawke+bow and Varric, just by running and shooting and summoning the Dog.
#222
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 10:40
Gaidren
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Having completed the entire game on Nightmare, I still look back at this as the most challenging fight in the game. This is largely true simply because you don't have a million "reset buttons" like you do for the hard fights late game, like Life Ward potions, the rez grenades, etc.
The High Dragon seemed easy by comparison, as did Orsino, Meredith, and the Nexus Golem room. I'll admit I never did either of the 2 optional really hard acheivement based bosses though (forget their names, but couldn't finish their quests).
The High Dragon seemed easy by comparison, as did Orsino, Meredith, and the Nexus Golem room. I'll admit I never did either of the 2 optional really hard acheivement based bosses though (forget their names, but couldn't finish their quests).
#223
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 02:26
GodLikeDevil
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In this fight, Bowzer (or Dog or whatever the name of your mabari) is man's best friend.
Summon him at the start, unsummon him when the ARW nukes, summon him again for the next phase, and so on... He will keep the ARW preoccupied a good while, ensuring that most of the damaging attacks do not hit the rest of your party who are busy sniping away.
And the mabari has a surprisingly high HP...
Summon him at the start, unsummon him when the ARW nukes, summon him again for the next phase, and so on... He will keep the ARW preoccupied a good while, ensuring that most of the damaging attacks do not hit the rest of your party who are busy sniping away.
And the mabari has a surprisingly high HP...
#224
Posté 05 avril 2011 - 03:45
mr_afk
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Hm I did this battle today with 2H hawke, varric, bethany and anders.
Almost gave up on doing it on nightmare because the damn Rock Wraith didn't seem to respect threat levels and kept taking out anders (in one hit), quite frustrating because I was relying quite heavily on his happy healing abilities + haste. Not sure why but there seems to be a change in its tactics depending on the difficulty level - from my earlier play-through i'm pretty sure it never entered the roll-around stage and just sat in the middle waiting for me to destroy it.
Anyway, I eventually came up with a tactic that seemed to work quite well, though it took me several attempts anyhow:
So after the initial bit after everyone owns it and it runs to the middle to cry...laser beams, it goes into the annoying roll-around stage - which i found truly annoying due to its ability to trap my fragile companions and one-shot them. This was made especially annoying due to its tendency to ignore the angry man with the giant sword and chase after my companions who where just healing and been generally more about peace and love than been threatening.
The answer turned out to be a bit of a joke - turning on 'hold position' and spacing all three companions around the room to do their thing (while Hawke fruitlessly chases after it). Whenever it turned into a ball and started to move I would switch to whichever character had earned its ire and run away to another spot. Having missed its target it would often switch targets at random, making the whole experience something like 'chasey' or 'keep-it-off', where the group of school kids gang up to bully the big fat slow kid (then get completely owned if they get caught?)
In terms of what my companions did, basically the whole time Anders sat there perma-hasting (using martyr), healing and the odd staff bolts - basically he just kept me alive and upped my dps a little. Due to ff issues bethany was restricted to winter's grasp, staff bolts and some healing. Varric did **** all because I hadn't figured out his tactics properly, so all he did was shoot a few arrows and get in the way (mostly the latter). I think most of the damage came from my angry berserker Hawke who would every now and then summon his faithful hound then proceed to chop the hell out of it (....poor sir barkalot).
I was quite surprised in how hard (read: annoying) this battle was but the feeling you get when it's all over (and you didn't succumb to reducing the difficulty) is AMAZING. Now i just need to motivate myself to replay a whole quest-line (because isabela decided to be buggy and lose a runeslot!!)
Almost gave up on doing it on nightmare because the damn Rock Wraith didn't seem to respect threat levels and kept taking out anders (in one hit), quite frustrating because I was relying quite heavily on his happy healing abilities + haste. Not sure why but there seems to be a change in its tactics depending on the difficulty level - from my earlier play-through i'm pretty sure it never entered the roll-around stage and just sat in the middle waiting for me to destroy it.
Anyway, I eventually came up with a tactic that seemed to work quite well, though it took me several attempts anyhow:
So after the initial bit after everyone owns it and it runs to the middle to cry...laser beams, it goes into the annoying roll-around stage - which i found truly annoying due to its ability to trap my fragile companions and one-shot them. This was made especially annoying due to its tendency to ignore the angry man with the giant sword and chase after my companions who where just healing and been generally more about peace and love than been threatening.
The answer turned out to be a bit of a joke - turning on 'hold position' and spacing all three companions around the room to do their thing (while Hawke fruitlessly chases after it). Whenever it turned into a ball and started to move I would switch to whichever character had earned its ire and run away to another spot. Having missed its target it would often switch targets at random, making the whole experience something like 'chasey' or 'keep-it-off', where the group of school kids gang up to bully the big fat slow kid (then get completely owned if they get caught?)
In terms of what my companions did, basically the whole time Anders sat there perma-hasting (using martyr), healing and the odd staff bolts - basically he just kept me alive and upped my dps a little. Due to ff issues bethany was restricted to winter's grasp, staff bolts and some healing. Varric did **** all because I hadn't figured out his tactics properly, so all he did was shoot a few arrows and get in the way (mostly the latter). I think most of the damage came from my angry berserker Hawke who would every now and then summon his faithful hound then proceed to chop the hell out of it (....poor sir barkalot).
I was quite surprised in how hard (read: annoying) this battle was but the feeling you get when it's all over (and you didn't succumb to reducing the difficulty) is AMAZING. Now i just need to motivate myself to replay a whole quest-line (because isabela decided to be buggy and lose a runeslot!!)
Modifié par mr_afk, 05 avril 2011 - 03:46 .
#225
Posté 17 avril 2011 - 04:56
mmatrix05
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Just did it on nightmare. With me as mage(primal), Carver(vanguard), Anders and Varric. I tried it yesterday and got killed 3 times in second phase. I had none of maker sign potions and thinking of doing expedition again. But i had few spare ability points ( I do not level up immediately ) so I managed to find right combo. Stonewall and Elemental aegis for Carver, Hex of Torment for me, and upgraded haste for Anders.
I did it today in first attempt.It was quite easy when I turned tactics off and repositioned everybody manually but it took 20-30 mins or so. Best way is to spread party in four corners. 2nd phase is the hardest, when he starts to roll reposition everybody and use dog when you can. I kept Carver mostly at side during this phase. Hex of torment + haste speeds things up. His black hole attack is weak(it deal 4-5 dmg ) and I used Carver to attack him during that phase.
Use stamina and lyrium potions when he nukes so you can deliver maximum damage (grasp of winter, stonefist, petrify, scythe, mighty blow, basically all you have) when he is most vulnerable. So if you think of giving up don't it can be done, and felling when you do it is hell yeah! , you just need to be concentrated and careful. Anders is crucial because he can revive ( I used it only once, could be avoided) and aid party is nice. This forum helped me a lot, thanks for videos.
I did it today in first attempt.It was quite easy when I turned tactics off and repositioned everybody manually but it took 20-30 mins or so. Best way is to spread party in four corners. 2nd phase is the hardest, when he starts to roll reposition everybody and use dog when you can. I kept Carver mostly at side during this phase. Hex of torment + haste speeds things up. His black hole attack is weak(it deal 4-5 dmg ) and I used Carver to attack him during that phase.
Use stamina and lyrium potions when he nukes so you can deliver maximum damage (grasp of winter, stonefist, petrify, scythe, mighty blow, basically all you have) when he is most vulnerable. So if you think of giving up don't it can be done, and felling when you do it is hell yeah! , you just need to be concentrated and careful. Anders is crucial because he can revive ( I used it only once, could be avoided) and aid party is nice. This forum helped me a lot, thanks for videos.
Modifié par mmatrix05, 17 avril 2011 - 04:57 .
