164 réponses à ce sujet

[ailulu]

finished on nightmare with Isa.Ava,hwake,merril. Hwake being sprirt healer/forcemage.

yes Isa is squishy,only if u dont know how to use her. if you played wow tbc and/or any RTS game, you should have no problem positioning Isa and having her survive every fight while dish out insane amount of dmg


Problem i see why ppl think Isa dies in a blink,  You have to manually develop everyones abilities tree,disable  companion AI and individually control every party member, avoid enemy LOS, Dump aggro after landing big hits.  You cannot just put everyone else on follow move and smash buttons on ur PC.


On my nightmare playthrough, don't know about u guys, any party member cept Avaline if caught in the line of sight of  even the weakest ranged enemy is DEAD , hands down. Every single shot will interrupt w/e u attempt to do, and that character will not be able to move/ use abilities until he/she dies or the ranged enemy that is targeting him/her is killed. And of cos when u attempt to save that one character by move out ur whole part into the other ranged mob's line of sight, u know what happens, everyone is tagged and interrupted, interrupted, interrupted till you see the load the most recent save screen.

Positioning and aggro dumping,, all that u need for nightmare, for any party member

Modifié par ailulu, 16 mars 2011 - 07:27 .

[brazen_nl]

I'm thinking a ranged rogue you control yourself. This could, of course, be any rogue. This rogue should then be specced to control the fight, including aggro, and that would be my take on the most useful character.

Modifié par brazen_nl, 16 mars 2011 - 07:17 .

[Mx_CN3]

I don't understand why people think Isabela is useless. I don't understand why anyone would think anyone is useless, because none are useless.

Isabela can AoE crit/stun. Put her in a group of ranged guys and you can destroy an entire group of baddies in seconds while taking minimal damage. I found her entire unique tree to be full of goodies.

Varric's knockback arrow (I forgot its name) is amazing for taking out assassins, in that it keeps them from getting an early stealth before anyone else can get up close for a stunlock. His regular damage output is insane, if you can keep people off him.

Anders and Aveline go without saying, unless your Hawke makes them redundant. Still, an additional Haste from Anders is always a good thing, and I suppose you can spec him for dps.

I used Merril as a debuff/AoE CC bot, and she did that very well. Entropy is amazing. Her unique tree is pretty meh but she's still good just for Entropy.

Bethany is pretty meh, as she has no special tree, but the story fixes that. I can't comment on Carver, as I didn't have him on my Nightmare run.

I didn't have any room for a 2h warrior in my group so I can't really comment on Fenris, but he probably would have been better if my Hawke wasn't a dagger rogue, and therefore prone to getting him by him.

If anyone, I think Sebastian is the most useless; the only thing he has going for him is Wounding Arrow, which I had covered with Merril's Hex of Torment. I suppose if you don't like Varric you could use him, but then you'd be insane.

[XOGHunter246]

I totally agree with you ailulu all companions have potential in combat can survive if used correctly with the right setup providing they actually listen when instructed.

Most useful is Varrick and Anders

Useless: none unless you don't build the tactics right and place them.

Modifié par XOGHunter246, 16 mars 2011 - 07:32 .

[XOGHunter246]

delete

Modifié par XOGHunter246, 16 mars 2011 - 07:28 .

[Mx_CN3]

Gaidren wrote...

I was very curious how well +defense stacking works on Nightmare.....as in Heroic Aura + Improved (party-wide) Arcane Shield + pumping Cunning on tanks/rogues.

I sort of got the impression from some people that on Nightmare you need an Improved Stonewall tank (100% dmg reduction when active) and pro kiting skills with your ranged, and that has been my experience thus far too on Nightmare.  Just wondering if +def stacking is viable too, since it would take a LOT less micromanagement if you were nearly unhittable by most enemies....

Defense caps at 80%, so you'll never be able to tank a horde like in DAO.  I stacked +def on my rogue and I could "tank" (i.e. stunlock, kite, keep aggro on, and survive a few hits) almost anything, but I also needed crit/stun/knockback immunity from rings.  Of course, this was only later on... early in the game you do need a tank.

[Wissenschaft]

Isabela is quite useful to me. I use her Savvy talent that boosts her Defense through the roof. She can dodge tank even elites. The DW attacks often 1 shot fragile enemies and is great for quickly killing mages. All hands on deck is very useful vs groups of weaklings. Use either a Force Mage or Merril with ensnare to draw a bunch of enemies close together and then Isabela can backstab and Stun the whole lot. That leaves the group easy pray to a Cleave boosted Reaper/might blow attack from a 2h warrior or an Archers Lance to finish the group off quickly.

Archers are super useful but you have to know how to use each talent correctly.

Burst Arrow - only for brittle enemies
Rain of Arrows - Only for slowing down enemies (very useful, get that upgrade ASAP) unless you like using cold or lighting spells which can have the same effect.
Archers Lance - Your main damage spell. It can slaughter whole groups of enemies if they are lined up just right. The upgraded version instant kills normals so its great versus hordes with high HP like Shades. To me, its a must have on nightmare. If your not playing an archer yourself then you must get this on a Companion. The ability to instant kills groups of normals on Nightmare is a life saver.
Pinning Shot - Fully upgraded its great vs normals for both damage and pinning enemies in place as well as disorienting them. Just make sure to stealth first to auto-crit. This move often will 1 shot or close to 1 shot normals if it crits.

As an archer you want to get the talents in order to auto crit from stealth. You'll do tons of damage. If playing an archer then become an assassin in order to take bloodlust. It will solve your stamina issues. Fully upgrade Mark of Death, it helps a lot.

If your using Varric or Seb then your going to have to stock up on stamina potions if you want to use their talents often.

Vs bosses, its alright to just set them up to crit often with their Auto Attacks. For companions I prefer Varric because of his talents that provide large bonuses to crit chance, attack speed and Accuracy. Very useful to pinprick a tough boss to death.

Modifié par Wissenschaft, 16 mars 2011 - 08:18 .

[Zan Mura]

KallDay wrote...

Basically, Varric, being ranged, requires less babysitting than Isabella and gets better scores for that reason.

Couldn't agree more. On Nightmare at least nothing requires as much micromanaging as a rogue. They have to be hand-controlled through everything, even their casual auto-attack. But when you do that, they're powerful as heck.

I have to admit I don't know about Isabela yet since I had her on my Normal run where it didn't much matter what she did. I had already decided on my Nightmare to use Fenris, Aveline and Bethany / Anders, so I'm not sure how well Isabela would bend for the role of an Assassin seeing as how she lacks the essential trees for that.

But hmm, my 2 cents:

Most useful: Fenris easily. Sure there are situations where all he can do is just sit back and stay out of the way. But most of the time I don't even need Aveline since Fenris can just solo the whole mob of enemies with little more than some backup healing from a mage.

Least useful: Can't say. With 100% micromanaging I haven't tried anyone that was actually useless yet.

[TeamLexana]

Most useful - Fenris and Merrill. Fenris can actually deal dps while tanking while Aveline seems to do ****** poor dps in comparison - unless I built her wrong which is possible, lol. While Merrill can run all the sustains I want and turn to blood magic to cast spells. A high level'd Merrill surprisingly has a high survivability rate too, I am impressed. For nightmare, I can see Aveline maybe being better since she has less AoE while Fenris would probably constantly murder your own party, lol.

Least useful - Isabella and Anders. Isabella's special tree is crap, if she could get access to assassin or even shadow she'd be a beast but since she doesn't, she's crap, lol. Only semi decent skill she's got in her tree is the weak wannabe version of Awakening's Flicker that isn't near as good as Flicker. Personally, I don't like Anders. I know alot of peeps do but he's far too squishy for me and he's broken, he doesn't follow orders, he's ALWAYS running off and aggro'n some enemies when he should be on "HOLD" and huddled right next to my archers and boom dies, no heals at all. Damn it! Would have been better off with Merrill's dps.

[naughty99]

For a Rogue Hawke (DW + some points in Archery)

Most Useful:
-Anders (Regroup/Panacea/Group Heal + access to all cross class combo spells from Primal and Elemental)
-Fenris (I have realized that Fenris is more helpful as a tank than Avelline on Nightmare)

Useless:
-Bethany (no access to Primal school)
-Varric (no point in having 2 rogues)
-Isabella (especially no point in having 2 DW rogues, plus she has a bugged friendship ability)

Modifié par naughty99, 16 mars 2011 - 10:07 .

[maddog2233]

How the hell do you get sebastian to join your party?? I've done the quests from the chantry board... but no sebastian.... am i missing something?

[TeamLexana]

You can't recruit him until act two.

[maddog2233]

aha - so patinece is a virtue after all. thanks

[Sabresandiego]

Anders is easily the best companion by a large margin.

[L6-636536]

Merril and Aveline ftw -
Merril with stones throw > ensare > walking bomb + Fatiguing Fog = instant win.
Aveline - Epic Tank

Least Useful - Varric good god man his damage is so pathetic and his CC's are subpar for some reason

[XOGHunter246]

L6-636536 wrote...

Merril and Aveline ftw -
Merril with stones throw > ensare > walking bomb + Fatiguing Fog = instant win.
Aveline - Epic Tank

Least Useful - Varric good god man his damage is so pathetic and his CC's are subpar for some reason

His damage is good! cross combo!

[Moonstryder]

You can stack all 3 Buffs from the specialist tree, which can make rogues nuts on late game nightmare.

Depending on your class, changes how useful party members are. Varric gets insane with all his speed buffs + the 3 specialist buffs + His 4 rune slot Bianca

Modifié par Moonstryder, 17 mars 2011 - 01:07 .

[Mx_CN3]

Moonstryder wrote...

You can stack all 3 Buffs from the specialist tree, which can make rogues nuts on late game nightmare.

Depending on your class, changes how useful party members are. Varric gets insane with all his speed buffs + the 3 specialist buffs + His 4 rune slot Bianca

Definitely this.  I did the 2nd to last boss (Orsino is his name?) and I think my entire group got hit once, and that was from adds, because I had 3 rogues with the super Specialist talent and the Might improvements, which = nonstop stunlock.  Obviously doesn't work on most bosses, but the Specialist tree alone makes rogues worth bringing (with improved Might).

[Guilebrush]

Most useful - whoever you build to specifically take advantage of cross-class combos you're willing to initiate. Otherwise for most people I'd wager that Aveline would be considered most important companion to bring with the party.

Least useful - whoever can't capitalize or initiate your cross-class combos. In my playthrough for instance Fenris didn't quite perform up to his potential since my team was set up to exploit the Disoriented status (I played a dagger Rogue) and didn't really have many ways to take advantage of Stagger. Plus Brittle is probably the least reliable debuff to initiate and I wanted to make sure that every available Brittle was used for an Assassinate, thus further taking away from his Mighty Blow damage potential. So really DA:2 team building is really about the whole being more than the sum of its parts. That said, I found Sebastian's personal talent tree the least appealing so I ended up benching him outside of his personal quests.

[Medet]

Isabella was pretty awesome late game. With Carta's Right Hand and improved power strikes, she had a passive 11% chance to stun on hit.

I had an end game boss permastunned with Isabella. Not just mostly stunned, it never attacked.

[SlamminHams]

Most Useful: Anders. Despite being a trash character compared to what he was in DA:A, he's the only NPC Healer. There's 3+ of basically every other archetype except healers. His usefulness comes from a numbers standpoint.

Most Useless: I guess I'm jumping on the bandwagon (factwagon more like it), but Isabela simply doesn't do her job well enough comparatively. She's supposed to be a DPS/Dodge Tank hybrid, which just plays out horribly without 100% micromanagement. Talents that give negative effects (Savvy, Immovable, etc) will usually fall behind if there're alternatives. However, unlike Aveline, Isabela doesn't really have a choice since her Specialty tree is the (yes, I'm going to say it) god awful Duelist tree.

Medet wrote...

Isabella was pretty awesome late game. With Carta's Right Hand and improved power strikes, she had a passive 11% chance to stun on hit. 

I had an end game boss permastunned with Isabella. Not just mostly stunned, it never attacked.

If you're talking about Orsino, I'm pretty sure his Fortitude is horrendously low.  When he was the big Pudge-lookin' thing, he just stood there getting wailed on for me.

Modifié par SlamminHams, 17 mars 2011 - 01:44 .

[Tony_Knightcrawler]

Useful: Varric, Anders
Middle: Aveline (her AI is really stupid on when to use defensive abilities, and I don't know if I could come up with something better), Fenris
Useless: Isabella, Merrill (but I still use her because she's awesome).

Also keep in mind that in many places in the game, Anders can save characters' lives if present.

[Kathila]

I think the issue with Isabela is really crappy mechanics implementation. First, if you're saying she's useless on normal, you're just wrong--her potential single-target damage output is far, far higher than any of the other possible non-Hawke party members. This might just be because Varric is stamina-starved due to low attack speed, or it might be because you have to sink what, 7 points in to the archery tree to get an ability that does some real damage.  On second thought, maybe that's not so bad.  You could just remove the worthless abilities from his AI and let him just use rhyming and kickback.

Now, on nightmare, there're two problems. First, there's friendly fire. I don't know what the FF ratio is, but I've gotten walking bomb hits for 20k, and AOE hits for about 2000 are pretty common. Naturally, this poses a big problem if you have more than one melee, and in particular 2H warriors are so dependent on AOE damage that you really just can't put Isabela anywhere NEAR the action if you are using one. (Note to designers: making health and damage scaling asymmetric is dumb. There are no good reasons to do it.) The second problem is that rogues are also your lockpickers and disarmers, so unlike the other two classes in the game, they need four stats, not three. By the end of the game, even your mages can have over 250 health, especially if they have blood magic and thus don't need as much willpower. But rogues have to dump 30 points into cunning unless you blew your bankroll on picking/disarming gear, so now they have 10-15 points left to divide between constitution and willpower, and you get to pick between dying in two hits or having no stamina after the first 15 seconds. If you have no stamina pool, even potions won't help you because they only restore 40% of your pool, which will be gone in 2 abilities. This wouldn't even be so bad if it weren't for the fact that defense doesn't protect from specials. Given all that, it's not surprising that it's a lot easier to just use Varric and his ranged attack over Isabela.

Modifié par Kathila, 17 mars 2011 - 06:36 .

[Tony_Knightcrawler]

Really good points, Kathla.