82 replies to this topic

[skiwolf7]

I think your party make up is just fine. Bethany can dish out a ton of damage if you spec her into elemental magic and she'll even heal party members on her own if you give her the spell. Anders with spirit magic and his specialty seems to be able to cast spell a long time so he's good for longevity.
As for the fun aspect, if you substitute Merrill for Anders, you'll have a lot of laughs. Anders is different this time around and I noticed Merrill and Bethany get along really well.

[DiatribeEQ]

Tank (me), Bethany (AoE), Merrill (AoE), Anders (Heals) and DuppyPog (hound). As long as I can get them all rounded up and do my taunt, I then pause and let the girls aoe the crap outta it all. Fun times indeed!

[Pentheus]

I've played through twice, and now have a pretty good idea about what I like and what I don't.

My single best party by far was:

Hawke--Rogue:  Dual Wield/Assassin for massive dps--unbelievable crit rates => one hit kills/Traps & Chests
Aveline--Sword & Shield/Stonewall/Shield Bash Tank
Anders--Best Heals/Battle Rez/Haste/Cone of Cold
Merrill--Rock Armor (a gamechanger)/Lightning/Petrify on Big Bad/Entangle in close

Note:  Healing is really weak in this game; supplement with rez grenades late game

Quickest Trash Clearing Party:

Hawke--Big Sword/Berserker => Kill everything in sight in seconds
Aveline--Sword & Shield/Bravery/Stonewall/Shield Bash Tank
Isabella--Back Stab/Max Crits/All Hands on Deck/Back to Back (helps keep mage up)
Bethany--Fireball/Firestorm/Heal/Arcane Shield (a must)/Paralyze Glyph

This party is not as strong as the first against very tough bosses--mainly due to lack of battle rez

I'd avoid any party with Sebastian--he's a wus
I like Varric's Bianca, but Isabella is so much cuter
I'm not willing to give up a mage (where's my boom!) or rogue (my loot!) for Fenris--plus Tank before Big Sword in a tough fight anytime
Bethany's firestorm:  The equivalent of an F-16 (even better if you have her enhanced bust mod w/ tattoos
Don't be afraid of Merrill's Blood Mage elemental tree--it rocks

[Thane64]

 
Hi, this is my first ever post so please be kind.
Here is my best team:  Varric:lol:/Sebastian (depending on my mood)
                                           Isabela:lol:
                                           Anders:lol:/ Aveline (depending on the mission)
                                           Dog^_^ (mine is called Hobbit) which counts as a spell and not a party member

[AcidRelic]

Hawke - Archer Rouge
Varric - Varric and I were set for speed, harmony, ect.. It was like having two machine guns
Aveline - Tank of course
Merrill - CC Magic, Tactic setup for CCC and off-tank

[miltos33]

Hawke: Force/Primal
Anders: Heals & Buffs
Aveline: Defender/Tank
Isabela: DPS & Utility

[naughty99]

Scoze wrote...

I haven't done the mission yet where you meet Merril but once I do, should I swap her out for Bethany?

Absolutely.

Bethany has some good cutscenes, but she is useless in combat for two reasons IMO.

1. No revive spells
2. No access to the Primal CCC spells


Also, Merril has blood magic, Primal CCC spells as well as Elemental CCC spells.

If you are playing on Casual or Normal, the party composition doesn't really matter. On Nightmare, I would go with Merril instead of Bethany, however.

Here is the ideal party composition I have found playing Rogue Hawke on Nightmare:

2H Warrior Tank (in my case this was Fenris)
Rogue with Archery and DW talents (only Hawke has access to Assassinate - if I was not playing a Rogue, I would use Varric instead of Isabela because she cannot use a bow)
2 Mages with upgraded Petrify, upgraded Winter's Grasp as well as most Primal and Elemental CCC spells
 - at least one of the mages needs
    -Revive (Anders was great in my playthrough)
    -Hex of Torment (Merril, and Blood Magic is a huge plus)
   

Edited by naughty99, 31 March 2011 - 02:40 AM.

[Luke Barrett]

My party consists of Hawke, nothing-to-lose, and extreme prejudice....oh and my dog. Obvi.

[Grey]

fighter - for damaging foes - usually my PC with a 2H weapon
mage - for ranged attacks and healing - Bethany initially, then Anders
thief - for locks, traps, and keying in on anyone attacking the mage - Isabela
fighter - for drawing heat - usually Aveline w/ a sword and shield combo

[Alamar2078]

Against general bad guys I like Varric [too funny to leave and if you're not a rogue he's useful for locks & traps]. For magic I normally take Merill. In some boss fights I find Anders' healing very useful though. I like Aveline as a tank but will take along Fenris on missions that Aveline may not like

[CCCHAMP]

i usually have, me (rogue archer), Isabella, no Anders just because i want to kill him in nightmare right away, Merrill, and Fenris.

[Rieverre]

It really depends, considering the variations of talents available to you.

Anders is good for when you think you'll actually need a healer and/or want to get some use out of passives without investing in them yourself. Him and my Mage Hawke set off what I like to call Apocalypse Meow, which essentially depends on Anders hitting Haste and having Heroic Aura active, and Hawke dropping everything in his spell bar pretty much at once (at this point, that's Gravitic Ring, Temptest, Firestorm, Fist of the Maker, and all those other spells that don't really matter that much in the face of the whole area affected by the first three melting).

Add to that a Vanguard Aveline and crit-monster Isabela.

But my usual all-round go to team is actually Fenris, Aveline and Varric. The first two stagger, the foremost and lattermost kill anything brittle, and Aveline just pumps out a steady stream of both damage and aggro with Cleave and Assault. Occasionally I switch out Fenris for Merril and have her Entropy, Spirit and Pariach the hell out of things.

Really, you should be able to handle most, if not all things, on difficulties below nightmare without needing a healer.

[Senzafina]

This is my fourth (?) play-through, and this time I wanted to skip Anders and go for healing myself. I've been alternating depending on quests, but I find myself favoring:
Merrill for AoE and CC (like someone mentioned before)
Aveline with 100% tank spec
Verric with 30p in cunning and tweaked with runes for dmg and lockpicking
I do have some offensive stuff myself ofc, I find myself not needing to heal that much tbh

[Agenda42]

It's really hard to argue with warrior Hawke, Varric, Anders, Merrill for nightmare.

The other nightmare run I played was with mage Hawke, Merrill, Varric, Aveline for act 1 / Fenris for acts 2 and 3.

On hard, I like Fenris, rogue Hawke, Isabela, Anders. Stuff dies really, really fast.

[Urazz]

For me, it really depends on what class my Hawke is but my party tends to be a bit fluid. On my mage, I'm rolling with Varric and Isabela almost all the time with the 3rd party member being Aveline, Fenris, or Carver. If I need to use another character for a quest, I'll usually switch out Varric or Isabela for them.

For my 2H warrior, I usually go with Varric all the time, Bethany when she's available but when she's not, I'll use Anders. The 3rd slot is either another tank for tough fights or another character if I need them in party for their quest.

Sad thing is that I really don't use Merril all that much unless it's for her personal quests. The inability of her to get the heal spell tends to make me not want to pick her as much.

[Sammy0721]

My favorite party is Fenris, Izzy and Merril, I just like the all out 4 DPS party and the versatility of Merril as a Spirit or Primal or Hex Mage. You really don't need to babysit Merril especially with upgraded rock armour and I just give her a ton of constitution. The key to Izzy is giving her the best health regen or (health +) accessories, some constitution and avoid the cross the bow skill/tactic until later in the game. My rogue handles the locks with a lot of cunning, which means you can give Izzy less cunning and more constitution.

[KeselvonTresel]

My party is usually:
Me (A warrior, tank)
Anders (Healer and AoE, Primal magic)
Varric (Ranged, and lock picking)
Either Sebastian (Ranged, AoE) or Aveline (DPS)

Edited by KeselvonTresel, 02 April 2011 - 10:02 AM.

[MICHELLE7]

On my fifth playthrough and I have to say that nothing beats playing Hawke as a warrior gameplay wise however because I like the mage angle of the story I've played three times as a mage. With Hawke as a mage...I usually take Fenris with two handed specialization (for as long as I can before I get annoyed with him since I'm a mage)...Anders (for support and the fact that he never seems to die)...specializing in Vengeance...saved me more than once...and Aveline. I don't fool much with rogues unless I intend to explore...change them out with Aveline as needed.

[FedericoV]

Hawke Mage, Isabela, Aveline and Varric. Great party if not for boss fights (at least untill I learned the Entropy spells).

[Basheda]

I'm on my 5th nightmare playthrough and currently testing Merril (Pseudo Tank), Anders (Heal + Support), Hawke (Archer) and Varric. This party is now Lvl9 and its the easiest and fastest nightmare run up to this point. No kitting so far. Merril pulls and than just brute force. Its nearly flawless, lost Varric one time but this was easily avoidable.
I will exchange Varric for Sebestian in Act 2+ and I think this group will steamroll this game.

Merril is played be me without tactics and Anders, Hawke and Varric are handed by custom AI.

Edited by Basheda, 02 April 2011 - 02:31 PM.

[Luciser]

One of each and the last is a matter of preference, its helpful to have at least one mage with heal in the party however. Before nightmare difficulty, you can get away with not having people of certain roles, so you can use what you feel is best. Just remember, rogues need cunning to unlock chests, so level up cunning at about the same rate as dexterity, keep the two about even. There's only two characters left to get (3 of you have the exiled prince dlc.) but they're interchangeable with what you have already for characters.

[oghier]

For a mix of power and awesome party banter, try this:

Hawke - Mage
Aveline - Tank
Isabella - DPS/ Goads/ Offtank
Varric - DPS/ Goads

Tremendous fun in that setup. With two rogues, you can keep aggro locked onto an unkillable Aveline. Your mage (force/ primal) controls the battlefield with Pull of the Abyss, Gravitic Ring and Tempest. The party interactions include some of the best lines I've heard since HK-47 or Minsc was at my virtual side. Guaranteed fun

[Mugnir]

Hawke - support aura blood mage/spirit healer
Fenris - DPS/Tank (and actively controlled 99% of the time)
Varric - Goad/Ranged as to not get cleaved in the face
Sebastian- Goad/Ranged as to not get cleaved in the face

Constant high damage from all members but hawke, who will staff switch for support and buy the elemental damage upgrades at the opportunity cost of using blood magic items. Is not CCC dependent. Hawke as support isn't terribly interesting to play, but he's so incredibly powerful that I like using him over anders/merill.

Edited by Mugnir, 03 April 2011 - 02:12 AM.

[atheelogos]

Hawke - Mage
Fenris- DPS
Varric - DPS/ Goads
Merrill-DPS and off tank

I'd love to use Anders more, but he dies a lot and always gets knocked around.... sad really.
Isabella and Sebastian are the only two I try not use because of that damned glitch.

[ReallyRue]

Hawke - Damager mage
Merrill - Debilitator mage
Anders - Healer mage
Isabela

They make a remarkable team. Switching Merrill for Aveline or Fenris is also much fun.