1. Build concept and justification:
First of all, archer over DW rogue, since: (a) good bows are available at the very beginning, as opposed to the total lack of decent DW weapons, with the sole exception of Cruel Dagger, in Act I; (
archer is overall safer early game: as long as you maintain concentration, you can always out-maneuver your enemies, no exceptions.I've finished Act I at level 13. That accounts for a total of 15 talent points (13 natural + Emporium and Hubert tomes). I won't list the whole talent progression here, as this build is actually quite flexible in minor details. That said, the absolutely crucial talents sine qua non are: Summon Mabari (bonus DLC talent, no need to spend a point), Stealth + both upgrades, Evade + upgrade, Assassinate, Speed. All the rest is negotiable. In fact, I strongly recommend going Shadow at levels 7-9, then respecializing into Assassin. The rationale is simple: +25 CriticalRange passive (Pinpoint Precision) is much more useful than non-upgraded Assassin talents you get en route to Assassinate.
Stick to a standard rogue 1:1 Dex/Cun ratio when distributing stats. When in doubt, prioritize Cun. Leave Con and Wil at base.
2. Gearing and optimal quest order:
I strongly suggest continuing a DAO/DAA save where the Warden: (a) spared Avernus' life; (
declined Kolgrim's offer and did not kill Genitivi. As a rule, your top priority should be +CriticalRange gear. So, Miracle Makers (Stalker Boar's Hides) and Sharp Little Pinpricks (Lowtown Stompers, Bloody Butcher's Gloves) should be completed first. As for helm, you have Ser Isaac's. You have a decent DLC starting bow (Adder of Antiva), but make an effort to buy Arlathan Replica from the Emporium as soon as possible. You will gradually swap this kit for Last Descent set items (with the obvious exception of those horrible gloves) as you do more quests, but this is what you are going to run with for about 90% of Act I. For rings, I recommend attribute-boosting The Fallen Star and Ring of Resilience (both DLC). For the same reason, buy Enchanted Silverite Chain Belt from Bonny Lem's Wares as soon as you are able to. Amulet is the only non-fixed slot. I think Meghan Vael's Locket (Duty, Exiled Prince DLC) is probably the most universally appealing option, though.
Another quest you should do very early is Dark Epiphany, to get 2 bonus attribute points.
Next, I advise to concentrate on companion quests (as you have a friendly invincible NPC tank in all these) and on quests that take place in areas rich in crafting resources. Deathroot Toxin (equivalent to an additional Nature Rune inserted into your weapon: i. e., +20% of base weapon damage), Tar Bombs and Combustion Grenades are all extremely helpful for a soloist archer. As far as runes are concerned, the only one you absolutely must gather crafting materials for is a Rune of Lightning Warding.
2a. Gear acquisition priorities:
You can run with DLC/drop gear until level 10 or so, when your attack/critical chance get reasonably high. Then change Adder of Antiva for Arlathan Replica. Enchanted Silverite Belt is nice and not too expensive (actually, it has no substitute until Act III). Fallen Star, on the other hand, is unbelievably overpriced. As there are much better rings in Act II, it should be bought only if you are swimming in gold.
3. Tactical notes:
Most tactical situations are relatively easily resolved with an archer, and require only patience and concentration (the usual routine is: summon mabari to tank, kite and shoot, use Stealth and Assassinate sparingly). However, certain enemies (and certain talents) are not that straightforward.
Let's start with a short note on upgraded Evade mechanics. The description is totally misleading. An upgraded Evade indeed has a very reliable built-in stun, but its hitbox is roughly 120 degrees backwards. Which means that you have to be back-turned (or at least, side-turned) to stun the enemies. In other words, you have to jump over them. It's still worth the hassle, as Evade's mass stun is amazingly efficient.
Secondly, during prolonged difficult encounters, Stealth may give you an option to save before all the enemies are dispatched. As long as you don't perceive each other, you don't go into combat mode = you can save. The trick is to find the exact position where the enemies won't see you. The principle is, typically: run as far as you can. Trial and error works best in practice. Important note: be sure to unsummon the mabari before you attempt this. In any case, using Stealth to divide and conquer is essential.
Lastly, it's noteworthy some of the enemies you breeze through in a party formation will pose a great challenge to a soloist. (1) The absolute champion in this respect is Poisonous Spider. It's a soloist's bane. You'll know despair fighting these guys, no kidding. A single poison spit will effectively stagger-lock you until you are dead. The best way to handle them is to go all arachnophobic and use Assassinate as soon as you see them. Then stealth and run, if needed. Rinse and repeat. Pre-Assassinate, you can tank with the mabari, score a crit, then... yeah, stealth and run. Anyway, they are a major pain in ass. (2) Various DW Assassins, named and unnamed, and Rage Demons. Same tactics, same talents. Rage Demons are a bit more difficult to handle, since they can stagger-lock you with fire attacks. The basic prinsiples when fighting Assassin-like creatures are: while kiting, only retreat backwards, never sideways; if the Assassin/Demon goes into stealth mode, and you get the timing right, you can dodge the backstab with Evade - it's actually not that hard to do - alternatively, you can Stealth yourself or just run non-stop until enemy's Stealth duration runs out. Note it is a good idea to tank the Rage Demons with your mabari, as they won't deal any damage to it. (3) Qunari Saarebas. The most dangerous of all mages for a solo archer. Like all DA2 mages, they can teleport to pre-designed spots on the map, have a defensive aura and a high-damage AoE spell. The problem with Saarebas is if their lightning AoE hits you, it will inflict a strong damage over time. These are the only mages I won't risk a ranged duel with (usually your shots will interrupt any spellcasting attempt, but it's just too risky in this case). Assassinate on sight.
Top 5 challenging encounters in Act I, in my opinion, are, in descending order of difficulty: Night Lies quest, "Captain" Qerth's mansion (I'm actually proud I've figured a way to beat this solo); Enemies Among Us, Blood Mage Sanctuary; Finders Keepers, Woodrow's Warehouse; Secret Rendezvous; The Unbidden Rescue, Ginnis + Qunari Saarebas, then waves of officer-lead bandits. All those required a lot of tactical thinking (and cursing) to beat.
FYI, the most underwhelming encounters were: Monstrous Spider and Dragon, both Deep Roads. Why? Well, both get stuck in textures desperately if you kite them a little bit, then you can go make you some tea while your archer scores some big-ass critical hits against a helpless immobile target. Don't ask. By the way, has any of you seen a dragon (any of them, for that matter) actually hit someone with Fire Spit? Just curious.
4. Demonstration videos with short commentary:
(Please note: I don't think any of these qualifies as a challenging encounter - well, maybe Ancient Rock Wraith does, in the same tedious manner bosses in Japanese console games typically do - but these are the adversaries people seem to have most trouble with in Act I, judging by the forum posts. What can I say? Vox populi, vox Dei.)
Disclaimer: These videos are, for the most part, extremely boring to watch. They can serve as a proof encounter X is solo-able on Nightmare difficulty with level Y archer rogue, and that's about it. Consider yourself warned.
Tranquility, Templar ambush in the Chantry:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Standard kiting tactics. Can be done at any level with any gear, provided you have the patience. Seriously, how can people possibly have any trouble beating this with a full party is a mystery to me.
Fools Rush In, Hayder et al. encounter:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
More of the same. Invincible allied tank = win. Takes a bit longer because of Hayder's heroic life bar.
Wayward Son, Danzig's gang:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
A wee bit more interesting, since it involves space constraints, use of AoE talent from stealth (Bursting Arrow), and some mages.
The Bone Pit, Mature Dragon:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
The area itself is somewhat challenging - absolutely no place to hide - but as long as you can kite and dodge the dragon, you'll be fine. If you screw up by letting the dragon corner you and knock you down, do not panic, it's not going to knockdown-lock you, it will resort to Flame Breath instead. Use a healing potion and run out of AoE range. Don't forget to tank with the mabari: it's fire-immune and adds a bit of dps to make this long fight shorter.
The Deep Roads Expedition, Ancient Rock Wraith:
Part 1
Part 2
I'm not manly enough to upload an hour-long video to Youtube, I admit. Pray excuse me. However, these two short fragments demonstrate how I tackle this archboss solo. Have an ample supply of Elfroot/Restoration potions and some Concussion Grenades (hardly necessary, but nice to have). Stack Lightning Warding runes to achieve 90-100% ER (I used Ser Isaac's helm with LW rune, Ancient Leather Cuirass - which by itself provides a +298 ER - with LW rune, and Boots of Frozen Wastes with LW rune). Use a Rock Armor potion to minimize the damage from summoned Profanes (they will deal 1 per shot) and the boss' (he'll hit you for 3-5 damage) ranged attacks. Apply Deathroot Toxin to your bow, then stand in the center of the area to avoid getting knocked down and pwn3d in one of the corners. The Wraith will teleport from corner to corner. Just keep re-summonong the mabari and auto-attacking him, throwing in Concussion Grenades and Assasinate whenever you see fit. When reduced to 90% hp, he will teleport to the center of the area. Hide behind any of the 4 pillars. As soon as he's done casting Arcane Blast, target and attack him. That's the time for Death Mark > Assassinate > Concussion Grenade. The summoned Profanes will hit you for 1 hp each, so just ignore them. Immediately after the Wraith re-assembles himself, go into stealth, and run to the opposite end of the hall (as demonstrated in part 2). You can wait for all your skills to cooldown there: the Wraith won't perceive you from his starting position. Take out the Profanes, then concentrate on the boss again. The middle phase of this battle can be made much easier if you manage to maneuver the Wraith to the position shown in part 1. Basically, you can lower his hp bar by 1/4 taking no risks that way.
As requested in the thread, first 10 minutes (the most difficult phase of this battle) are documented here:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Act II
1. Build concept and justification:
I have opted to remain an archer for this Act. The reasoning is the same as it was for Act I. This time, a Stitch-Maker/Coterie Shiv combo can actually compete with the best Act II bows as far as damage output is concerned, but it's still safer to run with a bow mid-game. Moreover, you simply don't have enough talent points to get Twin Fangs without sacrificing some of the more important talents, and a DW rogue without Twin Fangs just wastes a lot of his burst damage potential.
Go Duelist at 14, immediately investing 3 points into the tree to get Vendetta. It is very important to note: if you intend to use Mark of Death in conjunction with Vendetta (and you really should), do not upgrade the latter to Blood Feud. Yes, it's completely counter-intuitive, but either trust me on this one or refer to sub-section 4 below for gory details. Dealing with tougher enemies will involve a heavy damage-dealing sequence now: Pinpoint Strikes > Mark of Death > Assassinate > Vendetta > Stealth. Stealth is a must after Vendetta, since this talent, for all its awesomeness, is horribly unsafe: it teleports you to the target and leaves you wide open for a second after the hit connects.
Stat distribution remains exactly the same as before: 1:1 Dex/Cun.
2. Gearing and optimal quest order:
You'll need to make a bunch of costly purchases to optimize your performance. Purchase Stealth Boots (probably the best single rogue gear piece in the game) and Dull Brass Amulet from the Emporium, get Heaven's Answer and Puzzle Ring of the Black Fox at Bonny Lem's. Optimally, you should start with Forbidden Knowledge quest to gain access to Nexus Golem vendor (=Etched Ring of the Twins) and 2 bonus attribute points, and with Night Terrors to get the huge attribute point boost (a total of +10 for solving the puzzles and bargaining with Torpor for power). Don't forget to get the talent and attribute tomes from Sundermount Craftmaster and Lowtown Trinkets Emporium, respectively. Then gradually replace your gear with Enasalin's set (excluding the boots, obviously): you are in no rush, Enasalin's is not that much better than what you hopefully have by that point.
Please note Sundermount quests are very profitable due to various resources found in the area and a Potion of Mighty Offense design.
Weapon runes: as a rule, a Spirit Rune inserted into Heaven's Answer will be much more efficient than any other weapon rune you can acquire by Act II. It is probably a good idea to do the Inside Job quest as soon as possible to acquire a Spirit Rune design. A word of warning: one may think Sandal's Special Rune can be useful for an archer. Well, think again. Either the knockback rate increase is marginal, or it isn't implemented properly -- in any case, it is a waste of rune slot.
2a. Gear acquisition priorities:
Only Stealth Boots and Heaven's Answer are mandatory: try to accumulate enough gold for these as soon as possible. The rest can either wait or be foregone.
3. Tactical notes:
A general note. The game becomes somewhat easier now: you need to kite significantly less. Your hit:miss ratio is great, your natural crit chance is very high, you have good defense (speaking of which: a +20% defense bonus from Parry is especially helpful while fighting Stone Golems. Fire Demons and/or lots of archers -- your enemies will miss a lot). You are still very squishy (in fact, even more so in relation to the damage the enemies deal, since you have left Con at base value) and easily stagger/stun-lockable. Stealth, Evade and Summon Mabari are still vital to your survival. It's just the battles are shorter and less monotonous now.
Surprisingly enough, Wasp Spiders weren't much of a problem. However, Act II Dragonlings are a real threat: the bastards deal a lot of damage, consistently knock you down, have a lightning fast attack animation and are very numerous.
There are exactly two challenging encounters for a solo rogue: the final battle of Blackpowder Courtesy and ser Alrik's gang in Anders' companion quest finale. The rest of the tough groups can be easily out-maneuvered, kited, pulled, divided, etc.
4. Vendetta mechanics glitch:
I've decided to dedicate a separate sub-section to the (somewhat) glitchy Vendetta upgrade. To cut the long story short: never use an upgraded Vendetta in conjunction with Mark of Death. I assume the glitch occurs when the game calculates DamageScale. It is probably similar to DAO negative attack speed bugs. An upgraded Mark of Death sets DamageScale property to 1.5. I don't know how Blood Feud's 'damage resistance, momentarily: 0%' works technically, but it surely interferes with Mark of Death's effect, somehow lowering DamageScale to ~0.8 (an approximate value).
Practical examples (tested with the same gear setup against the same Skeleton Archer with different talent combinations): Pinpoint Strikes > Vendetta = 1469 dmg vs Pinpoint Strikes > Blood Feud = 1691 dmg. So far, so good. Now, if we throw Mark of Death in: Pinpoint Strikes > Mark of Death > Vendetta = 2176 dmg vs Pinpoint Strikes > Mark of Death > Blood Feud = 1480 dmg.
In other words, Blood Feud in conjunction with Mark of Death actually buffs the target for additional damage resistance. The corollary of this little research is clear: if you are a dedicated Duelist, by all means, upgrade to Blood Feud; however, as an Assassin/Duelist you should leave Vendetta non-upgraded.
5. Demonstration videos with short commentary:
I'm going to add more videos as I progress through the Act.
Forbidden Knowledge, Xebenkeck:
Video
This encounter is commonly cited as one of the toughest battles in DA2. I assume it might be true, if you opt to stay in the room to get gang-raped by Xebbie, four Rage Demons, a Revenant, and countless lesser demon minions. While this approach is surely an extremely gallant one, it's somewhat... eh... lacking in efficiency department. This fight can be won with relative ease if you pull the enemies out of the room in small groups (note: you cannot pull the Rage Demons from the room one at a time, but you should be able to handle two + lesser minions at a time, you are not level 7 anymore -- if the fight goes badly, just stealth and run to rest or, at the very least, wait until your cooldown timers are reset). Moreover, you can rest between various battle phases, as shown in the vid. The vid documents the first, and the most important, phase of the battle -- namely, getting rid of Xebbie.
Inside Job, the Brekker gang
Part 1
Part 2
This fight is also frequently mentioned as one of the hardest. I can surely understand, why. However, it is a piece of cake for a rogue archer, as you can see: the area is perfect for sniping enemies one by one from maximum distance.
Sundermount, the Crazy Loner gang
Part 1
Part 2
Not an insanely challenging fight, by any means, but it is reasonably short, and features some assassins and an Arcane Horror, at least.
Dissent, Ser Alrik et al.
Part 1
Part 2
This one was actually enjoyable. A challenging battle (mostly due to space constraints) that required some non-trivial tactical solutions to win. Probably the best vid of the bunch. I do show my gear and difficulty setting somewhere mid-video.
Demands of the Qun, Arishok
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Not overly challenging. As a rule, humanoid type sub-boss opponents have their strengths, while huge monster type bosses have theirs. Both are dangerous, albeit in different ways. This guy is somewhat of a middle ground between the two: the consequence is he's not as dangerous as either. On one hand, he can be immobilized and stunned. On the other hand, he uses only two potions during the whole fight and can be maneuvered to get stuck on one of the columns.
Act III
1. Build concept and justification:
The concept is simple. It's better to have two multipliers when calculating your damage (+CriticalRange, +Fire_Damage_Bonus) instead of just one (+CriticalRange). I've experimented with the same idea in DAA era, the results were quite remarkable.
The comparison between optimized Act III physical and elemental lvl 20 archers performing under the same conditions:
Physical
(Absolution with a Devastation Rune, Champion's Arms with a Valiance Rune, Helm of the Champion, Gloves of the Champion, Stealth Boots, Puzzle Ring of the Black Fox, Etched Ring of the Twins, Urzara's Tooth, The Belt of Promise)
Elemental
(Jackal's Longbow, Robes of Unblemished Cleanliness with a Valiance Rune, Helm of the Champion, Gloves of the Champion, Stealth Boots, Ring of the Ferryman, Etched Ring of the Twins, Urzara's Tooth, The Belt of Promise)
Note: Elemental archer's Dex and Cun are a bit lower, since you have to invest a couple of points into Mag and Wil to be able to equip Robes of Cleanliness (even with +attribute gear and a Valiance Rune). Jackal's works a bit better than Absolution with a pure +CriticalRange gear, but the difference is by no means as enormous as it is when you sacrifice some of your +X% crit dmg items for +X% fire dmg items. It is also important to note Dura's Blue Flame outperforms the Tooth with this setup.
Update:
A video of elemental setup archer taking on the Ogres during Finding Nathaniel quest without using explosives. A physical setup archer deals 400-500 damage per arrow under the same conditions (a bit more to the Bolters due to their weak armor and damage resistance).
2. Demonstration videos with short commentary:
The Awiergan Scrolls, Second Aspect.
As you can see, the need for subtlety is gone. No stealthing, no mabari summoning, nothing. That said, I can understand why Luke Barrett mentioned this fight as one of the hardest several times: those elite Revenants should not be taken lightly even now. In fact, the bastards can easily two-hit me with their ranged attack. When they get their Mass Pull fixed in patch 1.1, I will replay this encounter, as difficulty increase should be quite steep.
The Awiergan Scrolls, Pride Unbound.
It is extremely convenient Hybris belongs to a Poison sub-type of Pride Demons: fire damage is really huge against this boss. The video also shows how an elemental archer should handle Rage Demons. Basically, the idea is to switch to DW with the combination I consider the strongest: Shadow's Claw/Maker's Kiss. It does outperform Low Blade/Finesse in 90% of the cases.
The Last Straw, Docks Fight:
Part 1
Part 2
This one is actually quite challenging due to insane number of Shades that spawn. Also note they hit for half my lifebar, so discretion and subtlety are back. This video also answers the question I was asked several times about Blindside working with the mabari. The answer is: most definitely yes. As long as the target is not actively engaging you, you will hit for +20% damage on top of any other bonuses. With high damage output, it does make a significant difference (I typically jump from ~1600 to ~2200 per arrow).
The Docks Pride Demon is Fire sub-type, so I had to change my setup for fighting him. This vid demonstrates the insane potential of Shadow's Claw/Maker's Kiss.
The Last Straw, Orsino
While Orsino is just a big punching bag anyway, and you can score crazy criticals vs him with elemental setup, either solo or in party formation, possibly the most efficient way to deal with him is demonstrated in the video, since Orsino is weak to spirit.
The Last Straw, dealing with Rage Demons
Fire-immune enemies are the only real weakness my Act III build has. That's why I propagate Maker's Kiss/Shadow's Claw as an alternative weapon set on every occasion.
The Last Straw, Templar Hall
Another Maker's Kiss/Shadow's Claw vid. Templar-type enemies are conveniently weak to spirit.
The Last Straw, Meredith:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
One of the toughest fights in the whole game, hands down. It may not look like this judging by these vids, but trust me, I haven't reloaded my game that many times since... "Captain" Qerth, I think. Meredith by herself is not super-difficult: basically, she is an Arishok with one really nasty homing projectile attack. But the battle takes place in an area you cannot possibly use to your advantage, plus she has a bunch of really problematic minions.
The most tricky phases of this fight are the first (when you are practically alone, and Cullen cannot draw the aggro very well) and the last ones (ranged Gate Guardians are aggressive, unpredictable and can easily kill you in 2-3 hits). My general strategy vs Meredith was very anti-Arishok-like: Tar Bomb > Mark of Death > Assassinate > Vendetta. With my end-game setup, it was almost enough to immediately trigger the next phase. However, if she ever corners you, count yourself a dead man (it almost happened to me once during the video).
Her Guardians are more tricky to deal with, as they are immune to critical hits. However, if they ever go BRITTLE, by all means, try to exploit the situation with Mark of Death > Assassinate, it does result in some nice damage dealt to them, like demonstrated here. Luckily, you have a whole gang of AI-controlled allies to help you out, so it's not a hopeless fight. Still, a really challenging battle, and a glorious way to end the game.
Bearbeitet von IN1, 28 März 2011 - 09:06 .
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