35 réponses à ce sujet

[Catalol]

Hey just looking for some general advice for the lower levels of the game. Im finding myself struggle dealing with assassins, being overwhelmed and all sorts! Playing a rogue and currently level 6 running with Bethany, Merrill and Aveline.

My first playthrough was with a warrior and I also struggled at the start (though not as much) but things seemed to pick up after level 8. Now I feel like im trying to drag my team through this rough patch until I get access to CCCs and better gear. Note that I am not using any DLC stuff down to personal preference - is it mandatory in order to get through the start?

Would very much appreciate advice rather than instructions so I can improve my gameplay rather than just follow what someone says.:innocent:

[mokponobi]

Interesting, does this mean you are not using anything from the black emporium, not even the free stuff you find in a chest?

I would do some general things, first I would get anders right away so you have access to 2 heals.
I would use a bow, instead of daggers from level 5 to 8.
I would complete the little pinpricks in lowtown (night) to get rogue gear quick, and the other lowtown (day) carta quest to get the rogue armor.
I would pull enemies away from where they spawn (especially assassins), to do this, as long as a cutscene doesn't precede the fight, I would tell the party to HOLD far away and trigger the fight myself, then pull some with me, stealth when i get close to where I want them, then begin assaulting them 1 by 1 with focus fire.

Hope that helps

[Catalol]

Thanks for the help

Indeed I am using nothing from the black emporium - I feel it takes away from the whole gearing up process

I totally overlooked the gang clearing quests as a source of rogue gear and it would help getting a level or two before doing the more serious quests. Thanks

Yeah I do tend to resort to retreating to choke points after trying other tactics (my usual go to tactic is to sweep the critter mobs first unless there's something more crucial to deal with like an assassin or mage) but I feel that it really slows down the gameplay for me and takes away that element of doing things on the fly. Nonetheless its something that I wont rule out on.

One thing that I ask myself is when its appropriate to focus fire something down. Im finding myself Focus fire alot more on my rogue than on my warrior seeing as a rogue cant really go toe to toe with something. Other than going for the quick gib on mobs that would otherwise run a muk, is there any other situations where focus fire is the better option than letting teammates run solely through tactics? Archers maybe?

[mokponobi]

There are 2 mobs that will ruin your day at low levels, Assassins and Archers, you can dodge melee attacks from everyone one else, focus fire on the archers, if an assassin spawns forget everyone else and focus fire on it.

[Catalol]

Double posted for some reason, it didnt show my reply go through so typed it all again :

Modifié par Catalol, 09 mai 2011 - 01:18 .

[mokponobi]

As long as you have everyone selected and tell them to attack the same person, they should continue to target it until you unselect everyone.

As a benefit if you are getting stun locked, focus fire will disrupt it, at least from 1 person which can give you space to stealth.

Modifié par mokponobi, 09 mai 2011 - 01:27 .

[Sabotin]

I wouldn't get Anders as fast, if it's the first thing you do it's pretty hard, while later it becomes a cakewalk. Bethany is just as good at the beginning. And, you're not using dlc because you don't have it or just don't use it? Maker's sigh is kinda nice to respec.

I'd throw in a tidbit about attributes - at the start it pays of to invest everything into the main stat for a few levels, to get hit rates and damage up to passable. And don't be afraid to spend some money on gear.

[mokponobi]

The reason I say Anders is because you can cheese to get him if you just let him tank, kill the first archer that spawns then draw the melees to the other side of the chantry. kill them and the assassin spawns but will target Anders, kill the lieutenant, if he followed you, then kill the 2 archers with focus fire, then kill the assassin.

Modifié par mokponobi, 09 mai 2011 - 01:43 .

[Catalol]

Non DLC items is down to my personal choice, makers sigh on the other hand <3

Stat wise I have taken the same approach.

mokponobi wrote...

As a benefit if you are getting stun locked, focus fire will disrupt it, at least from 1 person which can give you space to stealth.

Thats a great idea, though the build that I have set in my mind didnt have stealth (xbox user who hates pausing, so i plan on picking the crucial damage abilities for my six slots than collecting up passives/upgrades), so i may tweak my build to include that if survivability becomes more of an issue.

God im awkward

Modifié par Catalol, 09 mai 2011 - 02:37 .

[Iosev]

Make sure to use cross-class combos (i.e., make use of abilities that stagger, brittle, etc.) to help take down high-priority targets, such as assassins and magi. For example, at least one of your magi in your party should have Chain Reaction (the second tier of Chain Lightning), while your warriors should have a few stagger-inducing abilities (e.g., Pummel, Pommel Blow, Aftershock, etc.).

Modifié par arcelonious, 09 mai 2011 - 04:00 .

[Catalol]

The problem is at the lower levels (before 7?) you don't have access to CCC's making some fights difficult.

Fortunately I've got to level 7 now and I'm having much more success with the majority of encounters i come across but I am concerned for future playthroughs whether I'm going to have the same uphill struggle before getting access to abilities and gear.

On another note, I must say that twin fangs is crazy on demand burst - I just blew up an assassin with that and some focus fire coupled with damage reduction debuffs and damn it felt good!

[mokponobi]

You can have a powerful CCC at level 6, you just need the upgraded shield bash (lvl 6) and the upgraded chain lightning (lvl 6). Either your Warrior Hawke or Aveline can get the first or your mage Hawke, Anders or Merrill can get the second.

very effective early game against assassins.

[Iosev]

Ah yes, typically in most games that involve character progression (e.g., leveling, itemization, etc.), the first few parts of the game can often be rather difficult, and this is especially true on Nightmare.

The only reason I brought up cross-class combos was because you can get by rather easily on the Hard and lower difficulties without ever having to use them, but on Nightmare, they are integral to gameplay, at least if you want to make Nightmare more manageable.

Other than that, here are a few more tips that I can think of:

1. Try to clear out the thugs that come out at evening before starting any quests in a particular area. This is especially helpful regarding the Docks at night. This area is really difficult when you have the quests Duty, Secret Rendezvous, Loose Ends, and so on, all active at the same time, in addition to having all of the Redwater Teeth thugs lurking around at the docks.  It's also easy access to experience before undertaking any of the major quests.

2.  Avoid the more difficult quests until you are better fit to hande them.

I usually stay away from quests like Night Lies and Secret Rendezvous until I have the abilities to deal with them.

Modifié par arcelonious, 09 mai 2011 - 05:32 .

[Catalol]

arcelonious wrote...
The only reason I brought up cross-class combos was because you can get by rather easily on the Hard and lower difficulties without ever having to use them, but on Nightmare, they are integral to gameplay, at least if you want to make Nightmare more manageable.

I think that is the biggest thing I will take from this - overlooking pummel at level 6 was costly, I don't know how I managed to do that when I had even picked up chain reaction with Merrill. heh
Deffinitely had a bump up in killing speed once I got that at level 7 and some treats for my PC rogue.
Thanks for the help guys.

[tonnactus]

Against assassins,crowd control is as valuable(if not more) as are cross class combos.Upgraded horror and petrify should be available(Merill: enemy elite ot higher cast horror or petrify/anders could have petrify)
The tank should have upgraded stonewall,should be targeted by high level rank enemies and activate it to shrug off the backstabs.Also,everytime an enemy spawns,take control over your tank for short time to make sure thats the first enemy they saw and attack.

[mokponobi]

I personally consider upgraded stonewall a waste of talents considering it takes such micro management, I'd rather spend that on getting cleave or something and just kill the assassin before he can backstab anyone.

Horror I would agree is very useful, petrify may be not be practical at lvl 6 either. since it means not having an upgraded chain lightning.

[Catalol]

Just did Anders recruitment mission. Though it took me a few attempts to down it, I managed to do the whole thing without pause, letting Anders tank or retreating to a position on the map more favorable.

Even better I blew up the Knight Lieutenant or whatever the Elite mob is called. Two Hex of torments and a Mark of death combo'd with Twin Fangs... YUM! I then proceeded to slaughter the rest of the mobs before the second wave with the assassin even appeared!

Though Bethany did end up taking a bullet for the team. She got poked by the assassin

[Catalol]

I tried stonewall for a while on my first playthrough and it seemed umm clunky? Though I am interested in seeing how it would work in a early AoE-heavy team, how viable the group would be as a whole is questionable but would cover the lack of resistance to friendly fire.

[tonnactus]

mokponobi wrote...

I personally consider upgraded stonewall a waste of talents considering it takes such micro management, I'd rather spend that on getting

They usually dissapear(every 3-5 seconds or so) at least once before you could kill them,even with focus fire.(at nightmare)
The suckers also heal themself with potions that they stole from you,and even if you dont have regular health potions(elfroot),they seem to have at least one of their one.
Ever did the fight with the two ship captains in act 1?

Modifié par tonnactus, 09 mai 2011 - 07:40 .

[tonnactus]

Catalol wrote...

I tried stonewall for a while on my first playthrough and it seemed umm clunky? Though I am interested in seeing how it would work in a early AoE-heavy team, how viable the group would be as a whole is questionable but would cover the lack of resistance to friendly fire.

[Catalol]

Yeah its great for soaking the assassins damage but I dislike pausing so I integrated it into the tactics through hp<X% but then it brought about problems with adds coming in while she is sitting in stonewall. In hindsight I guess I could just have a tactic to turn it off when one of the squishes were being violated, but didn't think of it at the time.

[mokponobi]

Currently doing an elemental warrior playthrough, i've done the two captains quest several times "secret rendezvous", with a rogue i think i just assassinated one and twin fanged/backstabed the other.

I've never needed stonewall, last time, i was using the new dlc spirit axe, I shield bashed one, got merill or anders to CCC chain lightning it, then used cleave/sacrificial frenzy/assault and it went down. The other one did a silly backstab on dog, bummer, I finished it up before it could stealth again. Minions fell quick to fire damage from Anderfel.

[tonnactus]

Catalol wrote...

Yeah its great for soaking the assassins damage but I dislike pausing so I integrated it into the tactics through hp<X% but then it brought about problems with adds coming in while she is sitting in stonewall. In hindsight I guess I could just have a tactic to turn it off when one of the squishes were being violated, but didn't think of it at the time.

The squishies(i wouldnt call merill one by the way) should have mindblast(clears threat: tactic:self beeing attacked by melee/mindblast)
Varric should use goad/armistice to redirect threat to aveline and evade/stealth .

[Catalol]

tonnactus wrote...
The squishies(i wouldnt call merill one by the way) should have mindblast(clears threat: tactic:self beeing attacked by melee/mindblast)
Varric should use goad/armistice to redirect threat to aveline and evade/stealth .

I agree with what is said about Varric, however I think 'should' is too strong a word for mindblast as I've got through my first Nightmare run (I'll add also my first playthrough of the game) without it and finding goad+armistice sufficient. Was with a 2hd warrior if that makes any difference.

Level 9 at the moment and tearing things to shreds, sometimes making mistakes due to going into autopilot mode as most of the encounters are becoming faceroll. Though I am yet to face the Tal'Vashok and some of the harder act 1 encounters. I'm just astonished by the jump in damage that just my rogue gained through levels 7-9 namely explosive strike upgrade and twin fangs. I like being able to see the character progress and reaping the benefits, but the gap seemed huge in my eyes! It's quite funny in a way (though deffinately was not fun at the time getting owned left, right and centre!)

Wondering whether to experiment using Fenris in place of Aveline, with the build i just scratched together while in his recruitment mission, he added alot more offensive power to my team being a stagger bot coupled with both Anders and Merrill having Chain reaction , which weaves perfectly into my general playstyle of being the aggressor.

[tonnactus]

The advantage of aveline over fenris is that the upgraded shield bashes give guaranteed staggers on elites.
Fenris is better against trash mobs/normals,but those are easy enough to kill.