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[T0rin3]

 So, after 4 pre-Landsmeet playthroughs (wanted to save something for this!), I decided I knew enough about the game to begin my Nightmare mode playthrough with a single character. I'll begin with my definition of a "solo" playthrough:

1) Nightmare difficulty mode
2) As soon as you can dump your party members (i.e. Lothering), you dump them. If you pick up any new party members, you dump them. Unless the game forces you to use spare party members (I think it does this at the end of the Branka quest with Ohgren), the only character you use is the main character.
3) Ranger class is acceptable, it does not count as another party member. However, be prepared for them to steal your XP, which slows down your progress! (or micro manage them properly)
4) No using party members for crafting items! What part of solo didn't you understand?

So the two logical choices for this endeavor were a Mage or a Rogue. After doing 2 playthroughs with a "normal" Mage and an Arcane Warrior, I decided that a "normal" mage would not be able to handle ambushes or practically any boss level encounters, and I would rather digest my reproductive organs than autoattack my way through the entire game with a single character.

So the choice was made! Rogue it is.

My next important decision was how to specialize it. From what I've already read (but not experienced), Ranger was a good place to start on Nightmare. On paper, it sounds good... Rogues need some form of distraction to function well, regardless of what weapon they decide to use, and having a mini tank around could prove helpful. And after enduring the process of going from level 5.8 at the beginning of Lothering to 7.2ish at the end of Lothering, I could understand why having a mini-tank around would be nice...

it was during this process that I realized that the only reason I actually made it through Lothering was because of my bow, or rather, the ability to draw 1-2 enemies from a group at a time, rather than rushing headlong into yet another suicidal encounter. While I did eventually squeak my way through Lothering originally as a dual wield rogue (+wolf near the end!), I realized that if that was the level of hell I was going to endure throughout the next 100 hours of gameplay, it was time to yet again rethink my strategy. So, going on the premise that the bow was so helpful without any bow talents, I wondered what it might be like WITH bow talents! To my surprise, it was even worse, as I was unable to actually progress far enough to actually get the right bow talents (or equipment to sustain my stamina needs) to help me out. But, knowing what potentially lied again, albeit somewhat unknown, led me to believe that it was in my best interest to pursue this particular path of archery, and see it to it's end. (I have already given the DW rogue two fair shakes, it was time to give the bow a proper try)

So after restarting my Nightmare solo game and yet again grinding through Lothering by the skin of my teeth, I was almost to the point of unlocking Combat Stealth, the holy grail of this rather frustrating attempt at challenging myself. Having reloaded the game more times than I care to remember, I came to the realization that Combat Stealth was going to save my game, and turn this into something enjoyable. But how on earth was I going to get from level 7.2 to level 8?

Well, for starters, I could use a better weapon. I surmised that I may be able to sneak into the Elven Ruins in the Brecilian Forest, grab the dragonthorn bow from the Dragon's stash, and head back out to continue onwards. So off I go to visit the Daelish elves. I arrive, to yet again no particular fanfare, and make my way down the path (in stealth mode, god forbid I try to attack a pack of werewolves with no helpful talents to speak of) to greet Swiftrunner. Since I had put all my skill points into Combat Mastery to unlock Arrow of Slaying, I only had 2 points in Persuasion, and was thus unable to convince him not to fight me, so he ended up ripping me a new one. I was still level 7, so no Combat Stealth yet, so I had no choice but to retreat from the Forest of Doom and find another path.

It was then that I remembered about a not so well known bow mentioned in several threads on the old forum, a bow called Far Song. It was available by killing the blacksmith in Redcliffe, which I figured I could manage with relative ease, as no fighting was required to get to him. Well, little did I know that after I kill him, his replacement would not show up for another day, so I had to endure the Zombie Attacks before I could purchase said bow. Well, this was it, I had no choice but to find a way to level up and get Combat Stealth. So what did I do? I went Codex Hunting! I hit up every major city (other than Denerim, which has no codexes to speak of) in an attempt to level up without fighting, and just barely managed to get my level in Orzimmar after much reloading to avoid being ambushed from destination to destination.

Success! I now had Combat Stealth. So back I go to begin the Zombie Wars in Redcliffe, and come one step closer to getting ahead in this Nightmarish challenge. Turns out that I did need Combat Stealth as badly as I presumed, as by the time I had to leave the Knights to guard the ramp that leads up to the castle, and head down to the village to help the militia, I was going to make very good use of stealth. After all the poor militia died regardless of my valiant attempts to shoot down every zombie in sight, I was left with a real challenge. Me vs 17 waterlogged zombies. Good thing I have combat stealth. 45 minutes later, after picking them off one at a time with stealth and arrow of slaying, I head off to receive my congratulations on surviving the night... too bad nobody else did.

So, having cleared the imminent threat of Redcliffe, I head over to the smithy to pick up my bow. I walk in, spot an unfamiliar face and smile. I ask to see his inventory, and there it was: Far Song, in all it's magical glory. One thing I did not account for however was the 120 sovereign price tag. Woops. I glanced at my paltry 40 gold in my inventory and groaned. So what the hell would I do now? Well, make money of course. I had 1 unspent skill point, so I decided to use it for Stealing. I then started to steal from anything and everything that I could target, and after scouring several quest areas and attempting every possible quest I could, several hours later I managed to work my way up to 120 gold. Mind you, I ended up selling every single possession owned by every single party member I had with me (not like I was going to let them make any use of it), including all the armor I had on, and the Tier 3 bow that had gotten me this far. But I had done it, Far Song was mine. I had no clothes on, but I did have my Tier 7 Bow of Doom.. and who needs clothes when you're always hiding in stealth? Not me!

Now I could really get serious. Right off the bat, I realized how good this bow was. I started to hit in the 200s with Arrow of Slaying, so I got serious with some side quests that I had to overlook because of my pitiful damage output. I proceeded to knock out nearly 10 quests involving combat, working my way up to a decent set of armor. I eventually picked up the Shadow of the Empire in Orzimmar and some fashionable leather gauntlets and boots to go along with it. I had to spend all of the money I was saving for the Precious Materials sidequest in Orzimmar just so that I could afford to wear something better than nothing, but it was worth it, I'll eventually make more money.

After many long hours of reloading and restealthing and shooting my Arrow of Slaying, I was finally the proud owner of a decent set of equipment, and while I had not actually finished any major quest yet, I had knocked out almost 30 or so sidequests and made a healthy chunk of change in the process. So here I am, level 11, 1 level away from Master Stealth with the following items:

Weapon: Far Song
Head: Nothing! (I'm too beautiful to wear an ugly leather helmet)
Gloves: Some +5% crit damage gloves sold to me by a dwarf who found them in a river if I recall correctly..
Body: Shadow of the Empire
Feet: Some +2 dex boots sold to me by the aforementioned dwarf
Neck: Some +2 con garbage
Belt: That thing you can buy from the mage circle that gives +2 stats and stamina regen
Ring 1: Lifegiver, and boy has it ever given me life
Ring 2: Key to the City, it was practically free! (I lied, it was free!)

So, nothing super special, I still have a long way to go, but man, is this a load of fun.

Anyone have any special tips and tricks to help aid fellow Nightmare Rogue Soloists through this act of masochism?

[T0rin3]

I lied, Denerim has codexes.

[Nerhesi]

Thought xp wasn't split...

[T0rin3]

XP isn't split. When I said steal XP, I meant that I get 0%.

Modifié par T0rin3, 23 novembre 2009 - 07:51 .

[Hatem]

I'm pretty sure you get the same amount xp with or without your party. I'm certain.

[T0rin3]

Oh, I'm certain too, but when your Ranger pet gets the final hit, you get nothing!

Modifié par T0rin3, 23 novembre 2009 - 07:55 .

[Hatem]

If you mean the pet only, then my apologies.

[T0rin3]

Yes, I did mean the pet only, perhaps I should clarify that in the OP.

[Zenthar Aseth]

I would not have the patience to do what you've done... nice!

[Myzzrimm]

I admit this fully, that I am impressed. Kudos for fighting your way through this game solo rogue! Any ideas on what you'll take as your second specialization?

[T0rin3]

Bard, for sure.

[Jassper]

Pump your Dex!

When my party gets swarmed (by bad choice on my part - "Ok coast is clear .... OH CRAP"
Alistair drops like a rock, but I survive for 4 or 5 kills before they hit me enough to take me out. I need a voice over "can't touch this". Plus I am hitting in the range of 45 and 50 points (scored a 52 last night) with a bow and plain arrows - no archery talents. When pulling, I can gain a huge lead running - turn around and drop them at my feet, like the Rhino in 300.  And I really miss, my Dex is currently 43 I think< will need to look, before bonuses.

Go as light as you can on Armor and weapons, I'm still wearing Dalish crap, but my move penalty is only 1.4. I have noticed that with heavily armored opponents, I can actually run behind them and get 1 back stab in before they can tun around - then do it again. You can also back away or side step when you see them start their shield bash and make them miss, timed right however. Still can't get away from those nice arrows that go around corners though.  
I was thinking just last night, I bet this could be soloed with a Rogue.

Modifié par Jassper, 23 novembre 2009 - 09:09 .

[T0rin3]

Well, my Dex is pretty decent, 38 I think? And I am able to just stand face to face with 1-2 enemies and drop them with my bow if need be, but against the enemies that dex could be truly useful, I just Stealth and wait for Arrow of Slaying to refresh, then go to town on them from long range.



Is that 45-50 a shot with crits? I'm hitting in the 80s right now, but I don't use any archery talents for that. All the good archery talents are activatable.

[Timortis]

T0rin3 wrote...

 So, after 4 pre-Landsmeet playthroughs (wanted to save something for this!), I decided I knew enough about the game to begin my Nightmare mode playthrough with a single character. I'll begin with my definition of a "solo" playthrough:

1) Nightmare difficulty mode
2) As soon as you can dump your party members (i.e. Lothering), you dump them. If you pick up any new party members, you dump them. Unless the game forces you to use spare party members (I think it does this at the end of the Branka quest with Ohgren), the only character you use is the main character.
3) Ranger class is acceptable, it does not count as another party member. However, be prepared for them to steal your XP, which slows down your progress! (or micro manage them properly)
4) No using party members for crafting items! What part of solo didn't you understand?

You can solo all the way up to Lothering too. All you have to do is turn off your party members' AI, and leave them at the entrance point of each map. The first few levels are very challenging.

I'm soloing with a dual wielding Rogue on NM, level 14 now in Denerim, Duelist/Assassin, going well so far. I don't think party members or in your case the Ranger pet, steal XP, though a pet does make a lot of fights much much easier.

I do however use Morrigan to craft potions. I don't think that's against the spirit of soloing. Certainly doesn't make things as easy as having a pet tank does.

[T0rin3]

I'm not entirely sure that using the pet really helps at all, sometimes I think it just sucks up stamina preventing me from using Arrow of Slaying more often. I've recently been considering reloading an older game and focusing more on archery and just forgetting about the pet idea. But then again, I wonder how I will beat the high dragon that way.

[Timortis]

Well, there are certain fights that pets make easy, especially against casters who instantly cast Crushing Prison etc. When there's no one else, you're always the target. A pet takes care of that problem.

[Devilsway]

I love your posts, they are informative and stimulating .

[Jassper]

T0rin3 wrote...

Is that 45-50 a shot with crits? I'm hitting in the 80s right now, but I don't use any archery talents for that. All the good archery talents are activatable.

Thats without crits, normal arrows, no talents. I got the crapier bow however as I gave the good one to the red head. I haven't really paid attention to her hits, but she drops them pritty quick too. Her Dex is lower though so I see her miss more than I do.

[Madlax27]

Ironic how so many people complain about archery and the guy doing Nightmare solo is an archer .



My first playthrough was an AoS rogue archer as well, and it is quite a good combo with combat stealth .

[T0rin3]

Timortis wrote...

Well, there are certain fights that pets make easy, especially against casters who instantly cast Crushing Prison etc. When there's no one else, you're always the target. A pet takes care of that problem.

A trap at the feet and an Arrow of Slaying to the face help solve the Crushing Prison problem, I'm just mainly thinking forward to boss fights that I can't hope to survive all by my lonesome.

[T0rin3]

Madlax27 wrote...

Ironic how so many people complain about archery and the guy doing Nightmare solo is an archer .

My first playthrough was an AoS rogue archer as well, and it is quite a good combo with combat stealth .

The important part is stealth, the method of delivery (dw vs archer) is just personal preference. I had already done 2 nightmare games with DW rogues, so I wanted to try something new, and the much lamented archery rogue seemed to have some appeal.

[Timortis]

Yeah, Arrow of Slaying is very powerful, but I thought it didn't work against orange mobs? Also, certain bosses' AI behaves strangely against archers, it really makes the game easier. I don't have any archery talents, but I have to use a bow half the time to survive.

[Timortis]

Madlax27 wrote...

Ironic how so many people complain about archery and the guy doing Nightmare solo is an archer .

My first playthrough was an AoS rogue archer as well, and it is quite a good combo with combat stealth .

Most people complaining about classes are clueless.

[T0rin3]

Timortis wrote...

Yeah, Arrow of Slaying is very powerful, but I thought it didn't work against orange mobs? Also, certain bosses' AI behaves strangely against archers, it really makes the game easier. I don't have any archery talents, but I have to use a bow half the time to survive.

It works, it just doesn't do as much damage as it does to white mobs.