29 réponses à ce sujet

[MC DrowBane]

Ok so my main char is a human Dual Wield  DPS dagger Rogue/Assasin/Bard, Cunning Build (lethality, exploit weakness, coup de grace) with Momentum and Song of Valor sustained... Armed with The Rose's Thorn and the Beast Dagger using paralyze/and physical resistance runes, dressed in wades Superior Light scale armor and Rocking the Lifegiver ring.

Shale - Stoneheart talent tree maxed out.  I ended up ringing the gong with Shale then running a few feet forward and   activating Stoneheart mode which he remained in for the duration of the fight.  (Only using flawed crystals by the way)

Sten Beserker wielding Star Fang with lightning damage/physical resistance runes and wearing Juggernaught Armor.

Morrigan Arcane Warrior with Telekinetic Weapons Sustained and using Affliction hex, lightning bolt, cone of cold and winter's grasp and Tactics to drink mana pots.  I didn't want to use aoe's with this Morgan Build and I found the Forcefield/Crushing Prison route to be useless so I just had her on basic artillery/heal mode.


Pretty much with Shale smack in the middle of the 2 areas we were able to constantly remain in the Stoneheart area while Sten pretty much went full on Attack Mode and my Rogue flanked it and did Momentum basic attacks the ENTIRE time.  By the time my rogue delivered the killing blow the dragon had just barely managed to kill Shale and Morrigan.

Gonna redo the battle and prob post the link.... anyone have any comments on this approach or any other success stories/strategies (that don't involve AI exploiting) they want to share?

PS This was my second play thru on hard and the FIRST time i have ever beaten the high dragon (I got whipped on 1st Normal play thru at about level 9 and never went back) 

Modifié par MC DrowBane, 28 novembre 2009 - 01:40 .

[Theranon]

Used pretty much the same tactic at 12 with (hard) Though I duo-ed it down from 50% with my dw-berserker -reaver warrior and spirithealer Morrigan. I fought the dragon in the temple entrance. So that it couldnt get to my healer. And couldnt bounce around so much. Just have alot of potions pref 2 diffrent kinds so you can chuck them faster (like lesser lyrium and lyrium potions)

Other party members where Shale and Leilana

Modifié par Theranon, 28 novembre 2009 - 01:43 .

[Eurypterid]

Just killed it last night on normal with my party. My character is a mage and I had Leliana, Morrigan, and Alistair. Morrigan was the only one that was dropped by the drake, and that was only moments before the end of the battle (stupid me, I wasn't paying attention to her health). It was my first attempt, although I should point out that all characters were level 21 or 22.

[udgnim]

I just ranged DPS the dragon down. I ran around with whatever party member the dragon was currently targeting. the dragon won't be able to do any melee damage and it's ranged fire damage is very manageable. Bioware really needs to make boss run speed faster.

[Looy]

The dragon isn't really the hardest boss, I don't see why so many people hype it up so much.

[DragoonKain3]

Just trying to remember what level I did the sacred ashes quest. Maybe 12-13? It was still a breeze, since I didn't have to worry about my tank apart from being grabbed, because even at that low of a level he had high enough of defense to dodge most normal attacks, so Wynne can keep him healthy.

Once he gets grabbed though, I've got to either Cone of Cold the dragon (which gets resisted a fair number of times, so its unreliable) or force field Alistair (of which I hope he generated enoguh aggro to keep the dragons attention while he's in forcefield, since I didn't have neutralization glyph yet)

That WAS the plan anyway. But really, I wasn't paying attention most of the time (I just LOVE nuking with my mage, and CoC/FF is on her) that Alistair gets killed while he was grabbed, and I have to scramble for dear life to revive him and reset aggro lol.

Still prevailed in the end though. Was harder than its supposed to be since I deviated from my plan. But hey, can you blame me? Not many enemies exist in DAO where they can survive the first salvo of a max magic mage's spells, let alone a good 10 minutes or so of it. XD


EDIT: Yeah, double checked. Party was half lvl 12, half lvl 11, in nightmare.

Modifié par DragoonKain3, 28 novembre 2009 - 02:15 .

[Eurypterid]

Looy wrote...

The dragon isn't really the hardest boss, I don't see why so many people hype it up so much.

Oh, come on. It's a tough battle, regardless. Maybe not the hardest, no, but it's no cakewalk either. Personally, I'm thankful BioWare at least made a dragon that's worthy of the title 'dragon'.

[MC DrowBane]

I guess what I meant by success stories and strategies that didn't exploit AI were straight forward battles against the Dragon utilizing the intended game mechanics and not using the dragons non targeting glitch.

[Eurypterid]

Non-targetting glitch? Can you explain? I'm unaware of this.

[MC DrowBane]

Eurypterid wrote...

Non-targetting glitch? Can you explain? I'm unaware of this.

here

www.youtube.com/watch

and an even worse example here

[CelausDiahar]

Well, the dragon doesn't use a bunch of the special abilities if there's only one person in melee range basically. I tried it on hard with my Mage, Allistar, Sten and Leliana. My character was a healer with a ton of CC, which didn't do much good. With Sten and Allistar both in melee range, the Dragon used a bunch of attacks that dealt a ton of damage. On my second try, I gave Sten a bow, had him and Leliana sit back and fire special arrows at the dragon while my mage healed. With just Allistar in melee range, he wound up taking much less damage.

[Devilsway]

I found the Unbound to be much harder than the high dragon. Probably since he has so many heals which make it a marathon fight.

[Eurypterid]

MC DrowBane wrote...

Eurypterid wrote...

Non-targetting glitch? Can you explain? I'm unaware of this.

here

www.youtube.com/watch

and an even worse example here

Interesting. I was not aware of this at all. I can tell you I certainly didn't take advantage of this and had a good tough fight against it, even though my party was the level 21/22 range. I found it a lot of fun and he used a number of abilities against my party members, so it was quite exciting.

[Lord Phoebus]

I had my AW run up to it and run in a tight circle (close enough to be in melee range) while the rest of my party (Alistair, Leliana and Wynne) used ranged attacks against it. The idea of running was the dragon had to keep turning which made attack at about half normal speed, it didn't use its grab attack (it seems to have to face it's target to grab it) and I was able to get a flank attack anytime it used a fire attack. I did get grabbed once towards the end when I stopped the ranged bombardment so I could get the death blow animation, but a quick stone fist from Wynne stopped that. It took a few minutes, but no one fell (I had to use about 5 lesser healing poultices though). I was level 16, the rest of the party was level 15, Nightmare difficulty on the PC. Not that this was the most effective strategy, but I wanted to test how effective fade shroud was and this was as good a place as any.

[Medet]

Once you get Wade's superior armor it's pretty easy. High Dragons seem entirely content to lob fireballs if you attack from range, and 75% fire res makes the damage you take a joke...



Dragons don't actively try to stay in melee, which is where their main damage is. Any character with good fire res and a bow or staff can solo them, which was mildly disappointing. I found unbound to be a much more entertaining fight. Dragons should have closed to melee range whenever physically possible and just stayed airborne (and untargetable) when it couldn't land close enough to a character to use a melee attack, or had mixed element or true damage ranged attacks.

[EvilIguana966]

I had no trouble beating it either run through around level 15ish. My strategy was straight MMO style tank and spank. My character is a warrior/templar/champion wearing massive armor and with a shield and sword. I keep my 3 teammates back a good bit from where I stand and fight. Use the horn, and the dragon attacks my tank, who stands basically still with the dragon facing away from the 3 others. Wynne and Morrigan both heal, and Leliana or Zevran backstab the thing. (I used Zevran the first time, the second time I used Leliana respecced to dual wield so she's more or less a zevran equivalent.) With shield wall my AC is over 40 by that point so the incoming damage is quite reasonable. Taunt and the aggressive +hate mode keep the dragon on me. Mages heal and nuke, as well as keep frost weapons up which does good damage against the dragon. If the dragon picks me up them Morrigan cone of frosts him to release me. A majority of my DPS comes from me, since the dragon tail slaps Zev/Lel every time they get close enough to do damage. As it turns out the safest place to be may actually be in front of the dragon.



Personally the hardest fight in the game in my opinion is not the high dragon, but Loghain's lieutenant as you exit Howe's estate with Anora. That girl hits far harder than the dragon does, and has plenty of help. You're clearly intended to get captured there, and managing to actually win the fight is basically an Easter egg.

[MC DrowBane]

EvilIguana966 wrote...

Personally the hardest fight in the game in my opinion is not the high dragon, but Loghain's lieutenant as you exit Howe's estate with Anora. That girl hits far harder than the dragon does, and has plenty of help. You're clearly intended to get captured there, and managing to actually win the fight is basically an Easter egg.

this is quite true, however I wish it were not.  That dragon should have been given a free roaming option as opposed to keeping him from lilly padding in two spots.  With a decent move speed and the ability to place himself into melee anywhere via flight would have made this guy a truly amazing boss.  It disapoints me to see the variety of ways this guy is taken down at range so I like to see there are some who are taking this guy on traditionally.  Who knows, perhaps Bioware will patch him.  I'd like to see how he could be mod'd in the toolset to be truly fearsome. 

[soteria]

I killed him with wynne, sten, leliana, and myself (sword/shield PC). Wynne just kept me healed, the other two used ranged attacks, and I ran in and out of melee trying to avoid getting grabbed. It probably would have been more efficient to just have everyone use ranged attacks, but this worked with no deaths.

[DragoonKain3]

See, thing about Loghains's henchmen after you rescued anora is that they're mostly archers. If you did a strategic retreat to a more confined space (even just back to the hallway you came from), and you've nullified most of them. They'd have to reposition themselves, but by then they'll be bunched up to be taken out easily by AoEs.



Personally, I just Blood Wound to stop scattershot spam (yeah 10x scattershot with dex hotfix where archery is pumped up is quite lethal), run back to the hallway, and Blizzard/Earthquake them while Alistair puts up shield wall to avoid knockdown. Blow a Tempest once Alistair is away from AoE, and just beat on loghain's henchlady since all she's by yourself.



I reloaded though and got captured willingly. More XP that way, since you get to beat her up later on too.



BTW, the trick to most battles in DAO is having the battle be fought on your own terms, rather than the enemy's. This is one of many battles where this is true, and another one is near the end of the alienage story line, where you'll probably be ranged to death if you just rushed head on to the slaver and his minions.







As for the dragon, I don't even know why people resort to tricks to beat him. I mean, just make sure a tank is there that can survive (or preferably dodge) the hits, and you're golden. Sure the dragon has an extra trick up his sleeve (aka grabs), but nothing you haven't seen before (you've run across ogres before right?) in that you know how to counter it by now.



Seriously, for all the people that complain how OP mages are, its actually my DEX tank that is THE reason that make even Nightmare difficulty trivial. If the tank is so resilient and the AI can't break out of aggro'ing him, then it doesn't matter what the rest of your team is composed of as long as they help keep the tank alive, because you'll definitely outlast the enemy. Sure playing Mage is fun, but I'm not going to lie in that Taunt is bar none, the best 'CC' talent in the game.

[JHorwath]

I killed the high dragon at or about that level.  Maybe 14 or so but very close range with a party of Morrigan-specced spirit healer- with tempest- winters grasp, force field, heal, group heal, ect.

Allistair tanked,  I forget what armor he used.  The key for him was the fire salves and that stuff.

Lelianna was the archer with arrow of slaying and that stuff.

My character was an arcane warrior.  I turned off the buffs and except spell wisp.  He was in full juggernaut gear.

I positioned the three ranged members near the mounds and Allistair sounded the gong and went down in the clearing.  He drew aggro with taunt and when his health got low I cast force field and regen.  The arcane warrior and mage pelted the dragon with spells while the archer used ice arrows.  Allistair held the attention of the dragon and then when the health was low enough the party went in for the kill.  Got a nice finishing move.  High dragon is easy with force field + taunt.

The first time I beat the thing I used two archers and wynne while allister tanked.

*The only mistake I made was when I cast tempest the second time the dragon moved and came after my party while allistair was in force field.  That made things interesting but my arcane warrior is a spirit healer as well so two group heals got me out of that mess.  Had to move the party around but the tank got back in and settled things.

*I was on the hard setting.  The fight isn't necessarily hard but you have to at least have a plan.  I want to try with a few other character combinations.  Maybe Wynne, Morrigan, a heavy armored warrior and my character.  I tried these dragon fights with three melee and beat flemeth that way but used a ton of health potions.  I should try three melee against the high dragon.  If you don't have good control of the dragon then your party can get wiped.  I don't mean exploiting movement glitches but just keep her occupied so that when she breathes fire that it's away from the party.

Modifié par JHorwath, 28 novembre 2009 - 05:41 .

[Wyko]

I had two level 9 mages (Wynn for healing and myself for dps) that useless rogue assassin you pick up when he tries to kill you, and alister tanking. The rogue died right off, and I just killed the dragon with a lot of healing, mana potions, and saved games

[Zilod]

mmm i killed him on hard at lv 11/12 at second try (well first one i did my best to mess it up)



dragon is not that hard, is very easy to control and at that point you just need to keep the tank alive and with ranged dps it goes down fast enought.



for melee oriented group is a bit more tricky as he tend to stomp people on him but a good dmg tank (better if he is immune to knockdown and such) can stay toe to toe with him and deal some nice dmg... (on current war run on hard killed at 14-15 with only wyn as mage)

[dannythefool]

The dragon is hyped so much because it is a hard fight if you focus on offensive tactics instead of control. In addition to that, melee fighters have a harder time surviving the dragon's attacks.

The OP writes that he didn't want to use mage AoE with Morrigan so this is clearly not a topic about how hard the fight is, but how to beat it without some overpowered abilities. (Although Affliction Hex is technically an area effect too...).

[Tonya777]

If I really wanted to I'm sure I could pull off soloing the high dragon with my arcane warrior once hes that level (15/16)

I soloed Flemeth the dragon at lvl 14 lol

Edit : I just killed the high dragon with a party of lvl 13 & 14 characters

Yeah apparently nobody was kidding when they said Arcane warrior is insane , they are insanely good at not getting killed

Modifié par Tonya777, 28 novembre 2009 - 08:55 .

[DragoonKain3]

Shimmering Shield not turning off when you're out of mana is the culprit for AWs being 'insanely good at not getting killed'. Without that, you can't effectively keep up SS for very long, so their survivability drops like a rock in an upcoming patch for the PC.



Console people are in general consensus that AWs aren't nearly as powerful as PC people make it out to be, and the reason why is that consoles aren't bugged in this way (its not just limited to SS, btw, but it is by far the most exploitable).