This article is about solo walkthrough of DA:O as classic Mage on Nightmare difficulty.
I’ve read some posts about beating the game solo as Rogue and Arcane Warrior and came up with the idea of doing the same in even harder way – as a Mage without Arcane Warrior’s talents.
Thus, I was going to utilize the Crowd Control (CC), Area of Effect (AoE), Damage over Time (DoT) spells as a priority along with several most powerful Direct Damage (DD) ones.
Basics
Soloing as Mage is rather difficult in the early game as you don’t have the whole range of tools, but it’s still possible to conquer.
Fist off I’d like to stress that solo play means you don’t use any party/npc support if that is possible. You travel solo, so during the battle the foes are not being distracted by your allies. If you have to have some allies like in Ostagar or Anvil of the Void encounter, you set passive behavior, disable all tactics for the party and put them aside in battle, so all enemies concentrate the attention on you.
Later to the game you will realize how strong the Mage is, and after beating down the most powerful foes you will wonder how it could ever be difficult to do with a full party.
I chose the “Attack” option in dialogues whenever possible and never avoided ambushes during the travel. All ambushes available were encountered and beaten.
Also, I didn’t skip any side quests.
Every encounter in game is beatable by solo mage. Sometimes it requires reload the game in case of critical failures – resists, unexpected stuns, etc.
You must utilize Line of Sight (LoS) techniques, angles and terrain obstacles whenever possible.
Combined with crowd control spells and life-savers like Mind Blast and Force Field it makes you literally untouchable. You will take some hits now and then but without critical harm. Sometimes the contact can’t be avoided if your foe is caster (in early game, later the casters are eliminated instantly) or a Boss. And even those battles can be won, but you should be more creative.
I will provide a detailed explanation of spell sequences and combinations later.
Talents build:
That is what I’ve got at level 22. The least important spells are Blizzard and Animate Dead. They are just handy to distract enemies and hold them in place while you pull particular ones (bosses usually).
I made my bet on Spirit and Cold damage, as Cold gives you CC, Spirit-based spells deal the most damage in game and there are 4 DoTs with spirit damage.
Of course you may go for Fire or Electrical instead, it’s entirely up to you. Get as much fun of this game as you can.
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Critical Spells
Glyph of Paralysis (GP) and Glyph of Repulsion (GR)
This is a Paralysis Explosion (PE) spell combination, which is extremely powerful if you master it.
Glyph of Paralysis (GP) and Glyph of Repulsion (GR) themselves are useful e.g. to paralyze the foe for a short time or keep the enemies away from you (extremely useful if placed in doorway).
The most effective use is to drop GP on the foe, then toss your DoTs and drop GR. This will give you additional time to unleash your deadly spells while the foe is paralyzed.
The weakness here is if the foe resists GP, the whole sequence is ruined, as spell combo won’t work. In other words if you drop the glyphs one on top other near the foe, there will be one resist check for PE. If you drop the glyphs on the foe, there will be two checks – GP and PE.
I learned the glyphs as my first spells. Get a level-up before you encounter a Demon during the Harrowing and you will be able to learn GR and use the PE spell combo.
Mind Blast (MB)
That’s a life-saver spell, which allows you to stun the foes around you and gives you some time to recharge other spells.
Force Field (FF)
Another life-saver. It allows you to wait for spells recharge, protect yourself from lethal spells like Crushing Prison and Curse of Mortality, prevents the foe from casting, saves the life of important ally (e.g. the knight in the Alienage).
If you drop FF on top of the Crushing Prison, that’s a Spell Combo: Shockwave. It damages and knocks back all enemies around FF target.
Walking Bomb (WB) and Virulent Walking Bomb (VWB)
WB is the first DoT spell you can get. You can drop it on the single boss enemy and kite him around (that’s a basic tactic for Ogre boss in the Ostagar Tower).
It does severe damage to the foes around target when it explodes. Combined with MB, PE spell combo, Shatter spell combo (Petrified/Frozen target + Crushing Prison/Stonefist) it allows you to eliminate large packs almost instantly.
VWB works even better, as the damage is higher and after the explosion survived foes can be infected by VWB.
Hexes
Vulnerability Hex (VH) and Affliction Hex (AH) are essential. The more damage you do for the cost of the same mana pool – the better.
Misdirection Hex (MH) is very useful during the Boss fights and also can be a life-saver. During the Boss fight MH buys you enough time to cast Death Cloud without interruption followed by Death Hex (DH), which makes a Spell Combo: Entropic Death (ED) dealing a massive damage to Hex target. When I say massive, I really mean it. I don’t remember the damage in early game, but at level 21 with ~100 spellpower it hits for ~1000 if the target is affected by VH and AH.
Mana Clash (MC)
Very harmful spell. I learned it in late game, just before Gaxkang fight, and was rather surprised when it hit Gaxkang for 1155 right away, which is more that 2/3 of his life. No doubt, it’s caster’s true death. With VH, AH and complete set of +spirit% damage items it hits for ~2k at level 21.
Crushing Prison (CP)
Instant death for frozen/petrified targets due to the Spell Combo: Shatter. Nice DoT itself, also can be used in Spell Combo: Shockwave with FF.
The rest of the spells I learnt are either required to get to critical ones or just useful themselves. E.g. Spell Wisp and Spell Might provide very nice bonus to spellpower, Curse of Mortality prevents foes from healing.
I don’t keep Death Syphon or Death Magic up constantly, just pop them up sometimes.
Attributes
It is pretty straight-forward: all points to Magic. As I remember, I’ve put only 3 or 6 points to Willpower. The more spellpower you have, the harder you hit. Mana pool is not an issue, because you are going to be a lonely rich Mage, who can afford as much mana potions as he needs.
Skills
I had Stealing, Herbalism and Coercon maxed.
Gear
As I was going for Cold and Spirit damage, obviously I obtained all +spirit / +cold % damage items, except +10% spirit damage ring from Hermit.
Walkthrough
WARNING! THE INFORMATION BELOW INCLUDES A LOT OF SPOILERS
My travel order was this: Lothering – Magi Tower – Redcliffe – Denerim (side quests and Urn start) – Orzammar – Elven Forrest – Urn – Denerim – Final Battle.
Concerning the storyline forks and alliance choices – I just went for the ones different from my previous walkthrough as a Rogue.
The big mistake was Magi Tower in early game. Although it gives a good boost by extra attribute points in Fade, it’s very difficult to defeat Sloth demon and Uldred without spirit/spell resistance gear.
1. Harrowing and Ostagar
Nothing special about it except the Pinch of Ashes side quest and Ogre fight.
In the Pinch of Ashes quest you summon the powerful shade – Gazarath. It’s easy to defeat, but takes time. The main concept is to keep Living Bomb on him and kite him around. Paralyze him with PE and throw some Arcane Bolts, then kite again.
The Ogre fight is pretty much the same, but you have to freeze the Ogre with Cone of Cold (CoC) to counter his Ram ability.
All regular foes are easy doable. Pull them one by one if possible, if it’s not – pull a target and run away immediately to “despawn” others. This trick works like that: if the distance between you and enemy is long enough, his red triangle icon will disappear from the minimap. He will not chase you anymore and will either stay
in place or return to his original position. I used that in early game and during Revenant fights in Elven Forrest.
2. Lothering
Nothing special to mention, Living Bomb is a key to success.
3. Magi Tower
The toughest foes here are undeads and abominations, as they take very small damage from Cold spells. So, gather a pack, put a living bomb, kite and paralyze.
In fade you won’t have allies trapped in nightmare, so you will fight Sloth demon face to face. It is very frustrating encounter, because you can’t save the game between the fights. The last form of the demon is most dangerous as he tosses the Crushing Prison at you right away, which means death and fighting all forms again after a
reload.
There are two ways to survive the Crushing Prison. The first one is obvious – resist it, but you need some gear to succeed. The second one is to put the Force Shield onto yourself right before the Crushing Prison, almost simultaneously.
Uldred is no doubt the hardest enemy in the whole game for Solo mage. You have to keep an eye on his spell casting all the time to counter the Crushing Prison.
I wanted to ally with Templars, so I shouldn’t use the Lithany scroll when Uldred summons new abomination.
The key here is to explode the Abominations near Uldred to damage him, counter his crushing prison and paralyze him. Regular spells like CoC, Winters Grasp and Arcane Bolt work just fine also. So, the trick of countering the Crushing prison is in spell casting sequence of Uldred. He casts the Prison only after the Anti-Magic ward. So when you see him casting it – you can be sure that next spell will be the Prison. So you put Force Shield onto yourself right away. Don’t do that before the anti-magic ward, as Uldred will cast it on you and remove the shield. Use the Scroll to stun Abominations and damage them and Uldred.
4. Redcliffe
A cakewalk. Nothing special to mention – Living Bomb is still the killer spell.
5. Denerim side quests.
As I had Stealing skill I completed the Crime Wave quest chain, using Leliana to open the necessary doors. That will result in some ambushes when you travel around the Denerim map. Although there are 10-15 foes in each ambush, all of them are beatable. You should utilize LoS, to gather the archers in a group and wipe them with Living Bomb. To survive melee enemies, you must find a spot where only 1 or 2 enemies can attack you at once. The rest will stay behind and die from your CoC/Death Cloud/Living Bomb. Just chug the potions if necessary and
activate Death Syphon.
6. Orzammar
Four tough fights here – Jarvia, Spider, Broodmother and Anvil of the Void.
I sided with Bhelen and chose to not break the Anvil, so I fought Caradin.
Jarvia is the hardest encounter. You must find a spot in the room to fight enemies one by one, while the archers are dying from Blizzard+Death Cloud. When Jarvia approaches, toss a Misdirection Hex on her to survive the attack. While she misses, you have time to cast a Blizzard/Death Cloud. Always put AH and VH on Jarvia, use Crushing Prison on her by cooldown, use Death Hex+Death Cloud spell combo to deal massive damage to her, wipe the melee foes with Living Bomb (damaging Jarvia with the explosion).
Spider is very tough as acid spits will kill you quite fast even if you chug health potions one by one. The best tactics is to clear the cave of stealthy spiders first. Then drop VH and AH on the boss, paralyze her with PE combo, cast a Death Cloud followed by Death Hex, then toss Crushing prison and Living Bomb right away and flee. She will chase you but the dots will kill her after Cloud/hex combo takes away 2/3 of her life.
Broodmother is a cake. Just run behind her, where the tentacles can’t reach you and kill her with Clowd/hex combo and Crushing Prison. Darkspawn are very easy to get rid of.
Caradin is a hard one. As you have Oghren in your party, you send him to the anvil when the battle starts, so he won’t distract enemies. The key to this fight is to kite the pack of golems very precisely: keep the small distance so the don’t stun you and don’t run away so they will not hurl the stones. So, kite them around, freeze with CoC followed by Crushing Prison to explode the Living Bomb. Once the golems are dead, Caradin is quite easy, as kiting is very simple now.
7. Elven Forrest
I sided with Hermit (missed the +10% spirit damage ring from him
) and with Werefolves, killing the elves. But before you do that, purchase like 200-300 Elfroots from the merchant.Honestly, the toughest fights here are Revenants that drop Juggernaught set.
You have to paralyze the Revenant with PE combo and run away, pulling the skeletons and leaving the Revenant behind. After the skeletons are killed, return to the Revenant and use the following sequence: VH – GP – AH – Death Cloud – Death Hex – Crushing Prison – Living Bomb. That will do a massive damage to Revenant but
not kill him. You will have to kite him around (Revenants are immune to Cold damage, but can be frozen), keeping DoTs on him and using the Misdirection Hex followed by Cloud/Hex combo. Counter the Pulls by CoC/Force Shield.
I tried all possible endings here as solo mage – fighting Zathrian in the lair, fighting Werevolves and fighting elves sided with Werevolves. All fights are equally simple, nothing special to mention. If you got that far, you have mastered the PE and Living Bomb tricks already.
8. Flemeth fight
I decided to give it a shot. Well, the fight is very, very simple. You just put fire resistance gear and use Greater Fire Balm – and the fire damage of Flemeth can be neglected. As she doesn’t approach you to fight in melee, just unleash all your spells and kill her. That will require lots of mana potions, but you are a wealthy coward, so that should not be a problem.
9. Urn of Sacred Ashes
Encouraged by Flemeth’s defeat, I went to Heaven village. In the cave, I sided with Kolgrim, so I had to fight the Spirit Guard once I put a blood into the Ashes. Death Cloud is your best Friend here.
Then I fought Kolgrim, standing behind the Mountain, so the Reavers and Drake don’t approach me.
After the fight I killed the Reavers and challenged the High Dragon.
The only way to win here is to hide in ruins so the Dragon can’t reach you in melee. As you are staying behind the wall, you can’t use direct aiming spells like Winter’s Grasp or Arcane Bolt. Except those, the tactics is the same as for Flemeth.
10. Denerim
I completed all Antivian Crows quests, all side quests except Correspondence Interrupts. Killed Gaxkang easily with Mana Clash/Cloud+Hex. Alienage is a cakewalk, nothing special to mention.
During the mission of Princess’ escape, I fought Ser Cauthrien. Just set the Blizzard in the room with her and guards before you enter. When the battle starts, just run far away, leaving the guards behind and pulling Cauthrien. Fight her like a Revenant, then exterminate the guards.
After I won the Landsmeet, I challenged Loghain to duel me and agreed to have him as a party member, therefore losing Alistair.
11. Final Onslaught
Pretty simple part.
Killing Generals in Denerim is easy – caster dies from Mana Clash, melee one dies from Revenant tactics.
The tough spot is a Assasin boss in the Fort, but he is still beatable.
The Archdemon is simple a that. He doesn’t hit you in melee, so you just use Greater Spirit balm and kick his ass like Flemeth, avoiding the darkspawn mobs when the fight’s end is near to not be killed by explosions.
Conclusion
Well, that’s it, the game is completed. Here are the screenshots of my character. Notice that I picked 2 Arcane Warrior and Blood Mage specialties, but didn’t get the spells of those. And look at the highest damage dealt =)
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Thank you for the attention paid to read this wall of text!
I would be glad to answer the questions, of course.
Modifié par Egorych, 30 décembre 2009 - 01:03 .
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I'm currently soloing a DW Warrior and I was also wondering if it was possible with a pure caster. And you didn't even use the Blood Mage spells!
