A Nightmare Solo Guide for Dual-Weapon Assassin/Duelist
#51
Posté 12 janvier 2010 - 08:27
Random Encounter: Wolves
This underscores the importance of doing Circle Tower first. You emerge from The Fade at level 8 with Combat Stealth, and you don't even need it beforehand. The two Grandmaster runes make short work of Circle Tower enemies because the damage is disproportionately large at level 7.
So I had Combat Stealth for the wolves encounter.
Crow Dagger Verses Others
First of all, I had the click-on-Shale-for-blue-room-crash bug, making Dead Thaig Shanker unavailable.
Re: Starfang. Dagger speed makes a difference, especially for things like Uldred when the stab-and-run timing is critical. Plus, no damage bonus for dexterity on non-daggers. Starfang may possibly make sense, but I didn't consider it.
Thorn of the Dead Gods is in Deep Roads, which I put off until last. But it's only tier 6 (two rune slots). You can upgrade Crow Daggers to tier 7 (three rune slots). By the time I came across TotDG I had a Crow Dagger with three uber runes, including a Grandmaster Silverite. I also prefer to increase backstab damage whenever I can.
It does make sense to get Thorn of the Dead Gods early, but that's not the sequence of quests I happened to take. But generally I didn't need more power, which is why (for example) I took the Deft Hands utility talents early.
I didn't have The Edge. I expect I would feel the same way about The Edge as I do about Helm of Honnleath and Harvest Festival Ring.
Combat Training
I forgot to mention the 3 points in combat training (implied by having Momentum).
Dwarven Noble Origin: Bribe
Cash in the bribe at one of the merchants before going to deep roads.
Dwarven Noble Origin: Boss Fight
I forgot about this. You have to do the Dual-Weapon Sweep trick on the boss, like with the tower ogre. When the fight began I think I immediately ran off down the halls, bringing a couple enemies with me. This would be a third violation of the "no luring" rule.
Ser Cauthrien
The stuns from the archers lasted for a very brief time. I don't remember them being a factor.
Feast of the Fallen
Though I didn't mention it, I did take Feast of the Fallen at the end. I wasn't hurting for stamina when I came to the decision between Lethality or Feast of the Fallen, so I took Lethality.
Feast of the Fallen could be taken even earlier, but like all talents it has to be weighed against the alternatives. Stamina issues weren't so bad as to require FotF over other talents. After all, FotF does not help with cooldown times.
Pinpoint Strike
I did experiment with Pinpoint Strike. It seemed to have the same bug as Flurry: it shows only the base damage without rune or other bonuses. That might only be a visual bug, but I didn't get much change in DPS.
Also: Expensive. 3-minute cooldown time. 15 seconds of use. Blah. I wasn't convinced it should take precedence over other talents in the queue.
Lethality
I had assumed the damage shown on the character screen had criticals factored into it. If not, then it should. That's the number that matters.
One thing overlooked in the DPS calculation thread is enemy defense. All those numbers need to be plotted against varying enemy defense.
It may well be that putting everything into dexterity is overkill. But since I could still miss with Weakness, I kept pumping dex. Nonetheless we could gather all enemy defense ratings, factor in penalties like Weakness, do the calculations, and it could turn out that higher-cunning/more-missing still wins DPS. (Though I still have an affinity for consistent damage.)
If someone shows, using a slurry of numbers and graphs, that for given a set of attributes Lethality produces a gain of X DPS against enemies with Y defense, then I might be tempted to sacrifice 3 talents for that DPS increase.
So I defer all these issues to the details. There is a definite answer, but it will take some effort to obtain it. Any argument is insufficient without all the numbers.
Fortunately or unfortunately, Dragon Age is not difficult enough for it to matter much.
Tactics
As I've already explained more than once: it's important to mention what tactics I intentionally avoided. It means you can solo without those tactics. That's highly relevant.
I don't understand why some individuals chose to take this personally. One person even claimed I was lying about my intentions. Good grief. Read the clarifications I made on this thread.
#52
Posté 12 janvier 2010 - 09:48
#53
Posté 12 janvier 2010 - 10:03
Yes, it is absolutely important to mention what tactics are and are not intentionally avoided because it absolutely does give a reader of the guide a baseline to know what is and is not possible. It is absolutely relevant. Also very informative, your guide was well written and comprehensive on both general in specific tactics I've refered back to it myself and refered others to it frequently.Tactics
As I've already explained more than once: it's important to mention what tactics I intentionally avoided. It means you can solo without those tactics. That's highly relevant.
I don't understand why some individuals chose to take this personally. One person even claimed I was lying about my intentions. Good grief. Read the clarifications I made on this thread.
What is not relevant is constantly inserting your opinion of the tactics your avoiding. Interspersing your opinions with 'clarifications' is absoultly lying to yourself and others about your intentions. If I were to say to someone 'No offense, but you're a **** munching butt licker.' They would naturally be offended because reguardless of my 'clarification' I clearly intended to offend them. So please, stop with the 'why is this happening to me here' act, own your own words, and don't act suprised or put upon when people react to your opinions in exactly the way you knew they would. If you don't want to discuss your own opinions then just stop discussing them.
#54
Posté 13 janvier 2010 - 08:01
Dwarven Noble Origin: Boss Fight
I forgot about this. You have to do the Dual-Weapon Sweep trick on the boss, like with the tower ogre. When the fight began I think I immediately ran off down the halls, bringing a couple enemies with me. This would be a third violation of the "no luring" rule.
Expected as much. Implemented the "run Forest! RUN!" strategy myself and with the dual weapon sweep trick won the fight. Very tough fight though because the boss hits hard,hits often and more importantly runs faster than you. I don't think this fight is winnable without "luring". Although techinically it isn't luring I because your party is being killed by the enemies who don't chase you.....
I'm in lothering now with my solo nightmare playthrough and in general, with each levelup it seems the game gets somewhat easier.....in non-boss fights that is.....
#55
Posté 16 janvier 2010 - 05:33
- Sloth demon
Engage immediately and just hack away at him; don't shapeshift; don't disengage from combat. If you do Circle Tower first then he doesn't appear to have Crushing Prison. For his first form (ogre), if you stay engaged with him then he won't use any special ogre talents like Ram or Grab.
I'm facing the Ogre form now and he keeps chain-ramming me....dispite I'm engaing and regardless of form. I hit him 3 rimes and it's Ramming time.....Strange Bioware nerfs CoC and Crushing Prison due to chain stuns but NPC can keep doing it...
#56
Posté 17 janvier 2010 - 06:18
tetracycloide wrote...
Yes, it is absolutely important...
Let's look at the sequence of events.
* You make a claim that luring (drawing individual enemies out of a group from a distance, what many consider to be a bug) is basically no different than fighting with one's back against a corner:
"[E]ither way you're limiting the number of targets that can engage you at once, it's the same strategy achieved with only slight differences in tactics."
* One person (Zecele) counters your assessment, "We're talking about shooting a person and the person right next to him doesn't react at all." He says it twice because you don't address it.
* You then opt of rational discourse. Rather than engage Zecele's point, you proclaim that I am a hypocrite and a "masterbater" [sic].
* Regarding these comments of yours, another person (Senno) says what everyone is thinking at this point, "Sniff, thought I smell a Troll."
* I do not respond likewise to your inflammatory post. Instead, I try to bring the conversation back into the realm of rational discourse.
To clarify the issue at hand, I offer the example of a solo guide which says, "OK, next use the glitches to get free money and to duplicate Rose's Thorn..." Why pass up free money? Why not get two Rose's Thorns?
I further expand on the point: "But whatever one decides about the demarcation between legitimate and illegitimate tactics, it is reasonable to expect illegitimate tactics to include anything which makes use of an obvious bug."
* Again, you'll have none of it. Rational argumentation is not your interest here. You further proclaim that I am a liar, bringing the tally of charges to: hypocrite, "masterbater", and liar.
Your posts are notable for the dearth of comments upon which they are based. There is nothing in the OP or in my subsequent posts which could warrant such outbursts.
Since I have not responded with the same inflammatory rhetoric you have shown, in your last response you resort to imagining what someone could say and then getting all worked up about it.
I was unable to discern the full intent behind your last post, but if you are suggesting that I should not counter false accusations when I see them, then you are wrong.
#57
Posté 17 janvier 2010 - 06:23
De Bartman wrote...
- Sloth demon
Engage immediately and just hack away at him; don't shapeshift; don't disengage from combat. If you do Circle Tower first then he doesn't appear to have Crushing Prison. For his first form (ogre), if you stay engaged with him then he won't use any special ogre talents like Ram or Grab.
I'm facing the Ogre form now and he keeps chain-ramming me....dispite I'm engaing and regardless of form. I hit him 3 rimes and it's Ramming time.....Strange Bioware nerfs CoC and Crushing Prison due to chain stuns but NPC can keep doing it...
I assume it's possible to provoke a Ram as you enter melee for the first time, though I never saw one (and I did several checks). But even if that happens you can avoid consecutive Rams by running behind him, as I describe in the tower ogre section.
Also, don't stun him or use any special moves. As long as you're in toe-to-toe straight melee, he won't Ram or Grab.
Even if this behavior changes (I was running 1.02a), you can still beat him. It would basically be the same fight as the boss ogre on the Shale quest map (I did this on my first play-through; second time the Shale bug made it inaccessible). Bring some health potions and get under his ass the moment you see Ram activated.
#58
Posté 17 janvier 2010 - 06:25
#59
Posté 17 janvier 2010 - 08:26
Naked Fury wrote...
Let's look at the sequence of events.
Any sequence of events that doesn't start with your OP is obviously flawed although I can see how starting there would run counter to your argument that you've literally done nothing and this is all happening to you out of the clear blue. You knew exactly what you were writing when you wrote it why else would you preemptively ask everyone not discuss it, after all. You stated an opinion you knew others would want to respond to then insisted no one should respond. That is stifling rational discourse.
* One person (Zecele) counters your assessment, "We're talking about shooting a person and the personright next to him doesn't react at all." He says it twice because you don't address it.
I didn't address it? The what are we to make of the content in this post then:
tetracycloide wrote...
Divide and conquer is a classic military strategy. Cutting off flanking angles or using feints and terrain to lure small groups away from a larger force are both classic military tactics that achieve this strategy.
However, what would or would not happen in 'reality' is irrelevant since these situations are not played out in reality but within the arbitrary construct of a game. Functionally both tactics achieve the same overall strategy in that they prevent the player from being attacked by an entire group at once.
Or this one?
tetracycloide wrote...
The reason they don't react is because they don't see the player either because they lack line of sight or because the player is to far away to see (both a result of proper manuevering). Similar tactics include drawing out foes by running in front of them, letting them chase behind for a while, and then using stealth to dissapear (feinting).
It's one thing to say you do not agree but another entirely to insist I haven't even made any rational arguments at all. Worse still is that you've offered no reasoning behind your position at all other than that you believe it to be self evident and you don't' want anyone to discuss it yet you insist I am stifling rational discourse and not yourself.
* I do not respond likewise to your inflammatory post. Instead, I try to bring the conversation back into the realm of rational discourse.
To clarify the issue at hand, I offer the example of a solo guide which says, "OK, next use the glitches to get free money and to duplicate Rose's Thorn..." Why pass up free money? Why not get two Rose's Thorns?
I further expand on the point: "But whatever one decides about the demarcation between legitimate and illegitimate tactics, it is reasonable to expect illegitimate tactics to include anything which makes use of an obvious bug."
Conflating is not, has not, and will never be rational. Nor is appealing to ignorance by stating it's 'an obvious bug' without any proof. At least in your OP you had the courtesy to admit your position was your opinion only.
* Again, you'll have none of it. Rational argumentation is not your interest here. You further proclaim that I am a liar, bringing the tally of charges to: hypocrite, "masterbater", and liar.
Your posts are notable for the dearth of comments upon which they are based. There is nothing in the OP or in my subsequent posts which could warrant such outbursts.
Yes, nothing in the OP at all other than the comments you marked yourself as being inflammatory when you first wrote them.
Since I have not responded with the same inflammatory rhetoric you have shown, in your last response you resort to imagining what someone could say and then getting all worked up about it.
I was unable to discern the full intent behind your last post, but if you are suggesting that I should not counter false accusations when I see them, then you are wrong.
The full intent of my last post was:
*You did a great job with the guide
*I like your guide enough to refer others to it and use it myself
*Saying something you know will start an argument and then asking for people not to argue is as disingenuous as saying something you know to be offensive and then asking for people not to be offended.
In the future I hope you do not again insult the intelligence of everyone present by posting a 'recount of events' that has your every statement doctored out of it as if it proves your non-involvement. There's a textual record of all the events anyone is fully capable of perusing if they wish that no amount of 'recapping' no matter how biased will erase. The only person that's been here from the beginning is you and no other, I say again, own your words and stop with the appeals to pity.
#60
Posté 12 février 2010 - 06:01
Modifié par Thenryb, 12 février 2010 - 06:10 .
#61
Posté 12 février 2010 - 07:44
2) You definitely want the belt from the quartermaster. Helm, belt, and key give +6 STR and you get +4 from the Fade which enough to equip Drakeskin. However, late game there is a sweet pair of rogue boots you can find that require 22 STR so you will have to throw a couple points over the course of the game anyway.
#62
Posté 03 mars 2010 - 02:21
Modifié par Bearbug, 03 mars 2010 - 02:28 .
#63
Posté 16 mars 2010 - 03:17
He seems to heal over time if you kite him too much. I don't seem to do enough damage with the occasional DWS to overcome this. Is everyone using two daggers for this fight? Do I need to pull out some bombs? I might be able to go toe-to-toe with him with bombs and lots of health poultices, but that flame blast is instant cast and hard to avoid.
Some advice would be appreciated, thanks.
#64
Posté 16 mars 2010 - 03:27
He seems to self heal as he lands hits on me. But each time I stop to execute a DWS, he also gets a hit on me. In the end, this ends up as a wash. How do I get ahead of him on hits? How can I avoid getting hit by him?
#65
Posté 01 avril 2010 - 04:47
You mention using Dweomer runes in your Spell resist gear set. What runes do you use/recommend in your Default gear set?
Pure damage? Is lightning the best? Do you use Paralyze runes or Hale runes?
Thanks
#66
Posté 02 avril 2010 - 04:06
Modifié par MyythVarna, 02 avril 2010 - 04:07 .
#67
Posté 05 avril 2010 - 10:53
XP gain is the same, soloing or grouped.
From my experience use of Spell resist gear/runes is situational thus it might be worth to have 2 sets: spell resist and regular (there is enough of decent weapons allowing for 2 sets). For regular use there are few options as mentioned. Lighting is indeed pretty good as (almost?) nobody is resistant to it, while Paralyze work great with Momentum and Hale can help with Physical resistance checks, though when one does not get hit (Dex builds) Hales somehow become of less importance. Try stuffing the most powerful Paralyze runes and you will not be disappointed. IMO they are more powerful than damage runes as they tend to proc quite often.
Modifié par knownastherat, 05 avril 2010 - 11:11 .
#68
Posté 05 avril 2010 - 05:50
I've progressed pretty far on this solo run, and I have to admit at how powerful a Dex rogue build with Stealth becomes.
A few things I've noticed though...
1. Until you get Combat Stealth (level 8), it can be pretty rough going trying to solo. Going toe-to-toe with more than 2 mobs at once is very difficult. You don't have the defense to handle greater numbers and health poultices go fast early on. I ended up resorting to alot of "luring" with a bow, to reduce the numbers per encounter. On nightmare mode, I honestly don't know how you'd pull a group of 4+ without resorting to this technique.
2. The early boss fights are very difficult. Perhaps I never truly mastered the run and DWS technique, but Gazarath, the tower Ogre, the Sloth demon, and Uldred are the hardest fights I've encountered so far. They all seem to have in combat health regen and instant cast spells/special moves that are hard to resist and/or dodge. I resorted to using alot of bombs and some poison to tip the scale. Bombs, in particular, are very overpowered at low levels. Don't forget the Swift salves, they are expensive but very worth it early on.
3. Similar to boss fights, a few "forced" encounters are very difficult too. A good example is the Dog encounter, followed by the highwaymen at Lothering. If you're not a human noble, this comes right after you leave the Tower Ogre fight (in which you've probably used every last trick up your sleeve to survive). It forces you into an encounter with about 8 genlocks/hurlocks and one hurlock alpha. You can't combat stealth yet and you're in tight quarters. Dog lasts for a bit (you can't turn off his AI yet), but not too long, and then they are all on top of you. Getting into a corner helps, but there still is alot of them, and their stuns usually are not resisted and the alpha hits hard. Good luck.
To make things worse, immediately after that encounter, you are forced directly into another one with the highwaymen at Lothering. It's possible to talk your way out of the encounter, but I'm assuming that isn't the spirit of a nightmare solo run. With my companions' AI set to "wait", I found it very tough to take on 2 regular mobs, 2 archers, and a lieutenant. It wasn't even close. I ended up fleeing immediately from the fight and running into Lothering. Eventually, they stopped chasing and I could get out of combat. Then I could "lure" them one at a time with a bow.
I should mention specifically as well the encounter in the Aeducan Thaig in the dwarf noble origin storyline. It actually ends up being two encounters back to back, right before and after you get the shield. You first start with the mercenaries, I believe there are 5 or 6 of em, including a lieutenant. This is a very hard fight. I had to resort to running away and luring with a bow. The lieutenant is especially tough to melee, even solo. I had to lure him away from the pack, then use a repeating sequence of dirty fighting, run away, shoot a few arrows, run further away til dirty fighting was off cooldown, then repeat. It takes awhile, but was the best I could come up with.
Once they are done, you get the shield, but get ambushed coming out from the tomb. Another hard fight with genlocks and a blight wolf lieutenant. The only way I managed with fight was to run all the way back to big center room (where you met your first party member and where find Triann killed later on). Just before you get there, since you have the shield, it will triggure a dialogue sequence where you chat with Gorim about the whole scenario being fishy. This is very helpful, as it pulls you out of combat! You can now run back and lure them one at a time. Although, you cannot use the same dirty fighting/shoot a couple arrows trick on the blight wolf. He runs fast and catches you too soon.
4. Some forced encounters include a named NPC ally that fights with you. The Dog encounter is one, but he can die. It seems that many others NPCs in these sort of encounters cannot. A good example is Leliana. When you enter into the inn at Lothering, you're forced into an encounter. If you say the right things in the pre-fight dialogue, she helps out. It seems during the fight, even though can lose health, she will never die in the fight. A very helpful thing to know! Just let her get initial aggro, and follow her lead around the room. She basically tanks for you while you backstab to your heart's delight
5. The fight exiting Lothering (with Bodann) is hard, but you can run away back to Lothering and exit combat. Run back, lure with bow, kill a mob or two, rinse and repeat.
6. The Prima guide recommends selling all your stuff to Bodann in camp. If you're a dwarf noble (like this guide suggests), then this isnt the best place to sell. Instead, head to Denerim and find your old pal Gorim. He seems to pay alot more than the other merchants for your stuff. In the long run, it doesn't matter much. But early on, a little more gold helps alot, and why not go for top dollar for your hard earned loot!
7. I'm not sure it get's specifically mentioned in this guide, but the belt you want is Andruil's Blessing from the quartermaster in the circle Tower.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. I think this guide is very good. I just wanted to stress a few things that didn't get mentioned, or was only talked about quickly. Hope this helps!
#69
Posté 05 avril 2010 - 07:42
I think the main thing I got from this is that Combat Stealth is really overpowered.
#70
Posté 14 avril 2010 - 09:03
#71
Posté 21 avril 2010 - 05:41
These are made more difficult by the facts that (as far as I can tell): a) it's not possible to make level 2 before that point;
The only thing I can think of is that maybe you could've killed the archers immediately and then kited the remaining melees using the DW sweep trick. That seems really difficult, annoying, and in any case not much less abusive than luring.
It occurred to me that maybe if I had taken trap making I'd have a chance, but I'm not even sure there are components to be found at this point, and anyway I know that isn't how you did it.
#72
Posté 04 mai 2010 - 07:34
Ogre now rams more often and hurls rocks at you but the rocks are easily avoidable. If you run behind the Ogre when he starts his ram you still take damage and he will start up a second and even a 3rd ram if you are unlucky while you are still on the ground. You need at least 20 lesser heal pots and about 5 regular health pots minimum for this fight and having bombs will help. Even then you will be lucky to kill him after trying 4 or 5 times because it seems Bioware made it so that when you get into range of an NPC now especially a boss or elite you will get hit with that attack even when you run out of melee range.
I suggest the OP tries downloading the latest version and doing another play through to see what he says. Same thing In Lothering you have to lure because you get hit to many times and not enough healing pots. Follow what Svirny wrote 4 posts above this one because so far that is the only way to do the boss fights it seems. The original guide is a well written for the older version of the game but it needs revising. Also as some people have already said, you may not have the option to upgrade crow daggers because you didn't get the DLC like me. So no early dragon armor or 3 slot crow daggers makes it much harder to do this challenge but I am up for it. In this case you will have to follow a different path in getting at least a two slot dagger for the runes before going into the circle. Getting the Key to the City requires no combat and may be easier to obtain first then going to the circle. As I do my 2nd play through of this game if I can think of anything else I will post it.
Edit: Forgot to mention skills.
You will have to put 2 points early on into improved combat training and expert combat training to get momentum at the start no way around it. Also there is a quest in Lothering that requires you to have Trap-making. I got it when I leveled in Lothering because you will need it for the quest, and later on to detect and disarm traps. Without it you can't detect or disarm traps so you should get it because it will allow you to survive better and gain extra XP from disarming them. After that put one point in either Stealing or Coercion depending in what order you want to go on the OP's list of quests. So to make it simple.
Improved Combat Training
Expert Combat Training
Trap Making
Coercion/Stealing
After that you should follow the OP's guide on skills.
You will also have to put some points into strength for equipment because if you don't have the DLC you will need to use the armor that is out there for low levels until you can get to Felon's Coat and Wade's Superior Armor after defeating the High Dragon. I am going to dread the High Dragon fight without that armor but I am sure I will find other things to get my fire resist to 70%. Putting some points into cunning would be advisable as well for you to get it to 30 with equipment. Later stages on my first play through with a rogue I had to boost it to 35 to open the late stage game chests no clue if that was a change in the latest patch either I will test it on this guy and see what happens.
Modifié par Crumar, 04 mai 2010 - 08:37 .
#73
Posté 15 mai 2010 - 09:05
#74
Posté 16 mai 2010 - 04:05
#75
Guest_follis2_*
Posté 16 mai 2010 - 09:36
Guest_follis2_*
Modifié par follis2, 16 mai 2010 - 09:37 .





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