20 réponses à ce sujet

[follio24]

Is there any trick to defeating the pack of hounds in the Castle, they've beat me around five times and I'm pulling my hair out.  I just started this game with no previous experience but had been doing okay to this point.

Thanks in advance,
 

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

My strategy is "Play On Easy Mode" so unless you're willing to do that I can't help you.

If you're doing that, then you don't have friendly fire damage from AoEs, which makes it possible to Walking Bomb an enemy standing next to you with no ill effects, and Fireball one without any side effect less convenient than being knocked down.

You do have a mage with you, right? It should be either Wynne or a Warden Mage but doesn't have to be. I beat Redcliffe my first playthrough using Morrigan, not that I'd recommend it. Wynne is a better choice; Morrigan has the basically useless shapechanger spec instead of Spirit Healer. Even after you add that spec to Morrigan at level 14 she's still one spec less useful than Wynne.

Modifié par Riverdaleswhiteflash, 02 février 2013 - 08:53 .

[Ferretinabun]

It is actually a surprising difficult encounter. But there are a few things to bare in mind.

Firstly, the leader is the most dangerous individual because as far as I can make out he alone seems to have Overwhelm, which is always nasty. So anything you can do to lock him down while you deal with the others will make your job a Hell of a lot easier (Force Field, perhaps? Or paralyse. Or Cone of Cold. Anything that stuns). Failing that, focus your whole party on him as a top priority to take him out ASAP.

Luring is an option here. You can always stand in the doorway so only one dog can see you, then fire an arrow at it, causing the dogs to come to you one at a time. Also interesting to note here is that the leader dog doesn't seem to be able to leave the room, so only the weaker white ones will follow you if you retreat into the previous rooms. But many people don't like luring and consider it almost cheating.

Also, as a general rule, people often forget about traps, bombs, grenades and poisons. Probably because a group of well-built companions quickly become powerful enough to have no trouble getting through the game without them, but they shouldn't be overlooked if you need to give yourself an edge to get through a fight, especially in the early part of the game where they are more useful (as your companions are weaker).

Also note it is an entirely optional fight. There is nothing in the room of note other than a few pieces of armour and a gift for Dog. You can just skip straight past it.

If you still need help, what's your party composition? What spells/talents do your companions have?

[corey_russell]

Considering I did it with a single sword and shield warrior and the wardog, a full group should be able to do better. I agree with Ferret though, take out the elite mabarri ASAP, that is what gave me the victory. Grenades/poisons can help as well. Forcefield on your tank can work too, I've done that a few times. And yes, luring a few at a time can make it much easier as well.

[follio24]

Thanks for the tips, I'm going to try a few of your tactics. I'm there with Morigan and her spells are weak at this point. I'll try to get them into the small room before their room.

[thats1evildude]

If you park your party out in the corridor, the hounds will have to pass through a couple of choke points. If you have a rogue that has some skill with traps, you could set them in the doorways; that helped me a lot in this fight.

[dainbramage]

Ferretinabun wrote...

Firstly, the leader is the most dangerous individual because as far as I can make out he alone seems to have Overwhelm, which is always nasty. So anything you can do to lock him down while you deal with the others will make your job a Hell of a lot easier (Force Field, perhaps? Or paralyse. Or Cone of Cold. Anything that stuns). Failing that, focus your whole party on him as a top priority to take him out ASAP.

The white ones will also overwhelm, but it seems to be at the very bottom of their tactics, whereas the leiutenant will overwhelm earlier. I only found this out with a solo SnS warrior, the other parties have all killed them all before the whites started overwhelming. It's quite likely also level dependent.

Aside from that, not much else to add to Ferret's post. The dogs have fairly low damage per hit, so someone in heavy/massive armour can tank them fairly well. Try standing in a doorway so that not all of them can attack at once. Use whatever CC spells you have (cone of cold, mind blast, horror etc) especially to disrupt an overwhelm. And any acid flasks you've picked up can take the group down pretty fast.

Modifié par dainbramage, 03 février 2013 - 04:09 .

[mousestalker]

Blizzard + Tempest = dead dogs. You can do it from the corridor.

There's a glyph that will help with keeping them in their room as well.

Alternatively, try firestorming them before entering their room. Have Mori drink a lyrium potion then fireball them when they pop around the corner.

[follio24]

I think some of you may've been of a higher level than me at the point of this encounter based on some of the spells and such that you are recommending. I am taking a different approach by going to the Circle of Mage quest first and feel I'll have a much better chance when completed (if I ever get out of the damn dream sequence).

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

I did Redcliffe first on my first playthrough. Let's just say I recommend you not do the same thing.

[mousestalker]

Probably so. My favourite sequence is Stone Prisoner > Wardens Keep > Denerim > Circle > Orzammar > Haven > Brecilian > Redcliffe. That way it's: "The Arl is poisoned and his son is possessed." "Right, here's a whole lot of mages for the kid and some magic dust for the Arl'. Also doing Brecilian before the zombies means your wax job will be nice and fresh for the Landsmeet.

[Ferretinabun]

Going to the Circle Tower first is certainly a sensible and popular move. But don't feel you need to put off Redcliffe too long. It's easier than Orzammar or the Breciallian Forest.

[MerAnne]

And I'm going to throw out the 'role playing' concept. As a player, I know that it is best to go to the Circle Tower and pick up more attribute points as early as possible. My GWs, however, don't know a thing about those attribute points.

My dwarves head for Orzammar first, but stop by Redcliffe to make Alistair stop whining. It then takes the dwarves quite a while to get to Orzammar while they deal with Redcliffe, the Mage's Tower, and the Ashes (depending on decisions). The dalish elves go to the Brecillian Forest first and then to Redcliffe (again to stop Alistair's whining about Arl Eamon will help us) where they go after that depends on various decisions. The mages always go to the Mage's Tower first and the human noble always goes to Redcliffe first.

After the first few playthroughs when I learned to play the game, I always try to really get into role playing. What would a GW with this specific background do? Specifically what would they do without (my) player knowledge?

Back to the point - I've done The Broken Circle, Redcliffe, and the Nature of the Beast as a specific GW's first quests with the free DLC thrown in here and there based on when it would be logical for the specific GW to do them. Any of the major Quests can be pretty tough for the first quest, but they are all doable with the right strategy even though I might not get all possible points or rewards.

[DWSmiley]

MerAnne wrote...

I've done The Broken Circle, Redcliffe, and the Nature of the Beast as a specific GW's first quests with the free DLC thrown in here and there based on when it would be logical for the specific GW to do them. Any of the major Quests can be pretty tough for the first quest, but they are all doable with the right strategy even though I might not get all possible points or rewards.

An interesting playthrough is to do the quests "backwards" - Paragon, Urn, Dalish, Redcliffe, Circle.  A group straight out of Lothering can handle Orzammar if Morrigan is along, as she gets cone of cold shortly after arriving, though she has to be sparing in her use of lyrium.

The only one that cannot de done completely as an initial quest is the Dalish, imo.  On nightmare, at least, I don't think there is any way for such a group to get the Juggernaut armor, no matter how good one is at the game.

[MerAnne]

DWSmiley wrote...

The only one that cannot de done completely as an initial quest is the Dalish, imo.  On nightmare, at least, I don't think there is any way for such a group to get the Juggernaut armor, no matter how good one is at the game.

LOL - actually, I have managed to get the Juggernaut armor on the first quest.  It wan't easy, but my GW was tough ;-) However, it isn't possible to open all of the locked chests so I usually make my life easy and come back to open those chests and fight the various Revenants - including getting the Juggernaut aror.

[DWSmiley]

OK, I'll amend that. It's possible to go straight to the Dalish, complete the main quest and then get the Juggernaut armor, probably with several reloads. But any level 7 group that disturbs the gravestones dies (on nightmare).

[follio24]

MerAnne, your mention of locked chests brings another question to mind; with no rogue in the group I can't open any of the chests: how much am I missing? I've just managed to get out of the nightmare that is the dream thing and am now back in the tower. Is it possible to get my bard back, go back in and open the chests after I've completed the Blood Mage portion of the chapter?

I totally agree with you about keeping to the spirit of role-playing and I've kept my party together based on that but my limited computer gaming skills leaves a lot to be desired. Don't laugh but I just figured out that my spells weren't working because I was right clicking on targets instead of left clicking.

[Ferretinabun]

After Lothering, no locations become inaccessable - until the endgame which will be obvious when it comes. So yes, it is always possible to complete a quest, and then go back over it with a rogue just to get all the chests. Enemies won't respawn; areas don't get locked off.

Whether it's worth it is another matter. As a general rule chests don't contain much more than vendor trash. You do, however, get a small xp boost which is nice, and money is tight in this game, so even vendor trash is not necessarily to be sneezed at. But they don't add up to all that much in the grand scheme of things.

And don't worry about the spells. We all have little I-Wish-I'd-Known-That-The-First-Time-Around's. Mine is that holding the tab key highlights every interactable object in the room. Going through the Circle Tower without knowing that wasn't fun as I tried running my mouse over every bookshelf in the library and every pile of rubble for Stuff.

[follio24]

Tab key you say...that would've been useful. I thought I'd read alt was the one and was cursing that it wouldn't work for me. Y'all are a wealth of information.

[dainbramage]

Ferretinabun wrote...

And don't worry about the spells. We all have little I-Wish-I'd-Known-That-The-First-Time-Around's. Mine is that holding the tab key highlights every interactable object in the room. Going through the Circle Tower without knowing that wasn't fun as I tried running my mouse over every bookshelf in the library and every pile of rubble for Stuff.

I like missed every single mage tower sidequest on my first playthrough. I didn't even know that summoning sciences + watchguard of the reaching + 4 mages 5 pages + bel's cache + the spot existed. Because I didn't know to use tab.

[DWSmiley]

Me too. And in Redcliffe I missed the tavern. Couldn't figure out who this Bella person was people were mentioning.