23 réponses à ce sujet

[robadob]

Ok so I'm a dw rouge pre sky hold lvl 11 I'm bringing varric cass and Solas mostly just because I've put more into their build and I'm just getting blasted... Solas and Varric are just eating my potions up (the AI is just so exposed on nightmare it's absurd) cass holds up like a pro and I can typically get the adds down super quick with my team while cass holds the dragon... My problem is that stupid wing flap the dragon keeps repositioning and doing it immediately and my ranged guys get caught 90% of the time way to far away to get in the circle they get waxed then my quizzie gets nuked by the adds then cass finally goes down... Should I just build Blackwall and go two tank? Would that knock down my dps too much to burn down the adds?

[ashwind]

Have Solas and Verric hold position close to each other. Disable auto casting Barrier on Solas, reserve enough mana to always cast barrier. When it does the whirlwind thing, cast barrier immediately and let it pull solas and varric then walk into the circle.

 

When he takes off, disengage and run around, your companions will follow you hence if done right, wont get hit by dragon fire.

[Molohk]

It's a bit tricky on nightmare, here's a video with some pointers that may help.

 

 

Two tanks helps, but I'd rather recommend higher dps because it helps bring down the adds faster. 

[robadob]

I'm with you I really want the dps to burn down those dragonlings... I get him down to about 30% and then it all falls apart... I don't know how Matth89 does it pre skyhold lol

With varric I'm just cycling full draw and upgraded longshot
Solas I use just winters grasp chain lightning and energy barrage I guess I'll disable barrier and maybe mind blast?
I won't mess with cass she's holding Aggro great and her guard is always full

Oh btw I'm using jar of bees and restoration potions and I use them all from everyone

[VilniusNastavnik]

Well there is your problem you are letting them use potions. 

Set potions so only you can have them use potions.. do not let them auto drink because they down them like there is a shortage on elfroot. I ended up killing it at level 12 as a elemental ice / lightning / fire / barrier mage with solas and sera.. Bull was unconscious from the sheer sight of the bastard on nightmare.

[robadob]

Well there is your problem you are letting them use potions.

Set potions so only you can have them use potions.. do not let them auto drink because they down them like there is a shortage on elfroot. I ended up killing it at level 12 as a elemental ice / lightning / fire / barrier mage with solas and sera.. Bull was unconscious from the sheer sight of the bastard on nightmare.

Well I lowered the threshold to 10% health below that they're dead anyway so it's not like they're using them any faster than I would but I am forcing them to save 5 for me

[schall_und_rauch]

A couple of observations:

Fereldan Frostback is far from the easiest dragon, mostly due to adds and much flying around. His fire is a big pain as well. Crestwood or Exalted Plains dragon might be easier for a start.

Set healing potion to manual mode.

Two mages (non-fire, preferably frost staff) is also a low damage setup, but works well, because of barrier. A ressurrected mage with only minimal hp has still some value, because he can shield himself with barrier (and gets an automatic barrier every minute). So having them die is not sooo bad.

Go into tactical mode and run towards the dragon when he flaps his wings.

Don't stand in the fire. Duh! The AI likes to do that. It also likes to run through the fire, so you might have to babysit them.

[Exalus]

Theres little reason to let anyone but your tank use these buttons if youre doing his pre skyhold. they die in 1-2 hits anyways. this is where sandbag reviving comes in.

 

It's a bit tricky on nightmare, here's a video with some pointers that may help.

 

Well done, is it possible to do it at level 8? I generally try to get to skyhold the earliest level because i always find myself way overleved for the content if i explore areas in a meaningful way.

[Florinnnn]

A couple of observations:

Fereldan Frostback is far from the easiest dragon, mostly due to adds and much flying around. His fire is a big pain as well. Crestwood or Exalted Plains dragon might be easier for a start.

Set healing potion to manual mode.

Two mages (non-fire, preferably frost staff) is also a low damage setup, but works well, because of barrier. A ressurrected mage with only minimal hp has still some value, because he can shield himself with barrier (and gets an automatic barrier every minute). So having them die is not sooo bad.

Go into tactical mode and run towards the dragon when he flaps his wings.

Don't stand in the fire. Duh! The AI likes to do that. It also likes to run through the fire, so you might have to babysit them.

she* dragons are female

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take vivi give her good gear max knight encanter tree with clean burn from inferno you can solo that dragon nightmare with her(knight enchanter is kind of op)

[Molohk]

Theres little reason to let anyone but your tank use these buttons if youre doing his pre skyhold. they die in 1-2 hits anyways. this is where sandbag reviving comes in.

 

Well done, is it possible to do it at level 8? I generally try to get to skyhold the earliest level because i always find myself way overleved for the content if i explore areas in a meaningful way.

 

Tough one. On nightmare I wouldn't attempt it at level 8, I'm not really super skilled. But I guess as long as Cass can survive, the rest is just dealing with positioning and adds, so it sounds possible.

[robadob]

Got her... I had to break down and bring Blackwall as my second tank specced purely to bodyguard... Made the whole fight easy mode took 15 minutes... I think I will be respecing Cassandra to bodyguard as well that ability is God mode on nightmare

[robadob]

Oh and did it pre skyhold *pats self on back* now to kill envy as a melee character

[WJC3688]

Shield wall works on envy though. Should be potatoes compared to a dragon.

[Richardian]

Thanks to this post and the guides here at BSN, I just killed my first dragon, the Ferelden Frostback, at level 12 on pre-skyhold nightmare.  It was an actual nightmare, and it took forever, but thankfully, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.  I think I wiped about 5 times before I finally did it.  I ran with Blackwall as a tank, Varric, Solas, and me as a two-hander.  Blackwall and Solas get an award for carrying the rest of the party.  I spent nearly all of my time on Solas, and he was specced to Revival/Strength of Spirits/Static Cage.  Upgraded Static Cage is amazing.  I had Blackwall on one of the dragon's front legs, and I had my 2hander on the other.  I tried having Blackwall attack the dragon's head, but that just didn't work well.  On the 2hander, Combat Roll and Block&Slash were set to preferred.  On Blackwall, War Cry and Shield Wall were preferred.

 

The 2hander and Varric were squishy, but the 2hander especially was invaluable to take the adds, along with the rest of the party, while I kept Blackwall tanking the dragon.  

 

I equipped everyone with regeneration potions.  I think I had only 1 out of 8 health potions left by the end of the fight, and everyone was out of regeneration potions.  My gear was ok.  I have good heavy armor.  Bianca might not have been as high on damage as a bow with Sera, but Varric has 2 more skill points than her thanks to the side quests.

 

I had a lot of trouble with AI holding position and properly using Revival in the tac cam mode.  I'd set Solas to use Revival, but nothing would happen.  I'd have to drop out of tac cam and use it manually for it to work.  As mentioned, the AI does like to stand in fire.

 

Thanks again to all for the information.  I hope my tips are helpful, too.

[redsteven]

I had a lot of trouble with AI holding position and properly using Revival in the tac cam mode.  I'd set Solas to use Revival, but nothing would happen.  I'd have to drop out of tac cam and use it manually for it to work.  As mentioned, the AI does like to stand in fire.

 

You can revive in tac cam, just need to have that char selected as active, and then keep it active until it goes over and starts revive animation.

 

So what I'll usually do is tell my planned reviver to "move" (or hold position) next to downned party member, then go back to fighting normally. 5 seconds later, pause tac cam... the reviver should now be next to the downed party member. Right click on downed party member to start revive. Unpause tac cam BUT KEEP REVIVER SELECTED. After 1 second you can pause and switch back to preferred party member. Once revive animation has started, you're fine.

 

Simply put, you cannot tell AI to revive from a distance, and you must have that char selected, unpaused, when revive is starting.

 

In my experience, at least.

[Frraksurred]

I took 2 winter mages and Cass to tank. Popped level 3 Mark of the rift on him when he hit 55% health (before he relocated), ice mined him and went to town. He never made it off the ground again. Granted I out - leveled him at the time, still it was less than a 8 minute fight if you play to his weaknesses and combo.

[Serza]

Give Sera upgraded Flask of Fire and Thousand Cuts.

Then watch, as she defeats the dragon near-single handedly.

 

If you wait and do the story all the way to a quest named "What Pride had Wrought", you can get a very awesome longbow for her, which'll pretty much mean she can solo dragons with just Flask of Lightning.

[WJC3688]

Yep just got him on nightmare today, party level 12. Not pre-Skyhold, but I put 0 points into any specialization trees (just too easy with those) and most of my gear was tier 2 stuff, so still "kind of" pre-Skyhold. Basically I did the Crestwood mission first after opening Skyhold then went straight to fight this guy, just to see if I could, got him first try although it was a close thing (no heal pots left what so ever on mages, still a couple regen left on warriors).

 

Used 2 S&S warrior, 2 mages. Barrier to tank fireballs when he's flying around, cross-class combos to insta kill the adds, payback strike for the warriors to insta-recover from knockdown, shield wall as the only AI-enabled skill so they'll use all possible stamina on it and keep guard up. Near-constant tac cam use when engaging him, if you're out of it for more than a couple seconds you risk your mages getting chunked by something random, fireballs, adds, etc. Regen pots and fire resist tonics on everyone. Frost staffs and energy barrage for the mages. Basically beat him in a battle of attrition, he can never kill the warriors and even when the mages die and run out of pots, one of the warriors can revive them and then they're good for a while even at 1 HP due to guardian spirit. Again no use of specs or tier 3 stuff at all so it should be plenty doable before Skyhold as well.

 

Speaking of, guardian spirit is key for mages to live the BS wing-flap-whirlwind attack. Don't waste pots, just let them go down to 1 HP and get the free barrier, then fade step away when it's over and heal. Next time I'll try fade stepping on top of the dragon when he starts to do it, wonder if that can prevent the damage.

[Dovakiin_N7]

Stop calling the Dragon 'HE'!

[ImDedicatedToMyApologies]

Having an ice mage (or at least an ice staff) is very useful.

He is immune to all CC except taunt. Although he has a lot of aoe so its not too useful.

One problem I had when fighting him is that there is an area before where the fight starts, and he would shoot fireball to you in that somewhat big area. It is important that you ride a mount and don't get hit (there was once when I had to use 5 potions before even getting to fight him)

When he's flying around, disengage and zig zag around. When he lands on a platform and start breathing fireballs stand underneath the platform to not get hit.

 

If you find the fight too difficult you might want to wait a bit. He drops a lv15 weapon upon death and I assume that is the level you're supposed to be when you fight him (although everyone does the fight before lv15)

[Molohk]

Stop calling the Dragon 'HE'!

 

 

Having an ice mage (or at least an ice staff) is very useful.

He is immune to all CC except taunt. Although he has a lot of aoe so its not too useful.

One problem I had when fighting him is that there is an area before where the fight starts, and he would shoot fireball to you in that somewhat big area. It is important that you ride a mount and don't get hit (there was once when I had to use 5 potions before even getting to fight him)

When he's flying around, disengage and zig zag around. When he lands on a platform and start breathing fireballs stand underneath the platform to not get hit.

 

If you find the fight too difficult you might want to wait a bit. He drops a lv15 weapon upon death and I assume that is the level you're supposed to be when you fight him (although everyone does the fight before lv15)

 

LOL!

[Isgard]

Actually i dont quite get why some of you bring more than one tank. Ok if you go at him on lvl11 on nightmare. But if the adds bother you just kill them. With enough dps its easy.
I agree on that he is not the easyest dragon. I would even say the Fight itself is the hardest from all Dragons and you go at him at lower levels. Once you get to the highest dragons the fights are no challange even on nightmare. I mean i was prepared with all flasks and potions and everything and then I went up the tower and just killed the thing with no special potion at all.

[WJC3688]

The thing about using more than 1 "tank" is that if you're trying to do it as early as possible, S&S warrior is also very good for killing the adds in addition to their huge defense. Payback strike with the "recently damaged" extra effect does a huge chunk on 8 sec CD and you have shield bash or lunge for shatter combos with Winter's grasp. You're not just bringing another tank, or another damage dealer, you're bringing both in one character. Out of the 4 physical attacking options they really seem best suited to the task (that is, if you are trying this pre-Skyhold, if you wait until later and get tier 3 thousand cuts or whatever other OP thing then it's going to be different).

 

I've made another character and I'm gonna try to do this pre-Skyhold with an archer rogue and 2H warrior (in addition to the tried-and-true S&S + mage combo), see how that goes. I fear that the 2H will be a liability as I'm pretty sure that block-n-slash does not work against knockdown attacks (i.e. all of the dragon's melee attacks) but we'll see. I'm going to try to keep the 2H on the opposite side of the dragon's body from where the tank is attacking and use Charging Bull to build guard instead of the taunting abilities, in theory he should be able to do his work this way. The adds do not have knockdown so the AI should be able to block-n-slash all their attacks, shouldn't be much different from shield warrior there.

[Fearsome1]

Bull was unconscious from the sheer sight of the bastard on nightmare.

 

Damn! That statement really made me laugh.