19 réponses à ce sujet

[Hyp3rB3am]

does anyone else of issues with survivability? I seem to do fine for a bit. Then I drop suddenly even with full guard. It is very tireing to keep dieing even when I don't have aggro. ATM i have the same build as this video or close to it.

[RedLens37]

I had similar difficulty on nightmare until I thought more strategically about party build. Now, with Blackwell tanking-focusing on keeping guard and agro, Sera hitting from ranged, and any mage focusing on barrier and dispel, I can pull enemies off Blackwell with grappling chain and take them out one-by-one with mighty blow and/or devour/ravage. I don't use any guard generating abilities on my reaver except guard-on-hit on my weapon, and the occasional block-and-slash. I use combat roll to get in and out of the fight as needed. I'm by no means any kind of expert, but this has worked pretty well for me and been a lot of fun. I don't really use ring-of-pain except for once in a while on a single target, and on dragons.

[Drasanil]

Yeah I noticed Iron Bull would just drop dead on my nightmare playthroughs from time to time for seemingly no reason, despite being at full health and guard. Really annoying, I just stop using him at that point. Maybe reaver is bugged somehow? 

[RedLens37]

Yeah I noticed Iron Bull would just drop dead on my nightmare playthroughs from time to time for seemingly no reason, despite being at full health and guard. Really annoying, I just stop using him at that point. Maybe reaver is bugged somehow? 

 

I don't think it's bugged. If you have aggro and you're not careful with Dragon Rage/Ravage, it's pretty easy to be dead in a couple seconds. I don't think the AI can handle the reaver abilities on nightmare by itself.

[Drasanil]

I don't think it's bugged. If you have aggro and you're not careful with Dragon Rage/Ravage, it's pretty easy to be dead in a couple seconds. I don't think the AI can handle the reaver abilities on nightmare by itself.

 

Yeah thing is, he didn't have either of those abilities equipped. I had just built him for tankiness with devour to top off his health. Which was what made it so weird, he'd go from full health and guard to dead in half a second. Worse part being most of the times it happened it didn't even involve tough enemies. Seemed to happen more often than not when shades were involved. Never got anything conclusive though.

[berelinde]

I don't think it's bugged. If you have aggro and you're not careful with Dragon Rage/Ravage, it's pretty easy to be dead in a couple seconds. I don't think the AI can handle the reaver abilities on nightmare by itself.

Bingo. The AI isn't sophisticated enough to handle Nightmare for that specialization. It works if you're going to micromanage or if you're using it for your controlled character, but you'll never be able to just wind 'em up and let the AI sort it out.

[Hyp3rB3am]

Ok, we are getting off topic a bit. Yes, the AI sucks on NM for reaver spec. But I need some tips or help or something to help keep me alive period. I don't use the reaver ability much. so I know i am not killing myself with those. I have noticed that ranged  seem to kill me the most. I could try boosting my ranged def. But still doesn't explain when I drop from full guard against like 1 or 2 bad guys.

[shepisavanguardgetoverit]

Yeah I noticed Iron Bull would just drop dead on my nightmare playthroughs from time to time for seemingly no reason, despite being at full health and guard. Really annoying, I just stop using him at that point. Maybe reaver is bugged somehow? 

It's not just reaver, I have had my mitigations to the max champion simply just drop dead in the middle of combat for no apparent reason as well (full guard and health, over 75% melee def), ditto for my templar. I think its a bug in the game code as I could find no reason for it happening. 

 

It seems to happen whenever I am NOT manually controlling the character. It's weird, but it has happened enough that I can confirm it does happen. 

[Keizor]

There are a few enemy attacks that are ridiculous on nightmare.  The most bull**** one is that little "hop and a skip" attack archers get; whenever archers are engaged in melee, sometimes they will hop back to create some distance.  The following attack for some reason does like 1000x more damage than their normal attacks.  (i'm guessing that is what is getting you killed.)  Whenever you see an enemy archer do this, cc them immediately. 

 

There are a few other attacks you don't really notice the power of until nightmare difficulty: red templar knight's ranged attack, enemy poison attacks, lightning dragons' little persistant lightning dot (ugh!), burning damage, assassins' parry + counterattack (especially red templar shadow), and really any attack that pierces/sunders your armor or weakens you.

 

I'm pretty sure everyone playing the new Jaws of Hakkon dlc on nightmare is learning just how much it sucks to be frozen....

[Drasanil]

Bingo. The AI isn't sophisticated enough to handle Nightmare for that specialization. It works if you're going to micromanage or if you're using it for your controlled character, but you'll never be able to just wind 'em up and let the AI sort it out.

 

That would be all well and good, if you didn't ignore my post, directly above yours, which specifically ruled out it. I'm talking about IB dropping dead for no reason to nothing enemies, the same enemies that were pounding away at the likes of Varric and Solas with out killing them. To be clear none of my other party members ever seemed to have the same problem, regardless of class or skills or equipment. And, it was my nightmare run they were all built for tankiness, yet IB wall the only one that seem to drop dead inexplicably.

[Hyp3rB3am]

what other specs do you guys use for NM?

[Cydh]

That would be all well and good, if you didn't ignore my post, directly above yours, which specifically ruled out it. I'm talking about IB dropping dead for no reason to nothing enemies, the same enemies that were pounding away at the likes of Varric and Solas with out killing them. To be clear none of my other party members ever seemed to have the same problem, regardless of class or skills or equipment. And, it was my nightmare run they were all built for tankiness, yet IB wall the only one that seem to drop dead inexplicably.

Here are my three guesses: either you're hitting a bug, or you're playing Jaws of Hakkon and these Hakkon's Wrath stacks add up until cold damage can no longer be mitigated, or you're using a berserk masterwork?

 

Another possibility would be that you forgot to equip Bull with a decent armor.

 

There's also the matter of getting hit from behind by archers in the DLC, melee peeps tend to be turning their backs to them and they hit like trucks from behind.

[Cydh]

what other specs do you guys use for NM?

 

I never could decide on my warrior, so I never chose any. Base warrior (sword & shield) works alright, and you get the added roleplay value, uniqueness and possibly challenge.

[bladenicholas]

Weapon&shield skill tree will help you a lot.  Two hand weapon really don't suit for reaver. 

[RedLens37]

what other specs do you guys use for NM?

 

I just watched the video you included in your post. Personally, I stayed completely out of the vanguard tree for my reaver and gave those skills to my tank. As a DPS warrior I don't want the aggro on me, and I can live without the guard--that's where the reaver abilities come in, to get your health back up. I use grappling chain and combat roll liberally to move around and pick off the enemies as I see fit. Like you mentioned, ranged enemies are the biggest threat, so take them out first. I think it's a mistake to try to play the reaver like a tank, especially on nightmare. You have to pick your targets carefully, and take out the ranged enemies first, as they will drop you fast if you're not extremely careful.

 

Also, playing as a reaver, I think you have to be able to live with dying now and then. If you have a tank doing their job, they're going to keep the fight going while your mage or your rouge gets you back up.

[RedLens37]

But still doesn't explain when I drop from full guard against like 1 or 2 bad guys.

 

Actually it does explain it. Ranged on nightmare will drop you very fast, even with guard. You have to take them out asap or you're dead.

[capn233]

2 handed weapons do suit the Reaver.  I guess S+S is nice if you want to have extra fade touched enhancements, but you don't need that to survive as a Reaver.

 

For OP, I used something somewhat similar to the vid as a 2H.  At the very least you should have Charging Bull with Gore and Trample from the Vanguard tree, and constitution / armor bonuses are good as well.  You want practically everything from Reaver, but I did not end up getting the upgrade to Ring of Pain, the upgrade to Devour is something to get later after the passives and upgraded Dragon Rage.  I got Rampage and didn't end up using it much, I think the Mark of the Rift is overall better for your focus, but that is up to you.  From the 2H tree, you mainly want Mighty Blow and Flow of Battle.  Early game other parts of the tree are nice, but it is worth respec'ing when you unlock Reaver because you aren't going to need much other than perhaps Mighty Blow after that.

 

Basically you want to just charge with Charging Bull to generate some guard, then use your stamina free cast for either Mighty Blow or Devour (depends on how much health you have, how many enemies are around you).  Then just go to Dragon Rage.  With a decent 2H weapon you burn through mooks extremely quickly.  You can mix in some auto attacks earlier if you have trouble regaining stamina or are losing health too fast.  Dragon Rage, regular swing, Dragon Rage, regular swing cuts down on some of the slow 2H animation as well.  If an enemy blocks, use Devour since they can't block it.  Use Charging Bull whenever it is off cooldown for knockdown and guard, then make sure to use an ability stamina free.

 

Archers or other ranged enemies are really the only thing that should be much of a problem.  You can try to avoid their line of sight as you work on other units, or use Charging Bull to get close, Mighty Blow to knock them down, then finish them.  Or get your party to lock them down.

 

Ring of Pain was something that became extremely situational for me.  I did not feel that the spirit damage and "improved" devour and dragon rage was worth spending time casting the ring and burning stamina.  It is ok if you drop it just to buff devour then charge out of it, or sometimes if you drop it on one of the more elite enemies just for bonus damage.

 

If you have a mage with barrier and another warrior set as a tank with aggro generation / taunt, it will make your life a lot easier.  But in any case, mainly just need to get a feel for how much you can use Dragon Rage before you need to regen health.

 

Try to craft decent armor with fade touched obsidian (or silverite) if you have it.  For other buffs I went for critical chance, strength / willpower or attack.  Dragon Rage will count as hits for guard generation.  Ranged defense also can help.

 

Once you get the hang of it, you should be able to stay alive.  If I dropped it was almost always because I got sloppy with Dragon Rage, or was lazy with positioning and let archers drop me.

 

Also if that still doesn't work, an upgraded health regen potion will make you practically invincible.

[RedLens37]

Once you get the hang of it, you should be able to stay alive.  If I dropped it was almost always because I got sloppy with Dragon Rage, or was lazy with positioning and let archers drop me.

 

I think this is pretty much key. Regardless of how you build your character to move around the battle, your tactics are a big factor in whether you live or die.

And again, your party build is important. If you can trust them to basically stay alive, you can leave them be and worry about what you are doing.

[Gya]

Even if you go 2H, you can take the damage mitigation passives in the SnS tree. Some might say it's a waste of ability points, but I personally found it very helpful in the mid game.

[Incantrix]

I use Iron bull+SnS as a tank all the time and he's nearly as invincible as Cass and Blackwall. . Sure, he doesn't have the support of Cass or the rock-solid'ness of Blackwall but he does bring superior DPS (and doesn't use dragons rage).

 

Surely this must work for a PC reaver.