Killing Hakkon the Dragon on Nightmare: what I did

#1
Wulfsten

Posté 13 août 2015 - 11:53

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103 messages

So I've just gotten through Hakkon the Dragon after about 5 tries on Nightmare... just wanted to put my thoughts and notes on how I did it in case anyone else ends up having a lot of trouble with this fight too.

This was the situation:

Using sword+shield Inquisitor with Cassandra (sword+shield), Dorian and Varric.
Level 23, Dragon at level 25.
Mostly optimised gear (everything dealing fire damage where possible, Inquisitor's weapon with a +32 dragonslaying rune)

Here's how it played out:

The ONLY problem with this fight is the Frosted Gibbering Horrors that join in the fight. Their cold breath attack will kill all your characters in under one second, even with 40% cold resistance. They come in packs of 6-8, and they can completely destroy your party in under 5 seconds if they start attacking.
There is one pack before you can approach the dragon.
At 50% health, the dragon will retreat to a perch and summon a second pack, stunning you first.
Thereafter, the dragon will attempt summoning additional packs whilst fighting you on a semi-random basis.
Besides the Gibbering Horrors, this fight is very easy. The dragon does not build Guard, it doesn't create static fields, and its ice breath does surprisingly little damage.
The main method I found to kill the Gibbering Horrors was a combination of Dorian casting Static Cage, Cassandra using Wrath to stun everyone OR having Varric use Antivan Fire (upgraded with Shockwave) to stun them. Then I'd have everyone use all available firepower (Inquisitor taking Mighty Offense Tonic) to dispatch them as soon as possible. Seriously, use all available resources to kill these as quickly as possible. I wasn't kidding when I said they kill you in under 1 second.
I would recommend saving Focus abilities for the dragon simply to reduce the amount of time he has to summon additional packs of Gibbering Horrors. After he gets to 50% health, you should be able to kill him in 2-3 "engagements", i.e., the periods when he's on the ground and you can engage him in melee. Varric's level 3 focus, along with Mighty Offense, does about 25% of his health alone.
I have little doubt that if you want to bring Sera along, you can use her level 3 Focus to pretty much instakill the dragon. At least, I know I killed Corypheus with it on Nightmare in one hit (I had optimised daggers and Mighty Offense tonic active)

I'm sure many of you have already done this, but I didn't find much advice on dealing with those Gibbering Horrors, so I thought I'd share how I did it!

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#2
ashwind

Posté 14 août 2015 - 01:55

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3 150 messages

Another hint is:

~80% cold resistant in JOH will help greatly.

Use armor with upgrade slots. That will allow you to adjust your resistance by changing helm, shield, belt, arms and legs based on the resistant you need.

The downside is .... well I wont use all the unique look armors because they dont have upgrade slots.

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#3
Dabrikishaw

Posté 14 août 2015 - 02:41

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3 250 messages

Maxing out Cold Resistance is always the difference between victory and defeat in this DLC. Luckily all the Tier 4 armors have slots for upgrading Cold Resist.

PapaCharlie9 aime ceci

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#4
PapaCharlie9

Posté 14 août 2015 - 03:21

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2 987 messages

Another hint is:

~80% cold resistant in JOH will help greatly.

Use armor with upgrade slots. That will allow you to adjust your resistance by changing helm, shield, belt, arms and legs based on the resistant you need.

This.

Also fire attacks. Lots and lots of fire attacks. I had two party members who could cast fully upgraded Fire Mines with Chaotic Focus. Veilstrike for knockback and weakness and to give the mines time to prime. The Gibbering mobs didn't stand a chance.