8 replies to this topic

[LadyofClockwork7]

Inquisition's Nightmare mode is driving me crazy and I'm hoping you guys can help me. I'm playing a dwarf rogue - started off as DW because that's what I tend to prefer as a playstyle, but ended up switching to archery due to my poor survivability. At the moment my character is Level 14, with the assassin spec and I'm getting completely wiped almost every time I enter combat.

 

Typically, if I encounter any trouble in difficult modes in video games, I go to the almighty google and find my tips and tricks there. Sadly this hasn't been very useful for my playthrough so far. Everybody on other boards and threads were recommending the hell out of a Knight Enchanter (pretty sure they've been nerfed hard since) but considering I'm 60 hours in I'm not overly keen on restarting, and I don't really like playing as mages in general anyway.

 

I haven't done Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts or Here Lies the Abyss. I've been going around attempting to do side stuff and various fetch quests in an attempt to level up my character some. Main party is usually Bull (TH), Blackwall (S&S) and Solas (Spirit Tree). I'm finding it difficult to finish a lot of the side quests because at a certain point during them, I encounter a difficulty spike that completely obliterates my party and I'm unable to finish it, thus levelling up in order to stop being squishy has become a challenge.

 

Off the top of my head, I can think of "Still Waters" in Crestwood as an example - I've reached the Fade Rift and can handle the first two waves of enemies with ease, but by the third one everyone except Blackwall usually dies, and poor Rainier doesn't stand a chance come wave four. Another one would be the Rampart quests in the Exalted Plains... the undead pose no problem but then that Arcane Horror shows up and it basically signals that I should kiss my dwarven behind goodbye.

 

The final straw was attempting to exterminate those darkspawn in the Western Approach and getting slaughtered by the Hurlock with the giant hammer. I just can't work out what I'm doing wrong. I've followed guides, sent myself broke re-buying those tactical renewal amulets for everybody over and over trying different recommended builds out. I've painstakingly crafted armour and weapons for everyone. I use tactics mode, reserve my potions, etc.

 

So what gives? I've watched videos on youtube of people killing high dragons in less than a minute on this difficulty so I must seriously be doing something wrong here.   Should I just accept that maybe Nightmare mode isn't for me? I'm not a very tactical player admittedly but I finished Origins on Nightmare pretty recently and found it to be a pretty enjoyable experience and thought Inquisition would be the same. 

 

 

For those of you who have completed it (with an assassin archer build preferably) what is your secret?!

 

 

 

TL;DR: Nightmare mode is kicking my ass as an archer assassin, can't seem to finish side quests and level up to stop being so squishy, need tips and advice. 

 

[Reznore57]

Do you craft good gears and weapons?if you've already completed the game , abuse the golden nug.

Also upgrade your health potions.

Iron Bull sucks.

If you know there is going to be a big and difficult fight , build up mark of the rift beforehand (might come handy for a big wave of demons ^^)

I played assassin archer and I have no mad skillz , but with stealth you should be the last one dying.Also revive your fallen camarade.(and Blackwall if he's the last one standing can revive too...build guard before though)If things are desperate, stealth and run like a goddam big hero!

 

With the archer , on demons for example , the little spirity ones can sometimes turn to fire damage (they turn from green to red) and they tend to hurt big time.So have your archer get rid of those while they are still green and don't hurt so much.

If there's a mob doing a lot of damage like the Arcane horror , well the main goal should be to nuke it asap.

 

The hurlock with the giant hammer should only hurt Blackwall.If you have Cole or Bull , they are going to drop like flies unless you micro manage them or gear them up like demi gods.

So have only Blackwall on those , and pop up a barrier on him when his guard is low.

[PapaCharlie9]

Post your build and gear. Do you want advice on Archer, or do you want to switch back to DW? Totally different advice needed for each.

Here are a few general purpose tips that help with survivability (assumes you have Trespasser DLC):
 

• Either gear with Fade-Touched mats that give gain guard on hit (Obsidian, Silverite), or set a warrior to spam Horn of Valor/Fortifying Blast on AI Preferred, which gives guard on hit to the whole party. Comes close to doubling your hitpoints, effectively.
• Everyone should carry upgraded Regen potions, and should take one as each battle starts or as needed.
• Use upgraded Evade skill from Subterfuge. When the bruiser is winding up for a big hit, Evade away and avoid all damage
• As a DW, stay in Stealth as much as possible. Attack from flank, evade, return to stealth, maneuver to flank, repeat.
• As an Archer, use Leaping Shot/Shot into Shadows to get into Stealth and to escape (combines Evade and Stealth abilities)
• AI Behaviors. Say your tank is Blackwall. Set him to Follow Blackwall. Set your mage and whoever else to Follow Blackwall. Then you control your rogue and do whatever you want. If you go into Stealth, your party won't stand aroudn wondering who to follow.
• Use grenades for tough battles.
• Use Mighty Offense Tonic for tough enemies.
• Craft for critical damage%. As an Assassin, you should be doing a lot of critical hits, because of Knife in the Shadows. Since so many rogue buffs are dependent on critical hits, like Looked Like It Hurt, this is a good thing. But you have to stay in Stealth all the time and you have to buff your critical damage% to get the most of out it.

[ottffsse]

I'll just add a few things though papacharlie did a good summery.
 
DW Assassin as the most awesome spec at doing lots of damage fast but is also the most fragile class to play so some growing pains are to be expected. Crafting is the single most important factor at making nightmare easier. You put masterwork effects on each of your daggers like gain guard on hit, and or fade cloak/ walking fortress on hit, you will have much more durability that way. 
 
I have two videos that show "sound" solid tactics on 1. an archer rogue (tempest) in probably the most difficult fight in the game on nightmare and 2. dw assassin in an area with dangerous enemies. These are not "OP" builds with "OP" equipment which one can get nowadays in the game, in fact in the second video when I controlled Cole I used berserk masterwork (do 20% damage more, but receive 200% damage more) - basically don't use berserk masterworks unless you really like the thrill of two mistakes = KOed playstyle. 
 
Sera (tempest archer) and quizzy (mage necromancer) vs Gurd:
this one takes 18 min so just skip around, but base line is as a rogue archer you really shouldn't ever get KOed unless you are reckless, since you have enough abilities like stealth etc to avoid unwanted aggro while someone else is tanking, and you have enough time to react since you are not right in enemies faces most of the time.


DW Assassin cole + team taking on Red Templars


BTW, the second video has my favorite party composition in the game: DW Assassin, Reaver, Close combat Knight Enchanter, Necromancer. It is a risky composition for a nightmare run but I find it leads to a very dynamic and exciting playstyle and moments and everyone trying to "steal-kill" from one another.

[PapaCharlie9]

DW Assassin cole + team taking on Red Templars
(snip)

BTW, the second video has my favorite party composition in the game: DW Assassin, Reaver, Close combat Knight Enchanter, Necromancer. It is a risky composition for a nightmare run but I find it leads to a very dynamic and exciting playstyle and moments and everyone trying to "steal-kill" from one another.

 

Nice. We need more mid-level videos. Most of the videos on YT are level-capped and geared to the gills, not to mention pre-Trespasser. Early and mid-game videos are lacking.

 

I'm trying to make up for that with my current run. Here's the Haven boss battle (Denam), but I have to confess that I had to control Solas for most of it, since I forgot the boss was resistant to fire. You can see I had two Antivan Fire grenades going already, doing pretty much nothing useful. All of the loadouts were wrong for this battle, except for Solas. Still, there's some low-level DW Rogue action as well.

 

 

Moral of the story: adapt to the situation. Don't rush in with your ill-equipped Inquisitor and just die, find the best character in your party to control and control that one.

[Morrinna]

Adding to what everyone else has said about the importance of crafting: if you haven't already---open up Emprise de Lion and head straight for the frozen lake next to the village (you can reach it via a doorway, so you don't have to fight your way through waves of enemies). You will find a lake of snoufleur, which A, is Tier 3 leather and will give your rogue high level armour as well as dexterity for critical damage and + to flanking and B, can be used to craft high-level rogue armour for all of your party, if you are looking to spec your mages and warriors for critical chance and damage (and is also good for mid-level survival!) 

 

Edit (!) Just as a warning---there are two high level rifts in the area, but your party can easily avoid those to farm snoufleur

[Bigdawg13]

I admit I haven't read everything in the post (or responses) but it would help to know more details.

 

1. Can you describe your average party setup?  Do you have a tank and support mage? How many melee characters do you have in your party?  How many ranged?  Do you normally bring 1 tank, 2 mages, and you as a ranged archer?  Or are you dual-wielding?  Do you bring 2 rogues, 1 mage, and 1 tank?
2. When you wipe, who dies first?  You, the tank, or support mage?
3. How do you start a fight?  Do you attack something from your rogue?  Or do you switch to your tank and tell him to attack something?

Part of solving this mystery is determining where the problem is occurring.  I find that group wipes occur when one of the following fails to happen.

• Controlling your enemies.  Make sure your tank has Warcry (with armor bonus) set to preferred.  If you have Trespasser DLC make sure Payback Strike has taunt upgrade (otherwise pick up Challenging Shout).  Make sure your mage(s) have ice mine and Wall of Fire.  Rift Mage spells are also quite effective as is the Necromancer fear ability.
• Damage Mitigation.  If your tank is dying, pick up more passives in the SnS tree.  Also the armor upgrade on Warcry and guard/armor passives in Vanguard are very valuable.   And don't neglect your tank's gear.  All to easy to forget him.  Go craft him an up-to-date armor set and shield in Skyhold.  Give him some good gear to stay alive in.   Afterall, better his face is smashed in than yours right?  Also, is the area the right level for you?  If it's too high, you should go somewhere else.
• Focus Fire.  Sometimes there is an outlier enemy causing mayhem in the ranks.  A promoted elite archer or mage.  From tactical cam you can tell your whole party to kill them.  Get rid of these outliers. 
• Well supplied.  Make sure you have everyone equipped with regeneration potions.  On nightmare, it's paramount you get the perk to get +4 health potions.  Don't forget to upgrade these potions too.  Even if you have to stop questing and go farm herbs it's really important. 

 

As a rogue, you should never die.  If you are dying as a rogue, you need to learn restraint.  Worst case scenario is the fight starts to go south and you, realizing this, stealth and run away.  When you are far enough away the fight resets and everyone comes back.  Evaluate where things went wrong, and fix it. 

[Forsythia77]

You aren't crafting anything with fade touched materials that have berserk are you?  That will kill off your party right quick. Chuck anything with that attribute ASAP.  In terms of your armors.  If you have the nug, craft Tier 3 armor (even if you only have tier 2 materials) as they are better than anything you'll find as a random loot drop.  If you have fade touched mats that generate guard on hit, craft armor for Bull and your rogue with that.  Bull is generally pretty squishy even with the best Tier 3 mats and armor. Go deep in the vanguard tree with him and upgrade livid as it helps him generate guard.  On the 2H tree flow of battle (I think?) does this as well.  But I would swap him out for Cass or Blackwall as your tank.  Blakwall's abilities make him the tankiest tank.  Cass's are better with demons and party buffs.  I'd sub in either another mage like Dorian and have him spam barrier on you for some survivability help. Viv works for this too.  preferences I guess. AI doesn't play Viv as well as it plays Dorian though.  AI will want to have her go all KE spirit blade on enemies. The dome.. er Solas, should be working on crowd control with his rift mage abilities.

 

Make sure you set your parties preferences.  Change their ability threshhold to 20% - I think they default them at some ridic number like 50% and that will just hamstring your party because they won't use their abilities automatically if they are below that threshhold  - they will just use regular attacks.  Set all your warriors to follow themselves, or defend themselves, but my preference is for them to follow themselves, that way they won't follow you and draw aggro over to you as an archer.  I also like to set my party to use their focus abilities on their own too.  I personally want them to be as independent of my ministrations as possible (despite this I'm still playing a lot in tac cam and doing things with my party). Also, I change everyone so that they all will drink potions down to the last two.  And upgrade the slots to 12.  You might want to get the optimal cutting perk to gather herbs so you can upgrade the options faster.

 

What else?  You can totally do it! You seem to have made it to Skyhold and that is half the battle. 

[HannahRose]

Jar of Bees. Boom, you win nightmare.

 

Your gear could be an issue too, obviously. Or your party/skill setup. Frankly there are a number of things that could screw you over since you were right, doing a full nightmare run the first time definitely is a nightmare. lol I recommend taking a look at the guide I'm going to link below. I followed it to help me get my trophy for a full nightmare run ages ago (pre-Trespasser), and it helped immensely. Hopefully you find something useful in it.

 

https://www.gamefaqs...tion/faqs/71042