15:26:46 THE DEEP ROADS
We will clear them out. Completely. Even the Aeducan Thaig, which is not part of the Paragon of her Kind quest.
15:26:52 AEDUCAN THAIG
There is an Emissary a bit further. Use Mana Clash. The rest of the darkspawn are basically child's play.
In this thaig there will be lot of Emissaries actually. They are the only challenging part.
15:27:31 MORRIGAN LEVEL 18
3 on Willpower. We pick Combat Tactics, and the Force Field spell. Now, she has an additional slot, which we will set up for Force Field when someone's health falls below 25%.
We need this because without tactical pause, any Emissary can surprise us with Crushing Prison. If they put Curse of Mortality on top of that, then good night War Mage.
This way we will have more than enough health after Morrigan gets us out of the Crushing Prison(with the Shockwave combo, which is Force Field on Crushing Prison), to Mana Clash the mage, and hide in a Force Field until Curse of Mortality wears off.
15:28:04 SEE? THEY ARE SNEAKY LIKE THAT!
I went for a Mana Clash, yet the bugger locked me into a Crushing Prison. This time there was no Curse of Mortality, so it was no big deal. But, as I said, Morrigan will keep that tactic on for a reason.
Anyway, after we get out Crushing Prison, let's blast the ugly with Mana Clash, then start cleaning the room. There is another Emissary on the left, with some additional darkspawn.
There is also the first sack here, from the Asunder hidden quest.
15:29:40 YIKES!
This is the most difficult part of this thaig. Two Emissaries. They both have Crushing Prison and Curse of Mortality at this level. The best tactics is to zoom out and just blast them with Mana Clash from afar.
I however, confidently rush in with my prepared Mana Clash and start blasting. Surprise! If you do it fast enough, it always works. Plus Morrigan would get my butt out of the Crushing Prisons anyway. Only one got killed though from my Mana Clash.
So, we focus on the other one now. Knock him down, Petrify him, or freeze him. Anything really that prevents him to use his nasty spells. After the darkspawn are killed, this thaig is basically done. The only things left are:
15:30:30 DEEPSTALERKS
They are weak and pathetic. Yes, they can stun, and get nasty when you are at low level. However, they don't provide any challenge at this point.
Just rush into them, use Mind Blast, then Cone of Cold, and Flame Blast. Works every time. Whoever is behind you will be taken down by the team. Don't worry about damage! You are a War Mage! You are though as nails now! Plus Morrigan can heal if you need it...
Same tactic applies to every Deepstalker encounter.
15:34:36 CARIDIN'S CROSS
Not too bad place. A couple of dangerous places, but it is a cakewalk compared to what will come after it. Anyway, we worry about that later.
We are greeted by three Elite Mercenaries. Two warrior, one mage. These guys are not here if you work both Behlen and Harrowmont, in case you want to avoid them.
They are not challenging however, just use Mana Clash on the mage, and whack the warriors after.
15:35:15 BIG, BIG ROOM WITH LOTS OF DARKSPAWNS
Fire trap in the middle(Sten will trigger it, and even Alistair gets a taste of it) and an Emissary at the end. I go after the Emissary first, with my Mana Clash, after we get rid of the "welcoming committee" with fire and ice.
He resists it though, so we are going to Fist him, Cone him and... Alistair will take over. Once you kill the darkspawn here, and approach the bridge, five archer genlock will spawn behind you. Or right in front of you, if we are me.
On the bridge, there are lots of Leghold traps. Make sure you don't step in them. The other side will have around six genlocks and an Elite Ogre. The Ogre should be Petrified, and let your team take it down. Mop up the genlock berserkers after it is dead.
If you approach the exit, multiple Shrieks will attack you from Stealth. You can flush them out with Mind Blast and freeze them.
However, our warriors deal so much damage now, it is hard not to just let them have some fun with the enemies. I think I'm becoming lazy.
15:40:01 KILL THE GENLOCK!
Once we leave the big room and step on some proper dwarven roads, we get rid of that charging Bronto, and the genlocks.
After this we will have to quickly run to the tunnel where a few Genlock Runners are going to sprint away from us. To make things easier, we need to kill them before they get away.
They would alert the Emissary inside, and that is something we don't want. We want to surprise him.
If they are dead, we head inside, which would make the Emissary start run outside. This will let use use Mana Clash on him without any problem. His little friends will be taken down by our team.
15:40:59 ALISTAIR LEVEL 18
Strength, Strength, Strength. We pick Survival and the fantastic Deathblow. Now, Alistair will be able to gain back stamina with each kill. For a dual weapon warrior, this is a very powerful tool.
15:41:13 OH, LOOK! AN OGRE BOSS!
Let's take him down in seconds! We stay where we are as he is about to throw a boulder at us. We only move when he puts it at his shoulder. Cast a Petrify to paralyze him and move forward.
Nice! Now the Ogre managed to hit his own Shrieks and can't move. Focus on the Shrieks first. Cone of Cold, Flame Blast. Sten got Grabbed, so let's get him out of there!
Scratch that, Morrigan already handles that, and Alistair started to rip him apart. Finish off the Shrieks, and when we turn back, we witness the Ogre's death.
We could leave the place after this, but we still have some darkspawn to kill, plus another black vial.
15:42:03 ANOTHER GROUP
This pack has one Elite Emissary and one Elite Bronto. After those two are don, I mostly just let my team do the work, and heal them if necessary.
After this, we are going to slaughter some Deepstalkers with the usual Deepstalker-killing tactics. and pick up the second bag for the Asunder quest.
Then I was scouring the area for more enemies who I might left out, and managed to step in my first leghold trap. Ouch! That is what happens when you play while your brain is tired. Anyway, there is another group of enemies here, but I figured I will come back for them when I loot with Leliana.
15:45:57 OUR LAST BLACK VIAL
Since I forgot the last one in the tower, this is the last Revenant we will fight. The last one was no challenge anymore, and neither this one.
15:46:47 ORTHAN THAIG
Nasty, nasty place. If we would have come here sooner, It would have been a major challenge.
Spiders are everywhere! Even a spider boss at the end! They are not that dangerous anymore, but at low level they could absolutely destroy us with their Webs. Also, lots of darkspawn. Luckily, they are fighting with the spiders, so that lets us ambush them on a few places.
15:47:30 DARKSPAWN VS SPIDERS
The spider would win. Yeah, their Web is to strong, so they would end up killing the darkspawn.
Anyway, let's not let that happen. We want all the experience we can get.
So let's smack the Ogre surrounded by spiders with a Fire Ball. Let's freeze the Ogre, and let our team start slaughtering everyone. Another Fire Ball on the next group. Then freeze, then fire and teamwork.
When they are dead, we touch the tomb on the right side of the room.
15:49:46 GHOSTS AND GOLEMS
Ghosts are probably my least favorite enemies in the game, along with Spiders.
They are generally annoying. They are pretty tough compared to other normal units, and they don't give loot when they die.
They have a Golem with them.
If you go to the chest with the web, a group of spiders will spawn. This is true to almost every place in this thaig that has webs.
Sorry Morrigan, I was aiming for the spider.
15:51:17 WEBS
Yup, this is the best way to approach them. Just let your companion wonder into them. That way you can be ready for the spawning spiders with some ice and fire. Sorry, Alistair for the extra heat.
15:52:38 ANOTHER MYSTICAL SITE OF POWER
And this is the place where the Asunder quest will end. We will come back here once we got the last sack with Leliana.
15:52:40 MORE GOLEMS, MORE GHOSTS
Need I say more? This is the last time we see them in this thaig.
15:53:46 RECORDS FOR ORTA
Then we talk to Ruck, get rid of the spiders and trade with him. He is the one who sells infinite Deep Mushrooms. These are invaluable for a warrior and a rogue, because Deep Mushroom is the main ingredient for Swift Salve.
We also update the Mother's Hope quest, and get the sword piece for the Admirable Topsider quest.
15:57:37 UGLY THINGS!
They are fleeing from you... for now. After the bridge, make sure you take out the Emissary with Mana Clash. The fight can get very ugly if let him cast spells. There is another Emissary who is further away. So far in fact that if you don't go close, you can ignore him.
Lots of spiders will spawn here, and they don't fight the Emissary, they only want to kill you. They have Web and Overwhelm, so watch out!
15:59:41 CORRUPTED SPIDER BOSS
Probably the most annoying boss fight in the game. A nightmare with a mage at low level. At this point, it is not that hard, but still very annoying. The Spider Queen will keep webbing the entire team, and disappears when she takes too much damage.
She also summons lots of additional spiders. The best tactics is to keep paralyzing her. That way she can't use her ability to disappear, and can be killed pretty fast.
After she is gone, let's loot her and get the Bloodline axe and the Silkweave Gloves(another elemental gloves, this one gives 20% nature damage bonus), and the Smith's Heart from the Cocoon. Let's read the Journal, and the Dead Trenches await!
16:02:39 THE DEAD TRENCHES
As we start moving forward, we see a group of dwarves with black armor fighting against the charging darkspawn. Help them out by Fire Balling the entire group. Don't worry, the Legion of the Dead are tough, they will survive it.
With our team, we will start taking down the uglies from the bridge as well. This is actually a great place to throwing Fire Ball around. Lots of spaces between you and the enemy groups, so don't be shy about playing with fire!
Once the aggro drops we speak to Kardol. He tells us that what we are doing is stupid, and that the dwarven nobles are also stupid. Braka is dead and there is no one alive after their outpost. What a pessimist!
16:09:11 IN FRONT OF THE GATES
Two group of archers - five on each side. Let's pick a side and smack them with Fire Ball.
An Elite Ogre is also present, and a few Shrieks will appear out of Stealth as we approach. The Ogre gets Petrified, and frozen, then we go after the other group of archers.
As always, our team is more than capable of handling things after this. We talk to Kardol again, who still thinks we are stupid, but compliments our skills.
16:10:21 RUNNERS AGAIN...
Remember those Genlock Runners, who were about to alert the Emissary back at Caridin's Cross Yeah, these archers will do the same if you approach them. So let's not.
Fire Ball the group, let the team handle the melee guys, wait for Fire Ball to recharge and bomb them again. Problem solved. Make sure that you pause your team, otherwise they advance and ruin your surprise.
16:10:46 LEVEL 19
Boost Magic, and pick up Arcane Mastery for the Spellpower boost. Re-activate your sustainable skills so they get the bonus.
16:11:12 THE OTHER SIDE OF THE GATE
Since we killed the archers, the Emissary can be surprised with a Mana Clash. Otherwise he would be waiting for us with a Crushing Prison. One Bronto and a couple of other genlocks are all that is left here.
As with most fights, once you kill the Emissary, things will become much easier.
When they fall, let's explore the left side first. Once we get rid of the two Shrieks and the genlocks, loot the room. The boots of the Legion of the Dead armor set will be here in a sarcophagus.
16:12:32 STEL LEVEL 18
Boost Strength, pick Improved Combat Tactics, and Constraint.
16:12:53 AND BEHIND THE NEXT DOOR IS...
An Emissary. With spiders! Mana Clash him, fast. Or get locked into a Crushing Prison like I was, because I could not target the guy fast enough without pause. It happens. This is why we have Morrigan, right?
She gets us out of jail, and we heal up. The Emissary has been kept busy by Sten at this point, who ends up finishing him off, but not before we try our best to take revenge with a Mana Clash.
After the room is clear, loot it.
16:13:35 GENLOCKS AND TRAPS
This room has a few genlocks, and a few traps. It is best to just leave the team behind and get rid of them with Fire Balls. This way, they won't trigger the traps and we can get the xp for them when we
disarm them with Leliana.
This room also has the Gloves of the Legion. After we loot it, summon the team. Sten gets into my face accidentaly as I was looting a fractired stone. I have no wish at this point Kadan.
16:14:55 CAREFUL HERE!
This is one of those dangerous places, that should not be approached without caution. There is an Emissary here with spiders. The Emissary casts Crushing Prison upon seeing you, and the spiders spam Web.
Let's not rush ahead. Try to peak around the corner and Mana Clash the little bastard. Done! I feel safer already!
We can charge in after that with Cone of Cold. If we stand our ground, the spiders will mob up on use, which si good because we can use Mind Blast which makes them vulnerable to out flames and our team's melee.
The Ancient Darkspawn boss also summons here if you are doing the Admirable Topsider quest. A two-handed warrior. Not exactly a challenge, especially on his own.
We have the last piece from him, so later we re0vist the grave in Ortan Thaig and complete the quest.
16:16:15 THE NEXT ROOM
Nothing special here, other than this wired trap that you can't disarm and it always respawns itself. As far as I know, it does nothing other then being loud.
16:16:53 THE FORGEMASTER
This fight is optional, you can just start going left and the group of darkspwan will never notice you. If you want to kill the Forgemaster however:
Try to approach with caution. The Forgemaster boss can deal some pretty good damage, so don't rush in. He has Scattershot, Pinning Shot and Arrow of Slaying. He also has a big hammer, which he will use if you get into melee range.
Lure some of the enemies out and kill them before the Forgemaster notices you.
After that, we smack the boss with a Fire Ball. That will knock him down. Or not... In my case he resisted it. It happens. So I froze him, along with Alistair. Sorry, friend!
The other darkspwans should be dealt with first, while you paralyze the boss. Unlucky me, the boss resisted everything I threw at him. Finally, I got him with a Petrify so at the end, he fell pretty fast.
16:18:49 SHRIEKS ON THE BRIDGE
Eight Shrieks. Four in front of you, four behind you. Watch for Morrigan, since she usually stays behind. She can get mobbed easily.
Cone of Cold and Flame Blast works well on the group in front of you. You can also put a Repulsion Glyph on the floor so they would be pushed back, as you turn back to check on Morrigan. Morrigan naturally will start with a Mind Blast, so is gonna be safe until you check on her.
You warriors will do what they do best. While you handle crowd control, they will dish out the damage.
16:19:29 BIG HALL, LOTS OF SKELEOTONS
This hall has one Emissary, and at least ten skeletons. The skeletons are nor difficult, but they can be annoying, since they keep using Shield Bash and Shield Pummel.
The Emissary, gets Mana Clash, that way the fight won't become ugly. This hall holds the Armor of the Legion. The last piece of the Legion of the Dead armor set. The helmet, although it fits the set, will not count towards the set bonus.
16:22:51 AFTER HESPITH
After talking to Hespith, we face two Ogres. Both Elites, but they are no longer a challenge for the party. Paralysing spells always work well on Ogres.
Once they are dead, we go to the little room ahead, and loot the Legionnaire Altar. We get the key, and the Helmet of the Legion.
After we get rid of the spirits, we place the armor on Sten, make sure he touches the Legion of the Dead Relic, and we defeat the Shade. The thing is very easy. After the fight, we give Sten back his equipment.
Once the door is open, we loot the sarcophagus and get the Legion of the Dead insignia. Now we can go back to the shaper and finish the Dead Caste quest.
16:25:14 BROODMOTHER
Probably the most disgusting and disturbing thing in Dragon Age. A mountain of flesh and corruption. Her Screams can knock you down, stun you, disorient you, and summon additional drakspawn.
She also has two types of Grab ability. One shakes the hell out of you, the other spits vomit in your face. The former is more dangerous.
Decent nature resistance can be very useful here, because once her health goes down to 25%, she will release a Rotting Gas, which will cause very nasty nature damage on the whole party. So let's kill this thing!
First, we throw a Fire Ball. The Broodmother has 75% nature resistance, but she is weak to fire. Flaming Weapons are very handy on the team. We approach, but we won't go too close. Let the warrios do that.
Use Cone of Cold, Petrify and Glyph of Paralysis so your warrior can deal as much damage as possible, before she summons her darkspawn babies.
We managed to take down half of her health, practically undisturbed, which is great, but things will get uglier from here.
She summons her babies, and suddenly we are swarmed by darkspawn. Our focus must be on Morrigan if we want to keep her alive.
After we direct the warriors to keep attacking the Broodmother, we place a Glyph of Repulsion around her to keep her safe. If this does not work, you might have to Force Field her. The Broodmother's non stop Screams are not helping. She keeps stunning the party and summons even more darkspawn. This time there are Shrieks in the pack.
Alistair however, because he is suck an awesome damager, already struck the final blow on the big tenticle monster. Morrigan got a bit too much heat, so she goes into a Force Field, and we clear out the rest of the darkspawn.
In my opinion, the key to win this battle without anyone falling, is to focus the warriors' attentions on Broodmother, and to keep an eye on the weakest link.
16:28:03 MORRIGAN LEVEL 19
3 Willpower and we get Glyph of Warding. Our aim is for her to have Glyph of Repulsion too.
After we level her up, we are going to have a quick trip back to Orzammar. We sell our loot, put Oghren in the party and level him up. We also change his equipment and his tactics.
Oghren is mandatory for the end of this quest, so we have to turn him into something decent. The Anvil of the Void is a dangerous place. We boost his Strength, and make sure he uses War Cry upgraded with Superiority to knock down everyone who attack him in melee range. The rest of his tactics are very similar to Sten's.
Also, we buy the Tome of Mortal Vessel from Legnar, and we place the one point it gives us on Magic.
16:31:44 THE ANVIL OF THE VOID
Branka is here. And a lot of darkspawn as well. And traps. And golems. This is going to be interesting.
16:35:00 AN OCEAN OF DARKSPAWN
First, we need to get through them to reach Caridin's traps.
The first wave is not that impressive. Around ten enemies, with one Elite dual weapon genlock. Ten might sounds like a lot, but Oghren's War Cry makes sure we won't get mobbed, even if we don't use crowd control spells.
From the second wave, the most dangerous enemy is obviously the Emissary. Once we Mana Clash him, the hard part is over. Another roughly ten normal level drakspawn is ready to be sloughtered.
The third wave comes with an Elite Ogre. Nothing we haven't crushed before. Petrify, and let the warriors butcher the thing. Mop up the rest. Advancing towards the traps, there will be a few more darkspawn.
16:38:39 THE FIRST TRAP - GOLEM ROOM
The room is filled with gas, and as you enter the golems will wake up one by one. Best is to just order your party to wait, and quickly turn off each valve to shut the gas down completely. When the golem charges at your party, you can knock it down with Stonefist.
Now we can face the golems. They are not much of a threat, as long as you don't get close when they are waking up. When they wake up, they use Quake, which deals a lot of damage and stuns the party.
16:40:01 THE SECOND TRAP - GOLEM HALLWAY
There are two traps ahead of you. A rogue can detect them, but if they get disarmed, the golems still come to life.
You face four golems in this room. Two at a time. They have more health, and they don't waste their Quake skill when they wake up.
The main thing you should focus on is knocking them down or paralyzing them. This way they obviously can't deal damage. Stonefist and Glyph of Repulsion is great. Petrify does not work on them, because they are made of stone, but Glyph of Paralysis and Cone of Cold does.
16:41:50 THE THIRD TRAP - SPIRIT APPARATUS
This blasted thing! The fight is bad enough, but the worse thing is, this fight crashes my game more often than anything else.
Anyway, taking down the Apparatus at this point is actually not that difficult. You need to kill one Elite ghost at a time, and then activate the anvil that starts gloving. This will damage the construction. Otherwise nothing else can harm it.
It is best to focus on one or two anvil at a time, because each time the heads on the Apparatus take damage, they summon a different spirit and use a different attack.
As far as I can tell, the initial "Lightning Eyes" do nothing.
The blue "Healing Eyes" heal the spirits.
The "Bloody Eyes" will deal spirit damage on the party.
So it is obvious that we don't want to face four "Bloody" eyes at a time. So once a head reaches "Bloody Eyes" status, we will focus on getting rid of that one, before we attack the others. This will make sure that we will not be bombarded with spirit damage towards the end of the battle, which can be very dangerous.
I like to group select my team here, and direct them to a single spirit, so we can get rid of each one quickly with our combined damage.
Once the blasted thing is dead, you get no loot nor experience. Awesome!
16:47:05 CARIDIN
We are going to beat the old tin can, because it is considered the "harder" fight. We won't keep the Anvil though. We will make sure it gets destroyed as Branka realizes what she has done.
Caridin is a boss, and he is pretty tough. He has all the usual golem skills, Slam, Quake, and Hurl, but he also has some nasty lightning spells. He also has four stone golems with him. Two has Normal, and two has Elite rank. However, we also have two golems with us thanks to Branka.
Best is to just keep his attention on us, until Alistair and Oghren gets rid of the other golems. If you fight all of them at once, someone is bound to be knocked out.
So, start with Stonefist on him, then give him some Cone of Cold. If a Normal golem gets caught in the freeze, that is a great opportunity for shattering them! Oghren or Alistair can do that with a critical hit. One down!
Oghren's War Cry is powerful enough to knock some of the golems down, which is why we pick that for him. Let's direct our party to engage with the other golems while we keep Caridin busy.
Despite being a golem, Petrify works on Caridin quite well. Steel can be turned into stone! Keep repeating Cone of Cold, Glyph of Paralysis, Stonefist and Petrify until your team defeats the others.
Once they arrive to help you, the fight is pretty much over. Time to let Branka destroy the Anvil, get the Golem Registry(plus the gift for Zevran from the chest), and we can finally go back to spank Behlen.
16:57:04 THE KING OF ORZAMMAR
Is going to be Harrowmont. I never pick Behlen, unless I'm a Dwarf Commoner. I just can't stand that arrogant little scheming turd!
So let's whoop his butt and put that crown where it belongs. Which is Harrowmont's head!
17:00:49 ALISTAIR LEVEL 19
Everything goes on Strength. We pick up Resilience for him.
Outside, we also convince Kardol to join us agains the Blight on the surface. This would switch some of the dwarven soldier to Leion of the Dead Avengers during the final battle, and Kardol would also fight the Archdemon.
We also visit the Shaper, to give the documents to Orta, give the Registry to Czibor, and we also add the Dead Cast Insignia to the Memories.
In the commons, we also bring the bad news to Filda, thus completing the Mother's Hope quest. Since I can't stand Behlen, I decided to kill his supporters as well: Piotin and his cronies, along with Myaja and Lucjan, will bite the dust.
17:08:55 OGHREN'S QUEST
Yeah, we make sure he gets Felsi. We also unlock the Berserker specialization here(10/12).
17:11:25 LOOTING THE DEEP ROADS WITH LELIANA
You can skip it here: 17:23:23
First I quickly level up Wynne and Leliana, then we run faster than the wind with double Haste!
Note that at the Anvil of the Void, I was just checking if there is a corpse there that I haven't looted(like the Revenant at Caridin's Cross). There is no locked chest in this location.
17:15:19 THE THIRD SACK
This is what we left out the last time we were here. Let's kill those Deepstalkers and get that sack to complete the Asunder quest.
17:18:15 DRIFTER'S CHACHE QUEST COMPLETE
17:18:52 ADMIRABLE TOPSIDER QUEST COMPLETE
17:19:20 ASUNDER QUEST COMPLETE
I let the demon go. This way the money is guaranteed. If you fight the Pride Demon, you only have a small chance of getting it from its corpse.
17:21:23 STOP!
Yep, I did not forget about this place. It is extremely dangerous to enter this side of the cave if you are unprepared.
Two Emissaries, and three spiders. The mages have Crushing Prison, Curse of Mortality. The spiders have Web and Overwhelm. Pretty grimm.
The spiders will aggro you first, so come where with your Mana Clash already prepared. Hopefully none of the Emissaries will resist it. Once they are down, get rid of the spiders.
17:23:46 LOST TO THE MEMORIES QUEST COMPLETE
We definitely take the gold.
17:25:49 LELIANA GETS A NUG
Yeah, sure I get one for her. It's only five silver.
17:28:39 OGHREN'S QUEST
Yupp, he still got it.
17:32:42 WE HAVE ANDRUIL'S BLESSING
17:33:16 EIGHTEENTH RANDOM ENCOUNTER
Rebel dwarves. Even with Leliana instead of Sten, they are a joke. So let them die for Behlen.
17:35:03 WE BUY AND USE TWO TOMES: A MORTAL VESSEL AND A SKILL AND SOUNDRY
Attribute goes on Magic, the skill goes on Improved Herbalism.
17:35:30 BACK AT CAMP, BOOSTING APPROVALS AND UNLOCKING WYNNE'S QUEST
Wynne sure talks a lot...
17:41:11 NINETEENTH RANDOM ENCOUNTER
Wynne's special encounter. We get rid of the darkspwan and talk to her. After this, we talk to her in the camp, and unlock her quest.
We also talk to Shale, boost her approval and unlock her quest as well. We use the Persuasion option, because otherwise we would lose a lot of approval since Caridin is dead. The next question has one answer which seems to be glitched, because we destroyed the Anvil, yet is says that "it is in the hands of the dwarves".
This happens if you kill Caridin. In the game's "mind" if Caridin is dead, you must have kept the Anvil. So I just picked that one, even though there is no Anvil anymore.
18:04:53 TWENTIETH RANDOM ENCOUNTER
Wynne's special ability encounter. Focus on the Omega. His Fire Ball, which is next to impossible to dodge without tactical pause, can put you into a very disadvantageous position. He also has less mana than health, so Mana Clash will not kill him instantly. Once he is gone however, the encounter is basically over.
18:07:27 LEVEL 20
As usual, 3 Magic. Honestly, the build is done at this point, so we are just picking extra abilities. Spell Wisp is a sweet little "trinket" so let's get that.
18:08:30 ANEIRIRN
We finish Wynne's quest. You don't have to talk to the dalish in the camp for him to appear. You can go directly into the forest once you have the quest.
We get back to camp, and get zero approval from Wynne. Nice. Her approval gain is bugged, so you get nothing other than the amulet and some xp.
18:14:24 SHALE'S QUEST
After we level her up and set set up her tactics, we boost her approval with some gems we buy in Orzammar. Now off to either Caridin's Cross or Ortan Thaig so she can see something familiar.
18:15:00 CADASH THAIG
The thaig is not that dangerous if you know what to do. Watch for the Emissaries, and use Mana Clash. Shrieks can do a lot of damage, so use Mind Blast and Shale as a tank. When she gets into trouble, Force Field her.
The Deepstalkers and the traps are just minor annoyances. The final fight with the Ogre is pretty simple, even if it can grab you. Morrigan, Alistair and even Shale can get you out of it. Paralyzing works well, just like we did before.
After you kill it, get rid of the Shrieks who spawn around him and just let the game play the cutscene. Loot the chest and the crystals and we are out of here! Sorry Alistair for the burn...
18:25:54 MORRIGAN LEVEL 20
1 Magic, 2 Willpower. We pick up Stonefist for her. She will defend Alistair with it from now.
We go back to camp, accept Shale's apology and boost her approval all the way up to 100.
18:31:57 STEN LEVEL 19
3 points on Strength. We pick up Two-Handed Sweep. This will be a very important tool for him later on.
18:32:41 THE LANDSMEET
We are here in Denerim with Eamon. Loghain is here. Howe is here. The queen is here. Everyone is here!
18:37:48 ERLINA
After we loot everything in Eamon's Estate, we talk to the elven maid. The queen is kidnapped and we need to rescue her. Yup, does not sound fishy at all.
18:40:16 WE FINISH LELIANA'S QUEST
Catfight. Marjolaine is paranoid so she wants to get rid of Lelina. Well, we have a cure for her paranoia.
As we enter there are two guards who provide no challenge. During the dialogue, we can either let Marjolaine go or engage in a fight after.
We will fight. The room we are in has two smaller rooms next it. Both have a trap at the entrance(Leliana is with us so she will see them). Each one holds one mage qunari and one warrior. Marjolaine is a boss, and she hits hard, even though she is unarmed.
Without tactical pause we can only take down one mage with Mana Clash, so let's knock down the other one with Stone Fist and feed him an Arcane Bolt. Done!
Marjolaine has a very high chance of using her Captivating Song ability, which is her downfall. The continuous stun is annoying, but it completely disables her fighting skills, and she is basically paralyzed.
After we kill the two melee guards, she just turns into a punching bag, waiting to be beaten to death. Once she is done, let's loot the room and return to camp to talk to her.
We also talk to Oghren so we can taste his brew. We take off one dagger from Leliana and give two to Zevran, because we are about to test his loyalty. We level him up and set up his tactics in Denerim.
18:57:23 THE CROWS - ZEVRAN'S LOYALTY TEST
Since we have his approval high enough, he will stay with us. The crows are dangerous though. They have very fast attacks, Coup de Grace(if you are stunned they can backstab you), Mark of Death and a few skills to stun you and the party(Dirty Fighting, Scattershot).
There are also traps at the bottom of the stairs, so don't wonder into them. Watch out for Morrian, she can be overwhelmed pretty easily. The fight pretty much boils down to how you handle the initial onslaught. So, Cone of Cold on the Assassins who try to flank the team, put a Repulsion Glyph around Morrigan, Fire Ball the archers behind you, and heal the team when they need it.
They are rogues, so they can't take that much damage. After the ambushers are defeated, tell Zevran to stay, and let's get moving.
19:00:08 BACK IN THE PEARL
We are gonna start talking to the Hooded Carriers from the Irregular's quest, and since we have Zevran in the party, we will pick up the Duelist specialization from Isabela(11/12).
I'm a mage. Obviously I suck at the card game, because I have low Dexterity and Cunning. Zevran on the other hand can guarantee a victory for us. Same with Leliana.
19:07:38 LOOTING DENERIM WITH LELIANA
Skip it here: 19:08:54
19:09:12 UNLOCKING THE ASSASSIN SPECIALIZATION WITH ZEVRAN(12/12)
That is it! We have all the specializations unlocked! Then we chat a bit more with Zevran, and he swears that he will stick to us until the end.
19:19:11 RESCUE THE QUEEN
Okay, time to rescue the queen!
After you speak to Erlina, pause your team and stay close to the wall. This way the guard will not notice you from above. Once you at the back, summon your party.
Put on the uniforms, and get inside while the elf draws the guards away.
19:21:32 OKAY, WE ARE INSIDE
Nothing to be afraid of yet. Just use the uniform to get to Anora.
19:24:24 DOOR ON THE LEFT
Do not open that door. It will prompt a cutscene and your cover will be blown. Kinda. We will open it later. There is something there that we need.
As we reach the bedroom, we pick up the Grey Warden Documents from the box, and we meet Riordan.
19:26:48 TIME TO FIGHT
Busted! We Mind Blast the guards, then throw a Fire Ball at the archers behind the wall. Their Scattershot is very annoying.
At this point, Alistair and Sten can handle most of the fights here in the basement, but Cone of Cold and Flame Blast can help them getting things done faster.
You just watch for Morrigan.
19:28:44 THE FIRE TRAP
It's right ahead. Stop the team and trigger it, then run back a bit. This way you don't get blasted with fire during the fight.
Mana Clash the mage inside(for some reason he did not aggro us at all), then Mind Blast and freeze the crowd to expose them to your warrior.
19:29:35 TORTURED NOBLE
Bann Sighard's son is getting tickled. Get rid of the tortures and talk to him. Later you can ask for a pretty big sum of money from his father.
19:31:23 JAIL
Kill the guards, and let Soris and Rexel free.
19:33:40 HOWE
Time to wipe the smugness off of his face. His death is always satisfying.
He has two mages three guards with him. He is an Assassin Boss. He uses Mark of Death and a lot of dual weapon talents. He also deals pretty good damage.
My Morrigan almost went down in just a few seconds as I used Mana Clash on the mages. Sheesh! Things move a bit faster with no pause. Howe puts a Mark of Death on her, so we put her into a Force Field.
Howe loves to use Stealth, but by this time his mages are dead and his two guards are dealt with by Alistair and Sten.
Time to whack the jealous little snake! His health is not that high, and our warriors are more than capable of putting him down without our help.
Get his key and let's go!
19:35:16 VAUGHN
How could I resist? I did free him tough, so I'm no liar! Since we convinced him to give us his key, we will take his money later.
The cage next to him has a Templar. We bring his amulet to Alfastana who stays in the tavern.
19:38:38 HOWE'S TREASURE
We use his key to take everything from his vault. Then we open the door to Vaughn's Chest. We are gonna be busted by the guard, but who cares at this point?
19:39:25 NOW THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT
We need to set up the tactics for the fight with Cauthrien. That's right, we won't back down!
Since this is pretty much the toughest fight in the game, we will need to play smart. I actually build my character around this fight when I create a build. If it can take this fight without pause, the build is good. If it can't, then it is not good. With a good build, doing this solo is actually easier then with a team. However, we will prevail!
Morrigan:
First off, we make sure Morrigan puts Sten into a Force Field when his health is at 75%! Why, because he is going to be our main tank. He can't tank the amount of damage will go his way though(especially not without healing potions), so we need Morrigan to make him invulnerable.
Second, we will make sure she casts Horror anyone who attacks her in melee. This is important because this far she was using Horror on anyone who was Elite or higher. Cauthrien and the mage will be the only enemies who would fit that criteria, and we don't want her to get the attention of Cauthrien. So she only casts Horror if she is attacked by melee.
Alistair:
Stays the same. He is our wrecking ball, and he is doing fine.
Sten:
As I said, we need him to tank. We need the enemies to focus on him, and him alone. He will use Taunt, get the attention of the enemies, takes damage and gets locked into a Force Field.
We also set him up in a way that if he is attacked by melee, he uses his Two-Handed Sweep talent to knock everyone back. We need this, incase our or Morrigan's Force Field is on cooldown. He has more than enough Strength to knock back even Cauthrien if they attempt to melee him.
19:40:58 CAUTHRIEN
Yup, we are here. Let's see how our tactics will work!
Without pause, this fight is about timing. I killed Cauthrien at least a hundred times, so trust me, I know.
Put your mouse over Cauthrien's... uhm... bosom. Yep, that is where our Fire Ball is, and we need to get to it very fast, so during the cutscene we already position our mouse above it.
As soon as the cutscene is over, we let everyone clear out so we have a clear sight. As I said, you need to be fast, aim fast. Otherwise Cauthrien or one of her guard can run into your Fire Ball. That is not good.
So quickly target the archers on the left side of the room! That will be our focus. Once they are smacked with Fire Ball, they will be knocked down, so they can't use their volley of Scattershot against us.
Then we quickly turn and run into the right side crowd. They manage to stun us, but never mind that. Mind Blast the group!
At this point Alistair's health got a bit low, because Cautrhien hits like a truck and did a Sunder Arms on him. Still, he is alive and well, and the girls is focusing on Sten now, because he just Taunted the entire room. He also swept them away from him, giving Morrigna time to put him into a Force Filed.
This far, thigs are going our way!
As we rush towards the left side to use Cone of Cold on the archers, we keep an eye on our party's health. If we see a big drop, we would instantly Group Heal or Force Field them.
The archers, except one, are frozen solid, so that is good. Now, we blast the mage with Mana Clash, but he resists it. That is not good. Ugh! Still we hit him with Stonefist so at least he is knocked on his butt.
Time to smack the left side with another Fire Ball! Hopefully that would finish them off. I also place a Life Ward on Sten, in case he needs it. He Taunts, and knocked everyone away from him again. That's it bog boy!
The archers however, are still won't quit on the left side, so we use Cone of Cold and Flame Blast to finally put them down.
At this point, I heal, even though it was not warranted, but things move a bit fast so, mistakes happen.
And the mage puts on a freaking Anti-Magic Ward! God, just die already! I place Sten into a Force Field, so I don't have to focus on his health while I take down the mage.
I move closer, and I blast the two guards around the mage with Cone of Cold, then Flame Blast. Flame Blast also gets the mage. I do another unwarranted heal, I guess that mage just messing with my mind! The tanking tactics actually works perfectly, my team needs no heal at all! Everyone is focusing on invulnerable Sten, and Alistair keep carving down Cauthrien's health.
I cast Stonefist on the mage so he can be knocked out, but he gets up, so I Petrify his stubborn butt!
Sten is out of the Force Field, and my spell is on cooldown, so I place a Glyph of Repulsion spell around him. That will push Cauthrien away until I get my Force Field back!
I put another Lifeward around Sten, and finally I kill that blasted mage!
At this point Alistair almost took down 90% of Cauthrien's health, so we focus on her with all our might! I knock her down with Stonefist, and wait until the Repulsion spell expires around Sten, we don't want to create a Paralysis Explosion there, and then I cast Glyph of Paralysis on her. It won't hold her long, but Sten is already in a Force Field, so we are good.
We use everything to get the health of the Elite Boss down. Winter's Grasp, Bloody Grasp, Arcane Bolt. If she is down, the fight is ours. Alistair finally perform the long awaited execution animation on her! We did it!
We mop up the rest of the room, which is basically a few Normal guards.
19:43:53 THE TAVERN
We talk to Sighard, and Alfastanna. We persuade Sighard to give us 50 gold. Nice!
19:44:45 ALISTAIR LEVEL 20
3 Strength. We pick up Constraint for him.
19:47:24 ANORA AND EAMON
We talk to them and we decide what will be the next step. We also speak with Riordan and ask him about the vault.
19:51:42 LOOTING WITH LELIANA
We loot the vault and the tavern. This won't take long. We also turn in the Missing in Action quest to the Chanter's Board.
19:53:52 CHANGING TACTICS AND TALKING TO ANORA
We change our team's tactics back and quickly talk to Anora about who will rule Ferelden. I went with the marriage option. Alistair and Anora will marry and rule together.
Now we have all the available support at the Landsmeet(except Vaughn, but he can rot in hell). Take that, Loghain!
20:00:40 THE NICEST PART OF TOWN
It's the Alienage. It's ugly and it smells bad. Still, we have a job to do, so let's get to it.
First, we talk to the two people in front of the gate, who are both connected to two separate Irregular's quest. Scraping the Barrel and Grease the Wheels. These are the last two people who we need to talk to, to turn both quest in. Once we are done, let's head into the Alienage.
After we save the guy from the thugs, we talk to Soris, and give some coins to the beggar, we mark the last Mystical Site of Power for the Guild. Then we go and talk to Shianni.
20:04:39 WE ARE GOING THROUGH
Mind Blast first, then Mana Clash the mages. I placed Morrigan into a Force Field, because those Tevinter Guards can do a lot of damage with their Shield Pummel. Better safe than sorry.
We get the key from one of the mages, and we go into the house.
After we get rid of the Supervisor, we loot his Imperial Edge. This is a great sword for Alistair, especially, since there is another here not far in a box! These two Silverite beauties will be Alistair's new weapons. The deal more damage than what he has on now, and they look badass on his back.
We take the key from the table, and proceed to the Run-Down Apartments.
20:06:35 RUN-DOWN APARTMENTS
We look around, talking to to scared elf, but he will not have any useful info. The Sextant for the Fazzil's Request quest is here in one of the rooms.
There is a locked room towards the door that leads outside, but only a rogue can open it, so we will come back for it with Leliana. Some gold and a few enemies are inside.
20:09:00 OUTSIDE OF THE APARTMENTS
A little fight, not much to worry about. The real fight is behind the door ahead.
20:09:52 DEVERA
Just like Cauthrien, a very tough and very avoidable fight. With our Coercion skill we could Intimidate Devera to back off from the fight, or with Persuasion we could convince her to bring us right before Caladrius, her boss.
Well, we will do none of that. We will fight and she will die.
Once the cutscene ends, just like with Cauthrien, the soldiers in the back will immediately start aiming at us with their Scattershot. That is not good. The melee guys are also gonna charge at us and possibly stun us with their Shield Pummel. That is also not good.
So first, we start with a Mind Blast. This will give us time to bomb the archers with a Fire Ball. The fastest way to throw the ball, is to target the archer in the middle of the other room. Still, there is a huge chance that we will be stunned by a Scattershot at this point. We aim again, and we throw that ball!
Good, the archers are knocked down and they are burning. Now we have time to re-position. We can freeze a group of soldiers by running to the right side of the room. Unfortunately for me, they left when Alistair started slashing Devera, so only Devera got the freeze. Well, at least she is dead. She is not that dangerous, but it is best to take her down fast.
Our team will need heal, so Alistair gets Lifeward, and Sten gets Heal.
There are traps in the middle of the doorway, so don't try to rush in. Approach from the side, and disable the archers from mid range with Cone of Cold. At this point we notice that Morrigan has been left alone with a Tevinter Warrior, so we help her out with some heal, and our Bloody Grasp takes the guy down. Then we focus back on the archers again with Flame Blast. Alistair also arrives and finishes the archers off.
We quickly loot the room, and get our second Imperial Edge, from the chest in the other room. Then we make some space for our loot, because we are loaded again.
This is where I give Alistair Duncan's shield, and I switch his swords to the double Imperial's Edge.
20:15:20 CALADRIUS
A blood mage, and a boss. He is also very polite. Still we will take him down. This is where Devera would have brought you, if you convince her that you want to talk to the boss. Yup, all of the previous fights would have been avoided.
So how do we take him down? Well, I think you know it already. Yup, that's right! Mana Clash. Now, you can actually kill him instantly, if you set up Morrigan to use her Vulnerability Hex on Boss or higher enemies, then just use Mana Clash on him.
I was not in the mood to change her tactics just for this fight though, so we will not do that here. After we cast Mana Clash, he is going to try to heal himself with his Blood Sacrifice spell, and kill his own soldiers in the process.
Even if he just gets rid of one, it will be a big help for us.
During the fight we really need to focus on him, and unload everything we have on him. Paralyzing and knocking him down can prevent him from healing himself, and to cast spells. This can end the fight very quickly.
Once his health reaches 0, the fight ends, and a cutscene will play. You can let him go, or continue the fight.
He also gives you the option to kill all the elves in the warehouse, in a ritual that would augment your health a "great deal". He is just a lying Blood Mage. Your health will only be boosted by a pathetic 5 points. Hardly worth the price. Especially since, if you pick this option, the trader in the Alienage will be unavailable(he has a skill book, so we definitely want to trade with him).
So just kill him and be done with him.
After he is dead, another cutscene will play where the elves leader, Valendrian, will thank you for the rescue. Now we can go and sell our junk in the shop, and buy the last skill book in the game.
20:19:41 THE LAST SKILL BOOK
We are going to place it on Expert Herbalism.
20:20:12 SER OTTO
The "Something Wicked" quest. Let's talk to the Deranged Beggar, check the pool of blood, and the dead dog. Let's report back to Otto.
Also, let's give a few more coins to the beggars.
20:25:23 HAUNTED ORPHANAGE
Creepy place, and pretty dangerous. At least for Ser Otto. Without him, we will fail the quest so we make sure he gets to the end. Put a Lifeward on him instantly.
20:27:29 THE FIRST CONFRONTATION
Quick and easy, if you know what to do. The Rage Demon is weak to ice, so we use Cone of Cold and Winter's Grasp. The Shades who appear will be lasted with a Mana Clash. Poof! The fight is over.
20:31:12 THE FINAL CONFRONTATION
First we quickly kill the Elite Rage demon with some ice and a few hits from our warriors. Then after the unfortunate fate of Set Otto, we will take down the Rage Demon boss.
The fight is not difficult for the War Mage, but the room will "heat up" quickly, and the fire damage can be quite brutal. The Rage Demon boss must be attacked with ice, then at half health, more Normal Rage Demons will appear. At that time, we can already use Mana Clash, which will take out everyone, if not resisted.
20:33:20 LEVEL 21
3 points on Magic, and we pick up Master Herbalism and the Rejuvenate spell.
20:33:55 LOOTING THE ALIENAGE WITH LELIANA
Yup, we do this again. You can skip it here: 20:37:42
Let's watch the funny scene with the beggars first. Then let's head back to the Orphanage, then the Warehouse. Finally, we finish with Valendrian's house.
20:35:44 GIVE THE DERAGNED BEGGAR THE AMULET
20:36:21 I TOLD YOU WE RETURN HERE
We just kill the enemies and loot the room.
20:39:25 STEN LEVEL 20
3 Strength. There is nothing left to pick up, so we just get Final Blow. After level 19, his talents are no longer important.
We return to Guild with the completed quest, and pick up the final Guild Quest. Defending the Collective. We will go to Redcliffe and talk to the Templar there, then we talk to the one in Denerim to get the reward for both options.
We also turn in our quest to the Chanter's Board. The last quest, Jowan's Intention is bugged, and can't be completed without the console commands, which we will not use.
Finally we, also go back the Irregulars to turn in our quests, and receive the final mission "A Change in Leadership" from them. We will go after Taoran, simply because killing him is harder than killing his father.
20:43:01 TAORAN'S CAMP
Yeah, let's kill the brat and his minions. usually I walk away, but I wanted this fight for this playthrough.
The battle is dangerous because everyone here, except a few archers, are dual weapon warriors who use Momentum, so they are swimming in DPS. Taoran is also a boss, and the archers can also stun with Scattershot.
Morrigan will be in the biggest danger obviously. As soon as the fight starts, we Mind Blast the crowd, then place a Repulsion Glyph around Morrigan. She will also place a Warding Glyph around herself, so she will be protected.
Healing is very important, because, as I said, these guys are serious when it comes to damage. So let Sten and Alistair do most of the work for you, but make sure to replenish their health.
After the death of Taoran and his men, we loot them and turn the quest in at the tavern.
20:46:50 IT'S TIME TO FINALLY CHALLENGE LOGHAIN
We go back to Eamon, and tell him about what happened in the Alienage. We have enough evidence and support to face Loghain now!
20:48:20 CONFRONTING LOGHAIN
Everyone turns against him, except Ceorlic, who will support him no matter what.
Still, we are ready to settle this honorably, so we challenge him to a duel. And we proceed to utterly embarrass him. Poor man can barely pull out his sword during the duel.
We execute him, and let Anora marry Alistair, so they can rule Ferelden together.
21:01:30 BONUS SPELL
Completing the Landsmeet gives us a bonus talent/spell. We pick Regeneration.
21:01:58 MORRIGAN LEVEL 21
3 on Willpower, Improved Combat Tactics, and Glyph of Repulsion.
21:03:21 TIME TO BEAT DOWN THOSE ELITE BOSSES!
Before we stop the Blight, we have a few Elite Bosses to take care of. The first is going to be Gaxkang, the second will be Flemeth, then we will kill the High Dragon.
21:03:50 GAXKANG
For Gaxkang, we will use Mana Clash, boosted by Morrigan's Vulnerability Hex. If all goes well, he will die instantly. If all goes well...
First we talk to the demon, then as soon the cutscene ends, we use Cone of Cold on him. This will paralyze him, but not for long. Our goal is to give Morrigan enough time to cast her Hex. Then, we hit him with Petrify, so we can safely use Mana Clash on him. Voila! He is dead and gone. Loot him and the room and let's move on to the next Elite Boss.
21:07:10 FLEMETH
We can't bring Morrigan here, so we will use Wynne. We made sure that she has tons of Healing spells and paralyzing spells, so she will do fine.
Once Flemeth turns into a dragon, we use Cone of Cold to paralyze her. This will give the warriors time to get to her without being attacked. Once they are there, we use Petrify and Glyph of Paralysis on her to keep her still.
When she Grabs one of our warriors, we use Cone of Cold to paralyze the dragon. If we have no spell ready that can paralyze, we make sure the member won't fall by using Lifeward, Group Heal and Heal on the grabbed warrior. As a last resort, we can use Force Field.
Our team, deals enough damage to take her down pretty quickly. It's all about surviving her viscous attacks in that one minute until her health goes down to zero.
Once she is done, we get her key, and her book from the hut.
We bring it back to Morrigan and talk to her. Her approval is now maxed, and we have finished the last companion quest!
21:15:21 THE HIGH DRAGON & ALISTAIR LEVEL 21
Alistair gets 3 point on Strength. The rest is irrelevant, his build is complete. I picked Poison Making and Momentum. He will use neither.
Let's take that lizard down!
We set up a new tactic preset for Morrigan. We make her use Glyph of Paralysis, Vulnerability Hex and Winter's Grasp on the dragon. She will also heal herself and the party whenever she can.
Alistair and Sten gets minor tweaks. Sten will not use Pommel Strike, because it is useless against the dragon, and Alistair will use Riposte on any enemy, not just the one who attacks me.
Our tactics will be the same as they were with Flemeth. The High Dragon is just a harder version of Flemeth.
We will heal, and paralyze mostly. In addition to this, we will cast some damaging spells like Winter's Grasp or Bloody Grasp.
It is actually a pretty good tactic to stay in front of the dragon(out of range of course) and just draw lots of aggro. This way she will concentrate on us, and the only thing she can use is her Fire Ball, and Flame Breath. Both can be easily countered with our healing spells, even without any resistance.
This way the warriors can also attack her from the back, and they don't have to be afraid to be Grabbed. With this tactics, she actually fell faster than Flemeth, despite hagin more health than Flemeth.
Once she is killed, we get the loot from her body, and bring that Dragon Scale back to Wade.
21:20:15 WADE AND HIS FINEST WORK
We give the scales, and get the armor. Quest completed. We pick the Bone Plate. It is the most valuable. We will sell it afterwards.
After this we will collect all of the remaining Backpacks from various merchants, so our inventory could reach its maximum space, which is 125.
We also pick up the last letter from the Tavern quest "Correspondence Interruptus". However, this quest is also bugged. I have all the 12 letters, yet my inventory only has the one I just picked up. So, I can't turn the quest in.
21:29:55 GETTING RID OF THE DARKSPAWN IN REDCLIFFE
We talk to the man at the bridge and proceed into the village.
Honestly, there is nothing here in Redcliffe that we have not seen before. Emissaries get Mana Clash, Ogres get Petrify and Glyph of Paralysis. Everyone else will get Fire Ball, Cone of Cold or Flame Blast. Simple. Most darkspawn here will die in one hit.
21:39:55 THIS IS WHERE THEY WOULD ALL GO NUDE
This is where I would usually undress all of my companions who won't come with me during the final battle, and sell their equipment. During the section where they hold the gate, the ally support is more than enough to hold the darkspawn back, even if they are all in their underwear.
But since this is a playthrough, I decided to leave them with some dignity.
This is also where we can finally buy the First Enchanter Cowl, the final piece of our endgame equipment. A hat that looks a thousand times better than our current one, and it give 10% dodge and magic resistance.
21:41:30 LET'S SEE WHAT RIORDANHAS TO SAY
The Warden who kills the Archdemon dies. That's pretty much it.
21:43:59 MORRIGAN'S OFFER
I want to save my hide, but I'm not ready to be a father, so... Alistair? Where are you?
After the deal is done, there is an extremely uncomfortable "sex" scene. Remember when I said that the Broodmother is probably the most disturbing thing in Dragon Age? I lied!
I adore and love this game to death! But I haven't watched this cutscene in ten years. My finger hitting the Escape button when I start to hear the music, is in my muscle memory already. But now, I had to watch the thing because of the playthrough.
21:49:39 THE SIEGE OF DENERIM
Here we are, this is it. Time to end the Blight. After gathering our army, listening to Alistair's speech, we are ready and eager to face anything!
21:53:15 DENERIM GATES
Very easy fight. Just kill everyone. Almost every darkspawn here are one hit kills, so just slaughter them!
When they are done, get Alistar, Sten and Morrigan in the party. I picked Wynne as the defender, because this way I will control her during the defense of the gate. She is a healer, so it is very easy to not let anyone fall in battle with her.
We say our goodbyes to our friends and let's head into the city!
22:02:35 STEN LEVEL 21
3 Strength. The rest does not matter.
22:02:49 MARKET DISTRICT - HURLOCK WARRIOR GENERAL
Since we want to keep all of our allies unharmed, we will only call them when we know we will not lose any.
The Market District only has three types of enemies. Genlock Emissaries, Ogres and the General. The General is a two-handed warrior. He hits almost as hard as Cauthrien, and he has Indomitable, which makes him immune to stun and knockdown.
We Mana Clash the first Emissary, and get rid of the Ogres.
Then we approach the General. Be careful because the General like to target Morrigan, and she can die in just two hits from this guy. Petrify, Cone of Cold and Glyph of Paralysis works well on him. Because of our team's damage, he is pretty easy to take down once he can't attack.
Once he done, loot him, but be careful! Emissaries can surprise you with a Crushing Prison from afar, so just watch your back.
22:05:58 THE ALIENAGE - MAGE GENERAL
This would be a tough fight, but we have Mana Clash, so it is pretty easy. Use the spell on the General from above the gate, which will take away most of his health, then cast Bloody Grasp and Stonefist to finish him off. Once you get him and the Ogre out of the picture, it's a slaughterhouse.
This is a great place to call the elves as help. You won't lose a single one. They will all gather at the gates where the darkspawn were trying to break in, and fire a deadly volley of arrows on the approaching horde. With your Fire Balls, Alistair's(and Sten's) melee and heir arrows, this is child's play.
After they are defeated, go back to Shianni, and get the Dawn ring as a reward, then head to the gate after the bridge.
22:09:08 DENERIM GATES AGAIN
Our valiant allies will hold the gate. The allies are actually very overpowered here. Archers on elevation, eight additional soldiers, and all of your followers are here. You can even summon allies from the treaties.
So call the elves. They will keep a distance from the fight, since they have bows. No chance of losing any of them.
Who you will have during the fight is random. We have Oghren, Leliana, and Dog. They will do. We also have control over Wynne. We picked her so we can heal if our party needs it.
Your priority is to take down the Ogre boss fast. He can actually deal some real damage to the trops, and he is basically the only threat here. Wynne has three types of paralyzing spells so this won't be difficult.
Once the beast is down, just slaughter the rest. It's best if you are not doing anything, other than being ready with a Stonefist or a Petrify spell for the appearing Emissaries. After the reinforcement is crushed, let's return to our War Mage.
22:13:34 REACHING FORT DRAKON
Riordan is dead, but he gave us a chance to kill the Archdemon by making sure it can't fly away. The dragon is now at the top of Fort Drakon. So we need to get there first.
This is by far the most dangerous encounter during the final battle!
We approach from the left. There is one Elite Ogre there, so we pause our team and start attacking it. Once hi health is around half, we throw a Fire Ball at it. That will clear out all the small archer drakspawn around it.
We summon the team and let's rock! At this point if we approach the top of the stairs, the darkspawn archers already grouped up together. They stop moving as soon as we are in their line of sight. So we blast them with Cone of Cold.
We watch for Morrigan, and if her health is low, we place her in a Force Field.
For the next step, we are going to use a spell combination. At the top of the next stairs, there are some nasty enemies, who have a great advantage on us. One Elite Ogre, one Elite Genlock Archer, and one Elite Genlock Emissary.
So let's apply Glyph of Repulsion on them, and cast Glyph of Paralysis on them after. Boom! Paralysis Explosion! Now that everyone has been paralyzed up there, we rush up and start cleaning.
Make sure your team won't run into the Paralysis Explosion! I accidentally hit the J button here instead of the H(which is my quick key for team pause), so my Journal just pooped up.
Once you reach the top of the stairs, the most important is to take out the Emissary. Use Mana Clash, fast. Then you can help the team by blasting the group with Flame Blast. Sorry, Alistair.
There is a chance that an Emissary will spawn at the left side from the top of the stairs so watch out for him! To me it did not spawn this time, but I was ready for him with Stonefist.
We are done here, let's move on!
We approach the next stairs. Here we have two Emissaries, so we quickly set up Morrigan to use Force Field on someone who gets trapped into a Crushing Prison. Since you can't specifically set her up to use it when someone uses Crushing Prison, we make sure she uses it when someone is paralyzed.
We slowly approach and blast the first Emissary with Mana Clash, then smack the rest of the darkspawn around him with a Fire Ball.
The second Emissary is a bit further. We let the warriors charge ahead, so they can be locked into a Crushing Prison instead of us. When this happens, we use Force Field to get them out. Force Field is also good when your team member gets paralyzed by Glyph of Paralysis. Yeah, they are stuck but at least they can't take damage.
Once the two Emissary is down, you can take the rest easily. However, watch for the new spawning darkspawn. There is a chance that an Emissary will spawn here so be ready!
If everyone is dead, we proceed through the gate.
Usually you can summon your allies, like the dwarves here, and they save you a lot of trouble by letting the Emissaries target them instead of you. But you will lose a lot of guys.
22:18:11 LEVEL 23
3 points on Magic, and we pick up Cleansing Area.
22:18:42 THE ENTRANCE OF FORT DRAKON
Pretty mean place, especially without the allies. First, we have a lot of archers. Three on both sides. Fire Ball or any other aoe spell will do.
As we go closer, a dragon thrall will spawn. We will let him approach us and let the warriors take them on. We definitely won't just rush ahead.
After the lizard has been dealt with, we use Mana Clash from afar to take down the two Emissaries directly in front of the entrance doors. This fight just got a whole lot easier!
The next target is the Alpha Genlock. He uses Arrow of Slaying and Scattershot, so he needs to die fast. We cast a Glyph of Repulsion again to set up a Paralysis Explosion. Fortunately for us, he already had a Glyph of Paralysis around him so the explosion was set off instantly, and we still have our Paralysis.
Sten can make short work of him after that. Alistair get a little freeze from me, sorry brother... Morrigan put him in to a Force Field while Sten is taking down the rest. We boost him with Lifeward just in case.
We quickly loot the entrance, change Morrigan's tactics with the Force Field and head inside.
22:20:50 THE MAIN FLOOR OF FORT DRAKON - GENLOCK CONJURER
The fight ahead is not difficult, but tricky. The Genlock Shifter Boss will use the spawning Shades to keep teleporting when he takes damage.
Normally, we would blast him with Mana Clash, right? Well, that is not the solution here. Here, you ahve to let the Shades get close to you, and when they are near, BOOM! Use Mana Clash. This will take out half of them, the other half can be dealt with by the team. This removes the ability from the boss to teleport into the Shades to save himself. After this, he is toast. Especially if you Petrify him first.
22:21:43 MORRIGAN LEVEL 22
1 Magic, 2 Willpower. The spell is irrelevant at this point. I just picked Arcane Bolt.
After we level her up, we head into the next room. Two Emissaries will be here, but they are not that dangerous. WE use Mana Clash on the Shapeshiter(the Genlock), and Fir Ball the other. Then we just let Alistair kill him. There are also a lot of walking corpses here, but die in one hit.
We loot the rooms, then talk to Sandal and sell our junk. Any last minute Enchantment? Nah, I just wanted to hear him say that one last time.
22:23:25 IN CASE TOU ARE WONDERING...
If you have no idea what I'm doing here, let me tell you. I noticed that a Glyph of Warding effect was stuck on me. I don't want any glitched advantage on me, so I was trying to take it off, but it was not from me. It was from Morrigan, so I had to re-apply the spell with her, and leave the radius to finally remove it. Eh.
22:24:11 SECOND FLOOR
We loot the room, then we proceed forward. There are two chests on top at the top of the stairs, but we will not go there since they are both locked.
The next room will have three Elite darkspawn. One of each type of warrior class. Turn left, and use Cone of Cold on the two that are near to each other. Stonefist also works.
Protect Morrigan with a Repulsion Glyph in case the third darkspawn attacks her. Sten and Morrigan take that one out this way and you don't have to focus on him.
We finish off the other two with some magic and Alistair. And check on the damage on that guy! Alistair is a total badass! 79 basic attack damage and 42 fire? With each swing? Wrecking Ballistair!
22:25:01 DOOR 1
Lots of darkspawn, not much danger. Use Cone of Cold on the group in front of you, then Fire Ball on the group on the right. The far right side can get some Flame Blast, while your team goes after the Elite.
22:25:31 DOOR 2 - MASTER ASSASSIN BOSS
Lots of darkspawn, LOTS OF DANGER! Especially for Morrigan! There is a Master Assassin behind this door, with his acolytes. The acolytes are not hard, but the Master Assassin hits very hard and has Mark of Death. That is a guaranteed death for Morrigan if she is being targeted. The place is also filled with Leghold Traps.
So we won't rush, in. In act we won't go in at all! We stop the team, and open the door so they can come to us. We can welcome them with Cone of Cold and Flame Blast as they coming towards us. Then hit them with Mind Blast and it's time for the warriors to do their job.
Morrigan put Horror on the boss, so we will pay extra attention to her, because she just pulled aggro on herself. Stonefist and Repulsion can keep the Master at bay.
However, he still managed to put Mark of Death on our little witch, so we Force Field her immediately. It turned out to be a good call, because she was hit with Flurry a second later. With her protected, the Master can be taken down by the warriors. Keep you Healing Magic ready, just in case.
22:26:32 THE DOOR THAT LEADS TO THE TOP
An Emissary in an advantageous position, with two Ogres. This fight can also be dangerous. The mage can lock you into a Force Field, and then the Ogres can spam Ram on you until you die.
So let's approach with caution. From afar, we will try to Mana Clash the Emissary. It worked! If it does not, then we need to let our warriors charge in first, so we can save them with Force Field, when they get Prisoned.
If the Emissary falls, the Ogres will provide little challenge.
22:28:26 THE ARCHDEMON
After everything we faced to get there, this is not going to be difficult at all. We won't even call the allies to help.
Since we have defeated the two Generals, the only thing we need to focus on is the The Archdemon. It can be taken down by the usual dragon fighting tactics: paralyzing spells, and relentless melee form our party.
It will barely able to do any attacks, because our party damage is so high. It will just keep teleporting away, until it retreats into a position we can't reach. But the Ballistas can!
My tactic with the Ballistas is simple: patience. If you don't have a rogue in the party, then you have no way of repairing them if they jam. We don't have a rogue. However, based on my experience, if you fire the ballista after it is fully loaded, instead of keep spamming the left click on it, then it has a much lower chance to jam. This way we can take down the dragon with just one, instead of switching positions to use the other ones.
This is the best way to force the Archdemon back into the battlefield. After this, it will no longer fly anywhere, and it will be a sitting duck, waiting to be killed. Which is what will happen here. Pretty fast. After the final blow from Alistair, let's watch the cutscene an be ready for the celebration! The Blight is over!
22:34:01 THE HERO OF FERELDEN
We did it! It's time to celebrate! Let's talk to our friends and head for the exit.
And with that, the video and the guide is over. I hope you enjoyed it, and I wish you good luck on your journey!