[DAI Guide] Bugs and Combat Mechanics

Veterans of the single-player (SP) campaign have become so desensitized to these known issues that we don't even think about them anymore, but for players who are coming to DAI for the first time, they are often a shock. Why not collect the accumulated wisdom of dozens of playthroughs and record them all in one place?

Inspired by @maverick827

NOTE TO NEW PLAYERS: Don't be put off by the length of this list. You may get the impression that the game is riddled with bugs and a complete fail, but you would be mistaken. Trust us, it used to be a lot worse. A lot worse. For a game of this size, the outright game breaking bugs are at a minimum. Most of the problems are just annoying..
 
BUGS
Broken into topic areas: General Gameplay, Active Abilities, Passive Abilities, Gear, Accessories, Upgrades
 
General Gameplay
 
Stand and do nothing bug: This is possibly the worst bug of the entire game. In combat, one or more of your AI-controlled party members will stand and do nothing for the entire combat. It's completely random and unpredictable, but does seem to be related to the number of AI driven objects on screen -- the more there are, the more likely the bug is to happen. Happens a lot in Descent mob battles, for example.
 
Workaround: switch control to the affected character and do a single jump or ability. That seems to reset the AI.
 
Bad targeting with Twin Fangs, Deathblow, Shield Bash and some others: If the target is anything other than a normal sized humanoid, your character can chase the target all over the place before finally landing a blow. Particularly annoying when you set up an attack in the flanking cone and after activating the ability, chase around the target until you are in front. No workaround.
 
Weakened status on top of Shocked status turns into Sleeping status: This is mostly an issue for Rift Mages, who have passives that count on the Weakened state persisting. If your Rift Mage happens to use Storm abilities, or you have another mage that uses Storm abilities, you might run into this. Does not happen in the other order (Shocked on Weakened). Workaround is to exploit the Sleeping status for combos.
 
Cullen locked out of War Table missions: In the Crows Operation Chain, the game allows you to do two conflicting missions, such as A Lead From the Crows and Word from Zevran Arainai, when you open the mission completion, the follow-up mission Evading the Crows will immediately activate with Cullen, with no countdown to completion, effectively removing Cullen from the Wart Table missions for the rest of the game. This is highly dependent on your world-state at the start of the game. If Zev is dead or off chasing the HoF, no problem.


Running in place bug: Sometimes all characters are stuck in place. If trying to move, the animation plays but the character is stuck. Characters can act, but not move around. Fixed by saving/reloading, which often can't be done when it happens as it tends to happen during combat. It thankfully doesn't happen often.
 
Rogue random blink bug: Sometimes, or rather in some locations, using an ability results in the player character teleporting away a bit from the location. I always play a DW Rogue, so it might only be connected to their abilities (Twin Fangs, Flank Attack etc.). Thankfully, it happens very seldom. Seems to happen mostly in the Hissing Wastes.

Trapped after closing a darkspawn hole: Can occasionally be problematic. The problem? If a party member (or PC, if not the mage performing the act of securing the hole) is standing too close to the "activation" spot, when a mage engages it, they may get stuck behind the newly formed structure. Have had this happen in Valammar and Coracavus.

No first Throne accessory: a bug that skips getting first throne accessory. It just grants you second accessory, making your throne look as it should with both, but the quest counts it as just one. Golden Nug pretty much solved this problem for those with multiple pts, but those on first run (or without completed collection on any pt) might be surprised.

Judgment cutscene fail: After interacting with throne - you're stuck outside the cutscene. Or you go into infinite black screen loading. Workaround: load from earlier save.

Combat graphics glitch/trap: Sometimes, usually when fighting a dragon, your character can get stuck in a graphics glitch. The screen flashes multiple colors, kind of like you are inside the dragon. Workaround: switch characters. No way to get free until the rest of the party kills the dragon.

Inquisitor stuck after talking to Requisitions: Sometimes, the Inquisitor freezes and can't move after speaking to the Requisition officer at camp. This often happens in the Hissing Wastes. Workaround: reload from save or switch to another party member and do a random attack to unfreeze the Inquisitor.

DoT vs Flanking bug: the 1 damage per tick thing is a general bug with DoT damage interacting incorrectly with flanking. Basically if the source of the DoT is in a flanking position and under normal conditions would have an effective flanking bonus greater than 0 (so flanking >0 if within 3 meters, >25 if not), DoT ticks deal 1 damage.

Thrown objects fly away/physics glitch: Sometimes, instead of landing on the ground or on the intended target, a thrown objects, like a grenades or Elemental Mines, fly up into the sky, to get stuck in trees, walls, or clouds in the sky (stop at some altitude).

Dialogue wheel options can't be selected: Rarely, perhaps by doing an Interact with some object just before a dialogue pops up, you can get stuck and not be able to select any dialogue options. If it is a soft lock dialogue you can walk away from, walking away clears the problem. If it is hard locked, there is no work around.

Gain guard doesn't work on one or more characters: Confirmed on MP, not yet confirmed on SP. One or more characters do not gain guard when they are supposed to, due to Horn of Valor or Fade-Touched Masterwork or Katari intrinsic trait in MP.

Lost max health/health bar loses vertical lines: After eliminating effects and gear, like Pact belts, that reduce max health, there is still a bug that can cause you to lose max health temporarily, as shown in the screenshots in the spoiler. The first shot shows only 3 vertical lines, the second shows 5 vertical lines. There is some evidence that the health loss happens when using a mount. Workaround: switch to a party member and mount/dismount, seems to clear it. Or, save, exit the game, restart the game, reload. 



Active Abilities
 
Combat Roll/Coming Through upgrade: Does twice as much damage as listed (500% instead of 250%) with a small radius AoE.

Energy Barrage glitch: resets Winter Stillness timer.

Fade Step glitch: Sometimes (perhaps often with KE), your character will return to it's original position. Or, you will be able to do another Fade Step immediately after the first, no cooldown. NOTE: The free second casting may have to do with Flashpoint triggering if you have the Frost Step upgrade and do critical damage.

Fire Mine with Flaming Array upgrade 1 damage glitch: When a Flaming Array mine is triggered, it sometimes only does 1 damage, even to a target that is vulnerable to fire damage. UPDATE: testing shows that the 1 damage bug arises from the same conditions as the DoT vs Flanking bug (see above). In other words, if you cast the array too close to the target while also in the flanking cone, you'll only get 1 damage.
 
Flank Attack glitch: Rather often only the first part of Flank Attack works, resulting in the character only doing the first attack and not going into stealth if having the Skirmisher upgrade. 

Another Flank Attack glitch: If you have the Clinging Shadows upgrade to Stealth enabled and you start a Flank Attack with Skirmisher while you are still in Stealth, you will not continue to be in Stealth after the attack. This is because the timer for leaving Stealth imposed by Clinging Shadows is treated as more important that the Skirmisher effect. Workarounds: make sure you are not already in Stealth before doing Flank Attack, or, toggle the Stealth upgrade over to Lost In The Shadows if you intend to use Skirmisher for entering stealth.
 
Stealth glitch: Sometimes a stealthed rogue remains stealthed after combat indefinitely; it's just a graphic glitch because opponents can see him, but other chars of the group dont follow close. Workaround: auto-attack thin air and this clears the visual glitch.

Artificer's Elemental Mines One Shot upgrade happens randomly: Even when no upgrade is purchased, or the toggle is set to Throw Everything, sometimes an activation of Elemental Mines acts as if One Shot were enabled, and only one big mine is thrown.

Artificer's Elemental Mines bug vs. big monsters: Giants and Great Bears do not trigger Elemental Mines when they step on or near them. Elemental Mines are triggered by High Dragons. Spike Traps and mage's Fire Mines are triggered by Giants and Great Bears and High Dragons, so it seems to be something specific about Elemental Mines. It's worth noting that Elemental Mines are not triggered by Arcane Horrors nor Wisps, but this is expected, since those monsters float above the ground.

Wall of Ice costs 100 mana instead of 50: Happens whether Trespasser is installed or not. The spell can be cast if you have less than 100 mana and more than 50, but it will zero out your mana when the two-part cast is done. Workaround: none, however it appears that if the Sigil of the Great Bear is equipped, the total amount of mana deducted is only 50 -- the Sigil seems to fix the bug.


Passive Abilities
 
The label DISPUTED means some people complain that it doesn't work, others claim it works fine.

NOTE: The DISPUTED discrepancy could be due to the difference between using Tactical and not using Tactical. For example, Chaotic Focus seems to work as listed if not using Tactical, but if using Tactical the bonus may be smaller.
 
Chaotic Focus: Full barrier doesn't give the damage bonus as specified for Flaming Array. Detailed explanation here, TL;DR the code mistakenly uses the last (instead of current) value of barrier from the last application of Chaotic Focus.

Flaskmaster: Sometimes, the extra grenade/tonic is lost after fast traveling or changing zones. See Grenade/Tonic belts.
 
Ice Armor: Glitch in your favor, the armor sometimes stays active indefinitely.
 
Rejuvenating Barrier: Doesn't seem to benefit party members, only the caster.
 
Simulacrum (DISPUTED): The necromancer just dies, no extra time.
 
Stormbringer (DISPUTED): Doesn't seem to generate lightning bolts.
 
Gear
 
The Best Defense (Shield) blue glow: Equipping this shield can result in your character having a blue glow that is permanent, even in cutscenes, even when the shield is not equipped. Workaround: remove from inventory entirely (store in Storage chest) and save/reload.
 
Accessories
 
Grenade/Tonic belts: Sometimes, the extra grenade/tonic is lost after fast traveling or changing zones. See Flaskmaster passive.

Master Belt of Focus: from JoH has no effect.

Enhanced Ring of Sundering does not show up in Inventory: A ring that can be stored and retrieved from the Storage Chest does not show in the Inquisitor's inventory. See video.
 
Upgrades
 
Fade-Touched mats that proc Unbowed (e.g., FT Bloodstone) (DISPUTED): The ability Unbowed no longer exists, was replaced with Livid, so these mats now do nothing. However, some players have tested FT Volcanic Aurum and reported that Unbowed does bestow guard for nearby enemies.

Walking Bomb Masterwork extended Damage over Time (DoT): At least for a DW rogue, possibly other classes, the duration of a Walking Bomb Masterwork proc is 10 seconds, 6 ticks, instead of the listed 5 seconds. Some of the damage per tick might be just 1 point, due to the DoT vs Flanking bug (see above).
 

PLEASE SEE POST #2 FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE LIST -- ANNOYANCES

LAST UPDATE: 05-MAR-17

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