Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion

What I am really thinking is that for a "dexterity" SnS, probably you still need to go mostly strength early as Str is used for equipping shield, armor, unlocking shield talents, etc. So probably once you have mid thirties, you can start adding dex and then continue that on towards the end of the game.

In that case, my new "strength" character could become a dex SnS by late game. Maybe I will attempt that, but I also didn't buy the grenades before Korcari either.

good point.

Remember you mentioned you managed to escape Zevran ambush?
That still bothers me and still try to do the same already do not know how many times with the same and different characters. Nothing.
How you did that, do not know.

bothers anyway. Will try soon again.


good to hear, but dex? Out of buisiness than? No-pot-strength SnS than if willing?


learn from others. Thanks.
"Trial".

bijouterie instead if DN makes more money anyway?
Last time (DC with that mod and less money) I had money to buy something fancy doing small quests and not really buying anything; and w/o what I couldn't kill Uldred as had mentioned.
Health regen is anyway in that fancy-trinket package, no need to do RtO.
Or you do not want these items this time?





why?
Just "because" or any benifits (probable loot from dead militia is probable anyway)?
I've always made Ridcliffe the last when the army was ready and had the ashes not to waste time running around. But that was with pots even if solos...



I am again with my AP.

Thus you did not use it the rest of the game ever? Even to compare?

Did not compare 1h weapons for their stats and "out of curiosity" myself.

Now thinking: to check "highetst crit chance" from the Battleaxe was tempting thus ran around mostly with that axe (did not check "crit chance' from BA anyway before).
Maybe was a mistale as needed to check AP as with the previous character with mod.
Now can't check, but IIRC I do not have saves before the tower to check the Maul as wanted originally (the closest is with Gazarath).
On the other hand: eraly in the game everything is so vague (though get 50 crits only from the Battleaxe was not vague at all).


have never managed to aggro less than 3. Hmm..
Thus was running around as you had said.


aha, that is the only advantage not to get stunned or whatever; health loosing is unavoidable anyway. Even Gazarath misses like crazy in comparison with the Ogre simples melees (unless you are very lucky).




again? My granade still refuses to do at least something close to that damage.
Need to check type of granade but I do not remember at this stage that matter was so important.
At least I am lucky all the time the "dog killed fast".

What do you mean "different choices in Ostagar? Kill or leave the dog? That means less exp and no money from the dog healer in Ostagar.



now much money do you have at this point out of curiosity?



just interesting (did not try myself): have you ever tried "Dwarven Merchant's Belt" (+5% monetary gain)if it actually works and worth to use while trading and looting?



great


Just a suggestion: as this thread is not only about the origianl post but includes more info, maybe rename it?

Items are fine, but the only two that I can think of to buy this early would be Lifegiver, or even Rose's Thorn. Lifegiver is ~90g. And I have to either beat or intimidate Immeric at the Orzammar gates. I am sure I can intimidate him, might be able to beat him in a level or two. Tried it at 7 after I got KCP, couldn't beat them.


No benefit, just that I don't think this is too difficult a treaty line. Would mean Connor gets killed though. Maybe I won't do this. Could try something like Denerim and or Honnleath. Back Alley Justice is doable, with position exploits.

I want health regen for Brecilian, and I like to have Cleanse Area to make Zathrien easy.

I hate fighting the werewolves, it is hard to do without a health pot.


It is pretty low tier. I keep it around in case I want to do the equipment glitch (since it has +1 str). I didn't calculate it out, just switched in between the weapons against the actual enemies in Ishal and watched the numbers.

In any case, with 1h stuff, you can get a Saw Sword in Denerim, or often I do Pearls Before Swine and get Aodh from Cristoff pretty early. That is another encounter where you have allied NPCs, not much you can do about them. But all except the Sgt usually get killed early, the Sgt is invincible IIRC.

Unfortunately in the base game, the encounter with Axameter has such a low chance that you practically can't get it (on way to Dalish Camp).


I don't use the battle axes very often. But like I said, I don't try all that many 2H usually. I might buy that T2 Crusher or the Qunari Sword (since it can RNG with 2 runes) from Faryn in the future though.



Yes you would have to kill the dog or not save it.

Grenade damage is basically flat, so since enemy HP is lower at lower levels, grenades appear to work better there.

I was Level 6 both times in the dog encounter. Used a Fire Bomb since darkspawn are weak to fire (15% damage bonus). Acid Flask does a lower damage to them (they have 25% nature resistance).


Selling most things to Gorim at that point brought me to 32gold. Bought his sword, which took me down to 28 or 9. After finishing Lothering, making it to Frostback and buying KCP, I had about 9 gold.

I did not strip companions, although Alistair is in DLC armor so his armor was sold off. I don't sell the DLC items, they go on companions, or in a storage chest, or get destroyed. I have a storage chest for camp mod.


I don't think that effect works in the base game. It was supposed to only work when looting, and DA Rules Fixpack has a fix for it. I have never bothered to use or test that belt though.


I might append something then


I think for fixed things like crates or chests, the loot is generated the first time you enter the area. Unless it is a chest that always holds something specific.

I don't know if it generates the loot from enemies when you load the area, or right when you kill them. I think it is the former. In any case, think there are loot tables with probabilities. Like for Kolgrim, there is a low chance to drop a high tier dweomer rune, but some of the other items he will always drop.

***

I was thinking today that in Denerim I could have done what I often do and activate the Mage's Collective quests, so in that case I think I would have got the abomination encounter instead of Bloody Plains going back to Lothering. Too late now (it isn't actually, but I don't think I am going to reload it).

Anyway regarding loot, I had picked up a +2 lightning rune in Ishal I think it was, so that went in Gorim's sword with the +5 I bought.

What I worked on later last night:

Lothering

Talked to Sten, then went to the Tavern. Leliana actually can tank all of them, so solo wise there isn't much to do. I focused down the leader. But I didn't let them leave, and picked them off after that.

Toll Collectors - Looted their far crate to make them hostile. As they came around the corner and clumped, used Soulrot, Fire, and Acid bombs in quick succession, then Pummel on leader. Trash mobs were already killed except 2H, who I finished off. Then it was play the run around game with the leader while Shield Pummel was on cooldown. The leader was nice enough to drop Incense of Awareness, which might help later.

Turned in health pots, traps for side quests (Alistair made the traps). I only complete it one time, the exploit is counter-productive. I don't remember if Level 7 was before or right after that. Took Templar, went +3 Str to 39 with belt (so could equip KCP). Saved the talent point, Shield Cover needs 16 dex, but is worthless except as prerequisite.

Fought the villager mob, used an Acid Flask and Deathroot Extract. The only guy who can do more than 1 damage with Shield Wall up is basically the main guy with the mace. Fought near the chest by the shack that is close.

Bandits Everywhere - luring. But this guy has pretty good damage and defense with Aeducan Shield, and Gorim's Shield with +5 and +2 lightning dmg. I was tempted to buy the GM Cold Rune, might save the money. For the 2H at the end, the DW ran up with him, so I had to Pummel the 2H, and try to kill the DW as fast as possible. Then stun / kite the 2H around. Good thing he doesn't use Indomitable.

Other - Venom, Wolves and Bears were actually not too bad with this damage output. Lured two at a time usually.

Stealing - I let Leliana steal from the villagers. There isn't much to get that is good except for the unscrupulous merchant, who gives a high tier crossbow.

Frostback Mountains

Got Gentle Path on the way there (nice luck).

Bought KCP. I didn't sell loot to Faryn, because I am greedy and want to sell to Gorim.

I did try fighting Immeric. I can't figure out a good way to beat him with this character yet. I can't kill any of them fast enough.

Haven't decided where to go after this though. Bloody Plains probably still not practical yet, but will have a high likelihood of popping up because there isn't much else that is activated. On the way to the Lake, I might just get the meteor, wolves, or blight creature encounters.

Technically the talent tree is "Weapon and Shield." As dex investment goes up, Rose's Thorn will outdamage swords or axes for DPS.

Actually even on a strength build, you can do a decent crit setup with it. The enchantments are very good.


In the no health pot run, I didn't try to beat him until after RtO and Broken Circle, so that was level 9 or 10, and with fade bonuses.

We'll see


I don't remember seeing that happen.


I think I got it once without a tweak to frequency, and I was just traveling over and over again to try and force it.

Jan 27, 2020 22:51:53 GMT capn233 said:

I didn't sell loot to Faryn, because I am greedy and want to sell to Gorim.

...and get Bloody Plains at the same time...

It is a little different, maybe better in some ways than when I did my just regular SnS way back when.

I ended up going to Denerim, it gave Gentle Path.

******


Not really, you can only reduce the length of sunders (Hale runes the only practical way to boost resistance much), otherwise you have to dodge the attack that would apply it.

Activated Mage's Collective quests (hoped that Have You Seen Me would block Bloody Plains).

I had somewhat forgotten, but there is a way to cheese this encounter, even though it is still possible to get killed. If you immediately run to the tent where there is a stack of crates near the mountain / wall, and go in the little alcove the crates make, then enemies can't get to you in melee. Imrek and his 2H guy will just stop, but the mage will move to get close enough to blast you with the staff. If you have a bow, you can kill the mage, although at low level, and without animation canceling, you might still be killed by staff auto attacks before you can kill the mage. The mage has various heal spells (heal, regeneration) so he ends up with a ton of hit points.

After the mage is dead, if you move forward slightly, one of the melee will move towards you, and if you move all the way back they stop. So you can get them into position to either arrow them, or fight one on one in melee.


I have the tweak for it made by dainbramage, part of Dain's Fixes. He had several tweaks in there, since they are in their own folders they are optional. I am certain it worked, as the rare ones weren't too difficult to get after that.

The downside is there are a couple very rare encounters that are pretty difficult to solo, especially at low level. So I don't run that tweak in solo.


I messed up the quoting there, that was your response to me talking about being greedy and wanted to get to Denerim.

I beat Bloody Plains at Level 8 via "clever use of game mechanics," will get to it in a bit.


With a few levels it is getting more fun. Mostly because it is amusing me to break the game with exploits in some places.

***

So after Honnleath I tried a couple things, and went back and forth. I will somewhat simplify it though...

Honnleath to Orzammar Path

This gave Gentle Path yet again, I don't think Bloody Plains can trigger in between these two, but I could be wrong.

Imrek was still a problem, and so then I decided to go to the box and use arrows. Even so, the mage got me down to like 1/3 health before I could kill him, so I had to use more arrows for the 2H and Imrek as well. Ah well, I could have intimidated so I didn't feel too bad. Mostly I wanted to check some things in Orzammar at this level anyway.

Started the quest lines for Bhelen and Harrowemont. Blackmailed Baizal for 15gold. Wrangled the nugs.

I had to try the initial Dust Town ambush a lot of times, amusingly I was closest to beating it the first time where only one archer was left but I started missing, had hardly any health, and lost. But after that it wasn't working out as well. I ended up going back to a merchant for more Acid Flasks and importantly Rock Armor.

Acid Flasks don't do a lot of damage here, but I didn't want to waste my last Firebomb or Soulrot. To cut to the chase, with Rock Armor up I could beat it, but ended up using two acid flasks, a fire bomb, and a deathroot extract as well.

That allowed me to get Key to the City. I popped Leliana in, but at level 7 she didn't have enough skill to pick-pocket Rogek unfortunately (for 20g). With DLC stuff she could open the chest in the Shaperate for Gloves of Diligence, but I that is sort of rule bending maybe. Funny how that gave me pause but arrows don't. I switched back to my other save to try out the other "path," and that one pretty much superseded this one. Just giving context for stuff in Orzammar at Level 8 with this character.

---

Honnleath to Denerim Path

Amusingly, loading the same save in camp after Honnleath also gave me Gentle Path on the way to Denerim. Sold loot to Gorim, and had 60g 74s 4c, which was ~9 gold gained. Decided to risk going to the Dalish Camp.

Dalish Camp / Brecilian Forest

No road encounter at all, which is good. I could not persuade the guy to let me look for Athras. But I did activate Ironbark quest.

I ended up clearing nearly all of West Brecilian Forest relatively easily at level 8. For the darkspawn and ogre near the gravestone, I ran back far enough to where you can loop around a hill as long as necessary. The ogre doesn't have very high rank anyway, so it only took a couple pummels.

I talked to the Oak, and then killed the Shade in the camp to get the Dusk Ring for Leliana. Picked up the Ironbark, then went back to rescue Deygan. There should be another group of werewolves near the one exit, but I didn't fight them. I was close to level 9, but not quite, and I wanted to use this to my advantage later.

Equipped Deygan's boots, turned in the ironbark and took the amulet (20% nature resist, -1 con). Decided to be greedy and go back to Denerim, and see my luck...

Bloody Plains

I was actually hoping I would get this here.

Ran directly at the mage, used Shield Bash. Hurlock closed in, used Shield Pummel on him. Threw an acid flask on the clump of enemies at melee. Activated deathroot poison and killed the mage. Ran towards an archer to switch him to melee and kill him, and got both genlocks to switch weapons. After killing this genlock, I hit level 9 and so I was restored to full health. After that, used Shield Pummel on the 2H, auto-attacked, used another acid flask, and killed them all.

Level 9 - +3 dex, Master Combat Training, saved the talent point right here as I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.

Denerim

Sold loot again, 68g 65s 29c

Noticed in my journal I forgot to turn in Poisonous Proposition somehow, ha.

Lothering

That quest is only worth 75s so I am not sure it was even worth it.

Leveled up Leliana. +3 cunning, another level of Stealing, and another level of Deft Hands line. She should be able to open the chest in the Shaperate without DLC items.

Frostback Mountains

Had to use the trick with the bow to fight Imrek again. Although after killing the mage (little under 50% health left), I decided to try and kill the other two in melee. I was letting them chase me around the circle of columns, using Shield Pummel when off cooldown, but it became clear I wasn't actually going to win that way. Went back to the same spot and used the bow to kill the 2H and weaken Imrek. Killed him with a Shield Pummel.

Orzammar

Haven't done much here yet, but I think I will try to do similar to the previous path. Since this one has Bloody Plains completed, I can travel around more freely.

If Leliana can pick-pocket Rogek, I think I will be able to afford Lifegiver, which should make a lot of encounters dramatically easier. Not sure if it will be enough to beat Uldred, he might be at higher level. Dwarves are a little harder to solo in the fade since you also don't get to use the lyrium, but I haven't ever had Lifegiver.

Also if Leliana will open that chest, Diligence gloves will yield basically another +5 armor.

I need to decide by next level if I will actually go to the dex build. I am leaning towards it since it should make no pots easier in a lot of places, and more importantly I haven't solod a dex heavy SnS.

The Qunari Sword sold by Faryn will sometimes have 2 runes. It costs >1 gold though IIRC.



With some of my characters, that quest has been difficult to do. But I don't think I have ever done it before the first treaty quest, and the first treaty quest I always finish is Circle Tower.

The 2H and the archer can both debuff your armor with sunders (-20), and then there is the mage with chip damage and support. Not much cover.



From the scribbled notes I have for my 2H run, I did that after leaving the Circle, and it looks like I used a fire bomb and a deathroot extract. I don't remember what armor I was in, but I would have had Cailan's full set. Even if I didn't use the full set, I would have had +15 crit damage, and 20% chance to dodge, and weapon would have been Yusaris. I would have probably just had Apprentice Amulet on, rings were probably just low tier things that didn't do much (was on my way to Frostback, and that is when I finally killed Imrec).

I would think Spellward's 10% chance to dodge is probably better than Warden's Oath 2 constitution (+10HP) here, considering it also has +5 Will (25 stamina).



I don't think I have had bugs with it necessarily, but I do think it can be a hard encounter to do this early.

I also am not so sure Righteous Strike is really all that good against enemy mages necessarily, it drains stamina pretty slowly. The problem as I see it is that the mages can cast at you from range before you even get close to them, and usually 2H should have enough damage to kill them quick if you can get close and knock them down or stun them.

The other thing is that 2H has a lot of core talents to unlock, and bringing them online is more important to me. So I don't get Righteous Strike usually until the teens.


The early game is always the hardest, and since the treaty quests or DLC quests are more beneficial than some side quests, I try to knock out chunks.

I would say stick with it, although if you think a choice a while back might be holding the character back, then jumping back to the old save can be worth it.

I might take a look at the Zevran encounter the next time I get to it, and see if I can reproduce it.

***

Orzammar

Talked to Vortag. Couldn't persuade him, but just talking to him again must be a bug since then you can work for him with dialogue like other wardens get. Leliana stole his shield.

Talked to Dulin, and also agreed to help him. This is more important for me though, as there isn't a great need to be able to access the wing of the palace early for the Crow quest. And I wanted my 15gold. Or even more than that, I had Leliana steal from nearly everyone in the Diamond Quarter, which was helpful. She could open the chest in the Shaperate with just Dusk Ring equipped, so I got Diligence Gloves. Not sure if this is more fair than using the "Lock Bash Mod" that I know exists, but have never tried.

Talked to the Harrowmont fighters, blackmailed Baizal for 15 gold. Turned in all the nugs for a little bit more money, and was up to 85g 36s 29c. Sold some items to the merchant, bumped it up to 87g 91s 71c, just enough to get Lifegiver, had 3s 71c left, finally my noble is poor.

Went to Dust Town. With 40 armor and health regen, the ambush is way more manageable. Used no consumables this time. Have to try to avoid taking too many Shattering Shots or Sunders though. Still fought it in the ruined portion in front and to the right of where you enter the area.

Killed Shady Corbit, talked to Zerlinda. Leliana could rob Rogek for 20g only if she had the DLC items with cunning bonuses on. I didn't have enough money to do his quest anyway, so I reloaded that part and left.

Went to Figor, intimidated the thugs, bought a Rock Salve, sold a couple more items. Was up to 34s 95c.

Left Orzammar for the Lake.

Desolate Highway

This encounter can be terrible right out of Lothering, but with this gear it is pretty simple, as long as you go to a spot to the right where only a couple wolves can get you at once.

Lake Callenhad

Looted the stuff laying around, activated and turned in Herbal Magic. It was here I realized that I must not have actually activated Have You Seen Me in Denerim (or even talked to the guy), it must have been at a point where I reloaded to test something and forgot about it the next time.

Went in the Inn, sold a couple things, bought a Swift Salve, Fire Bomb x 2 and a Soulrot Bomb. This was in preparation for some of the annoying Desire Demon rooms, and to have enough SS for Uldred.

Circle Tower

Quartermaster - bought another Soulrot Bomb and Fire Bomb.

Not to go into a lot of detail yet (since I want to make sure I can actually beat Uldred first), but actually pretty much everything in the tower up through the Fade was pretty smooth with this gear. I have never solod the tower with Lifegiver before, and when that is combined with 50% spell resistance, a lot of the hard encounters were not bad.

That said, I did try the Black Vials Revenant, and that did not work out. My hit rate (with 84 Attack counting the Aura of Weakness penalty) was very bad and seemed no better than even.

Everything else was very manageable. Which includes both Desire Demon encounters.

But my guy has very good gear for this stage, this is sort of how it works where the difficulty will drop once you make some key purchases.

I will get back to it tomorrow night most likely. Should be able to wrap up the Fade and hopefully up through Uldred.

at lvl 7 in the following post he heals faster than I hit him. How did you manage to kill him if he heals all the time? Maybe you dex influences?
But at the same time you mentioned you used this method with your 2h as well.
Hmm?

------
Had to play Zevran ambush again to get "clean" save w/o any side quests.


After camp.

Lvl 7

First decided to check shops in different places for more weapons + do some small quests.


Went to Frostback Mountains
Wanted KCP at least.

Now again: I couldn't kill properly the ambush near the bridge though did not have problems with them actually before.
After several attemps used bombs + swift salve to kill range enemies, then used your tip: ran to the far end, pretended a merchant with a bow, did not even try to melee the rest as while using bombs to kill ranged ones, melees stripped me of almost all my health.

It is already the second fight where I have a feeling something is not right - all of a sudden I can't kill some enemies though did not have problems with them before.
If the followong fights will be the same, idk already what to think.

Looking from aside, am I mistaken? Or missing something?

What is your tactics with that mountain bridge ambush?


Alright, after the bridge ambush.

Bought KCP, turned out I lack 1 point to put it on, wth?... And have no more trinkets with strength to put KCP.

Murphy's law is applied to my DC it seems, considering all events.


Also bought the Chaisnd Crusher tier 2. No more suitable weapons; there was 1 BA but with the same stats as I have, only in style "nu", no "rune-weapons", reloads did not help.
So left for now what I have: armor and weapons.
Edited: after 50 test-reloads finally got that Qunari Sword with 2 rune slots. After that also included this weapon (w/o runes) into testing with MB crits and hits.


Of course tried to fight Imrek - useless face-to-face + pretending a merchant with a bow did not help as well - the mage has tank stats and heals so just killed me always.


Anyway checked some numbers in this fight even knowing I'll die.

Weapons I have now:

Maul simple Tier 3
Steel Tier 3
Dmg - 10.80
Crit chance 0.60
AP - 9.10
SM - 1.25

Chasind Crusher tier 2
Grey Iron Tier 2
Dmg - 9.90
Crit chance 0.55
AP - 8.05 %
SM - 1.25
Bonus + 3 % crit chance
Penalty -5 attack

Chasind Flatblade
Grey Iron Tier 2
Dmg - 12.10
Crit chance 1.65
AP - 3.45 %
SM - 1.10
+1 melee critical chance
+1 armor penetration

Darkspawn Battleaxe
Grey Iron Tier 2
Dmg - 11
Crit chance -3.30
AP - 3.45
SM - 1.10
+0.5 melee critical chance
-1 dex

Qunari Sword with 2 rune slot (w/o runes in test)
Red Steel Tier 5
Dmg - 15.40
Crit chance 2.10
AP - 4.80 %
SM - 1.10
+ 2 rune slotes


Checked MB, hits, BA crit chance.
Checked it all on Imrek as he is SnS + armor (it DOES matter, right?), BUT several times the mage used, I suspect only, some support spell on him (like from "creation tree" - defence or attack, but can't say for sure; at least the mage animation on Imrek looked the same). Good thing that only a couple of times not to spoil all numbers.

Used 10 reloads with each weapon.

MBs
1) 60 - 53 - Qunari Sword
2) 59 - 49 - simple Maul tier 3
3) 56 - 49 - Chasind Crusher Maul tier 2
3) 54 - 44 - Darkspawn Battleaxe
5) 54 - 44 - Flatdlade


Simple hits:
1) 42 - 33 - Qunari Sword
2) 41 - 36 - simple Maul tier 3
3) 40 - 34 - Chasind Crusher Maul tier 2
4) 38 - 31 - Flatdlade
5) 33 - 19 - Darkspawn Battleaxe

Crit chance of BA:
used 20 reloads (10 with MB - hit if health was left + 10 only for simple hits) and had only 3 crits - 47, 49, 47.

Conslusion.
- bad choice for testing (the reasons are below);
- still lvl 7 as was in Lothering;
- got killed faster - enemies are more difficult already though I am still lvl 7;
- BA "crit chance" 3 out of 20 fights - rather bad I would say for "highest crit chance", need more testing with Battleaxes;
- in general numbers are the same as before;
- as have mentioned think that this fight is not the best for testing (tougher enemies + that mage), but for now have nothing better (Murphy's law in action).

+ this

Before tests had only 4 weapons w/o Qunari Sword (appeared in the shop with rune slots after 50 test-reloads - good thing I checked Faryn shop again).
Before got the Qunari Sword opinion was this
"in those 2 tables Mauls still take first and second places with MB crits ans hits"
After included Qunari Sword can change something
- only think but need to test as usual: first only Mauls took 1 and 2 places, after got better Sword Tier 5, it took the 1st place in both tests.
Logically considerding test results if I get better Mauls, they should give me better numbers in MB crits and hits. BUT of course need to check it all.

***
Still some thoughts about it.
Maybe there is still some bright side out of those 60 reloads to grasp: after Lothering try to get better armor and weapon ASAP as enemies are tougher anyway.
As according to test numbers are the same actually, how else to interprete this test? *And added* after getting Qunari Sword: maybe that's true.
And let's not forget that this is all about only "no-pot-2h solo".

***
Now in the Mountains. Do not know where to go and what to do. Maybe go to Denerim (shop + try some quests) or Honnleath for helmet.

Not again!

Now equipped with Maul Tier 3 (bought in Lothering) - pure stats, nothing else.
All of a sudden very soon (when was buying bombs in the Lake Tavern - comparison popped up)noticed this Maul already has 1 rune slot. WTF?
Stats are the same.
Other weapons did not change - the same stats, no slots.
After several reloads and relaunches - things are the same.

No weapon-combat-mods are installed this time.

Tried to find some info in the internet - nothing.

Is it normal at all?
Have never had such cases.

Already afraid stats will change - check them every 5 minutes like a nervious idiot.

...Murphy's law indeed...

Here is the character and inventory screen when I fought Sloth.



Shield Wall is off, so add 5 armor with it on (at level 10, so no other perks for SW).

***

Circle Tower

As above, bought grenades and things before going in.

First Floor - sometimes the last fight with the rage and a lot of abominations can be rough. I often use some fire resistance, maybe other things. In this run I didn't use any consumables. Ran back to the area with the table, but really I had enough armor and regen, and spell resist where I could just fight them in melee without doing much.

Second Floor Blood Mages - There are three when you start. This is another one that can be tricky, but again with equipment and stats I just roll in and mostly am able to do what I want. Generally in mage groups I like to try to CC a dps mage, and target the healer. Depends on your relative damage, if you can kill a dps mage faster than it can be healed, just do that.

Great Hall - This is the hall with two waves of undead, and an Arcane Horror in the next door that will pop out during the second wave. I did this the aggressive way, which is that I moved towards the far door during the first wave, and as soon as I finished that wave I charged through the door. That way you can get behind the Arcane Horror and kill him ASAP. Used Shield Bash and then Overpower to interrupt spells.

In the 2H run I had to do something completely different, where I activated a wave, then ran back into the previous room, and fought way back near a statue and wall. That way I dropped out of combat afterwards. Similarly, if you activate the second wave and run back immediately, the Arcane Horror should not chase you. Do it wrong, and it shows up a bit later and will probably cast Walking Bomb on you while you are working on undead.

Desire Demon Multiple Templar Room - For this one, I went to the left of the door facing the wall, and opened it. Then I ran to the next room to the left. Two Templar and the DD followed me into there. Once the Desire Demon was in, she was the priority target. Killed her (SB and OP to interrupt), then the Templars. Could then go back and work on the remaining Templar.

Sometimes all Templar will empty if you don't quite get it, but they move somewhat together and you can potentially drop a couple grenades on the cluster of them at the doorway.

Boss Abomination and Friends - So since I was feeling confident, I decided to rush the Abomination, which would normally be a horrible idea. This SnS guy doesn't quite have the damage I would like, but he was able to kill the Abomination in there before dying, at which point I ran out of there. All except two units followed, but I was able to put a little distance on them hugging the wall, and then fought them after moving back a ways. Killed the last two later. Activated the last thing for Shah Wyrd, but continued onward.

Desire Demon and Bewitched Templar - In the 2H run, I saved this for post-Fade since this can be a hard encounter. I decided to try it here. Yelled "die demon!" and threw a shock grenade and then fire bomb, attempting to hit the DD, Templar, and at least one undead. Shield Pummeled the Templar, then tried to kill the DD. She resisted Shield Bash, and then I accidentally used Overpower on an undead. I was thinking this wasn't going quite right, and ran out the room to try a little kiting. Used another fire bomb, then killed the Desire Demon. With a little more kiting and fighting, killed the Templar, then picked off the undead.

Blood Mage and Templar - there is a trap at this door. No matter, used the trick opening the door from the side, aggrod the Templars and not the mage. Killed them, and then rushed the mage.

Fade

Like I usually say, this area is a solo area in the base game so I don't have much to add. I follow a similar order to the guide on the wiki.

I had a close call with the demon in Templar's Nightmare, as my spells were resisted, and then I caught several cold spells in a row in my dwarf form.

Sloth

Ogre - started in dwarf form, but Shield Pummel was being resisted around half the time. Switched to Golem and did the "kite until Slam or Quake is off cooldown." Basically Quake should always stun him, and Slam's animation is very slightly faster than Ram, and can interrupt that.

A trick in the Fade that is worth mentioning is healing via shapeshifting. The Golem has a large constitution bonus, so will have more max health than the Warden's normal form. When you go to the Golem, the current health is calculated based on your current percent health. So if you had 50% health, the Golem has 50% of its max health too. But when shifting back, the health you get in your regular form is taken from the Golem's absolute health number.

With Lifegiver, that was unnecessary.

Rage - Casted one Winter's Grasp out of Arcane, then went to Burning Man and just melee'd him.

Abomination and Shade - Golem form and punch. You can animation cancel punches.

Arcane Form - Like I meantioned earlier, I use Golem mostly, and save Slam, Hurl or Quake if he is trying to cast something. Other than that, animation canceled punches. 2H Str might be able to use Pommel or Mighty Blow as well.

Tower 2

Hardest room is the last one with the elite Rage, one elite Shade, and some lesser Shades. Tried it without using any consumables, but didn't beat it. Redid it with lesser fire resist active, aggrod them, and ran back to a previous room. Used the Littany and an Acid Flask when they were coming through the door. Focused on the Rage first, then the shades.

Uldred

Placed a save right before entering the Harrowing Chamber. Still had lesser fire active, and went ahead and burned a lesser spirit before heading in. I did not have cold resist salve, so equipped the Shiver amulet.

I botched the first attempt in a couple ways (bad grenades, bad Littany use). Reloaded a little ways into it.

Second time - ran towards Uldred. Activated Rock Armor, Incense of Awareness and Swift Salve. One Abomination was not grouping correctly, but I could still hit all three and Uldred. Used Soulrot and Fire bombs, which took out two. Stabbed the third. Then it was Littany time.

After that it was basically animation canceling auto-attacks on Uldred, trying to keep Swift Salve up, and using the Littany to prevent adds. What was annoying was several times in the fight, Uldred would do 3 Massive Attacks in a row, and the third was hard to dodge as he really didn't turn. This resulted in me getting kicked a couple times and taking Frost Burst damage.

But in the end I beat him. I used a second Swift Salve, but not my third. What is worth mentioning is that Rock Salve expired a while before the fight ended, as did the second swift salve. My 2H was able to beat him faster than this.

**

Will probably head back to Denerim to sell things and see how much money I have. I am tempted to work on Nature of the Beast next. Will need a decent dagger soon if I go to dex only investment. Shield Pummel will become useless, but at least that also means I don't really need to get Assault.