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

capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 6, 2020 1:43:01 GMT Sonya likes this

Quote

Post by capn233 on Feb 6, 2020 1:43:01 GMT

Feb 5, 2020 17:53:28 GMT Sonya said:

Only I did not notice any difference with higher or lower strength in terms of using "FA". Only High Elites resisted it, but the rest - all the same.

So what benefit you meant talking about higher strength while using "FA" if there is no difference? (at least in my many 2h PTs where I always take "Reaver").

The resistance check against Mental Resistance uses the strength attribute. So higher strength means it is less likely an enemy will resist Frightening Appearance.

- what runes did you use?
- face-to-face fight?
- how often did Revenant miss?
- how often did you miss?
- did his aura have any effects if you had a chance to notice numbers? (the matter of "damage penalty" is still not closed thus the question)
- noticed he actived SD (or SW) right away?
- did that combination have any effects and changes in defence/attack/damage for both of you?

-no runes, I hadn't used Starfang really until then
-yes, if you don't fight in melee it will just use Pull, and that does damage
-It missed a few times, I didn't really count. But SnS has relatively high defense
-my hit rate was not all that great, Swift Salve was to make DPS respectable.
-you can see changes to your stats in the inventory screen. There is nothing to compare numbers to, but most of the guys that wrote the wiki were using the toolset to look at scripts. If there was a way to fight a Revenant without Aura, I suppose it could directly be checked.
-I didn't pay that close of attention, probably. Aura goes up very quickly.
-As above, inventory screen shows the penalties to attack or defense.

So you finally ended up with your weapon choice and will use Thorn? Or still thinking?

I will buy it somewhat soon. I have decided to go Dex from here on out.

Want you change armor? At lvl 14?

Since magical enemies are relatively rare overall, I would usually have armor other than KCP around that boosted melee damage, or possibly made me even more durable against physical attacks. With DLC, Warden Commander's +15% critical damage is probably the best choice for chestplates.

Thus some questions:
1) how did you kill those forest Revenants with their entourage with "no-pot-solo-2h"? Vial Revenants at least are alone.

The answer is basically "later." If you level up they will seem relatively easier.

The one near where the 2 ogres are (East Brecilian) is probably the hardest. When I start the encounter (hit the gravestone), I hide behind a pillar to block the first pull, and then try to kill the lieutenant ranked skeleton quickly. After that it depends, but it is possible to kite the Revenant and other enemies in a large circle around the map (path past the hermit, then back around in a circle to the gravestone).

Also weirdly the Mage's Treasure Revenants are classified as "demons" instead of "undead," so their elemental resistances are a little different than the Black Vials ones (big difference is 50% fire resistance instead of -25%).

These units have their own level scaling that somewhat ignores the scaling you lock in when you enter the area. Which is why they can seem disproportionately strong compared to the others in the area.

2) When do you usually take "Survival"?
Yes, it gives "nature resist" + "some physical resist" as well at lvl 4, but what is annoying - "detection system" of enemies already with the first level, because of which I sometiemes just can't shake enemies off to have a rest with "lure" tactics".

I only take it for the nature resistance. I take it after I have maxed Combat training, have 3 or 4 in Coercion, and 1 in Stealing and Poison. So it is pretty late if I am not a rogue.

The question about game mechanics here: I used PS on Marjolaine and sometimes she resisted it.
So as I understand Marjolaine is a rogue with high dex or strength or constitution?
Do I understand it right? As according to descriptions + wiki those attributes are important for physical resisit.

Bosses and elite bosses have a bonus to resistances. It is +20 for a boss, or +30 for elite boss. I do not think when you fight Leliana that she is classes as either.

In any case, some of the unique units have stats that are way higher than other units anyway. I don't know what Marjolaine's stats are.

Another question:
while making poisons could make poison for mages (as well for soldiers) to drain mana (sta).
The questions is: does this poison stack with the Templar first passive to drain mana? I did not spend ingredients to make that mage poison (lack of them anyway). But interesting.

IIRC Mage Bane and Soldier's Bane are bugged in the regular version of the game and actually add mana/stamina to the target.

As for now as least I do not see any difference - fade creatures and mages still spam their abilities even with Templar passive. Maybe it does not work?

Righteous Strike works, it is just that the amount you are draining is not very large. So enemies can probably cast several things before they are dead anyway. The amount of drain is 0.25* damage dealth. So if I deal 30 damage, it will only drain 7.5 stamina.

I did not check these things, maybe you have some info or experience?

I think they use stamina, so Righteous Strike shouldn't apply. I don't really run Soldier's Bane much (even though I have a fix for it), so I couldn't say if this will end the Aura. I would suspect that it wouldn't before either the warden or the Revenant was dead though.

"Weakens darkspawn" - what does it mean exactly? Make number comparisons is not a good check imo. Does it mean penalty to attack, or damage or armor?

It is supposed to apply a 5 or 10 point penalty to attack and defense, but it is bugged and does nothing (unless you have a fix).

"+ 4 damage to darkspawn" - is it the same as using some spirit poison where you see + 1 colored in green? Only in this case you see nothing at all, only damage numbers while fighting them.

edit: white damage number for the darkspawn enchant, see new post

****

Thus continues my somewhat disjointed SnS run

Denerim

After Last Request, did another robbery for Crime Wave, this time Howe's warehouse.

Then I went to visit Weylon, although I didn't think about the fact that somehow I hadn't actually heard about Genitivi yet. Killed him anyway.

Leliana's Encounter

Brought Leliana along to trigger the assassins. Used one DRE. Leliana had Combat Stealth and went into it as soon as it started. I ran up and killed the first two enemies, then went passed the rogue archer across the bridge, and fought the next wave there with the DRE. Finally went up the hill and killed the mage, then the leader. I didn't end up killing the archer. Oh well.

Kaidan Fe Mercs

Lured them in chunks.

Level 14 +3 dex, Reaver, Devour

I wasn't sure how much I wanted to use Devour since it is a heal, but Frightening Appearance should help with some elite targets (especially ogres). I dropped off Leliana at camp after this.

Low Road

This is the one with the berserkarn and some blight wolves. I go to a corner by the fallen tree where I can fight a couple at a time.

Lake Callenhad

Killed Skinny Frank, and then the deserters. Went in the Spoiled Princess and triggered the cultist ambush. After killing them, I went back into the inn to buy two Rock Salves.

I jumped into the Circle Tower for a minute to buy the Incense of Awareness recipe, and 20 lyrium dusts.

Hillside Path (Wynne 1)

The biggest annoyance I have doing this is keeping Wynne from taking damage. Actually I have been very lazy about it the last few runs, as it takes too long to run her up and to the right where LOS is blocked, and a lot of solo characters don't have AOE CC that can help at the start. This is completely optional though, no real benefit at all for a solo so I don't know why I do it, heh...

Orzammar

Figor - bought two Concentrator agents, three Distillation agents, and ten flasks.

Talked to Lady Dace, then went to Aeducan Thaig for the hell of it. Nothing all that interesting happened really. There is one large deepstalker ambush that can be tricky without stun or nature resistance, have to prioritize the deepstalker leader.

On the way out of Orzammar, stopped outside to kill the Frostback deserters.

Rocky Road

This is the one with the dalish fighting a lot of darkspawn. Tried to kill the shrieks as soon as they appeared.

Denerim

Sold loot. Turned in Deserters and Kaidan Fe contract. Took me to 172g 39s 18s. I then upgraded Asturian's Might to Silverite, and had 166g 75s 93c.

Camp

Switched my two +8 spell resist runes to Asturian's Might. Bought the GM Frost rune and put it in Starfang (with GM Lightning and a Master Hale I had looted a while back).

Urn of Sacred Ashes

Haven - not much interesting here.

Temple

Two mage room in the first temple zone - Since I had 100% spell resist, I was trying to group mooks and bait the mages into using Cone of Cold on the mob so I could get free CC and a shatter combo or two. I botched it originally and had to retreat a ways.

Tried something somewhat similar later in a large room with a mage to the right where there are a lot of dragonlings. Used a lesser fire resist in that one.

3 Drake Room - I moved towards a spot by the crates where only one could fight at a time. Used a Rock Salve, Swift Salve, Shock Coating, and ran Precise Striking the whole time. This way I could stay at high enough health that I avoided overwhelm. Hit Level 15 when I killed the third.

Level 15 +3 dex, Coercion 3, Frightening Appearance - had 102 defense with Shield Wall

AW, 2 Drake Room - after killing the other human units, charged up the stairs to the AW. The large number of dragonlings should block the Drakes on the stairs. Killed the AW and then attacked the first Drake, and then the second. After that, killed the 'lings.

Kolgrim - used similar strategy to other runs where I have spell resist. Ran at mage on the right, looping around Kolgrim and melee units. Mage should use Cone of Cold eventually when in melee range, which should get some or all of the melee units chasing (got Kolgrim and the 2H). Used Overpower for shatter on the 2H mook, killed the mage, then ran towards the other mage. Tried to repeat the same thing, and although this mage froze both melee, I didn't have Overpower to force a crit for a shatter. Killed the mage, switched to Starfang, then kited Kolgrim and the SnS around. Used Frightening Appearance on Kolgrim, then Pummel on the SnS. Repeated as needed until SnS was dead, then I just kited Kolgrim until Frightening Appearance was off cooldown. I could get a couple melee swings in with animation canceling before he recovered, but eventually I was getting tired of this, so used a Swift Salve to speed it up. FWIW, Frightening Appearance worked on Kolgrim every cast.

Gauntlet - the nice thing about doing this solo is that at the bridge puzzle three Ash Wraiths spawn to help, and you can take their armor to sell later.

Got Leliana to help loot a few things, but did not go through the whole temple / mountain complex. I ended up getting two Journeyman Paralyze Runes in this quest (one from an enemy corpse, one from a chest).

Denerim

Sold loot again. Went to Wade and started the Drakeskin armor (paid 10 gold). Had 222g 41s 36c at this point. Talked to Justine about the encrypted scrolls. Bought ten Concentrators from the bartender.

Circle Tower

Decided to buy Andruil's Blessing since Starfang is still good. Had Morrigan make me 7 Swift Salves.

Soldier's Peak

Bought a GM Cold Iron rune. Put it in Starfang, along with a +6 cold iron I looted a long time ago, and my GM lightning.

Redcliffe

Arrived and talked to Alistair and then Teagan. Hopefully with the SS I will be able to save the militia. We'll see.

Last Edit: Feb 7, 2020 1:55:52 GMT by capn233

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Sonya
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 6, 2020 11:01:40 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 6, 2020 11:01:40 GMT

Made a progress but think will be able to play more so will post it later; but before posting it: some of your answers are confusing as do not stack with my favorite practical approch as I have managed to check something + some other things to comment.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

The resistance check against Mental Resistance uses the strength attribute. So higher strength means it is less likely an enemy will resist Frightening Appearance.

.....ok...let's leave it there...

Revenant fight

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

-yes, if you don't fight in melee it will just use Pull, and that does damage

In my Orzammar Revenant trying to see what he can do, I had many situations "playing cat-and-mouse". Needed to make a video as was really funny. "Pull" was used only a couple of times here, which, yes, surprised, me, as he (as well as other Revenants) always use Pull if you are away from him. Instead - using the table with cheese.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

-you can see changes to your stats in the inventory screen. There is nothing to compare numbers to, but most of the guys that wrote the wiki were using the toolset to look at scripts. If there was a way to fight a Revenant without Aura, I suppose it could directly be checked.

Yes, that is what confuses me all the time.
Just one example but had many other:
I mentioned about changing exactly DAMAGE under the effect of his aura, checked it several times, BUT according to descriptions and people who check such things in progs - there is no damage penalty.
So in all my cases what was that? A bug of my game?

And it is not the first case where I notice differences among actual PTs - descriptions in the game - wiki info. Wiki says one thing - in PTs with many reload/different characters/fighting diferent enemies I see the oppisite of wiki.

Thus I have different outcomes. And what to believe in such cases? Wiki info or the thing that my game is bugged?

Or tell myselfl "Fuck it" and continue to play despite just HUGE differences.

Disturbing.

You, as I understand, trust a great deal wiki info, but use your own experience in a smaller part, even knowing the game might have really unxpected surprises for you.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

No, this is a little different, where it is added in to the normal damage against the enemy. So the "white" damage number should be higher, you do not see an extra floating number like with a rune or poison.

Checked it: worked about 30" % (if not less) in a way as poisons do: got a usual damage number + 4 (all white). Nothing else unless there is fix for that too.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

-my hit rate was not all that great, Swift Salve was to make DPS respectable.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

I will buy it somewhat soon. I have decided to go Dex from here on out.

Feb 6, 2020 10:23:44 GMT Sonya said:

how did you kill those forest Revenants

Feb 6, 2020 10:23:44 GMT Sonya said:

When do you usually take "Survival"?

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

Bosses and elite bosses have a bonus to resistances. It is +20 for a boss, or +30 for elite boss. I do not think when you fight Leliana that she is classes as either.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

IIRC Mage Bane and Soldier's Bane are bugged in the regular version of the game and actually add mana/stamina to the target.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

It is supposed to apply a 5 or 10 point penalty to attack and defense, but it is bugged and does nothing (unless you have a fix).

Thanks. Great and useful tips.

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

disjointed SnS run

That word has slightly negative connotation.
That is how you see your currrent GW build?

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

Level 14 +3 dex, Reaver, Devour

You took this spec only to use FA? And to use "Davour" from time to time?

But you said you decided to turn to dex. Then what about "higher strength will help with FA" if you turn into dex?

Feb 6, 2020 1:45:10 GMT capn233 said:

Thus continues my somewhat disjointed SnS run

A very good progress.
As if (according to some description fights and running around) want to finish this PT ASAP and be done with it.

BTW
Don't want to do no-pto-solo -DW rougue PT? (dex and cun builds).

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 6, 2020 23:06:55 GMT Sonya likes this

Quote

Post by capn233 on Feb 6, 2020 23:06:55 GMT

Feb 6, 2020 11:01:40 GMT Sonya said:

.....ok...let's leave it there...

Heh, I will make one more comment on this though, maybe it will clear it up.

Since there isn't a way to directly query the resistance stat for whichever enemy I may want to use the ability on, the idea is basically just that the higher the strength the better. Even if the check is going from 95% success to 100%, it might be that I pass the check the one time I am nearly dead vs the last enemy, and preventing a reload.

Since there are a lot of unknowns with enemy stats, and the game is pretty heavily RNG influenced (probably to be more like a table-top game), it is hard to say something like "50 strength is enough."

I see what you are saying, that typically that ability is not resisted, so maybe full strength isn't needed. But I would usually want to maximize the chance (just like with Strength and 2H abilities).

I mentioned about changing exactly DAMAGE under the effect of his aura, checked it several times, BUT according to descriptions and people who check such things in progs - there is no damage penalty.
So in all my cases what was that? A bug of my game?

I suppose I do not understand what you observed. If you are always fighting the Revenant with Aura of Weakness, what are you comparing the damage to?

I assume you are not talking about damage per swing, that is randomized in several ways, one bit comes from the weapon damage range, and the other is because the armor of an enemy is randomized slightly.

But since Redcliffe castle has an encounter with a Greater Shade surrounded by Lessers near the beginning, I tried to take a look at my damage numbers. I will ignore crits here because I did not get any on the Greater (my chance was low).

Greater under Aura - 36, 35, 36, 36, 42, 41, 39, 43 (38.5 average)

Lessers (no Aura) - 41, 41, 38, 40, 42, 42, 34, 36, 35, 36, 44, 42, 34 (38.8 average)

The range is more or less the same here, and although range was higher with Aura off (one point more max, one point less min).

I think the difference is chance here, and number of trials not the difference in the Aura.

Thus I have different outcomes. And what to believe in such cases? Wiki info or the thing that my game is bugged?

Or tell myselfl "Fuck it" and continue to play despite just HUGE differences.

Disturbing.

You, as I understand, trust a great deal wiki info, but use your own experience in a smaller part, even knowing the game might have really unxpected surprises for you.

It could be incomplete, or even something may not be described in it. *shrug*

Checked it: worked about 30" % (if not less) in a way as poisons do: got a usual damage number + 4 (all white). Nothing else unless there is fix for that too.

I wrote something wrong above, it should in fact be an extra floating white number. So for Gorim's Sword, it shows +2 when you hit a darkspawn.

But, as is the case with runes or other on hit effects, sometimes the number is not rendered if there is a lot of damage at the same time. This is supposed to be more of a graphics issue. The damage is supposedly still applied. You can see this if you have a lot of runes and also poison going.

I know that in some cases the + damage doesn't work. For instance, "+X damage vs beasts" didn't work when I tried it, and I am not sure anybody had actually noticed that before. That was like 2016, so the game had been out some time. In that case it was a bug partly related to the classification types of enemies.

That word has slightly negative connotation.
That is how you see your currrent GW build?

Not the build, this is more just a comment about how I bounce around between areas a lot and do not finish everything in them.

You took this spec only to use FA? And to use "Davour" from time to time?

It was almost entirely for Frightening Appearance, yes. I didn't care as much about Devour, but I can use it every once in a while too.

But you said you decided to turn to dex. Then what about "higher strength will help with FA" if you turn into dex?

I am hoping my 50-something strength will be sufficient. In any case, it will probably work more often than shield talents at later level because it is checking against mental instead of physical resistance.

Don't want to do no-pto-solo -DW rougue PT? (dex and cun builds).

How much cunning does it take to be a cunning rogue? :wizard:

I have considered doing an archer - ranger sort of like on IN's page. Although I had avoided Ranger in the past since it seems like it bends the idea of a solo a little.

****

Redcliffe

Prepared the militia as well as I could. Convinced Owen, recruited Dwynn, did not recruit Lloyd but extorted the tavern and gave the militia free ale. Recruited Berwick. Found Bevin, asked him to borrow the sword for no reason really. Got "Holy Protection" for the knights, told him not to use the oil.

Delivered a notice of death, the box to Jetta, and the notified the guy that the Irregulars needed him.

Attack at Nightfall

Starfang had the +5 lightning, +10 undead, and +6 undead runes in it. Wore Warden Commander armor for crit damage bonus, although chance was low so I am not sure how much it helped. Used "Threaten" the whole time, although it didn't really result in much threat.

First phase was simple enough, beat it on the first try. Activated a Swift Salve after told the undead were attacking from the lake. Tried to run down the hill, hit quick save before I got in LOS of the militia.

It took me a couple tries before I could save the whole militia. An annoyance is that with the way there are so many units, sometimes you jitter around trying to get into position to use a talent or attack a specific enemy. Generally the idea was to lock down and kill the two LT level undead at the beginning, then try to "triage" the militia such that I prioritized enemies attacking those with lower health. Used Shield Pummel, Shield Bash and Frightening Appearance when I could. Used three Swift Salves in total.

Post Attack

Level 16 +3 dex, Deathblow

Turned in Notices of Death. Hero's welcome in the tavern, then sold it to Bella.

Castle

Not much through this. I tried to look at damage in and out of the Aura after making my way up to the first floor. Undead did hardly any damage to me. Mabari I fought in pairs. Incidentally, I didn't remember that Growl was -15 defense penalty.

Courtyard

Ran up the steps, and went to the right as quickly as possible. Tried to kill undead / skeletons until the Revenant got up there. Retreated to the corner and fought the Revenant. It is lower ranked than Black Vials units, so that is good. Had about 30% health remaining when it was dead, then killed the last three mooks.

Teagan

Retreated to the small room, could keep Teagan locked down with Frightening Appearance and use Pummel on others.

Armor Suits

Went to the corner of the office ASAP. Fought two at a time in the corner. Overlapping Rally is bad, but with two it is manageable. Precise Striking was on, could use Pummel and FA on them.

Misc

Cleared through the upper floor to get enough corpse galls.

***

So begins the alternate reality. Fought Connor just to do it. With 100% spell resist, the only dangerous part was the wave with the Rage demons really. Although of interest was that I tried to use Frightening Appearance on the Desire Demon right as it was teleporting out, and somehow the horror effect was cast on me instead. But the undead wave did very little damage.

Actually Frightening Appearance did not work on the DD at all, although it did work on a Rage when I tried it. I don't recall which units are immune, or if the boss just had high mental resistance. Will need to look into that.

***

I have a save with Jowan in the Fade and will probably go through that way for the story. He is solo, and doesn't contribute to party damage, so that is ok in my book.

Last Edit: Feb 7, 2020 2:00:14 GMT by capn233

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capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 7, 2020 4:48:41 GMT Sonya likes this

Quote

Post by capn233 on Feb 7, 2020 4:48:41 GMT

I went to Brecilian Forest. Compared Starfang damage to the Mage's Treasure Revenant in the E Brecilian Forest near the Ruins to the two Black Vials Revenants in the Lair and the Lower Ruins. I was not sure if they actually scale exactly the same way, and the unit types are not exactly the same, which is why I was not sure that this was going to work as a test for Aura. The Mage's Treasure Revenants are classed as Demons, so their resistances are slightly different than the Black Vial units.

Mage's Treasure

E Brec Ruin

No Aura

38
35
34
33
34
27
35
28
27
26
31
30
33
28
29
31
37
28
38
33
33

AVG 31.81

Median 33

**

Mage's Treasure

W Brec

No Aura

40
26
39
38
40
28
35
32
38
30
29
26
30
36
35
30
24
32
32
40

AVG 33

Median 32

**

Black Vials

Lair of the Werewolves

Aura

35
31
34
31
25
26
36
38
28
34
32
30
32
27
29
32
37
32
28
30
32
36
32

AVG 31.61

Median 32

***

Black Vials

Lower Ruin

Aura

28
27
38
32
35
34
29
35
35
28
31
34
36
32
38
34
29
38
31
38

AVG 33.1

Median 34

***

I took out crits, but the highest crit damage observed was 62 against the one with Aura in the Lair.

Not that this is the world's largest sample, but it seems close enough that with the Shade numbers I don't think the damage is being reduced from Aura.

I don't know if there is a way to get the Black Vial to not use Aura at all, they always seem to turn it on at the beginning.

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 7, 2020 13:08:30 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 7, 2020 13:08:30 GMT

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

Heh, I will make one more comment on this though, maybe it will clear it up.

Since there isn't a way to directly query the resistance stat for whichever enemy I may want to use the ability on, the idea is basically just that the higher the strength the better. Even if the check is going from 95% success to 100%, it might be that I pass the check the one time I am nearly dead vs the last enemy, and preventing a reload.

Since there are a lot of unknowns with enemy stats, and the game is pretty heavily RNG influenced (probably to be more like a table-top game), it is hard to say something like "50 strength is enough."

I see what you are saying, that typically that ability is not resisted, so maybe full strength isn't needed. But I would usually want to maximize the chance (just like with Strength and 2H abilities).

Cleared that up. Thanks.

Just a thought: you wrote later that FA did not work on the DD in Redcliffe. Maybe needed higher strength?

(or as you have written - this DD is immune to FA).
Will ckeck it as well as anyway put all points into strength and took Reaver (only need a lvl to get that ability).

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

I suppose I do not understand what you observed. If you are always fighting the Revenant with Aura of Weakness, what are you comparing the damage to?

Compare damage Revenant with aura vs enemies w/o aura BUT with many reloads/many other enemies to get more numbers.
I understand that it is not the best test but at the same time it is the only way to check it.
Thus I got hell of damage numbers from different enemies (fade ctearures/thugs with different weapons and armor/animals/darkspawn) to see if those numbers w/o aura differ form Revenant with aura.

The test showed that the damage was actually different: with Revenant aura is was always lower.

A notion (maybe it is important to the test, idk): I compared MB crits to simplify this matter, not simple hits as you had written a huge comment about variables affecting simple hits.

Now, with your testing/descriptions from internet I think maybe is was bad luck or some bug, but on the other hand: really many damage numbers vs Revenants with aura? How can that be that I had so many higher damager numbers with other enemies but with Revenant aura damage was always lower....

Will try to test damage again with other Revenants (the Circle Revenant is still there or the Forest) + now have many smaller quests with different enemies.

Your tests with calculations show the opposite. That is strange.
For sure will test again.

Anyway, thank you for sparing the time to test that still questionable "damage penalty" matter.
Appreciated.

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

It could be incomplete, or even something may not be described in it. *shrug*

Yes, anything is possible.

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

I wrote something wrong above, it should in fact be an extra floating white number. So for Gorim's Sword, it shows +2 when you hit a darkspawn.

But, as is the case with runes or other on hit effects, sometimes the number is not rendered if there is a lot of damage at the same time. This is supposed to be more of a graphics issue. The damage is supposedly still applied. You can see this if you have a lot of runes and also poison going.

I know that in some cases the + damage doesn't work. For instance, "+X damage vs beasts" didn't work when I tried it, and I am not sure anybody had actually noticed that before. That was like 2016, so the game had been out some time. In that case it was a bug partly related to the classification types of enemies.

So in this case what remains? Just try to ignore such things I suppose.
Only if a weapon has this or that interesting descriptions, it is rather difficult to ignore them and not to actually test and watch how they work.
Bugs everywhere.

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

How much cunning does it take to be a cunning rogue?

Rhetorical question?

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

I have considered doing an archer - ranger sort of like on IN's page. Although I had avoided Ranger in the past since it seems like it bends the idea of a solo a little.

Don't take Ranger than. Only silimar abilities and points.
You are good at finding ways to kill someone w/o any help anyway.

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

Used "Threaten" the whole time, although it didn't really result in much threat.

"Threaten" and "Taunt" in DAO seem to be broken and half-broken.
Actually in all 3 DA games "threaten mechanics" is broken.

Feb 7, 2020 4:51:43 GMT capn233 said:

It took me a couple tries before I could save the whole militia

I managed to save all of them only a couple of times even with the whole team because of those annoying things you have mentioned.
Congrats with a new usless helmet.

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"Of course!"

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 7, 2020 16:16:45 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 7, 2020 16:16:45 GMT

Made a comparison btw other fights (carta/Jarvia/different darkspawn/dwarves fanatics/animals etc) w/o any weakness aura vs a Revenant in the Circle with aura.

In different battles did not write down numbers, with the Revenant did. Made 2 attempts.

Used Starfang (in the post lower will write what is why).

Compared only MBs.

Made calculations but was no point in doing it actually.

Revenant

1st attempt

106
91
106
91
101
84
101
98
101
dead

avg - 97,6

2nd attempt

96
96
86
87
101
102
94
83
88

avg - 92,5

Not much difference here.

But the main thing: no difference in damage in camparison with all above enemies this time.

So what was the matter when I wrote about it earlier - do not know, but the differene was back there.

If such thing happened - back there was, but now there is not - will try to compare with other Revenants with aura if have a chance.

Last Edit: Feb 7, 2020 17:15:57 GMT by Sonya

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 7, 2020 16:54:02 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 7, 2020 16:54:02 GMT

Continuation

As was in Orzammar and love Deep Road decided at least make DR quest for Behlen.
+ bought a Battleaxe (Silverite with 2 rune slots) in Orzammar - spent last gold on it but I am already lvl 12 and it is only the second BA I meet in shops and this one is better than the Dalish one.

Aeducan Thaig

- used different weapons depending on the enemy situation, but mostly BA for crit chance check;
- a new BA is w/o runes - did not want to waste time for running back and forth, nevertheless still ckecked "crit chance";

Nothing to say about fighting - was rather easy.

As was in Orzammar decided to try to kill Jarvia.

The Carta.

- died several times;
- mob fights are simple, somewhere used "lure" tactics;
- spiders always killed me so decided first to deal with Jarvia - later try again: "overwewhelm + web" spam all the time one after another regadless of my or their health;
- Javria - took about 10 attempts. Used Starfang with useless runes for them as had no better weapon anyway (still do not have better Maul - the old ones are clearly useless already): using abilities on Jarvia was useless as resisted everything (PS worked only 2 times, SBs passive did not work on her as well as Swing, her lackeies did not resist at all). Managed to win mosty thanks to bombs + salves which used on her + MB (as it did ab 100+ damage);
- after returned to spiders: hid behind the colomn - at least did not have "OV" one spider after another as they just could not get to me all at once (only 2), but others used web from a distance - was a very close call, but killed them - good.

Lvl 14, Reaver spec, but took Destroyer Passive, + 3 strength.

BTW: anything about "Destroyer" Passive not written anywhere? Maybe it is useless at all (description is luring).

Had 40 gold finally and took "blackmail quest" from Rogek - again became poor.

Before going to the camp for weapons configurations decided to deal with map encounters I can get + smaller quests (with Starfang for now):
- Twisted Path: died once as did not expect archers would be shooting through high rocks (sunders/pinning shots/crit shots) - suspect they hit me as I had "Survival" N2 already (can it be the reason?);
- Crow task Kadan-Fe Hideout: 2 bombs + lure (in Orzammar have already done another Crow task "Ambassador");
- Blackmailed Godwin: became richer again (ab 70 gold) - still want that Andruil's Blessing Belt;
- Treacherous Path: thought would die here but turned out well. Had to run a little from the Elite. PS ftw;
- Refugees board quest: regretted to go there. Several attemps, always died. In the end somehow managed to lure the mob away from the mage with the arrow guidance archer and they stopped to attack. Killed the mob, for archer 1 MB, PSs for a mage. Everyone is dead only. Oh, well.
- Mages fighting darkspawn - the usual.
- Went to the Circle to make some comparison (post above).

Some conclusions:
- duing Carta quest the best weapons I had - GSs; needed better Mauls for AP fetish, but didn't have them; GS/BA were obviously already better everywhere as there is no scaling among these weapons; so had no choice but to use only GS - used Starfang all the time;
- after the Carta found some Mauls and BA (silverite) with rune slots - finally!
- MBs - mostly ab 100;
- BA crit chance in the above fights - had a couple: again, considering how many time used BA - broken;
- having 2 Sunders is very handy.

Noticed one thing though.
Remember rogue passive "combat movement" and what your GW does because of that? Useful for a rogue.
But my 2h warrior GW for some reason started to act in a similar way only always tries to move to the front of the enemy.
It happens not often but usually when I am under attack by a mob (or w/o mob) - such dances around the enemy results in me getting hits and deaths from time to time.
What the hell is this?
Did you have such a thing?

For now in the Circle - will try to kill the Revenant in a usual way. Still several ecnounters are left - will try to get them first, then will go to the camp.
After:
- will try Wynne encounters;
- Dalish Plot Quest;
- check "damage penatly" question.

Last Edit: Feb 7, 2020 17:07:58 GMT by Sonya

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 8, 2020 0:24:07 GMT Sonya likes this

Quote

Post by capn233 on Feb 8, 2020 0:24:07 GMT

Feb 7, 2020 13:08:30 GMT Sonya said:

Will ckeck it as well as anyway put all points into strength and took Reaver (only need a lvl to get that ability).

One thing is that the "magical" enemies probably have more mental resistance, but lower physical. For instance, you can usually Shield Bash a Desire Demon pretty reliably.

I am not sure how I could find if they are really immune to horror. Would have to get the toolset out and learn how to use it correctly, heh.

Compare damage Revenant with aura vs enemies w/o aura BUT with many reloads/many other enemies to get more numbers.
I understand that it is not the best test but at the same time it is the only way to check it.
Thus I got hell of damage numbers from different enemies (fade ctearures/thugs with different weapons and armor/animals/darkspawn) to see if those numbers w/o aura differ form Revenant with aura.

I think the difference you are seeing is from armor rating really. Usually most things won't have anywhere near the armor of a Revenant.

For a concrete example, Gaxkang in Revenant form has 46 armor (but only 29 in the Arcane form). Ser Cauthrine, who is also an elite boss, only has 21.3 armor max.

The other thing is that the Revenant creature level minimum is such that if you find one early in the game it will still be at much higher level than the other regular units in that area.

It is sort of surprising that nobody really has a chart or anything for armor ratings or HP after all these years, although I know it is scaled by difficulty.

Rhetorical question?

Or philosophical. If all you need is a few more points of cunning then dexterity, that might not be too bad. If it is like only 28 dex, but rest into cunning, that will be hard most likely, probably most practical as an archer.

Don't take Ranger than. Only silimar abilities and points.
You are good at finding ways to kill someone w/o any help anyway.

Well, what made IN's run special was only using the three skills, and then the same equipment the whole game, and I think 0 consumables.

I haven't done Ranger anyway, and that challenge is a bit different, but I am not sure when I would even get to something like this.

"Threaten" and "Taunt" in DAO seem to be broken and half-broken.

I have never really thought Threaten was that great, it barely seems to increase damage based threat. But one problem with that encounter is that with the militia using Scattershot, they hit a lot of enemies simultaneously.

Congrats with a new usless helmet.

Yeah I think I sold it already.

Feb 7, 2020 16:54:02 GMT Sonya said:

Lvl 14, Reaver spec, but took Destroyer Passive, + 3 strength.

Level 14 is perhaps a little early to do Carta, but it depends on gear I suppose. With low defense, percent chance to dodge is very useful. But just getting more strength points from higher levels will help with checks.

anything about "Destroyer" Passive not written anywhere? Maybe it is useless at all

It can only apply on critical hits in the base game, despite the description making it sound like it is any hit. On top of that, the penalty is only 5 armor.

Shattering Blows does nothing whatsoever in the base game, fwiw.

Mighty Blow is also supposed to slow the target, which doesn't work right.

I suppose bug fixes help the 2H out a little more than the other classes for solo. For team game, DW probably benefits the most due to fixed attack speed when buffs are combined.

- Refugees board quest: regretted to go there. Several attemps, always died. In the end somehow managed to lure the mob away from the mage with the arrow guidance archer and they stopped to attack. Killed the mob, for archer 1 MB, PSs for a mage. Everyone is dead only. Oh, well.

This quest is bad, I don't like to do it as a warrior until I have nearly 100% spell resist, and it is helpful to have nature resist probably. Helps to be in the mid-late teens if you want to save even one refugee.

Remember rogue passive "combat movement" and what your GW does because of that? Useful for a rogue.
But my 2h warrior GW for some reason started to act in a similar way only always tries to move to the front of the enemy.
It happens not often but usually when I am under attack by a mob (or w/o mob) - such dances around the enemy results in me getting hits and deaths from time to time.
What the hell is this?
Did you have such a thing?

All Combat Movement actually does is change the angle on enemies that count for flanking / backstabs. Changes to a wider cone with it. The actual character AI shouldn't change. Advanced Tactics mod has a button you can press to enable rogues to "automatically" try to flank.

But as far as movement goes, if the game thinks the Warden needs to move to stay in melee and attack, then it might move as long as Hold isn't on. Other than that, I only run into problems if there are a lot of enemies or NPCs in a clump, or if I accidentally click behind an enemy when I am animation canceling.

********

The Fade

So after killing Connor, I loaded a previous save and used Jowan to kill the demon.

Some of his skills are worthless, and he has too much willpower IMO, but it is doable even with his junk equipment.

Castle

Teagan and Isolde were amazed when I told them I already had the Ashes.

Champion of Redcliffe - Mental Fortress

Denerim

Turned in Skin Deep. Sold loot. 163g 47s 32c

Camp Darkspawn Ambush

I think most all my companions were on Cautious tactics still, so a couple "took a nap," including Shale.

Roadside Field

Redcliffe

Talked to Owen. Activated and completed Gift of Silence. Activated Grease the Wheels, Brothers and Sons, Caravan Down, and Unintended Consequences.

Unintended Consequences

No problem with this gear, at this level

Caravan Down

Switched to Asturian's Might (8,8 spell resist runes). Killed the mages first, then Genlock Alpha. Only had about 20% health left at that point, ha.

Brothers and Sons

Starfang. Just took a while to kill the animals.

Denerim - Marjolaine

Leliana has Combat Stealth, so she can sit back and do nothing easily. Used a Concentrated Deathroot. First I started with Asturian's and ran to the right room to kill the mage, and bait the other mage out (since I didn't want to go over another trap). After the mages were dead, Starfang time. Frightening Appearance was resisted a couple times.

Level 17 +3 dex, Holy Smite - now I have some AOE

Turned in above completed quests. Also did Alistair's Family after picking him up from camp.

Sold more junk - 196g 43s 27c

Gave three drake scales to Wade, paid 10g to "make it good."

Refugees

Used a Swift Salve to run up to them quickly, then a little later used a Fire bomb on a clump, had Threaten on. Used Holy Smite at least once. Tried to clear the first group on the right and then the others that showed up before fighting the Mage. Mage resisted Frightening Appearance, but put on Deathroot Extract to stun. Killed the last archer, two refugees were still alive.

Camp

Put Grandmaster Cold Iron rune in Starfang, to go with the Master Lightning and GM Lightning.

Forest, Ruins

I meant to kill the Hermit here, but he wouldn't turn hostile (didn't remember time limit on this).

Thy Brother's Killer - spell resist ftw

E Brecilian Revenant near there - used Swift Salve, killed a regular skeleton melee first, then tried to kill Revenant before SS wore off (used Precise Striking as well). Was able to do that with some health left, killed the LT skeleton, then the rest.

E Brecilian Revenant near ruins - killed first skeleton behind me, kited around the large column to kill skeletons, then fought Revenant.

BV Rev in Lair - used Swift Salve

BV Rev in Lower Ruins - used Swift Salve

W Brecilian Rev - another SS. Killed skeleton mage first.

Elora's Halla - Sten helped

Grabbed Wynne and Leliana as well to loot the area.

Darkspawn Ambush near ruins - lot of Genlock Alphas, but Frightening Appearance and Pummel work well.

Denerim

Turned in Refugees, Thy Brother's Killer, Scrolls of Bannastor. Sold loot. 240g 76s 02c.

Bann Loren's Land

Put GM Frost rune back in Starfang. Had to kite the elite 2H at the end due to low health. Should have probably killed him before some lower tier mobs.

Ostagar

Mostly I felt invincible here. Had 100 defense, and after getting Cailan's Greaves I had 30% chance to dodge on top of that, to go with >40 armor. There were two exceptions.

In the area with the Strategist, I inadvertently triggered him and didn't notice until I was caught in a Crushing Prison (despite 84% spell resist - was using Starfang). Curse of Mortality fortunately was resisted next, but I only had 126 of 346 health when CP ended. Put Asturian's on, ran around a corner, then killed him.

The only other problem places was the spider ambush room. Used a Lesser Nature Resist for Poison Spit. Lot of overwhelms and nature damage, lured the first wave back a ways so that I could better control the second wave (fought in two pairs).

The raised Ogre wasn't too bad, he didn't resist Frightening Appearance, although he rammed me at one point for almost 60 damage (despite my 41 armor). Used a Deathroot Extract to help. After that, I just ran straight at the Necro and killed him without bothering to fight any of the other adds.

Cailan's Greaves and Gloves spawned as Dragonbone, the chest and helmet were just T5. Maric's Sword was T5. I might load it with Silverite runes to exploit the glitch with enchantments and have a super anti-darkspawn sword, ha.

****

Some more theorycrafting. Actually I noticed the numbers were wrong for the Crow Dagger calculation earlier, it is slightly worse than I posted, but I will fix it. Decided to calculate damage at Level 20, and since I was thinking of possibly running Felon's Coat on this guy, checking the difference between it and Warden Commander Chest for dagger damage.

Level 20 with continued dex, and the following gear:

Helm of Honnleath (+2 stats)
Cailan's Gauntlets (+15% crit damage)
Warden Commander Chest (+15% crit damage)
Cailan's Greaves
Spellward
Andruil's (+2 stats)
Key to the City (+2 stats)
Lifegiver
Aeducan Shield (+1 cunning)

---

Veshialle

STR 53
DEX 59
CUN 23

DPS 29.54
v 15 armor 25.90
v 30 armor 19.20

---

Starfang

STR 51
DEX 62
CUN 23

DPS 29.32
v 15 armor 27.11
v 30 armor 20.40

---

Crow Dagger T7

STR 51
DEX 59
CUN 23

DPS 29.19
v 15 armor 27.26
v 30 armor 18.76

---

Rose's Thorn

STR 51
DEX 61
CUN 23

DPS 33.50
v 15 armor 31.57
v 30 armor 23.07

---

Rose's Thorn with Felon's and Cadash Stompers subbed in

STR 51
DEX 69
CUN 23

DPS 34.61
v 15 armor 32.68
v 30 armor 24.18

---

DPS isn't a lot different, crit chance is going to be pretty low because of class. But, with the dex and defense bonus from Felon's, the character would have 125 defense with no sustains, or 135 with Shield Wall.

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 8, 2020 10:41:30 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 8, 2020 10:41:30 GMT

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

Would have to get the toolset out and learn how to use it correctly, heh

Never hurts, yes.
Applies for me as well.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

I think the difference you are seeing is from armor rating really. Usually most things won't have anywhere near the armor of a Revenant.

For a concrete example, Gaxkang in Revenant form has 46 armor (but only 29 in the Arcane form). Ser Cauthrine, who is also an elite boss, only has 21.3 armor max.

The other thing is that the Revenant creature level minimum is such that if you find one early in the game it will still be at much higher level than the other regular units in that area.

Before writing what I want to write should ask in this case:

"Armor rating" reduces incoming damage? Is that correct? Or that "notion" includes anything else?

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

It is sort of surprising that nobody really has a chart or anything for armor ratings or HP after all these years, although I know it is scaled by difficulty

For doing such things you need to master a really difficult soft.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

probably most practical as an archer

It is already not a matter of "practicality", but a matter of "resourcefulness" - how you can use such rogue.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

I am not sure when I would even get to something like this

I probably never. Though have an archer for solo (also sleeps in the camp as others "for solo" GWs).

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

Level 14 is perhaps a little early to do Carta, but it depends on gear I suppose. With low defense, percent chance to dodge is very useful. But just getting more strength points from higher levels will help with checks

The only difficulty was really "hell of helpers + Jarvia" - in this order.

In this case (no-health-pot solo) description of the difficulty in one word - "overwhelmed". Other than that - nothing difficult.

Only as you have mentioned - good gear helped + nice GS (even with useless runes in my case).

But Jarvia is dead - DRs are free to go for me (only later, though I need A Maul from there ASAP...).

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

It can only apply on critical hits in the base game, despite the description making it sound like it is any hit. On top of that, the penalty is only 5 armor.

Could have picked up another ability than.

But good to know as well as

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

Shattering Blows does nothing whatsoever in the base game, fwiw.

Mighty Blow is also supposed to slow the target, which doesn't work right.

Thanks.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

This quest is bad, I don't like to do it as a warrior until I have nearly 100% spell resist, and it is helpful to have nature resist probably. Helps to be in the mid-late teens if you want to save even one refugee.

The problem was - slo-mo-2h. With other warrior classes - at least some refugees are always left to live another day.

Funny thing - bersk spec is popular among people. Even refugees use it.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

All Combat Movement actually does is change the angle on enemies that count for flanking / backstabs. Changes to a wider cone with it

Aha, only that "all is does" is all the rogue is about to be a killing machine.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

But as far as movement goes, if the game thinks the Warden needs to move to stay in melee and attack, then it might move as long as Hold isn't on. Other than that, I only run into problems if there are a lot of enemies or NPCs in a clump, or if I accidentally click behind an enemy when I am animation canceling.

Yes, only I see no benifits you have menioned. Such game decisions give me only problems I described - death.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

Champion of Redcliffe - Mental Fortress

Going to use the gift?

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

Leliana has Combat Stealth, so she can sit back and do nothing easily

Yeah, very handy. I take Zevran if needed. Stealth + Hold = no running for me to end a combat by finding the corpse.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

Used a Concentrated Deathroot

BTW. Forgot to write it in the previous post.
Noticed "stun" from poisons (not only deathroot)almost does not work (with simple enemies even).
In the beginning of the game it was noticeable. Now - it feels almost useless.
Though other poisons according to the description do additional damage (nature/spirit numbers pop up at least), but do not stun. One hand is enough to count how many "stuns" I had in those previous battles.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

I meant to kill the Hermit here, but he wouldn't turn hostile (didn't remember time limit on this).

Just try to sneak into his "house". No?

If that did not work - than too late already.

Feb 8, 2020 0:26:13 GMT capn233 said:

But, with the dex and defense bonus from Felon's, the character would have 125 defense with no sustains, or 135 with Shield Wall.

Rogue-warriors ftw.

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"Of course!"

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 8, 2020 14:43:26 GMT

Quote

Post by capn233 on Feb 8, 2020 14:43:26 GMT

Feb 8, 2020 10:41:30 GMT Sonya said:

Before writing what I want to write should ask in this case:

"Armor rating" reduces incoming damage? Is that correct? Or that "notion" includes anything else?

Yes, it is basically a flat reduction to the total damage. That value is lowered by armor penetration. So if one enemy has 10 or 15 more armor than another, the damage they take will be about that much lower.

Enemies also have some damage resistance on Nightmare (5%)

The problem was - slo-mo-2h. With other warrior classes - at least some refugees are always left to live another day.

Funny thing - bersk spec is popular among people. Even refugees use it.

Swift Salve can help.

Going to use the gift?

Gave Alistair the shield. Aeducan shield is just about as good a shield as you can get.

Noticed "stun" from poisons (not only deathroot)almost does not work (with simple enemies even).
In the beginning of the game it was noticeable. Now - it feels almost useless.
Though other poisons according to the description do additional damage (nature/spirit numbers pop up at least), but do not stun. One hand is enough to count how many "stuns" I had in those previous battles.

I don't know about the chance changing (something like 10% per hit), but stun length is modified by enemy rank. And some enemies are immune to stun. I think also if a stun is applied to a target that is already stunned, the length of stun drops. I do not think I noticed the chance changing.

If that did not work - than too late already.

Yes, I reached in and took a ring, but he didn't go hostile. And now it says there is nothing in his "house." I think once the Oak has the acorn you lose your chance to fight him, but I don't know for sure.

Rogue-warriors ftw.

Yeah I bought it, and it is ok in regular fights. I should have bought Evon's though since I fought the High Dragon...

***

Denerim

Sold more loot, turned in Untraceable. 287g 75s 67c. Bought Felon's Coat, almost bought Evon's as well, but didn't.

In any case, with chest switched to Felon's, I had 35 armor and 125 defense with Shield Wall up at this level. Bought a backpack from Gorim (couldn't get everything in Ostagar... probably carrying too many elemental resistance potions that I have picked up).

Dalish Camp

Bought another backpack

Low Road

Wynne's second encounter. It was simple enough to get all the aggro with Holy Smite, and the cover is better if Wynne is moved immediately to the side so she is ignored.

Level 18 +3 dex, Coercion 4, Taunt

Maybe I should have taken Assault, but "shield" damage range is reversed in the game, so maximizing the rolls makes Assault weak. Still, it might have been helpful in a little bit...

Orzammar

Intimidated Rogek for extra gold. Bought Rose's Thorn (61g 54s 41c remaining). Killed the thief, but sold the book.

Talked to Vartag and then Bhelen. Had Leliana steal Vartag's shield again.

Soldier's Peak

Went here to buy the GM Frost rune, and upgrade both Duncan's Dagger and Maric's Sword to dragonbone.

I decided to try killing the High Dragon with Duncan's dagger loaded with two GM Frost and one GM Lightning rune. His dagger is +10 to dragons, but that is only auto attacks. So I left a save as a test in case I wanted to come back.

I had two Journeyman Paralyze runes I had found in the Urn quest, and put them in Rose's Thorn. I thought another option might be to go to Wonders of Thedas and buy a third to stick in it and try that on the Dragon if the above didn't work.

From fighting the dragon before though, I didn't think that auto-attacks were going to be practical. She seems to kick pretty much any time they are used. But I was going to try it a little with Swift Salve to see if it might work at all.

Lake Callenhad, Circle Tower

Talked to the looter guy with Sten. Activated a Dead Drop.

Bought a few more supplied for making Swift Salves from Spoiled Princess and the Tower. Morrigan could make me 4 more (only had 9 mushrooms).

High Dragon

So Duncan's Dagger with the runes did fairly respectable auto-attack damage, but I was getting kicked way too much, and getting kicked too far out of range means extra fire balls, and it wasn't looking like it would work all that well. But it probably can with a lot of patience because of health regen.

I went back to the "reliable" method where if you are in just the right spot slightly outside of the target circle, and slightly towards the front of the black flanking cone, you can activate a weapon talent and it will work without the character moving too close. This is why I mentioned Assault earlier. In any case, my damage from Pummel and Overpower were pathetic. 2H is drastically better doing the same thing, using Sunder Arms or Armor over and over.

I blew the horn near the circular Ruins area since I find it is easier to prevent her from flying away there. I started with Swift Salve, but it was possible to micro well enough that it was not needed, and eventually I only used it if I was taking too much damage because I had screwed up micro. Same with fire resistances, I used them if I caught a fireball. Wore Cailan's gloves and boots, and Warden Commander chest. Used Duncan's Dagger, although Rose's Thorn would have been better (health regen, and its +damage should add to shield talents).

After about one million pummels and overpowers, she was dead. Used one greater fire resist, 7 lesser resists, and 4 swift salves.

Not sure if I will bother to redo it. I still have to fight Flemmeth, but she is usually easier.

"Are all people from your galaxy loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me, baby. Just me."

Sonya
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 8, 2020 19:55:56 GMT

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 8, 2020 19:55:56 GMT

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

Yes, it is basically a flat reduction to the total damage. That value is lowered by armor penetration. So if one enemy has 10 or 15 more armor than another, the damage they take will be about that much lower.

Enemies also have some damage resistance on Nightmare (5%)

Than it all makes sense.
Armor was and is to blame.
Revenants have higher armor rating, but other enemies I fought happened to have just different armor ratings.
With the Circle Revenant your previous post explains why.

As I understand the situation in the game is similar to the following:
In general among all enemies Revenants have the highest armor rating.
There are still enemies with rather high armor as well.
There are enemies with low armor.
In my cases I fought with enemies, which happened to have higer armor thus the result: Revenant damage seemed lower as before that I had fought enemies with higher armor (lower armor were there as well, just maybe enemies with higher were more).
The second case - everything was in places.

Conclusion; do not pay attention to it.

Appreciate the help.

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

Swift Salve can help

Can, if have money.

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

I don't know about the chance changing (something like 10% per hit), but stun length is modified by enemy rank. And some enemies are immune to stun. I think also if a stun is applied to a target that is already stunned, the length of stun drops. I do not think I noticed the chance changing.

If so, the only explanation could be - enemies have higher rank. Only it is not as I am talking about simple enemies, not bosses or elites.
Plus you say you have not noticed anything silimar.

Deathroot poison has never failed me IIRC. Only in this PT I see the difference for some reason.
First blamed another poison with additional damage and stun - thought it is just bugged like mage/soldier poison e.g.
After checked simple Dethroot poison - very rare stuns with simple enemies and simple hits.

Maybe was just unlucky.
Need to keep an eye on it.
Only first get more DR poisons.

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

probably carrying too many elemental resistance potions that I have picked up

My problem as well - salves, bombs and poisons take too much space. Sometimes can't loot everything for sale.
A curse of the "no-pot-PT".

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

Had Leliana steal Vartag's shield again.

Again?

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

But it probably can with a lot of patience

The first point if writing a memo for "no-pot-solo-PT".

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

my damage from Pummel and Overpower were pathetic.

Feb 8, 2020 16:38:13 GMT capn233 said:

After about one million pummels and overpowers

Regret to turn into more dex now?

I like "pathetic" and "millions pummels" in particular.

Anyway, very nice.

If not difficult, could you, pls, post an image of your GW now: attr + abilities.

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 8, 2020 22:39:32 GMT Sonya likes this

Quote

Post by capn233 on Feb 8, 2020 22:39:32 GMT

Feb 8, 2020 19:55:56 GMT Sonya said:

Regret to turn into more dex now?

I like "pathetic" and "millions pummels" in particular.

No not exactly, but if I had more strength, I would have probably taken Assault already, and that might work a little better on the Dragon. Also it is tricky to get the ability to "fire" in the right spot, and I had to cancel some attacks, which made it longer.

If you do it right, you can do one overpower or pummel every second hop (more or less), but I didn't do it right all the time and that drug the fight out further.

It would have been slightly shorter with different main weapon, as the flat damage bonus enchantments should increase shield damage a bit (IIRC).

If not difficult, could you, pls, post an image of your GW now: attr + abilities.

I will try to get a screenshot after I get back tonight.

***

Temple, Haven

Finished looting the area.

Denerim

Sold stuff, stole from Master Tilver. Turned in the dragon scales for Wade's Superior Heavy Dragonscale Armor.

Went to camp and put 2x GM Frost and 1x GM Lightning in Rose's Thorn. Put 1x GM Flame and 2x 8% spell resist runes in Starfang.

Orzammar

Proving - did a lot of it in KCP with Rose's Thorn, as I didn't remember the waves. Switched to Felon's in the middle of the last fight and was nearly unhittable. With shield wall on, Rose's Thorn and Felon's, I had 35 armor and 127 defense. With KCP, it was 41 armor and 112 defense. Plus 30% chance to dodge (Cailan's boots + Spellward).

Unofficial Proving - This is only slightly harder than above, although enemies hit me more often.

Throne Room Dragon - Felon's and Rose's Thorn. Forgot about Duncan's Dagger. Had to kite a little bit after I was overwhelmed.

Tavern - talked to Zerlinda's father, talked to Dulin to betray Bhelen. Talked to Oghren. Stopped by Burkel outside to tell him he could have meetings.

Carta Quest

Did the whole thing with Felon's and Rose's Thorn, didn't bother to switch to KCP for the few mages. Just hit them with Holy Smite as soon as I opened the door or whatever. Frightening Appearance was not resisted once as far as I remember, some enemies resisted Pummel or Shield Bash though.

Jarvia - As the fight started, I applied Shock Coating, and used a Swift Salve, and then a little later Incense of Awareness (+10 defense). That made me avoid most all attacks, except by Jarvia and the elite rogues. Frightening Appearance worked on Jarvia whenever I did it, she resisted a Pummel though. The only time I was in any danger was when I decided to just go in the middle of the room in the last wave, took a Mark of Death and a Cripple debuff, so started to get hit a little more. But I killed Jarvia and the last elite rogue soon after that and the rest of the enemies had no hope.

Got the team after I exited so I could run backwards through the hideout and get the loot.

Orzammar

Bought more mushrooms and concentrator agents, Morrigan made me a few more Swift Salves, and another Incense.

Killed the tunneling thieves.

Killed the Black Vials Revenant. It hit me only three or four times.

Killed the Ambassador.

Level 19 +3 dex, Assault (for Flemeth I think). This raised me to 130 defense in Felon's with Rose's Thorn and Shield Wall on.

Talked to Dulin, then Harrowmont.

Frostback Mountains

Talked to Faryn with Sten. Bought GM Silverite. Killed the False Witness. Did the Dead Drop. Gave the note to the Apprentice.

Redcliffe

Dead drop. Got Sten's Sword.

Denerim

Sold loot. Bought another GM Silverite (this is to exploit Maric's Sword enchant to amuse myself in the Deep Roads).

"Are all people from your galaxy loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me, baby. Just me."

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 8, 2020 23:47:55 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 8, 2020 23:47:55 GMT

Starting from the Circle

For now use only GS Starfang.

Before going to camp to configure weapons (got new ones + new runes) wanted to make other encounters + smaller quests if have:
- Circle Black Vials Revenant: very easy and fast.

Went to Denerim trying to make more money if can.
Ok, now I can't move around the city w/o stupid guard ambush accusing me of stealing. Do not know what exactly caused it as moved around the city with already failed stealing and had nothing (actually even not a single thug ambush). Know for sure lvl has nothing to do with it, maybe Crime Stealing quests caused it as for now I have finished everything I could.
I have nothing against it as always on purpose cause gaurd ambushes, but in this no-pot-PT now I can't win. Tried several times with different tactics and corners - nothing. The 1st ambush is in the place where you managed to get on the top (likned an image). That corner was a good place when did bandit quest, but in this case there are too many archers (melees are not a problem). Will have to leave Denerim for now or get more bombs - have only 2 now - not helpful.
Wanted to finish last Crow quest + hoped for thug ambushes and Revenant. Too bad.

But at least in the city itself turned in quests and got money for the belt Andruil's Blessing - again became poor.

Went to my camp for enchantments and some chats.

Weapons I have now with runes: 2 Mauls, 1 BA, 3 GS

Maul
Silverite Tier 6
Dmg - 13.50
Crit chance 0.75
AP - 12.25
SM - 1.25
+ 5 cold dmg
+ 8 spell resist

Spiked Maul (farewell present from Jarvia)
Red Steel Tier 5
Dmg - 12.60
Crit chance 0.70
AP - 11.20
SM - 1.25
+ 3 damage
+ 2 % crit chance
-1 dex
+ 4 spell resist
+ 2 electro dmg

Battleaxe
Silverite Tier 6
Dmg - 15.00
Crit chance 4.50
AP - 2.25
SM - 1.10
+ 4 spell resist
+ 4 damage vs undead (had no other runes)

Ageless (GS)
Silverite Tier 6
Dmg - 16.50
Crit chance 2.25
AP - 5.25
SM - 1.10
weakens nearby darkspawn
messy kills
+ 5 dmg vs darkspawn
increase hostility and intimidation
+ 0,25 sta regen in combat
+ 15 physical resist
+ chance to paralysis

Starfang (GS)
Starmetal
Dmg - 18.70
Crit chance 2.25
AP - 6.30
SM - 1.10
+ 3 strength
+ 2,5 AP
+ 8 attack
+ 5 electro dmg
+ 8 spell resist
+ 20 physical resist

Yusaris (GS)
Silverite Tier 6
Dmg - 16.50
Crit chance 2.25
AP - 5.25
SM - 1.10
+ 20 fire resist
+ 10 dmg to dragons
+ 2 cold dmg
+ 10 physical resist

From now on finally can use Mauls - missed them a lot and tired already to look at Starfang, Ageless was worse in missions I had. Now have runes in each weapon + other quests.
Hope Mauls I have will be useful for no-pot-solo, otherwise will be stuck with Starfang (that's what makes me sad).

Two armor sets: changed them in some quests to see the difference, both can be used depending on enemies.
1) KCP + Honnleath Helmet + diligence gloves + Dalish boots + 3 def
2 )Warden Commander Armor (from Sonya Dryden) + Honnleath Helmet

Bijoutrie for now (have other trinkets as well just in case e.g. for more nature resist, never know..):
- amulet Spellward;
- belt Andruil's Blessing;
- rings Lifegiver + Key to the City.

Decided to try Wynne encounters.

Wynne (1st):

Ran to the right side of the mountain. Melees are not the problem, archers are. So lured them one by one. Died a couple of times.

Wynne (2nd):

Thought would die here. Ran to the mage already casting some spells. Concentrated on him with PS as priority. For the mob used Swing, only for some reason melees were not a problem at all. Killed the mage, only after that the rest.

Other encounters:
- Bloody Plains: couple of tries. Rushed to the mage, then for archers to switch them to melee, Swing for that circle, PS for a Leader, ran to those who switched back to the bow, killed them then the rest. The Leader got many PSs and MBs as remained the last.
- Got "River Crossing" forest ambush 3 times on the way to the Dalish all the time - always died quickly from hell of a damage.
For the time being do not even know how to pass it. Last run gave the Gentle Path. So whatever for now with encounters (several are still left).

As had different weapons aleady, used them depending on enemies and situations. In the end will write something I think.

The Dalish Plot Quest

Started doing things there, killed someone so other assholes should appear there.

Qquest for interested parties "Sign of Safe Passage" (with a bow): thug ambush - simple.

Did Wynne's personal quest in the forest.

Gang thugs where a thief mage was (died many times there): the problems are 1) horde of archers: used a weapon with a higherst PR rune to lower sunders, but their crit and pinning shots are still annoying and arrow guided anyway 2) 2h now always use Critical Strike ability which sucks for me as does a huge damage 3) DW warriors with their "Flurry" ability: interesting that I do not use this ability as a DW warrior does a low damage with it, but enemies after using it only one time leave me with half of my health bar.
Tactics: ran around the forest from the horde (lure did not work), killing them one by one while they all switched to the bow, then again running etc.
It is a bow gang.

Mages quest with BM: spell resist ftw.

Dragon: that is just a joke. Face-to face fight is useless as "overwhelm" will kill anyway (the 1st attempt - needed to check its behavior). Used Yusaris but it seems it is bugged as I did not notice any benifits from it against dragons (inc Orzammar dragon).
So ran to the left - there is a tree. Used Starfang for quicker attacks (before that used Ageless, then switched for a Maul for spiders before the dragon). Ran back and forth behind the tree to provoke the Dragon to use flame and when a Dragon used flame (animaion takes time) - ran to it and used MB + Sunders if had enough health as it hit me as well. Repeat several times and be done with it.

Took the treasure in hope to become rich again later.

OK, a confession. I hate one part of this plot quest - pointless hordes of skeletons. Finally got pissed off and just switched to Starfang for quicker battles.
Before that used 2 Mauls, other GS (BA did not use as already was pissed off) - and I really liked those two Mauls, but attack was slower - so Starfang for the rest of the mission.

Had some troubles with Spiders: they all spammed their abilities and killed me several times. Finally got lucky not to have too many spams. Used 1 nature salve. A close call though.

Skeletons: Swing - running, Swing + something else - running etc.

Ritual Spirits (to get armor set): very easy. In the forest tried other Revenants to get other parts - but useless for now.

Revenant Black Vials: had bloody red health bar thus had to run. Ran around the hall where the spirit was. MB + Sunder(s) - ran to wait for some health regen etc etc.

Arcane Horror: teleports too much to run after him, so arrows.

Revenant Black Vials (in the Lair): looks like he lost directions in those rooms. Exploited it.

Witherfang
Only tried to see how it'll go (the choice is "Zathrian dies"). Tried different corners, bombs - couldn't make it as in the end she used "overwhelm" the moment could get to me. The rest werewolves were not a problem.

Forgot to slaughter the Dalish as well and did not leave saves. Too bad.

Zathrian: dispell for that asshole.
Then reaload for melee fight: well, melee is melee. Nothing to say but it was really fast.
Shades and Sylvans were all around only did not do much damage, only Shades slowed me down half of the time.
Once Zathrian managed to use "cone cold" on me - my spell resist worked, Sylvan's behind me - not.

Werewolves are free - gave me the shield and ran to train dogs.

On the way to the camp had encounter "River Crossing" I could not pass before: this time took five attempts. Ran right behind the tree on the hill throwing bombs on the way. Killed melees (they always killed me), then killed three archers (they decided not to come behind the tree).

Some thoughts:
- used mostly Starfang as had mentioned, but managed to use Mauls and 2 other GS. Mauls showed themselves very good (spiders/skeletons/thugs/werewolves). Ageless also had nice numbers. Yusaris - as a simple GS also was nice, against 2 smaller dragons did not notice anything special in damage;
- too bad did not check BA crit chance.

Maybe will go to Redcliffe next.

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 9, 2020 3:17:26 GMT Sonya likes this

Quote

Post by capn233 on Feb 9, 2020 3:17:26 GMT

Feb 8, 2020 23:47:55 GMT Sonya said:

Went to Denerim trying to make more money if can.
Ok, now I can't move around the city w/o stupid guard ambush accusing me of stealing. Do not know what exactly caused it as moved around the city with already failed stealing and had nothing (actually even not a single thug ambush).

From what I understand, if you fail a stealing check in Denerim, it adds that guard encounter to the random encounter pool when you are traveling, so then it can pop up. And if you beat the first one, there is a second one later with even more guards.

Used Yusaris but it seems it is bugged as I did not notice any benifits from it against dragons (inc Orzammar dragon).

I would need to look at that one again, but that enchantment should be more like a rune, so should only apply if auto-attacking. Would be way better if it worked on talents.

***

Shot of character screen in Caridin's Cross

SPOILER: Click to show

Level 19 SnS Dwarf Noble

STR 51

DEX 64

WIL 25

MAG 20

CUN 23

CON 35

Armor 35

Defense 130

Attack 124

24.8 melee critical chance

Above with Shield Wall and Precise Striking on.

--

Shot of Maric's Blade doing +58 dmg to darkspawn (it would be 66 if I had three GM Silverites)

SPOILER: Click to show

--

Caradin's Cross

I was fooling around with Maric's Blade using the enchantment / rune interaction exploit, it would kill the Genlocks there often in two swings, sometimes that would leave a sliver of health and it took 3.

For the Ogre Alpha, I used Rose's Thorn though. Frightening Appearance worked every time, but needed to retreat a little. Did get grabbed, took me from about 80% health down to maybe 30%.

Black Vial Revenant here hit me a lot more than the one in the palace, 7 times I think.

For the emissary sections, I used KCP and Starfang.

Ortan Thaig

Most of this went very smoothly running Felon's and Rose's Thorn. I bought a bundle of Deep Mushrooms from Ruck.

The first tricky bit was fighting the Fade Beast (Asunder), which I did with KCP and Starfang for spell resist. I didn't use any consumables, but probably should have since he hit me with fire and ice damage several times, and it ended up being a somewhat close call. I could avoid the Massive Attacks with micro, and most of his regular melees missed me otherwise.

Also used KCP and Starfang before the Spider Queen in the area with two Emissaries.

Corrupted Spider Queen

This took me a couple tries because I didn't want to completely break the encounter, although in my failed attempts it reminded me why I like that option.

Ran towards the queen, and then activated Greater Nature Resist. As she moves away, used Holy Smite on the two adds as they came down, then moved off a little to guess where the queen might come down. In any case, the idea was to close the gap as quickly as possible, or else she would use too many poison spits, and the bugged DOT damage makes a reload.

Used Frightening Appearance on the queen, then tried to kill the low tier units as fast as possible in proximity to the queen. When she "disappears," a good idea is to move near Branka's journal, behind some stalagmites, in an attempt to limit poison spits. Activated Soulrot poison and Swift Salve the next time I had the queen one on one. For the waves of adds, tried to group them and use Holy Smite, and kill each quickly. When the queen showed up, Frightening Appearance, and tried to stick with her if she wanted to move away.

The better way to do this is to activate the encounter, and then move behind the large formation of stalactites and stalagmites, where you will often drop out of combat, and there is not line of site to any of the spots the queen will reappear in. Also the lower tier units have a hard time finding you there, so you don't fight very many at once.

Actually on that note, once or twice I managed to kill the queen that way without killing hardly any of the other spiders, and then I had to fight the big group of them at the end.

Last Edit: Feb 9, 2020 3:24:29 GMT by capn233

"Are all people from your galaxy loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me, baby. Just me."

Sonya
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 9, 2020 15:54:04 GMT

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 9, 2020 15:54:04 GMT

Feb 9, 2020 3:23:34 GMT capn233 said:

rom what I understand, if you fail a stealing check in Denerim, it adds that guard encounter to the random encounter pool when you are traveling, so then it can pop up. And if you beat the first one, there is a second one later with even more guards.

No. It is 100 % that you meet them wherever you go in Denerim, one ambush after another with more guard every time.
At least it was always in ALL my PTs. Tried it with low and mid levels.

The only thing - do not know exactly how many fail stealings or lucky stealings can trigger those ambushes. Did not check - every time just tried several steals and went to walk around Denerim.

Exactly in this PT I failed to steal, but walked around Denerim w/o guard ambush.

When finished Crime quests - Leliana stole the key to open chests + I stole (1 point in stealing) Nancine sowrd while she tried on a new dress (convinced her) - after that went right to walk around Denerim and got the ambush.

Last were lucky stealings, thus suspect it gave me guard ambush.

Actually it is interesting to know exactly what triggers guard ambush - how many tries? how many fails? now many lucky stealings?
Like exact numbers and clear information.

Feb 9, 2020 3:23:34 GMT capn233 said:

I would need to look at that one again, but that enchantment should be more like a rune, so should only apply if auto-attacking. Would be way better if it worked on talents.

That was the case. Low number/no + X damage e.g. Nothing.

Now in the DR and try Ageless: from time to time even can see + X damage or even noticed that the damage from this sword agaist darkspawn is indeed higher than is was with other enemies. Actually the damage is close to Starfang.
It is not always but still noticeable from time to time at least - maybe Ageless is half/bugged, idk.

With Yusaris - did not see such things.
There are still 2 High Dragons - maybe will try to notice something there, but it will be later anyway.

Feb 9, 2020 3:23:34 GMT capn233 said:

Shot of character screen in Caridin's Cross

Alright, thanks.

May I ask you something.
Do you do ALL side quests in the DRs? Or just like with the Ashes where you did not go to all places?

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

Sonya
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 9, 2020 21:46:03 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 9, 2020 21:46:03 GMT

Continuation

First went to the Camp.

Changed some runes (only one actually). Talked to people.

After visited shops to sell loot and find salves/bombs/ingredients.

On the way Lake - Dalish shop had a new to me encounter "Clearing Forest" - pack of werewolves with a leader. Used a Maul. Was standing near the rock not to end up in the circle. An easy encounter at this lvl at least. Maybe because they did not use "overwhelm" one after another.

While was in Orzammar where spent last gold, decided to try Provings.

Unofficial Provings
Used The Maul + poison which was useless. For two last fights switched to Starfang + swift + rock salves as died a couple of times there. 'Holy Smite' is very handy.

What is interesting about "Holy Smite".
Not to be stunned you need to pass PR - the only warriors who couldn't do that were HUMANs 2h "Champions". Others usually passed that check.
There were 3-4 times "stunned or knocked back" scenes.
When again used "HS" on 2hs - the same situation: dwarves passed PR check (even DWs during official provings as well), humans - never (though human 2hs did a nice dmg).

Is there a way to check this somehow? As it is strange actually.
Shows humans not in the best light. Not good.

Mages were fine as continued casting useless spells all the time = passed mental reisit, but not PR.

Then went to pollute Official Provings
Always died during the last fight because of one ability the leader used - "Critical Strike": have already mentioned that 2hs started to use it and always kill me when health is low - by the book at least.

During first attempts decided to focus on his support - useless.
After that just ignored the support and rammed the leader using abilities and hits: that was much better. Three attempts. Swift + rock salves + poison that stunned and did additional damage + 3 bombs.
Used Starfang and changed armor for the second set I have for more sta.

Morrigan made some health pots to sell - at least some gold and got rid of useless elfroots I had.

Decided to try Deep Raods

Level 16 Reaver spec, Devour.

Caridin's Cross

Used KCP + Agesless against darkspawn: nothing special.
Ageless worked very well against them.
Revenant Black Vials: could not do it - left for later if don't forget (I hope).

Ortan Thaig

KCP + Srarfang as spiders everywhere.
Asunder: 2 attempts. MB + Sunders + running for CD. Used spells a couple of times on me.

Spider Queen

KCP + Starfang + 2 lesser nature resist
The fight was strange.
When I ran to her hiding place, she crawled to the bridge ignoring me, I ran after her and only on the bridge could fight her.
When she hid, I again ran to her hiding place and had the same situation.
After she twice called for helpers. This time I stood near the colomn on the platform near her hiding place.
There were three helpers + the Queen (twice).
They used "overwhelm" but did not spam it like others, so actually the fight went well.
The Queen used poison, two times "OV" + web (resisted) on the bridge.
With helpers used only poison and hits.

Some thoughts:
- had several reloads with spiders only when they spammed OV and web one after another, otherwise it was not so hard;
- what really helped AoE abilities: for horde of spiders used Holy Smite and Sweep. Only some spiders resisted stun;
- armor is nice so incoming damage was not so big.

Now one question.
I am level 16 now and from Reaver spec have only Devour ability (did not have gold to buy one tome).
Usually I do not use it, but with hordes of spiders and spamming from them had to use.

The question is: is "no-pot-solo-PT" still "no-pot-solo-PT" if you still use healing even if it is an ability?
The purpose is - do not heal during PT, no? But Devour heals. Or only no-pots?
Sort of cheating if to think of that.

Tbh I wanted to take Champion spec as the second one, but from that spec I need only one ability - 'War Cry" BUT only with the last passive to throw everyone from me (really helpful ability). But I do not have points now for that (though already lvl 16).
Thus - "Reaver" from which I actually need only "Frenzy": the 4th sustained ability, but also have no points, but at least "FA" is useful for now (when get lvl 17).

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 10, 2020 0:27:06 GMT Sonya likes this

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Post by capn233 on Feb 10, 2020 0:27:06 GMT

Feb 9, 2020 15:54:04 GMT Sonya said:

May I ask you something.
Do you do ALL side quests in the DRs? Or just like with the Ashes where you did not go to all places?

Since I usually do the Deep Roads as the last treaty quest, I do as much as I can while I am there. It works out as well since there isn't much back-tracking. Just a small amount for the Drifter's Cache, and then I pick up Topsider's Honor after I beat Branka. I make sure to talk to the woman in the Shaperate and Ruck's mother before I go down there.

I don't think Devour is that big a deal, some of the harder fights don't have the mobs to heal from anyway. It is all personal preference. I had Champion on my 2H.

Speaking of specs, I am probably not going past Frightening Appearance on this character, and I don't really like the other abilities much either. Although the last one is ok.

On Champion, besides War Cry knock down with Superiority, Rally can be sometimes helpful for an extra bit of attack rating. The extra defense is harder to notice.

"Are all people from your galaxy loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me, baby. Just me."

Sonya
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 10, 2020 13:20:00 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 10, 2020 13:20:00 GMT

Feb 10, 2020 0:27:06 GMT capn233 said:

Speaking of specs, I am probably not going past Frightening Appearance on this character, and I don't really like the other abilities much either. Although the last one is ok.

Past on whom you mean? Other Elites and Bosses as has low strength?

And one more thing: "Frenzy" is OK, yeah, only your character has high defense. In this case "Frenzy" will be useless anyway.
That is why I always take Reaver for my 2hs - they usually end up with lower health so "Frenzy" at least adds some damage.

Turns out "Reaver" spec is useless for your present dex SnS warrior?
Still will continue to develop dex SnS GW even considering your thoughts about it all and specs? And your previous notion that you have taken Reaver only because of FA?

Don't want to respect to take the Champion?

Feb 10, 2020 0:27:06 GMT capn233 said:

Rally can be sometimes helpful for an extra bit of attack rating. The extra defense is harder to notice.

The reason I usually do not activate Rally. War Cry with knock down is enough.

Addded.

Feb 10, 2020 0:27:06 GMT capn233 said:

Since I usually do the Deep Roads as the last treaty quest, I do as much as I can while I am there. It works out as well since there isn't much back-tracking. Just a small amount for the Drifter's Cache, and then I pick up Topsider's Honor after I beat Branka. I make sure to talk to the woman in the Shaperate and Ruck's mother before I go down there.

What about "Legion of the Dead" thing? Collect full Armor set + recognizing them as casta?

Last Edit: Feb 10, 2020 15:15:06 GMT by Sonya

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"Of course!"

capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 10, 2020 22:49:47 GMT Sonya likes this

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Post by capn233 on Feb 10, 2020 22:49:47 GMT

Feb 10, 2020 13:20:00 GMT Sonya said:

]Past on whom you mean? Other Elites and Bosses as has low strength?

I mean I am not going to get the talents in the line after Frightening Appearance.

Turns out "Reaver" spec is useless for your present dex SnS warrior?

It is very useful, as Frightening Appearance is the only reliable CC I have for most targets ranked above the basic enemies.

Still will continue to develop dex SnS GW even considering your thoughts about it all and specs? And your previous notion that you have taken Reaver only because of FA?

It is basically locked in with the attributes, as I am near the endgame anyway and have a lot of dexterity investment.

The character has the weakness that I suspected it would have, namely that the shield talents are unreliable CC against higher rank than naormal enemies usually, and so Frightening Appearance helps correct that to an extent. So for targets vulnerable to fear, and with relatively low mental resistance (like ogres), the character is pretty decent.

On the other hand, if a target has relatively good physical resistance and is immune to fear, then the character is pretty weak. Golems in the Anvil section, for instance, were a problem in numbers greater than 1. Slam seemed to always hit (and is a big crit at like 65-70 damage).

Don't want to respect to take the Champion?

No, not on this character.

What about "Legion of the Dead" thing? Collect full Armor set + recognizing them as casta?

Yes, I can pick up all the pieces as I go along, so after I name the king, I turn that quest in at the Shaperate. Also do the Gangue Shade while I get the helmet and the key (after the two ogres in the Dead Trenches).

***

Dead Trenches

The only things here that were dangerous were the encounters where Emissaries were supported by spiders as there is potentially a lot of nature damage, and I could get CC'd a lot. Best to use a little luring and break line of sight. Did these portions with KCP and Starfang.

Ancient Darkspawn - vulnerable to Frightening Appearance each time, resisted Shield Pummel and Shield Bash.

Forge Master - resisted Shield Pummel twice, and Shield Bash Twice. Frightening Appearance worked each time.

Hurlock Alpha near above - resisted a Pummel, but knocked down with Bash.

Emissary with many skeletons - usually I lure skeletons out, but thought I would try just running in there and killing the emissary. This worked, but I had to start moving the group around after the emissary was dead in order to regen slightly, and let Frightening Appearance and Holy Smite come off cooldown.

Level 20 +3 dex, Disengage (still on the way to Perfect Striking).

With KCP, Starfang and Shield Wall, had 119 Defense. With Felon's and Rose's Thorn (SW on), 133.

Broodmother

Fought in melee as I didn't feel like attempting to cheese with a bow and Holy Smites. Started by activating Greater Nature Resist, and used a Soulrot Coating because I had them. I attacked the tentacles because they were annoying me. After that, it was just melee swing or two, then move away if she tried to do Sweep or Grab. Repeated a bunch of times. When Darkspawn appeared, I moved up a ramp and fought them. Used another GNR and another Soulrot Coating later. Was wearing Felon's and using Rose's Thorn.

Denerim

Took a detour out of the Deep Roads because my inventory was full. Sold loot, bought some crafting materials, and Evon the Great's Mail since I am rich. 190g 66s 23c remaining. Morrigan made some more Swift Salves and a couple more Incense of Awareness.

Anvil of the Void

As I mentioned above, this character was weak against Golems. I also find the Spirit Anvil annoying, although it isn't necessarily difficult.

Poison Gas Golem Room - you fight these one at a time fortunately, used a Lesser Nature Resist when I ran in and shut off all four valves, then ran out. Over the course of fighting all four, I tried Shield Bash and Overpower as they were off cooldown, assuming the Golem was not knocked down already. But they both only worked a total of four times, so it might have been better not to bother.

Paired Golems - this was more difficult as I didn't really want to blow a lot of consumables. I started by trying to fight them in the doorway so only one could fit, but as I couldn't CC them reliably, I would get knocked by Slam. So then I kited them around, then back to the door. Used Holy Smite and Shield Bash as I could, although it didn't work very well for CC. For the second pair I used a Swift Salve.

Branka

Used Holy Smite at the beginning on Branka to try and aggro her, activated Incense, Swift Salve and Demonic Poison. Tried to kill Golems (normal first, then Lieutenants), and then work on Branka. First Frightening Appearance was resisted by Branka. She resisted my Pummels the couple times I tried it. Used a Soulrot bomb on Branka and the first cluster of Branka and two Golems.

Keeping Swift Salve up, switched to Deathroot Extract when I was one on one with Branka, and that stun worked pretty well. Frightening Appearance then worked most of the time after that. When she split into a group, used Holy Smite, Soulrot Bomb and an Acid Flask to try and keep them off Oghren. Killed the fake ones, then the real one. In total used 3 Swift Salves, one Incense, Demonic Poison, Soulrot Bomb, Acid Flash, and two Deathroot Extracts.

Assembly

Named Harrowmont king, and killed Bhelen myself.

Then I turned in the Ortan papers, and told Ruck's mother his fate. Bought a Tome of the Mortal Vessel, and put that whole one point into Dex.

"Are all people from your galaxy loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me, baby. Just me."

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 11, 2020 2:07:55 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 11, 2020 2:07:55 GMT

Feb 11, 2020 1:14:46 GMT capn233 said:

I mean I am not going to get the talents in the line after Frightening Appearance.

Feb 11, 2020 1:14:46 GMT capn233 said:

It is very useful, as Frightening Appearance is the only reliable CC I have for most targets ranked above the basic enemies.

Ah, did not understand correctly.

In general, are you satisfied with this build for now? (Almost the end of the game).
I read about downsides, but still this build seems how: just playable, enjoyable, annoying, advisable to others etc?

------

Dead Trenches

Will write in short as DRs is the longest plot quest.
Main things (imo) + battles:

Got level 17, FA.

Broodmother

First tried to do it the usual way: failed several times as died from melees actually/missed her grab.
Was tired and used a Bow like in the video you had given me link to in pair with MBs when could (as the higherst damage). Cheated in half at least.
- used the first armor set, only changed boots for + 50 sta (Sophia's);
- used Starfang + a Long Bow (+ 10 nature resist) I had found in the KWs in the beginning of the game;
- used 2 lesser nature resists, but tbh it was not necessary at all: spell resist from everything did its job very well as I did not even notice any nature damage.

Other things:
- used all weapons I had depending on enemies and situation: all were very good, even BA (only had zero crit chances);
- died several times from bad tactics or with spider spams;
- used deathroot poison somewhere once or twice, but tbh just forgot about it;
- got the Legion of the Dead Armor Set (love it);
- fought the Boss Gangue Shade in that armor - PS ftw;
- Forge Master with a bow: did not melee him all the time as in this case could not win. Used his weakness to switch to a bow: MB + something else for him if had health, then running around some construction which blocked him from arrowing me. Repeated several times.

After that returned to the camp to sell loot as there will be more further.
Morrigan and Zevran made me some salves/bombs/poisons.

The Anvil of the Voide

Darkspawn part - nothing interesting.

Two rooms with Golems:
- first attempt resulted in death as 3/4 of the time Golems resisted PS;
- thus tactics: dancing and running around something and hiding behind other statue-golems in the second room so only one Golem could get to me.

Spirit Apparatus
- Swift Salve all the time as my GW is a slow-mo and Apparatus healed some of them + ranged spirits + some 2h used "Aura of Pain" (making damage to me but w/o loosing their own health, aha, ok);
- was standing behind the rocks in front of the final door;
- rushed to spirits who were not in front of the bloody face not to get additional damage from that thing;
- took 3 attemps.

Branka
- funny thing that we both are dwarves, but she can use lyrium and I can't;
- X number of attempts;
- used all swift salves and almost all bombs;
- changed armor to the second set;
- Branka almost always resisted FA;
- PS was useless with her using always SW;
- first always killed her golems, then focused on Branka;
- Oghren did not attract attentionn, was just running around w/o a weapon. When noticed that used "Hold" on him somewhere in the corner (but someone still took him down) - I do not care actually about companions staying alive or dead as the main thing - they should not do damage, but here Oghren even did not fight, simply was running, strange;
- last attempt was jut damn luck in comparison with almost all previous (there were "almost wins", but failed all the time): finally Branka stopped to resist FA and I rammed her with all abilities I had. Luck was also that she mostly did not have a chance to activate her defense and that of course helped to kick her ass using swift salve + useless poison (never worked in this fight). With copies: Sweep, HS, bombs - everything made damage to her as well.
In the end after FA got awesome MB crit right into her face.

Before the Assembly finished Topsider quest.
Tried again the Revenant - got him after the 2nd attempt (used some bombs).

After that put on The Legion of the Dead Armor Set and took a Maul to look like a dwarf.
Will try to run around in this Armor Set somewhere as bonus stats are nice + higher armor + level is already enough to fight if not all, but most of the enemies (do the same to the Elven Armor Set as also like it, stats are nice, but use it later with DW warrior usually).

Went to the Assembly, got a new Maul, turned in Orzammar quests from DRs incuding Golem Registry.

Questions about your 2h no-pot solo:
1) How did you fight Broodmother?
2) What was your tactics with Apparatus as 2h is slow and I had to use swift salve, otherwise - death.
3) How did you fight Branka?!

Last Edit: Feb 11, 2020 2:12:50 GMT by Sonya

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

Sonya
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 11, 2020 22:17:57 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 11, 2020 22:17:57 GMT

Sheeva the Dwarf 2h Templar-Reaver

Decided to do how I usually like to do:
- gether an army + get the ashes;
- during that do side quest I can get (ambushes, personal quests, Revenants, DLCs etc);
- after that go to Redcliffe to cure the Arl;
- then call the Landsmeeting.

Do in this way not to waste time for running back and forth: the army is ready, already have the ashes, so can call the LM right away.

***

First: tired already of game's "brilliant" decisions to move my character w/o my involment to "covenient" places during battles. Useless and destructive to my character - which is most important.
What to do with it? Any suggestions maybe?
Have not noticed anything like this before. Only rogues did such things, not warriors. Now I see this.

Second: stumbled upon some strange thing - lower "cold runes" show + X damage vs undead". And the weapon is indeed "not cold-looking" + there is no additional cold damage. At the same time only cold runes "+ 5 damage" work: it is seen as the weapon looks "cold" + cold damage pops up. Normal runes "vs undead" have right descriptions, but did not have a chance to check how they work.
And it concerns only "cold" runes, "elecrto/fire" runes work as always.

Have you encounered such things?

Again - no weapon/battle-mods installed and it is the first time I see such a thing.

Maybe reinstallation influenced somehow as have already met such things in DAT and MAT (new bugs showed up or even longer cutscenes, inc DAO actually). If reinstalled the game - always got surprises.

***

While was in Orzammar decided to finish everything I could there to return only if for shopping - did not buy something I need.

Camp

Added the 3rd and the 4th Armor sets to try:
1) KCP
2) Sonya's Armor
3) Legion of the Dead
4) Effort set (also have nice stats)

Changed some runes for weapons as got two new Mauls: Forge Master + Trian's Maul (nothing special in them, but still decent enough to use).
Changed "the Maul" for "Trian's Maul": both have the same stats only Trian's Maul has also "+ 4 vs darkspawn".

Talked to Oghren

Got his personal quest.

Talked to Shale in the Camp and got her personal quest.

Cadash Thaig.

- used the 3rd set (to try how it works);
- used the Trian's Maul almost all the the time, then switched to Agesless as still check the most powerful vs darkspawn GS according to description + somewhere again BA.

Results:
- incoming damage was low, only with higher rank enemies needed to be on guard;
- BA used with deepstalkers as even a horde of them could not do much damage while I was slowly waving BA - got one crit;
- the Ogre: died once when he resisted FA - I had low health - he used "grab" - death. After that had to run from him in circles: FA + MBs. When the Ogre was almost in the beyond, he always resisted FA. As had almost full health just used MBs on him + Sunders if he was stunned;
- Ageless had lower damage than the Maul this time.

Then stopped by Ruck to buy mushrooms.
Found in his shop the Dialond Maul Tier 7
Dragonbone + 3 rune slots: spent last gold on it.

Sold loot from the DRs (three times already), but is still poor. Need gold for armor from Wade Shop (Evon the Great's Mail at least) + "make it better" from drake scale.

Morrigan and Zevran again made salves/bombs what they could (had still enough different poisons)

Denerim

Decided to try guard ambushes now + thug ambushes + quests + Revenant.

Used LoftheD Set + had to switch to GS from the Diamond Maul.

First gurad ambush: first died do not how many times.
Damn archers are always a trouble. Everywhere. Reminded me damn engineers always causing troubles.
Finally got lucky: swift salve + useless poison + HS + several bombs (killed several), rammed the rest - they tried to run away from me so thanks to swift salve ran fast enough from one to another archer to force them for melee - Sweep + some bombs again - ran to the corner (one of the thug ambushes, you mentioned that corner) - again used some bombs - after switched to the bow and a GS assessing the situation + used Devour.
It is the first time I used so many bombs for only one stupid ambush.

Final Crow Task: again died a few times so had to exploit the game. For some reason half of the thugs (bosses incl) ran to me while others were finishing to eliminate "helpers" (strategy "fight with others" failed several times). Ran to the crates near the wall (to the right will be the way you came in). Used a bow + GS again depending on the situation.

Second Guard Ambush: the same area only you go in from the side with that corner. Several bombs, 2 HSs, 2 Sweeps + melee attacks. This one is much easier. Did not even die.

Thug Ambush with the fire trap: damage from them was just nothing (guess no level scaling with them). Lured them to go through the trap, killed, went through the trap myself to kill the last thug hiding behind the crates.

Walked around he city several times - no ambushes at all: needed the Revenant.

Turned in quests in Denerim.

Killed three wintesses for "Interested Parties".

While was near the Lake for killing did Oghren quest with Felsi - "Oghren love caravan is on the move".
After drank Oghren's special brew for friends: like to play warriors - they usually can handle it "like champions" if have enough certain attr,
in this case get even more approval from Oghren than when you fall on the ground.

Had encounter with dalish vs darkspawn.

Flemeth

I always leave Felemth alive for my own reasons concerning game plot and characters (just take the key), but with "no-pot-solo" tried the battle, then reloaded and left her alone.

Used Sonya's Armor Set (at least + 10 % fire proof + sta) + Starfang with useless runes (had nothing better anyway) + swift salve + greater warmth resist.
Always took position somewhere closer to her front paw (left in my case), so she could not spam fire spits and use attacks often. Thus the whole fight used kiting actually.
Died if was not careful myself or when she started spamming fire spits.
First "killed" using some bombs, after reloaded and killed w/o bombs, then reloaded, just took the book and left her alone (240 xp only w/o loot anyway):
1, 2 - burnt alive;
3 - killed with bombs;
4 - was eaten;
5 - simply killed.

Next stop - Haven.

How did you fight Hight Dragons with "no-pot-solo-2h"? Strategies, armor, weapon?

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 11, 2020 23:06:55 GMT Sonya likes this

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Post by capn233 on Feb 11, 2020 23:06:55 GMT

Feb 11, 2020 2:07:55 GMT Sonya said:

In general, are you satisfied with this build for now? (Almost the end of the game).
I read about downsides, but still this build seems how: just playable, enjoyable, annoying, advisable to others etc?

I like it well enough, it is a change of pace because I rarely have built SnS with dex in recent times.

I am not sure if the extra health regen and damage per swing on Berserker would have been worth it over the single target disabled of Frightening Appearance. Possibly.

Champion, it is hard to say because I think that War Cry / Superiority knockdown is not very great against elites (very good for knocking down mobs and mages). But all in all effective chance for enemy attacks to miss would be up.

Generally I prefer characters with a lot of active abilities, which is why I like 2H a lot, and it is sad that at 51 total strength my shield talents are not entirely reliable. They work ok against normal rank enemies.

Questions about your 2h no-pot solo:
1) How did you fight Broodmother?
2) What was your tactics with Apparatus as 2h is slow and I had to use swift salve, otherwise - death.
3) How did you fight Branka?!

1. Somewhat similar to how I listed for SnS, but instead of auto attacks, I used predominantly sunders or 2H sweep. For consumables, I only have listed one Greater and one Lesser Nature Resist for this fight.

2. What I do is that I try to fight the "low" tier enemy repeatedly, and use the rotation to my advantage. So pick a side with the SnS, and kill the SnS, it primes an anvil. The first one you can activate immediately, and then try and kill another SnS if you can before it rotates. If you can't no big deal. After it rotates and respawns the guys, the phase two side has a "rogue" guy, and I think it can heal.

Instead of fighting that guy, work on the SnS at the spot it will rotate to next, and prime that anvil. Then you can try to kill the next SnS if you can to prime another. After it rotates, use the primed anvil to switch that side.

The idea is that you avoid fighting at the side with either healing or then the periodic damage dealt to you. It will still be time consuming though.

3. Deep Roads are the last treaty quest I do, so I was Level 19 I think in my 2H run here. I think 2H is the best melee class for this fight actually. My 2H was also a Human Noble, so I could deactivate the lyrium nodes if I needed. I used 2xDRE and one acid flask (to aggro Branka).
Idea is to aggro Branka so she doesn't kill Oghren (an annoyance, she seems to always try to get him), but once I have aggro, I try to kill the golems as fast as possible. That means the normal rank ones, then the LT rank. After they are down, I fight Branka.

If you fight Branka right away, what will happen is the friendly golems die very quickly, and you potentially progress the fight into the next stage and make it harder than it needs to be.

I do not remember how often Pommel worked on Branka, but like I said I was at higher level, which means more strength.

Gear was probably Cailan's gloves, Cailan's boots, and Evon the Great's Mail, Spellward, Andruil's, Key, Lifegiver. Weapon was Starfang.

Feb 11, 2020 22:17:57 GMT Sonya said:

Second: stumbled upon some strange thing - lower "cold runes" show + X damage vs undead".

Cold Iron runes do damage against undead, not the same as a cold damage rune.

How did you fight Hight Dragons with "no-pot-solo-2h"? Strategies, armor, weapon?

Similar to how I described above with this SnS, except I used Sunder Arms or Armor as many times as it took.

With Lifegiver and high armor rating, you can probably survive one grab. I activated a fire resistance balm only when the dragon actually spits a fireball at me, otherwise it may be potentially wasted.

If you are not going to use Cailan's full set, then the next best thing is Evon the Great's Mail combined with Lifegiver for good armor rating and health regen.

Weapon wise, you want to maximize talent damage, so from that standpoint either Starfang or CGM make the most sense.

**

I didn't make any more progress on my character since it was Mass Effect Monday last night.

"Are all people from your galaxy loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me, baby. Just me."

capn233
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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 12, 2020 2:31:16 GMT Sonya likes this

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Post by capn233 on Feb 12, 2020 2:31:16 GMT

Denerim

Sold loot. 236g 24s 38c.

Talked to Genitivi. Bought Greater Warmth Balm recipe (~10g). Morrigan made me 4 of them, and another Swift Salve.

Talked to Shale in camp.

Deep Roads, Cadash Thaig

Stopped by Ortan Thaig to get Topsider's Honor.

Cadash was about as expected. After I killed the Emissary (KCP and Starfang), I decided to run Evon's the rest of the mission and see if I could tell much of a difference from Felon's. With Evon's, I had 44 armor and 119 defense (compared to 35 and 134 with Felon's). Evon's also has health regen and another 10% chance to dodge (so 40% combined with Spellward and Cailan's boots).

For the most part, the difference is not noticeable. However, since it is a heavy chestpiece, the enemies will use their sunders, like Shattering Shot, so if that happens the rating is only 24. They will not against Felon's, since it is "light" armor.

The Ogre Alpha elite boss at the end was interesting. It resisted Frightening Appearance at least 3 times. Resisted a couple Pummels on top of that. I ended up using two deathroot extracts, and had to do some kiting. I also managed to get grabbed twice, and here is where extra armor and regen with Evon's was probably helpful.

Picked up Cadash Stompers, and when combined with Felon's I had 136 defense. Really since it gives crit chance and 2 dex, it is a bit more "offensive" than Cailan's. Armor rating is the same.

Orzammar Palace

On the way Morrigan crafted the antidote. I killed Vartag, then delivered the antidote (Exotic Methods).

Circle Tower

Went to buy some lyrium dust so Morrigan could make me more swift salves. Also bought another Fire Crystal for one more Greater Warmth Balm. Remembered that I hadn't killed the Black Vials Revenant here, so I ran upstairs by myself and took it out.

Flemeth

When I arrived, I thought I would just use Evon's as the chest, and run Starfang as the weapon. This was because I planned to only use talents, and Starfang's +damage adds to "CharacterDamageBonus," so should buff the shield attacks. I didn't bother to change runes, so it had GM Fire and two Dweomer.

She started by spitting a fireball at me, so used a GWB there. Later I used another after the first timed out, and she spit another at me. After that I figured I would see how it went without using them after that timed out.

The general strategy was like with the High Dragon, but faster. I tried to take a couple shots showing the location where I used Assault where I would not be hit. Pummel is a little harder to use and not get kicked actually, since you move forward a little was it is performed.

SPOILER: Click to show

Precise Striking was on as it doesn't affect talent speed, and increases crit chance. I did get bombed by fire more with Flemeth than the High Dragon, but overall this was easier than the High Dragon since I had better stats, Assault, and used Starfang and Evon's.

Last Edit: Feb 12, 2020 2:32:05 GMT by capn233

"Are all people from your galaxy loud-mouthed braggarts?"
"Nope. Just me, baby. Just me."

Sonya
N4

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Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 12, 2020 9:18:21 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 12, 2020 9:18:21 GMT

Feb 12, 2020 2:31:16 GMT capn233 said:

I like it well enough, it is a change of pace because I rarely have built SnS with dex in recent times.

I am not sure if the extra health regen and damage per swing on Berserker would have been worth it over the single target disabled of Frightening Appearance. Possibly.

Champion, it is hard to say because I think that War Cry / Superiority knockdown is not very great against elites (very good for knocking down mobs and mages). But all in all effective chance for enemy attacks to miss would be up.

Generally I prefer characters with a lot of active abilities, which is why I like 2H a lot, and it is sad that at 51 total strength my shield talents are not entirely reliable. They work ok against normal rank enemies.

Glad for you; and for me, as useful tips. Only will change something in build and gear.

Feb 12, 2020 2:31:16 GMT capn233 said:

Cold Iron runes do damage against undead, not the same as a cold damage rune.

Never bothered to remember their names. My fault.

Feb 12, 2020 8:30:08 GMT Sonya said:

1) How did you fight Broodmother?
2) What was your tactics with Apparatus as 2h is slow and I had to use swift salve, otherwise - death.
3) How did you fight Branka?!

Feb 12, 2020 8:30:08 GMT Sonya said:

How did you fight Hight Dragons with "no-pot-solo-2h"? Strategies, armor, weapon?

Thanks.

Feb 12, 2020 2:31:16 GMT capn233 said:

since it was Mass Effect Monday last night.

What?

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

Sonya
N4

Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights
Posts: 1,315 Likes: 1,669

Nearly Solo'd Broken Circle with No Health Pots - No Health Pot Solo Discussion Feb 12, 2020 17:07:20 GMT capn233 likes this

Quote

Post by Sonya on Feb 12, 2020 17:07:20 GMT

Haven

Killed everyone.
Used LoftheD armor + Diamond Maul, then had to switched to KCP + Starfang.
Collected dragon scale (hope will have money for "better armor").

Killed Kolgrim.
Reloaded.
Accepted his offer.
Corrupted the ashes.
Elimianed the faithful guardian with his faithful helpers.
Reloaded.
Did not corrupt the ashes to fight Kolgrim again as the battle is a little bit different.
Killed Kolgrim again.
Killed the High Dragon with the same gear, weapon and tactics as with Flemeth.
Returned later to loot the rest.

Left Genitivi alive to get a ring for blood mages as a reward for help.

Next stop - RtoO.

One note: tried to use the Diamond Maul with + 5 cold damage = did not work that rune on the High Dragon only.

"Doctor, will I die?"
"Of course!"

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