Dragon Age II, Part 2: The Qun is pretty deep, you wouldn't understand it.

[Mx.Silver]

A quick note on Cross-Class combos: you are unlikely to be able to use them before level 8 due to needing to unlock them. The Disorient abilities take the longest to acquire.

I noticed that sometimes the Attack-Symbol on the enemy I am targeting turns from two swords to a shield with an x for a short moment. Any idea what that means?

It means the enemy is either resistant to or immune to the selected character's attacks iirc.

Also, I sometimes can't use my special attacks, even though they don't have any cooldown and I have enough stamina. The icon changes from ready to unavailable a lot, often faster than I can get to the button to use it. Is there a third factor that affects when I can use these abilities?

Not usually. Abilities will sometimes be greyed out if your character is under certain status effects however so that might be it.

[Yora]

I finally beat Danzig! I curse your name!

And damn, that was one of the toughest and luckiest fights I ever had. Aveline was already down, Varic close to fall over, and Merrill with only 2 or 3 hp left. And only the second mage and four warriors left, two of them almost dead. Everyone with health potion cooldown, of course.
I somehow managed to get one of the warriors with half a long bar left to back down from Merrill, but shortly after Varic also went down after having poured the last potion, but with only the Mage left with half a health bar. When I got him almost dead, the bastard healed himself, while Merrill kept in the background with her 2 hp. Only at that moment I noticed that bringing up the circle menu also highlights the corpses, which allowed me to loot one while in combat, and he had that one health potion I needed to kill the Mage.
Damn, that was so close. But I won. Yay!

[Yora]

This game does actually manage to impress me.

From the previews I had assumed that I wouldn't like Aveline and Varik at all and leave them in a dark corner right after meeting them, like Anomen, Candarous, or Wynn. But now I actually like them a lot. I tried making a full girls team, but once I replaced the rogue with Isabella, Avelines catchphrase became "shut up". And she isn't nice to me either. Varik has a campy outfit, but otherwise he's all right.

Meeting the Arishok the first time was great. It was like entering a place that is both a dark bar and a gym.
I already knew that there was something with a mirror and I assume it's about THAT mirror, but getting Merrill from the Dalish was certainly creepy. I usually played dalish in DA, and suddenly everyone thinks she's gone crazy, she can't really say anything to counter that, and she's playing with blood magic and demons. Creepy.

Just now, I was going to the sister who wanted someone capable to escort someone out of the city and "Oh crap! There's a sarebas standing right next to me!"

[Giggling Ghast]

Just now, I was going to the sister who wanted someone capable to escort someone out of the city and "Oh crap! There's a sarebas standing right next to me!"

Yeah, that quest ends on a downer, but it does provide a lot of insight into the qunari mindset.

[Yora]

Bartrand, you bastard!!!

With betrayal I can live with. With an ancient rock wraith, unfortunately not.

Damn, that ****er is hard. I've read in lots of places that this is by far the hardest point in the game. Started the deep roads again so I only used potions for the spider and the dragon and now I have 13 health, 7 lyrium, 6 stamina, and Aveline tanked up as much as it gets.
Somehow this thing has to be able to be killed on hard. Only problem is, that it starts shoting lightning when I try to kite it. I've seen maximum level raid bosses in MMOs that had less complex attack sequences.

[Douglas]

From what I recall, every time it starts a ranged barrage it has a noticeable windup time and stays anchored in one spot until the barrage is over. Watch for the windup and take shelter behind the various columns in the room until it stops shooting.

[Cristo Meyers]

From what I recall, every time it starts a ranged barrage it has a noticeable windup time and stays anchored in one spot until the barrage is over. Watch for the windup and take shelter behind the various columns in the room until it stops shooting.

Yeah, it'll warp to the center of the room and start it's "I'mma chargin' mah lazor!" sound-effect. Once to start to notice the signs it's pretty easy to pick out. Might take some incidental hits depending on if your party members decide to stay behind the pillars, though.

[Arbitrarity]

Bartrand, you bastard!!!

With betrayal I can live with. With an ancient rock wraith, unfortunately not.

Damn, that ****er is hard. I've read in lots of places that this is by far the hardest point in the game. Started the deep roads again so I only used potions for the spider and the dragon and now I have 13 health, 7 lyrium, 6 stamina, and Aveline tanked up as much as it gets.
Somehow this thing has to be able to be killed on hard. Only problem is, that it starts shoting lightning when I try to kite it. I've seen maximum level raid bosses in MMOs that had less complex attack sequences.

Lightning barrages don't have windup, but they're SUPER weak if you spread everyone out. I've beaten it on Nightmare without much in the way of special elemental damage, by kiting FOREVER, and splitting everyone off into different corners.

[Yora]

Yeah, it'll warp to the center of the room and start it's "I'mma chargin' mah lazor!" sound-effect. Once to start to notice the signs it's pretty easy to pick out. Might take some incidental hits depending on if your party members decide to stay behind the pillars, though.

That one is extremely obvious. I was running to a corner the very first time it did that, which happened to be behind a pillar.
But I read everywhere about a lightning barrage, and I never see anything about a buildup. Only a considerable amount of damage when suddenly everyone has litghning on them. I tried kiting, which sadly is a good idea for every fight when the tank has potion cooldown, but then he goes ranged lightning and shots aveline dead from a distance.

[Giggling Ghast]

I get through the rock wraith fight on Hard difficulty by cheating. I equip Varric and Aveline with lightning resistance runes beforehand, which virtually eliminates the lightning damage dealt to them.

But even then, it's damn difficult.

[Arbitrarity]

That one is extremely obvious. I was running to a corner the very first time it did that, which happened to be behind a pillar.
But I read everywhere about a lightning barrage, and I never see anything about a buildup. Only a considerable amount of damage when suddenly everyone has litghning on them. I tried kiting, which sadly is a good idea for every fight when the tank has potion cooldown, but then he goes ranged lightning and shots aveline dead from a distance.

Again, split up. Lightning bounces among your characters, which is where most of the damage comes from. If you're split, it does a tiny fraction of the damage.

[Yora]

That I hadn't considered yet. Since I also have to warriors, I may try to have them switch for tanking when Aveline is in heal cooldown.
I really want to continue playing, but I don't want to fight this thing right now. But I guess it can't be helped.

[Giggling Ghast]

Out of curiousity, who's in your party? Varric and Aveline, obviously, but who else?

[Yora]

Merrill

Now this time it went really well. Two times Aveline got punched out right after he jumped into the first corner. But with two damage reduction skills on, she's a lot tougher. Just when he punched out Aveline because I was out of potions (all 13!) he got into the third, and presumedly last summoning phase at 75% down. That is a great improvement over the 30% I managed once yesterday.
With a bit more care at dodging the rolls, using the reduced attack and reduced resistance curses, and Avelines defense modes, this should really be doable in two or three more attempts.
What really annoys me the most is that I have no idea when the curses end. The Extra Damage curse apparently tints the target in a slighly red hue, but with the Reduced Attack curse I have no idea when I need to replace it.

[Yora]

This is really getting better and I have already reached my usual stage in which I get a lot worse again because I no longer take proper caution.

With Immovable, Aveline is pretty much invulnerable to the rolling attack. However, I constantly lose agro, which ends up costing me a great deal of my potions. The lightning attack is pretty much deal with and appears to be used only at the very beginning. The gravity sucker is quite nasty now. It keeps sucking in Varik and Merrill and the blast at the end usually kills them. However sometimes he seems to charge up for something only to stop charging without having done anything. Can I get him to not use some of his attacks?

So far what I do is:
- Aveline completely tanked up with skills and gear.
- Spread out to avoid chain lightning.
- Do not stand in the giant blast from the center of the room.
- Do not get rolled over.
- Keep Varik and Merill always at distance against random blasts.
- Drink Mana and Stamina at ever opportunity.
- Extra damage and reduced attack curse every time they are back ready.
- After the giant blast tempest and killing the Profanes quickly, than going complete ape**** on the wraith, assisted by extra damage curse.
- When he draws everyone in, Hawke and Aveline keep on beating it, Varik and Merrill get very far away and then join in from distance.

Edit, 1:10: Well under 15%! Out of any potions after third summon, but everyone still on their feet. This is comming along nicely.

[Kish]

You do realize that "no healer" makes the game a whole lot harder than it would be if you had Anders, I hope.

[Yora]

The ordeal gets into night 3. I think I am doing quite well, but I just noticed that every failed attempt takes me 15 to 20 minutes before I have to start all over again.
That'd be 20 more attempts for today, I don't think it'll take that long.

[Giggling Ghast]

Geez, Yora, it'd almost be easier to load an earlier save and change up your party.

Your strategy is mostly good, though I don't think you need to chug lyrium and stamina potions "at every opportunity." As an added tip: I believe the rock wraiths are slightly vulnerable to cold. If Merrill has Winter's Grasp, make sure she uses it at opportune times.

[Yora]

I think I start a new game and this time optimize all my characters for this fight. Now that I know what to skill for, it should be relatively easy.
Also a lot quicker.

[Zevox]

You could just turn the difficulty down for that one fight you know. If you're playing on hard or above especially, that fight will be near impossible relying strictly on potions for healing, but dropping to normal or, in an absolute emergency, easy should handle that problem.

Zevox

[Giggling Ghast]

Lightning resistance runes are available in the Gallows. Put one on Varric and he'll have near total resistance to lightning. I'm just sayin'.

On a side note, that really difficult fight you had with Danzig? You can have Fenris either intimidate him into running away or just kill him outright. (You'll still have to deal with his fellow slavers, however.)

You could just turn the difficulty down for that one fight you know. If you're playing on hard or above especially, that fight will be near impossible relying strictly on potions for healing, but dropping to normal or, in an absolute emergency, easy should handle that problem.

I think Yora was playing on Normal.

[Aotrs Commander]

Hey, just dropping in for a bit of a random question: does anybody know if there's a mod out there somewhere that tweaks the starting conditions so you can be a mage and keep Bethany? (Or a fan site where someone else might know of one?)

I'm not very struck with Carver, like at all, and I'd rather not sacrifice my spell-slinging fun if I can possibly avoid it. (No, before you ask, I'm not really bothered about unbalancing the game with more mages!)

If not, I guess I'll just have to not play a mage when I finally get around to playing properly; but an option would be nice!

[Zevox]

(No, before you ask, I'm not really bothered about unbalancing the game with more mages!)

You don't really need to be, actually. Unlike DA:O mages aren't ridiculously godlike in DA2. They're still good, but you're going to have a lot of trouble if you try running that three-mages-and-a-tank party you could curb stomp the entire first game.

Unfortunately I can't help with your question though. I'm a console player, so I wouldn't know anything about mods.

Zevox

[Giggling Ghast]

I've heard of people using console commands to return the dead sibling to life, but it apparently breaks the game. (You hear Carver's dialogue coming out of Bethany, for instance.) Otherwise, I haven't heard of any mod that allows you to choose which sibling to save.

[Funky.Player]

Hi everyone,

Accidently found this forum/thread yesterday and it's awesome. So I decided to join up . I'm a big DAO and DA2 fan (lots of playthroughs on both of them), got all the DLC and and I'm in love with Leliana or was it Morrigan. I remember now, it's Merrill (I think). So I might be able to help if anyone needs some info.

Panahedan.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Anyone read the new tie-in novel Asunder, yet, starring Wynne and Shale?

[JadedDM]

No, it's out already? Written by the same guy who did the first two?

[Archpaladin Zousha]

David Gaider, yes. I took a peek and found Wynne and Shale aren't the only characters from the games that appear in it:

Spoiler

Show

Leliana shows up as well.

[JadedDM]

Hmm, Gaider isn't the best of writers, but I enjoy the lore of the setting enough I might check it out.

[Giggling Ghast]

Anyone read the new tie-in novel Asunder, yet, starring Wynne and Shale?

I have it. I haven't read it yet, because I need to finish another book first.

I've heard some of what people posted about it online, however. Apparently it explores some of the lead-up to the Mage-Templar War and shows how the, uh, "incident" in Kirkwall was simply the catalyst.