Tank in da2 is less skill dependant as compare to dao. From what I remember with alistair in dao, I had to have quite some sustain buff on in order to keep him alive. Unlike my current tank hawke, which I barely even on shield defense throughout act 1 even in nightmare mode. To me she more like a warrior carrying shield and sword than a tank, as 1h sword also has some minor aoe feature from what I noticed.

This post has been edited by sniperwolf: Apr 3 2011, 01:51 AM

yeah, in da2, my tank just frigging truck through the mobs while varric and fenris lay down the firepower.
this is in normal mode.

in nightmare mode, i dont think i can stand my companions burning through my tank's hp with their careless aoe unless i micromanage

This post has been edited by Nosferatu: Apr 3 2011, 04:41 PM

Actually that not much micro manage in nightmare even if you play as tank hawke. All depends on the party member you choose. I using slightly mod gears for my tank, which base on the stats of fake heavy champion armor, then throw in extra 1 to 2 rune slots, making up all having 3 rune slot and doesnt face much problem. Since I lazy to switch gear, therefore just throw in the feature improve with level up, as well as some minor element resistance to my shield and few status immunity like stun immunity to my armor. Those immunity can be easily found from accessories as well. As currently the fire resistance of my shield had slowly increase from 300+ to 700+ now, which my hawke level is around 16 to 17 and it kinda enough. Even without it, there always a sustain buff which increase all elements to 60%.

As for my party member setup, I usually keep varric and 2 more mages. Varric just use explosive arrows, which dont actually deal much damage to my tank, where merril I only pick up thunder skill tree only. Anders only focus sustain buff only and some dispels. Most of time pause only require to move those range chars as the ai seems kinda dumb and always like to get themselves stuck and cause death.

This post has been edited by sniperwolf: Apr 3 2011, 05:43 PM

ya the ai damn dumb. Even in had mode i keep losing alot of battles cos the guy just go far far and whack other ppl then kena whack and die.

I control ask whack near near and stick together somehow after a while will run far far and die

How you guys go about killing the high dragon ?
Running around with so many of her minions after you a bit annoying to me


this is how i set my companions once the high dragon is perched on top of the overlooking cliff and spews her rage fueled fireballs at you and your party

They are spaced out just enough so that they dont take splash damage from the fireballs' impact and then I just heal and pot through the whole process while the high dragon stays on the cliff

(edit: again this is on normal difficulty, dunno how the nightmare will work )

This post has been edited by Nosferatu: Apr 3 2011, 06:28 PM

where is this high dragon? I never play this b4 on my 1st play

means you havent got the quest yet. pretty near the end.
but if you completed the game and not met this dragon quest, means you did not talk to


This post has been edited by Nosferatu: Apr 3 2011, 06:35 PM

I c.. then now i will do that quest la. 1st play i just play main story

For high dragon in nightmare, I always 1 melee 3 range, and warrior is always a good choice for melee. 2h warrior can easily tank it as long you have the skill taunt with upgrade. When reaching high dragon, your level should be close to 20 to 21, unless you skip alot quests in previous acts. The dragonlings are pretty easy to take care with, unless you really poor equipped. Try use pure ice elemental weapons if you had any on your chars, as ice deal good damage to dragons type. While all those small irritating dragon start pouring out, hold you entire party and move all to a not infested corner which is some distant away. Before reaching halt your warrior/ tank and had him/her stop and charge into the groups of dragons which trailing your party. Spam your aoe and with the aid of your range, those dragonlings can be easily wipe off. Then your entire party can focus on the normal dragon. My 2h warrior with around 52% armor and 20%+ damage resistance can tank pretty easy. The high dragon from my experience doesnt throw much fireballs down while there still dragons or dragonlings in the field. To counter her fireballs, just move your entire party from 1 end of the map to the other end, and keep repeating it. As long as you keep your party running, chances of getting hit is not that high. I also discovered that while gather all your range right below the cliff where she squad and open fire from there, she wont be able to attack your team with fireball. You can give it a try, as I just tried this solution once. Had to have your team right below here, stick to the cliff. Death sometimes cant be avoided. Just bring some mythal's favor and it will be fine. Potionss are always your best friend over heal spell, as potions cooldown faster.


Seems like you really dont explore the maps while playing. You wont need to get any quest in order to fight the high dragon. While in act 3, just go into bone pits and you will automatically see the area being burn down and the quest will automatically add to your quest list. Just go down the path and you will meet the high dragon in a quite large opening space.

thats the thing running around to avoid fireballs, i find it annoying
hence i came up with the idea to just for a diamond formation just enough that the fireball splash dmg does not hurt the other party member and heal and pot through it lol

also that setting allows my tank to run into the middle and taunt the dragonlings and the dragonlings are nicely grouped in the center

I honestly cant think of any formation for this game, as the npc always run according as they like. Even with hold command, when your tank leave the party too far, the rest will automatic follow up and wont hold the ground. Also I dont like holding the entire party while mobs keep pouring out, as all the range ai is pretty screw up, little bit close up and they will stop attack, standing there become lunch for the dragons. Besides I really cant predict which one in the party the high dragon will hurl her fireballs at, since its all random. Running around is still ok if you ask me, since when the high dragon start throwing fireballs, the field is usually empty. When there are dragonlings, she will just usually idle at the cliff.

I control the ai to attack if they stop attacking for whatever reason lol

That is troublesome already I usually left those range char with their ai, and play as melee. Even control them to attack, but once switch back to the melee, the range char will stop attacking again if the close range mob is not yet dead. I usually just point the range char to ran further and let them be there

hm yeah lol but i didnt like the running around avoiding fireballs part lol

Haha its just control A and click far far. Easy

wat does ctrl A do?

Its for selecting all party members at once.

I see. thnx. I was holding shift and clicking 1 by 1 b4 this

You can get ME2 free if you use your DA2 code
http://dragonage.bioware.com/me2offer/

Holy crap, that's essentially a 2 for 1 offer for those who don't own both the games.

I have DA2 on 360 but I already own ME2 on PC so i wonder if the code is usable independently of my EA account so i can essentially gift the download code.