dragon-age-guide

Act 1

The beginning is a little dull. You don't have much skills to use, just go straight foreward and slay Darkspawn.
I usually concentrate all fire power on one target by pressing ctrl+a and focus down the smallest enemies first.

You might wanna adjust or (as I did) deactivate all tactics.

If you level up, get Heal and Winter's Grasp for Bethany.
Dual Weapon skills for Hawke.
Shield Bash for Aveline.
I'd suggest you put all Attribute points for Hawke into Dexterity, so he can use good daggers early on. (Cruel Dagger and Tarnished Dagger are good choices, also Thrice-Bound if you plan on taking Aveline instead of Varric in the long run)

The first challenge will probably be the Oger.
You have to kite him. Move your group like it was one character. All of them clustered, running from the Oger.
Whenever he does a special attack, step aside and focus one or more Darkspawn down. The Oger will also hurt his own people and eventually kill some of them.

Once there is only the Oger left, put Aveline aside by activating hold.
Equip a bow on Hawke and only use Bethany and Hawke to kite him and shoot or cast spells whenever he's busy or far away.
It takes some time but he goes down and you won't lose much hitpoints.
As soon as he's dead, smash the F5 button to get a quick save before the cut scene starts. Otherwise you might die in the next sequence and have to do the Oger all over again.

Kirkwall

To get a little boost for you pocket money right from the start I suggest you deal with both scoundrals, Athenril and Meeran:

- Take Athenril's job.
- Tell the merchant "I could be persuaded to go".
- Take the 2 Gold out of the chest.
- Now take Meeran's job.
- Go to Friedrich, kill him and loot 5 Gold.

He's a tough opponent and immune to fire, too. If you want you can lure him to Captain Ewald, he and his guards will take care of him.

Hightown

Once in Hightown, get Aveline, visit your home for quests and the Special Delivery.
Before I go questing, I search the whole city (docks, Lowtown, Hightown, etc.) for chests, crates, quests, codex entries... Every staff you find can help.
Buy some equipment you can afford and visit Sandal in Hightown to socket a Rune of Fire in Varric's Bianca.
Time to recruit your final party!

Level 5-6

Long Way Home

This quest will get you your second permanent companion.
If you approach the Altar, kill the Arcane Horror first, afterwards the Archers and Corpses and finally the Shadow Warrior.

You'll encounter a Revenant now.
Make sure to disarm all 4 traps for 50 EXP each.
Kill the Revenant first.

At the moutain top you have to fight Shades.
Walk to this Sundermount Codex Entry stone with your entire party.
Half of the Shades will now attack NPC Merrill.
Make use of Aveline's Taunt ability. Leave the Shadow Warrior until the very end and finally kill him for another nice dagger.

Return, exchange Aveline with Merrill, buy the Silverite Chain and 4x Maker's Sigh. Now that you've reached level 6, it's time to get e decent character build. See the section Character Builds.

Tranquiliy and Birthright

Go to Anders in Darktown.
While you still have Bethany in you ranks you might as well just finish the Birthright quest. It's easy, some sort of freshman quest.

I don't like doing Tranquility with level 6, it's so much easier if you gain another level first.
I suggest killing Redwater Raiders at Docks (Night) for the quest "Pier Pressure". If you can get hold of a decent fire staff (15+ Damage) it will help a lot against all Kirwall thugs.
Another quest I like to squeeze in before I get Anders is:

Magistrate's Orders

This one gets only harder the higher your level is.

Keep the bow Mont de Glace Strand you will find and put a Rune of Cold inside later.
If you enter the spider room, make sure not to kill a single spider, it will trigger a respawn wave.

Really easy strategy:

Move all four characters to the chest.
Wait for the 4 spiders to gather around you.
Focus fire every spider to ~25% health.
Now kill them with Chain Lightning.
You're halfway there!

The Venemous Spider will spawn right beside you.
Kill her with everything you got: Twin Fangs, Crushing Prison, Stone Fist, etc. If she's dead, Horror one spider and Petrify another. Now focus the remaining down, one after the other.

The final room needs a bit micro management.
Kill the Arcane Horror first with Twin Fangs. Now gather all meelees for a Chain Lightning.
Try to kill Poisonous Spiders and Archers first and kite meelees.
And don't forget, you can always take out two bigger enemies with Horror and Petrify.

At the end of this quest you can either kill the freak in the cave or get him to prison. I kill him for friendship points with Merrill and Varric.

Level 7-9

Tranquiliy

Afterwards visit Hightown at Night for the Tranquility quest.
It's considered one of the hardest quests but it's really not that bad if you have a strategy. Spirit and Cold Staves will help a lot against the Templars you are going to fight! After talking to Karl you'll be attacked.

This is what I do:

1. Focus Fire Archer
2. Chain Lightning on the three Templers.

3. Focus ~2 of them down.
4. Now I try to move Hawke in the Soutwest corner, that's where a Templar Hunter and two Archers will spawn.

5. If the Hunter shows up, I target him, he vanishes.
6. Focus kill one Archer, cast Barrier on Hawke.

7. If the Hunter appears: Horror, Mark of Death, Crushing Prison, Rhyming Triplets, Stone Fist, Twin Fangs... whatever it needs.
If he's dead, the fight is almost won.

8. Use all remaining abilities to finish the Archers, afterwards the Templars and finally the Lieutanant.

Another side note: If you let one Templar live before you kill the Lieutanant you can loot the Lieutanant gaining a Codes Entry (stupid game mechanics!)

You can also check out My YouTube Video for this fight.

Congratulations, your ultimate party is now complete!

Enemies among us

I kill all Abominations first, than Wilmod and Rage Demon last. Cullen does some good tanking here, too.

Later, in the Sanctuary, you will encounter another Rage Demon. You can Petrify and Horror him until the last Shade is down.
If you have problems with this fight, you can stay up at the stairs and let the Shades cluster in front of you. They will be a perfect bunch for two Chain Lightnings. Remember not to use a staff with spirit damage. Electricity and nature do wonders on Shades.

The Way it Should Be

You need to take Aveline instead of Varric.
Give her upgraded Shield Bash. If she staggers an enemy ---> Chain Lightning. You should also add that to your tactics:
Enemy: STAGGERED -----> Chain Lightning.

Let Aveline tank the Rogues if they get to vanish, retreat with everyone else.

Make sure to disarm all 4 traps in this area.

Continue in Lowtown. Because stagger + lightning is so much fun, we can do the other two quests shown on the map, too: Bait and Switch and The First Sacrifice

Finish Aveline's quest, get Varric back and visit the Hanged Man for Isabela's companion quest.

Fool's Rush in

Hayder shouldn't make too much trouble.
If you've found an electricticy staff yet, now's the time to use it.
Kill the Raider Assassin first, afterwards the Archers. Always kite Hayder, he must not hit you. He's very slow but you have to pay attention for his strikes are very heavy and he'll knock you back.

If you return to the Hanged Man, the quest Secret Rendezvous will be available. I suggest not accepting it before you have cleared the Docks at Night from raiders ("Pier Pressure") . Otherwise it can happen that you have to kill a lot of enemies at once.

Some other easy quests I recommend until you're LVL 9:

Sundermount (Herbalist's Task)
Loose Ends
Finders Keepers

Level 10:

The Bone Pit (Herbalist's Task)

The Mature Dragon is easily killed by using four range weapons and surrounding it:

Equip a bow on Hawke and everytime the Dragon attacks someone, run away. Don't let her fire breath hit you, it hurts.
Remember for all dragon fights: Always save Horror and Petrify for emergencies. Dragons usually respond very well to crowd control and if someone is stunned and low on HP this is a real life saver!

Secret Rendezvous aka The Ship Captains

The following tactic I wrote refering to a level 9 party. Once
You've reached level 10 you got Assassinate, making this quest a joke.

A tricky quest, but actually very easy if you know what you're doing.
Let's hope you have cleared the streets of raiders. Otherwise they might interfere, making this fight a bit harder.

All target first Ship Captain:

1. Twin Fangs, Rhyming Triplets, Stone Fist, Chain Lightning
2. Auto Attacks until dead
3. Hawke activates Pinpoint Strikes and gets backstabbed by 2nd Captain
4. All target 2nd Captain, autohits for ~2 seconds
5. Heal Hawke, Stonefist, Kickback.
6. Horror, Pinning Shot and Hawke uses Explosive Strikes when the Unforgiving Chain is (close to) full. Or as a WoW rogue would say: Coldblood Eviscerate with 5 combo points 2nd Captain dead.
7. Now get rid of the little archers, they make insane damage. I focus them down, even if it is an overkill. It's worth it as long as it goes fast.
8. Get rid of the rest with Chain Lightnings.

For my Level 10 Party check out Secret Rendezvous on Youtube

You can do it the same way with Captain Reiner in "Wayward Son".

I do all quests at The Wounded Coast now

Blackpowder Promise

At the end of that cave on the Wounded Coast you have to fight a bunch of Qunari with their leader.
Disarm the trap on the right side of the entrance.
Move your entire party in the middle, so the spear fire of the Qunary won't
concentrate on your rogue only.
Activate Haste and focus everyone down, one after the other, small enemies first, ignore the leader.

After a short time a mage (Tal-Vashoth Saarebas) will appear on the right hand side.
He's able to rip your whole party apart if you're not careful.
You must assassinate him the second he appears.
Make sure you Horror him first, otherwise he might vanish unharmed
and your asssissinate ability is wasted. That's probably the most frustrating thing about playing a rogue: Wasting abilities because of stupid game mechanics.
Once the mage is dead the battle should be no problem.

Don't forget to get the sword Red Grace from the chest.

Level 11

Act of Mercy

Really easy quest.
At the end of the quest I say to Grace "So raise him from the dead.", "the crimes are also yours." and "I'll convince him you're dead." for a good amount of friendship points for all three companions.
If you meet Ser Karras in front of the cave tell him, you're a friend of the mages for a fun fight, some loot and ~400 EXP more than for any peaceful solution.
Watch out for the Templar Hunter. Once you've spotted and Horrored him, he should be a one hit.

Sharp Little Pinpricks

If you haven't done the quest yet, now is the time.
Not the final battle in the Hovel (Ignacio is another one hit) but the last wave in the streets of Lowtown at night is really hard because you face like 25 Archers shooting at you all at once.
Tempest helps a lot here and try to spread their damge so they don't concentrate on one character. Stealth also helped me. (Easy work around: Take Aveline instead of Varric)

Bait and Switch (Fenris)

Give Fenris the sword Red Grace, gather Shades around him, give them a Mighty Blow and crush the staggered targets with your Chain Lightning.
Just don't get near Fenris when he strikes out for a Mighty Blow.
The Rage Demons go down fast with Mark of Death, Assassinate and maybe even one of those shattering cross class combo.

Shepherding Wolves

Not all too hard. Lots of Qunaries at the end, though. Use your cold an nature staves to kill those Qunari spear throwers first. Avoid meelee damage and ignore the leader. Business as usual.

Night Lies feat. "Captain" Querth

Maybe the hardest quest in act 1.
It helps a lot to have at least one decent fire staff equipped and get Runes of Fire for Bianca and Arm of Andruil. (Easy work around: Get Fenris instead of Varric and buy him the Anderfel Cleaver. It's uncool though )

General strategy:

Kill all Archers first, avoid meelees by kiting them if possible. Captain Querth and his two very strong lieutanants will live to the very end. Don't attack them with anything else than crowd control.

1. Equip one or better two staves with fire damage. Mine had 17 and 22 fire damage, not a lot but very effective.

2. Move your entire party in the room.

3. Focus down the Archers on the stairs: Varric can take one,
Merril and Anders focus together another one, Hawke can assassinate one of the meelees at the entrance and than backstab an Archer.

4. Now focus down the remaining meelees.

5. Whenever some enemies are clustered, for example when a new
wave comes through the door, make use of your Chain Lightnings.

6. If the first Lieutanant appears you have to stun him.
Use all your crowd control on the Lieutanants: Horror, Petrify, Kick-Back and Pinning Shot will keep them busy if well timed.
Don't ever let them hit you. Always pause the game and move your characters away if a companion is under attack by meelees.

If new adds appear, same procedure. Focus down Archers, kite meelees.
Make use of Twin Fangs and Assassinate whenever ready and sufficiant stamina.
Once there are only Querth and his two body guards left, it shouldn't be a problem. They hit very slow, so you should always be able to move away when they are trying to hit you.

Maybe it needs a little practice but overall the fight is very doable
without using potions or losing a team mate.

Don't forget to turn the quest in and get your reward
at "The Hanged Man" from "a friend".

Deep Roads

Preparations:

Make sure you have no quests left before you start the Deep Roads.

Before I entered the Deep Roads, i paid the Wounded Coast another visit for some respawned Qunaries and even a Qunarie Officer for some extra EXP. I also found some more Guardsman Pretenders at Hightown at Night.

If you have money left to spare you can donate 5 Sovereigns at Lirene's
Fereldan Imports for a mere 200 EXP.

Whether you borrow the money from Dougal or not (Friends in low places) doesn't make a difference. If you pay Bartrand cash, you'll get the 50 Sovereigns back at the start of act 2.

Order 4 Frost Runes!
One each for Bianca, Staff of the Primal Order, and Mont de Glace Strand. Keep one for later.
Make sure Varric has electricity resistance socketed in his chest piece.
Otherwise you won't survive the Deep Roads on Nightmare.
(If you have the Ancient Leather Cuirass from the Black Emporium get another Rune of Lightning Warding for this. This requires the Recipe from the Mage Goods shop in the Gallows.)

The Deep Roads Expedition

The Dark Spawn is easy to defeat, just look out for those Emissaries.

Monstrous Spider

If you decide to fight her down in the pit she is probably the hardest enemy since Friedrich
You must use all your crowd controls and try to kill her as fast as possible.
There's not much place however you have to run from one side to the other permenantly. (Easy work around: Kill her from stairs, she's too fat to leave the pit)

Dragon

The Dragon is really easy, too. Dragons are generally easy in DA2.
Each Range DD in a different Corner, Hawke behind the Dragon chasing it (or using a bow), while it will most of the time head for Varric.
When the adds appear, kill them with Chain Lightning and focus fire.
If you have staves with decent cold damage they will help a lot.

Primeval Ruins

Sandal now rewards you with a Spirit Staff and another Cold Rune.
Make use of his enchantment ability to socket your new Dagger
Blade of Rebirth and the the staff Stone's Breath with one cold rune each.

Primeval Thaig:

Golem + Shades

I don't like this room, it's pretty hard, especially if you don't use dog.
Electricity staves are useful here since both Golem and Shades have
low resistance to electricity

This is what I do:

1. Enter the room altogether and gather the Shades for a Chain Lightning, kill the rest.

2. Activate Haste and Pinpoint Strikes as soon as the 2nd wave of 5 big Shades enters the door. Cast a Petrify on Stone Golem, a Horror on 1 Shade and kill two Shades fast with Twin Fangs and Assassinate. Now run around and try not to get hit, focus one down, whenver you get a chance until the third wave appears.

3. This is like 1. Many small critter, two bigger Shades. Gather them for 2 Chain Lightnings.

4. If you survived that long you're almost done. A last wave of 3 bigger Shades enters the door. Assassinate should be ready again.

5. Kill the Golem

Profanes

Press Hold, advance with Varric and let Bianca take care of them.
Varric shoud have 90% electricity resistance due to his armor rune.
Once he got most of their attention you can get the others to finish them quickly. Cold and Spirit are their weaknesses.

Profanes + Rock Wraith Abomination

Let Varric shoot the tiny little Rock Wraith Abomination behind you once. Don't kill it!
Now focus one of those rising Profanes with everybody while Varric shoots the other 5 one or two times each to catch all their lightnings.
Focus down Profanes one after the other with Spirit Staves, Rhyming Triplets, etc. Hawke uses Assassinate on one, Twin Fangs on another.
If you don't let Varric get all the aggro, you'll die almost instantly with any other char.

The Shades afterwards are small and easy. Gather them and kill them with 2 Chain Lightnings. You might wanna Petrify the Abomination during this whole fight, it's annoying. Anyway, leave it for last to kill.

Ancient Rock Wraith

The notorious Ancient Rock Wraith (ARW) is one of the longest and most annoying battles in game. Annoying because it's a bit of luck to keep every companion alive.

Before the battle make sure you have Spirit/Cold damage equipped.
I don't use any spells except Haste, Heal and maybe Barrier.
Equip the bow on Hawke, press Hold and enter the room.

Phase 1

Easiest one. Put Varric in the middle and let him deal some damage.
Move the rest of your party around, they don't need do do any damage
and shouldn't draw any attention, so Varric holds aggro. He will hardly lose HP. Just don't get into meelee range of the ARW.

Once the ARW lost about 10% HP, it will appear in the middle, ready to explode. Everyone must hide behind the pillars. Use this recreation to heal if necessary.

Now focus down the appearing Profanes. Shouldn't take longer than one shot from each for 1 Profane.
Once they are down activate Haste, Mark of Death and focusfire ARW until Phase 2 starts.

Phase 2

Everyone behind a different pillar, far away from each other.
If the ARW rolls in one direction, move your character away.
And this is the part where it gets difficult. If you're not fast enough
your character is dead once he/she is pushed in a corner.
You can try to cast heal or barrier and pray.
It's not a bad thing to have a reviving Anders at the party for this particular foe.

Phase 3

It's not too bad, no need to change your tactic. Just get away
when he sucks you in the middle. Keep nuking him from different directions and get away when he's about to explode or comes rolling towards you.

Once he's down, collect your treasures and set off to act2.