General Hints:



- Always keep the best bow you find on your journeys.
  Hawke can switch on the bow for High Dragon, Rock Wraith, Golems and
  other  bosses, still dealing a lot of damage and live much safer.

- Know your enemies weaknesses for elements.
  A fight can change from impossibly hard to fairly easy if you have two
  mages focusing targets with an element they're sensible to.
  For infos on your enemies' resistance check out the tablet at the bottom of
  this page.

=> keep the best staves of each element in you backpack.
     For example if you are going to fight a bunch of Qunari at the end of
     Act 1 you should have two staves with cold and/or nature damage
     available. The Qunaris will drop like flies if you focus (ctrl+a) target one
     after the other. It also effects the spell elemental weapons in a very
     benficial way. If your party is complaining ("it's not doing anything",
    "useless"), it's a hint to change the element.


- This set up isn't very expensive, a lot of the best daggers, bows and
  staves can be found. You can spend all of your money for tomes and  
  trinkets. For a list of all items I bought, check out the "Merchants &  
  Goods" section.


- I make a save with every level up, and a quick save with almost every step.
  Reload if you trigger a trap, a lot of EXP are made by disarming them.


- Also collect equipment for your other companions you don't usually use.
  You must play with them for their companion quests or sometimes for
  testing  reasons.

   
- I don't like defensive skills like "Evade" oder "Mind Blast".
  You might not be even able to use them when a rogue locks you down with
  two daggers nailing you at the wall. However making a quick side step and
  get some distance should always be possible and is much faster and safer  
  than to use a protective spell. Running is faster than casting!

- Especially in Act 1 you have a lot of quests where NPCs are tanking the
  mobs, for example your companion quests for Merrill, Anders and Isabela.
  Well, take advantage of it and kill all other enemies first.




General Fighting Strategies

I  don't use any area damage except for those that don't do friendly fire:  Tempest, Chain Lightning and later Wounds of the Past.
So if possible, it's always a good idea to gather large groups of enemies and use your Chain Lightnings.
Not both at once, it's a nice stun, so use them one after the other.

I use a lot of focus fire, meaning to press ctrl+a and take one target after the other down. It's more effective than to aim at 4 different enemies.

Learn how to use Unforgiving Chain and Explosive Strike. It's a really good
finishing move to get quickly rid of an enemy ranked normal or higher if the
chain is full. When I fight critters, I keep the chain up for increased critical
chance on auto attacks.

You're priorities which enemies to kill first must be:

1. Rogues
2. Mages
3. Archers
4. Critters (smallest health bar) and heavily wounded targts
5. Meelees with medium healthbar
6. Desire Demons, Lieutanants, Captains and other big bosses that stand in the middle, mainly buffing their fellows.


Rogues

You'll engage enemy rogues early in game, such as Templar Hunters, Mercenary Assassins, Athenriel and others.
Best thing is to kill them before they can stealth.
Horror, Stonefist and Kickback are great possibilites to keep them from vanishing. While they are visible use your burst damage:  Assassinate, Twin Fangs, Rhyming Triplets, Chain Lightnings, etc.
The smaller rogues at the beginning won't make a single step if Hawke uses one Backstab and one Twin Fangs while they're locked down.

If a rogue gets away, he will most likely backstab the target nearest to him.
Heal everyone who's not at 100% health, move away your weakest party members from the position where the rogue vanished, shield your companion with Merrill's "Barrier", position your back to the wall.
It is said you are able to uncover rogues with area damage such as Tempest or Mind Blast, but it hardly ever works.
Later in game you can stealth with Varric and Hawke, shield Merrill with upgraded Barrier and retreat with Anders, so the rogue will backstab a 100% invulnarable target. Casting a bubble at the right time is priceless.










Enemy Elemental Resistance Reference Sheet

This reference sheet was posted bei IN1 on the official Bioware Forum.

Knowing your enemy's resistance is your bread and butter in a nightmare run.
Learn this tablet by heart!

The notation is: C(old), E(lectricity), F(ire), N(ature), S(pirit).

Arcane Horror type: C=low, E=low, F=normal, N=low, S=immune.
Carta type: C=low, E=normal, F=normal, N=normal, S=normal.
Coterie type: C=normal, E=normal, F=normal, N=normal, S=normal.
Dalish type: C=normal, E=low, F=normal, N=immune, S=normal.
Darkspawn type (including Emissaries and Ogres): C=normal, E=normal, F=normal, N=low, S=low.
Desire demon and shade type: C=normal, E=low, F=normal, N=low, S=immune.
Dragon type: C=low, E=normal, F=immune, N=normal, S=normal.
Fire Pride demon type: C=low, E=normal, F=immune, N=low, S=normal.
Generic undead type (including corpses, skeletons, shadow warrior captains): C=normal, E=low, F=normal, N=immune, S=low.
Golem type (including Gate Guardians): C=low, E=low, F=normal, N=immune, S=normal.
Kirkwall type (including Bloodrager Thralls): C=immune, E=normal, F=low, N=normal, S=normal.
Mabari type: C=low, E=normal, F=immune, N=normal, S=normal.
Mage type (including Blood and Circle High mages): C=normal, E=normal, F=normal, N=normal, S=low.
Mercenary type: C=immune, E=normal, F=normal, N=low, S=normal.
Orsino: C=normal, E=low, F=normal, N=immune, S=low.
Poison Pride demon type: C=normal, E=low, F=low, N=immune, S=normal.
Profane type (including Ancient Rock Wraith): C=low, E=immune, F=normal, N=normal, S=low.
Qunari type (including the Arishok): C=low, E=immune, F=immune, N=low, S=normal.
Rage demon type: C=low, E=normal, F=immune, N=normal, S=normal.
Raider type: C=normal, E=low, F=normal, N=immune, S=normal.
Revenant type: C=immune, E=low, F=normal, N=immune, S=low.
Spider type (including Varterral): C=normal, E=low, F=normal, N=immune, S=normal.
Street thug type: C=low, E=normal, F=immune, N=normal, S=normal.
Templar type (including Meredith): C=low, E=normal, F=normal, N=normal, S=low.
Tevinter (slaver) type: C=immune, E=normal, F=low, N=normal, S=normal.