Some general tips for for people finding the game difficult.
This was the first tactics RPG I've played where I didn't focus on evocation-style fireball spells. My mages were pretty much focused on CC and healing abilities. It meant for longer fights, but it was pretty rewarding going through the entire game without evening learning fireball.
- If you don't have a healer in your party, you'll probably want to make your way to The Circle as soon as it's available.
- More often then not you'll be outnumbered so CC abilities like cone of cold and sleep are extremely important to have.
- Make sure one of your fighters focuses purely on defense and carries a shield. While it's tempting to go for damage, this game really rewards Tank-based WoW gameplay.
- Debuffs can be devestating in certain fights. Going up the hex line will eventually reward you with an always crit ability that is pretty potent.
- Focus fire when fighting groups. Take the weakest enemy down first and move your way up the chain.
- In general if you're not gonna pause a lot than try to always stay in control of the mage you've decided will be your healer. Letting the AI control your mage will often result in lost mana.
- When the boss fights get long, use your mana pots as soon as it's prudent rather than waiting till you're completely empty. Most of the later game fights will have you chugging a whole lot of pots, so it's better to have that cooldown ready for the second gulp rather than trying to be overly efficient.
- While it's tempting to shift into animal form as Morrigan, she's much more powerful as a mage. Only shift forms when the fights are easy or you need a second tank.
- In general I found archers to be fairly week and stamina inefficient. If you've got a rogue in your party I'd let them move up another tree if you're looking for damage.
- Rangers in DAO are not archers, but a class that can summon pets. Having a pet around, if only to act as a secondary tank makes things a little easier.
- If you find yourself casting AOE spells alot make sure you have your party out of free-roam mode. More often then not they'll charge straight into a blizzard or earthquake.
- If you're playing with two mages, it's more important to have the spell combos work between the two rather than singularly focused. Doing so allows you to cast freeze spells with shatter spells like rock hand (whatever it's called) at the same time.
- I forget the name, but the subclass for mages that allows you to equip armor was pretty worthless for me. Yes, it allows you to wear lots of stuff, but your fatigue penalty means you'll only be able to cast one or two spells. That makes you essentially a default attack only warrior. That's not a good trade.
- If you have two mages, make sure they equip staves that do different types of damage, just in case you run into resist problems.
- Use the weapon-switch as much as possible. For warriors you'll want a sword in one equip and a blunt weapon in the other. You do significantly more damage on armored bad guys if you're using a mace. Since there's no weapon specialization in DAO, there's no reason not to use multiple weapon types when you can.
This was the first tactics RPG I've played where I didn't focus on evocation-style fireball spells. My mages were pretty much focused on CC and healing abilities. It meant for longer fights, but it was pretty rewarding going through the entire game without evening learning fireball.
