Improbable Insights

Page :« 1 2 3»

Managing Combat

Combat is ostensibly real time. Combat also tends to move pretty quickly, and when you’re fighting large parties, can become pretty chaotic. So here are a few key tips to managing your party when in combat.

The Space Bar is Your Friend

I mention using the space bar earlier, but judicious use of the space bar is critical, particularly when fighting large parties or bosses. Large parties, in particular, can be problematic, as trying to click on a character during a mass melee can be nearly impossible.

Of course, you can click on the portrait on the side, instead, but  that means moving your mouse cursor away from the battle. Pausing makes this much more palatable.

On the other hand, using the character portraits to target spells (particularly when paused), is a good idea. Take the Revival spell, which rouses a downed party member. Early in the game, I clicked on the wrong location several times, wasting the revival spell. Clicking on the portrait guarantees the right party member is revived.

Spells / Skills for Managing Combat

There are spells which dish out damage, spells to buff/debuff and spells to heal. But some of these spells also serve the secondary purpose of helping you better manage combat.

Take Cone of Cold for example. Giving a spellcaster Cone of Cold allows you to freeze several enemies for a number of seconds. When you do that, you can either choose to try to kill the frozen characters or defend against those still fighting. It’s your call, and either method would work fine.

One tactic using Cone of Cold I found particularly useful in boss fights is to freeze the boss, then take out the secondary fighters – particularly those with pesky ranged attacks.

Similarly, archers and rogues have useful abilities to manage combat. The rogue’s dirty fighting talent, for example, will stun an enemy for a few seconds. Similarly, an archer using the pinning shot talent has the same effect.

Other useful spells and skills for combat management include Glyph of Paralysis, the paralyze spell, blizzard, crushing prison and many more. Shutting down enemies, even for brief periods, allows you time to use healing poultices, maneuver characters to advantage and cast buff spells or use buff items.

The Art of Maneuver

In combat, don’t keep your characters rooted to one spot. Moving them effectively is the key to winning, particularly in tough combats.

For example, one standard tactic I’ve developed goes like this:

• Rogue uses dirty fighting to stun an enemy.
• Hit the space bar
• Give my main fighter orders to step forward and engage
• Give the rogue a movement order to move behind the enemy
• Move the rogue around to the enemy’s rear flank
• Use the rogue’s riposte talent which does damage and re-stuns the enemy

Flanking enemies in general does more damage.

My other common use of maneuver is to move Morrigan to an optimal location to use cone of cold. Ideally, you want to maximize the use of the spell, and freeze several enemies at once.

Morrigan maneuvers to use cone of cold

Choke Points

Sometimes you’ll want to move the whole party to a more advantageous location. There are numerous occasions during the game where you’ll be ambushed. Rather than stand your ground, run the entire party to a more advantageous location. Moving on one side of a doorway, or to one corner of a large area, allows you to manage combats against large groups more easily.

Don't stand and fight, find a choke point, like this doorway