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DA:O Event Build: The Reaver Warden

  • October 31, 2015

    So I decided to replay my “canon” character for this Event. I wasn´t sure how to fit the Hero theme into Origins, because Origins and the whole Dragon Age series has pretty blurry lines between good and bad decisions.

    But there is one thing that is considered “bad”. Blood magic. So I played a character who was a pure Grey Warden who would do absolutely anything to stop the Blight, even use blood magic - so using the Reaver specialization and the Power of the Blood is quite a good replacement for dark magic as a warrior. Especially for a warrior who uses a sword and shield for both damage and tanking.

    Requires Warden´s Keep and Return to Ostagar DLCs.

     

    “Losing everything isn´t easy. And I´m not talking about getting revenge for everything that was taken from you. I´m talking about the moment after that. When you don´t have anything that would keep you moving; when you have no purpose. That´s the moment when the Wardens come and ask you if you´re willing to do anything to fight the Darkspawn. That´s the moment when you say: Yes!”

     

    Origins gives you a plenty of room to play your character in, but have you ever tried to play the most “grey” Warden of all? Someone who completely threw his previous life away and dedicated himself fully to the Order, to stop the blight at any cost?

    This character has to make hard decisions and he isn´t afraid to choose a darker path. Someone who will use any means necessary. Someone who is direct and merciless; someone who doesn´t let anyone to stand in his way.

    And the use of “forbidden” techniques clearly shows it. The Reaver is a specialization with a really dark history - I mean, drinking the blood of dragons to obtain dark powers is pretty badass. Combining that with the Power of the Blood from the Warden´s Keep DLC and you have a really badass warrior who doesn´t take shit from anyone.

    The Grey Warden

    Race: Up to the player

    Class: Warrior

    Specializations: Reaver, Templar

    Role: Tank/DPS

    Armor: Warden Commander Armor/Cailan´s Armor

    Weapons: Starfang, Maric´s Blade, Cailan´s Shield

    I found it fitting that the leader of the party is the tank, but this character is more of a damage dealing tank. You will mostly be  relying on the damage of you sword, using shield talents only to crowd control your enemies - to stun them, knock them down or make them cower in fear.

    As you can see, I put points mostly in Sword and Shield talents, but the most important perks are those of the Reaver and Warrior . Using Shield Wall and Threaten for tanking and using Stamina for shield abilities will make you the toughest man in your party, able to keep attention of most enemies and more importantly, to survive their attention. Devour and Frightening Appearence also increase your survivability by a lot.

    The damage dealing stance is much more risky but really powerful. Turning off Shield Wall and Threaten in order to activate Aura of Pain, Blood Frenzy and Blood Thirst in a stance which I call “Power of the Blood” will make you potentially the most powerful damage dealer in the party, but only for a short time, because all these abilities damage your health. Having a shield and heavy armor negates the incoming damage from enemies a little bit, so it will give you the chance to dish out more damage, but be careful. Learn when to turn off those abilities, so as to become a shield wall again.

    Morrigan

    Class: Mage

    Specializations: Shapeshifter, Spirit Healer

    Role: Healer, Crowd Controller, Single Target DPS

    Armor: Avernus´ Robe

    Weapons: Winter´s Breath

    Playing on Nightmare without a proper healer is really a nightmare, so whether I play as a mage or not, I always make Morrigan a healer, because she is my favourite character. If you prefer Wynne, you can go for her, it just all depends on your choices in the Circle Tower.

    As you can see, the Talents are mostly aimed at crowd control but that doesn´t mean that Morrigan can´t do damage. Quite the opposite. With Arcane Bolt, Winter´s Grasp, Stone Fist and Arcane Prison she can put out some serious single target damage. All these spells are crowd control spells in some form too, except for Arcane Bolt.

    The glyphs are quite powerful, more so than most people think; very good for creating obstacles in narrow corridors, but for disabling certain enemies too.

    Force Field and Glyph of Paralysis is one of the most powerful crowd controlling combos in the game. For those who don´t know how it works: If you cast Force Field on an enemy/ally and then cast the Glyph on him, it will create an aoe paralyze effect.

    Force Field is great for use on your tank too, because if he uses Taunt and then you cast Force Field on him, enemies won´t be able to harm him, but that Taunt will force them to attack him. Very useful against bosses.

    Cone of Cold is a crowd controlling, damaging and finishing spell all in one, because most warrior talents can shatter frozen enemies, killing them instantly.

    Leliana

    Class: Rogue

    Specializations: Bard, Duelist

    Role: DPS

    Armor: Wade´s Superior Drakeskin Leather Armor

    Weapons: Far Song/ Falon´Din´s Reach/ Marjolaine´s Recurve, Duncan´s Dagger and Rose´s Thorn

    I can´t really play the game without a rogue disarming traps or picking locks, and I always liked Leliana more than Zevran. While a Dual-Wield rogue is certainly more powerful in terms of damage, Leliana and her bow are there to watch Morrigan´s back from behind the fighting line. Having three characters in the front lines is too hard for healer.

    Focused mainly on bows, Leliana can dish out some serious damage with them, plus perform some stuns with her talents.

    But she is able to switch to melee too, thanks to the Duelist specialization. Once an enemy gets close to her or to Morrigan, she can switch to dual daggers, using Dirty Fighting, Below the Belt, Upset Balance and Pinpoint Strike. Also, this specialization gives her some nice bonuses to survivability.

    Sten

    Class: Warrior

    Specializations: Champion, N/A

    Role: DPS, Off-tank

    Armor: Armor of the Legion

    Weapons: Ageless

    What can I say, Sten is just pure badass. But you can actually switch him out for any other warrior follower, because my setup has been made to have two warriors in the front line. So you can either use Shale, specced for damage (she can handle a lot of damage) or Alistair, switched to Dual-Wield once you recruit him into your party. Or Oghren who has the advantage that he can have two specializations, instead of just one like Sten.

    Having two tanks who can deal damage at the same time is great, and a warrior in massive heavy armor is just perfect for that. Sten has a huge boost to strength, allowing him to use most of the armors and weapons early in the game, and two-handed perks are a little bit better for tanking than the Dual-Wield perks, in my opinion.

    What you want to do is to switch aggro between your main character and Sten (or any other warrior) with the help of Taunt. Once you begin to see that your character is going down and Morrigan doesn´t have enough mana left, you´ll let your off-tank take the aggro, while you use Healing Potions and Devour to replenish your health.

     

    Closing Notes

    I would like to thank Kael for his help with my grammar

    And of course to DB who hosts this Event (and still owes me one Oblivion build )

  • Member
    October 31, 2015

    It's been a long time since I played DA:O but I never roleplayed it as a straight up Grey Warden, that's a nice idea. Also, I like how your party members are part of the build. Glad to hear Morrigan is your favourite, do you remember how everyone raved about Leliana?

    Loving your work dude.

  • October 31, 2015

    This is awkward... Reaver/Templar that works as a kind of semi-tank...Karver we made the same builds for the Event  Well, perhaps a massive difference in backstory/character but the gameplay is almost identical. Two great minds think a like I guess.

    As for the build, I love it, the art especially is pretty boss, but the development of the completely devout Warden makes for a very interesting character. Though I do have to ask how you dealt with becoming a Reaver and still kept Leliana, I'm assuming you just did the old save/reload trick (which you should point out) but I figured I should ask anyway, mostly because Leliana would attack you for fucking up the Urn of Sacred Ashes. 

    Anyway it's definetly a +1 from me. Though I do believe your tags are wrong, of course Spookyborn is Spooky, he's the spookiest around 

  • October 31, 2015

    Well, for me the Dragon Age isn´t only about the main character, because that character wouldn´t accomplish nothing without his/her companions (if you´re not Arcane Warrior+Blood Mage )

    Yup, Morrigan is my favourite, I found her the most interesting character. Leliana was all shoes and girly stuff, and that´s nothing for me. How everyone raved about Leliana? Actually I don´t remember that. Care to refresh my memory?

  • October 31, 2015

    Oh, completely forgot that you can´t choose any specialization from the start of the game, if you´re playing for the first time. Damn.

    Actually, there is a way that you can keep Leliana in the group even if you desecrate the Urn. She must be "hardened" in the quest with Marjolain, you should leaver her in the camp for that quest and you must have some Persuasive skills. She will approach you when you return and you can talk your way out of that. 

    So you´ve made the same build? Lol! What a coincidence 

    Edit: I just remembered that I was playing the same build in DA:II. Sword and Shield, Reaver and Templar. Though it wasn´t my favourite playthrough - which is pure damage mage.

  • Member
    October 31, 2015

    Hmm, I don't know if I can. I just remember the usual "Morrigan is a bitch" and "Leliana is adorable" stuff, the same as how we go the same with Ash and Liara in ME and so on. Admittedly that song was pretty good. Or it could just be my selective forum reading at the time, pouncing on any who dared bash Morrigan

  • October 31, 2015

    Wait...There are people who don't like Morrigan? And like Leliana more than her, I'm about 80% sure that's illegal, at least it should be. 

  • October 31, 2015

    the same as how we go the same with Ash and Liara in ME

    And Triss/Yennefer in Witcher 

    I won´t deny that, Morrigan is a bitch, but I still like her more than Leliana. Leliana in DA:I, that´s something different though.

    Hm, this might be the reason why I chose Triss in Witcher. Because I alreade chose Yennefer in DA:O 

  • Member
    October 31, 2015

    Either way I propose we form an angry mob for the purpose of hunting down those that do.

  • October 31, 2015

    Agreed