<pre>I. Introduction {INT001}

1. Continuity {INT002}

II. Hawke {HWK001}

1. Hawke/NPC Comparison {HWK002}

2. Warrior {HWK003}

3. Mage {HWK004}

4. Rogue {HWK005}

5. Table of Starting Stats {HWK006}

III. Attributes {ABL001}

1. Strength {ABL002}

2. Dexterity {ABL003}

3. Magic {ABL004}

4. Cunning {ABL005}

5. Willpower {ABL006}

6. Constitution {ABL007}

7. Damage {ABL008}

8. Attack {ABL009}

9. Defense {ABL010}

10. Armor {ABL011}

IV. Abilities {ABL001}

1. Specialization Points {ABL002}

2. Sample Hawkes {ABL003}

3. Sample Hawke Warrior {ABL004}

4. Weapon and Shield {ABL005}

5. Two-Handed {ABL006}

6. Vanguard {ABL007}

7. Defender {ABL008}

8. Warmonger {ABL009}

9. Battlemaster {ABL010}

10. Templar {ABL011}

11. Reaver {ABL012}

12. Berserker {ABL013}

13. Sample Hawke Mage {ABL014}

14. Elemental {ABL015}

15. Primal {ABL016}

16. Spirit {ABL017}

17. Arcane {ABL018}

18. Entropy {ABL019}

19. Creation {ABL020}

20. Force Mage {ABL021}

21. Spirit Healer {ABL022}

22. Blood Mage {ABL023}

23. Sample Hawke Rogue {ABL024}

24. Dual Weapon {ABL025}

25. Archery {ABL026}

26. Sabotage {ABL027}

27. Specialist {ABL028}

28. Scoundrel {ABL029}

29. Subterfuge {ABL030}

30. Shadow {ABL031}

31. Duelist {ABL032}

32. Assassin {ABL033}

V. Updates/Thanks {UPD001}

o======================================================================o

| |

| Introduction {INT001} |

| |

o======================================================================o

Here I am again, trying to push out another FAQ before we've really

had time to absorb everything there is to know about this game. Still,

that's what I do. I'll be honest, this is-like most of my FAQs-a segment

of what I hope will become a much larger work. It is, however, a stand-

alone segment. It's apparently become my style to create a Character

Creation guide for a game before branching out into a full FAQ/

Walkthrough. This is mostly to get something out there, generate some

feedback, and better polish the most important part of any RPG-creating

your unique avatar. I'm hoping this will be like my Fallout: New Vegas

guide, where plenty of people let me know what they liked, what they

dislike, and what is just plain wrong. Corrections will be made, and

three versions later we'll have a pretty good guide on our hands.

Hopefully. This is a near-release launch, and you all have the right to

be skeptical, many FAQs that come out this early are either uselessly

incomplete or inaccurate (much like release-date reviews of games tend

to be.) Therefore I'm not claiming perfection, but I have done all

anybody can hope to do at this point: I've dedicated my spring break to

playing this as well as watching my fiance play. After a week of playing

and seventeen hours of furious writing based off of several imperfect

builds, various notes written down over the course of gameplay, and

brute ability comparisons, this is what I've got. With any luck it's

mostly accurate and somewhat helpful, although it's certainly not as

in-depth as I would like it to be. At the very least I hope it gives

people who are new to this game somewhere to start. Oh, and for the

record, the Xbox 360 version of this game does not frame skip for me,

Gametrailers. Get a new Xbox. The PC version is still far superior,

however.

Continuity {INT001}

o======================================================================o

If you've played Dragon Age: Origins, you can import your own history

from the first game into the second. Since my character was the queen of

Fereldon I found this immensely more satisfying than picking one of the

pre-made endings. Martyrdom is for sissies. It also gets you progress

towards the 'Epic' Achievement.

o======================================================================o

| |

| Hawke {HWK001} |

| (Character Creation) |

o======================================================================o

In Dragon Age II you'll play Hawke, which is a surname by which you'll

be named (like Shepard in Mass Effect.) Fortunately Bioware got their

senses for this game and gave your character a speaking role. You'll

actually get to interact with folks instead of lamely pantomiming and

performing canned expressions. This is also the character creation part

of the FAQ, which is vastly simplified over most RPGs. As that is the

case, this section will largely cover the classes Hawke can pick, which

are the only real gameplay-relevent choices you get to make before

starting the game.

Hawke/NPC Comparison {HWK002}

o======================================================================o

There are-like in all RPGs-several things that seperate Hawke from the

rest of his or her companions. First, Hawke can specialize in either

one of the combat forms unique to the classes (Weapon and Shield or

Two-Weapon, Archery or Dual Weapon, for example.) This is a moot point,

as it's only worth progressing down one tree or the other. Hawke is

also the only character who can Specialize (Hawke can spend

Specialization Points at 7th and 14th level to gain access to a new

Ability Tree, whereas your NPCs have access to one unique Ability Tree

each.) Lastly, and most importantly, only Hawke can equip new armor,

the rest of your party has standard outfits which increase as they

level. You can buy/find special upgrade for them as well, but generally

their armor is going to be inferior to Hawkes. After all, you can

equip a Helmet, Gloves, Boots, and Armor, and they only have one

outfit. This seems to be a growing trend in Bioware RPGs, as Mass

Effect and Dragon Age: Origins both allowed you to equip armor on your

NPCs, but the sequels both gave your NPCs static attire. Perhaps they

got sick of people looking at Morrigan's boobs? In any event, you can

expect Hawke to be a more resilient version of whatever class he is,

which is moderately useful in the case of Mages, but very important

for a Hawke-Warrior or Dual Weapon Rogue.

Warrior {HWK003}

o======================================================================o

Warriors are the masters of melee combat. Some heft an enormous two-

handed weapon that strikes several foes at once. Others pair a one-

handed weapon with a shield that doubles as a bludgeon.

Warriors are either your primier defensive characters (Weapon and

Shield) or excellent damage-dealers (Two-Handed). Either way, they both

excel at one thing: Crowd Control. Whether it's by luring them to you

and resisting their attacks, or by simply destroying them. All Warriors

are good at drawing aggro due to their armor, although in addition to

this a Weapon and Shield Warrior should get Taunt, and a Two-Handed

Warrior should.. well, just use their abilities. A Warrior should focus

exclusively on Strength and Constitution, as these will increase their

damage output and health, respectively. They're also required to equip

most armor and weapons, which really makes attribute allocation in

Dragon Age 2 a no-brainer. I'm perfectly fine with using Avaline as a

aggro drawing support character. For my Hawked I'd much rather pick

the Two-Handed approach, which is much more hands-on.

Mage {HWK004}

o======================================================================o

Mages command arcane spells and hurl bolts of magic from their staves.

Despite their immense power, mages are vulnerable when their allies fall

or whenever enemy troops attack them directly.

Like with everything else, Hawke makes the best mage in the game.

Arguably, at least, and this is because of their specializations. At the

very least Hawke is the best healer in the game as you'll possess the

Spirit Healer Ability Tree, which makes Anders' Vengeance Tree look like

a cheap door prize. And of course Hawke has all the normal Mage trees,

which means at the least you'll have more options than any other Mages

in the game. Lets not lie here, you need a mage to heal, and at that

Hawke excels. Other than that, pick another tree or two that has some

great combo/crowd control options. If you have NPCs that can hurt

BRITTLE enemies, there's not much better than the Elemental Tree, and

if you have allies that can STAGGER enemies, look no further than

Chain Lightning in the Primal Tree.

Rogue {HWK005}

o======================================================================o

Rogues can wield a dagger in each hand or rain arrows from a distance.

They are particularly adept at tearing down individual opponents and are

the only class that can pick locks or disarm traps.

Rogues are the only class who can disarm traps and pick locks, and like

the game says, it's almost a necessity to drag one along for this

reason. But unlike in most games they're also useful in combat. Wonder

of wonders, eh? I guess all the whining about the nerfed dual-daggers

in the first game really lit a fire under Bioware's ass. Because of this

the Dual Weapon Rogue has-by far-the highest DPS in the entire game.

That's right, even more than a Two-Handed Warrior. They are, however,

much less hardy and typically can only strike one foe at once. Frankly,

I don't see much point in the Archery Rogue, not when the Dual Weapon

Rogue has such astronomical DPS. That's not to say some of the Archery

abilities aren't great-they are-but it seems more like an excuse to

create a shoot-and-forget support character that rarely needs to be

controlled. Varric works just as well in that role, why make that your

Hawke when you back be a backstabbing DPS fiend?

Table of Starting Stats {HWK006}

o=======================o===============o===============o==============o

| (ATTRIBUTES) | Warrior | Mage | Rogue |

o=======================o===============o===============o==============o

|Strength | 13 | 10 | 10 |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Dexterity | 10 | 10 | 13 |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Magic | 10 | 13 | 10 |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Cunning | 10 | 11 | 12 |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Willpower | 11 | 12 | 11 |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Constitution | 12 | 10 | 10 |

o=======================o===============o===============o==============o

| (DERIVED STATS) | Warrior | Mage | Rogue |

o=======================o===============o===============o==============o

|Fortitude | 3 | 0 | 0 |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Critical Chance | 0% | 0% | 3% |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Magic Resistance | 0% | 3% | 0% |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Critical Damage | 50% | 51% | 52% |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Stamina | 105 | 160 | 130 |

|-----------------------|---------------|---------------|--------------|

|Health | 160 | 100 | 125 |

o=======================o===============o===============o==============o

o======================================================================o

| |

| Attributes {ATT001} |

| |

o======================================================================o

Attributes determine your derived statistics, which include such useful

things like your damage, attack, defense, critical chance and damage,

health, and stamina/magic. Typically a fairly complex system in most

games, Dragon Age II has dumbed it down considerably. When all else

fails, follow what your gear tells you-armor and shields for Warriors

requires Strength and Constitution, weapons require Strength. For

Rogues armor requires Dexterity and Cunning, and weapons require

Dexterity. For Mages, armor requires Magic and Cunning, and staffs

require Magic. That's right, to simply each class requires two

attributes in equal measure, as shown below:

Warrior: Strength, Constitution

Mage: Magic, Willpower

Rogue: Dexterity, Cunning

Strength {ATT002}

o======================================================================o

Strength increases damage and attack values for warriors. For all

classes, it increases fortitude, which measures resistance to effects

like being knocked back or set aflame.

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| Strength | Fortitude | Damage | Attack |

| | | (Warriors) | (Warriors) |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| 10 | 0 | n/a | n/a |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 13 | 3 | 4 | 66 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 16 | 6 | 6 | 77 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 19 | 9 | 7 | 90 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 22 | 12 | 9 | 106 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 25 | 15 | 10 | 125 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 28 | 18 | 12 | 147 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 31 | 21 | 13 | 174 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 34 | 24 | 15 | 206 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 37 | 27 | 16 | 244 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 40 | 30 | 18 | 289 |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

Dexterity {ATT003}

o======================================================================o

Dexterity increases damage and attack values for rogues. For all

classes, it increases the likelihood of landing a critical hit.

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| Dexterity | Critical | Damage | Attack |

| | Chance | (Rogues) | (Rogues) |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| 10 | 0 | n/a | n/a |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 13 | 3 | 7 | 66 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 16 | 6 | 9 | 77 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 19 | 9 | 10 | 90 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 22 | 12 | 12 | 106 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 25 | 15 | 13 | 125 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 28 | 18 | 15 | 147 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 31 | 21 | 16 | 174 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 34 | 24 | 18 | 206 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 37 | 27 | 19 | 244 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 40 | 30 | 21 | 289 |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

Magic {ATT004}

o======================================================================o

Magic increases damage and attack values for mages. For all classes, it

increases magic resistance, which absorbs a proportion of damage from

magical attacks and affects the duration of hostile magical effects.

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| Magic | Magic | Damage | Attack |

| | Resistance | (Mages) | (Mages) |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| 10 | 0 | n/a | n/a |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 13 | 3 | 5 | 66 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 16 | 6 | 7 | 77 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 19 | 9 | 8 | 90 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 22 | 12 | 10 | 106 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 25 | 15 | 11 | 125 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 28 | 18 | 13 | 147 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 31 | 21 | 14 | 174 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 34 | 24 | 16 | 206 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 37 | 27 | 17 | 244 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 40 | 30 | 19 | 289 |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

Cunning {ATT005}

o======================================================================o

Cunning increases defense for all classes as well as the amount of

damage inflicted by a critical hit. Cunning also determines rogues'

aptitude for picking locks and disarming traps, with difficulty

thresholds every 10 points.

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| Cunning | Critical | Defense |Trap Disarming/|

| | Damage | | Lock Picking |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| 10 | 50% | 0 | Simple |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 11 | 51% | 60 | Simple |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 13 | 53% | 68 | Simple |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 16 | 56% | 83 | Simple |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 19 | 59% | 102 | Simple |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 20 | 60% | 109 | Standard |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 22 | 62% | 125 | Standard |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 25 | 65% | xxx | Standard |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 28 | 68% | xxx | Standard |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 30 | 70% | xxx | Complex |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 31 | 71% | xxx | Complex |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 34 | 74% | xxx | Complex |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 37 | 77% | xxx | Complex |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 40 | 80% | xxx | |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

Willpower {ATT006}

o======================================================================o

Willpower increases the size of the mana pool for mages or the stamina

pool for warriors and rogues.

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| Willpower | Stamina | Mana | Stamina |

| | (Warrior) | (Mage) | (Rogue) |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| 11 | 105 | N/A | 130 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 12 | 110 | 160 | 135 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 13 | 115 | 165 | 140 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 16 | 130 | 180 | 165 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 19 | 145 | 195 | 180 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 22 | 160 | 210 | 195 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 25 | 175 | 225 | 210 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 28 | 190 | 240 | 225 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 31 | 205 | 220 | 240 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 34 | 220 | 235 | 255 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 37 | 235 | 250 | 270 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 40 | 250 | 265 | 285 |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

Constitution {ATT007}

o======================================================================o

Constitution increases maximum health for all classes.

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| Constitution | Health | Health | Health |

| | (Warrior) | (Mage) | (Rogue) |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

| 10 | N/A | 100 | 125 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 11 | 160 | 105 | 130 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 12 | 175 | 110 | 135 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 13 | 190 | 115 | 140 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 16 | 205 | 130 | 155 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 19 | 220 | 145 | 170 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 22 | 235 | 160 | 185 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 25 | 250 | 175 | 200 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 28 | 265 | 190 | 215 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 31 | 280 | 205 | 230 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 34 | 295 | 220 | 245 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 37 | 310 | 235 | 260 |

|---------------|---------------|---------------|---------------|

| 40 | 325 | 250 | 275 |

o===============o===============o===============o===============o

Damage {ATT008}

o======================================================================o

Damage determines the effect of an attack from the equipped weapon

against an unarmored opponent.

Depending on your class, your Strength, Dexterity, or Magic scores

affects your damage output (improving your damage by one point per two

points of said attribute increase). Also note that the very description

of damage tells you that this value is against an unarmored opponent.

Since every opponent has some armor, you'll invariably be doing less

damage than indicated.

Attack {ATT009}

o======================================================================o

Attack determines the likelihood taht a normal strike from a weapon or

staff will succeed in hitting an enemy.

The higher your attack, the more likely you'll hit. Rogues tend to have

uncannily high Attack values, but if you keep up with your Strength,

Dexterity, or Magic, you shouldn't fall below 70%. Ultimately weapons

and accessories will provide a good bit of your attack, as well as some

some abilities (Control, Heroic Aura, to name a few.) Since your

abilities and spells cannot miss, for the most part, as long as you're

being an ability-abuser you'll do just fine. Note that Attack degrades

in efficacy against higher ranked enemies, as shown below:

Attack = X% vs. normal enemy

Attack = X%-15% vs. enemy lieutenant

Attack = X%-30% vs. enemy boss

Defense {ATT010}

o======================================================================o

Defense determines the likelihood of evading an enemy attack.

Defense looks good on paper, but it's a largely useless stat for every

class but the Rogue. It only comes from items and Cunning, and the only

class to put points into Cunning is the Rogue. Also, since it's true

value (Defense %) scales as you level, what might start out as 12% with

a Defense score of 60 at level 2 end up 5% by level 12. On the other

hand, if you have Cunning, a 200 Defense score equates to roughly a

40% at level 12. Unfortunately Defense get hit the hardest by ranked

enemies, so against bosses it's largely ineffective, even for Rogues.

Defense = X% vs. normal enemy

Defense = X%-20% vs. enemy lieutenant

Defense = X%-40% vs. enemy boss

Armor {ATT011}

o======================================================================o

Armor determines how much damage the character can disregard from a

physical attack.

So it works like Defense, then? Instead of showing your odds of reducing

damage, however, your Armor shows how much damage you resist. Everybody

has at least some Armor worth considering, but Warriors tend to surpass

Rogues, and Rogue tend to surpass Mages.. and that's just with brute

equipment. A moderately well-equipped Two-Handed Warrior should be

around 50%, and thankfully Armor holds up against ranked enemies better

than any other statistic.

Armor = X% vs. normal enemy

Armor = X%-10% vs. enemy lieutenant

Armor = X%-20% vs. enemy boss

o======================================================================o

| |

| Abilities {ABL001} |

| |

o======================================================================o

Abilities are where you define how your character fights. All Warriors

are-if they're any good at what they do-strong and high Health. Whether

you become a crowd-controlling damage-dealer or an aggro-drawing

defender is determined by your Abilities.

All NPCs have five Ability Trees and one unique NPC Ability Tree, the

latter of which typically requires them to be a mid-level character

before they can progress down the tree. Hawke, on the other hand, has

six Ability Trees, although one of them is generally useless as Hawke

will need to specialize in one or the other. For example a Warrior-Hawke

has both the Weapon and Shield and Two-Handed Ability Trees. You can

work on them both, but since you need to be using a two-handed weapon

to use Two-Handed Abilities and you need a weapon and a shield to

perform Weapon and Shield Abilities, they don't benefit each other. Pick

one and stick to it. NPCs have already picked one such Ability Tree and

automatically excluded the other. For example Aveline only has Weapon

and Shield, and Fenris only has Two-Handed. Characters gain one Ability

Point per level, although there are Tomes that can be purchased that

will give you more. In addition Hawke gains Specialization Points as he

levels, which will allow Hawke to gain access to new trees.

Specialization Points {ABL002}

o======================================================================o

At levels seven and fourteen Hawke gains a Specialization Point to spend

on one of three Specialization Ability Trees. Once picked, Hawke gains a

passive bonus for picking up that tree, and he can progress through it

as normal. You do not need to learn Specializations to pick them, like

in Dragon Age: Origins.

Sample Hawkes {ABL003}

o======================================================================o

Below I'll include a sample Hawke from each class which is close-if

not identical-to the Hawke of that class that I created.. or that I

would have created, if I had known better. Anyways, at this point in

time I'm far from ready to say that these are 'ideal' builds. I'm sure

with more testing, playing, and input I'll find better builds, but this

is the limit of my knowledge thus far, for better or worse. Each build

is set up with twenty-two Ability Points. Why such an arbitrary number?

The 'soft' experience cap of the game is about level twenty-five, if you

don't miss any side-quests. With items like 'Tomes of Technique' you

should be able to make up for what you might have missed in experience,

and potentially get even more Ability Points. Being conservative,

however, it seems reasonable to provide a rough build up to level

twenty-two so even the less fanatical gamers can bother with the builds.

Sample Hawke Warrior {ABL004}

o======================================================================o

I prefer the Two-Handed build for Hawke, so this is what I'll show as an

example. He'll pretty much stick to the Two-Handed tree, with a few

points into Vanguard and Battlemaster. For his Specialization he picks

Reaver, for the sole purpose of adding some damage to his attacks as he

inevitably loses Health. He's all about getting into fights, using

Cleave and following with as many of his Two-Handed abilities as

possible. Then he performs basic attacks, waits for his cooldowns to

expire and uses Second Wind if necessary.

Two-Handed (7)

(1) Mighty Blow

(2) Giant's Reach

(3) Sunder

(4) Scythe

(5) Whirlwind

(6) Shattering Blow

(7) Tornado

Vanguard (6)

(1) Control

(2) Might

(3) Cleave

(4) Command

(5) Claymore

(6) Destroyer

Battlemaster (3)

(1) Bolster

(2) Second Wind

(3) Last Push

Reaver (5)

(1) Blood Frenzy

(2) Sacrifical Frenzy

(3) Devour

(4) Sustained Frenzy

(5) Fervor

Berserker (1)

(1) Berserk

Weapon and Shield (Aveline, Hawke) {ABL005}

o======================================================================o

Warriors who specialize in the shield trade damage for protection.

Attacks made with one-handed weapons hit a smaller arc than two-handed

weapons, although shield users have the perfect tool at hand for

knocking foes around the battlefield.

This Ability Tree is for conservative, or defensive, Warriors. They'll

draw a lot of aggro, and they have the ability to endure more damage

than any other class. They have some interesting offensive abilities,

but they're mostly there for defense. The Defender Ability Tree is an

obvious addition to the Weapon and Shield Warriors, as it grants them

most of the great defensive abilities they'll want, such as Stonewall,

Turn the Blade, and especially Environmental Aegis. Warmonger ensures

they can draw and hold aggro better, even without using powerful

attacks, and the Templar Specialization, if pursued, will make them

quite resistant to magic. Shield Wall is the indispensible defensive

skill in this tree, as it gives you 25% damage resistance and a brute

20% chance to turn hits into glancing blows.. the same thing that

the Defense statistic does. Who cares if you lose damage? A Weapon and

Shield character isn't really designed to be a damage-dealer anyhow.

Again, there are plenty of abilities that can do damage in the Weapon

and Shield tree, but I am fine with a Warrior who uses almost all of

their Stamina to maintain defensive/buffing modes, punctuated by the

occassional Taunt. With Resolute in the Defensive Tree and Annulment in

the Templar Tree you'll have a character with a base 60% magic

resistance. Elemental Aegis and Rally will produce a character who can-

temporarily-give the entire party 60% elemental resistance. That is a

good thing.

Two-Handed (Fenris, Hawke) {ABL006}

o======================================================================o

Warriors who wield two-handed weapons can reap tremendous damage through

wide arcs of enemy flesh, although they forgo the protective benfits of

a shield.

If you want to deal considerable damage to multiple foes at once, this

is the tree to pick. Although the Dual Weapon Rogue deals more brute

damage to one foe, the Two-Handed Warrior is better protected by both

Health and Armor, and is one of the best crowd control classes in the

game. Because of your flashy attacks and heavy armor, you'll draw a lot

of aggro, but since you're a Warrior you should be able to withstand it,

most of the time. Combine this tree with Vanguard for the Cleave

ability and you can cheaply double your offensive power. Add on the

Battlemaster Ability Tree for Second Wind to ensure that you always have

some Stamina for prolonged assaults and the Berserker Specialization

becomes an appealing choice. There are no real dud abilities in this

tree, although it might be a better idea to learn the Activated

Abilities (Mighty Blow, Scythe, and Whirlwind), then pass on to the

Vanguard and Battlemaster Trees to get Cleave and Second Wind.. which

will double their effectivness and make them usable more often.

Vanguard (Aveline, Fenris, Hawke) {ABL007}

o======================================================================o

A vanguard believes that a good offense is the best defense. Their

powerful strikes are matched with ruthless technique.

One word: Cleave. This is, in my opinion, by far the best Ability in

this tree. After upgrading it you can use it every twenty seconds, for

fifteen seconds, meaning you'll get a 100% damage boost three-quarters

of the time for only twenty Stamina. Yes please. Pop Cleave on and use

all your devastating Two-Weapon techniques and you can easily destroy

most normal foes. With Second Wind you can regain any Stamina you

expended (provided you didn't regain it all in your killing spree) and

do it once your cooldown time is up. Very nice. The other abilities

in the tree don't really compare, although it might seem tempting to

get Control and Might and then get the Rally ability from the

Battlemaster tree, I haven't found the expenditure of three extra

Ability Points worth the small gains to attack and damage. With an

upgraded Control, however, it might be worth your while to get

Destroyer. Frankly the 90% damage resistance on all hits is good

enough (it's really as good as having Might active), but the extra

10% critical chance from Control can bring your critical chance up to

20% (if combined with Sunder) and make the 50% damage resistance to

critical hits that Destroyer gives a worthwhile perk. If you bother to

get Assail you'll get yourself another 10% bonus to damage, which,

mixed with Destroyer and Cleave can really become brutal. However,

having Control active, and using Assail, Cleave, and then popping off

Scythe, Whirlwind, and Mighty Blow will take a fairly high-stamina

build.. which is fine if you also grab Second Wind.

Defender (Aveline, Fenris, Hawke) {ABL008}

o======================================================================o

Defenders Specialize in survivability, taking everything the enemy

throws at them and walking away unscathed.

Defender is a bit of a tease tree that's really only great for Weapon

and Shield characters. Okay, it's great for everybody, but Two-Handed

Warriors are likely to have more important things to spend their points

on. The Stonewall Ability (and its upgrade, Bulwark) can make you 100%

damage resistant, 100% knockback resistant, and 100% knockdown resistant

for 10 seconds every 15 seconds. That's as good of a physical defense

as anything in the game can offer you. Mix that with Shield Wall and

you've got.. well, you've got a tank. Unforunately the Weapon and Shield

character is more methodical with their attacks and probably won't see

the Stamina returns that the Two-Handed Warrior receives, so the idea

of using this constantly (like Immunity in Mass Effect) is probably

out of reach. Environmental Aegis is another indispensible defensive

ability, making you 40% (60% with the upgrade) immune to elements. The

first time you get zorched by a Mage for over half your Health, you'll

be able to determine if this is worth it or not. Best of all, you can

give it to everybody with the Rally Ability in the Battlemaster Tree.

Turn the Blade, on the other hand, sucks. Why, you ask? Defense is

great! Sure, but as a Warrior you'll have around 60 Defense (because

face it, you've got more important attributes to boost than Cunning.)

+10% to that is 66 Defense, which will raise your ability to turn a

hit into a glancing blow by a handful of percentages. Against bosses,

this is going to drop to a brute 5%. A character with over double the

60 or so most Warriors will have has a 29% chance to avoid attacks..

and still a 5% against bosses. Also, the +20 Fortitude sucks because

you can get Stonewall, which makes you immune to most of the things

that Fortitude prevents! It is, however, a prerequisite for Adamant,

which adds a nice 5% bonus to your damage resistance. Yes, I just

told you that 5% Defense was bogus, but 5% damage resistance (Armor)

is not. Why? You'll have at least a 50% damage resistance as a

Warrior if you've got anywhere near decent gear. Against lieutenants

that'll be 40%, and against bosses you'll have 30%. That +5% will

actually do work for you, unlike the 10% (or even 15%) Defense. Oh,

and if you're going to get Bulwark, why, oh why, would you get

Resilience?

Warmonger (Aveline, Fenris, Hawke) {ABL009}

o======================================================================o

The warmonger is a confident adversary, well-versed in taunting foes,

cutting through them, and sending them to the dirt in a bloody heap.

Warmongers are also experts in controlling enemy aggression, possessing

abilities that draw foes toward them and that, through stun effects,

cause enemies to forget who they were fighting.

This tree is particularly useful for a Weapon and Shield Warrior, as it

gives them the Taunt and Bravery abilities, both of which increase

threat and thus draw aggro. Those wonderful defensive stats aren't any

good if the enemy is beating up your other characters, after all. It's

also handy in conjunction with Primal Tree users, as Pommel Strike and

Tremor both can cause STAGGER, which plays into Chain Lightning. Of

course, if you're a Two-Handed Warrior you'll want to force a Mage to

make use of their BRITTLE-causing spells instead.

Battlemaster (Aveline, Fenris, Hawke) {ABL010}

o======================================================================o

When fighting solo, a battlemaster is an efficient killing machine. When

fighting alongside allies, the warrior becomes a seasoned leader who can

rally others to turn the tide of combat.

A rather sneaky tree, it lures you into false premises in some areas.

First, it's a great tree for a Stamina junky, as Bolster allows you to

infinitely increase your Stamina by 5%, and Second Wind fully restores

all your Stamina every 60 seconds.. which is essentially a free refill

once per battle for most normal battles. With an upgrade is also makes

your abilities cooldown faster (and when else are you going to be out

of Stamina, except after expending abilities?) and decreases its own

cooldown to 45 seconds. This is obviously a match made in heaven for

the Berserker, who deals damage based on your remaining Stamina. By

comparison the Mana/Stamina regeneration rate: +10 of Deep Reserves is

bogus in comparison. Why do you need it with the other two abilities?

That's right, you dont. Rally is good for teamwork, but the only

crucial ability it works for is Environmental Aegis. Giving everybody

60% resistance to elements can have a big impact on select fights. Of

course, you could always strap on some items that give you specific

resistances for specific fights, as most foes doesn't use multiple

elements.. On the other hand, Synergy seems nice, but notice its range.

10 meters. You only get those bonuses when you're within 30 feet of your

allies, and as I stated above, Defense is useless for Warriors anyways.

You have better ways to improve your damage reduction, and better ways

to generate threat.

Templar (Hawke) {ABL011}

o======================================================================o

The strong arm of the Chantry, templars serve as guardians of the

Circles of Magi, hunters of apostates and maleficarum, and, rarely, as a

standing army at the command of the Divine. Through ingestion of

carefully prepared lyrium, templars gain resistance to magic, including

the ability to interrupt spells. Though the Chantry controls the lyrium

trade, those with the right connections can acquire enough to emulate

the abilities of the vigilant warriors.

Templar must be purchased using a specialization point before any

talents may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted

at levels 7 and 14.

Damage +10% vs. spellcasters and Fade creatures

The Templar is all about confounding Mages, and other enemies that like

using their abilities too much. And at this the Templar largely excels.

Cleanse is a wonderful offensive and defensive ability that silences

enemies in a large area while dispeling harmful effects on allies in

the same area. It's so good, in fact, that it's probably the only such

ability a Templar really needs. Silence seems more impressive, until you

note that it affects only one foe, even if it's for double the time. To

be fair, you'll usually only encounter a few Mages at once, and the odds

that you'll ever really hit two with one Cleanse isn't too common.

Righteous Strike sucks, as it just gives a 10% chance to silence an

enemy for four seconds with your attacks. Four seconds is nothing. But,

it's a prerequisite for Annulment, which passively gives you magic

resistance of 50%. Awesome. Holy Smite is decent, so long as you

weren't spoiled by the damage on the Two-Handed abilities. The eight

meter range makes up for this limitation, and the chance to stun..

well, it's better than nothing.

Reaver (Hawke) {ABL012}

o======================================================================o

A true reaver has tasted the ritually prepared blood of a dragon. It is

more than a state of mind. These fearsome warriors revel in death,

regaining energy from the suffering of their foes.

Reaver must be purchased using a specialization point before any talents

may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted at levels

7 and 14.

Physical Damage: +5%

Fire Damage: +5%

Cold Damage: +5%

Electricity Damage: +5%

Nature Damage: +5%

Spirit Damage: +5%

The Reaver is all about dealing more damage as they sustain more damage,

and almost without variation their abilities reflect this. In

conjunction with a Two-Handed Warrior and Cleave the damage output can

get rather fearsome. First and foremost, the best ability the Reaver

has (and the whole point of the class) is Blood Frenzy, which increases

your damage inversely proportional to your Health. At 50% health, you

should be dealing 150% damage. The best part? It's passive, and you

need only one ability point to get this ability. Add that to the passive

bonus of the class and you've got a healthy chunk of damage without much

of a commitment. Sacrificial Frenzy doubles the effect of Blood Frenzy,

and to speed you on your way it deals 20 damage to you, better yet, it

costs you no Stamina. Beyond that is Fervor, which is passive and will

increase your attack speed by 30% for 10 seconds every time you kill an

enemy. Again, with the power of a Two-Handed Warrior, this means you'll

attack 30% faster most of the time. Aura of Pain is another ability that

serves to decrease your health while at the same time harming enemies.

You lose 5% of your health for every pulse (every four seconds) and

deals a paltry amount of spirit damage to enemies in a fairly short

range. Again, the main purpose of this ability seems to be to reduce

your Health. Frankly, Blood Frenzy works just fine for me. Then you

have the black sheep of the family: Devour. This ability actually heals

you, as it harms enemies. Best of all, it STAGGERs enemies, which a

Mage with Chain Lightning can abuse. The flow of a Reaver's battle

then seems to run like this: Start out with Aura of Pain and Sacrificial

Frenzy, after your health is depleted somewhat, deactivate Aura of Pain

and keep using Sacrificial Frenzy. When your heal gets dangerously low,

use Devour. Frankly, hoewver, I'm quite happy just using Sacrificial

Frenzy to boost my damage a bit (down until I'm at around 50% health)

while using my core Two-Handed attacks paired with Berserk.

Berserker (Hawke) {ABL013}

o======================================================================o

The dwarven culture is in decline, and many dwarves have turned to the

surface, bringing their customs and battle traditions with them. Anger

is only part of being a berserker. Anyone can fly into a rage, but only

a berserker can channel that anger into brutal hits that cleave through

armor, flesh, and bone.

Berserker must be purchased using a specialization point before any

talents may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted

at levels 7 and 14.

Mana/stamina regeneration rate: +10

This was my go-to specializtion in Dragon Age: Origins, and although it

hasn't fared as well in the sequel, its base ability-Berserk-makes it

worth a look. Berserks deals extra damage per attack equal to 10% (15%

once upgraded) of your remaining Stamina, at a cost of four Stamina per

attack (two Stamina once upgraded.) So at its best we deal at least

15% extra damage at a cost of two Stamina each hit. Lets compare it to,

say, Cleave, which deals 100% extra damage at a cost of twenty Stamina.

Berserk gives us 7.5% damage per stamina used (mind you, using Berserk

itself costs no Stamina, only attacking while Berserk is activated),

while Cleave gives a 5% bonus per stamina used. Granted, the lower your

Stamina goes, the worse the returns are, but paired with other damage-

boosting abilities (like Blood Frenzy and Sacrificial Frenzy in the

Reaver tree, which don't use any Stamina to boost damage) you'll

regenerate your Stamina as quick as you expending it by mauling enemies.

Also there's Bolster and Second Wind, which become even more potent with

the Berserker specialization. Adrenaline works somewhat contrary to the

Berserk bonus, as it causes you to deal 5% (8% with the upgrade) extra

damage every time you attack. Unforunately it costs 20 Stamina per use,

and even if you get rid of the cooldown time of 2 seconds, the animation

for it still takes time. Even with several uses, you might be able to

boost to 40% damage stacking, then pull off a few attacks.. which seems

like an awful lot of work for such a short duration and alot of

Stamina. Barrage seems pretty useless, but the Reaver has an ability

that's passive, works every time you kill something, and doesn't

require any Stamina and doesn't incur any damage resistance penalties.

Finally, Death Blow restores some Stamina when you kill an enemy, but

5% is a downright paltry amount of Stamina considering that most enemies

restore a considerable chunk of your Stamina bar already.

Sample Hawke Mage {ABL014}

o======================================================================o

Hawke has the Force Mage, Spirit Healer, and Blood Mage Specializations.

Force Mage has a plethora of unique dehabiliting spells that put Entropy

to shame, and Spirit Healer has the best healing spells in the game. I

prefer both of those trees to Blood Mage. Elemental has the best pure-

damaging spells in the game, and with cold spells you can make enemies

BRITTLE, which allow a Two-Handed Warrior to excel. And of course,

Creation is added for basic healing. This creates a dual-role healer/

offensive mage with a good bit more Health and Fortitude than normal.

Elemental (8)

(1) Winter's Grasp

(2) Cone of Cold

(3) Fireball

(4) Deep Freeze

(5) Searing Fireball

(6) Winter's Blast

(7) Firestorm

(8) Elemental Mastery

Creation (4)

(1) Heal

(2) Greater Heal

(3) Heroic Aura

(4) Valiant Aura

Force Mage (4)

(1) Telekinetic Burst

(2) Fist of the Maker

(3) Unshakable

(4) Gravitic Ring

Spirit Healer (6)

(1) Healing Aura

(2) Revival

(3) Group Heal

(4) Unity

(5) Refusal

(6) Vitality

Elemental (Anders, Merill, Hawke) {ABL015}

o======================================================================o

The Elemental Tree is a collection of everybodies favorite mainstays of

fantasy magic. We have Fireball, and Cone of Cold, and.. other icy-firey

stuff.. Anyways, this tree splits between two Fire Spells and two Cold

spells, the latter are a good way to inflict BRITTLE on enemies, as well

as slow them down considerably. What's not to like? The fire spells

deal less damage, but have much greater range. It's the most basic, and

probably the most effective brute damage tree the Mage has, and if you

are interested in some of the abilities, you might as well just get them

all.

Primal (Anders, Merrill, Hawke) {ABL016}

o======================================================================o

Another basic tree, this contains earth and lightning (or sky) magic.

Chain Lighting has a rather restrictive range, but its damage is good,

and it really does bad things to STAGGERED targets. Tempest is a

lightning version of Firestorm that deals half the damage over twice

the time? Still not sold? Me either. You also have Rock Armor, which

boosts your Armor by 25%, which, for 10% of your Mana, isn't a bad

deal, really. Especially if you're Hawke, and therefore liable to get a

decent Armor score. On the earth side we have Stonefist, which deals

good damage, and if upgraded has outstanding physical force.. but

really, I'd rather have the speed impediment and BRITTLE chance of

Winter's Grasp. Then there's Petrify, which seems pretty good once

upgraded. 100% chance to turn any normal foe BRITTLE, albeit at a +20%

damage resistance bonus, for 15 seconds? But then there's the word

'normal', and you just have to wonder how infrequently this will work

on bosses-when you need it. I'd just as well use Cone of Cold, myself.

I really don't see any good reason to pick this tree over the Elemental

Tree-just grab Rock Armor and be happy.

Spirit (Anders, Merrill, Hawke) {ABL017}

o======================================================================o

Ah, another tree I'm not too fond of. You have the indispensible Dispel

Magic, which is always handy.. even at a pathetic five meter area.

Spirit Bolt deals moderate damage, but, as the game itself points out,

can be used quite often. Walking Bomb functions like Corpse Explosion

from Diablo II (anybody else still remember that game?), but its radius

just isn't quite good enough to make it a must-have ability. If you're

particularly good at micro-management you can put this ability to

fairly good effect, but I'd opt for the guaranteed damage of a Fireball

any day. Death Siphon is a real nutter, it's a mode you activate-

sacrificing 20% of your maximum mana-to gain 5% mana for every corpse

within 10 meters. This ability will-in most fights-probably not even

cover the amount of Mana it wastes to activate! If you're not sold by

the rest of these spells, you won't be sold by Spirit Mastery, which

hardly even affects the most useful spell in the tree, Dispel Magic.

Arcane (Anders, Merrill, Hawke) {ABL018}

o======================================================================o

Eww.. well, lets just get this over with. Elemental Weapons will enchant

the weapons of your entire party, making them deal elemental damage (of

an element determined by the staff you have equipped) equal to about 10%

of their weapons' base damage. This means, for 10% of your mana you give

everybody a damage bonus of a handful of points. Sounds good, but for

most early-to-mid level weapons, it'll only add a handful of points.

Granted, if you're a Dual Weapon Rogue this is great, as your weapons

have high base damage, and you make lots of attacks with them. If you're

a Warrior, your weapons have absurdly poor damage, and most of your

damage comes from Abilities, making the effects of this negligible.

Then there's Arcane Shield, which can boost your (and eventually your

parties') Defense by 20%. Again, great if you're a Rogue as you actually

have a Defense score, not so great for everyone else. The elemental

resistance is nice, but you need to decie if it's worth two Ability

Points and 20% of your mana. Most Mages have Mind Blast by default

(apparently it's their Miasmic Flask), and it does what it's supposed

to do-stun enemies and give you a chance to escape their attentions.

It really only works well if it's upgraded, however, and since you are

the center of the effect, you need to be in the thick of combat to use

it offensively. It's low mana cost and cooldown time make it very

spamable, however, and capable of keeping lesser enemies off guard.

Barrier would be nice-100% damage resistance is fantastic-but with a

six second duration and a 45 second cooldown you're better off just

letting your Warriors use Stonewall. Then there's Crushing Prison, which

was so fun in the last game.. in this game, however, it only has a 40%

chance to even slow down normal enemies, and it deals its considerable

damage-again, to one enemy-over ten seconds. There is no way in which

Horror does not exceed this.

Entropy (Merrill, Hawke) {ABL019}

o======================================================================o

The Entropy Tree is a bit of a mixed bag. First the Hex of Torment spell

only affects one creature, but when you give a strong enemy a 25%

damage reduction penalty and your allies a 100% critical hit chance

against it for 15 seconds, you can really put a dent in any enemy, and

at 20 mana it's a bargain. An upgraded Misdirection Hex takes away any

chance an enemy has to land a critical hit, and reduces their attack

and movement speed by 75%, and lasts for 10 seconds. Put on an enemy

Rogue and this can pretty much take them out of the battle. Finally for

the good abilities we have Horror, which has a flat 100% chance to work

and it stuns enemies for 10 seconds, upgraded it'll do a fairly large

amount of damage every second it's stunned. It's a far better spell

than Crushing Prison, as it does more damage, works more often, and

fully takes any enemy out of the fight for the same amount of time.

Sleep, on the other hand, suffers like Crushing Prison, as it's only

likely to work on normal enemies 50% of the time-which is pretty lame.

Especially since even when they're asleep they'll awaken after being

hit. Finally there's Entropic Cloud, which tries to do a little bit of

everything to the enemy and rarely succeeds at much. For that much

mana, why not just use Horror? Sure, Entropic Cloud has a pathetic

range, but I'd rather have a certain spell than a bunch of low-chance

effects.

Creation (Anders, Hawke) {ABL020}

o======================================================================o

Another tree of mixed usefulness. Glyph of Paralysis can be useful if,

and only if, it's upgraded. Paralyzing two normal enemies for four

seconds is just a joke, but paralyzing four enemies for 10 seconds

actually has some weight. Glyph of Repulsion can knock smaller enemies

back for a duration of ten seconds, but there are so many better things

you can spend thirty mana on, it just seems like a waste to bother.

Heal is the basic and most useful spell in this tree, although it's

really not enough by itself. A fourty second cooldown? That's

ridiculous. Finally there are the two buffs. Heroic Aura isn't much to

write home about until it's upgraded, but once it is it gives the

entire party +15% Attack, +8% Defense, +10% Damage, and +10% Critical

Chance, although 20% of your mana is a hefty price to pay for it.

Haste increases your attack speed by +50%, but with a ten second

duration and a sixty second cooldown you'll have to weigh whether it's

really worth it. If your Hawke is a Dual Weapon thief, it might be

worth considering, as attack speed is wonderful, but Two-Handed

Hawkes have their own ways of increaing their speed, and the other

possible party members-Weapon and Shield Warriors, Archer Rogues, and

other Mages just won't get as much out of it, since they're only

secondary damage dealers.

Force Mage (Hawke) {ABL021}

o======================================================================o

Force mages are a fearsome sight on the battlefield, bending the laws of

nature to crush, toss, and debilitate their foes. Kirkwall's Circle

houses a higher-than-usual percentage of mages who excel at this

specialization, and their combined research as refined the school

considerably.

Force Magemust be purchased using a specialization point before any

talents may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted

at levels 7 and 14.

Physical Force: 125% for all attacks and spells

Elemental Force: 125% for all attacks and spells

The Force Mage has spells that are more designed to keep enemies off

their feet than they are to damage them. On top of this, these spells

are typically fairly expensive to cast. They are also very good at

knocking enemies down and affecting large areas. Case in point is

Telekinetic Burst, which-when upgraded has a six meter area and deals

30x physical force. It's a parlor trick compared to the ability it

leads to, however. Pull of the Abyss costs the same mana and only has a

five second great cooldown, but is area is-when upgraded-a whopping

fifteen meters. It has the same physical force, and slows enemy attacks

and movement by 50%. That's better than Telekinetic Burst and

Misdirection Hex put together! It's range makes up for its short

duration (five seconds) and lower rate of slow (-50% versus Misdirection

Hex's -75%). Gravitic Ring is more of the same, getting up to eighteen

meters and slowing enemies based upon how close they are to the center

of the effect. Sort of seems like a Mass Effect ability, no? Fist of

the Maker is the sole damage-dealing spell, and when it's upgraded it

covers a hefty ten meters, although it deals a fairly paltry amount of

damage, at least it does with without regard to enemy armor, and it

affects a lot of enemies. It's especially handy against STAGGERED

enemies, to whom it deal 900% normal damage. It also comes with a

cooldown reduction to make it usable every ten seconds, but at a cost

of fourty mana per use, it's not all that feasible to spam it. Lastly

you can buy the Passive Ability Unshakable, which gives you a +100

bonus to your Fortitude, making you just a little over twice as

resistant as a good Warrior will become. It's a good tree, especially

if you don't need to rely on it for your physical damage.

Spirit Healer (Hawke) {ABL022}

o======================================================================o

Few mages are watched more closely by the templars than spirit healers.

For all the good they can do, their consorting with any denizen of the

demon-infested Fade is a matter of intense suspicion. Still, the

benefits outweigh the risks, if only just.

Spirit Healer must be purchased using a specialization point before any

talents may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted

at levels 7 and 14.

Mana/stamina: +25

This tree makes Anders' Vengeance Tree look like a joke. First, you get

+25 Mana just for picking the tree, and second.. just look at that

healing! Okay, Healing Aura kind of sucks, because it's focal point is

you, and only characters within eight meters will get the benefits, but

that's fine, Force Mage had a bum ability too (but it's still better

than Ander's Panacea, which sucks twice as much.) Since we know that we

need a Mage who can heal in our party, lets just compare the two best

healing alternatives, and show how good Spirit Healer is. First we

have Anders' Aid Allies, which heals 30% of the parties' Health,

costs 35 mana, and has a cooldown of 50 seconds. Compared to Group

Heal of the Spirit Healer, which heals up to 50% of the parties'

Health, costs 30 mana, and has a cooldown of 40 seconds. Next up it's

Anders' Regroup, which revives a fallen companion and restores 30%

of their Health and 40% of their stamina at a cost of 45 mana, with a

cooldown of 120 seconds. Compare this to Revival, which revives a

party member with 50% of their Health, 60% of their Stamina, has a

mana cost of 40, and a cooldown time of 100 seconds. The Spirit

Healer also has two Passive Abilities we should mention-Second Chance,

which prevents party members from suffering injuries. Of course, you

could always just use potions and Injury Kits to fix injuries, so it's

not a great ability. Then there's Vitality, which gives you a ten point

bonus to Constitution, which is fifty Health-or a 50% boost to your

base Health. As if this weren't enough, your Health Regeneration Rate

improves by +100, which makes you a fitting beacon of health. The only

downside is you'll have to spend seven Ability Points to get these

abilities and their upgrades, where Anders only needs to spend three on

his.

Blood Mage (Hawke) {ABL023}

o======================================================================o

The Blood Mage is built around the idea of using Health instead of

mana (at a rate of one Health for two mana) to cast some unique spells.

First, lets discuss Sacrifice and and Grave Robber, which only exist to

to restore your Health (and hence are only useful if you buy into the

other abilities, since you can't heal while using Blood Magic mode.)

Blood Magic itself takes a ridiculous 50% of your mana pool to use,

but with an upgrade can sustain itself by using your Health at a 3:1

ratio. With about 100 Health, and 200 Mana, Blood Magic allows you to

have a noticably higher spellcasting potential of 300 points. Now,

onto the two abilities that you'll actually use. First there's

Hemorrhage, which can deal heavy damage in a ten meter area. None of

this damage is blocked (as the spell reduces enemy armor and damage

resistance down to 0%), and has a 50% chance to paralyze normal enemies

and deals a whopping 900% damage to STAGGERED enemies. The next ability

is the one 'mind control' spell in the game-Blood Slave. This can

outright kill lesser foes once it's ten-second duration is over, and

otherwise has a 100% chance to enslave normal enemies. Again, normal

enemies. I don't see how that's much better than the Confusion ability

the Rogue has, and it doesn't hurt you to use it. So, you've got one

good spell. Ehh.. Grave Robber requires you to be within six meters of

a corpse (or, if you upgrade it, within six meters of any enemy). At

least it doesn't require you to expend any mana. Then there's the

aforementioned Sacrifice, which takes 20% of an ally's Health and gives

it to you. If you get the upgrade you get +50% of the Health loss

(or 30% of the ally's health), and if you kill them, an improved

regeneration rate. Still, they can always heal themselves other ways,

so it's at least a guaranteed way to heal yourself without getting into

the line of fire. So lets do the count, that's one good ability, but to

ensure you can use it well you need to expend.. five or six Ability

Points? That just seems bogus to me.

Sample Hawke Rogue {ABL024}

o======================================================================o

The Hawke provided here will be a Dual Weapon Rogue, as again, I prefer

the Dual Weapon version to the Archer. This Hawke is built around

dealing as much damage to one enemy as quickly as possible-to achieve

this I'll rely heavily on the Dual Weapon and Assassin Trees, with a

good bit of help from the Shadow Tree to boost my Sneak attack and

critical hit damage and to avoid drawing unwanted attention.

Dual Weapon

(1) Backstab

(2) Critical Strike

(3) Explosive Strike

(4) Twin Fangs

(5) Reversed Grip

Subterfuge

(1) Stealth

(2) Evade

(3) Ambush

Assassin

(1) Mark of Death

(2) Bloodlust

(3) Pinpoint Strikes

(4) Relentless Strikes

(5) Devious Harm

(6) Assassinate

(7) Overkill

Shadow

(1) Inconspicuous

(2) Pinpoint Precision

(3) Indiscernable

(4) Disorienting Criticals

(5) Decoy

(6) Shadow Veil

(7) Imperceptible

Dual Weapon (Isabela, Hawke) {ABL025}

o======================================================================o

Dual-Weapon rogues wield an instrument of death in each hand. This

talent tree is required for characters to equip dual weapons.

Dual Weapon is my personal favorite tree. Combined with Assassin and

Shadow you can rule the battlefield. Backstab is a great ability for

any Rogue, as it can cause you to evade attacks if timed correctly and

does a fair amount of damage. Getting it the 100% critical chance perk

can be useful but isn't necessary considering that you'll naturally

improve your critical chance up to near 50% (especially with Unforgiving

Chain) and when you obtain Pinpoint Strikes you'll always critically hit

for 10-20 seconds. Now that we mentioned it, Unforgiving Chain is a nice

ability that gives you a +2% critical hit rate every time you hit, for

ten hits (up to a 20% chance). Again, with Pinpoint Strikes it's not

essential, but you'll be hitting alot, and gaining that much critical

hit potential from a passive ability isn't bad. Most importantly, you

need it to get Explosive Strike, which gains 50% physical damage as you

complete attacks. The idea is simple, get ten hits in a combo for 20%

critical chance from Unforgiving Chain, then launch an Explosive Strike

at +500% damage. Best of all, there's Twin Fangs, which deals damage

about equal to twice of what the +500% Explosive Strike does, and always

critically hits. The last and lowliest ability in the tree is Lacerate

(and its upgrade). Too bad it's not a Passive Ability, as 10% of your

Stamina for an ability with a 10% chance to deal paltry damage just

doesn't seem all that great to me.

Archery (Varric, Hawke) {ABL026}

o======================================================================o

Archers specialize in picking off distant targets and suppressing enemy

ranks. This tree is required for characters to equip bows.

Varric is your default Archer (although he calls his Archery skill

Bianca), and that's a role he can govern, as far as I'm concerned. The

big disappointment with bows are their slow firing speed. With

Inconspicuous, threat isn't a big deal, and certainly not worth keeping

a character out of melee over. With all the same damage boosts, a

Dual Weapon Rogue has a much higher DPS than an Archer, although beyond

this they both fare pretty well. Pinning Shot can be just outrageous

in this game, with easily the highest damage of any Archery skill, and

when upgraded it DISORIENTs enemies, and pins them for up to 15 seconds.

Shattering Arrow is great against BRITTLE enemies, and Hail of Arrows

deals minor damage, but can hamper enemies in a huge area for a short

while. Archer's Lance deals fair damage (especially againt BRITTLE

foes), and can outright kill lesser enemies, but getting a line of

enemies requires more than a bit lof luck, and chances are you won't

hit more than three enemies at a time under the best of circumstances.

Sabotage (Isabela, Varric, Hawke) {ABL027}

o======================================================================o

Rogues who excel at these abilities are adept at stupefying and

undermining their foes.

Sabotage has a few interesting abilities, including one every Rogue

seems to start with-Miasmic Flask, which is good for breaking aggro and

leaving foes vulnerable.. at least, at the beginning of the game. Rush

is also interesting, if for the sheer fact that it's one of the Rogue's

few damaging ranged attacks. It doesn't do much damage, but, lets say

your mid-level, say level 12, and you do 52 Damage-with Blitz you'll do

52 damage to all enemies you hit with it, which is bound to be several.

Now lets say you have Pinpoint Strikes on, and a fairly high critical

hit rate-say, 100% (which is easily doable by this level.) You'll deal

104 damage, which isn't anything to go crazy over, but with a 16x

Physical Force you will knock nearly everything down. It's something to

consider, anyways. Fatiguing Fog will slow enemy movement and attacks,

and with upgrades it can give obscure you and make enemies DISORIENTED.

If you want to do either of the latter two things, the best way to do

it is with some additional slowdown. Finally there's Confusion. It's got

a very nice duration (20 seconds) but a horribly small area of effect

(4 meters.) Eh. All in all I'd rather invest my points into other

things than bother with the latter two abilities at all.

Specialist (Isabela, Varric, Hawke) {ABL028}

o======================================================================o

Specialist rely on precision, power, and speed to overwhelm their

opponents.

This tree is nothing but a waste of points, and I'll tell you exactly

why. If I didn't it wouldn't be much of a FAQ, right? First, it consists

of three Sustained Modes that don't work together. To make you feel

good, however, they throw in the passive Harmony, which gives you some

perks of the other abilities while using one of them, to sucker you in.

But lets look at the abilities. Power gives you a 3% chance to stun. By

investing three Ability Points you get a 6% chance to stun, and you deal

extra damage against Stunned enemies. By comparison Miasmatic Flask

automatically stuns, and you start out with it, although there's no

extra damage involved.. but it works on a radius. Also, Lacerate in the

Dual Weapon tree has a 10% to deal extra damage. Even though it's

slightly less damage, it takes up half the Stamina. Use an ability like

Inconspicuous and it doesn't really even matter if your enemy is stunned

or not, they won't be attacking you anyways. Next there's Precision.

This one's easy, attack is useless because any Rogue will likely have

more than they can shake a stick at. Second critical chance sucks

because Pinpoint Strikes raises your critical hit rate to 100%. Granted

if you had Precision (+15%), a high Dexterity (which you will get, about

+30%) Throw the Gauntlet and Parry (20%), and the Duelist Specialization

bonus (+5%) you'd have a critical hit rate of 70%, but at the expense

of quite a few more Ability Points (quite a few meaning about six more).

Also consider that two of the best Rogue attacks, Twin Fangs and

Assassinate already have a 100% critical hit rate, which fills the gap

between Pinpoint Strike uses nicely and renders the need of such a high

base critical hit rate redundant. Lastly there's Speed. A +15% attack

speed is paltry compared to just having a Mage cast Haste, although the

10% cooldown for all talents is pretty nice.. still considering that

you'd have to spend six Ability Points to get the best benefits out of

this tree (+15% attack speed, 10% cooldown, +10% Attack, +5% critical

chance, +1% stun chance), it just doesn't seem worth that high of an

investment. Especially when you look at what those same six points will

get you in Dual Weapon, Archery, Shadow, and Assassin..

Scoundrel (Isabela, Varric, Hawke) {ABL029}

o======================================================================o

Rogues proficient in these dastardly talents delight in exploiting their

enemies' weaknesses and controlling the flow of battle.

Man, we're almost done with these skills. If only there was an easy

Ability Tree that I could describe quickly to speed this up.. Oh, here

it is! Scoundrel sucks. Blindside is decent, but honestly most enemies

won't be engaging allies. Once you start beating on them, they'll focus

on you. And Twist the Knife is outshone by Pinpoint Strikes. Then you

have Armistice and Goad, which break aggro from other party members,

which frankly should be the job of the Weapon and Shield character in

your party. Failing that, most Mages come with Mind Blast and most

Rogues have Miasmic Flask. They can break aggro just fine. Back to Back

is just stupid, although I suppose if you were trying to make the best

of the 120% damage on Blindside it would make sense. Brand gives other

members of your party a 10% Critical Chance against an enemy, which

might have some effect on a boss. Finally Follow-Through gives such a

paltry bonus.. ugh.. It's not like these abilities are downright awful,

but aren't there better things you could spend your points on?

Subterfuge (Isabela, Varric, Hawke) {ABL030}

o======================================================================o

Subterfuge talents focus on trick maneuvering and deception to gain the

upper hand in battle.

The Subterfuge Tree, as its name implies, contains the Stealth Ability.

Yeah, it's a automatic way to break away from attacking enemies, but

it's just not a fantastic ability, not on its own, and not with any of

its upgrades or subsequent abilties. There is one exception-if you get

the Shadow specialization, getting Ambush might be a good idea. First

it'll make all Backstabs automatically critical hits, and second it'll

cause you to always gain a critical hit when you attack from Stealth.

Since you'll have a passive 3% chance to auto-Sneak, it can come in

handy. Evade is a more interesting way to break from a confrontation,

although the best aggro-breaking ability the Rogue has is Inconspicuous

in the Shadow Tree. Speaking of Evade, it has a chance to stun enemies

while breaking aggro, and leads to the passive ability Subtlety, which

reduces the threat you generate by 25%. Still doesn't match

Inconspicuous, but then again, nothing really does. As for Chameleon's

Breath, I don't really care too much for it, especially with such a

small radius.

Shadow (Hawke) {ABL031}

o======================================================================o

Shadow rogues employ misdirection and an unassuming facade to waylay

their opponents with devastating attacks. As a smuggling hub, Kirkwall

has more than a few practitioners of these techniques who will pass down

their secrets to those they deem to be sufficiently skilled.

Shadow must be purchased using a specialization point before any talents

may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted at levels

7 and 14.

Stealth Chance: 3% when Hawke takes damage

Duration: 5s

Now, if you're looking for a way to break aggro and keep yourself safe,

this is the tree to look at. Better than any other method is the

ability Inconspicuous, which, when upgraded, not only sheds 100% of your

threat, but reduces your threat generation to nil, meaning you really

shouldn't get attacked at all unless you're the only character on your

team left alive. Then there's Pinpoint Precision, which should be

married to Pinpoint Strikes. An ability that gives a 100% critical hit

rate, and an ability that increases critical damage by 25%? It's match

made in heaven. The other abilities I'm less sold on. Disorienting

Criticals is nice, but since there are only so many ways to become

obscured (one is getting Shadow Viel and Stealth, but the duration is

dreadfully short, another is with Chameleon's Breath, but it only works

in a 5 meter area (or 8 meters, if upgraded), and the last is with

an upgraded Fatiguing Fog, but this is only a six meter range. All

options leave much to be desired. Predator gives you a permanent 100%

critical rate when you're flanking an enemy, but this seems moot with

Pinpoint Strikes. Finally there's Decoy. Frankly Inconspicuous is a

good enough way to reduce threat, and who really cares about the fire

damage if the enemy beats up your decoy? It's peanuts compared to the

damage you can do in twenty seconds with Inconspicuous.

Duelist (Hawke) {ABL032}

o======================================================================o

Duelists specialize in calling out single opponents and eliminating

them, quickly. While the art of dueling is less popular in Kirkwall than

in the more-refined cities of Orlais, there are still plenty of trainers

who can teach rogues they deem sufficiently quick of wit. The rogue's

preferred weapon, be it blade or bow, has little consequence on this

tree. A distracted and enraged foe is an easy target at any range.

Duelist must be purchased using a specialization point before any

talents may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted

at levels 7 and 14.

Critical Chance: +5%

The duelist is all about taking on an enemy one-on-one, while combining

favorable buffs for you and debuffs for the chosen foe. Frankly,

however, my Rogues tend to do better when they're not the explicit

target of an enemy. This tree is all about boosting your Attack and

Defense (by up to 60% with passive abilities and benefits from Parry and

Throw the Gauntlet). Frankly, however, Inconspicuous gives me better

odds-having the enemy go after allies and ignore me is better than

having one pay sole attention to me, along with whatever enemies might

be out there, and Assassin has better damage bonuses. The Defense

bonus is nice, but not foolproof (like Inconspicuous, and for most of

the game my Rogue had a 90%+ chance to hit a normal enemy, which

rendered a good bit of the Duelist Tree useless to me. Frankly I'd just

rather have Shadow and Assassin than Duelist.

Assassin (Hawke) {ABL033}

o======================================================================o

Anyone can kill for money, but those who follow the Antivan traditions

know how to do so with style. While every assassin is different, some

favoring up close and personal kills and others striking at range, they

are all deadly predators and skilled at exploiting their foe's

weaknesses. There are a surprisingly large number of assassins at work

in Kirkwall, although most are away on contract at any given time.

Assassin must be purchased using a specialization point before any

talents may be taken from this tree. Specialization points are granted

at levels 7 and 14.

Critical Damage: +10%

Shadow had a few good abilities, and Duelist left me desiring more, but

Assassin is where it's at. First you get a brute 10% bonus to critical

damage for picking this tree, and you make all the critical chance

bonuses in all other trees obsolete by obtaining Pinpoint Strikes. This

makes all of your hits critical hits for 10 seconds (20 seconds

upgraded). With a 40 second cooldown, this means half your attacks at

any given time should be critical hits. Also you can pick up Devious

Harm, which gives you another 1% critical damage per point of Cunning.

Now, most any Rogue worth anything will end up with at or near 40

Cunning. That's a 40% critical hit chance. Add this to the base 50%,

plus the 30% we expect you to get from Cunning, the bonus from

selecting the Assassin Tree (10%) and the 25% bonus from Pinpoint

Precision and you have a bonus to damage on critical hits of 155%.

If you have a 100% critical rate for 20 seconds.. Absolutely unreal.

And that's not even considering damage boosts from using your Archery

or Dual Weapon abilities! Then there's Mark of Death, which can be

used to further cut an enemies damage resistance by up to 50% for

20 seconds. How perfect. Lastly we have Assassinate, which automatically

critically hits (and therefore like Twin Fange should be used when

Pinpoint Strikes isn't active, to tide you over) and deals whopping

damage to boot. Oh, and just to keep the party going you have the

passive ability Bloodlust. I poo-poo'd the Warrior's Death Blow because

they already gain Stamina-alot of it-for killing enemies, but this new-

passive-source of Stamina for the Rogue should not be ignored.</pre>