Question on optimal progression (spoilers)

[Carynara]

Hi,

I'm lvl 6 atm. Having explored some of Hinterlands and paid a visit in Val Royaux, I wonder what's the right approach to going through all the quests around the map. There's still tons to do in the Hinterlands, I"ve yet to collect all the shard and close all the rifts (some of them seem impossible at this point with lvl 12 mobs).

Is it best to jump around the map and do anything (incl. the main quest) that's in lvl range?

Or is it better to clear one area as much as possible before moving on to another? Is there a risk of overlevelling with this method? E.g. if I hit, say, lvl 10 after clearing the entire Hinterlands, does that mean I've skipped other areas that may have been in the lvl 6-8 range?

[barzai]

To address your questions in order:

1. Rifts come in level-oriented categories. Using my own taxonomy, the weakest rifts spawn lvl 4-7 demons. I refer to these as Category 1 rifts. Most of the Hinterlands rifts fall into this category. Cat 2 rifts spawn lvl 8-11 creatures, and there is just one in the Hinterlands: the Dwarfson's Pass rift at the very SE corner of the map, beyond the keep of the religious dudes. Cat 3 rifts spawn lvl 12-15 creatures, and there's three of them in the Hinterlands: the one just east of Redcliffe Farms, at the waterfall; and the two in Hafter's Woods. It's best not to try those until you're at least lvl 9-11, the more so that the Cat 3 in the cave is a killing ground.

2. Whether or not to undertake quests "because you can" is somewhat situational. If you need some extra Influence to earn a Perk, or some extra XP to make level, or even some additional Power to crack open a new region or main quest, by all means. But I don't generally do quests that don't contribute to those goals.

3. Overleveling is a pervasive problem, but you can mitigate it with some of the Trials. In particular, Even Ground ensures that your enemies will spawn at least matching your own level. So you can be reassured that overleveling can be mitigated. If that's not enough to pose a challenge, Tread Lightly will toughen up your oppo even further! And of course you can always make your own life tougher with some of the other Trials, though I find most of them either ridiculous (Rub Some Dirt On It) or irrelevant (Rest Easy--since I rarely if ever use my Focus-driven abilities, who cares, especially in the earlier parts of the game where you don't even have any). I also find Take It Slow somewhat helps, though it has to be said, in combination with Even Ground it isn't all that much of an improvement, sinc those two somewhat cancel each other out.

There's a graphic that outlines the estimated levels needed to tackle the various areas you can find online. I use this one:

https://game-maps.com/DAI/Levels.asp

The maps are useful too. Of course they contain spoilers! :-)

[Carynara]

Gotcha, so I don't have to level to 10-12 before I leave the HInterlands - good to know, thanks!

I got tired of collecting shards and iron so I proceeded with the main story and go to Skyhold. Idk what Trials are just yet but I guess I'll come across them at some point. There's so much to do around Skyhold though, this will keep the Inquisition busy for a while :)

[barzai]

Originally posted by Carynara:

Idk what Trials are just yet but I guess I'll come across them at some point. There's so much to do around Skyhold though, this will keep the Inquisition busy for a while :)

Sorry for not being clear earlier. Trials aren't something you encounter in-game. They're extra layers of difficulty that you add to the game in the Options menu. I think they're the second entry down, but they're definitely in there.

In addition to providing some additional tailored difficulty--as opposed to the across-the-board difficulty you get from dialing it up to Hard or Nightmare--Trials also provide the opportunity for certain Achievements, and they also give you periodic rewards in the same "Special Deliveries" chest where you get your DLC armors and weapons.

Incidentally you should check the chest in the Skyhold forge periodically as they give you three moderately useful weapons more or less as soon as you get there, a sword, a dagger and a staff. The weapons aren't much in themselves, but each comes with a Corrupting Rune already attached, so they're better than you might think.

And you are right, there's lots of administrivia to take care of now that you've got yourself a nice new base and can start swaggering around "...like a boss!" :-)

[Carynara]

Originally posted by barzai:

Trials aren't something you encounter in-game. They're extra layers of difficulty that you add to the game in the Options menu.

Oh! Good to know, I should check it out. The Special Deliveries rewards sound intriguing.

I laugh knowing that I actually played this game when it came out - I seem to have forgotten most of it, lol. Everything comes as a big surprise except for some vague memories that flash up randomly. I almost failed to recruit Dorian, as I missed the stairs in Solas' room so I never went to visit him :o

I cleared Crestwood but will now stop exploring and focus on sorting out the fortress first. There's so much to do! I see some ppl complain about "too much bloat" in the game but I actually think it's really well done. I'm not too keen on gathering but if we need 30x obsidian for the fort that puts the chore in some meaningful context. I'm not much of a strategist myself but really enjoy managing my castle, my reputation, the war council... I think the balance between combat, quests, and main missions is really good. Also the advisors and their own particular scopes really enrich the whole Inquisition leadership aspect.

Originally posted by barzai:

The weapons aren't much in themselves, but each comes with a Corrupting Rune already attached, so they're better than you might think.

On that one, where would I find materials to craft runes? I haven't came across any of them yet, it seems, leaving my twin daggers woefully rune-free. Now that I have a cozy little Undercroft to tinker with armour and weapons, I want to make the most out of it. (I kinda ignored the smithy in Haven...)

[barzai]

Originally posted by Carynara:

Originally posted by barzai:

The weapons aren't much in themselves, but each comes with a Corrupting Rune already attached, so they're better than you might think.

On that one, where would I find materials to craft runes? I haven't came across any of them yet, it seems, leaving my twin daggers woefully rune-free. Now that I have a cozy little Undercroft to tinker with armour and weapons, I want to make the most out of it. (I kinda ignored the smithy in Haven...)

Runes require two types of materials: (1) a Blank Runestone, which is unavailable until you recruit either the mages or the Templars, and (2) some quantity (mostly 6x) of the "essences" that you get from closing Rifts or (very occasionally) from killing an actual demon. Some materials can be collected from other adversaries, including Red Templars, corpses, dragons and others. It's easy to know which are which as all such materials will appear in the "Rune" tab of your crafting materials inventory.

Blank Runestones are available for purchase from several merchants. Within Skyhold, you can get them from Bonnie Sims--they're under the crafting materials tab. Also, Bonnie Sims sells several Rune schematics, as well as improved schematics for Bianca.

There's also multiple tiers of runes, depending on the level of the rune-crafting materials. Blank Runestones are generic, but materials come in three levels: regular (unqualified, e.g. Fire Essence); Intense, required for Master runes; and Pure, required for Superb runes.

You occasionally find fully-created, unattached runes in lootboxes--thee's one in Caer Bronach, the Crestwood Keep, and at least one in the Flooded Caves--and you get several from War Table missions as well: talk to the Tranquil who you give your creature drops to, on the second deck of the tower--the one where Dorian lives--and eventually she will ask you to undertake some War Table missions that yield, respectively, a Corrupting Rune and a Master Corrupting Rune.

Finally, you cannot craft a rune if you don't have the necessary schematic. There's two rune schematics in the Hinterlands and one in the Storm Coast: there's several additional ones in Crestwood and the Western Approach. If you recruited the Arcanist (I mean, why wouldn't you?), the first time you talk to her she provides a free schematic for a Corrupting rune.

Corrupting Runes require Red Lyrium, which is a loot drop from Red Templars. You should have gotten a bunch of Red Lyrium from either Therinfall if you went after the Templars, or during the big throwdown at Haven if you went after the mages. My experience is that's almost the only stuff that you obtain in sufficient quantities to actually make any runes when you first get to Skyhold, though if you went after the Templars the final boss drops a bunch of elemental (Fire, Frost, Lightning, Spirit) essences as well.

Fire, Frost and Lightning Runes can only be attached to non-staff weapons. Spirit Runes can only be attached to staves. The others can be attached to any weapon.

You should also be aware that rune schematics fall into two different subcategories: elemental (Fire, Frost, Lightning, Spirit) and specialty (Corrupting, Cleansing, Demon-Slaying and Dragon-Slaying). However, the three tiers of schematic for the specialty runes come individually, whereas the elemental rune schematics are progressive: by which I mean, the first one you find gives you the basic rune, the second the Master, and the third and last, the Superb. And it makes no difference which order you find them in. I only mention this because it's a bit confusing until you get used to it.

Hope this helps! :-)

[Carynara]

That's super comprehensive, tyvm! Very helpful.