Skeletons in Lower Ruins

[The Pilgrim]

First, let me get something clear: I'm not good at this game. I didn't bother to read any guides to builds and tactics before I started playing, and I'm regretting it more and more. However, I've had no real problems getting through - until now. I'm in the Lower Ruins in the Brecilian Forest, and I die every time fighting a large group of skeletons after triggering a sequence with some ghost boy.
Can somebody provide me with tactical tips?
I'm around level 11 or 12 and my party members are:
Myself, a mage
Morrigan
Alistair
that elven assassin guy (rogue)

(also, I've already tried turning the difficulty down to easy, sadly that's not enough...)

[FirebirdPhoenix87]

Best to keep yourself & Morrigan back from the Skeletons while Alistair & Zevran (the elven assassin you mentioned) go ahead & attack. Zevran is supposed to do the damaging yet Alistair is supposed to tank aka take damage & be the "distraction".

HOWEVER

You can have both just take on the Skeletons head-on while you & Morrigan provide support & massive AOE damage from afar. If you've toned down the difficulty, "Friendly Fire" shouldn't be a problem.

[LilG]

If you have any runes that add fire or extra damage to undead get Sandal to do some enchantments on your weapons. Flaming weapon spell is also useful for extra damage.

For tactics you need to change Alistair's tactics to keep the skeletons attention on him while either you or Morrigan heals him. If you have spells that can freeze or debuff enemies use them. Paralyse, cone of cold or the hexs work well.

Also set your tactics so the characters use healing potions when their HP is 50% or less.

Mage tactics try to set it so they stay out of range & try not to spam too many spells to get enmity off the skeletons.

If your Rogue has skill in trapmaking set some traps & lure the skeletons into them. They can be very annoying when they surround you.

[CrackeR]

Yep, Tactics setup is key there!

[The Pilgrim]

Thanks for the quick answers! I'll be trying those things, let you know if it worked

[Bhryaen]

The easy road to DAO combat requires only 2 classes- a warrior with Taunt and good defense skills plus a mage with healing. The other two party members can be any class but will be the main damage dealers. In your case you've got a warrior and mage, but I don't know what spells and skills you took by lvl 11/12. If you've got those though, you should be in a good position. The mage just tosses a heal off to the tank intermittently at a rate that keeps up with the damage taken by the defensive warrior. (The less threat, the more the tank can abandon defense and join the attack, but Taunt is key.)

For that fight though... well, I used more tactics than that...

You immediately get surrounded... which does make it tough. The best thing is to have them all going for the warrior, but since they tend to target the first seen party member, they'll be coming after everyone- and mages and rogues don't have the armor for that. If you can delay Alistair's Taunt until there's a nice, big group within Taunt range, that helps. But the main thing at that point is to pause (as always) and look for a corner or nook to get your mages in, preferably one that lets you run past Alistair to get to (so they can be bunched up near him for the Taunt). One very helpful tactic in larger-scale DAO battles is bottlenecking the enemy so that fewer enemies can even get at you at the same time, so if there's a corner or confined spot, that'll do. The fewer valid attacks on you per sec, the less potential damage you take per sec.

I assume you didn't make Zev an archer rogue (I always did), but he still needs to first extricate himself from the bulk of the nasties before doubling-back to go backstab while they're attacking Alistair. Or have him help kill whichever ones DON'T stick to Alistair as the first priority. If you have CC spells, this fight calls for it- like the frost blast thingy that freezes for a period. But again, try to target the ones insisting on coming after your mages (and Zev) first, and only after you've got a good position for them.

Can't recall if there was anything else I did to pull that off every time- been yrs. But those tactics should help. I played Hard on my first playthrough and Nightmare thereafter w those tactics usually always enough... and some pretty micromanaged pause-positioning. After all, if Alistair does Taunt them, he can also run around for a while so they ineffectually chase while being magicked to death...

[Matrax]

if you have morrigan and yourself as mage
try to use force shield (or something like that) on higher difficulity.
It protect you from gaining dg, but just on one hero.
You can send Alistar in the middle of them, and then freeze him with this shield.
If you do so, you can use massive AoE with any mage.
For example lightning storm (i havent eng version of the game, sry.)
And he will not gain dmg... Even more! he cant gain dmg, but enemies will still target him ;)

I've just end it on highest diff level after big rest.
My about 30 lvl warrior (two-handed things) had a lot of fun... It was close, but noone died...
I should put Leliana out of my squad probably :/