Cant Beat Skeletons in Werewolf Lair

[The Brown Hornet]

Newbie to Dragon Age but this game is hard! I am paying on normal, cleared Redcliff and Circle Tower but Nature of the Beast is wearing me out. In the Wolves Lair there is a child in the Fade searching for mommy, when he runs off I get attacked by what must be 20+ skeletons, they fast, hit hard, overwhelms my party every time. At least 15 game overs in a row! Is this it, am I doomed here? I have Wynn and Morrigan healing it helps none, Alistair is dead in seconds, I end up running with my rogue and they chase me all over the map till I'm dead! I see no way pass this horde, any help?

[Daughter of Highever]

Set your rogue's AI tactics for DPS and control Alistair. I don't know what level you have him at yet, but the Templar specialization has an Area of Effect stun abilty that will cause a stun/knock down of all the enemies in range. It may have been designed for Mage-type enemies, but it works for undead and darkspawn as well. Use any warrior or champion (if you manually level/spec him) Crowd Control effects like Warcry, as well as the best defensive sustained stance he has. Put potions on your hotbar and spam them (if available) even with Wynne and Morrigan healing.


You can change the difficulty to easy for just this fight as well if it's too much of a problem. That will eliminate any friendly fire damage from AoE mage spells too.

Good luck!

[The Brown Hornet]

This sucks but I had to take the "Easy" way out. These skeleton warriors and then right after Zatharian basically summons a forest....again I died 15-20 times in a row trying to take this guy down. Sheesh, this so called "normal" difficulty is anything but....I expect to die with boss battles but 20+ hordes and some of the random road battles are brutal! Normal mode can go from a breeze to impossible in minutes! Hate the fact I had to lower it to easy but it's the only way I'm going to finish this game!

[[AJSA]MeloDeath]

no shame in it is a hard game I struggled ALOT the first time playing through the game and now I play on nightmare to even have a chance of dying -.-

[K00lex]

Here are some general combat tips:

If you encountered a large group, kite some of them away or go back to previous room.
With mages, use crowd-control spells: Cone of Cold, Sleep, Glyph of Paralysis, Glyph of Repulsion, Paralysis Explosion (a spell combo that works even on Elite Bosses), Mass Paralysis. You can also use War Cry (with Superiority) for knockdown or archer's Scattershot for stun.
Set up Mages' Tactics to cast Winter's Grasp or Stonefist on enemy spell casters & archers.
If you have Mana Clash or Glyph of Neutralization, set that up as the first slot. Same goes for Templar's Holy Smite. And, archer's Pinning Shot.
If you have Force Field or Crushing Prison, set it in next slot for Elite or higher enemy.
All mages should have Mind Blast, with Tactics set to be cast when surrounded by x enemies.
Rogues should set up Dirty Fighting to be used when surrounded.
Warriors should set up Shield Bash or Pummel Strikes when surrounded.

For party preservation, set up to cast Heal at 50% Health on allies. Set up to use Health Poultrice at 25% individually. For mages, cast Drain Life at <75%.
Cast Glyph of Warding on your tank. Arcane Shield on your mage.
Get Combat/Master Stealth for your Rogue. Sustain Indomitable or Shield Wall (with Shield Expertise) for Warriors.

If certain encounters are too tough, then, you are not supposed to be there at that point in the game. There is min-max level challenge scaling for each area, so come back later when you have more health & mana and better equipment & spells.
E.g. After Lothering, Circle Tower should be done to recruit Wynne and get bonus Attribute Points. (Or, Village of Honnleath to recruit Shale and get Helm of Honnleath). Then, Redcliffe Village & Castle. (Maybe, a side trip to Soldier's Peak to get Warden Commander's Armor Set, Asturian's Might, and Winter's Breath) Afterward, Brecilian Forest/Dalish, Village of Haven/Urn of Sacred Ashes, then either Denerim or Orzammar. Most of my playthru, when I got to the Werewolves' Lair, my party is at 15+.
In my current game, (with a Dalish Mage), I skipped Circle Tower( & Honnleath) and only did Redcliffe Village & Castle before going to Brecilian Forest. Got to Dalish Camp at level 9, and through the forest at 10. Now, stuck at The Mage's Treasure (Revenant & skeletons). It appears that I'll have to go thru the Ruins and gain more level and higher tired armor, then come back for this side quest. (FYI, I am playing at Nightmare Difficulty.)

I've played through with a mostly archer/ranger party (3 rogue-rangers, Shale with Rock Mastery, and 1-2 wolf/bear), so one can survive without warrior tanks or mage DPS/Heal.

[H0t_Air_Buff00n]

My strategy for clearing the skeleton encounter is running back through the cavern you entered the room from. That way the skeletal minions are forced to squeeze through the narrow opening to get to your party.

From there, have your main tank draw aggro and let your DPS characters take down the undead mob (I prefer targeting weakest to strongest in that priority).

[King Yuri]

just sneak past the pricks

[MaDaLi [F·A·D]]

maybe too late, but this did it for me on nightmare dificulty. level Up one mage as a support heal/buff (pref Wyv) and the other (pref Mor) on AOE and CC that would make the game a lot easier, (SpaceBar) and control other members actions in dificult battles

[Lobstersaurus]

Originally posted by MadAliDrunk:

maybe too late, but this did it for me on nightmare dificulty. level Up one mage as a support heal/buff (pref Wyv) and the other (pref Mor) on AOE and CC that would make the game a lot easier, (SpaceBar) and control other members actions in dificult battles

Can you be specific on your builds? How should I build the characters and what spells should I get?

I can't even beat this game on easy.

[K00lex]

Originally posted by God Lobster:

Can you be specific on your builds? How should I build the characters and what spells should I get?

I can't even beat this game on easy.

Mages should put as much attribute points into Magic, and some into Willpower.
Magic attribute determines Spellpower, which correlates into how much damage your offensive spells do, how much health gain from Heal and health poultrices, strength of your Arcane Shield, and effectiveness of your crowd-control spells against enemy resistance.

All mages should have Heal. Then, Winter's Grasp. Maybe up to Cone of Cold.
Get Mind Blast and use it when enemies come after your mage or set the mage's Tactics to cast it when surrounded by 2 or more enemies.
Get Drain Life and set it to cast when <75% health.
For self-protection, always sustain Arcane Shield.
For crowd-control build, start with Glyph of Paralysis (GoP), up to Glyph of Repulsion (GoR). Cast GoR first, then, GoP on top for Paralysis Explosion (be sure to not have your party in the effect's sphere). This will paralyze most enemies including many bosses, with no resistance check.
Cast Glyph of Warding on your melee party members. Or, on your mage, if archers are targeting him/her.
You can build up that line to get Glyph of Neutralization, or go into Spirit School/Mana Alteration and get Mana Clash (very effective against spellcasters).
For Specialization, get Arcane Warrior to wear better armor but watch for fatigue %. Or, Spirit Healer (for Group Heal & extra Magic attribute), and Blood Mage (for extra Spellpower & Constitution).

For Morrigan, continue her Cold spells, since she gets bonus cold damage from her robes.
Then, get Heal. And, then, Sleep (set it in her Tactics to cast when enemies are clustered).
She can also cast Horror on asleep target for Nightmare spell combination.
Or, just cast Horror on single melee enemy, which tends to have lower mental resistance.
Cast Vulnerability and/or Afflection Hex on Elite/Lieutenant or higher rank enemies.
She can then get Blizzard & Tempest, and with Spell Might, cast Storm of the Century spell combo, which can wipe out most mobs.

My previous reply has tips on rogues & warriors.

[zonker39]

Mages can take out trash mobs easily, just pause combat and cast crushing prison on something... then freeze something and crushing fist it to pieces. Any party with two mages can reduce what you're up against almost instantly.

[Lobstersaurus]

Originally posted by zonker39:

Mages can take out trash mobs easily, just pause combat and cast crushing prison on something... then freeze something and crushing fist it to pieces. Any party with two mages can reduce what you're up against almost instantly.

Unless I hit my teamates with the friendly fire.....

[The Brown Hornet]

Originally posted by God Lobster:

Originally posted by zonker39:

Mages can take out trash mobs easily, just pause combat and cast crushing prison on something... then freeze something and crushing fist it to pieces. Any party with two mages can reduce what you're up against almost instantly.

Unless I hit my teamates with the friendly fire.....

Exactly, friendly fire

[ThyFrenchyFry]

So, I know I'm over a year late, but I found a good way to do this. Fight until all are down except your dog (I do if everyone has one, but I do). Since the dog is so fast, he can run circles (literally) around them. Do that until the howl that stuns everything cools down, then use it. Get one or 2 hits, then continue running. This worked for me, now I just need help with the first part of the werewolf den.

[red255]

Yeah I would suggest kiting, give everyone bows, shoot the enemy, and pull back and kill them as they come around corners with melee.

A Mage sure crushing prison is good. it also gives forcefield, which means you can remove one enemy with crushing prison and a second with forcefield which succeeds alot more often.

so I generally stasis the boss and deal with its minions before dealing with the boss when he comes out of stasis.