Leliana is combat junk or there's tricks?

[Jarsonne]

So bored of Leliana I need pick because she is still the only to picklock, but she drops down party combat efficiency a lot.

So there's no respec until Awekening?

How have her less a combat junk? She is terribly fragile and despite a belt lowering agro, and despite she does total junk damages compared to mages she still seem attract too often agro.

[ADEC Inc]

If she's drawing aggro then the tank is slacking.

Leliana does well in melee or ranged combat - just don't equip any crossbows. Dirty Fighting and Riposte allow her to manage attackers, and sticking paralyze runes into her weapons is very effective. If you want to keep her strictly at range, she should frequently throw out Shattering Shots and Scattershots.

She's already a bard, so Song of Courage makes a fine party buff. She can learn either Ranger to bring extra bodies to the field, or Assassin to apply Mark of Death, increasing the entire party's damage to the marked target.

[Jarsonne]

Well I raged when not using tank.

What felt weird is she attract agro rather often, despite being the only character with a belt lowering it, and it's easy check characters stats to see how bad she is at damages and kills for combats.

And in this part without tank she probably has largely the higher AC, so not an agro cause.

Ranger? I'm not yet at this level (10/11).

[Ilja]

Leliana's talent can grab a lot of unwanted aggro early on. I just keep her using Aim and build up her DEX + CUN.

Eventually I give her the whole Stealth tree. That makes her very effective, if tactics are applied correctly. At the same time I am starting to use other talents as well.

She can use stealth to clear aggro from herself and runs away pretty much automatically.

Later I also class her as Assassin. At that point her second job is to protect our healer. Any enemies slipping past myself and Alistair will usually find themselves running between two ladies, who are perfectly capable of clearing extra aggro from themselves (through Tacics screen). Any enemy attacking healer in melee will get Mark of Assassin from Leliana, two or more enemies get mind blasted, which also clears aggro.

Tactics screen is very useful. What ever you do with Leliana, especially she and any mage become far more potent and self-reliance, when those screens are planned correctly.

And yes; Leliana as ranger works as well, though I personally prefer Bard/Assassin build for her.

[Lucus]

my advice would be to set up tactics so she uses stealth when attacked in melee and uses feign death when her HP is at/below 50%.

as for agro try setting tactics up so she focuses on whichever enemy the tank is targeting i do that every run for all companions to simplify agro management.

if that still doesn't help it's possible scattershot is causing enemies to agro since it is a multi target attack. (an item with reduces hostility might be worth equipping)

if you go melee, a 2h dagger rogue set up correctly barely needs to use active abilities if you position them to backstab. if you use a mod to patch the attack speed bug you can stack 2 haste spells and get 3 attacks in the timeframe it'd normally take for 1, assuming you backstab and equip gear to boost backstab damage you will do good damage on enemies.

[ADEC Inc]

Originally posted by Jarsonne:

Well I raged when not using tank.

What felt weird is she attract agro rather often, despite being the only character with a belt lowering it, and it's easy check characters stats to see how bad she is at damages and kills for combats.

And in this part without tank she probably has largely the higher AC, so not an agro cause.

Ranger? I'm not yet at this level (10/11).

So you have no tank? Come to think of it you never actually described how you've been using Leliana. The items with decreased hostility don't actually work without a mod to fix them, but a proper tank makes them unnecessary anyway.

[Jarsonne]

Originally posted by Ilja:

Leliana's talent can grab a lot of unwanted aggro early on.

Ha ok, could be that for the agro, I didn't quote the long explanation, but thanks, for tactics AI setup to lower micro management, examples could help.

Originally posted by Lucus:

my advice would be to set up tactics so she uses stealth when attacked in melee and uses feign death when her HP is at/below 50%.

This could help fix the first and more annoying problem I have with her, but it won't change her doing not even 20% of Morigan damages as show the stats.

Originally posted by ADEC Inc:

Originally posted by Jarsonne:

Well I raged when not using tank.

What felt weird is she attract agro rather often, despite being the only character with a belt lowering it, and it's easy check characters stats to see how bad she is at damages and kills for combats.

And in this part without tank she probably has largely the higher AC, so not an agro cause.

Ranger? I'm not yet at this level (10/11).

So you have no tank? Come to think of it you never actually described how you've been using Leliana. The items with decreased hostility don't actually work without a mod to fix them, but a proper tank makes them unnecessary anyway.

Dam I didn't knew there was a bug never fixed, annoying.

The no tank is temporary, but it's mage tower where I lost access to items and characters not in party, annoying design detail but ok I was warned, still for now Im' glued to it.

EDIT:
For Leliana building, it's very limited, at level 10 I level up very few, and she also lost skill points through picklock skill.

From all comments, it's probably pick soon her bard talent that generated more problems, otheriwse she is just weak for damages and kills compared to a mage.

[Jarsonne]

It seems most advice to improve her build seem related to close range, but I'd prefer have her mainly long range and not in feet of mages as AOE is key.

I keep the idea to use feign death and appropriate AI Tactic setup, but otherwise anything special to quote for a build oriented long range most often?

For example what skills are long range compatible is no way that clear.

[ADEC Inc]

She can still benefit from Lethality so she can split her points between dex and cunning, without needing much str at all. Any attack skill that doesn't come from the archery tree will be a melee attack - exception would be Holy Smite but she can't use that.

For ranged, she should learn Shattering Shot and Scattershot ASAP. She can use Pinning Shot on enemies who approach her or on distant enemy archers/mages. Switch targets after pinning so they remain held longer. Dirty Fighting and Distraction are both good if anything does get close to her.

If she becomes a ranger later, she can send out animals to help everyone else, or keep them close to guard her.

Very important to remove any melee attacks from her tactics and set behavior to Ranged, and of course unequip her knives, to prevent her from trying to melee when unwanted.

[Jarsonne]

Woo really? All Rogue skills combats related are close range? Lol that's a design screw up for a class with Archery tree.

The problem of removing any close range in her tactics is the many case I let her combat close range with long range and without point blank, so I reverted back and let her a tactic to switch close range, more exactly I used a tactic so she use a close range skill and then also make her switch close range.

But the problem is have her switch back to long range, she hadn't enough tactics to even try but perhaps now I could check again.

I honestly think the thread already give me the first tools to temper my problems with her, remove from tactics the switch to song stance helping combats stick to regen stance, and consider manual use of the combats support song.

Then verify the tactics setup related to close range.

[Redman]

Just get the Respecialization mod from nexus and reset her abilities to your liking. When Awakening has it, I see no reason to hold off in Origins.

[ADEC Inc]

That's not quite what I said, no. Ranged attacks will come from the archery tree, but there are still rogue abilities relevant to an archer.

[Jarsonne]

Originally posted by Redman:

Just get the Respecialization mod from nexus and reset her abilities to your liking. When Awakening has it, I see no reason to hold off in Origins.

Start the modding will certainly be some troubles and time but right I should consider that.

I'll try first change a bit AI/Party setup and eventually will wait some level up before.

[JC]

you can also set up a tank to taunt her target when she gets low on health. There are lots of tricks and tools to use. the default set up is bad, and the game is like 20 years old, so swapping back and fprth from melee to ranged was not a thing back then.

[rompier02]

Hey. If you set your main character as a Rogue the need to bring her as a party member diminishes. I brought her only for some scenes like the Sten thing in Lothering or to trigger her quest. Agree that she is not strong in terms of melee combat. Even dog out performs her in that respect. Once enemies engage her in melee she'll drop the range thing. Interesting to note that she starts with no melee skills after the the tavern brawl in Lothering. Not sure about any tricks except that I'd take her in the team after I souped up her dual wield skill. She uses an enchanted dagger when she joins. Good luck.

[JC]

I would not use her in melee, if you want that take zeveran. Lil is great if you just reduce her AOE use, Jump in and out of her and click them manually. Basically this whole game can be played like that. You set up the base line auto stuff, Then pop around to character members use potions, and high damage unique specials. Its the most efficient way to play, and it's pretty fun.