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Suit UpAs with any RPG, understanding gear is an important part of success in Dragon Age Origins. Having the right gear can make life much easier. There are numerous types of weapons and armor available, and there are subtle differences between each. This guide breaks down the differences and explains what to look for when trying to decide what gear is best for your characters. Melee WeaponsMelee weapons in Dragon Age Origins are largely based off the strength stat and are therefore largely targeted towards Warriors and certain Rogue builds. The exception is daggers, which are half dexterity, half strength. The first and most straight-forward stat is damage. This is simply the unmodified amount of damage the weapon will do on a successful hit. The higher, the better. Different kinds of weapons have different base damage values, but the value is variable based on the type of material the weapon is made out of. In rank of quality from worst the best the materials are Iron, Grey Iron, Steel, Veridium, Red Steel, Silverite, and Dragonbone. The attribute modifier determines how much of the governing stat is factored into damage. It can range from 85% for a dagger to 125% for a maul. In effect it means that all things being equal, a maul with a 125% modifier will do more damage than a sword with a 100% modifier, even if the weapons have the same stats otherwise. The gap between the maul and sword would increase as the wielder’s strength increased. Armor penetration governs how well a weapon works against armor. It seems to work as simple addition and subtraction. The armor penetration, the more points of armor which are ignored. A weapon with ten armor penetration rating of ten would ignore the effect of armor against an enemy with an armor rating of ten. The speed modifier determines how quickly a weapon is swung relative to the base speed of the character’s attack animation. Lower is better. Finally, critical chance is a stat added on top of the character’s melee critical chance. Higher is better. Ranged WeaponsAll of the above information applies to both melee and ranged weapons. However, ranged weapons also have the range stat and aim time stat. The range stat determines how far a character can be from an opponent before penalties are applied to attack rolls. The aim stat determines how long it takes a weapon to be aimed before firing. Also, note that both Longbows and Shortbows rely 50/50 on the strength and dexterity stats when determining damage. Crossbows, on the other hand, rely entirely on dexterity. Weapons – My PicksThe game’s weapons have their stats distributed so one type of weapon is clearly better in all situations. That said, I do have some favorites. For two-handed weapons I like Mauls for their high armor penetration and high attribute modifier. Among one-handed weapons I prefer swords for their fast speed and medium-high critical chance. For bows the choice depends on the user’s best stat, since longbows are 50/50 strength and dexterity while crossbows are 100% dexterity. These are not hard an fast rules, however, so your mileage may vary. Also, for much of the game you’ll be using the best weapon you can get your hands on, so don’t become so discriminatory towards a particular weapon type that you throw out a good one because it isn’t the type of weapon you typically use. ArmorLike weapons, armor has its own stats which determine how effective it is. There are less stats to worry about, but they are still important. The first state to worry about is the armor rating. This armor rating adds to your character’s overall armor rating which in turn determines how much damage is ignored when a blow lands. As you might expect, higher is better, with no exceptions. The second stat of concern is the fatigue rating. The fatigue rating applies a modifier to the stamina cost of using skills. This modifier can either increase or decrease the stamina cost of using skills. A lower modifier is always better since it allows your character to use skills more often. Armor – My PicksOf course, while both the armor and fatigue stats are clear cut in regard to what is best, they tend to oppose each other on any given set of armor. Armor with a high armor rating also tends to have a high fatigue modifier. This is a balancing act and there is no clear-cut correct answer. That said, I usually give characters who are meant to do a lot of damage a set of armor with the lowest possible fatigue modifier. This allows them to continue to use their devastating offensive skills. Characters who exist to absorb damage, on the other hand, are given heavy armor to ensure they can soak up as much damage as possible before I have to heal them. In SummaryUse this guide as a toolset. There are so many weapons in Dragon Age Origins and so many ways to play the game that no particular weapon is guaranteed to be the best. You’ll often receive new equipment, as well, so you’ll constantly have to re-evaluate how you judge weapons and armor. If you have come across two nice pieces of equipment and you don’t know which to pick, don’t. Try both out for the next hour or so and then pick the one which seems to work the best. In fact, it is often not a bad idea to bring multiple sets of equipment. For example, you might want your DPS melee characters to bring both one fast weapon with good base damage and one slower weapon with a high armor penetration rating. This kind of min/maxing isn’t required to win the game on normal difficulity, but as you ramp up the difficulty you’ll find that even these kind of minor adjustments in your equipment can make a difference. This post is part of the series: A Guide to Dragon Age: Origins
Dragon Age: Origins isn’t an easy game. Even on normal difficulty you’ll want to use every advantage you have to gain an edge against the Darkspawn. This guide will help you defeat the hoard.
How should I go about building a great DPS warrior? I am playing the default role of a Noble Warrior. Alister is my tank, and I'm using the build and tips from this question. In the end my main group will be a warrior tank, warrior dps, mage healer, and mage/rogue dps.
What suggestions do you have for the following:
Note: This is my first play though. Playing with Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition.
Community♦
SgtOJSgtOJ
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2 Answers
Also depends on what kind of DPS you want (sustained vs burst). Burst is way better to kill casters, as they usually got low armor/HP: For that you'll want a 2handed weapon (axe, you don't need the armor penetration of clubs, and the extra damage), and you can send those dammed mage flying in pieces.
For sustained dps, dual wield is better (fun fact: Dual wielding as a rogue is way funnier, due to backstabs etc). You'll want at least one club for the arpen.
Overwall, sustained DPS is better damage than Burst, and easier to play, as it don't rely so much on active skills. However, 2Handers are extremely good soloers, almost guaranteed to win any one-on-one.
I'd go berserker + Templar (templar sucks, I know, but it's awesome for killing casters - and c'mon, casters are the only threat you face), use a 2hander stacking crit and attack speed.
Lucas FamelliLucas Famelli
I saw some really advanced stuff on the wiki some time ago, it really depends on whether you are playing DAO or DAA. DAO you just whore attackspeed and make sure not to go over the limit which will reset your aspd. Flurry, dual striking, haste, and that sustainable that drops your attackspeed by 5~10% will maximize DPS.
For DAA, you need to get spirit damage increasing gear and get the spirit warrior spec
user8326
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Dragon Age: Origins Builds
If you're an RPG fan and haven't been hiding under a rock in, you've most certainly heard, and probably even played, the best RPG game of 2009 (reader's choice) called Dragon Age: Origins.
If you haven't played it yet, drop whatever you're doing and get it. It ranks up there with the classics like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Even if you've finished it once, there's no excuse not to play it again while waiting for Dragon Age 2 to come out, especially with all the awesome DLC out there, the Awakening expansion, and not to mention the MODs.
Enough about that, let's get to my top five Dragon Age builds!
Before Starting Dragon Age: A Few Notes
Before we begin, a few things to note:
The Top Five Dragon Age Builds
Below, you'll find my top five Dragon Age builds, listed in no particular order.
1. Mage / Arcane Warrior / Blood Mage / Battlemage
This is the cookie cutter, end-it-all build for the power gamer out there. You can:
Blood mage spells are overpowered and Battlemage spells are overpowered—it is boring! Also you can't really hold aggro either, which can lead to some really nice wipes especially when fighting against those nasty High Dragons.
Your physical resistance, being a mage, will be also be quite low unless you turn on a special constant mana draining ability. So expect to get knocked down pretty often by regular enemies.
2. Mage / Arcane Warrior / Spirit Healer / Battlemage
3. Warrior / Campion / Berseker / Spirit Warrior
This is a two-handed weapon build, centered around wearing heavy armor and dealing lots of damage.
4. Rogue / Bard / Ranger / Legionnaire Scout
This is the ranged support build.
5. Rogue / Assassin / Duelist / Shadow
This is the melee DPS backstab build.
What are the best talent build, skills, specializations, and gear to make Alistair the best sword-and-board tank?
Note: I am playing the Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition. So I have all the DLC and Awakening.
Brett White
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SgtOJSgtOJ
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2 Answers
I'm playing through Dragon Age: Origins again with this specific goal in mind, so I'll outline what I've done:
Dragon Age Origins WeaponsOverview
I've found letting Alistair run on auto-pilot works really well. The aggressive behavior, combined with the tactics loadout described below, makes the AI pretty smart and hands-off. However, you really need to make sure you have a good Spirit Healer (like Wynne) backing him up.
So I've built him around me not having to do anything with him: prioritizing his tactics load-out and passive skills.
Build
Obviously, Alistair is going to be a warrior. You're locked in with the relatively useless Templar specialization, but once you reach 14 and can choose a second, definitely pick Champion.
Leveling Priority
Alistair starts with:
I then chose the following as I leveled:
This should take you to level 20-ish. Note you don't need Master Combat Training until you get Shield Mastery, so spend your skill points on Combat Tactics to make sure you can use your abilities.
TacticsDragon Age Origins Best Builds
As mentioned above, I didn't want to micromanage Alistair, so I used the following to handle pretty much every encounter. Note because of my reliance on a dedicated healer, Alistair does not use any sustainability/survival abilities.
Equipment
Equipment choice is not particularly difficult, and I've found you don't need to worry about min/maxing to make him effective, so I'm not going to bother with a mostly unnecessary list of exact gear you need to have. Generally:
Final Thoughts
It's really hard to unintentionally mess up building Alistair: there are so few 'tanking' choices in the game that you'll eventually get everything you need by level 15-ish anyway.
Ultimately, it comes either micromanaging Alistair as your de-facto main (which takes practice), or a decent tactics load out (specified above) if that's not your thing.
Finally, I can't stress enough how much a sword and board tank like Alistair needs a good healer. If you're not interested in giving up a slot for a dedicated healer, it's going to be very difficult to keep Alistair effective.
Acknowledgements
The above is an amalgamation of various different guides I've found, notably:
![]()
I've confirmed the viability and effectiveness of this advice by using it myself.
user3389
I know this is an old question but I came across user3389's advice above and, while it's good, there are a couple of issues worth pointing out to anyone who stumbles across it:
Don't bother putting strength past 42 (enough to equip the best gear) for a tank. A tank is not a damage dealer; he's there to draw aggro and be unkillable. You might also want a few points in willpower so he doesn't run out of stamina - the right gear can do this too - but otherwise everything else should go into dexterity. This makes the tank harder to hit, which is the best way to boost survivability and ensure that he needs less healing.
Spare a point for the 'second wind' talent. With massive armour and a couple of sustains on, your tank's stamina will drop quickly. Keep second wind up your sleeve for when you need your tank to taunt or disable enemies to save your squishier buddies.
Don't set auto tactics to switch between shield wall and shield cover. It's a waste of stamina and casting time. Anyway, shield cover is rubbish compared to shield wall and even shield defense. Stick with shield wall all the time UNLESS you want to keep both threaten and rally up and you find you're running out of stamina too quickly. In that case I would still prioritise shield defense over shield cover if you can afford it. Note that the shield wall damage penalty apparently doesn't work, making it even better.
In addition, don't set your tank to taunt when enemies are attacking him. That's the whole purpose of taunt. Set him to use it when enemies are attacking weaker party members. Finally, save a tactics slot for using a health poultice if his health drops below 25%.
Otherwise, the advice above is sound.
JamesHJamesH
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What are the best talent build, skills, specializations, and gear to make Alistair the best sword-and-board tank?
Note: I am playing the Dragon Age: Origins - Ultimate Edition. So I have all the DLC and Awakening.
Brett White
36411 gold badge66 silver badges1515 bronze badges
SgtOJSgtOJ
1,43544 gold badges2323 silver badges3434 bronze badges
2 Answers
I'm playing through Dragon Age: Origins again with this specific goal in mind, so I'll outline what I've done:
Overview
I've found letting Alistair run on auto-pilot works really well. The aggressive behavior, combined with the tactics loadout described below, makes the AI pretty smart and hands-off. However, you really need to make sure you have a good Spirit Healer (like Wynne) backing him up.
So I've built him around me not having to do anything with him: prioritizing his tactics load-out and passive skills.
Build
Obviously, Alistair is going to be a warrior. You're locked in with the relatively useless Templar specialization, but once you reach 14 and can choose a second, definitely pick Champion.
Leveling Priority![]()
Alistair starts with:
I then chose the following as I leveled:
This should take you to level 20-ish. Note you don't need Master Combat Training until you get Shield Mastery, so spend your skill points on Combat Tactics to make sure you can use your abilities.
Tactics
As mentioned above, I didn't want to micromanage Alistair, so I used the following to handle pretty much every encounter. Note because of my reliance on a dedicated healer, Alistair does not use any sustainability/survival abilities.
Equipment
Equipment choice is not particularly difficult, and I've found you don't need to worry about min/maxing to make him effective, so I'm not going to bother with a mostly unnecessary list of exact gear you need to have. Generally:
Final Thoughts
It's really hard to unintentionally mess up building Alistair: there are so few 'tanking' choices in the game that you'll eventually get everything you need by level 15-ish anyway.
Ultimately, it comes either micromanaging Alistair as your de-facto main (which takes practice), or a decent tactics load out (specified above) if that's not your thing.
Finally, I can't stress enough how much a sword and board tank like Alistair needs a good healer. If you're not interested in giving up a slot for a dedicated healer, it's going to be very difficult to keep Alistair effective.
Acknowledgements
The above is an amalgamation of various different guides I've found, notably:
I've confirmed the viability and effectiveness of this advice by using it myself.
user3389
I know this is an old question but I came across user3389's advice above and, while it's good, there are a couple of issues worth pointing out to anyone who stumbles across it:
Don't bother putting strength past 42 (enough to equip the best gear) for a tank. A tank is not a damage dealer; he's there to draw aggro and be unkillable. You might also want a few points in willpower so he doesn't run out of stamina - the right gear can do this too - but otherwise everything else should go into dexterity. This makes the tank harder to hit, which is the best way to boost survivability and ensure that he needs less healing.
Spare a point for the 'second wind' talent. With massive armour and a couple of sustains on, your tank's stamina will drop quickly. Keep second wind up your sleeve for when you need your tank to taunt or disable enemies to save your squishier buddies.
Don't set auto tactics to switch between shield wall and shield cover. It's a waste of stamina and casting time. Anyway, shield cover is rubbish compared to shield wall and even shield defense. Stick with shield wall all the time UNLESS you want to keep both threaten and rally up and you find you're running out of stamina too quickly. In that case I would still prioritise shield defense over shield cover if you can afford it. Note that the shield wall damage penalty apparently doesn't work, making it even better.
In addition, don't set your tank to taunt when enemies are attacking him. That's the whole purpose of taunt. Set him to use it when enemies are attacking weaker party members. Finally, save a tactics slot for using a health poultice if his health drops below 25%.
Otherwise, the advice above is sound.
![]()
JamesHJamesH
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