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Dragon Age: Origins Nightmare Guide by David Milward


INTRO & ABOUT  |  CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT GUIDELINES  |  EQUIPPING CHARACTERS  |  COMBAT GUIDELINES  |  CHARACTERS
Areas in Order of Appearance:  
Origins  |  Ostagar  |  Lothering  |  Circle Tower  |  Warden's Keep (DLC)  |  Return to Ostagar (DLC)  |  Stone Prisoner (DLC)  |  Brecilian Forest  |  Redcliffe  |  The Urn of Sacred Ashes  |  Orzammar  |  Deep Roads  |  Denerim  |  Final Onslaught  
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Brecilian Forest: 
Dalish Camp  |  West Brecilian Forest  |  East Brecilian Forest  |  Upper Brecilian Ruins  
Lower Brecilian Ruins  |  Werewolves' Lair  |  Random Encounters  |  Mages' Treasure  |  Leliana's Quest  |  Wynne's Quest  

LOWER BRECILIAN RUINS

Elven Ghosts

The spirit of an Elven woman is in view as soon as I come down. The next parts of the video involve me following the hallway, and fighting off the odd group of either Skeletons or Spiders. When it's the Spiders, note how Wynne neutralizes Overwhelm with a Lifeward spell on Leliana.

I make my way towards a large room, where the spirit of an Elven boy appears confused and then flees. I then get swarmed from all sides by a LOT of Skeletons. This is a prime example of how powerful Captivating Song can be in large scale fights. Leliana plants herself in the thick of it and lets it loose. Even so, don't assume that it will win the fight by itself. Wynne keeps a diligent eye for her comrades' health, and uses healing spells whenever she needs to. Leliana snaps out of the Captivating Song when the numbers thin out and begins joining in on physical combat.

Arcane Warrior

This video starts off with battling against Skeletons that come in two waves, after the hallway turns southwards. Leliana uses her Captivating Song after they close in and surround me, while Wynne keeps everyone healthy. Leliana deactivates her Captivating Song and participates in the mop up after the crowd gets thinned out.

The next part of the video, which takes place in one of the side rooms that adjoins the southward hallway, shows how to unlock the Arcane Warrior specialization. It simply involves agreeing to release the spirit from its phylactery in exchange for its knowledge.

Quametha Kagat, Fourth Corpsewalker

I continue southwards, and fight against Skeletons that come from two sides. I allowed Aldarion and Alistair to do their thing against one group. The Wolf charges against another group, allowing Leliana and Wynne to fire away from a distance.

I go around looting containers for random items. The room to the south has a Black Vial. I fracture it in order to start a fight with a Revenant. A Revenant is the spirit of a Pride Demon inhabiting a powerful armored corpse. It scores hefty damage on its attacks, can use telekinesis to pull one of your characters next to it, and can swing its sword in an arc so as to inflict damage on multiple targets. It also has pretty high resistances, and is immune to getting stunned. One way to defeat it is to use spells or abilities that can hold it in place temporarily. Other useful abilities may include those that reduce its ability to fight, such as Death Hex and Misdirection Hex. It can also suffice to simply engage it in straight physical combat as long as your healing abilities can let you outpace the damage it causes. In this instance Wynne activates Cleansing Aura to passively recoup Health each round, in addition to her frequent use of Heal and Group Heal. Note that I keep both Wynne and Leliana well back, letting Aldarion and Alistair take the brunt.

Adventurer's Journal

The main hallway now turns west. On the other side of the door will be several Skeleton Archers. Don't rush them, because there are several pressure plates that also unleash Flame Blasts. Instead, I go north up the main hallway a little. Alistair goes ahead by himself and opens the door. The strategy soon becomes apparent. Alistair leads them onwards, away from the pressure plates, and forces them to come past the turn in the hallway where my party can now rush them at a much shorter distance. Alistair repeats the process a second time.

Leliana then enters the room to the west and proceeds to disarm all of the pressure plates. She also shoots down the last remaining Skeleton Archer by herself. Once they're gone, she goes around looting the various containers and dead bodies. Of particular interest is an adventurer's corpse that holds the Adventurer's Journal. It is relevant the Unbound quest, so I leave it be for the time being.

Ashen Gloves

I continue westwards. Next up is a pretty routine fight against a few Skeletons.

Immediately afterwards is a fight against an Arcane Horror that is well down the stairs. Don't rush forward at it. Its Tempest spell, plus all the Skeletons that will rush forward, will pretty much guarantee your death. Instead, I take it out at a distance with concentrated missile fire. Next were the Skeletons. I let them come to me, and then kill them. The Arcane Horror leaves behind the Ashen Gloves (+20% cold damage). Morrigan doesn't wear them, because she'll reach her maximum 30% bonus to cold damage through other items. Aldarion might be another candidate since he also uses the cold spells. However, he intends to wear a complete armor set that won't include the Ashen Gloves.

Ancient Elven Armor

There will be two adjoining rooms, one to the north and one to the south. A sarcophagus in the south room has the Legacy White Shear (which can be gifted to Oghren), and the chest piece of the Ancient Armor Elven set (8.8 armor, +2 Dexterity, +10% spirit resistance).

The room to the north will have a few more Skeletons. It will also have a black pool that leads to the Werewolves' Lair.



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