Dragon Age II-- Impossible to Complete?

[LD]

Okay, I've been stuck on one battle in DA2 for about an hour and a half, replaying it again and again and again with no luck. I don't even get close to success.

It's at the end of Act II, so you probably know what battle it is if you've played the game. I'll explain more in the spoiler tag just in case someone really cares that some things are being spoiled.

[spoiler]
I've read the wiki and nothing there works. I play the game on a console so I don't know if there are any cheats. I am on the easiest difficulty level. But, I can't defeat the Arishock. What is the most efficient thing I can do to win the battle.

I have Aveline, Fenris, and Merril with me. Only Merril is a friend. Aveline and Fenris are both neutral towards me. It goes without saying that my isabel friendship/rivalry was neutral, so she did not return with the relic.

Also, if it matters, I drove off Anders and Carver- no access to either.

Level 16 characters.

I have a mage character which I thought would have been the most useless character for a 1v1 but according to the wiki, it's the best... if I had specced him right. http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Arishok_%28strategy%29

But I specced my character terribly for this particular battle. I have none of the suggested spells; all of my spells are area spells (Force Pull, Tempest, etc.). So a 1v1 battle is out. I am also very slow and my damage on the staff is only 31. I have no other weapon options. I also have very slow reaction times for a console. I don't have very good gear either because I never bought any gear-ever. I have about 60gp.

My only sustained action choices: I can summon the mabari dog or I can do a sustained heal field (but I didn't upgrade this at all- I only have the lowest level of that benefit).

Neither Merril nor my mage have any of the recommended spells: "Winter's Grasp are on cooldown and pausing every few shots to run a little further away. Properly upgraded Spirit Healers don't even need to kite; with the protection of Rock Armor and near-infinite healing provided by a fully upgraded Aura with full passives, you can just start the duel, start an auto-attack and then go make dinner while your de facto invulnerable PC plinks his health away. Force mages will have a tougher time using their spec and should stick to basics, as his ridiculous HP pool makes him essentially immune to force effects, although Gravitic Ring can immobilise him "

I do not have Cone of Cold or the Maker's Sigh potion.

I have never crafted anything in the game and I have no runes on anything except my staff. I did not apply sandal's rune to anything.

I don't know how to use potions so I never bought any potions other than healing and injury kits.

What should I do in the interests of good time investment. I saved a lot early in the game, but I ran out of save slots and started saving over my most recent game... so I would have to go back to hour 17 from hour 22 where I am at right now if I backtrack... which I don't want to do--Unlike other bioware games I don't think I'm going to bother with a second playthrough, though I might run through act I as a female rogue just to see what changes having bethany in the party and what changes with peoples' reactions--I doubt I'll invest the time to try to complete the game as one though.

Is it possible for me to win this fight or do I just have to give up on this game (like I did for grand theft auto- I spent 4 to 6 hours trying to complete the mission for Brucie that involved hotwiring a police car and then doing a car chase- I finally asked a friend to beat it for me... then the #*#( save got saved over or something (I had a small TV so I couldn't read what save was which and I accidentally deleted the most recent one) so I gave up on that game for good... or is there a cheat code that I can do on the console?

I can't imagine that this fight is so unbelieveably difficult compared to any other fight in the game--I played on normal until about halfway through act II when I kept needing to use injury kits on everyone after every battle (except the main character).

Also- I have no idea how to use the tactic slots--I think that learning tactic slots may be the key to this. But if I can't win even with proper tactic slots... I don't know what I can do.

No character has any fully upgraded abilities based on the chart and I never invested in defensive abilities for anyone, ever.

[/spoiler]

[Elemental_Elf]

For that battle:

[spoiler]I had an equally bad team - Vericc, Avaline and Anders.

I must have played that battle a dozen times before I figured out how to beat it.

I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, avoiding all the enemies and focused on healing myself and Avaline. I think the battle took a good 20 minutes for me to (finally) win.

Focus on the mooks and wipe out a good portion of them early.  Then focus on damage mitigation for your allies by moving them around and forcing the enemies to fan out. Take pot shots at the Arishock, lure him into an AOE trap and watch him roast.  Repeat the AOE roasting until you defeat him.

Remember, the battlefield is actually quite large, don't be afraid to run up on the two balconies.

Most likely you've come very close to beating him and haven't realized it.

Alternatively, you could turn the game down to easy for this battle. No shame in that. :) [/spoiler]

[Ninja D!]

At least so far I have found that came impossible to complete simply because it doesn't hold my attention long enough. It isn't bad but I could probably play through Dragon Age Origins twice more and enjoy it more (except for the part with the Circle).

[LD]

For that battle:

[spoiler]I had an equally bad team - Vericc, Avaline and Anders.

I must have played that battle a dozen times before I figured out how to beat it.

I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, avoiding all the enemies and focused on healing myself and Avaline. I think the battle took a good 20 minutes for me to (finally) win.

Focus on the mooks and wipe out a good portion of them early.  Then focus on damage mitigation for your allies by moving them around and forcing the enemies to fan out. Take pot shots at the Arishock, lure him into an AOE trap and watch him roast.  Repeat the AOE roasting until you defeat him.

Remember, the battlefield is actually quite large, don't be afraid to run up on the two balconies.

Most likely you've come very close to beating him and haven't realized it.

Alternatively, you could turn the game down to easy for this battle. No shame in that. :) [/spoiler]

I'll give that a try with the healing plan--Aveline usually is the last one standing.

It's already as easy as it gets- It's on Casual. and I can't even eliminate more than 4 or 5 of his assistants before dying- usually I make it to the point that the Arishok himself runs down the steps--then he proceeds to kill either Merril or my mage...after that I have no chance.

Should I order all my allies to attack the same person and should I keep them close ? I just found out how to send orders to everyone in the group together. Usually in my fights, they all spread out really wide.

I've tried going on the balcony once, I'll try again- the problem with going up there too soon is that then I aggro the Arishock and immediately die.

Ninja D- No argument there, the storyline for II is weak. I liked 1, but in 2 I really don't care if the city falls or not --especially since I'm a mage I really wonder why I care much at all to be doing all these adventures and side quests; I don't need the money and I don't see why I would want to help other people--heck, I even didn't feel like helping any of my companions except Aveline and Merril (and frankly, Merril is questionable in this setting since she's probably going to let a demon take her over at some point--not during the game--but during the PC's lifetime :o). I can't stand Varric or Isabela or Anders (frankly, If I had a choice, I would have killed him already).

[Ninja D!]

I don't think they should have moved the franchise from creating your own character to a premade character. More than that, the gameplay is just too modernized. I want at least a small dose of grog in my RPGs.

[CoyoteCamouflage]

Frankly, you need to learn how to kite.

Admittedly, I have never done this as a party fight-- I went 1v1 on each play-through, and only had some difficulties on my first run (as a tank, so my damage was only meh).

[spoiler]It sounds like you have something working right on up until the notorious BBEG runs up and enters the fight. At this point, you need to demonstrate some awareness in the fight. If he charges after you or Merril, then you need to have them run like hell while the rest of the party focuses on the adds. If you can heal and Merril cannot, then make sure Merril starts attacking the Arishok if he starts running for you, since you need to be nearby to heal the rest of your party.

You will also want to at least set default tactics for your party-- this will enable them to much more easily chew through the Arishok's goons. I suggest making sure Aveline is set as "Defender/Tank", Fenris as a "Melee/Scrapper", and Merril as a "Controller". This may need to be tweaked slightly depending on what skills/spells you gave them. It should, however, lead to them doing a quicker job against the minions-- which is usually the toughest part in a boos fight like this, getting it down to just you and the boss.

Now, it is also important to note that the Arishok generally telegraphs all of his attacks (except for maybe his normal auto-attack). Learning these-- and running the hell away when he sets up for them-- is crucial for surviving him as any class or build. Yes, even tanks. Healing is heavily nerfed compared to DA1, and tanks need that healing to do their job best. So, make sure you at least have some basic tactics on, then try to have Merril kite the Arishok around until the rest of your party finishes off the adds. Then focus fire the Arishok down. Depending on how squishy the rest of your group is, you may even have Aveline tank/kite him. Just know that this makes it more likely for that the adds may swarm you or Merril. Fenris should have little problem with them.[/spoiler]

As an after-thought, if you have the Mabari, then you should have the Emporium DLC too. If you have a save that can take you to the city map, you can go there and buy a re-spec potion to reset all of your skills/spells for each person who drinks one. You will need to sell stuff to afford one, though, I imagine, but that's the closest to a "cheat" I know of for consoles.

[Elemental_Elf]

For that battle:

[spoiler]I had an equally bad team - Vericc, Avaline and Anders.

I must have played that battle a dozen times before I figured out how to beat it.

I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, avoiding all the enemies and focused on healing myself and Avaline. I think the battle took a good 20 minutes for me to (finally) win.

Focus on the mooks and wipe out a good portion of them early.  Then focus on damage mitigation for your allies by moving them around and forcing the enemies to fan out. Take pot shots at the Arishock, lure him into an AOE trap and watch him roast.  Repeat the AOE roasting until you defeat him.

Remember, the battlefield is actually quite large, don't be afraid to run up on the two balconies.

Most likely you've come very close to beating him and haven't realized it.

Alternatively, you could turn the game down to easy for this battle. No shame in that. :) [/spoiler]

I'll give that a try with the healing plan--Aveline usually is the last one standing.

It's already as easy as it gets- It's on Casual. and I can't even eliminate more than 4 or 5 of his assistants before dying- usually I make it to the point that the Arishok himself runs down the steps--then he proceeds to kill either Merril or my mage...after that I have no chance.

Should I order all my allies to attack the same person and should I keep them close ? I just found out how to send orders to everyone in the group together. Usually in my fights, they all spread out really wide.

I've tried going on the balcony once, I'll try again- the problem with going up there too soon is that then I aggro the Arishock and immediately die.

Ninja D- No argument there, the storyline for II is weak. I liked 1, but in 2 I really don't care if the city falls or not --especially since I'm a mage I really wonder why I care much at all to be doing all these adventures and side quests; I don't need the money and I don't see why I would want to help other people--heck, I even didn't feel like helping any of my companions except Aveline and Merril (and frankly, Merril is questionable in this setting since she's probably going to let a demon take her over at some point--not during the game--but during the PC's lifetime :o). I can't stand Varric or Isabela or Anders (frankly, If I had a choice, I would have killed him already).

Hmm. Don't glomp up in a single area, that makes it easy for the enemy to surround you and kill you. Everyone (except Avaline) has to keep moving. Staying in one spot can mean death. If you can manage it, try to hit the Arishok with a bunch of shots from a distance, while Avaline engages him.

[LD]

Okay, I'll give those suggestions a try! Thank you.