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Dragon Age II Hints
Combat Tips
1 of 10: Unless you're looking for a real challenge, you should always play through the game on Normal difficulty (which is the default setting) and with the max number of companions with you at all times. Gameplay was carefully balanced to give a not-too-hard-and-not-too-easy experience in this way, though note that this game seems to be quite a bit easier on that setting than Dragon Age: Origins was. Veterans of that game who are looking for a challenge should probably play on Hard difficulty.
2 of 10: It always pays to use the Pause key (SPACEBAR on the PC) frequently during combat. While paused, you can rotate your view to survey the battlefield and see what's happening, you can give each member in your party individual orders (by switching control to them and having them do something), and you can take your time in deciding on a new target when you finish off the one you're currently attacking.
3 of 10: If you don't like to constantly pause the game and micromanage every move your characters make, you'll want to customize their tactics so they'll do what you want them to without constant supervision. At the start of each combat, switch control to whichever character least often does what you want him to by default, and carefully control his moves while everyone else is handled by the game's AI according to their tactics settings. (I've often found it effective to take control of my party's mage so I can micromanage what spells he casts.)
4 of 10: One new combat element that you'll see throughout Dragon Age II that wasn't in Dragon Age: Origins is the concept of waves of reinforcements. Not all combats have them, but a great many of them do. In a multi-wave combat, the first wave is all you see and can attack at first. When most of the first wave is killed, the second wave will magically appear out of nowhere, often behind you or on several different sides of the area. Some few combats even have third waves, which makes them real endurance tests for your characters, especially when one or more of the waves features a powerful ranged foe like a mage.
5 of 10: Two general strategies that are very frequently useful are to lead enemies away from the main group a few at a time for easier disposal, and to make the entire party focus on one enemy at a time.
7 of 10: If you run fast and far enough from a combat, you may be able to leave the enemies far enough behind that combat mode will end, allowing you to regenerate health and mana before going back. However, many enemies (especially melee fighters) will follow you relentlessly no matter how far you go, and you're not allowed to do area transitions during combat. Running away from enemies usually only helps if you're using one of the above strategies, or if you want to be able to use health potions while not under immediate attack.
8 of 10: Watch your characters during combat closely. Not only will you need to monitor their health and decide when to use potions or spells to restore it, but they'll sometimes stop attacking and just stand there. This often happens after they kill their current target, or right after they use an ability. It helps to frequently right-click on the enemy you want them to attack to prevent this lazy behavior. (Note that this only seems to happen with the currently selected character(s), especially your main character, and must therefore be watched for constantly when using the party-attack strategy.)
9 of 10: It's a good idea to save items you find in treasure that can protect you against certain spell effects or forms of attack, even if those items aren't ones you'd normally wear. For instance, there are several jewelry items that protect against fire and spirit damage. That's not usually useful, but there are some tough combats in which that would be very helpful. Also, keep weapons (including magic staves) that do significant amounts of elemental damage, since many tough enemies are vulnerable to particular elements. Cold and spirit damage seem to be the most often useful, though it's good to also have weapons that do fire, nature, and electrical damage on hand.
10 of 10: There are a few things that you need to always remember to do right after a combat is over. Use the "Highlight objects" key to find lootable enemy corpses and containers, see if anyone can level up, and check characters for persistent injuries that need to be healed with injury kits (or by visiting your main character's current home). After all of that's done, quicksave.
