COMBAT
The core combat mechanic in Dragon Age II is simple: a combatant’s attack percentage is the chance that
a basic attack will hit an opponent, whereas the combatant’s defense percentage is the chance to evade a
basic attack. (Special attacks like using an activated ability or throwing a bomb almost always hit.)
These percentages vary based on the opponent’s rank and level; the percentages you most often see are for
a normal-rank enemy of the same level as the character, but percentages against enemy lieutenants and
bosses are also available, as explained below.
Assuming the attack is successful, the target suffers a certain number of points of damage subtracted from
current health, after accounting for the target’s resistance to certain types of damage.
However, each of those statistics—attack, defense, and damage—can be modified by a number of
additional factors, as explained in the following pages. Talents, spells, status effects, high-quality equipment,
and the difficulty level can further alter most statistics.
DIFFICULT Y
Dragon Age II offers four levels of combat difficulty, which can be changed at any time in the Gameplay Options
screen. Higher settings are meant not to punish, but to challenge you; with sufficient tactical planning and
careful management of each party member, even nightmare difficulty should be satisfying, not frustrating.
Specifically, each successive difficulty level increases enemies’ health, damage output, attack scores, and
the frequency with which they use special abilities.
Casual
Casual difficulty is best suited to players who are new to role-playing games or expect to play combat in
real-time, rather than pausing often to plan tactics.
Normal
Normal difficulty is the recommended setting for players familiar with role-playing games, providing a good
balance of challenge and survivability. It requires moderate use of tactical pausing to plan actions during
combat. You will generally only need to control your main character, and can allow the game to control
your companions.
Hard
Hard difficulty provides a considerably greater challenge than normal difficulty. To survive most fights, you
will need to make sophisticated use of tactical pausing as well as clever combinations of spells and talents,
controlling each of your party members in turn.
Nightmare
Nightmare difficulty is intended for tactical geniuses who found hard difficulty too easy. Aim carefully: At this
setting, errant spells and attacks will harm your allies as easily as your enemies.
HE ALTH
Whenever a character takes damage, points are subtracted from a pool of total health points. Maximum
health is initially determined by the character’s class (see p. 4); it increases with each point spent on the
constitution attribute. Lost health regenerates slowly during combat but almost immediately after a fight. If
you’re near death, use a health potion or cast a healing spell.
Injuries
So long as at least one party member survives a fight, those who fell in combat revive themselves once all
enemies are dead—but they sustain injuries that reduce their health pool. At most difficulty settings, it is
possible for each character to sustain multiple cumulative injuries, which prevents them from fully healing
until the injuries are treated.
To remedy an injury, use an injury kit on the character. The party’s injuries are also automatically treated
whenever Hawke returns home.
STAMINA/MANA
Warriors and rogues draw from a pool of personal stamina to power many of their talents, and mages use
their mana for spells. (A few abilities, however, cost nothing to use.) Each class regenerates stamina or
mana differently: warriors replenish some stamina each time they kill an enemy, rogues regain a small
amount of stamina with each hit, and mages regenerate mana continuously. Certain spells and talents also
allow characters to regenerate mana or stamina.
Because mana and stamina are limited, talents and spells are special supplements to basic attacks, not
the focus of battle. The size of the stamina or mana pool is initially determined by the character’s class
(see p. 4). It increases with each point spent on the willpower attribute.
ATTACK
Attack is usually represented as a percentage that indicates a character’s chance to hit an opponent with a
basic attack. This percentage is based on a flat attack score, which is visible alongside the percentage in the
Attributes screen.
For a given flat attack score, the percentage varies based on the level and rank of the opponent. The
percentage score that you see most often is calculated in comparison to a normal-rank enemy of the same
level as the character. To see a character’s attack percentage against enemy lieutenants or bosses, select
ATTACK in the Attributes screen and press to view more details.
Because the attack percentage is calculated in comparison to an enemy of the same level as the character,
the percentage diminishes each level unless you spend points to improve it. This means that you must
continually invest in the strength attribute for warriors, magic for mages, and dexterity for rogues.
Cover
Arrows and crossbow bolts cannot penetrate obstacles like columns or trees. Although it is possible to target
and fire at opponents behind cover, the shots will not hit them, no matter how high the attack score is.
DEFENSE
Defense represents a character’s ability to avoid attacks entirely. Defense works just like attack, as
described above, except that defense produces the opposite effect: with sufficient defense, attacks glance
off harmlessly or inflict minimal damage.
Defense, like attack, is usually represented as a percentage that varies based on the opponent’s rank and
level. Consequently, as characters increase in level, you must continually invest in the cunning attribute to
keep their defense score high.
