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.
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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:
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.
- Class: Warrior
- Specializations: Templar, then Champion
- Attribute priority: Strength. Pop a couple points into Dexterity when talents require it. If you've built your healer well, you don't need to get fancy with Constitution and Willpower.
- Skills:Combat Training and Combat Tactics; don't bother with the rest. Alternate between selecting the two based on what talents you're about to pick up. If you need a talent that requires the next level of Combat Training get that, otherwise, get Combat Tactics.
- Talents: Concentrate on filling out the tactics load-out described below. Getting to the third tier of the first line of Warrior Talents and all the lines of Weapon and Shield talents should occupy most of your time.
Leveling Priority
Alistair starts with:
- Talents:Righteous Strike, Powerful, Shield Bash, Shield Pummel, Shield Block, Shield Cover
- Skills:Expert Combat Training
I then chose the following as I leveled:
- Shield Defense(Weapon and Shield, 2nd line, tier 1)
- Shield Balance(Weapon and Shield, 2nd line, tier 2)
- Shield Wall(Weapon and Shield, 2nd line, tier 3)
- Threaten(Warrior, 1st line, tier 2)
- Precise Striking(Warrior, 2nd line, tier 1)
- Taunt(Warrior, 2nd line, tier 2)
- Overpower(Weapon and Shield, 1st line, tier 3)
- Bravery(Warrior, 1st line, tier 3)
- Shield Tactics(Weapon and Shield, 3rd line, tier 3, needs 20 Dexterity)
- Shield Mastery(Weapon and Shield, 3rd line, tier 4, needs 26 Dexterity)
- Specialize in Champion to get War Cry
- Death Blow(Warrior, 1st line, tier 4)
- Shield Expertise(Weapon and Shield, 2nd line, tier 4)
- Rally(Champion, tier 2)
- Motivate(Champion, tier 3)
- Superiority(Champion, tier 4)
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.
- Behavior: Aggressive
- Self: Any → Activate mode: Threaten
- Self: Being attacked by a melee attack → Activate mode: Shield Wall
- Self: Being attakced by a ranged attack → Activate mode: Shield Cover
- Enemy: Nearest Visible → Use ability: Shield Pummel
- Self: Surrounded by at least two enemies → Use ability: Taunt
- Self: Surrounded by at least three enemies → Use ability: War Cry
- Enemy: Health >= 75% → Use ability: Shield Bash
- Enemy: Health < 75% → Use ability: Overpower
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:
- Armor: Equip the heaviest you can find: ultimately, you'll be wearing massive armor. Favor equipment that has stamina regeneration and secondarily, on 'tanking' stats like Constitution, Resistances, Armor, etc.
- Weapons: Sword and board: long swords and the largest shield you can find.
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:
- Attribute priority
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.
- Talents
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.
- Sustains/tactics
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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Posted by4 years ago
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After many many playthroughs of DA2 and Inquisition, I'm finally playing Origins for the first time. I'm a female human mage Warden, romancing Alistair. I've just completed the Landsmeet, where I had an unhardened Alistair kill Loghain and made Anora rule alone as Queen.
Only now I'm back at camp with Alistair, and he's explaining to me that he won't let me go even though he has to be king.
I looked around online and it seems like this is a huge, known, never-fixed bug, where they just never wrote the dialogue needed for choices where Alistair doesn't become king. As far as I can tell, he's just going to think he's king for the rest of the game.
Is this for real? It seems bizarre to me that Bioware would let such a major bug stand. Are there any fixes out there for it? My main goal for the endgame was for Alistair and my warden to run off and be wardens together, so this is a major disappointment.
Alistair Dragon Age Origins Build
*edited because punctuation.
9 comments
The first time I played Dragon Age: Origins was on the Xbox and I had a hard time getting into it because of the crappy graphics. Well, I recently tried the PC version and discovered that OMFG THE GAME IS AMAZING WHEN YOU MOD IT TO DEATH! I highly encourage a playthrough with these mods if you haven’t done so already. Here is my list of the 31 best mods you never knew you needed (but now you can’t live without):
9 Mods for Better Gameplay
1. JB3 Textures
This mod gives HD textures to the whole game and makes DA much more beautiful. If you only download one mod, this should be it.
2. Dragon Age Redesigned
This mod redesigns over 500 NPCs in the game to make their appearance better. You can choose to change them based on Lore (characters redesigned to fit their races better) or Aesthetics (characters redesigned to be more attractive) or a combination of both. It also includes an optional Morrigan morph that makes her look more like her original face model (ie. super gorgeous).
3. Skip the Fade
Ugh, I hate the Fade. If you’re like me and just want to get on with the story, this is the perfect mod for you. It allows you to skip the boring parts of the Fade and go directly to your follower’s dreams and then fight the demon with all the Fade transformations already unlocked. You also get all the item drops using this mod, too!
4. Lock Bash
This lets any class unlock chests using strength or magic. This is great because I find the Rogue class rather useless in DA and hated having to take one with me.
5. Extra Dog Slot
Let’s you take your Mabari war hound as a 5th companion. Super useful.
6. Madd Gift Guide
You know when you have a gift in your inventory and have no idea who to give it to? This mod solves that problem by listing the appropriate gift receiver in the item description.
7. No Helmet Hack
This hack makes your helmet invisible unless you’re in a battle. Crucial if you want your character to look anything other than ridiculous during conversations.
8. Advanced Tactics
This mod expands your options for follower tactics so that you can improve your battle strategy. Super useful and allows your followers to make more intelligent tactical decisions.
9. Auto Loot Mod
Automatically adds items to your inventory when you’re looting – saves so much time and effort!
3 Mods for Better Character Customization
1. Pineappletree’s Vibrant Colors
Adds a bajillion new color options when customizing your character’s looks.
2. Hairstyle Day
Someone ported some beautiful hairstyles from The Sims to Dragon Age and they look great!
3. Whiten Teeth
Dragon Age Origins Alistair Family
Tired of your character looking like they’ve been chewing on dirt? This mod fixes the teeth for every character in the game.
7 Mods for Better Romances
1. Ser Gilmore NPC & Morph
This mod is amazing! It allows you to add Roland Gilmore as a follower (he is in the Cousland intro if you don’t remember him) and includes fully voiced banter and conversations, as well as the option to romance him. This mod is super well-done and feels as complete as any built-in follower storyline/romance. I like to pair it with the Handsome Ser Gilmore Morph to make the character better looking, because his default is a little homely :) You should also download Ser Gilmore’s First Night for a touching romance scene when you finally sleep with him.
2. Improved Romance Scenes
This allows you to do other things with your LI besides kiss them or have sex with them. You can give them a hug or spend quiet alone time under a tree and stuff – you know, normal things you would do IRL.
Alistair Dragon Age Romance
3. Better Sex Cutscenes
Bioware is a master at delivering epic romances … with awkward sex scenes. This mod allows you to change those sex scenes according to your taste for the explicit – you can choose from medium, mild and zesty (you can guess which one I picked!). NSFW
4. Rendezvous at the Tavern
Allows you to do more sexy times with your LI at the Gnawed Noble Tavern in Denerim – NSFW
5. More Options at the Pearl
Allows to do more sexy times with a whole range of NPCs at the Pearl in Denerim – literally, dozens of strange combinations that are often quite funny – super NSFW
6. Dahlyialynn’s Sleep Until Dawn
This mod allows you to sleep with your LI or Mabari in camp and wake up the next morning to daylight. Lots of cuddling involved in this one.
7. Realistic Look for Natural Bodies
Creative audio control panel. This mod allows you to choose nude options for your character and followers – way better than the default granny panties or the standalone Natural Bodies mod. My favorites are the Theseus mod for men and the Seductress mod for women (if you opt for full nude, you can even choose what cup size you want for women and what penis size for men!).
3 Mods Just for Fun
1. Dance Party
These dances are hilarious! This keeps in the Bioware tradition of super awkward dancing and there are dozens of different combinations you can see.
2. Slap Morrigan
Sometimes Morrigan can be a bitch and sometimes I just want to slap the shit outta her. Someone out there made a mod to make my dreams come true.
3. A Little Leg
This makes all armor in the game a little more revealing to the degree of your taste. I like this mod because it’s not over the top sexual – it provides just the right amount of eye candy.
9 Mods for if You Love Alistair
1. Alistair Morph
This is the perfect mod if you want to enhance Alistair’s good looks without altering his fundamental appearance. Very subtle but makes all the difference.
2. A Hero’s Sacrifice
This adds a scene if your Warden/Alistair kills the Archdemon and dies.
3. Alistair’s Funeral & Funeral Kiss
This adds a much need funeral scene if Alistair kills the Archdemon and dies. The kiss version adds a scene where Alistair imparts a goodbye kiss at the Warden’s funeral if she dies after killing the Archdemon.
4. Dahlialynn’s First Night
Makes taking Alistair’s virginity super special :)
5. Last Night
If you choose not to do the Dark Ritual, Alistair will spend the night with your Warden instead.
6. The Proposal
If you choose to make yourself queen during the Landsmeet, Alistair will properly propose to you after the Coronation.
7. Dahlialynn’s Alistair Nightmare
This mod works in conjunction with the Sleep Until Dawn mod – if you go to bed in camp with Alistair a second time, he will awake one night with a nightmare – beautifully edited and emotionally charged scene that fits seamlessly within the main storyline.
8. Dahlialynn’s The Royal Wedding
Guru charitra english pdf. This mod shows the Warden and Alistair’s wedding during the Epilogue – a gorgeous and lengthy production :)
9. Dark Ritual
This mod adds a scene between Morrigan and Alistair when it’s time to discuss the Dark Ritual. Quite touching on Alistair’s end.
Alistair is among the youngest of the Grey Wardens, recruited by Duncan less than six months before the Blight began. He was raised in Redcliffe Castle after his mother's death, then turned over to the Chantry for religious instruction, where he began the martial training necessary to become a templar, the military order of the Chantry, dedicated to watching over the Circle of Magi and hunting down dangerous apostates.
Alistair, however, was ill suited to a life of religious devotion: He is irreverent at the best of times, often at odds with more serious minded teachers. When the Wardens found him, Alistair had not yet taken his vows and was desperately unhappy. Sensing a good and loyal heart, Duncan invoked the Right of Conscription to force the Chantry to release Alistair to the Grey Wardens. Alistair has not looked back.
How to Recruit: Alistair originally accompanies you into The Korcari Wilds, and then rejoins you permanently when you leave to light the beacon atop the Tower of Ishal. He will stay with you as long as you don't recruit Loghain into the Grey Wardens.
Gifts of Special Significance: To substantially increase your approval rating with Alistair, you can present him with Alistair's Mother's Amulet, a Black Runestone, Duncan's Shield, an Onyx Demon Statuette, a Small Carved Statuette, a Stone Dragon Statuette, a White Runestone, or the Grey Warden Hand Puppet.
Equipment: Warden's Longsword, Templar Shield, Runic Worry Token, Splintmail, Splintmail Gloves, and Splintmail Boots.
Starting Attributes (at Level 4)
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 17
Willpower: 15
Magic: 12
Cunning: 11
Constitution: 13
Starting Talents (at Level 4)
Warrior: Powerful
Weapon and Shield: Shield Bash, Shield Pummel, Shield Block, Shield Cover
Templar: Righteous Strike
Companion Notes
• Alistair will teach you the Templar specialization if you gain enough approval with him.
• As your approval rating with Alistair increases, he will gain additional constitution via four 'Inspired' skills.
So everything been's fine and dandy in my newest playthrough of Origins, freshly modded.Alistair, however, was ill suited to a life of religious devotion: He is irreverent at the best of times, often at odds with more serious minded teachers. When the Wardens found him, Alistair had not yet taken his vows and was desperately unhappy. Sensing a good and loyal heart, Duncan invoked the Right of Conscription to force the Chantry to release Alistair to the Grey Wardens. Alistair has not looked back.
How to Recruit: Alistair originally accompanies you into The Korcari Wilds, and then rejoins you permanently when you leave to light the beacon atop the Tower of Ishal. He will stay with you as long as you don't recruit Loghain into the Grey Wardens.
Gifts of Special Significance: To substantially increase your approval rating with Alistair, you can present him with Alistair's Mother's Amulet, a Black Runestone, Duncan's Shield, an Onyx Demon Statuette, a Small Carved Statuette, a Stone Dragon Statuette, a White Runestone, or the Grey Warden Hand Puppet.
Equipment: Warden's Longsword, Templar Shield, Runic Worry Token, Splintmail, Splintmail Gloves, and Splintmail Boots.
Starting Attributes (at Level 4)
Strength: 20
Dexterity: 17
Willpower: 15
Magic: 12
Cunning: 11
Constitution: 13
Starting Talents (at Level 4)
Warrior: Powerful
Weapon and Shield: Shield Bash, Shield Pummel, Shield Block, Shield Cover
Templar: Righteous Strike
Companion Notes
• Alistair will teach you the Templar specialization if you gain enough approval with him.
• As your approval rating with Alistair increases, he will gain additional constitution via four 'Inspired' skills.
Until Alistair started being able to equip DLC/mod armor. Everything is invisible on him. It's got to be mod conflicts, but I don't know with what - everything works fine on my Warden, and I don't think there's anything that applies to Alistair only. Swords/shields still show up, and regular armor works fine, but DLC armor just..
Suggestions? Ideas? Things to try? I really want to fix this - the Grey Warden Runic Armor looks amazing.. and I don't really want to run around in the Juggernaut set again.