Beware the Two-Handed Assassin! - Dragon Age Origins 

Definitely!

Well the dual wield mage wasn’t good cuz you got huge penalties for it without mods but I hear you. You actually couldn’t respec until awakening either.

There is a respec potion from a mod ofr origins, i just ofrgot the name, the mod adds a crow that gives you the potion, the crow is on your camp and in some mayor cities like Denerim and Red cliff.

@@DARKCORE02 That mod alone made the game 10 times more enjoyable for me.

One of my favourite Mage builds is the Arcane Blood Warrior

I realy love the Detail that the character goes for a neck strike with a two-hander backstab

Thanks! :)

Well, it is and it's fun! :)

@@AKisHerceg this makes my 2-Handed warrior build a joke

About that animation cancel... I have a video coming out soon about this: I actually find a way to kill the High Dragon(or pretty much any boss/elite boss) with my Two-Handed rogue in a matter of seconds(what you see in this video, is actually extremely slow compared to that technique). It's pretty hilarious, I can't wait to show the video. :)

I always knew that it was technically possible, but I’m surprised they even put in a unique animation for it. I was thinking they wouldn’t have bothered and assumed anyone who tried wouldn’t mind a silly looking animation.

Yup, way too high. But I think the Flatblade is perfect - I adore that little +1% critical chance on it. :)

@@AKisHerceg Is it worth spending the dex to get the skill Evasion? (35 dex requirement)

@@petawilleatacat8963 Nope. I usually get Evasion when I solo, bot when you have good threat management, you don't need that kind of protection. Sten and Alistair is there to take the heat off of you(you are not really supposed to get hit) - and in Awakening and beyond, you can spec your Warriors to place non-stop damage reduction on you, which will even nullify the Tainted Blade damage.

That is not how Cunning works with Lethality+Exploit Weakness+Tainted Blade+Song of Courage. You get a direct bonus after the cunning attribute to your damage and your backstab dmg with these skills. With Lethality, your STR becomes meaningless in terms of damage, everything converts into Cunning(although STR still increases your attack). It does not worth it at all to invest into STR to pick up a better two-hander, because the damage difference between the Chasind Flatblade(12.10) and the best base dmg two-hander(Starfang 18.7) is negligible. You would invest 24-28+ cunning into an attribute that does nothing for you(str) for that lousy +6.6 dmg? 24-28+ Cunning gives way more damage with these abilities - which is why I can land over 200+ dmg attacks on enemies in Origins and over 500+ dmg attacks on enemies in Awakening. So just boost cunning and nothing else. Don't worry about getting a better weapon, the Flatblade is the best in slot option for this build. :)

Buffs are great and make your build stronger(mostly they make you more accurate because Cunning doesn’t give Attack). Consumables, other than Swift Salve, are not really important. I use them to show the full potential of the build. :)

It does not affect attack bonus. The attack bonus comes from the backstab itself. :)

Nope. No points on Str at all. I used Fade Fonts, rings and belts to meet the requirements, and after I placed the sword on, I switched them back. I needed 9 str in total for the sword, because the human noble rogue starts with 11. You get 4 from Fade Fonts. Key of the City(2), Andruil's Blessing(2), Harverst Festival Ring(2). This is 10 already, but I still needed 2 to equip the Battledress of the Provocateur, so I used the Helm of Honleath(2) to reach it. I only placed enough dex to get Lethality(I used Fade Fonts here too, but the 4 you get is not enough to reach 23, so I had to invest a bit in it). The rest must be on Cunning. Your damage is superior compared to daggers, because the BASE damage of your two-handed sword is 12.10. Even the Balanced Greatsword, the sword you get from Jory which has no str requirement, has 11.00 base damage. Whereas the best dagger's base damage is only 6.40. Since everything is calculated on your BASE damage(crits and backstabs), this is a colossal advantage for the Two-Handed rogue. :)

@@AKisHerceg Wow, so is this a bug or a feature of the vanilla game? Never knew that was possible!

@@oleh_lunin Feature. Definitely not a bug. In a game where you don't get a billion restrictions, you can actually invent some pretty cool ways to fight. :)

Plus you have to invest into STR if you want to use a maul, since there is no maul in the game with zero STR requirement. They also have worse base dmg.

As a rogue your default weapon classes are double weapons and archery. As you can see I also don’t have two-handed skills. But if you watch the video, you can see that you can turn your rogue into a monster without 2h weapon skills by stacking cunning and backstabbing people. As for not starting with a 2h weapon, yes you can just pick one up later. :)

@@AKisHerceg thank you

First hit connects at 3:11, last hit connects at 3:24. You are right I was off, it only took 13 sec. :)

@@AKisHerceg Swing time, and movement time is still counted. A mage would have shot something out the moment combat started.

@@AKisHerceg You also applied a debuff at 3:07-3:09 But I suppose you could argue it just depends on how you view it.

@@astarothnyarlathotep3815 Yeah, I usually start the counter when the enemy starts taking damage. :)

@@AKisHerceg I have a question tho, do you have a vid of using it against the true top dog NPC of the game Cauthrien and her cronies?(On Nightmare at a high level, ofc) Kinda wondering how it stacks up against that army of archers. Only way I've found is either a broken tank, or the use of blood magic, if you don't want to run around like a little bitch to survive. Edit: I remember when I did my first run and I got to the Archdemon after her, and was sooo disappointed by how much easier it was than Cauthrien.

Funny thing: the dlc is glitched for some reason and you can't really backstab that thing properly(maybe it has something to do with golems and backstabs). You have to find the "sweet spot" on that thing's back, which is a very narrow area. This definitely makes you lose dps there. But if you have Brogan and you place Paralyze runes in his weapon(give him a dagger so he can attack fast), that will trap the Harvester and you can backstab it easily.

@@AKisHerceg thanks, going to give this build a go on my next play through but wanted to know how it held up with that fight 👍🏻

@@nickbaldi5198 I have a video about comparing the two. Check it out! :)

I don't use any mods. I have the Ultimate Edition from Steam. This version allows poison stacking(the non-steam version of the ultimate edition also allows it). There are versions that will not allow you to stack them.

which version are you using? I also own the steam ultimate edition.

@@viniciusantonio4734 I use the Ultimate Edition from Steam. No mods.

Nope. There is no weapon specific skill that works with this build, which is fine since backstabs are your bread and butter. :)

@@AKisHerceg Tnk a lot. I love all of ur builds.

Are you always targeting the back? You have attack bonus from the back. Still, if you keep missing, make sure either Wynne or Morrigan keeps casting Heroic Offense on you. Your attack problems will be gone forever. :) Also, with Coup the Grace you can auto-backstab stunned or paralyzed targets, so make sure your team sets them up for you, by using skills that paralyze or stun.

@@AKisHerceg thanks

@@AKisHerceg it turns out he is not independent, unlike a master assassin with two daggers

I intentionally left it out, because you would lose so much kick from your damage bonus if you would invest into that much dex. But yeah, initially I was like "Oh yeah, I can't wait to use Flicker in Awakening, it's gonna be spectacular!". And then I was like "Oh, boy... totally forgot about that 52 dex. Damn!". lol

@@AKisHerceg If I were you, I would have also mentioned that going for cunning results in you having to find other sources of bonus attack early in the game as cunning is not used for attack value with that passive, so you end up missing a lot of attacks. That's why I went for duelist as my second passive instead of bard (actually, in order of acquisition it was the first one, assassin was second). Also, butterfly sword adds attack, and you can equip it if you gift it to Sten early.

@@dmitrygolubev9398 I made a separate video about the cunning vs the strength rogue(using two-handed weapons). It came right after this one, and there, I explain this build's strengths and weaknesses in detail. :)

@@AKisHerceg Oh, ok. I am sorry, I am yet to watch that one.

Backstabs give +20 attack, Alistair's Rally also gives 10, so stay close to him. Also you can set Morrigan or Wynne to use Heroic Offense on you, and that way you have plenty of attack.

You mean in Awakening? The new skills all require high Dexterity, so I could not pick them up. :)

@@AKisHerceg yeah, exactly. Sorry for not precising enough 😁

Depends on the patch. With the Ultimate Edition they stack. :)

I used other gear to boost my str so I can equip them(Key to the City, Andruil's Blessing etc). Since the equipped items will not be automatically removed if you lose str, you can keep them on until you unequip them. I showed this in the video. :)