Reaver (Origins)

Reaver is one of the specializations available to the warrior class in Dragon Age: Origins.

Unlocking
During The Urn of Sacred Ashes quest, the Warden will meet a man named Kolgrim in the Mountainside Caverns. If he is not provoked he will offer the Warden a vial of blood to pour on Andraste's Ashes. Once the Warden has navigated through the Gauntlet, pour the blood into the urn and speak with Kolgrim outside. He will teach you the Reaver specialization.

It is recommended that you do not have Wynne or Leliana in the party when fouling the Ashes as they will automatically attack you; as the Guardian also attacks you it can be an incredibly hard fight, especially as you will only have yourself and one party member remaining. So other party members should be taken rather than them. However, if you hardened Leliana after her quest, she will still object to pouring blood on the Ashes, but she can be intimidated into obedience.

Defiling Andraste's Ashes with the blood will not automatically cause Leliana to leave the party. You can persuade/lie to her, which will work if she wasn't in the party when you completed the quest. She will just take an approval hit which is easily countered by gifts and more pious or charitable actions later.

If you do not wish to suffer the repercussions of tainting Andraste's Ashes, you can pour the blood in the Urn to complete the quest with Kolgrim and receive the Reaver specialization. Then load any previous saved game (such as right before meeting Kolgrim for the first time) and the specialization will be still unlocked to put a point in upon your character's next advancement in level.

Additionally, it can be unlocked in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening by purchasing the manual from the bartender at The Crown and Lion tavern in the City of Amaranthine.

Notable Reavers

 * Kolgrim
 * Brogan Dace
 * Sten (The Darkspawn Chronicles)
 * Nyree (Dragon Age: Redemption)

Trivia

 * Considering this specialization is acquired from the memories of a wyvern, it's unclear why demons are mentioned at all.
 * Becoming a reaver is the only time dragons are ever referred to as wyverns in the game. However, in Dragon Age II Mark of the Assassin, wyverns are revealed to be related to dragons.

Strategi

 * The stat bonuses are pretty good, if you ask me. I forget what they were, exactly, but they were handy.


 * Devour: This is useless, because it is non-continuous. Death Magic was very handy with my Blood Mage for a variety of reasons that we won't go into here, but essentially it was a necessity that it be continuously active for reasons discussed above about corpses.

The improvements to Taunt and Threaten are particularly useful, due to the next ability.


 * Aura of Pain: Many dislike this ability, but it is actually quite handy. Essentially, the Reaver carries an AOE effect spell around with himself, taking friendly fire damage. The trick is to be healed. Cleansing Aura from a Spirit Healer, or just having Wynne diligent with healing, and the Reaver won't be particularly affected by this ability. I am curious if the damage is amped by a spirit damage ring/amulet.


 * Blood Frenzy: Given the pittance of a bonus, useless, especially since you are so much better served by Aura of Pain. If this was more powerful, it would have fit neatly into the strategy since your health will (in my experience) hover about 50-60% with Wynne in the party.

Now, the Reaver is a death sentence on its own. You draw enemies towards you and damage yourself constantly.

Where the Reaver shines, is with support and with supplement.


 * For example, a Reaver Champion, with Threaten (enhanced by Frightening Appearance), heavy armor, and aura of pain active. Trying to maximize your attractiveness as a target. Wynne, let us say, on standby with her awesome healing skills. Add War Cry having drawn them in (with Superiority), and they will be disabled and taking a significant amount of damage in a small window of time. If you wish to focus on the Tanking aspect of this, you'll need to be a Sword-and-Board, mostly because of distance opponents. If you wish to focus on DPS, I find Dual-Weapons and Two-handers equally serviceable, largely for the area-of-effect attacks.


 * If you're catching my drift, the Reaver's entire point is Area-of-Effect. Instead of focusing on one enemy and letting others slip through the cracks or assail him/her unmolested, hitting everyone constantly and making certain they're all focused on him/her.

So, the ideal loadout involving Reaver Spec, in my experience:

PC Character in Wade's Dragonplate. Reaver/Champion. Bulwark from the camp trader is a good shield (for once the purpose of your shield is added defence, rather than stat bonuses), Yusaris/Ageless for a 2-hander.

Wynne - Spirit Healer and Arcane Warrior, with the Spellweaver and Cleansing Aura/Spirit Whateveritwas. Effort is my prefferred armour for her.

Oghren - Berserker/Champion, adding himself as both meat-shield and a second source of War Cry.

Morrigan/Leliana - Long-range threat neutralization. For the former, primal spells, blood magic upgraded robes (name is a spoiler), for the latter, [Spoiler]'s Recurve and drakeskin armor.

Philosophy is to have Wynne in the thick of things both hacking and using Cleansing Aura, coupled with a preference for healing the PC. Oghren serving as a heavy-duty warrior. More of a tank than you are, but powerful in his own right, given good Mauls (I prefer to have him on the Armor Penetration equipment). Morrigan and Leliana should probably be given tactics dedicated to killing off archers and especially mages (mages are your bane with this loadout. You present a clustered target.).

Reference
Dragon Age: Origins - PRIMA Official Strategy Guide