Archdemon (strategy)

This page contains detailed tips on how to fight the Archdemon.

The Archdemon has some powerful abilities, such as cleave in front of him (from back when he turns), Spirit AOE and normal attack, which can knock back his focus target. Choosing the Dalish elves (who use ranged attack) as the support army can be useful, because melee will suffer much more damage from his cleaves, and mages' AOE spells can affect your melee attacks as well.

It should be noted that the ArchDemon deals Spirit damage, so stock up on those resistances where possible. Although Tier 6, the Juggernaut Armor Set is an excellent resistance set, giving +20% to Fire, Nature, Cold, Electricity and Spirit, and +10% Mental Resistance and therefore a better choice than the Tier 7 Legion of the Dead Armor Set. If Corruption drops during the fight through Fort Drakon, that has a massive +75% Spirit Resistance, so get your tank to equip it. You'll lose the +1 armor, +10% mental resistance from the Juggernaut Helm, and the set bonus of +3 strength and +3 constitution from the Juggernaut set, but its worth it.

Phase One
The Archdemon flies from place to place on the main platform. It is easily attackable but will use various knockback, wing buffet, grab and other attacks. If Shale is in the party, turn on crushing blows and by default, she will slam as often as she can. Mages who have the spell Inferno should use it as much as possible on the Archdemon. If using the easy level of difficulty friendly fire from the spell won't affect the party. Also on a side note use the Ballistas they are very effective and when the Darkspawn start coming they will not attack you.

Phase Two
alphas and shrieks which have normal hit points. During this phase Arl Eamon, Kardol, Swiftrunner, Knight-Commander Greagoir, or First Enchanter Irving will appear and help fight the odds - if you have spare healing use them as they are both valuable allies. The Archdemon is still in range of ranged weapons. Even if not on easy Inferno is a useful spell to hit it with during this phase as the fire won't hit any of your own party. Split the party to the two balistae that can easily target the Archdemon. The balistae CAN jam, if a rogue is in the party he can unjam the balistae, should they jam. Otherwise, it's out of commission for the entire fight. If both jam then rely on mage spells and ranged weapons. Here the elves can be the difference between success and failure if you don't have many hostile spells or a rogue to fix jammed balistae. Engage the darkspawn to keep the elves clear. Mages should stick to healing if they don't have strong offensive spells. Fireball doesn't seem to do any damage to the Archdemon but Winter's Grasp and Inferno do.

Phase Three
This phase begins when the Archdemon hits approximately 15-20%. The Archdemon flies to the upper part of the main platform. Darkspawn continue to spawn from the doors at an increased rate. The Archdemon uses phase 1 attacks on those within range. There are two balistae in range of the Archdemon, one that was used in phase two and one directly the opposite side of the Archdemon from the other. Use them until they jam as they can do up to 115 damage per shot. Tanks get stuck in to keep the archdemon busy. Keep an eye on the party in case their tactics allow adds to get aggro, the tanks should concentrate all their efforts on the Archdemon. Rogues should engage the adds to keep them off the tanks whenever they aren't needed to unjam balistae. It should not take too long to drop the Archdemon if you get this far, but stage three is the hardest to keep track of since you may be firing and repairing balistae, healing and making sure your tanks don't forget what they're supposed to be tanking.

NOTE: Phase 3 can actually be avoided if the Archdemon is killed quick enough - it has nothing to do with its health but rather how fast you can deal damage.


 * As a final note, it is perhaps worth it to have a melee combatant make the killing blow, as the Archdemon has an unique death animation should you kill it this way.