Loghain Mac Tir

"Understand this: I will brook no threat to this nation...from you or anyone!"

Born into occupied Ferelden, Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir and King Maric Theirin drove out the Orlesian Empire more than thirty years before the events of Dragon Age: Origins.

Loghain was raised to the position Teyrn of Gwaren for his service to King Maric. To Ferelden, he represents ideals of hard work and independence. After King Maric was lost at sea, Loghain became responsible for defending Ferelden and guiding his naïve and inexperienced son-in-law, King Cailan Theirin.

Strategy
Any present party member can duel Loghain, except Dog. (Selecting Dog for the duel results in some amusing dialogue.) Any class can beat Loghain, with the right strategy.

Loghain has high physical and mental resistance, so it is difficult to knock him over or paralyze him. Unlike other boss level creatures, he is not explicitly immune to these effects.

He will use Shield Bash and War Cry to knock over the player, so high physical resistance is very helpful.

General

 * If you run around out of melee range for long enough, he will eventually bring out a crossbow and attack at range. He doesn't hit particularly hard, nor does he have any ranged abilities, so he can be quickly and easily taken down through ranged attacks if your chosen character is good at ranged combat.

Warrior

 * You can beat him fairly easily as a warrior with average stats (~40 str/dex) if you equip some +physical resistance weapons/armor so that he can't knock you down as often. The fight ends pretty quickly if you can get to the point where you don't get knocked down every time he uses War Cry. Just watch your health (his shield bash will still send you flying) and hack away at him, and he won't last long.


 * A PC with the full Weapon and Shield talent tree should have little-to-no trouble with him with proper handling, due to the relatively high Dexterity and Strength requirements for mastering the tree. Activating Shield Wall will prevent your PC from being knocked over, which is generally the largest factor in taking damage from him due to his War Cry and Shield Bash.


 * Another efficient strategy is using a warrior with maxed-out 2H skill tree as well as the second Reaver talent. Keep him feared, pummeled to the ground, and stunned by the passive 2H ability. The Legion of the Dead massive armor is a good goal for this battle, as it requires much strength, which aids you in the battle -- and the Legion armor is not half bad either.

Mage
His high resistances make it unreliable to disable him with spells that have resistance checks, but unlike most bosses he is not immune to most disabling effects, so spells that do not have resistance checks are highly effective - Crushing Prison in particular is almost an "I win" button, and Mind Blast and Cone of Cold are also effective.

While he has high physical and mental resistance, he does not have spell or elemental resistance, so damage spells are quite effective compared to rogue and warrior attacks.


 * One tactic is to use Morrigan. She will have Mind Blast, and probably Cone of Cold. Sleep plus Horror makes for a great combo if you can get through his resistance.
 * If you have Wynne in your party, you can also use her strong damage mitigation abilities (healing, Heroic Defense, Lifeward, Rock Armor, etc.) combined with frequent barrages of Stonefist and Arcane Bolt to whittle his health down. However, when Loghain activates Perfect Striking, it may be a good time to use Wynne's Vessel of the Spirit ability for a quick health/mana regeneration, plus disorient effect.
 * If you have crushing prison, then you have many options. Vulnerability Hex followed by Crushing Prison and stacking area persistent effect spells (Tempest, Inferno and Blizzard) and/or damage over time spells (Virulent Walking Bomb, Flame Blast) can defeat him before crushing prison expires.
 * If you have Blood Magic specialization, using Blood Wound is very effective against him.

Rogue

 * A rogue with at least level 3 Stealth and level 1 poison-making can simply enter stealth mode at the start of the fight, stand at a distance, and throw ranged attack items (such as acid flasks or shock bombs) at Loghain until he runs out of health. Loghain cannot attack stealthed opponents, but he can approach the Warden's position whenever he takes damage. When he gets close enough, your character may attempt to automatically attack him, but this can be prevented simply by running away from him until he stops chasing you.
 * Dirty Fighting always works to stun Loghain.
 * A rogue who uses the Dirty Fighting talent to stun Loghain and then backstabs him should have little difficulty, providing they maintain distance when Loghain is not stunned.
 * If you've invested in the Dual-Weapon tree and you happen to get your hands on Concentrated Deathroot extract (whether from drops or Poison-Making), all you need to do is use the extract and fight Loghain. If your dexterity is high enough, you'll rarely miss, and he'll stay stunned throughout the whole battle.
 * If you invested in the Ranger Specialization you can use the trick to summon two pets at once and have both of them use overpower on Loghain. Make sure to click on the new tactics prompt when you summon each one, or you won't be able to use the skills. Using Dirty Fighting while Loghain is targeting your pets will insure an easy victory.
 * A Duelist/Assassin can very easily win this as a straight fight. You could probably win with just auto-attack, but using Dirty Fighting and Riposte to stun him will allow you to Backstab him if you have Coup De Grace to make the fight faster.

Gifts
Loghain is fond of maps; giving these as gifts will significantly boost his approval.

Initial statistics
Relative Attribute Weightings on Auto-Level: Strength 0.95, Dexterity 0.8, Willpower 0.5, Magic 0, Cunning 0.15, Constitution 1.6.

Champion: War Cry, Rally, Motivate, Superiority.

Warrior: Powerful, Threaten, Bravery, Precise Striking, Taunt, Disengage, Perfect Striking.

Weapon and Shield Talents: Shield Bash, Shield Pummel, Overpower, Assault, Shield Block, Shield Cover, Shield Tactics, Shield Mastery.

Quotes

 * (To city elf female Warden at Ostagar) "You're pretty for a Grey Warden. Don't let anyone tell you that you don't belong. The first Warden Maric brought to Ferelden was a woman, best warrior I've ever seen."
 * (To the dwarven Warden at Ostagar) "You're no surface dwarf. I can see it in your eye, smart of the Wardens to look for recruits in Orzammar."
 * (To the Dalish Warden at Ostagar) "I see you're a Dalish. Maric knew a Dalish elf once; never saw an equal with the bow before or since."
 * "How fortunate Maric did not live to see his son ready to hand Ferelden over to those who enslaved us for a century!"
 * "Your fascination with glory and legends will be your undoing, Cailan! We must attend to reality."
 * "My Lords and Ladies... Stand with me, and we will defeat even the Blight itself!"
 * (Upon losing the vote at the Landsmeet) "Traitors! Which of you fought the Orlesian Emperor when his troops flattened your fields and raped your wives!?
 * (At the Landsmeet, once the Warden defeats Loghain in the voting) "'A man is made by the quality of his enemies.' Maric told me that once. I wonder if it's more a compliment to you or me."
 * (At the Landsmeet, when the Warden defeats Loghain in the duel) "I underestimated you, Warden. I thought you were like Cailan, a child wanting to play at war. I was wrong. There's a strength in you I've not seen anywhere since Maric died."
 * (Before dying at the hands of Alistair or the Warden during the Landsmeet) "Daughters never grow up, Anora. They remain six years old with pig tails and skinned knees forever. Just make it quick, Warden. I can face the Maker, knowing Ferelden is in your hands."
 * (About Loghain's thoughts on the occupation of Ferelden) "Hate doesn't describe it, I see painted masked lords beat an old farmer to death with riding crops. To this day I don't know why, is that hate? I saw good sensible men fighting armored Chevaliers with nothing! No weapon, no armies, not even hope of success to see the occupation end, is that hate?"
 * "Please, I've done so much wrong. Allow me to do one last thing right." Before sacrificing himself to kill the archdemon.

Dialogue

 * Loghain: "Pray our king proves amenable to wisdom, if you're the praying sort."
 * Warden: "And if he doesn't?"
 * Loghain: "Then simply pray."


 * Anora: "Did you kill Cailan?"
 * Loghain: "Cailan's death was his own doing."


 * Loghain: "So there is something of Maric in you after all. Good."
 * Alistair: "Forget Maric. This is for Duncan." (kills Loghain)

Trivia



 * Loghain's last name, Mac Tir, may be a reference to mactìre, which is Gaelic (gàidhlig) for wolf.
 * In modern Irish "Mac" means son and "Tir" means land. Therefore his name would mean "the son of the land" which is arguably apt due to, not only his patriotic beliefs, but also because he is the son of a farmer. This is entirely unofficial, except the translation is correct.
 * In the novel, The Stolen Throne, Loghain forms and leads a skilled company of elven archers known as the 'Night Elves.' These were elves recruited from within the rebel army.
 * Loghain was featured in the December 2010 issue of Game Informer, listed as the 9th most influential video game character of the decade.
 * Loghain's Betrayal at Ostagar was listed in IGN's "Top 100 Video Game Moments" as #83
 * He married Celia, the daughter of a cabinet maker.
 * Loghain owned a mabari when he was a child. He named her Adalla, and had her for 10 years before an Orlesian took her to use her for breeding with his hunting dogs. Some time later Loghain was reunited with his dog, when the Orlesian threw the mabari out of a moving wagon. The dog was so weak that it died a week later in Loghain's lap. The cruelty the Orlesian lord treated his dog with may have been one of the reasons for adult Loghain's hatred of Orlais.