Pride demon (strategy)

This page contains a strategy for fighting the first pride demon during The Wrath of Heaven in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

On Nightmare difficulty, this battle is the first test of your ability to micromanage and manipulate the Tactical Camera. The highest challenge demands it throughout the game, regardless of your build, and especially here when your resources are limited to whatever potions you managed to save. To prepare, use none of the potions you obtained at the Forward Camp between the chosen route and the temple itself. Instead, warriors should rely on Guard to preserve their health and keep rogues and mages out of any danger. The route you choose has no effect on your support, but the mountain route has more enemies and thus more opportunity to be damaged.

The demon will start by powering up its Guard, becoming invulnerable to damage. The Inquisitor should immediately disrupt the Rift (takes about 5-7 seconds with zero interruptions) to remove the pride demon's guard. The demon spends a great deal of time posturing and laughing at the very beginning of battle, providing a perfect window of opportunity to disrupt the Rift. Solas should cast Barrier on the group while it is still clustered, then move to a point far back, preferably where an Archer is stationed in the back corner, as well as Varric. From here, Solas can use Winter's Grasp to weaken the demon, and Varric can maximize the damage on his Long Shot talent. Keep an eye on these two throughout the fight, as they may close the gap, which not only puts them in greater danger but may allow the Pride Demon to damage more allies with fewer attacks. Since he can take off half a health bar with one lightning attack, keeping your team spread out is the first priority. Cassandra should engage up close and keep boosting her Guard. If Solas and Varric are staying out of trouble, only Cassandra and perhaps the Inquisitor will need health potions. Solas will use Barrier automatically, but try to get as many people in its Area of Effect as possible, with priority going to Cassandra and the Inquisitor.

After his initial posturing, the demon will start off to the right-hand side, in the direction of an Elite-ranked Soldier. Continue to assault the demon until he raises his Guard once more (around 11000 HP remaining). ''Do not abuse the Rift, or you may end up powering up the Demon and summoning his backup yourself, who will immediately assault the Inquisitor! Always allow the demon to bring up its own guard before using the Rift.'' At this point, two Shades will join the fight, each with about 1000 hp. Do not leave it to your warrior(s) to fight them alone while the ranged allies waste their shots on a guarded Pride Demon. Bring up the Tactical Camera, move Solas and Varric back if they've advanced too close to the front lines, and command them to attack the same Shade as the Inquisitor. This combined assault will eliminate the Shade in a few seconds, allowing a similar approach for the second. The next step is to manually control the Inquisitor and shake off the Pride Demon, who will very likely recognize them as the biggest threat, despite the angry woman with a shield smacking a sword against his shins. Circle the central column evading the demon's lightning as best you can, until you can get yourself 7 seconds to spare closing the Rift again (easier said than done, it's all about getting rid of the Threat you've generated by allowing others to become more threatening, such as Cassandra, Leliana, and the soldiers who accompanied you to this fight).

When the Rift is successfully disrupted, the demon will be stunned. Instead of fighting the demon, use this opportunity to Revive any fallen allies (including Leliana, who, while not a party member, will join you in this fight and will fully recover without the need for a Healing Potion, making her a valuable assistant) and use Healing Potions. Remembering to keep Varric and Solas back, repeat the process as the demon's health keeps sinking. Eventually his Guard will go back up and two more Shades will join, and with enough practice you'll be able to manage. Eliminate the Shades as before and disrupt the Rift. Remember that only the Inquisitor can disrupt the Rift; if they fall in battle, someone will have to risk their own skin to revive them while the demon bares down.

Two-to-three disruptions will be enough to defeat the boss, as the demon ends up with 3000 HP left and doesn't repeat the Guard phase beyond this point. Outlast his attacks (again, easiest with Solas and Varric out of harm's way) and eventually he'll fall.