Archdemon (strategy)

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

Archdemon Capabilities
The Archdemon has the following passive abilities: +75% cold, electricity and spirit resistance.

The Archdemon has some powerful attacks, including Massive Attacks from the side, Cleave from the front, and Sweep from the back.

The Archdemon has a Spirit based breath attack.

NPC and Army Recommendation
Choosing the Dalish elves (who use ranged attacks) as the support army can be useful, because melee will suffer much more damage from his cleaves, and the area spells from the mages can interrupt your melee attacks as well. If you have Wynne or another healer, have them save their mana to restore your party's health and attack the Darkspawn hordes that will arrive later in the battle. If Shale is in the party, turn on Crushing Blows and, by default, she will Slam as often as she can.

Equipment Recommendation
The Archdemon deals Spirit damage, so stock up on those resistances where possible such as the Spirit Balm. 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, during your fight through Denerim, you loot a Hurlock General for Corruption, a helmet that has a massive +75% Spirit Resistance, equip it to your tank. 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 it's worth it.

[Note the elemental resistances are capped at 75%, so if you equip Corruption, there is no reason to keep wearing your helmless Juggernaut Armor Set that has lost its set bonus: there are much better options.]

Class Specific Notes
For heavy magic users, note that the Archdemon has enormous resistance against just about everything, so your mage should have a Magic attribute over 45 to use spells such as Petrify. Mages who have the area of effect spells like Inferno and Tempest should use it as much as possible on the Archdemon (friendly fire will be off on easy difficulty).

Early Phase
The Archdemon flies from place to place on the main platform. It is easily attackable but will use various knockbacks, wing buffets, grabs and other attacks. If your party is having trouble defeating the Archdemon, call an Army (if applicable) to distract the dragon while retreating to the ballistae on the towers. These siege weapons auto-target the Archdemon and, if it is within range, fire bolts that do between 40 and 120 damage. When hit with a ballista bolt, the Archdemon will roar in pain, interrupting its attacks and giving the ballista enough time to reload. Though significantly less exciting, this is an efficient way to chip its health away without actually fighting it. On any difficulty above Casual, though, the ballistas will jam and require a Rogue to fix them, the Archdemon may jump onto a tower, and the ballistae may jam indefinitely.

Middle Phase
Alphas, Shrieks, and Grunts (the Alphas and Shrieks have normal health while the Grunts are one hit kills) join the fight. During this phase, Arl Eamon, Kardol, Swiftrunner or Zathrian, and Knight-Commander Greagoir or First Enchanter Irving will appear and help fight the odds - if you can spare some healing spells, use it on them, as they are all valuable allies. The Archdemon is still in range of bows, staves, and the ballistae. The Archdemon will simply sit and shoot Spirit attacks at its enemies during this phase, so feel free to throw area of effect spells at it or use the two ballistae it is in range of. If you choose to camp near the ballistae, be sure to have a strong army to keep both the Archdemon and its Horde busy, as either may attack you here. If you have ranged combatants active (i.e. Dalish Elves or Mages) on the field, make sure to engage the Horde yourself, as these units are better left to shoot across the fissure at the Archdemon; similarly, if you have melee combatants (i.e. Dwarves, Soldiers, Golems, Werewolves, or Templars active), they can attack the Darkspawn (either with you or for you).

To avoid your army's numbers dropping too fast, you should use area of effect abilities - almost all of the battle will take place in a small pocket, directly in front of the Archdemon, as it is a common spawning place for both sides. You may also want to crowd your offensive forces on a spawn door to stop Alphas from getting too far into the fray. Shrieks usually run out too fast and Grunts aren't always worth attacking, while Alphas usually activate a buff once they arrive, so use that time to engage them.

Late phase
This phase begins when the Archdemon is approximately at 15-20% health but 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. The Archdemon flies to the upper part of the main platform, while Darkspawn continue to spawn from the doors at an increased rate. The Archdemon will continue to attack anything in range, while many of the Darkspawn will switch to ranged weapons. There are two ballistae in range of the Archdemon: one that was used in the middle phase and one on the opposite side of the Archdemon from the other. Use them until they jam as they can do up to 115 damage per shot. Any of your melee combatants (i.e. Dwarves, Templars, Soldiers, Golems, or Werewolves) can distract any enemies while you use the ballistae, while any of your ranged combatants (i.e. Elves or Mages) can support you as you attack the Archdemon yourself. Keep an eye on the party in case their tactics allow changing target - the tanks should concentrate all their efforts on the Archdemon. Rogues should engage other darkspawn to keep them off the tanks whenever they aren't needed to unjam ballistae. The final stage is the hardest to keep track of since you may be firing and repairing ballistae, healing, and making sure your tanks don't forget what they're supposed to be attacking. As a final aesthetic note, it is perhaps worth having a melee combatant make the killing blow, as the Archdemon has a unique death animation should you kill it this way.

Possible Bug: After battling with the Archdemon for awhile, he will summon several Darkspawn minions to attack you. After defeating them, the Archdemon stays in place for a time and you can use one of the ballistas to constantly fire on the Archdemon, however, it does not move thus making the battle much easier.