Cauthrien (strategy)

As one of the most difficult bosses in the game, there are several ways that Ser Cauthrien can be defeated.

Type I
Immediately after the conversation with Cauthrien, it is recommended to select all party members to run back into the library adjacent to Anora's room to avoid taking damage from archers. Cauthrien and a few guards will pursue while the rest of her archers will remain at the estate entrance. Use a mage to cast Misdirection Hex and Death Hex on Cauthrien and quickly kill her before dealing with her other guards. If a mage is backing Cauthrien up, use Crushing Prison against the mage to temporarily incapacitate him while dealing with Cauthrien or dispatch a party member to kill the mage immediately. Petrify and Paralyze can be also be used to slow Cauthrien down and if she is focused on the party's mage, use the mage to cast Force Field on himself/herself while other party members attack Cauthrien from the rear. After killing Cauthrien, use a mage to cast sleep/waking nightmare/mass paralyze on archers and slowly kill each one by one. Another viable method is to use Leliana or any fighter with a ranged weapon to kill the archers at the entrance from a distance.

Type II
Cauthrien is one of the toughest adversaries in the game. To prepare for the optional battle following Anora's rescue, a large number of health poultices are crucial, and it is strongly recommended that The Warden's party has a mage with healing skills and plenty of lyrium potions. It would be helpful to have the others act as close-range fighters. Ser Cauthrien will have several guards and a mage backing her up. Ser Cauthrien is a heavy hitter so dispatch her as soon as possible. Keep the party's healer out of the range of the archers to avoid them being injured.

The Warden's party is heavily outnumbered, so do whatever possible to even the odds. An example strategy is to use one mage to cast sleep/mass paralize on archers, kill Cauthrien's mage as soon as possible and use another mage to focus on Cauthrien: if hex spells are available, debuff her and allow warriors to finish off her and her sidekicks quickly; Death Hex and Misdirection result in a significantly quicker demise. After tackling the key opponents, the enemy archers should pose few problems.

Type III
An alternative strategy is to use a combination of sleep and taunt abilities to separate Cauthrien from her troops. As well as characters with the relevant abilities, The Warden's party should also have an archer. Cast sleep on Cauthrien and the guards and direct the party to the library. Once in the library, wait for Cauthrien, who should now be in sole pursuit. Note that these tactics may prove unnecessary since simply running back down the hallway and entering one of the rooms as soon as the fight starts may be sufficient to isolate Cauthrien, and doing so prevents The Warden's party from being exposed to unnecessary damage from archers and her mage. At this point, use the character with the taunt ability to keep her in pursuit and away from the rest of the party, who should be using ranged attacks against her. Continue to run around the library using taunt, repeating until she is killed by the ranged attacks. An alternative method would be to freeze her with Cone of Cold from one of the party's mages and use melee fighters in the team to hit her until she goes down whilst using a support mage heal as necessary. At that point, her guards should be easier to defeat.

Should The Warden surrender to Cauthrien, another opportunity to fight her will arise when arriving at the Landsmeet where she will accost the party in order to prevent interference in the proceedings. At this point, she will only have a few guards with her, but both Cauthrien and her guards will need to be tackled at the same time since any fight will take place in a small room. Fighting her in the Arl of Denerim's estate may still prove to be an easier battle, provided Cauthrien can be isolated from her men.

Type IV
While it may be extremely difficult to defeat them all, it is possible, with some luck, and you can skip the entire Fort Drakon part. First you'll have to have a lot of health potions, around 30+. If your main character is not a mage or archer when the fight begins switch to one. Your other party members will most likely die fast. You can try and keep them alive as long as possible by using the health potions, but they will most likely die early on. When they do die run out of the main hall and into the room where Anora was being held captive. Ser Cauthrien should follow you into the room. If you are a powerful enough mage or archer her attacks will only hit once in a while. When she dies, exit the room into the hall. Stand by the doorway leading to the entrance. You should be able to see one or two guards from the doorway. Because of their positions, you can stay in the doorway and only fight one or two of them at a time.Stay in the doorway to avoid the rest of the guards attacks while you finish off the visible ones. When they are dead move slighty to the left so you can see the next ones. The first guards will be healed by the mage but if you are a high enough level they should die after a few attacks even with the healing. Continue with this strategy until all the guards are dead and you can skip the Fort Drakon part entirely.

Type V
It is also possible to fight Ser Cauthrien alone(plus 0-2 guards) and then defeat the big group. To do so, as soon as the battle begins, run back to the large room beyond Anora's old cell(Vaughan may be there if you freed him) and, optionally, use a character or a ranger pet to close the door to the main entrance repeatedly as soon as the guards open it. Ser Cauthrien should follow. Fight her alone, it may be still be very difficult as her attacks do lots of damage, misdirection hex is extremely helpful here. The Warden's main advantage is her slowness when attacking: during the attack animation, there is more than enough time for the targeted party member to take 1 or even 2 potions while the other hit her. If there is only one left, time her attacks to yours.

Type VI (Kiting)
It is possible to kite Cauthrien. Assuming you have isolated her (perhaps by using a method mentioned above). A mage with Crushing Prison and Stonefist is needed. Start of by casting Crushing Prison on Cauthrien. This will provide a lot of threat. Enough to have the boss stuck on your mage the entire battle. It is very important to keep your mage on the move. Don't stop until you reach the end of your selected kiting route. At this point throw Stonefist on the boss (pray for it not to resist) and kite back the way you came from. During this time the rest of the party can safely nuke her down. Anything that will slow Cauthrien down is a plus. Using this technique you can manage to down the boss in 3-4 runs back and forth.

Type VII
Requires a high level, high powered mage with 80+ spellpower, Spell Might, Blizzard, and Tempest. Turn on Hold Position, run your mage to the room behind as soon as possible, and then move one or more of your tanks/fighters to back up the mage. Potions as needed to keep those you brought with alive. Stand about 3 body lengths away from the door, protect the mage, and have them cast Blizzard and Tempest, both centered at the main door in the entry room, the one over the other. This will summon a Storm of the Century, and if you positioned yourself right, you will take negligible damage, while Cauthrien and her brought lackeys should still be taking serious damage. Move your party if you're too close to the Storm and are taking damage. Attack her, heal yourself, and wait until she's dead.

The problem is, enemies aren't willing to stay inside. You'll need Cone of Cold to stop melee guards, prison (all other spells she resists often; if you don't have prison, use vulnerability hex at least) for Ser Cauthrien and Blizzard/Earthquake for ranged fighters. The best position is behind the doorpost, from where you can cast AoE spells upon enemies while staing out of sight.

Type VIII
Requires a high level Rogue, with a very high dexterity, and preferably Duelist, Assassin and Power of Blood specialisations. You will also need around 20+ health potions. Allow your party to die, and simply work through the weaker characters first - start with the mage, and then each of the archers, as they will have a better chance of hitting you. Cauthrien and her guards meanwhile should rarely connect and as long as you keep your health above half, cannot kill you while you are stunned. After taking out the archers, move onto the guards and finish with Cauthrien herself. Momentum and stun attacks will also be of help here.

Note : It is impossible for the rogue to enter in stealth mode during this combat even when mastering the skill. It is not even a failure, the game simply does not allow to enter this mode. However, as soon as Ser Cauthrien hereslf is dead the rogue can again use stealth mode. As there is a cut scene before the fight it means the very first foe to dispose of is Ser Cauthrien herself. Ser Cauthrien does not hit often but deals tremendous damage when she does, and the mage is a nasty one, well protected by warriors. For a single rogue party it is best not to take any chance here by attacking both in the same room but separately they are quite easy to dispatch. Lure Ser Cauthrian in the corridor and kill her with the 2-3 guards who will rush after you at the same time ( you should not take any damage). Then only return to the entrance room in stealth mode, go in backstab position behind the mage and kill him. Riposte and flurry followed by a dirty fighting work well. After that the remaining of the archers and guards should not be a problem for a high level rogue, even less if she can enter stealth mode during combat.

Alternate Idea - Place a large quantity of traps along the path before you open the door (50 should kill her before she even gets to swing).

- Freeze or imprison her right in the hall, retreat to the doorway and have your mages throw in all AoE they know. Use instant AoE controlling spell like Sleep or Earthquake to make archers stay where they are or sacrifice one of your characters by sending him in (he/she must be far enough from mages or their casting may be interrupted by scattershots). Double Blizzard and/or Earthquake will keep Ser Cauthrien inside the voidzone for a considerable period of time (don't forget to help her with Stonefists and Cones of cold), so she either dies within or leaves it with almost no hitpoints and can be nuked down before doing any damage.

- Switch to a Mage, immediately freeze the enemy Mage and attack till the mage dies; ignore everything else. This makes the battle much easier. - Bad idea; unless you freeze everybody, not only mage. Even if Ser Cauthrien is controlled or misdirected, bowmen scattershots are quite annoying.

Brute force approach:

Requires mage(s) with high spellpower, bloodwound an AOE spell and regeneration.

Tank uses taunt, mage(s) casts bloodwound followed by AOE spell(s) everything dies except Cauthirien who can be easily whittled down as long as you keep regeneration and heal on your tank. ( battle won on first atempt in around 20 sec on nightmare with 2 mages using bloodwound and inferno, Alistar as tank and Leilana as backstabbing assassin, both in Wades Superior )