Archdemon

Archdemon
Rank	Elite Boss
Skills	Flight, Fire Blast, Unknown Fire DOT, Cleave
Location	Visions, Dead Trenches, Fort Drakon
Variations	Dragonling Drake Dragon High Dragon Archdemon
Affiliation	Darkspawn
Appearances	'Dragon Age: Origins'

No one knows what it is that drives the darkspawn in their relentless search for the sleeping Old Gods. Perhaps it is instinct, as moths will fly into torch flames. Perhaps there is some remnant of desire for vengeance upon the ones who goaded the magisters to assault heaven. Whatever the reason, when darkspawn find one of these ancient dragons, it is immediately afflicted by the taint. It awakens twisted and corrupted, and leads the darkspawn in a full-scale invasion of the land: a Blight.

—From Codex entry: Archdemon

Archdemons are the Old Gods manifested in the form of powerful and terrifying dragons, and tainted by darkspawn. They possess an intelligence far beyond the average dragon and are purely evil creatures.

Normally, the darkspawn are organized as a simple hive-mind concerned only with expanding the horde and finding an Old God. They rarely appear on the surface except in raids and small invasions. However, a true Blight begins when the darkspawn find a leader who unites them into a great horde and unleashes them onto the surface in a wave of darkness and destruction. This leader is an Archdemon and a Blight will not end until the Archdemon leading it is destroyed.

Since the dwarves managed to fend off the darkspawn invasion of the Deep Roads

after the First Blight, no Archdemon has led a Blight against them.

The Archdemon in the Dead Trenches

---

This section contains spoilers for:
{{{context}}}.

---

The first appearance of an archdemon in the game occurs when The Warden drinks the tainted blood of the darkspawn during the Joining. However, when the Warden travels to the Dead Trenches, an Archdemon will be seen in the flesh. The Archdemon in the game was a Tevinter god of beauty named Urthemiel.

The Warden discovers on the eve of the Battle of Denerim that the Archdemon must be killed by a Grey Warden. If killed by anyone else, as Riordan explains, it will move into the body of the closest Darkspawn (who are soulless), making it almost immortal, short of exterminating every Darkspawn in existence. However, if a Grey Warden is the one to kill it, the Archdemon will seek out the body of the Grey Warden. The result of two souls attempting to occupy the same body causes both to be destroyed. As the eldest surviving Grey Warden, Riordan volunteers to be the one to slay the Archdemon.

Battle of Denerim

The capital of Denerim is the site of a major darkspawn offensive and this is where The Warden will fight the Archdemon, with the help of the allies gained by using the Grey Warden treaties. At first there is no real sight of the Archdemon until it is seen flying over the city followed by a charge of human soldiers.

The next sighting of the Archdemon is at the Alienage, as the Warden and allies take their leave of the area after saving the Alienage (or possibly leaving it to a grisly fate) and disposing of the Hurlock General there, the Archdemon will make an appearance - flying overhead and destroying the bridge making it impossible for the group to turn back.

The remnants of whatever troops Riordan had led into the area dealing with darkspawn, Riordan himself will be atop a tower where he ends the life of a darkspawn before the Archdemon takes notice of his presence. The Archdemon swoops past the tower and Riordan jumps onto the Archdemon's back and keeping himself on board as it flies through the air by stabbing his sword into its back. The Archdemon struggles to be rid of Riordan it eventually tosses him off, but in the throw Riordan pierces the Archdemon's wing and slices through it as he falls off to his death. The Archdemon however suffers from the blow and crashes into Fort Drakon where it awaits the Warden while it slaughters whatever soldiers are stationed there.

As the Warden reaches the top of the fortress. The Warden is greeted by the sight of the Archdemon making quick work of some Human soldiers, it's at last time for the final battle...the battle that will end the Blight.

Tactics

---

This section contains spoilers for:
{{{context}}}.

---

Archdemon has some powerful abilities, such as cleave in front of him (from back when he turns), fire 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.

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 Bastilicas  they are very affective 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.

See also

• Codex: Archdemon