Arishok (strategy)

For the character, see Arishok.

Elemental resistances

• Frost: Very weak
• Nature: Very weak
• Electricity: Mild resistance, or immune for Nightmare mode
• Fire: Mild resistance, or immune for Nightmare mode
• Spirit: Normal

Abilities

• Impale
• Rush
• Slice

Special traits

• Immune to flanking
• Immune to knockdowns
• Immune to immobile
• Immune to paralyzed
• Immune to enslavement
• Very high defense
• High health and fortitude
• Medium bonus to damage
• Weak attack

Strategy

When dueling the Arishok, it is best to move constantly. Moving in a figure eight pattern around the two columns in the room is particularly effective. He attacks slowly, but hits very hard. It is best to move in front of him, and as soon as he starts to attack, quickly move 45 degrees from his front. His attack will miss and allow for a few attacks free from damage. When he bows, move fully out of his way for the charge. When he starts to spin his weapons, move fully back, as the reach of his weapon is longer than the weapon itself. From time to time, he will also perform an attack that will impale you on his sword dealing heavy damage. It is nearly impossible to avoid this if you're in melee and, once the attack is done, you must flee and heal immediately as he will often follow up with his spinning weapons attack. They are impossible to avoid at close range and will deal a huge amount of damage. He also has at least three potions, which he'll use when his health drops below 50%; players with very good twitch skills can sometimes interrupt him with a stun, and on very low difficulty levels it's possible to kill him fast enough that he doesn't get a chance to use them, but otherwise just figure his health bar is effectively twice as long as it looks.

Mages

The easiest class to win this duel with is, ironically, probably a mage. The Arishok's magical resistances are quite poor when compared with his titanic defense and armor rating, and like all Qunari, he is very vulnerable to cold and nature damage. His attacks are easiest to anticipate and stay clear of by staying at range - it's trivially easy, if exceedingly tedious, to simply kite him indefinitely around the room, tossing off auto-attacks from a cold staff while your hexes and Winter's Grasp are on cooldown and pausing every few shots to run a little further away. Properly upgraded Spirit Healers don't even need to kite; with the protection of Rock Armor and near-infinite healing provided by a fully upgraded Aura with full passives, you can just start the duel, start an auto-attack and then go make dinner while your de facto invulnerable PC plinks his health away. Force mages will have a tougher time using their spec and should stick to basics, as his ridiculous HP pool makes him essentially immune to force effects, although Gravitic Ring can immobilise him and give you some distance. Horror is particulary useful as it's stun time is long enough to unload plenty of spells into him or if you prefer, it will give you the time to safely cast an AoE attack.

Also a good combination of spells is either Winters Grasp or Cone of Cold to slow him down and then an AoE spell like Firestorm or Tempest. And then all you have to do is run through the spell and he will take a lot more damage than usual. It is possible to immobilize him with spells such as Petrify or Gravitic Ring, then unleash your most powerful moves before he frees himself.

If you have access to a Maker's Sigh potion you can quickly retalent before he has a chance to land a hit on you. An oddball combination spec with Rock Armor, upgraded Winter's Grasp and Cone of Cold, and upgraded single-target abilities from the elemental and spirit trees can take him down ridiculously quickly if you chug lyrium potions to use all your spells on cooldown. If you watch for his charge the most healing you'll need is a health potion or two if he catches you with his impaling attack. This spec isn't much good outside of this particular fight though.

Rogues

Due to the heavy melee threat of the Arishok, rogues can benefit from a similar strategy; even a dual-weapon rogue might consider equipping a bow and playing kite-around-the-columns if you're having a hard time dodging his attacks. It should be known that if you get too close to him, he will impale Hawke on his sword and finish him/her off. Hawke takes some time to recover once impaled and will get hit by the next attack. Backstab is also highly useful as a repositioning tool, allowing a rogue to jump immediately into the safe space behind the Arishok when he makes a forward attack, as is Evade - particularly with the stun upgrade, as the Arishok is very vulnerable to stuns for the first half or so of the fight, and again once his health drops to around 20%. This stun vulnerability makes Miasmic Flask a useful trick as well. Archer rogues can benefit from Pinning Shot in much the same way as stuns, and can deal substantial damage by dumping stamina into Archer's Lance or Assassinate after the Arishok charges, or when he's stunned by Miasmic Flask. Shadow rogues are also at a significant advantage, as the Arishok is utterly fooled by Decoy - sometimes to the point of glitching, and standing there motionless and unresisting even after the decoy wears off.

Warriors

Warriors may have the hardest time defeating him in head-on combat. Generally speaking, as a warrior, it is easiest to be constantly moving around the Arishok in a circle. When he begins an attack, continue to sidestep and pause the game as quickly as possible. Once the game is paused, you should be able to tell if he is going to use one of his two standard attacks or the spinning weapon attack. The two standard attacks hit only in his front arc, so if your warrior is completely clear of his front arc feel free to attack. If not, get behind him and attack. If the timing on this is perfect, it is possible to get three swings off before the Arishok completes his attack. If you were not completely clear and had to keep moving, it is ill advised to go for more than two hits. If he is spinning his weapons, you must run away as quickly as possible as this will deal massive damage (possibly killing you outright). Liberal use of stuns is highly recommended - Pommel Strike and upgraded Devour, if you have them, are particularly useful - as they last quite a while and let you get in a lot of good hits safely. Be sure to stock up on stamina pots and abilities like Bolster and Second Wind as well, since you'll have no one to kill to restore your stamina during this extensive battle of attrition. The best specialization for fighting him as a warrior is far and away the Reaver, if for nothing more than the devour ability and its heal/possible stun; Templars may appreciate the stunning upgrade to Holy Smite but are still largely at a disadvantage compared to Reavers and Berserkers and might consider a temporary respec if possible.

If you are having a difficult time with this battle as a melee character, using a potion of stone armor and fell poison can make all the difference in the world. Combustion grenades are also incredibly useful due to their 100% stun proc during most of the fight as are Tar Bombs. Dog, if you have him, will contribute basically no damage and will die quite quickly, but can be helpful in keeping the Arishok's attention from time to time if needed. Furthermore, have belts and rings that feature health (and maybe stamina) restoration attributes, which will be helpful when you run out of potions. When you do run out of potions, use your HP like currency- fight conservatively when you're low and go for more risky, aggressive play when you have more.

It should be noted that the Arishok's Impale attack can bug, resulting in him tossing you out of the ring, or even out of the level geometry (getting stuck through the wall, for example). Characters with ranged weapons or two-handers with Giant's Reach can sometimes exploit this, since it's still possible to damage him even when he can't reach you.

Bugs

• In Hawke vs Arishok duel, if Arishok skewers Hawke while Arishok's back is up against the short wall (to the right of the stairs with balcony above), Hawke may wind up ON the balcony after skewer maneuver is over. From there, can't get down. Can only use abilities that don't require a target. Not an issue if Mage really. Rogue or Warrior is tougher though. Limited availability of damage-dealing area abilities such as Tremor, Holy Smite. Can summon Mabari too. Can't throw grenades either. Arishok can't harm you though so suggest swapping armor, weapons etc so as to maximize damage dealt don't worry about armor/defense etc... It takes a while to deplete Arishok health from balcony. Once defeated, cut scene puts you back on proper footing.