Corrupted spider queen

Corrupted spider queen
Rank	Boss
Location	Ortan Thaig
Variations	Corrupted spider Corrupted spider queen Giant poisonous spider Giant spider Giant spiderling Monstrous spider Poisonous spider Queen spider Spiderling Thaig crawler Venomous spider
Appearances	Dragon Age: Origins Heroes of Dragon Age

The Corrupted spider queen is a the corrupted version of the Spider queen which was caused by the darkspawn taint. The species is generally faster and stronger than their untainted cousins, an effect of feeding off smaller darkspawn.

Involvement

This creature appears near Branka's Journal in the Ortan Thaig during the later stages of A Paragon of Her Kind. The Warden triggers her appearance by nearing the spot marked with a green dot on the map.

Before reaching the Corrupted spider queen, the Warden must fight through two Genlock emissaries and some normal corrupted spiders. Make sure to destroy both groups, or they will assist the Corrupted spider queen.

Statistics

The Corrupted Spider Queen's level ranges from 12 to 16. The following statistics are for level 16.

Health	Stamina	Attack	Defense	Armor
1247	230	97	104	21

Physical Resistance	Mental Resistance	Fire	Cold	Shock	Nature	Spirit
59	13	-10%	0	0	75%	0

• She has no natural spell resistance, but as a boss, she receives +7.5 spell resistance, which is further adjusted by difficulty settings.
• She also has Evasion, which gives +20% dodge chance and +20% chance to resist stun/knockdown.

Skills

Corruption Burst

For the dog talent, see Overwhelm.

For the Spider/Bear Shape talent, see Overwhelm (ability).

For the bear (monster) ability, see Overwhelm (bear).

For the deepstalker ability, see Overwhelm (deepstalker).

For the dragon ability, see Overwhelm (dragon).

For the shriek ability, see Overwhelm (shriek).

For the spider (monster) ability, see Overwhelm (spider).

Information

A werewolf leader using Overwhelm

• This talent generates an auto-hit.
• The target is incapacitated and hit several times, each for normal attack damage from the attacker.
• It is generally activated by the AI when the target dips to 50% or less health, as this is the default tactic for creatures with Overwhelm of any type. In Awakening, enemies would use this ability even when the target is at full health.
• Can be interrupted by effects that have higher animation priority, including knockdown, paralyze, root (Pinning Shot), draining (Crushing Prison), "heavy impact" (Mighty Blow), and fear.

Used by

• Bears: Great Bear and Bereskarn
• Deepstalkers: Deepstalker leader and Deepstalker matriarch
• Children: All variations
• Dragons: Dragons and Drakes
• Dogs: Dogs and Alpha Dogs
• Sand stalkers: Sand stalker leader
• Spiders: All variations, except Spiderlings and Giant spiderlings
• Werewolves: All variations, including Swiftrunner and Gatekeeper
• Wolves: All variations, including Witherfang
• Shrieks: All variations, including Shriek (thrall)

Notes

A deepstalker leader using Overwhelm

• This ability can fail to execute properly in some cases due to obstructed line of sight.
• Overwhelm only affects humans, elves, dwarves, Qunari, hurlocks, and genlocks. All classes with Overwhelm are immune to its effect. A shapeshifted mage, Shale, and Dog are immune to Overwhelm.
• Several enemies in a group can easily chain-Overwhelm against a solo character, which may be lethal for units with little armor, and very annoying and time consuming for highly armored characters, as openings to counterattack are few, short-lived, and far between. This threat is greatest when facing a large group of Shadow werewolves, as they can Overwhelm a defenseless party member from Stealth, evading countermeasures.
• This attack cannot be countered or mitigated by Misdirection Hex, as it does not need to confirm attack result.
• Some abilities grant a target the "damage ward" effect which makes the target immune to damage. This effect completely negates Overwhelm. These abilities include Force Field, Strength of Stone, and Carapace after being upgraded by Bulwark of the Ages.
• Some modal abilities apply on the character a special effect which has higher animation priority than Overwhelm. This means the character cannot be interrupted by Overwhelm when any of these abilities is active. These abilities include Captivating Song, Unending Flurry, and Reaving Storm.
  

Poison Spit
Web

Loot

Bloodline
Silk Weave Gloves
4-5

Strategy

Outside the spider's lair, there are two Genlock emissaries who call normal corrupted spiders for backup. Make sure to kill these before engaging the Corrupted Spider Queen, or they will assist her in the boss battle.

Contrary to basic instinct, it is better to engage with the Queen in melee rather than at range. She is fond of using Poison Spit in quick succession against ranged characters, which deals tremendous amount of nature damage that can easily take down any character even with Shimmering Shield active. Her Overwhelm, on the other hand, is much less dangerous (for Arcane Warriors and sword-and-shield warriors at least) and can be easily interrupted.

Every 25% of her health you damage, the Queen will shoot a long-lasting Web at your entire party and withdraw back into her lair. However, the Queen herself is not invincible during the transition: a mage with high spellpower could potentially kill the creature using damage-over-time spells (Blood Wound and Flame Blast) out of sight. Be cautious that it might cause two waves of spider minions to spawn simultaneously.

Try to take out her minions first; they will use Overwhelm to interrupt your attacks on her, which can be distracting and dangerous.

Tips and alternate strategies

• Using two melee fighters, an archer and a spirit healer in hold mode: positioning the range fighters in the back of the cavern and using the tank to pull as few minions as possible, it is possible to get the Queen to disengage upon retreating, allowing you to save your game.
• Using two high-level mages: tactically use Force Field to hinder the Queen when she has her minions summoned. Kill the minions while she cannot move. Use Cone of Cold or Force Field to prevent members from being Overwhelmed.
• Taking advantage of the bridge as a choke point: position party members at the side of the bridge furthest from the Spider Queen area, and send one member to bait the minions. This is a time-consuming method, but saves supplies.
• Blood Magic can make this fight very easy, as Blood Wound can disable an arbitrary amount of Corrupted Spiders for a long time and Blood Control allows you to even the odds by taking over one of the minions. Ideally, you want to do this as a "last resort" option when a vital party member gets Overwhelmed.
• A solo rogue with expert Trap-Making can easily defeat the Queen by stealth-laying multiple firetraps near the corner.

Pulling the Queen

A rogue in stealth, or a sufficiently quick and lucky tank, can be used to selectively pull the queen - ensure your party is held out of sight and trigger the queen with the rogue and then run around a corner.

The Queen will not web the rogue and will be dormant. Attack the Queen with the rogue from a distance with a flask then run back towards the party. The Queen will follow even if the rogue is still in stealth mode.

Once the Queen is within spitting distance of a visible member it will stop moving; as long as it is out of sight from the spawn point, you should be all right.

Simply Sleep, Horror, and Nightmare the Queen and go to melee town on it with your party. As soon as it comes to, it will web and go to the ceiling. Your party is out of sight of the spawn point so can rest/save and then the stealthed rogue can pull the Queen again. Rinse and repeat.

You will find that a lot of corrupted spiders are spawned using this method, but lots of fireballs and sleep/horror/nightmare with some selective pulling (they should pull in twos) makes short work of them.

Gallery

Location of the creature

Tier 1 Corrupted Spider Queen in Heroes of Dragon Age

Tier 4 Corrupted Spider Queen in Heroes of Dragon Age