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Arl Rendon Howe is a boss encountered in the dungeon of the Arl of Denerim's Estate during the quest Rescue the Queen.
General Information[]
- As a boss, he receives +7.5 spell resistance, which is further adjusted by difficulty settings.
- He has 46 Strength, 60 Dexterity, 62 Cunning, and 27 Constitution.
Equipment[]
Biteback Axe (main hand)
Dagger (off-hand)
- As Howe is a level 19 enemy, his off-hand dagger will be made of dragonbone.
Skills[]
- Howe is a dual-wielding rogue, with the Assassin specialization. Keep this in mind as he will cast Mark of Death almost immediately into the battle, softening up his target for his backup of two warriors and two mages.
- He has access to all talents in the Rogue and Assassin talent groups. He does not have any Dual-Weapon talents, however.
- As he has Lethality, his Cunning is used to calculate attack damage instead of Strength.
Strategy[]
By this point in the game, your party should have several crowd-control abilities, particularly those that are strong enough even to disable Howe while you eliminate his help.
- Alistair's tanking abilities are useful, particularly since the closed nature of the fight means that both sides will take some serious hits before it's over. He should have a full Weapon-And-Shield tree unlocked, and be wearing the best armor you can find. Weapons should be of similar quality, which will allow him to put down the warriors who will naturally come after him
- Morrigan should have unlocked a full array of powerful spells for usage at this point, and if you're not worried about friendly fire, or if it isn't enabled due to the difficulty, one can cast a 'group' spell like Death Cloud or Tempest to deal constant damage to Howe and his goons. In general, her disabling powers will be very helpful at incapacitating the enemy and turning the tide in favor of your team.
- Leliana should have unlocked all of her Archery talents by now. She should be wearing the best light armor you can find, and ideally, wielding Marjolaine's Recurve or The Sorrows of Arlathan. Scattershot can be useful at dealing damage to the entire horde, and Arrow of Slaying is her strongest weapon, able to seriously damage Howe if it connects. Shattering Shot will compromise the warriors' armor, making them easy prey for your team.
- Oghren and Sten should have mastered their Two-handed trees by now, in addition to gaining specializations. Oghren's Berserker tree is particularly helpful for dealing high damage to Howe with each blow. Taking the Templar specialization with either will enable them to deal with the enemy mages. At this point in the campaign, both should be equipped with the best two-handed warrior's gear you can find, preferably one of the massive armor sets and a quality two-handed weapon.
- Wynne provides support and healing, which can be quite helpful, given the cramped nature of the battle can lead to area of effect damage becoming quite a threat to the party. Keeping the enemy off of her is vital to ensuring success, and so a Warrior with Taunt and Threaten will go a long way to ensuring Wynne provides maximum effectiveness on the field.
- Zevran can match Howe blow-for-blow, but Howe has the home field advantage and substantially higher health. That being said, provided his dexterity has been boosted to a substantial degree, he is equipped with quality armor and weapons, and his talents and tactics have been mapped out properly, Zevran can take Howe in an even fight. Giving him the Duelist specialization will aid greatly in protecting Zevran and allowing him to seriously damage Howe.
Generally speaking, Howe is too powerful to destroy straight out of the gate, meaning that disassembling his backup before focusing on him is the best option. The mages also have healing magic, which they will use on Howe to keep his health up. The party Warrior(s) should use Taunt and Threaten to draw the attention of the enemy away from the more fragile members of the team, allowing them to back the squad up with their own support fire. Howe's mages should die first, they're the most threatening due to their spells, and Alistair's Templar abilities (or those of Oghren and/or Sten, if applicable) will go a long way towards defeating them. The Warriors shouldn't be too much trouble, unless they get too close to a 'fragile' party member.
As for Howe himself, he's a rogue, which means he fights dirty. Expect Mark of Death and other incapacitating moves to come out, which will usually mean someone with high defense and armor is best suited for a face-to-face confrontation. Everyone else should focus on weakening Howe by any means necessary - fellow warriors can hold him up and keep him from attacking the rogues and mages of the team, while Howe's defenses can be weakened by rogue talents and an array of status effects can be used by the mages to bring him down in relative safety.