Witherfang

Witherfang is the head of a pack of werewolves that have been fighting Zathrian's clan of Dalish elves during the events of the Fifth Blight.

Background

When the Warden arrives in the Dalish Camp at the Brecilian Forest, Zathrian reveals that his clan were ambushed by werewolves and several hunters are now afflicted with the werewolf curse. Zathrian claims that Witherfang is the source of the curse -- and that he needs Witherfang's heart to try to cure his hunters before he can uphold the terms of the Grey Warden treaties.

Involvement

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Origins.

Witherfang was a great wolf to which Zathrian bound the spirit of the forest centuries earlier in order to get revenge on the humans that murdered his son and raped his daughter. Witherfang hunted the humans, slaying some and passing the werewolf curse through his blood to others. These cursed humans were driven into the forest, and remained there when their tribe left. The curse passed on to their descendants. With Zathrian refusing every one of the werewolves' summons, they resorted to ambushing his clan to spread the curse to them and thus force a confrontation.

When asked to join the cause against the Blight, Zathrian explains that the elves afflicted with the curse will soon either die or turn into werewolves, and thus they cannot uphold their obligation to aid the Grey Wardens. He states that if Witherfang is killed and its heart brought to him, it might be possible to fashion a cure for the curse. When the Warden finally arrives at the Werewolf Lair, he/she discovers that the Lady of the Forest/Witherfang desires to parley rather than fight. She asks the Warden to bring Zathrian to her in order to try to convince him to end the curse.

Strategy

If you decide to side with Zathrian and kill Witherfang, it will be assisted by several werewolves including Swiftrunner. Witherfang uses many of the same abilities as wolves. Upon defeat, it drops Heart of Witherfang and an Expert Cold Iron Rune.

Skills

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

Overwhelm (werewolf) — 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

Overwhelm (deepstalker) — 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.

Shred may refer to:

Shred, a talent used by Dog, mabari, wolves and Witherfang.
Shred (dragon), a talent used by dragons.
Shred (monster), with the ability id 90039 actually isn't implemented.

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Witherfang

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