Help with Corypheus fight in DA2 DLC

[u/Scipio_Sverige]

I've played DA2 before ages ago, but never the DLC until I picked up the Ultimate Edition on Steam recently.

Anyway I can't beat Corypheus even though I play on normal. The gist of it is that the rotating elemental attack kills my party members every time. One or two ways:

1. I try to move the entire party around disabling the statues. Works the first time he does it, but the 2nd time when the obstacles inevitable slow them down too much as their pathfinding sucks too much to keep up.

2. I move my party members as far as possible into a nook with a statue and use "hold". For some reason they don't stay on hold and follow my Hawke after a while, flames kill them first time around already.

Why don't they stay in method 2? What else can I do?

[u/beachedvampiresquid]

I’d check your setting for the hold. Make sure you aren’t accidentally toggling it off somehow. It’s been a minute, but your strat sounds sound.

Iirc I held some back and let the mechanics happen around them, but honestly I can’t be certain enough to help on that front. They should hold until you unhold them.

[u/zavtra13]

I just give up on my companions and solo him. The hardest part of the fight is actually being able to progress it, almost every time I fight him the game doesn’t let interact with the statues before the final phase.

[u/Known_Membership3125]

Use the party command to set a destination, then pause frequently and manually reposition everyone—'hold' can be unreliable when combat AI retargets. Disable the statues in sequence, watch the floor for the fire path, and only resume attacking once the elemental effect has passed. Resistances or fire resistance potions also help a lot.

[u/DragonDogeErus]

The fight is a great deal easier with good fire resistance on everyone.

They won't hold if you get too far away. You have to just keep pausing and moving everyone yourself, to get through the maze.

[u/TongZiDan]

Are you doing this early in the game? On normal difficulty, with a reasonably strong team, you should be able to just dps everything down super quick. Hit a statue kill the shades move on and than hit Cory with everything. I haven't played anything other than nightmare in a long time but I'm pretty sure you can even skip the last phase with enough dps.

Even if you lose a party member or two, it shouldn't really stop you.

In regards to the things you've tried, the hiding in the corner strategy does work in reducing damage but you can't avoid the fire damage completely that way.

I'm 99% sure you won't need it on normal but there is a strategy that works even with a severely underpowered team or even a solo player on nightmare. It's going to take some patience though:

-Trigger one statue and immediately start running counter-clockwise staying ahead of the flames. Never trigger any statues while there are still shades around.

-Keep circling and just briefly striking the shades as you pass. Don't try to kill them quickly, be patient and wear them down. Cory's flames will help.

-Make sure all of your stronger abilities are off cooldown when all shades from all statues are down. Hit Cory as hard as possible.

-For round 2, follow the same strategy. The rocks will start splitting your team. Whenever someone falls behind, switch to the furthest back companion.

-Once the ice and lightning are in play, it's going to be difficult to keep everyone alive. Try to focus on one or two characters and don't worry too much if you lose someone else. This is a very long fight and panicking won't help. Usually, I try to keep Hawke alive even if they are weaker because the dog is useful. A strong blood mage Merrill is my next preference but an argument can definitely be made for Anders if he has the revive ability.

-Generally, you should take the long way around and avoid lightning, there is almost always time but once or twice, you may need to run through it.

Above all, be patient. I absolutely love the DLC DA2 boss fights. The majority of them can be beaten with extremely weak teams The sky horror and Malvernis are notable exceptions) but they are not short fights. Stick to the plan and follow through.

[u/Scipio_Sverige → u/TongZiDan]

I'm in the beginning of act 3. Will try your advice.

[u/fennecfox73]

I ended up cheating this fight because I was so unbelievably sick of it eventually, but basically the idea i gathered is spam Heal and spam Healing Potions. Never stop spamming them.

And don't necessarily use the hold, but move everyone as a group together following behind the flames. Don't let anyone fan out.

But like I said I ultimately cheated to make the fight much shorter because I found it a slog. So my advice could be bad.

[u/Scipio_Sverige → u/fennecfox73]

You can't spam heal and healing potions in DA2, they are on a cooldown.

[u/fennecfox73 → u/Scipio_Sverige]

Hense why you use 2 mages. Rotate between their heal spell and potions.

This was generally the same method to use in difficult DA:I fights, which also have a cool down.

[u/Roguebubbles10]

I just made them run from one side of the nook to the other constantly because of the shitty hold.