Let’s face it, theDragon Ageseries has never exactly revolved around the gameplay. Sure, fans tend to have their preferences between the tactical style ofDragon Age: Originsor the more action-oriented mechanics of later entries. But really, you’re probably there for the epic fantasy story, or perhaps the smooches.
But story focus aside, that’s not to say these games don’t provide some impressive gameplay moments. Notably, this includes several impressive and tense boss fights, containing a surprising amount of variety. Even when the combat is determined by dice rolls, some of these battles can really crank the adrenaline.
All of Dragon Age: Origins is spent leading up to a climactic final act, with the armies you’ve collected coming together for one final push againstthe invading darkspawn horde. But as exciting as that big trek through the war-torn city is, the actual last battle somehow tops it.
After a full game of suffering at the hands of the Archdemon’s minions, you can take out your frustrations by calling in your armies and fighting it yourself, or perhaps whittling away with a ballista from a safe distance. Either way, emotions run high with the knowledge that the Grey Warden who kills it must die themself. Or must they?
9The Ogre
Your First Look At A Larger, Terrifying World
As perhaps the first main boss fight you take on in Dragon Age: Origins, the ogre you find at the top of the Tower of Ishal sets the tone for the rest of the game. You find it eating the corpses of its previous victims, and now it stands between you and lighting the beacon that can save the army down below.
It’s the biggest thing you’ve seen up to that point, so when it starts jogging toward you, there’s a real fight or flight instinct that takes hold. Not only that, it will pick up party members and attack them repeatedly unless you can stun it. But stick it out and you’re likely to get one of the coolest kill animations in the game.
The Arishok’s boss fight can be memorable for several reasons, and if you’re laughing, you know one of them. The second act ofDragon Age 2involves dealing with a qunari invasion, and you just know the whole time that you’ll eventually have to fight their intimidating leader.
Impress the Arishok enough during your dealings with him, and he’ll offer the chance for a one-on-one duel during the act’s finale. Refuse, and you fight him and his soldiers with a full squad. Accept, and your ideal strategy involves spending a good 15 minutes running for your life and occasionally being impaled. Don’t worry, though.Your dog can be there too.
Despite the name “Dragon Age” just referring to the period in which the games take place, the games do include their share of dragons. But none are quite so stuffed with the scaly beasties asDragon Age: Inquisition, which gives you over a dozen of them to fight throughout the land.
These creatures, fittingly called high dragons, each pose a similar yet unique challenge. Some breathe fire, some breathe ice, others even shoot lightning. But when that epic music kicks in and you see one of those gargantuan forces of nature, you know you’re in for something special. Usually immolation.
6Corypheus
Taking Down A Narcissist Is Never Not Fun
When you first meet Corypheus in the Dragon Age 2: Legacy DLC, you barely even know what sort of creature you’re fighting. This ancient magister shoots flaming walls out in his sizeable prison as you attempt to banish him back from whence he came. But he pulls out all the stops in the sequel.
There’s no denying thatthe final battleof Dragon Age: Inquisition is a truly epic set piece. After spending the whole game foiling his plans, you finally fight Corypheus across a series of ruins floating in the sky as two dragons battle above. That’s not even just a boss battle anymore, that’s a metal album cover.
5Loghain Mac Tir
You Either Die A Hero…
Loghain Mac Tir spends pretty much all of Dragon Age: Origins hounding you, basically dividing the people of Fereldan in his misguided attempts to lead the country against the darkspawn. His decorated military service made him a hero in his own time, but that experience makes him all the more dangerous now.
Once you gather your forces, you face him at the Landsmeet and get your chance to end his threat once and for all. you’re able to strike him down then and there, or convince him that you can save Fereldan, recruiting him to your cause. This tense duel that decides the country’s fate remains a highlight of the game.
4Broodmother
You’ll Have Fleshy Nightmares For Days
The Broodmother is such an iconic part of Dragon Age: Origins that it was already scarring people in ads for the game before it was released. Broodmothers are birth-giving people, usually dwarves, who are corrupted into huge monstrosities that create more darkspawn, and there’s no good way for that to happen.
The battle is terrifying enough, with tentacles sprouting from the ground to ensure nowhere on the battlefield is safe, and the creature itself will give you nightmares. But the way it’s built up by the decaying woman Hespith’s eerie story and poem in the rooms beforeelevates the horror even further.
3Hakkon Wintersbreath
As If Gods Needed More Reason To Be Arrogant
Dragon Age: Inquisition excels in its high dragon fights. So when a new DLC came about with a cool new area to explore, it only made sense that it had to include another, and it would have to be the best.
Hakkon Wintersbreath is a dragon that holds the soul of a berserk Avvar god because that’s what dragons need: more danger. This fight is much like other high dragon battles but with a cool new icy setting and a foe who’s surprisingly chatty for someone breathing ice at you.
2Knight-Commander Meredith
Not Everyone Can Pull Off Red
Throughout Dragon Age 2, Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard goes from a harsh but protective military leader to increasingly vengeful and fearful of mages. So when her lust for more power against them involves acorrupted red lyrium idolturned into a sword, things were bound to get messy.
When you finally get to fight her at the end of the game, she’s become twisted by her fear and the lyrium into an abomination. She brings statues to life and sics everything she can at you while you and your allies from throughout the game all come together to take her down. Family reunions can be so dramatic.
1Saarath
The Bigger They Are, The Better They Explode
Players learned in Dragon Age 2 that the qunari shackle their mages (saarebas) out of fear of their power. In the Trespasser DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition, you see exactly why they fear that magic.
The battles against Saarath are pulse-pounding and you need to stay on your toes as this hulking qunari unleashes some of the most powerful magic you’ve seen from an enemy. Eventually, you realize the only way to defeat him is with your Inquisitor’s own overflowing magic in a move that caps off the intense final conflict in a spectacularly satisfying fashion.
