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Danny Dubs 86
302,933
Achievement won on 15 Nov 09TA Score for this game: 2,754
Posted on 15 November 09 at 16:19
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This solution has 56 positive votes and 3 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
As the others have mentioned, this is a cumulative achievement, meaning that the game counts all your darkspawn kills across all your playthroughs. More importantly, though, it also keeps track of all your darkspawn kills that were not saved - if you kill 10 darkspawn and die, needing to reload an earlier save, the game will keep track of those kills. In fact, I managed to get this achievement in a single playthrough when my 'Heroic Accomplishments' menu claimed that I had only killed about 850 darkspawn.
The trick, then, is to have a save file right before a big group of darkspawn. During the Final Battle, there are several places with 30-50 darkspawn. If you set the difficulty to 'Casual,' these guys can be taken down in a matter of minutes, netting a decent number of kills in a short period of time.
So, the best way to nab this achievement is probably to play the game normally up until you get the Final Battle quest and then create a new save file at the beginning of one of the areas with a bunch of waves of darkspawn. I think the Alienage is the best, although Defend the Gates and the Palace District would probably work, too. Then, just kill all the darkspawn and reload until the achievement pops. |
PtarThanes
70,659
Achievement won on 26 Feb 11TA Score for this game: 2,754
Posted on 26 February 11 at 17:38, Edited on 26 February 11 at 17:45
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This solution has 19 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Many have already found solutions for achievement, but details themselves seem to be all over the place. I will confrim my method of earning this achievement, including savegame strategy, as I do NOT think it is bugged.
I have the latest patch (as of the writing of this guide) and alll DLC installed. I did not uninstall the patch, clear cache, or transfer my saves to another Xbox 360 as some other sources have suggested.
As many others have pointed out, I can confirm my opinion that this counts for MAIN character kills only, while the main character is under your direct control. I do not believe that it counts other characters' kills while under your direct control. I also believe that this counts only for ONE playthrough, and not across all playthroughs. Simply put, your character must kill 1,000 darkspawn, by him/herself, in one playhthrough beginning to end.
My process and Savegame strategy:
Begin the final fight for Denerim after the march from Redcliffe. Eliminate Darkspawn at the gates and choose your party. I chose Allistair, Oghren, and Morrigan. I headed first to the Elven Alienage and immediately saved my game (overwriting a savegame previously used by this character.) Begin dialog with the elf, and nearly immediately it will auto-save. I held my party back while I went to work on the darkspwan with my main character.
There are sources that indicate that the quest line, started from the elf before the auto-save, must be completed before darkspawn are counted. I do not know if this is true as I did not test it specifically, but I completed the elf quest by speaking to Shianni at the tree after all darkspawn in the alienage were eliminated. After speaking to Shianni, I saved my game by overwriting a previous save, keeping the original Alienage save intact.
After saving the game, I loaded the AUTOSAVE to continue the Alienage from the beginning since there is no autosave after the darkspawn are eliminated from this area, nor is an autosave kicked off after speaking to Shianni. After eliminating darkspawn, the general, and speaking to Shianni a second time (a second full playthrough of the Elven Alienage from loading the autosave,) I saved the game again by overwriting a different, previous savegame.
By this time, there are four saves that I am keeping track of. As far as I can tell, the actuall savegame number doesn't hold any special meaning, so I'll use it to illustrate. Assume that all 20 slots are in use from previous saves throughout the game:
Elven Alienage (10) -- the end of 2nd playthrough of Alienage
Elven Alienage (9) -- the end of 1st playthrough of Alienage
Auto Save (1) -- the autosave from the beginning of Alienage
Elven Alienage (8) -- the beginning of the 1st Alienage
I simply alternated saves between (9) and (10) above at the end of each run.
Save 8 was never truly needed again, but I kept in in case I needed to go back just before the autosave was kicked off, or if I progressed too far on the bridge to kill darkspawn which would start the cutscene and kick off a new autosave.
Blight-queller unlocked as I killed the last darkspawn in the Alienage after about a dozen runs.
**other notes:
When first attempting this method, I chose Allistair, Morrigan, and Wynne as my party. Each Alienage run would crash after about two minutes of play. Some sources have observed this and indicated that too many darkspawn were spawning in the area, causing the game and the Xbox 360 to crash. I did observe the crashing, but may have identified the source: Wynne casting haste as a tactic.
Throughout the game, I had Wynne casting haste as a 'self > any' tactic throughout much of the game and didn't see a crash. It began happening regularly at the Alienage, and I noticed on two occasions Wynne, on screen, in the exact same spellcasting pose as the game froze and the Xbox 360 become unresponsive. I narrowed it down to this tactic. I then reloaded the game at the March to Denerim, chose my party omitting her, and continued as indicated in the guide above. |
skymadeofglass
116,760
Achievement won on 08 Oct 10TA Score for this game: 2,754
Posted on 08 October 10 at 11:36, Edited on 02 March 11 at 03:10
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This solution has 19 positive votes and 2 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Kill 1000 darkspawn for this achievement. While this is supposed to be a cumulative achievement across all playthroughs, it can be buggy so it's unclear what is exactly needed for it to unlock and whether all playthroughs actually count.
If you're having trouble and own the Awakening expansion, one solution is to make your companions hold at the start of the the quest to save the Keep [You can't do this if you decide to save Amarantine] and go to the front gate alone. As long as you are alone in this area infinite darkspawn will spawn here. Therefore it's just a case of killing until the achievement pops.
There are other suggestions such as playing offline and making sure you do not have the latest updates, but I used the Keep solution so it's the only one I can vouch for. |
sonnyforple
291,947
Achievement won on 12 Jul 10TA Score for this game: 2,049
Posted on 12 July 10 at 23:58
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This solution has 16 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
For those thinking that they can play the Awakening expansion to add to their kills, here is something I noticed.
I had gotten the 500 kill achievement sometime around the 3 out of 4 ending battles to see all the endings, so maybe I was at 600 or so. I played the Awakenings expansion, usually solo or having my team on hold so that I could get all the kills. The 1000 achievement never unlocked.
I went back to Origins to a save right before the last battle, then created a save at the Elven Alienage like others have suggested. I counted 430 kills before my 1000 kill achievement unlocked so obviously the Awakening kills didn't count going back. While getting the kills, I just loaded the same save over as I was low on health or killed all the easy enemies. Never did I have to re-save after killing. |
kspart23
169,798
Achievement won on 24 Feb 11TA Score for this game: 2,015
Posted on 24 February 11 at 03:49, Edited on 24 February 11 at 03:52
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This solution has 10 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
Just to let you know this is for MAIN Character kills, NOT Party kills. I kept wondering why it didn't unlock when it said i had 1250 darkspawn kills.
The other solutions mention getting a specific amounts of darkspawn kills but when you look at main character it just says kills. I used the 'skymadeofglass' guide on awakenings and by the time it unlocked my character had 1682 kills, so i must of also killed 682 other creatures. |
guthrum06
28,710
Achievement won on 11 Jan 10TA Score for this game: 1,385
Posted on 12 January 10 at 05:04
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This solution has 12 positive votes and 2 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
I have seen on some guides that you can't get this achievement on the first playthrough, but that's incorrect. I got this during the final battle, but well before I made it to the Archdemon. My "Darkspawn killed" count on the load screen remained below 1000, but I think the game must count ALL darkspawn you kill, including those that you kill before dying and having to reload your game.
An obviously easier way to get this (and to get the Defender achievement while your'e at it) is to not call any allies during the final battle, that way you save all of the Darkspawn for yourself. |
Gauderio
86,143
Achievement won on 26 Jan 11TA Score for this game: 2,754
Posted on 26 January 11 at 06:57
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This solution has 8 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
I got this by slightly altering the Elven Alienage method. I had a level 22 dual wield ranger. My party also included Lelliana. Speak with the elves and then -
1) Put party on hold position
2) Use Leliana to activate the Song of Courage
3) Head towards the gate
4) Save just before you get to the platforms
5) Go up to the top of the platform on the right
6) Stand in the front right corner (up against the building and also the wall looking out towards the darkspawn)
7) Watch small groups of ~5 run through the gate towards you and up the stairs
8) Fight the small groups of darkspawn at the top of the stairs
9) Return to front right corner to beckon more darkspawn
10) When they are all dead, save and the reload.
11) Lather, rinse, repeat.
Usually the ogre will stay where he knocked down the gate until after you've killed ~20-25 darkspawn. When he comes lure him onto the stairs and then use him to block the other darkspawn from coming up to hit you as well.
When archers stop on the ground to shoot at you, just move back to the beckon spot. They can't see you and will charge the stairs with their swords instead. Usually the general stays put and you can save him for last with no other bad guys to deal with at the same time.
The only time this method gets tough is when alpha darkspawn and an ogre come at you at the same time.
Using this method, you won't need to call additional armies for backup and should get 59-64 kills per go round (unless the Ogre takes out a handful with mass attack).
Each go round takes ~20-30 minutes. |
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This solution has 13 positive votes and 6 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
First off big thanks and shout out to achieve360points for this tip. Moving on...
This achievement is like catching Chlamydia, a right pain that only some of us have manage to catch however where there is a will, there's a way...
Play the game until you reach the 'Darkspawn battle at Denerim'.
Once you are given the chance to eliminate the generals, do so.
You want/need a scrapper team to help you – Shale, Sten, etc.
Give them the most powerful weapons, armour and accessories you have, specially anything that improves attack damage.
Take out the first general – pretty easy to do on casual.
Then off to the Eleven Alienage... Save at begin of the level.
Talk to Elves – send them away as you don't need them stealing Darkspawn kills.
You will need to call in Army support – Templar Knights worked well against the General. The reason for Army support is to distract the attention of the Ogres and General, if you don't keep them occupied they'll focus on you and your team – preventing you from getting kills and generally prolonging the fight.
Easy method for mass Darkspawn kills is to whore Holy Smite and Weapon Sweep – multi one hit kills on casual. Braap Braap!
There are around 50 Darkspawn here, you can kill around 35-45 of them depending on how macho you characters are. I was Level 20 and could pretty much annihilate any low level Darkspawn quickly.
Once you have eliminated all of the Darkspawn run back to the Elves, complete mission and SAVE in a new slot.
Reload the Alienage save file and redo the mission... over and over again.
Note: you MUST save in a new slot each time so that the game tallies up all your Darkspawn kills under that main character.
Abandon all hope of doing this quickly, as this will takes about 3 hours ( I had 521 DS kills before I started) but doesn't need to be done in one sitting and you don't need to clear cache either.
I'd suggest you put some music on to help pass the mind numbing boredom, a cold brewski or two will help too. Have fun. |
Moat Carp
370,587
Achievement not yet wonTA Score for this game: 144
Posted on 03 August 11 at 19:11
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This solution has 6 positive votes and 1 negative vote. Please log in to vote. |
Taken this from: http://www.xbox360achievements.org/forum/showthread.php?t=31...
I'm sure some people already found out about this, or don't really need it since the game has been out for so long. But for those who still need this achievement:
Needed:
Dragon Age Origins: Awakening
Optional: Turbo Controller
Basically just play through origins normally, once you get towards the ending of Awakening...
Small Spoilers:
Choose to save the Keep, after the first wave of enemies you will be transported back to the exit of the "Main Area" of the keep.
Put your party on hold, and run towards the exit of the actual Keep. Here you will notice some NPCs fighting Darkspawn, well just place yourself in the middle of the entrance.
If you have a turbo controller, just set it to A and leave it be.
Otherwise you can just keep spamming A.
This is an infinite spawn point so long as you don't walk back to the main area.
This works exceptionally well with a Ranged Rogue or a Mage, due to the ranged attacks. If you change difficulty to Casual you will be 1-shotting everything. I believe warriors can also get ranged weapons, but it also works with a melee weapon although a bit slower.
Anyway, with this method you can just play and enjoy Origins and Awakening without worrying about this achievement.
I'm not sure if this method is new or not, but it was a happy discovery I bumped into while playing Awakening.
Notes:
Kills from Origins do transfer to Awakening, I only needed around 200 when I got to the end.
No need to delete Cache or be offline. |
Aesir Prodigy
113,019
Achievement won on 19 Sep 11TA Score for this game: 2,754
Posted on 19 September 11 at 20:39, Edited on 25 September 11 at 21:41
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This solution has 5 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
I just unlocked this achievement while doing the "Save the Vigil" quest on Awakening. I kept my party back the entire time. The only thing not mentioned is that it technically isn't an infinite respawn point. Once the Heretic Disciples(and Armored Ogre) are dead, they stop respawning. There was nothing I could do to stop the soldiers from eventually killing the Disciples and the Armored Ogre. I was a level 34/35 Mage and kept using force field on the Disciples(and Armored Ogre) as much as possible. I advise following PtarThanes save advice while trying to get this achievement. I used his save method with 3 different saves.
1. Inside the Throne Room before talking to Varel to start the Quest...save. This was my reload point
2. After killing The Herald.
3. Another save after killing The Herald.
I just kept alternating overwriting saves 2 & 3 then reloading save 1. I saved the Vigil about 4 times before the achievement unlocked. My stats would always say my main character had 1500+ kills when I was done saving the Vigil. I used the Ultimate Edition and when I started Awakening I pretty much tried to kill everything myself while holding my party back. I believe I had around 1200-1300 kills before the "Save the Vigil" quest. |
Casino Don
74,727
Achievement won on 15 Jun 12TA Score for this game: 2,754
Posted on 15 June 12 at 18:34
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This solution has 2 positive votes and 0 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
I thought i would write down the method I used here as I have been trying for this achievement for ages and finally got it using a fresh playthrough. I had all DLC and game updates as of June 2012.
Game difficulty: Casual
Character class: Fighter
Start a new game on casual as a fighting character. Play through the game as normal, but in any areas where there are Darkspawn (Such as Orzamar) hold your party at the beginning of the map and then go around solo and kill all the darkspawn on your own (its fairly easy to do on casual but if you get stuck right at the beginning you can use your party a little). Play through the game doing this until the final battle. By now you should have around 600-700 Darkspawn kills. Play through the final battle until you get to the Alienage.
--- Alienage Battle (As in many other solutions)---
Speak to the elves and then create a new save point. Now progress and kill all of the darkspawn. Save the game in a new slot after you have killed the last Darkspawn in the Alienage. Then load the save game you made just after you spoke to the elves and repeat the process until the Achievement pops. Took me about 11 repeats and it popped finally!.
NOTE: If you dont hold your party members for the Alienage fight it will take longer as they will steal kills of of you.
Hope this helps you all |