Some abilities in Dragon Age 2 leave an enemy in a special state like brittle or disoriented. Those effect can be exploited by using talents of other party members that have an increased effect on enemies in that state.
To use those combinations more effectively it would be nice to recognize which effect an enemy is under. How exactly do these status effect look like? Are there any other ways to see which effects are active on an enemy?
The three class combo statuses (Brittle, Staggered and Disoriented) each have an icon that is given whenever they are mentioned on the ability description pages. Like so (apologies for the colour contrast, but the game's UI is dark):
Whenever a combatant is suffering from one of these statuses, they have a three-dimensional version of the icon floating above them. Here's are some screen shots of enemies who are afflicted by these three statuses:
Brittle
Staggered
Disoriented
Finally, note that the easiest way to take advantage of the class combo statuses is to configure your party members' tactics so that they respond to an enemy who has the relevant status with a relevant ability.
I'm playing a Warrior, and when I use Pummel it displays "Stunned" near the enemy. I believe it does the same for brittle and disorientated as well, but I'm not positive.
I did turn on the setting to show the amount of damage I'm doing in combat, so that might be required for this - I'm not positive about that.
"Stunned" is a different effect, that's usually caused by the same attack as one of the three big Status Effects. (Pummel will Stun, and the improved version also Staggers what it stuns.) Only the cross-class three have icons, so the others give different clues.
