Dragon Age: Inquisition Characters and Builds Overview

Mastering the combat of Dragon Age: Inquisition requires a deep understanding of the 12 distinct specializations available to the Inquisitor and their nine companions. Success on higher difficulties, particularly Nightmare, hinges on balancing your party roles—Tank, Support, and Damage Dealer—while exploiting elemental weaknesses and cross-class combos.

Core Party Roles & Build Philosophies

Every effective party composition should follow a structured role distribution to ensure survival and high damage output:

• The Anchor (Tanks): Primarily Warriors using the Vanguard tree. Their goal is to generate Guard and Draw Hostility. Blackwall is the premier tank due to his Champion specialization, while Cassandra provides utility against demons as a Templar.
• The Artillery (Ranged DPS/Support): Mages and Archers provide consistent pressure from the backline. Mages focus on Barriers (Spirit tree) for party health preservation, while Archers like Varric or Sera excel at high single-target burst damage.
• The Striker (Melee DPS): Rogues using Dual Blades or Warriors using Two-Handed weapons. These builds, such as Iron Bull’s Reaver spec, trade survivability for massive AOE or critical hit damage.

Warrior Companions & Builds

Warriors serve as the frontline. Whether focusing on Weapon and Shield for defense or Two-Handed for offense, they rely on 'Taunt' and 'Challenge' to control the battlefield.

• Blackwall (Champion): The ultimate "unkillable" tank. Focus on the Walking Fortress ability to negate all incoming damage.
• Cassandra (Templar): Essential for rifts and mage-heavy encounters. Use Wrath of Heaven paired with Spell Purge for a massive AOE stun/damage combo.
• Iron Bull (Reaver): A high-risk, high-reward DPS. Prioritize Dragon-Rage but ensure he has sufficient Life Drain items to offset the health costs.

Rogue Companions & Builds

Rogues are the primary source of burst damage and battlefield manipulation through stealth and traps.

• Varric (Artificer): A powerhouse of critical hits. Focus on Hail of Arrows and passive abilities that reduce cooldowns whenever a party member crits.
• Sera (Tempest): Excels at rapid-fire attacks. Use Flask of Fire to spam abilities without stamina costs, or Flask of Lightning to freeze time.
• Cole (Assassin): The king of single-target elimination. Build him for Hidden Blades and Mark of Death to take down bosses quickly.

Mage Companions & Builds

Mages provide essential utility through the Spirit tree (Barrier) and elemental crowd control.

• Solas (Rift Mage): Best for crowd control. Use Pull of the Abyss to group enemies together for AOE spells.
• Dorian (Necromancer): Specializes in fear mechanics and damage-over-time. Walking Bomb is his signature move for clearing groups of enemies.
• Vivienne (Knight-Enchanter): A melee-range battlemage. Her Spirit Blade allows her to act as an off-tank while dealing massive barrier damage.

The Inquisitor: Custom Build Paths

Unlike companions, the Inquisitor can choose any specialization within their class. When planning your build, consider the "Golden Bridge" approach: dipping into neighboring trees for passives (like Clean Burn in the Fire tree for Mages) before committing fully to a specialization at Skyhold. Your build should complement your favorite companions to avoid role redundancy.