Mage

DAI Mage casting Storm spells at a demon

Mage is your magic focused class in Dragon Age Inquisition. Their job is to study magic and slings spells. Like in previous Dragon Age games, they have a variety of damage and support spells to choose from, meaning not all mage characters will be built alike.

The mage has several skill trees available to them, each utilizes a different type of magic. Storm, Inferno, Winter, and Spirit are all available to a mage at game start. The first three are mainly damage focussed, but also have a variety of helpful abilities related to their element: electricity, fire, and ice respectively. Spirit is full of unique abilities to heal, support, and buff yourself and your party.

More skill trees and spells become available as you unlock Specialty Classes (keep reading for more on those).

Mage is Great For:

• Best class for high damage AOE (area of effect) attacks
• Can participate in combat from a safe range Large variety of attack types through magic skill trees
• Buffing themselves and teammates through the “Spirit” skills
• Unique dialogue options relating story Best against warriors and other mages

Pick Mage if:

• You want to do high damage with multiple damage type options
• You prefer not to be the center focus of combat, letting others take the majority of enemy damage
• You want the ability to both attack and support as you choose
• You enjoyed playing the mage class in earlier Dragon Age games
• You want “the right to shoot lightning at fools” -Anders, Dragon Age: Origins Awakening

Class Specializations for Mage

Knight-Enchanter

Using magic in up-close combat is the Knight-Enchanter’s specialty. They use spirit magic to unleash impressive attacks, deflect incoming damage, and weaken opponents, plus plenty more. They also have one of the most insidious combination attacks. Using Fade Cloak allows them to become temporarily invulnerable and move through objects; ending the ability with Decloaking Blast while standing inside an enemy deals 1,000% weapon damage on the opponent. Ouch!

Necromancer

Primarily practiced by mages from Tevinter, Necromancy is a powerful class with a poor in-game reputation. Necromancers focus on using spirit magic to damage and panic their foes. They reduce damage inflicted by panicked foes, and deal extra damage to them. For each enemy slain they receive a damage bonus of 20% for 10 seconds. They can attack an enemy with Spirit Mark for 12 seconds, if the enemy dies within that time their body will fight for the necromancer for a time. Other abilities can stack and increase the power of this ability.

Rift Mage

A rift is a tear between the regular world and the fade, a land of spirits and demons. Using its power, Rift Mages launch devastating AOE attacks. Shatterstone, Veilstrike, Firestorm, and Pull of the Abyss are all AOE spells available to them. Each one has varying radius, duration and damage and can be improved on with additional skills. Also, they weaken enemies leaving them vulnerable. Impressive for sure.

Rogue

DAI dual dagger Rogue enters combat

The rogue is an incredibly versatile class, able to attack in melee with double daggers or at range with a bow. Stealth and cunning are their forte, with early access to invisibility through their Subterfuge skill tree. Meanwhile, the Sabotage tree is filled with traps and tricks to turn combat in your favor.

With their daggers Rouges are built for speed. When their daggers flash opponents fall. Abilities allow damage bonuses to stack on each attack, meaning the more often you hit the more damage each hit does.

The Rogue is the only archer in the game. Their arrows deliver impressive damage from a safe range. Rouges also are surprisingly effective against warriors due to armor penetrating abilities, just don’t let them hit you back! Placing your warrior allies between you and your enemies will give you the advantage.

Rogue is Great For:

• Highest damage output potential for a base class (not including specialty classes)
• Speed and evasion in combat
• Flanking enemies for extra damage
• Versatility: choose between dual daggers for close combat or a bow for range
• Excellent for taking out lighter armored targets up close
• Bow excels against targets with armor, skills allow it to tear through faster than melee attacks
• Wide variety of specialty skills including invisibility, lowering enemy agro, setting traps for enemies, and specialty attacks

Pick Rogue if:

• You have a “fight smarter, not harder” mentality
• You prefer combat that allows you to attack and move in quick succession
• You enjoyed playing the rogue class in previous Dragon Age games
• You want to do a lot of damage in a little time, leaving foes bewildered (or dead)

Class Specializations for Rogue

Artificer

This class is based on setting traps and working alongside your teammates. While the Rogue class already had access to caltrops, the Artificer’s traps offer both higher damage and varied elemental effects. Spend stamina to gain even more traps. Their cooldowns decrease every time an ally makes a critical hit, and they increase the party’s critical chance by 5%. If enemies get too close for comfort, fall back to a predetermined location out of harm's way using Fallback Plan.

Assassin

You will recognize this tree if you played the Rogue class in other Dragon Age games. The Assassin class focuses on inflicting high damage one target at a time. Other skills allow them to knock out opponents, reduce stealth cooldown, and reduce effectiveness of enemy armor. Mark of Death ability increases damage from every attack on a single opponent by 100% for 8 seconds, a perfect example of assassin abilities.

Tempest

Combines rogue abilities with magelike power. This class isn’t worried about fighting fairly, or even sanely in my opinion. In combat the tempest uses elixirs to coat themselves in either flames, frost, or lightning. Each one grants its own effects based on the element. They can carry more consumable items than other classes, and eventually gain the ability to remove all of their own cooldowns.

Warrior

DAI Warrior weilding a flaming sword

Warrior is your classic fighting class. They wear the heaviest armor and wield either a one handed weapon and shield, or larger two handed weapons. Unlike Dragon Age Origins, the Warrior can no longer dual wield as that is now limited to Rogues.

Warriors are the tank of the group, taking heavy damage and returning it in kind. Leading from the front, melee damage is their specialty. Their attacks tend to be slower, but they hit hard and can stagger opponents.

Control of the field is their specialty. They have the ability to agro opponents, preventing them from attacking their less well defended allies. And to help soak up that damage they can activate extra armor, called guard, which must be broken through before their health is consumed.

A word of caution: armor penetrating attacks are highly effective against Warriors. These are most commonly inflicted by Rouges. Don’t worry though, you can assign your allies to attack them before they get close and this won’t be a problem.

Warrior is Great For:

• High defense, can absorb large amounts of damage in combat
• Abilities that increase armor, which must be broken through before your health can be consumed
• Slower attacks with consistent damage output
• Battlefield control, can agro nearby opponents allowing them to only attack you
• Can stagger or knock enemies down, making them unable to attack

Pick Warrior if:

• You prefer to fight up close and personal
• You want to be at the heart of combat, controlling the battle from within
• You prefer high defense over speed You want straightforward combat without complicated abilities
• You enjoyed the warrior class in other Dragon Age games

Class Specializations for Warrior

Champion

Warrior already has the ability to agro enemies and tank damage; Champion takes those abilities up to a new level. They can stagger enemies that attack them with mele, prevent enemies from passing their position, and even become invulnerable for a short time. Their ability “Siege-Breaker” reduces ability cooldowns with each enemy strike that hits you.

Reaver

Reaver is the glass cannon of the Warrior class, able to inflict massive damage at the cost of their own health. Their abilities focus on stacking damage bonuses on themselves, both standard and critical damage. Their Dragon-Rage ability is a perfect example, dealing 150% damage plus 1% for every point of your own lost health. It stacks with multiple other abilities in the reaver tree. Be sure to have plenty of healing items on hand when you’re done.

Templar

If you are familiar with the Dragon Age franchise then Templars are most likely known to you already. Templars are warriors that specialize in fighting mages and demons, and that is exactly what this class does. Other abilities include applying buffs to both themselves and allies. These include elemental resistances, damage bonuses, and more. Rather uniquely, they can dispell hostile magic. Don't worry, no lyrium addiction is involved to play the class.

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