The Mage is a particular;y powerful class in Dragon Age Inquisition, and you should focus your stat acquisitions on Magic, then Willpower when bulking out your preferred magical fighter. There are no healing options beyond chugging down potions in the game, and so the magical defensive barriers provided by Mages are invaluable throughout the story. As for your offensive spells, you'll start out with Lightning and Flashfire.

Your Spirit skillset focuses on defensive skills, while the Storm tree provides many debilitating spells. The Winter and Inferno trees are more orientated toward dishing out the pain. With that said, there are all kinds of tools packed within each tree, and you should definitely pick and choose from the lot when it comes to crafting your own glass cannon.

Here's a look at some of the most useful Mage spells, skills and abilities you can get in the game.

Mage spells and skills guide

Dec 03, 2014  Previously on AMC’s The Walking Dead EGMR we gave you 10 quick tips for newcomers to Dragon Age: Inquisition, with the aim being to help out anyone who is willing to seek it.Since then we have been inundated with requests (okay it was just a few people) for guides on, among other things, dragon hunting and crafting.

• Name: Barrier
• Set: Spirit
• Barrier: 5,500 per cent of weapon damage
• Area of Effect: 4 meters
• Cooldown: 24 seconds
• Mana cost: 50

This powerful buffing ability provides every party member in range with a healthy amount of armour. Note, however, that the casting circle is not the precise range of effect - imagine it stretching around 25% further and you'll have the right idea. As long as your party members aren't too far outside of the visible perimeter, they'll receive the benefit of the cast.

We recommend enhancing this skill with Rejuvenating Barrier and Elegant Defense as you level up. The latter will reduce the cooldown of the spell by four seconds each time an earlier application expires. In longer fights you could be casting this three or four times, giving you a glorious 16 second cooldown as you approach the fourth application.

As for Rejuvenating Barrier, this will boost the mana and stamina regeneration of each team member affected by the spell by 35 per cent. Combined with Elegant Defense, this spell is now your most potent - and important - defensive ability in the game. If you want to cheese your way through a particularly tricky fight, consider playing a taunting Warrior with three Mages - if each Mage throws out a Barrier spell one at a time, you'll have a near permanent protective shield in play.

• Name: Chain Lightning
• Set: Storm
• Distance: 5 metres (9 with Arcing Surge)
• Number of targets: 4 (6 with Arcing Surge)
• Shocked Duration: 8 seconds
• Cooldown: 8 seconds
• Mana cost: 50

Dragon Age Inquisition Skill Mods

While every Mage will possess the Chain Lightning skill, you'll have to supplement it with Arcing Surge yourself - and we strongly recommend that you do so. This will not only cause the spell to affect more targets, it will also increase its range. Expect this lightning strike to shock your main target while also damaging any foes nearby. This is a very powerful way to start any multiple-target fight, and should be used immediately after casting Barrier.

• Name: Dispel
• Set: Spirit
• Area of effect: 5 metres
• Cooldown: 8 seconds
• Mana cost: 35

Dragon Age Inquisition Skills

Use this to remove any debilitating magical effects cast against your party members. You can also use it to remove any defensive spells put into play by your enemies. When closing rifts, you'll notice green cracks on the floor after defeating the first wave of enemies. Throw Dispel on this patch to prevent the demons from appearing and fighting your team. Do this often enough and you can skip a whole wave of enemies, and get that rift shut down even faster.

• Name: Energy Barrage
• Set: Storm
• Damage: 66 per cent of weapon damager per hit
• Number of hits: 12
• Cooldown: 16 seconds
• Mana cost: 50

This spell is based on whatever elemental flavour your current weapon possesses. It fires out a total of 12 elemental projectiles, inflicting 792 per cent of your weapon's damage in total. It's an extremely important tool in the Mage's offensive arsenal, but do make sure your enemy isn't immune to the elemental damage in question.

• Name: Flashfire
• Set: Inferno
• Damage: 300 per cent of weapon damage
• Effect Duration: 8 seconds
• Cooldown: 20 seconds
• Mana cost: 65

Energy Barrage will likely be your most useful offensive spell when it comes to dealing with single targets. If you're up against an opponent who's immune to the elements of your weapon of choice, however, you should switch over to Flashfire - assuming fire immunity isn't the issue! As well as the 300 per cent of damage, this spell also imbues the target with Fear, which seriously reduces the combat effectiveness of the enemy for the spell's duration.

• Name: Lightning Bolt
• Set: Storm
• Damage: 200 per cent of weapon damage
• Effect Duration: 2 seconds per nearby enemy
• Cooldown: 24 seconds
• Mana cost: 65

Lightning Bolt is a fantastic spell when it comes to dealing with packs of enemies. It will paralyse any opponents it touches, giving you the chance to inflict at least one more offensive spell against them before they can catch up to you. Just have a meaty Warrior ready to taunt up the approaching danger.

• Name: Revival
• Set: Spirit
• Area of Effect: 2 meters
• Cooldown: 60 seconds
• Mana cost: 85

This is the game's core resurrection spell. Should a team member die in battle, use this to bring them back to life fast. If you bolster this spell with Life Ward, you can even boost your friends' defenses, and revive them automatically if they fall in battle.

Dragon Age Inquisition Mage builds

Barrier Mage

If you want to create a defensive mage, here are the spells we recommend using in order of importance:

• Chain Lightning
• Barrier
• Peaceful Aura
• Dispel
• Revival
• Elegant Defense
• Lightning Bolt
• Rejuvenating Barrier
• Transmute Magic
• Guardian Spirit
• Mind Blast
• Fortifying Blast
• Strength of Spirits
• Life Ward

If you only want to include one Mage in your party, then this is the build we recommend using. It focuses mainly on the Spirit tree, and is about as close to a healer as you can get in the game. Get Barrier as quickly as possible, as it's the foundation of your build. Protection in battle is the order of the day for this character, and you should only throw out damage when there's nothing else to do. Get Barrier up as often as you can if there's not one already in play.

Black Mage

• Chain Lightning
• Barrier
• Energy Barrage
• Stormbringer
• Lightning Bolt
• Flashfire
• Arcing Surge
• Exploding Bolt
• Energy Bombardment
• Flashpoint
• Blistering Pain
• Conductive Current
• Pyromancer
• Elegant Defense
• Winter's Grasp
• Peaceful Aura
• Dispel
• Rejuvenating Barrier
• Revival
• Winter's Chill

As you'd expect, the Black Mage is focused on dishing out the pain, but you should only include one of these characters if you're also going to run a Barrier Mage in your team. While the focus of this second magical character is on providing offensive damage, you should also be prepared to put it in a defensive role if anything happens to your primary protector.

You'll get Chain Lightning right away, so pick up Energy Barrage as your first offensive ability. When you reach approximately level 10, you can focus on more secondary spells like Revival. This ensures you have the means to resuscitate a comrade, should something happen to your Barrier Mage.

Red Mage

• Chain Lightning
• Barrier
• Energy Barrage
• Peaceful Aura
• Dispel
• Stormbringer
• Lightning Bolt
• Revival
• Elegant Defense
• Arcing Surge
• Rejuvenating Barrier
• Flashfire
• Exploding Bolt
• Transmute Magic
• Revival
• Energy Bombardment
• Flashpoint
• Blistering Pain
• Conductive Current
• Pyromancer

In terms of function, this characters sits somewhere between the Barrier and the Black Mage. If you want to add a little more oomph to your offensive output, you can use a Red Mage rather than a Barrier Mage if you only fancy packing one of these characters archetypes into your party. In the early stages of the game, have your Red Mage concentrate on using Barrier and Dispel to keep your team alive.

You can find the rest of our Dragon Age Inquisition walkthrough from the first page of this article.

There are a couple of ways to play your Rogue characters in Dragon Age Inquisition, and your sneaky character will begin life as either a ranged or blade-wielding menace. The former start with Stealth and Long Shot skills, while the latter arrive with Stealth and Twin Fangs. Like the Warrior, you can use your weapons to switch a Rogue's playstyle around, although Archery skills won't work with dual blades equipped, and Double Daggers skills won't trigger if you equip a ranged weapon.

The Archery set of abilities is focused on dealing ranged damage, damage which is boosted further if you attack from height or other positions. The Double Daggers skills concentrate on stealthy attacks from the rear. Sabotage allows you to imbue your weapons with poisonous damage and also make use of traps, while Subterfuge is heavily stealth-orientated.

Best Rogue skills and abilities

Here's a quick breakdown of some of the most potent Rogue skills to be found in the game.

• Name: Dance of Death
• Set: Double Daggers

If you want to take an enemy down, you're going to need stamina, so keep in mind that Dance of Death can restore 50 points of this stat for each kill you participate in. You'll find this works particularly well in boss fights where other enemies turn up to join in with the fun.

• Name: Deathblow
• Set: Double Daggers
• Damage: 200 per cent weapon damage
• Cooldown: 8 seconds
• Cost: 50 stamina

This skill is fantastic if you need to deliver a final burst of damage to a wounded enemy. The default damage will be twice as high as that of your weapon, but that increases by three per cent for each per cent of damage the creature's lost - up to a maximum 350 per cent weapon damage in total. You'll also attack a second time automatically, giving you the chance to deliver a whopping 700 per cent weapon damage against an injured foe.

• Name: Explosive Shot
• Set: Archery
• Damage: 100 per cent weapon damage
• Number of hits: 2
• Explosion radius: 4 metres
• Cooldown: 12 seconds
• Cost: 35 stamina

Enemies often come in twos or threes, so a skill like Explosive Shot can really help to make short work of things. The Rogue only has a couple of decent multi-target talents, and the weak stamina costs of Explosive Shot make this a compelling pick. Combine it with Chain Reaction to add a 25 per cent boost to damage.

• Name: Flank Attack
• Set: Double Daggers
• Damage: 200 per cent weapon damage
• Number of hits: 2
• Cooldown: 8 seconds
• Cost: 35 stamina

You have a few skills that inflict a greater amount of damager when used from the side or rear of an opponent. This particular skill automatically hits the enemy from behind, and works extremely well in conjunction with Twin Fangs or Sneak Attack.

• Name: Long Shot
• Set: Archery
• Damage: 200 per cent to 600 per cent at 5 metres
• Cooldown: 8 seconds
• Cost: 50 stamina

The further you are from your target, the more damage you'll do with Long Shot. Throw in the Archer's Lance boost and your attacks will also impact on any enemies standing between you and your main target. You should be staying as far away from the action as possible as a ranged Rogue, making this the perfect skill!

• Name: Pincushion
• Set: Archery

Apply Pincushion in combat, and every consecutive attack against your opponent gains a five per cent boost to damage for 10 seconds. This is especially useful in longer boss fights, but can also be used if you pause the action to help the Rogue target an enemy no-one else is concentrating on.

• Name: Poisoned Weapons
• Set: Sabotage
• Duration: 10 seconds
• Damage: 25 per cent of weapon damage per second (for 8 seconds)
• Cooldown: 24 seconds
• Cost: 20 stamina

This is one of the Rogue's most important skills, and as long as it's active your attacks will deliver poison damage to your target. That target will then take an additional 25 per cent damage every second for 8 seconds. Add the Infected Wounds ability, and that poison damage is increased by 25 per cent. If you choose to add Explosive Toxin too, every enemy that dies will explode in a shower of poisonous damage, affecting any other nearby enemies.

• Name: Shadow Strike
• Set: Subterfuge
• Damage: 400 per cent of weapon damage (200 per cent bonus for Stealth)
• Cooldown: 16 seconds
• Cost: 50 stamina

This is one of the Rogue's most devastating attacks, and should always be used with Stealth for maximum effect.

• Name: Stealth
• Set: Subterfuge
• Damage: 50 per cent bonus
• Duration: 30 seconds
• Cooldown: 24 seconds
• Cost: 20 stamina

A fantastic skill to use before using any big-damage ability such as Long Shot, and it's active for 30 seconds too. Use this at the start of the fight so you'll have the chance to use it a second time when the cooldown wears off.

Dragon Age Inquisition Skill Trees

• Name: Throwing Blades
• Set: Sabotage
• Damage: 100 per cent of weapon damage per hit
• Number of hits: 4
• Duration: 8 seconds
• Cooldown: 12 seconds
• Cost: 50 stamina

This useful multi-target attack will strike four times for 100 per cent weapon damage each time. We recommend using this skill in conjunction with Poisoned Weapons for maximum effect.

Dragon Age Inquisition Mage Skills

• Name: Unforgiving Chain
• Set: Double Daggers

Each successive application of Unforgiving Chains will increase your critical hit chance by one per cent. Use this in conjunction with Sneak Attack and lots of critical hit gear for some seriously impressive damage numbers.

Dragon Age Inquisition Rogue builds

Dragon Age Inquisition Skill Guide

Ranger Rogue

• Long Shot
• Stealth
• First Blood
• Explosive Shot
• Poisoned Weapons
• Archer's Lance
• Chain Reaction
• Pincushion
• Full Draw
• Fighting Dirty
• Stunning Shot
• Explosive Toxin
• Evasion
• Evade
• Shadow Strike
• Infected Wounds

If you choose to field this character, you're basically opting for an empowered archer. Keep this character at maximum range during encounters, and make sure you have a taunting Warrior to keep the enemy away. As you're trying to maintain range at all times, attacks that require flanking or rear-attacking should be avoided.

Get to Full Draw as fast as you can and make it your initial attack for the majority of encounters. After this, an excellent rotation is Poisoned Weapons / Stealth / Full Draw. Follow up with Long Shot for even more bonus damage.

Dragon Age Inquisition Only 8 Skill Slots

Stealth Rogue

• Stealth
• Twin Fangs
• Flank Attack
• Poisoned Weapons
• Bloodied Prey
• Unforgiving Chain
• Infected Wounds
• Dance of Death
• Sneak Attack
• Throwing Blades
• Deathblow
• Fighting Dirty
• Explosive Toxin
• Evasion
• Evade
• Shadow Strike
• Quick Blade
• Thrill of Victory
• Ripping Fangs

Dragon Age Inquisition Skill Calculator

This more melee-orientated Rogue attacks from the shadows whenever it can. The trick to mastering this archetype is to make sure the character is in the correct position to inflict maximum damage - typically to the rear or the sides of an enemy. This king of combos also gets exponentially more powerful as it levels up and unlocks new abilities.

A good Stealth Rogue needs an ever better Warrior to support them though, with this latter class drawing the attention of the enemies at hand. Don't worry about defensive skills until you've unlocked all the others, as foes really shouldn't be directing their attention at you.

Dragon Age Inquisition Cheats

Head back to the first page for the rest of our Dragon Age Inquisition guide.