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In general, spellcasters in Dragon Age: Inquisition aren’t meant to be the center of attention. To perform at their best, it’s usually a good idea to keep them a little bit away from the action, able to attack or support from a distance, away from enemy melee, with enough range to get an idea of the entire battle.
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Vivienne is different in this regard. She excels in the thick of things, arguably performing better the closer enemies are to her. She can keep herself on her own feet without too much trouble, and paired with a good tank, can be a force to be reckoned with in close range.
Best Skill Choices For A Close-Range Damage Build
Until you unlock Vivienne’s unique skill tree, it will be difficult to pull off a build anything like this. It’d be recommended, in the early going, to stick to something ranged, until her skill specialization unlocks.
Once she does unlock her Knight-Enchanter skill tree, her entire playstyle is going to change.
She can be played the same way, at range with normal spellcasting abilities, but doing so wouldn’t be using Vivienne to her fullest.
This is a build that can be difficult to pull off on an AI-controlled character. You’ll likely want your hands on the wheel, at least occasionally, with Vivienne and this build.
What Are The Best Skills In The Knight-Enchanter Tree?
The Knight-Enchanter tree is the primary tree for this build, and while the skills here are going to rely somewhat on skills gained elsewhere, these skills are largely going to be non-negotiable for the build.
|
Skill |
Upgrade |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Spirit Blade (Active) |
Defending Blade |
This gives Vivienne a magic blade to attack nearby enemies; dealing damage with other abilities charges this one. With the Defending Blade upgrade, this will deflect incoming projectiles and send attacks back. |
|
Combat Clarity |
N/A |
50% faster mana regeneration when near enemies. |
|
Resurgence (Active) |
N/A |
Fully heal and revive all party members, and provide further healing for the next 10 seconds. |
|
Fade Shield |
N/A |
Strengthen your barrier by 30% of the damage you deal. Also gives Vivienne +3 Magic. (Magic increases Mage’s attack and their barrier damage bonus.) |
|
Knight-Protector |
N/A |
Improves barrier decay by 35%, as well as giving Vivienne +3 Constitution. (Constitution increases health and melee defense.) |
|
Fade Cloak (Active) |
Decloaking Blast |
Become invulnerable and intangible for two seconds; with the Decloaking Blast upgrade, becoming corporeal inside an enemy deals tremendous damage. |
|
Veiled Riposte |
N/A |
Reflect 20% of incoming damage from your barrier back at the attacker; also increases Vivienne’s Magic by +3. |
- Total Skill Point Investment: 9
- Total Magic Gain: 6
- Total Constitution Gain: 3
Most of these abilities are, in a vacuum, useless. But combined with a few key abilities in other trees, they become invaluable.
What Are The Best Skills In The Spirit Tree?
The Spirit tree provides the barrier that so much of the Knight-Enchanter tree revolves around. It also provides extra bonuses around the barrier, alongside allowing you to cast it around allies, usually other allies that happen to be in close range beside you.
|
Skill |
Upgrade |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Barrier (Active) |
Elegant Defense |
This creates a defensive shield around Vivienne and any other party member in the radius. This barrier decays over time; when the barrier fully decays, the Elegant Defense upgrade reduces the cooldown on casting it again by four seconds. The more people barrier is on, the quicker the cooldown will be. |
|
Guardian Spirit |
N/A |
Automatically create a barrier around you when badly injured; also grants Vivienne +3 Constitution. |
|
Strength of Spirits |
N/A |
Barriers are 50% stronger. |
|
Peaceful Aura |
N/A |
Make enemies 50% less likely to attack Vivienne. Also grants Vivienne +3 Willpower. (Willpower increases attack and magic defense.) |
|
Dispel (Active) |
Transmute Magic |
Remove negative effects from allies and positive effects from enemies, as well as increasing Vivienne’s spell damage and barrier generation, with the Transmute Magic upgrade. |
|
Rejuvenating Barrier |
N/A |
Increase mana and stamina regeneration for Vivienne and allies with an active barrier by 35%. |
- Total Skill Point Investment: 9
- Total Constitution Gain: 3
- Total Willpower Gain: 3
These Spirit skills combined with the Knight-Enchanter skills, Vivienne is going to become largely unkillable. But, we’ve still got a few skills points to play around with that will add some meaningful damage to Vivienne’s arsenal.
What Are The Damaging Skills To Add To This Build?
You could add abilities from any of the remaining trees to add to this build, and still functionally make a build that operates in a similar way. For the most part, what you’re looking for next are skills that are easy to cast in close range, and can hit multiple enemies at once.
Every tree has abilities that can do this; but for maximum benefit, we’re going to add skills from a tree that both interact with barrier, and have passive effects that affect an area around Vivienne, since she’ll be in melee range.
All the following skills will be found in the Winter tree:
|
Skill |
Upgrade |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Winter’s Grasp (Active) |
Winter’s Chill |
Deal damage and freeze your target; with the Winter’s Chill upgrade, this will damage and chill other enemies near your target, as well. |
|
Mana Surge |
N/A |
Vivienne’s barrier explodes when it’s destroyed, freezing all nearby enemies. This also grants Vivienne +3 Magic. |
|
Winter Stillness |
N/A |
This is an obligatory skill, needed to progress down the tree, and won’t come into effect all too often with this build. It does, however, provide Vivienne with +3 Willpower. |
|
Wall Of Ice (Active) |
N/A |
Create an ice wall that can cordon off a section of the fight, protecting Vivienne or an ally from ranged attacks. |
|
Ice Armor |
N/A |
When you’re near a frozen enemy or a persistent cold spell, all incoming damage is reduced by 50%. This also provides Vivienne +3 Willpower. |
|
Blizzard (Active) |
Ice Storm |
Create a radius inside which enemies are chilled and damaged, while the Ice Storm upgrade eventually freeze’s enemies. |
- Total Skill Point Investment: 8
- Total Magic Gain: 3
- Total Willpower Gain: 6
These abilities all combine to accentuate the strengths of this build; they add to Vivienne’s survivability, increase her damage, and make it much more difficult for enemies to do their job.
Freezing enemies is more than a defensive benefit for Vivienne, too; this essentially provides respite for the entire party.
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What Is The Complete Vivienne Close-Range Build?
This build costs 26 skill points total, bordering on the maximum that you’re going to have overall. As mentioned before, you have a bit of wiggle room with this build, particularly outside the Spirit and Knight-Enchanter trees; feel free to experiment with the other trees to find something else that works well.
The finished Tactics slots will include:
- Spirit Blade
- Resurgence
- Fade Cloak
- Barrier
- Dispel
- Winter’s Grasp
- Wall Of Ice
- Blizzard
For this build, the most important thing is going to be generating Vivienne’s barrier as much as possible, and keeping it up as long as possible. When it does go down, Mana Surge is going to ensure that enemies can’t exploit it as quickly as they would otherwise, and much of the time, you’ll be able to cast barrier again before enemies can attack.
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