Mages in Dragon Age: Inquisition are some of the most fun classes to use, because of their versatility in what they’re capable of. They can fulfill a lot of niches in a party, with relatively few weaknesses when supported correctly by a good team around them.
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Every companion has a unique skill tree, and Dorian’s unique tree is his Necromancer tree. This tree is one of the most unique in the game, giving Dorian the opportunity to essentially create NPCs that fight for his party. On top of that, he can deal extra damage, and even heal himself with relative ease.
The Best Skills For A Dorian Group Damage Build
This build is going to revolve around Dorian dealing heavy damage to groups of enemies at the same time. Ideally, Dorian finishes quite a few of them off, and the more enemies die from Dorian’s attacks, the more powerful Dorian is going to become, because of the spirits he’s controlling.
Some skills need to be grabbed for skill tree progression, but aren’t necessarily part of this build. We’ll skip over mentioning those, but they will be counted in the total skill point investment.
The Best Skills In The Necromancer Tree
The Necromancer tree has a couple of different ideas in it; one interacting with the panicked status effect, with the other being a unique effect to the Necromancer tree altogether.
|
Skill |
Upgrade |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Horror (Active) |
Despair |
Inflict panic on enemies in the area; with the Despair upgrade, this deals damage over time and reduces enemy armor by 20%. |
|
Death Siphon |
N/A |
Enemies that die near Dorian grant him healing and mana. This also increases Dorian’s Constitution by +3. (Constitution health and melee defense.) |
|
Blinding Terror |
N/A |
All party members deal 15% extra damage against panicked enemies. This also increases Dorian’s Magic by +3. (Magic increases a Mage’s attack and barrier damage bonus.) |
|
Power Of The Dead |
N/A |
Killing enemies increases damage by 20% for 10 seconds. This also increases Dorian’s Willpower by +3. (Willpower increases attack and magic defense.) |
|
Simulacrum |
N/A |
Getting knocked unconscious creates a spirit that fights for Dorian for 10 seconds, casting spells for free. This also grants Dorian +3 Willpower. |
|
Spirit Mark (Active) |
Lingering Mark |
Mark a target, dealing ongoing damage to them. If a target dies while marked, a spirit takes their body and fights as an ally for 45 seconds, with the Lingering Mark upgrade. |
|
Walking Bomb (Active) |
Virulent |
Curse an enemy, dealing ongoing damage to them. After 10 seconds, the curse explodes. If this explosion kills the target, and you’ve got the Virulent upgrade, that explosion will spread Walking Bomb to other enemies. |
- Total Skill Point Investment: 10
- Total Constitution Gain: 3
- Total Magic Gain: 3
- Total Willpower Gain: 6
The Necromancer tree has some of the most unique skills in the game, and they make Dorian very fun to play. But, on their own, they only have so much power. It takes a couple more skill trees to really make this build work.
The Best Skills In The Inferno Tree
The Inferno tree shows up in this build for a couple of reasons: multi-target damage, and the ability to inflict panic.
|
Skill |
Upgrade |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Flashfire (Active) |
Blistering Pain |
Light an enemy on fire, and inflict panic on them. |
|
Immolate (Active) |
Wildfire |
Create an explosion that starts enemies burning, inflicting damage over time. |
|
Flashpoint |
N/A |
Landing a critical hit keeps your next spell from having a cooldown period. This also gives Dorian +3 Magic. |
|
Pyromancer |
N/A |
Increase panic and burn duration by 25%. Also increases Dorian’s Willpower by +3. |
|
Clean Burn |
N/A |
Casting a spell reduces all other spell cooldown times by 1 second. This also gives Dorian +3 Willpower. |
|
Wall Of Fire (Active) |
Lasting Flames |
Create a wall of fire that burns and panics enemies that come into contact with it. |
- Total Skill Point Investment: 9
- Total Magic Gain: 3
- Total Willpower Gain: 6
The Inferno tree’s interactions with the Necromancer tree are pretty obvious. The Inferno tree gives you many more options for inflicting panic, and keeps that panic lasting 25% longer. Combined with the damage buff your party gains against panicked enemies, that’s going to make a substantial difference.
Aside from that, the Inferno tree is capable of creating quite a bit of damage on its own with area-of-effect (AoE) attacks.
The Best Skills In The Storm Tree
The Storm tree does not have any panic-inducing attack, but we have two active skill slots left and a few skill points overall. This tree can provide us with some meaningful benefits for that.
|
Skill |
Upgrade |
Description |
|---|---|---|
|
Chain Lightning (Active) |
Arcing Surge |
Throw lightning at an enemy, dealing damage and arcing the lightning between enemies in the vicinity. |
|
Lightning Bolt (Active) |
Exploding Bolt |
Summon a bolt of lightning that strikes an enemy, paralyzing them. With the Exploding Bolt upgrade, enemies nearby will be knocked down. |
|
Conductive Current |
N/A |
Deal 5% extra damage for every 10% mana that Dorian is missing. This also grants Dorian +3 Magic. |
|
Gathering Storm |
N/A |
Every basic attack reduces skill cooldowns by half a second. This also grants Dorian +3 Willpower. |
- Total Skill Point Investment: 7
- Total Magic Gain: 3
- Total Willpower Gain: 3
The two active skills listed above, Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt, are great damaging abilities that are going to add to Dorian’s capability to wipe whole groups of enemies at the same time.
The passive skills, Conductive Current and Gathering Storm, are going to meaningfully increase Dorian’s damage in very different ways. He’ll be able to cast spells more often, and those spells will deal more damage if he’s getting low on mana.
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The Completed Dorian Group Damage Build
This build fully realized will cost you 26 skill points overall, and be one of the most fun damage-dealing builds in the game. Dorian is going to be dealing a problematic amount of damage to a few enemies at a time, and as long as the party’s tank can keep them grouped together regularly, it’s going to be extremely easy for Dorian to accomplish this.
When enemies do start dropping, spirits are going to start rising to fight alongside Dorian’s party, turning the tide even further in their favor. All the while, Dorian is going to be able to constantly cast spells because of his cooldown reduction skills.
If Dorian can regularly keep his available mana on the lower end, he’ll deal a meaningful amount of extra damage.
The completed Tactics slots will look like this:
- Horror
- Spirit Mark
- Walking Bomb
- Flashfire
- Immolate
- Wall Of Fire
- Chain Lightning
- Lightning Bolt
Alternative Dorian Builds
Dorian can be pushed in a very different direction, providing support for allies instead of dealing damage to enemies. The Necromancer tree can be looked at in a different way, as providing more targets for enemies to hit. This will keep some heat off of Dorian’s party. Dorian can also keep himself healthy and powered via the Necromancer tree, too.
Apart from that, the Haste skill would make it a lot easier for Dorian and his party to recover, or gain a damage advantage over the enemy, if things are going poorly. Combine these skills with some from the Spirit tree, and Dorian can make a great support character.
