You're standing at the character creator screen in Dragon Age: Inquisition (yes, technically Dragon Age 3, though BioWare dropped the number to focus on the scale). Your heart's racing. You've spent forty-five minutes tweaking the bridge of your elf’s nose, and now the game hits you with the choice that actually matters. Warrior, Rogue, or Mage? It feels like a standard RPG trope, but honestly, if you treat it like a generic fantasy game, you’re going to have a rough time on Nightmare difficulty.
The truth is that Dragon Age Inquisition classes are less about what weapon you hold and more about how you intend to manipulate the game’s "cross-class combo" system. You aren't just a damage dealer. You're a chemist. If you don't understand how a Warrior's "Impact" status interacts with a Mage's "Discharge," you're basically just swinging a wet noodle at a High Dragon.
The Warrior: More Than Just a Meat Shield
Everyone thinks the Warrior is the boring choice. They’re wrong.
In Inquisition, the Warrior is the only class that can generate "Guard." Guard is basically a second health bar that sits on top of your actual HP, and without it, your party will melt in seconds. But here is the nuance: you have to choose between being a literal wall or a chaotic whirlwind of destruction.
If you go Two-Handed, you’re looking at the Reaver specialization eventually. It’s risky. You actually do more damage the lower your health gets. It’s a high-stakes gambling loop. You’re using Devour to heal just enough to stay alive while Dragon-Rage tears through enemies. It’s messy, loud, and incredibly satisfying. On the flip side, the Templar is the tactical choice. Most people ignore Templars because they think they’re just "anti-mage" specialists. In reality, the Wrath of Heaven and Spell Purge combo is one of the highest AOE (Area of Effect) bursts in the entire game. You stun them, you purge them, they explode. Simple.
✨ Don't miss: Why how to make smokers minecraft is the first thing you should do in a new world
Then there’s the Champion. If you want to never die—and I mean never—this is it. Walking Fortress makes you invulnerable. Not "highly resistant." Invulnerable. It’s arguably the most broken tanking spec in RPG history, but it can feel a bit passive if you prefer flashy numbers over survivability.
Why Mages Aren't Just Glass Cannons
Mages in Inquisition feel different than they did in Origins. There’s no healing spell. Let that sink in. You can’t just sit back and spam "Heal" on your tank. BioWare replaced healing with "Barrier."
Barrier is a decaying shield. It means as a Mage, you are proactive, not reactive. If you wait until your friend is at 10% health to cast Barrier, you’ve already lost the fight. You have to predict the damage.
The Knight-Enchanter is the elephant in the room here. At launch, this specialization was so powerful it basically broke the game. You could solo dragons by just swinging a magical lightsaber (Spirit Blade) and generating shields every time you dealt damage. Even after the nerfs, it’s still the "tank-mage" hybrid that lets you play on the front lines.
But if you want to actually feel like a scholar of the Rift, the Rift Mage is where it’s at. It’s all about crowd control. You pull enemies into a vacuum, weaken them, and then drop meteors on their heads. It’s about "Mana sustain." By applying the "Weakened" status, you basically get infinite mana. It turns the game into a sandbox where you decide where the enemies stand. Contrast that with the Necromancer, which is often misunderstood. It’s not just about raising the dead; it’s about "Walking Bomb." You turn an enemy into a ticking time bomb, and when they pop, the chain reaction can clear an entire room. It’s grim, but it works.
The Rogue: High Risk, Absurd Reward
Rogues are the hardest class to play well in Dragon Age Inquisition classes because they are made of paper. One stray arrow from a stray Red Templar and you're reloading a save.
But the damage? It’s astronomical.
Archery is the "safe" way to play Rogue, and the Artificer specialization makes it hilarious. You lay traps and reduce your cooldowns every time you land a critical hit. Because multi-hit abilities like Leaping Shot hit so many times, you can basically stay in a permanent loop of firing, jumping back, and firing again. You become a machine gun.
Then there’s the Assassin. This is for the players who want to see the "9999" damage numbers. It’s about stealth, auto-crits, and Mark of Death. You mark a target, hit them with everything you’ve got for eight seconds, and then the mark triggers, doubling the damage you just did. It’s the ultimate boss-killer.
The Tempest is the weirdest one. You use "Elixirs." One freezes time. One sets you on fire. One turns you into a lightning bolt. It’s fast-paced and twitchy. Back in the day, there was a glitch with the Flask of Fire that let you spam your Ultimate ability infinitely. They patched that, obviously, but the class still feels like you’re playing an action game while everyone else is playing a tactical RPG.
Understanding the Combo System
You can't talk about classes without talking about how they talk to each other.
In Inquisition, certain abilities "Prime" a target, and others "Detonate" them.
- A Mage freezes a target with Winter’s Grasp (Primed).
- A Warrior hits that frozen target with Mighty Blow (Detonator).
- Result: Shatter. Massive physical damage.
This is why your party composition matters as much as your own class. If you’re a Rogue, you want a Mage who can paralyze or freeze enemies so you can land "Precision" detonators for massive single-target damage. If you’re a Warrior, you want someone to sleep the enemies so you can hit them with a "Whirlwind" for a "Rupture" effect (damage over time).
Honestly, the game doesn't explain this well enough. You'll see "Combo" pop up on your screen and think, "Cool, I'm doing great," without realizing you just accidentally doubled your DPS. If you start doing it on purpose? The hardest difficulty becomes a breeze.
The Specialization Wall
You don't get your "real" class until about 10 to 15 hours in. This is a common point of frustration. You arrive at Skyhold, you complete a specific mission on the war table, and then three trainers show up.
You can only pick one.
This is a permanent choice. You can’t respec your specialization. You can respec your talent points using the "Tactician's Renewal" amulet found at the blacksmith, but if you pick Knight-Enchanter, you are a Knight-Enchanter forever. Choose wisely based on your playstyle, not just what looks "cool" in a YouTube thumbnail.
Actionable Insights for Your Build
If you’re starting a fresh save today, here’s how to actually succeed with your chosen class:
- Prioritize Crafting Over Loot: The best gear in the game isn't found in a dragon's hoard; it’s made at a wooden table in Haven or Skyhold. Look for "Fade-Touched" materials. A "Fade-Touched Obsidian" gives you +3 Guard on every hit. Put that on a Rogue or Mage, and suddenly your "squishy" character has a tank's defense.
- Toggle the AI: The AI is notoriously bad at using certain abilities. If you’re a Mage, go into the "Tactics" menu and set Barrier to "Preferred." If you’re a Warrior, set Taunt or War Cry to "Preferred." Conversely, disable abilities that the AI wastes, like a Rogue's Stealth when they aren't even near an enemy.
- Master the Tactical Camera: You don't need it for trash mobs, but for rifts and bosses, you have to use it. It lets you see enemy resistances. If you’re a Fire Mage fighting a Rage Demon, you’re doing zero damage. You need to know that before you waste your mana.
- Balance Your Party: Always bring one of each. One Warrior to hold the line, one Rogue to pick locks and delete high-priority targets, and one Mage to provide Barriers. The fourth slot is your "flex" spot. Usually, a second Mage is the safest bet for double Barriers.
The beauty of the system is the synergy. When you finally line up that perfect combo where the Warrior pulls them in, the Mage freezes them all, and the Rogue detonates the entire pack in a shower of ice shards? That's when the game clicks. It’s not just about your class; it’s about how you lead the Inquisition.
Go check your inventory for those "Tactician's Renewal" amulets right now. They’re cheap. Don't be afraid to wipe your points and try a completely different tree within your class. You might find that the "Sword and Board" Warrior you thought was boring is actually an indestructible god of the battlefield once you invest in the right passives.
The gear, the specs, and the combos are all tools. Use them. Be the Inquisitor the world needs, or at least the one that doesn't die in two hits to a stray wolf in the Hinterlands.