Mages inDragon Age: Inquisitionare 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.

Every companion has a unique skill tree, andDorian’s uniquetree 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.

Dorian launching basic attacks at a bear in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The Best Skills For A Dorian Group Damage Build

This build is going torevolve around Doriandealing heavy damage to groups of enemiesat the same time. Ideally, Dorian finishes quite a few of them off, and themore enemies diefrom Dorian’s attacks, themore 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.

Dorian casting a Necromancy spell in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The Best Skills In The Necromancer Tree

TheNecromancer treehas a couple of different ideas in it; oneinteracting with the panicked status effect, with theother being a unique effect to the Necromancer treealtogether.

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

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

Killing enemies increases damage by 20% for 10 seconds. This also increases Dorian’s Willpower by +3. (Willpower increases attack and magic defense.)

Simulacrum

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 killsthe target, and you’ve got the Virulent upgrade,that explosion will spread Walking Bomb to other enemies.

TheNecromancer 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.

Dorian launches a fireball at an enemy in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The Best Skills In The Inferno Tree

The Inferno tree shows up in this build for a couple of reasons:multi-target damage, and theability to inflict panic.

Immolate (Active)

Wildfire

Create an explosion that starts enemies burning, inflicting damage over time.

Flashpoint

Landing a critical hit keeps your next spell from having a cooldown period. This also gives Dorian +3 Magic.

Pyromancer

Increase panic and burn duration by 25%. Also increases Dorian’s Willpower by +3.

Clean Burn

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 enemiesthat come into contact with it.

The Inferno tree’s interactions with the Necromancer tree are pretty obvious. TheInferno tree gives you many more options for inflicting panic, and keeps that panic lasting 25% longer. Combined with thedamage buff your party gains against panicked enemies, that’s going to make asubstantial difference.

Dorian striking an enemy with a lightning bolt in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

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. Thistreecan provide us with some meaningful benefitsfor that.

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

Deal 5% extra damage for every 10% mana that Dorian is missing. This also grants Dorian +3 Magic.

Gathering Storm

Every basic attack reduces skill cooldowns by half a second. This also grants Dorian +3 Willpower.

The two active skills listed above,Chain LightningandLightning Bolt, aregreat damaging abilitiesthat are going to add to Dorian’s capability to wipe whole groups of enemies at the same time.

Dorian attacks an enemy with his party in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The passive skills,Conductive CurrentandGathering Storm, are going tomeaningfully 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.

The Completed Dorian Group Damage Build

Thisbuild fully realized willcost you 26 skill points overall, and be one of themost 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.

Whenenemies 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.

Dorian enjoys the benefit of having a barrier in Dragon Age: Inquisition.

If Dorian can regularlykeep his available mana on the lower end, he’lldeal a meaningful amount of extra damage.

The completed Tactics slots will look like this:

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 poweredvia 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.