Tips & Help Thread: Dragon Age Inquisition

[God_Revan 361]

Heeeeeeelloooooo every bodyyyyyyyy! And allow me to welcome you back all to the return.....off.......THE TIPS & HELP THREADS!!!!! I'm very excited to be working again on this project once more. Ever since the 1^st Gen of TKOH Forums going down, seeing all the work I did get lost made me lose interest in doing them again. It was my fault for not saving them somewhere else if something like that ever happened. Now with 2015 upon us, I decided to get back to doing the Tips & Help threads once more starting with Dragon Age Inquisition! That's right; Bioware's latest installation to the Dragon Age series makes a return and by popular review, they have obtained the trust back from their fan-base after the colossal fuck up that was the Mass Effect 3 Ending in March 2012. So without further a do, let's begin.

 

Disclaimer: Please note that in all Tips & Help Threads, there will be NO kind of Story-Related Spoilers in their list. All lists will be kept as Spoiler-Free as possible. I advice everyone that provides their own tips and suggestions to not give any kind of Story-Relate Spoilers that will ruin the immersion and fun of other players. Please be respectful and appreciative. Thank You.

 

Important Note: There WILL be some Tips that may be considered “cheat-ish” or “exploit” so I will hide them withing Spoiler Boxes. If you have no interest in knowing these advantageous exploits and cheats, DO NOT OPEN the Spoiler Boxes at the bottom of the list. You have been warned.

 

1. If you wish to start your game with a custom world setting from previous games, visit Dragon Age Keep. www.dragonagekeep.com

2. Every race has a special ability. Its preferred going with Humans as they obtained an additional Skill Point when they Level Up for the first time.

3. Some speech choices may influence your Party's Approval towards you. Be wary of what you choose.

4. If you're having trouble with your Party dying a lot, for EVERY character go to Character Record → Behaviors → Targeting Behavior → Follow → themselves. Not Controlled Character but the character you are changing Behavior. They act a lot better following themselves than the controlled character, especially in Nightmare Difficulty.

5. Learn about your party's way of thinking and how they speak. Doing so would be easier to know what answers are going to satisfy or dissatisfy them the most.

6. Exploring the surroundings are a great boon in this game. There are many missions to undertake that may be beneficial to you or your party.

7. There will be agents that require specific perks that unlock additional speech options. Obtain these IMMEDIATELY the moment you obtain a Perk Point. Take in order: Arcane Knowledge[Secrets], History Knowledge[Inquisition], Nobility Knowledge[Connections], and Underworld Knowledge[Forces]. Arcane helps a lot in the Hinterlands. Aside from unlocking bonus conversations, it gives a 50% extra EXP for every Codex entry.

8. Gathering herbs will help upgrade your potions & metals, cloth, and leather will help upgrade both weapons and armor.

9. The more you gather metals, cloth and leather, you have a chance for that piece of crafting to become Fade-Touched. Fade-Touched items are considered Masterwork pieces.

10. Every piece of Masterwork metal, cloth, leather crafting has 2 different variations; Fade-Touched Silverite being unanimously being the best one as the 2^nd variation gives 5 Guard On Hit. This can be found in Emprise Du Lion.

11. You may craft Runes for your weapons but getting the materials are much different then the others. You need to kill enemies in order for them to drop specific rune crafting materials. For example: Killing a High Dragon make it drop from Intense Dragon Blood to Pure Dragon Blood, depending on the level of said High Dragon. Dragon Blood helps create the Dragon Rune.

12. Metal, Cloth and Leather each have a special Crafting Material that can make Armor Restrictions disappear. Silverite for Metals, Dales Loden Wool for Cloth, and Snoufleur Skin for Leather. All of these are Tier 3 Materials. There is Tier 4 which are the powerful Dragon Materials, the best in the game.

13. Every class has a special ability: Warriors can Bash though walls, Rogues can open locked doors, and Mages can “revert/energize” things to the place they were before.

14. Initially Rogues can only unlock a certain amount of doors. To open Masterwork Locks, they need the Perk “Deft Hands, Fine Tools” in the Secrets Section in the War Table.

15. Usually you can buy Schematics on stores but you can also find them also around chests and stuff. So whatever appears IN stores can also appear in the field, no matter what.

16. There are two kind of schematics; Normal and Masterwork. The Masterwork schematics has an additional slow that allows you to use the Masterwork materials, such as the Fade-Touched items.

17. Most of the time in the game around the start you'll be spending it in the Hinterlands. You will find most of the Agent so search carefully.

18. When using a Warrior or Rogue, their Stamina recovery differs when attacking. Dual Wielding Rogues and 2Handing Warriors obtain more Stamina per attack than Archers and Sword/Shield.

19. Upon fighting enemies, they sometimes drop items that may be turned in on the Research Table to give yourself not only bonus damage against that specific enemy but large amounts of experience as well. Although I highly warn you that these items count as “Valuables” so if you have any on you, go to the Research Table before quick selling your Valuables.

20. Also among items that can be turned in the Research table, there will be items that will have No Description whatsoever. DO NOT sell these items. These items are special as they will be needed to be used to obtain your Specialization once you reach the 2^nd half of the game. Examples are: Assassin Weapon, Broken Philter, Infusion Primer and Nevarran Skull.

21. Each Class has 3 Specializations. I'll be writing them from best to worst. Some are centered toward specific type of enemies. This is MY Personal Opinion here.

    A. Warrior: Reaver, Champion, and Templar.

    B. Rogue: Assassin, Tempest, and Artificer.

    C. Mage: Knight Enchanter, Rift Mage, and Necromancer.

22. There are strange looking glowing human skulls in almost every map you go to. Looking through these things help you reveal special Shards. Try getting as many as possible. Just obtaining one unlocks the Forbidden Oasis, which gives you access to a hidden tomb.

23. The Hidden Temple, Solasan, has one main chamber and then ante-chambers below it. In order to accept the main chamber, you must go through all 3 ante-chambers, each containing 3 rooms each. One of Fire, one of Ice, and lastly of Spirit. You must have ALL Shards to finish all 9 rooms and obtain the Main Chamber to reap your rewards.

24. As you arrive to the 2^nd base camp you obtain the ability to upgrade it but I'll tell you now, most of the upgrades are completely useless and cosmetic with the exception of the Garden. Upgrade it so its capable of growing more herbs for you instead of a Chantry, which is useless.

25. Talk occasionally with your friends as they may provide further insight to themselves and unlock special missions to befriend them even more, with the addition to some Necklaces of Power and items.

26. Once you get access to Focus Abilities, its better to not put any skill points into them. I personally passed the game without ever using Focus Abilities, even on Nightmare. Only Focus Ability worth having on you is Mark Of The Rift. You'll obtain it through story.

27. If you decide to start hunting the High Dragons, do them in order in accordance of their Level. Here's the locations in Level Order: Hinterlands, Crestwood, The Western Approach, Exalted Plains, Emerald Graves, The Storm Coast[She's Annoying as FUCK!], Hissing Wastes, and Emprise Du Lion having 3 High Dragons, one harder than the next.

28. If you ever wonder what Perks you need the most, I'll list them here in order of importance. Some of these have requirements so you must meet them in order to obtain them. Max Inquisition Reputation is 20 so once you obtain the Perks in the list, you can get whatever you want with the rest of the Perks.

    Note: Aside from these below, the perks I mentioned in #7 are crucial for special story options, side-missions and agents. These come ultimately first.

    A. More Healing Potions – Forces

    B. Deft Hands, Fine Tools – Secrets

    C. Forward Scouts – Secrets

    D. True Grit – Forces

    E. Enhanced Studies – Secrets

    F. The Short List – Connections

    G. Antivan Tailoring & Tempered Glass Flasks – Inquisition

29. It's always best to keep a Mage with you at all times. They are needed to light up Veil Fires and find secret glyphs that unlock Runes for crafting.

30. If you wish to increase your Reputation by using gold, you must already be Level 6 Inquisition Rep and have reached a certain base. Go to the War Table on the Ferelden side. At the left side of Ferelden there should be a Mission called “Power For Gold” or something like that and scroll down and make sure its by someone that has the name “Representative”. Once you finish it, he should be infront of another merchant.

31. There is one Main Mission[Rift above it in War Map] that has to do with the Grey Wardens...You MUST bring Solas with you. Having Solas with you during the events in this Main Mission will give you unique intrigue and information about the backstory of the Dragon Age Universe in general. This is similar to Mass Effect 3 when you could bring Javik with you when concerning a Reaper attack. He always gave deep back story to the Mass Effect Universe.

32. If you wish to grind for EXP, go to the Hissing Wastes and enter one of the tombs. There will be 4 Braziers that need to be lit up in order. Just light a random one and enemies will pop up every time you choose the wrong Brazier. This is infinite. Usually the Experience is between 500-600 EXP.

33. When you go on character specific quests, make sure you take them with you. You'll get more approval that way. For example, if you take Varric to destroy Red Lyrium, he will approve of it more, rather than slightly approve if he is not in your party. 

34. You can also level grind EXP with rifts as long as you don't close the rift. Just kill all the enemies, leave, then come back, and the demons respawn.

35. If you had decided to give your characters Focus ability and your not controlling them, make sure those Focus abilities are Disabled. if you wanna use your OWN focus ability but someone else uses theirs, you lose your Focus and have to build it up once more.

36. When fighting against an enemy that is ranked "Elite", consider them to be as strong as an enemy 1-2 levels higher than what's demonstrated. Now, when fighting against an enemy that is ranked "Elite Boss", consider them to be as strong as 2-4 levels higher than what they are, ESPECIALLY High Dragons.

37. TBA

 

Here in this list I will post videos to class specializations/Normal ones and what you should take when fighting the enemies in the game. All of these were made by KineticGTR from Youtube. A link to his channel will be under the Credits. Click his name and you're there. 

1. Two Handed Warrior
2. Balanced Mage
3. Sword & Shield
4. Power Shots Archer
5. Dual Dagger Stealth Rogue
6. Reaver Warrior
7. Knight Enchanter Mage
8. Two Hand Templar Warrior
9. Ultimate Tank Champion Warrior
10. Dual Dagger Assassin Rogue
11. Rift Mage
12. Tempest Archer
13. Necromancer: Endless Living Pets
14. Pyro-Necro/Endless Pets
15. Artificer Archer
16. Assassin Archer Rogue
17. Dual Dagger Tempest Rogue
18. 2 Hand Champion Warrior
19. Knight Enchanter 2.0 - Support
20. S&S Tank Templar
21. Lightning Rift Mage
22. S&S Reaver
23. Ice Mage - Cryomancer
24. TBA

 

In this sub-section right here, I will be placing Video Guides on how to defeat all 10 High Dragons within DAI. You may use these to your own desire and decision. The Classes, tactics and skills used are but a draft and suggestions on how to defeat the High Dragons. Good Luck and Have Fun! Credits go to the VGFAQ Team. Link is in the Credits.

1. Hinterlands - Ferelden Frostback

2. Crestwood - Northern Hunter

3. The Western Approach – Abyssal

4. Exalted Plains - Gamoran Stormrider

5. Emerald Graves - Greater Mistral

6. The Storm Coast – Vinsomer

7. Hissing Wastes - Sandy Howler

8. Emprise Du Lion – Hivernal

9. Emprise Du Lion – Kaltenzhan

10. Emprise Du Lion - Highland Ravager

 

WARNING! These Tips here are the “exploit and cheat” kind. Again, they will be hidden in a Spoiler Box so that if you have no desire to see them, they will be hidden so that you won't blame yourself if you eye wander. Open at your own discretion. These things were purposefully placed in the game by the Developers themselves.

1. To finish a War Mission quickly, go to the consoles dashboard and change the time. Make sure that the time is not set to update with the internet. Change the time manually to an hour, 6, 12, ect... People usually do 1 day change and then return to the game. Once you're in the War Table, you'll notice the mission is complete. Rinse and Repeat. PC Users can just easily do it from their desktops.

2. 90% of the contents in every chest is random but one thing is certain that every chest can reroll things if you leave the contents inside, even if you take all but one thing. The trick is this: you can obtained an infinite amount of Necklaces of Power if they are found in a chest and with another item. For Example: In Crestwood, inside the town there is a locked door under the Mayor's house. To access this, you need to close the Rift under the lake. Once that's done, go to the locked door and use a Rogue[must have Deft Hands, Fine Tools Perk] to open the door. Look the corner of the rug and take ONLY the Necklace. Leave the map and then come back to Crestwood. You'll see that the necklace has respawned. Do this as many times as desired.

3. This here is currently bugged and falls under exploit. If your class specialization is Rogue Tempest and you have Master Focus, max up your focus and obtain the skills Thousand Cuts and Flash Of Fire[Upgraded]. Once you do and start fighting enemies, activate Flask Of Fire and use Thousand Cuts. Flask Of Fire prevents Stamina from ever being used and Focus falls under Stamina for the time being. So Activate Flask and spam Thousand Cuts and you can pretty much instantly kill almost all enemies. This skill also helps take High Dragons down a notch. 

4. Once you have obtained the Representative in Skyhold next to the main gate, he will sell you scrolls for Inquisition Reputation. This here is one of the most valuables and easiest exploits to do. Have like 80k Gold or whatever and go to his store. Purchase the first one as much as you like but DO NOT leave the store. Go to Sell and sell the scrolls back to him and repeat the same process. When your selling the items back, you RETAIN the Reputation.

5. TBA

 

Thank you everyone for coming here and those that have the desire to help others in improving their game. This post will be under constant updating when it is required or when someone has information they wish to share with the community. I appreciate everyone that comes here and give a helping hand to others. If you all enjoyed this thread and the information given, please UpVote the post and share your thoughts. The Tips & Help Threads are here to help anyone and everyone in their time of need. If you have questions, don't be afraid to ask and the answer will come to you. Now I explained in the Rules Thread but I will say it again, please remain on topic and provide tips; this is not a general discussion of the game. Once again, Thank you!

 

Credits To The Extraordinary

1. DanBrown0531

2. KineticGTR

3. VGFAQ

4. 

 

Previous Tips & Help Threads

1. 

Edited January 22, 2015 by God_Revan
Updating List

[DanBrown0531 34]

This is awesome, I loved looking at these on the old forums. I would also like to add some stuff as well:

- The dragon in Crestwood is glitched, so if you want to unlock the trophy/achievement for killing 10 high dragons, that dragon doesn't count. You'll have to reload a save file and repeat-kill a dragon, and that does work. You could also do it for the same dragon 10 times if you wanted to. (Update: This has been patched)

- You can more EXP from killing enemies if you're in an area that is too high level for you. I remember getting 600 EXP just from killing animals in the Exalted Plains, but little to none in other areas.

- You can also level grind EXP with rifts as long as you don't close the rift. Just kill all the enemies, leave, then come back, and the demons respawn.

- Demons also infinitely respawn in the tombs at the Exalted Plains, as long as you don't light the torches in the correct order. You can kill them for EXP until you get bored. 

- When you go on character specific quests, make sure you take them with you. You'll get more approval that way. For example, if you take Varric to destroy Red Lyrium, he will approve of it more, rather than slightly approve if he is not in your party. 

 

This is all I can think of for now. 

[God_Revan 361]

List Updated. Added Class guilds from Youtuber, KineticGTR. Also some of the tips Dan aren't really that useful anymore as the Dragon one got patched.

[DanBrown0531 34]

It did? My bad, I had no clue they patched it. That's a good thing then!

[God_Revan 361]

It did? My bad, I had no clue they patched it. That's a good thing then!

​It got patched in 1.02 Update.

[God_Revan 361]

List Updated. 1 new tip in the Normal List, 1 new Class Build and 1 new exploit added to the main post.

[KGhaleon 1385]

I highly suggest getting Vivienne as a party member, because her Knight-enchanter is extremely broken. I can solo dragons and brutally tough foes with her. Checkout this video for good ability suggestions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcVcQWTwg8U

[God_Revan 361]

I highly suggest getting Vivienne as a party member, because her Knight-enchanter is extremely broken. I can solo dragons and brutally tough foes with her. Checkout this video for good ability suggestions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcVcQWTwg8U

​You do know I have the KE Build in the thread already right? >.> And KE is shit if used by the AI.

Edited January 15, 2015 by God_Revan

[KGhaleon 1385]

Yeah the AI sucks, I just control Vivienne myself.

[God_Revan 361]

Main Post Updated. Added 5 New Class Spec Videos and 10 Guide Videos on how to beat all 10 High Dragons. Will soon be making Gat Out Of Hell thread.