The Mage class in Dragon Age: Inquisition will probably be the most loved of all, as it offers great offensive and supportive versatility through its skills and unique class abilities.
For more help on Dragon Age Inquisition, read our Level Up Fast Tips, Crafting Guide and Warrior Class Guide.
Dragon Age Inquisition Mage Class
The Mage is primarily a purely ranged class that uses Lyrium to practice magic. Controversial and feared, these gifted individuals have a link with the Fade that can make them either a liability, or a fearsome ally.
Mage Class Starting Abilities
While the Rogue and Warrior class have different options at the start, the Mage only comes in one form, and hence offers one fixed set of abilities.
You’ll initially start off with two abilities that are both offensive, but can build your character according to your desire as time progresses and you level up.
Chain Lightning
Unleash a blast of lightning that shocks one target and arcs to nearby enemies.
Flashfire
Ignite an enemy with searing pain and send them fleeing in panic.
Mage Class Attributes and Stats
The starting attributes and stats of the Mage class are focused more on Magic oriented abilities.
While the Rogue is the master of agility and speed, and the Warrior the embodiment of strength and physicality, the Mage is more about raw damage through magic.
Attributes
- Strength – 10
- Dexterity – 10
- Magic – 11
- Cunning – 10
- Willpower – 10
- Constitution – 10
Offensive
- Attack — 0%
- Guard Damage Bonus — 0%
- Armor Penetration — 0%
- Barrier Damage Bonus — 12%
- Critical Damage Bonus — 40%
- Critical Chance — 5%
- Main-Hand Damage – 17
- Off-Hand Damage – 17
- Bleed on Hit — 0%
- Stagger on Hit — 0%
- Heal on Kill — 0%
- Flanking Damage Bonus — 25%
Defensive
- Magic Defense — 6%
- Melee Defense — 0%
- Ranged Defense — 0%
- Cold Resistance — 0%
- Electrical Resistance — 0%
- Fire Resistance — 0%
- Guard – 0
- Armor Rating – 38
- Armor Rating: Front – 38
- Maximum Health – 456
- Bleed on Being Hit — 0%
- Stagger on Being Hit — 0%
Other
- Maximum Focus – 100
- Focus Gain Bonus — 0%
- Maximum Mana/Stamina – 100
- Cooldown Modifier — 0%
Mage Unique Class Abilities
Unlike the Rogue and Warrior class, the Mage has three unique class abilities as compared to one, which play a vital role in the world during exploration. The three abilities are Veilfire, Energize, and Magical Barrier.
Veilfire
During your journeys you’ll encounter certain unique braziers along the walls that can be lit only by mages. These braziers are lit up by a special fire called the veilfire, which only the Mage can conjure.
Once they are lit, they can be toted around on torches by any class to reveal writings on walls that would be otherwise invisible. These writings are an important way to acquire rune schematics, which can be used to create new runes and enhance the equipment of your party members.
Energize
The second ability that a Mage possesses is Energize, which can control debris to create makeshift bridges and ramps to access areas that are otherwise off-limits.
When you switch to a Mage and walk around the area where debris can be Energized, an icon will appear, allowing your Mage to manipulate the region for easier passage.
Magical Barrier
There are some passages in the game that are walled off by magical barriers.
In such cases, only the Mage can destroy these barriers, giving the party access to the areas beyond. These areas often contain loot. There are three types of barriers: fire, ice, and spirit.
While any type of staff can destroy a barrier, using one that is the opposite elemental magic of the barrier will make it go down much faster. Fire barriers are weak to Ice staffs, Ice barriers are weak to fire staffs, and Spirit barriers are weak to electric staffs.
Mage Class Skill Trees
Spirit
The Spirit tree is well known amongst Dragon Age: Origins players. Like in that game, this tree contains abilities that are essential for any kind of mage out there.
However, it is generally tailor-made for mages looking for more supportive and defensive roles, and hence combines very well with the Knight Enchanter specialization.
Perhaps the best ability of the lot is Revival, which can revive a downed ally. At least one of your Mages should dig deep into this tree to acquire abilities like Revival, Rejuvenating Barriers, and Dispel.
Storm
This tree allows the mage to acquire the devastating abilities of electricity and shock, which can play an extremely important role in controlling the battlefield.
Shock related abilities have very powerful crowd control statuses such as paralyze, which renders a foe immobile and defenseless for a short period of tie.
The storm tree really starts to shine when you invest deeper and unlock the likes of Static Cage and Lightning Cage.
Inferno
The pyromaniac’s dream – the inferno class is really self-explanatory, as it allows a mage to play with fire and set foes ablaze. There isn’t really much justice that a person could do to the deadly power of fire in RPG games, and Dragon Age is no exception.
Nearly all the abilities in this tree put on a burning status effect, which slowly does damage over time to foes and can often send the fleeing in fear.
Even if you don’t master this discipline, having a few skills from this tree is always highly recommended.
Winter
The cold chill of the skills in this tree will sap the life out of foes, freezing the area around them and preventing movement as they stand still, helpless against the devastating blows of your Warrior and the critical slices by the Rogues.
While the basic purpose of this tree is to give you abilities that would apply chill and cold to your foes, they are extremely versatile in application and are a must-have for any Mage.
Mages looking to go deeper in this school will also get massive defensive benefits through the likes of Ice Armor and Winter Stillness.
Mage Class Specializations
Knight Enchanter
The Knight Enchanter specialization is often confused to being similar to the Arcane Warrior from Dragon Age: Origins. It is safe to say that the two are nothing alike.
While the Arcane Warrior had the ability to wield swords and equip heavy armor, the Knight Enchanter is still bound to the staff, but can conjure his/her own swords and shields of pure energy.
It may not be as overpowered as the Arcane Warrior, but the Knight Enchanter is an excellent specialization to take on for those who like to mix their ranged mage abilities with some melee.
However, the specialization is more about defensive solidity and support than it is about pure damage dealing.
In fact, this specialization has the only true healing ability in the entire game: Resurgence. This makes Knight Enchanter one of the most sought after specializations.
Necromancer
Offensive, devastating, and highly intimidating. The Necromancer tree allows you to go beyond the grave, calling spirits to do your bidding and induce fear and panic into your foes.
There are some extremely powerful abilities available in this specialization, and almost all of them are offensive.
If manipulating the dead through Spirit Mark and cursing your foes in multiple ways is your kind of thing, then this is the specialization you’ll want to take.
Rift Mage
The Rift Mage offers some powerful abilities from the other side of the veil, allowing you to tap into the Fade and unleash havoc on the battlefield.
This is a mostly offensive oriented specialization, and has abilities that can even keep melee foes at bay when they get close to you.
Powerful skills like Veilstrike and Stonefist are perfect for decimating foes twice your size, and you can scorch the battlefield with a rain of meteors through Firestorm.
The Rift Mage specialization is unforgiving, relentless, and pureless about sheer damage.
Mage Class Combat Tips and Tactics
The Mage is an extremely important part of your party as he/she provides a mix of offensive and supportive abilities.
While the sole purpose of the mage is to cast devastating AoE spells that would allow them to dominate the battlefield, they need to also have good map awareness and supportive attributes.
The Spirit tree has many skills with glyphs that would aid your allies, and when they are combined with your devastating AoE abilities from the other trees, you get a complete mage that will aid in all areas of the battlefield.
Mages have a highly specialized role of ranged combat, and should be the farthest of all the party members from the main skirmish (except for Archers).
From a safe distant, they can unleash terrifying AoE spells and control the battlefield with ease, all the while providing assistance to their allies.
Mages do however lack severely in defenses, and can only wear light clothing. For this reason, they often need to be protected.
Most of the time you’ll play with a single mage in your party, and in such cases you should have a melee Rogue protecting him/her whenever enemies come in melee range of the mage.
