Dragon Age Inquisition Best Class Ranked

Our guide gives complete information on all classes and without knowing Dragon Age Inquisition best class, you are bound to pick wrong ones.

A sequel to Dragon Age II, the Dragon Age Inquisition is an action RPG semi-open world game whose story revolves around an Inquisitor. Character customization is an integral part of the game as it allows you to evolve your gameplay experience from the starting point. A little later down the road, besides selecting the main class in the game, you will be prompted to select specializations which are basically sub-classes. Our Dragon Age Inquisition best class guide entails information, usability, and limitations of all sub-classes in the game.

Key Takeaways
  • The best class in Dragon Age Inquisition is subjective and depends on your playstyle. However, Knight-Enchanter, Necromancer, and Rift Mage are all considered to be top-tier classes.
  • The Knight-Enchanter is a powerful melee class that can also cast spells. They are very tanky and can deal a lot of damage.
  • The Necromancer is a ranged class that can summon undead minions to fight for them. They are very versatile and can deal a lot of damage or control the battlefield.
  • The Rift Mage is a ranged class that can control the flow of battle with their elemental magic. They are very powerful but can be fragile.
  • Other good classes in Dragon Age Inquisition include the Artificer, Assassin, Tempest, Champion, and Reaver.
  • Ultimately, the best class for you is the one that you enjoy playing the most. Experiment with different classes and find one that suits your playstyle.

Related: Dragon Age Inquisition Won’t Launch – FIXED

Best Class In Dragon Age Inquisition

Dragon Age Inquisition has a diverse roster of classes that stretch out from the primary three classes; Mage, Rogue, Warrior. Your gameplay experience and playstyle will revolve around the sub-classes that you create by mastering the combat and investing skill points. Without talking about the sub-classes in Dragon Age Inquisition, players will not be able to identify the uses and limitations of each sub-class. Therefore, here is the breakdown of three major classes into sub-classes.  

Mage

  • Knight-Enchanter
  • Necromancer
  • Rift Mage

Rogue

  • Artificer
  • Assassin
  • Tempest

Warrior

  • Champion
  • Reaver
  • Templar

Knight-Enchanter

Knight-Enchanter sub-class is the perfect balance between a mage and melee-focused character in Dragon Age Inquisition. Using the spirit blade, this sub-class can attack and deflect incoming projectiles using the Spirit Blade, which is a hilt weapon summoning a sharp magic-infused blade.

Knight Enchanter best sub class for melee
Knight Enchanter in action

Knight-Enchanter deals a moderate amount of damage to enemies. This sub-class is an all-rounder one in Dragon Age Inquisition as it provides protection to self and the party via its spells. Using the Fade Shield spell, Knight-Enchanter draws energy released by enemies and strengthens the barrier.

The best part about this sub-class is that you can avoid unwanted combat engagement with certain enemy types by using the Fade Cloak spell. Moreover, Knight-Enchanter also does an area-of-effect attack by using the Disruption Field spell. Another reason why many players prefer picking this sub-class is because of the Resurgence spell, which basically calls spirits to restore you and your party members. The spell also heals the party members.

Necromancer

Necromancer sub-class is the master of putting fear in the heart of an enemy. Whenever an enemy dies nearby, this sub-class gets back the lost health and mana. Moreover, killing foes frequently increases the spell power of Necromancer, and the remaining enemies will take more damage.

Necromancer subclass for ranged and melee playstyle
Necromancer in action

Necromancer is a difficult sub-class to master in Dragon Age Inquisition. The main problem with this sub-class is that it does not deal a decent amount of damage, and despite the amazing spells, Necromancer is a little underwhelming sub-class in the game.

Moreover, most of the spells of this sub-class shine when you unlock every single skill in the node. It may give Necromancer a much better damage output performance, but it also wastes a lot of time in investing and earning skill points.

Playing with Necromancer as a center or back-row character would be a much better choice than a frontal assault. It is because this sub-class is not best known for its damage-dealing but for survivability, area of effects, and short amount of healing.

Rift Mage

Using Rift Mage as a crowd-controlling character can result in some satisfactory combat engagements. However, this sub-class does not perform well for one versus one fights, and it is also one of the reasons why it has more survivability than others.

Rift Mage is one of Dragon Age Inquisition best class only if the players know how to utilize all of the abilities properly. Otherwise, the difficult learning curve and an overwhelming amount of spells can sometimes throw you off from the frequent combat engagements.

Rift Mage Dragon Age Inquisition Best Class
Rift Mage in action

Rift Mage is the proper sub-class that is famous for crowd control in Dragon Age Inquisition. Most of the attacks of this sub-class surround weakening the enemies by using ice, fire, and electricity elemental-based magic attacks. Other than that, Rift Mage’s attacks also deal with various debuffs on enemies, making them weak by the minute while your team engages the enemy team.

Besides the active abilities of Rift Mage, the passive ones are pretty strong as well. The Restorative Veil passive allows the sub-class to regain mana by dealing damage to the enemies. Moreover, Rift Mage can also increase the intensity of the status effect on enemies via its Encircling Veil ability. Besides applying debuffs on enemies, this sub-class can also passively increase self-damage from the Twisting Veil spell.

Artificer

Artificer is the master of making enemies fall in traps, dealing increased self and party damage, and reducing the cooldown on abilities as long as the party members keep scoring critical hits on enemies. Combining all of these features makes this sub-class as one of Dragon Age Inquisition best class in the game.

Artificer Pure ranged sub class
Artificer in action

The Opportunity Knocks passive ability of Artificer by far is the best passive players will not find on any other sub-classes in the game. It allows the sub-class to get a cooldown reduction on abilities as long as the party members deal critical hits on the enemies.

Artificer sub-class comes with the best passive and active abilities to lead the party into combat and emerge out victorious. Other than that, if you are planning to use Artificer in Dragon Age Inquisition, make sure to equip a bow and arrow. It is because settings traps and engaging the enemies from a distance will ensure Artificer gets less damage and eliminate the chances of dying on the field.

You want this sub-class to remain with your party, and the best way would be to place it behind other characters while engaging in combat. This is why a bow and arrow would be a perfect fit to strike enemies from a distance.

Assassin

Assassin has its uses while playing with this sub-class in Dragon Age Inquisition. It is not the perfect sub-class players can get in the game; however, think of Assassin as a means to get easy kills, disabling enemies, and allowing your teammates to dish out the damage after this sub-class has dealt serious damage to an enemy.

Assassin Dragon Age Inquisition Best Class
Assassin striking from shadows

Assassin’s Hidden Blade allows the character to strike enemies swiftly, dealing 300% of weapon damage to the foes. The Overkill upgrade of this ability increase the hit count and reduces the cooldown further, allowing this sub-class to become more deadly in the field.

Knife In The Shadows is by far the best passive ability of Assassin as it allows the sub-class to deal a guaranteed critical hit on an enemy if attacked from stealth. This significantly increases the damage output of this sub-class, allowing you to always strike first with Assassin before engaging in combat.

Moreover, when enemies are near to death, striking them with Assassin will drain their HPs much faster due to the sub-class’ passive called Throatcutter. The second best ability of Assassin would be his ability to put enemies to sleep by using Knockout Bomb ability. Players can use this ability to advantage whenever too many enemies surround them as it can be used to control the combat engagements in Dragon Age Inquisition.

While most of Assassin’s abilities require you to get close to enemies, equipping a bow will allow you to hit them far from a distance as well. Also, it will increase the chances of surviving the tough odds should you encounter an overwhelming foe out in the field.

Tempest

We think Tempest comes in second place when we talk about Dragon Age Inquisition best class. This sub-class utilizes a wide variety of flask-based attacks that turn the tide of combat should you face powerful enemies. Flask of Frost, Flask of Fire, and Flask of Lightning are the three main abilities that allow Tempest to crowd control and destroy enemies easily.

However, there is a limitation while using the flask abilities, which is also one of the many reasons Tempest is the second-best sub-class in Dragon Age Inquisition. The catch is to wait for the expiration of one Flask’s effects before you can use another one.

Tempest the elemental damage master sub class
Enraged Tempest approaching target

Unlocking the Flaskmaster passive ability will grant you the ability to carry more elixirs and a 25% chance of not consuming a flash at all while you have activated an ability. Ride the Storm is another passive ability that is pretty much helpful and increases the overall damage output of Tempest by increasing the longevity of elixir effects.

Lastly, if you fancy a berserk kind of playstyle, then unlocking the Flask of Fire ability will allow you to send Tempest into a frenzied state. In this state, this sub-class will not consume stamina and will knock back enemies whenever they try to attack you.

Having a Tempest sub-class in the party will prove beneficial if the rest of the characters rely heavily on melee-based weapons. Even though this sub-class is not overpowered like Artificer but it still gets the job done.

Champion

Champion is one of the Warrior’s sub-class in Dragon Age Inquisition, and it is by far the best tank one can ask for in the game. This sub-class’s active and passive abilities allow it to have the maximum guard and control choke points. Champion is an effective sub-class to divide the crowd, take more damage while the rest of the party focuses on the other half of the enemy crowd.

Champion Dragon Age Inquisition Best Class
Champion trying to even the odds

Line in the Sand ability, by far the is best one while using Champion in Dragon Age Inquisition. It allows the sub-class to block choke points and not allow enemies to pass. As mentioned above, many prefer having this sub-class in the party to divide the crowd and attack accordingly. Controlling the crowd is one thing but dividing them into groups so as to take enemies out one by one is an ability not many tank sub-classes have in Dragon Age Inquisition.

Champion’s Bulwark passive ability allows the sub-class to stand the ground and finish the fight by receiving maximum guard protection. The Adamant passive ability increases the overall armor by 20%, giving this sub-class more chances of surviving the odds or tough encounters such as with a powerful boss.

Reaver

Reaver is another Dragon Age Inquisition best class when it comes to destroying enemies by buffing self-damage from the lost health points. Most of the abilities of this sub-class benefit whenever the health falls low while engaging in combat. Using the Ring of Pain ability allows Reaver to mark part of the battlefield and deal increased damage to enemies who are inside the ring.

Also, foes who come inside the ring take damage from spirits. The Painbringer upgrade of this active ability allows you to mobilize the Ring of Pain; hence wherever Reaver moves, the ring goes with the character.

Reaver Dragon Age Inquisition Best Class
Angry Reaver

The Blood Frenzy passive ability gives Reaver a 5% damage bonus for every 10% of health lost while fighting foes in the field. This sub-class has the capability to control crowds via its Terrifying Fury passive ability. Whenever Reaver strikes enemies with critical strikes, there is a 25% chance that nearby enemies will flee from fear.

Reaver is a fantastic sub-class in Dragon Age Inquisition. It is also the only one that offers high-risk, high rewards kinds of situations in the game. The more health Reaver loses on the battlefield, the higher damage output it can unleash onto enemies. There is no perfect class in Dragon Age Inquisition; however, if you want a glass cannon kind of playstyle, you can get that by playing with Reaver.

Templar

Templar sub-class in Dragon Age Inquisition offers party-wide buffs and removes debuffs that enemies apply. The only downside while playing with this sub-class in the game would be the efficiency of the buffs and the overall support that Templar offers to the table.

While having the complete freedom to choose a sub-class in the game, having Templar in the party means receiving underwhelming party-wide buffs that otherwise could have been much more had you picked an Assassin, Artificer, or another sub-class instead of Templar.

Templar Dragon Age Inquisition Best Class
Templar fighting a tough boss

Conclusion

You may have a couple of questions now that you know a little bit more about the main and sub-classes in Dragon Age Inquisition. We have scoured the web and have found out the three most asked questions about the classes in the game, and we have tried our best to answer them as short as possible.

FAQs

What is the best attack class specialization in Dragon Age Inquisition?

Artificer, Reaver, Tempest are the best attack class specialization in Dragon Age Inquisition

What is the best defense class specialization in Dragon Age Inquisition?

By far Champion is the best defense class specialization in Dragon Age Inquisition

What is the best class race for Dragon Age Inquisition?

Humans for the overall story, Qunari and Dwarves at second and Elves at third priority

That is pretty much everything you need to know about classes and sub-classes in Dragon Age Inquisition. Which class/sub-class has been your favorite so far in the game? Let us know more of your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Irfan Ansari is a Senior Editor and Guides Writer on eXputer. He has seven years of Video Game Journalism experience and has been gaming for more than 22 years. Over his editorial career, he has gained experience at multiple sites, including TheGamer and VeryAli Gaming. Irfan has also earned a degree in Writing and Editing from the University of Michigan. Learn some more about Irfan's gaming journey on his Steam, PSN, and Xbox profiles.

Experience: 7+ Years || Worked for TheGamer and VeryAli Gaming

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