Artificer Archer Build

I finally got around to trying out the Artificer specialization. I thought this was the least interesting rogue spec, but it actually ends up being pretty fun once you have all the right passives working together.

Dragon Age Inquisition - Artificer build skill bar

Much like the Tempest archer, this Artificer build revolves around Leaping Shot. The key mechanic is the interaction of the “Opportunity Knocks” and “Looked Like it Hurt” passives with Leaping Shot and Elemental Mines.

Opportunity Knocks reduces your cooldown times whenever you or an ally crits, while Looked Like it Hurt refunds stamina whenever you crit. When you couple this with Leaping Shot and Elemental Mines – both skills that result in multiple attacks – you get back lots of stamina and greatly reduce your cooldowns.

In addition, the Artificer provides two great passives for the entire party – 5% extra crit chance, 10% damage, and 10% longer status effect durations.

I would also highly recommend that you pick up the Focus tier 2 and 3 perks from the war table room, to gain access to Tier 3 Hail of Arrows, which will increase the duration to 40 seconds.

Basic gameplay:

  • Use Fallback plan before you engage in combat, so you can then teleport back to safety if in danger (optional)
  • Quickly get into melee range by using Hook & Tackle – > use Elemental Mines in direction of enemies -> use Leaping Shot
  • These two skills will be your primary damage dealers, and you will be able to use them frequently thanks to your passives
  • Long Shot is primarily used as a filler while Elemental Mines and Leaping Shot are on cooldown, and also as a way to perform skill combos
  • You can also use Spike trap after Hook & Tackle, although personally I’m not a big fan of this skill
  • Explosive Shot can also be used as filler, but it’s only worth it versus multiple enemies
  • Your focus skill (Hail of Arrows) is very powerful and will allow you to essentially spam Leaping Shot non-stop for the duration

Points Spent: 18+

Point Allocation:

Archery: Long Shot / First Blood / Death From Above / Leaping Shot / Explosive Shot / Pincushion

Sabotage: Caltrops / Looked Like It Hurt  / Hook and Tackle / Cheap Shot

Artificer: Spike Trap / Opportunity Knocks / Set Them Up / Hail of Arrows / Elemental Mines / And Take Them Down / Fallback Plan / Tricks of the Trade

Dragon Age Inquisition - Artificer archer build

Dragon Age Inquisition - skill legend

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