10 Tips for Playing on Nightmare Difficulty

Nightmare difficulty in Dragon Age: Inquisition can be, well, quite difficult. Here are my top 10 tips to help you survive.

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Tip#1: Use Skill Builds

Make effective, planned-out skill builds (and respec when necessary). If you don’t follow a skill build, you simply won’t have enough damage, survivability and crowd control to play on Nightmare.

Making a build isn’t that difficult – think of what role you want your given party member to play, and choose skills that support that role, and work well with each other.

For example, if you want to build a tank, choose skills that generate guard, increase your survivability, and allow you to maintain aggro. For this role, most of the skills in the Vanguard and Champion trees are a good choice.

Tip # 2: Have a Proper Party Setup

Have a proper party setup. The safest choice is Tank, 2 DPS, and a Support.

Tip # 3: Set the Right Tactics & Behaviors

Optimal Tactics and Behaviors. Set important skills like taunt to preferred under tactics, but disable Focus skills to use them manually.

Tip # 4: Craft Powerful Items

Craft Stuff. Crafting is very powerful in Inquisition, so try to craft often to upgrade your gear, especially when you get tier 3 schematics. Make sure to use masterwork items and tier 3 crafting materials to craft the highest quality weapons and armor.

Tip # 5: MIcromanage Your Party

Micromanagement. Although the game’s AI is relatively effective, you will still need to micromanage your party from time to time for things like positioning, resurrecting dead party members, and using important abilities.

Tip # 6: War Table Missions

Do War table missions.  They’re not just a tool to unlock new areas and progress through the storyline; they’re also a great way to boost your resources essentially at no cost.

There are all sorts of missions that provide you with things like crafting materials, items, and influence. Try to visit Skyhold every once in a while and assign your three advisers to new missions.

Tip # 7: Check Items At Merchants

Check merchants for useful things like unique weapons, potion recipes, and item schematics. I got a great unique leveling bow off a merchant that I ended up using for more than 5 levels. You never know what you may find!

Tip # 8: Use Potions

Use Potions effectively. For starters, you should always resupply your potions at Inquisition camps when you’re out in the field.

You also want to pick up the 4 extra potions perk, found under the “Forces” tab in your Inquisition perks, which will raise your maximum health potions from 8 to 12. Also, don’t forget to make use of other potions like Jar of Bees, which can be a great boost in combat. Lastly, try to upgrade your potions.

Tip # 9: Use Skill Combos

Use skill combos, they’re pretty good! e.g. Winter’s Grasp followed by Long Shot.

Tip# 10: Use CC Abilities

Use Crowd Control. CC is very helpful on Nightmare difficulty, since monsters have high health and damage. Try to have at least a couple CC abilities, typically from one of your mages.

I personally use Dorian’s fire and necromancer spells for the majority of my Crowd Control, in addition to upgraded Full Draw on my archer Inquisitor.

Feel free to share your own tips :)

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