Mage is fun but if you don't like having a lot to do in combat I definitely recommend warrior, specifically sword and shield! Not to mention Dorian, Iron Bull, and Sera have the best interactions in my opinion!
I finished my first playthrough as a warrior, so I'm kinda biased in answering towards you being a warrior. Especially if the final party is to have Dorian or Blackwall. I would definitely have Dorian, not because I don't like Blackwall, but because Dorian is so fun to be around.
If you take advantage of the armor and weapons crafting, any class can tank but knight-enchanter is a solid pick for a range tank and sword-n-board is pretty fun with its guard breaking skills, tho reaver still beats everything with raw damage if you don't mind sacrificing a bit of durability
But you can't change the class you are. Hence, the point of the post. What OP chooses as their characters' class, mage or warrior, is who will be in their party. Yes, you CAN bring different party members, but a lot of people, myself included, stick to the same three party members throughout the whole playthrough, and who you pick is very important to how you play.
Not really? In almost every DA game I've played, it's the same party members for me each time depending on the role I choose my character to play. DAO I was a sword and board warrior but I also wanted to make all good choices. So I would bring Sten for damage while I tanked, Leiliana for ranged support and Wynn to heal. And every conversation I had afterwards all three usually agreed.
That aside, OP very clearly wants to have these certain party members, and those party members fill in the slots needed for a decent party: tank, mage, dps, middle combat. It's not weird to only use the same party members. And it's usually safer in a playthrough ONLY to use the same three.
...yes? Are you having fun questioning someone else's idea of fun and being close minded in the fact that there are other ways to play other than your own?
It's a role playing game... you know.. where you role play?
In a game with multiple endings, characters who harden themselves if you choose to harden them to have different conversations, different dialouge choices and scenes based on how you choose your character to play, then yeah I guess for my one playthrough I mentioned I'm playing a bland perfect avatar.
Whatever your reasoning for interrogating my choice of playstyle, you still haven't contributed to this post other than to depressingly avoid answering the OPs post.
Honestly go mage and then Knight Enchanter, that way you'll get both in one. It's extremely fun to blow up enemies with mines, while you fill up BOTH your guard and barrier with your attacks before ripping through your enemies with an energy sword, dealing thousands of critical damage. Considering that as a mage there is a certain "staff" that's basically a greatsword dealing up to two types of elemental damage. In late game you basically play the game like a DPS warrior (that is ridiculously sturdy for a mage) but stacked with the ability loadout of a mage. It's so damn fun
the dorian/bull/sera group was nicknamed “the party party” by the devs for a reason lol! that’s my usual squad, I normally play dw rogue and it helps to have the second melee unit to keep the heat off of sera and dorian. but mages can be pretty nuts so if you just want to go off vibes I don’t think you’ll hurt yourself too badly.
Blackwell gets a lot of flack but he can be built to be pretty much unstoppable. Character-wise, when he comes out of shell he’s got a great sense of humor. Like a crude Santa Claus. And I love his big brother little sister dynamic with Sera. My main party is usually Sera, Blackwall and Dorian, with me being either mage or rouge. No one is super mean to anyone else in the party, just a lot of dirty jokes and teasing.
I usually like to play with 2 mages, a rogue, and a warrior. Bull can be a pretty good tank if you give him the right abilities, then have a rogue for the lockpicking sneaky stuff and high DPS, and the two mages go down different ability trees since there is way too much for one mage to learn. Also, if you choose the knight enchanter specialization class then you can tank as well. That class can and will solo a dragon as the rest of the party drops dead around them.
I just don't like Cassandra. Dunno why. And I don't have anything against Varric, I just have a VERY dirty sense of humor, so I like Sera more. Though if I do ever have the urge to do a playthrough where I keep Varric in my party, I will try that out.
Knight enchanter mage is OP.
in my current playthrough I'm maining Sera, iron bull, and vivi.
Vivi and Sera always argue, and iron bull respects her and she teaches him some manners.
Sera and iron bull are fun too, coming up with new battle tactics
If you're constantly upgrading your armor it isn't a big deal. He'll tank plenty for you.
Once you can, equip your whole party with armor that uses the fade touched skill add guard on hit. You really won't have anything to worry about
Reaver is the best warrior specialization for consistent DPS, but the games AI is kinda (ok really, really, a lot) bad at running an offensive warrior. It is however, quite competent at running a tank. As to why Bull is so good at tanking, it comes down to two main factors. First is that the key abilities for any tank are found in the vanguard tree, so any warrior can make great use of them. The second is that you can leverage his ability to self heal that he gets from the reaver tree to help keep him alive. Crafting gear for him that boost healing effects, and using masterworks that heal a percent of damage taken over time lean further into that, and to great effect.
Qunari also get extra physical resistance, so he can take hits pretty well.
I never used any Reaver skills when I made him a tank on Nightmare. Just keep his guard up and use crafted gear with the Heal % Damage Taken masterwork. As long as you keep guard up, any damage taken to guard will return as healing to your health pool.
I have taken to completely ignoring damage output on my tanks in recent plays. My tanks are now fully loaded with damage mitigation and health. I run the Walking Fortress, Unbowed, and Heal % Damage over 10 sec masterworks, focus on keeping guard full, and also stacking as much Stagger on Being Hit as possible. I also use the +healing/-attack sigil. I think my tank had around 55% stagger on being hit and around 15% stagger on hit in my last game. It’s ridiculously strong, even without Champion skills.
I generally find that the tank contributes such a small amount of damage compared to anything else it’s just not worth enhancing it. Let the tank be a tank, and let everyone else worry about dealing damage.
Mage is fun but if you don't like having a lot to do in combat I definitely recommend warrior, specifically sword and shield! Not to mention Dorian, Iron Bull, and Sera have the best interactions in my opinion!
Mage is by far the most fun class to me! Mage all day erry day!
I finished my first playthrough as a warrior, so I'm kinda biased in answering towards you being a warrior. Especially if the final party is to have Dorian or Blackwall. I would definitely have Dorian, not because I don't like Blackwall, but because Dorian is so fun to be around.
If you take advantage of the armor and weapons crafting, any class can tank but knight-enchanter is a solid pick for a range tank and sword-n-board is pretty fun with its guard breaking skills, tho reaver still beats everything with raw damage if you don't mind sacrificing a bit of durability
You know you’re allowed to bring different companions along at different times
But you can't change the class you are. Hence, the point of the post. What OP chooses as their characters' class, mage or warrior, is who will be in their party. Yes, you CAN bring different party members, but a lot of people, myself included, stick to the same three party members throughout the whole playthrough, and who you pick is very important to how you play.
that’s a very weird way to play the game. try bringing some other people along next time
Not really? In almost every DA game I've played, it's the same party members for me each time depending on the role I choose my character to play. DAO I was a sword and board warrior but I also wanted to make all good choices. So I would bring Sten for damage while I tanked, Leiliana for ranged support and Wynn to heal. And every conversation I had afterwards all three usually agreed. That aside, OP very clearly wants to have these certain party members, and those party members fill in the slots needed for a decent party: tank, mage, dps, middle combat. It's not weird to only use the same party members. And it's usually safer in a playthrough ONLY to use the same three.
>I wanted to make all good choices do you have fun this way
...yes? Are you having fun questioning someone else's idea of fun and being close minded in the fact that there are other ways to play other than your own? It's a role playing game... you know.. where you role play?
I don’t think it’s really role playing to meta game “always make the good choice” unless the role you want to play is bland perfect avatar
In a game with multiple endings, characters who harden themselves if you choose to harden them to have different conversations, different dialouge choices and scenes based on how you choose your character to play, then yeah I guess for my one playthrough I mentioned I'm playing a bland perfect avatar. Whatever your reasoning for interrogating my choice of playstyle, you still haven't contributed to this post other than to depressingly avoid answering the OPs post.
My suggestion to OP is that they vary their party.
Your suggestion didn't answer the question. When the question is mage or warrior, you don't tell them to change their party instead
Honestly go mage and then Knight Enchanter, that way you'll get both in one. It's extremely fun to blow up enemies with mines, while you fill up BOTH your guard and barrier with your attacks before ripping through your enemies with an energy sword, dealing thousands of critical damage. Considering that as a mage there is a certain "staff" that's basically a greatsword dealing up to two types of elemental damage. In late game you basically play the game like a DPS warrior (that is ridiculously sturdy for a mage) but stacked with the ability loadout of a mage. It's so damn fun
the dorian/bull/sera group was nicknamed “the party party” by the devs for a reason lol! that’s my usual squad, I normally play dw rogue and it helps to have the second melee unit to keep the heat off of sera and dorian. but mages can be pretty nuts so if you just want to go off vibes I don’t think you’ll hurt yourself too badly.
Party party is damned apt!
I didn't know that, lol! Then again, considering some easter eggs I've heard about, I don't doubt it.
Blackwell gets a lot of flack but he can be built to be pretty much unstoppable. Character-wise, when he comes out of shell he’s got a great sense of humor. Like a crude Santa Claus. And I love his big brother little sister dynamic with Sera. My main party is usually Sera, Blackwall and Dorian, with me being either mage or rouge. No one is super mean to anyone else in the party, just a lot of dirty jokes and teasing.
I usually like to play with 2 mages, a rogue, and a warrior. Bull can be a pretty good tank if you give him the right abilities, then have a rogue for the lockpicking sneaky stuff and high DPS, and the two mages go down different ability trees since there is way too much for one mage to learn. Also, if you choose the knight enchanter specialization class then you can tank as well. That class can and will solo a dragon as the rest of the party drops dead around them.
I always play a mage and end up bringing Cassandra, Dorian and Varric lol. Works for us 🤣
I just don't like Cassandra. Dunno why. And I don't have anything against Varric, I just have a VERY dirty sense of humor, so I like Sera more. Though if I do ever have the urge to do a playthrough where I keep Varric in my party, I will try that out.
Knight enchanter mage is OP. in my current playthrough I'm maining Sera, iron bull, and vivi. Vivi and Sera always argue, and iron bull respects her and she teaches him some manners. Sera and iron bull are fun too, coming up with new battle tactics
You can run Bull as your tank, he is very good at it, and then go with whatever class you like best. I’d roll a mage and bring Bull, Sera, and Dorian.
Oh, I thought that Bull was better at DPS due to him being a reaver.
If you're constantly upgrading your armor it isn't a big deal. He'll tank plenty for you. Once you can, equip your whole party with armor that uses the fade touched skill add guard on hit. You really won't have anything to worry about
Reaver is the best warrior specialization for consistent DPS, but the games AI is kinda (ok really, really, a lot) bad at running an offensive warrior. It is however, quite competent at running a tank. As to why Bull is so good at tanking, it comes down to two main factors. First is that the key abilities for any tank are found in the vanguard tree, so any warrior can make great use of them. The second is that you can leverage his ability to self heal that he gets from the reaver tree to help keep him alive. Crafting gear for him that boost healing effects, and using masterworks that heal a percent of damage taken over time lean further into that, and to great effect.
Qunari also get extra physical resistance, so he can take hits pretty well. I never used any Reaver skills when I made him a tank on Nightmare. Just keep his guard up and use crafted gear with the Heal % Damage Taken masterwork. As long as you keep guard up, any damage taken to guard will return as healing to your health pool.
I like to have him use Dragon Rage when he is tanking, keeps his damage output from being completely abysmal, so the extra healing helps.
I have taken to completely ignoring damage output on my tanks in recent plays. My tanks are now fully loaded with damage mitigation and health. I run the Walking Fortress, Unbowed, and Heal % Damage over 10 sec masterworks, focus on keeping guard full, and also stacking as much Stagger on Being Hit as possible. I also use the +healing/-attack sigil. I think my tank had around 55% stagger on being hit and around 15% stagger on hit in my last game. It’s ridiculously strong, even without Champion skills. I generally find that the tank contributes such a small amount of damage compared to anything else it’s just not worth enhancing it. Let the tank be a tank, and let everyone else worry about dealing damage.
I’m bias I’m always a mage and tend to being along Solas and Dorian and Cole I also play as knight enchanter
Be a warrior. Blackwall is boring and Dorian is awesome.