By zanuffas
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In this post, I will be covering how you should build your Solas for best damage and AI support. This will help you better enjoy Dragon Age Inquisition.
Solas is an elf who will join your party early in the game. He prefers to stay in the Veil, and will provide interesting dialogues.
Important! The companion build is compatible with Nightmare difficulty, however, to pull it off correctly, be sure to have a good Inquisitor build
So let us go through Solas build
Contents
- Solas level 1 - 10
- Solas Winter Rift Mage build
- Abilities investment - short version
- Abilities investment - long version
- Solas Stats
- Equipment
- Solas Tactics
- Conclusion
Solas level 1 - 10
Until level 10 we want Solas to be a good mage all around for a few reasons:
- Enemies are fairly strong when you play on harder difficulties
- In case you do not have another mage, Solas should be able to cast all element magic
- Solas also needs to support your party with Barrier spell
| Order | Skill | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barrier + Energetic Defense | This is the main ability to save your party members by providing them with barriers |
| 2 |  Winter's Grasp | Although it is expensive ability in terms of MP, it will freeze enemies |
| 3 |  Immolate | Fire spell, that has small AOE and decent damage |
| 4 | Flashpoint | With this passive talent if you land a critical hit the next spell doesn't have a cooldown |
| 5 |  Energy Barrage + Energy Bombardment | Works well with Flashpoint. Moreover, you can use it to release projectiles of any element that your staff has. |
| 6 |  Peaceful Aura | With this talent enemies will target you less |
| 7 |  Dispel | Use it to take out enemy spawning from the Veil tear. Useful spell early in the game |
| 8 |  Conductive Current | The more mana you lose the more damage you will do with your spells |
Once you reach level 11, specializations will unlock and you can start working on the full Solas build
Solas Winter Rift Mage build
With this Build, Solas will take a role of a support mage crowd controlling the battlefield. To best utilize it I recommend having another mage in the party (either Inquisitor or Vivienne/Dorian) who could concentrate on dealing large amounts of damage.
Thanks to the skills acquired Solas will have no problems by constantly freezing, weakening, and knocking down enemies.
Remember that you will need to respecialize skills before making this build
Abilities investment - short version
In this section, I will show skill tree images so that the reader could get a fast overview on how Sola's skill points should be allocated
IMPORTANT: Get relevant Amulet of Power for Solas to maximize the number of ability points
Spirit Tree
Sola's main objective is to get Barrier to support party members
Storm tree
Storm tree will provide Energy Barrage. With this ability, you can expand Solas elemental damage by using different staves
Inferno tree
Fire tree unlocks good passive talents that decrease spell cooldowns
Winter tree
Winter tree will provide spells to crowd control enemies: freeze and chill them
Rift Mage
Solas main specialization tree gives mana regeneration passive and spells to weaken enemies
Abilities investment - long version
In this section, I will go through all the skills and talents that need to be picked for this Solas build in the Dragon Age Inquisition.
IMPORTANT: Get relevant Amulet of Power for Solas to maximize the number of ability points
| Order | Skill | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Veilstrike + Punching Down | Although this ability does not deal any damage it knocks down enemies with AOE. Moreover, it applies to a weakened state. |
| 2 |  Restorative Veil | Dealing damage with Solas to enemies will restore MP |
| 3 |  Stonefist + Shatterstone | Deals 500% of Weapon damage and knocks down enemies. Moreover, with the upgrade, it provides 4 meter AOE effect. |
| 4 |  Encircling Veil | Status effects will stay longer for 25% against weakened enemies |
| 5 |  Twisting Veil | Damage Bonus of 15% to Weakened enemies |
| 6 | Winter's Grasp | Although this ability can freeze enemies we take it more for progression reasons. It is not as useful due to high Mana costs. |
| 7 |  Winter Stillness | Mana Regeneration will increase 3 seconds after you sit still |
| 8 |  Ice Mine + Brittle Glyph | Extremely strong ability. Although it will not deal damage, it will totally reduce enemy armor. Moreover, it will freeze enemies holding them in place |
| 9 |  Ice Armor | Reduces incoming damage |
| 10 |  Blizzard + Winter Winds | Your staple DPS spell. It will create a large storm that will constantly deal damage, chill, and freeze enemies. You will want Solas to use it as often |
| 11 | Immolate | A great spell to have in the arsenal in case enemies are weak to fire. However, the main reason we take it is to unlock the next passive skills |
| 12 | Flashpoint | After a critical hit, Solas' next spell will have no cooldown |
| 13 |  Clean Burn | Each spell cast will reduce your other spell cooldown by 1 second. |
| 14 | Barrier + Energetic Defense | I suggest having a barrier-generating spell. It is extremely useful to have to strengthen your other group members |
| 15 | Peaceful Aura | Reduces generated threat. This means that Solas will be attacked less |
| 16 | Energy Barrage + Energy Bombardment | Extremely strong ability. Its element will depend on what staff you have. For this reason, I recommend having non-cold staff. |
| 17 |  Firestorm | Focus ability. I suggest taking it as it is extremely effective against large enemies like dragons or bosses |
With this, the core of the build is finished.
Late game skill investments
These abilities are the ones which I think are useful to have to further improve your build:
- Dispel - to remove summoning of the enemies when Veil Tear appears
- Pull of The Abyss + Devouring Veil - I think this ability is good, but it requires additional micromanaging to be cast correctly
- Conductive Current - increase your damage the less mana Solas has
Solas Stats
Critical chance - I suggest having 50% - 75%. This way you will ensure that most of your attacks are critical
Critical Damage – After you have a high critical rate of at least 50%. Concentrate on critical damage.
Dexterity - will boost critical damage. Prioritize this once Solas has a high critical rate of 50%+
Willpower - increases attack and gives bonus magic defense
Magic - Increases your overall attack
Attack - overall increase to attack
Armor – a priority for low levels, up to level 10. Mage's are quite squishy and you want Solas to survive
Equipment
In this section, I will go through recommended equipment for Solas
Weapons - obtainable
Generally, the ones with a boost to critical damage should be equipped when Solas has a 50%+ critical chance
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hakkon's Wisdom | This staff gives +100% critical damage. It is a good alternative to Isana's Song if you have at least a 50% Critical chance |
| 2 | Isana's Song | This staff can be obtained in The Descent DLC. Provides +41 to magic. In terms of pure damage, it has no equals. It also has a 10% chance to cast Chain Lightning. |
| 3 | Earnest Reprisal | I recommend this staff, only if you have a high critical chance of 50% or more. That is hard to pull off on level 18 for Solas. |
| 4 | Staff of the Void | The staff is obtained from high dragon Hivernal. Moreover, it provides adequate stats |
Weapons - craftable
Generally, I prefer craftable staves if you have good masterwork and other materials
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Staff of Corruption Schematic | Although this is Tier 4, I would still go for Wrath of Lovias Schematic that provides better slots for the end game. |
| 2 | Encore Schematic | One of the best staves in the game as it gives offensive buffs for all party members |
| 3 | Wrath of Lovias Schematic | The stave gives leather slots for increased critical chance or critical damage |
Armors - obtainable
Here is a recommended list of obtainable armors that you can wear.
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vestments of the Pure | Similar to craftable version. So choose the one that you prefer. Gives 45 points to willpower |
| 2 | Masterwork Battlemage Armor | Reduces the cost of the abilities and spells. Moreover, gives +6 to the magic attribute |
| 3 | Robes of the High Keeper | The Robe provides decent stats, especially if you use Focus abilities often |
Armors - craftable
I think all of the armors listed below are extremely good, choose the one to your liking
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Superior Battlemage Armor Schematic | Best craftable Armor. This version has one Cloth and a leather utility slot. Quite powerful and can be bought in Hissing Wastes. Moreover, you can add Arms and Legs upgrades to have an even larger boost to damage |
| 2 | Superb Antaam-saar Schematic | For this armor, you will need Spoils of the Qunari DLC pack. The schematic gives 3 Utility slots to increase offensive stats. I think it trades blows with Superior Battlemage Armor Schematic, due to the leather slots that it provides |
| 3 | Vestments of the Pure Schematic | Top-tier armor schematic. However, it does not have leather utility/offensive slots |
Helmets - obtainable
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cowl of the Pure | Can be an alternative to the Mask of the Grand duch*ess. However, it will only increase attack and not critical stats |
| 2 | Helm of the Drasca | A mid-tier helmet, I would recommend equipping this if you do not have the Winter Palace masks or Cowl of the Pure |
| 3 |  Ambassador's Mask | I would still recommend Mask of the Grand duch*ess. However, if you have a high critical rate (50%+), this helmet is much better. |
| 4 | Mask of the Grand duch*ess | The best helmet in terms of the boost to critical chance. |
Helmets - Craftable
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Superior Skirmisher Hat Schematic | Great slots for increasing critical stats. best craft |
| 2 | Battlemage Cowl Schematic | Upgraded version of Tier 2 schematic. Provides better utility slots. Similar to other Tier 3 schematics |
| 3 | Superior Seer Cowl | Similar to the other options in Tier 3. |
Amulets
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| - | Amulet of Power | Gives Solas a single ability point. It is consumed once you use it. |
| 1 | Andraste’s Sacrifice | This amulet provides both mana regeneration and a reduced cooldown modifier. However, it can be risky as occasionally enemies will get taunted as a side effect. |
| 2 | Master Cooldown Amulet | Because Solas will have plentiful mana, having faster cooldowns will benefit immensely |
| 3 | Superb Amulet of Cunning | Use this amulet to increase Solas' critical chance by 5% |
| 4 | Superb Amulet of Dexterity | Equip this amulet once you reach a high critical chance of about 50% or more |
| 5 | Amulet of Renewal | This amulet will increase the mana regeneration rate |
Belts
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Superior Belt of Focus | I suggest equipping this belt if you get Firestorm focus ability and allow Solas to use it |
| 2 | Enhanced Belt of Winter Pact | Although this belt increases the cold spell's power by 125% you will have the HP decreased by 50% |
| 3 | Superb Belt of Health | The belt can be obtained in Emerald Greaves. It gives +200 health. |
| 4 | Belt of Life | Similar to the above belt provides a large increase in HP. |
Rings
| Priority | Item | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ring of Slicing | The rings boost critical damage by 10% and critical chance by 5%. It is one of the best rings for this build |
| 2 | Superb Ring of Critical Damage | Gives +20% critical damage, equip it once you have high enough critical Chance |
| 3 | Superb Ring of Critical Chance | Gives a +10% critical chance. Great to boost it, if you have less than 50% |
| 4 | Superb Ring of Attack | Boosts overall attack damage |
| 5 | Enhanced Blizzard Ring | Once you have Blizzard ability, this ring will boost its damage by 30% |
Solas Tactics
Solas will have to use almost all 8 of his skill slots. I think this is possible due to the way Rift mages regenerate mana: dealing constant damage. Here is my tactics setup:
All skills should be set to "Active", except these: Winter's Grasp and Firestorm. Here is my reasoning:
- Firestorm should be used during difficult encounters, however, if you forget to use it then set "Active"
- Winter's Grasp is quite costly and does not deal a lot of damage. For this reason, I would rather have Solas spending the mana on other spells.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed reading this guide. I tried to go into great detail about how you should be building Solas in Dragon Age Inquisition. This includes spells, stats, and tactics.
Feel free to leave any feedback down in the comments below
