Dragon Age Inquisition - Warrior, Barbarian, Paladin, tank, shield, offensive Warrior

You've got two choices when it comes to fielding a Warrior in Dragon Age Inquisition. Either you coat them in armour and have them soak up damage as a tank, or set them up to deliver extreme damage. Either way, you'll want to focus on Strength as your primary stat for this type of character.

Two-handed weapon-wielding Warriors begin with Mighty Blow and War Cry, while the sword-and-board archetype begins with War Cry and Payback Strike. As for the Warrior's skill trees, you've got Weapon and Shield for defensive options, Two-Handed Weapon for pure offensive work, Battlemaster for agility-based defence, and Vanguard as the all-rounder.

Here's a quick look at the most common Warrior playstyles, along with the skills you'll want to focus on for each one.

6 Dragon Age: Inquisition Character Creation Details We Love (and One We Don't)

Paladin Warrior

Recommended skills:

• War Cry
• Payback Strike
• Shield Wall
• Untouchable Defense
• Chevalier's Step
• Call to Arms
• Bear Mauls the Wolves
• Challenge
• It'll Cost You
• Unbowed
• Grappling Chain
• Shield Bash
• Turn the Blade
• Turn the Bolt
• Still Standing
• Give Them the Boot
• Trust the Steel
• Cutting Words
• Bodyguard

As a Paladin Warrior you should look to Cunning and Constitution for your secondary focus after Strength. The former increases your defences, while the latter boosts your health. As a tank, both of these stats are extremely important.

Use this Warrior's taunt abilities like Challenge and War Cry to grab the attention of the enemies at hand, and make sure you're ready to pop Untouchable Defense and Shield Wall when you face a potentially devastating barrage of damage.

You'll likely only field one of these taunting Warriors in your party, so focus on both keeping this character alive at all costs, and ensuring the enemy forces are directed squarely at this character's face. Use Grappling Chain to pull attention away in an emergency.

Best tank Warriors kills

• Name: Bodyguard
• Set: Vanguard
• Effect Duration: 15 seconds
• Reflected Damage: 50 per cent
• Cooldown: 24 seconds
• Cost: 35 stamina

This ability allows the Warrior to absorb some of the damage that would otherwise have landed on a team member. Given the Warrior's focus on defence, this is an extremely important skill to master if you want to keep your damage-dealers alive.

• Name: Challenge
• Set: Vanguard
• Guard: 10 per cent
• Cooldown: 16 seconds
• Cost: 20 stamina

Both Challenge and War Cry are very similar skills used to drag an enemy's attention away from a party member and onto the Warrior. The main difference is that Challenge has a shorter cooldown and a lighter stamina cost. Keep this in mind when flitting between the two skills, especially in long boss fights or multi-target brawls.

• Name: Grappling Chain
• Set: Battlemaster

This extremely useful ability allows the Warrior to pull the target towards them - great for pulling an enemy off one of your more fragile party members.

• Name: It'll Cost You
• Set: Vanguard
• Reflected Damage: 15 per cent

This defensive skill also gives the Warrior's damage output a bit of a boost. Any melee attack landing on the Warrior when this skill is active has 15 per cent of its damage thrown back at the attacker. Very useful during boss battles.

• Name: Shield Wall
• Set: Weapon and Shield

Shield Wall's a great way to boost your defences, particularly when you're getting stuck into a meaty boss fight. The bigger the attack you absorb with this skill, the more guard you receive. Combine this with Chevalier's Step to keep yourself agile.

• Name: Turn the Blade
• Set: Weapon and Shield

This skill reduces 20 per cent of incoming damage, and combines well with abilities like Bear Mauls the Wolves, and Turn the Bolt. This latter ability reduces incoming damage by a further 50 per cent, while Bear stops enemies from flanking you.

• Name: Untouchable Defense
• Set: Vanguard

This simple skill gives your guard a 25 per cent boost. The more of this stat you have, the more overall damage your Warrior is capable of withstanding, and so the longer they'll stay alive.

• Name: War Cry
• Set: Vanguard
• Guard: 20 per cent per enemy taunted
• Cooldown: 24 seconds
• Cost: 35 stamina

This is a great taunting ability for your Warrior, and draws an enemy directly into your attacks. It also provides an extra bit of guard for every enemy taunted, making it one of the most immediately useful tools in the Warrior's arsenal.

Barbarian Warrior

Recommended skills:

• Mighty Blow
• War Cry
• Easy Target
• Block and Slash
• Flow of Battle
• Pommel Strike
• Shield Breaker
• Whirlwind
• Guard-Smasher
• Grappling Chain
• Crippling Blows
• Clear a Path
• Earthshaking Strike
• Coup de Grace

The Barbarian's job is very simple - dish out as much pain as possible. Strength is of course your primary stat here, but Critical Chance is also extremely important for your performance. You'll have good defences as standard, but you really shouldn't make this Warrior archetype your primary tank, unless you have a lot of Mages to throw up defensive spells.

Best offensive Warriors kills

• Name: Crippling Blows
• Set: Battlemaster
• Effect Duration: 10 seconds

Not only will unlocking this skill provide the Warrior with an additional three points of baseline Strength, it also works wonders in combination with your critical hit strikes.

• Name: Mighty Blow
• Set: Two-Handed Weapon
• Damage: 200 per cent of weapon damage
• Cooldown: 16 seconds
• Cost: 50 stamina

The more you can knock your enemies back, the easier the life of the offensive Warrior is. It costs a fair chunk of stamina, but the effects can very often be worth the cost.

• Name: Pommel Strike
• Set: Two-Handed Weapon
• Damage: 300 per cent of weapon damage
• Effect Duration: 3 seconds
• Cooldown: 20 seconds
• Cost: 35 stamina

This skill doesn't just do a decent amount of damage, it also stuns the target for a few seconds, making everyone's life a little easier.

• Name: Shield Breaker
• Set: Two-Handed Weapon
• Effect Duration: 6 seconds

This essential skill makes sure the aggressive Warrior can punch through even the toughest armour. Unlocking the skill also grants the Warrior an additional three Strength stat points.

Head back to the first page for the rest of our Dragon Age Inquisition strategy guide content.