Best Assassin Builds - Dual Wield and Archer - Dragon Age: Inquisition (DAI)

In this post, I will go through in great detail on Dragon Age Inquisition Assasin builds. This will cover both the dual wield and bow weapon options.

Assassin class concentrates on Stealth and avoiding direct enemy confrontation. The main ability is Mark of Death that can stack tons of damage against the strongest enemies in the game.

These are the Best Assasin builds that you can find and they will easily work on Nightmare difficulty

So let's start

Before Assassin, level 1 - 10

Before reaching level 10 you will not have Assassin specialization. Due to this, there may be minimal constraints that you have. Here are two ways to spec before getting the specialization.

Archer

Order	Skill	Description
1	Stealth	Great survival and damage boost ability at the start of the game
2	Long Shot + Archer’s Lance	I prefer to fight at a closer distance so the Eagle Eye upgrade does not benefit much
3	Death from Above	We mainly take this to unlock the next ability
4	Leaping Shot + Shot from the Shadows	You can enter stealth after the attack, utilize this to gain additional damage boost and to stay safe
5	Evasion	We take it mainly for progression
6	Evade + Shadow Step	Major upgrade allowing you to reposition yourself at will
7	First Blood	Attacks, when the enemy has a high Hp deal, increased damage. Will work well with Long Shot + Stealth.

Once you reach level 10~ you should be able to obtain Assassin specialization. You are then ready to move to the next builds

Dual Wielding dagger

Order	Skill	Description
1	Stealth + Lost in the Shadows	Enter stealth at will, even if you are staggered or under negative effects. Moreover, you will get a small boost of 50% damage with the first attack
2	Flank Attack + Skirmisher	Takes you to stealth after the second hit
3	Twin Fangs + Ripping Fangs	We take it to unlock other abilities, but it still gives a good option to deal damage
4	Dance of Death	Many of your hits will deal killing blows early in the game as you will deal large amounts of damage.
5	Sneak Attack	Because you will concentrate on attacking from flanks, this will double your critical rate
6	Easy to Miss	Reduces threat that you generate

Once you reach level 10~ you should be able to obtain Assassin specialization. You are then ready to move to the next builds

Assassin Dual Wield build

This build mainly concentrates on using Dual Wielded daggers to flank enemies. To do that you will constantly enter/exit stealth to escape enemy attention and deal the killing blow.

Abilities - short overview

In this section, you can check how the skills are allocated. For detailed progression and description check the next section:

Double Daggers tree

Archery Tree

Sabotage Tree

Subterfuge Tree

Assassin Tree

Abilities - detailed progression

Here I will cover detailed progression and explanations for the Dual Wield Assassin build.

Order	Skill	Description
1	Throatcutter	Gives a larger damage bonus the less HP the enemy has.
2	Hidden Blades + Overkill	One of the main Assassin abilities. It will hit the enemy with six hits each having 300% weapon damage.
3	I Was Never Here	After you deal the killing blow, Inquisitor will enter Stealth. it will allow you to move to the next enemy or slip away from being attacked
4	Knife in the Shadows	Attacking from stealth will make sure that you do a critical hit
5	Mark of Death + Mark of Doom	This is an extremely strong ability if used on bosses or other enemies with large pools of HP.
6	Stealth + Lost in the Shadows	Use this ability at the start of the combat to get behind enemy lines or escape if you get the status effect or are knocked down.
7	Caltrops	We take this mainly for progression
8	Looked Like It Hurt	Each critical hit will restore 10 stamina. An essential skill to have the stamina for all the skills
9	Flank Attack + Skirmisher	Will deal two hits with 200% weapon damage. The important part is that the Inquisitor will enter stealth after this.
10	Evasion	Not especially strong ability but we take it for progression
11	Evade	We mainly take it for progression
12	Shadow Strike + Quick Blade	This ability will do two things: - With the upgrade, you will deal additional damage when attacking from stealth - You will restore 70 stamina when you use it to use other active abilities
13	Twin Fangs + Ripping Fangs	Good synergy with, Shadow Strike as you will much MP after it. Twin Fangs will work extremely well when attacking the enemy from the flank.
14	First Blood	This skill will increase the damage that you do to enemies with high HP.
15	Explosive Shot	We mainly take this for progression
16	Pincushion	This passive ability will boost your damage the more hits you do to the same enemy. This works extremely well with Mark of Death
17	Gaps in the Armor	Will boost your armor penetration for all the attacks that you do

Some additional skills that you can consider when you have more points:

• Poisoned Weapons + Upgrade
• Throwing Blades + Precision targeting - strong single target skill, get it if you feel that you still have free stamina and the cooldown of your skills takes too long
• Ambush
• Knockout Bomb + Upgrade

Stats

• Flank damage – contrary to what it sounds it provides a damage boost to ALL your damage, so it is even better than Critical damage. The downside is that you always need to attack from the flank.

• Attack – overall increase to your damage on par with Flank damage

• Faster movement speed when in stealth - as you do not have Hook and Tackle skill this stat will allow you to move around the battlefield faster

• Critical damage – as you will be constantly attacking from stealth, this will result in many critical hits. Due to this to maximize the damage Critical Damage stat is important.

• Critical chance 30%-40% – you need to have a decent critical chance to activate abilities like Looked Like it Hurt. However, you will mostly attack from stealth and this guarantees a critical hit

• Dexterity – it provides both base attack and also critical damage

• Cunning - only till a certain point: 30%-40% critical chance

Equipment

In this section, I will go through in great detail how to best pick equipment for the Assassin Dual wield build.

For craftable slots you need offensive Leather (flank damage) -> Metal/cloth (attack)-> utility Leather (dexterity)

For Assassin weapons, you can choose either Dual daggers (AOE damage) or single daggers (single target damage).

Weapons - craftable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Stone Stalker Blade Schematic	Gives decent slots, large damage, but can be hard to obtain. It has the highest base damage out of all daggers.
2	Blade of Red Birth Schematic	Alternative to the first option, and can be acquired much easier. Gives 11 Leather offensive slots for bonus flanking damage
3	Coiled Strike Schematic	Single target dagger that has excellent leather slots. Can be bought in Black Emporium. Also comes with a grip slot
4	Barbarian Rock Crasher Schematic	Provides better slots than Coiled Strike Schematic even with a grip, but loses on DPS.

Weapons - obtainable

There are plentiful dagger options to choose from for the Assassin.

Priority	Item	Description
1	Bosun’s Blade	Deals huge damage when attacking from the back
2	Bloody Bargain	The dagger provides a unique ability that increases movement and attack speed after each kills. Only obtained in the Trespasser DLC.
3	Silencer	Obtained with The Descent DLC. Gives a large boost to dexterity resulting in higher critical damage
4	Cordova’s Smile	The dagger provides a large boost to Flanking damage and a 20% bonus Focus Gain.
5	Gift of the Talons	The dagger is extremely powerful and hard to obtain early in the game. However, if you manage it, your DPS will skyrocket due Hidden Blades effect

Armors - obtainable

Priority	Item	Description
1	The Skin That Stalks	Obtainable only in the Trespasser DLC. Boosts Critical Damage, Critical Chance, and Attack.
2	Stone Stalker Coat	Gives 45 points boost to Cunning and +5 to Dexterity. Moreover, increases movement speed during stealth
3	Masterwork Prowler Armor	This armor reduces ability stamina cost by 20% if not attacked for 5 seconds. Should be easy for Assassin as it will constantly stay in stealth

Armors - craftable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Superior Prowler Armor Schematic	This armor has 23 utility leather slots if you include upgrades. Feel free to increase either dexterity or cunning based on what the Assasin build needs more.
2	Sturdy Prowler Armor Schematic	This is a cheaper alternative to Superior Prowler Armor Schematic. It also gives less defense and 22 utility leather slots.
3	Stone Stalker Coat Schematic	Can be obtained from The Descent DLC. Has decent slots, but is worse compared to the options above.

Helmets - obtainable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Stone Stalker Mask	The best obtainable helmet for this Assassin build. It provides both dexterity and cunning.
2	Helm of the Drasca	This is a high-level helmet. Although it does not provide the best offensive stats it has fairly high armor.
3	Ambassador's Mask	Perfect helmet before you can get Stone Stalker Mask or better crafting materials

Helmets - craftable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Superior Skirmisher Hat Schematic	This helmet is perfect for Assassin as you can use it to increase offensive stats like flanking and critical damage
2	Skirmisher Hat Schematic	Mid game crafting schematic that has good leather slots for Assassin

Amulets

Priority	Item	Description
1	The Eye That Weeps	Provides +10% Attack. This is the best compared to other amulets as none of them provide bonus flanking damage
2	Andraste’s Sacrifice	Due to constantly being in stealth, the Taunt ability should not affect you negatively too much. However, I would prioritize this amulet for a mage rather than Rogue if you have one in the party
2	Superb Amulet of Dexterity	Boosts dexterity, which increases your critical damage
4	Master Cooldown Amulet to Superb Cooldown Amulet	The cooldown amulets will allow using of abilities like Hidden Blades more often. This will result in overall higher DPS

Belts:

Priority	Item	Description
1	The Bind That Guides	Available only in the Trespasser DLC. Gives bonus critical chance
2	Master Belt of Focus	More Focus results in more often Mark of the Rift if you are the Inquisitor
3	Superb Belt of Staggering	The belt will give a higher chance to temporarily stun enemies with normal attacks
4	Superior Belt of Focus	A weaker version of the above belt.

Rings

Priority	Item	Description
1	Superb Ring of Flanking	Probably the best ring for a mage. Guarantees a critical hit after attacking from stealth
2	Superb Ring of Attack	Raises your Assassin overall damage. I think this is on equal terms with the ring in the third priority.
3	Superb Ring of Critical Damage	Gives +20% Critical damage bonus
4	The Hand That Cuts	Only obtainable in Trespasser DLC. However, provides large offensive bonuses
5	Ring of Slicing	Expensive ring bought in Black Emporium. Boosts your critical damage and critical rate.

Tactics

Here I would like to share some tactical tips that you can use to fully utilize the build:

• Your main priority is to attack enemies from the flank/back. This way you can deal more damage to the enemies
• Shadow Strike can knock back enemies, but most importantly your restore stamina. I recommend using Flank Attack after it to enter stealth and decide your next course of action.
• Use Stealth to enter stealth whenever you need: escape from debilitating effect, enter combat, get behind enemy back, or deal more damage with the skill you are about to use

Assassin Archer Build

This part of the post will cover Dragon Age Inquisition Assassin Archer build. This type of build will concentrate on using stealth to deal the maximum amount of damage. Not only that you can easily avoid or escape enemy attacks

If this sound like your playstyle let's move forward

Abilities - detailed progression

Here I will cover detailed progression and explanations for the Dual Wield Assassin build.

Order	Skill	Description
1	Hidden Blades + upgrade	This is an extremely powerful ability, however, with a long cooldown. I recommend using this after you activate Mark of Death. Any upgrade will work, but pick Overkill for a boost in single target damage.
2	I Was Never Here	One of many ways for this build to enter stealth - by killing an enemy
3	Knife in the Shadows	Attacking from stealth will guarantee a critical hit
4	Mark of Death	A very powerful ability that should be used on strong enemies like bosses as it requires time to store damage.
5	Caltrops	We mainly take it for progression
6	Looked Like It Hurt	One of the passive abilities that will allow you to restore stamina from critical hits. You will do them many due to many opportunities to attack from stealth
7	Death from Above	We mainly take this for progression
8	Leaping Shot + Shot from the Shadows	Use this ability to deal large damage to large, grouped, or close proximity enemies. Moreover, you will enter stealth after this. The main use for this ability is to escape harm
9	Long Shot	Another ability you can use to deal damage from far away. I prefer to use it as an opener
10	Stealth + upgrade	Enter stealth whenever you need: start of the combat, escape from enemies, etc. Any upgrade will work: - Lost in the Shadows: I prefer this one as it activates instantly - Clinging Shadows: this upgrade can give larger damage boosts due to Knife in the Shadows passive ability
11	Evasion	We mainly take it for progression, but it gives 1/10 chance to evade attack
12	Evade + Shadow Step	Use this ability to reposition yourself. I prefer using it with Leaping Shot: move in and escape with Leaping Shot for large damage
13	Shadow Strike + upgrade	This ability will allow you to restore stamina and deal substantial damage. Pick upgrade based on your preference: - Long Shadows: a safer approach that is ranged one - Quick Blade: riskier approach, but deals more damage.
14	First Blood	Deal more damage to enemies with 80%+ HP. Works great with Hidden Blades or Long Shot
15	Explosive Shot	We mainly take it for progression but it can deal substantial damage to a group of enemies.
16	Pincushion	Hitting the same enemy multiple times will increase your damage
17	Gaps in the Armor	Increases armor penetration

Some additional abilities to take when if you will have additional points:

• Mark of Death upgrade Mark of Doom for additional damage
• Ambush
• Throatcutter
• Full Draw - I do not like this ability as it is fairly slow. However, it can deal large damage as an opener + First Blood passive ability. If you get it, switch it with Explosive Shot in the quick bar.

Abilities - short overview

This section will show the ability points allocation for this build in the game. For detailed progression check the next section.

Assassin tree

Archery Tree

Sabotage Tree

Subterfuge Tree

Stats

• Critical Chance – I suggest getting at least 40%+. Although most of the time you will be attacking from stealth for guaranteed criticals, I would still recommend having sufficient stat

• Critical Damage – your priority stats once you have the critical chance stat covered. It will especially be effective in the late game

• Dexterity – increases Attack and Critical Damage. However, the latter is increased by less amount (on equipment and crafting materials) than pure Critical Damage.

• Cunning - increases critical chance

• Attack – increases overall damage, but usually, you get smaller bonuses of it than critical damage so it has a lesser priority

Equipment

This section will cover what gear you should pick for the build.

Weapons - obtainable

Unfortunately, the obtainable bows are not as powerful as craftable versions. If you want to maximize Assasin Archer DPS, you should invest in getting a crafted version.

Priority	Item	Description
1	Tezpadam's Bane	Extraordinary bow, that provides 41 dexterity resulting in 41% critical damage increase. Moreover, gives an effect that makes enemy bodies explode on kill
2	Arrowwood	This bow is available during the Trespasser DLC. Gives 95% armor penetration. I think it is an interesting bow to try but you get it quite late in the game.
3	Heartstring Bow	Obtained in Frostback Basin and provides adequate stats.

Weapons - craftable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Elgar'nan Enaste Schematic	Obtained with Trespasser DLC. Has adequate slots and most importantly explosive arrow effect.
2	Grunsmann's Bow Schematic	Provides 3 offensive leather slots excellent to maximize either critical chance or critical damage
3	Bow of the Beresaad Schematic	Provides leather slots for maximizing critical chance and critical damage.

Armors - obtainable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Stone Stalker Coat	This armor is a perfect match for this build as it provides a large boost to of 45 Cunning resulting in a much higher critical chance
2	The Skin That Stalks	Obtainable only in the Trespasser DLC. Boosts Critical Damage, Critical Chance, and Attack.
3	Masterwork Prowler Armor	This armor reduces ability stamina cost by 20% if not attacked for 5 seconds. This should be easy for Assassin Archer as it will be avoiding enemies most of the time.

Armors - craftable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Superior Prowler Armor Schematic	This armor has 23 utility leather slots if you include upgrades. Feel free to increase either dexterity or cunning based on what Assassin Archer build needs more.
2	Sturdy Prowler Armor Schematic	This is a cheaper alternative to Superior Prowler Armor Schematic. It also gives less defense and 22 utility leather slots.
3	Stone Stalker Coat Schematic	Can be obtained from The Descent DLC. Has decent slots, but is worse compared to the options above.

Helmets - obtainable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Stone Stalker Mask	Has both good bonus stats and armor rating. Can be obtained in The Descent DLC
2	Helm of the Drasca	A decent mid-game option that gives a good boost to critical damage by increasing Dexterity.
3	Ambassador's Mask	Alternative to Mask of the Grand Duchess if you have a high critical chance (50%+)
4	Mask of the Grand Duchess	Alternative to Ambassador's Mask if you have a low critical chance

Helmets - craftable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Superior Skirmisher Hat Schematic	The best craftable helmet that gives 10 leather utility slots and is easy to obtain
2	Skirmisher Hat Schematic	A cheaper alternative of the Superior Skirmisher Hat Schematic. Has only 8 leather utility slots
3	Superior Adventurer Hat Schematic	Costs only 182 Sovereigns and gives 7 leather utility slots. Get it if you are short on money.

Amulets

Priority	Item	Description
1	Malika's Guard	As Assassin Archer will not concentrate on flanking damage this amulet will greatly increase the overall attack power.
2	Superb Amulet of Dexterity	This amulet will increase dexterity resulting in higher critical damage.
3	Amulet of the Rogue	This amulet will increase both critical chance and critical damage
4	Superb Amulet of Cunning	The amulet will increase the critical chance, allowing to reduce ability cooldowns.

Belts

Priority	Item	Description
1	The Bind That Guides	This belt boosts the critical chance. Only obtainable in the Trespasser DLC.
2	Superb Belt of Staggering	This belt will allow Assassin Archer to stagger enemies. This can be a lifesaver in multiple situations.
3	Superb Belt of Sunder	Gives a chance to decrease the enemy's armor.

Rings

Priority	Item	Description
1	Superb Ring of Critical Damage	Provides a large boost to critical damage, especially powerful once you have 50%+ critical chance
2	The Hand That Cuts	Only obtainable in Trespasser DLC. However, provides large offensive bonuses
3	Superb Ring of Critical Chance	Increases Critical chance allowing Opportunity knocks ability to activate more often
4	Ring of Slicing	Expensive ring bought in Black Emporium. Boosts your critical damage and critical rate.
5	Superb Ring of Attack	Increases overall Assassin archer ranged damage

Tactics and tips

This archer build has many tactical options on how to play. Here are a few combos that I suggest:

• If you plan to use Mark of Death on the boss enemy, check that your active skills that deal damage are not in a cooldown. You will have 8 seconds and should deal the maximum amount of damage in that time.
• Hidden Blades can be used as a strong opener with First Blood + stealth
• Shadow Step can allow you to create amazing combos like Shadow Step + Leaping Shot dealing large amounts of damage and escaping to stealth. You can then continue with Shadow Strike to restore stamina and move to the next combo
• Once you are level 16+ you should constantly have at least 50% of stamina so use active skills like Explosive Shot and Long Shot constantly to improve your DPS rather than using auto-attack.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading this post on Dragon Age Inquisition Assasin builds. I went all-in on how to build Dual Wield and Archers, what tactics to use and what gear to equip.

Feel free to leave feedback below