Best Solas build - Complete Guide - Dragon Age: Inquisition (DAI)

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

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 Duchess. 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 Duchess. However, if you have a high critical rate (50%+), this helmet is much better.
4	Mask of the Grand Duchess	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