Cole Builds - Archer and Dual Dagger - Dragon Age: Inquisition (DAI)

Early game abilities, levels 1 - 10

Although you may recruit Cole close to level 10, here is what I recommend when starting. First, get a bow for Cole, early in the game this is the best option. Second, invest in these skills according to the priority:

Order	Skill	Description
1	Stealth + Clinging Shadows	Allows Cole to escape from enemies easily
2	Poisoned Weapons + Infected Wound	Early ability to increase overall damage you do with skills and auto-attack
3	Long Shot	Does 600% weapon damage if shot from more than 15 meters
4	First Blood	Passive skill that will increase damage if enemy health is full
5	Death From Above	We take it mainly for progression
6	Leaping Shot + Shot from the Shadows	Fire spell is cheap and deals decent damage
7	Explosive Shot + Shockwave	Effective knockback skill to take out a specific target.

This way you ensure that Cole can survive encounters and does not die easily. The problem with dual wielding is that early in the game he may get hit a lot in melee range while not having good equipment.

Cole Build - Assassin Archer

This part of the guide will cover how you should build Cole as an Assassin Archer. I recommend this build because it will ensure that Cole can survive more difficult encounters. Moreover, it will remove its weakest weakness: bad AI for Dual daggers.

Remember that you will need to respecialize skills before making this build

Abilities - detailed progression

Here I will explain how you should prioritize what skills to invest in and when.

IMPORTANT: Get a relevant Amulet of Power for Cole to maximize the number of ability points

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 killing the enemy Cole will enter stealth this ability will synergize well with the next one
4	Knife in the Shadows	Attacking from stealth will ensure that Cole deals critical hits
5	Mark of Death + Lasting Mark	This is a powerful ability if used on bosses. I recommend taking the Lasting Mark upgrade for AI to use. The other upgrade may go to waste if AI does not activate it properly
6	Stealth + Clinging Shadows	A good ability when you need to escape enemies. Moreover, when you attack from stealth you will get guaranteed critical hits due to Knife in the Shadows passive ability.
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	Long Shot	Archer skill to deal additional damage when attacking from long distances with Cole
10	Death from Above	We take this mainly for progression
11	Leaping Shot + Shot from the Shadows	With the upgrade, Leaping Shot will ensure that Cole enters stealth. This way you will be able to deal more critical hits.
12	First Blood	Deals 15% more damage to enemies that have HP above 80%
13	Explosive Shot	We mainly take this ability for progression.
14	Pincushion	Each hit to the same enemy will increase the damage that Cole does
15	Poisoned Weapons + Infected Wounds	With this active skill, Cole will coat its weapons with Poison. This will make the bow do more damage.
16	Fighting Dirty	Poison will last 25% longer
17	Explosive Toxin	If the enemy is killed while under the effect of poison, their bodies will explode releasing a cloud of poison.
18	Gaps in the Armor	Increases Armor penetration by 25%

If you will have additional points left, feel free to take Toxic Cloud + upgrade for additional AOE damage.

Tactics and Behaviours

Let's take a look at how to set up Cole's behaviors in combat to maximize what it can do.

• Disable - Caltrops and Explosive Shot (if you are playing with Friendly Fire on)
• Set Preferred Poisoned Weapons. This way you ensure that Cole's poison explosion will activate after each enemy's death.
• All others can be set to Active
• You can also set Leaping Shot to Preferred. However, I have found that this way Cole leaves the battlefield too far. However, pick it up if it works well for you.

With these in mind here are some Behaviour recommendations:

• Mana and Stamina reserve should be set to 0%
• Targeting behavior - follow your tank.

Stats

Here is what Stats I recommend to best maximize Cole, in this priority:

• Critical Chance - 40%+. Due to Stealth and Knife in the Shadows synergy Cole will do many critical hits already
• Critical Damage - once you have reached the Critical chance threshold of 40%, concentrate on increasing this stat as it will scale your damage well.
• Cunning - boosts critical chance (until 40% critical chance)
• Dexterity - boosts critical damage
• Attack - overall boost to damage

Items and Equipment

This section will cover some item recommendations for Cole

Masterwork crafting materials

If you want to take Cole's damage to the next level I recommend this:

• Hidden Blades - will enable making additional DPS when this procs. These materials will activate it: Fade-Touched Ring Velvet, Fade-Touched Velveteen, Fade-Touched Plush Fustian Velvet
• Abilities cost *% less Mana/Stamina -will reduce the cost of using active abilities. Materials: Fade-Touched Velveteen, Fade-Touched Ring Velvet, Fade-Touched Fustian Velvet

Weapons - obtainable

Unfortunately, there are no exceptional options for the bows. If you want to maximize Cole's DPS, you should invest in getting a crafted version.

Priority	Item	Description
1	Tezpadam's Bane	Extraordinary bow, that provides 41 dexterity resulting in a 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. 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 Cole as he 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 Cole 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 to 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
-	Amulet of Power	Gives Cole a single ability point. It is consumed once you use it.
1	Malika's Guard	As Cole 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 for a reduction of 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 Cole to stagger enemies
3	Superb Belt of Sunder	Gives a chance to decrease the enemy's armor.

Rings

Priority	Item	Description
1	The Hand That Cuts	You only obtain this ring in Trespasser DLC. However, it gives a +20% Critical Damage bonus
2	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
3	Superb Ring of Critical Damage	Gives +20% critical damage, equip it once you have a high enough critical Chance
4	Superb Ring of Critical Chance	Gives a +10% critical chance. Great to boost it, if you have less than 40%
5	Superb Ring of Attack	Boosts overall attack damage

Cole Build - Dual Dagger Assassin

This build is for those who wish to still use Cole as a dual-wielding assassin. As you know AI is quite bad at handling Dual Wielding Rogue.

However, with this build, you should mitigate many of these effects allowing you to shred enemies from the back with Cole.

This build will rely on constantly entering stealth and hitting with critical hits from it. Moreover, Your weapons will be constantly releasing poison clouds to ensure that you can avoid their attacks and deal damage over time.

So let's go through the details.

Abilities - detailed progression

Here I will explain how you should prioritize what skills to invest in and when.

IMPORTANT: Get a relevant Amulet of Power for Cole to maximize the number of ability points

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 killing the enemy Cole will enter stealth this ability will synergize well with the next one
4	Knife in the Shadows	Attacking from stealth will ensure that Cole deals critical hits
5	Mark of Death	This ability will work extremely well on strong enemies. I do not recommend taking the upgrade as the additional skill points can be spent elsewhere.
6	Poisoned Weapons + Infected Wounds	With this active skill, Cole will coat its weapons with Poison. This will his daggers to deal larger damage
7	Fighting Dirty	The poison effect will last 25% longer
8	Explosive Toxin	If the enemy is killed while under the effect of poison, their bodies will explode releasing a cloud of poison. This will synergize with Toxic Cloud
9	Toxic Cloud + Lost in the Mist	This is the main ability that will ensure the survivability of Cole and also party members. Every few seconds party members will gain a stack of Elusive if they stand in the cloud. This will negate a single hit from the enemy on the party member. The effect can stack up to 3 times.
15	Stealth + Clinging Shadows	A good ability when you need to escape enemies. Moreover, when you attack from stealth you will get guaranteed critical hits due to Kine in the Shadows passive ability.
16	Caltrops	We take this mainly for progression
17	Looked Like It Hurt	Each critical hit will restore 10 stamina. An essential skill to have the stamina for all the skills
13	Flank Attack + Skirmisher	It allows it to deal decent damage and enter stealth if the attack is used from the front of the enemy.
14	First Blood	We take this mainly for progression
15	Explosive Shot	We take this mainly for progression
16	Pincushion	Although this ability is in the Archery tree it also works for dual daggers.
17	Gaps in the Armor	Increases Armor penetration by 25%

Here are some other considerations and tips regarding abilities

• Evade - I suggest avoiding it, it does not work well with how AI handles it in my opinion.
• Bloodied Prey - a passive ability that gives additional damage if the enemy hp is lower than Cole's
• Easy to Miss - reduces threat generation, making enemies less likely to target Cole

Tactics and Behaviours

For this build here are my Tactics recommendations:

• Set to Preferred - Toxic Cloud. We want Cole to use it as often as possible. This way he and party members can easily avoid enemy attacks increasing survivability
• Disable - Caltrops and Explosive Shot
• All others should be set to Active

For behaviors here is what I recommend:

• Mana/Stamina % reserve - 0%
• Targeting Behavior - follow the tank

I think with these settings Cole will be extremely powerful. However, keep in mind that he is still a glass cannon. Cole will manage to take on a few hits and for all of this to work a good tank is essential.

Stats and attributes

Here is what Stats I recommend to best maximize Cole:

• Critical Chance - 40%+. Due to constantly being in stealth and Knife in the Shadows synergy Cole will do many critical hits already
• Critical Damage - once you have reached the Critical chance threshold of 40%, concentrate on increasing this stat as it will scale your damage well.
• Cunning - boosts critical chance (until 40% critical chance)
• Dexterity - boosts critical damage
• Attack - overall boost to damage

Items and Equipment

This section will cover some item recommendations for Cole. Generally, in the early to mid-game, there won't be too much powerful gear. However, what matters is the ability to pick. So take whatever items you find with the highest stats. Later on, feel free to start optimizing.

Masterwork crafting materials

If you want to take Cole's damage to the next level I recommend this:

• Hidden Blades - this is a strong effect to boost DPS. It will give a chance for Hidden Blades to be activated after each hit. These materials will active it: Fade-Touched Ring Velvet, Fade-Touched Velveteen, Fade-Touched Plush Fustian Velvet
• Guard on Hit - not personally a fan of it, but it increases the survivability of Cole. Materials:  Fade-Touched Obsidian, Fade-Touched Silverite
• Abilities cost *% less Mana/Stamina -will reduce the cost of using active abilities. Materials: Fade-Touched Velveteen, Fade-Touched Ring Velvet, Fade-Touched Fustian Velvet

Weapons - craftable

Priority	Item	Description
1	Stone Stalker Blade Schematic	Gives decent slots, and 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 Cole.

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 kill. 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.

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 Cole 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 Cole 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 Cole as it can  increase offensive stats like flanking and critical damage
2	Skirmisher Hat Schematic	Mid-game crafting schematic that has good leather slots for Cole

Amulets

Priority	Item	Description
-	Amulet of Power	Gives Cassandra a single ability point. It is consumed once you use it.
1	Enhanced Amulet of Barrier	Will generate a barrier on each hit so that Cole will not die easily when fighting close to the enemies.
2	The Eye That Weeps	Provides +10% Attack. This is the best compared to other amulets as none of them provide bonus flanking damage
3	Master Cooldown Amulet to Superb Cooldown Amulet	The cooldown amulets will allow the use of abilities like Hidden Blades more often. This will result in an overall higher DPS
4	Superb Amulet of Dexterity	Boosts dexterity, which increases your critical damage

Belts:

Priority	Item	Description
1	The Bind That Guides	Available only in the Trespasser DLC. It gives a 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	The Hand That Cuts	You only obtain this ring in Trespasser DLC. However, it gives a +20% Critical Damage bonus
2	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
3	Superb Ring of Critical Damage	Gives +20% critical damage, equip it once you have a high enough critical Chance
4	Superb Ring of Critical Chance	Gives a +10% critical chance. Great to boost it, if you have less than 40%
5	Superb Ring of Attack	Boosts overall attack damage

Conclusion

I hope these builds for Cole in Dragon Age Inquisition will help you. They concentrate on different playstyles: melee and ranged, however, they are sufficient to make Cole an extremely strong group member.

Feel free to share your feedback in the comments