Wynne the Healer build - Dragon Age: Origins (DAO)

Wynne is a righteous mage that you will be meeting in the Circle of Magi. As the story progresses there will be some decisions where your roads may separate. However, if you plan on keeping her in your party you will have a dedicated healer to support you from the back ranks.

So let's start with the build

Wynne Attributes

This part is a bit of a mixed bag. While logically, you would want to put points to willpower, magic contributes to the strength of healing and success of other spells. So I would personally go for 3 magic and 1 willpower every two levels

Moreover, you will get tons of willpower from equipment

Skills

• Tactics: Max

• Combat training: Max

If you will have any points left, you can invest them into survival.

Specializations

Sadly, here, there is nothing much to choose from. You should be going for Blood Mage (however, if you are roleplaying I would go for Shapeshifter, for additional armor and constitution). The idea is that you would be able to use your hp for healing your party in case you are out of mp. Moreover, with Blood Mage you get additional spellpower.

Talents and spells

• Get all mage tree, it will give a big boost to spellpower with Arcane Mastery

• For Spirit Healer I would not recommend investing more than Revival. The two other skills are MP intensive and do not bring huge benefits to the table.

• The primal tree is excellent for some crowd control. I am not a fan of Earthquake but Petrify and Stone Fist have good synergy. You are able to shatter enemies under petrification.

• Creation is your main tree. Your priority is getting Haste, which will boost the attack speed of the whole party.

• Get Glyph of Repulsion and Glyph of Paralysis. You can combo them together to create a paralysis explosion which is better than Mass paralysis. However, be careful of Friendly Fire with this combo. I think this is one of the best combos in the game that is easy to pull off, available early in the game, and is easy to cast. However, if you are lazy and do not wish to switch to Wynne often, you can skip these spells.

• Obtain Stinging Swarm for additional damage.

Here is how I would do a progression with Wynne ability points:

Order	Skill	Description
1	Revival	Mandatory ability to have on the party. Allows reviving of the party members
2	Stonefist	With this spell, Wynne can knock out enemies. Later on, with Petrify, Wynne can shatter enemies
3	Glyph of Paralysis (optional)	Only take this if you plan to do a Paralysis Explosion combo
4	Glyph of Warding (optional)	We take this mainly to unlock the next spell
5	Glyph of Repulsion (optional)	Only take this if you plan to do a Paralysis Explosion combo
6	Spell Wisp	Will boost Wynne's spellpower allowing for more effective spells and stronger heals
7	Regeneration	Will boost health regeneration for an ally
8	Heroic Defense	We mainly take this for progression
9	Haste	One of the best spells in the game. Allows all party members to attack faster
10	Earthquake	We mainly take this for progression
11	Petrify	Will allow petrifying an enemy, making him immobile. If you use Stonefist while the effect is in place the enemy will be shattered
12	Grease	Mainly take this for progression
13	Spellbloom	Increase mana regeneration. Wynne can use it to allow her to support party members for a longer period
14	Stinging Swarm	A great offensive ability that jumps from one enemy to another. Deals nature damage
14	Arcane Shield	We mainly take this for progression
16	Staff Focus	We mainly take this for progression
17	Arcane Mastery	Provides bonus spellpower increasing the effectiveness of spells.

Gear

In this section, I will go through what is the recommended equipment for Wyne to use.

Weapons

Item	Details
Staff of the Magister Lord	One of the best staff in the game. Provides strong overall stats but can be expensive
Final Reason	It will decrease your mana pool but give Wynne more spellpower making her heal spells stronger
Heaven’s Wrath	Similar to Magister's Staff, if you were not able to obtain it and do not have one of the stronger staves listed above
Magister's Staff	A good staff before you are able to get the best ones in the game. Gives bonus mana regeneration and spellpower for stronger spells
Corrupted Magister's Staff	Similar to Magister's Staff boosts spellpower but gives no mana regeneration

Helmets/Cowls

Item	Details
The Libertarian's Cowl	Gives additional mana regeneration. Allowing to sustain support spells for longer
Reinforced Magus Cowl	Boosts willpower by 2 points, increasing the mana pool

Gloves

Your main priority is to get gloves that provide bonus nature damage for Stinging Swarm and Stone Fist spells.

Item	Details
Silk Weave Gloves	Provides +20% nature damage
Lend of the Lion	Provides +10% nature damage

Armor

Fortunately, Wynne has plentiful options to select armors from:

Item	Details
Vestments of the Seer	+6 magic boost, outmatches any other robe in general usage
Tevinter Mage Robes	Gives +5 spellpower and also boosts mana regeneration
First Enchanter Robes	A decent robe that provides a bonus to willpower and magic
Senior Enchanter's Robes	Wynne comes with this robe by default. It provides good stats early in the game

Boots

Not many options to choose that would directly impact magic related attributes or stats

Item	Details
Fade Striders	Best boots for a mage provides +1 magic
Bard’s Dancing Shoes	Increases defense, giving a larger chance to avoid enemy attacks
Dalish Boots	A cheap option to get +3 defense. Can be bought in Dalish Camp

Belts

Item	Details
Andruil’s Blessing	The best belt in the game provides a large boost to all stats
Sash of Forbidden Secrets	Only accessible if you finish The Golems of Amgarrak DLC. It is a bit overpowered, but you should use it if there is an option.
Destructionist's Belt	Provides bonus mana regeneration and spellpower
Belt of Magister Lords	Provides bonus spellpower, making it much better than the options listed below
Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering	Gives +1 to all attributes
Silver Aron	Gives +2 magic, by default comes with Wynne after you recruit her

Amulets

Item	Details
The Spellward	I recommend this amulet as it increases willpower greatly. This will increase Wynne's mana pool.
Lifedrinker	Gives +4 to spellpower. Will greatly boost the effectiveness of Wynne spells.
Pearl of the Anointed	Provides +1 to all attributes

Rings

Item	Details
Key to the City	Provides +2 to all attributes, found in Orzammar.
The Wicked Oath	Will give +1 mana regeneration
Ring of Selection	This ring will boost nature damage, affecting the Stonefist and Stinging Swarm damage.
The Lucky Stone	Gives +1 to all attributes
Ring of Study	A great ring at the beginning of the game that you can obtain if you chose Magi origin

Rings: Key to the City, Lifgiver, Wicked Oath, Blood Ring based on what you have at the time

Tactics

• At the start of the fight throw Repulsion + Paralysis glyphs to a group of enemies (you should do this manually). Be careful not to do this combo too close to your companions as they will get paralyzed.

• Turn off haste if it is a major encounter with a boss. You may need that mp for healing

• And leave the healing/rejuvenation with her default “Healer” tactics, which are fairly good.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the post. It should cover all that you need to know when making the best Wynne build in Dragon Age Origins.