Best Leliana builds. Complete Guide - Dragon Age: Origins (DAO)

In this post I would like to go through some Leliana builds that I would like to suggest. These are both ranged and melee builds. So you can pick whichever you prefer.

You meet Leliana in Lothering, early in your journey. She is an Orlesian bard which brings some spiciness to your party. I would recommend playing her DLC Leliana’s Song after you have some chats with her, which expands her background and why she is who she is. 

Ranged Archer Bard build

Attributes

As Leliana is a rogue, your main attributes are dexterity and cunning. Moreover, to wear some of the best armors at the end game you will need strength. I suggest this investment into attributes:

• First priority - Strength 20 points. You will need it to wear end-game light armor. 18 points is also an option if you get bonus strength from other equipment: belts, rings, amulets.
• Second priority - Dexterity – get it to 34 points. You will need it to use the best bows in the game and to get all the required talents. It will also boost your attack, damage, and defense
• Third priority - Cunning - after you have 34 dexterity, put all points into this stat. Cunning will boost your songs increasing the bonuses that they provide. Moreover, after you get Lethality talent it will boost your damage directly.

You can also invest in the constitution for more survivability, but I view it more as a waste of points for this type of character as it should be avoiding direct combat.

Skills

For Skills you main priority is to have:

• Master Combat training, this row will provide: bonuses to attack, armor, and higher tier weapon talents.
• After that invest to 3-4 levels into Tactics so that AI could comfortably use all the needed talents.
• What is left you can put into Survival. This will give some additional nature resistance.

Specializations

Leliana comes with Bard specialization by default. This is beneficial for us as we can start using songs early in the game to get their benefits for the whole party. Moreover, it gives +1 Cunning.

The second specialization is Assassin. We choose it because it provides +2 dexterity and increased critical chance. This will benefit almost all of Leliana's attacks and talents.

You can also go for Ranger specialization. You would then have an additional companion in the battle: Wolf, Bear, etc. However, they do not use their skills by themselves. Due to this, I do not recommend them as they need additional micromanaging.

Talents and spells

Assassin Tree

I suggest investing in this tree as the lowest priority. Even though Mark of Death is an excellent ability, there are others more important ones. Due to this reasoning only invest if you have other abilities that will be mentioned later covered.

Bard Tree

This is your main support tree. The amount of invested talent points depend on what party composition you have:

• 2 or more mages in the party – Song of Valor – will benefit from higher mana regeneration
• 3 physical damage dealers, like rogues and warriors, use Song of Courage. It will provide increased damage, attack, and critical chance benefitting them directly

Rogue Tree

My guess would be that Leliana will be the only character with high Lockpicking ability in your party at the time you get her. Due to this, I recommend getting Device Mastery as soon as possible. This will allow you to unlock chests for additional loot and gold.

Get Lethality as it will boost your damage. How this works: generally the damage for rogues is calculated from strength and dexterity. However, with this ability instead of strength cunning will be used if it is higher.

Archery Tree

These talents will provide the biggest boost to damage. I suggest getting all abilities. Even though you will not use all of them, the last ones in the tree will change Leliana's usefulness drastically. Master Archer is extremely good passive ability boosting your stats and abilities all around.

Arrow of Slaying will deal tremendous damage to single targets, great for taking out mages and other archers.

Scattershot will do AOE stun. Due to this, it is a great ability to control the battlefield especially when there are many enemies.

Allocating ability points

Here is how I would allocate ability points for Leliana:

Order	Skill	Description
1	Melee Archer	Allows archer to shoot effectively, without interruptions, when being attacked.
2	Mechanical Expertise	Allows, to unlock more difficult chests and better trap detection
3	Aim	Leliana's main sustained ability. It increases damage, attack, armor penetration, and critical chance. However, the rate of fire decreases
4	Deadly Strike	Mainly take this for progression
5	Lethality	Instead of strength, Cunning will be sued for damage calculation if it is higher.
6	Device Mastery	Allows to unlock the most difficult chests and gives best trap detection
7	Distraction (optional)	Mainly take this for progression
8	Song of Courage (optional)	Only take this if your party will contain three physical damage dealing characters
9	Defensive Fire	Mainly take this for progression
10	Master Archer	Boosts the effectiveness of all Leliana's archery related abilities
11	Shattering Shot	The shot is effective against strong enemies and weakens their armor value
12	Suppressing Fire	Mainly take this for progression
13	Scattershot	This ability will AOE stun a group of enemies and will also deal damage. Great for when a start fights and enemies are packed in a group
14	Crippling Shot	Mainly take this for progression
15	Critical Shot	Shoots a critical hit and increases armor penetration
16	Arrow of Slaying	This ability will deal large amounts of damage and do a guaranteed critical shot. Leliana should use it on strong enemies.

Gear

In this section, I will cover what gear should you use for Leliana

Weapons

Item	Details
Marjolaine's Recurve	I recommend this bow the most because it provides bonus cunning. This is useful as it will improve Bard Songs and increase party effectiveness
The Sorrows of Arlathan	An extremely good bow, that gives a large boost to attack speed. Unfortunately, it does not provide any cunning bonus.
Far Song	Another bow that you can get for Leliana. Unfortunately, it is fairly expensive, but will increase her personal damage greatly compared to Marjolaine's Recurve
Falon'Din's Reach	This bow can be obtained early in the game. You will only need to defeat a small dragon not needing to spend large amounts of sovereigns
Bregan's Bow	You can get this bow early in the game, so definitely use it with Leliana, to drastically increase her damage.

Helms

Item	Details
Helm of Honnleath	The best helm in the game can be obtained with the Stone Prisoner DLC. Gives +2 to all attributes. So with the helmet, you can have Leliana with 18 strength to equip the best armors in the game.
Quicksilver Arming Cap	Gives +2 to Cunning. Will increase the power of Leliana's songs and bow damage.
The Long Sight	This hat will increase Leliana's critical rate allowing her hits to deal more damage more often.
Longrunner’s Cap	Provides additional stamina regeneration. Will allow using more bow skills
Free Scout Arming Cap	Gives +2 to Dexterity. Not as good as the above ones, however, still useful to wear

Armors

Item	Details
Battledress of the Provocateur	It outperforms The Felon's Coat by a small margin giving a 50 points base stamina increase.
The Felon’s Coat	Boosts dexterity, stamina regeneration, allowing for more offensive skills to be used by Leliana
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Leather Armor	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set. The armor by itself provides a bonus to dexterity
Shadow of the Empire	Not as good as the others, because provides only +2 dexterity. Moreover, it gives additional strength that may not be as useful to Leliana
Dalish Armor	Great armor early in the game. Can be bought in Dalish Camp. Moreover, you can equip it with other items for the Dalish Leather armor set bonus.

Gloves

Item	Details
Repeater Gloves	Get these if you are not planning to use Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set on Leliana. Use these gloves only with Haste + Aim. This will remove the Haste bug for archers, which slows them down too much.
Wade's Superior Drakeskin Gloves	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set if you want Leliana to use more active abilities.
Dalish Gloves	Use these gloves together with Dalish Leather armor set

Boots

Item	Details
Cadash Stompers	Equip these if Leliana will have 22 strength or you do not use Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Boots	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set if you want Leliana to use more active abilities.
Bard’s Dancing Shoes	One of the best light boots in the game. Provide a large boost to the defense.
Silverhammer's Tackmasters	Provides +2 dexterity. Due to this, they are good boots that you can buy at the Party Camp.
Dalish Boots	Great early boots that you can obtain cheap in Dalish Camp. Use these boots together with Dalish Leather armor set

Belts

There are many options. The ones in the top are the best

Item	Details
Andruil's Blessing	One of the best belts in the game. unfortunately, it may be used by other characters, so check other suggestions.
Guildmaster’s Belt	The belt provides +3 Cunning, it will definitely be handy as it will increase Leliana's Songs effectiveness
Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering	Equip this belt if you have finished Witch Hunt DLC. It provides +1 to all attributes
Longbowman's Belt	The belt can be easily bought in the Party Camp early in the game. It will boost Leliana's critical chance
Dalish Hunter's Belt	An alternative to Longbowman's Belt. I personally prefer this one as with increased stamina regeneration Leliana can use abilities more often

Amulets

There are not many options for Leliana in terms of what amulets she can wear.

Item	Details
The High Regard of House Dace	You could call this overpowered amulet. It gives a lot of cunning, stamina, stamina regeneration, etc. However, to get it you need to finish Golems of Amgarrak DLC.
Pearl of the Anointed	+1 to all attributes, good all-around amulet
Mark of Vigilance	This amulet provides +6 defense. Great for avoiding enemy attacks. However, I put it at the lowest priority, due to the reason that I prefer more damage

Rings

Item	Details
Harvest Festival Ring	Obtained in Stone Prisoner DLC. Gives bonus strength and dexterity. You can use it as an alternative to Helm of Honnleath to get bonus strength for the best armors in the game
Key to the City	Provides +2 to all attributes, found in Orzammar. Will greatly boost Leliana's overall effectiveness
Dusk Ring	Decreases Strength by one, however, gives Cunning +3
The Lucky Stone	Gives +1 to all attributes, available early in the game.
The Wicked Oath	Gives +1 stamina regeneration in combat

Tactics

I suggest starting with Archer preset. From then you can update the abilities with this logic:

Sustainable abilities: Song of Valor or Courage and Aim should be always active. Scattershot should have high priority so that it would be used at the start of the battle to hit enemies nearby and stun them.

For Arrow of Slaying, there are two steps: Use it on an enemy that uses Magic or Ranged attacks. However, if there are no enemies like that then use it on any.

We leave Dirty Fighting as a method for Leliana to defend if an enemy comes close

For other abilities, I left them as default and should be used when there is available stamina

As you play the game feel free to change the tactics in a way that would benefit you and your party. Always experiment!

Dual Dagger Bard Build

When you meet Leliana in the Lothering Inn, she has a dagger equipped. When you play Leliana Song, she also specializes in daggers. So for those that want to have this bard as a dual-wielding rogue, this build is perfect. It also results in using mostly auto-attack which makes micromanaging easier

Attributes

• Dexterity – dexterity is needed to obtain talents and wear dagger weapons. For the best dagger The Rose’s Thorn you need 30 dexterity. Your aim should be 26-28, and try to get the rest from equipment bonuses.

• Strength – 18. Needed for end-game armors. The best armors will need 20, but you can get the remaining two points from other gear.

• Cunning – dump the rest of the points here. This will boost your bard song – Song of Courage. Moreover, with Lethality talent cunning will be used to increase your damage.

Skills

Maximum Combat training. Regarding tactics, you will not need any investment unless you plan to use some active skills. Otherwise put points into what you prefer: poison-making or pickpocketing.

Specializations

You will have Bard specialization unlocked from the start. The second one needs to be Assassin. It will provide a passive talent that will increase your damage based on the cunning that you have. And you will have a lot of cunning

Talents and Spells

• Unfortunately, you will have lost two points in Archery. But let’s make the best out of the situation. If you don’t have another rogue in the party for loot reasons I would suggest getting Device Mastery as a priority to unlock chests and detect/disarm traps

• Then obtain Lethality, which will allow you to increase damage from cunning rather than strength.

• From the Dual wielding tree, your priority is Momentum sustained ability. You can also invest in passive dual weapon expertise talents as I did. But do that later on in the game.

• The song which you are aiming for is Song of Courage. It will increase damage, critical chance, and critical damage for party members. I would suggest using this if you have two other physical damage companions. If there are two mages, then switch to Song of Valor to boost their MP regeneration and save 2 talent points.

• From the Rogue tree, it is also important to get Combat movement which will make you position yourself easier for backstabs. Coup de Grace is also great talent but I would only invest in it if you have free points

• From the Assassin tree, your priority is Exploit Weakness. It will give a boost to damage based on your cunning.

Here is how I would progress with this Leliana build abilities:

Order	Skill	Description
1	Dual-Weapon Sweep	This will be one of a few active abilities that Leliana will use
2	Mechanical Expertise	Allows, to unlock more difficult chests and better trap detection
3	Flurry	This will be one of a few active abilities that Leliana will use
4	Momentum	It is an important sustained ability for Leliana. It will greatly increase her dual weapon attack speed.
5	Deadly Strike	Mainly take this for progression
6	Lethality	Instead of strength, Cunning will be sued for damage calculation if it is higher.
7	Device Mastery	Allows to unlock the most difficult chests and gives best trap detection
8	Dual-Weapon Training	This passive ability will remove the penalties for wielding dual daggers.
9	Distraction (optional)	Mainly take this for progression
10	Song of Courage (optional)	Only take this if your party will contain three physical damage dealing characters
11	Dual-Weapon Finesse	This will boost Leliana's effectiveness when using dual weapons.
12	Dual-Weapon Expert	The shot is effective against strong enemies and weakens their armor value
13	Combat Movement	Mainly take this for progression
14	Mark of Death	Leliana can use this ability to weaken enemies, allowing the group to kill them faster
15	Exploit Weakness	Because Leliana will have high Cunning, this ability will provide bonus damage when she is backstabbing

Gear

Your priority is higher cunning and dexterity, which contribute to the Song's strength and your damage output. Backstab/Critical damage bonus is important. Stamina is not essential because you will not be using any active abilities (maybe Mark of Death from time to time).

For weapons use daggers in both hands, for higher attack speed. You will not use Dual Striking, so having an offhand large weapon is useless.

Weapons

Item	Details
Dead Thaig Shanker	Obtainable with Stone Prisoner DLC. Provides +5 to Cunning so perfect to use with Lethality ability and to boost Leliana's songs strength
The Rose’s Thorn	This dagger is quite expensive and can be bought in Orzammar. However, it will greatly boost Leliana's melee damage
The Edge	Has two rune slots and also provides the largest bonus to damage out of all daggers
Duncan’s Dagger	Large boost to dexterity, great against dragon fights due to bonus damage.
Thorn of the Dead Gods	Tier 2 version can be obtained in Lothering. Great value early in the game

Helmets

Item	Details
Helm of Honnleath	It is one of the best helmets in the game. Provides +2 to all attributes. However, it requires 20 strength to equip
Quicksilver Arming Cap	Gives +2 to Cunning. Will boost both Leliana's damage and song power
Longrunner’s Cap	Provides additional stamina regeneration.
Free Scout Arming Cap	Gives +2 to Dexterity. Not as good as the above ones, however, still useful to wear

Armors

Item	Details
The Felon’s Coat	Boosts dexterity, increasing Leliana damage. It will also increase stamina regeneration, allowing to sustain Momentum for much longer.
Battledress of the Provocateur	In this case Leliana is better off without Stamina bonus, so the armor is lower priority than The Felon’s Coat
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Leather Armor	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set if you want Leliana to use more active abilities. The armor by itself provides a bonus to dexterity
Dalish Armor	Great armor early in the game. Can be bought in Dalish Camp. Moreover, you can equip it with other items for the Dalish Leather armor set bonus.

Gloves

Item	Details
Gloves of Guile	These gloves are obtained close to the end of the game after the Landsmeet. They provide a large boost to armor penetration.
Red Jenny Seekers	These globes will boost Leliana's backstab damage by 15%
Wade's Superior Drakeskin Gloves	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set if you want Leliana to use more active abilities.
Backhands	These gloves will boost Leliana's backstab damage by 10%
Dalish Gloves	Use these gloves together with Dalish Leather armor set
Angled Strikers	These gloves are on the same level as the Dalish Gloves.

Boots

Item	Details
Cadash Stompers	Equip these if Leliana will have 22 strength
Bard’s Dancing Shoes	One of the best light boots in the game. Provide a large boost to the defense.
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Boots	I only recommend equipping this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set if you want Leliana to use more active abilities.
Silverhammer's Tackmasters	Provides +2 dexterity. Due to this, they are good boots that you can buy at the Party Camp.
Dalish Boots	Great early boots that you can obtain cheap in Dalish Camp. Use these boots together with Dalish Leather armor set
The Lion's Paw	These boots will come with the Ultimate Edition. Moreover, they give bonus armor, which is extremely useful early in the game for dagger-wielding Leliana.

Belts

Item	Details
Guildmaster’s Belt	As the Leliana build relies heavily on Cunning, this belt will definitely be handy to power up her Songs.
Andruil's Blessing	One of the best belts in the game. unfortunately, it may be used by other characters, so check other suggestions.
Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering	Equip this belt if you have finished Witch Hunt DLC. It provides +1 to all attributes
Dalish Hunter's Belt	Will increase Leliana's stamina regeneration allowing her to use more active abilities.

Amulets

Item	Details
The High Regard of House Dace	You could call this overpowered amulet. It gives a lot of cunning, stamina, stamina regeneration, etc. However, to get it you need to finish Golems of Amgarrak DLC.
Pearl of the Anointed	+1 to all attributes, good all-around amulet, that you get early in the game
Mark of Vigilance	This amulet provides +6 defense. Great for avoiding enemy attacks. However, I put it at the lowest priority, due to the reason that I prefer more damage
Magister's Shield	Another amulet that provides bonus defense. however, it also decreases nature resistance. A good alternative to Mark of Vigilance if it is already in use

Rings

Item	Details
Key to the City	Provides +2 to all attributes, found in Orzammar.
The Wicked Oath	One of the best rings available to a Leliana in terms of damage. It will boost backstab damage, stamina regeneration and give +1 to armor penetration
Dusk Ring	Decreases Strength by one, however, gives Cunning +3. It will greatly improve Leliana's damage and Songs
Harvest Festival Ring	Obtained in Stone Prisoner DLC.
The Lucky Stone	Gives +1 to all attributes, available early in the game.
Keeper’s Ring	Can be obtained early in the game if your main character has Dalish Elf Origin.

Tactics

You will have to always activate these abilities: Song of Courage/Valor and Momentum. Regarding Momentum and Mage skill Haste please check this explanation, as there is a bug when using them

Use Mark of Death on Elite enemies if you have the stamina to spare. Otherwise, let the AI handle other skills.

Conclusion

A good well rounded build for Leliana. It will allow you to support your party members with buffs and provide large damage.