Best Leliana Archer Bard Build - Dragon Age: Origins (DAO)

Leliana Archer Build

You will encounter Leliana very early in the game in the village of Lothering. From the get-go, she helps you to combat some thugs and if you are willing, she joins your group. She already has some investment in Archery Tree, which makes her a perfect pick for this.

The build idea is to create a very powerful setup, that uses Bard's capabilities to buff allies and Leliana. This will require a big investment into Cunning, which in turn will also improve your ranged damage. The build will also stack a lot of hit chances as it will drastically improve the overall combat performance.

So with good skill picks and some bow recommendations, you will be able to deal some heavy damage, with a very high critical rate. There is a pick for a second specialization, I will cover what I recommend depending on the situation.

In my personal opinion, I think the Dual Wield Leliana build is much stronger, later in the game, so if you are interested take a look.

Attributes

In this section, I would like to review the recommended attributes for Leliana Archer Build. You will be required to pick them every level up, so optimizing and not wasting any of them will prove vital for the build.

Do you need any other attributes? To be fair, not really. As a ranged build you should not be attacked much if your tank and mages are doing their job correctly, so Leliana should concentrate on maximum damage.

Skills

This section will go through recommended skills to optimize the character. These unlock general utility actions or improve combat capabilities in terms of new talent levels or tactics slots.

Specializations

Now what about a second specialization? To be fair various picks are depending on what you want. My personal favorite would be Ranger. The pet is an excellent source of damage and some Control. Let's go through all of them:

Talents

In this section, I would like to go through the recommended talents for Leliana Archer Build. They are important in optimizing the various bonuses and what actions are unlocked.

Bard

Ranger

All of the summons are extremely good in my opinion. I also recommend checking the mechanic's section as I explain how to maximize their value via the tactics window.

Rogue

Dirty Fighting tree

Below the Belt tree

Deft Hands tree

Archery Tree

The main tree for Leliana Archer Build a weapon, which is a bow.

Melee Archer

Pinning Shot tree

Rapid Shot tree

Equipment

The gear you use with Leliana Archer Build will play a crucial role in combat. There are various combos that you can go with. I would recommend going with either Heavy or Massive armor pieces as these will provide a substantial boost to armor.

Below, you will find the gear that should be used with the build. Generally, the lower the item is in the table the lower its priority and the earlier you can get it. So the top ones are the best picks.

Weapons

Item	Description
The Sorrows of Arlathan	One of the best bows in the game, it gives Rapid Aim, improved damage, and a higher critical chance for those auto attacks.
Marjolaine's Recurve	A unique bow to Leliana that gives plenty of damage bonuses.
Far Song	Another bow that you can get for Leliana. Unfortunately, it is fairly expensive but will increase her 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 and not need 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.

Helm

Item	Description
Helm of Honnleath	The only helmet to give direct damage and survivability boost in one. However, it will probably be used by the main character.
The Long Sight	Improves critical hit chance for auto-attacks.
Armsman's Tensioner	Gives Rapid Aim effect. I would suggest using this if you have installed recommended mods to fix attack speed issues. Otherwise, skip it and go with Repeater Gloves.
Quicksilver Arming Cap	+2 Cunning which will improve both damage and aura effect.
Free Scout Arming Cap	Inferior to Quicksilver Arming Cap but still bonus dexterity provides some damage and improved defense.
Longrunner’s Cap	Improved stamina regeneration is a good bonus if you do not have any of the above headwear.

Armor

Item	Description
The Felon’s Coat	In terms of offensive numbers, this is the best armor to pick. A significant boost to dexterity and other bonuses.
Battledress of the Provocateur	Trades blows with The Felon’s Coat. Gives fewer offensive bonuses but provides a +15% chance to dodge attacks. I think this is a lesser priority on Archer as you will be constantly keeping the distance from the foes.
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	A decent early-game armor, that gives bonuses to dexterity and strength. I would recommend delaying this and obtaining other powerful ones unless you have plenty of gold.
Dalish Armor	Best pick for the early game armors. Moreover, you can equip it with other items for the Dalish Leather armor set bonus.

Gloves

Item	Description
Repeater Gloves	The best gloves especially if you are using recommended mods to fix attack speed issues. Without the mods, you should use it together with Aim Talent to get almost instant shooting animation.
Red Jenny Seekers	Gives +15% to critical damage.
Backhands	Similar to Red Jenny Seekers, however, gives only +10% to backstab and critical damage
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Gloves	Give's +1 to Dexterity. Use this together with Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set for maximum effectiveness.
Dalish Gloves	Use these gloves together with the Dalish Leather armor set. The gloves by themself give +1 to dexterity.

Boots

Item	Description
Cadash Stompers	Gives +2 dexterity and ranged critical chance, the best boots for an archer. However, you will need 22 strength to equip the item.
Silverhammer’s Tackmasters	Gives +2 to Dexterity. Best boots for the Rogue in terms of damage.
Wade’s Superior Drakeskin Boots	You can also wear them without Wade's Superior Drakeskin armor set as they give bonus Dexterity.
The Lion's Paw	Provides a bonus dodge chance. It's a great stat but not as crucial for ranged characters.
Bard’s Dancing Shoes	A decent boost to defense, to make it easier to avoid enemy attacks.
Dalish Boots	Great early boots that you can obtain cheap in Dalish Camp. Use these boots together with the Dalish Leather armor set

Accessories

Item	Description
Andruil’s Blessing	The best belt available all around. Still, this will probably be used by the main character.
Guildmaster's Belt	+3 Cunning, which is a significant boost to damage and also provides a bonus chance to dodge attacks.
Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering	You will need to finish Witch Hunt DLC to unlock this accessory. The chance to dodge is excellent for survivability improvement.
Longbowman's Belt	Provides +2% critical hit chance.
Dalish Hunter's Belt	Both of these belts give a boost to stamina regeneration. This is a low priority but still somewhat relevant, especially in the early game.
Dalish Leather Belt

Amulets

Item	Description
The High Regard of House Dace	The best amulet in terms of offensive power as it improves Cunning.
Pearl of the Anointed	The +1 to all attributes is a significant boost, especially at the start of the game.
The Spellward	Considered one of the best amulets in the game. However, I would not prioritize it on Archer build for a companion.
Magister's Shield	Improves defense and spell resistance.
Mark of Vigilance	Provides defense and resistance bonuses.

Rings

Item	Description
Key to the City	One of the best rings in the game. It will be contested by many builds, so just listing it here as an option.
Dusk Ring	Sacrifice 1 point in strength (this should not be a problem in the late game) to gain +3 Cunning.
The Lucky Stone	+1 to all attributes that improve all the core stats of the build.
Harvest Festival Ring	Improves dexterity and strength. The ring is perfect to gain attributes to wear the best armors in the game and save attribute points.
Silverleaf	+1 Cunning which is not much, but still a relevant addition to the build's core talents.
Ring of the Warrior	Improves dexterity and strength.
The Wicked Oath	Improves critical damage and armor penetration.
Keeper’s Ring	+1 Dexterity for improved damage, attack, and defense.

How to use the Build

In this section, I would like to go through some general tips on how to correctly utilize the build.

Main mechanics

In this part, I would like to go through the core mechanics of the build. Although this is a companion build it is still crucial to understand how to best utilize it in the party composition.

Sustained Abilities

For this Dual Wield build, various sustained abilities can be used. The build does not use many activate talents, so you need a minimal amount of them.

Here is what I recommend:

1. Song of Courage - one of the core talents, improving the damage of all party members. This effect stacks based on the Cunning attribute.
2. Aim - gives a significant boost to damage, armor penetration, and attack. It also gives a significant boost to critical chance. I recommend using Repeater Gloves with this.

Here are some optional ones:

1. Summon Wolf or Summon Bear - these need to be used if you picked Ranger specialization. They will improve your combat potential.

Summoned Beasts and their effectiveness

This section is relevant if you have picked Ranger specialization for Leliana. I would like to go through some important mechanics to best utilize these beasts.

Summoned Beasts - Tactics slots

One core problem with the beasts is that you have to take control of them to use their talents. There is a workaround on the PC. Once you summon, on the left side there will appear "tactics slots acquired".

Once you click on it, you can add various actions and logic when to use them. So set up the tactics, and be sure to save them to presets. I do recommend doing this on Wolf as in term of talents it is the most powerful pick:

Once you click on it, you can add various actions and logic when to use them. So set up the tactics, and be sure to save them to presets. You will have to do this every time you summon the beast. This is irritating, but sadly, this is the implementation. For this reason, I recommend using Bear only, it has the most HP and can act as an effective tank.

Cunning - Damage, Lockpicking and Traps

The main stat of this build is Cunning. Thanks to Lethality it is used for damage calculation instead of strength. Why is this important?

• It improves armor penetration which results in more damage against heavily armored enemies.
• Improves the Song of Courage effect giving even more boost to damage.
• Improves Exploit Weakness from Assassin tree, giving even more damage if you picked it.
• Increases the lockpicking and trap disarm capabilities.

So as you can see, with a single talent the build receives a significant boost to damage and utility during world exploration.

Bugs - Attack Speed

So one of the most notorious and irritating things, with Dragon Age: Origins are attack speed bugs. By overcoming these bugs, you get a very fast archer, which is also ridiculous. Let me go a bit in-depth on the mechanics:

• Haste - instead of improving attack speed it reduces it by 0.8s.
• Aim - reduces attack speed by 1.5s. This is intended behavior.
• Repeater Gloves - reduces attack animation by 3 seconds. This is bugged and ridiculous. But more or less counteracts the bugged effects of Haste.
• Other Rapid Aim items - Far Song, The Sorrows of Arlathan, etc.

So the main culprit of breaking the attack speed is Haste, and the most ridiculous bonuses are given by Repeater Gloves. You can play with these, however, I do suggest using the recommended mods that address all of these problems.

Critical Hit stacking

For damage optimization, I do recommend stacking ranged critical chances whenever you can. The main reason is that in the late game, you will not be using many active talents as your normal attacks become very fast. Here are the items to be on the lookout:

• The Long Sight
• Far Song
• The Sorrows of Arlathan
• Rock Mastery - from Shale
• Aim - archery sustained talent.

With these, you should have a decent critical hit chance and greatly improve the average damage.

Early Game Tactics

These are the tactics that I would use for the early game, up until levels 10-12. The game up to this point can be very hard, so you might need to do some cheesing. A few things of note:

• Set Behaviour to Ranged.
• Try to use the bow to lure enemies one by one from long ranges in Ostagar and Lothering. This will make encounters easier to manage.
• Rapid Shot is useful early in the game before you obtain any items with Rapid Aim.
• I do recommend prioritizing archer targeting the main character, especially in the early game as this will allow it easier to inflict large concentrated damage.

Late Game Tactics

These tactics are aimed towards the late game when you have most of the build talents covered:

• You do have an option to scrap most of the active talents with a good party. The auto-attack crits with fast attack speed are very effective.
• Bear is an excellent summon to act as a tank and soak some damage.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Leliana Archer Build post for Dragon Age: Origins. The build is a perfect vanilla choice where you want to go without much experimenting. There are a few problems like attack speed bugs, but with a few tips you will be able to overcome them.

Feel free to leave feedback below