Infinite Mana Rift Mage - Dragon Age Inquisition 

Using these builds for an all mage run:)

Tlot Pwist still playing as a mage!

Watching for 4th time in 2022

Bought and played the hell out of it at launch, loving the game, but then Witcher 3 came out and made many other RPGs seem old hat. I've returned to it recently and it's held up remarkably well for a game that also came out on PS3 and 360.

Ha who you telling 🙃

@@howardsturgis7673 RU-vid

Man Im in the same boat to make matters worse I have Assassin's Creed sitting here unopened. Here I am playing this again.

@@mrbaines5890 Me with Cod MW and Cod CW. Just not the same as bo 1&2 days 🤷🏾

Yes

awesome, I'll keep it this way then :)

I don't know, I thought they always kept it in xD yeah it's an awesome build I can't stop using at the moment. glad you like this style I'll use this for sure now with the positive feedback :) Glad you enjoyed it dude.

You need the trespasser dlc

I don't use friendly fire you'll know now :) but with friendly fire i would run a whole ranged set up, with an archer tank, archer dps, this build, and a support mage. Therefore the build wouldn't change just a pretty awesome party comp.

glad you like it :) this is a really fun build and great solo, hope you have a good time with this build.

+StarFlorge Both your Necro and Rift Mage builds look fun!

+Relic They really are I can't chose which one I prefer

The AI wont be able to utilise the potential of this build. If you want a similar build for AI swap the Storm spells out for some fire spells and then the AI should be able to use it well.

That would be a very good idea and makes the build just as effective whilst also giving you some fire damage.

Awesome, hope you have as much fun as I do with this build :)

Yeah i do my best too cause i know 30 is really kinda the "max level" so no point going over :) Glad you enjoyed the video.

Hope it works well for you! :)

@blue light thank you for the info and yes it's a good game.🤗🤗

100%, played right this build you can just spam abilities none stop

StarFlorge thanks for the input :) I guess this would work well as well with fire skills instead of electric ones, as fire mine does heavy damage or the wall of flames can be turned to a wave and hit multiple targets (hopefully the burn d.o.t. is counted by the veil passive )

Cheers, I wish I did xD

Yeah you can for sure, you just need to have the right amount of skill points, so late game you might have to grind some levels to get the full build, but it is doable for sure :)

this has nothing to do with the infinite mana stuff but I'm still wondering why I don't see the decent or trespasser in store only theories I got are 1 they are only for pc or they are included with jaws of hakkon and they just didn't include that in info

+Kon El hummer I'm not sure on that cause I own them all when they came out :) I'm on PC so I don't know how other stores work but I'm sure you should be able to get the dlc. All I can say is try Google xD I hope you find a fix dude

I believe the PS3 and Xbox360 only have access to Jaws of Hakkon. Descent and Trespasser were made available to PC, Xbox One, and PS4.

Armour is from the decent dlc I think and the helm would be the one I always use the Battlemage Cowl Schematic

Well with this build i tended not to lose out on the infinite mana. One thing you can do is make sure you have a weakening spell to cast after chain lightning to re apply the effect :) If you can't seem to avoid the problem just get rid of lightning spells and swap them to fire spells. hope that helps.

He did at 10:22 ... notice how he doesnt regain mana from his passive since enemies are not weakened anymore... that happens cause of the odd combo ASLEEP, which adds no damage to target; requires WEAKNESS (the effect, not the combo) on SHOCKED (but does not cancel SHOCKED)... this combo is not even mentioned in the wiki, which is why lots of people ask on the internet. Basically always at 10:22 he use the energy barrage, shoking all the target it hits, funnily enough energy barrage is also an eldricth detonator so all the targets that got shoked get also weakened by the ongoing pull of the abyss, which triggers asleep which in turn triggers the NIGHTMARE combo which leaves enemies panicked and cancel the weakness status (like all detonators do)... All of these happens in 1 millisec. Energy barrage is good for dmg in itself and also for the NIGHTMARE combo but isnt great cause it cancel the weakness and also cancel the winter's still mana regen.

This build isn't exactly the best mage dragon build but to be able to do well v a dragon you need to change your rotation. Try sinc up static cage with an energy barrage and stone fist combo. That's probably the highest single target dmg you can do to a dragon. After that focus on casting stone fist and EB. Use the other spells only as fillers. what I mean is if you have both stone fist and EB on a high cool down then use another spell. otherwise keep focusing using stone fist and EB but don't for get fade step :) hope that helps a little bit.

Yeah, that's basically the strategy I took, with the added use of chain lightning interspersed. Thanks for the reply! I absolutely love this build, it is seriously so fun and I feel like such a BAMF!

Awesome you had the right idea and love this build dude! :)

To so something like this all you need is restorative veil, so you can do a build similar very low level, but for the exact build you will either need a mod, cheat engine or a dupe glitch. One thing I will say, gear breaks the game more than skill points so if u do give your self loads of skill points it wont make the game super easy. So it can be fun :D hope that helps a bit.

Crowd Control, putting enemies right where you want them or stopping them from getting to your squishies(low health characters)

Thanks. I would say go for all magic when you can but after that id for for 50% crit chance and then after that crit dmg :)

Cool, thxs man!

Yeah i know of the bug, and it has been brought up, but i find using this build i never really came across that problem. If you follow the combos i show you'll be good on gaining as much mana as you can :) I may make another variation of this without lightning, but this build is still great i think :)

Yeah, the Trespasser dlc :)

Deep dsd you should just craft your own, bro. hit up the out-of-the-way book merchant in Val Royeaux and buy his schematics

Just play your way through trial and error and learn, why do they have multiple save system, use it.

Cheers :) I might do its just items in this game for builds can change so much based on what you are going for, I'm trying to make a video that covers that eventually :)

I gave the answer on the other video you commented on :)

+StarFlorge ty and sry for doing 2 comments i thougt nobody will answer my question because the Video was old

Look at 9:00 you will see as I run into the blizzard with no other ice spells down I get the armour.

The second upgrade is DLC content. It is part of the Trespasser DLC so i hope that helps :)

StarFlorge thank you SO much for the help really

I didn't find that this build was buggy at all. what is it meant to do again? didn't even cross my mind xD

Shock + Weakness = Sleep. Enemies immune to Sleep means Rift Mage cannot regain mana back from spells.

+Ishten Yobahtop ahhh yeah I did see many enemies getting put to sleep, but I never had the problem of them not giving me mana. I know most bugs in DA:I happen to some people and not all. maybe it did happen but I didn't find anytime not gaining mana so I would say that it's not a problem in this build. however if you try it out and find you aren't getting mana then please say :)

I explain in detail what's going on with Asleep, and probably the problem you had with PotA/Shaken Veil here: forum.bioware.com/topic/573316-shock-weakness-issue-fixed/ Short answer is, Weakened on top of Shocked (but not the other way around) always changes Weakened to Asleep. This can impair mana regen. If you used Shaken Veil on Shocked targets, that's why you didn't get Weakened. In the video, mana regen still happens because a) not all targets were Shocked, and b) because the staff is a fire staff, Energy Barrage sets some targets Burning, which is DoT, and like Blizzard, will buff mana regen through Restorative Veil.

Well even if the bug isn't fixed this build kinda gets around the bug which is very useful :)

should be the schematic from the decent dlc Vestments of the Pure Schematic.

Swapping skills is very common, when doing my solo playthroughs I'd swap over and over, it is a very good idea on a mage as sometimes 1 build cant do it all with the way the mobs are designed

@@StarFlorge any tips on wich skills by any chance? i used the dupe glitch with a power amulet so points are no issue

@@Clotsby If u have all spells, then just take them all LOL, but if resetting go for what you need in the fight can basically use any of my mage builds and keep swapping. Can't really say which skills to take with no context :)

@@StarFlorge thx for the reply but don't worry about it i found some awesome ai companion builds by Pawspause and they fill in this rift mage build shortcommings perfect so no need to swap out wich i prefer

Ermite Minato I'm not sure, I've only played on PC so I've only seen it at the bottom.

Ah ok because on PS4, it's at right bottom

Hi dude, awesome to hear you're coming back to the game. This build can be started as soon as you hit level 10 and get the rift mage spec, but i'd advise to keep a immolate with wild fire upgrade instead of either static cage or blizzard as they are spells from the end of skill trees, for some fire damage whilst leveling, and once you feel like you no longer need immolate then replace it with which ever spell you left out before. When you hit 10, get immolate upgraded, energy barrage and fade step and then max out the rift mage tree, after that it's up to you which order you take :) Hope that all helps.

StarFlorge thanks for the quick reply! I saw your low level mage build so I'll probably roll with that for a while until I can switch to this (although just saw your winter rift mage and that looks fun too). Seems like trespasser really changed things (and looks like I need to buy it)

No problem :) Yeah you really should get the trespasser, it give more choices and the extra content at the end is great, along with all the dlc's being amazing :)

Just discovered that the GOTY edition just went on sale at Origin for $14.99 US. Made my decision easy!

That's a great deal, get that for sure :)

Think its the Vestments of the Pure Schematic :)

Glad you enjoyed it :)

Backpacker 91 Even on normal having blackwall Is amazing if you aren't too combat focused as he on normal will literally never die. So that's a huge help if you want to just relax with tanking when it comes to fights. If you do then swap out iron bull as Reaver controlled by the AI doesn't really work well, they normally just kill themselves xD I hope that helps you out a bit.

Glad to know the AI can't wield Reaver well, that'll save me time. I really do like the Rift mage, but I wanted both in the party and, like marmite, I can't stand Vivienne. SO I'll make my Solas to these specs and just control him when I wanna switch things up. Thanks for the quick response though! Your videos have been a lot of help as I tend to sit around forever being indecisive, haha.

awesome you're getting into dragon age. early game as a mage you want barrier and then dispel with no upgrades, then energy barrage, flash fire and then flash point. hope that helps to start. when you get the rift mage spec, refund your points and take everything in the rift mage tree before anything and then just build the build in an order :) hope that helps and isn't confusing.

This is exactly the information I was looking for. Thank you so much for your help 👍

Awesome, glad i could help :)

They are both strong for sure, but it will depend on your set up. I will give you this really simple advice to not complicate things xD If you have 2 ranged characters as well as your mage go the mine build but, if you have 2 melee characters as well as your mage then go the Infinite Mana build. I hope that helps :)

Thanks. I'm running with Tank Cass, Varric, and Support Solas mostly. Sounds like either build would probably work, or maybe one on Solas and the other on the Inq?

Yeah using both builds on your character and Solas would be a nice combo, obviously you'll want to have barrier on Solas though, but you should be able to find a spell to replace with barrier :)

Thanks for the advice! Can you comment on how you gear your mages? With assassin, for example, it's pretty obvious you just stack as much crit damage as possible, but I feel like it's less clear for mages. Stack as much magic and crit (for flashpoint) as possible? A mix of crit and crit damage? No base secondaries and just the 30% ability damage rings?

apitch85 like you say it's hard for mages there isn't yet a clear better option, I still need to test it. One thing for flash point is if you use energy barrage you almost always get a critical no matter how much chance you have. I usually go for magic and atk on a mage but hopefully once I'll test it we will know what's better :) I hope this helped some what.

Glad to know you'll be using my build, hope u have fun with it.

oooh it's fun~~~~

Jacky Lin Awesome to hear :)

Oooo, never had this question and it's a very good one :) but for me it is actually this one. It's so fun to play for me, amazing against every mob with endless damage and cc, then when you come to bosses it gets a bit harder but makes to game interesting. This build was probably the most fun to make as well :) will stand by this choice forever xD

so you would say that rift mage is your favorite class to play as whole?

Currently yes, and i'm sure until DA:4 it will be :)

I'm pretty sure like any rift mage it's a no cause dragons are resistant, but then again most mages aren't good v dragons due to their weak damage. Against dragons no mage is that great. KE some may say are good cause they wont die but still they'll do the same damage. I'd have to say the fact you have 3 different elemental effects (frost, lightning and spirit) means you might be able to count a dragon with one and spa that spell. Hope that answers your question. Also as bonus fastest way to kill a dragon would be 4 rogues cause even 1 rogue can 1 shot a dragon so why not 4 xD

Stonefist is good against virtually every opponent, as it's spirit damage. With this type of build you can pretty much spam it. Energy barrage can be good but is dependent on your staff type and which dragon you're facing.

Perfection

What's the PC you got?

Yeah i love how long DA:I is, such a great game. Glad you like the look of the build and personally i find rift made a ton of fun, if you liked force mage you should love rift mage :)

my only inquiry is how i am going to play a rift with only 8 slots (ps4 here). I may have to drop dispel and barriers...

Right so early game you will need both dispel and barrier of course, but when it comes later and you want this build i would say take chain lightning out the build and replace it with barrier, that will make the build just as good as it is, and make it easier to keep infinite mana cause you'll shock less mobs :) but yeah late game you will be dropping dispel. Hope that helps.

Thank you :) Well i'm on PC with every dlc, and to get the skill points i have modded my game. Mainly for youtube so i can make ever build i want. I will soon be making to video that shows how to get as many skill points that you want, but only for PC. Hope that helps a bit

+StarFlorge I'm also playing on the PC with dlc version 1.05 and I have the deluxe edition too. I'm expecting the video already! thanks in advance

+StarFlorge I was beginning to get bored with the mage until I seen this video, now I feel energized and I am gonna make this build right now, but I have a couple of questions for you. 1. should you put more in critical chance or critical damage. 2. more in willpower or magic. 3. where do you or how did you get that cool armor.

Awesome to know that my build has done that, thank you :) 1. if a crit build (This isn't) Go for 40%+ crit before getting any crit damage. 2. More into Magic 3. From DLC drops but nearly 100% of my gear is crafted :) I hope that helps.

+StarFlorge it does help alot, but on the armor, I get it is crafted but what is it called, that way if I find the schematics I will know. thanks

Hacks

Veilstrike and stonefist apply weaken

StarFlorge Oh i meant what is it weaken can do?

Ooo xD By itself it reduces damage done by mobs but around 15% i believe. Then if you are a rift mage you can take the passives which rely of weakened mobs. This includes reducing damage even further. Increasing the damage they take. Increasing duration effects on then and also converting damage to mana. hope that helps.

StarFlorge Yes that helps. Thx mate

used to be from an exploit and now it's from a mod. I was wondering if people want me to make a tutorial for it I can. I use it now so I can make any build I want :)

yeah id like to get that many points to upgrade how i see fit

+Walter Phelan I'll make that for this weekend :) I'm back Friday and will make it as soon as I can. it also means you can get other mods too, but it's only for PC of course which is a shame for some people.

Depends on the role you feel your character needs to be and what you want to be. The thing with rift mage is it brings a huge amount of everything, and my opinion of rift mage now is that late game it is by far the best mage class. However if you want longer cc go for necromancer cause Panic lasts longer than knock down and freeze. I think best to play what you find fun mainly. Many ppl will know i loved necro and now rift mage and i can't turn back xD Hope that gives you some guidance, if not send a message back with some info on what you want play-style, and in party etc, and ill just give you a blanket 1 word answer :)

+StarFlorge haha thanks for quick reply! if I play a necro or rift mage, who would you recommend I fill the rest of the party with? this will be my first play through, and hoping to get as many achievements as possible.

I've never been an achievement hunt so i can't help on that point, sorry about that. But for a party with necro you will want 2 warriors + a rogue, or 1 of each class. The 2 warriors one is tank champion, the other dps reaver. Take sera or cole. For the rift mage you will want 1 tank champion warrior, a rogue and a mage. The mage must be spirit with revival, barrier and dispel so probably bring vivienne for more survival. If you want to know what better rogue to take, use cole for mark of death burst mainly for one target only, and then sera for more targets. This weekend may show though that you might wait to take sera 24/7. I hope that helps :) and again i'm happy to answer more if u need.

I think i would love Necromancer if it felt more like a Necromancer, from what i've gathered form your videos, it seems like a damage over time control mage, i want, minion rising, blood/death magic haha. You have a lot of builds for your Rift Mage, is this build the one you'd recommend for a fun, team play build for my first playthrough? Or would you recommend a different one?

That's exactly what i wanted, how ever i like the dot cursed, but wanted summoning the dead and death magic :) For fun i think rift mage is the best, all mages have the same level of fun early game, but late game with this build or even the mine mage, it is the most fun for sure. So yeah try rift mage. One thing though is save the game before you chose, and note that save, it means you can go back and change anytime you want :)

I believe he is using a mod to give him additional points.

I used mods to add them so I can test everything possible and try out many combos in order to try make the best builds :)

Yes i know the problem and its the interaction with weakening and shock. Someone did a forum post on this build stating its a bit weird how it works. If you want "idiot" proof, dont take any lightning spells and your mana will hopefully regen like never before :D

StarFlorge Thanks bro!

I I don't put them in builds due to the fact they are just so OP, most of them anyway. All my builds are mainly for ideas so if you want to throw a focus ability in it then it's all yours :D

Truth is that i am rarely using focus abilities myself. Only in dragon fights i find them usefull when you need to finsh dragon before it encase itself in guard

This build can be one of the highest damage output mages as long as they aren't immune to spirit damage. Annoyingly this wouldn't be a great AI build as you need to control it, and also in terms of a high damage mage, it doesn't really work as they are more about control in this game but the constant damage of this build can get huge dps out. For a really good AI build try my insane CC necromancer, it's one of the best mage builds it think for the game and is really well controlled by AI. I hope that all helps :)

StarFlorge That must probably be the fastest reply in the history of RU-vid, awesome! It is more that I want to play the mage myself. I normally play singeplayer games without a team. And to be honest, I suck so badly at multitasking, that I want to have a group of AI rolling with me, without me having to worry about them. So a self sufficient AI team + me playing the mage I guess. Do you have any recommendations for that? EDIT; Would some of your builds work with AI?

Well i happened to be on. If i'm on i'll reply very quick, well try to :) Well i always run a self sufficent AI team :) usually blackwall as a tank, a archer rogue (any) a support mage so someone like solas or a cc necromancer, and then you. Hope that helps :)

StarFlorge Cool, thank you. I will just try some of your builds to check what suits me best. Would it be smart to run Solas as a CC Necro and then play as a riftmage myself or do they cancel eachother out? (Sorry for bombarding you with these questions). Cause I would run your unending warrior Build for Blackwall, dont know which Archer yet and then I would love to take Solas with me.

Soals is a rift mage so you can't play him as necro. You can use Dorian as the cc necro and then go rift mage yourself. and no problem with the questions :)

Yeah this build was made for a main character and not AI but as i always say the builds are also made to inspire and give ideas. I must agree that you would have to remove the shock skills for AI and maybe just swap them to fire or more spirit tree for a support :)

***** it's a shame so many skills are bugged like shaken veil, that would've made a great support skill

Mainly cause i went for the mana recovery and then didn't want to back track and make the build an even higher level. if you have the points get the mana recovery and the other side but for this build to work you need to get that mana recovery on the left side :) hope that helps clarify why i went done the left side.

***** That makes perfect sense. It is kind of a trade off in a way then. You don't do the bonus damage to weakened enemies, but you have a crap ton of mana and you can constantly cast spells. Less down time=more damage.

Yep xD endless mana means constant spells and things like never ending blizzards :) If you have the extra points you'll do even more damage :)

***** Out of curiosity, have you ever played a necro mage? I started playing again and I have had some experience with both rift and KE, but I have never done necro. Just wondering how good it is end game. Edit: NVM, I am watching your necro video right now.

to answer the last question Necro end game is good, not on the power level of rift mage and not on the undying level of KE. But if you're in a group. Necro have the most insane cc in the game and can control the battlefield a whole lot. I personally love Necro and completed the game first 2 times round with it xD hope you enjoy the necro video.

Thanks :) I do plan to do more warrior and Rogue build but they don't have as many options as mages, and I've already made a few w and r builds. if you haven't seen them check them out but yeah I always plan to make more builds for every class :)

That's great to hear :) if I were to start a nightmare all trials on what mage build would you suggest ? I can't decide between Necromancer, Rift or KE and what abilities I should use with them.

+Ivexas I would go for a rift mage and go this build or the rift mage mine build both effective just depends on your party mainly :) watch both video then decide, I hope it helps:)

Yes it has thanks a lot and once again keep up the great work your videos are brilliant :)

+Ivexas awesome glad it helped :) I'll keep up the work for sure.

cheers :) this build I found usually works well still against bosses. you have the upgraded energy barrage to deal a lot of damage. winter stillness to gain mana back and Stonefist is a great spell. you should be fine against bosses with this build :)

Mr. Commenter right at the start at 15 seconds i say it's a 23/22 build also my mistake here, I've recently changed what I say cause you start with an extra point which I have forgot to add, so this is a 22/21 build and at level 27 you could have obtained 2 extra ability points allowing you to essentially get a 29 build. hope that clears it up, and I'm now starting to use the right levels as I was very slightly wrong before.

Yeah it is pretty op, the only time you'll struggle is v mobs that cant be cced. I dont always play with an op build to keep it interesting :) Well the main damage comes from the flask of fire, throwing blades combo. So you have no cooldowns or cost on throwing blades. Also the throwing blades must have the extra damage stack upgrade, that will give you high damage. Glad you're trying to figure it out whilst i finish the video and hope nothing else breaks xD

Theres a glitch you can use in the game where you can duplicate items. You can find an amulet of power for your character in crestwood with the deft hands fine tools perk. Take the amulet to sky hold and put it in the storage chest. Open the storage chest and press the buttons for withdraw and close at the same time. Itll duplicate the item so that one will appear in your inventory and the other will stay in the storage chest

At least that's how it works on the PS4 and XBOX one. Not sure if it's the same on PC

Dupe solas amulet of power at skyhold storage

@@ColossalSwordFormAndTechniqueYup I figured that one out for the amulet you find in Crestwood

I did this so I could test anything build related and make builds at any level for videos :) mainly for testing purposes basically.

Console commands

It's an exploit not console commands

Amulet of power duplication

What do you mean the main character isn't the strongest mage? I'm using the main character or do you mean one of the companions. Sorry i just don't understand the question xD

StarFlorge I'm sorry lol. I forgot everyone's character doesn't look the same. I thought that was another person :/

Well I hope it gives you ideas to improve, that's the plan :) hope you enjoy the videos.

thank you. very helpful, indeed. thanks to this video. I chose to play a mage, My first mage, in the game.