Creating the ultimate dream-team party in Dragon Age: Inquisition is something that all players want to experience, and in BioWare games, mixing and matching party members is half of the fun.

Finding that perfect balance between Rogues, Mages and Warriors can be a long-winded process full of experimentation and testing. Sometimes you won’t know if a particular skill is worth getting, or if a passive is too good to be true.

In a sprawling RPG game like Dragon Age: Inquisition, it helps to know what you’re doing and be on the top of your game as soon as possible–otherwise you’ll feel the need to re-spec or even restart the game and lose your progress.

If you want to go toe-to-toe with towering dragons and take on the fiercest demons of the Fade, you’ll need to arm yourself with knowledge. Luckily we’ve come across an immensely handy guide courtesy of Reddit user Legacy_Raider, which reveals the dynamics of spell combos.

We’ve broken down the basics and fundamentals of combos, and tell you everything you need to know about status effects, detonators and the resulting bonus chaos so you can take on the biggest and baddest in Thedas.

Anatomy Of A Spell Combo

Certain skills in Inquisition are must-haves that can set up devastatingly powerful combos that wreak havoc on foes. Experimenting with class abilities can lead to some pretty surprising results (like Whirlwind with Static Cage) and decimate baddies with substantial damage bonuses.

But first we have to understand what status effects are, and how they work in tandem with “detonation” skills to pull off high damage.

Every class–Rogue, Mage and Warrior–has its own set of skills that inflict varying status effects as well as specific detonation skills. Combos essentially begin with incapacitating an enemy with a status effect followed up with a “detonator ability”.

Essentially combos are just a specific rotation of skills that deliver bonus damage and affects when properly executed, and keeping things simple is the key to understanding how they work.

Status Effects: Combo Starters

There are four basic status effects–Stun, Sleep, Freeze and Paralyze–and below we have a breakdown of the classes and skills that inflict them. Note that these abilities are also synonymous with “incapacitating” effects and the “disabled” status.

Incapacitating Effect –> Class –> Skill (Skill Tree)

• Stun –> Warrior –> Pommel Strike (Two-Handed Tree)

• Sleep –> Rogue –> Knockout Powder (Subterfuge Tree)

• Freeze –> Mage –> Winter’s Grasp // Flask of Frost (Tempest Rogue)

• Paralyze –> Mage –> Lightning Bolt (Storm Tree)

The above skills are essential abilities to pick up for all classes in some mixture or another. It’s advised that you spread out and vary your party members, but they’ll all need some form of combo starter skill. You can’t go wrong with any of the above, but the passives can get a bit tricky.

Let’s just stick with combos for right now.

Detonators: Combo Finishers

Now that we know how to start a combo, let’s explore some basic finishers.

Just like the status effects, detonators are typified by the class they belong to and are made up of three basic types: Impact, Precision and Eldritch. All of these lead to different combo outcomes and can afford tremendous strategic advantage.

Detonator –> Class –> Skill 

• Impact –> Warrior –>
  • Lunge and Slash
  • Shield Bash (Weapon & Shield Tree)
  • Mighty Blow, Whirlwind (Two-Handed Tree)
  • Spell Purge (Templar)

• Precision –> Rogue –>
  • Longshot (Archery),
  • Twin Fangs, Death Blow (Double Daggers Tree)
  • Shadow Strike (Subterfuge)

• Eldritch –> Mage –>
  • Mind Blast, Dispel (Spirit)
  • Energy Barrage (Storm)
  • Immolate (Inferno)
  • Spirit Blade (Knight-Enchanter)
  • Stonefist (doubles as Impact, Rift Mage)

Combos are all about strategy, and to effectively use them, you’ll need to hop into the freeze-frame tactical menu to plot your party’s actions. Having full step-by-step control over your party is essential to pulling off the combos, and the RTS-style tactical view is a fantastic way to learn the basics of this craft.

Learning the flow of battle is paramount to successful execution of spell synergies, but with time you’ll get the hang of it.

Now let’s move on to the advanced course in spell combos 101.

Combo Effects

Incapacitating skills set the bomb in place, detonators light the fuse and combo effects are the resulting explosion.

The most amazing thing about combos in Dragon Age: Inquisition is that status and detonator spells can be mixed and matched to deliver different explosive results. This is the advanced course, and we’ll be taking a look at the true dynamics of spell combos as tactical tools of destruction.

After successful detonation, certain combo sets will hit enemies with powerful afflictions that can weaken baddies, dish out huge elemental damage, or even send them in a crazed panic of fear. These debilitating statuses are the key to tackling strong bosses or playing on higher difficulties.

Essentially the formula is like this, along with a breakdown of each of the combo effects and what they do.

Incapacitating Spell + Detonator = Combo Effect

• Basic Combo –> Moderate bonus damage, no bonus status effect.

• Rupture –> High damage over time (DoT) that ignores armor, similar to a bleed effect.

• Shatter–> High cold elemental damage.

• Nightmare –> High damage, inflicts Panic effect (enemy stops attacking and moves randomly around the battlefield).

• Discharge –> High AoE lightning damage to enemies within range.

• Weakness –> High damage bonus and inflicts Weakness effect (target’s attacks do less damage)

Now that we know all the basics of the incapacitating spells, detonators and the combo effects, let’s go over some sample combos and their respective results in battle. Every detonator will trigger different outcomes, all of which can be the difference between life and death in those tough situations.

It’s best to start out with the simple combos like Pommel Strike + Lunge and Slash, then work your way to using Mage skills like Winter’s Grasp and Lightning Bolt to start off your combos.

One of the more effective starter synergies is just Winter’s Grasp + Shield Bash, which works incredibly well if the opponent is shielded or heavily armored. Varric or Cole’s Knockout Powder is an excellent combo starter as well, as it puts baddies to sleep and allows you to kick off the bleeding effects of Rupture or terrorizing them with Nightmare.

If you happen to unlock the Templar specialization, he can actually combo off of his own skills: the  Wrath of Heaven ability–which delivers a Stun AoE attack–can be detonated by the Spell Purge attack, dealing huge damage.

If we consult the table above, a Stun starter combined with an Eldritch detonator kicks off Weakness, and for an added bonus, Spell Purge also dispels and de-buffs baddies of all their bonuses.

Another amazing combo is using Knockout Powder on group of clustered enemies then rampaging in with a two-handed Warrior’s Whirlwind ability. This will combo off of the entire group, dealing impressive damage across the board.

Static Cage also works exceptionally well with Whirlwind.

The former is a spell from the Mage’s Storm tree, and essentially traps enemies and paralyzes them in a given space. Once paralyzed, two-handed Warriors can jump in and stir up a frenzy with Whirlwind, rending the poor hapless souls to bits.

To take full advantage of these synergies you’ll want to pay attention to enemy strengths and weaknesses. These can be seen at any time when you use the tactical menu, where you can hover over a demon or Red Templar and see their stats.

Should an enemy not have any weaknesses, well you can just fire up a recipe like Pommel Strike (Stun) + Mind Blast (Eldritch Detonator) and Weaken them yourself.

At their core combos are strategic advantages that can sway any battle in your favor. Using the right conjunction of spells at the right time can lead to an ultimate victory against the strongest foes of Thedas.

With the power of combos every party member has the capacity to be a huge asset for the entire team. Be sure to pick up all of the combo starters and check through the detonators to find which you like the most. But be careful as you’ll want to invest in passives to round out your characters.

Now that you know the basics of combos be sure to give them a try! At first it’ll be slow-going, but once you get all the rotations and Tactics down pat, battle will flow like a finely tuned machine.

We hope you’ve learned a thing or two with this guide, and be sure to let us know in the comments section below if you’ve found any other interesting character class skill combos!

The post Dragon Age: Inquisition Skill Combo Guide appeared first on VR World.

A few days ago Sony’s (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 4 console celebrated its first birthday. A lot has changed for the system over the past year,  and now is a great time to pull the trigger on PS4 if you’ve been waiting.

The console owes its transition and growth to software and games, with firmware updates bringing intuitive features like Share Play and streamlining the user experience. But Sony has had some stutter steps along the way, and the path hasn’t been perfect: PS Now has proven to be an unoptimized, poorly-planned disaster, and the console is still plagued with bugs and a badly executed online service.

Despite these faults, the PlayStation 4 has taken hold as the leading next-gen console, selling 13.5 million units globally as of October. There’s many reasons for its success, and in this anniversary year-one review we’ll take a look at how Sony continues to evolve the PlayStation brand to make the PS4 the centerpiece of an expansive game-centric ecosystem.

The games

When the PS4 launched in November 2013, there was a marked lack of launch titles. Sure we had greats like Killzone Shadow Fall and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, but compared to last-gen launches, this one was clearly outstripped.

Next-gen consoles weren’t given their chance to truly shine until this Fall, when a huge bounty of high-profile games released. It was here gamers were reminded why they bought a next-gen system in the first place: for quality gaming experiences.

This Fall we saw innovative games like Destiny hit the market, and despite being over-hyped and locked behind DLC paywalls, it remains one of the best-selling and most addictive shooters in years.

Bungie’s MMO-style FPS was soon followed by horror hits like The Evil Within and Alien: Isolation. Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor brought players to Tolkien’s celebrated fantasy realm and empowered them for one of the most engaging and remarkably fun action-fantasy games in existence, pushing the bar for high-definition graphical fidelity in one fell swoop.

A full year later in November 2014, the PS4 was treated with one of the best RPG’s in recent years: Dragon Age: Inquisition.

The game has 200 hours of content and features such deep, player-centric mechanics that it proves BioWare are masters of their craft. The new Dragon Age is enough reason to pick up a PS4 right away, and it’ll take hold of you and never let you go–and I think you’ll be okay with that.

Far Cry 4 is another huge hit that deserves a holiday mention. Set in the vast region of Kyrat, gamers take on the traditional international despot in a brutal bloody game of civil war; but this one sets itself apart with its sheer level of exotic flair.

Kyrat is so incredibly different then what we’re used to in the series that it really immerses you in a new world, one that’s riven with cruel strife but also highlighted with incredible beauty.

Apart from AAA hits, Sony has used indies to successfully buffer the waiting times between big-name games. With PlayStation Plus on PS4 you won’t get great yesteryear AAA hits like the PS3 version, but you will get some pretty enjoyable indie games.

Now indies aren’t meant to replace AAA; they’re meant to compliment them. Essentially indies are bite-sized morsels that appeal to a wide range of genres and players, facilitating a sort of cultish flair along the way.

Notable PS4 indies include The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, the renown horror game Outlast, and Don’t Starve. Sony’s strategy has proven to be a successful one, although there are some–like myself–that would prefer a more expansive catalog.

But some criticize Sony’s indies offering as a way to deflect that the company really doesn’t have anything substantial to offer in terms of free games. This is evidenced by the abysmal launch of Sony’s first-party exclusive DriveClub, which was supposed to have a free (yet limited) release for PS Plus members.

After the game’s retail launch crashed–Sony’s still sorting out the mess–the PS Plus version was put on hold.

This proves that Sony is great at lining up third-party games and setting up an ecosystem, but they’re not so good at handling things in their own backyard. They could use some practice in this regard, and gamers have become reticent to embrace first-party games as a result.

PlayStation Now is another result of Sony over-stepping their ambition. PS Now was meant to be a means to play PS3, PS2 and even PS1 games on your PlayStation 4, effectively adding backwards compatibility to the console.

But there’s one problem: PS Now is a pay-per-play service that has exorbitant rental fees and a timing structure that doesn’t really invite players in.

For example, PS Now prices a 90-day rental of 2013’s Saint’s Row IV for $14.99, with the usual ridiculous one-hour periods starting it off. According to Half.com you can pick up the same game for as little as $8.99, or you can hop over to your local GameStop and pick up a copy you actually get to keep for $5 more than the rental price.

In theory PS Now is a great idea. But Sony mucked it up and still hasn’t fixed it, and instead of doing so, they’re focusing on new things like bringing live cable TV to PlayStations via PlayStation Vue and even their own virtual reality headset called Project Morpheus, which most likely will be obsolete compared to the Oculus Rift.

And it’s also run on the PlayStation Network, which is notorious for being finicky, slow and under-performing in various tasks. Multiplayer seems to be okay, but any time Sony’s servers have to be strained, players are met with considerable lag and disconnects.

Since PS Now is streamed from the network, players have to run a test to see if their connection is viable, and even then you’ll get unwarranted disconnects. The funny thing is that the service will let you rent a game even if your connection can’t support playing it, proving Sony needs to work on its online structures.

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