When you’re wearing plate, have a shield about the size of your body, and have a low center of gravity… you’re a tank. Korbin, the Legionnaire of Dragon Age Inquisition is all four of these things. This dwarf from the Legion of the Dead joins the Inquisition to see that Thedas isn’t wiped off the map all together. Due to all these darling little facts, the Legionnaire is a front lines fighter. Get in there, taunt the priority foes, build that guard, save the lives of your three mates, live.
I absolutely understand the fact that you don’t have to build the Legionnaire as a tank. By level 20 you can get all sorts of DPS abilities in there which may allow him to shine. With that said, the two shield classes should be tanks. Between the Guardian and Combined Arms trees, there are so many survival, guard, and taunt options. To each their own of course, but again, if I wanted to DPS and wear heavy armor I’d much rather play the Katari or Reaver. Also, most likely in a pickup group, unless you say otherwise, people will assume you are the damage sponge.
Let’s look at the abilities:
Guardian:
Tier 1:
Adamant – Armor Bonus 20%, Con +3
Shield Wall – Gain guard vs. attacks
- Chevalier’s Step – Armor bonus reaches 4 meters for 30%
Turn the Bolt – Damage Reduction 50% Con +3
Tier 2:
Challenge – Duration 8 secs, Guard amount 10%, Cooldown reduction 16 secs, Cost 20 sta
- Throw the Gauntlet 15 Sta per sec
Resilience – Stun chance 5%, duration 2 secs, Con +3
Combat Roll – 2 secs cooldown, cost 20 sta
- Roll With It – Combat roll can be used to recover from CC
Tier 3:
Balanced Combat – Sta restored 10, dur 4 secs, Con +3
Biggest Threat – Threat Increase 25%, Con +3
Hardened – Str +3, Con +6
Tier 4:
Untouchable Defense – Maximum Guard Bonus 25%, Con +3
Unbowed – Guard per enemy 10%, cooldown 32 secs
- Still Standing – Guard generation 100%
Turn the Blade – Damage Resistance 20%, Con +3
War Cry – Duration 4 secs, Guard per foe 20%, cooldown 24 secs, cost 35 sta
- Call to Arms – Armor bonus 200%, duration 10 secs
Cutting Words – Damage bonus vs. tautned foe, Str +3
Tier 5:
Trust the Steel – Armor Bonus 25%, Con +3
Walking Fortress – Immunity to all damage Dur 8 secs, cooldown 32 secs
- Siege-Breaker – Strikes against you reduce cooldown and increase guard by 10%
Bulwark – Maximum guard bonus 25%, Con +3
Combined Arms:
Tier 1:
Payback Strike – 200% weapon damage, recent damage threshold 5 secs, 200% damage bonus, cooldown 8 secs, cost 35 sta
- Damage bonus 200%, Stun 2 secs
Tier 2:
Shield Bash – 300% weapon damage, 800% vs. guard, cooldown time 8 secs, cost 35 sta
- Ring the Bell – Bonus damage vs. guard 400%
It’s Cost You – Damage returned to attacker 15%, Str +3
Lunge and Slash – 175% weapon damage, cooldown 8 secs, cost 35 sta
- Great Lunge – The further you lunge the better. 75% at 5 meters, 250% at 10 meters
Tier 3:
Bear Mauls the Wolves – Can’t be flanked, +3 Con
Deep Reserves – Low Sta Threshold 50%, Sta gen bonus 50%, Str +3
Flow of Battle – Crits reduce cooldowns by 1 sec, Str +3
Tier 4:
Warrior’s Resolve – 10% sta for every 10% HP lost, Con +3
Grappling Chain – Drag a foe to you 100% weapon damage, cooldown 12 secs, cost 20 sta
- Give Them the Boot – 200% damage, stun 3 seconds
Shield Breaker – auto attacks reduce foe’s armor by 20% for 6 seconds, Str +3
To the Death – range 15 meters, enemy damage output 5% per second, enemy damage taken 5% per second, cooldown 32 seconds, cost 35 sta
- En Garde – Guard increases by 25%
Guard-Smasher – Bonus Damage vs Guard 100%, Str +2
Tier 5:
Hamstring – Attacks from behind slow 50%, duration 3 secs, Str +3
Blood Frenzy – 5% more damage per 10% HP missing, Str +3
Crippling Blows – Your crits grant 15 damage reduction, duration 10 secs, effect stacks, Str +3
Tier 6:
Unyielding – After death you rise and are granted invulnerability duration 5 secs, HP threshold 5%, cooldown 60 secs, Con +3
Tier 7:
Counterstrike – counterstrike all attack on you for 6 seconds, cooldown 60 secs, costs 65 sta
The Guardian tree is where it’s at. Basically all those passives are amazing minus Balanced Combat. I’d focus on Adamant, Biggest Threat, Untouchable Defense, Turn the Blade, Trust the Steel, and Bulwark. From the Combined Arm tree Bear Mauls the Wolves, Deep Reserves, and Unyielding are all golden.
The four abilities I’d aim for are Shield Wall, Unbowed, War Cry, and Walking Fortress. Right form the start head down Guardian for Walking Fortress – this ability is your bread and butter and will let you take hits from anything even at low level. Shield Wall and Unbowed make it so you don’t die while War Cry makes it so your party doesn’t die. The synergy with War Cry and Walking Fortress is down right stupid (in a positive way).
Playing the Legionnaire is pretty straight forward as a tank. Be the first to enter a room, be the first to gain aggro, taunt, guard, use Unbowed and Talking Fortress when you need to. Being the first to take an action means you’ll be the first to grab the group aggro. If the Archer or Keeper acts first, you’ll be doing more pealing than tanking. Running around hitting your foes a few times but now following through with the kill will help keep aggro – especially once you have the Biggest Threat passive.
Best of luck out there. You may not be the one blowing up the Exp charts at the end round but you’re easily the backbone of every group.
