Wynne Build Guide (Dragon Age: Origins) - B-Tier Guides

My Wynne build guide is finally here! Wynne is the support mage companion in Dragon Age Origins, so I focused on heal and buff spells for her build. Of course, you could always get more damaging spells on her if you'd like - I certainly do that in most of my playthroughs. Nevertheless, her build guide is quite different from Morrigan's as well as from my future Mage Warden guide. Hope you enjoy!
The recommended gear is also found below, as always.
Intro 00:00
Starting Skills 00:25
Starting Abilities 01:10
Starting Gear 04:52
Recommended Attributes 05:29
Recommended Skills 05:43
Recommended Abilities 06:31
Specializations 09:59
Recommended Gear 10:22
Tactics 17:10
Conclusions 19:04
==Recommended Gear for Wynne==
=Weapons=
Magister's Staff - combat mana regen, +5 spellpower, +10% spirit damage. Looted from Zathrian.
Corrupted Magister's Staff - +5 spellpower, +15% spirit damage, 5% chance to paralyze enemies. Found in Return to Ostagar DLC by using the Key to the Mages chest.
Wintersbreath - +3 spellpower, +25% cold resistance, +10% cold damage. Purchased from the Wonders of Thedas shop in Denerim.
Staff of the Magister Lord - +6 willpower, combat mana regen, +6 spellpower, +10% spirit damage, +10% fire damage. Extremely expensive (128 gold 88 silver). Purhcased from the Wonders of Thedas shop in Denerim.
=Robes=
Tevinter Mage Robes - combat mana regen, +4% spell resistance, +5 spellpower. Purchased from the Wonders of Thedas shop in Denerim.
First Enchanter Robes - +3 willpower, +3 magic, +9 defense. Purchased from Cesar's special stock in Denerim if you finished the Trial of Crows questline.
=Helm=
The Libertarian's Cowl - +12 defense, combat mana regen. Looted in the Circle Tower from a charred corpse in the Templar Quarters.
=Gloves=
Ashen Gloves - +20% cold damage. Looted from the Arcane Horror in the Lower Brecilian Ruins.
Black Hand Gauntlets - +20% spirit damage. Looted from a Maleficar in the East Brecilian Forest during the Mages Collective side quest Thy Brother's Killer.
(you can also use whichever gloves you want, gloves don't matter in this build)
=Boots=
Enchanter's Footing - +6 defense. Looted from Gazarath in the Korcari Wilds during the quest A Pinch of Ashes, or purchased from the Quartermaster's "other goods" in Ostagar.
Imperial Weavers - +10% dodge chance. Purchased from Bodahn in the party camp.
The Lion's Paw - +1 armor, +10% dodge chance, +10 chance to avoid missile attacks. DLC item.
(special mention ONLY if you have Dain's Fixes: Bard's Dancing Shoes - +6 defense, reduce hostility.)
=Belts=
Belt of the Magister Lords - +3 spellpower. Looted from the adventurer corpse at the end of the Gauntlet.
Destructionist's Belt - combat mana regen, +3 spellpower. Purchased from Ruck in Ortan Thaig in the Deep Roads.
Sash of Forbidden Secrets - +6 willpower, +6 spellpower, improves blood magic, +15 mental resistance. DLC item that requires a difficult achievement from the Golems of Amgarrak DLC.
=Amulets=
Aneirin's Token - only for the bonus it provides to Wynne's Vessel of the Spirit spell. Doesn't need to be equipped, you just need to have it in your inventory.
Lifedrinker - +4 spellpower (but requires the Blood Mage specialization)
Mark of Vigilance - +6 defense, +2% spell resistance, +5 mental resistance. DLC item.
Magister's Shield - +6 defense, +12 defense against missiles, +4% spell resistance, -10% nature resistance. Looted from the Deserted Building in Denerim during the quest The Last Request.
Pearl of the Anointed - +1 all attributes. DLC item.
=Rings=
The Lucky Stone - +1 all attributes. DLC item.
Key to the City - +2 all attributes. Quest reward for the secret quest The Key to the City in Orzammar.
Band of Fire - +3 constitution, +25% fire resistance, +10% spirit resistance.
Dalish Promise Ring - ONLY if you have Dain's Fixes. combat health regen, +15% healing received, reduces hostility.

[@btiermutineer]

By the way, for anyone interested in the mod I'm using for Wynne's appearance: it's Look Your Age by autisticromana! I covered it in my 13 amazing mods for DAO video :D

[@christinefarrell6438]

I really appreciate that you try to keep the builds in character. I've seen a few heavily optimized Wynne builds where she's a blood mage, and while they do seem very effective, I just keep thinking about what Wynne says in character about blood magic and it takes me out of it.

[@btiermutineer]

Yeah, it feels icky to make her a blood mage just because it's the efficient thing to do.

[@flypandu7316]

You can't imagine how helpful your videos have been to me. I hope to see more of them, maybe even about Dragon Age 2 or Inquisition!

[@btiermutineer]

I'm so glad to hear it! ♥️ I'll definitely be making some guides for Inquisition (not sure yet about DA2 as I'm not as good at making builds for it, but if I can research the builds well enough, that too!)

[@sharkdentures3247]

As someone who always loved "Boom Mages" (that throw around Fireballs & Lightning Bolts) since I first started played Dungeons & Dragons back in the mid 80s, I was amazed at how very useful/ powerful Spirit Healers, in general, are. And how great Wynne, is specifically! And yeah, from a Role-Playing perspective, there is NO WAY Wynne would become a Blood Mage! In fact, I heard Origins had an abandoned, possible game branch where; IF you use Blood Magic with Wynne in your party, she calls you out, in front of the Templars, at the end of the Broken Circle quest! (And thus, you wouldn't be able to recruit either the Circle NOR the Templars to help with the Blight!) I usually make Wynne an Arcane Warrior, so she can wield/ wear Maric's arms set. (for the huge mana regeneration boost) So she can keep Haste (and even Cleansing Aura) running longer! Of course, this opens other equipment options, like Helm of Honnelleth and Wade's Superior Dragonscale gloves? I'd say, Morrigan is more "fun". And Wynne is a better choice if you are warrior heavy and/ or playing a "Good" aligned party.

[@joannadavis5146]

This is so cool, I never use Wynne in my playthroughs, but now I might just have to put her in a party :DD

[@dadadam789]

Quite a beginner-friendly video, so nicely done. I mostly use wynne as support mage, but when dealing with strong bosses, i include morrigan for additional healing, cc, and triple procing entropic death

[@yournumberonepal]

I pretty much run her as a heal and buff bot so I don't need to ever worry about it. I use all the tactics on Wynne so that she never really needs to be managed at all and I can focus on blowing stuff up with my mage instead. I wish I ever found any of this gear, I never find much of anything.

[@djcunning6078]

Thank you for all the great Dragon Age Origins Videos, really helpful and well explained. 👍🏻

[@btiermutineer]

Thank you, I'm glad you found them useful!

[@LazolONE]

Thanks for the video!

[@btiermutineer]

Glad you liked it!

[@DabDat91]

Cleansing Aura is bugged, it actually doesnt heal injuries, at least on PC. Yoi should also be getting spell bloom for mana Regen, and if your going to focus any stats on her DMG, you should be focusing NATURE not ICE, get nature bonus gloves.

[@btiermutineer]

It does if you have the Dain's Fixes mod for sure! I use it in my playthroughs and it works, but I didn't know it was bugged in the vanilla game. I would've mentioned it if I knew!

[@yournumberonepal]

Why nature? I avoid it for damage like the plague.

[@DabDat91]

@@yournumberonepal she starts with nature spells, and the gloves are very good. So if you aren't modding the game to enable respec, it's the best path to not waste points.

[@yournumberonepal]

@@DabDat91 Ah, I see, it's because I use her as healing and support so I only allow her to auto attack. My bad! I was only thinking of staves for damage.

[@DabDat91]

@@yournumberonepal she is the best healer, unfortunately she comes standard with a few non healing spells learned.

[@red_dll]

Thank you for this build as it helps me with building my main character. After a few years I now started my 2nd playthrough. My first one was a templer/ tank warrior and now I am onto a mage. The arcane warrior + blood mage combination sounds cool but I would like to play a support mage with buffing and healing for my main character because the mage class is very complex for me and has a so many interesting skills that I otherwise couldn't decide what to get. I thought about getting Alistair as a tank, Morrigan as an offensive mage and maybe an offensive warrior or a rogue as my 4th member. Do you have some other recommendations for a party or for some skills for my main character as I won't use Wynne and can play around with the skills on the MC a little more?

[@btiermutineer]

@@red_dll I think the best supporting spells are Heal and Group Heal (and of course Revival and Cleansing Aura are useful if people get down). After these, there are the weapon enchantments (Flaming Weapons, Frost Weapons) which add elemental damage to melee weapons in your party. Very useful if you're using two melee characters in the party (tank + damager). Heroic Aura and Heroic Defense are definitely good to use on the party's tank. Haste is great to have for the whole party for increased attack speed. Otherwise, you can also be supporting your party by debuffing enemies, so spells that freeze, paralyze, stun, or otherwise make enemies easier to deal with are great: Mind Blast, Winter's Grasp, Cone of Cold, Paralyze, Horror, Sleep, Crushing Prison, Vulnerability Hex and Affliction Hex - which make enemies weak to elemental damage, Misdirection Hex - which makes them unable to properly land hits. Of course, against mages the best thing to cast at the start of a fight on them is Mana Clash, which if you have high spellpower is likely to one-shot them. Your plan of using your Warden as a support mage, Morrigan as a damager mage, Alistair as a tank, plus another melee damager (I recommend Zevran) is great! Hope you'll have a fun playthrough with this build 😊

[@red_dll]

@@btiermutineer Wow, thank you for the detailed answer! My character is only at lvl 2, just started it. I chose heal and the stun sigil as my first 2 skills. Thanks for the input!