The goal of this guide is to make Nightmare difficulty cheap and easy for you. This isn’t about going full-on hardcore mode with friendly fire enabled. We’re going to be using cheesy tactics in order to roflstomp our way through Nightmare.
Step One
Get to level 8. Here are build suggestions to help you get there.
Warrior: Grappling Chain + Upgrade, Mighty Blow + Upgrade. Pull your target away from the main group, knock them down, hit ’em while they’re on the ground for bonus damage. If you let your party members focus fire on your target, it should be dead before it can even get up.
Rogue: Explosive Shot + Upgrade, Long Shot, Full Draw. Leaping Shot is situational and is not that useful during the early levels. If you’re using it to create distance then Stealth is a better and cheaper option.
Mage: Immolate + Upgrade, Fire Mine + Upgrade. Work on getting both skills first before upgrading them. Let Solas take care of barriers and crowd control.
You can also unlock Val Royeaux and buy the tier 2 weapon schematic for your class from the schematics vendor. This will allow you to craft a more powerful weapon.
Step Two
Head to Valammar for early tier 3 schematic farming.
Step Three
After unlocking Skyhold, unlock Emprise Du Lion.
Use Stealth to sneak past the first camp and get into the cave that leads to the second camp. The cave has dawnstone, bloodstone and silverite. Combined with the duplication exploit, you can use these as crafting materials for your tier 3 gear.