Note: Not restricted to NM mode alone. But I managed to complete nightmare with 80% action play and 20% pausing to re-position and issue commands or to get an overall view of the battle. The advice is in no particular order. Some of the advice will be "obvious" to most people. But I chose to include everything. Btw I personally played a Necromancer (mage).
Rifts
Dispel will instant-kill mobs being summoned by rifts. This makes a 2 mage party even better. Templar dispel might work too, did not test. When a wave is spawning, dispel the biggest green blobs. Said mob is usually a stronger demon. This way you can remove a pride, rage or terror demon each wave.
Rogues are excellent at rift disruption due to stealth. Stealth away and wait until all mobs has started attacking - then disrupt the rift. It is important that you time this will terror demon teleport and dont stack on top of other party members.
Always focus wraiths / weaker enemies first.
Dispel is king
Dispel will remove enemy buffs, barriers and also remove debuffs. Many people neglect the power of dispel. Don't do that mistake, Dispel is incredibly powerful. Templar has a dispel ability as well, making this spec great to have in your party on top of the +10% resist all passive and other goodies.
Dont fight mobs 2-3 levels above you
Even if you can - it will slow your progress. It may even stop your progress if you get stubborn. The zones are not linear, and there is no shame in swapping between zones. I actually found it more fun to jump around zones. As a completionist you will have the ability to backtrack always. If you cant do one thing, there are 10 other things you can do meanwhile. Dont get pointlessly stuck.
Grrrr! I wish this passive ability didnt require a shield, dagger or bow
Even if skills says "dagger" or "shield", in almost ALL cases passives are weapon-blind. Bow passives work with daggers (though not always optimal) and sword and shield passives to damage reduction works with 2H.
Range characters are better?
Depends. On NM if you go 2H warrior, I would recommend going some guard abilities and/or to grab some damage mitigation passives from sword and shields. Many people complain melee rogue is useless on hard+. This is wrong to some degree. You will need more mobility passives like hook and evade, you will need to utilize stealth, and you will need to play smart and micromanage. Melee rogue can be the worst or the best class on NM. You cant expect to live in melee range constantly and just bash heads in.
3 ranged + tank is currently the easiest and safest route. I recommend playing a 2nd melee class as your Inquisitor if you want more melee. For more advanced players, you can manage. But it is more challening.
Regen, lyrium and resistance tonics
Upgrade your regeneration potions ASAP. They allow you to heal between battles, and sustain you in longer fights. Lyrium potion is not good because it gives a damage bonus. It is good because when you upgrade it, it will last longer and increase your maximum mana pool. A higher maximum mana pool is incredibly powerful in harder fights, because mana regen is percentage based and you can spam more damage. Resistance tonics grants a massive ele resist bonus. Dont fight dragons without resist tonic vs their damage type.
Must have abilities
Due to terror demons, AOE attacks and more - you should have at least one mobility skill on each party member. Tank get lunge to close in from SnB. The mage ability "fade step" in winter is the absolute most mandatory skill in a NM mode playthrough for a mage. Its use is beyond explanation. It is something you will understand when you have had it for some time.
Omg dragons 
Pausing the game to re-position party members coupled with resistance tonics are the key to success. That and good gear. Just remember that dragon fights are not (usually) a dps race. It is an endurance encounter. Remember to equip appropriate elemental staffs. Dragons have varied elemental immunities.
Crafting
Learn it. Watch a youtube video or guide or just experiment. By level 14 I could no longer find gear better than what I could craft. Loot crafting mats, always. Trust me when I say you will NEVER have enough elfroot. Crafting is a key ingredient to success. Dont ignore it.
Good party compositions?
If you feel really cheap and just want the NM achievement. Play 2 mages 1 rogue archer and use blackwall/champion as tank. I used cassandra myself, templar abilities on a tank is under-rated. I recommend (If you only want to make it easier):
Champion or templar tank.
1 x rogue archer.
2 x mage where one of them is rift mage. Rift mage applies improved weakness. 30% damage reduction done by enemies.
How to build my barrier / support mage?
Full spirit minus mind blast upgrade. Life ward upgrade can be skipped also. Dispel + its upgrade is recommended.
For full cheese, either with Solas or Inquisitor - go Spirit/rift mage with clean burn passive and flashpoint from the fire tree. Why? Because you now have lower cooldowns, high mana regain, and dispel gives you 25% damage bonus. Your mage will now cast barriers and dispels + provide improved weakness. I also recommend upgraded winter grasp for an extra CC.
What about tactics?
0% mana reserved. Always. Barrier and dispel on preferred for your spirit mage. Potion threshold: 2 for all except tank, 1 on the tank. CC skills should be prioritized.
And perks?
Your first priority is to capture a keep and get true grit. 10% damage resist for your party. You also want potion slot 3 unlocked to have regen + tonic or regen + stoneskin/lyrium pot. You also want to increase your potion count from 8 to 12.
But some perks require like 3-4 points in forces etc. I dont want the other stuff here :/
Agents counts as one towards perks required in that tree. So save the point if you can until you get more agents. If a secrets perk requires 4 in that tree, and you recruited 2 agenst, you will now only need 2 for example.
You can respec, also, for mages have atleast 2 seperate elemental spells
You can buy respec amulets. Feel free to experiment with different builds. Also never pidgeon hole yourself to a single elemental school!
Dont rush main quests, make hard save before MQs
Being under-geared and unprepared in a place you cant get out off is the best way to destroy your NM playthrough. Delay them as long as possible. If you insist on doing them, always make a hard save before throwing yourself over the wartable.
I'm dying here urghhh... *caughs blood* ... NM too hard...
Are the enemies within lvl range?
Do you have gear up to par?
Have you planned your party's skill builds proparly?
Do you have a fire mage against fire immune enemies etc.?
Do you have regen pots?
Do you have resistance pots?
Did you upgrade them?
Do you use pause when needed to issue commands and evade dangerous stuff?
Are you out of OTHER stuff to do? If you cant progress come back here later.
Feel free to ask any questions if you have them. Just wanted to share some basics.
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