Here's a sample spec I'd recommend for Blackwall. Of course, it's subject to changes based on play style and preferences.
The build focuses on increasing your defense. You'd Taunt as an opener, use War Cry to build guard and increase defense, Shield Wall TO avoid damage and build guard, and Shield Bash to help drop enemy guard.
Untouchable Defense doesn't work. Turn the Bolt is amazing and should be taken. Trust the Steel doesn't work either, but I'd take it for Cutting Words anyway.
Guest_Raga_*
Your warrior isn't a tank if he's not sword and board. Try again with Cassandra or Blackwall.
This is true but not necessary. I beat the dragon on normal with myself (2H warrior) and Iron Bull and 2 mages.
Guest_Raga_*
I'm level 18 (playing normal diff), and I've tried nearly 20 times to defeat this dragon. I cannot for the life of me get past 70% of his health. My party dies, and I have to start all over. I have all the fire resistance accessories I can find, but none of my party members can last past the first 25% of damage.
Level 18 Rogue Arrows
Level 17 Mage (Ice Staff, Ice and Spirit)
Level 17 Mage (Ice Staff, Spirit and Electricity)
Level 17 Tank/Warrior (two handed weapon specialty)
What do I do?
If you are not above using system gimmicks to help you beat the dragon, one thing you can do when someone in your party dies is to run back into the cave and hide behind some rocks (a good ways into the cave). This will 1) force any unconscious party members to get back on their feet and 2) force the dragon to come down from the hills into the central area so it's no longer spitting fire at you from a distance. The only time she won't come down I think is if you have her down to the last 20% or so of her health when she retreats back up the hill.
This is also a good method to thin out the dragonlings from range if you find yourself being overwhelmed by them.
All dragon damage is avoidable. Also set the potion reserve limit for party members to 1. Your AI are morons and they will chug all your pots by taking unnecessary damage (seriously, the AI is so bad that the toon will path over fire/electrified water and stand in front of a breathing dragon, you need to babysit your mages with tactical mode).
When the dragon flies up to shoot fireballs simply LoS it with the hills. Position yourself underneath a heal between you and the dragon and the dragon can't hit you with fire and will come back down.
Once you get Vivienne, learn to use spirit blade to reflect the fire/ice balls back at the dragon.
Different people = different builds. We could argue all day about what to add or take away, but that's not the point.
To get to Unbowed you'd have to invest 2 points. IMO only worth it if you have the points to spare, i.e. at a higher level.
Shield Wall is incredibly useful, especially if you are controlling the tank and timing its usage well, it basically makes you immune AND builds guard. It works great against casters, archers, groups of melee, s&s enemies, bosses, you name it. Granted, it's probably overkill for normal mode, but I still would not play a tank without it.
He is level 18....
At level 11 I had Unbowed. Why use challenge, when warcry is a taunt that adds guard, and sheild wall to gain guard is pointless if you are using Unbowed. You will also have to invest another point in sheild wall to gain manouverability when using sheild wall. You are immune when you have max guard with increased guard abilites. Yes I agree at level 3 sheild wall is really great for survival.
But I suppose you sit behind your sheild using challenge, before doing any damage?
I am sorry, I'm not home with the game and I cannot do it from memory (unlike some folks here, I'm sure.) There ARE some good dragon strategy posts here, though. In the meantime, I'm a little confused by your high level and not having run into Tier 3 Schematics. How many areas of the game have you been to? Are you trying to clear all the side quests before you finish the main story? Have you attended the ball in Orlais yet?
1) i read the guides, and none of the helpe.d they are either using characters I hate to use (ex cassandra) or do not match me (rogue archer)
2) Yeah no tier 3 schematics yet. I'm running around tyring to clear areas so I don't have to come back to them over and over again.
3) currently in Hissing Wastes (what ball in Orlais)?
And why didn't I know that VIV was recruitable. I thought all over your mentors were untbouchable (non-party members)
how do I recruite her?
You really should take note of what specifically is killing you. Based on your comments, it sounds like death by wing flap. When the dragon flaps her wings and you see a hurricane type of animation around her, you need to run in and hug the dragon, not run away.
When the dragon flies, just keep an eye on her and be ready to run away when you see a fireball coming. As soon as she lands, have your tank run straight into the dragon, to stop her from casting fireballs.
On normal difficulty, at your level, your tank should be able to easily handle the dragon. I recommend Blackwall, focus his build around the defensive abilities found in Weapon & Shield, Vanguard and Champion trees. Don't worry much about active abilities, all he needs for starters is Shield Wall and Taunts, then Shield Bash and/or Payback Strike. Blackwell should be pretty much unstoppable by that dragon.
Another tip is setting tactics and behavior for your party. Set Barrier as a preferred on a mage (you might also want a preferred cold spell for better damage against the dragon), and set him to defend your tank. On your tank, set him to defend himself. Disable all fire abilities in tactics.
Other than that, just be careful with positioning, have your ranged companions stand away from the tank, to the side of the dragon. If you have a melee guy (dagger rogue), you're probably gonna have to control him or just let him die by tail whip and kicks.
1) specifically killing me: fire and fireballs and my characters loving to dance in a pool of fire, and not getting out of it, (thereby eating away at their health like the dimbulbs they are
2)okay, run toward a dragon as she is hurting me. that is kinda dumb
3) can I use someone else that Cassandra or Blackwell? I absolute abhor these characters. they are flat and uninteresting (and my approval rating for both is in the pits)
4) Tactics screen doesn't work for me. I assign my characters to do something and they completely ignore it. I gave up using Tactics by the time I reached level 10 since it didn't work for me
5) I don't think any of my mages have barrier spells. Like I state,d there is really no "guide" on specing these guys properly inside the game (I try not to use outside resources) this is the first time I"m actually having to need to look to outside the game for help.
6) can you explain how hte FRACK I keep my guys where they need to be (without using TACTIC screen because it just doesn't work)
There are three Arena-like structures on the eastern side of the map and each one of those has a Dragon. They are at levels 19, 21 and 23 while the Hinterlands dragon is level 12. So it is a good idea to fight the lower level dragons before facing the ones at Emprise du Lion.
haha this is odd because on one of them (don't know which one) I got him down to 10% of health (but I ran out of health potions sionce I wasn't timing it correctly)
I'm having MORE trouble with HInterlands than I did with that one dragon in Emprise.
1) specifically killing me: fire and fireballs and my characters loving to dance in a pool of fire, and not getting out of it, (thereby eating away at their health like the dimbulbs they are
Set everybody but the tank to have all potions reserved. Hence not taking anything. Manually give them potions if you feel they are not in any danger.
2)okay, run toward a dragon as she is hurting me. that is kinda dumb
Tactics are tactics. Dragons don't spit fireballs when they melee.
3) can I use someone else that Cassandra or Blackwell? I absolute abhor these characters. they are flat and uninteresting (and my approval rating for both is in the pits)
Iron Bull as tank, you as tank, Vivienne as KE tank, you as mage KE tank. Parry-rouge as tank.
I could go on. It depends on your determination, skill and understanding.
4) Tactics screen doesn't work for me. I assign my characters to do something and they completely ignore it. I gave up using Tactics by the time I reached level 10 since it didn't work for me
Sounds odd. I admit it is weird and suboptimal, but it works fine for the most part.
5) I don't think any of my mages have barrier spells. Like I state,d there is really no "guide" on specing these guys properly inside the game (I try not to use outside resources) this is the first time I"m actually having to need to look to outside the game for help.
In a game with no healing spell, you don't consider taking the damage-mitigating-spell? That sounds.. inefficient. In a tactical gameplay survival and Crowd Control is always better than pure damage. A dead dps do no dps.
6) can you explain how hte FRACK I keep my guys where they need to be (without using TACTIC screen because it just doesn't work)
What do you need them to do?
Though in general: no. The AI is stupid. Live with it and adapt to it. Best we can do!
Set everybody but the tank to have all potions reserved. Hence not taking anything. Manually give them potions if you feel they are not in any danger.
Tactics are tactics. Dragons don't spit fireballs when they melee.
Iron Bull as tank, you as tank, Vivienne as KE tank, you as mage KE tank. Parry-rouge as tank.
I could go on. It depends on your determination, skill and understanding.
Sounds odd. I admit it is weird and suboptimal, but it works fine for the most part.
In a game with no healing spell, you don't consider taking the damage-mitigating-spell? That sounds.. inefficient. In a tactical gameplay survival and Crowd Control is always better than pure damage. A dead dps do no dps.
What do you need them to do?
Though in general: no. The AI is stupid. Live with it and adapt to it. Best we can do!
1) how do I get viv?
2) rogue archer, so can't really tank
3) like i said, the game doesn't do a good job of explaining what each skill is optimal at doing. so I don't know what spec does what ,which is why I'm here
4) stay where they frack they are. I can't work with something that is broken and expect to adapt to a broken system. that's like telling me to work with a car that's missing a gasket and hope it gets you from point a to point b without breaking down.
If i have to deal with this broken Tactician screen, HOW the FRACK do I use it properly?
I select a character then what? I point to a position and nothing happens. they don't move there. they just keep on doing what they were doing.
1) how do I get viv?
In Val whatevertheheckitiscalled. The capital place.
2) rogue archer, so can't really tank
Well, you got plenty of other characters that can. Pick one.
3) like i said, the game doesn't do a good job of explaining what each skill is optimal at doing. so I don't know what spec does what ,which is why I'm here
Optimal at doing? Of course not, no game does. The synergy between skills is what we the theorycrafters and meta gamers find out. You even get to see barrier in action by Solas in the tutorial. I, for one, spent a while when I first saw the skill trees to see what was what. Helped me map out what I needed for my first playthrough at Nightmare. It wasn't optimal, but it got me through!
) stay where they frack they are. I can't work with something that is broken and expect to adapt to a broken system. that's like telling me to work with a car that's missing a gasket and hope it gets you from point a to point b without breaking down.
Yet.. yet we are killing this dragon pre-specialization at level 8-12. We are killing High Dragons on Nightmare in 5-10 seconds. Why can't you adapt?
In Val whatevertheheckitiscalled. The capital place.
Well, you got plenty of other characters that can. Pick one.
Optimal at doing? Of course not, no game does. The synergy between skills is what we the theorycrafters and meta gamers find out. You even get to see barrier in action by Solas in the tutorial. I, for one, spent a while when I first saw the skill trees to see what was what. Helped me map out what I needed for my first playthrough at Nightmare. It wasn't optimal, but it got me through!
Yet.. yet we are killing this dragon pre-specialization at level 8-12. We are killing High Dragons on Nightmare in 5-10 seconds. Why can't you adapt?
LIKE i have reaped time and time again. I use the dam tactic screen and IT DOES NOTHING. My characters/party do NOT listen. they keep on doing what they were doing before!
I can't 'adapt' to something it if it DOESN'T work!
Instead of putting someone down, why don't YOU offer a way to help? seeing as this level 17 can't defeat a level 12 dragon, then there MUSt be something that I'm doing wrong (and can't understand, which means its FAILING on the games/design part), or the part of the system is broken.
and once again, how do I recruite Viv? I did her 'restore family" quest and nothing happened after that. Returned to skyhold and she only offers here default conversations choices.
"You even get to see barrier in action by Solas in the tutorial."
what tutorial?
"theorycrafters and meta gamers find out."
what the heck is a theorycrafter? and what is a meta gamer?
Whoa there cowboy! Chill out. You seem frustrated. Don't take it out on me now!
If you suspect a bug, check the section of the forum regarding bugs. Or reinstall the game. What can we do to help you if it doesn't work? If it does work and you just don't understand it, we also can't help.
Instead of putting someone down, why don't YOU offer a way to help?
There are numerous guides on how to deal with the dragon. I don't need to add to it. I am more interested in why you can't kill it, over what you need to do to kill it. You are making that difficult, though. All I get is frustration and "I don't want to use builds or the 2 best tanks!". Neither does you any help in this situation!
what tutorial?
what the heck is a theorycrafter? and what is a meta gamer?
The first area of the game. Where you end up killing a Pride Demon. That whole section is a tutorial. You get massaged into the game. Solas come equipped with Winter's grasp, a CC, and Barrier. Both are things you sort of want.
Theorycrafters are people who looks into numbers. They find out, for example, how much a stat is worth or what stat is best. Generally, it's the guys doing math inside video games for fun. 
Meta gamer is the concept of gaming for gamings sake, and knowing something you should not within a game. It basically means we want to play as optimal as possible not for the game, but because we can. Optimal builds with optimal gear, overkilling the game in any way, just because we can.
Seriously if you can't kill it at level 17 it's you not the game. I killed it at lvl 14 with IB Cass and blackwall (I was a mage) easily. If you take cass and blackwall, solas for barriers and everyone is decently equipped it should be a cakewalk. I stayed really close the whole time and used ice spells and barrier and let the others just go at it, just make sure they are all attacking the same leg not 3 different legs.
Whoa there cowboy! Chill out. You seem frustrated. Don't take it out on me now!
If you suspect a bug, check the section of the forum regarding bugs. Or reinstall the game. What can we do to help you if it doesn't work? If it does work and you just don't understand it, we also can't help.
There are numerous guides on how to deal with the dragon. I don't need to add to it. I am more interested in why you can't kill it, over what you need to do to kill it. You are making that difficult, though. All I get is frustration and "I don't want to use builds or the 2 best tanks!". Neither does you any help in this situation!
The first area of the game. Where you end up killing a Pride Demon. That whole section is a tutorial. You get massaged into the game. Solas come equipped with Winter's grasp, a CC, and Barrier. Both are things you sort of want.
Theorycrafters are people who looks into numbers. They find out, for example, how much a stat is worth or what stat is best. Generally, it's the guys doing math inside video games for fun.
Meta gamer is the concept of gaming for gamings sake, and knowing something you should not within a game. It basically means we want to play as optimal as possible not for the game, but because we can. Optimal builds with optimal gear, overkilling the game in any way, just because we can.
frustrated because like i said, i've tried to defeat this dragon nearly a hundred times now (every time I leveled up, I went to give the dragon a try), and I can't get past 70% health. My party dies, they don't listen to me.
i've read the guides. none of them have helped. I tried them, my characters die, can't get past 70% health.
I've read the bugs thread, there is nothing about the tactician screen not working properly (xbox one)
I went through the pride demon in the beginning of the game, and was the only time tactician worked properly, but I think it only worked because it pretty much did it for you. anytime i used it AFTER that, the characters in my party just do not listen.
"You even get to see barrier in action by Solas in the tutorial."
what tutorial?
"theorycrafters and meta gamers find out."
what the heck is a theorycrafter? and what is a meta gamer?
Seriously if you can't kill it at level 17 it's you not the game. I killed it at lvl 14 with IB Cass and blackwall (I was a mage) easily. If you take cass and blackwall, solas for barriers and everyone is decently equipped it should be a cakewalk. I stayed really close the whole time and used ice spells and barrier and let the others just go at it, just make sure they are all attacking the same leg not 3 different legs.
Its is partly the game if I can't tell my characters to do what they are supposed to do.
any other characters that I can use beside cass or blackwell? can't stand them.
"Hey, DeeLite808, take a step back. Your frustration is going to chase away the people who are trying to help you and you'll be left all alone with a dragon! '
Well it doesn't help when people respond without READING the entire thread first. My frustrations are explained in several posts and I have to repeat myself.
Tactician screen doesn't do what I want it to do for my characters (they don't listen to what I want them to do), so that is a big part of my problem.
and people are referring to VIV. I don't have her. There is nothing indicating that she is recruit able.
any other characters that I can use beside cass or blackwell? can't stand them.
Iron Bull as tank
Also. Google. Yey.
The Imperial Enchanter is triggered somewhat automatically after the first major cut scene in Val Royeaux. As you walk away from the plaza, you'll see a mage who you can talk to. It's not a conversation; he'll talk to you automatically and extend an invitation to a salon, which you can read. Sometimes, just standing close enough to him will trigger the quest regardless.
Once triggered, you'll gain a new temporary location on the world map located just north of Val Royeaux called Ghislain Estate. Travel there, then you'll encounter a couple scenes. At the end of them, you'll be given the chance to bring in Vivienne the mage as a new ally, and the quest will resolve.
If you do not follow up on the recruitment quest before Skyhold opens, Ghislain Estate will disappear from the map and Vivienne will not be recruitable.
"How do you feel about YouTube? "
I've watched several, but none of them deal with my issues. Like a tactician screen that doesn't work properly.
Using Iron Bull, but he dies too quick.
LIKE i have reaped time and time again. I use the dam tactic screen and IT DOES NOTHING. My characters/party do NOT listen. they keep on doing what they were doing before!
I can't 'adapt' to something it if it DOESN'T work!
Instead of putting someone down, why don't YOU offer a way to help? seeing as this level 17 can't defeat a level 12 dragon, then there MUSt be something that I'm doing wrong (and can't understand, which means its FAILING on the games/design part), or the part of the system is broken.
and once again, how do I recruite Viv? I did her 'restore family" quest and nothing happened after that. Returned to skyhold and she only offers here default conversations choices.
Look I get where yer coming from...
The bloody tactics thing is just totally hosed, it's !#&*^ broke. Then need to go back to the DAO tactics system.
This game explains NOTHING, and without the web, almost no one would know a damn thing. Too many choices appear with no real way to determine what the outcome might be. It's more like a guessing game. As for skills, hard to tell what works and what is just plain bugbroke... respec is the only saving grace.
My suggestion would be to lower the difficulty for the dragon battle... if it's that much of a headache, just roll on it. I won't tell. 
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