I want to share my experiences playing nightmare solo as an dwarfen w&s warrior. My last step was reaching Skyhold siding with the mages and defeting Knight Captain Denam at Lvl9.
The keysteps for my success are...
Skillorder based on Matth's Pre-Skyhold builds
The dwarfen w&s warrior starts with Warcry and Payback Strike which is fine and don't need to be changed. Challenge has no priority if you play solo. Stamina will also be fine until you unlock the second attack.
First eliminate the flanking bonus for your enemies...
Level 2/3: Shield Wall --> Bear Mauls the Wolves [Weapon and Shield , left side]
Now we need more offensive... I choosed Great Lunge and regret this against Knight Captain Denam. Shield Bash should be the better choice.
Level 4/5/6: Turn the bolt --> Shield Bash or Great Lunge --> Turn the Blade [Weapon and Shield]
Now I was a little bit stamina limited, so I go for the upgraded Challenge
Level 7/8: Challenge + Throw the Gauntlet [Vanguard, right side]
Level 9: The Warcry upgrade Call to Arms because more AC is nice and I start to face larger groups in Haven [Vanguard, left side]
Always carry 3 Jar of Bees. I havn't abused this bombs but some fights turn from impossible to easy with this item. Payback Strike and Great Lunge are great offensive abilities which have an very short CD of only 8s and are cheap. This two skills carry you easily to the Haven fight. The problem arise with Knight Captain Denam who has an very large guard bar. You need to eliminate this bar and than you have an short window where you can scratch at his life bar. Here you want Shield Bash. So learn Shield Bash right at Lvl5 if you don't want to resopec for the haven fight. I have done this fight without Shield Bash and it was an epic 45 minutes battle where almost the entire time was used to reduce his guard bar.., again and again countless times.
My way to reach Skyhold...
The first steps after the intro was to get 4 power by capturing some camps. I was Lvl4 or 5 where I reached this goal. Than I traveled to Val Royeaux and get the T2 schematics for body armor (with upgrades) and weapon. Later I got also the helmet and shield schematics.
The body armor makes you unkillable until Lvl7 or 8. You can kill 3 terror demons at Lvl7 without an problem but they become an problem again starting at Lvl8. So I suggest you clear the way to Redcliffe before you reach Lvl8. You will face random demons at the Redcliffe gate and terror demons can be an problem. Use Jar of Bees if they are an problem, but you should not need them until Lvl8. I used the time after reaching Val Royeaux to get all possible companions, also if I do not use them. They give you war table missions and experience. The remaining time was used to get 15 power to unlock the Templar/Mage fight. It does not matter what you do. Everything should be easy unless you try the Lvl12 rifts at Lvl8, which I do not suggest 
The final preparation for Haven was to craft an complete new set using T2 metalls for armor and damage. I have not farmed Obsidian in the Hinterland Dragon area because I was only Lvl8 and the dragonlings are an pita at this level.
So I used Paragon's Luster from Oasis. Oasis is very easy at Lvl7/8. There are no Red Templars or Venatori and you will face some hyena and one Lvl7/8 rift to reach the Paragon's Lustre. First you clear your way to the camp in the center of Oasis and than you clear the rift right at the camp to reach DuLacs Path. You can find around 10 Paragon's Lustre mining nodes at DuLacs Path and you are done in 10-15 minutes. The entire weapon and armor set will push your AC and damage to have an easier time on the Haven fight. I used drakestone and T1 leather/cloth for the remaining slots.
The mage side quest in Redcliffe is very easy. You can't do it solo. You will always have Dorian with you and the game choose Cassandra and Varric if you do not choose any companions. I partly solved this problem and choosed Sera and Bull because they have no trained skills. All companions are stripped by their armor and weapons, set to defend herself and potion reserve was set to "All". So they die very fast and rezzed back at the end of each fight. They wont drink any potion and you are fine. They are an very small HP buffer until they died the first time but trust me the fights are very easy and you wont need an single healing potion until Alexius ... and also Alexius is no real problem.
The following fight at Haven was the first real challenge after the battle at Hinterlands Crossroads with Lvl4. You will need at least 3 Jar of Bees and an Upgrade Belt to get 4 can be very useful. But 3 Jar of Bees is OK. Do NOT use any Jar of Bees until you fight at the third and final trebuchet.
The first part is no problem. You can clear the first two trebuchet without much problem. I used maybe one healing potion until I entered the cathetral to start the final part.
You will face Red Templar Commanders which transform other templars to Red Templar Horror and the Horrors are an real problem. You will face 3 groups until you reach the final trebuchet and I suggest again to NOT use Jar of Bees at this 3 groups. I managed to kill all 3 groups without Jar of Bees. It was challenging but doable. Restock and than go to the final trebuchet.
The first large group will await you and here is again an Red Templar Commander. I was not able to defeat this larger groups without Jar of Bees so I used one at the Red Templar Commander. He will go down fast and will not transform an single templar. You will still face 2 Archers and 3-4 normal templars but they should be no big problem. The kill order is always Commander -> Horror -> Archer -> Melee. You will face lots of groups with two archers but hey are also no problem. Turn the wheel until something new spawns. Kill this and rinse repeat. You will face two other larger groups both containing an Commander until you get the final group with Knight Captain Denam. Use your Jar of Bees on the Commanders. You will face 3 Commanders on the entire battle at the final trebuchet, so you wont have an problem if you saved three.
The final fight against Knight Captain Denam has also 2 Horrors. Kill them as fast as possible. Now kill all other enemies and still ignore the Knight Captain until you face him alone. Now its only patience and he will fall. You will not need any healing potion against the Knight Captain, your Challenge and Warcry generate enough guard as buffer. The last tricky part was the 2 Horrors in his group. After this you are in Skyhold and has access to the open world.
My next steps will go directly to the dog trader at hissing waste as soon as I have access to this area. I have 23k gold at Lvl9 which should be enough to buy the body armor with upgrades. Hissing Waste has also Nevarrite right at the starting area and Volcanic Aurum at the canyon with dog trader. Its not easy to farm because you get only one metal per node until Lvl14/15 but 20-30 should be good for an long lasting armor. You will be an walking fortress with T3 body armor and the future skills will help also.
I will update this posting with my next steps and also will write something if I think its remarkable.
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