What are the best builds in Dragon Age The Veilguard? Bioware’s latest has three classes to choose from for Rook, your character: Mage, Rogue, and Warrior. They each have three more specializations to spec into and altogether have a sprawling skill tree that can be a little daunting to parse. Don’t worry – this guide delves deep into helping you choose your class and getting you started building your character.
Before you get too invested in a build for Dragon Age The Veilguard, you might want to check out our full list of Veilguard companions as you might not want to overlap with your favorites. Once you do, you’ll probably also check out Dragon Age Veilguard romance options if any catch your eye.
Best Dragon Age The Veilguard Mage build
Here’s the best Mage/Spellblade build in Dragon Age: The Veilguard:
- Specialization: Spellblade
- Faction: Antivian Crows or Shadow Dragons
- Key abilities: Chain Lightning, Storm Surge, Void Blade
- Ultimate ability: Thunderous End
- Key traits/passives: Nexus Shock, Shocking Strikes, Veil Flurry
This lightning Mage is DPS-focused with the goal of hitting many enemies at once and isn’t for the faint of heart as you’ll often find yourself closer to enemies than you’d like. It’s a great build for Rook as you can then pick allies to support you by either drawing aggression away or applying status effects en masse. It primarily uses the orb and dagger weapon type.
Davrin is a great companion for this build as he can draw aggression with his Battle Cry ability. While your Storm Surge ability also applies Overwhelm, this then frees you up to bring either Harding or Lucanis along with you to detonate it frequently. Furthermore, Davrin can apply Sundered, which this lightning Mage build can then detonate with Void Blade.
Specialization
Specializations unlock at level 20 and there are three to choose from for the Mage: Death Caller, Evoker, and Spellblade. While all are fun in their own right, for this build Spellblade is the best choice as it provides the powerful Void Blade ability. It also grants further traits to nab that augment Strike attacks. The tree abilities you use fall under the Strike category.
No other Mage companion steps on your toes if you go this route. Emmrich is similar to a Death Caller and Neve wields ice magic much like an Evoker, meaning you have a unique edge with possible party comps.
Factions
While your faction choice is mostly for narrative flair, two options do help with this build.
Thematically, the Spellblades are Antivan Crows. What’s more, however, is this faction also grants an extra slot for Health Potions, which you’re going to need as a squishy caster getting up close and personal with foes – especially on higher difficulties. The bonus damage against Antaam enemies is a nice but inessential boon.
The Shadow Dragons are generally the best pick for Mage builds as its Resourceful trait allows for mana to regenerate quicker, meaning you can cast your powerful abilities more often. The increased damage against Venatori enemies isn’t particularly useful, though.
Key abilities
Here are the best abilities for this Mage/Spellblade build:
- Chain Lightning: Shoot a bolt of Lightning that branches off to other enemies, applying Overwhelm
- Storm Surge: Leap backward and stir up an elemental storm, applying Overwhelm
- Void Blade: Leap forward and deal damage, causing an explosion and detonating Sundered.
Until you reach level 20 and unlock Void Blade, consider using the Tempest ability to weave a storm around you, dealing damage to those nearby.
With this build, you want to open with Chain Lightning before dashing in with Void Blade, applying Overwhelm and possibly detonating Sundered. Then continue attacking, triggering your Veil Flurry trait to deal more damage, before using Storm Surge to leap backward and start all over again.
Ultimate ability
Thunderous End wins out over the base Mage Ultimate ability, Destructive Light, as it simply works much better with this build’s lightning and shock-focused theme.
Key traits and passives
These are the best traits and passives to focus on obtaining:
- Nexus Shock: Building three stacks of shocked on an enemy spreads damage between foes
- Imbued Takedown: Performing a takedown grants a weapon buff that applies shocked
- Veil Flurry: Hold the attack button at the end of a light attack combo with an orb and dagger to send the orb spinning, dealing damage to all nearby enemies
You’ll obtain many more traits and passives with this build, but these are the most important to work toward. That said, you should still grab passives that increase your maximum mana and make you much more potent at the beginning of a fight.
Best Dragon Age Veilguard Rogue Build
Here’s our Rogue/Duelist build in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
- Specialization: Duelist
- Faction: Veil Rangers
- Key abilities: Toxic Dash, Explosive Daggers, A Thousand Cuts
- Ultimate ability: Concussive Barrage or Murder of Crows
- Key traits/passives: Poisonous Precision, Necrotic Fog, Adrenaline
This single-target focus DPS Rogue/Duelist build is great if you want to melt your foe’s health bars before they can cause any problems for your party. It eschews the bow in favor of potent dagger-based attacks that mostly deal necrotic-based damage. It also has a bit of a high skill ceiling as the longer you avoid getting hit, the more powerful it becomes.
This build plays very well with two Mage companions, such as Bellara, Emmrich, and Neve. We lean toward taking Emmrich for his support healing skills to keep your Rook alive and Neve for her Time Stop ability that will allow you to get a lot of hits in, buffing your attacks with the Adrenaline trait. They can then alternate detonating your Sundered-applying abilities. Your Pilfer ability also detonates Overwhelmed if you switch out for a Warrior companion every so often.
Specialization
Specializations unlock at level 20 and there are three for Rogues to choose from: Duelist, Saboteur, and Void Ranger. the Duelist deals the most single-target damage of any class or specialization in the game, with abilities like A Thousand Cuts and passives/traits that stack damage.
Unfortunately, the Duelist Specialization steps on the toes of Lucanis as he plays very similarly, though his skills do diffe. Veil Ranger is also close in style to Bellara; however, Saboteur is free from overlap with your companions.
Faction
While your Veilguard faction choice is mostly for narrative flair, one pick best suits this build.
While thematically it doesn’t fit, the Veil Rangers are objectively the best faction with their Keen Eye bonus that increases critical hit and weak point damage – both of which this build excels in targeting. The bonus damage to enemies from the Fade is neither here nor there.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a narrative angle, consider taking the Antivan Crows faction. The extra Health Potion slot isn’t a bad trade-off and the faction is full of roguish duelist types.
Key abilities
Here are the best abilities for this Rogue/Duelist build:
- Toxic Dash: Dash forward and apply Necrosis and Sundered to an enemy
- Explosive Daggers: Throw three daggers that explode and apply Sundered
- A Thousand Cuts: Hit your opponent up to 16 times with a devastating final blow
Until you reach level 20 to unlock Void Blade, consider running Hurricane Blades to deal damage over a wider area, as this build otherwise focuses on single-target damage.
You’re going to want to leave cleaning up mobs of enemies to your companions and focus on the most threatening foes. Throw Explosive Daggers and trigger Sundered with a companion. Then use Toxic Dash to reapply Sundered and hopefully trigger it again before launching into A Thousand Cuts to quickly melt your foes.
Ultimate ability
Both the base Ultimate ability, Concussive Barrage, and the Duelist-specific Murder of Crows are good choices here as they deal quite a lot of damage over a wider area. Concussive Barrage can stagger foes, but Murder of Crows deals quite a bit more damage.
Key traits and passives
These are the best traits and passives to focus on obtaining:
- Poisonous Precision: Apply necrotic to weapons after defeating an enemy by hitting their weak point
- Necrotic Fog: Spending Momentum deals necrotic damage to nearby foes
- Adrenaline: Landing ten attacks without taking damage increases damage further and interrupts foes
Obviously you’ll nab many more traits and passives with this build, but these are the most potent three for making your Rook the highest-DPS character possible. Adrenaline in particular is very potent and makes this build high skill, high reward – just be careful not to get smacked yourself otherwise you will lose the damage bonus.
Best Dragon Age Veilguard Warrior Build
This is the toughest Warrior/Reaper build in Dragon Age The Veilguard.
- Specialization: Reaper
- Faction: Grey Wardens, Veil Jumpers
- Key abilities: Titan Stomp, Whirlwind, Reaper
- Ultimate ability: Spirit Storm
- Key traits/passives: Masochism, Enduring Rage, Seething Pitch
This heavy-hitting Warrior/Reaper build balances both offense and defense by controlling the battlefield and siphoning health from enemies. For later in the game and on higher difficulties, this build is a great choice as it survives well enough without relying on your companions, making it versatile for which companions you bring along on your adventures.
As for the companions themselves, one Mage and one Rogue make for a balanced party as you can detonate the former’s Weakened effect while applying Overwhelmed that a Rogue can then hit. Personally, we enjoyed rolling with Harding and Bellara, but Emmrich, Neve, and Lucanis are good choices as well.
Specialization
Specializations unlock at level 20 and there are three for Warriors to choose from: Champion, Reaper, and Slayer. The Champion leans into defense, while the Slayer goes all out with flashy, high-damage attacks, while the Reaper sits in-between, using spirit-based attacks to keep themselves alive while still dishing out big hits.
The Reaper also avoids overlapping with your companions, as Davrin is a Grey Warden with a Champion-like kit and Taash is more or less a Slayer. While Emmrich also deals with necrotic magic, you don’t share similar roles in battle.
Faction
Thematically the Mourn Watch faction is the best for this build, but its passive trait, Acute Affliction, does little to help as it rarely applies status effects. On the other hand, the Grey Warden’s Vigilant Training increases defenses and health, making it a great pick for higher difficulties.
If you want to focus mostly on dealing damage, the Veil Jumpers is a good – if not thematically sound – pick to roll with, as you’ll be able to deal more damage with critical hits and to weak points, and the bonus damage to monsters from the Fade is nice. All said, go with what suits your character design best.
Key abilities
Here are the best abilities for this Warrior/Reaper build:
- Titan Stomp: Stagger enemies with a shockwave around you, applying Overwhelmed
- Whirlwind: Spin in a circle dealing massive damage and staggering enemies
- Reaper: Slash an enemy and siphon their health, detonating Weakened
Until you reach level 20 to unlock Reaper, the Diving Kick starting ability is a great alternative as it also detonates Weakened. If you want a more ghastly flair, consider running Bloody Advance to apply Sundered instead.
To play this build, you’ll want to rush into the fray, then Titan Stomp your foes before activating Whirlwind to shred them to pieces. Reaper provides a little bit of health regeneration while also detonating Weakened if applied by your Mage companions. Spirit Storm pulls enemies in, allowing you to hit them with Titan Stomp and Whirlwind right after while also healing you, granting some extra survivability.
Ultimate Ability
Spirit Storm wins out over Flashing Fists as it has the benefit of increasing your health regeneration against several enemies, helping you to stay alive on higher difficulties. It also looks way cooler.
Key traits and passives
We recommend aiming for these passives right away:
- Masochism: Generate Rage when taking damage
- Enduring Rage: Rage won’t decrease below 50% unless used
- Seething Pitch: Shield Toss generates more rage per hit
As you can see, all of these key passives deal with generating Rage via attacking enemies. This can take some time with a slow two-handed weapon, so taking this as quickly as possible will keep you stomping and spinning consistently from one battle to the next, spending as little time as possible using basic attacks.
And those are the three best builds for each class in Dragon Age The Veilguard. Do keep in mind that you can respec at any time, so if these builds don’t work as well for you as they did us, consider trying out different abilities and passives. It’s best to use them as a guide rather than something set in stone.
If you’re happy Bioware took a more action-heavy approach, you might want to see what the best action games on PC have to offer. On the other hand, if you’re upset about the inability to control companions directly, head on over to our list of the best RPGs to get your fix.