Gear Guide – Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Similarly to any other RPG, your Gear (equipment) in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is vital to a player’s journey! Here the Gear has a unique system, split into multiple parts: two separate upgrade mechanics based on Rarity and Item Level, Enchantments, and then the Companion Items.

This guide will walk you through how the Gear system works, briefly explaining all the mechanics, including Gear Slot Types, Upgrades, Rarity & Traits, Companion Gear, and Enchantments!

In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Gear is divided into two main categories: Player and Companion Gear! We’ll explain the former right now, and then discuss the latter in the section below.

Gear Slots

Players get to play with a variety of equipment slots on their characters, similar to the previous entries in the Dragon Age series. Perhaps the best comparison for the Gear Slots is Dragon Age: Inquisition, though Veilguard introduces an additional weapon slot for player characters.

Gear Slot Types

Weapons

• Main-Hand Weapon
• Off-Hand Weapon
• Two-Handed Weapon

Of course, outside of their unique Traits Weapons primarily help your damage, unless you carry a Shield in your Off-Hand as a Warrior Class (that one boosts your defense). However, don’t let your secondary weapon fall by the wayside: its Traits can still apply to your build even if you don’t swap to it.

Armor

• Helm
• Vitaar (Qunari Only)
• Armor
• Belt

The main stat of the Armor group is, of course, your defense. One outlier to mention is the Belt, however, since it helps your Potion effectiveness and the number of Potions you can carry instead. This is likely why you will find it bunched together in the same area as your Accessories.

Accessories

• Amulet
• First Ring Slot
• Second Ring Slot

You might expect correctly that this is the most versatile category as far as the stat bonuses go, but it also can be easy to forget about while you chase shiny Armor items and Weapons. Make sure to outfit your accessories well — some of the best contenders might come from Unique Items.

Other

• Runes (3 Slots)

While not really a Gear item per se, Runes can contribute crucial buffs in battle, especially your damage. Because you can only activate one rune at a time these can also be a bit too easy to forget about, but don’t forget to outfit all three slots!

Gear Upgrades

Unlike its predecessor, Inquisition, Veilguard strays away from the classic RPG crafting system, instead opting for two different ways of improving Gear using materials you find while exploring. Players won’t be able to craft their gear but they will be able to upgrade every piece of equipment they find or buy by visiting the Caretaker Workshop in the Lighthouse (for player and companions).

In addition, players can upgrade the Rarity of their Gear by finding duplicates of the same items. We will cover both of the systems below.

Upgrading Gear Level & Traits

There is only one way to increase the level of an item — by visiting The Caretaker’s Workshop! The workshop itself can be accessed the second time you visit the Lighthouse, even before meeting the Caretaker at the Crossroads.

Upgrading Items Individually

The Caretaker’s Workshop lets you increase the level of each item directly, from 0 to +10. Each upgrade costs a handful of materials, ranging from Common to Legendary. Note that each level only increases the stats — the upgrade system doesn’t affect the Traits. We will discuss this aspect of it in the “Gear Rarity & Traits” below.

Raising Maximum Item Level & Upgrading Items in the World

You will only be able to level each item so far before you run up against the maximum level. To increase it (and, as an added bonus, upgrade all of the base items in the world at once), you can upgrade the Caretaker’s Workshop.

This process uses Mementos, which you collect throughout your journey. Once you acquire enough of them, a notification will come up to notify you that the workshop can now be upgraded. You can do it at any time by simply paying a visit to The Caretaker’s Workshop and pressing the “Rank Up” button.

Every level The Caretaker’s Workshop acquires increases the starting level of items in the world by +1. For example, if the shop’s level is Rank 8, every item you find in the world will have a +8 Item Level.

Gear Rarity & Traits

Now let’s discuss upgrading Traits: every equipment piece has a list of Traits, which are locked behind the Rarity Level of the item. The higher the rarity of the item, the more of those Traits you can have active at the same time!

Rarity Levels & Traits

• Common Items
• Uncommon Items (1 Trait Unlocked)
• Rare Items (2 Traits Unlocked)
• Epic Items (3 Traits Unlocked)
• Legendary Items (4 Traits Unlocked)
  • You won’t see the 4th trait before you unlock your first Legendary Item

To increase the Rarity Level of the items and unlock more of their Traits, all you have to do is simply find their duplicates! It may sound confusing at first, since the game has changed the way items are upgraded compared to all other iterations of the series, but it won’t be long before you encounter the same item in the wild or on a vendor and see this process in action.

Every time you discover the same type of item, it upgrades the existing item in your inventory. By repeatedly discovering duplicates, you may increase the Rarity Level from Common up to Legendary. This applies to the gear you find for your companions as well!

In addition, once you unlock your first Legendary Item, you can see the fourth Trait on every other non-Unique gear piece, including Common Items.

Upgrading Unique Items

The only items that are an exception to this rule are Unique Items! Unique Items can’t have their Item Level upgraded, or their Rarity, since there is only one of each that exists — the number of Traits they have varies from one item to another. This means they stay exactly the same and might need replacing if your upgraded items begin to offer better stats.

Companion Gear

Unlike the previous entries of Dragon Age where Gear could be freely swapped between you and your companions, Veilguard takes a new approach, separating the items players can use from the ones companions can use. Each Companion has separate gear options — all items in the game are specifically tailored to a specific companion.

The bad part of this design is that the system can sometimes lead to unsatisfying gearing options since the loot you find is based on luck. Thankfully, each Faction has items specifically designed for their associated members, making it somewhat manageable to gear up specific companions if you want to.

Companion-specific Gear is subjected to the same rules as Player Gear, meaning that its Item Level can be upgraded from The Caretaker’s Workshop and its Rarity Level can be increased by discovering duplicates! To upgrade Companion Gear, cycle through the different tabs at the top of the screen in The Caretaker’s Workshop interface.

Enchantments

And, finally, let’s discuss Enchantments! They can be added to your Gear at The Caretaker’s Workshop, once you unlock the option to do so. Enchantments are tied to the workshop’s rank, with each rank unlocking multiple new Enchantments that can be used. Note that placing an Enchantment on an item doesn’t cost any Gold or Material, making it a very accessible buff for all players.

While Enchantments are free and can be placed on any item, players can’t add multiple Enchantments that provide the same effect on their currently equipped Gear. Attempting to do so will simply tell you that you already have that specific Enchantment placed on a different item while also showing you which item currently holds that Enchantment. However, you may enchant multiple items with the same effect as long as you don’t have them currently equipped!

In addition, you may also place Enchantments on your abilities, in addition to your Gear! This can be done by selecting the Abilities tab in The Caretaker’s Workshop interface.

Hopefully, this guide explains all you need to know about Gear in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Let us know in the comment section below if you have any suggestions about something we missed or additional beneficial info that may help other players!