How to Perform Takedowns – Dragon Age: The Veilguard

So, “Stagger and Takedowns” tutorial suddenly popped up on your screen, and now that purple bar above enemy health became a thing — in addition to all the barrier stuff, and primers & detonators, and dodging, and blocking/parrying and… it might be quite a bit to keep in your head all at once.

So, we are here to make things easier for you by explaining exactly how Takedowns work, and how you can get even more out of them for your specific build.

How to Trigger and Execute Takedowns

If you are confused about the mechanic, the two words you need to start with are Stagger and Takedown. Deal enough Stagger to a target and you can perform a Takedown (/ by default) to deal massive damage or even take the target out right away.

Dealing Stagger Damage

You will see enemies accumulate Stagger damage in the purple bar above their Health as you attack them with any weapon. Your goal will be to fill that bar up.

Heavier attacks and powerful combos will naturally deal more of it, but you will find plenty of other methods:

• When a target is Overwhelmed, they take additional Stagger damage
  • This is one of the best ways to deal it to enemies by default
• Shocked status effect deals Stagger damage over time (along with Electric damage)
• Quite a few of your Passive skills will increase Stagger damage (a flat percentage increase for all your Abilities or when you deal Physical Damage, for example)
• Pay attention to the Equipment with Traits that increase Stagger damage by a flat percentage or play into combos that deal it
• Check when your Companion Abilities or Passives deal or increase your Stagger damage, or inflict Overwhelmed or Shocked. Their attacks will naturally contribute to it as well

Performing a Takedown

Once the purple Stagger bar fills up enough, you will see a purple “Staggered” icon above it with a sword, and be prompted to perform a Takedown (/ by default) if you target the enemy or run up to them.

You will enter the animation sequence, dealing a lot of damage to the target (which might even be enough to execute it). If the target survives, its Stagger bar will reset and it will no longer be Vulnerable.

Before you even look into improving Takedowns, note that:

• When an enemy reaches a Vulnerable state, they briefly stop fighting, making it a useful debuff to inflict on more powerful or aggressive targets
• Entering the Takedown animation makes you invulnerable for a moment. Sometimes that’s all you need to decide on your next move or your next target

Getting More Out of Takedowns

But, if you are feeling like your build lacks just one more thing to make it pop, making use of Takedowns might just be the right answer for you:

• Each class Skill Tree offers plenty of combinations with Takedowns. Some heal you, some recharge your ultimate, and some allow you to temporarily inflict a particular status effect or increased damage type after you perform a Takedown
• Sometimes you can get powerful Takedown boosts from items, which could just be a flat major increase to your Stagger and Takedown damage, a Trait version of what you could get from your Skill Tree, or even something like “Gain a random Advantage on Takedown” (check our Unique Items guide for a Call of the Hall ring)

Technically, Rogues and Warriors will naturally benefit from Takedowns the most, but checking potential combinations available to you is worth considering regardless — you might have just the perfect assembly of companions and items for it without even realizing so.

If it fits well into your combat playstyle and you want to improve on it with more purpose, start exploring your Abilities and your Skill Tree passives: each class has something to make it easier to deal Stagger damage and to benefit from performing Takedowns — they are one of the best ways available to gain back health in the middle of combat, and they are an effective method for recharging your Ultimate Ability as well. Each class also has something special on the offer with Takedowns you might not have spotted yet.