Tips & Tricks – Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard might be a longer RPG than you might originally expect, with a detailed combat system and tons of side content, so there are a number of things to keep track of while you’re playing. In this guide we will cover some tips that will help you in your battle against the Darkspawn!

Using Your Skill Points

You will gain Skill points as you level up and find Fen’harel Statues, and they can be used to give Rook various bonuses and new skills to use. These include abilities, passives, and traits, each of which can be used to make a build suited to your playstyle!

• Abilities are the core of your class: at any time. Not only will buying these open up new tactical options for you, but each Ability unlocked also increases the damage of all Abilities by 15%, a bonus that quickly adds up.
• Traits unlock new “combos” that can unlock greater functionality during your normal combat actions. These add a lot of versatility to any class.
• Passives give you general boosts to your stats. When placed right and combined with the right other skills and gear, Passives can turn a functional build into a great one.
• Many pieces of Gear, especially Uniques, can drastically influence your build, and entire Skill Trees can be built around certain unique effects in order to take greatest advantage of the system.

It’s also important to keep in mind that you can refund your points at any point out of combat for free. Because of this, you don’t need to stress over how you use your points, and you can completely change your build at any time. This opens up a lot of room for experimenting with your build, something that our Build Calculator can help with.

Combat Tips

• On top of an enemy’s health, they can have one of two different types of shields (not including literal shields). It’s important to know which one is which, and how to best deal with them. Breaking either of these types of shields disrupts the enemy.
  • A yellow bar means that the enemy has Armor. Heavy Attacks are the most effective way to deplete it.
  • A blue bar means that they have a Barrier. These can regenerate if you take too long to break them, but Ranged Attacks are the best way to take them out quickly.
• If you encounter an enemy wielding a physical shield, charged attacks can make them break their guard, leaving an opening for you to attack.
• Keep an eye on indicators above the enemy’s head while they attack.
  • If there is a white or yellow flash above their head, they’re about to use an attack that can be blocked. Using defense when the indicator turns from white to yellow will parry them, dealing stagger damage and opening them up for attacks.
  • Attacks with a red indicator are unblockable and need to be dodged.
• Many abilities in the game can Prime or Detonate status effects. By using these in combination (requiring you or a companion to “Prime” a status effect, and another character to “Detonate” it), you can cause the enemy you hit to temporarily freeze, a yellow circle to appear around them, and a large detonation to take place, dealing damage and stagger to enemies around them.
  • This will immobilize the enemy briefly, then cause them to explode for area damage, while also building up their Stagger bar.
  • Take advantage of your Companions’ abilities to help set up and detonate combos.
  • Warriors have abilities that Detonate Weakened and Apply Overwhelmed.
  • Rogues have abilities that Detonate Overwhelm, and Apply Sundered.
  • Mages have abilities that Detonate Sundered, and Apply Weakened.
  • It is almost always useful to keep your companions equipped with both of their abilities that Prime and Detonate status effects, so you can quickly swap them around and always have access to Detonations. This leaves the third equipped ability up to your discretion.
• If the game ever feels too difficult or easy, you can change it at any time (unless you chose Nightmare)
• If you happen to be fighting in an area with a ledge off a high place, you can defeat enemies by simply knocking them off the ledge.
  • While some abilities, such as the Warrior’s Driving Kick, have knockback, the most consistent way to knock enemies off ledges is either to finish light attack combos while they are next to the edge, or perform Takedowns on them next to the ledge.
• If you run out of potions, you can interact with a fast travel point to ‘reform’ your party, and instantly refill your potions.
• Different enemy factions have different elemental Vulnerabilities and Resistances. Learning these and selecting Companions and Gear that can exploit those Vulnerabilities can make a big difference.
  • No enemies are Vulnerable to or Resistant against Physical damage, and so it can be a good main damage type to focus on if you want to avoid frequent build changes.

Companion Tips

• Companions have skill points they can use just like Rook. These can also be freely refunded at any time while out of combat.
• Companions do not gain experience like Rook does. Instead, they will level by deepening your bond with them.
  • This will mainly be accomplished by completing their individual quests, but your bond with them will build if they’re in your party during other quests, or if you make decisions or select dialogue that they would agree with.
• Keep in mind which element each Companion uses, and what effect they can apply and detonate. It is usually best to ensure your party has at least 2 different classes, and best if you are utilizing all 3.
• All Companions are romanceable. If you want to romance one, simply pick the dialogue option that has a heart symbol when talking to them whenever possible.
  • Note that if you start a romance, you will be locked out of all other romances. The dialogue for this is very clear,

Exploration Tips

• Break anything that’s destructible while exploring — you can get a lot of free materials and gold from just dodging into everything!
  • Green pots will give you a potion when broken (or auto-use it for you if you’re full), and blue pots will charge your Ultimate.
• Every Companion will have an ability or two that will help you navigate and unlock areas throughout the world.
  • Note that they do not need to be in your active party to utilize these abilities. Simply having them back at the Lighthouse will suffice.
• More parts of the Crossroads unlock periodically, so be sure to go back there and explore every once in a while.
• Be on the lookout for Evanuris and Fen’harel Statues while exploring.
  • Evanuris Statues looks like an elf, and interacting with it will cause several floating plates to spawn around it. Breaking all of them will permanently increase your maximum health by 100.
  • Fen’harel Statues are wolf statues that will point in a direction when you interact with them. Head in that general direction and you will find a ghost wolf that turns into a statuette. Picking it up will give you an extra skill point to use. This is the only way to gain Skill Points aside from leveling up.
• Treasures marked on the map will give you a piece of equipment if you open it.
  • The rarer “Spiky” chests indicate that the chest contains a Unique item.
  • For all items that aren’t Unique, receiving duplicate copies means that the item upgrades to the next level of rarity (Common > Uncommon > Rare > Epic > Legendary). This also automatically raises their + level to whatever level your Caretaker is, meaning you should avoid giving + levels to items unless they are already Legendary.
• If you see something like a ladder that has a lock on it, you can break the lock by simply hitting it.

Merchant Tips

• Keep an eye on special items that vendors will sell that permanently enhance your character — these bonuses can range from increasing your maximum health to increasing the damage you deal.
  • The easiest place to find these permanent upgrades is to speak to Bartenders, who often have drinks that permanently enhance stats, though talking to every merchant to see is worthwhile.
  • You should also buy Mementos if you find them from vendors, in order to level up The Caretaker. This increases the maximum “+ Level” of equipment, and ensures that whenever a piece of equipment you have increases in rarity, that it will also increase in + Level up to the Caretaker’s level.
• If you find a duplicate of a piece of equipment you’re using in a store, buy it in order to increase that piece’s rarity and give it another effect. This also brings its + Level up to that of the Caretaker.
• You can sell all of the valuable items you find in your travels to faction merchants. Not only will this give you some Gold, but it will increase your reputation with that faction, giving you access to more of their items.
  • Eventually, one faction will be lost. In order to gain faction reputation with them, you will need to find their representative Wisp in the Crossroads Market, which is created after the “On Blighted Wings” quest. See more on our Guide on the topic (beware of light spoilers).

The Lighthouse Tips

• The Lighthouse constantly adds new areas as you progress the story, so be sure to be on top of exploring it.
• The Caretaker will increase the levels of your gear, enhancing all of its stats.
  • Eventually, The Caretaker will be able to enhance your gear and abilities as well, giving them extra effects.
• Collect Mementos throughout your journey to level up the Caretaker, allowing you to level your gear further.
  • You should level up the Caretaker whenever possible, but you should only use the Caretaker to increase the level of your gear if it is already Legendary; this is because whenever gear upgrades in Rarity, it also automatically upgrades to match the + Level of your gear.
• Any time you return to the Lighthouse, you should check the map to see if any of your Companions have timed dialogue or a new quest for you to pick up — there will be an indicator on their icon if either is the case.
• There is a puzzle that slowly opens up more as you progress through the story. Check between story missions to see if you can solve more of the puzzle!

And there you have it, our tips for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Of course, in a game as massive as this, there is a lot more you will learn along the way, so feel free to suggest other tips in the comments below!