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Discover how to create the best Reaper build for Dragon Age the Veilguard, including faction, skills, companions, level progression, and more!
BioWare’s fourth installment of their hit series, Dragon Age the Veilguard, features deep character customization and build options. Players can earn skill points from level 1 to 50, selecting active, passive, traits, and ultimate abilities. Each protagonist, “Rook,” can bring two party members (companions) in exploration and combat, each with their own skills and equipment.
This guide will walk you through the best Reaper builds in Dragon Age: The Veilguard and explain critical choices: factions, specialization, companies, skills, and more.
Note: This guide is a work in progress (updated November 1, 2024) and will be updated frequently as we level it to 50.
Everything About Reaper Build in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
The Reaper character build deals necrotic damage that drains enemies of their health. This build aims to create too much rage and deal massive damage by spamming the abilities. With a combination of Sword and Shield or heavier two-handed weapons, the warrior is our tanky and predominantly melee class. The initial ability for this build is Driving Kick, which is the most favorite one because it’s one massive boot to the face and is especially effective in regions like the Crossroads.
This build functions around Sword and Shield, Chaotic two-handed, and throwing the shield. For players who prefer to apply Siphoned and detonate Weakened enemies and act as a life steal for the player, then this build is for you. Reaper is the most potent damage option among all three warrior specializations in the game.
| Reaper Build Pros | Reaper Build Cons |
|---|---|
| Best Survivability | Slowest Pace |
| Solo Build | Shield Spam |
| Life Siphon | Not Full Range |
Features and Mechanics for the Build in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
The following list presents all the essential Wand Build Features and Mechanics in Dragon Age The Veilguard:
- Faction: Grey Wardens
- Race: Humans
- Active Skills
- Ability 1: Driving Kick
- Ability 2: Bloody Advance
- Ability 3: Reaper
- Flex: Flashing Fist
- Ultimate: Spirit Storm
- Flex: Flashing Fist
- Trait: Shield Volley
- Specialization: Reaper
- Best Companions: Emmrich and Bellara
- Runes: work in progress
Best Faction
The best faction for a Reaper build is the Grey Wardens because of the Vigilant Training passive, increasing base defense and health. Additionally, the Grey Wardens gain increased damage vs. darkspawn and fit the narrative of a heroic warrior battling monsters. The Lords of Fortune is a secondary choice because their Relentless bonus increases takedowns (stuns). The Lords of Fortune factions are adventurous treasure hunters and fit a character’s background who loves exploration and loot.
Below are all the bonuses for the Grey Wardens and Lords of Fortune factions in Dragon Age the Veilguard:
| Grey Wardens Bonuses | Lords of Fortune Bonuses |
|---|---|
| Bonded in Blood: Gain reputation with the Grey Wardens more quickly | Together in Glory: Gain reputation with the Lords of Fortune more quickly |
| Blight Killer: Deal increased damage vs. darkspawn | Healthy Competition: Deal increased damage vs. mercenaries |
| Vigilant Training: Base defense and health are slightly increased | Relentless: Perform takedowns on enemies with slightly less effort |
Shadow Dragons Faction Store
In Dragon Age: The Veilgaurd, factions are organizations that give you three bonuses in character creation and reputation when you ally with them as part of the larger conflict. There are six factions to choose from, and this choice cannot be changed once made. Faction reputation is used in the faction-specific stores to buy weapons and armor. Ultimately, players should select the faction of their choice based on story narrative vs. a small bonus in combat.
Best Race
The best race for the Reaper build is humans because of their widespread population, political dominance, and history in Thedas. Humans are traditionally Warriors and Mages in the series and fit nicely with the Grey Warden’s faction choice, providing a solid RPG character foundation. The second choice would be the Qunari, who look physically daunting and are skilled in martial arts. Qunari are a race governed by the Qun code, dedicating their lives to discipline.
Your race choice largely influences the story, dialogue choices, and how the world responds to you. There are four playable races in Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Elf, Qunari, Human, and Dwarf. Each of these races has a rich history and lore within Thedas. Your race choice largely influences the story, dialogue choices, and how the world responds to you. Furthermore, you will not receive a combat bonus or passive for a given race. Your race selection is purely cosmetic and narrative, so feel free to deviate from our recommendation.
Best Skills and Abilities
The best skills for a Reaper are Driving Kick, Bloody Advance, and Reaper.
Driving Kick skill deals physical damage, costs one Rage, and detonates weakened status effect. This skill pairs well with your companion Emmrich’s skill, Entangling Spirits, or Bellara’s skill, Enfebbling Shot, which both apply on weekends. Another strength of Driving Kick is that it doesn’t have a cool down and stuns enemies. With both companions constantly debuffing enemies, you can frequently trigger a detonation and stun.
Bloody Advance is a projectile that costs one Rage and deals Necrotic damage while applying the Sundered status effect. Bloody Advance pairs well with Emmrich’s Final Rites skill or Bellara’s Fade Bolts, which detonate Sundered status effects.
Reaper is a Reaper Specialization-specific skill that deals Necrotic damage and detonates the Weakened Effect. This calls forth an ethereal scythe that slashes and slices your enemies along with the Siphoned effect. This Siphoned effect is quite good to restore some of your health.
Below are the recommended skills, abilities, ultimate, and traits for Warrior build in Dragon Age the Veilguard:
- Abilities
- Skill 1: Driving Kick
- Skill 2: Bloody Advance
- Skill 3: Reaper
- Flex: Ground Breaker
- Ultimate: Spirit Storm
- Flex: Flashing Fist
- Trait: Shield Volley
Best Specialization
The Reaper’s unique ability and ultimate:
- Spirit Storm (Ultimate)- Creates a whirlwind of Necrotic energy in front of you. It deals Necrotic damage and applies the siphon effect which is a damage over time that restores your health.
- Reaper (Ability)- It calls forth a scythe that slashes in front of you dealing Necrotic damage, detonating the weakened effect, and siphoned effect as well.
Starting at level 20, players can select one of three specializations from their class honeycomb skill tree. Specializations are similar to “subclasses,” adding one ability, one ultimate, and a variety of other passives to your build and character. Your specialization choice will be vital because it determines your character’s overall gameplay in combat. However, you can participate in the character screen anytime to redo your skills and specializations.
Level Progression
The premise of our leveling progression section for the Reaper build is to give you a step-by-step leveling guide on which skills to take and why. However, this section is complex and requires many hours of gameplay. Therefore, this section will be a work in progress and will be updated and advance more in the game.
In Dragon Age, the Veilguard, level progressions are gained through experience points (EXP) through different activities such as completing quests and defeating enemies. You reach a higher level at certain levels of EXP, rewarding you with a skill point. The max level is 50, with 50 skill points to spend. The skill tree (honeycomb) comes in two main sections: Core class tree and specialization.
Complete a basic puzzle or interact with the altars to gain one skill point as a reward. You will gain 15 skill points by tracking down all 15 altars in the game. Unselect the purchased skills to refund individual skill points, which will not cost you anything. Once you reach a max level and get all the Fen’Harel altars, you will get a total of 67 skill points that will help you unlock 40-45% of the skill tree.
Each skill point can be spent on a variety of skills (abilities):
- Diamond Nodes: Active abilities, which you can slot three at a time
- Hexagonal: traits or passives. Traits require a button combination to execute an additional ability, while passives give you a passive bonus.
- Circular Nodes: these are minor passives like small stat points.
Therefore, each build can equip three active skills, one trait skill, and one ultimate.
Levels 1 – 10
Here’s a list of skills to select from levels 1 to 10 with the Best Reaper Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard:
- Level 1: Counterblow (Core – Trait)
- Level 2: Downfall (Core – Greater Passive)
- Level 3: Tumbling Blades (Trait)
- Level 4: Rancor (Core – Greater Passive)
- Level 5: Spectral Bulwark (Abilities – Ability)
- Level 6: Killer Instinct (Abilities – Passive)
- Level 7: Triple Threat (Abilities – Greater Passive)
- Level 8: Shellbreaker (Lords of Fortune – Passive)
- Level 9: Flames of Victory (Lords of Fortune – Greater Passive)
- Level 10: Staggering Charge (Lords of Fortune – Passive)
Levels 11 – 20
Here’s a list of skills to select from levels 11 to 20 with the Best Reaper Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard:
- Level 11: Whirlwind (Lords of Fortune – Ability)
- Level 12: Heavy Hitter (Lords of Fortune – Passive)
- Level 13: Blunt Force (Lords of Fortune – Greater Passive)
- Level 14: Shellbreaker (Abilities – Passive)
- Level 15: Critical power (Abilities – Greater Passive)
- Level 16: Arm’s Reach (Abilities – Ability Upgrade)
- Level 17: Wrath (Abilities – Passive)
- Level 18: Deadly Ground (Abilities – Ability)
- Level 19: Death’s Blessing (Abilities – Passive)
- Level 20: Rolling Thunder (Lords of Fortune – Trait) + Specialization
Levels 21 – 30
Here’s a list of skills to select from levels 21 to 30 with the Best Reaper Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard:
- Level 21:
- Level 22:
- Level 23:
- Level 24:
- Level 25:
- Level 26:
- Level 27:
- Level 28:
- Level 29:
- Level 30:
Levels 31 – 40
Here’s a list of skills to select from levels 31 to 40 with the Best Reaper Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard:
- Level 31:
- Level 32:
- Level 33:
- Level 34:
- Level 35:
- Level 36:
- Level 37:
- Level 38:
- Level 39:
- Level 40:
Levels 41 – 50
Here’s a list of skills to select from levels 41 to 50 with the Best Reaper Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard:
- Level 41:
- Level 42:
- Level 43:
- Level 44:
- Level 45:
- Level 46:
- Level 47:
- Level 48:
- Level 49:
- Level 50:
Best Companions
The best companions for a Reaper build are Emmrich and Bellara because of their skill combos from Weakened and Sundered status effects. Emmrich fills the role of range DPS with a powerful healing ability called Replenish. Moreover, Emmrich can snare, stagger, slow time, and apply weakened while detonating sundered.
Bellara, too, fills the role of a range damage dealer with a unique suck-in skill called Galvanised Tear. She also can combo Weakened and Sundered. An alternative character would be Harding, a ranged bow using Dwarf that gives a damage buff to the player and a small heal.
Companion 1: Emmrich
- Active Skills and Abilities
- Ability 1: Final Rites
- Ability 2: Entangling Spirits
- Ability 3: Replenish (heal)
- Weapon: Staff
- Primer Ability: Entangling Spirits (applies Weakened)
- Detonator Ability: Final Rites (Sundered)
Companion 2: Bellara
- Active Skills and Abilities
- Ability 1: Enfeebling Shot
- Ability 2: Fade Bolts
- Ability 3: Galvanized Tear (AOE Pull)
- Weapon: Bow
- Primer Ability: Enfeebling Shot (applies Weakened)
- Detonator Ability: Fade Bolts (detonates Sundered)
Best Equipment, Items, Weapons
The section is a work in progress during the release week of the game.
Beginner: Starting the Game
| Gear Slot | Best Item | Best Stats | Best Properties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Hand | Griffon’s Talon | 50% | Armor Damage + Deal 250 Fire Damage to closer enemies |
| Off-Hand | Encrusted Whorl | 20% + 50% | Agile Attack Damage + Agile attacks Damage increased |
| Alternate Weapon | Winged Glaive | 15% + 20% | Light attack damage + Light Final attack damage |
| Helmet | The Iron Cast | 25% + 5 | Necrotic Resistance + Max Necrotic Resistance |
| Belt | Reinforced Binding | 10% + 25% | Resistances + Advantage duration |
| Amulet | Miner’s Talisman | 20% + 25% | Area Ability damage + Armor damage from Area Abilities |
| Ring 1 | Bleeding Shard | 20% + 20% + 25% | Bleeding Damage + damage vs. Bleeding enemies + Bleeding duration |
| Ring 2 | Unburnable Band | 20% + 20% + 25% | Burning damage + damage vs. Burning enemies + Burning duration |
Advanced: Endgame
| Gear Slot | Best Item | Best Stats | Best Properties |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Hand | |||
| Off-Hand | |||
| Alternate Weapon | |||
| Helmet | |||
| Belt | |||
| Amulet | |||
| Ring 1 | |||
| Ring 2 |
Best Runes
The section is a work in progress during the release week of the game.
Build Summary – Reaper
Faction: Grey Wardens
Race: Human
Skills and Abilities
- Ability 1: Driving Kick
- Ability 2: Bloody Advance
- Ability 3: Reaper
Ultimate: Spirit Storm
Runes: work in progress
Companions
- Companion 1: Emmrich
- Companion 2: Bellara
Beginner Equipment
- Weapon 1: Griffon’s Talon
- Weapon 2: Encrusted Whorl
- Alternate Weapon: Winged Glaive
- Helmet: The Iron Cast
- Belt: Reinforced Binding
- Amulet: Miner’s Talisman
- Ring 1: Bleeding Shard
- Ring 2: Unburnable Band
End Game Equipment
- Weapon 1
- Weapon 2
- Helmet
- Belt
- Amulet
- Ring 1
- Ring 2
FAQs About Reaper Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard
Question 1: What faction should I pick for a Reaper build?
Answer: Grey Wardens and Lords of Fortune are the best factions to choose for the Reaper build due to the Bounded in Blood bonus from Grey Wardens and the Relentless bonus from Lords of Fortune.
Question 2: Does race matter in Dragon Age the Veilguard?
Answer: Race is a part of Rook’s identity as their Dragon Age class or faction, and their ancestry can affect dialogue choices in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The selection of race to play will also determine the story and how the world at large responds to you.
Question 3: Can builds be changed in Dragon Age the Veilguard?
Answer: There are certain things like appearance that you can change. However, you are unable to change the faction after picking up one and you can change the specialization but not the class.
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