Best Dragon Age: The Veilguard Saboteur Build

Discover how to create the best Saboteur 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 Saboteur builds in Dragon Age: The Veilguard and explain critical choices: factions, specialization, companies, skills, and more.

Note: This guide is a work in progress and will be updated frequently as we level it to 50.

Everything About Saboteur Build in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The Saboteur Rogue Build is all about dealing Necrotic damage with trusty blades. You will overwhelm the enemies with powerful finishing strikes and constant slashes and also weave through your enemy’s attacks. Look for fast-acting abilities that deal Necrotic damage for this Saboteur build to lock down your foes in a barrier of attacks.

This is one of the most tactful and agile Rogue builds in the game. It relies on blanket coverage and total domination of the entire battlefield. Playing traps, bombs, and later on turrets for a more AOE approach utilizes abilities. If you want a scrappy Rogue that’s constantly Critting, throws out screen-filling bombs to send enemies flying off cliffs, or want a turret that rips through enemies, then this build is for you. However, this build offers lower damage output than other builds and the poor ultimate.

Saboteur Build Pros	Saboteur Build Cons
Versatile Range	Ultimate is Clunky
Traps do work	Lower damage
Doesn’t require aiming	Weak Spec Skill
Good survivability

Saboteur Build Features and Mechanics in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The following list presents all the essential Saboteur Build Features and Mechanics in Dragon Age The Veilguard:

• Momentum: Rogue’s resource is generated when hitting targets but diminishes when you take damage.
• Bow: Secondary weapon that doesn’t require a bar swap but activation to use.
• Arrows: Limited resource used to fire your bow that regenerates love time.
• Weak Point: increase damage hitting an enemy at their weakest point, like the head.
• Faction: Veil Jumpers
• Race: Elf
• Active Skills
  • Ability 1: Reeling Bolt
  • Ability 2: Explosive Daggers
  • Ability 3: Fortune’s Turret
    • Flex: Pilfer
• Ultimate: Fortune’s Fury
  • Flex: Concussive Barrage
• Trait: Evasion Maneuvers
• Specialization: Saboteur
• Best Companions: Davrin, Emmrich
• Runes: Overflow, Crystallize, Regroup

Bow

The Bow is your secondary weapon and, unlike other classes in Dragon Age, doesn’t require a bar swap to activate. Simply hold down your aim button and draw it back, and aim to hit a target. You can manually aim or press the button once to activate a quick shot. The benefit of aiming is that you can shoot the head, triggering weak point damage, which is sustainably more than a normal shot (roughly 4×0. However, that can be difficult than simply pressing the button once at range.

Weak Point

Hitting enemies in their weakest point (headshots) triggers weak point damage with double the size of text and purple. The easiest way to hit a weak point is using the bow via manually aiming at range, specifically for the head. Other enemies will have vulnerable points flashing like a dragon’s legs. Therefore, experiment with different enemy types and aim for weak point damage when you can.

Arrows

The Rogue’s secondary weapon bow uses arrows, which are an automatically replenishing consumable item found in the bottom middle section of your User Interface. By default, players have eight arrows to show, which regenerate quickly. Therefore, watch your arrows and take passives that help with regeneration or max capacity if you use the bow frequently.

Momentum

Momentum is the Rogue’s combat resource that increases when you hit an enemy and decreases when the enemy hits. You need momentum to use skills, and the User Interface pink resource builds over time. Once you reach a threshold of one momentum, a small circle will light up giving you an indication that your attack is able to be used. Additionally, some skills have a cooldown rather than a resource cost, so consider having a balance of momentum skills and cooldown.

Best Faction

Veil Jumpers is the best faction for a Saboteur build because of the Keen Eye bonus providing increased critical and weak point damage. This bonus is optimal for high burst damage and fits the Rogue narrative if you prefer to be an explorer of ancient elven ruins.

Shadow Dragons is the secondary faction choice because the Resourceful bonus grants faster resource generation. The Shadow Dragons are also the healthy resistance and may fit an assassin-type character better than Veil Jumpers.

Below are all the bonuses for the Veil Jumpers and Shadow Dragons faction in Dragon Age the Veilguard:

Veil Jumpers Bonuses	Shadow Dragon Bonuses
Close to the Veil: gain reputation with the Veil Jumpers more quickly	Light in the Dark: gain reputation with the Shadow Dragons more quickly
Attuned Strikes: deal increased damage vs. Fade-Touched	Never to Rise: deal increased damage vs. Venatori
Keen Eye: deal slightly increased critical and weakpoint damage	Resourceful: your class-specific resource regenerates slightly faster

Factions give you three bonuses in character creation and reputation in Dragon Age: The Veilgaurd 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 purchase weapons and armor.  Ultimately, you choose the faction of their choice based on story narrative vs. a small bonus on a battlefield. 

Best Race

Elf (Elves) is the best race for the Saboteur build, traditionally known to have strong connections with the Fade. Select Elves for spellcasting Mages or physically adept Rogues. Your race choice determines the story, dialogue choices, and how the world responds to you. Furthermore, you will not achieve a combat bonus or passive for a given race. Therefore, don’t let this selection be purely cosmetic and narrative, so feel free to deviate from our recommendation.

Four playable races are available in Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Elf, Qunari, Human, and Dwarf. Each of these races has a rich history and lore within Thedas. The Rogue class can choose any of the four, so make the selection depending on your ideal character narrative.

Best Skills and Abilities

The best skills are Reeling Bolt, Explosive Daggers, and Fortune’s Turret.

Reeling Bolt is a projectile tool-type ability that has a 60-second cooldown instead of spending momentum. Putting a cooldown-based ability with a resource-spending one means you will have something to cast when you run out of momentum. It deals electric damage and applies the weakened effect by firing out a special arrow. Deal Stagger and apply a shock to the primary target.

Explosive Daggers is a projectile duration type ability that costs one momentum pip and applies Sundered by unleashing a barrage of three explosive daggers that stick to the target and then explode for physical damage.

Fortune’s Turret is a duration-type ability that allows you to ace down a mechanized turret that targets the closest enemy and stun them with projectiles for physical damage. When the ammo runs out, it explodes.

The best trait for the Saboteur build is the Evasion Maneuver because it launches a strong attack from an Extended Dodge or when recovering from being Knocked Down. Use this trait for a counterattack after a long dodge.

The best ultimate for the Saboteur build is Fortune’s Fury in which you equip a weapon and just start blasting in the third person. You can adjust the aim and it does physical splash damage. At the end, you toss the weapon and it explodes for additional damage.

Below are the recommended skills, abilities, ultimate, and traits for the Saboteur build in Dragon Age the Veilguard:

• Abilities
  • Skill 1: Reeling Bolt
  • Skill 2: Explosive Daggers
  • Skill 3: Fortune’s Turret
    • Flex: Pilfer
• Ultimate: Fortune’s Fury
  • Flex: Concussive Barrage
• Trait: Evasive Manuevers

Best Specialization

This build specializes in the Saboteur, geared towards traps, turrets, and explosives. This spec is best for players who want to play more patiently in combat without using the bow for headshots requiring aiming.

The Saboteur’s Build Unique ability and ultimate:

• Fortune’s Turret: Create a turret that targets the nearest enemy with projectiles. It will then explode and disrupt enemies by dealing heavy damage within the range of the blast.
• Fortune’s Fury: Equip a stronger and expandable weapon to bombard enemies. Fire a stream of projectiles and then toss the weapon to deal additional damage.

Select one of three specializations from their class honeycomb skill tree starting at level 20.  Specializations are similar to “subclasses,” adding one ability, one ultimate, and a variety of other passives to your build and character. The specialization choice will be critical because it determines your character’s overall gameplay in combat. However, you can take part in the character screen at any time to redo your skills and specializations.

Level Progression

Our leveling progression section for the Saboteur build gives you a step-by-step leveling guide, which skills to take, and why. However, this section is complicated and requires multiple hours of gameplay. Therefore, this section will be a work in progress and will be updated and advanced 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 simply tracking down all 15 altars in the game. Unselect the purchased skills to refund individual skill points and it will not cost you anything. Once you reach a max level and get all the Fen’Harel altars then you will get a total of 67 skill points that help you to 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. 

Levels 1 – 10

Here’s a list of skills to select from levels 1 to 10 with the Best Saboteur Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard:

Level	Skill	Tree	Type
1	Evasive Maneuvers	Core	Trait
2	Endure	Core	Greater Passive
3	Rain of Decay	Control	Ability
4	Enervation	Control	Passive
5	Bated Breath	Control	Trait
6	Salvaged	Control	Passive
7	Killer Instinct	Control	Passive
8	Breathing Room	Control	Ability Upgrade
9	Time Management	Control	Ability Upgrade
10	Close Quarters Combat	Control	Greater Passive

Levels 11 – 20

Here’s a list of skills to select from levels 11 to 20 with the Best Saboteur Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard:

Level	Skill	Tree	Type
11	Shellbreaker	Sustain	Passive
12	Eclectic Armorer	Sustain	Greater Passive
13	Victory Rush	Sustain	Greater Passive
14	Desolate Malady	Sustain	Passive
15	Siege Breaker	Sustain	Ability Upgrade
16	Salt in the Wound	Sustain	Ability Upgrade
17	Explosive Trap	Sustain	Ability
18	Bulwark	Sustain	Passive
19	Fan of Arrows	Sustain	Trait
20	Saboteur	Specialization	Unlock

Best Companions

The best companion for a Saboteur build is Davrin because it keeps the enemies taunted and stunned. Davrin is described as bold and charming. His Valaslin indicates his origin is in one of the Dalish elves’ clans, which he left to become a Grey Warden. Bring him to your party if you’re not playing a Warrior and want support. This companion is a warrior and, more specifically, a sword and board warrior, so if you want someone to tank and absorb damage, then this is your man.

The secondary option for the best Companion is Emmrich. 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. Emmrich revolves around dealing damage to enemies from a distance. With his necromancy spells and the ability to cast control magic, the players can deal potential damage to the enemies. Emmrich is a great support character whose powers synergize greatly with a Melee DPS build for your character.

Companion 1: Davrin

• Active Skills and Abilities
  • Ability 1: Battle Cry (Taunt)
  • Ability 2: Death From Above
  • Ability 3: Heroic Strike
    • Flex: In War, Victory
• Primer Ability: Heroic Strike (Overwhelm)
• Detonator Ability: Death From Above (Weakened)

Companion 2: Emmrich

• Detonator Ability: Final Rites (Sundered)
• Active Skills and Abilities
  • Ability 1: Final Rites
  • Ability 2: Entangling Spirits
  • Ability 3: Replenish (heal)
• Primer Ability: Entangling Spirits (applies Weakened)

Best Saboteur Equipment, Items, Weapons

The section is a work in progress during the release week of the game.

Gear Slot	Best Item	Best Stats	Best Properties
Main Hand	Cordova’s Toothpick	+6	Maximum Bleeding Stacks
Off-Hand	Dark Shard	15% + 25%	Heavy Attack Damage + Damage vs. Armor
Alternate Weapon	Azure Bow	25% + 4	Hipfire damage + Maximum Arrows
Helmet	Carastes Double-Hat	15% + 25% + 30%	Momentum Generation + Stagger on Ability use + Ability Damage
Belt	Twin Buckle Binding	27%	Potion effect
Amulet	All Mother’s Copse	20% + 25% + 25	Tool Ability Damage + Tool Ability damage vs. enemies + Momentum on a Critical hit
Ring 1	Maw of the Black City	20%	Control Ability Damage
Ring 2	Graven Opal	20% + 15% + 25%	Ranged attack damage + Weakpoint damage + Ranged attack damage vs. Barrier

Best Runes

The best Runes for the Saboteur build in Dragon Age the Veilguard is Regroup because it refreshes your companion’s ability to cool down instantly. This allows you to either heal or produce multiple combos and detonations quickly. While there are other great Runes, having back-to-back healing, combos, or detonations with a short cooldown makes it the strongest.

Below are the recommended Runes for the Saboteur build in DA:V:

• Regroup: all companion’s cooldowns are refreshed.
• Crystallized: all enemies in 10 meters are frozen.
• Overflow: increases potions by +1.

Build Summary – Saboteur

FAQs About Saboteur Build in Dragon Age The Veilguard

Question 1: What faction should I pick for a Saboteur build?

Answer: Veil Jumpers and Shadow Dragons are the best factions to choose for the Saboteur build due to the Ankle Strike bonus from Veil Jumper and the Never To Rise bonus from Shadow Dragons because they highly impact in combat.

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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• Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Backgrounds (Factions) Explained
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard – All Companions and Everything We Know
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard Classes and Specializations
• Dragon Age: The Veilguard – All Playable Races