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Learn the best specializations in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, their abilities, combos, and how to use them in our guide to help you choose.
During character creation, Dragon Age the Veilguard players will pick one of three classes to play: Mage, Rogue, or Warrior. This choice cannot be undone, and as you advance the story of the main protagonist, Rook, you make essential decisions on skills and abilities. Starting at level 20, players can select one of three specializations from their class honeycomb skill tree.
Think of specializations as “subclasses,” adding one ability, one ultimate, and a variety of other skills to your build and character. Your specialization choice will be important because it determines your character’s overall gameplay in combat. Each specialization has its pros and cons, and in this list, we explain which are best, why, and how you can use them.
What are the Specializations in Dragon Age The Veilguard?
In Dragon Age, the Veilguard, Specializations are chosen at level 20, focusing on a specific form of combat. Each of the three classes has three specializations from which to choose. Your specialization can be respec or reset anytime, giving you flexibility in trying all three within your chosen class. Below are all the classes and specializations in Dragon Age the Veilguard:
Mage
- Death Caller: Necromancer with high survivability stealing life from enemies using necrotic status effect.
- Evoker: The Evoker is the ice mage focused on cold damage and snares in the area.
- Spellblade: A Hybrid spellcaster and melee damage dealer using both daggers and magic.
Rogue
- Duelist: Your burst-focused melee damage dealer with daggers and necrotic damage.
- Saboteur: This specialization uses traps, turrets, and gadgets for ability and ultimate.
- Veil Ranger: The best ranged bow-focused specialization.
Warrior
- Champion: The best survivability and group buff specialization that uses fire damage.
- Reaper: A hybrid Warrior specialization that siphons life and uses sword, shield, and two-handed weapons effectively.
- Slayer: This specialization is your damage dealer using Two-Handed weapons and huge AOE.
Best Specialization in Dragon Age The Veilguard Ranked
The best specialization in Dragon Age, the Veilguard, is the Champion because of its survivability, damage, group buffs, and fire damage. The Champion gains AOE damage and incredible durability, blending the best of combat into one specialization. The second best specialization is the Duelist because it’s the highest damage focused on critical. However, the combat style of the Duelist can be complex and difficult with an emphasis on combos. Lastly, the Spellblade should be chosen if you like a hybrid gameplay that uses melee combat with daggers and magic and spellcasting.
Below are the best to worst ranked specializations in Dragon Age The Veilguard Ranked:
| Rank | Specialization | Class |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Champion | Warrior |
| 2 | Duelist | Rogue |
| 3 | Spellblade | Mage |
| 4 | Death Caller | Mage |
| 5 | Veil Ranger | Rogue |
| 6 | Reaper | Warrior |
| 7 | Evoker | Mage |
| 8 | Slayer | Warrior |
| 9 | Saboteur | Rogue |
1. Champion
What makes the Champion Specialization the most powerful in Dragon Age the Veilguard is its ability to add AOE and fire damage to a powerful defensive-minded class. The Champion Specialization from the Warrior class is the prototypical “hero” in the Dragon Age RPG series. Passives within the Champion skill tree can cause burning, use fire damage, and detonate weakened status effects.
The ability Blight Bane is a projectile launching bombs, giving a seemingly weak damage class a more powerful area damage skill. Moreover, the ultimate ability, Warden’s Fire, deals a massive amount of damage and applies burning to all enemies in a huge range, giving you another added benefit for playing a high survivability character.
Using the Champion Specialization as your main character, Rook ensures you’ll have great survivability, group utility, crowd control, and buffs for your party. The Warrior class uses Sword and Shield and Two-Handed with the ability to swap for different combat situations. Another advantage of the Champion is the Rage resource mechanic, which gives you skill resources when attacking or being attacked. This is substantially easier to manage than a Rogue which has to hit a target in combos to fill their Momentum resource. Furthermore, the Champion will emphasize defensive gameplay with skills to increase fire damage and fire AOE.
Lastly, the roleplay aspect of crafting a Grey Warden Champion is too good to pass up if you like the typical heroic story. Therefore, you gain the best of all possible classes and specializations. The only downside to this specialization is the limited range of options besides your shield and some skills.
The Champion Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Warrior
- Resource: Rage
- Best Faction: Grey Wardens
- Best Companion: Harding, Neve
- Ultimate: Warden’s Fire
- Ability: Blight Bane
2. Duelist
The Duelist specialization is the most powerful for pure damage, gaining increased Momentum and Adrenaline resources. Your overall gameplay and combat style attempt to land as many attacks as possible to maintain high resources while weaving in skills and abilities for the most damage. This complexity is what players will either enjoy or dislike about the Duelist. With a heavy emphasis on combos, the Duelist can be the most deadly in Dragon Age depending on the player’s skill level, thus we rank it number 2.
Another benefit to the Duelist specialization is your ability and ultimate complement each other. A Thousand Cuts does single-target damage, while The Murder of Crows ultimately hits many targets, cutting through them and eliminating large groups. Moreover, the Rogue class can use the Bow at range without bar swapping, staying on your front bar (daggers) permanently.
The Duelist combat style does have high risks and rewards due to the emphasis on combo and resource regeneration. Players should also consider this the “assassin” type of character if they enjoy that playstyle from other RPGs. The companion, Lucanis Dellamorte, can fill this role for you depending on your party composition.
The Duelist Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Rogue
- Resource: Momentum
- Best Faction: Veil Jumper or Shadow Dragons
- Best Companion: Darvin, Neve
- Ultimate: Murder of Crows
- Ability: A Thousand Cuts
3. Spellblade
The spellblade’s strength is its ability to play in melee range with daggers and strong magic capabilities. This Mage specialization emphasizes electricity damage in the melee range, providing powerful damage, fun gameplay, and elemental shock. What makes the Spellblade unique is the Arcane Bomb status effect. While attacking with your daggers, you debuff the enemy until they have enough stacks then explode. This gives you a fun gameplay element similar to the Rogue Duelist, with an extra AOE damage component. Additionally, passives within the skill tree have multiple status effects, such as burning and shock. Therefore, if you enjoy the elemental status effect gameplay, consider the spellblade.
Your ability Void Blade deals electric damage and also detonates the sundered effect. This makes a great pairing when playing with the companion Darvin or Taash in melee range for huge combo damage. The Thunderous End ultimate deals massive AOE electricity damage while also applying shock to enemies in the radius. This extra damage over time can be helpful when fighting against one or more enemies that will remain in position.
The major downside of this specialization is the requirement to play in melee range to make the most out of your magic and damage. The Evoker can use Ice spells at range while the Death Caller can siphon life to self-heal, giving them two advantages. However, the damage and status effect damage of the Spellblade is incredible and is overall the best hybrid playstyle in the game.
The Spellblade Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Mage
- Resource: Mana
- Best Faction: Shadow Dragons or Mourn Watch
- Best Companion: Darvin, Bellara
- Ultimate: Thunderous End
- Ability: Void Blade
4. Death Caller
The main appeal of the Death Caller specialization is its ability to life leach, draining enemies’ lives to fill your own. Moreover, the look and feel of this class is that of a Necromancer to the Dark Urge from Baldur’s Gate 3. The Death Caller deals Necrotic damage and plays at range primarily. Your basic attack can be channeled into a beam, destroying targets at range without the need to play in melee range. However, not everyone will enjoy being the “bad” necromancer, and the class may have an impact on the overall story.
Your ability spirit bomb detonates the Sundered combo and is perfect for playing with Warrior companions. The ultimate The Crypt’s Herald is a powerful AOE damage ultimate that absorbs life from enemies and then bursts with damage. The downside to this ultimate is you need to time it right and are vulnerable for a few seconds before the explosion.
Overall, we ranked the Death Caller specialization fourth on this list because of it’s life leaching and ranged damage. However, it doesn’t have the survivability, AOE, or single target damage and utility from others above it on this list.
- Class: Mage
- Resource: Mana
- Best Faction: Shadow Dragons or Mourn Watch
- Best Companion: Darvin, Harding
- Ultimate: The Crypt’s Herald
- Ability: Spirit Bomb
5. Veil Ranger
The Veil Ranger is the best specialization for ranged bow users who enjoy aiming at targets like a first-person shooter. However, that’s also the downside of the Veil Ranger is the requirement for head and weak point shots to make the most out of your damage. As a Veil Ranger, you use a Bow that doesn’t require a bar swap like other non-Rogue classes. Thus, you can still do some melee damage, and activate your bow more frequently. Your specialization also triggers overwhelmed detonations, which are helpful for any party. Lastly, the specialization focuses heavily on the shocked status effect, debuffing enemies and doing damage over time, which can conflict with or complement other classes on this list.
Your ability Storm’s path shoots an AOE projectile while triggering an overwhelmed detonation. Meanwhile, the ultimate Twin Gifts of Arlathan does electricity damage by bouncing around between targets. This ultimate ability is weaker than others because it’s not instanced and can be avoided by enemies, or the duration takes a bit longer.
The Veil Ranger’s requirement to aim for headshots and the ultimate damage prevents it from ranking higher on this list. Some players may love the FPS look and feel of the Veil Ranger, but it won’t be the top choice for every player.
The Veil Ranger Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Ranger
- Resource: Momentum
- Best Faction: Veil Jumper or Shadow Dragons
- Best Companion: Taash and Lucanis
- Ultimate: Spirit Storm
- Ability: Twin Gifts of Arlathan
6. Reaper
The Reaper Warrior Specialization focuses on shield throws and Necrotic damage. This specialization is similar to the Death Caller in terms of survivability and life leaching. As a Reaper, your gameplay is about outlasting enemies and having more range shield throws to trigger large explosions. This style is geared towards slower pace combat with the tactical decision, vs. the typical charge in Warrior. Moreover, other specializations on the this list like the Deather caller or Duelist debuff with Necrotic and are overall more impactful in combat.
Your ability Reaper deals necrotic damage with a Scythe at medium range and triggers the weakened detonation. Meanwhile, the ultimate ability, Spirit Storm, does a massive amount of necrotic damage and siphons from enemies. The damage of Spirit Storm is impressive, but mobility can be an issue, so make sure to use it at a stationary moment in combat.
What holds back the Reaper from ranking higher on this list is an emphasis on slow gameplay and shield throwing. While the extra range is nice, other classes excel at that combat style or make better use of Necrotic damage.
The Reaper Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Warrior
- Resource: Rage
- Best Faction: Grey Wardens
- Best Companion: Harding, Neve
- Ultimate: Spirit Storm
- Ability: Reaper
7. Evoker
The Evoker Mage specialization is the cold elemental effect emphasizing staff combos and heavy attacks. The strength of the Evoker is the cold damage, slowing, pulling, and even freezing enemies in place. While the Crowd Control is impressive with the Evoker, the overall passives in the skill tree are much weaker than others on this list. Leading the Evoker to play combo heavy range build similar to the Duelist without the incredible damage.
Your Evoker ability Entropic Sphere shoots a projectile applying the Weakened effects. Meanwhile, the Vortex of Shadow is a cold ultimate ability that pulls enemies, dealing damage over time. Vortex of Shadow is one of the best for “trash” enemies due to that it pulls and sucks them inward. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about enemies escaping the damage.
The Evoker is an okay specialization without the wow factor from others. You can use a companion like Neve to get the benefit and crowd control while playing something else.
The Evoker Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Mage
- Resource: Mana
- Best Faction: Shadow Dragons or Mourn Watch
- Best Companion: Darvin and Lucanis
- Ultimate: Vortex of Shadow
- Ability: Entropic Sphere
8. Slayer
The Slayer specialization is your brawler two-handed damage-dealing warrior build. The specialization has multiple gap closers and leaps with many ways to stagger and stun enemies. The gameplay style resembles Black Myth Wukong in that you can charge up heavy attacks while moving. Therefore, you will mainly use the charge feature and timing the release when an enemy is vulnerable. However, the downside is the lack of group utility or survivability compared to the other two Warrior specializations.
Your ability Heroic Leap acts as a gap closer that deals physical damage and triggers weakened detonations. The Slayer’s ultimate For Gold and Glory is also a leap that deals physical damage, and triggers stagger to enemies within range. The Stagger mechanic can be helpful because enemies become vulnerable to auto-killing animation attacks once the bar is filled.
If you want super simple meathead warrior gameplay, then the Slayer is for you. If Slayer had some other unique effect, buff, or more durability, it would rank higher on this list.
The Slayer Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Warrior
- Resource: Rage
- Best Faction: Grey Wardens
- Best Companion:
- Ultimate: Warden’s Fire
- Ability: Blight Bane
9. Saboteur
The weakest and most odd specialization in Dragon Age the Veilguard is the Saboteur because it uses traps and contraptions for damage. While other classes deal direct damage and buff parties and have incredible survivability, the Saboteur expects enemies to walk into pitfalls for damage. While this can be effective in choke points, it’s an odd playstyle that is geared towards slow and methodic combat and remains unenjoyable.
Your Saboteur ability, Fortune’s Turret, throws down a turret attacking the closest enemies. This is helpful in tight spots but is subject to mobility issues when you need to move forward and your ability is on a 60-second cooldown. The Sabotuer’s ultimate, Fortune’s Fury, is visually impressive but one of the weakest in the game. You turn your hand into a mortar bombardment weapon and channel attacks while aiming. Therefore, you’re locked into an odd animation requiring aiming to maximize your damage. Meanwhile, other classes gain an instant damage source, siphoning health, or a debuff.
Unless you want to roleplay as Varric, please do not use the Saboteur specialization because it has nothing more impactful than the rest on this list.
The Saboteur Specialization features and mechanics:
- Class: Rogue
- Resource: Momentum
- Best Faction: Veil Jumper or Shadow Dragons
- Best Companion: Darvin, Neve
- Ultimate: Fortune’s Fury
- Ability: Fortune’s Turret
FAQs About the Best Specialization in Dragon Age The Veilguard
Question 1: What is a Specialization, and why does it matter?
Answer: Specializations are specific combat style focus based on your class. Specialization matters because they have an active ability, mutilate ability, and passive ability. Therefore, you can fine-tune your build further and gain unique skills that enhance your class’s combat and gameplay.
Question 2: When do I choose my specialization in Dragon Age, The Veilguard?
Answer: Players can choose their specialization at level 20 in Dragon Age the Veilguard.
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