Best Dragon Age Veilguard Class: All skills and perks

Looking for the best Class in Dragon Age Veilguard? If you're agonising over the character creator, unsure of how each Class will affect your playstyle in Dragon Age Veilguard, we have you covered.

We've played all 3 classes, the Mage, Warrior and Rogue and highlighted the pros and cons for each so you can make an informed choice. We've also included a rundown of the skill tree for all Classes so you can take a sneak peek ahead.

What is the best Dragon Age Veilguard Class?

The best class in Dragon Age Veilguard, in my opinion, is the Mage Class. The Mage can flit between the usual staff option for long-ranged attacks, and a dagger infused with frost magic (complete with a circling orb of frost that can be launched at enemies).

Most of the Mage specialisations involve your Rook excelling in one of the major elements, Shock, Fire, Frost or Necrotic. Of these, I recommend the Arcane Shot as one of the first skills you can acquire. This allows you to summon several arcane bolts of fire to hurl at enemies for massive potential damage. I also liked Wall of Fire as an early skill investment. It summons a wall of fire for enemies to traipse into and lasts several seconds for sustained damage. Thanks to Veilguard's generous skill allocation you can refund points for free at any time and try out different skills to see what suits you best, so I recommend shopping around.

Take this with a pinch of salt, of course, as the choice of Class largely comes down to personal preference and playstyle. I played every Class and found the combat seemed just as challenging across the board. I preferred the speed of the Rogue zipping in and out of combat, the pure brute strength of the Warrior flinging their shield around and exploding it like a bomb and the Mage Class offered the coolest visual effects. Dragon Age Veilguard combat is immensely satisfying and each Class does a great job at making your Rook feel powerful. If you're still unsure which to pick, we have all three classes and their major skills listed below.

All Dragon Age Veilguard Classes explained

As mentioned above, there are 3 Classes to choose from in Dragon Age Veilguard, along with your race and Faction (see our best Factions guide for more info if you need help deciding on this too). There is either the Warrior, Mage or Rogue class to choose from.

Unlike previous Dragon Age titles, the combat in the game isn't strictly turn-based. Whilst you'll be able to command your party and access their skills, the combat is more streamlined and easier to get to grips with.

It's worth noting that whichever class you choose, all of them have access to ranged and melee attacks. Like any traditional RPG, as you complete quests and level up your character level, you'll unlock Perk Points for Rook and your party members. You can then spend these Perk Points within the skill trees for your chosen Class.

Further down, we've provided a more in-depth look at each Class and their skills in Dragon Age Veilguard. You can have up to 3 character profiles and saves in Dragon Age Veilguard. So, you can always make one of each Class and try out the opening hour if you're still unsure!

Warrior Class

The Warrior class can swap between a two-handed heavy weapon or a sword and shield. Combat is still fast-paced but attacks can be slightly slower compared to the Rogue and Mage Class, as can be expected.

The Warrior can charge up and throw their shield at enemies, then wait for it to return as their ranged attack. Their heavy attack emits several circular swings of their weapon and both of these combat mechanics can be improved via the skill tree.

The Class-specific resource for the Warrior is Rage. Once your Rage meter is full from executing successive combat prompts, Rook can perform a ground fist attack for AOE damage.

The other Warrior types you can recruit to your party are, Davrin from the Grey Wardens and Taash from the Lords of Fortune. However, these will be recruited further into the main campaign. The skill branches for the Warrior are:

• Abilities: These are a mixture of smash abilities that knock enemies away to improve spacing or offer defence.
• Survival: These abilities offer ways to stun enemies. Stunning enemies will leave them open to finisher moves and the potential for massive damage.
• Weapons: These offer charged heavy attacks and advanced weapon techniques with the ability to chain certain attacks together.
• Specialization Slayer: These abilities are coined from the Lord of Fortune Faction and centre around critical hits. These skills include whirlwind attacks, AOE stagger damage, and two-handed charged attacks.
• Specialization Reaper: Based on Mourn Watch tactics, these skills centre around weakening foes and shield tosses. Projectiles and Necrotic damage are common themes among these skills.
• Specialization Champion: Grey Warden tactics are used within this section of the tree. Included skills utilise both defensive and offensive techniques and Fire is a common status effect.

Rogue Class

The Rogue Class is the fastest and in some cases, smoothest combat experience. The Rogue can flit between dual-wielding short swords and a bow for ranged shots. Their dodge looks more like a cartwheel (complete with raven feathers and squawks sometimes) and you'll see them perform some impressive kicks and slash moves as they fight.

The Rogue builds up Momentum and can spend it on a power move that enables the Rogue to jump in the air and drop multiple bombs on enemies. A charged attack will either be a leap forward with an uppercut or the Rogue will jump into the air and swing their blades in circles.

The other recruitable Rogues in Dragon Age Veilguard are Harding (as seen from Dragon Age Inquisition) and Lucanis Dellamorte, a member of the Antivan Crows.

Here are the major skill tree sections and skills available to the Rogue on a playthrough:

• Burst: Includes high-impact skills like explosive daggers and a skill that emits a whirlwind of blades.
• Control: This includes skills made to maximise the impact of the bow. Includes skills that apply status effects to arrows like Necrotic and Shock.
• Sustain: These are mostly defensive abilities but also include interesting ones like Pilfer (stealing a potion from an enemy) and Lightning Flask (which involves throwing a flask of lightning).
• Specialization Veil Ranger: The Veil Ranger side of the Rogue tree specialises in Bow attacks and adds more attack types and rewards to charged bow shots and headshots.
• Specialization Saboteur: This side of the tree is formed from Lord of Fortune skills. These skills utilise explosions and throwables. Included are skills that allow you to summon weaponized turrets, bombs and other roguish traps.
• Specialization Duelist: This part of the Rogue tree uses Antivan Crow techniques to maximise Momentum, attacks and parries. This includes skills like A Thousand Cuts (rapid consecutive slashes) and other Necrotic-based effects.

Mage Class

Interestingly, the Mage can swap between a staff and a frost dagger. The dagger summons a ball of chilled energy that can swipe at enemies with every dagger slash. Contrastingly, the staff can send forth a wave of energy in a swooping motion or emit a steady beam of cold damage at enemies from a distance.

When the Mage dodges, they temporarily disappear and then reappear in a ball of energy. The Mage doesn't seem to have one big power like the other Classes. Instead, they gain Mana as their resource and this is used to fuel all of their Skills (other than the standard melee attack). This regenerates over time, in or out of combat.

Other than Rook, the other Mages you can recruit to your party are Bellara from the Veil Jumpers, Neve who is an affiliate of the Shadow Dragons and Emmrich Volkarin, a member of the Mourn Watch. This is quite a lot compared to the 2 other Rogues and 2 Warriors you can recruit. However, you can specialise in different elements as a Mage, so you can still diversify your skill output if you wish to have an all Mage party.

To get a better sense of the playstyle offered to Mages, here are the major skills you can unlock on the Mage tree:

• Sustain: Specialises in Fire spells that emit damage over time. Includes skills like Meteor and Wall of Fire.
• Burst: Specialises in 'Storm' or shock abilities. These include skills like Chain Lightning (targets multiple foes) and Tempest (which weaves a thunderstorm around you).
• Control: Specialises in Frost abilities that also boost defense. Includes skills like Frost Nova (summons a cyclone of frost) and Ice Blast (impales enemies with summoned shards of ice).
• Specialization Spellblade: Utilises abilities from the Antivan Crows which focus on orb damage. These tend to have huge Electricity damage.
• Specialization Evoker: This part of the skill tree uses Shadow Dragon Faction techniques that focus on ice attacks. Includes a range of skills to stagger and slow down enemies.
• Specialization Death Caller: These skills are centred around the Mourn Watch Faction and use Necrotic damage with long-ranged staff attacks.

As of writing, I have found no way of changing Class in-game. It seems as though your Class is finalised after character creation. You can, however, refund Skill Points at any point in the skill menu for free and reallocate them. This is a generous game mechanic that allows you to diversify your playstyle and try out different abilities.

That rounds up our guide on the best Class in Dragon Age Veilguard. For more Dragon Age Veilguard tips and tricks, check out our guide to the best Faction in the game, or see our guide to choosing between Neve or Harding in the 'The End of the Beginning' quest.