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Dragon Age: The Veilguard Mage Guide: The best Mage Builds for Rook

by Josh Tolentino on 02 November, 2024

As a concept, Mages are among the most interesting parts of Dragon Age lore, thanks to the fact that their magical powers are rooted in the demon-infested realm of dreams, the Fade. Dragon Age: The Veilguard  takes those concepts and puts an action-focused twist on the traditionally squishy role of a battlefield caster. Read on for some detailed tips on building up Rook as a Mage in our Dragon Age: The Veilguard Mage class guide!

As a Mage, Rook can weave in and out of enemy attacks while delivering damage from medium and close range, and deliver the most elemental damage of the three classes. Unlike the Rogue and Warrior, which deal physical damage mainly with elemental damage as a side bonus, the only time a Mage deals physical damage (skills and gear aside) is when they chop someone at close range using their dagger's heavy attack. At all other times, a Mage Rook is dealing elemental damage based on their choice of Staff or Orb, or from their abilities.

How Do Mages Work in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Mages use Mana to power their abilities, which regenerates over time, and faster out of combat. Without specific gear or perk choices, most spells will cost 100 Mana, or two "pips" on Rook's Mana meter. Gear and skills can increase Rook's maximum mana.

When using a staff, Rook throws out energy bolts with the light attack while discharging a wave of force that knocks enemies back and applies a debuff when fully charged. When using the orb and dagger, Rook will toss the orb a short distance, inflicting elemental damage based on the equipped orb. They'll slash with their dagger at melee range using the heavy. With certain specializations, the dagger can be thrown outwards, causing it to spin and inflict multiple hits.

Additionally, each orb light attack charges an Arcane Mark, a debuff that stacks up to three times. Three Arcane Marks converts into an Arcane Bomb, which deals high damage when triggered by a dagger heavy attack.

Mages can also use a ranged attack in the form of a persistent laser beam that strips down barriers (the blue gauge on an enemy). The beam costs mana to use, but has long range and no travel time, making it a good tool for popping blight boils or warding crystals at a distance.

Mage Rook also has a default ability and Ultimate unlocked and accessible at all times:

  • Arcane Shot - A Projectile Blast ability that hits an enemy with Fire damage and applies Burning.
  • Burning Light (Ultimate) - High damage beam of fire that applies Burning.

What's the Best Mage Specialization in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

That actually depends. The skill trees for each Dragon Age: The Veilguard specialization naturally trend towards favoring a specific style of play, so building towards one specialization or another will give you the most damage when playing towards that style.

Specializations are accessible at Level 20, and each Specialization has two branches to choose from. You can choose just one branch at level 30, but at level 40, the second branch unlocks, allowing you to obtain all the Specialization skill nodes if you choose.

Due to the placement of skills, each specialization favors certain elemental types and ability types. Even when you hit the level cap of 50, and after getting all of the Fen'harel Statues, you won't have enough points  to unlock every node in the core of the skill grid, so you'll always be specialized in one way or another.

Here are the ability types. Some abilities may have more than one type tag, meaning perks and passives will apply both their effects.

  • Projectile - Fires a projectile of some kind that moves toward the target at speed.
  • Strike - Draws a line between the target and the caster, hitting instantly if there's no obstruction (like "hitscan" in shooters)
  • Blast - Ability that explodes, doing collateral damage to enemies in a small area around the target
  • Area - Defines an area on the ground that's then affected by the spell (aka an AOE circle or a zone in other games)
  • Control - An ability that hinders targets' movement in some way
  • Duration - An ability with effects that linger over time (this is different from applying a DOT Affliction like Burning or Necrosis)

Shadow Dragon Evoker

A Rook with the Shadow Dragon Evoker specialization is essentially Upgraded Neve Gallus, an Ice Mage that thrives on slowing enemies so thoroughly they never come close, and freezing them solid with powerful control spells.

Evokers:

  • Favor Ice damage, and abilities with the Projectile and Control types, with some Area types also easily accessed from the tree.
  • Have talents that enhance the staff basic and heavy attacks.
  • Enjoy wearing light armor.
  • Put Chill and Frozen on enemies with extreme regularity.
  • Apply Weakened with Entropic Sphere and detonate Sundered with Dark Squall.

In combat, Evokers play keep-away, dodging back from enemies that get close and using their charged staff heavy to knock them away and chill or freeze them solid. Evokers can focus their energy across medium-size AOE zones, freezing or slowing anything passing through them, leaving foes vulnerable to be destroyed by staff basic and heavy attacks. Staff heavy attacks also do decent damage against Armor. Evokers are great against large crowds of melee enemies, dealing with shield-holding foes, and fighting big mini-bosses that move quickly, like Darkspawn. Venatori foes are also vulnerable to Cold damage, so they're quite out of sorts against an Evoker.

Evokers also have almost equal synergy with Warriors and Rogues, since they can pop a Rogue's Sundered enemy or set up a Weakened foe for a Warrior to detonate. That said, Warriors can use taunts to keep enemies at bay and in the path of an Evoker's Entropic Sphere, so I think they'd be preferred if you can only choose one companion type to bring along.

Mourn Watch Death Caller

Drawing on the necromantic expertise of Nevarra's elite Mages, a Death Caller Rook is the king of zone effects, life siphoning spells, Necrotic Damage, and lasering the heck out of enemies. The Death Caller's skills drain the life from any enemy they can stop in their tracks, and their life-draining ultimate can greatly aid surivability in tough fights.

Death Callers:

  • Heavily favor Necrotic damage, though nearby passives benefit Ice damage, and key Fire abilities are in easy access.
  • Love the Duration ability type, with additional passives that benefit Area and Blast abilities.
  • Will use the ranged laser beam attack, as specialty Death Caller skills greatly enhance the potency of the beam and enable it to detonate Sundered enemies.
  • Can wear mixed armor types, thanks to the Mixed Armor Mastery perk.
  • Can apply Necrosis, as well as the life-draining Siphoned debuffs.
  • Uses Weakened as a primer. Sadly players will have to look to Meteor as their Sundered detonator until they earn enough points to unlock Spirit Bomb.

Death Callers can make a deadly, AOE zone thanks to Corrupted Ground and its attendant enhancements. The one wrinkle is that enemies can be quite mobile and tend to laser focus on Rook instead of their companions, leading them to walk outside of the effective zones unless Rook is in there, herding them with careful space management.

That's why Death Callers have strong synergy with Warriors, who can keep enemies in the zones with taunts, or with Neve, who can freeze them in place to keep being hit by the necrotic damage. Their Necrotic damage focus works great against Undead and Antaam, two fairly common enemy types, although they do suffer from the fact that Darkspawn resist Necrotic, keeping them from achieving peak effectiveness against some of the game's most annoying enemies.

    Antivan Crow Spellblade

    Fantasy RPGs love the archetype of a "melee mage," and Dragon Age games are no exception. From the Arcane Warrior specialization of Origins to the Knight-Enchanter subclass of Inquisition, it's just fun to see a spell-slinger get deep in the scrum. The Antivan Crow Spellblade adds a new twist to the old urge, making The Veilguard's version of the specialization dance and twirl like a Rogue wreathed in lightning and fire. 

    Spellblades:

    • Love getting up close to enemies. The Spellblade's maximum range for most basic attacks is a little farther than an unaugmented dodge, which puts Rook in the reach of many melee enemies. Be light on your feet.
    • Favors Medium Armor. The Medium Armor Mastery passive near the Spellblade's branch of the skill tree awards a bevy of bonuses for wearing two pieces of medium armor.
    • Can Stagger enemies faster than anyone else. Spellblades can inflict Shocked on enemies like nobody's business, and do a ton of Electrical damage. Expect to use Takedowns frequently.
    • Maximize the Arcane Bomb mechanic.
    • Are more gear-dependent than the other Mage archetypes. Not only will Spellblades want a good Orb and Mage Knife, but they'll still want a decent staff for when enemies are farther away, as well as stronger armor, given the greater danger levels of fighting in melee range.
    • Have a harder time applying Weakened. Spellblades love applying Overwhelmed and detonating Sundered, but will need to stretch their skill points to reach abilities that can apply weakened, lowering their compatibility with Warrior companions like Taash and Davrin.

    Spellblades are the most mobile Mage subtype, and love dishing out huge amounts of Fire and Electricity damage. They also thrive on triggering Sundered explosions, using Blast and Strike abilities, and slicing foes up with an enchanted knife. Their fight style is riskier than usual for a Mage, but it's rewarding in its hyperactivity and the damage potential of well-executed Arcane Bomb triggers.

    Dragon Age: The Veilguard Mage Build and Tips

    Due in part to the slightly open nature of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and its exploration zones, it's not so efficient to give players a step-by-step build, because more often than not, one will want to respec and reassign skill points based on different threats as well as different or new gear setups. Instead, we'll recommend key sets of skills to target along with battle strategies to take advantage of their strengths.

    Evoker Control Ice Mage

    This is a classic Evoker control build that leans into staff combat and jumping back to keep enemies at arm's length. This Evoker can and will use a bunch of other spells as they level up, including the core Arcane Shot spell and even occasionally Chain Lightning or Meteor to apply or detonate primers from the party, but by the time they hit Level 20 and beyond, they'll be speccing mainly for high Cold damage and freezing enemies in place.

    Ability Loadout:

    • Frost Nova, Dark Squall, Entropic Sphere (or Ice Blast if not yet available), Vortex of Shadow Ultimate

    Key Skills (Non-Specialty)

    • Dark Squall - Control Projectile that has high knockback, detonates Sundered, and applies Chilled.
    • Frost Nova - Area Control, Freezes a large area around you, applying Frozen to enemies in the radius.
    • Ice Blast - Control Blast, deals high cold damage, applies Weakened, leaves shards that apply Chilled.
    • Frost Shield - Chills enemies that damage you.
    • Light Armor Mastery - Enhanced staff attack range and charge rate for mages that wear two pieces of light armor.

    Key Skills (Specialty)

    • Bolt Volley - Allows players to tap the light attack button with the right timing to spawn an extra bolt from their staff attacks.
    • Entropic Sphere - area projectile that travels slowly in a straight line, pulling enemies together, applying weakened, and exploding for cold damage.
    • Knight of Staves - adds a heavy combo ender to the staff light attack chain. the end of this branch allows the evoker to freeze damaged targets, do critical damage against them, and use the damage to recharge their staff energy.
    • Multiplicity - This causes projectile spells (like Dark Squall) to launch a second projectile, effectively doubling their impact damage.
    • Onslaught - Majorly upgrades the light staff attack chain, adding even more bolts and enhancing their damage, as well as causing it to shred damage resistance vs. staff element.
    • Ultimate: Vortex of Shadow - A huge cold damage AOE pull that centers enemies.

    Notable Passives and Enhancements:

    • Shattering Control, Breathing Room, Fade Reflex, Frostbite, Ice Storm, Zone of Infusion, Mana Infusion

    Death Caller Lifedrain Sniper

    This build aims to put down an AOE zone with Corrupted Ground, then forces enemies to remain there as long as possible, melting them down with the laser beam.

    Ability Loadout: Corrupted Ground, Frost Nova, Spirit Bomb (or Meteor or Dark Squall if not yet available), The Crypt's Herald Ultimate

    Key Skills (Non-Specialty)

    • Corrupted Ground - A large zone AOE that deals Necrotic damage and inflicts Necrosis.
    • Mortal Concentration - An enhancement to the Ranged laser beam that causes it to build damage over time the longer it's maintained. This has great synergy with some of the deeper Death Caller passives.
    • Frost Nova - A useful skill for freezing enemies in place and keeping them inside Corrupted Ground.
    • Wall of Fire - Cast this on the edge of the Corrupted Ground zone to hurt enemies and stack Burning on them as they try to leave the AOE.
    • Deathfrost - This passive allows greater damage synergy between Cold and Necrotic abilities, letting you alternate them to benefit from a damage boost.

    Key Skills (Specialty)

    • Spirit Bomb - A powerful Duration Blast ability that siphons an enemy's life and causes it to explode in an AOE necrotic burst. It also detonates Sundered.
    • Soulburn - An upgrade to the ranged laser beam attack that allows Rook to spend mana to denotates Sundered foes with it. Great for team comps with Lucanis and Harding, because you'll be able to detonate multiple Sundered applications instantly, with no cooldown.
    • Death Surge - Spend double the mana for double the laser damage. Great for instantly deleting an enemy barrier or burning down a foe at low health. That said, the best Death Caller skills use Mana, so watch your resource consumption.
    • Ultimate: The Crypt's Herald - A slow, roaming Necrotic Ultimate that causes Rook to siphon the health of any enemies near them before bursting in a large explosion. Surprisingly useful for boss fights, as they can drain your potion stocks and blind your companions, preventing them from using heals on you.

    Notable Passives and Enhancements:

    • Mortal Concentration, Breathing Room, Fade Reflex, Mind Blast, Deathfrost

    Arcane Bomber Spellblade

    This Spellblade is all about setting up and setting off Arcane Bombs. By the late game, they'll have upgraded the Timeworn Mageknife or Thorn of Misery knives to Legendary rarity to take advantage of their Arcane Bomb enhancement perks, and wield Electric or Fire orbs like Urthemiel's Ash or Magister's Gambit. They barrage enemies with light attacks, then dip back with Storm Surge, only to rush forward again as they have their companions detonate the Overwhelmed primer.

    Key Skills (Non-Specialty)

    • Medium Armor Mastery - Adds several damage bonuses for wearing two pieces of medium armor.
    • Fade Strike - An excellent enhancement to the dodge that allows the Spellblade to whip a heavy attack out to set off an arcane bomb quickly.
    • Storm Surge - A potent wide-area Strike application of Overwhelm, along with electricity damage and a backwards dodge.
    • Wall of Fire - This ability can sometimes feel like a waste from far away, but the Spellblade's constant presence at melee range makes this practically a direct damage spell that applies Burning as well.
    • Chain Lightning - A good distance-based Overwhelm applicator that can apply Shocked quite handily. It tends to miss at extremely close range, though, due to the way the enemies can move around Rook.
    • Meteor - The main trigger for Sundered before unlocking the specialization directly.
    • Spirit Blade - Allows the Spellblade to toss out their mage knife and spin it for multiple hits. Great for setting off Arcane Bombs at a distance. Just watch out as it it requires completing a combo to set off, making it prone to interruption.

    Key Skills (Specialty)

    • Void Blade - A very powerful melee gap-closing strike that looks great, does a lot of electricity damage, detonates Sundered, and even possesses both Strike and Blast ability types, allowing it to benefit from gear and passives that affect those types.
    • Electrical Burns - This late-game passive allows double-affliction stacking, as every Burning application also applies Shocked and vice versa. Extremely powerful considering how many passives and gear pieces increase your damage against burning or shocked enemies.
    • Blast Efficiency - Causes Blast abilities to cost less mana, reducing the cost of both Meteor and Void Blade.
    • Arcane Strike - Strike abilities set an Arcane bomb, which allows you to follow up a Storm Surge with heavy blade strikes, immediately setting off Arcane Bombs and doing big damage.
    • Ultimate: Thunderous End - It's not the highest-damage ultimate, but it does apply Shocked on a huge crowd of enemies.

    Notable Passives and Enhancements:

    • Spirit Blade, Velocity, Staggering Charge, Bigger Blast, Wildfire, Demolisher, Energy Burst

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