Dragon Age: Veilguard Best Mage Build

In Dragon Age: Veilguard, the spell-slinging mage is an unexpectedly versatile class, capable of both long-range sniping and explosive close-combat.

Our pick for the best mage build in Veilguard however, focuses on the latter of these as a Spellblade, buffing your character’s mana regeneration, as well as strike and blast abilities so that you can unleash devastating special moves as often as possible.

It also makes use of the synergy between fire and lightning damage to offer a degree of AoE and battlefield control for when you’re taking on large groups of enemies.

What’s the best mage build in Dragon Age: Veilguard?

Our pick for the best mage build in Dragon Age: Veilguard is a Spellblade based around spamming the Void Blade skill as much as possible.

This relies on the Blast Efficiency skill node to reduce the mana cost of Void Blade, then on taking as many mana generation, blast boosting and strike boosting nodes as you can find.

In battle, your primary weapon wil be the Orb and Blade, which you can use to build up mana and set up Arcane Bombs for detonation. You can then throw out your two AoE abilities (Wall of Fire and Storm Surge) to thin the herd, then unleash Void Blade after Void Blade to devastating effect. This will quickly start to stagger most enemies and deal heavy damage to all but the biggest foes.

With your mana constantly regenerating, you can continue to throw out Void Blades until nothing else stands in your way.

As for gear, the Timeworn Mageknife from quests in the Grand Necropolis is great for detonating Arcane Bombs, but the Enchanted Athame from a chest in the Grey Warden Fortress on the Rivain Coast is the best for mana generation.

The Mage’s Gambit makes sense in the orb slot because it boosts both Fire and Electric damage.

Then for clothes, the Researcher’s Coat from the Grand Necropolis is very versatile and great for regenerating health with an aggressive build like this. But finally, the Iron Veil from the Waterfront Glades giant chest in the Forest is a powerful all-rounder with a unique effect.

Dragon Age: Veilguard best mage build skill tree

As you level up and gain extra Skill Points from Dread Wolf altars, here’s a rough order of which skills to unlock first:

1. Fade Strike
2. Downfall
3. Wall of Fire
4. Quick Recovery
5. Velocity
6. Return Fire
7. Bigger Blast
8. Veil Blasts
9. Inner Focus
10. Essence Eater
11. Deterioration
12. Imbued Reaction
13. Underestimated
14. Storm Surge
15. Staggering Charge
16. Staggering Strikes
17. Shellbreaker
18. Finale
19. Spirit Blade
20. Thunderous End
21. Void Blade
22. Finale II
23. Blast Efficiency
24. Breacher
25. Baleful Blast
26. Deterioration
27. Arcane Strike
28. Debilitating Shocks
29. Bulwark (next to Imbued Reaction)
30. Spirit of Vengeance
31. Demolisher
32. Orbital Burst
33. Conductivity
34. Veil Flurry
35. Antivan Kiss
36. Shocking Tactician
37. Electrical Burns
38. Energy Burst
39. Concentration
40. Perfect Cast
41. Fade Conduit
42. Killer Instinct
43. Shocking Strikes
44. Reclamation
45. Elemental Catalyst
46. Meditation
47. Imbued Takedown
48. Prolong
49. Degrade
50. Concentration

We’ve placed the first specialization skill at 20 and the second level-locked skills from 30 onwards, but this order will change depending on how many extra skill points you find throughout your adventure. If you reach 20 before you can specialize, continue along routes you can unlock until you can take those skills.