Mage Class in Dragon Age: The Veilguard: Complete Guide to All Skills

Alina2 weeks ago

Key Takeaways:

Diverse Skill Trees: The Mage class offers a rich variety of skills across multiple specializations, allowing for highly customized playstyles.
Elemental Mastery: Understanding elemental damage types and how they interact with enemies can greatly enhance your combat effectiveness.
Strategic Gameplay: Combining spells, managing Mana, and utilizing skills like Fade Step and Mind Blast can turn the tide of battle in your favour.

Are you ready to delve into the arcane arts and become a formidable force in Dragon Age: The Veilguard? The Mage class is perfect for players who love dealing high burst damage from a distance while controlling the battlefield with elemental magic. In this comprehensive guide, we’ll walk you through all the Mage skills, specializations, and strategies to help you become the ultimate spellcaster.

Mage Class Overview

The Mage class is one of the three primary classes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It offers a versatile range of skills and three unique specializations:

Spellblade
Death Caller
Evoker

Each specialization opens up new abilities and playstyles, allowing you to tailor your Mage to your preferred combat approach.

Core Skills

Let’s kick things off with the core skills that form the foundation of any Mage build.

Charging Spirit

Staff Energy generates passively when you’re not in combat.

Imagine your Staff Energy as a reservoir that fills up while you prepare for the next encounter. This skill ensures you’re always ready to unleash powerful attacks when the battle begins.

Destructive Light

Summon a concentrated beam of primal elemental energy.

Type: Ultimate
Damage: Fire
Effect: Deals damage each second to all enemies caught in the beam while applying Burning.

This Ultimate ability is a game-changer, allowing you to incinerate multiple foes with a continuous beam of fire.

Arcane Shot

Conjure fiery arcane bolts that rip into your enemies.

Type: Projectile, Blast
Damage: Fire
Cost: 100 Mana
Effect: Launches up to 5 projectiles towards your target and nearby enemies, applying Burning.

Arcane Shot is perfect for taking down clusters of enemies, setting them ablaze and causing chaos in their ranks.

Fade Strike

Use your speed to unleash a powerful attack after using Fade Step.

This skill lets you follow up your evasive maneuvers with a swift attack, catching enemies off-guard.

Mind Blast

While defending, consume 50 Mana to unleash a shockwave in all directions.

Damage: Based on your equipped staff.

Mind Blast is a defensive yet aggressive move, ideal for when you’re surrounded and need some breathing room.

Quick Recovery

Mana regeneration restarts 25% faster when paused by spending Mana or taking damage.

This skill ensures that your Mana pool refills more quickly, keeping you in the fight longer.

Mortal Concentration

Sustaining your ranged attack gradually increases its damage output, up to a maximum of 3 seconds.

The longer you focus your attacks, the more devastating they become. Patience pays off!

Downfall

Jump attacks guarantee critical hits if the target is knocked down.

Timing is everything. Use this skill to deliver crushing blows to incapacitated enemies.

Specializations

Now, let’s dive into the specializations that make the Mage class truly shine.

Spellblade Specialization

Weaving magic and melee together, the Spellblade wields both dagger and orb to deliver death to their foes.

Key Skills

Spirit Blade

Use your heavy attack at the end of a light attack chain to conjure a blade and project it a short distance.

Requires: Orb and Dagger
Void Blade

Dash forward in a flash of dark energy before landing a deadly slash that explodes a moment later.

Type: Strike, Blast
Damage: Electricity
Cost: 100 Mana
Thunderous End

Conjure a deadly avatar of the storm to seek vengeance on your enemies.

Damage: Electricity
Effect: Deals heavy damage and applies stacks of Shocked to enemies within a large radius.

Death Caller Specialization

Using forces of life and death, the Death Caller drains enemies and powers spells with their own life force.

Key Skills

Spirit Bomb

Drain life from enemies, then throw it back at them in an explosion of necrotic energy.

Type: Duration, Blast
Damage: Necrotic
Cost: 100 Mana
The Crypt’s Herald

Surround yourself with a necrotic storm, absorbing life from enemies before unleashing a punishing burst.

Damage: Necrotic
Mortalitasi

Actions that consume Mana now consume health when Mana is depleted.

This risky skill lets you keep casting at the expense of your own vitality.

Evoker Specialization

Using ice to control the battlefield, the Evoker delivers powerful magical attacks to take down enemies.

Key Skills

Entropic Sphere

Launch a sphere of entropic energy that damages all enemies in its path before exploding.

Type: Area, Projectile
Damage: Cold
Cost: 100 Mana
Vortex of Shadow

Create a vortex that deals damage each second while pulling enemies toward its center.

Damage: Cold
Cryomancy

Increase damage against frozen targets and extend the duration of freezing effects.

Skill Trees Breakdown

Let’s explore the different skill sections available to the Mage class, each offering unique abilities and enhancements.

Burst Skills

Burst skills focus on dealing massive damage quickly.

Chain Lightning

Fire a bolt of lightning that splits to hit multiple targets.

Type: Strike, Projectile
Damage: Electricity
Cost: 100 Mana
Effect: Applies Shocked and bounces up to 4 times.

Key Passive Skills

Fade Conduit: Increase maximum Mana by 50.
Elemental Catalyst: Abilities gain 15% bonus damage based on your weapon’s damage type.
Perfect Cast: Release a charged attack at maximum charge for 50% more damage.

Sustain Skills

Sustain skills enhance your longevity in battle.

Wall of Fire

Summon a flaming barrier that burns enemies who cross it.

Type: Duration, Control
Damage: Fire
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Key Passive Skills

Prolong: Increase affliction duration by 20%.
Inner Focus: Light attacks generate additional Mana, especially against afflicted enemies.
Wrath: Boost critical damage by 10%.

Control Skills

Control the battlefield with these crowd-control abilities.

Frost Nova

Freeze nearby enemies.

Type: Area, Control
Damage: Cold
Cooldown: 60 seconds

Key Passive Skills

Bulwark: Gain 10% physical resistance.
Frostbite: Deal 15% more damage to frozen targets.
Shattering Control: Control abilities deal 75% more damage against armor.

Antivan Crow Skills

Embrace agility and precision with skills inspired by the Antivan Crows.

Key Skills

Storm Surge

Leap backward, stirring up a storm of elemental energy.

Type: Area, Strike
Damage: Electricity
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Medium Armor Mastery

While wearing medium armor, gain various combat bonuses.

Breacher

Blast abilities deal 50% more damage against barriers and armor.

Shadow Dragon Skills

Harness the power of ice and darkness.

Key Skills

Dark Squall

Project entropic energy to knock back targets.

Type: Projectile, Control
Damage: Cold
Cooldown: 60 seconds
Multiplicity

Projectile abilities launch an additional projectile.

Light Armor Mastery

While wearing light armor, increase staff energy charge rate and attack range.

Mourn Watch Skills

Delve into necrotic powers with the Mourn Watch.

Key Skills

Corrupted Ground

Weave threads of life and death, corrupting an area.

Type: Area, Duration
Damage: Necrotic
Cost: 100 Mana
Insidious Rot

Increase maximum Necrosis stacks by 1.

Death’s Blessing

Increase necrotic damage by 10%.

Combat Strategies

To make the most of your Mage, consider these combat tips:

Elemental Synergy: Use skills that complement each other. For example, applying Shocked before using abilities that deal extra damage to Shocked enemies.
Mana Management: Skills like Quick Recovery and Meditation help keep your Mana replenished.
Crowd Control: Abilities like Frost Nova and Wall of Fire can control the battlefield, giving you strategic advantages.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I choose the best specialization for my playstyle?

Consider what aspect of combat you enjoy most. If you like close-quarters combat with magic, the Spellblade is ideal. For those who prefer draining enemies and using necrotic powers, the Death Caller is a great choice. If controlling the battlefield with ice appeals to you, go for the Evoker.

How can I manage my Mana effectively?

Invest in skills like Quick Recovery, Meditation, and Channeled Thoughts. Also, use your abilities strategically rather than spamming them, to conserve Mana for critical moments.

What armor should I equip as a Mage?

Your armor choice should align with your skill tree. Light Armor Mastery benefits those focusing on Shadow Dragon skills, while Medium Armor Mastery complements the Antivan Crow skills.

How do elemental resistances work?

Elemental resistances reduce the damage you take from specific types of elemental attacks. Skills like Defy The Elements grant resistances to fire and cold, which can be crucial in certain battles.

Can I respec my skill points?

Yes, most games in the Dragon Age series allow for respecing skill points, either through in-game mechanics or by visiting a specific NPC.