The Warrior Class Starter Guide

Master the Warrior class in dragon age the veilguard. Learn about one-handed vs. two-handed weapons, Rage generation, and specializations like Champion.

The Warrior’s Weapons

When choosing the Warrior Class in dragon age the veilguard, you must decide between a defensive melee combatant using a shield for protection and easier parrying, or a Two-Handed destroyer that charges into battle to deal heavy area-of-effect damage. While you can respec at any time and switch between either weapon setup with a click of a button, you’ll still want to focus on one or the other.

One-Handed Weapon and Shield

The default setup for the Warrior is a Sword and Shield (or one-handed Axe) and this is the tank-style for Warrior. You won’t deal as much damage as other melee focused Classes, such as the Two-Handed Warrior or any of the Rogue Specializations, but you will soak up damage like no other Class. By holding down the [L1]/[LB] button, you can ready your shield and decrease incoming damage, better yet, time your button press just as a regular enemy attack is about to hit for Perfect Defense that opens up your foe for a counter. This is important for players focusing on this playstyle as many of the more defensive options for the Warrior revolve around getting various buffs during Perfect Defense.

The One-Handed Weapon and Shield combo offers extra defense for the Warrior.

When it comes to Specializations, the Champion is the natural fit for players that favor this more defensive playstyle. What’s more, you’ll unlock the Unbroken Finale Trait along the way, which adds a powerful Shield finisher to your attack combos. While using this playstyle, consider wearing full heavy armor for the mastery bonus, this will help you to become a more effective tank.

Two-Handed Weapon

For those of you who wish to forsake a bit of defense and go all out on offense, the Two-Handed Warrior is your playstyle. You’ll lose access to the defensive stance with your shield out, but you’ll gain powerful charge attacks that deal heavy damage if timed well and paired with Rage regeneration skills. The biggest hurdle to get over, especially if you’ve been playing with the One-Handed weapons a lot, is just how much slower the Warrior is, a necessary sacrifice for the increased damage you will deal.

The Two-Handed Weapons for the Warrior is about making the most out of your Charged Attacks.

Both of the other two Specializations for the Warrior is a good fit for those using a Great Axe or Maul, but the Slayer especially truly shines with this playstyle, with the Trait you unlock just before it, Rolling Thunder, adding a powerful finisher to your charged attacks that can deal massive damage, just be sure you have an opening first. When it comes to armor mastery, consider wearing full medium armor, you’re sacrificing further defense but the increase in damage across all of your abilities is well worth the trade-off.

Generating and using Rage

Like all of the Classes in dragon age the veilguard, you’ll have a Class resource to manage, and for the Warrior, that’s Rage. This resource is generated by attacking your enemies, and will gradually decline when not attacking an enemy or not in combat. In the early stages of the adventure, this will mean that generating enough Rage for your abilities will feel very slow indeed, but this is soon remedied as you progress.

One of the first things any Warrior should look to do is to learn the Enduring Rage Greater Passive skill, this can be found in the Abilities section of the skill tree (the bottom right). With this learned, your Rage will no longer drop below 50 out of combat, this doesn’t sound like much, but being able to begin every combat encounter with an ability makes a huge difference, especially if it’s used to detonate a primer.

Consider investing in equipment that increases your Rage generation.

Beyond this, there are many other skills you can purchase that either increases the speed of Rage generation or your maximum Rage in general. There are two passives in the Abilities and Grey Warden sections of the skill tree that increase generation, and two passives in the Weapons and Abilities section that increase maximum Rage, these should be priorities.

Finally, you’ll come across many pieces of equipment and enchantments that can offer ways to increase your Rage generation, if you’re a Two-Handed Warrior especially, these should be your highest priority on any gear you get.

Warrior Specializations

The three Classes in dragon age the veilguard all have three Specializations they can train in one they hit Level 25 and reach a specific part of the skill tree. While your choice is not permanent, you’ll want to consider spreading your points around in the general direction of your chosen Specialization so you can train it at Level 25.

Champion Specialization

The Champion Warrior Specialization focuses on increasing your defense and fire damage.

This is the Class for you if you’re a big fan of the One-Handed Weapon and Shield style mentioned above. This is the defacto tank Class of dragon age the veilguard and as such, you’ll want to make sure you grab the Heavy Armor Mastery passive along the way. Many of the skills found in this specialization will also buff your Fire and Burning damage, so look to favor that with your gear too.

The Ultimate skill, Warden’s Fire, deals massive Fire damage over a large area, useful for when you’re up against large groups of Darkspawn. The new ability, Blight Bane, costs 100 Rage and will deal Fire damage over