Dragon Age: The Veilguard – 8 Best Skills For Harding, Ranked

Lace Harding, a character well-known to fans of the franchise in Dragon Age: Inquisition, now returns in Dragon Age: The Veilguard with a more significant role in the story. Previously known as the Scout of the Inquisition, she now joins players as a playable character, offering all her abilities to help Rook on his journey.

Therefore, with Harding taking a central place among the game’s companions, choosing her best skills for Dragon Age: The Veilguard is essential so that players can make the most of her full potential. Moreover, with the right choices, she can offer excellent support to Rook, making many of the game’s combats easier.

8 A Few Words

Skill That Facilitates Rook Using The Ultimate

• Skill Tree: Adrenaline Rush
• Skill Type: Passive

A Few Words is a passive skill that significantly enhances the use of Adrenaline Rush, increasing the gain of Ultimate by 20% during combat. With this passive, Harding becomes an excellent option to buff Rook, allowing the protagonist more chances to deal substantial damage.

Furthermore, this skill perfectly complements Harding’s kit, especially if the team already has a character dedicated to healing the protagonist. Thus, by using this passive, she can help Rook become more efficient in combat, making it a perfect skill choice for her in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

7 Great Comfort

Bringing More Healing To Rook

• Skill Tree: Soothing Potion
• Skill Type: Passive

Players who do not opt for a support-focused character in the party, like Bellara’s healing skills, can use Harding for this role in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, as she also has means to recover Rook’s HP. For this, Great Comfort, a passive from Soothing Potion, is extremely important.

This is because, among her abilities, Harding does not heal the protagonist immediately but offers a recovery source that lasts a few seconds. Therefore, with Great Comfort utilized, it is possible to increase the duration of this effect, allowing for more durability during combat. So, although it doesn’t have the same priority as other skills, this passive is also worth considering.

6 Razor Point

Reducing Enemies’ Armor

• Skill Tree: Shred
• Skill Type: Passive

The combat in Dragon Age: The Veilguard has different mechanics that players must use intelligently, such as Stagger, which allows Rook to deal significant damage to enemies, and Armor, the yellow bar that absorbs life before they actually take damage. Luckily, Harding has a skill that explores these two options.

An interesting passive for players to equip on this companion is Razor Point, which amplifies the damage that the skill Shred causes by up to 50% against enemies equipped with armor. This is an excellent way to handle these opponents, making combat easier against those who have this advantage.

5 Valos Atredum

High Damage For One Of Harding’s Skills

• Skill Tree: Heavy Draw
• Skill Type: Passive

Being one of Harding’s main skills in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Heavy Draw is one of the categories where players will spend the most points, such as in Valos Atredum, which increases the damage of the strike by 20%. This is extremely important for the character, especially for those who want to keep her as a permanent part of the group.

Additionally, to obtain Valos Atredum, players will also need Rapid Fire, another passive skill that reduces the cooldown of Heavy Draw, allowing Harding to attack more often and inflict even more harm on the enemy. This combination of skills is one of the best for the character, and players should aim to acquire it as soon as the first points are unlocked.

4 Sparkshot

Excellent Option To Exploit Skill Combos

• Skill Tree: Heavy Draw
• Skill Type: Ability Upgrade

During combat in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, it is possible to combine specific skills to deal even more damage, with some inflicting conditions on the opponent and others serving to detonate. In Harding’s case, Heavy Draw serves to follow up after allies add the primary effects.

So, if Rook can apply the Overwhelmed effect, as happens when the protagonist is a Mage or Warrior, or there is another character capable of this in the group, Sparkshot is one of the best passives for Harding. When chosen, it increases the detonate damage caused by the character by 25%, causing significant harm to enemies.

3 Enduring Sunder

Harding Can Open Space For More Damage From Allies

• Skill Tree: Shred
• Skill Type: Ability Upgrade

When Shred is used, enemies are affected by the Sundered condition, which weakens their defenses and allows allied attacks to deal more damage. As players invest points in this condition, it is possible to further improve Harding’s ability in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. For example, with Enduring Sunder, players increase the duration of the effect by 50%.

This means that more attacks can be made to take advantage of this window of opportunity to inflict as much damage as possible on an enemy. On the other hand, players can also choose Sharper Edge, which increases the damage received by enemies by 20%. However, it is important to consider that it is not possible to choose both skills simultaneously in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

2 Spontaneous Shred

Chance To Activate The Skill Automatically

• Skill Tree: Shred
• Skill Type: Ability Upgrade

As Harding becomes stronger in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the abilities she can access also become more powerful, such as Spontaneous Shred, which allows the skill Shred to be used without needing activation during combat. This is extremely useful, considering that the cooldown is not consumed when this happens.

Thus, Harding can use Shred on her own once, applying all the effects on opponents, and it is still possible to use it a second time actively, causing even more damage. Therefore, this becomes a necessary skill for the companion, adding even more versatility to her in the game.

1 Shrapnel

Excellent For Leveraging The Character’s High Critical

• Skill Tree: Shred
• Skill Type: Ability Upgrade

As players spend skill points to improve Harding in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, they can choose passives that increase their critical hit chance, making the Shrapnel skill even more useful. Whenever Shred hits an enemy with critical damage, stones are thrown in all directions, causing extra damage to enemies.

This is a particularly useful choice for the late game, where, depending on the build set up for her, Harding can leverage her high critical chance to damage all opponents near the target. With a bit of luck, it is possible to surprise all enemies with this unexpected attack, ending the fight more quickly.