Best Evoker Build For Mage In Dragon Age The Veilguard

The Evoker Mage is one of the Mage Specializations in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. With a powerful combination of crowd control and nuking, it can use its powerful Void Magic to shift the tides in battle, and help allies land powerful combos with their skills. Similar to the Force Mage from Dragon Age 2, the Evoker is trained by the Shadow Dragons in Minrathous, but players can pick up this Specialization no matter which faction they chose for their Rook.

This guide will showcase the best possible build to turn any Evoker Mage Rook into a master of the battlefield, with powerful control abilities, and the strongest single-target nukes in the game. With information on the best Perks, Gear, and combat strategy to master this specialization in no time. So, let’s take a look first at which Perks players should choose to get the most optimized build for the Evoker.

Best Build For Evoker In Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The Best Build for Evoker in Dragon Age: The Veilguard uses both control Spells (Ice) and Cold Damage, causing Slow, Freeze, and Primer for Detonation. The Evoker is a master of control Magic, with powerful void spells that are unique magic without a specific element. The attribute-less magic is good since it penetrates most resistances and it is great to deal with annoying and strong enemies like High Dragons and Demons. Pick the following Passives and Active skills to maximize damage and crowd control effects:

• From Core Mage: Mortal Concentration, Charging Spirit, Mind Blast.
• From Control: Frost Nova – Ability, Frostbite, Fade Reflex, Providence, Zone of Destruction, Ethereal, Necessary Steps, Breathing Room, Shattering Control, Clarity In Suffering, Ice Storm, Frost Shield, Mana Infusion, Meditation, Absorb, Improved Health, Zone of Infusion, Greater Authority, Block Master.
• From Burst: Elemental Catalyst, Fade Conduit, Prism of Resistance, Swift Infusion
• From Shadow Dragon: Shellbreaker, Light Armor Mastery, Meditation, Imbued Takedown, Desolate Malady, Salt In The Wound, Multiplicity, Underestimated, Supercharged, Keen Insight, Dark Squall – Ability, Bolt Volley, Early Frost.
• From Evoker: Ultimate Ability – Vortex of Shadow, Entropic Sphere, Ice Storm, Two Fires, Onslaught, Staff Mastery, Quickened Strikes, Withering Charges, Heavy Weaponry, Controlled Infusion, Knight Of Staves, Cryomancy, Ice Shatter, Bonechiller.
• From Mournwatch: Deathfrost, Even the Odds, Arcane Defiance, Death’s Blessing, Imbued Duration, Enervation, Zone of Concentration, Collateral Damage, Breathing Room, Time Management.

Use the Frost Nova ability to generate Chill and Frozen on surrounding enemies, then take advantage of the CC to cast other skills in the middle of groups of enemies, making them stumble upon each other and generating an even greater effect. Use Dark Squall to create an opening between Powerful Foes (like Ogres and Construct Golems) and then use the Staff charged skills to shatter the Freezing opponents, causing even more damage. Frost also generates Stagger. Some opponents might be more prone to get Staggered and open to Takedowns, so pay attention to which skills generate more Stagger to create powerful combos.

Players should pick these active skills and ultimate, and enchant them with the suggested bonuses to increase their effectiveness:

• Frost Nova: With “Apply Chilled on Hit” enchantment. Use this skill as an opening to create a control zone and Chill enemies. This spell benefits from radius increase passives from the Control, Mourn Watch, and Shadow Dragon skill branches.
• Dark Squall: With “+2m Increased Radius” enchantment. Use this skill to blast Chilled Opponents, and to drag more enemies into the control zone. This spell benefits from radius increase passives as well as effects that improve Cold type Damage.
• Entropic Sphere: With “Gain Quickened on Cast” enchantment. Use this to Weaken foes and let them open for Primers and Detonations. Quickened will also boost resource generation and activate other synergies with gear and passives.
• Vortex Of Shadow – Ultimate: The best control Spell in the game, not only generates a lot of crowd control but damages foes in a wide radius. It benefits from all radius increase passives, and with this build, it can become the biggest AoE spell in the game. Rook also gains “Super Armor” while casting the spell, which makes them invulnerable to damage and other effects.

Chilled
: The Main Debuff caused by the Evoker – Causes Cold Damage over time in a (DoT) and slows attacks and movement from enemies. The base Stacks are 2 but can be increased with equipment and passives. The maximum number of stacks of the Chilled Affliction is 10.
Frozen:
prevents the target from moving, it activates when the target reaches the Maximum Chilled Stacks or when Rook’s abilities overcome the enemy Cold Damage Resistance.

Best Gear For Evoker In Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• Winter’s Breath: This Orb grants +30% Charged Damage, +25% damage vs. Chilled Enemies, Charged attacks apply Chilled, Chilled attacks also reduce Cold Resistance. (Enchant with +20% Barrier Damage). The perfect weapon for this build, it not only empowers the Evoker’s crowd control capabilities, but it also improves the Chilled effect and makes enemies weaker to Cold damage. A charged attack from this Orb guarantees a safe opening to cast an empowered Frost Nova, and then Dark Squall.
• Enchanted Athame: +50 Maximum Mana, Gain 2 Mana on hits with this Weapon, Deal 10% More Damage for every 50 Mana that Rook is missing. Abilities now cost +50 Mana, and deal +100% Bonus Damage. (Enchant with +10% Weapon Damage). When this weapon is equipped, abilities will be more expensive to cast, but they will be considerably more lethal. Having this as an alternate to a Staff is a good way to focus on abilities such as Entropic Sphere, which have less base damage but cause heavy crowd control effects. Frost Nova also benefits from this exponential damage increase, creating a lethal wave of Cold Damage that greatly staggers enemies.
• Glacial Rod: +20% Heavy attack Damage, Heavy attacks with this weapon apply and additional Chilled Stack on full Staff energy, +50 % Staff Energy generation, +2 Maximum Chilled Stacks. (Enchant with +40 Cold Damage). This staff improves both the Evoker’s resource generation when equipped, but also grants even more Maximum Affliction Charges for the Cold Damage primary effect, guaranteeing an even longer period of DoT on targets, and a more powerful slow effect due to the stacked Chilled Debuff.
• Tevinter Knight (Unique Light Armor): +50% Cold Resistance, -30% Fire Resistance, Every tenth hit blasts nearby enemies with 100 Cold Damage and applies Chilled. An absolute must-have for this build, that greatly benefits from all the passives picked from the Control and Shadow Dragon branches. Since many enemies in the game cause Fire Damage, we recommend enchanting it with +25% Fire Resistance to partially negate the negative resistance from this unique armor.
• Carastes Double Hat (Light Helm): +15% Mana Generation, +25% Stagger on Ability use, +30% Ability Damage if all share the same ability type, 25% Ability Cost refunded on impact. This Light helm is not only useful due to its damage increase properties, but it also pairs nicely with most of the passives we selected. Needless to say, if both pieces of armor are light, they will activate the Light Armor Mastery which increases Staff Energy Charge Rate by 20% and the Range of its attacks by 2m. (Enchant with +20% Advantage Duration).
• Twin Buckle Binding: This belt grants +27% duration of Potion effect, Grants Quickened on Potion Use, +10% Ability damage, Grants Enhanced Damage on Potion use, Heal for 100 upon using any Ability while Quickened. The ideal complement to the Evoker build, granting Quickened, which reduces cooldown durations, which is a great advantage for a Crowd Control class like the Evoker.
• Magister’s Bargain: This pendant grants the Evoker +20% Duration Ability damage, +25% Stagger for Duration Abilities, Gain 25 Mana on kills with Duration Abilities, Gain Health and Ultimate when using a Duration Ability while at least 2 Advantages are active. (Enchant with +25% Ultimate Damage). Needless to say, more Mana and resource generation each time the evoker uses one of its Duration Abilities (Like Entropic Sphere or Vortex of Shadow).
• Glacial Talus: This ring grants 6 Mana on kill, +15% Mana generation, +50 maximum Mana, Damage increases with current Mana (Enchant with +25% Mana Regeneration). More mana means more damage thanks to the passive of this Ring, and synergizes with all the Perks from the Evoker build, and with other items in this build that enlarge Rook’s Mana Pool.
• Band of Smoke: Another good accessory that grants +15% Cold damage, +25% Cold resistance, +20% Cold Ability damage vs. health, 50% of all other damage type bonuses contribute to the character’s Cold damage bonus (Enchant with +25% Mana Generation). This one is mainly focused on making all Cold Damage even more lethal, and to take all the other Damage Types (like Physical and Necrotic) and turn them into More Cold Damage %.

Just to clarify,
Mana Regeneration
is the passive effect of Rook regaining its main resource as a Mage and its active at all times.
Mana Generation
is the active part of the effect that acts similarly with Regeneration, stacks over it, and activates each time Rook attacks an enemy with an Agile or Charged Attack. (Only if no Conditional Effects are active, like “Charge Attacks now consume Mana and do X more damage.”)

Best Strategy For Evoker In Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Evoker Mages are masters of crowd control effects, but that doesn’t mean they do not cause harm to their rivals. Chilled enemies become Frozen and are vulnerable to Shatter, which, if it doesn’t kill them automatically, will cause heavy bleeding, plus impaired mobility and slowed attack speed. With this build, it is all about joining the fight, gaining control of the middle of the battlefield, and staying put, like a bulwark of frozen energy standing between the enemy and Rook’s allies.

The Evoker should always start the fight by jumping into the middle of the enemy group and casting Frost Nova, then moving away using Dodge Skills. Cast Shadow Squall to breach enemy defenses, causing Weakened and Staggered, and applying even more Cold Damage. Evokers are good at placing themselves right in the strategic point where they can exert control over the battlefield, and where their many CC abilities cause more disruption.

So, don’t be afraid to jump into the mix, there are many resources to dodge powerful attacks and as a last resort, they can use Mind Blast to push back foes. On the other hand, applying the right debuffs on enemies (Like Shattered or Weakened) opens up the possibility of generating opportunities for companions to land powerful skill shots.

Mages in Dragon Age: The Veilguard are not as weak and squishy as in past games, but they are vulnerable to physical damage, more so if they are overwhelmed by opponents like the Antaam who are resistant to magic and tend to rush towards Rook first.

Enemies in general have this dire need to attack Rook first, and since Companions seem to be immortal as long as Rook doesn’t fall in battle, keeping the Main Character alive at all times takes priority. For that, we are going to use as much crowd control as possible, even in the midst of battle when things turn south, a well-placed Dark Squall can shift the tide of battle in favor of the Veilguard.

The biggest AoE in the Game is Vortex of Shadow, a primal huge blast of energy that freezes opponents and drags them closer to a central spot, where they’re most vulnerable to follow-up attacks. Use this ultimate to clear the battlefield of annoying opponents, like Darkspawn and Demons, which tend to move around a lot. Frost Nova can be spammed, and with this build focused on resource generation and improved AoE, it becomes powerful enough to cheese the way out of even the most dangerous fights in the hardest difficulty modes.