The first few areas of Dragon Age: The Veilguard introduce players to most of the game’s basic features. However, there are a few features they only touch on lightly, and some are skipped over completely. While many gamers will be able to figure things out from there, others may have trouble figuring out what to do.
Ability swapping is one of those features in Dragon Age: The Veilguard that could stand to have more instructions. This guide will attempt to fill in the blanks, explain how to swap abilities and skills for Rook and his companions, and outline how one can upgrade and improve these abilities.
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How to Swap Rook’s Abilities in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
While you can earn new abilities on the Skills tab, you’ll need to visit the Character tab to swap them in. On this tab, you should see the symbol of each active ability directly below your character. Click on any of them to change which ones you have equipped.
- The abilities you currently have equipped have a white outline.
- You can swap between ability slots without having to go back to the Character tab.
- The fourth slot is for your ultimate ability. Only other ultimate abilities can use the fourth slot.
One important thing to note is that you can’t change your abilities during combat. The Character tab is unavailable while your weapons are out, so you won’t be able to change your equipment or your skills. If you have a bad loadout for a specific fight, your best option is to flee the combat, swap things around, and then come back.
How to Swap Companion Abilities in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
You can change companion abilities the same way you change Rook’s. The main difference is that you must do so from the Companions tab, and select each companion individually.
Each companion has three damaging abilities, one healing ability, and one buffing ability. They also get a special non-combat ability that’s always active, and their main weapon applies a unique bonus when you tell them to “Attack My Target.” Finally, they each have a special “Hero of the Veilguard” skill that unlocks later on.
- While each companion ability has its own cooldown time, this time applies to all their abilities, not just the one you used.
- Some companions start with fewer than five abilities. They’ll get the rest as you progress through the main story quests.
- Like Rook, you can only change companions’ abilities and equipment outside of combat.
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How to Upgrade Abilities in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
The skill trees for Rook and for companions are completely different. Not only do they have different shapes, but you also get points for them from different sources.
- Rook gains skill points by completing challenges, killing enemies, and finishing quests. Companions get skill points when you upgrade your bond with them, which happens when you take them on quests they care about and choose dialog options they agree with.
- Rook can gain skills, upgrades, passives, and new abilities by selecting any node adjacent to an active upgrade. Companions have individual skill trees for each of their abilities.
- Rook can only choose one specialty, but the rest of their skill tree is always available. Companions have several mutually exclusive upgrades, and choosing one path blocks off the other.
For instance, after spending two upgrade points on Fade Bolts, Bellara can choose between Veiled Courage (which doubles the Stagger caused) or Direct Current (which applies Shocked to nearby enemies). You don’t have to choose either upgrade, but picking one means you can’t pick the other.
Rook’s upgrades are less direct than their companions’. Each ability has one or two types (Control, Projectile, Blast, Strike, Duration, Area, etc.) and Ability Upgrades in the skill tree apply to every ability that shares the listed type. For instance, the starting ability for mages is Arcane Shot, which has Projectile and Blast. This means that you can upgrade it with Veil Blasts and Bombastic (Blast), along with Multiplicity and Supercharged (Projectile).
One last feature worth mentioning is that you can always refund your skill points for no cost. You can refund them one at a time by clicking on an active node, or you can refund all of them at once by hitting the button in the lower-left corner of the screen. You can’t refund a node if other active nodes depend on it, but that’s the only restriction.
- Released
- October 31, 2024
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong