Breaking Down Dragon Age: Veilguard Classes and Factions

As part of the character creation process for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, players will need to select both a class for their player-controlled Rook and a faction. After customizing much of your Rook’s body—including things like the type and material of a Qunari’s horn, for example—with the hundreds of options available in Veilguard, it’s time to choose said class.

There are three classes to choose from: Rogue, Mage, and Warrior. As their names suggest, each has a unique combat system and therefore plays differently. While you’ll perform light and heavy attacks using the same buttons, the effect of those attacks will vary depending on your class. For example, a warrior armed with a sword and shield can hip-fire or aim their shield to throw it like Captain America, while a mage can use that same button to unleash ranged magic attacks. Learn more about Veilguard combat in game Informers exclusive feature here. Additionally, as you spec out these classes and unlock their individual specializations, the differences will only grow even more.

• Thief has access to three specializations. The Duelist is the fastest of the three, with two blades for rapid strikes; the Saboteur uses tricks and traps; and the Veil Ranger is purely ranged, shooting enemies from afar with a bow.
• The Wizard can use necromancy with the Death Caller specialization; Evokers wield fire, ice, and lightning; and the Spellblade uses magic-infused melee attacks.
• The warrior can become a Reaper, who uses night blades to steal life and risk death to gain unnatural abilities; a Slayer, a simple but powerful two-handed weapons expert; or the Champion, a tactical defense fighter.

While these specializations don’t matter initially – you rank them up via the skill trees as you progress through the game – it’s nice to see the potential of each class before choosing it.

For the penultimate step of the character creator, at least during the demo BioWare shows me, players select a faction. The Gray guards return, joined by other returning favorites and new additions like the Anti-van crowsTHE Mourning watchTHE Shadow Dragonspirate theme Lords of Fortunethis is what I chose in my demo for the moment game Informer cover story, and the Voile sweaters.

Each faction has unique casual clothing, which is worn in specific cutscenes when the character is not wearing armor, and three unique traits. Lords of Fortune, for example, gain reputation with that particular faction, take increased damage against mercenaries, and eliminate enemies with slightly less effort. Veilguard game director Corinne Busche explains that this faction selection, which is tied to your character’s history, determines who your Tower was before, how she met Varric, why she travels with Varric instead of her faction , and more.

“The message of The Veilguard is that you don’t save the world by yourself: you need your companions, but you also need these factions, these other groups in the world,” creative director John Epler tells me. “You help them, they now help you.”

He says BioWare wanted to avoid having to gather 200 random resources or items before helping you save the world. Instead, the team aimed to create factions that want to help you but have realistic challenges and problems in front of them so that, narratively, it makes sense to help them in exchange for their help when the time comes.

“In terms of gameplay, each of our classes has a specialization and each of them is tied to a faction,” Epler continues. “But beyond that, each faction has a [companion] as well as [people we’re calling agents, ancillarily] who exist as the faces of these factions. We didn’t just want to say, “Here are the Gray Wardens, go deal with them.” “We wanted characters within that faction who were likable, who you could see and become the face of the faction, so that even though there are times when the faction as a whole may disagree with you, these characters be always with you; They always have your back.”

If you want to change your character’s physical appearance, you can do so with the Transformation Mirror, found in Veilguard’s main hub, The Lighthouse. However, class, lineage, and identity are locked and cannot be changed once you select them in the game‘s character creator.

[Editor’s Note: This article previously stated players can change their physical appearance, class, lineage, and identity using the Mirror of Transformation. That is incorrect as class, lineage, and identity are locked after you first select those. The article has been updated to reflect that, and game Informer apologizes for any confusion this mistake may have caused.]

For more on the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features, and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below.