#dav build

[veilkeeper]

corentin laidir: level 50 spellblade build

while there's still a few things i need to tweak (mainly, i might move enchantments and runes around), i'm overall pretty happy with calling this corentin's "final build", so i'm sharing it now.

note that i didn't follow any guides for this and i actually deviate off of what guides will tell you to do for spellblades. i did this entirely based on how i play the game, so this is less a "you should do this" and more a "here's what i did, see if you like it, too."

but basically, if you want an orb-and-dagger mage build that does takedowns that heal you constantly, this might interest you. it pretty comfortably carried me through the entire game on adventurer, even with all-mage parties. might even be a good candidate for a nightmare run, if that's your style.

Skill Tree

first and foremost, obviously, for the purposes of this build we went Spellblade for the specialization. in the early game, building in the Burst and Crow trees is going to be your best bet. scooch into Sustain or climb up into Control whenever you have spare points, and build hard into the specialization as soon as you have high enough levels.

for abilities, Arcane Shot, Chain Lightning, and Dark Squall are good early game candidates, because they'll give you a variety of damage types. Chain Lightning is also going to apply Overwhelm, which can be detonated by our rogues. I personally skipped Storm Surge, because i found it redundant with my beautiful wife chain lightning on the bar.

in the endgame: Void Blade, Chain Lightning OR Arcane Shot (switch out as desired), and Ice Blast. Void Blade detonates Sundered, which combined with Chain Lightning lets you prime and detonate both ways with rogues (kinda hot if you're romancing lucanis or harding), and Ice Blast applies Weakened which will prime warriors.

"kellan, why are you emphasizing having so many damage types on your ability bar?" two reasons. 1) if you build too hard into the crow/spellblade trees then as soon as you hit antaam or other electric resistant enemies you're going to cry, and 2) there's a handy passive called Prism of Resistance that gives you +10% resistance to the damage types of each ability you have on your bar, which is just nice.

for ultimates: i keep the spellblade ultimate Thunderous End on hand most of the time, but the default ultimate Destructive Light is solid, especially in darkspawn heavy zones.

passives and traits are going to be an imprecise science; the exact ones you pick are largely up to you, but here's my suggestions:

Prism of Resistance. see above.

Medium Armour Mastery. this one's good for your build whether you use the equipment i do or not, because it boosts your critical, final, charged attack, and agile attack damage if you wear all medium armour.

Spirit Blade. get this asap. it makes the heavy attack at the end of a chain of light attacks into a spinning blade that shoots out in front of you, and later you can get Spirit of Vengeance to get a second one. this can hit quite a few enemies at once and detonate the arcane bomb stack(s) on a crowd.

Imbued Takedown. takedowns give you shocking weapons, and shocking weapons deal more stagger. win-win.

after that, take passives in the following priority order:

anything that increases your stagger generation. do the same thing with your companions. seriously, it's important for what's coming up next.

anything that upgrades blast or strike abilities, because everything we use is at least one of those.

anything that buffs/adds stacks of Arcane Mark/Arcane Bomb, which are your baseline orb+dagger combos. as an aside, make sure you are following the light-light-light-heavy attack chain structure as much as humanly possible, it is your bread and butter with an orb+dagger.

anything that buffs Shocked or Burning afflictions that we apply.

Equipment

*disclaimer that aside from where specified, i do not know where i got the equipment/upgrades named. i 100%ed the map, i don't remember where everything was, sorry!

this is what makes the build really come together, so pay attention. in the early game, use whatever you want, but in act 2 you want to get two items as fast as possible:

The Garb of Kinship, a medium armour you purchase from Holden in Hossberg, and The Call of the Hall, a unique ring you get after defeating the 10th wave of enemies in the Hall of Valour.

Here's why:

the Call of the Hall gives you a random advantage (those green effects that float over your health in the bottom left corner during combat) whenever you perform a takedown, and the Garb of Kinship increases your damage for every advantage you have and, more importantly once you unlock its legendary effect, heals you 5% every time you gain an advantage.

this is why it's wildly important to get as much stagger as humanly possible. this combination will keep your health topped up, no potions or healing companions necessary. i've gone into darkspawn infested areas with taash and davrin and never even had to pop a potion because of how effective this can be.

and before you even unlock the healing effect, this combo gives a pretty significant bonus to your damage once you get a few takedowns in. +40-50% damage in most encounters is nothing to scoff at.

other equipment:

orb: my preferred is the unique orb Mage's Gambit, but any high stagger electric orb will do the job. i also used to use Urthemiel's Ash in darkspawn areas (not really necessary with Mage's Gambit) and i use Veilsong when i'm going out with the ghostbusters.

mageknife: Spellcaster's Stiletto. i'm taking the hit to stagger gen for the +20 defense per active advantage, but Thorn of Misfortune is also a really solid pick for this build and i used it for ages.

helm: i use the Helm of Light and Shadow for the increased detonation damage and the extra stagger on detonation, but any medium helm that you like will work.

belt: Hardbitten Belt. stagger in an AoE on potion use and passive extra takedown damage. Glorious Ultimatum might also be hilarious here, if you want a high-risk-high-reward version of this build.

amulet: i'm using the All-Mother's Copse for buffs on my blast abilities (void blade, arcane shot, ice blast). i think A Pale Reflection might actually be interesting in this build too, though i haven't tested it.

rings: Call of the Hall obviously, and then the Amaranthine Loop for increased stagger and takedown damage. once you get the legendary effect, it will also make takedowns more lethal, which turns combat into comedy (seriously, the first time you stagger a crowd and do 5 lethal takedowns in a row you will be howling).

staff: who cares? you don't need it where we're going.

use whatever runes you want, honestly i just use ravage half the time. you'll only ever need them for boss fights.

Enchantments

exactly what equipment you put the enchantments on doesn't matter mostly, since you're going to be using the same stuff once you have everything, but here's what i have.

+ Stagger

+ Barrier Damage

+ Advantage Duration (advantages are super helpful, and Call of the Hall is giving them to us for free)

+ Healing Received (i'm pretty sure this also affects the Garb of Kinship healing, though i haven't properly tested)

+1 Max Potion

+ Mana Generation

another good option is +Armour Damage, which is what i have on my backup fire orb. and don't forget to add enchantments to your abilities!

if you try this, let me know! i'd love to see if it works for you.

[kiivg]

.ngl Davrin came out of nowhere and just hehehehehehhehe 👉👈😳💕.

[soupandsorcery]

modern AU where lucanis teaches cooking classes on the weekend while he figures out what he wants to do with his life and rook gets dragged to one by their friend bellara, who is trying to learn to make the perfect italian food as part of her research for a book she's writing

[arlathen]

it's funny that andrastianism was right but like a thousand years too early. like no a god and his (once?) mortal beloved didn't inhabit the golden city but. they do now.

[valka-arialitan]

Maybe one warden didn't follow the ''everyone back to Weisshaupt'' order ?

Maybe someone's still out there fighting for Ferelden ?

Maybe a hero is buying time for his people and king to get to Skyhold safely ?

And maybe, just maybe he'll make it out alive once more...?

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

the lovers

[sashthesloth]

I'm going to rotate them in my mind.. the angst potential for my poor poor Rook . .... .

[thedarkangel74]

Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard's secret ending

I am of two or more minds of the 'Executors' as presented at the end of the game.

On the one hand, it seems very much like it's taking away the agency of the villains. It is not their fault they did evil things; they were manipulated into doing so by beings that were pulling the strings of history. Its a lazy trope, and there is a reason why its been parodied and spoofed so many times. Its a lazy attempt to scale up a big bad by retroactively making them responsible for someone else atrocities. Especially we haven't seen any evidence of someone other then the antagonists being the ones responsible for their actions. And the trope has its roots in antisemitism, so fun.

On the other hand, I am a sucker for hooded figures acting out their own agenda while everyone is none the wiser. (I am a big fan of Darth Sidious) It is so much fun with the right buildup and attention to detail. Since Dragon Age is more or less an anthology of stories rather than one overarching story, I don't see this as something easily pulled off by the next game

On the other hand, I am reminded of that old theory about Origins, about how the Players themselves are 'The Maker', being the ones who control and dictate the actions of Origin and each subsequent game. In the act of playing Dragon Age, we are stripping the protagonist's agency. Granted, the game and story cannot happen if the player doesn't play the game. So, I wonder if that's what's happening with the Executors. Either they serve as another stand-in for the maker or a stand-in for fans of the series whose impact and choices have impacted the lives of the people in Thedas for decades.

Again, this all depends on how well Bioware/EA executes this story idea. And if we even get a Dragon Age Five. I hope we do because I love the series and Veilguard even getting made was an uphill battle.

[yappacadaver]

The way he calls you “my heart” just before having that thang cut out forever

[ruushes]

i probably won't be around much for the next however long while i play the game, unless i come back to make stupid jokes and/or complain, in which case i'll be tagging 'dav spoilers', 'datv spoilers', and 'veilguard spoilers' in the interest of redundancy, godspeed everyone 🫡

[twist-shout-and-shells]

They're gonna do the Inquisitor as dirty in Veilguard as they did Hawke in Inquisition, huh?

[veilkeeper]

how do you deal with how slow the staff is considering enemies always rush rook? even with davrin and taash taunting I have a hard time.

i havent gotten super far into the game with this build yet so i'm sure this'll change, but so far im building into ice abilities and making my way over to evoker. so in the few encounters i've had where this is an issue i've used a combo of movement (the ability that makes perfect dodges slow time is good), companion slow time abilities, and frost nova to freeze as many enemies as i can.

[redlyriumidol]

the solas's tragic lonely cup and plate thing is sending me. truly hoisted by his own petard, trapped in a prison of his own making. solas you could have been doing shots with the inquisitor but no. instead I shall party hard with all my friends (because i have those) on the dusty bones of your failed hopes and dreams

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

and that's that!!

[bunabi]

what made you change your mind about not playing da4? i remembered you saying you wouldn't awhile back and i was curious

Warning for possible DAV spoilers:

I'm just on a Dragon Age high lately & more optimistic about DAV now that they've revealed more information

Still on the fence about when I'll be playing it; I still have concerns and I want to make sure this is still a choice-based game at its core before going all-in

I'm 100% sympathetic to their situation enough to overlook stuff like the simplified combat & design changes—DA2 made the same tough calls and it's my favorite in the series, plus its nbd to me regardless—but some details make me worried this will be Inquisition 2.0, like Rook being hero-locked with no room for evil things like blood magic

I love DA for its replay value re: exploring different outcomes & experiencing the companions and quests from multiple angles. Everything else is just detail to me. I'm not the type to play one origin one way over and over, I don't care for being a diehard whoever-mancer, and I don't want to finish DAV feeling like I'd seen everything worth seeing in one sitting again.

So long as that's still a thing I'll be there! 😭

[davastationart]