There’s a lot of Dragon Age: The Veilguard companion news to catch up on

By Carli Velocci Published August 26, 2024

The seven The Veilguard companions lined up in a composite image. — Electronic Arts

Dragon Age: The Veilguard will likely live and die by its companions, so it makes sense that developer BioWare and publisher Electronic Arts would dedicate an entire week to introducing them.

Starting Monday, fans got a much more detailed look at the seven companions who will accompany the player character, Rook, throughout the open-world adventure: Harding, Davrin, Bellara, Taash, Lucanis, Emmrich, and Neve.

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To begin our Companions Week, let us first reacquaint ourselves with the #Veilguard.

First, we have Lace Harding – The Scout

[Caption text: Harding’s skills with the bow are unmatched – her arrows can stagger enemies and shred armor.]#DragonAge pic.twitter.com/0zyQkjij00

— Dragon Age (@dragonage) August 26, 2024

There are new, excellent character profiles over on EA’s website that include short bios and a list of abilities, but here are some highlights — or rather, my highlight. The companion I’m drawn to immediately is Neve Gallus, a private detective and ice mage with an allegiance to the Shadow Dragons. There’s also Emmrich Volkarin, who is a 2-for-1 necromancer with a skeleton assistant named Manfred (there are no details on him just yet, unfortunately).

Fans can learn even more about the companions thanks to Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance, an eight-part podcast series that debuts this week and will feature each companion and their voice actors.

BioWare also released more fun information over the weekend. The social media team posted the results of an internal survey concerning the developers’ favorite class to play on X (formerly Twitter). Rogue was the top pick (specifically the veil ranger), followed by mage and warrior (the least popular being the champion). It seems like the newer archetypes are the most popular, which isn’t too surprising. We also got a breakdown of Rook’s warrior combat, including basics and how specific abilities work.

Do note that there are minor spoilers in all of these blog posts and videos, so if you want to go into Dragon Age: The Veilguard blind, now is the time to log off until the game releases on October 31.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Carli is a technology, culture, and games editor and journalist. They were the Gaming Lead and Copy Chief at Windows Central…

Gaming

How long is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

A vista in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

BioWare RPGs are known for being lengthy adventures. Whether it is one of the Mass Effect games or older Dragon Age titles, you can expect a hefty playtime full of adventure, charming companions, and side content. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the first game in the series in 10 years and is far more action-heavy than previous entries, but does that mean it will lean on the shorter side? Or is this game a return to the old BioWare and something you can easily sink 40-plus hours into? There are a few ways to answer that question, and it will vary slightly from person to person, but here's about how long you can expect it to take you to beat Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
How long is Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

While it isn't quite an open-world game, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is still huge, with expansive hubs full of side content to explore. It also features incredibly customizable difficulty settings that can vastly influence your playtime. All that being said, if you were to take a balanced approach to exploring, doing side content, and playing on a difficulty level that challenges you a bit, expect the game to last you around 40 hours. You can probably shave off around 10 hours if you mainline the story, and maybe a bit more if you set the difficulty to the lowest level to just experience the story.

Gaming

Can you change classes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Knights below a giant dragon in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Before you begin your quest to save Thedas in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you need to make several important decisions. While you're making your character, you will customize your race, appearance, background, and more, but the most impactful decision is which class you pick. There are only three options: Warrior, Mage, and Rogue, but each one is highly customizable, with dozens of skills and ways to specialize them. We know that you can freely change your appearance after you've left the character creator, and there is an easy way to respec your skill points, but does the game also let you swap classes or do you need to give very careful thought when choosing?
Can you change classes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Once you've made your choice between Warrior, Mage, and Rogue while creating your character, you're stuck with it. There is no way to change to a new class without restarting the entire game from scratch.

Gaming

Which class should you pick in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

A wizard and night in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

The character creator in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is incredibly deep. You can fully manipulate almost every aspect of your Rook, from their race down to their hair and eye color. Once you've finally settled on what you want to look lik,e you will need to make an even more important choice: what you want the game to play like. You will be presented with three choices for what class you want to be, each one with its own skill tree, specializations, weapons, and approach to combat. Unlike your skills or appearance, once you pick a class in the character creator, you're stuck with it. There's no changing your mind unless you are willing to start the game over with a new character. The game will give you a brief explanation of the classes, but it won't be enough to make an informed decision. Here's a detailed look at what you can expect from each class and whether or not it would be right for you.
Warrior

The Warrior class is the tank of the group and is perfect for players who want to be in the heart of the action. They wear heavy armor and can swap between a sword and shield or a single two-handed weapon like an axe. You will still have some ranged options, such as throwing your shield and a few abilities, but the main focus is building up rage and unleashing strong melee abilities or areas of effect (AoEs).