Mage Gameplay Preview in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

• Dragon Age: The Veilguard features action-oriented combat.
• Mage class adapts to action-driven gameplay.
• Rook uses a staff for close-range and long-range spells.
• Mages have abilities like a close-range slam and energy spells.
• Release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on October 31.

Game Tips: Here's How the Mage Will Play in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is taking a more action-oriented approach to combat than its predecessors.

Early footage shows the sequel looking like it borders on a character action game.

As someone who plays a mage in every single one of these games, I was curious how The Veilguard was going to adapt the spellslinging class for that style of play.

We now have our first look at the class in action, and it looks pretty impressive.

Combat Style and Abilities

The footage comes from an NVIDIA tech showcase trailer meant to show The Veilguard's impressive ray tracing.

Tech enthusiasts can enjoy that, but I'm more concerned with how the mage class operates in the more action-driven combat.

Dragon Age II and Inquisition were closer to full-blown action RPGs but still leaned somewhat into the original Origins' tactical roots.

The Veilguard has pivoted away from them entirely, and how that would impact mages has been one of the biggest question marks hanging over the game.

Now we see a mage, Rook, the player character, using a staff capable of both close-range combat and long-range spells.

The mage seems to have a few tricks up their sleeve:

• A close-range slam ability
• A beam of green Fade-like magic to pester enemies from afar
• More powerful energy spells that can strike multiple enemies at once

Weapon Variety

The standard attack has you flicking your staff as you fire nondescript damage spells.

According to BioWare executive producer Michael Gamble, mage players will also be able to use an orb or dagger as their primary weapon instead of a staff.

So it sounds like even this trailer is only showing off one way to play the mage.

Release Information

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S on October 31.

Fans have been waiting for nearly a decade for the game as it will finally pick up where Dragon Age: Inquisition left off in 2015 with its Trespasser DLC.

If you've never played the games, there's still time to get caught up if you want to play just the most important stuff.

Check out the video below for a sneak peek at the mage class in action.