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When creating your character in Dragon Age Veilguard, you’ll choose to align with one of the factions, but determining which one is the best can be challenging. Each of the six factions has its own perks, including distinct dialogue options and slight stat boosts.
Throughout the main quest of Dragon Age Veilguard, you’ll collaborate with all factions to strengthen their position, which will unlock exclusive weapons, armor, and gear specific to each faction. Therefore, understanding the various factions in Dragon Age Veilguard is crucial, especially regarding their strengths and how you can boost the influence of each group.
Top Dragon Age Veilguard Factions
Among the six factions available during character creation, the Antivan Crows stand out as the best choice primarily due to their extra potion slot. That said, the competition is close, and ultimately, the choice depends on your priorities. There isn’t a definitive best faction, as all six have their unique advantages.
It’s worth mentioning that throughout Dragon Age Veilguard, you’ll gain similar benefits from other channels and can find items like a Rune to provide an extra potion. However, choosing the Antivan Crows eliminates the hassle of searching for these bonuses, making it a helpful and valuable choice for any player build.
If you’re aiming to please a particular companion or emphasize a certain playstyle—like choosing the Veil Jumpers for a critical-heavy Rogue—then any of the other factions are also great options. None are significantly stronger or weaker in a practical sense, so go with what fits your character concept instead of stressing over optimization.
All Dragon Age Veilguard Factions
As noted, Dragon Age Veilguard offers six factions for players to choose from, with other factions mentioned in the game, including the Inquisition and various enemy groups like the Antaam. Choosing a faction during character creation grants you several advantages:
- Faster reputation gain with that specific faction (known as Strength)
- Increased damage against a specific type of enemy
- Unique dialogue options with relevant companions
Each faction has distinct features and advantages, especially related to their associated companions and specific buffs. Below is a summary of all the available factions:
Faction | Increases Damage Against | Ability/Buff | Associated Companion | Who are they? |
---|---|---|---|---|
Grey Wardens | Darkspawn | Defense/Health Increased | Davrin | Paladin knights battling the Blight |
Veil Jumpers | Fade-Touched | Increased critical and weakpoint damage | Bellara | Scholars of ancient Elven magic |
Shadow Dragons | Venatori | Faster class-specific resource regeneration | Neve | Stealthy resistance fighters against Venatori blood mages |
Lords of Fortunes | Mercenaries | More frequent combat takedowns | Taash | Lively treasure hunters and mercenaries |
The Mourn Watch | Undead / Demons | Creates one extra affliction stack on enemies | Emmrich | Necromancers exploring the mysteries of life and death. |
Antivan Crows | Antaam | One additional potion slot | Lucanis | Assassins who protect their land from the shadows. |
If you’re currently in character creation, relax—there are options to modify your character’s appearance at the hub area you unlock soon into the game. However, once you select a faction, you cannot change it later, so choose wisely as your faction is a permanent part of your character’s story.
As you start your journey in Dragon Age Veilguard and explore the class skill trees, you’ll notice that three of the six skill segments are linked to one of these factions (for instance, the Warrior has sections dedicated to the Lords of Fortune, Grey Wardens, and Mourn Watch). The faction names primarily serve to enhance the flavor of your experience and categorize specific skills; they don’t impose any major restrictions. If you choose the Grey Wardens yet prefer skills from the Lords of Fortune, that’s perfectly acceptable.
Enhancing Dragon Age Veilguard Faction Strength
In Dragon Age Veilguard, every faction has a Strength rating that reflects its reputation. This system means that helping a specific faction will increase its Strength. However, it’s important to note that certain decisions, such as selections in the Minrathous or Treviso areas, might negatively impact a faction’s Strength.
You can check the Strength of all factions on the World tab of your map screen within a small sub-menu on the left side. All factions start off Weak, but you can boost their Strength by doing the following:
- Completing main quests and side quests connected to a specific faction (consult the Factions and Regions quest section within your journal)
- Selling valuables to a faction’s merchant
The primary advantage of boosting a faction’s strength is that reaching specific Strength levels allows you to upgrade the ranking of the faction’s merchant, granting you access to improved gear and gear upgrades in Dragon Age Veilguard. Additionally, remember that the faction you select during character creation receives a slight head start on gaining Strength, making it somewhat easier to upgrade their shop.
Many top RPGs weave faction dynamics into their gameplay and narratives, and Dragon Age 4 is no exception. To read our full review and get our insights, check out our Dragon Age Veilguard review.