Dragon Age: The Veilguard death mage build destroys enemies

Steal health and live forever with this deadly necromancer

The Death Caller marches into battle / BioWare

This Dragon Age: The Veilguard death mage build makes the game almost too easy. You’ll melt through health bars using devastating necrotic powers. Even on the highest difficulty, previously tough enemies go down in seconds.

In this guide, we’ll show you what skills to pick, as well as which gear to equip and what companions to roll with, in order to optimize this build to its fullest. In terms of Dragon Age: The Veilguard best squad synergies, however, we've got you covered.

We’re currently level 44, but you can unlock the specialization this build requires at level 20. This is the Death Caller specialization, which is located on the mage skill menu’s upper right. 

As mentioned, this is a brilliant endgame build intended for higher levels of difficulty, because honestly, on the easiest difficulty you’ll one-shot enemies with ease. 

The character screen of our Death Caller / BioWare

How to play

Unlike the Spellblade mage specialization, the Death Caller is more comfortable at range. You’ll be stealing your enemies’ life force and using it to restore both your health bar and mana before unleashing powerful spells. 

While this class leeches from your health and mana, you’ll be constantly topping up both pools as you fight, so you won’t run out of either. 

In the simplest possible terms, all you have to do is hold RT/R2 to shoot a continuous green beam from your staff using Mortal Concentration, then perform one of your four abilities when they become available.

Unleashing spells with our mage / BioWare

Key skills

By roughly level 40 you can unlock every skill this build calls for, but let’s highlight the most important ones and dig into why you’ll need them.

• Channelled Thoughts: Hold LB and X to generate up to 50 mana per second.
• Eclectic Armorer: 20% mana regen and -20% mana cost while wearing two different armor classifications.
• Death Surge: Hold RT and X to overcharge your ranged attack and deal 200% damage at a cost of 200% mana.
• Invigorating Beam: Your ranged attack now leeches 10% enemy health.
• Desperation: Gain bonus damage relative to the amount of health your target and you have lost.
• Mortalitasi: Actions that consume mana now consume health when mana is depleted.

Abilities

• Meteor: Call down an elemental meteor that crushes and burns enemies in its way. Detonates Sundered.
• Corrupted Ground: Corrupt an area on the battlefield. Applies Weakened.
• Spirit Bomb: Drain the life from enemies then throw it back in an explosion. Detonates Sundered.
• The Crypt’s Herald: Surround yourself with a necrotic storm.

The skill tree for our mage, which starts its Death Caller specialisation at level 20 / BioWare

Armor

• Iron Veil: When an enemy dies, it spawns an apparition that attacks nearby enemies. Get this helm from the crystal beam puzzle in the Waterfront Glades located in Arlathan Forest. Once the force field is removed, approach the chest and defeat the Guardian of Secret.
• The Iron Cast: Legendary heavy armor dealing necrotic damage. Can be purchased from the Mourn Watch faction shop for 525 gold.

Talismans/rings

• The Burden: +20% damage while at low health. Obtained by defeating the Revenant in the Converged City, which is part of The Heart of Corruption side quest.
• Maw of the Black City: Your ability damage is always a critical hit. Obtained in the Heights of Athim in the Crossroads. Defeated 50 enemies here then hit the red blight sack on the giant tree overlooking the area to reveal a chest.

Weapons

• The Bargain: Grants +400 health -50 Mana, and using an ability spends health instead of mana at 250% its cost. Buy from the Necropolis vendor after increasing them to rank 4.
• Fadelight: An epic arcane orb that deals 380 necrotic damage, although any orb doing necrotic damage will do provided you upgrade it, as well as enchant it at the caretaker.

Companions

• Harding: Her ‘apply Sundered’ ability partners nicely with your Meteor ability, and she has a healing ability if you need it.
• Taash: They detonate Weakened, which works with your Corrupted Ground ability which applies Weakened.

Runes

Scourge: All of your weapon attacks deal necrotic damage for 20 seconds. Buy it from the Antivan Crows merchant in Treviso.