Summary
- Battle Robes offer resistance against Venatori enemies, perfect for mages early in the game.
- Forest Guardian's Veil boosts ranged staff attacks and improves weak point damage.
- Jumper's Deft Leathers enhance mana regen and provide defense based on maximum mana.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard has a lot of loot for players to choose from, but they need to be aware that for certain classes, like the Mage, armor is as important as accessories or weapons. In this list, we will cover the best Early-Game armor for Mages.
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With an RNG loot system, it is not always possible to obtain the best armor, but some of these are sold by Faction Sellers. With that said, let's take a look at the best armor pieces players can get access to from an early stage of their latest adventure in Thedas, alongside their perks, and the approximate location of randomly generated gear.
Updated March 5, 2025 by Lucas Simons: Ever since Dragon Age: The Veilguard was released back in 2024, players have been fiddling around with many possible builds, especially for mages, which seem to be the most popular class in the game. Spellblades, Deathcallers, and Evokers all use their preferred meta picks for armor, and it is quite difficult to get proper choices for dressing their mages in the earlier game.
Helmets are also an important part of their equipment, so, there are two new entries in this list to reflect the best possible choices for mages that are starting their adventure, or for veterans trying to squeeze another playthrough using a different build for their characters.
1 Helm Of Light And Shadow (Medium Armor)
One Of The Best Helm Options Players Can Find Early
- Uncommon Perk: +25% Detonation damage
- Rare Perk: +25% Stagger applied by Detonations
- Epic Perk: Gain Detonation damage based on your companion relationship
- Legendary Perk: Companion cooldowns reduced by 50% when they perform a Detonation
Players will come across the first Helm of Light and Shadow while completing the The Missing Relic Case Quest alongside Neve Gallus. This Helmet is located in a locked area near the Spare A Coin Boulevard. Right across the path that leads to the docks. Players need to jump over some fallen columns, and there will be a Chest inside near the corpse of a Venatori soldier.
This Helmet is great for two reasons, it can be quickly upgraded by purchasing another one from the Tailor in the Dock Town Market district. So, improving it early on will not be a problem. Players will immediately have 25% extra Denotation damage, which is a lot. This damage overcomes most shields and helps them take down bosses and difficult enemies such as Ogres and Qunari. As the Helmet is improved in quality later on (by purchasing a third from the Shadow Dragon seller when players reach Rank 3) it will also offer extra Stagger damage when applying Detonation effects.
2 Crow's Bill (Light Helmet)
The Best Light Helmet For Spellblades In The Early Game
- Uncommon:+20% Final attack damage
- Rare: +50% Stagger from Final attacks
- Epic: Every third Final attack deals bonus damage
- Legendary: +100% Final attack damage but -20% Light and Heavy attack damage
This helmet is especially useful for Spellblade Builds, since it offers an extra 20% to Final Attack Damage, and Spellblades use lots of combos that apply that effect and benefit from other buffs unlocked through its Perk tree. Players can find this Light Helmet while perusing through the Treviso Canals Market, in the Armor Seller stall. Since it's Light Armor, it doesn't offer too much protection, but it will also offer better resource regeneration than Medium and Heavy armor.
Once players have advanced through some of the Crows of Antiva questlines, they will also find a second and third version of this Helmet, improving it quite fast for a powerful early build that causes even more Stagger damage, and bonus damage with every third Final attack of the combo sequences. This is powerful enough to be considered broken in early and mid stages, more so if players manage to get a decent Orb and Spellblade.
3 Battle Robes (Light Armor)
Great Advantage Versus Venatori, Scales With Shadow Dragon Faction
- Uncommon Perk: +25% Resistance vs. Venatori Enemies
- Rare Perk: +20 Defense Relative to Shadow Dragons Allied Strength
- Epic Perk: Immune to Afflictions applied by your Faction-sworn enemies
- Legendary Perk: Gain Rally Party vs. Mercenaries and Dragons
The Battle Robes are a piece of Light Armor that players can find earlier during the adventure, after completing the Dock Town Quest with Neve Gallus. Players can purchase it from the Shadow Dragons Faction Shop for 350 Gold, and it comes with the Uncommon Perk unlocked.
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Throughout the adventure, players will find more drops of the same item to upgrade it until it reaches Legendary Rank, but this is a great piece to start with. It's particularly useful since it offers a lot of resistance against Venatori enemies, which are the most prolific in the whole game, and a menace for all squishy mages.
4 Forest Guardian's Veil (Medium Helm)
Great Medium Helm For Every Purpose, Powers Up Ranged Staff Attacks
- Uncommon Perk: +15% Weakpoint Damage
- Rare Perk: +25% Damage vs. Barrier
- Epic Perk: +10 Weakpoint Damage relative to Veil Jumper Faction Strength
- Legendary Perk: Weakpoint Hits on enemies with Barrier are Critical
The Forest Guardian's Veil can be acquired early in the adventure, during the Arlathan Forest first quest after recruiting Bellara and breaching the first barrier, defeating the Darkspawn in the process. Turn to the small ruins with the portcullis and there will be a chest there with this Medium Helm.
It will not have its first Perk active, but players can later acquire it from the Veil Jumper's shop by purchasing a duplicate of this item. The extra weakpoint damage is great for Staff users who rely on their weapon's charge attack. As this helm is improved and unlocks other perks, it will cause even more weak point damage depending on the player's Faction Strength with the Veil Jumpers, and also more damage to barrier enemies.
5 Dalish Wraps (Light Armor)
A Great Choice For Light Armor Mages
- Uncommon Perk: +20% Mana Regeneration
- Rare Perk: -20% Blocking Mana Cost
- Epic Perk: -20% Ranged Mana Cost
- Legendary Perk: Gain Immovable when mana goes above 150 (60 second Cooldown)
The Dalish Wraps are Light Armor that's purchasable from the Veil Jumpers shop in Arlathan for 350 gold. It provides a +20% to Mana Regeneration right from the start, since it will be an Uncommon piece of gear. This is ideal for every mage, since Mana Regeneration is hard to come by in the game and is essentially what keeps the skill rotation going during combat.
It also empowers Ranged attacks with the Staff and Orbs, so when this piece of Light Armor evolves into an Epic version, it will significantly reduce the cost of those attacks. The Legendary Perk provides a powerful combat advantage that allows players to forget about crowd control and cast their spells with absolute freedom.
6 Jumper's Deft Leathers (Light Armor)
Power Ups, Mana Regen, And Maximum Mana
- Uncommon Perk: +50 Maximum Mana
- Rare Perk: +15% Mana Generation
- Epic Perk: Gain 20% of Maximum Mana Value as Defense
- Legendary Perk: After using an Ability with Mana cost, gain 20% of the Mana cost as Ability Damage for 6 seconds
The Jumper's Deft Leathers can be randomly obtained by opening chests throughout the Arlathan Forest and Crossroads maps, and provides several great perks for Mages. The first one increases Maximum Mana by 50, while the second provides Mana Generation, which, contrary to Mana Regeneration, provides extra Mana every time the Mage attacks.
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The third perk provides defense based on the maximum Mana, which is great for mitigating damage, and we know Mages are extra squishy, and they desperately need some way to become more resistant. Its last perk will be unlocked once the armor reaches Legendary Rank; it is a damage buff activated each time the player casts a Spell, which grants a percentage of the Mana used as Ability Damage.
7 Time Tested Trappings (Medium Armor)
Great For Combo Attacks, Recovers Mana And Ultimate
- Uncommon Perk: +25% Primer Duration
- Rare Perk: +10% Primer Effectiveness
- Epic Perk: Hits against Primed Enemies generate 1% Ultimate and 2 Mana
- Legendary Perk: Gain 10% Health when generating a Primer
This Medium Armor can be randomly dropped from Chests all around Arlathan Forest and The Crossroads. It enhances ability combos with companions by increasing the window of opportunity after an ally performs a combination attack to take advantage of Primers.
Primers are an important mechanic for mages, since most enemies have a lot of elemental resistance, and the mage's whole kit is centered around causing damage according to the four elements (Cold, Fire, Electric, and Necrotic). When an enemy is weakened and sundered, it will be Primed for Detonations, and most spells can take advantage of the Primed state to cause even more damage. Rook can also generate Primers using certain skills, and the Control Mage/Evoker Skill section specializes in doing so. The Time Tested Trappings play right into this specialization.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 71%
- Released
- October 31, 2024
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- BioWare
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Frostbite
- Franchise
- Dragon Age
- PC Release Date
- October 31, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
