Best early game weapon for warriors in Dragon Age: Veilguard.

Key Takeaways

• The Executioner's Blade is an early game purchase from the Antivan Crow Faction Vendor in Treviso, making it ideal for Shield-Bearer Rooks.
• Shadow Shards enhance the necrotic damage and spread the pain found in the Sea of ​​Blood quest in the Crypt.
• Hard Way Swords are easy to obtain and powerful, allowing you to reduce enemy defense with each attack and deal extra damage when defense is 0.

warrior Dragon Age: Veilguard They are powerful vanguards and warriors who cut through their enemies with brutal force, and to do so, they need the best weapons to make full use of their abilities. While it's not always possible to get the perfect weapon in the early stages of the game, there are plenty of early game options for those playing Warrior Rook.

Warriors wield one-handed swords, pickaxes, axes, and shields, and can also carry two-handed weapons such as greataxes, warhammers, and polearms. This catalog shows players how to find the eight best weapons they can obtain early in the game, along with full descriptions of their builds and perks.

8 Executioner's Blade

standard one handed sword

• Uncommon: +30% Charged Attack Damage
• Rare: +25% Stagger from Charged Attacks
• Epic: Charged attacks deal critical damage against overwhelmed enemies.
• Legendary: Charged attacks deal additional damage proportional to the enemy's stagger.

The Executioner's Blade can be purchased from the Antivan Crow Faction Vendor in Treviso for 600 gold. This blade is a standard sword and deals more damage with charged attacks, dealing significant damage to Stagger Bar Depleted targets. The two first perks for this sword are easy to obtain in the early stages of the game, as there are multiple copies of this sword in both Minrathous and Treviso in the early quests.

This blade is ideal for players looking to build a Shield-Bearer Rook and is a solid choice for players looking to counter and generate more takedowns. The Warrior skill tree has many perks that benefit from inflicting stagger, as well as perks that generate health and ultimate energy each time the player executes a takedown, so the Executioner's Blade will be a key item in these builds.

7 Shard of Darkness

Good in the beginning, poor in the second half

• Uncommon: +15% necrosis resistance
• Rarely +15% Necrotic Damage
• Epic: Now applies necrosis on critical hit if not already applied.
• Legendary: Each time Necrosis is applied to a target, it deals 100 Necrotic damage to the surrounding area instead of Pain.

This sword is ideal for warriors looking to invest in a Reaper build that focuses on generating necrotic damage and spreading this pain across the battlefield. Dark Shards enhance Necrotic Damage, and as they become more powerful, whenever Rook scores a critical hit, he spreads it to other enemies. Since Shield Throw has many abilities that guarantee critical hits, this can become really powerful as it creates a necrotic explosion on a large group of enemies.

The Shard of Darkness can be found in Sea of ​​Blood, one of the first companion recruitment quests in the Crypt. After rescuing Lucanis Dellamorte, continue forward to reach the first plateau of the Upper Inner Cells. After defeating the demon, look for a chest containing the first copy of this sword. Subsequent copies are found throughout the adventure, which enhance the weapon's stats and unlock more perks.

6 hard way

The best one-handed weapons that are easy to obtain

• Unique Trait 1: On hit, the target's armor is permanently reduced by 5.
• Unique Perk 2: Deals 50% more damage to enemies with 0 armor.

Probably the best weapons players can get early on. It's located in the same spot as The Point in Treviso, so it's fairly easy to get there once players complete the Sea of ​​Blood quest. Each hit with this weapon permanently reduces the enemy's armor. This means it doesn't rely on counters and doesn't weaken over time. It just falls off and stays there. This means that if a High Dragon roars at the person wielding this sword and has 150 armor, it will lose all of its armor until the player completes his third 10-hit combo.

To make things even better, when an enemy's armor reaches 0, Luke takes an additional 50% damage calculated from the total damage he causes with each attack. This is why this weapon is so powerful and why players should not underestimate it. Base damage also increases with level, so there is no need to invest resources to enhance your weapon.

5 Intruder's Cleaver

Pick an axe and make it bleed

• Uncommon: +15% Damage to Health
• Rare: Applies bleed if the final attack has not already been applied.
• Epic: +10% critical strike damage per nearby bleeding enemy.
• Legendary: Critical damage bonus also applies to all bleed damage.

The Raider's Cleaver is found in the second chest while completing the introductory quest In Entropy's Graps, Bellara. This one-handed ax is perfect for warriors looking for a bleeding build, and its perks increase as its power increases. The first perk deals extra damage to enemies without armor or barriers. The second perk applies bleed to each final attack, i.e. the last attack of a single combo chain.

Then again, the third perk is one of the most broken perks in the entire game. Luke deals 10% more critical strike damage to all bleeding enemies around him. Lastly, with the legendary perk, your bleed damage DoT benefits from a critical damage bonus, making it even more brutal. When paired with the Bleeding Shard Ring, this weapon can wreak havoc on the battlefield.

4 Crystal Great Ax

Most Broken Two-Handed Weapon

• Uncommon: +15% Cold Resistance
• Rare: The necrosis bonus also affects this weapon's base damage.
• Epic: Apply Chill to Charged Attacks
• Legendary: Applying Chill also applies Necrosis. Necrosis now deals cold damage.

During the quest “The Case of the Lost Artifact”, following Neve Gallus through the streets of Minrathous, players will visit several market stalls. In between, there is a well-hidden blacksmith shop near the second point where Neve must examine the vision. If players explore the store, they can purchase their first Crystal Greataxe for 1050 gold. And trust me on this. This is the best investment they can make.

The ax is powerful and deals cold damage instead of physical damage, allowing the warrior to freeze and shatter nearby enemies. However, as this weapon unlocks more perks, Chilled will apply necrosis and convert necrotic damage to cold damage. This is significantly damaged if players mix the Reaper and Mourn Watch perks, as well as some Lords of Fortune perks.

3 Faded War Ax

A reliable option for critical hit builds

• Uncommon: +15% Damage to Health
• Rare: Kills with this weapon grant Precision.
• Epic: +50% damage to low health enemies while Precision is active.
• Legendary: While Precision is active, critical strikes against low health enemies are fatal.

It is a powerful and reliable two-handed weapon that can be easily obtained through the Entropy's Grasp quest. Another of these weapons is sold by the Veil Jumper Faction vendor and allows players to upgrade the weapon found during Bellara's Recruitment quest very early on.

These axes become more powerful by unlocking perks, so the precision combat advantage is activated every time Luke kills an enemy with the weapon. Precision ensures that the next attack must count, so players can use this buff endlessly during combat, moving from one enemy to the next and crushing them with ease.

2 Watchman's Glory

Perfect for counter builds

• Uncommon: +15% Physical Resistance
• Rare: Perfect Defense gives the target 250 Stagger.
• Epic: Deal 250 Staggers around you in perfect defense.
• Legendary: Staggering an enemy nullifies its armor for the duration.

Warriors specialize in wielding shields and executing perfect counters. This means you can block at the last second, stagger, and then immediately attack to unleash a powerful combo that deals extra damage. Sentinel's Glory is designed specifically for players who want to react to everything to win the game.

The Shield can be found early on during the Spirits of the Dalish quest, and you'll find the second and third upgrades pretty early on as you progress through Act 2, so you don't have to spend the entire game looking for additional copies. Once players unlock the third perk, it's all about blocking at the right time and executing powerful counters and takedowns. An ideal shield for tanks.

1 Skirmisher's Round

For those who want a shield throwing build

• Uncommon: +15% ranged attack damage
• Rare: +15% Weakness Damage
• Epic: +20% stagger when hitting a weak spot
• Legendary: Shield Throw damage increases with each bounce.

For players looking to create the perfect shield throw build, this shield specializes in improving the warrior's ranged damage through this ability. Not only does it provide additional ranged damage, but it also provides more weak point damage and an additional stagger whenever the player throws the shield at an enemy.

This shield can be found in the ruins during the quest “In Entropy's Grasp”, and another copy can be purchased from the Veil Jumper's in Arlathan's Camp. The third and fourth copies can be found as players progress through Velara's Companion quest, and the final copy can be found during the Blood of Alassan main quest.