Knowing the Dragon Age Veilguard romance options available to you will help if you're looking for love, and although this is restricted to just your companions that still gives you seven diverse characters to get into a relationship with Rook. If you're experienced in BioWare games then you'll already have an idea of how this works in Dragon Age The Veilguard, with flirting during conversations and offering gifts to increase the approval of your paramour until you reach a point where you can commit to an exclusive relationship. However, the path to love is never smooth and there are certain limitations you should bear in mind so you don't shut down a relationship you're trying to grow. With that in mind, here's what you need to know about approval and romance in Dragon Age Veilguard.
All romance options in Dragon Age Veilguard
The seven Dragon Age Veilguard companions are the only romance options in the game, so you can’t hook up with any other NPCs. Importantly, there aren’t any restrictions based on any choices made during character creation, such as your Dragon Age Veilguard lineage, gender, or appearance, so you can get flirty with any of the following:
- Harding
- Neve
- Bellara
- Lucanis
- Davrin
- Taash
- Emmrich
Be aware that you can commit to only one companion romance during your playthrough, though you can improve your bond with all of them to level them up, and you can complete their companion questlines to unlock their Hero of the Veilguard abilities and special armor sets.
You can get an idea of how your companions feel about you by checking their approval status, represented by an icon below their separate bond level in the individual companion menus. However, this approval system is largely buried behind the scenes, so here’s my understanding of what each icon means:
- Speech bubble = The companion considers Rook an acquaintance
- Thumbs up = The companion considers Rook a friend and you’re on great terms
- Heart = The companion is romantically interested in Rook
It’s also worth noting that companions can romance each other if Rook does not show a romantic interest in them, so you may notice some of your allies getting close as you play, such as Taash and Harding or Neve and Lucanis.
How to romance all companions in Dragon Age Veilguard
Romancing in Dragon Age Veilguard isn’t especially tricky as there are many ways you can show your affection to companions, which I’ve laid out further down. It also helps that the same rules of romance apply to all your allies too, so there aren’t many particulars to be aware of – the main one being that the Dragon Age Veilguard Minrathous or Treviso choice can entirely lock you out of a Lucanis romance and affect your chances with Neve due to the Dragon Age Veilguard Hardened effect.
Otherwise, you should use every possible flirting strategy to quickly gain approval. After gaining enough approval with a particular companion, you’ll eventually reach a point where you must choose to either cut off any chance of romance with them or remain open to romance. While the latter option doesn’t guarantee an exclusive romantic relationship in the future, the former option entirely locks you out of one for the rest of the game.
Beyond that, keep flirting and you’ll finally reach another choice where you can, again, cut off your romance or commit to an exclusive relationship with that companion. Obviously, choosing the latter ends your chances of a relationship with other companions, and the game makes it clear that you’ve begun a romance with an on-screen message. From that point on, you get special romance dialogue options during some conversations with your partner companion and, as is customary for Dragon Age, you’ll be able to bump uglies in a romance scene.
So with all that in mind, here are some tips for quickly building approval with any companion:
- Pick the romantic dialogue options (obviously): Whenever you’re talking to the companion you want to romance, always pick the dialogue choices marked with a red heart whenever they appear. These options are usually supportive or flirtatious, increasing your approval.
- Dialogue choices in other conversations also matter: During conversations with other NPCs, picking certain responses can cause companions to approve or disapprove. Obviously, you’ll want to pick dialogue options that align with your preferred companion’s values, so make sure you pay attention to their personalities too! Be aware that decisions in important quests, such as the Dragon Age Veilguard First Warden choice, can affect the approval of several companions in different ways.
- Keep them in your party during quests: This mainly helps to level up their bond, making them more effective in combat, but it also means they’ll be around for more conversations where you can get them to like you more, as above.
- Talk to them as much as possible: Regardless of whether your favoured companion is in your party, be sure to check in with them in the Lighthouse between quests to see if any time-sensitive conversations or quests are available.
- Complete their companion quests: I advise completing companion quests as soon as you get them so that you don’t forget and miss out on a prime relationship-building opportunity. These will help build your bond and romance, and if you complete all the companion quests, you’ll unlock their Hero of the Veilguard boost too. Most of them are quite straightforward and short, but the Dragon Age Veilguard Echoes of the Past quest for Bellara requires you to solve some puzzles.
- Buy them a gift: As our Dragon Age Veilguard tips explain, going shopping can often be very useful, and you should buy items marked as a gift for a particular companion whenever possible. Doing so starts a quest where you need to hand over your present to the companion in the Lighthouse, making for a quick and easy way of upping their approval of you. The appropriate gift for a companion is always sold by the merchant tied to the Dragon Age Veilguard faction they are also aligned with, except for Harding:
- Harding: Buy the Hinterlands Oak from the Black Emporium in Dock Town (complete the quest “The Black Emporium” to unlock this shop)
- Neve: Buy Collected Evidence from the Shadow Dragons merchant in Dock Town
- Bellara: Buy the Elven Frog Figurine from the Veil Jumpers merchant in the Arlathan Forest
- Lucanis: Buy the Antivan Tea Set from the Antivan Crows merchant in Treviso
- Davrin: Buy the Display on Ancient Griffons from the Grey Wardens merchant in the Hossberg Wetlands
- Taash: Buy the Priceless Ancient Trinkets from the Lords of Fortune merchant in the Hall of Valor (complete the quest “The Hall of Valor”, which is given to you by Taash, to unlock this area)
- Emmrich: Buy the Haunted Statuette from the Mourn Watch merchant in the Necropolis
Like some of the best RPGs out there, Veilguard has a solid romance system to get know your companions, but if you want to know what else we thought of it, be sure to read our Dragon Age The Veilguard review.
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