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How to upgrade weapons in Dragon Age Veilguard

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There are multiple weapon upgrade systems in Dragon Age Veilguard to use

How to upgrade weapons and armor in Dragon Age Veilguard
(Image credit: EA)
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Dragon Age Veilguard weapon upgrades are something you'll need to understand if you want to be the best Rook you can be, as using systems like the Lighthouse Workshop is how you improve equipment and become exponentially more powerful across the course of the game.

Dragon Age The Veilguard actually has a few ways of upgrading weapons and armor, drawing a distinction between rarity, stat bonuses and enchantments, so there's always something you can be doing to make your equipment more powerful. If you're confused about how to upgrade weapons in Dragon Age 4, here's what you need to know.

How to upgrade your Dragon Age Veilguard weapons and armor

Dragon Age Veilguard upgrading shield at caretaker's workshop

(Image credit: EA)

You'll get a steady stream of new gear in Dragon Age Veilguard, but not all of it will be better than what you're already using, particularly as you start to craft a more specialized build. Thankfully, there are plenty of ways to not only get better gear but also upgrade the weapons and armor you already have, which are as follows:

  • Find better gear: An obvious option, but you'll come across better gear to enhance your combat prowess just by fighting enemies, completing quests (such as the Dragon Age Veilguard Warden Vault), and generally playing the game. Particularly in the early stages of the game, it's a good idea to scavenge or buy improved gear and equip whatever has the highest stats before you settle into a build
  • Upgrade gear via the Lighthouse workshop: When you return to the Lighthouse after completing "The Singing Blade" quest, you can access the Caretaker's Workshop in the outside courtyard, letting you use your foraged materials, such as Heartwood and Imperial Weave, to improve your gear. Doing so boosts all main stats on the item, such as damage, stagger power, or defense, and adds a "+X" notation at the end of the item's name. Increasing the workshop's rank lets you increase the power of your gear even more. Don't forget to do this for you Dragon Age Veilguard companions too!
  • Find or buy duplicates: Acquiring a duplicate item automatically combines it with the original you've already got, improving both its stats and rarity. This can also unlock additional modifiers that add extra improvements to the item, so it's well worth keeping an eye out for duplicates when you go shopping, which you should be doing often as our Dragon Age Veilguard tips suggest.
  • Applying Enchantments: Unlocked once you've started the "Completing the Veilguard" quest, you can apply one Enchantment to each piece of equipped gear via the Caretaker's Workshop to gain a useful stat boost. Note that you can use each Enchantment only once across all your gear, so you can't double up. However, you can freely swap Enchantments around at the workshop and applying them is always free.
  • Increasing the rank of the Caretaker's Workshop: While simply upgrading the workshop doesn't directly improve your gear, increasing its rank does provide an overall behind-the-scenes power level boost to the gear you can find and buy out in Thedas. At certain ranks, you'll also gain access to more Enchantments, which may be useful for adding just the right stat boost for your Dragon Age Veilguard class build.

How to upgrade the Caretaker's Workshop in Dragon Age Veilguard

Dragon Age Veilguard upgrade memento for caretaker's workshop

(Image credit: EA)

Increasing the Workshop's rank is done through finding Dragon Age Veilguard Mementos as you explore the regions of Thedas. Each one you collect provides Caretaker Power, which is effectively a reputation measure for the workshop. Gather enough Caretaker Power to meet the workshop's rank requirement and you can improve it by following the "Rank Up" button prompt, up to the maximum of rank 10.

Dragon Age Veilguard upgrade rank for workshop

(Image credit: EA)

Since you need to manually upgrade the workshop – it doesn't just automatically improve when you have enough Caretaker Power – make sure you visit the workshop frequently between quests to check you've not been sitting on a rank increase that you could have unlocked sooner. That way you can upgrade your gear to a new power level, find and buy better gear, and apply new enchantments as soon as possible.

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Will Sawyer
Will Sawyer
Guides Editor, GamesRadar+

Will Sawyer is a Guides Editor at GamesRadar+ with over five years of experience in writing online guides, news, and features, and has a BA (Hons) in Journalism. Starting as a freelancer, Will contributed to startmenu and Game Rant before joining the GamesRadar+ team in August 2021. Since then, he has written hundreds of guides about a huge range of games, with shooters and action games being his areas of expertise. Outside of writing about games, Will hops between multiplayer shooters with friends, such as Darktide and Helldivers 2, and delves into whatever has been on his backlog for far too long. He also tries to get through his never-ending Warhammer pile of shame of grey Tyranids, Aeldari, and Chaos Space Marines.

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