Orbs are main hand weapons for a mage class Rook in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. There are two types of orbs: Elemental Orbs, which deal Cold or Fire damage, and Arcane Orbs, which deal Necrotic or Electric damage. Additionally, arcane orbs tend to have higher stagger than elemental orbs. There are otherwise no functional differences between the two weapon types beyond what is already stated in the given weapon attributes.
Orbs are used in conjunction with a mageknife or spellblade as part of the dagger and orb combat style.
Orbs
| Name | Damage | Stagger | Acquisition | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chilled Grasp | 190 Cold (base damage at +10 legendary) | 188 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+30 Defense +25% Cold Resistance Perfect Dodge applies Chilled to nearby enemies +70 Defense vs. Chilled enemies |
| Fadelight | 191 Necrotic (base damage at +10 legendary) | 440 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+15% damage vs. health +25% healing Gain 250 health on Perfect Defense +25% Light attack damage while you have no potions |
| Firebrand | 184 Fire (base damage at +10 legendary) | 126 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+20% damage vs. enemies with Low Health Gain Precision on kill with this weapon Precision also increases Fire damage by +25% Precision is now triggered by any Fire Ability |
| Frozen Focus | 34 Cold (base damage, unupgraded) | 30 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
|
| Mage's Gambit | 190 Electric (base damage at +10 legendary) | 440 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+20% Final attack damage Hitting with a Final attack will alternate the damage type of this weapon between Electric and Fire +15% Fire and Electric damage Critical hits apply Burning or Shocked based on the current damage type of the Orb |
| Stormsphere | 182 Electric (base damage at +10 legendary) | 342 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+20% Agile attack damage Agile attacks apply Shocked on hit if not already applied Agile attacks have an increased chance to disrupt enemies Knocking Down a Shocked enemy causes a lightning bolt to strike them |
| Thunderclap | 188 Electric (base damage at +10 legendary) | 342 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+25% damage vs. Barrier Enemies hit by this weapon can no longer regenerate Barrier This weapon leeches health when damaging Barrier When you break a Barrier, all nearby enemies take Electric damage |
| Urthemiel's Ash | 189 Fire (base damage at +10 legendary) | 188 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+25% Burning duration Burning enemies deal -25% damage for the duration +1 maximum Burning stacks +20% Burning damage per stack |
| Veilsong | 176 Necrotic (base damage at +10 legendary) | 303 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+25% Stagger This weapon deals bonus damage equal to 20% of the enemy's Stagger Enemies hit with this weapon take twice as long to regenerate their Stagger Gain health on Takedown |
| Wintersbreath | 187 Cold (base damage at +10 legendary) | 155 (base stagger at +10 legendary) |
|
+30% Charged attack damage +25% damage vs. Chilled enemies Charged attacks apply Chilled Chilled stacks also reduces Cold Resistance |
Unique
| Name | Damage | Stagger | Acquisition | Abilities |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Heart of Fire | 180 Fire (base damage) | 90 (base stagger) |
|
+30% Fire Resistance Using a Fire Ability applies Burning to you and all nearby enemies |
| Stormcharger | 120 Electric (base damage) | 180 (base stagger) |
|
+50% Electric Resistance Using an Electric Ability applies Shocked to you When you are hit while Shocked, remove the effect and deal 300 Electricity damage to all nearby enemies |
Damage and stagger
The following tables rank all weapons in this slot based on base damage and base stagger.
Base damage
Base damage values of non-unique weapons at +10 legendary (i.e., at the maximum rarity and upgraded level) are given below, along with the base damage values of unique weapons, which cannot be upgraded. The "base damage" is the weapon damage without any skill tree traits (note that each trait adds +10% weapon damage) and also without any bonuses from passives, stat-boosting valuables (specifically, Kirkwall Select 9:36), or other items.
In practice, the final, modified weapon damage will typically be much higher than the base values listed below due to the presence of traits, passives, and other bonuses. However, the base values shown below illustrate the relative damage between different weapons.
| Rank | Weapon | Base Damage |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fadelight (arcane orb) | 191 (Necrotic) |
| 1 | Mage's Gambit (arcane orb) | 191 (Electric/Fire) |
| 3 | Chilled Grasp (elemental orb) | 190 (Cold) |
| 4 | Urthemiel's Ash (elemental orb) | 189 (Fire) |
| 5 | Thunderclap (arcane orb) | 188 (Electric) |
| 6 | Wintersbreath (elemental orb) | 187 (Cold) |
| 7 | Firebrand (elemental orb) | 184 (Fire) |
| 8 | Stormsphere (arcane orb) | 182 (Electric) |
| 9 | Heart of Fire (unique elemental orb) | 180 (Fire) |
| 10 | Veilsong (arcane orb) | 176 (Necrotic) |
| 11 | Stormcharger (unique arcane orb) | 120 (Electric) |
Base stagger
Base stagger values of non-unique weapons at +10 legendary are given below, along with the base stagger values of unique weapons, which cannot be upgraded. As shown, arcane orbs generally have higher stagger than elemental orbs.
| Rank | Weapon | Base Stagger |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fadelight (arcane orb) | 440 |
| 1 | Mage's Gambit (arcane orb) | 440 |
| 3 | Thunderclap (arcane orb) | 342 |
| 3 | Stormsphere (arcane orb) | 342 |
| 5 | Veilsong (arcane orb) | 303 |
| 6 | Chilled Grasp (elemental orb) | 188 |
| 7 | Urthemiel's Ash (elemental orb) | 188 |
| 8 | Stormcharger (unique arcane orb) | 180 |
| 9 | Wintersbreath (elemental orb) | 155 |
| 10 | Firebrand (elemental orb) | 126 |
| 11 | Heart of Fire (unique elemental orb) | 90 |
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