How to upgrade gear in Dragon Age Veilguard
Here's what you need to know about upgrading weapons and armour
Wondering how to upgrade gear in Dragon Age Veilguard? Like most other RPGs, Dragon Age Veilguard offers a gear upgrading system in which you can improve the stats of your various armour, weapons, shields, amulets and other gear pieces.
There are a couple of ways in which you can do so, both of which involve a bit of exploration on your part. For a full rundown of the gear upgrading system in Dragon Age Veilguard, read below.
How to upgrade gear in Dragon Age Veilguard
There are two major ways to upgrade gear in Dragon Age Veilguard: either by visiting Faction merchants or using the Workshop in the Lighthouse. The Workshop can upgrade gear across all party members but Faction Merchants will usually only hold upgrades for a specific member that is affiliated with them.
For example, you can get equipment upgrades for Lucanis from the Antivan Crows merchant and upgrades for Neve from the Shadow Dragons merchant. The Faction merchants also usually sell Momentos and Aspirational Armour cosmetics. However, you'll often have to upgrade the Shop Rank first, which is determined by the strength of the Faction. You can strengthen Factions and upgrade their Shop Ranks by selling items to their merchants and completing Faction-specific quests.
How to unlock the Lighthouse Workshop
The Lighthouse Workshop is located within the central Courtyard area (under the large wolf statue). To unlock it, you must have first met The Caretaker and progressed through the main story enough to have fixed the Eluvian. This is usually after you have progressed the main questline in Arlathan Forest and completed 'The Singing Blade' and 'The Enemy of my Enemy' quests.
After this, The Caretaker will manage the Workshop and offer upgrades from there. You'll notice that you will be capped at certain upgrade levels. To access higher levels of gear you must also upgrade the Workshop Rank via collecting Momentos.
Momentos can be found throughout the different lands of Thedas and are represented by a blue icon of a hand and orb. As a rule of thumb, interact with every merchant in each new area (as well as the Faction merchants) as they will sometimes sell them in their stock inventories. You may also find Momentos scattered randomly throughout the world, so make sure you interact with anything shining in your peripheral.
Momentos will earn you points, which all go towards Shop Rank. The upgrades themselves will often also have a resource cost. These resources can be gathered throughout the maps of Thedas and also bought from their associated merchants. For example, the Veil Jumper merchant sells Heartwood which is usually needed for Bellara's upgrades.
Essentially, to upgrade gear in Dragon Age Veilguard you'll need to upgrade the Workshop Rank, Faction Shop Ranks and buy or collect Momentos where possible. Be sure to also gather resources in the wild wherever you see them (these are usually crystals or planks of wood).
That rounds up our guide on upgrading gear in Dragon Age Veilguard. For more Dragon Age Veilguard tips and tricks, check out our guide to the best Faction in the game, the best Class, or see our guide to choosing between Neve or Harding in the 'The End of the Beginning' quest and all outcomes. If you wish to change the appearance of your Rook, we also have a guide for that.