Summary
DuelistsinDragon Age: The Veilguardare fast Melee attackers capable of inflicting Bleeding and Necrosis with deadly precision and lightning speed. They’re proficient in combat using Rapiers, Cutlasses, and Swords and use a combination of theseto deliver incredible combosand shred their enemies to pieces.
With a lot of weapons to pick from, Duelists are a privileged Specialization that does not need too much Ranged Damage to succeed and overcome challenging enemies. So, here are the best Weapons for this class, including the infamous Antivan Rapier, the Focal Blade, and many more.
Updated July 14, 2025, by Lucas Simons: if players want a good reason to squeeze another playthrough ofDragon Age: The Veilguarda Rogue Duelist is just the excuse they were looking for. With deadly attacks capable of causing many status effects, unparalleled attack speed, and incredibly flashy melee combos, the Duelist is a master of the cloak and blade (sorry, no daggers for Rogues in The Veilguard). There are some meta weapons like the Focal Blade and the powerful Barbed Longsword that have been really useful as of late, especially if players combine them with artifacts that empower bleeding, staggering, and final attacks. All of the Duelist’s prime characteristics are empowered by their main weapon and their off-hand, and the overall damage is not nearly as important as how many status effects they can cause to make even the stronger enemies bleed out and writhe in pain.
1Focal Blade
Perfect For Extra Lightning Damage
If players want their Rook coming out on top of every tricky situation, empowering the Duelist capabilities to deal Lightning Damage (like all good Antivan Crows), they should look for the Focal Blade. This particular sword is obtained when players complete the quest Pinnacle of Its Kind. After that, several world chests will offer upgrades to the blade and make it even more powerful.
All that extra electric damage, plus the capability to cause Shocked with every Final Attack of a combo sequence is enticing enough to make this a primary weapon for Duelists. Combining it with the Antivan Rapier will cause tons of damage, since Shock and Necrotic damage overcome most of the resistances of several heavy enemies throughout the adventure. Duelists are experts in causing status effects like Necrosis, Bleeding, and Staggering, and adding Shocked to the Mix is quite OP. A great pick for those looking for a specialized build.
2Storm Needle
A Reliable Option, Acquired Early On
The Storm Needle is a great Off-Hand weapon, that greatly boosts Critical damage and is optimized to reinforce Duelist builds that workaround the Precision Advantage. It also increases Penetration, a stat that is quite rare inDragon Age: The Veilguard, and serves to overcome enemies' defenses.
The Duelist Rogue can take advantage of all the extra penetration of this blade, but its most broken feature is perhaps its ability to ignore all types of Defense with each Critical.
3Dark Shard
Powerful Against Armored Enemies
The Dark Blade is a Main Hand weapon primed to destroy Armor and Barrier from enemies, and ideal for Heavy Charged Attacks. The Duelist has some powerful Charged Attack combos, and this blade greatly enhances its efficiency.
To make things even better, each time the Duelist breaks the enemy’s armor with this weapon it gains Enhanced Damage, a buff that empowers all its attacks for a fixed amount of time. Combined with certain Duelist Traits, these Weapon Perks can turn the Rogue into a meat shredder.
4Antivan Rapier
The Duelist Weapon Par Excellence
The Antivan Rapier is the Duelist weapon par excellence, with the capabilities togreatly empower Necrotic attacks(which are the basics of Duelists) and also boost all Necrotic Afflictions applied on the enemies.
To top it off, it turns Necrosis DoT into an Area Damage effect which causes Necrotic damage to every enemy surrounding the afflicted target. Complete this with one of the coolest designs of all Rogue weapons, and players will be slashing their enemies with unparalleled style.
5Bloodletter’s Twinblade
Great For Bleed Builds
The Bloodletter’s Twinblade is a weapon designed to be paired with weapons that cause bleeding, like Cordova’s Toothpick. It not only empowers Charged Attacks and Momentum generation but also Stagger damage against Bleeding enemies. Especiallyuseful against end-game enemies.
Its Legendary Perk is a passive that remains in effect for as long as the Duelist has the Bloodletter equipped, and prevents Bleeding enemies attacking the Rogue from breaking the Adrenaline passive. Adrenaline buffs all damage once the Rogue completes a 10-hit combo, as long as it doesn’t take damage.
6Barbed Longsword
Causes More Stagger And Regenerates Momentum
Barbed Longsword has some bonuses that help players deal with some of the most troublesome things about the Duelist, which is that it consumes momentum like crazy, way more thanother Rogue specializations like Saboteursor Veil Ranger. And, to top it off, it also has limited bonuses to light-attacks, which can be either causing extra bleeding or breaking Armor.
Extra stagger damage is always welcome, more so since the Duelist relies on chipping away the enemies health instead of dealing huge chunks of damage. Takedowns empowered by the Barbed Longsword will restore 50 Momentum, that’s half the total amount of combat resource for a Rogue Rook, and that means taking down two cannon fodder enemies will ensure they can keep fighting and unleashing deadly combos.
7Golden Grassblade
For Those Who Want To Build A Tank Duelist
The Golden Grassblade isan elegant elven Cutlassthat is designed to be paired with weapons that generate Advantages, and since the Duelist is a master at gaining a lot of combat buffs, it also benefits from having it equipped. Having this weapon active will turn the Duelist into a Dodge-Tank of sorts.
More so if the players pair it with certain accessories and Belts that also generate Advantages, like the Twin Buckle Binding, or the Warping Wrap.
8Cordova’s Toothpick
Greatly Empowers Bleeding
Cordova’s Toothpick is a Cutlass designed to enhance Bleeding and pairs nicely with weapons that benefit from applying this affliction to enemies, like the Bloodletter’s Twinblade. It grants six extra stacks of Bleeding to enemies (the base maximum is three, so that means a total of nine Bleeding stacks).
It also causes all hits from the blade to apply Bleeding on foes, so it’s basically used for Bleed Builds, alongside the Bleeding Shard ring and other accessories.
9Proving Steel
A Weapon To Boost Combos And Gain Momentum
One of the most broken weapons the Rogue has, which increases Charged Attack damage, Momentum Generation, and makes the Rogue become Immovable every third attack. This Combat advantage makes the Duelist immune to interruptions and CC, and that’s incredibly useful.
The Legendary passive from this blade also grants the Rogue the ability to conserve Momentum (their main resource) even after being hit, as long as they have Immovable active. This pairs great with a Perfect Block build, or even a Combat Buff generation build.
10Cutthroat’s Sword
Perfect For Critical Builds
The Cutthroat’s Sword is another Primary Weapon focused on generating Combat Advantages. The weapon is intended to pair with the Duelist focused on the Perfect Dodge build, which will also grant Precision, making the next hit a guaranteed critical.
It also increases Precision effectiveness by a certain percentage and grants extra penetration with Precision-empowered attacks. This makes breaking enemies' defenses so much easier, more so if the Duelist has a Dodge/Critical build, which is fun to play, but extremely difficult to handle.
