The Dragon Age franchise helps players customize their characters beyond the class system by offering specializations. Each of the three classes has multiple choices available to them as you level, with each specialization choice unlocking further skill trees. This was most extensive in the first game of the series, Dragon Age: Origins. When it released its DLC expansion, each class had a total of six specializations. The Dragon Age Awakening specializations were all interesting, tied to new characters or helpful mechanical additions. With each class getting two new specializations, players had more choices than ever. Let’s talk about each of them and their value to the game.
Warrior Specializations
The first of the new Dragon Age Awakening specializations for Warrior was the Guardian. As the name implies, it was built for those Warriors who seek to tank. By not limiting itself to Warriors who used shields, it opened up defensive options for all. They gain the ability to give allies protection, both individually and as a group, either helping an ally absorb damage or giving all party members additional armor. They also get a sustained aura that keeps enemies close to the Guardian. With all of these, keeping your party alive should be easier than ever. This specialization can be bought from Herren in the Vigil’s Keep courtyard.
The second specialization is Spirit Warrior. The new party member, Justice, starts with this choice befitting his role as a spirit possessing a corpse. They can do a sustained ability that constantly drains stamina to allow them to evade most attacks. This can be upgraded to resist hostile spells, cause the Warrior to deal spirit damage, and move and attack faster. They can also release a burst of Spirit damage to all nearby targets, friend and foe alike. This manual is sold by Octham the grocer in Amaranthine. What he is doing with it is unclear, but should you want to embrace Spirit energy you can seek him out.
Rogue Specializations
The new Rogue party member Sigrun brings us the specialization known as Legionnaire Scout. Unlike other Rogue builds, this draws upon the hardy and tough nature of the Dwarves to make the Rogue more durable in melee combat. They gain large bonuses to Strength and Constitution, and can temporarily gain immunity to damage or knockdown effects and even spells. They can also use a sustained mode to funnel damage into their Stamina instead of Health. While Rogues are rarely considered tanks, this option makes it viable. Glassric the weaponsmith in Amaranthine will sell you this manual.
For Rogues seeking a more traditional option among the Dragon Age Awakening specializations, Shadow is a great addition. Quite the opposite of the Legionnaire, their main sustained form causes enemies to lose interest in them with every attack. They can also create a decoy to distract enemies or unleash a toxin that confuses them. With a passive boost to backstab damage, the Shadow makes the best use of the melee fighting style available to Rogues who choose to engage that way. With the base stealth abilities already available, a Rogue who seeks to avoid taking hits has more options than ever. You can buy the manual from Yuriah in the Vigil’s Keep throne room.
Mage Specializations
For close-quarters Mages who want one of the new Dragon Age Awakening specializations, look no further than Battlemage. They have two sustained options, one that drains life from nearby enemies to heal you and another that does massive elemental damage to all nearby enemies while consuming copious amounts of mana. A passive ability gives the Battlemage mana back whenever they take damage. Finally, the Hand of Winter spell will freeze and damage all nearby enemies. This supports builds for Mages who want to escape combat or get in the thick of it. To get this manual talk to Ambassador Cera in the Vigil’s Keep throne room.
If you like the Elven vibes, the Keeper specialization ties into Dragon Age’s Dalish Elf lore. The Keeper leads their clan and commands nature magic. The new party member Velanna will showcase these talents. Their sustained ability will keep them stuck in one place while hurting any enemy that comes close to them. They can damage and knock enemies back with thorny roots or summon a gigantic circle of roots to damage a massive group. Their passive ability restores their health if they damage enemies with their Keeper abilities. Master Henley in Amaranthine will sell you this manual, which is strange as he’s not an Elf!
Conclusion
In Dragon Age: Origins, players could pick two of four specializations. With the Dragon Age Awakening specializations added, each character gains access to a third option which they can use to potentially select one of the two new choices. Later DLC would increase the level cap such that you could even access a fourth specialization choice for your characters. With all that considered, players can be made quite complex and formidable. The specializations added in this expansion add fantastic choices and lots of variety. While later Dragon Age games offer a lot, nothing quite compares to the wild abilities of the Dragon Age Awakening specializations.
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