The Caretaker: Upgrading Equipment

Learn how to upgrade your gear with The Caretaker in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Discover equipment rarity, workshop ranks, and enchanting.

Alright, so you've met The Caretaker and unlocked their workshop, which is awesome! You'll find them chilling near the lighthouse after you finish the main quest In Entropy’s Grasp. Once you're back at The Lighthouse and have finished up the initial Arlathan Forest quests, their workshop will be open for business. Look for it right across from the lighthouse itself, tucked between the stairs leading to the dining hall and the pantry where Lucanis hangs out.

The main reason you'll be visiting The Caretaker is to soup up your gear. When you chat with them, you'll see two options: upgrading your current equipment or ranking up the workshop itself. Let's focus on upgrading first – it's pretty straightforward. Every piece of gear can get a boost to its main stats like Damage, Stagger, Defense, and Ability Damage. You'll see it get a little plus sign next to its name, like an Acolyte's Staff +1. You can upgrade any item a number of times equal to the workshop's current rank, capping out at +10.

This is a solid way to make your gear better. While one upgrade might not feel like a game-changer, stacking a few up can really make a difference in combat. At first, upgrading won't cost much – just some Flawless Crystals and Heartwood. But as you push those upgrades higher, you'll start needing rarer stuff like Fade-Touched Crystals. Even if you don't have anything specific to upgrade right now, seriously consider ranking up the workshop. Doing so actually improves the stats on ALL the gear you find from that point on. If your workshop is rank 3, expect to start finding gear that's already +3!

Now, besides directly upgrading your gear, there's another way your equipment gets better: rarity. If you happen to find duplicates of the same item, its rarity will go up. Here's how the tiers break down:

Gear upgrades through these rarity tiers in order. Keep in mind, though, that sometimes you can find or buy items that are already at a higher rarity level. When an item's rarity increases, one of its special traits unlocks. For example, the Frostbranch staff has these traits:

• +20% Charged attack damage
• +50% Charged attack damage vs Armor
• Apply Frozen to enemies when this weapon breaks their Armor

At common rarity, none of these are active. Once it becomes uncommon, the first trait kicks in. By the time it reaches epic rarity, all three traits will be working for you. Plus, finding a duplicate item also bumps its modifier level up to match your Caretaker workshop's rank. So, if you're thinking about buying an upgrade for an item, check if you have a duplicate first – it might save you some gold!

Remember that workshop rank we talked about? Ranking it up is key because it lets you upgrade your gear to higher levels and makes all the gear you find better. To rank up the workshop, you need to find Mementos scattered throughout the world. Each Memento you find gives The Caretaker a little boost, and once you've gathered enough, you can upgrade the workshop's rank right there at the station. Don't neglect picking up everything you find – seriously, break those environmental objects, you might find Mementos hidden away! Even though they aren't the flashiest items, investing gold in Mementos or duplicates of gear you're using is one of the best ways to spend your money, right up there with permanent stat boosts.

Finally, once you complete either the main quest On Deadly Wings or On Blighted Wings (depending on your choices), you'll unlock the ability to Enchant gear at The Caretaker's workshop. Just head over, pick the 'Enchant' option, and you'll be able to add mods to your gear without spending any extra materials. Pretty neat, huh?