Bioware’s Dragon Age 2 is a successful sequel to Dragon Age: Origins. Following in its predecessor’s footsteps, Dragon Age 2 offers an intriguing story coupled with dynamic combat, all wrapped up to create a very decent RPG. Like many games, Dragon Age 2 benefits from the creativity and ingenuity of its dedicated community of players. Though no official modding resource or toolset has been released for the game, there are already a number of gameplay changing mods that can enhance the game and mold it to your personal style of play. Ten of these gameplay mods stand out above the rest. Each and every one of these Dragon Age 2 mods can be mixed and matched for a near perfect gaming experience.
1) Unlock Companion Skill and Weapon Trees
Your companion’s possible skills are rather limited in vanilla Dragon Age 2. For instance, not all mages can learn to Heal, forcing you to exclusively use one companion over another. Each companion is locked into using only select weapon and skill trees. This mod fixes that. Now you can level up your companions in any manner that you see fit. Make whichever warrior your like the tank and force typically dagger-wielding companions into using the archery tree. This mod also allows you to add specialization trees to your companions and add your companion’s special skills to your champion quickly through console commands as well.
Download Unlock Companion Skill and Weapon Trees from Dragon Age Nexus
2) Better Mages – Better Spells
If you find that playing a mage isn’t as powerful as you would have liked, this mod is perfect for you. With this mod your mages will be able to cast more spells, more often as well as have increased power behind their spells. The mod comes in multiple flavors so choose which one fits your personal play style the best. The default version changes cost and cooldown of spells as well as enhancing individual spells. The increased damage version increases the damage done by spells but does not change the cooldown or cost per spell. The Xtreme version increases damage done by spells as well as decreased cooldown and cost. The vanilla version enhanced individual spells but leaves the cost and cooldown the same as in the original game. This mod is best used on hard and nightmare difficulty settings.
Download Betters Mages – Betters Spells from Dragon Age Nexus
3) Lock Bash DA2
If you played Dragon Age: Origins you are most likely familiar with the popular lock bash mod. This mod aims to fill that same need for Dragon Age 2. Unlike the lock bash mod for the original game, this mod does not have a special animation, does not allow for lost or damaged items, and can’t be configured. However, it is the perfect mod for any person who wants to be able to open locked chests and gain experience without always having to have a well-leveled rogue in the party.
Download Lock Bash DA2 from Dragon Age Nexus
4) Better Combat DA2
This mod is for those players who want a more dynamic and complex combat experience. Each class is rebalanced to work together for optimal efficiency. The talent trees have been changed, allowing for a more customized form of leveling up. Mages, for instance, can now cast more often. A rogue’s stealth abilities have been tweaked to be more powerful and worthwhile. Warriors can now focus their sword and shield talents towards defense, damage, or a mixture of both. The mod also provides customization files for changes to difficulty and itemization. The amount of changes and tweaks that this mod encompasses are too many to list here and a good reading of the documentation is recommended before installing.
Download Better Combat DA2 from Dragon Age Nexus
5) Sunnie’s DA2 Item Packs
Dragon Age 2 has many interesting and aesthetically pleasing items for your party to wear and use. Unfortunately, most of those items won’t last long. Many of the best looking items don’t evolve, don’t have rune slots, and don’t hold up against more powerful items that you find along the way. Sunnie’s item mods upgrade most items in the game so that you can use them throughout the length of the game, if you so choose. Now you can wear a specific mage’s robe that you like well after the point where it would be beneath your character’s level. This allows for a greater range of visual customization and you no longer have to miss out on the best items in the game after you level up. Sunnie’s DA2 Companion Starting Gear is another great mod that changes all of your companion’s gear to new evolving versions. This means that your companions unique weapons don’t have to be discarded in exchange for better, but less interesting, alternatives.
Download all of Sunnie’s mods at Dragon Age Nexus
6) Sabal’s Companion Weapon’s Pack (SCWP)
Another alternative mod for your companion’s weapon is SCWP. This mod changed each companion’s default weapon to be more unique and powerful. In vanilla Dragon Age 2, all of your companion’s weapons have little to no finesse or backstory, with the exception of Varric’s bow, Bianca. This mod rectifies that by replacing each weapon with one that has a new description and a new 3D model. The new weapons also evolve, have rune slots, and have new stats, while retaining enough balance to keep the gameplay fun and challenging.
Download SCWP at Dragon Age Nexus
7) Diversified Follower Armors
If you miss the ability to choose your companion’s equipment, than this mod is for you. Dragon Age 2, unlike the original game, locks your companions into armor choices that you have no control over. Though their armor may change at various points in the game, they essentially dress however they want without your consent and without much variation or variety. This mod unlocks armor slots for all companions and allows you to equip them as you see fit. It also changes the way your companion’s armor is upgraded. Throughout the vanilla game you come across or buy upgrades for your companions. These increase their armor’s stats but it does not effect how they look. This mod changes that and makes each upgrade a new wearable armor with stats and rune slots. The default armor is also changed so that, if you want to keep their original appearance, you can. Now you can truly make your companions look and dress any way that you like.
Download Diversified Follower Armors at Dragon Age Nexus
8) No Follower Autolevel
This simple mod allows you full control over your companions and their abilities. In the vanilla game, companions will have certain abilities, tactics, etc. already in place when recruited. This can result in under-powered and illogically leveled characters. All this mod does is prevent this autoleveling from taking place. Now you can level up your new companion immediately after recruitment and choose which path you want them to take without being locked into anything.
Download No Follower Autolevel at Dragon Age Nexus
9) Nightmare Difficulty Tweaks
For those players who prefer to play on the hardest difficulty setting, nightmare, this mod is for you. It comes in three flavors, Recommended, Normal Realistic, and Harder. Each of these versions tweak the way nightmare combat plays out, allowing you to tailor your game however you like. This allows a player to play on nightmare without being overwhelmed by the extra difficulty added by friendly fire.
Download Nightmare Difficulty Tweaks at Dragon Age Nexus
10) Attribute Cap Extended
A simple mod that does just one thing, this mod allows you to increase your attributes beyond the vanilla 100 limit. Now you can increase your attribute all the way up to 1000, allowing you to focus on one attribute well beyond what was intended in the original game.
Download Attribute Cap Extended at Dragon Age Nexus
