Expeditions: Rome — Best Veles Class Skills and Complete Skill Tree

The Veles class in Expeditions: Rome is a no-nonsense melee damage-dealer. Companions like Bestia, as well as any generic Velites that you recruit during the campaign, are the only ones that can equip daggers as off-hand weapons. Veles abilities use the Focus mechanic, a unique resource that’s built to allow for utility functions and additional attacks. 

This Expeditions: Rome guide outlines the Veles class skill tree and provides suggestions on the best skills you should focus on for this class. Click the links below to jump to specific skill trees or straight to the best Veles skills:

• Veles Assassin
• Veles Duelist
• Veles Brawler
• Best Veles Skills

The Veles Class Skill Tree in Expeditions: Rome

The Veles class in Expeditions: Rome has three skill trees: Assassin, Duelist, and Brawler. In each branch, there are tiers requiring you to spend a certain number of points (i.e., 0/1/4/7) before you can obtain new active and passive abilities.

As you progress further in the campaign, you’ll likely have enough to unlock the strongest abilities for a couple of these trees. Still, we’ll cite the best skills for the Veles class in Expeditions: Rome so that you can prepare for the early-game experience onward.

Note that we’ve marked which abilities are active (A) and passive (P). Likewise, we’ve added if certain skills have requirements or if they have additional ranks or levels.

Veles Assassin Class Skills

Tier 1 Skills

• Cheap Shot (A) — Applies savage (+100% critical chance for your next attack).
• Lone Wolf (P) — Applies prowling (doubled critical chance and +20% dodge chance) if allied teammates are more than 6 hexes away.

Tier 2 Skills

• Assassinate (A) — +40% damage against enemy leaders (i.e., bosses or elite enemies with laurel leaves on their class icons).
• Sneaky Attack (P; 2 ranks) — Deals damage and gives +2 Focus; +50/100% damage on your first two turns.

Tier 3 Skills

• Focus Master (P; 2 ranks) — +1/2 maximum Focus.
• Marathon (A) — Applies inexhaustible, where you gain unlimited movement for that turn until you stop moving (i.e., attack someone).

Tier 4 Skills

• Rush (A; 2 ranks; requires Focus Master) — Restores an action point; also reduces Focus cost and adds an extra skill charge for all skills if upgraded.
• First Strike (P) — Deal +50% increased damage against targets at full health.

Veles Duelist Class Skills

Tier 1 Skills

• Shiv (A) — Attack with your off-hand; doesn’t cost an action point.
• Born Ready (P; 3 ranks) — Grants +30/60/100% of max Focus at the start of combat.

Tier 2 Skills

• Bloodthirsty (P; 2 ranks) — Killing an enemy grants +1 stack of bloodthirsty; +5/15% damage per stack.
• Dodge (A) — The next attack against you has a 50% chance to cause no damage or status effects.

Tier 3 Skills

• Kill On Ground (A) — Finish off an incapacitated/downed enemy, causing all opponents in a 5-hex radius to lose -10 morale.
• Slippery (P; requires Dodge) — Dodge will last until the beginning of the next turn and will no longer end after the first attack.

Tier 4 Skills

• Quick-Witted (P) — +1 Focus per attack.
• Duel (A) — Calls out a specific target; the next attack you deal against that target will deal double damage, stunned, and bleeding.

Veles Brawler Class Skills

Tier 1 Skills

• Tactical Advance (A; 2 ranks) — Grants the tactical status so you don’t trigger attacks of opportunity; +3 movement when upgraded.
• Pankration (P) — +100% unarmed damage.

Tier 2 Skills

• Clear Path (P) — Replenish +3 movement points for all allies in a 3-hex radius after killing an enemy.
• Feint (A) — Move through an enemy’s occupied hex and go behind them. Useful for flanking maneuvers.

Tier 3 Skills

• Pugilist (P) — +1 Focus per attack when using unarmed skills.
• Boast (A; 2 ranks) — If your next attack kills an enemy, +10 morale to all allies; if it doesn’t, your team loses -10 morale. Savage is also applied if upgraded.

Tier 4 Skills

• Reaper (A) — Every time this character kills an enemy, their action points are replenished, all used skills are reset, and movement is fully restored.
• Reliable (P; 2 ranks) — Glancing blows (i.e., partial misses) refund your spent action point; will also deal double damage if upgraded.

Best Skills for the Veles Class in Expeditions: Rome

We found that the best skills for the Veles class in Expeditions: Rome include:

Assassin

Cheap Shot, Assassinate, and First Strike turn you into a single-target destroyer. Meanwhile, Focus Master, Marathon, and Rush allow you to stay on the go, taking out multiple enemies along the way.

Duelist

Born Ready is great for starting a battle with Focus points. Bloodthirsty, likewise, is a nice damage boost if you can chain your final blows. Shiv is also useful if you need to do an additional attack if the initial hit didn’t eliminate a target.

Meanwhile, Dodge and Slippery improve avoidance, and they help if you have the Lone Wolf passive from the Assassin tree. Lastly, Kill On Ground becomes a game-changer if you use it properly.

Combined with the abilities of other classes, such as a Princeps casting Frightened, you could easily cause most enemies to start running.

Brawler

To be frank, some of these skills require you to prioritize unarmed combat (your unarmed DPS does increase based on character levels). Sadly, it’s going to be a while until you get the Reaper passive, which makes you an unstoppable killing machine. So weigh the pros and cons before going this route.

Related guides

• Princeps Class
• Sagittarius Class
• Triarius Class

And that’s the complete list of skills for the Veles class, as well as the best skills for the Princeps, in Expeditions: Rome. For more tips, consider heading over to our guides hub for the game, which includes helpful articles on everything from companion recruitment to specific quest guides and more!