Apparatus and associated methods relate to providing a power stage having an auxiliary power switch coupled to a high-side switch or a low-side switch in parallel and turning on the auxiliary power switch earlier than turning on the high-side switch. In an illustrative example, the auxiliary power switch may be connected with the high-side switch in parallel. The on-resistance of the auxiliary power switch may be greater than the on-resistance of the high-side switch. A gate drive engine may be configured to generate gate driving signals for the switches in the power stage such that the auxiliary power switch is turned on a predetermined time duration earlier than the high-side switch. Thus, the ringing at a switch node of the power stage may be advantageously reduced or eliminated.