Right at the beginning Dragon Age: The Guard of the Veil, you will arrive at the crossroads and receive the mission “The Heart of Corruption” when you interact with your first Plague-sealed door. While you may think this is just a side quest, you may be surprised to find that this quest will take you a long way into the game to complete. You will need to do a lot of exploring and defeat some very strong bosses, so this quest is not for the faint of heart.
[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.]
Fortunately, “The Heart of Corruption” also offers some interesting rewards when you finally complete it. While this might not be worth it for players who don’t like following long quests, to be honest, you’ll come across a lot of these boss locations while exploring anyway. You’ll also receive XP and other rewards along the way, so even if you don’t complete the entire quest, here’s a little bit of what to expect.
How to start the Heart of Corruption quest
You will find the first destroyed gate at the crossroads
After stopping Solas at the ritual site, bringing Harding or Neve with you to take down the statue, you will reach the Lighthouse. Once Bellara fixes the eluvian in the Lighthouse, you will be taken to the Crossroads. This land between lands is where you will find the first Blight gate and receive the quest.
When you reach the Eluvian crossroads, turn directly right to find a gate made of rotten branches, sealed with three locks. The boat spirit will appear, explaining that the gate can only be opened properly after defeating difficult enemies. These enemies are locked behind their own Blight gates, which you’ll need to unlock to access. There are three gates and three bosses, so you have a lot of work ahead of you.
Find three champion essences
Defeat three Darkspawn bosses
Your quest step at this point will ask you to defeat three enemies around the Crossroads, but before you can do that, you’ll have to open the gates. Only after defeating certain bosses in other locations can you return to the Crossroads to face these three bosses and unlock the gate. Your first set of fights will take place in other locations, but you’ll need to find gates at the Crossroads before the submission appears.
Each of the following gates is located somewhere at the crossroads, and you must, as mentioned, defeat the bosses around Thedas to open them. You will defeat these Champions and collect their Essences, allowing you to defeat Revenant bosses. Revenant bosses will drop Revenant Essences by opening the triple locked gate at the Crossroads.
Gate of Deep Sorrows
To find the boss you will need to defeat to open this gate, you need to head back to Treviso. You can use the fast travel point in Corvo’s hideoutthen do some zip lines across the rooftops until you reach the location marked on the map. Here, you will be confronted by some Venatori, who you must defeat before hitting the large Blight at the back of the arena.
You can try this fight at level 10 or higher if you want, but it’s recommended that you be at least level 20 before trying it.
After clearing the arena, go ahead and open the Plague. This will unlock Desmal, Bloodbound, for Elgar’nan, who is a huge level 25 Darkspawn. He’s tricky, with a big attack that leaves very little room for dodging. Use fire attacks to damage Desmal until he is defeated. Upon defeat, he will drop a Champion Essence.
Gate of Dry Hopes
Your second Champion is hidden in Arlathan Forest, in the Tainted Forest. Of course exit the fortress area before facing the Blight cocoonjust like you did with Desmal. When you’re ready, open the Plague and prepare to fight Entarus the Rekindled.
This huge boss uses fire attacks and is also level 25. If you managed to defeat Desmal, you shouldn’t have any problems with Entarus. Once you defeat him, he will drop your second of three Champion Essences, and you can return to Hossberg Wetlands.
Gate of Pale Reflections
The last boss of the series of three Darkspawn champions can be found in Hossberg Wetlands. The Plague containing your next enemy can be found in the center of the area and is once again surrounded by enemies that you must defeat before popping it. Destroying the Plague will free Amarell the Unknown.
Amarell is another level 25 enemy, but shouldn’t pose much of a problem. This arena is the largest of the three so far, leaving a lot more room for you to dodge Amarell’s attacks. Just like the others, he will drop a Champion Essence after you eliminate him, which you will use in the next step of the mission.
Find and defeat three Revenants
After collecting three champion essences, open the gates at the crossroads
Now that you have all three Champion Essences, you can finally open those Ruined Gates scattered around the Crossroads. They should already be marked on your map from your exploration of the various locations, but if not, you can check their locations at ZaFrostPetvideo above. You can do this in any order, so choose whichever is most convenient for you and move on.
Felassan’s betrayal
Felassan’s Betrayal is located in the Converging City at the Crossroads. Use your Champion Essence on the Blight door here to get to the bottom of the island, where you’ll face the boss. This boss is no joke at level 32so make sure you are at or above that level before approaching.
This boss is weak to necrotic damage, which makes Emmrich and Lucanis particularly useful in this fight. It also has a shield that prevents it from taking damage from the front, meaning you’ll need to get behind it before taking it out. Betrayal’s attacks are heavily telegraphed, so play safe rather than greedy. If you get it right, the attacks can be dodged, but if you fail, you will be severely punished.
Pillars Massacre
The next Revenant boss you will need to face is the Slaughter of the Pillars, which can be found in Elvhenan’s Haven. Using your Champion Essence on the gate here will open it, allowing you to get closer to the Pillar Massacre. This boss uses a spear and shield, just like Betrayal did, but there are a few differences in this fight to keep an eye on.
The first thing to know is that this boss is level 37, which makes him more dangerous and harder to take down than any previous boss. Additionally, This arena is smaller than Betrayal’s, so you need to be smarter about where and how to dodge. You don’t want to be cornered against this melee style boss.
Just like Betrayal, Onslaught will periodically summon undead, making your fight much more complicated. Use any AoE or burst attack to eliminate multiple add-ons at once and have more space to focus on Slaughter. After defeating the Slaughter, you will get another Essencandas Revenant, another Unique Chest.
Fall of the Protector
The last Revenant boss you will need to face is the Protector’s Fall, which can be found in the Hills of Athim. You will be able to open the gate in the area after destroying some smaller pests, which will open to allow you to enter the boss arena. This fight is a little different from the other two.
This last boss is the strongest of the three at level 42. It’s also not a shield/spear user, which means you have some new attacks to look forward to. The Fall is a spell user and prefers to attack from a distance. This means you must ensure your ranged damage is sufficient.
The Fall is weak to Cold and resistant to Fire damage, which means you should Bring Neve with you on this mission to maximize your chances of winning. The Fall doesn’t want to be near you, so take advantage of this to take bursts of close damage between your attacks. He’ll also spawn undead as you fight, so you’ll need to multitask, dodging his attacks while also taking out those pesky additions.
After defeating Protector’s Fall, you will receive your last Revenant Essence, as well as a third Unique Chest. Now, you’re ready to head back to the triple-locked gate in the main Crossroads area. There are a few things you might want to do first, like upgrading your equipment, but you can also go straight there if you’re impatient.
Defeat the Revenant Dragon
If you made the right choices beforehand, this fight will be easier
When you’re ready, head back to the gate next to the Eluvian Lighthouse at Crossroads. Insert all three Revenant Essences into the Gate, which will open and allow you to slip into the area below. Here, you will enter the Dragon Revenant boss fight.
This dragon is nothing to sneeze at. Whether you fought the dragon in Minrathous or in Treviso, you still won’t be prepared for this level 50 boss fight monstrosity. Although the Revenant Dragon is much stronger than the other dragon bosses in Guard of the Veil, he uses the same attack patterns. Here are some things to keep in mind:
|
Attack |
Tip |
|---|---|
|
Slide the tail |
The Revenant Dragon’s tail strike is by far its worst attack; If you are struggling to dodge his hits and lunges, try to stay back to waste time and avoid them completely. |
|
blow gun |
Although many of the Dragon’s attacks cannot be parried, their breath weapons are. If you’re a class that can’t parry, try returning the necrotic skull orbs to it. |
|
Claw strikes |
When dodging these blows, stay close enough to do some damage to whichever arm/leg is glowing. The shiny is the Dragon’s weak point, and attacking it causes extra damage. |
The trick to this fight is that the Revenant Dragon will switch the element it uses every now and then, making it difficult to prepare for its attacks. With other enemies, you can equip certain armor or accessories that give you resistance, but against an enemy that uses multiple elements, you won’t be able to do it very efficiently. Even so, as long as you play safe and smart, you should be able to defeat the Revenant Dragon.
If you followed the “Regrets of the Dire Wolf“search before coming to this fight and convinced Mythal that you were worthy of receiving her essence, she will appear here to help you face your enemy. This questline is required to obtain Veilguard’s secret ending, so it’s good to complete anyway. This will just make your time easier fighting the Revenant Dragon, allowing you to take it down quicker to get your rewards.
“Heart of Corruption” quest rewards
A stack of coins and a unique reward
After defeating the Revenant Dragon, the Caretaker will appear, thinking that the Revenant Dragon seemed to be one of the gods’ weapons to take down the Crossroads. You will receive a “Mission completed” pop-up, which will list the following rewards:
|
Reward |
Amount |
|---|---|
|
XP |
1,000 |
|
Dragonfire Catalyst |
2 |
|
Etheric Remnant |
10 |
|
Dragon Scales (Valuable Item) |
1 |
|
Lament Watch Force |
200 |
|
Strength of the Lords of Fortune |
300 |
Most of the time it’s just currency and things that can be sold, but if you keep following the path that opened up behind the arena you can get the “Dragon’s Tear“souvenir, as well as an exclusive chest. This chest contains the “The Last Resort” ring, which gives you +20% damage and -20% to your Resistances each time you use an ability that hits an enemy. The bonus resets each time you dodge or defend (RB).
After the boss is defeated, congratulate yourself. This is one of the hardest bosses that Dragon Age: The Veil Guard has to offer. Gives you progress towards the “Tearing down the sky“achievement, which requires you to defeat every High Dragon in the game. Whether you are ready to put on your dragon hunting boots, you have successfully completed”The Heart of Corruption.”
Video credit: ZaFrostPet/YouTube
- Released
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October 31, 2024
- Developer(s)
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BioWare
- CERS
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence