Dragon Age: The Veilguard – The Cauldron Walkthrough

While most companion missions are optional, you will need to complete some of them to continue the story Dragon Age: The Veil Guard. After all, you can't face the weakened gods of the elves unless you trust the team at your side.

After the siege of Weisshaupt in Dragon Age: The Veil Guardtwo companion missions are promoted to story missions: one depends on which city you saved between Minrathous and Treviso, while the other is “The Cauldron”. Davrin must do something to help the Gray Wardens after Weisshaupt, and his quest will take you to a secret Warden base deep in the Hossberg Wetlands.

How to enter the cauldron

For the first part of the mission “The Cauldron”, it is not necessary to bring Davrin with you. However, he has a lot of dialogue as you explore the outside of the castle, plus his bond increases as you fight the darkspawn you'll encounter.

You can reach the Cauldron by traveling towards the southwestern section of the Hossberg Wetlands. The name of the area is Castle doors. If Davrin is not in your party, he will meet you at the now broken gate leading to the Cauldron.

Say ”
There's no time to waste
” for an approval boost.

After Davrin, you can use him or the Lyrium Dagger to knock over a pile of planks and create a passage into the front courtyard of the Cauldron. You'll face a large group of darkspawn once inside, so be sure to do so explode the downy mildew boils as soon as they appear to limit their reinforcements.

Your goal in this area is to find a way in. To get an idea of ​​what to do (along with some quest markers), you should go up the main stairs leading to the main door. The gap here is too wide, but Rook will notice some rust holding another woodpile in the air, and you can drop it by exploding a bunch of rust bubbles. Two of them are located to the left of the entrance (south), and two to the right (north).

• For the the north boilsturn right facing the entrance and climb the ladder near the ballista. Go through the tunnel, then go up the wooden stairs and platforms to the right. Cross the stone walkway covered in dead Keepers. The boil is to your right when you enter the chamber. After it explodes, you'll have to fight a Frenzied Berserker and a Repellent Berserker.
• Go up one of the stairs to the next floor. THE the second boil is in the south corner of the room.
• Destroying both bubbles unlocks a third on this side of the building. Go back to the stone walkway and look to the right. THE boil is behind the ballista.
• For the set of boils southturn left looking at the entrance and head towards the Internal courtyard area. You may have to fight more darkspawn. From the inner courtyard, go up the ramp along the south wall, then jump across the wooden walkway. The bthe oil is on a stone wall on the right. A frenzied javelin and a repelling javelin will appear and attack as soon as you get close.
• The next Southern boil is on the wall in the room with all the wooden platforms.
• Destroying both bubbles will allow you to eliminate bacterial growth. The final boil is on stone walkway behind the growth.

Where to find all collectibles in the cauldron

Aside from the Rust Bubbles, you can also find many chests and other collectibles in the Cauldron and its courtyard.

• From the central staircase, run towards the giant door on the opposite wall. Jump onto the stone platform on the left and then jump onto the wooden platform. You may need to use a ranged weapon to take out the barrels. There is a small chest on this platform.
• Turn right from the giant stone door to use it Griffin Strike on a pile of wood, then climb the platforms to reach a small chest.
• From the ladder you used to enter the Cauldron Courtyard, go north along the wall and kick the balance beam down. Cross it to open a small chest and activate a ladder leading back to the The castle gardens.
• Climb the ladder on the left in the artifact room to reach a small chest.
• Turn left after entering the inner courtyard to spot an altar of Evanuris. You can see all four targets you need to hit by walking a short distance north.
• On the western side of the inner courtyard is a ruined gate that you cannot open during this quest. To the right of this gate and up the stairs is a small chest.
• Climb the Internal courtyard ramp and look for a balcony on the right. There is a small chest here.
• Jump onto the platform with the ballista. Behind the ballista is a large chest.
• Head to the room full of wooden platforms. Below close to the red wire it's a little treasure chest.
• Usage Soothe the torment on the red thread and wait for it to follow you. Climb the ladder, then run counterclockwise along the wooden platforms to reach a Nether Knot. This will drop a ladder that you can climb up. From the platform above, jump onto a wooden ramp, then head towards the large chest.
• After dropping the wooden platform and entering the Cauldron, go through the rust doors and down to the large door flanked by statues. There is a small chest in the dead end on the left.

The last collectible you can only find after starting the real mission “The Cauldron”.

How to defeat the Darkspawn Horde in the Cauldron

After inserting the file tomb of the archdemonthe Dark Howler will scream and darkspawn will begin to emerge from all the withering pools. Don't try to defeat all the darkspawn. Instead, focus on destroying all rust bubblesand gain access to the archdemon's skeleton.

• One is on a raised platform on the south wall of the room.
• One is under a pair of pulleys on the north wall of the room.
• Destroying both will reveal a Boiling Point in front of the archdemon's skull.
• Now you can destroy the rust growth blocking the stairs. You just have to unlock a ladder.
• The next boiling point is in the south-west corner.
• Next, pop the boil in the north-west corner.
• The last boil is just right behind the archdemon's skull.

Eliminate them all to start a cutscene. Once finished, you will have to fight the Darkspawn Horde.

• The horde includes several types of enemies, including orcs, berserkers, grenadiers and ghouls. Most appear immediately, but the first orc won't appear for about a minute.
• Whenever you kill a darkspawn, another darkspawn of the same type will appear and take its place.
• Each type of darkspawn has a specific number of reinforcements. For example, you will face a total of six grenadiers, but only two orcs. Once a Darkspawn type runs out of reinforcements, you can get rid of them forever.
• With all this in mind, the best strategy is that focus on one enemy type at a time. This will reduce the total number of enemies you have to worry about at one time.
• Another good strategy is to run to the far corner of the room when you feel overwhelmed. The Darkspawn move at different speeds, so you will have the opportunity to focus on one or two of them at a time.
• All enemies except ghouls have armor, then heavy attacks are very useful during this fight.

After the big fight, you will have a conversation with Davrin. Once done, open the large chest in front of you, then talk to Davrin to leave the Cauldron. While you get a lot of XP from the fight, your only reward for the quest is +100 Gray Warden Strength.