Dragon Age Inquisition - Grand Duchess, Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, Halla Statues
Our Inquisition walkthrough continues with a guide to raising your court approval easily, and making light work of the Grand Duchess boss fight.
Later on you'll have to put all of your armour and weapons back on, so make a note of what clobber your were wearing before starting the next part of the main campaign.
Make your way to the war room and then pick the Orlais region. Select Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts from the right-hand section of the map, then watch the cut-scene. It's essential that you avoid asking direct questions of any non-members of the Inquisition for the next bit of the game, or you'll lose court approval. Just be as vague as possible when it comes to the questions you ask and the answers you give people.
First, talk to the noblewoman to the south and offer to find her ring. Next, scan the area to get the ring from the fountain. Take it back to the lady to get a nice chunk of court approval points. Now go up the stairs to the north, then the next stairs to your west.
Talk to the nobles on the balcony and they'll shuffle off, but you can keep eavesdropping by standing near the flower bed that's north of them. When the cut-scene finishes, walk down the narrow passage to the north of where the nobles are standing, and scan the eastern part of the hallway to get a key.
Go back downstairs and then head up the stairs on the eastern part of this area. At the top, have a rummage around in the corners until you get the Halla Statue. You should have access to both of the storage rooms below the balconies now.
Take the loot at the end of the narrow northern balcony, then go back downstairs. Go to the diamond-shaped marker on your map, open the door beneath the balcony, and take all the loot. Now go to the western balcony and open the second storage room to get your hands on even more lovely stuff - including a secret building permit and a caprice coin.
Next, open up the central gate to start another cut-scene, then go up the stairs right in front of you. At the top, talk to Grand Duke Gaspard to get another cut-scene started, then go downstairs and head through the ballroom until another cinematic starts. Make sure you keep your dialogue options very formal, and avoid talking about the imminent attack.
Speak with Leliana and investigate Briala's agents
Make your way north and take the scroll in the right-hand corner, then access the Vestibule that's marked on your map. When the cut-scene finishes, go east until you come to a pair of nobles chatting in the corner. They'll walk away when you attempt to talk to them, so just go to the stairs near their new position to listen in.
Head through the door on the eastern side, then go down the first corridor on your left. Stick to the right-hand part of the balcony to get a good eavesdropping position, then carry on down the hallway until you reach a set of stairs. To the south of these stairs is yet another spot for eavesdropping.
Make your way back to the Hall of Heroes and head through the western door, then go to the statue to the left of the next door to listen in on another conversation. Walk into the next room on your left to eavesdrop again. Finally, talk to Duke Germain.
Keep heading south until you reach a new room. Make sure you scan the corner of the balcony here to get a cylinder seal, then go back to the previous hallway and pass through the door on the western side to start another cut-scene.
When it's over, head to the next eavesdropping spot, then go into the hallway to the west to get more loot, as well as do a bit more listening in. Make sure you use this eavesdropping spot twice before moving on.
Make your way up the terrace that's north of your position, then go through the door and enter the library itself. Make sure you scan the corners to spot a book that can be pulled - grab it to open up a secret passageway. Walk through it and take the letter from the desk, then grab all the loot including the torch on one of the walls.
Head back to the last room and ignite the half-dozen urns in order. Go to the west side of this section and light the urns from south to north. Do the same with the urns on the east side to expose a staircase. Go down these stairs and then take all of the loot when you reach the bottom.
Go back up, and then return to the balcony you used to enter this area. Walk down the narrow hallway and take the scandalous papers and the Halla Statue. Open the door on the far side with the statue, then grab the negotiations from the floor. Pick up all the loot in here, then go all the way back to the Grand Ballroom. A new cut-scene will begin as you make your approach.
When it finishes, ignore the Ballroom and instead go west towards the Hall of Heroes. Go down the stairs at the other end of this room, then walk through the door to enter the servant's quarters. Get all of your armour and weapons back on, then take a look at the corpse in front of you. Grab the loot from the nearby rooms, including the Halla Statue located in the rafters of the northern room - jump up onto the table to reach it.
Walk through the western door and enter the gardens. This will trigger a new cut-scene, after which you'll need to deal with a pack of enemies. Assuming you managed to bag an approval rating of 20 or more, you'll have to time to explore the entire area and grab all the loot. Just be prepared to fight enemies from time to time.
Go south through the garden, then start going west as soon as you reach the next open space. Walk through the door at the end of the path, then go into the north-eastern room. Kill all of the enemies waiting for you inside, loot everything, then go upstairs.
Carry on south and enter the room to your east. Kill the enemies, then leave and go through the door to your north. Keep working your way through this section, killing all the enemies you encounter, until a new cut-scene begins.
Return to the ballroom to confront Gaspard
When the cinematic's finished, grab the nearby Halla Statue, then keep heading towards the waypoint. Make sure you grab any loot lying around the place as you go, then kill the enemies when you come to the lower levels. When they're dead, just keep heading towards the southern waypoint.
Enter the castle by opening the gate at the waypoint, then go upstairs and talk to the guards near the trophy room. Get them to leave their position by instructing them to talk to Cullen, then go inside and scan for loot.
Make your way back to the Grand Ballroom to start a new cut-scene, and select the option to dance if you want to boost your court approval. Just remember to be suitably mysterious during your conversations here, so as to boost your approval rating even higher. When you're finished, speak to your friends, but again avoid giving any clear answers. Just keep going down the conversation path of needing more information.
Find material in the royal wing to blackmail Gaspard and Briala
Head back to the Vestibule once more, then walk down the left-hand side of the hall and go upstairs. This will take you to another one of those eavesdropping areas. Listen in to the chit-chat, then go through the door. You'll have to re-equip your weapons and armour, although your friends will still be wearing the kit you left them with.
Take the secrets from the table, then go upstairs and into the next room along. Keep heading east until you hear a scream, then go through the eastern door. When the next cut-scene's finished, grab all the loot in this room including a Halla Statue.
Go through the door to the south, then around the corner until you're in a new room. Go through the door to the east to start another bit of cinematic, and make sure you remain mysterious during the conversation. When it's over, you'll need to kill a load of enemies and seal a rift, before working your way cautiously through the next bit of dialogue.
Grand Duchess guide
- HP: 30,788
- Perceptive
- Guard
- Immune to all disabling effects, poisoned, slowed, knocked-down
When the fight starts, the Duchess will remain on top of the fountain, making it very hard for melee classes to get stuck in and do damage. Assuming you have a decent ranged fighting force, remain on the balcony and fire shots at her until she relocates. If you're weak in this department, just go downstairs to make her join the fight with you.
Don't try to paralyse or slow the Duchess, as she's immune to a lot of your controlling spells, and she teleports around the room a lot anyway. All in all, your melee fighters will find this battle much tougher than your ranged party members, so make sure these latter guys are working efficiently at all times.
When the Duchess teleports, your party members will have to reorientate their positions and start fighting again. You also need to keep an eye out for the waves of enemies that periodically spawn. Those party members with area-of-effect damage abilities should start using them against the boss and take advantage of the bonus splash damage, while single-target specialists should pick off the newcomers one by one. The priority at all times should be to keep doing at least some damage to the boss.
Once the fight's over, grab any loot left lying around, then go back up those stairs and walk through the two gates in front of you. Determine who's responsible for the attack during the next dialogue section, then return to Skyhold.
You can find all of our Dragon Age Inquisition hints and tips from the index page of our guide.