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Dragon Age The Veilguard Cornered in the Catacombs walkthrough

How to complete the Cornered in the Catacombs quest in Minrathous.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs darkspawn in dock town
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Cornered in the Catacombs in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a side quest you can pick up in Dock Town in Minrathous. After meeting an injured Grey Warden, you learn that the catacombs beneath the town are filled with blight - which, we don't need to tell you, isn't a good thing.

You don't have to take specific companions with you on this Dragon Age: The Veilguard quest, so take along whoever you want!

Without further ado, here's our Cornered in the Catacombs walkthrough for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

For more help on your travels across Thedas, check out our Dragon Age: The Veilguard walkthrough.

Dragon Age The Veilguard Cornered in the Catacombs walkthrough

To start the Cornered in the Catacombs side quest you need to speak to the injured Grey Warden in Glandivalis Square in Dock Town in Minrathous. Their location is marked by the exclamation point on the map below:

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs quest start map location
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Speak with them to learn more Wardens are trapped underground in the nearby catacombs.

dragon age the veilguard warden vesta and rook
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

From speaking to Warden Vesta, track the quest in your journal and follow the quest marker to the beginning of the Catacombs in Dock Town. The entrance is at Aula's Lookout.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs catacomb entrance aulas lookout
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Head inside the open metal gate beside the fast travel beacon and keep an eye out for a large blight growth on your left. Once this starts glowing red walk near it and it'll explode. Be ready though, some darkspawn will burst out of the opening.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs first blight door
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Defeat them as they appear and then head through the newly revealed opening. There are a lot of darkspawn in this room, including a couple of high-level ones. It's tempting to fight them all off, but we highly recommend letting your companions deal with them while you find and destroy the blight boils in this room - otherwise they'll just keep spawning!

With your back to the entrance, two blight boils will be high up on the wall opposite you and to the right. Destroy these with a ranged attack.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs room one blight boils on wall
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Now, face the wall the blight boils were on and there will be one on the ground to the left, then another on the ground to the right. Destroy both of these and then you can focus on clearing out the remaining darkspawn before moving on.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs room one blight boil on floor to right
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

When you've cleared the room, head to the right side of the room and you'll find a blight-wall blocking your path. Now that it's glowing red, destroy it and you can move through to the next area.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs blight door two
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Follow the path here and you'll quickly run into more darkspawn. Deal with these then continue to follow the path around until it brings you into Ghilan'nain's Sanctum.

In here you'll face multiple darkspawn, try to clear a few of them out to give yourself more room to move. However, just like the earlier room, you'll want to focus on clearing the blight boils out. Remember, use your companions as darkspawn fodder.

The first blight boil will be on the wall to your left as you enter the sanctum.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs sanctum blight boil one
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Then, head to your left into the next smaller section of the room to find the second blight boil at the bottom of the pillar here.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs sanctum blight boil two
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Then, the next blight boil will be just above this at the top of the pillar in here. Destroy this one and then the next boil in the sanctum will light up.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs sanctum blight boil three
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Head to the middle of the sanctum where the tall statue is and look up. Directly above it is a large blight boil on the ceiling, however you can't instantly destroy this.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs sanctum blight boil on ceiling
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Instead, use Davrin's 'Blight Hunter' ability to first attack it (remember the Dagger can call on this ability if he's not in your party), then it will briefly turn red.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs sanctum use davrin ability on ceiling blight boil
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Attack the blight boil once it turns red and, once destroyed, the rest of the boils in the area will light up. Here's where to find them all:

  • On the roof of the first room you entered in the sanctum.
  • On the right-hand side column of the room leading to the exit of the sanctum.

When you get these two, the blight door blocking the path will open - continue through here.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs sanctum blight door
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Follow the path around and it will bring you to another blight door blocking your path. To open this, continue to follow the path forwards to the right and you'll come to an area with some water and large stones in it.

When prompted to, use Harding's 'Stone Song' ability to move the rock closest to the beam down. Then, use the same ability to pull out the rock just above it when prompted.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs moving rock puzzle part one
dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs moving rock puzzle stone song ability choice
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Then, head to the rock formation furthest away from you and use the ability again to pull it back down into the water. The power beam from the device will now be pointing towards another ancient one on the wall - however you're not done just yet.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs moving rock puzzle part two
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Follow the newly revealed path forwards and then up the stairs to your right. At the very top of the stairs, turn back on yourself and look up - you should see a large blight boil here. Destroy this then head back to the previously blocked blight door.

dragon age the veilguard caught in the catacombs blight boil at top of stairs
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Go back through the blight door and use the elevator to return to the surface. Exit the elevator and you'll find that you're now in a Back Alley of Dock Town. This is the final piece of this quest! Out here, more darkspawn will await but you know the drill by now - focus on getting those blight boils cleared. The first one will be just above the elevator exit, growing on the side of some fallen scaffolding.

dragon age the veilguard cornered in the catacombs back alley blight boil one
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The next one is on the wall to the left in the middle of the alley if you've got your back to the elevator. For us, this one didn't light up until we'd defeated the large darkspawn in the alley.

dragon age the veilguard cornered in the catacombs back alley blight boil two
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

Then, once you've destroyed this one you can remove the blight wall to your right and the one right in front of you. Head through the one directly in front of you and return to Warden Vesta to complete this quest.

dragon age the veilguard cornered in the catacombs final blight door
Image credit: Eurogamer/EA

That's all for now! If you're looking for more Dragon Age: The Veilguard content, check out our pages showing you how to change your appearance and how to transmog.

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