Cornered in the catacombs in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a side quest you can pick up at Dock Town in Minrathous. After encountering an injured Gray Guard, you learn that the catacombs beneath the city are filled with damage – which, we don’t need to tell you, is not a good thing.
You don’t have to take specific companions with you on this Dragon Age: The Veilguard quest, so bring whoever you want!
Without further ado, here is our Cornered into the Catacombs walkthrough for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
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For more help as you travel through Thedas, check out our Dragon Age: The Veilguard walkthrough.
Dragon Age walkthrough The Veilguard cornered in the catacombs
To begin the Cornered in the Catacombs side quest, you need to speak to the injured Gray Warden in Glandivalis Square in Dock Town in Minrathous. Their location is marked by the exclamation mark on the map below:
Talk with them to find out more. The guardians are trapped underground in the nearby catacombs.
After speaking to Director Vesta, follow the quest in your journal and follow the quest marker to the start of the Dock Town Catacombs. The entrance is at the Aula lookout.
Head inside the open metal door next to the fast travel beacon and keep an eye out for a large burn growth to your left. Once it starts glowing red, get close and it will explode. Be prepared though, darkspawn will burst out of the opening.
Defeat them as they appear, then head towards the newly revealed opening. There are a lot of darkspawn in this room, including some high level ones. It’s tempting to fight them all, but we highly recommend letting your companions deal with them while you find and destroy the bane boils in this room – otherwise they’ll keep appearing!
With your back to the entrance, two flail boils will be at the top of the wall in front of you and to the right. Destroy them with a ranged attack.
Now face the wall the boils were on and there will be one on the ground to the left, then another one on the ground to the right. Destroy both of them and you can then focus on eliminating the remaining darkspawn before continuing.
When you’ve cleared the room, head to the right side of the room and you’ll find a flail wall blocking your path. Now that it glows red, destroy it and you can move on to the next area.
Follow the path here and you’ll quickly encounter other darkspawn. Deal with them then continue following the path until it takes you to the Ghilan’nain Shrine.
Here you will face several darkspawn, try to take out a few of them to give yourself more space to move. However, just like in the previous room, you will need to focus on eliminating the blight. Remember to use your companions as fodder for the darkspawn.
The first boil will be on the wall to your left as you enter the shrine.
Next, head to your left into the next smaller section of the room to find the second boil at the bottom of the pillar here.
Then the next flail boil will be right above, at the top of the pillar here. Destroy this one and the next boil in the shrine will light up.
Head to the middle of the shrine where the large statue is and look up. Just above is a large boil on the ceiling, but you can’t destroy it instantly.
Instead, use Davrin’s “Blight Hunter” ability to attack him first (remember the dagger can call on this ability if he’s not in your party), then he will briefly become red.
Attack the 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 the shrine.
- On the right side column of the room leading to the exit from the sanctuary.
When you get these two, the flail door blocking the path will open – continue this way.
Follow the path and it will take you to another flail door blocking your path. To open it, continue following the path to the right and you will come to an area with water and large stones.
When prompted, use Harding’s “Stone Song” ability to move the rock closest to the beam down. Then use the same ability to remove the rock directly above it when prompted.
Next, head to the rock formation farthest from you and use this ability again to bring it back into the water. The device’s power beam will now be pointed at another old one on the wall – but you’re not done yet.
Follow the newly revealed path, then go up the stairs to your right. At the very top of the stairs, turn around and look up – you should see a large blight boiling here. Destroy it, then return to the previously blocked Scourge Gate.
Return through the flail door and use the elevator to return to the surface. Exit the elevator and you will find that you are now in an alley in Dock Town. This is the final piece of this quest! Here, other darkspawn will be waiting for you, but now you know the drill: focus on killing those blight boils. The first will be just above the elevator exit, pushing up the side of a fallen scaffold.
The next one is on the wall to the left in the middle of the aisle if your back is to the elevator. For us, this one only lit up when we defeated the bigspawn in the alley.
Then, once you destroy this one, you can remove the flail wall to your right and the one directly in front of you. Cross the one directly in front of you and return to Director Vesta to complete this quest.
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.
