Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Lair of the Dragon King Walkthrough

Taash’s story in Dragon Age: The Veilguard comes to a head in the quest “Lair of the Dragon King.” The Dragon King makes his move, and the results are more than Taash (or he) expect.

You can begin this quest towards the end of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, after you rescue the Dalish elves from the elven gods. Of course, you’ll also have to complete all of Taash’s companion quests that lead up to this point. You begin this quest by visiting a unique location close to the Rivain Coast, but the action will quickly move on to the Rivain Coast proper.

How to Reach Sharksmouth Mountain

After a stop by Taash’s mother’s house, “Lair of the Dragon King” begins at the Eluvian entrance of the Rivain Coast. The map is a little different from normal, and none of the fast-travel beacons are present.

For the first part of this quest, you’ll need to explore parts of the Rivain Coast you’ve already been to. Your first stop is a rowboat in the shallows of the Winding Shoreline, where you’ll need to use Taash’s Scent Tracking ability.

After that comes a pattern: fight some Antaam, speak to Taash at the next scent marker, and then use her Fire Breath to destroy a barrier. You’ll eventually reach a bridge in the Warden Castle that was broken before, and it leads to the second half of the Rivain Coast map.

The new area has plenty of chests and other collectibles you can find while exploring the area, but many of them are available to collect right away.

1. After you cross the bridge and climb down a ladder, jump across the wooden platforms instead of going down the stairs. They lead to a small chest and a zipline back to the start.
2. At the base of the stairs is an open area where you’ll fight some Antaam. This area also holds a large chest.
3. Past the open area is the Tide Flats. There are two dirt piles along the shore you can use Griffon Dig to uncover: the south pile hides a brazier, and the southeast pile hides a small chest.
4. Between the dirt piles is a stone block you can raise with Eternal Hymn. It’s too tall to climb up, but it’ll boost you up if you’re standing on it. This gets you up to a balance beam, although you can also reach it by climbing the rib bones. The balance beam leads to another brazier and a small chest.
5. There’s a small cave in the northwest corner with a third brazier. There’s also a Codex item in front of the statue in this cave.
6. Isabela is close to the cave, and you must speak to her to continue. Once she explains the situation, a ladder drops, and you can start to climb the side of Sharksmouth Mountain.
7. Jump across the wooden platforms and balance beams to reach a spot where you have to fight some Antaam. There’s a Memento under a dead-end archway to the west of this arena.
8. Just past the shortcut ladder, you can jump over a stone wall onto a wooden platform. Past the platform are two Eternal Hymn blocks, but they don’t work during the quest “Lair of the Dragon King.” However, they stick out just far enough to use them as platforms anyway. This leads to the fourth brazier. Light all four with Ignite within about a minute, and you’ll be able to open the bone door in the small cave. This gives you access to a large chest and a Memento.
9. Head back up the shortcut ladder and continue on the regular path. Break some crates at the base of a ladder to reveal a small chest. This room also holds a shortcut door.
10. Take the other passage out of the room to reach a rotten staircase. Go around the statue instead of going up the stairs to find a small chest.
11. Climb up the wooden platforms to reach a new balcony. Drop the ladder to create yet another shortcut, then climb the balance beams to the right of the ladder. There’s a large chest in a room near the top of the ascent.
12. Continue down the path to drop another ladder, and then chase the Antaam scout into another fight. There’s a large chest along the east wall of the area where you fought.
13. The southwest building has a tricky spot where you can tell Taash to Ignite a gaatlok barrel. The barrel won’t highlight unless you stand in just the right spot, and it won’t show anything unless you open the companion menu. Blowing up the barrel will open a path on the south side of the building, and you can use it to reach a large chest.

At this point, all you need to do is climb one last ladder and cross a wooden platform to enter Sharksmouth Mountain.

Where to Explore in Sharksmouth Mountain

The interior of Sharksmouth Mountain is, for the most part, another exploration area for the Rivain Coast. This means there are even more collectibles you can find while you’re here, but it also means a few of them are out of reach while “Lair of the Dragon King” is active. To gather these last few collectibles, you’ll need to return to the mountain later.

• The Cave Descent features two paths you can take, but both of them converge before you reach the Cave Floor. There are some minor collectibles on both paths, but nothing important.
• There’s a small chest behind the ruined building in the northwest corner of the Cave Floor, along with a Dragonfire Crystal deposit.
• You’ll find another small chest below the stairs that lead further into the cave.
• After climbing the stairs, go past the spot where you need to jump off to continue forward. Instead, look left to find stones you can raise with Eternal Hymn. Jump across them to reach a small chest.
• From the small chest island, raise another set of stones to reach an Evanuris Altar.

After you cross the wooden platforms and reach the Lava Caves, you’ll face Cutter, a miniboss. As an assassin enemy type, Cutter can parry attacks from the front, and his main gimmick is that he can also summon turrets that can attack you from various angles. Fortunately, the turrets go down quickly if you take a moment to target them. Stagger Cutter once, and you should have enough time to destroy him.

• Past Cutter, and close to the crystals you need to melt to continue, you’ll find a large chest.
• There’s a Memento on the first platform you jump to after melting the crystals.
• On the platform where you set off the gaatlok cannons, climb down the ladder you didn’t climb up. There’s a small chest underneath the platform.
• There’s a large chest right behind the gate you destroy with the gaatlok cannons.

At this point, you can head to the large chamber, beat the Antaam waiting there, open the gate and drop the ladder to create more shortcuts, and then take the upper path to reach a cutscene.

After the cutscene ends, head back down to the lower level of the big chamber. On the far side of the gate, a pillar has fallen that you can use to continue forward.

• After you climb a ladder, jump to the right off the balance beam to reach a platform with a Memento on it.
• Jump to a balance beam on the other side of the platform to reach a second platform with a small chest. From here, you can jump down to the regular path.
• When you cross a wooden bridge to a well-lit area, bear right to open a large chest. You may spot three chests in a room to the left, but you can’t open the door during this quest.
• Head into the keep to fight another set of Antaam. Behind them is one last large chest.

Past the chest are enough potion jars to fully replenish your stock. Grab what you need, because the final fight of this quest is just ahead.

How to Beat the Kaltenzahn

This being the final combat quest of Taash’s story, it naturally ends with a fight against a High Dragon. The Kaltenzahn has all the attacks and weaknesses you expect from High Dragon fights, but it adds a few wrinkles to the formula:

• The Kaltenzahn’s breath projectile is a set of three homing ice bolts, fired in quick succession.
• When the Kaltenzahn loses one-third and two-thirds of its health, it beats its wings, creating random frost projectiles that fly away from it in all directions. Your best bet is to run away and keep moving, because the distance gives you more time to dodge, and the projectiles only travel a short distance away from the dragon.
• After the projectiles finish, an ice storm covers the battlefield and reduces visibility significantly. You should stick close to the dragon while the storm is active, because otherwise you won’t know where it is or what it’s doing.

Any fight would be anticlimactic after facing a High Dragon, and so the Dragon King gets defeated off-screen.

Should Taash Embrace Rivaini Culture or Qunari Culture?

After returning to the Lighthouse, Taash has a big decision to make: should they fully embrace their Rivaini side, or their Qunari side? The game gave you a similar choice in one of Taash’s earlier quests, but your earlier decision doesn’t limit which choice you can make now. This choice is also more important, because it determines what gear and abilities Taash gets as a Hero of the Veilguard.

Taash Chooses the Qun

• Taash gets The Qun’s Honor. While Taash is wearing this armor and in the party, any Detonation that hits a Weakened enemy can Detonate a second Weakened enemy nearby, and the second Detonation spreads Weakened to every enemy it hits.
• They get the Veilguard skill Qunari Focus, which boosts weapon damage by 50 percent, reduces cooldowns by 20 percent, and causes any Burning condition they inflict to last an extra 2 seconds.
• Taash will reach out to a Qunari scholar to learn more about the ancient tablet.
• Deserting Antaam will rejoin the Qunari.

Taash Chooses Rivain

• Taash gets the armor Rivain’s Legacy. While they’re in the party, Detonations apply Burning to all affected enemies, and they deal an extra 150 percent fire damage if the target was Burning.
• They get the skill Rivaini Flair, which boosts Critical damage by 50 percent, damage to High-Health targets by 25 percent, and causes their Burning affliction to deal more damage right away.
• Taash will reach out to a Rivaini seer to learn more about the ancient tablet.
• Deserting Antaam will join the Lords of Fortune.

Finally, your quest rewards for “Lair of the Dragon King” include 3,500 XP, a helmet or vitaar, a Dragonfire Catalyst, a Dragon Tooth, and +100 Lords of Fortune Strength.