How to complete The Heart of Corruption quest in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The Heart of Corruption is one of many sidequests in Bioware’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard,, but it’s one of the tougher of the bunch. Similar to how opening the Warden Vault takes a lot of brain power to solve puzzles, The Heart of Corruption tasks you with defeating some of the game’s strongest enemies. 

Once you initially unlock The Heart of Corruption and discover the strange locked gateways, you probably won’t have any clue how to get past them. Luckily, we’re here to help, even if it’ll inevitably take you a while to complete The Heart of Corruption’s daunting tasks in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

How to start The Heart of Corruption

Beginning The Heart of Corruption quest won’t take long in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Just walk up to the tangled door with three circular locks in The Crossroads, specifically on Beacon Island. From there, you should have The Heart of Corruption quest in your Journal.

To unlock all three locks on the door, you’ll have to defeat three bosses in different regions. Not only that, but defeating these three bosses unlocks passages in The Crossroads leading to three more Revenant bosses that scale in difficulty.

Where to find all Champion Essences

Before you can unlock the door with the three locks in The Crossroads, you’ll first have to unlock three separate door, which each require a Champion Essence. To obtain these Champion Essences, you must defeat three difficult ogres in separate regions.

Step 1: Defeat Desmal, Bloodbound to Elger’nan in Treviso, specifically on the rooftops. This ogre will be at level 25, so make sure you’re prepared for the fight.

Desmal is weak to Fire damage, but resistant to Necrotic. With this in mind, it’s best to take a companion like Taash or Davrin with you, as they both have Fire skills. You should also have a support companion with you to help heal, so also including Harding or Bellara in your party is a good idea. Avoid Lucanis and Emmrich as they both use Necrotic skills.

Killing Desmal will grant you a Champion Essence to unlock the Gate of Deep Sorrows in The Crossroads.

Step 2: Defeat The Disciple-in-Ichor in the Hossberg Wetlands, specifically in The Old Crossroads, a swampy area filled with blight. This ogre will be at level 30, and is a lot tougher than the previous one.

Just like Desmal, this boss is weak to Fire and resistant to Necrotic. The same team as last time should work: have Taash or Davrin with you to deal Fire attacks and either Harding, Neve, or Bellara for healing and support.

After you take down The Disciple-in-Ichor, you’ll receive a Champion Essence to unlock the Gate of Parched Hopes in The Crossroads.

Step 3: Defeat Amarell the Unwoven, also in the Hossberg Wetlands, specifically in Solitude’s Edge. Amarell will be level 35 and will also be vulnerable to Fire, but resistant to Necrotic damage.

Take on this ogre with the same team you’re used to. Have Taash or Davrin alongside a supporter like Bellara, Neve, or Harding, and you’ll survive.

Once you take down Amarell, you’ll gain the last Champion Essence which will unlock the Gate of Pale Reflections in The Crossroads.

How to get all Revenant Essences

With those three gates finally open, Rook and party can defeat the final three bad guys. Unfortunately, it’ll be a lot tougher to beat these enemies, with the hardest boss set at level 50.

Step 1: Betrayal of Felassan will be awaiting you in the Converged City at The Crossroads at level 32. It’s vulnerable to Necrotic damage, but resistant to Ice.

The best team for this boss would be either Emmrich or Lucanis as your main Necrotic damage dealer, alongside a supporter like Neve, Bellara, or Harding.

Upon defeating the Betrayal of Felassan, you’ll receive a Revenant Essence to unlock the door with three locks.

Step 2: Slaughter of the Pillars is located in Elvhenan’s Haven at The Crossroads and is at level 37. This boss is also weak to Necrotic damag,e but resists Ice damage.

Bring along a similar team to the one used with the last boss. You’ll want Lucanis or Emmrich for Necrotic damage, and a support companion like Neve, Harding, or Bellara too.

After taking down the Slaughter of the Pillars, you’ll receive the second Revenant Essence for the locked door.

Step 3: Finally, Fall of the Protector is at the Heights of Athim at The Crossroads, sitting at a whopping level 42. This boss is instead vulnerable to Ice damage, but resistant to Fire.

To combat this boss, take Neve with you as your main Ice damage dealer. Depending on whether or not Neve is hardened in your game (if you saved Treviso instead of Minrathous), she may not be able to heal, so if she’s hardened, make sure to bring Harding or Bellara as support. If she can heal, bring either Lucanis or Emmrich.

Once you beat the Fall of the Protector, you’ll gain the final Revenant Essence to open that triple-locked door.

How to beat the Revenant Dragon

Past the triple-locked door is one of the toughest bosses in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, awaiting your party at level 50. Since this dragon is weak to Fire, but resistant to Cold damage, it’s best to bring along either Taash or Davrin as your Fire damage dealers. Like before, you should also have either Bellara or Harding for support, but don’t bring Neve since she mainly uses Cold damage spells.

Other tips you should know when tackling the Revenant Dragon are to focus on breaking its armor down using heavy attacks, especially when focused on the tail or legs. Trying to attack the head is difficult as it’s easier to get attack from the front. Most importantly, once it’s staggered, its heart will be vulnerable, so attack the heart with as much damage as you can before it recuperates.

Interestingly, if you’ve already completed the Regrets of The Dread Wolf quest and convinced Mythal to grant you her powers, she’ll actually show up during the fight as a dragon to deal a decent amount of damage to the Revenant Dragon. You can complete this quest by discovering six of Solas’ statues, completing his sidequests throughout The Crossroads, and getting to certain parts of the main story.