Dragon Age: The Veilguard Choices and Consequences - Decisions that matter throughout the game

by Josh Tolentino on 30 November, 2024

As a series, Dragon Age is best known for allowing players to make "big choices" that alter the state of the world and reflecting that in future work. While the games have changed their approach to that aspect over time, Dragon Age: The Veilguard might represent the cleanest break yet from that tradition. Taking place nearly a decade after Dragon Age: Inquisition, the game notoriously does not allow the importation of previous choices, whether through old save games or the Dragon Age Keep online utility. Instead, players can either go with a default world state or make a few decisions about what happened in Inquisition via a set of questions asked during character creation. Beyond that, most of the choices and consequences one makes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard occur in the context of Rook and the Veilguard's campaign against the escaped elven gods. Read on for our capsule guide to the most impactful choices in Dragon Age: The Veilguard!

Because this guide discusses major choices and events throughout Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there will be major spoilers for multiple critical plot points throughout the entire game. Though we will minimize the detailed discussion of spoilers, by necessity this guide requires outlining some of the context of major quests and decisions that Rook must make through the game. Consider this your warning.

You can jump straight to specific quests in the list below, or keep scrolling for a roughly start-to-finish description of the major choices in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Major Plot Decisions in the Early to Mid-Game
The Endgame

Note: For the purposes of this guide, what we consider a "major choice" is defined as a choice with results that have significant effects on later parts of the game. For example, making a decision about an NPC's fate earlier in the game that can affect the progression of a quest later in the game is what we'd consider a major choice. Choices where the main variations are changes in companion approval or in subsequent dialog further on are minor choices and will generally not be considered for inclusion in this guide. Choices that can determine your party options outside of the normal setup process are also considered major choices, as are most companion-involved quest decisions.

Major Plot Decisions in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

This section covers major choices made over the course of the main story quest in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Due to the nature of the quest flow, particularly with regard to companions and side quests, the exact order in which you will make these decisions can vary, so this isn't a step-by-step outline. Instead, each section will outline the quest you make a decision in, and detail the consequences of the decision or the impact on the rest of the quest (or the rest of the game).

Character Creation

As mentioned in our guide to Dragon Age: The Veilguard character creation, some of the most impactful choices you can make occur before the game begins. Rook's faction choice, in particular, flavors a large portion of the interactions Rook will have with many of the game's NPCs and even a few companions and quest lines. This is particularly true of the Shadow Dragons, Antivan Crows, and Grey Wardens factions, which have a relatively higher level of narrative relevance compared to the Mourn Watch or Lords of Fortune (though those faction choices do still have substantial reactivity in the game). Rook will also even have some faction-specific dialog or quest options when it's relevant to the situation.

The End of the Beginning

Rook's first major choice pops up during the prologue, shortly after the first round of tutorials. After Varric breaks off to confront Solas, you must find a way to disrupt the ritual, and will be prompted to choose a companion to accompany you in the attempt.

Choose Harding - Harding will help you, but will be injured in the aftermath.
Choose Neve - Neve will help, but will be injured in the aftermath.

Your choice doesn't affect the outcome of the gambit, but it does influence your party options for the next few story quests, as whoever helps you will be injured and be unable to fight, leaving the other to participate in the active party. They'll also appear scarred for a while, even after they return to the active roster, a reminder of your decision to put them in harm's way.

Shadows Crossing

Your visit to the benighted village of D'Meta's Crossing will introduce you to the stakes of the conflict, as well as prompt you to decide what to do about the perpetrator, Mayor Julius . Bellara will favor leaving Julius, Neve will argue for saving Julius, while Harding won't advocate either way (though she will disapprove if you opt to save Julius). If Rook is a Grey Warden, you'll have a third option here that's arguably the most positive outcome.

If you Spare Julius, he'll be left to go free.
- Bellara will greatly disapprove, Harding will disapprove, and Neve will approve.
- You'll see Julius later, at a Venatori gathering during the quest Isle of the Gods.
If you Leave Julius, he'll be left to die.
- Bellara and Harding wil approve, while Harding will disapprove.
- Leaving Julius unlocks the regional quest A Growing Corruption, which can be found midway through the game in the Arlathan Forest zone.
  - During this quest, you'll need to defeat a mini-boss, Blighted Julius.
Rook can also choose to Send Julius to the Grey Wardens.
- This option is exclusive to Grey Warden Rook, and won't even appear if Rook is not a Grey Warden.
- Remanding Julius to the Wardens' custody earns you great approval from Neve and disapproval from Harding and Bellara.
- This option arguably leads to the most positive outcome for Julius.
  - Julius finds a measure of redemption for his crimes in the Hossberg Wetlands regional quest Lives Spared.
    - Unlike A Growing Corruption, this quest unlocks regardless of your choice, but Julius' presence in the quest modifies its outcome to be somewhat more positive than if Julius had been treated differently (though there are no material consequences).

Choosing which City to Aid: Minrauthos or Treviso

After the series of story quests that eventually lead you to recruit Davrin, you'll be faced with a sudden and monumental decision: Picking a city to aid. Treviso, Antiva's capital and home of the Crows, and Minrauthos, home of the Shadow Dragons and power center of Northern Thedas, are both under attack, and Rook can only be in one place at a time. You must choose which city to aid. Neve will advocate for helping Minrauthos, and Lucanis will beg you to help Treviso. Picking one city will temporarily remove the other city's companion member for a time. Your choice can also heavily affect your romance prospects, as detailed in our Dragon Age: The Veilguard romance guide.

Choosing to help Minrauthos will give you the quest On Blighted Wings and send you to meet Neve, eventually facing off against the High Dragon Seartooth.
Choosing to help Treviso will give you the quest On Deadly Wings, sending you to meet Lucanis to take out the High Dragon Corius the Ice Talon.

After concluding the quests, you'll find out that the city you do not aid has been blighted. This consequence effectively changes the city for the entire rest of the game, having the following major effects:

Large portions of the map will be rearranged, and all the fast travel beacons you've unlocked will need to be rediscovered.
You'll lose access to the faction vendor for the region, essentially losing the ability to trade valuables for Faction Strength.
- Faction Strength can still be increased by completing regional quests.
- Faction Strength plays a role in the ending, and your attempts to strengthen a blighted faction will hinge mainly on completing side quests.
The regional faction (either the Antivan Crows or the Shadow Dragons) will be weakened, and lose 100 points of Faction Strength.
Many vendors from the affected region will outright disappear, removing their wares from the purchasable selection.
Your companion from the affected city (either Neve or Lucanis) will be unavailable for a fairly long stretch, only returning later on.
- The affected companion will also be hardened, changing how they interact with you.
  - Hardened companions will see fewer approval gains from Rook's dialog choices.
  - Hardened companions will also stop using healing skills. Certain passive skills that boost damage will also be more effective.
  - Rook will be less able to influence the affected companion in certain companion quests, denying them the ability to make certain critical choices.
    - This does not prevent them from becoming a Hero of the Veilguard.
- Lucanis will no longer be romanceable if he is hardened.
- Neve's romance line can continue, though it will progress more slowly.

Clearing The Crossroads

Though it's entirely possible to skip the Crossroads, simply doing the bare minimum to unlock its pathways to different locations, quests located in this region-between-regions are critical to getting the best possible ending. Ignore these places at your peril.

Though the Crossroads themselves don't carry much in the way of key decisions, several major quests run through them and, when completed, open up certain options that influence the game's ending.

These quests are:

Regrets of the Dread Wolf
- This side quest involves locating 5 Dread Wolf statuettes scattered throughout the Crossroads containing key memories belonging to Solas and detailing his rebellion against the gods.
- You won't be able to complete the quest right away, as the locations are gated behind other side quests and main story progress, specifically:
  - The Labs Below side quest in the Crossroads
  - The Wolf's Call side quest in the 2nd unlocked Crossroads zone, Elvenhan's Haven
  - The Gate of Lost Ages, a side quest that requires hunting a Darkspawn champion in one of the other regions
  - Disrupt and Conquer in the Athim section of the Crossroads
  - The Gate of Faded Glories section of Elvenhan's Haven.
- After completing these quests, you'll be barred from further progress until you complete the short main story quest Shadows of the Blight.
  - At this point, you'll receive a 6th statuette that you can mount on a pedestal in the Lighthouse Library, allowing you to view the Dread Wolf's memories.
  - This kicks off a section I call the "Live Veilguard Reaction," involving a number of major Dragon Age lore reveals and, critically, unlocking an encounter with Morrigan.
- After completing Regrets of the Dread Wolf, you'll be called into a meeting with Morrigan, who will unlock a special section of the Crossroads, The Nest of the Ancients.
- There you'll be able to talk to none other than Mythal, the former elven god. This is an opportunity to gain an edge for the final confrontation against Solas. To get it, you'll have two options:
  - Talk Mythal down, using your knowledge from Solas' memories.
    - To talk her down, you'll need to make your case through dialog. Choose the following options:
    - Say that you want Mythal's help.
    - Mention that Solas is helping you.
      - Say that you Respected him.
    - Tell her that We must stop the blight.
      - Remind her that She stood against it.
    - Explain that We must stop the gods.
      - Say that They wronged you.
      - If you've completed Bellara's Companion Quest chain, you'll have an additional option to mention Anariss, which works, too.
    - Argue that We are worthy.
      - Say you're Building a safe place.
    - Winning the argument will get you Mythal's Essence, and a pledge from her to aid you in the final encounter of The Heart of Corruption side quest.
  - Defeat Mythal in battle, the option you'll have if you fail to talk her down.
    - You can simply opt to start the battle by telling Mythal that she won't help you.
    - This starts a major boss battle against her in her High Dragon Form.
      - She's level 45, but at normal difficulty should be defeatable around level 30, with decent gear.
    - Defeating Mythal in this way will earn you a "simpler" version of Mythal's Essence, one that won't unlock as many options for the ending, but can still be used against Solas.
The Heart of Corruption
- Though strictly speaking this side quest has no major decisions attached, finishing it is key to unlocking the secret post-credits scene, so for completion's sake, we're including it here.
- This side quest can be unlocked only by clearing three large boss-level enemies scattered about the Crossroads.
- Each boss is located behind one of the sealed gates, which requires a Champion's essence from somewhere else in the world.
  - Slaughter of Pillars, located in Elvenhan's Haven, behind the Gate of Parched Hopes.
  - Fall of the Protector, located in the Heights of Athim, behind the Gate of Pale Reflections.
  - Betrayal of Felassan, located in the Converged City, behind the Gate of Faded Glories.
- Clearing the three bosses gives you the essences needed to unlock a 3-Seal door in the starting area of the Crossroads (right outside the Lighthouse eluvian).
  - Unlocking the door opens the small Blighted Path area, containing the Dragon Revenant Boss.
  - Be careful. The boss is a level 50 High Dragon, arguably the toughest single boss in the game.
    - If you talked down Mythal in the Regrets of the Dread Wolf quest, she'll aid you here and strip the boss' armor and barrier, making it a bit easier to kill.

Endgame Choices and Consquences in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The endgame of Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a set of long quests that drives the events of the main story to its conclusion. In terms of bringing things to a close and calling in all of the game's major systems, it's chock-full of consequential decisions. BioWare fans will likely see shades of Mass Effect 2's "Suicide Mission" and the final assault sequence of Mass Effect 3's Galactic War in the sequence, though The Veilguard puts its own spin on things by blending a number of character-specific decisions Rook must make.

The game will signal point of no return rather prominently, so there's little chance you'll miss it, but if you want to get the best result possible, ensure you've cleared as many regional and companion quests as possible before committing.

The point of no return for Dragon Age: The Veilguard occurs when you embark on the story quest "When Plans Align."

Following this point, all other companion and regional quests will be locked and you won't be able to earn more Faction Strength or advance your companion bonds, with no recourse but to continue on to the end of the game.

Isle of the Gods

Following the short quest The Shadowed Sun, you'll head off to Tearstone Island to confront one of the gods you're hunting. As you land, you'll need to make a critical decision. Rook must choose a leader for a second team. This second team will run a distraction to draw the attention of the bulk of the gods' forces while Rook's team heads for the objective.

You'll have two choices: Davrin or Harding.

Without getting into details, whoever you choose won't be available for the rest of the game. Choose wisely.

This choice will also affect any romances active with Davrin or Harding.

Later on, you'll have to make another, similar choice: Someone needs to disarm a set of magical wards.

You'll have two choices: Bellara or Neve.

Again, whoever you choose won't be available for the rest of the game. Choose wisely.

This choice will not affect active romances with Neve or Bellara.

The Last Gambit

Everything's on the table for the last big push against the Elven gods. Rook and the Veilguard will need to unite with all of their allied factions to topple the gods' last defenses, and a series of pivotal decisions will shape the future of Thedas to come.

This quest is where the Faction Strength rating comes into play. Visible on the map screen, faction strength is awarded based on your regional and faction quest completion. There's an element of random chance to the system, so you want faction strength to be as high as possible in order to guarantee a positive outcome for your decisions in this quest.

Generally speaking to maximize your chances of success, you'll want the following:

Minimum Faction Strength of "Moderate" for all Factions.
- This will require side quest completion, especially for whichever faction you allowed to get Blighted earlier in the game.
Hero of the Veilguard status for companions.
- This generally means clearing each companion's quest lines.
- While you don't have to make every companion a Hero of the Veilguard to meet with maximal success, the fewer Heroes you have available, the lower their chances of coming through the crisis unscathed.

You'll be called to plan your assault, and will need to make a series of decisions, assigning different members of the Veilguard to various roles. You can pick any companion, but the game will advise you on ideal criteria to maximize the chances of success. Failures can and will result in taking casualties.

Note that choosing characters for these roles prevents them from joining your active party, so keep in mind your personal party preferences when making your picks.

Choose someone to stay with the Veil Jumpers and disable magical wards.
- Pic a defensive companion or an expert mage
  - Ideal companions for this are Emmrich, Bellara, Neve, or Harding (if available)
Choose someone to target and take down a Tevinter War Mage alongside the Crows and Lords of Fortune
- Pick a mage-killing expert or assault specialist
  - Lucanis is a natural pick for this, but Taash or Harding (if available) have good chances here.
- Your chances here will be improved if you complete the Returned Cultist Case companion quest for Neve.
Choose a member to help the Grey Wardens and Mourn Watch face off against a giant enemy.
- A Veilguard member capable of high-intensity combat or dealing with magical constructs will do best here.
  - Taash, Emmrich, and Davrin (if available) are the clearest picks for this role.
- You'll have better chances of success if you completed the Sacrifice of Souls companion quest for Emmrich.

The Dread Wolf Rises

This is it. It's all come down to this. The final quest in the game, this is where you determine how Dragon Age: The Veilguard will end. This quest is also directly influenced by your choices in The Last Gambit, as your decisions will determine your available party members, and potentially their fate at the very end.

You basically have one choice to make before the final series of fights: Who should be left behind to guard the barricades alongside the remaining faction leaders.

Your best close-combat fighter would be ideal, so Taash or Davrin (if available) would make for the best choice.
The success of your choice here will be influenced by the results from the Last Gambit. Taking casualties due to low faction strength will negatively affect the fate of the characters holding the line.

After the final boss fight, you'll have one last decision to make: What to do about Solas.

Under ideal conditions: You'll have three options:

Fight Solas
- This is your default option, and if you did very poorly in the previous quests, the game might even default you to this ending.
- The actual results of your fight depend on your companions' status, such as whether they're Heroes of the Veilguard.
- Without getting into too many details, your victory will either be definitive or phyrric.
Trick Solas
- This is where you'll use a little MacGuffin to give the Elven god of trickery a taste of his own medicine.
- There's no way to fail this specific option, as having it in the first place is a reflection of the quality of your results in the previous quests.
Convince Solas
- This option will only appear if you obtained Mythal's Essence from the Regrets of the Dread Wolf quest mentioned above in the Crossroads section.
  - You have to have obtained all the statuettes and spoken to Morrigan and Mythal.
  - It doesn't matter how you obtained the Essence, be it through combat or conversation.
- Depending on your decision about importing Dragon Age: Inquisition choices, this scene could also play out differently.
  - If you set the Inquisitor up with Solas as a romantic interest, they'll be present and help ease the transition.

And those are the most pivotal decisions you'll face in the main story of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Check out our guides section for more!