Should i save or destroy amaranthine

Use your imagination. Vigil's Keep is a Grey Warden fortress. Amaranthine is a city. Fortresses exist to protect cities. Yup: burn down the Darkspawn-occupied city that even its constable has abandoned, keep the Wardens safe to fight the good fight another day.

Actually when I first played DA:A I had the inkling that those upgrades to the Keep were to allow me to save both the city and the fortress, but I could not get over the fact that the Warden would essentially be choosing to charge into a crumbling city over fighting from a fortified position and homefield advantage.

This is going to sound horrible and please dont think bad of me, its my Wardens who are always Elves, they let the city burn and secretly do a little dance about it, NOT ME Fully upgrade the Keep and save Amaranthine. I agree with this. The keep has armed, trained soldiers, while the village are just innocent people.

Upgrade the keep and save those poor villagers!! I usually save Amaranthine, mainly because Nathaniel asks me to. I'm just about to play again, so this time i think I'll let it burn, just to see what difference it makes. It's really a new campaign that takes place after the main events of Dragon Age: Origins. I highly suggest playing this DLC with an imported warden from the base game. If you import your character the story will continue with your character maintaining their level and current stats as well as equipment from the base game.

Certain decisions from the base game will also have a minor impact on your experience in Awakening. On a side note, you can even import a dead warden from Origins if you performed the "Ultimate Sacrifice". The game will just assume you didn't really die. If you do decide to start a fresh game without an imported character you will start out as an Orlesian warden at level With all that being said let's dive into this monster of a DLC! There are no difficulty achievements tied into this DLC so feel free to play it on casual or nightmare - the choice is yours.

A warden warrior recruit named Mhairi is travelling with you. You eventually realize that Vigil's Keep is under attack from darkspawn.

You can explore this small contained area Map Location 1 outside of Vigil's Keep looking for loot and killing any darkspawn you might encounter. While you're fighting through this area and Vigil's Keep try to help out as many of the soldiers as you can.

They will join in and help you fight off the darkspawn in the area. When you're ready enter the gates of Vigil's Keep Map Location 2. You will be attacked by a Hurlock, Shriek and Ogre. On casual this is super easy, but if you're playing on a higher difficulty let Mhairi do most of the tanking for you.

Once you have cleared out all the darkspawn in the lower area take the ladder up to the next level Map Location 3. When you approach the closed gate it will explode. You'll have to deal with some dark spawn along with an emissary. Next head to the right of the map Map Location 4 and clear out that area. There will be more darkspawn over there along with a shriek and another ogre I believe. Clear them out and loot the area before heading to the left side of the map.

Your ultimate goal here is to gain entrance through the portcullis Map Location 5 to the interior of the keep. In this area there is a soldier you can save from some Hurlocks who will give you a side quest called "A Medical Necessity". Clear this area and then enter the keep. After you enter the keep and walk forward you will be attacked by 3 shrieks Map Location 1.

After dealing with them take the right staircase. You will meet a mage named Anders Map Location 2. Invite him to join your party for some extra firepower. There will be 4 people within the keep that you can save to get some nice experience in the end.

Continue through a side door Map Location 4 to head back outside to the battlements. Go along the battlements and defeat the Darkspawn. Re-enter Vigil's keep and you will emerge on the other side of the blocked door Map Location 5. Follow the walkway and pull the lever to initiate a cutscene. After the cutscene, destroy the barricade, go through the door, and go through the now open gate Map Location 6. Continue to the central chamber Map Location 7 killing darkspawn along the way.

You can then head East Map Location 8 , instead of North, to save 2 more survivors from darkspawn and loot some more chests. Finally head North to run into your old drinking buddy Oghren Map Location 9. Oghren has decided that he wants to be a Grey Warden and will join up with your party. Continue defeating the darkspawn while making your way through the keep and exiting out onto the second battlement Map Location When you reach the upper battlements, enjoy the brief cutscene and be prepared for a boss fight.

Once you have successfully defeated the boss, enjoy another cutscene. Make sure to conscript Anders so that you can have a mage healer with you for the rest of the game. After the cutscenes are over, talk to Seneschal Varel.

Speak with some of the guests and when you are ready, talk to Varel again. Talk to Varel, Woolsey, and Garavel to receive the 3 story missions. Before you leave the throne room make sure you've talked with party members and looted any items. There is a chest in here where you can store equipment if you don't want to take it with you.

Make sure to talk to your party members whenever you come back here for conversations with them and chances to increase your approval ratings with them. Approval doesn't really matter for any achievements in this DLC and you can't romance any of your companions, but increasing your approval does increase some of your companion's attributes.

You can be a jerk to them if you want, but it's pays to be the nice guy! When you leave the throne room a Private will stop you and give you some letters. When you get around to completing these side quests you can come back and receive one more side quest from the Private called "Salvage Operation".

This Private will also inform you that a prisoner has been caught and is waiting in the dungeons. Head to the dungeons and you will be able to recruit Nathaniel Howe if you'd like. Tell Varel that you would like to conscript the prisoner and return to the throne room where Nathaniel will survive the joining. Now that Nathaniel is in your party you can head back out to the courtyard and head over to the Eastern side.

With Nathaniel in your party you will be able to get the side quest "The Howe Family" from the groundskeeper. There will also be a cat "Ser Pounce-a-lot" over here that you can grab and give to Anders as a gift.

Make sure to talk with anyone that has an exclamation point over their head. There are a few things right now that you need to be keenly aware of while playing through this DLC so that you don't end up locking yourself out of any achievements.

One is that you might as well do any side quests that you can, because there is an achievement tied to your warden reaching level Commander of the Grey Reached level If you've imported your warden and perform a majority of the side quests throughout this DLC you really shouldn't have a problem with hitting level Just keep this in mind if you're thinking about skipping out on side quests and what not.

You're going to need the exp to hit 30! In order to fully upgrade the keep you will need complete several tasks. Completing these three tasks will ensure that you get the Enduring Vigil achievement. With that in mind you should complete the first part of clearing out Vigil's Keep Basement now. Clearing out the first part of Vigil's Keep's Basement is quite straightforward. You start at Map Location 1 and will end at Map Location 2.

Make your way through the basement killing and looting. When you get to Map Location 2, Maverlies will show up with Voldrik and get to work on removing the rubble blocking your way. This is all that you can do in the basement area for now. You will need to complete a main story mission before you can continue on with the second party of clearing out the basement. Now that you're done with the first part of the basement, if you happen to have 80 sovereigns on you I would give it to Voldrik now to get it out of the way.

It will save you a bit of running around. If you've imported a character hopefully you had some money on you or some items you can sell to put you over the If not make sure to return to Voldrik as soon as you have the money. Once you've done that you can head off to Amaranthine. Keep in mind that the 3 main story missions can be completed in any order that you wish.

I've always liked doing "The Righteous Path" first because you get another mage to add to your party from this storyline. But to each their own. Amaranthine is a hotspot for side quests. These are not required for any achievements, but I highly suggest completing as many as you can. Not only will they help level you up to 30 faster for the achievement, but if you decide to do any of the other DLCs in the future your level will carry over. So make sure your talking to anyone with an exclamation point over their head and complete as many side quests as you can.

Seeing as the achievements for this DLC are only tied to the main story missions I'm only going to cover them, for the most part, in this guide. When you enter Amaranthine for the first time look for Colbert near the main gate Map Location 1. This will update the quest "Last of the Legion" from Garavel and add the location Knotwood Hills to your world map. Head to the gates and you will get a cut scene with Constable Aidan. He informs you that smugglers have been ransacking the city of Amaranthine.

You can choose to aid the city guard and remove the smugglers threat which leads to the quest "Law and Order" or you can decide to aid the smugglers which leads to the quest "Smuggler's Run". Whichever side quest you choose to complete will have an effect on your companion's approval rating and will affect other side quests that you can do.

Pick whichever path you prefer :D. Once you head through the gates, take a left, a right and continue straight and you will see Mervis Map Location 2. This will also add the location "The Wending Wood" to your world map. Head inside and talk to the innkeeper and ask him about Kristoff.

Tell him you're Kristoff's new commanding officer and he will hand you a key. Go upstairs to find Kristoff's room. Loot what you can in the room and examine the map on the wall.

This will add the location "The Black Marsh" to your world map and update your "Shadows of the Blackmarsh" quest. Before heading out of Amaranthine make sure to do any side quests that you like, loot what you can and check the job boards there is a Merchant's Guild Board near Mervis: 2 on Map, a Blight Orphans' Notice Board within the Crown and Lion Inn and a Chanter's Board in front of, you guessed it, the Chantry. You start off in the Wending Wood at Map Location 1. As soon as you enter you'll see some bandits trying to loot a caravan.

You'll scare them off and if you go and check out the caravan you'll start the side quest "Trading Troubles". You'll find the troublesome bandits at Map Location 2. Go dispatch them before you head on your merry way. Your next goal is to make it to the bridge Map Location 3.

On your way feel free to explore, loot stuff and kill all the local wildlife. When you cross the bridge you'll get a cutscene and you'll meet the elven mage Velanna for the first time. Head up the hillside, killing all the bandits, until you reach the central "hub" area Map Location 4. You'll want to head West from here and make your way to Map Location 5.

Here you will find a soldier that's been tainted by the darkspawn. He explains that Velanna has been tricked by the darkspawn and it was them that killed her clan, not the humans. After your conversation you will be ambushed by a bunch of darkspawn.

Once you've dealt with them head back to Map Location 4 and the ransacked Dalish Camp that is just South of that location. Velanna will confront you and send some Sylvaan and wolves after you. Once you've dealt with these enemies talk with Velanna in the Dalish camp and convince her that it was the darkspawn and not the humans that hurt her clan.

Let her join your party. She is a real pain but she's a good mage to have along. Now that Velanna is no longer trying to kill you, you're able to head off to the Silverite Mine Map Location 6.

When you head towards the Silverite Mine you'll be attacked by more dark spawn. Clear them out and you'll be free to enter the Mine. Topic Archived. Sign Up for free or Log In if you already have an account to be able to post messages, change how messages are displayed, and view media in posts. User Info: XioJenesis. If you save amarantine, what happens to vigil keepwill depend on how you upgraded it.

FYI I did every single update possible, but I scattered my soldiers a lot protected farms, city, trades routes, mines, etc. And the keep stood for weeks before falling to the darkspawn and nearly every one was killed after a mighty fight with each soldiers killing dozens of darkspawns besides your party left there at one exception I think. It took 5 years to restore the keep to it's best 'thanks to the dwarven help and 1 year for Amarantine.

User Info: sargothus. Hmm I also choose to save the city and only justice "died", everyone else survived but pretty much left the wardens to go their own way. I also got the ending where it took a year to rebuild the city and five for the keep. User Info: Delixe. Characters in the Vigil's Keep surviving depend on finishing their personal quests and having their approval has high as possible. In my last play through everyone survived.

I had everyone above 95 Approval, all had decent armor and weapons and were level All upgrades were done, the cellars were cleared and locked.

The party I picked to go with me were Sigrun, Justice and Velanna. Anders left for the Magi, then returned and stayed with the Wardens. Nathanial stayed with the Wardens saved the life of a Cousland and restored his family honor.

Vigil's Keep, on the other hand, was forced to withstand the onslaught on its own, and may have been destroyed. Even if it survived the siege, the Keep was so damaged, that its rebuilding would last five years. Dragon Age Wiki Explore. Dragon Age Series. Explore Wikis Community Central. Register Don't have an account? Assault on Amaranthine conflict.

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