Achievements and Trophies

Amaranthine's Last Hope

Achievement/Trophy Task: You must save the city of Amaranthine. Participate in the battle of Amaranthine and defeat the darkspawn infesting it.

After you've completed the three main quests—"Shadows of the Blackmarsh," "The Righteous Path," and "Last of the Legion"—speak with Varel to initiate the final battles leading up to game's end. Leave Vigil's Keep and journey up to Amaranthine. All will seem hopeless in the city, but you can convince the remaining city guard to let your party in to slay the sacking darkspawn and save any citizens who yet live.

Follow the walkthrough advice in the "Siege of Vigil's Keep" section of the Tour of Amaranthine chapter to defeat the darkspawn infesting Amaranthine and claim your reward. Note that you must abandon Vigil's Keep to its fate to earn this achievement reward.

Unless you've built up significant defenses on the keep, the Grey Warden fortress will fall along with all your friends and comrades. See The Enduring Vigil Achievement for tips on how to earn that reward and save the keep.

Awakening

Achievement/Trophy Task: You must finish the game and kill the Mother.

See the "Lair of the Mother" section of the Tour of Amaranthine chapter for tips about how best to defeat the Mother in the final battle within the Dragonbone Wastes. It's an incredibly desperate fight with little hope for survival unless you gear up a properly prepared party and play your tactics just right. Good luck.

Blind Vengeance

Achievement/Trophy Task: You must escape the Silverite Mine.

After you work out your disagreements with Velanna in the Wending Wood, she will accompany you into the Silverite Mine. Unfortunately, the Architect ambushes you almost immediately upon entering, strips your party of all your gear, and imprisons you.

Velanna's sister aids you in escaping, and then it's a frantic escape attempt as you battle to retrieve your armor and weapons from the enemy. Once you've defeated all the mine foes and regained every piece of lost equipment, you leave the Silverite Mine and complete the achievement. See "The Righteous Path" section of the Tour of Amaranthine chapter for further details on how to escape the mine.

Commander of the Grey

Achievement/Trophy Task: Reach level 30.

Play long and hard to meet this goal. If you run through only the main quests and race off to slay the Mother and end the game, you'll probably top out at around level 25. Finishing all the main quests plus half the side quests will put you a couple of levels higher at level 27 or level 28. To do it right and reach level 30, you must finish all main quests and the majority of side quests.

And why wouldn't you want to do that? The side quests can be just as enjoyable as the main quests, and they frequently send you off to unexplored areas of the world where you can get happily lost for hours.

The Enduring Vigil

Achievement/Trophy Task: You must have all available upgrades for Vigil's Keep. This includes the following: All three of Herren's mineral requests (iron, veridium, silverite) for armoring your soldiers; find granite for Voldrik to rebuild the walls and assign troops to guard the quarry; seal off the tunnel to the Deep Roads that the darkspawn use to infiltrate the keep.

Before you set off to conquer this achievement, know that it's probably the hardest one to complete because it involves many detailed side quests and 80 disposable sovereigns. Until you have the time and money ready to go, it'll have to wait.

When you're ready to tackle it, you must speak with main NPCs around the Vigil's Keep grounds: Herren/Wade, Voldrik, and Maverlies. Herren and Wade work on beefing up your soldiers' defense, Voldrik improves the keep walls, and Maverlies secures the keep from extra darkspawn attacks from below.

Herren promises that Wade will outfit the Warden troops with better armor if you can deliver large quantities of iron, veridium, and silverite ore. Iron ore can be found in Kal'Hirol, veridium in the Vigil's Keep basement, and silverite—where else?—in the Silverite Mine.

See the walkthrough maps for the deposits' exact placements. If you collect all three, Herren and Wade will arm a special regiment of soldiers to guard the keep when the "Siege of Vigil's Keep" triggers.

To upgrade your keep walls, seek out Voldrik and pay him 80 sovereigns. Leave the keep and upon your return, you will find a less damaged version of the keep. Unfortunately, the walls need more repair. Speak with Voldrik again and he asks you to find granite to strengthen the walls.

Head out to the Wending Wood and find the granite deposits there (see the map in "The Righteous Path" section of the Tour of Amaranthine chapter for exact placement). Supply the men required to keep Voldrik's workers safe and he will build you walls that will withstand a siege. Your companions will survive the siege too.

Sergeant Maverlies watches over the basement and reports on any darkspawn activity below ground. After your initial clearing of darkspawn during the "Assault on Vigil's Keep," speak with Maverlies once you leave the throne room. She asks you to wipe out any darkspawn you find in the basement. Go downstairs, hack and slash through the darkspawn and click on the rocks at the farthest point. Maverlies returns and the first part of the quest completes.

Leave Vigil's Keep and complete at least one major plot quest, such as "Shadows of the Blackmarsh." When you return to the keep, Maverlies informs you of more darkspawn in the basement. Fight through all the enemies, including the Dark Theurge, who possesses once-defeated enemies that you have to fight again. See the Side Quests chapter for further details on how to beat all the Vigil's Keep basement quests. Once the final darkspawn falls, Maverlies and Voldrik will arrive to repair the ancient doors and seal them for good against the darkspawn.

If and only if you upgrade all three facets of Vigil's Keep—soldiers, walls, and basement—do you finally earn the title of "The Enduring Vigil." No one's getting into the keep now without you knowing about it.

Keeper of the Vigil

Achievement/Trophy Task: You must save Vigil's Keep. Leave Amaranthine to its fate and return to Vigil's Keep to participate in the siege there.

After you've completed the three main quests—"Shadows of the Blackmarsh," "The Righteous Path," and "Last of the Legion"—speak with Varel to initiate the final battles leading up to game's end. Leave Vigil's Keep and journey up to Amaranthine. Listen to the guards' assessments that the city is lost and command them to burn it to the ground.

Return instead to Vigil's Keep to save friends and allies. Follow the walkthrough advice in the "Siege of Vigil's Keep" section of the Tour of Amaranthine chapter to defeat the darkspawn sieging the keep and claim your reward. Note that you must abandon Amaranthine to its fate to earn this reward.

Pride Comes Before the Fall

Achievement/Trophy Task: You must defeat the baroness. Kill her in her pride demon form in the Blackmarsh after escaping the Fade.

See the "Shadows of the Blackmarsh" section of the Tour of Amaranthine chapter for tips on how best to defeat the baroness after you return from the Fade. It's nothing like the first battle you have against her in the Fade when she remains in mortal form. Here she morphs into her pride demon form, and it's a long marathon of damage and healing to survive her continuous onslaughts.

Savior of Kal'Hirol

Achievement/Trophy Task: You must destroy the broodmothers in Kal'Hirol.

First, you have to battle through all of Kal'Hirol to reach the Lower Reaches. Next, you must defeat the Lost and an inferno golem to gain access to the broodmother chamber. The battle with the Lost will likely be more difficult even than the broodmother encounter, so make sure you haven't run out of poultices and potions by the time you reach the bottom of Kal'Hirol. Once inside the broodmother chamber, slice through the tentacle groups that reach for you through the ground.

You'll spot four chains at the corners of the chamber. Make a beeline for the nearest one and cut down the chain as soon as you get a chance. Continue to bash away at the tentacles and steadily advance on a second chain. Once you cut down that second chain, the framework drops on the broodmothers and crushes them dead. Collect your reward and a well-earned deep breath. For further details on the Kal'Hirol encounters, see the "Last of the Legion" section of the Tour of Amaranthine chapter.

Achievements