The Darkspawn Chronicles Walkthrough

Interested in taking on the role of the Vanguard of the horde? Read on as we take you on a walkthrough of the Darkspawn Chronicles. Already read part one and want to jump directly to part two? Click here …

“You are a member of the vanguard, chosen by the Archdemon to lead the charge.”

You’ll start your journey at the Denerim city gates, hot on the trail of Alistair and his companions. While ultimately your mission is to find and eradicate the lead defenders of Ferelden and ensure the Archdemon’s victory, you’ll need some help before you storm the castle.

As the player character, you possess the ability to Enthrall other darkspawn to aid your cause. Enthralled allies fall under your direct control, and can become useful members of your party. If a party member outlives its usefulness, use your Enthrall ability again to dispatch it and clear up room in your party. But beware: once a thrall falls in battle it cannot be resurrected, and you’ll have to find a new ally.

Storm the Gates: The first thrall you’ll encounter is a genlock next to you into the city gateway. Enthrall it and move into the city courtyard, being sure to loot nearby corpses for health potions and supplies.

Combat moves at a rapid-fire pace throughout the DLC, so be prepared for very little downtime between encounters. As another challenging factor, health poultices are in short supply until you reach the alienage, so use those you do find with care.

Pockets of genlocks and hurlocks are scattered thoughout the courtyard, locked in combat with Denerim’s soldiers. It’s a veritable meat market waiting on you to choose the best for your party. Enthrall some more help, then kill enough guards to raise a thrall’s favor from Resentful to Barely Tolerant, giving it a bonus to its abilities. Remember: the more you kill, the more your party members will respect you, and the more powerful they will become.

Genlocks & Hurlocks are the basic grunt troops of the horde. They come fully equipped with the gear and the abilities to act as front-line fighters or long-range archers for your party. Genlock archers possess several crowd-control talents like Pinning Shot and Scattershot. They’re also capable of using poisons and grenades. Hurlocks are capable sword and shield fighters with defensive abilities like Shield Wall and knockdowns like Shield Bash and Overpower. Both units can use poultices to self-heal.

Your main goal is to clear the gates and make your way to the marketplace, but to do that, you’ll need some help. An ogre is fighting for its life in a corner of the courtyard and as the Archdemon informs you, its powerful attacks will allow you to break through the city defenses. Fight your way over to the ogre and add it to your party. Then use its Hurl ability to smash through the enemy barricades. But don’t forget to heal the ogre before moving onward – it’s sporting a nasty gash wound, so patch it up with an injury kit.

Ogres are tough units capable of dealing massive melee or ranged damage to multiple opponents at once. They have numerous area-of-effect knockdown abilities like Stomp and Hurl, as well as Ram, a single-target knockback attack, and Grab, which can immobilize resisters. You’ll also need their Hurl ability to break down barricades and enemy fortifications at key points throughout the city.

Once you’ve collapsed the barricades, it’s time to move toward the marketplace gates. The major contender here is Arl Howe, who has blockaded the pathway leading to the marketplace, and guards it with the aid of Ser Cauthrien, a mabari attack hound, and several soldiers. You’re outnumbered here, so use your thralls’ abilities to knock down, stun, or grab your enemies. But be careful: you run the risk of killing your own troops with friendly fire damage on your ogre’s more powerful abilities, so use Stomp and Hurl with caution.

Howe and Cauthrien do significant damage, but both are susceptible to your ogre’s Ram and Grab attacks, giving you an easy option for controlling the fight. Not to be underestimated is the mabari’s Overwhelm ability, which can easily kill your vanguard or genlock supporters.

Howe drops a valuable Saw Sword, as well as your first gift item, the Steel Bracers, while his mabari yields a spiked dog collar and a Large Bone gift item, so be sure to loot their corpses before you move on to the marketplace. Gift items can be given to your thralls to give an immediate +20 to their approval.

Massacre in the Marketplace: There are several challenging fights to be had here, along with a few side quests to tackle. Your main goal is to kill Bann Teagan and crush the supporting forces of the Denerim guard before moving on to the alienage. But there are a few things to do before you can stick it to the Bann.

Your first task is of vital importance: guardsmen with ballistae are blocking the main path into the marketplace, and their weaponry will destroy your forces if you attack head-on. You’ll need to handle this situation with stealth rather than brawn, but fortunately the Archdemon has a solution: a shriek. Make some room in your party and add the shriek to your team.

Shrieks have several useful abilities. They are well-schooled in stealth, and can slip by all but the most powerful opponents undetected. Like rogues, their attacks from stealth offer an automatic critical blow upon hit, and shrieks can re-stealth during combat to keep the crits coming. They have two knockdown abilities in Leap and Overwhelm, and they also possess the ability to stun all nearby enemies using Terrorize.

Continue the Darkspawn Chronicles Walkthrough on page two …

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