Escaping the Hinterlands: What to See and Do to Shorten Your Extended Stay (Part 1)
Cue in the dramatic music.
Welcome to the best guide to The Hinterlands there ever was!
Here you'll find the easiest way to max out power and unlock Val Royaux as quickly as possible. It will also give you the option to return and finish things at your own pace, without having to return to an already explored area more than it’s absolutely necessary.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: Before you leave Haven for Hinterlands…talk to Varric about Red Lyrium!
The Hinterlands can be broken down into 3 basic areas/parts. The first is usually the hardest... if you don't have an awesome guide like this at your disposal. Luckily, you do.
A couple of quick notes before we dive into it: In all you have to reclaim 5 camps. For a start you need only 2 (not counting the base camp in the middle). My general advice is to keep an eye out for all those diamonds and exclamation marks you'll meet along the way and happily accept/complete the quests that are marked by them. Do not be afraid, most are not very lengthy or overly complicated.
The points marked with the inquisitor's eye are part of the Red Lyrium quest Seeing Red you receive from Varric. If you haven't accepted it already... what are you waiting for?! Go! Now!
Welcome to the madness:
Crossroads: Collect every single quest you can as you follow the way down to the village and in the village itself (once you defeat all the templars/mages). Don't forget to talk to Corporal Vale and collect every quest he points you to! (Especially In the elements)
The Crossroads Dusklight camp aka the first camp you'll need to claim.
Keep to the right and talk to Recruit Belette standing in front of a fortified entrance to the area (ignore the rift on the left for now) and accept that quest. Next don't forget to talk to Mihris fighting demons in front of a cave on the right (yes, it’s the same Mihris from the book Masked Empire). This will unlock another side quest Elven artifacts.
Both In the elements and Elven artifacts involve a lot of running around, so it’s easier to just collect them now and do them as you go along. Also, both are quite useful regarding the power you collect.
When you manage to arrive at the camp Kill all the bandits and claim it. However, don’t venture beyond that point. Here there be dragons!
Outskirts camp: Use fast travel and return to the starting camp.
This time run straight south through the field and kill any Rams you might find. Immediately to your left will be an Astrarium. Use it, if you want to unlock all side quests that sprawl though every area in the Inquisition. Ignore it, if not.
Continue straight towards the area marked with number 4.
Here you'll find a rift to close and an elf in the hut near it. Clear the area, perform any tasks that pop up and collect her quest then continue to the last camp you'll have to unlock for now: the Dwarfson's Pass Camp.
***
At this point you should probably have enough to leave for Val Royaux. However, if you hate to leave things unfinished (like me), continue to the point where I'll ask you to do something a little weird. Instead of continuing south, retrace your steps and follow the way marked by the arrow to the next point.
Kill any rams you might see and continue collecting/performing the tasks required by the quests you've collected along the way. Including the cave the nug "guarding" it (if you haven't already by chance).
Enter at your own peril Cave: Aptly named area. Not to be confused with the nug cave on the picture above. Destroy the barrier blocking the entrance to it and kill anything that moves. Destroy the red lyrium deposit and be on your merry way towards the area marked with the number 6.
A friendly warning. This is one of the harder rifts of the area. Completely doable if you've been dutifully collecting everything and killing...well everything. If you find it too challenging don't fret, you can always return to it later.
Regardless of the state you leave the rift in for now, continue back the stone steps to the right (if you're looking directly at the rift) up towards the Dwarfson's Pass camp and into the Winterwatch tower (marked on the map as a cave with an x in front).
Clear the area and perform any tasks you still have in your journal. Also collect every quest. And then continue on foot back towards the Dwarfson's Pass Camp. There is a scroll you'll need to collect along the way. If you wish to be through.
Now all that is left is to retrace your steps back to the Crossroads and finish up any and all quests you've collected/performed up until now (except Elven artifacts and Astrariums, those two span the whole game).
And that is it. For now.
If you wish you can stay in the Hinterlands, however at this point it would be a bit counter productive as you can return to the area immediately after you're done in Val Royaux.
I hope you found this guide helpful and are now feeling much more confident in tackling the rest of the area at a later date. However if you found this guide helpful and, you'd wish me to guide you through the second part of the lovely sprawling mess that are the Hinterlands, check out the next part here!
Comments