Players enter a world slipping into corruption in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The lingering effects of the Blight haunt both the land and its creatures.
The blighted tree is different from other blight-filled obstacles and takes more effort to reach because of its mechanics. This article shows you how to enter the Blighted Tree.
How To Find the Blighted Tree
The Heights of Athim has its share of strange sights, but the massive corrupted Blighted Tree stands out.
click to enlarge
+ 2The first step is to locate the Heights of Athim dock. From here, move up through a partially destroyed building, arriving at a combat area under a zipline.
This area can be confusing, so follow a set path to stay on track. After moving through the first building, turn right and pass the Fen’Harel Altar.
Enter the slanted house and walk up the wooden staircase to your right. At the top, there is a ladder.
Climb the ladder and head left to find some stone stairs that lead into a narrow passage.
Turning left again will bring you to the last wooden stairs leading right to the Blighted Tree's base.
How To Enter the Blighted Tree
When you reach the Blighted Tree, you’ll notice it’s not vulnerable to attack right away, unlike other blighted spots where removing cysts nearby does the job.
click to enlarge + 2Instead, approaching the tree reveals that you must wipe out 50 darkspawn in the Heights of Athim to access its blighted core.
This is displayed through a progress bar that tracks your darkspawn kills, giving you a visual cue on your progress.
But it’s tricky to meet this requirement since you might not encounter 50 darkspawn in one run of the area.
You’ll need to take advantage of respawn tactics to get past this.
Start by saving your game and fully exiting to the main menu before reloading, which should reset the darkspawn encounters in the area.
Alternatively, saving and reloading the game from within (without quitting) can sometimes reset these encounters.
Another approach is to leave the Crossroads and revisit the Heights of Athim after some time, which should refresh darkspawn encounters.
You can spend some time elsewhere for a while and return, as darkspawn will gradually respawn on their own over time.
Using these tactics, you should be able to achieve the necessary count to meet the Blighted Tree’s requirement.
The tree's blight-tainted core will begin glowing after defeating enough darkspawn to hit the 50 mark. Strike the blight to open the path inside the tree.
You’ll find a treasure chest containing valuable loot within its hollowed interior.
This may include unique items like the Maw of the Black City, a powerful ring that boosts critical damage across your abilities at the cost of a small percentage of health.
How long did it take you to defeat the required 50 darkspawn? Share your experience in the comments below!
For more articles like this, take a look at our Guides and Dragon Age: The Veilguard page.