While you go about exploring The Crossroads in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you’ll come across many gates that are seemingly impassable. You’ll eventually learn that you need the essence of a Champion somewhere in Thedas to unseal the gate and explore the area beyond it. Your task, then, is to locate this Champion in each area, defeat them, and then bring their essence back. The Gate of Deep Sorrows relates to the Champion in Treviso, keep reading to learn where to find and defeat it, along with what rewards you can expect.

Table of Contents¶

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Gate of Deep Sorrows Quest Location¶

The Gate of Deep Sorrows is one of the easier ones to locate in The Crossroads, and perhaps the first one you’ll even encounter. As you explore the first area, the Converged City, you’ll reach a hub of sorts that initially has enemies to clear out, but when you return, will be full of Spirits that sell their wares. If you look in the northeast corner of this hub, you’ll find the locked gate that will begin the quest when you approach it.

Gate of Deep Sorrows Champion Location¶

Unfortunately, you won’t be able to take on this Champion for a while, you’ll have to wait until you unlock Treviso for exploration, which happens after you complete the Sea of Blood main quest. Once you do though, this is perhaps the easiest to get to out of all of the Champions in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

When you travel to Treviso, you’ll find yourself at the Cantori Diamond Beacon, home to the Antivan Crows. If you look at the available ziplines here, one of them will take you over to the rooftops to the north, this is where you want to go. From here, there’s only one way you can go and you’ll eventually reach a dead end with a group of Venatori that attacks. Deal with them, and then you can prepare for the Champion by taking down the Cyst in the corner.

Desmal, Bloodhound to Elgar’nan Boss Guide¶

Desmal is Level 25, and as this will most likely be the first Champion you run into, you may find that he’s way above your capabilities at that time. Wait until you’re around Level 20 to take him on and have access to Revival Charges from your Companions accessory slots, this will allow them to revive Rook if they should happen to fall in battle. As a Darkspawn, Desmal is weak to Fire but resistant to Necrotic damage, so try to avoid Lucanis if you can and, if you have him already, use Davrin (along with Neve or Bellara). Desmal has many attacks available to him, which you can learn about below:

Fire Breath¶

Desmal will breathe a continuous spray of fire in one direction and, should you get struck by it, you’ll take Fire damage and may be inflicted with Burning. This is an easy attack to avoid, and once you dodge to the side of it, you’ll leave him open for some attacks.

Triple Ground Pound¶

Desmal will pound the ground which shoots a flaming shockwave in a line, indicated by the red area-of-effect (AoE) marker. He will do this three times in a row, so be sure to dodge to the side of each as he will aim them where you’re currently standing. The after effects of the attack will persist, so be wary of where you’re standing and dodging for a short while after.

Melee Combo¶

Desmal’s melee combo will see him slam the ground around him before taking a swipe, which will hit an arc in front of him. This is his most common attack and something that you should be able to deal with by simply creating some distance or timing some Perfect Defense if you’re confident.

Explosive Leap¶

Desmal will target an area and then leap over to it, causing Burning damage upon impact and leaving Drakestone in its wake that will cause damage if you come into contact with it. This is another attack that is simple to avoid, just keep an eye for the large AoE marker and create some distance.

Desmal, Bloodhound to Elgar’nan Boss Strategy¶

Desmal can be extremely challenging when you fight him early on, you’ll be learning about new mechanics, having to deal with the Burning status effect and the battlefield itself can be your enemy. It’s easy to get stuck in a corner and that’s the last place you want to be when fighting Desmal, as he can make it unsafe to stand anywhere in tight spaces. Indeed, you’ll want to drag Desmal down to the lower area, where you have a lot more room to maneuver into.

The goal to defeating Desmal is to always be on the move, dodging where possible for the iframes that brings. Desmal is a brute, and he often chains together many attacks at once, not least the deadly ground pound which leaves fiery crystals behind and limits where you can move to. He can also cause Blight Boils to spawn which, if left unchecked, will cause Darkspawn to join the fray so keep an eye for anyone that spawns and burst them immediately.

As with most difficult encounters in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, making good use of Combos are paramount, not only do they deal heavy damage, but it will cause a slowdown effect that allows you get some attacks in for free if you’re not the one participating in them. Focus your offense on baiting Desmal into attacks, dodge around to the back of him, and hit him with everything you’ve got.

Gate of Deep Sorrows Rewards¶

Now that you have the Champion’s Essence in your hands, loot the nearby chest and then return to the gate at the Crossroads to unseal the gate. This will end the quest and grant you access to the area beyond, where you can reach a powerful Revenant, part of the Heart of Corruption quest who will prove an even greater challenge than that of Desmal.