The economic situation in Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn’t as dire as in some Dragon Age games of yore - enemies respawns and so do numerous destructible objects like crates, barrels and urns, giving your ample opportunity to smash them to earn extra EXP and loot. Given such abundance, you might not really see a need to bother farming - surely if you have a need, you can shore up your resources by completing more side quests or main quests? But there are some “points of no return” in the game where decisions must be made that will change the world. Specifically, some changes that will remove important merchants from the game forever, making it harder to boost their faction strength and delaying the acquisition of their wares, or perhaps putting them out of reach forever! Under these constraints, gamers who can’t bear the thought of missing out may want to accumulate valuables and gold as quickly as possible before these merchants are out of reach, and this page will help you grind both efficiently.
Page Breakdown¶
Destructible Objects¶
You can technically farm just about anywhere in this game - most locations have some destructible items lying around, be they barrels, wagons, crates, glass display cases, urns, pots, or even various forms of plantlife. Not all of these are equally rewarding to destroy, however, and typically only crates, barrels, urns and the like hold anything of value. Even then, what they drop - if they drop anything at all - is a matter of RNG. Typically you can expect to earn a few gold coins, some site specific valuables (usually low-end common valuables) and perhaps some Heartwood or Flawless Crysals, the former dropping from wooden objects (like the aforementioned crates and barrels) while the latter are sourced from urns, vases, pots and other ceramics or glassware.
You don’t gain a lot of resources from smashing these objects. In fact, on an object by object basis it’s fair to say you can expect a pittance, at best. But there are often lots of these objects scattered about, and under ideal conditions you can destroy a lot of them in a short amount of time. If so, the resources you’ll gain from such an activity will greatly increase to the point where you’re earning thousands of gold worth every hour, not to mention valuables worth hundreds of points of faction strength.
Best of all, these destructible resources respawn, and rather quickly at that. They respawn based on proximity, so if you can find a loop that takes you far enough way you can just jog around in a circuit smashing things as you go and getting progressively richer in the process. Failing that, simply fast-traveling to a nearby beacon and back can also work, provided the beacon is far enough away.
That, then, is the main crux of our little farming excursion - find a spot dense with destructible objects, then travel back and forth to respawn them for repeated destruction.
Unlocking Minrathous¶
Before you can begin this grind, you’ll need to unlock Minrathous, as it’s where we’ll be farming. To unlock Minrathous you’ll need to complete the main quests [The Smuggled Relic Case] and [Shadows of Minrathous], after which you can travel back to Dock Town in Minrathous at any time. You’ll appear in the Shadow Dragon Safehouse along the western edge of the city when you arrive, and your destination is the Central Market area, which is a good ways to the east, past the Chantry. Seek out the Central Market Beacon, as it’ll come in handy for the grind ahead.
Farming Urns in Minrathous¶
West of the Central Market Beacon you’ll find a small warehouse, which appears like a blocky “2” on the map. Inside this building are shelves full of urns and another breakables - smash them by the most expedient means at your disposal, then fast travel to another beacon - the Urthemiel Venue Beacon to the west will suffice. Fast travel back to the Central Market Beacon, and repeat. Every time you clear the warehouse you’ll get gold, Flawless Crystals and valuables. Most of the valuables you’ll get are on the cheaper side - they should all be common, meaning you should expect 10-20 gold per valuable, tops, and 3 Faction Strength. This adds up pretty quickly, however, and if it’s gold you’re after, the Flawless Crystals can be sold to a merchant southeast of the warehouse at a rate of 60 gold per 10 Flawless Crystals.
All in all, while it’s a bit monotonous, it’s a fast enough way to scrounge up a few thousand gold and a few hundred points of Faction Strength. If, for example, you wanted to grab the wares off certain merchants early in the game…
After you complete the main quests [Sea of Blood] and [The Smuggled Relic Case] / [Shadows of Minrathous] you’ll be forced to make a choice to assist either Treviso or Minrathous, starting the next main quest [On Deadly Wings] or [On Blighted Wings], respectively. There is no pause between these quests, and whichever city you neglect will end up suffering for it, with one of the biggest consequences being the loss of the Antivan Crows faction merchant or the Shadow Dragons faction merchant for the rest of the game. This being the case, you may want to grind gold and valuables before this point of no return so you can max out the Faction Strength of the faction you plan to neglect, and buy all their merchant’s wares. The merchant in Minrathous who buys Flawless Crystals will also be gone if you ignore Minrathous, but you can find other merchants to buy Flawless Crystals.
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