Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Should You Help Minrathous Or Treviso?

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As you advance through Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s narrative, you’ll encounter numerous branching decisions, but few carry the weight of the Minrathous versus Treviso dilemma. This guide examines the strategic implications of choosing between these two imperiled cities during the On Blighted Wings/On Deadly Wings questline. Please note this analysis contains significant spoilers regarding major plot developments.

The On Blighted Wings or On Deadly Wings mission represents one of the campaign’s most consequential turning points, occurring surprisingly early around the 6-8 hour mark. Your selection here doesn’t merely alter a city’s appearance but fundamentally reshapes available quests, merchant inventories, companion skill trees, and romantic possibilities.

This pivotal decision emerges immediately following A Warden’s Best Friend, the quest where you recruit Davrin to your cause. Upon returning to the Crossroads hub area, urgent reports arrive detailing simultaneous dragon assaults on both Minrathous and Treviso.

Your companions naturally advocate for their homelands – Neve passionately argues for Minrathous’s salvation while Lucanis desperately pleads for Treviso’s rescue. The emotional intensity of these appeals makes this one of the most personally challenging decisions in the game.

Opting for Treviso initiates the On Deadly Wings questline, while selecting Minrathous triggers On Blighted Wings. Both narratives follow parallel structures but feature unique enemies, environments, and consequence chains.

Both missions share identical core objectives – travel to the designated crisis zone and confront a corrupted dragon threatening the population. The environmental challenges differ significantly: Treviso features the frost-empowered Corius the Icetalon, while Minrathous confronts the fire-breathing Seartooth Vyrantus.

These dragon encounters function as tactical puzzles rather than straightforward boss battles. Corius employs area denial through ice fields and freezing debuffs, requiring mobility and fire-based countermeasures. Vyrantus utilizes devastating fire AoE attacks and environmental destruction that demand careful positioning and frost resistance strategies.

Critical insight: You cannot achieve total victory against either dragon during this initial confrontation. Both beasts retreat after sustaining moderate damage, establishing recurring antagonists for later game segments.

The city receiving your intervention emerges largely intact with minimal casualties and functional infrastructure. Meanwhile, the neglected settlement suffers catastrophic dragon assault consequences that permanently alter its state.

Selecting Minrathous generates overwhelming gratitude from Neve, accompanied by a substantial +75-100 approval increase. However, Lucanis reacts with profound disappointment, becoming temporarily unavailable for approximately 3-4 main story missions.

Conversely, aiding Treviso earns Lucanis’s fervent loyalty with similar approval gains, while Neve withdraws from active party rotation until significant plot progression occurs.

Advanced players should note that unavailable companions still contribute to camp conversations and narrative development but cannot participate in combat, exploration, or skill-check interactions during their absence period.

The abandoned city undergoes dramatic physical transformation, becoming a blight-infected zone with corrupted architecture and hazardous environmental conditions. Numerous NPCs perish in the dragon’s wrath, including potential quest givers, specialty vendors, and lore sources that cannot be recovered.

Romance pathways experience significant alteration based on this decision. Choosing a companion’s favored city accelerates relationship progression and unlocks exclusive dialogue options, while disappointing them creates significant reconciliation challenges.

Faction strength metrics decrease substantially for the organization associated with the unsaved city, affecting late-game alliance options and resource availability. Vendor inventories in the preserved city expand with unique dragon-slaying equipment, while the blighted settlement’s merchants offer diminished selections.

Roleplay-First Approach: Base your decision on your character’s established personality and backstory. A pragmatic warrior might choose the strategically superior location, while a compassionate hero could select the more populous city.

Companion Specialization Priority: If you rely heavily on Neve’s magical support or Lucanis’s rogue abilities, prioritize keeping that companion available and satisfied.

Romance Optimization: If pursuing a relationship with either character, their favored city becomes the clear strategic choice despite other considerations.

Common Pitfall: Many players attempt to sequence-break by rushing both locations, but the game’s design enforces this binary choice through simultaneous dragon attacks.

Multiple Playthrough Strategy: Given the decision’s far-reaching consequences, consider experiencing both pathways across separate save files to access exclusive content.

Time Investment: Each quest requires approximately 45-60 minutes to complete, with the dragon encounters themselves taking 15-20 minutes depending on difficulty and preparation.

No reproduction without permission：SeeYouSoon Game Club » Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Should You Help Minrathous Or Treviso? Strategic guide for the pivotal Minrathous vs Treviso decision with long-term companion and gameplay consequences