Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Will you save Treviso or Minrathous?

Biowares Dragon Age franchise of fantasy RPGs has long been known for its broad player choices, a feature also found in its other flagship franchises, Mass effect. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is no different. IN Veilguard, players are set on a continent-spanning mission where they must decide the fate of Theda.

It's tough out there, with gods, demons, cultists and invading Qunari. One of the most important choices players have to make Dragon Age: The Veilguard is whether to save the city of Minrathous (the capital of the Tevinter Empire) or Treviso (home of the Antivan Crows) from attacks by corrupted dragons. This is not an easy choice, as each decision will have lore, gameplay, and personal consequences for the player and their companions. This guide outlines the consequences and results of each choice, and breaks down which option might appeal to players, depending on their own personal Rook.

Spoiler alert: This guide covers all the results and considerations regarding choosing to save Minrathous or Treviso.

Complete available side quests before making the choice

The choice made regarding Treviso or Minrathous has one great effect on some side quests in the early part of the game. Proceeding to this option before completing these quests makes them unavailable. The missions affected are:

• A Slow Poison (and sequels from Lucanis)
• A Study of Dock Town
• Coffee with the crows

The Choice – Quest Structure (What to Expect)

Immediately after completing the mission 'A janitor's best friend,' an unskippable cutscene will occur, and it is during this scene that the player is given two options: save Minrathous or Treviso. Each city provides a companion NPC to the Veilguard, and each of them will claim their city to be saved. Unfortunately, Rook can only choose to help one city.

• If Minrathou is selected, Lucanis will head to Treviso anyway, along with members of the team that the player does not bring to Minrathous.
• If Treviso is chosen instead, Neve does the same, bringing available companions that the player does not bring to Treviso.

The gameplay between each choice is identical, as the point is to quickly go to where the dragon attacks and fight it, but choices made here will reverberate throughout the rest of the game in terms of gameplay and character interaction.

What happens if players choose to save Minrathous

If Minrathous is chosen, Neve will head to Minrathous and Lucanis will be unavailable. Once Minrathous is rescued, Treviso will be corrupted and some NPCs will die. Other effects include:

• Antivan crows faction gains a permanent -100 Faction Strength debuff
• Lucanis will be Hardened and can no longer use support functions
• Rook gets two new missions in Treviso and one in Dock Town
• Lucanis temporarily leaves the team (returns later in the main story)
• Lucanis is coming no longer indulge in romance with the player
• Rook will need to rediscover all the Beacons in Treviso
• Antivan Crow Faction merchant disappears
• +250 Shadow Dragon faction strength

Follow-up quest after saving Minrathous

• A City Corrupted (Treviso)
• Missing in Action (Treviso)
• The Snake Nest Deal (Dock Town)

What happens if players choose to save Treviso

If Treviso is chosen, Neve will be unavailable, as she goes to Minrathous, while Lucanis will go to Treviso with Rook. Minrathous will be partially destroyed. Other effects include:

• Shadow Dragons get a permanent -100 debuff to faction strength
• Will never be Hardened and can no longer use support functions
• Rook gets two new missions in Dock Town and one in Treviso
• Rook gains access to a new merchant that sells decorative items in Treviso
• The Shadow Dragons' Faction merchant disappears
• Neve temporarily leaves the teamreturns later in the main story
• Developing into a romance with Neve is much harder (but not impossible)
• All fast travel Beacons in Minrathous must be rediscovered
• Recurring characters Dorian and Maevaris will no longer be available in Shadow Dragon HQ
• +250 Antivan Crow's Faction Strength

Follow-up mission after saving Treviso

• Spies Among Us (Treviso)
• Statues, art and Antaam (Treviso)
• Rituals for the Risen (Dock Town)

Accompanied curing conditions, explained

Hardening is a companion that significantly changes how the character behaves in battle and in conversation with Rook outside of battle. A hardened companion will be much more about business and will be reluctant to talk about personal matters. Hardening increases damage of certain abilities but prevents the companion from using assistive functions.

When tempered, Lucanis will unable to engage in romance.

Never, when hardened, will express doubt that Rook cares about her or Dock Town's problems and will be less likely to talk about personal problems with Rook.

Should players rescue Treviso or Minrathous?

The answer to this question is difficult. Each choice is more or less the same in terms of gameplay, even if Minrathous is saved, the Antivan Crow Faction does not go away (but it will still lose the faction dealer).

This choice mainly depends on three factors:

1. Role playing & romance – Which companion (if any) you want to love, along with lore/RPG considerations.
2. Fight and play – Whether you need Neve's or Lucani's support ability
3. Unique missions – The decision leads to three distinct missions, depending on which choice is made.

Romance and RPG

• Rooks belonging to Antivan crows or Shadow Dragons factions may prefer to save their own city for roleplaying reasons (or they may not for similar reasons).
• Players who want romance Lucanis must choose Treviso, as Lucanis will not be open to a romance if his city is not saved.
• Neve is more flexiblebut it's much harder to build any kind of relationship with a hardened Neve, since she'll disappear from the game until a certain later point in the main story, and the relationship is slower when she comes back. So, Minrathous is like the best option if a romance with Neve is the end goal.

Combat and gameplay considerations

• From a purely utilitarian gameplay perspective, players should save whichever city they need more. Players who rely on Shadow Dragon trade gear should prioritize Minrathous, for example.
• The next consideration is which companion is most useful and in what way. Players who use Neve's healing skills often don't want to lose them, while players who use Lucanis for his damage abilities and never use his support skills don't have to worry about curing him, and so can get away with rescuing Minrathous instead from Treviso.

Unique Quest Considerations

Another consideration is unique quests offered after saving any of the cities. These quests are equivalent in terms of reward, but they play differently and provide insight into different parts of the story.

• Players who are more interested in Antivan crows as a faction should save Treviso.
• Players who are more interested in Tevinter lore and information about Venatoritogether with Shadow Dragon faction, should save Minrathous.

Some quests such as the unmarked Candlehop quest in Minrathous are not affected by the choice.