Mine Massacre – Dragon Age 2 Quest

In this guide, you will find a map, legend, and walkthrough for the respective quest in Act 3 of Dragon Age 2.

Map Legend

1 – High Dragon
2 – Plateau

Exits:

• W – World exit.

Background

You’ll receive this quest from Hubert in Hightown during Act III.

Walkthrough

When you talk to Hubert at his stall in Hightown, he’ll tell you that a cart returned from the Bone Pit containing “a dozen mangled bodies,” and he’ll ask you to investigate. When you reach the mine, you’ll find the area surrounding it devastated, with corpses and burning ruins all around. Then to the south you’ll stumble upon the cause — a high dragon (#1).

As you might expect, the high dragon can be a tough opponent. It will breathe fire, it will hit you hard with melee attacks, and from time to time it will fly up onto a plateau where you won’t be able to reach it (#2), and pelt you with fireballs while you defeat waves of dragonlings and lesser dragons. Here are a few strategies for defeating it:

• Use only one melee character, and have that character be the one you control. As long as you keep your melee character moving, and keep it away from the dragon’s head and tail, then you’ll be able to avoid most of the dragon’s melee damage.
  
  
• Save your area effect spells for when the dragonlings show up so you can end that phase as quickly as possible.
  
  
• Do not keep your party grouped together during the dragonlings phase (separate them and make them hold their position if necessary), or else the high dragon’s fireballs will wipe you out in a hurry.
  
  
• High fire resistance is helpful, so you might want to swap around some runes before the battle. Also be sure to use skills like Arcane Shield and Elemental Aegis.
  
  
• Bring a spirit header who knows the spells Regroup and Aid Allies. You’ll definitely need the extra healing.

When you defeat the high dragon, you’ll find a mess of useful items on its corpse: Dragon’s Blood (a crafting resource), a High Dragon Fire Gland (which will trigger the quest Herbalist’s Tasks), The Weight, The Offhand Blade, Jackal’s Longbow, Nightingale’s Lamellar Armor, Ashen Gauntlets, Ring of the Emerald Knights, and Enchanted Resin (an armor upgrade for Fenris). You’ll also find a Champion chest piece suitable for your main character: Arms of the Champion (if you’re playing a rogue), Robes of the Champion (if you’re playing a mage), or Warplate of the Champion (if you’re playing a warrior).

When you return to Hubert to let him know what happened, he’ll bemoan the loss of his mine, and he won’t give you a reward (you can ask him for the mine itself, but this won’t affect anything in the game). You’ll simply receive 1500 xp for completing the quest.


1 – High Dragon


2 – Plateau