Skip to main content

How to open the Warden Vault in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The Warden Vault's three shield locks in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Bioware

If you thought the puzzles in Dragon Age: The Veilguard were too easy, you haven’t tackled The Warden Vault quest yet. Available in the Rivain Coast, The Warden Vault is a side quest, one of many incredible side quests, that has you figure out how to open the locked door to the Warden’s Vault underneath a huge castle.

This puzzle requires you to solve three separate puzzles within the castle, but they are far from obvious. Without the right guidance, Rook and the party can easily get lost throughout this castle and not know how to unlock the Warden’s Vault in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, so here’s how to solve it.

Recommended Videos

How to unlock The Warden Vault side quest

Dragon Age The Veilguard map of Rivain Coast's castle entrance.
BioWare

First off, to start The Warden Vault side quest, you’ll have to have access to the Rivain Coast and Taash must be in your party. On the eastern side of the Rivain Coast, you’ll find a large castle. At the entrance from the map above, you’ll see a gated entrance blocking your way.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard locations guiding to the Warden Vault.
BioWare

Take a right and head through the open archway. You’ll see a pot on the ground that Taash can explode using their fire breath. With the new entrance available, head south through another archway and you’ll find some wooden boards to climb up to the next level. Keep heading down this path until you reach a doorway on your right.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard lever and Warden Vault locations.
BioWare

Head inside, and pull the lever on your left. This will open the main entrance, so now you can lower the ladder and climb down into the main hall. On the western side of the room are stairs leading to the basement blocked by a crystal.

Have Taash melt the crystal, and once inside you’ll see three shields on the wall and the locked Warden Vault door. You have now begun The Warden Vault side quest and can solve the three lock puzzles from here.

The Warden Vault torch puzzle

Dragon Age: The Veilguard three torches over a lever puzzle.
BioWare

The first puzzle is right nearby, so walk back up the stairs to the main hall and climb up the ladder you dropped down. Near the lever you pulled you should see a gated archway and a smaller lever with three torches above it (they won’t be lit yet).

Dragon Age: The Veilguard wheelbarrow blocking an entrance.
BioWare

You can’t pull it just yet, so first head back outside of this room where you initially came from. Jump down to the ground level and you’ll find a small entrance with a wooden wheelbarrow with crates blocking the way.

Three torches puzzle in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
BioWare

Break the wheelbarrow and you’ll find three torches to light. To light them all, you must activate them in a specific order. The order of these torches is: middle, right, left. With that done, you can head back inside the room with the small lever to pull it. Inside will be a chest, as well as the main lever to pull, which solves the first lock.

The Warden Vault ghost puzzle

First ghost of Rivain Coast castle in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
BioWare

The nearest puzzle to this one is the ghost puzzle, so to start it jump down into the main hall and continue south to the end of it. You may have to clear out some enemies before continuing, so once that’s done head through the door on your right. In the following room will be a skeleton on the ground with green butterflies hovering overtop it. Interact with it, and a ghost will appear before floating through a wall.

Second and third ghost locations in Dragon Age: The Veilguard's Rivain Coast castle.
BioWare

To find the ghost’s next location, walk back into the main hall and up the ladder. Continue down the stairs on your left, and you’ll see the ghost on another skeleton in a corner. Touch it to have it move, then follow it. Down the next set of stairs, continue north, and turn right into the small archway. Touch the ghost again, and you’ll find it back in the main hall.

Last ghost of Rivain Coast castle location in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
BioWare

You can now walk through the main entrance ahead of you, so run through and to the back of the room near the statue where the ghost is for the last time. After this interaction, a room will unlock and you can pull the lever to unlock the second lock to the Warden Vault’s door.

The Warden Vault wisp puzzle

Explodable pot at Rivain Coast castle in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
BioWare

Finally, you’ll begin the last puzzle to unlock the Warden Vault in the southern portion of the castle (there will be a waypoint on your map to help guide you). Find yourself at the large back courtyard and take out the enemies lurking there first. Near where you first entered this courtyard, look up and you’ll spot an explodable pot for Taash to interact with. This will give you access to a ladder, so climb up and grab the wisp floating in the back corner.

Take this wisp as quickly as possible to this next destination, as it has a timer for how long it will follow you. Down the ladder and back through where you first entered the courtyard, you’ll make an immediate left into a room with some training dummies.

Wisp on a skeleton at Rivain Coast castle in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
BioWare

At the back is a crystal for Taash to melt, so have them do that and continue through until you spot the area behind the broken wall for the wisp to go to. The wisp will take control of the skeleton and open the door for you. Inside is a chest, a Memento, and the last lever to unlock the Warden Vault.

You can finally make your way back to the Warden Vault and open the door for your rewards. There are three separate chests with random rewards like armor or weapons, and you’ll also gain some XP for completing this Dragon Age: The Veilguard quest.

Topics
Anyka Pettigrew
Anyka is a new writer for Digital Trends covering gaming across a spectrum of genres. While she adores anything from the…
Can you change classes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?
Knights below a giant dragon in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Before you begin your quest to save Thedas in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you need to make several important decisions. While you're making your character, you will customize your race, appearance, background, and more, but the most impactful decision is which class you pick. There are only three options: Warrior, Mage, and Rogue, but each one is highly customizable, with dozens of skills and ways to specialize them. We know that you can freely change your appearance after you've left the character creator, and there is an easy way to respec your skill points, but does the game also let you swap classes or do you need to give very careful thought when choosing?
Can you change classes in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Once you've made your choice between Warrior, Mage, and Rogue while creating your character, you're stuck with it. There is no way to change to a new class without restarting the entire game from scratch.

Read more
Which class should you pick in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?
A wizard and night in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

The character creator in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is incredibly deep. You can fully manipulate almost every aspect of your Rook, from their race down to their hair and eye color. Once you've finally settled on what you want to look lik,e you will need to make an even more important choice: what you want the game to play like. You will be presented with three choices for what class you want to be, each one with its own skill tree, specializations, weapons, and approach to combat. Unlike your skills or appearance, once you pick a class in the character creator, you're stuck with it. There's no changing your mind unless you are willing to start the game over with a new character. The game will give you a brief explanation of the classes, but it won't be enough to make an informed decision. Here's a detailed look at what you can expect from each class and whether or not it would be right for you.
Warrior

The Warrior class is the tank of the group and is perfect for players who want to be in the heart of the action. They wear heavy armor and can swap between a sword and shield or a single two-handed weapon like an axe. You will still have some ranged options, such as throwing your shield and a few abilities, but the main focus is building up rage and unleashing strong melee abilities or areas of effect (AoEs).

Read more
Dragon Age: The Veilguard tips and tricks
A character draws a bow in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

The threat to Thedas in Dragon Age: The Veilguard is greater than anything we've seen before. Solas, The Dread Wolf, is attempting to tear down the Veil, but that's only the tip of the iceberg of problems your Rook will need to deal with. Needless to say, the odds are stacked against you and you will need to use every edge you can get to find a way to overcome the odds. While the game does offer plenty of difficulty options, learning the deeper systems and mechanics will let you compete and keep up with the difficulty as it ramps up without having to change any settings. There's a lot to absorb when diving into this world, so we'll help you prepare with these essential tips and tricks.
Pick your class carefully, but experiment with skills

While you're making your character, the most important choice you have is which class you will be. The three options are Warrior, Mage, and Rogue and the one you pick here is the one you will be stuck with for the rest of the game. There's no changing classes or controlling other party members directly like in past games, so don't take this decision lightly. If you are having trouble deciding, we can help you decide which one is right for you.

Read more