There are several areas/maps on the game that you can farm tier 3 schematics, like the Cradle of Sulevin. However, that requires you to be at a certain level since unlocking that quest requires fighting level 16-19 enemies. On this post, however, will show you how to get tier 3 schematics at a low level. “Low level” will depend on what level you get out of Haven and reach Skyhold. So if you finish the mission that gets you out of Haven at level 10, you will be able to equip tier 3 armor or use tier 3 weapons at that low a level.
This method would require you to unlock Emprise du Lion and The Hissing Wastes, which is available once you get to Skyhold. The Hissing Waste is unlocked through the quest Stop the Venatori in the West. Enemies on these maps are around lvl 16+, but you won’t have to fight them.
Note that unlocking The Hissing Waste and Emprise Du Lion requires 20 power each. However, power is easy to come by in the game from doing missions and side quests (clearing rifts, etc). I was able to unlock Emprise Du Lion at level 10.
The Hissing Waste Tombs
The tier 3 schematics in The Hissing Wastes are looted from 5 tombs. When you enter Hissing Waste, you will be given the Tomb of Fairel quests where you need to explore 5 tombs. You can actually open the tombs without fighting any mobs that’s why you can acquire the loots at a low level. All you need to do is light the veilfires in the tomb in order. Just refer here for the order of lighting the veilfire in each tombs. There might be some spiders on some tombs but you can easily get away with them (more below).
Once you unlock the door, the chest rewards on each tomb contain one tier 3 schematic each.
The tier 3 schematics you get are:
- Dagger (Masterwork Dual Curved Blade schematic),
- Longbow (Masterwork Spiked Longbow)
- Chest Armor (Legion of the Dead Armor schematic)(Dwarf class only),
- 1 hand axe(Serpent’s Rage schematic)
- 2 hand greatsword (Masterwork Serrated Greatsword)
Tomb locations are shown below.
The Hissing Waste Map Tomb Locations.
All the 5 tombs are pretty safe to travel since the Hissing Waste is vast and you can easily spot enemies from afar and avoid them. So no worries, just hop on your horse and travel to the tomb locations. Tombs 1 and 2 are pretty safe to to unlock since no mobs are around and all you need to do is light the veilfire in order. Tombs 2,4 and 5, however will have some mobs and spiders lurking around, but all you have to do is stealth. It’s up to you to venture to The Tomb of Fairel. It contains schematics for Varric’s bianca bow and other unique items.
Avoiding the Mobs
To avoid the mobs, you can simply stealth your way through. However, that won’t be enough, since the stealth skill will eventually expire and spiders usually follow you inside the tomb. What you want to do instead is use the flank attack skill (with its upgrade) on an non-aggressive animal like a fennec, or halla. (Make sure you respec or unlock the flank attack skill with its upgrade and bring a dagger). Doing this will permanently stealth you until you attack again. Not sure if this is intended but it works.
If you are controlling Sera or Cole, then you’re Inquisitor might attack the spiders. Don’t worry about that. Just ignore it. He’ll die but eventually respawn. Important thing is you yourself don’t break from stealth.
Inside The Tombs
When you reach the tombs, simply light the veilfire in order. Refer here for the veilfire order on each tomb. There will be a veilfire in the tombs which will already be lit , so bringing a mage is not required.
Once all veilfire is lit in order, the tomb door opens and you can loot the chest which will contain the tier 3 schematic.
Important: Make sure you light the veilfire in order because if you mess up, monsters will spawn and you have to reload the map again.
Note that the schematics are tier 3 masterwork schematics (orange with blue borders), which means that they give a slightly higher dps rating than a normal tier 3 schematic. So they are definitely worth venturing for.
Videos:
This video will show you how to avoid the spiders in the Tomb.
In the video, i try to find a fennec or halla to activate my perma-stealth (first I stealth as not to scare it away). Once perma stealthed, I simply travel to the tomb. Note that the Inquisitor is being attacked, but just ignore it. It does nothing to you and he’ll respawn later.
Emprise Du Lion Farm
The Hissing Wastes is great to get those tier 3 weapon schematics, but for armor and other stuff, you want to farm at Emprise Du Lion. Emprise Du Lion is also a high level map, which means all the items on the chests are tier 3 items.
What people might miss here is that there are several chests located just outside of the starting camp, all of which have the chance of containing tier 3 schematics. What’s great about the farming these chests is that they are near the starting camp, and you won’t have to fight any enemies. In order to avoid enemies, you just need to use a rogue, Sera, or Cole and unlock the Stealth skill. You can also use a dagger and unlock the flank attack skill and its upgrade if you want permanent invisibility (“permanent” until you attack again) just like I mentioned in above in the Hissing Waste section.
So here are the locations of the chests you can farm outside Emprise Du Lion at a low level (video below):
Chest locations outside Emprise Du Lion starting camp.
Corresponding chest screenshot:
Note spots 3 and 4 require you to have the Unfinished Business quests, which can be easily unlocked when you talk to Cassandra at Skyhold.
Here are some example tier 3 schematics I got:
How would you farm the chests?
If you are familiar with the Cradle of Sulevin farm method, then what you would normally do is run from chest to chest picking up only items that are tier 3 schematics. Then you would zone out the map and load the map again.
What you can do instead (to eliminate long loading times) is the following steps:
1 – Approach and open the chest.
2 – If it contains 2 (or more) items and one of it is a schematic, pick the schematics up and leave the other item.
3 – Close the chest and hit Quick Save.
4 – Now hit Quick Reload. Chest contents should been refreshed.
5 – If it doesn’t contain any schematics, Quick Reload again.
You would Quick Save everytime you pick up an item, making sure to leave at least 1 item behind.
You would do this until there is one item in the chest and it is a schematic and you decide to pick it up. Picking it up would make the chest empty the next run. So just move on to the next chest.
Chest Not Refreshing Contents
If for some reason (maybe autosave triggered) the chest contents doesn’t refresh, don’t worry. Just move on to the next chest. The chest contents will always refresh whenever you relog the map (assuming there are still items in the chest).
Avoiding The Enemies
To avoid the enemies in spot 1,3 and 4 and 8, you simply would hit the stealth button on your rogue. If you want to perma stealth, find an non-aggressive creature(fennec, nug, halla, etc) and hit Flank Attack on it.
If you are attacked and the inquisitor attacks back, just ignore it. Don’t worry if the inquisitor dies he’ll respawn when you’re off combat.
Notes:
- Leave 1 item behind after picking up the schematics on the chest. When you visit the chest again later after reloading the map, the contents and quantity will again be refreshed and randomized.
- Remember if there is only 1 item in the chest, then picking up that item would make the chest empty afterwards. So if you see its a tier 3 schematic, but you don’t really need that schematic (like if its an upgrade schematic you don’t need), you always have the option of not picking it up. This way you can still continue to farm that chest.
- You can do this method for almost every chest in the game.
Videos
Chest Locations:
How to farm the chests:
In the video I demonstrate how to farm the chest in 3 location by quick saving and quick reloading . You would do this for each chest location.
Tier 3 Materials At Low Level
Now that you’ve got tier 3 schematics, it’s time to use some tier 3 materials on them. Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get lots of tier 3 materials this early, especially for cloth (since they drop on tier 3 mobs). However, there are methods to get tier 3 metals and leather early. You won’t be able to use tier 3 materials on all slots on the schematic (because you won’t have enough), but you simply want to use the tier 3 material on the main/primary slot to get the high armor/dps rating.
For weapons, you would want to use tier 3 metal on the main slot (Weapons use metals on their main slot). The tier 3 metal that you can farm early is Nevarrite. Nevarrite because it’s available around the starting area of the Hissing Wastes. See the post on the locations of Nevarrite nodes in The Hissing Waste. The downside of farming tier 3 metals at a low level is that you only get 1 piece of it per node. However, the Hissing Waste has lots of Nevarrite nodes for you to farm. So a couple of runs should get you the required amount to equip on the primary slot of your weapon or heavy armor.
Alternatively, if you have explored The Western Approach and captured Griffon Keep, you’ll unlock the “Gather Metals” war table mission. Select Leilana for the mission and she’ll return 6 Everite everytime.
For leather, the easiest tier 3 material to equip on the primary slot would be Snoufleur skin. You can farm Snoufleur skin on the Frozen lake in Emprise Du Lion or in the Exalted Plains on the Riverwatch camp.
Unfortunately for cloth, there’s no easy way to farm tier 3 cloth early on the game since they all drop from tier 3 mobs. So instead of using light armor on your mages, you have the option instead to use a medium armor schematic and use Snoufleur Skin on the primary slot to remove the class restriction on it. This way you achieve a slightly higher armor rating. Heavy armor would require Silverite to remove class restriction, but Silverite is located on an unfavorable spot for early levels.
Hope this guide helped and Happy Farming!
