When to do Descent and Hakkon?

I did Descent at level 19-20 on normal with no trials. I did Hakkon post end game, but before Trespasser.

This suggestion may cause you to be overpowered for end game boss, though. So it's possibly better to do both post end game/pre Trespasser.

By the time Certain Person joins my Advisors after the Winter Palace, I always feel like to do anything other than Chasing end game boss is immersion breaking. But that's me.

I did both before endgame. I was definitely way too overpowered for Corypheus; the bosses from the DLCs were way harder to beat than he was, for me.

IMO, it makes more narrative sense to do them after endgame, in the 2-year gap between that and Trespasser. Just because they're very large-scale missions that don't contribute directly to stopping Corypheus, which is the focus of the base campaign.

JoH definitely belongs after the main game both from a gameplay and narrative perspective. There is absolutely no reason why you would go chasing off down into the Frostbacks when Corypheus and his Venatori are not involved, plus it partially explains what you were doing in the period from when you defeat him until the Exalted Council. The difficulty of your opponents fits the level of skill you have acquired.

I played Descent after JoH simply because that is the order in which they were released. As a result there was a skill you acquire during JoH that I discovered was very useful in fighting the enemies we encounter there. That aside, I would say that it really belongs after the main game but before JoH. The upheaval was caused by the Breach but there is no definite link with Cory. So the way I looked at it was that you kept a watching brief while dealing with what appeared the main danger and then when things still didn't settle down after closing the Breach, you dealt with the problem. Then once that was out of the way, you turned your attention to the mystery of the last Inquisitor and reports of hostiles in the Frostback Basin.

That way you are not too overpowered for Cory, which can happen if you complete everything in the main game before confronting him, let alone DLC, plus you get a couple of major quests that are sufficiently challenging for your high level Inquisitor to deal with after dealing with the Elder One. It also explains what your Inquisitor was doing for at least part of the two years before the Exalted Council.

Option 1: release order. Finish the main quest, then JoH, then Descent, then Trespasser. That's how most of the fandom experienced the DLCs for the first time and it works fine for the story, fills in the 2 year gap between the end of the main quest and Trespasser.


Option 2: This order gets gear and other stuff from one DLC that is helpful in another. It's woven into the story by using a headcanon about the Well of Sorrows.

1. Finish What Pride Had Wrought, have the Inquisitor drink from the Well

2. The voices tell the Inquisitor to investigate the earthquakes, start Descent

3. Do the first half of Descent, pick up gear that is useful for JoH -- particularly the Ring of Doubt, stop at the camp before the last elevator down. The voices say to return to Skyhold.

4. The voices say to start JoH.

5. Do JoH through What Yet Lingers and pick up the Aegis of the Rift. This is very useful for the second half of Descent.

6. The voices say to finish Descent.

7. The voices say to finish JoH.

8. The voices say that Coryphish is on the march, better finish the main quest.

9. Trespasser

yeah that's what I ten ddto do tbh alternate betwwen Descent and JOH Often I do the darkspawn bit and once that's done switch to JoH t oget the Aegis power then finish Descent then come back to doing likewise with JOH and then finish the main game and Trespasser. In fact that's what I plan on doing this time.