I've noticed a lot of people are struggling with obtaining Tier 3 Schematics. As someone who was going through this struggle as well I genuinely thought it an unsolvable issue. I am making this post for anyone else struggling with Tier 3 as well.
First of all, let me clarify that I was my own worst enemy when it came to Tier 3 Schematics.
Perhaps of the way I tend to 'wander off' into the far edges of forever in games my
experience with Val Royeaux was a huge let-down. I had no interest in the main story. So, I
was very much invested in discovering side story by way of reading documents as I
explored the world itself. When I reached Val Royeaux I expected to find a wide variety of
merchants selling items I would need. I did not, but did get a new merchant for Skyhold.
Returning to Skyhold I assumed I slowly obtained new and vital merchants to assist me, so
I thought. However, this did not turn out to be the case. Most of what the merchants had for
sale I was already able to craft equal-to or better-than quality items. This made me rather
hateful of merchants, by the time I finished the Western Approach and Emprise du Lion. I
really felt they had nothing to offer me. By the time I reached Hissing Wastes this was a
very firm belief for me.
Recently I deleted my finished playthrough, deciding to start some 20 hours into the game.
I was convinced that I had overlooked critical things which could have improved my
playthrough (the first time) if I had been more concerned with the game's mechanics and
less with the lore. As it turned out, this was much the case.
After much fiddling around I discovered few things go a long ways to improving the overall experience of the game. Most important of these is that Dalish armor schematics are accessible for medium and light armor. If there is a heavy armor I haven't found it yet. If you are a Rogue like me you've probably been reaching a certain degree of frustration with the rarity of bow schematics and/or finding that really spiffy armor set. Also, if you're like me, somewhere around 30 hours into the game you probably gave up on merchants having any further use for you completely. It was a mistake to think so...
It turns out the game is more than generous with Tier 3 Schematics if you devote some time exploring the Hissing Wastes. There is a merchant in a Canyon (sort of an Easter Egg too) that sells most of the racial / faction armor types you'll have wanted. Dalish and Templar armor are available, as well as some variety of basic Tier 3 armors. Exploring through the different tombs in the region will also provide you with the best damage of bow I've seen yet (186 damage with dragon materials), as well as equally good dagger, axe, and greatsword schematics. If there is a staff schematic out there I missed it.
After finishing Hissing Wastes you should have same very good tier 3 schematics for both weapons and armor. The next trick is go to Emprise du Lion and explore the cliffsides far west of the dragons. You'll find a dead elf eventually. This will unlock a new area of exploration on your War Table. Go back to Skyhold, unlock this region, and head on in.
Once inside you will want to take advantage of understanding how chests in DA: I work. If a chest has only 1 item in the chest do not take that item. Ignore the chest and all its contents. If a chest has 2 items, take one of them (if you need anything from it), but always leave an item too. As long as the chest has at least one item in it, when you leave the dungeon the chest will respawn with new loot. Combining this strategy with every other area you explore in DA: I will allow you to effectively farm Tier 3 schematics in just a few hours. Remember to save frequently so you don't accidentally loot a chest with only 1 item inside or where you accidentally looted all the items within.
Note: It's not necessary to loot all of the items from a chest. Within a few hours farming you should have found again most of the schematics you find in your first hour and a half doing this. Masterwork things are still exceptionally rare, but the Hissing Wastes is better at providing those (I've found) than this unlocked region from Emprise du Lion. In any case, Tier 3 schematics are good enough armor/weapons it will take some of the pressure off you to have to hunt down all the dragons.
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