Durandal is one of the earliest Legendary weapons Coen can carry in The Blood of Dawnwalker, and it sits behind a single optional quest that most players walk straight past. It is a Legendary Longsword with strong bonuses against supernatural enemies, and because weapons can be upgraded at blacksmiths, it stays viable long after the point where you found it.
Quick answer: Complete The Cursed Chasm. Start it at the broken bridge west of the Coward’s Path Shrine, drop into the chasm, kill the wolves, the Vidmos, and the Echo, then loot the largest pile of wreckage at the bottom to receive Durandal.
Where the Durandal sword is located
The chasm sits in the far western edge of the playable map, in the northwestern part of the Briar Sloughs fiefdom, past the Coward’s Path Shrine. There is no named marker on the map for it, so you are heading toward blank terrain rather than an icon. The valley runs out toward the boundary of the core map, and the closest fast travel point is the Coward’s Path Shrine.
It is close enough to Laslea, where the story begins, that you can make the trip early without a long detour. The quest itself costs two Time Segments, so plan it alongside anything else you want to do in that part of the valley.
Two ways to trigger The Cursed Chasm
You do not need a quest log entry to find the place. Walking into the area is enough to start it, but there is also a conversation in Svartrau City that points you there directly.
Getting down into the chasm
The bridge is out, so the descent is on you. The fastest route is Vrakhir form with Clawride, which lets you climb straight down the cliff face from the bridge instead of hunting for an opening. The conventional route works too. Return to the Coward’s Path Shrine and head due west rather than northwest, and the path descends into the valley floor on its own.
Beating the wolves, the Vidmos, and the Echo
The treasure is guarded in two waves. A pack of wolves attacks first and looks like the whole encounter, then supernatural enemies spawn on top of it. You have to clear the Vidmos and the Echo wraith along with its minions before the wreckage can be looted.
Leave a couple of wolves alive when the second wave appears. They sometimes turn on the supernatural enemies and fight beside you, and more reliably they give you a target for Voracious Bite, which heals Coen mid-fight and buys space to recover between the Echo’s attacks.
Level matters more here than skill. At level 8 the guards carry red skulls and can end a run in a single hit. By level 11 the same enemies show yellow markers and the fight becomes manageable, and it is comfortable in the mid to high teens.
Looting Durandal and the rest of Skender’s treasure
Once the area is clear, switch on Focus Mode to highlight every piece of wreckage and every skeleton you can interact with. The sword is not in the first thing you touch.
The pile also yields armor worth keeping, including Artisanal Bracers, the master-tier Rebel’s Sturdy Coat of Plates, and Adept’s Paleyris.
How you know it worked: the quest log marks The Cursed Chasm as complete and awards XP plus a skill point, and Durandal appears in your inventory tagged as a Legendary Longsword.
Durandal stats and what it is good at
Durandal is a medium attack speed longsword built around stamina economy. Three separate reductions of 21 percent apply to attack stamina cost, dodge stamina cost, and weapon ability cooldown, which means you can press attacks and roll out of them far more often than with a comparable early blade. The bonus damage is aimed squarely at supernatural enemies, which is most of what the valley throws at you.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | Legendary Longsword |
| Attack speed | Medium |
| DPS | 257 (+40) |
| Damage | 136–224 |
| Cooldown | 12s |
| Damage against Supernatural | +11.9% |
| Attack stamina cost | -21% |
| Dodge stamina cost | -21% |
| Weapon ability cooldown | -21% |
| Weight | 1.50 |
| Value | 511 |
Note: the item level on the sword is not fixed across playthroughs. It has turned up as a Level 15 weapon and as a Level 17 weapon, and the numbers above were recorded on the Level 17 version. Blacksmiths sell weapon upgrades during the daytime cycle, so the level it drops at does not limit how long you keep it.
The in-game description leans on the obvious reference, calling it a namesake of Roland’s sword while pointedly refusing to say whether it is the genuine article. Durandal is one of three Legendary swords in the game, alongside the Imbued Sword of St. Mihai from the Forge It Anew questline and The Purge, which the Silver Trader in Svartrau City sells.
Reasons the sword does not drop
- The Echo and its minions are still alive. The wreckage cannot be searched until every enemy in the chasm is dead.
- You looted only the skeleton or the smaller debris. Durandal sits in the biggest wreckage pile, which is a separate interaction.
- Focus Mode was never used, so the interactable piles never highlighted and were easy to walk past.
- You arrived far under level and were killed by red-skull enemies before reaching the treasure.
If you are still working through the opening hours, the two Time Segments are worth spending. You come out of the chasm with a Legendary weapon, a master-tier chest piece, a treasure map that leads to more Silver, and enough Denarius to make the next blacksmith visit count.
