*** CONTAINS MANY SPOILERS ***

This guide does NOT contain any cheats, just cheeses and exploits.

This guide aims to complete the game in the fewest steps possible, while also not putting too much strain on the player. By following this guide you will also unlock hidden achievements :P.

Some extra steps were added in order to make it easier, for the players attempting this, so that they may learn on their own - new ways to make the run faster (or cleaner).

NEW PLAYERS: I recommend less experienced players to use this guide as a baseline and to loot, kill and complete as much as possible to get more experience and knowledge of the game. The guide will tell you when it's a good time to go explore.

VETERANS: Follow the guide to the tee, don't ever sell and don't respec to identify (this is considered cheating and also a loss of time), this is your challenge. You will even find moments where you think to yourself "I think I could have just skipped that one", that's when you are on the right path >:)... You should finish the game at level 14, and if you are lucky you will have a full set of gear, but 90% of the time you will be missing a belt... Try to keep the Deathfog Barrel for the Bloodfury fight in A4, but do not hesitate to use it anytime to save yourself from mistakes.

Main Character

This character will be doing 99% of everything, he is the ultra-carry and Fane is pretty much here just to carry his things and pick locks.

Any Undead Character

Creation:

Talent: Lone Wolf
Attributes: 2 Str & 6 Wits
Abilities: Scoundrel & Polymorph
Civil: Telekinesis
Skills: Adrenaline / Chameleon Cloak / Backlash



Future Levels:

Talent: Executioner / Hot Head / All Skilled Up / Far Out Man / Five Star Dinner
Attributes: Wits -> Constitution
Abilities: Warfare -> Scoundrel -> Two-Handed (put 1 point in Aero and Hunstman)
Civil: Telekinesis
Skills: Tactical Retreat / Cloak & Dagger / Teleport / Nether Swap (that's all you really need)

---

Second Character

This character will simply be a tool for your main character, only fighting when forced to.

Fane

Hire him as a SHADOWBLADE

We want the thieving, that's 99% of his job

Future Levels:

Talent: Torturer / Comeback Kid / Far Out Man
Attributes: Constitution -> Strength
Abilities: Doesn't really matter, just get the ones u want for the boat fight (I like Worm Tremor)
Civil: Thieving
Skills: Tactical Retreat / Cloak & Dagger / Teleport / Nether Swap / Worm Tremor / Adrenaline

1) Grab two bedrolls, then initiate the Windego cutscene. Then grab the dagger (equip it) and head upstairs to snatch the Deathfog Barrel. You will have to be quick, don't take your time reading as the tentacles spawn before the last part of the dialogue.


2) Once you have the Deathfog Barrel, go upstairs and defeat the 2 Voidwoken. Then head to the escape boat and move on to Fort Joy.

1) Follow the path, find the Black Cat and go grab the Shovel on top of the ruined bridge.


2) Go straight to the alcove and recruit Fane (Shadowblade), then head towards the Dallis cutscene.


3) Using Fane, go to the Fort Joy - Dungeons (discover the hatch by using your Main Character and clicking on the statue in the center of town), lockpick the entrance door, then lockpick the first door on the right and take the Teleport Scroll from the skeleton for later.
Now continue on and go up the stairs to lockpick the door that leads to the exit.




4) Now swap to your Main Character and meet up with Fane (this is important if you want the Black Cat skill), head towards Knile's torture room and hug the north wall until you reach the stairs, then sneak all the way to the sewers on the other side of the metal door.



* If you choose to return to Fort Joy, your party members will now have the "fugitive" tag which will cause any Magister you encounter to instantly attack you.

1) Start by heading east to grab the Hollow Marsh - Bridge waypoint.


2) Now head back west, past the sewers all the way to the beach and follow the coast all the way to Amadia's Sanctuary. On the way you will reach some ruins, make sure to stealth to not start the voidwoken fight (you can do it later if you want but now is not a good time).


* If you want more experience, then go grab a healing spell (or recruit a character that has one) to heal the wounded in Amadia's Sanctuary.
Now enter Amadia's Sanctuary and grab the waypoint.


3) Exit from the east and follow the coastline, when you see the Basilisks, sneak up onto the hill and Backlash the Green Basilisk to get into a good position. Now use your shenanigans (Chameleon Cloak, Adrenaline, and Feign Death) to find and enter the Dark Cavern (Trompdoy's cave, it is directly behind the Green Basilisk, but you needs wits to discover it).



4) Use all your shenanigans to avoid all fights in the Dark Cavern to reach the end, make sure you let your cooldowns refresh before the next fight. On the way speak to the Statue of Illusions, the correct choices are 1) answer #1 then 2) answer #2. Once you reach the treasure room, raid the place and release Trompdoy (if you are speed running, just break all the soul Jars now).


Then backtrack to the previous room and loot the real Trompdoy's body.


Finally, return past the treasure room once again and learn the Bless spell from the statue.
* If for some reason Fane did not learn Bless (a bug that happens here), then just have him talk to the statue as well to teach it to him...Speed-runners just roll with it, no Bless on Fane x).

5) Teleport back to Fort Joy - Square (careful of the patrolman) it's time to do some Thieving:
- The first victim is Stingtail, steal Haste, Peace of Mind and Fireball - teach all you can to Fane.
- Next follow the coast and find Maol, steal Worm Tremor and his 4x Nails - teach it to Fane
- Go back into town square and steal from Gawin, take Teleport and Uncanny Evasion - teach
Teleport to your Main Character and Evasion to Fane
- Next head to Butters and grab Tactical Retreat - Teach it to your Main Character
- Nearby is Hilde, steal Cloak and Dagger and Adrenaline - teach all you can to Fane
- Lastly, go back to Amadia's Sanctuary and steal from Exter, take another Cloak and Dagger -
teach it to your Main Character
* Loot Gratiana in Amadia's Sanctuary also, as she might drop TWO Teleports!




6) Now teleport back to Fort Joy - Beach, head to the Alcove (where you met Fane) and use Teleport to grab the indestructible golden chest (your weapon), it is right there under the rainbow.



* Grab the Ooze barrel next to the cliff before leaving, from now on you will put every barrel you find into the Golden Chest (including the Deathfog Barrel).
** The way this will be possible without being annoying is that Fane will simply stay behind and hold the chest for now.
** Once the battle starts, drag the chest into your main character's inventory, then drop it on the ground, it's now ready to be used as a Telekinesis weapon (just keep dropping it on people).


7) Now, take the waypoint back to Hollow Marsh - Bridge, and head to where all the burning pigs are (teleport down as shown in screenshot for shortcut) - now load up on barrels, be quick as the pigs will try to explode them all, use your Main Character as he has Telekinesis, and keep stacking them into the Golden Chest (which Fane should be holding while just chilling in Amadia's Sanctuary).


* After loading up on barrels and putting them into the Golden Chest, we are now ready to engage in any fight A1 has to offer.

8) Now head north of the ruined pigs, up the vines to the Ruined Castle - and go save Gareth.


* Make sure you discover the Hollow Marsh - Ruined Castle waypoint here


After defeating the 2 fights, head back to Amadia's Sanctuary (with both characters) to have your collars removed (if you are speed running, tell Gareth you are ready now).



Then teleport back to the Hollow Marshes - Ruined Castle to use the Source Fountain to fill up (you will need to use Bless on the next step, it is underneath the ruins - enter the metal grate door).



9) Waypoint back to Amadia's Sanctuary and head back to where the Dark Cavern is (but don't enter it this time), and jump to the patch of sand to the south, then follow the coastline all the way to the backdoor to the Cursed Tower.


* On the way, use Bless on the cursed circle to take the Captain's Armour and read the book.




Take the source puddle in front of the tower and enter, head straight to the cursed chest where the Devourer Gloves are stashed and Bless it, loot the Devourer's Gloves and Equip them on your Main Character.



10) Exit the tower, and go north to jump down to Dragon's beach, keep running north past Slane (The Frost Dragon) and into the Captain's Cave, get the Captain's Hat and raid the place.




11) Exit the Captain's Cave, and make your way north to the Abandonned Camp, then head east and find the mound with the Captain's Boots. Equip the Captain's set to Fane (for the boat fight).


* If you are not speed-running, you should do all the side quests you want to do now.
Destroy the shriekers blocking the way (use the Purging Wand), then tell Gareth that you are ready, now defeat Alexandar and his men and tell Malady you would like to move on.

1) Once on the boat, find the book with the Fortitude password (for the door downstairs), on the magister corpse, on the top deck.


Head down one level and re-hire Fane, then go downstairs and respec his Guerilla for Torturer. If he did not know Bless before due to the bug, he should now have learned it on his own.


Steal the gem from Alexandar, open the door using the Gem and the password, release tarquin, take both Pyramids and read the Songbook.





* If you are not speed-running, you should do all the side quests you want to do now.
2) Next head to the front of the boat and sing the song to the Lady Vengeance and advance to the next stage. For this fight, it's very important that you leave one enemy alive and pick up your chest before the battle ends, or you will lose it forever (game over).




3) Bless your god in the Hall of Echoes and onto act 2.

1) Once on Reaper's Coast, head north-west in the direction of Driftwood. Follow the road until you find Master Siva.


Speak to the guard and fail all persuasion checks, then bribe the guard to walk away.



After you have freed Master Siva, go grab the Driftwood Waypoint. Drop the Golden Chest at Driftwood Square and walk around with both characters to make things easier for now.


2) Head to Papa Thrash and steal Racht Rumora and equip it on Fane. Exit Driftwood to the east and follow the road north all the Paladin Checkpoint and pick up the Paladin Shield from the ground and equip it on Fane.



3) Go back on the previous road, and follow it north until you discover the Paladin Checkpoint waypoint, pick up the Paladin Shield and equip it on Fane.




Now return to the road and keep going north until you find the Driftwood - Fields waypoint.



Return to the road, and take it west until you find the log that allows to cross through towards Cloisterwood.


Carefully make your way to the west side of the ruins, and nab the waypoint from over the wall (near the friendly bears).



Now head south and find two Blackroots for later, then head back north to the coast to find the ferryman and cross to Bloodmoon Island.




4) Once on Bloodmoon Island, head east to go see the Advocate, here talk to Malady so she walks away from the NPC. Ask the Advocate to teach you how to channel more Source, then steal Emrach from Basatan the Wishmaster and equip it on your Main Character.



5) Now head east until you find the Bloodmoon Island waypoint. Waypoint back to Driftwood Square and pick up the Golden Box and give it to Fane.


Now return to Bloodmoon Island, and kill all the members of the Black Ring around the tree in the center of the island, loot The Destroyer's Gloves and equip them on Fane (This step is necessary to make Malady return to the ship).

6) Now return to Driftwood Square and take the south-west exit the city via the beach.


Once out, head west with your Main Character to find the backdoor to the Mordus Cave. When you arrive at the castle ruins with the dwarves, go to the far north end using your shenanigans and jump down to the backdoor to enter Reaper's Cove.


* You will see a shipwreck down below, jump to it and go down the hatch to grab the Captain's Compass Amulet and equip it on Fane.


7) Upon entering Reaper's Cove, head straight to Mordus, defeat him, and make him teach you how to channel more Source.


Afterwards, kill him and grab his amulet.


Then, waypoint back to Driftwood Square and head to the Undertavern to find Lohar. Talk to him and give him Mordus Amulet in exchange for Lohar's Source Hammer - equip it on your Main Character.



8) Waypoint to the Paladin Checkpoint, exit east and follow the road south to the Stonegarden Graveyard.


Once at the Stonegarden Graveyard, locate the Lizard incineration site and grab the Devourer's Boots from the thief corpse and equip them on your Main Character.



9) Now finally go to Master Siva's house and do all 3 steps of the quest at once - you will need source in order to start the quest (Fane does not need to be nearby, and should be holding the Golden Box).


* If you are not speed-running, you should do all the side quests you want to do now.
10) Go back to Lady Vengeance and tell Malady that you are ready to depart to Act 3.

1) When you first land on the Nameless Isle, head south-east and loot the Flame Rune from the dead lizard cultist.


Then keep heading south-east, into the lava area, and find the cave entrance at the bottom of the Temple of Zorl Stissa.


Enter the fire cave, find the dragon skull and manually place the Fire Rune inside of it, you now have the Devourer's Leggings - equip them on your Main Character.


Go up the Zorl Stissa altar and kill the Shadow Prince, loot The Shadow Prince's Signet and equip it on your Main Character.


2) Scale the south side of the mountain heading east, avoiding the lava, all the way to the backdoor to the Academy. It is to the far south-eastern side of the lava mountains, once you find the deserted mining camp with the skeleton, you can jump onto the platform below, then scale the vines up the cliff to reveal a mound (using wits) that once dug out will then reveal the hatch to the backdoor.





* For the sake of keeping it simple for this guide, when you arrive in front of the backdoor, have Fane teleport to your Main Character using the Pyramid.
* Now with your Main Character, head back to Lady Vengeance and respec to have 4 persuasion and max strength.
* Then use the Pyramid to head back to the backdoor and initiate the dialogue that starts when you attempt to enter, persuade Fane to remain with you with a Strength check.
* Now go back to Lady Vengeance and respec back into Wits and Telekinesis, we are ready to move on without losing Fane.
* If you are hardcore, just tell Fane that you will allow him to become the next Divine.


3) When you arrive at the Teacher's Hall room, use Spirit Vision and take the teachings from the Wits and the Constitution masters on your Main Character.



Grab the Phase Capacitors all around and complete the easy puzzle.




Upon exiting the Teacher's Hall go south and speak to The Delegate to accept the God King's Oath and become Sworn.
* If you do not want to have an "Evil" ending, you can either skip the Oath, or break it here or in A4.
* If you are not speed-running, you should do all the side quests you want to do now.



4) Come out victorious in the Arena of the One and onto Act 4.

1) Follow the road north-west heading to Arx and engage versus the Bloodfury Voidwoken.


* This will be an extremely hard fight if you don't have enough weight in your Golden Chest (from speed-running), consider using the Black Cat for a super clean engage.


2) Once in Arx, use Fane and head to the north-west of Arx and sneak through the Lizard Consulate, grab the Devourer's Chest and equip it on your Main Character.




3) Now head to Lord Kemm's Mansion (just south of the consulate), go into the gardens and click the hidden lever to access his Vault.



Enter the Lord Kemm's Vault and kill the enemies there, once they are "broken" you must use Source Vampirism (or any other form of purge) to be kill them. Then head to the Blue Display Case on the east side of the Vault, clicking the buttons directly (no dialogue will appear), enter this combination: 232113. Pick up the Devourer's Helm and equip it on your Main Character. Now use Spirit Vision and devour the spirit of the Dreamer, this will corrupt the Devourer's set (quite a huge boost for the final fight).
* The Devourer's set is still awesome even without being corrupted.
* This is great spot to fill your chest with super heavy stuff!!!
* If you are not speed-running, you should do all the side quests you want to do now.
4) Now teleport to the Hall of Echoes and hire a mercenary (any will do). Then head to the north part of Arx, enter the Cathedral and go pass the Path of Blood's trial with the newly acquired mercenary, then dismiss him. Go buy from vendors: Rain, Blood Rain and Fireball (you can craft Blood Rain combining a Hydro and a Necro skill book) - teach them all to Fane.
5) Now enter the hatch that was revealed and discover The Crypt waypoint, have Fane drop the chest for now as we need to use him to cheese the puzzle. Now advance to the puzzle room, throw a Pyramid on the other side of the force field to teleport there with both characters. Jump down to the puzzle area itself (there are chests around if you want... xD) and make your way to the receptacle area. Cast Rain, Blood Rain and Fireball in the corresponding receptacles, then Bless them all, the puzzle is now solved.
* If you are Voidwoken, you can desecrate the altar and then use Curse instead of Bless.
* You can also choose to do the puzze the legitimate way, it's not very hard and kind of fun ^^...
6) Give the Golden Chest back to Fane, and head down the newly revealed hatch. Have Fane enter the next room and begin combat, once it is on his turn, sneak in with your Main Character. Now click all the levers whose first letter starts with a letter contained in the word POWER, this does not need to be in the correct order (eg. Wisdom = W - which is indeed in POWER).
* If you enter combat by mistake, just use your shenanigans to adapt, but don't kill the monsters!
7) Now, go end the game in whichever fashion you choose >:D... If you've made it this far, gg.