Having play this fun game for 120+ hours and gone through most of the contents in HWR mode, I felt I should put down some practice tips for newer players so this game becomes a more enjoyable (and less frustrating) experience for them.

First, this game should be viewed as a rogue-lite game where the game gets easier and easier as you accumulate experiences in the rogue-lite mode mode to build progressively more and more OP characters until you can steamroll through the game.

Therefore, the recommended game mode is the HWR mode where you gain profile experiences and level up after each run, and can generate progressively better and better starting characters using accumulated profile points.

Below is a sample maxed out starting character with default attribute/skill caps:



Below is an even more OP starting character once your Profile level is so high (no limit to Profile level) and you have so many Character Generation Points (CGP) that you need to edit the game script to increase the starting attribute/skill caps:


(See the last section of this guide on how to modify the max stat/skill caps for new character creation)

Lastly, this guide is complete as of game version 1.07. I've moved on to other games but may update in the future if there are significant changes in subsequent updates.

When you start HWR mode for the first time, you are not going to have any Profile level. So your first run will be with a randomly generated character. Just keep on rolling until you get one that has passable stats and equipment, such as Joey below:



As you can see, Joey is a far cry from the buffed out starting character shown in the Introduction section above. Joey's stats are very low, so he's not going to survive any heroics and will die a quick death against experienced enemy soldiers. Your goal with Joey is merely to grow and survive as long as possible to maximize Profile points at the end of the run and level up as much as possible for the next run.

Use this and the several subsequent runs to experiment, make mistakes, and learn how to play this game. If a character like this can survive to the beginning of Chapter IV in HWR mode, you have done great!

Now for our poor Joey, he survived the Prologue and the water delivery quest in Chapter I, but died on the battlefield at the end of Chapter I:



In this very brief run that didn't even get to Chapter II, Joey contributed 99 points to the Profile, which is almost 2 levels (50 pts per level). So while it sucks to die quickly, you are accumulating experiences toward your eventual OP character.

Once you have done a few runs and your HWR Player Profile level is 20 or so (which should only take a few hours of play), you can then change to Manual Character generation mode. At that point, you should have enough character points to make starting characters that are better than the randomly rolled ones and advance further into the game (and starting to act like a hero).


On later runs where you earn hundreds (or even thousands) of profile exps, you can use CTRL to fast forward the level up progress bar so you don't have to be stuck at that screen for a while.

Is our destiny already fixed at birth? That's a philosophical question that has plagued mankind for ages.

Here we have two staring characters, Joey (from the previous section) and OP Character:

Joey was created randomly in HWR mode and selected as the best choice after rolling about 10+ times:




OP Character was created manually in HWR mode with a Profile level of 929 (with default max stat caps):




As you recall from the previous section, Joey died at the end of Chapter I. As for our OP character, he had a long and adventurous career, cutting a path of glory through Brittany and Damietta as a legendary mercenary.



Thus, in this brutal world of HWR, the path of a character's destiny is largely charted at creation. But on a more positive note, level up your Profile enough and you'll go from Joey to OP after a couple runs and the HWR campaign will become your oyster.


Now once you have a high enough Profile level and Character Generation Points (CGP), you can just max everything out.

However, before you get there, you'll need to judicially apply your limited resources to maximize your starting character.

First, you need to realize that Physical Attributes are purchased on a sliding scale:

1 - 5: 10 CGP each
5 - 10: 50 CGP each
11 - 15: 100 CGP each

Weapon Skills are also on a sliding scale:

1 - 5: 40 CGP each
5 - 10: 100 CGP each

Talent Points are 200 CGP for first 3, then it goes up to 400 CGP each.

Virtue is 50 CGP per increment of 5 points.

Items are purchased at 1:1 CGP to Item's florin cost ratio.

CGP are converted to florin on a 2:1 ratio.

And lastly, default Inventory size is 5, but expands by 1 per every 3 Strength. So the higher your Strength, the more starting items you can take from Character Generation.

So with the above in mind, prioritize increasing most of your Physical Attributes to 5 and Melee Weapon Skill to 5 as well when you have a low Profile level and limited CGPs. Weapon talent points and Virtue are luxury stats that you don't need to be concerned with until after you maxed everything else out.

As for which Physical Attributes to focus on, I would recommend always take Strength to 5 for the extra inventory slot, but also because during the Castle Theft quest in Prologue, having a Strength of 5 or higher will make this quest a lot easier.

After Strength, I recommend Craftsmanship as it is your key to a sustainable income stream.

After Strength and Craftsmanship, I would go with Agility and Coordination. Endurance can wait until later, and Vitality is not a big concern, especially if you are taking the Torture Mask as a starting item:



Torture Mask is a very helpful trinket for newer players because it grows your hp for you during a phase when you're short of CGPs. Having 100+ hp total by Chapter III means that even the occasional poisoned crossbow bolt to the head becomes an annoyance as opposed to a death sentence. When you don't have enough CGP to go around at lower Profile levels, it's definitely something you should start carrying with you as soon as you can afford it.

Yes, it does takes up one trinket slot and is a bit useless while you build it up early game. But that extra 100 hp could be the difference between life and death when Grace and Glory shoot you with their crossbows during your first few runs.

After a few runs, once you are rolling in CGPs and are familiar with the game, Torture Mask becomes optional. But it's a good choice as a starting player's assistance.

Melee Weapon skill is a bit expensive, but I would recommend put few points in it once you can afford it.

Re Crossbow, don't worry it for your first few runs. It's a very deadly niche item and you can mess with it once you are rolling in CGPs, but it's not suitable for resource starved new players.

Finally, with regard to starting items, it's discussed in more detail in the Starting Items section below. Just exercise your judgement on what you can take with you based on your CGP and inventory size.

First, the max number of starting items you can take with you default to 5. For every extra 3 points in Strength, you get an additional inventory space. So choose judiciously. My item recommendations below are for a build with at least 6 strength (7 inventory spaces).

If you don't have enough inventory space yet due to low Profile level, just cherry pick what works for you.

Lastly, some of the starting items I recommend are locked behind Profile Level or Quest Completion Requirements. Assuming you meet the requirements and they are unlocked, below are the items I highly recommend:

#1: Pick the best unlocked primary weapon of your preference. 1-H axe is a good choice for newbies because it can split shields.

#2: Hunting Sword is recommended because of it's value as a scavenge run resource enhancer.



#3: Fauld is one of the two components for the best end-game non-encumbering armor. Once combined with Gambeson via crafting, it can be used to the end of the game. If you don't pick it up at start, you are not going to see another one until Chapter IV or later. Definitely pick it up now if you can afford it.



#4: A suitable shield. Please see combat section below on why you should go 1-H and Board during your first few runs through HWR. Just pick a shield that you can afford based on your CGP. (Now if you're a veteran player going with a 2-H, you can skip the shield).

Later on in your meta game progression, after you have split 60 shields in game and unlocked Buckler, it should become your go-to shield during character creation. Buckler is a must if you are using a one-handed weapon/shield combo for the following reasons:

1. No stat penalty
2. Highest shield durability (100) in game

It may have a small coverage area, but it stuns just like any other shield and it should last you all the way to the end of the game. Just the fact that Roger uses a buckler during two of the encounters you have with him should be all the endorsement you need. (Oh, who's Roger? Wait until you meet him in Chapter IV on the England route...)



Lastly, if you pick up a buckler (or another high end shield), DO NOT use it to cover your comrade at the beginning of the combat finale of Chapter I as that selection will result in the permanent loss of the shield you are carrying. Just take the 5 points loss in virtue. Not a big deal.

#5: The Torture Mask is a very good trinket in the current version (1.07) because it grows with you throughout the game. It's not uncommon for it to give you 30+ vitality bonus by later Chapters. In later Chapters of the game, it turns a crossbow bolt to the neck into just another flesh wound due to the massive number of hps you gain from it. Definitely a good item to take if you want extra hps as a safety cushion.



#6: If you still have points left, get the best pouch available to you for convenience. Merchant's Pouch is an endgame pouch, but if you can't afford it, not a big deal.



#7: Knight's sheath, got it for prestige and convenience. Only grab if you have the extra points and inventory space.



NOT RECOMMENDED: Recipe Book

Fairly useless item, especially for a crafting character. This trinket unlocks all the Recipes regardless of Craftsmanship level when you have it equipped, which seems useful at first glance.

However, all the recipes unlocks once you attain the necessary Craftsmanship level. So this item is completely redundant when you have a starting character with Craftsmanship of 10 or more (which will unlocks all the default recipes already).

This is a very situational trinket that becomes a waste as soon as you can build starting characters with high Craftsmanship skill. I feel obligated to put a big warning sign here because this is the only crafting related trinket available during character creation.




From Isisius:

For starting items to take, the two things I ALWAYS recommend if you can afford them (even before weapons) are the trinkets rabbits foot, and lucky dice.

Rabbits foot mean you pass every luck check in the game (you don’t get hit by a crossbow bolt vising Eva for the first time, you don’t get spotted running out of the city on the spy quest, and like a million other things). I always wear it when I’m not in combat.

Lucky Dice means you can recover stamina in camp without losing money (and actually gaining a bit). Gamble is better stamina recovery than hang out or pray, and doesn’t require alcohol like "drink", or come with negative side effects like drink or mortify flesh. Honestly I’ve never experimented much with Lute as by the time it came online, I was able to use bathhouses and had a billion dollars <lol>.

With lucky dice, you can gamble any never lose more than one or two games, making it easily the best stamina recovery early and mid game for lower level profiles, and even high level profiles will use it for a bunch of the early chapters.

I also disagree with the approach of the torturers mask as a "must take". On early profile levels when you don’t have better trinkets, and better stats its good. But you have to be wearing it to use it. And that takes up a slot that you could just use to boost your stats and get hit less. Or boost your damage and hit less. I mean the "oath" you can get from Eva early game is +2 to all stats. I would take that over even 30 vitality, as the fatigue, dodge, and other benefits from the other stats help more than health in my opinion.

First, once you have sufficient CGP to spare, put your crafting skill to at least 8 in character creation to unlock Potent Medicine recipe, which is a key money making item.

As for how high you should eventually take your Craftsmanship skill to, kony74 noted in discussion forum that from viewing the script files, there is no practical benefit for armor crafting above lvl 25. For consumables, the ceiling is lvl 20, which gives 80% chance for creating 2x items out of one set of ingredients.

So eventually, once you have enough points in Character Generation, max out your starting Craftsmanship so you can maximize your chance of creating 2x items.


The key way to make lots of money in this game is by taking advantage of the 2x item creation chance in crafting. This requires you to get crafting up to lvl 20 ASAP. In very early game when you are poor and broke (Prologue and Chapter I), focus on crafting Bandages and Medicine to sell and make money.

I don't recommend making Canteens and sell them because Canteens are necessary for combat survival and Leather is also needed to make Waterskins.

The biggest money maker in crafting right now (1.06) is Potent Medicine, which takes 1 Medicine and 1 Waterskin and sells for 90.

So let's say you with 3 Healing Herbs, you get 2x Medicine, then 4 Leather, you get 2x Waterskins. Then you combine Medicine + Waterskin twice, and net 4x Potent Medicine if you are lucky and sell them for 360 total. If you are somewhat unlucky, you end up with 3x Potent Medicine and sell them for 270.

3x Healing Herbs (7 each) cost 21, and 4x Leather (6 each) cost 24 for a combined total of 45. So whether you sold 2, 3, or 4 Pot. Meds out of this crafting bach, you are making a killing.

Medicine and Healing Herbs are usually readily available at the Trader and/or Camp Physician, so the real constrain on this method is the supply of Waterskins, which require 4 Leather to make. You are never going to have enough Leather because you get 7 from Trader every Chapter, and then maybe 2 - 4 more from scavenging.

So the supply of Leather is extremely limited. Thus, save your Leathers and also buy any Waterskin you see at the Trader, because Waterskin/Leather is your real bottleneck to printing florins. (By comparison, Healing Herb/Medicine are readily available at various Traders)

The critical ingredient to make money.

Using this method and selling combat loots on the side, I would typically have about 3k+ in florins by Chapter III and later and money ceases to be an issue.


From gallaghan2000:

I recommend an alternative starting money maker once you have a few points to spare.

1) in early character creation the only important stat to me is strength and maybe a rabbit foot for heists. 5-6 in both strength and crafting is enough to start this and still be successful elsewhere.

2) spend the points on a mail shirt of the red quality, that and a leather cuirass combined should guarantee the requirements for the blacksmith order.

3) the blacksmith has an infinite number of aventails and blacksmith hammers which will accelerate all crafting. By a craft of thirty you should just churn out helms with aventails along with your potent medicines.


During character generation, if you have extra inventory space and CGP after picking up the starting items you want, fill the rest of the starting inventory up with Waterskins. With a high starting Craftsmanship skill, you can start making and selling Potent Medicine from Day 1 of the Prologue at Dunkirk Castle.


Thanks goes to kony74 for testing these armor crafting combos info:

LEATHER - gambeson, leather armor, leather cuirass, reinforced leather armor
MAIL - low quality mail, chainmail, hauberk
PLATE - demi-cuirass, plackart, plackart with leather cuirass, iron cuirass, fauld

The best combo is either Gambeson + Fauld (crafted with Craftsmanship over 25):



Or Reinforced Leather Armor + Fauld:



As for helms, Aventail (chainmail coif) is the most common first ingredient for helms, with the second ingredient being a hard shell type helm. Experiment around and see what you like.

Now if you want to have a 0 penalty helm (crafted with max crafting skill), the only early game combo that has 0 penalty is the Aventail + Iron Helm combo below. Everything else has a minimum of 1 CDR penalty.

Turn based combat is the beating heart of this game, and at lower levels, it is more like a marathon than a sprint, with the goal being mere survival as opposed to slaughtering all who come before you.

As the Dev (Death and Rebirth) explained in a forum post, a new player "should try to approach the battles in HWR as if it was a fully survival game. Many of the combat encounters do not have to be 'won' for you to proceed - meaning that you actually don't necessarily have to kill the enemy as the battle will end after some time no matter what.

Thus it might by wise to sometimes play it safe in combat - don't chase kills that don't come easy. Maybe consider being a bit more passive even at the cost of losing reputation. In the end your main job is to survive rather than to kill one enemy, lose a lot of resources and then immediately die to the next one.

Also HWR gives you a lot of different available playstyles. If you're having a tough time with a particular weapon - consider trying another one. Same applies to stat builds - identify the issues that you're having and try to remedy it through new stat build. If you lack HP - invest heavily in vitality and endurance, getting bashed by shields - invest in strength etc. And, of course, try to keep your stat build in sync with your weapon of choice. With weapons having different move sets many of them strongly rely on some particular characteristic so try to keep that in mind."


For starting players, a one-hand weapon and shield is strongly recommended. The reason is because the shield increases your chance of survival quiet a bit. Once you have a high profile and enough CGP to generate OP characters with high stats, 2-handers become a lot of fun. But at the lower levels, stick to 1-hander and board so you can survive longer to earn profile points.


The primary stat for shield is Strength, and in the right hands, a shield is a deadly weapon. Shield bash is one of the most OP skills in combat. A successful shield bash will reduce enemy stamina and fatigue, and even stun the enemy on occasion. A stunned enemy loses his turn and cannot defend himself.

In fact, for some tough enemies, stunning them with a shield or another weapon is the only way you could temporarily nullify their defenses and score a hit. So learn to respect and love your shield.

View individual shields as consumable items. They lose durability during combat and often gets destroyed in a long battle. Therefore, always carry at least a backup shield so you have a replacement during down time.

Now in later runs, you could start with a Buckler (durability 100) that will likely last you through the final Chapter if played correctly. But for your first few runs, just treat your low level shield as a consumable.

Now that we have established the importance of a shield for a new player, lets talk about weapon types.


Axe: Probable the best beginner's staring weapon due to 1-H axe's ability to break shields. You don't realize how annoying shields are until you have been on the receiving end of a couple stunning shield bashes.

Sword: Versatile and have find weakness attack skill, which are armor bypassing attacks. Counter strikes are also good. However, 1-H sword cannot break shields, so you'll need to bypass enemy shields via stunning the enemy (using your own shield bash) or sheer luck. Keep on bouncing off enemy shield until the shield eventually breaks from accumulated damage is not fun...

Some additional insights from Ramidel re curved 1-H swords (cleaver/scimitar/shamshir): Due to Deep Cut, they have 2h-sword-like killing power against weakly-armored hit locations (like that idiot who counts on his sallet to protect his neck, or the guys who go with unarmored limbs), they have Weak Spot to punch through any armor that will stop Deep Cut, and they're one handed. You can get an axe or a flail as a secondary to deal with shields (though you might want to use the zweihander against the Warden). And you can pump agility to make best use of them (which dovetails nicely if you're going on the Damietta route and want a light-armor endgame).

Advanced 1-H Sword advice from John Mordhau for a subsequent playthrough on your way to OPness: Estoc has one of the higher damage ceilings for 1h weapons (pierce = (dmg*3)+bleed) and offers end-game trinket synergies straight out of character creation. Its primary scaling attribute is weapon skill, thereby enabling plate armour kits without sacrificing damage.

Last but not least, its 20 agility equip requirement can be bypassed by:
1) equip sheath
2) sheathe estoc
3) equip any spear weapon
4) engage in combat, then throw the spear
5) the estoc will auto-equip from the sheath

At 35 weapon skill, using Jambayah and Sharp Dagger, neck pierces will deal 84 damage and apply 4 guaranteed bleed damage to the target. By utilising the Fencing Dagger, all non-boss enemies will be vulnerable to a 1-turn kill via head or neck shot. +1 bonus damage = +3 pierce damage * location modifier. (Note: Iron claws add +4 dmg at end of dmg calc, so not worth)
All trinkets listed above are available in character creation.

The estoc gets a 10/10 John Mordhau Seal of Approval™️ for challenge runs and achievements!

I used the Estoc and Buckler combo for several runs after I unlocked Estoc (last 1-H sword available in character generation) had enough CGP to create a decent character. John is right that Estoc is an OP weapon and I highly recommended for a run or two once you have access to it.

Mace: Has fatigue attacks, injury inducing attacks and high angle attack that ignore enemy shield. High ankle attack works really well at evading shield, but I haven't used it enough to see how effective it is against heavily armored knights. Will update later once I tried this weapon out more.

1-H Spear: Attack has a chance of bypass armor and spear throw attack could inflict heavy damage and break shields. Big problem with the spear throw attack is that you lose that spear permanently (although I had good luck recovering javelin after battle). So while good in concept, this attack seems quite a bit gimped as spears are not readily replaceable like a crossbow bolt.

For this reason, I don't recommend using a 1-H spear in Version 1.07 as 1-H Axe, Sword or Mace all offer much more as a primary weapon. However, you could definitely equip a spear as a one shot throwing weapon to start the battle Roman style as long as you don't mind losing it.


As discussed above, two hand weapons are for players with enough CGPs to build buffed out characters, so I won't go into details here.

Suffice to say that if you played enough to unlock the Sword of Justice, Heavy Axe, Pole Axe, Claymore, et al. for new character creation, you'll know how to use them effectively. Once you have an OP character, it's actually quite entertaining to cut through the Young Knight that gave you so much trouble in two turns with a poleaxe or some other massive 2-H weapon. But you really need the high stats before you can show off like that.


Talents make the specific weapon more effective and deadly. It takes 7 points to fill up an entire talent tree and you're not likely to get more than a few points during an early play through. So focus on a single weapon and do not diversify. If you get enough Talent points to reach level 4 on the talent tree for your weapon, my recommendation is to always chose the lower stamina consumption first and the shield damage +10 next. You can pick the remaining two level 4 talents per your preference.

During combat, everyone loses Stamina and Fatigue by taking actions or taking damages. Stamina is easy to see, as there is a big green Stamina bar right there. However, Fatigue is more insidious as it just continuously build up and your Tiredness level gradually increases. You can see your Tiredness level by the little face on the shield icon right above your red Health bar.

This is where you want your Tiredness level

Tiredness Level 1 is Fresh. 2 is OK for long fights, but your combat effectiveness significantly degrades if you go into Tiredness Level 3 and above. Tiredness Level 5 (with the tongue sticking out of the little face) is the max.

A good spot for the enemy's Tireness level

The Endurance attribute determines your Fatigue threshold to the next Tiredness level, as well as the amount of Fatigue you recover per Respite used.

WRT the Respite action in combat, you start the battle with none and earn Respite as you score hits and kill enemies. You can have a maximum of 9 Respites and it carries over from round to round. However, it does not carry over once this particular combat ends. So make sure you use it to reduce your Fatigue before the last enemy drops dead, especially if there is going to be another combat encounter right after this.

Tiredness level is critical because if you are at a Tiredness level 1 or 2 while an enemy is at Tiredness level 4 or 5, you're likely to score constant 100% hits while the enemy will miss most of the time if there isn't a huge difference in stats. So it's key to get into an advantageous Tiredness level position vs. your enemies if possible.

Now the BIGGEST advantage you have over the NPCs is that other than a couple unique bosses, most NPCs don't manage their Fatigue and Tiredness Level. In fact, it seems the Respite action is not available to the NPC enemies (never seen them use it over 100 hours of playing).

So by using Respite, Canteen/Waterskin and Alcohol in combat, you can keep your Fatigue (and Tiredness level by extension) manageable while your enemies spiral down to Tiredness level 5. At that point you open up and start wailing on them using your advantage of being relatively fresh.


The combat scenario below assumes you don't massively overpower your opponents. You only have slightly better stats and equipment. You're by yourself and confronted with two enemies. Your weapon is a 1-H axe and a shield.

Turn 1: Start in DEF stance, shield bash your enemy to reduce their stamina/fatigue.

If one of the enemy has a shield, chop the shield up when you can to deprive him the option to use Shield Bash. Being stunned by a Shield Bash is one of the quickest ways to die at the lower levels.

Always stay in DEF stance until enemies are out of stamina, then you can quickly switch to OFF stance and attack because you know the enemies will be in recovery and can't attack that turn.

Do your best to use Recovery, Respite and items to keep your Fatigue low and your Stamina high during this phase of the fight. The key is to gain a comparative advantage in Fatigue/Tiredness level before you go for the kill.

Basically, shield bash, faint, recover, and respite until the enemies tire out.

It's fine if the fight drags on. Let the enemies tire out to when you have a very good chance to hit before you go on the offensive.

Once your attack chance becomes pretty good due to enemies tiring out, you need to decide what body parts to hit. Neck and Heads are deadly if you have a decent chance to avoid armor. Limb is a good choice as well because it inflicts fatigue and could cause stat reducing injuries.

Examine the various attacks available from your weapon and pick the best one for the occasion (max chance to hit and bypass armor).

The bottom line is to pick the body part that you can actually damage and keep on going at it until the enemy dies.


1. The Blackjack (available in Bartholomew's trade inventory, which opens up after you finish his sleep potion quest in Chapter I) is a great trinket to accelerate enemy's fatigue loss.

2. Shield carrying enemies are a high priority target because they could bash you with their shield and stun you. Hack the shield apart ASAP or you may get killed while being knocked down and stunned.

3. Strength is a key attribute if you want to stun enemies with your shield bash while resisting their stuns.

4. Crossbow enemies are another high priority target, especially when you have low stats and low health. Carry a shield for defection, shield bash them to reduce stamina and increase fatigue, and hit the limbs for more fatigue damage and possible injuries.

5. There are a pair of Plate Sabaton shoes (anti-shield bashing) available at Blacksmith once you complete his armor smithing quest. May be worth it if you are having problems against a particular shield bashing boss in England down the road. There is also a + Strength ring with Stun resistance that may show up as combat loot. Definitely worth keeping if you encounter it.

6. Lastly, when fighting multiple enemies, If you know killing an enemy will lead to a fresh replacement, it may be more beneficial to keep the wounded and tired out enemy alive for now while focusing on the other enemy. This way, you control the combat tempo and only deal with one combat effective enemy at a time.

A significant piece of HWR is about time management, as the timer ticks down each Chapter to its inevitable conclusion. However, other than a rough countdown time bar, HWR doesn't do a good job of explaining to you how time specifically works in this game. So I've check the script.rpy and will do my best to explain how it actually works in some detail.

As I'm not a programmer and don't read Russian (which some of the script.rpy file is in), I can't promise 100% accuracy, but I think the information below is good enough for you to get a ballpark idea of what's going on in this game for adequate planning.


First, each Chapter starts with a finite amount of Time Unit (TU) and it's slightly different between the Chapters (HWR difficulty level):

Prelude: 35 TU
Chapter I - III: 60 TU
Chapter IV Rennes: 65 TU
Chapter IV England: 75 TU
Chapter V Rennes: 65 TU
Chapter V England: 75 TU
Interlude: 20 TU
Chapter VI Dimetta: 50 TU
Chapter VI York: 60 TU

So how to use the TUs effectively? To do so, you'll need to know the cost of the various actions:

All Types of Training Actions: -1 TU
All Types of Camp Recovery Actions: -1 TU
Access Trader/Re-roll Trade Inventory: -0.25 TU
Scavenging: -3 TU; but only -1 TU with boots trinket (TU could also be modified by random events)
Heists: -1 TU (if successful, if caught and punished will lose additional TUs)
Quests and Game Events: TU costs varies depending on the specific event.

By knowing the costs of the Training and Recovery costs as well as the maximum TU available for a given chapter, you can plan ahead to figure out how to train effectively.


Another factor to consider for time management is the attribute/skill training caps in this game. Here, the maximum amount of attributes/skills you can train to is capped by Chapter.

For Prelude, you can train Strength up to 7, other physical attributes up to 7, Vitality up to 70, and Crafting up to 30. Melee could be trained up to 35 max with coaching, and there is no cap for Crossbow.

For Chapter 1, you can train Strength up to 13, other physical attributes up to 13, Vitality up to 130. No change to Crafting, Melee or Crossbow caps.

For Chapter 2, you can train Strength up to 20, other physical attributes up to 20, Vitality up to 130. No change to Crafting, Melee or Crossbow caps.

For Chapter 3, you can train Strength up to 27, other physical attributes up to 23, Vitality up to 200. No change to Crafting, Melee or Crossbow caps.

For Chapter 4, you can train Strength up to 50, other physical attributes up to 40, Vitality up to 270. No change to Crafting, Melee or Crossbow caps.

For Chapter 5, you can train Strength up to 50, other physical attributes up to 40, No change to Vitality, Crafting, Melee or Crossbow caps.

For Chapter 6, you can train Strength up to 50, other physical attributes up to 40. No change to Vitality, Crafting, Melee or Crossbow caps.

Both Scavenging and Heists are options available on the upper edges of the Travel Map. Scavenging is always available when you start a new Chapter. Heist is only available if your Virtue is 35 or lower.


1 Scavenging trip per Chapter. Default cost of the trip is -3 TU. But could be reduced down to -1 TU if wearing Leather Boots or Comfy Boots trinket.



However, there are random scavenging encounters that could take additional time to resolve and cost additional TUs. So YMMV.

Useful Weapon/Trinkets for Scavenging

[In Progress]

Hunting Sword

Equipping Hunting Sword for a Scavenging trip will give you +2 Leather and +35f each trip. However, the Leather bonus does not duplicate with the Hunting Knife trinket. So even if you have both equipped, you still only get +2 Leather. The bonus florins do stack.



Hunting Knife

Equipping Hunting Knife trinket for a Scavenging trip will give you +2 Leather and +25f each trip. However, the Leather bonus does not duplicate with the Hunting Sword. So even if you have both equipped, you still only get +2 Leather. The bonus florins do stack.




Empty Vial

If you want to craft poison regularly, then this vial is essential. It allows you to gather +2 poison ingredients per scavenging trip and even has a small possibility of gathering even snake poison or unknown toxin instead of the default poison plant.



Wanted Poster

In early Chapter I, the Earl will ask you to go look for fine wine and you'll end up at the De Lambert Estate. Once De Lambert Estate opens up as a trading point, you can buy a Wanted Poster there for 1f. If you equip the Wanted Poster while you go on scavenging trips, you are guaranteed to encounter outlaws, and you will earn 40f per kill.

Wanted Poster after 3 bandit kills

I typically get this trinket before I go scavenging during Chapter I, and equip it on my trips for Chapter I - III, then sell it after the scavenging trip in Chapter III. This typically nets a few hundred florins from the poster and the combat loots. Not a bad side job during the early game.


The prereq for a Heist attempt is that your virtue has to be 35 or lower.

1 Heist attempt per Chapter. Successful attempt costs -1 TU. Unsuccessful attempt will incur various penalties and additional TU loss depending on severity of attempted crime.

From halcyan2:

For low level characters, heists offer the opportunity to get free equipment that could be rarer than what they normally have access to, at the risk of failing (and getting some penalties) if you are caught.

For high level characters with high stats, you probably aren't going to fail, so essentially you are trading 15 virtue for some free equipment, including stuff that is hard to get. You can get some really good items in a heist if you are lucky, including amazing trinkets you can't currently get during character generation.

Even high Virtue characters can use heists. Although technically you can't do a heist if you have Virtue 36 or higher, the secret trick is to use those negative Virtue trinkets. On my first few playthroughs I thought that negative Virtue trinkets were terrible but then when you understand the game mechanics, they are pretty useful (also helpful to get that one ending where you have to be ignorant or have low virtue). So if you stack three negative virtue trinkets of -65 or more, even a 100 Virtue character can use Heists.

Heists are a little less useful once you rank up and instead of doing the heists yourself, you pay criminals to do the work. At this point, selling the proceeds of the heist don't always make up the cost of the heist. So you are mainly just trying to get rare/ultra-rare items. These late game heists are based on Notoriety, which is based on Prestige, low virtue, and whether you have any highwaymen in your squad.

From gallaghan2000

One thing to note is that you pretty much always want the rabbit foot for the heist option.



Second, a five strength is enough for the low bar strength heist in the first chapter... But it won't be enough for later heists imo. Pretty sure subsequent chapters raise the bar as well as the available quality of loot.

[In Progress]

The information below are what I read in the version 1.07 script.rpy file:

All Camp Recovery Actions use -1 Time Unit, and how much fatigue you actually recover from the recovery action is mostly dependent on your max Stamina.

Below are the Camp Recovery Actions, from the most efficient to least efficient in fatigue recovery (without considering side effects):

Bathhouse Fatigue Recovery: Recover All Fatigue
Brothel Fatigue Recovery: Recover All Fatigue
Drinking: Fatigue Recovery: Stamina Max x2
Flagrum Fatigue Recovery: Stamina Max
Gambling: Fatigue Recovery: Stamina Max/1.5
Hanging Around: Fatigue Recovery: Stamina Max/2
Lute Fatigue Recovery: Stamina Max/2
Prayer: Fatigue Recovery Stamina Max/3.5

So as you can see above, the most effective Fatigue recovery are Bathhouse and Brothel, without considering the additional costs and potential side effects, and the least effective is prayer.

Now most of the recovery actions have costs and side effects, which I'll fill in once I had a chance to review the game file and test it out some more. So this section will be updated in the future.

Virtue is a game stat to determine how well you conform to the medieval standard of a God fearing person. Doing good/honorable/brave deeds will increase your Virtue, while doing criminal/cowardly/selfish deeds will reduce your Virtue.

Certain routine game actions, such as crafting poison and performing heist, will reduce your Virtue repeatedly. Alternatively, you could gain Virtue through praying, or regain lost Virtue through flogging yourself in camp.

Additionally, actions in story events will also increase or decrease your Virtue. But overall, it's not hard to keep your Virtue high if you generally play in a lawful good manner.

So what's the significance of Virtue? Certain quests have Virtue checks with positive outcome for higher virtue characters. Additionally, if your virtue is too low, you will periodically lose reputation with other Soldiers and the Earl. So it's recommended that you don't drop your Virtue into the negative territory.

On the other hand, a Virtue of 35 or less is required for the Heist action to be available, which is a good source of rare items. Additionally, a low virtue is necessary for Olivia's happy ending. So there are situations where a lower virtue is better.

On a side note, if you want to temporarily lower or increase your Virtue, it could be increased by trinkets such as the cross, etc. or lowered by various pagan items. The benefit/penalty only apply while the item is equipped.

In sum, high and low virtue both have their place in the game. Try it out during different runs and see how things are different. Just don't let your Virtue drop below zero into the negative number territory as the penalties will then quickly outweigh any benefits.

The remaining sections below will talk about the story itself and provide spoiler info on various quests.


With regard to plot structure, the storyline for this game is Y shaped. With Prelude through Chapter 3 serving as the trunk, and then the story splits off into two different directions, one in England, the other in Brittany.

Each of these branch have several different endings and are completely different in plot. Thus, it will take multiple playthroughs to see all these storylines have to offer. Hence the rogue-lite nature of this game.

Lastly, I have included screenshots of key enemies with their stats in the sections below so you have an idea of how tough they are. The enemy attributes are fixed and do not scale up with your character. So while Ruffin and Roger may seem overpowering at first, they will become beatable after a few runs (once you have enough CGPs accumulated to build a decent starting character and know the in-and-outs of this game).

Have fun and enjoy your multiple treks through HWR!

The Prelude and Chapter I through III should be consider the beginner's portion of this game. For the bulk of these Chapters, the plot is on a railroad track and the unavoidable combat encounters are not that tough when compared with the enemies that show up in later Chapters. So enjoy this introductory experience while it lasts. <grin>


The First Girl You Meet:


Cecilia, the camp physician, is the first female character you meet, and arguably one of the most useful in terms of benefits she could provide. As her affections to you increases, the price of physician treatments (for the Cambrai portion of the story) goes down (all the way to 0 once you max it out). Additionally, the final gift she gives you (Plague Doctor's Mask) is an essential item to completing one of the important quests during Chapter V on the England route. Therefore, finish all her quests and be nice to her if you want to have good results in London later on.

Blacksmith & Chest:

Don't forget to visit the Blacksmith and do his quest. Once complete, you'll have the option to buy a small chest for cheap when you visit him next time. Definitely buy that chest as it (and subsequent upgrades you'll pay for) are essential for your inventory management.

Bartholomew and His Quests

Only quest chain in the Prelude is the Castle Heist quest, which will introduce you to Bartholomew if you accept this quest and both of you survive it. This quest will automatically appear as an event about half way through the timer during Prelude.

Accepting this quest will -10 Virtue but +3 Soldiers' Rep and the West Tower location will appear on the Travel Map. Going to the tower will start the story event.

There is an Agility check, assuming you pass, you will get to the armory. The armory will give you 4 random weapons or other items as loot. However, on the way back, your group will run into a guard.

You have the option to stun the guard or run. Strength of 5 or higher is required to succeed. If you successfully stunned the guard, the the mission is a success, Bartholomew becomes a friend and this quest chain ends.

However, if you fail to stun the guard or just ran, there will be another Agility check. Assuming you passed the Agility check, then you will successfully escape. However, Bartholomew will be captured and this will start the Jailbird quest, where you have the choice to go and rescue Bartholomew.

Ask the Sergeant about the thief that was caught, and Eastern Tower will open up on the Travel Map. To enter the Eastern Tower, you have the options to sneak in, deceive the guards, or bribe them.

Sneak in will require some stat checks. Deceiving the guards will require a helm and armor. And If you decide to bribe the guard, 20f is the real minimum, which will get you inside. Once you are successfully inside with one of these options, you will then need to find Bartholomew on the lower level and then pass a Strength check to carry him out. If you fail the Strength check, that's the end of Bartholomew.

Now the easy way is paying the guard 50f. This will get you the full service package where the guard will also help you in rescuing Bartholomew and successfully accomplish this quest.

Successfully rescuing Bartholomew will get you +10 Virtue, +10 Soldiers' Rep, and Bartholomew as a future quest giver.

Other than these two quests, Prelude is all about training, recovering, and run down the timer.

The fight at the end of the Prelude is a fairly easy combat tutorial. After you beat it, there is the option to follow Earl to rescue the Prince for additional bonus. Once that's done, you move on to Chapter I below.


Bartholomew Side Quest 1: Gathering Ingredients for a Potion

You get the quest by visiting him at Camp. For this gathering question, you can get the herbs from scavenging or the Camp Physician and the booze from the Trader. I recommend just buy the items and give it to him right away because this quest has a short timer to it.

After you complete this quest, some time will need to pass. Bartholomew will complete his theft and give you a sheath, a pouch, and a trinket item as a reward for your assistance. At this point, Bartholomew's items trade will also open up to you (purchase only).

Bartholomew Side Quest 2: The Hustler

This optional quest also happens in Chapter I, after you finished Bartholomew's first side quest. A Venetian merchant is coming to camp and Bartholomew came up with a scheme to win against him in dice. If you finance Bartholomew, you have a chance of winning some florin, but more likely you'll lose some of your investment as Bartholomew gets out played.

However, if you have the Lucky Dice trinket in your inventory, you have the option of giving the Dice to Bartholomew. Give the Dice to him BEFORE the money, and then give him the max 100 florin.

The gambling will take place before the end of Chapter I and Bartholomew will give you your share of the winning, which is over 200 florins. However, you'll also take a small Virtue hit since you guys cheated with the Lucky Dice.

End of Chapter I: Optional Boss - Young French Knight

Young Knight with his polearm is a tough one to beat for new players on their first couple runs. Not recommended until you have a decent manually generated character. See image below for Young Knight stats (which does not change between runs):


Are you tough enough to duel him all by yourself?


Gather Supply Quest - Village 1 and 2

The gather supply quest is a mandatory quest from the Sergeant in early Chapter III. You can go the high virtue route to earn favors from Eva, or just be a marauding soldier.

Village 1: Pay 50 florin to buy the supplies (Eva route) or chose one of the other options.

Village 2: Pass a virtue check to peacefully gather the supplies (Eva route) or fight to get the supplies.

Gather Supply Quest - Village 3: First Ruffin Encounter

You are totally expected to get your ass kicked by Ruffin if you provoke him, it's a part of the plot. I think my record was getting defeated by Ruffin in 2 turns during one of my early runs. As this not a duel to the death, the story will continue after you get your ass kicked.


Do you feel lucky, son?

Now on your XX+ run at Profile level XXX+, you will be able to generate an OP character that will defeat Ruffin at this duel. Don't worry, there's a story device to address it as well and the show will go on.

After you are done with these three villages, the Sergeant will talk to you and this quest is complete. You can then go visit Eva at De Roche Estate and she'll let you know how well you did in her view. If you successfully helped Village 1 and 2 and have a high rating with her from prior interactions, she should give you a gift trinket (the Oath, +2 to all physical attributes) for your virtue.

Man of God Quest

Cross pendant, Rabbit's foot, and Blacksmith's hammer make a good trinket combo to infiltrate the City as long as you have sufficient Strength and Agility.

If you are a decent lute player, equip the lute trinket instead of the cross for a different way of infiltrate the City. Success will earn you the Yung Minstrel achievement.

Finale - Against the Shield Wall

Chapter III is where the storyline starts going into high gears. The decisions you make here determines the outcome of the Eva romance as well as whether you end up as a knight in England or a mercenary in Brittany. So choose wisely.


Bartholomew Part I: Dressed to Kill

Good ol' Barth needs two trinkets to impress a merchant's daughter. A piece of fancy clothing and a piece of jewelry:

Acceptable fancy clothing: Hunter's Hat (Barth's shop) or Fancy Shoes (Eva's Estate)
Acceptable jewelry: Lesser Silver Ring, Golden Cross Pedant, Knight's Chain, etc.

Recommend you pick up the jewelry earlier in time and stash it away for this quest. Otherwise it's sheer luck whether you can buy something appropriate at the Trader.

Talk to Bartholomew again after some time passes and he will give you some "presents" from this trip. You have to accept it (and take -15 virtue) to continue this quest series. Refusal will end this quest chain.

Bartholomew Finale: A Visit to the Devil

After some time passes, go back and ask Bartholomew if there's any news. He'll then tell you about what happened to his new girlfriend's father. You will then need to choose whether to help or not. If you decide not to, that's the end of it. If you decides to help, then this starts the quest: "A Visit to the Devil."

The rest of the quest is fairly straight forward and on a railroad track. Help Barth rescue his future father-in-law from the dungeon and see him and the girl rides off into the sunset. You also get an achievement out of it when you complete this quest.


The encounter with 2x guards should be fairly doable to you if you survived this long. Once you kill the guards, this quest will wrap up successfully.

Overall, worth doing at least once to see the storyline. Completely optional on subsequent playthroughs since the loot isn't anything mandatory.


This quest will automatically happen once time advances a little in Chapter III.

The Prince and the Earl wants William de Roche assassinated via a crossbow shot from the watchtower overlooking the French camp.

Option 1: Do it yourself if you have high enough crossbow skill (15 pt to guarantee a hit). You will get an extra bonus from the Earl if you had the foresight to poison the bolt. If you go this route, do not equip a light crossbow. You need to use a normal crossbow as a light crossbow will cause you to automatically fail this quest due to "distance involved."

Option 2: If you're not skilled enough with the crossbow, talk to the Sergeant. If your Soldiers' Reputation is high enough, he'll find an Italian sharpshooter for you. Talk to the Sergeant a little bit of time later and he'll introduce you to the sharpshooter.

You can then find the sharpshooter on the Camp Socialize menu. The sharpshooter needs two trinkets to finish his special crossbow: Spare Crossbow String and Trigger Mechanism.

You can buy the Spare Crossbow String from Bartholomew for 65f. The Trigger Mechanism is more of a hit and miss. It may show up as an item now and the from the Trader, or you'll need to purchase other items on the Sharpshooter's item list to have him make the Trigger Mechanism for you.

Either way, once you turn in both trinkets to him, he's ready for the deed. You can then go to the Falcon Tower on the Travel Map to play out the rest of this quest.

Lastly, even if you fail Part I for some reason, Part II below will still happen with a different reason.


This quest is probably the most important quest of the game so far. Your decision will decide your relationship with Eva, as well as which combat route the end of Chapter III is going to take.

I typically end up choosing to spare de Roche because I can take the influence penalty with the Earl based on my earlier accomplishments in the game. However, if you don't have close to max influence with the Earl before this mission, you may have to kill de Roche if you want to go to England for Chapter IV instead of Brittany.

After you are ready for the fight and sneaks into the French Camp, it's a straight-up fight against de Roche's personal bodyguard and a French Man-At Arms. You need to kill them quickly to confront De Roche in his tent. If the battle drags on too long, French reinforcements will arrive and you will need to retreat. Then the story will goes to Branch 2 below, where de Roche survived.



You gain a valuable Weapon Talents point for killing de Roche's bodyguard. This is the only fight, so you can loot the bodies afterwards without a problem.

After you win this fight, you enter the tent and are not confronted with the choice to kill or spare de Roche:




By killing de Roche, you lose 50 virtue and 100 Relationship points with Eva.

Reputation with Earl +20, Reputation with Soldiers +15, and +100 florins.

The de Roche Estate disappears on the Travel Map and is no longer available.

You can then go back to do Camp activities until the timer runs out. At which point, the story will advance to Chapter III's final battle.

Chapter III Finale - Final Battle of Cambari

The death of de Roche convinced the English King to seek a decisive battle to turn the tide of the war around. However, the French Army was much stronger than anticipated and the final battle of Cambari starts with an English disadvantage.

Before the battle, there is a Strength and Craftsmanship check on how good a fortification you were able to build. If you pass the check, then the first wave of enemy knights will arrive to face you with some injuries:


This first wave has 2 knights. Then there is a break for looting or recover, then the 2nd wave of men-at-arms arrives:


After a few turns, the English troops will break and flee, and you have the choice to Retreat or Fight on. If you retreat, there is a Endurance check (15+ to pass) to see if you successfully escaped. If you successfully escape, then you go back to town and get to the next plot decision point (see below). If you are captured, then there are other options discussed below.

Now if you choose to fight on, you gain 10 Virtue and 10 Soldier's Rep, and game goes to the "Prepare for Battle Screen" and the next fight starts once you are ready:


This third wave has 2x Man-At-Arms. You gain a Weapon Talent point after killing both of them. There will be a loot or rest option, then this battle will end via story with you being knocked unconscious by a French crossbow volley (vitality -3) and get captured. So definitely loot here when you have the chance.

After you are captured, you have the opportunity to ransom yourself out of French hands for 250f if you pass a prestige check. If you pay, then you are released back to the English side.

Plot Decision Point: Once you are back in Cambari, if your rep with the the Earl is high enough (over 80), you will get an offer to return to England with him and the Prince. If you go to England, this will start the English nobility route of the story.

If you decline the Earl's offer, didn't ransom yourself in the first place, or if your Earl Rep is below the recruitment threshold, then you are forced onto the Brittany mercenary route and Rennes will be your next stop.

If you choose to spare de Roche after confronting him and Eva inside his tent, you will take a -20 hit with the Earl and Soldiers, but +50 with Eva and + Virtue as well.

You can then visit Eva one more time at de Roche Estate afterwards to consummate your relationship with her.

Subsequently, once the timer runs out, the story will continue with the English and the French engaging in peace negotiations and holding a grand hunt together. However, treachery happens during this hunt and a chaotic skirmish between the English and the French ensues:

Chapter III Alternative Finale - Skirmish At the Forest Hunt


This set of battle encounter is much easier than the full battle of Cambrai in Branch 1 above. Once you survive this skirmish and return to Cambrai, you will then advance to the plot decision point concluding Chapter III:

Plot Decision Point: Once you are back in Cambari, if your rep with the the Earl is high enough (over 80), you will get an offer to return to England with him and the Prince. If you go to England, this will start the English nobility route of the story.

If you decline the Earl's offer or if your Earl Rep is below the recruitment threshold, then you are forced onto the Brittany mercenary route and Rennes will be your next stop.

In conclusion, if your rep with the Earl is at 100 before the de Roche camp assassination quest, you can spare de Roche and still have the choice to go to England with the Earl and Prince.

This concludes Chapter III.

The Guy Who Won't Go Away


Say Hi to Roger, your nemesis during the English Civil War and Canterbury's chief enforcer. One of the tougher bosses in the game, he'll school you in the correct use of shield bashes and pummel strikes (on separate occasions). It's quite likely Roger will end a couple of your runs prematurely if you are not ready for him and his combat style. Enjoy your multiple encounters with him through these Chapters as he'll certainly do his best to hammer and pummel you!

A word on your new squad

Starting in Chapter IV, you can talk to the Sergeant and forming your own squad with up to 4 NPCs. The NPCs will assist you in combat (1 at a time, rotatable), and they can be leveled up and healed at Camp with florins. However, it takes a ton of florins to make them somewhat useful, and they typically die horribly during boss and mini-boss encounters. So I don't recommend it from an efficiency prospective.

However, if you are bored and have too much florins, then go have fun messing with it.


There are two main quests in Chapter IV:

Sword of Justice

Talk to the Earl and the Prince at the start of Chapter IV to trigger it. This will open up Lindisfarne as a location on the Travel Map. You can travel to it anytime during Chapter IV to do this quest.

Once you arrive in Lindisfarne, you'll need to pass a Prestige check to see the Abbot. You will also need to pass a Virtue check (70+?) to get the Sword of Justice from him (hence the recommendation for high Virtue for this route). Now if you don't have enough Virtue, then Canterbury will get the sword before you.

However, when you are leaving, you will encounter Canterbury and his men. Canterbury will offer you the opportunity to join him, but no matter your answer, Roger will fight you. Moreover, if you accept Canterbury's offer, you'll give him the sword and fail this quest. So acceptance is not recommended.

As for the fight itself: first wave is a Knight Bachelor and a Man-At-Arms.



There will be a Prepare for Battle break after this fight.

Then Roger steps in with a Sharpshooter. If you kill Roger's sidekick first, there will be 2 additional backfills to support Roger. If you defeat Roger first, he'll be replaced with a Knight Bachelor and you'll still need to defeat the remaining 3 companions. Bottom line is you need to defeat all 4 enemies to win.



Once Roger and his companions are all defeated, then the residents of Lindisfarne will show up. If you refuse their florin reward, you will get +20 Virtue. Either way, Lindisfarne fair will open up for the rest of Chapter IV. It sells high end trinkets and some consumables. You will now also have access to purchase Indulgence, which allows you to purchse 25 virtue for 150f.

Alternatively, if you cannot defeat Roger and his goons, you can play defensive and stall for time. After so many turns, you will get a chance to retreat.

If you return to Dartford with the sword, you successfully completed the quest (+15 Earl Rep and +70f). If not, then you failed. The story continues either way.


This is the main quest line for this Chapter, with Alyssa as the star of this show:




When you visit Greenwich, a Prestige check is necessary to see the Earl, where you will meet Alyssa. She will ask you to clear the bandits near Greenwich to earn her favor.

My Little Dark Age

Defeat bandits in 2 encounters. Each encounter is a group of 3. Fairly straight forward. Then go back to Alyssa for your reward and the next quest:

Death and Taxes

Visit the Sheriff of Greenwich via the Travel Map to find out if he is working with the bandits. A Prestige check is necessary to see the Sheriff. Then you need to click on the items in his study to look for evidence while waiting for him. This search is time limited.

Click on the small wheel wall display to the left of the door to find a small key. Then click on the chest to the right of the door to examine its contents. Then check the carpet, the bottles of alcohol, and then the box to the lower right corner, then the timer will run out.

Report your findings to Alyssa to trigger the next quest:

Mortal Combat

Duel with the sheriff. Reply "Yes?" back to Alyssa for extra points. Then go through the options to learn the rules of the duel, pick up some equipment, then go back to Alyssa when ready to start the duel.

The Duel:


Successfully completing the duel will earn you a date with Alyssa. Return to Alyssa again for the next event and she will ask you to do some dirty work for her. Agree to the request will reduce your Virtue by -15 and earn Alyssa's favor. Refuse and you will get an option to reconsider. Refuse again and you will earn some Virtue, but get kicked out of Greenwich, ending your relationship with Alyssa and failing this quest chain. Failing this quest chain is not a big deal, just makes the Chapter Finale a little tougher.

If you decide to perform the deed (and takes another -70 Virtue for being a bloody bastard), the information you extract starts the next quest:

The Good Guys Always Win

Talk to Alyssa, then travel to the Weald, a new location on the Travel Map. No combat, just an option to whether let your troops torture the captured prisoner. Prohibiting torture gains +15V but -15 Solder's Rep. You will automatically return to Alyssa and earn her favor. She will also give you a personal battle standard as a gift. Then report back to the Earl and the Prince to complete this quest chain.

This quest chain is really hard on your Virtue level. That's why you should do Sword of Justice quest first before you take this huge hit on your Virtue. After this quest is done, you can go back to Lindisfarne and buy Indulgence to recover your Virtue.

Then use the remaining time wisely until the timer counts down to zero.


Whether you have Alyssa's support for the Finale determines how much fatigue you start the battle with.

The first battle consists of 10 Rebel Soldiers/Warriors/Man-At-Arms. Definitely an endurance match. Hope you brought enough canteens and ales.

Then there is a prepare for battle screen before the second engagement.

The second battles starts with a Knight Bachelor and a Man-At-Arms:


However, once you kill the Knight Bachelor, your old friend Roger will show up:


Once you disposed of Roger, he will be replaced by a Renegade Knight. Defeat this Knight, the remaining Man-At-Arms, and then a final Mercenary to end this battle.

Then you have the final choice to either let Canterbury's veterans recover Roger's body or fight. Allowing recovery will earn some Virtue and Soldier's Rep and end Chapter IV.

Fighting on will cause -10 Virtue and -15 Solders' Reputation and another Preparation Screen.

This battle starts with a Knight Warmaster and a Mercenary.


There will be 2 more veterans after these two.

Once you defeat all 4 of them. The battle will be over for good. However, your side also took heavy casualties as a result.

You will then meet the Earl and the Prince for a post battle brief. They will either praise you for conserving troop strength, or criticize you for wasting the solider's lives by forcing a meaningless last stand of Canterbury's veterans. Either way, this ends Chapter IV.

The two key quest lines in Chapter V are the Hellish Trio and the Siege of Windsor. The outcome of these two quest lines will play into each other and determine the winner of the English Civil War.


The Hellish Trio is the first quest line you pick up in Chapter 5. However, it will get quickly interrupted by Windsor. But once you stabilized the situation in Windsor, you should finish Chippenham and Hadley parts of the Hellish Trio so you get the resources you need to make Windsor easier.

After Windsor quest chain is complete, then the last part of Hellish Trio, Cambridge, will open up for you to finish. So with this in mind, let's talk about the first two parts of the Hellish Trio:

Chippenham

En route to Chippenham, you will encounter a group of bandits lead by Jones. They will request 250f to escort you to their leader, Duncan. If you decline, then you will end up fighting 5 bandits and starting this Encounter stunned. After you defeat them, you'll report back to London and this part of the quest ends without you accomplishing anything.

If you pay them, then you will end up on the second part of the Chippenham trip.

Once you meet Duncan, he demands to become the new Marquis for his support.

Agreeing to Duncan's demands will lower your Virtue by 50. But you gain +15 in Earl's Reputation, and more critically, you can now recruit militia troops from Chippenham with florins for the Siege of Windsor.

Chippenham has 100 men available and you can recruit them at the rate of 1 men per 40 florins. Which is a bargain compared to equipping them with weapon and armor back in London. So having Chippenham's manpower on your side is extremely helpful. (Once you hire 100 men, Chippenham disappears from the map)

On the other hand, if you reject Duncan's request (+15 Virtue), you get disarmed by Duncan and his bandits (permanently losing your equipped weapons and armor pieces) and have the choice of either begging for your life or die with dignity.

If you beg for mercy, you lose 25 Virtue and 1 Prestige. You also end up owing Jones 2500f as your ransom. If you choose to die with dignity, you will get your throat slit and lose a bunch of stats. But you managed to survive somehow and return to London critically wounded. But either way, you failed this part of the quest and lost your equipped gear.

In light of the above, it's strongly recommended that you take the -50 Virtue and be nice to Duncan. The negative consequences from refusing him is just too severe (unless you are shooting for the Lost Cause ending).

Hadley

If you travel to Hadley normally, you will be warned away by the Plague Champion. If you do not turn back, then you will enter combat.

You will first fight a wave of 3 Leper Soldiers. Then there is a Prepare screen and you will then fight the Plague Champion.



Defeating the Plague Champion will net you Weapon Skill +1 and allow you to continue forward.

You will then see another, more heavily defended outpost, where a healer was allowed to pass. You will now have the option to turn back to look for a disguise or go forward to the outpost. If you go forward, you will be forced to flee and lose 2 TU. At this point, if you don't find a disguise, you are out of options with Hadley.

The disguise you need is the Plague Mask trinket.


This trinket is available during manual character generation or as a gift from Cercilia at the successful conclusion of your relationship with her back in Cambrai. If you don't have it in your possession, then good luck finding it as a random item at the Trader.

Once you have the Plague Mask, equip it, make an Antidote III, and this will allow you to successfully finish the Hadley quest.

You can either take 5000f from the Baron or ask him for assistance in the war. If you take the money, you will -15 Rep with the Earl. If you ask for assistance in the war, the Baron will send 30 militia men to Windsor.

In light of the fact that you can recruit 100 men from Chippenham with 4000f and still have 1k left, it makes more sense to take the money instead of asking for help with the war.

Lastly, if you had the Plague Mask equipped during your initial encounter with the Plague Champion, he would have just waived you in and you would have entered peacefully without any fighting.

Cambridge

Duke of Cambridge will not see you until the Windsor quest line is resolved. So complete the Windsor quests (discussed below) first before visiting him.

Once you complete Windsor, you can visit Duke of Cambridge. How your visit to Cambridge goes depends on your last choice during the Chapter IV Finale. If you destroyed Canterbury's Veterans and did not let them retrieve Roger's body, then it's smooth sailing and you return to London in success.

However, if you did the honorable thing last Chapter, then Roger will be back for a third round with warhammer and buckler. If you manage to defeat him for this final time, then you succeeded here.


The second multi-part quest that will take up Chapter V. This quest line starts with:

Once Upon a Time in Windsor

This quest will automatically start a little bit after the beginning of Chapter V. You will get an urgent message to go to Windsor due to an attack by Canterbury's forces. Prepare quickly and go because if you delay too long, Canterbury's troops will takeover the town and the enemy forces will be 50% larger during the subsequent siege.

On your way to Windsor, you could rally the retreating troops if you pass a Solders' Reputation check. Upon arrival at Windsor, you will find that an enemy force has already captured it (a small one if you didn't delay).

You can then decide to assault the city yourself, send forward the soldiers you rallied (if successfully done en route to Windsor), or just wait for help.

If you attack yourself, you will reduce enemy strength by -1 for each enemy killed (from 50 if you didn't delay). This battle will time out after about 20 turns and ends this quest.

The first enemy you will always encounter in personal combat at Windsor is Goliath:


Goliath is a HEAVILY armored mini-boss, so it is recommended that you use a weapon that can damage and break his armor first. If you manage to defeat him, you will get an achievement and +1 Weapon Talent point. Good luck!

If you send the troops to attack, they will fail the frontal assault, but reduce the enemy strength from 50 to 45 and ends this quest.

If you want for support, nothing additional happens and this quest ends.

This takes us to the next quest in sequence:

Casing Windsor

This quest is about capturing Windsor either through combat encounters, militiamen under your command, or both.

As the game will gave you an explanation about how this works, I won't bother to repeat it. Just know that if you use the militiamen to attack, you will need to max the assault plan to 10 first, along with a numerical advantage, to have a good result.

Now if you got 5000f from Hadley and used it to recruit 100 men from Chippenham, just max out the assault plan, attack once. Then recruit some more men from the subsequent events, max out the assault plan again and attack again, and this should wipe out the defenders.

Successfully capturing Windsor earns you +25 Earl Rep, +10 Soldiers' Rep, and +1 Prestige.

Once you successfully completed this quest line, you can now go back to Hellish Trio and finish the Cambridge part of that quest.

Lastly, Ending 7: Lost Cause

Lastly, if you failed to capture Windsor when the Timer runs out, the game will automatically go into Ending 7, where the Prince lost to Lord Canterbury and the game ends.

Blood of War

Talk to the Earl during siege of Windsor, and ask for help. He will introduce you to the London Merchant's Guild. A prestige of 50 or more is needed to pass the first check. Then you can ask the Merchant's Guild for financial support.

Royal Library

After about one third of the London Timer has passed, you will have an event with the Earl's Reputation check. If you pass, you'll get access to the Royal Libary. You'll get 4 options:

1. Medicine - Medicine Tome trinket
2. Alchemy and Craftsmanship - Recipe Book trinket
3. Fencing - Fencing Manual
4. Art of Sieges - Increase Planning Efficiency (reduce prep time) for Windsor Siege.

Chose whichever one you deem most useful to your current situation. If you are still in the midst of the Windsor quests, Art of Sieges is the most helpful.


Assuming you successfully captured Windsor and recruited Duke of Cambridge, the Prince and the Earl will enter negotiation with Lord Canterbury. For this negotiation, you may not enter armored or carrying a shield. But 1-H/2-H weapon, x-bow, and trinkets are fine.

The negotiation, of course, did not go according to plan, and combat ensures:

You will start with 2 of Canterbury's bodyguards in chainmail (while you are unarmored):



Then you will face off against Ruffin, who has taken over Roger's old spot:



After your battle with Ruffin, you'll get a chance to loot and re-equip your armor pieces from your inventory.

Then you have a pause for story events, then another combat sequence that starts with a Knight Warmaster and a Sharpshooter:



This is a group of five, so you got three more enemies after the first two. Once you clear all five, you will get a chance to loot or rest.

Then you have the choice to either chase after Ruffin to finish things once and for all, or to let him go for good.

If you let him go, then Chapter V, and Ruffin's role in this story, ends. If you chase after him, a final battle between you two ensures. You will get a chance to prepare before this duel:



Assuming you prevail against Ruffin, you will gain +1 weapon skill point and Chapter V will then conclude.

At this point, you can choose to retire and proceed to Ending 8, or continue to serve the Crown and move on to Chapter VI (the final Chapter).

Lastly, the three different fiefdom choices if you decide to serve the Crown just give you different achievements, florin amounts, and different level of equipment access. No impact on actual story plot.

Nothing much to say here. It's a short timer like the Prelude, craft, train, shop, rest, etc until the timer runs out.


Bond girl for this episode:



Nothing much to say about Lina other than she's a nice girl. Quite bland in my opinion, but to each their own.


This part is a quick synopsis because I've moved on to playing other games and don't want to do another run of HWR to write down the details. Besides, if you got this far already, you should know the game pretty well by now and don't need the hand holding anymore.

The questlines in York are fairly straight forward. It has to do with Scottish Invasion and the sketchy Mayor's side activities, which are actually related to each other.

Surprisingly, the different endings depend on where you send Lina at the middle of the Chapter.

If you send Lina out of York when that option comes up, you will end up with Ending 9, a Warrior's End.

If you send Lina to an inn in York, then you will go down the path of uncovering the truth behind the Mayor's strange activities.

This will eventually result in a tough boss fight with Arthur and the Mayor. The Mayor is especially painful because he will literally doppelganger you. So hopefully you'll be ready for it and proceed accordingly. I got through it with stuns.

After the Mayor, the fight with Scottish forces is tough but no gimmicks, then you will end up with Ending 10, All is Well that Ends Well (which I think is probably the best ending).

The Femme Fatale of the Rennes Show


Low Virtue is recommended for this route because a happy ending with Olivia is not possible if you are a high Virtue character.


Make Rennes Great Again

This is the main quest for the next two Chapters. Talk to Olivia to get started.

When you go to the Travel Map for the first time, the game will encourage you to engage random mercenary squads on the map to reduce the Mercenaries' strength. There is no real need to do it as just by doing the quests below, you will reduce the Mercenaries' strength sufficiently to advance to Chapter V.

Suicide Squad

Talk to Dupont and then go on a reconnaissance mission to the 3 farms around Rennes. Fairly straightforward.

After finishing this mission, talk to Dupont and this quest will advance to the take over Southern Farm stage.

Attack the Southern Farm next. Fairly straightforward combat encounter. Completing it will increase Rennes' combat strength by 8. Talk to Dupont to complete this quest.

Then talk to Olivia. Tell Olivia everything is under control for + affection and - virtue. After talking to Olivia, talk to De Guesclin to start the next quest:

All the Queen's Men

Deliver 10 pieces of defensive equipments to De Guesclin to arm Rennes' militia. You can just buy the cheapest armors and helms from the Trader. Completion of this quest will increase Rennes' strength to 14 and reduce the Mercenaries' to 6.

Olivia also has another quest for you as well:

The City Strikes Back

Once you capture the Southern Farm and armed the Rennes militia, you can talk to Dupont to start the assault on Oliver's Farm.

The battle for Oliver's Farm is actually a challenge because of a mini-boss there.

You will first encounter two Men-At-Arms:


Then you'll fight the mini-boss, Landsknecht Mercenary and a Man-At-Arms:


After defeating these two, the battle is over and you will then meet Anna. Be polite and nice to Anna to earn points with her.

The Other Bond Girl of Rennes


After capturing Oliver's Farm, also go talk to Olivia for some extra florin reward.

Then go and talk to Anna again and she'll have three quests for you:

The Warehouse Raid

Straightforward combat encounter. But if you decide to take some of the potions for yourself after combat, you will take a -15 Virtue penalty.

Lobbyist

Basically just talk to Dupoint and bribe him, then go back and talk to Anna to complete this quest. Anna will give you a vial of Liquid Death as the reward.

The Medallion Quest - Optional Warden Encounter

For Anna's Medallion quest, you will need to defeat the Warden (anyone remember the Green Knight film from 2021?). There is a Virtue check pre-combat, the only difference is that a high Virtue player gets the Warden's HP reduced by half before the fight starts. Everything else being the same.

The Warden regains 150 fatigue regularly. So he never tires. Other than having the appropriate stats, the key in dealing with the Warden is to bring a weapon and/or trinket that can destroy his Torso armor (hit chances for other parts are a bit low). Once the Torso armor is gone, the Warden will go down quickly.

Good weapon choices for this fight include 2-H axes that have Chop Armor or the Zweihander sword that you looted off the Landsknecht Mercenary earlier this Chapter that has the Obliterate armor attack.



Then go back and talk to Anna to complete this quest and get your reward.

After completing all of Anna's quests, talk to her to get more background info about her relationship with Olivia. If you want to increase your relationship with Anna, spend florin to buy her crafting receipes even if you don't need them for the + in affection.

Warpping up Chapter IV

At this point you're out of quests for Chapter IV. Train, rest, and run the clock down to the end of this Chapter for the finale.

The final battle for Chapter IV is fairly straight forward:

First wave is 4 mercenary/renegade soldiers with average stats. Nothing too difficult.

Then you have the choice to go rescue Dupont against an enemy knight or not. If you decide to go for the rescue, you will fight against a Renegade Knight and a Master Mercenary:



Winning this battle will conclude Chapter 4 in Rennes.

Start of Chapter V

Go talk to Olivia at the beginning of the Chapter, answer proudly, and then agree to her invitation. Then go back to her room right away, and just wait for her to show up (or you could rifle through her stuff). After she returns, you'll go on a trip with her and get her first picture.

Then talk to her again until there is nothing to talk about.

Then go talk to Dupont and he'll give you the "Clean Sweep" quest.

Clean Sweep

Attack random mercenaries squads on the Travel Map until mercenary strength is down to zero. Fairly straight forward and not too challenging as long as your character is strong enough.

Grace and Glory

If you meet the quest requirement (which seems to be related to your date in Chapter 5 with Olivia), Olivia will ask for your help after Chapter 5 timer has progressed a bit.

See the Youtube video below from Vinnie The Kielbasa King for quest details:


Conclusion of Anna Relationship

Talk to Anna in Chapter 5, if your relationship with her is at 100 or higher now, you will trigger her event image before she leaves town.

Once the timer goes to zero, the final battle with the mercenaries will start.

Chapter V Optional Finale with Ruffin

Your choice on whether to chase or not chase Ruffin and Co. This choice has no impact on subsequent storyline. However, if you decide to chase them, there is no backing out of the final mano-a-mano with Ruffin, so be ready.

Can you finally smack him down for good?


Once the final encounter with the mercenary forces is done, Olivia will throw herself on you and you will need to decide whether to marry her or not. If you decline her offer and runs, you move on to the Interlude below.

If you decide to accept her marriage proposal, then the following happens:

If you have low Virtue: Option to stay with Olivia happily ever after and trigger Ending 1. This ends this run and you can go and start your next run.

Alternatively, leave town and head to Paris and Interlude without a fuss.

If you have high Virtue, alas, happiness with Olivia is not in the cards. You may either:

Leave town quietly and head to Paris and Interlude without a fuss after finding out her true colors.

Or accuse Olivia of witchcraft and heresy, in which case you'll get a rude awakening and have to fight your way out of Rennes and head to Paris and Interlude.

Nothing much to say here. It's a short timer like the Prelude, craft, train, shop, rest, etc until the timer runs out.

However, if you go to the Knight's Duel, do not take any poisoned weapons/bolts as it will result in immediate disqualification and a prestige/reputation hit.


Emma, aka my body for jewelry!


Unlike Olivia in the previous two Chapters, Emma doesn't have much story or dialogue in Chapter VI. She is a fairly two dimensional place holder character. The only challenge you are going to have with her is to find all the jewelry she will accept to increase her affection rating over 100. As long as you have 5 or 6 pieces of jewelry trinkets ready for her when the time comes, she's all yours. A real shame because her current HWG Reforged character design is probably the best out of the bunch.


Damietta introduces a new mechanic for this area - desert fatigue. This is to represent the oppressive heat effects of this foreign environment to you as a non-native based on your total encumbrance level. For each attribute penalty point on your gear (armor pieces, helm, shield, etc.), you lose two points of fatigue per round.

So if your total stat penalties from all your gears is 20 points, you will lose 40 fatigue every round. There is an in-game mechanic that reduces this penalty a bit into the Chapter, as well as a ring you can get from the Knightfall questline (need to loot the bodies after the first battle on the wall) that also reduces this penalty.

The bottom line is that heavy encumbrance builds are heavily penalized in Dimetta. Basically if you want to wear a tin can, be prepared to be boiled like a tin pot. So plan accordingly if you plan on traveling to this desert.


Meeting Beibar, mini-boss of an optional side quest



Quick note, if you want to finish this quest successfully, read the quest description and follow it to the letter. Being able to stun Beibar is key.


No combat at the end of the timer, just a menu with choices as you didn't find Renauld:

Ending 2: Swallowed by the desert is awarded for not romancing Emma, not travelling back to France, and not seeking out Renauld at El Mansur.

Ending 3: Take the ship to go back to France.

Endings 4 or 5: Per halcyan2: Both of these require you to have a great relationship with Emma. You fail to find Renauld, so when time runs out you have the option to stay with Emma. Depending on your relationship with the Governor (Emma's father), that determines whether you get Ending 4 or 5.


The El Mansur Route can be taken anytime on the Travel Map while you are in Chapter VI. It's a grueling VN trip with a lot of natural hazards and combat. Bring LOTS of canteens, a back up helm, and don't expect your squad members to survive this trip.


Meeting Renauld in El Mansur and surviving will complete the game and take you to Ending #6.

Once you have a high HWR Character Profile, you’ll be rolling in points for a manual start. However, starting skills are limited at 15 for Physical Attributes, and 10 for Weapon Skills. Some players may want a higher starting cap to waltz through the first few chapters and focus on the late game. And here is the solution:

From the Dev (death and rebirth): Open "script_dlc.rpy" file in the local game directory via Notepad and search for "screen character_creation_roguelike:" — this screen has a bunch of "+" and "-" buttons that control how high can you take your starting stats and how much points does that require.

However, the script is pretty messy, so below is a more clear example on the specific line you’re looking for:

In the "script_dlc.rpy" file below the "screen character_creation_roguelike:" section, look for the line:

elif player_strength < 15 and player_roguelike_points >= 100:

Change the 15 part (default starting cap) to a number of your choice and you got the new Strength cap for your new character. I personally changed it to 35 this time since I have way too many points to spent at 920+ Profile Level. You can adjust to your personal preference.

Repeat and rinse for the other attributes in the sections immediately below and you got your new OP starting character with expanded attribute caps. Good luck and have fun!

Sample starting character with expanded attribute caps:

In Version 1.07, the melee coach training is capped at 35. If you don't like it and want a higher melee training skill cap, this is how you change it:

Open script.rpy in your local game folder and search for the two specific code sections below:

***

if player_gold >= 35 and player_weapon_skill_swords < 35:

elif player_weapon_skill_swords >= 35:

* * *

Just change the two 35 in both code sections above to whatever higher number you want and you should be good to go.

I modified my game's script to 50 and tested it out in game. I was able to raise my melee skill above 35. So this works.

Good luck and have fun!

Lastly, if you are not having fun grinding profile points to become a mighty champion through your own sweat and tears, here's an online save editor to expedite the process:

https://www.saveeditonline.com/