Hello and thank you for taking the time to read my guide. I am Sonic, a big fan of CRPG genre and Owlcats games since Kingmaker. I have lurked in discussions and played through every alpha/beta of this game since "Dolphin Porn" (those who know, know) and so I have decided to write this guide alongside my final playthrough as thank you to all the nice people from the community I have interacted with.

Before we start couple of things about what this guide is and what it isn't it.

This guide is written alongside my playthrough meaning its made from that perspective. I will give you advice and recommendations on things as they naturally come up during my (and your) campaign. While the aim of this guide is to go into more intricate detail than other guides and cover more than them whilst trying to take into account all possible things you will encounter sadly I am not omniscient and cannot factor every class, mythic and party combination which all could lead to different priorities or difficulties. Some events may also happen for you at different times than they did for me.

My guide is Unfair, Sadistic Game Design and Last Azlanti viable.

This guide will be written with spoilers in mind and be as complimentary to blind playthrough as possible with spoiler usage to cater to those who want all the information however as this is guide you will be spoiled to small degree.

I am good at this game and have beaten it on unfair, but I am not the best and little rusty as returning player so while this guide will get you through unfair its not 100% minmaxed.

This guide also isn't a build guide. While I will touch on different builds and classes and offering advice on feats. This isn't unfair build guide unless you mirror what I will be playing (STR Vital Strike Sword Saint Trickster to Legend (minimal spoiler on mythic paths) which I wouldn't recommend as greatest fun of this game is playing character that interest you.

I will however cover companion builds and recommend you follow them if you are new.

This isn't achievement focused guide you will however unlock many and some of the hardest if you decide to follow it as the guide is written viable for unfair difficulty and sadistic game design/Last Azlanti achievements in mind. I will attempt remind you about other achievements but expect me to miss some.

There are 3 DLC mini campaigns which after completion grant rewards in the main game. Way this works is after you have reached certain points in the main story the game will prompt you to load (completed) save file of that DLC and if you do you get the associated reward which I will list below.

This guide will warn you when those moment approach so if you wish you can pause and finish the DLC to get the rewards. You do not necessarily need to complete them before starting the main story.


This guide doesn't contain walkthroughs for the DLC campaigns but I will give you spoiler free descriptions, talk about the rewards, quick run down on the chronology and recommend completion order.

Through the Ashes is low level mini adventure that runs chronologically alongside the prologue ending in Act 1 featuring new MC and new cast of characters. Through the Ashes probably easiest of the DLCs, but gives the smallest reward for completion which is only nice to ice themed mages.

I would recommend this doing it after the tutorial section or little bit after you get into Act 1.

Sequel to Through the Ashes that finishes the story started in that DLC. Relatively easy to complete difficulty wise, chronologically it starts at Act 2 and follows the main story closely in time skips. I would recommend doing this DLC much later in main campaign in Act 3 or so as it contains small spoilers, if you pay close attention.

Reward wise it is probably worth completion as it unlocks something more than its predecessor in the main game.

Inevitable Excess should be played after the main game for story reasons however the rewards for completion are the biggest gameplay wise giving you powerful items way sooner than they would normally appear in the main game.

Be careful if you are considering playing it first as I found it far more harder than the main game and also you are incentivized play it on unfair to get the best rewards.

If you do decide to play it I would recommend doing so as (spoiler for mythic path) Lich as you get extra reward in your next Lich playthrough.

Prologue of main game until you want to switch before the cut of point in Act 1 > Through the Ashes > Act 2 and 3 > Lord of Nothing > Complete Main Story > Inevitable Excess

Congratulations if you survived this far just little more until we can start playing!

First order of business be sure to download Toybox[www.nexusmods.com] before starting the game. It gives you many more tools for convenience (among which is option to allow multiple romances for the thirsty among you) and tools to help you in case the game bugs out.

Second is you should take time to think what type of character you want to play as and what mythic path would compliment it or the other way around what mythic path you want to experience and what class would suit it well.

(I did not consider the above spoilers as mythic paths are mentioned in the steam store page. Below in spoilers are available mythic paths and what they lean towards both gameplay and story wise.)


Aeon - One of the more weirder mythic paths with no clear class to pair it with other than summoning builds which are weak and I do not recommend you to try them or inquisitors which fit atleast thematically. Aeon path however provides you with some good support abilities and few abilities that are amazingly powerful if you know what you are doing. Story wise it is also one of the strongest, featuring some of my favorite ending slides in the whole game.

Angel - We all know what to expect from angel story wise so I wont dwell on it. Gameplay wise its first mythic on this list that can spell book merge (meaning you get access to more powerful spells faster and your spells in general are stronger) incidentally making it one of the strongest mythic paths available if you are playing (full) divine caster (Cleric, Oracle, Shaman, Druid...). Which is why I don't recommend playing this mythic path as martial class since the perks you get are not as strong however if you want to do mix of both oracle with battle mystery is my (strong) recommendation.

Azata - More chaotic good than angel with disney/anime vibe. It is well suited to all play styles both (ray spammer) spell casters and martials.

Demon - First evil mythic path of this list and the one for you if you are wanting to do a power trip run. Perk and abilities wise its even more varied than Azata helping kineticist, casters and martials being especially great if you want to make INT based DC caster.

Trickster - If you have played Kingmaker and were expecting Trickster in that tone you are welcome to be disappointed with me. Duality of trickster is XD LOL RLY story, but very strong and fun mythic abilities. Trickster shines with martial classes (including ranged!) or maybe with those who just want make their enemies kill themselves?

Lich - The other Mythic capable of spell book merging this time covering (full) arcane casters (Wizard, Sorcerer, Arcanist, Witch..). Are you prepared to sacrifice your penis for the ultimate magical power? Also great for alchemists and kineticist.

I hope this helps you narrow down your build, but of course feel free to ignore this especially on lower difficulties and go for combination that calls to you!

Read at your own risks. Contains spoilers about mythic paths. Nothing lost if you skip.
You can change from your "early" mythic paths to certain "late" mythic paths later on in the story if you have unlocked them by fulfilling the requirements.

Legend - Unlocking of this path will be covered in the guide. Trade your mythic powers for 20 extra levels. All around great for every build and story wise excellent if you want to do redemption story from evil to good.

Gold Dragon - Unlocking of this path will be covered in the guide. Good fit for those whose mythic path just didn't work for and want to trade those for raw bonuses or those who want to do it for RP reasons.

Swarm that Walks - The REAL evil path, become the crisis. Unlocking of this path will be covered in the guide. Either this is for you or it isn't but mechanics wise you will be creating clones of yourself so I imagine classes that dont need gear as much eg your vivisectionist scaled fist dip monster would do well. I haven't yet gotten around to test it however.

Devil - Not worth it, sorry to tell you hell knight enjoyers. Unlocking of this path wont be covered in this guide and it is only available to Azatas and Aeons. I strongly recommend not doing it as its weak in both gameplay and story terms. Only for RP.

Here we finally are! The character creation, but before we get to that quick run down on the difficulty settings.

If you are new player stick to normal or core if want little more challenge. Take into account how powerful your build is when you are deciding your difficulty (Section above is good place to start).

If you are returning player, do run on core or unfair if you crave challenge. If you can do run on hard you should be able to pull off unfair which is why its not mentioned.


On side note. I do not recommend turning on crusade automode as it will lock your out some items and (read at your own peril) and secret ending

Large amount of achievements are locked behind core.

This guide is written based on my playthrough of unfair difficulty. Meaning enemy amount or strength might differ from yours.

Finally we are here! I do not know why I use the word we as none have made it this far. I will not go for too long here as this isn't build guide. Read careful what you pick and if you are struggling here are few recommendations.


For class I will be going with Magus - Sword Saint

Backgrounds provide relatively small bonuses, you are usually either looking for proficiency in case your class doesn't let you use equipment you want to use or to switch around what attribute you use for skill. Here is the list of meta picks if you are Interested.


I personally went with bounty hunter for roleplay reasons and to be able to wear light armor for looks.

Generally speaking you want to pick race that boosts ability scores your class uses. Aasimar is strongest pick giving you two points to two ability scores and ability to pick wings as feat (2 bonus to AC).

However sometimes you may wish to pick human for extra feat if your build is feat heavy. Which is why I am picking human this run.
Note: There are some edge cases like elf for enchantment DC builds (can get unique feat) or kitsune for pounce (req feat.)

I like to go full minmaxx here with boosting the ability scores my character uses which would be in this case Strength and Intelligence whilst ignoring others. However I would recommend ever so slightly even approach of making your primary ability score 19 or 20, with rest being more equal and one being only slightly higher.

Insome cases it might be smart to go for more even spread if you are AC maxing by finding ways to convert your other ability scores to AC. (Scaled Fist, Instinctual Warrior)

My ability score layout and first picture of this guide!


(Reminder for bow users that strength adds to damage with composite bows!)

You either have many points to spend here or few. Important things to remember is if you are melee character put points into mobility until 3. (If you are doing melee intimidation build level up your persuasion as well, more on that below.)

Start thinking what skills you want to handle yourself and what to dedicate to other party members, play to your characters strengths. Perception is good to have on multiple characters alongside magic device.

Feat screen might look overwhelming, but it becomes lot more manageable when you remember most of feats listed are either useless to you or fluff.

Keep your characters role in party mind. Are they front liner? Pick feats that increase AC and survivability. Is your character warrior with two handed weapon? Pick feats that increase your attack and damage. Is your character archer? Pick archery feats. Is your Character mage? Pick feats that boost your chosen magic specialty alongside metamagic and spell pen.

To make it even more simpler lot of the perks function like trees. Make sure to keep this in mind and check the feats that you don't yet qualify for!

Some common great feat options.


I picked power attack and cleave.

And with that we are done with character creation! If you picked mage and are wondering what to pick. I will talk more about this when we level our mage companions.

*last section ran out of room lol which is why this is separated.

(Reserved for unfair companion builds and talk about them. If you want to contribute feel free to comment or contact me)

This section contains small spoilers and is meant to be reviewed whenever you get new companion as such companions are talked about in order you get them. So if you are new player skip and return later!

Note: Few companions may be recruited in different order.

This section mainly exists for those playing on unfair as the companion builds I went with in my (unfair) campaign (further in the guide) were not fit for the (early) game and while its possible to get through act 1 with them as I did I cant in good faith expect you to do the same.

And as final reminder: This is not build guide, don't expect these to be the strongest builds there are. Just viable enough to carry you through unfair. I wholeheartedly recommend you to search around internet for stronger ones.

If you yourself got knack for builds or have published some feel free to leave comment or contact me and I'll be glad to either feature or link to them.

I have not run Seelah on unfair past the early game and even then my builds with her have been bad so take what I am about to say with grain of salt.

Seelah is the first companion you get and one of three you get level one as such you get much more freedom on how you can build her compared to other companions. One of the big decisions you have to make starting from lvl 2 is what will you do with her. Will you make her your main tank or will you lean her towards damage? Do you want to keep her pure paladin or not?

Sadly during my time pondering this question I have arrived to two (three) solutions that mirror each other very much.

Your first option is stay on course as pure paladin until you hit level and unlock mark of justice.

Positives and negatives of this are:

• + Early access to Mark of Justice
  
• + Solid DMG
  
• - Late mount (weak tank)
  
• -/+ Weakish early game, but strong when you get your buffs/feats online.

If you go pure paladin route I strongly recommend you have better tank until Seelah gets going. Your other option, if you want her to be able to tank quicker is to dip into sohei (which I know to be meta) or cavalier (gedarme) to unlock mount right out of the gate alongside much needed bonus feat we can use to get mounted feats.

Here is my recommendation for almost pure paladin
Lvl 2: Sohei (1) l feat: Mounted Shield
Lvl 3: Mutation Warrior (1) l feat: Boon Companion+Weapon Focus (Longsword or Scimitar)
Lvl 4: Paladin (2)
Lvl 5: Paladin (3) l feat: Outflank
Lvl 6: Paladin (4)
Lvl 7: Paladin (5) l feat: Combat Reflexes
Lvl 8: Paladin (6)
Lvl 9: Paladin (7) l feat: Seize the Moment
Lvl 10: Paladin (8)
Lvl 11: Paladin (9) l feat: Hammer the Gap (or anything you want)
Lvl 12: Paladin (10)
Lvl 13: Paladin (11)

Note: You could skip mutation fighter dip if you don't care for tower shield proficiency.

But wait there is more! You could abandon the horse and build her as Freebooter at least initially. 4 Levels in freebooter can grant total bonus of 3 to attack to the whole party and that bonus turns to 4 if you put one level extra!

I will only cover tank build for Camellia as I got no experience on unfair speccing her differently.

For tank build you will want to focus on three classes.

• 1 level dip into Stigmatized Witch for iceplant and Lizard familiar.
  
• 6 levels of vivisectionist for mutagen and feral wings.
  [*12 levels into barbarian instinctual warrior for WIS into AC and rage powers.
  

Exact order of leveling is up to you, but I recommend this order.

One point attribute into intelligence at point of your choosing, rest into DEX/WIS.
Lvl 2: Stigmatized Witch (1)
Lvl 3: Alchemist Vivisectionist (1) I feat: Dodge
Lvl 4: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (1)
Lvl 5: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (2) l feat: Improved Unarmed Strike
Lvl 6: Alchemist Vivisectionist (2) I Discovery: Crane Style
Lvl 7: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (3) l feat: Toughness (or outflank)
Lvl 8: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (4) l rage power: Guarded Stance
Lvl 9: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (5) l feat: Crane Wing
Lvl 10: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (6)
Lvl 11: Alchemist Vivisectionist (3) I feat extra rage power: Beast Totem, Lesser
Lvl 12: Alchemist Vivisectionist (4) I Discovery: Feral Mutagen
Lvl 13: Alchemist Vivisectionist (5) I feat extra rage power: Beast Totem
Lvl 14: Alchemist Vivisectionist (6) l Discovery: Feral Wings
Lvl 15: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (7) l feat extra rage power: Rolling Dodge
Lvl 16: Barbarian Instinctual Warrior (8) l rage power: Deflect arrows
Rest into instinctual Warrior. You are free to assign your feats as you wish, but save one for combat expertise after popping Tome of Clear Thought (+2 INT.)

Mythic powers: Archmage Armor > Dodge (Mythic) > Last Stand/Limitless Rage > Last Stand/Limitless Rage > ??? > Toughness (Mythic) / Emergency Potion > As you wish, could even get wandering hex and cackle.

Its relatively simple to make metal build for Wenduag if you read "meta build" as "build to minimize pain in the early game."

here are the two things our girl needs and those are:

• Vital Strike, which we will get from rowdy dip
  
• True Strike, for the few high AC enemies in the first act which we will get from sanctified slayer dip.

Lvl 2: Rowdy
Lvl 3: Sanctified Slayer
Lvl 4: Sanctified Slayer (2)

You might wonder why I haven't gone as deep with this as I did with Camellia and the reason simply is that you do not need anything more. This is very strong base which you can fill how ever you want. Put rest of your levels into sanctified slayer? Sure, dip into fighter? You do you, maybe you want to get debilitating injury from rowdy? Go right ahead. Only thing I will say is Vital Strike truly is for early game and you will want to cut that dependency as you progress further.

And so your adventure begins! Take your time to listen and look around. I will get back to you later, but before that just one question. How long did you spend in the character creation?


It seems chaos has arrived with demons and vescavors in toe and so we arrive at the first decision you must make. Fight or flee? Which way crusader?

(From now on I will talk about consequence of decision in spoiler below the decision. Read at your own risk)
Pick fight if are aiming for the secret ending.

Nothing to do expect to move forwards, but before you do that let me tell power gamers among you little optional exp trick. Go to difficulty setting and turn on only active companions receive experience.

Make your choice whether to use the trick or not and continue moving forward.

You will be stopped by Anevia and Seelah perceptive among you might have spotted her earlier and those who used the exp trick congratulations on getting 750 experience where normally you get 125 experience.

We are confronted by our first skill checks. I hope you have brain or brawn. Those among you who like to quick load until you get your way I might suggest turning on take 20 out of combat. (control+f10)

Your options are to be ♥♥♥♥. Athletics 16 skill check or Knowledge (World) 16 skill check and diplomacy 16 skill check.
All skill check progress you onward but evil gives you 200 coins which is very nice early game.

If you are using the exp trick before you hit end dialogue button press esc and turn only active companions receive experience off. This way Seelah joins you party with same amount of experience!

Continue heading onward and pick up your confiscated gear (remember to equip) that Seelah points out and Terendelevs scale that lays couple more steps ahead. Turn on only active companions receive experience again if you are using the trick.

Very useful item that functions as raise dead spell! Try to save these and always keep one with you especially on higher difficulties!

No way to go but forward and it just so happens we run into fair lady. Talk to her and as you get the experience turn off only active companions receive experience if you are using the trick then turn it back on.

This is good time also to check your formation as the first combat approaches!
(Avoid using spells and limited abilities! You will need them later)

The good old tradition of RPGs. Fighting vermin be careful if you are playing on unfair as with bad luck you could lose this fight. Great cheese is to turn around just before the encounter as Anevia will always stand behind your MC.

Letting crippled woman with bow tank? Are we the good guys?
If you are using Seelah to tank remember to turn on defensive fighting.

Continue onward and pick up the Dragon Scales as we go. Flies should not be a problem, but this is good time to practice playing the game on real time.

Continue forward and go right. Be careful with the spitting centipedes though Anevia should easily be able to take care of them. There is some minor loot at the end, pick it all up and head backwards.

This time take the turn to the left. Vermin should not pose any challenge to you.

However the next foe could cause you grief.

(press y to turn on inspecting and left click enemy to see their stats and abilities! Very useful!)

Luckily for me his initiative roll was low allowing me catch him flat footed (denying his dexterity to AC). Take note of flanking and charging giving me large bonus to hit. Things could not be as rosy for you as single bite can kill you this early in the game (and he has poison to boot) so either use Anevia to tank or bumrush him.

With the beast slain and no chunks missing from you take crack at skinning it and continue forward.

You will run into Lann and Wenduag. Explore the dialogue to your hearts content and enjoy the level up if you did the exp trick!


Oh boy your choices now depend on what you want to do with Seelah and Cam no pressure. Do you want cam as support off tank or turn her into your main tank? Do you want mark of justice for Seelah or are you ready to abandon that plan to get more AC?

Here are my recommendations for Camellias level up


I am going with Stigmatized Witch picking Mage Armor and strand of the Tangled knot as spells.
For Seelah I went with Vivisectionist and rest I will put into paladin until paladin level 11.

If you are interested what I am doing for my characters level up the plan is to stick all twenty levels into Sword Saint.

Explore until you find the sword. If you are following the exp trick just as you are about to end end dialogue turn off only active companions receive experience setting and turn it back on after you finish the dialogue

Both are archers, but both come as level one meaning they are malleable to be turned to what you want to especially Lann who can be turned to great melee character with mutation fighter or even cleric who uses wisdom to shoot! (Zen Archer 3, rest into cleric-ecclesitheurge)

I went Lann Zen Archer 2 and put level in Vivisectionist as Wenduag. Another option with Wenduag would be rowdy followed by inquisitor-slayer for true strike (Do this, if you are playing on unfair.)

Once you are ready take the skill check to jump over the rubble and then jump back where you came from. Why? You get exp for going back. From now on I will assume you make this ahabbit and wont mention it again. Jump over it again and continue forward.

Spiders up ahead should not be a problem with extra two archers and Anevia. Focus fire the big one and continue if you are in trouble let Anevia tank.

Continue, but don't jump over the rubble.

Kill the flies and be careful of the spitting centipedes focus them with your archers. Loot the skeleton and equip the master crossbow on your preferred archer (masterwork gives 1+ to hit)

Now turn your party around so Anevia is facing front and make them hold (select all and press h), make Lann run further in to trigger ambush and run back to rest of party. Let them come to you (Or Anevia) to be specific. Have your tank (yourself, cam or seelah) ready to take her place if she falls.

Now turn and head back to that mobility check we skipped. Climb up

Creep carefully forward until you get visual the stone elemental. Make sure Anevia is facing forward this time you will really need it. Use your buffs and spells now and when you are ready shoot with with your whole party at the elemental.

Another strategy is giving Seelah masterwork greatsword, cast enlargen on her. Then use object bound and cast it on yourself if you are martial.
Now you will have longer reach than the elementals thank to your size. Use it your advantage and charge the elementals, pull back before they get in reach and repeat.

Assuming you are victorious go where the stone elementals were and loot the wand of cure light wounds. (Do not use it yet you will get free heal)

Progress to the end of the cave and leave.

Progress into the village and talk with Chief Skull. Where you must make another decision.

This choice is actually very important doubly so if you are playing on unfair. If you show the sword Wenduag will leave you and if you hide the fact that you found it Lann will leave you. Consequences don't end there hiding the sword makes upcoming boss fight easier and I strongly recommend doing so if you are playing on unfair. You still get opportunity to trade Lann for Wenduag or vice versa later on. (Remember to unequip gear on the person who will leave)

I chose to hide the fact we found the angels sword. After you made your decision save before before leaving though good man Horgus will stop you for talk. Money is good and I strongly suggest taking crack at skill check for the two thousand. This money will help you greatly in future and if you are playing on unfair, it might warrant save scumming.

Afterwards take look around the village. Talk to Anevia and Horgus if you wish. Loot some of minor loot scattered around before talking to Dyra our first vendor! Sell your crap and buy the Quiver of Cold Iron Ammunition.


Before we turn in for the day. Press b to open your characters spell book and check your characters saved spells (Camellia).

Bless, Magic weapon (Doesnt stack with masterwork!) and protection from alignment are good picks for her (use the spirit slot for enlarge).

Now we are ready for our days rest. Next morning accept consequences of your actions. Feel free to check with Anevia and Horgus if you care about how they slept then proceed to head out by boat if you went with my choice earlier or by walking.

Game will give you tutorial pop up about formations after you do and now is good time to take second to tune it to your liking.

If you came by boat walk forwards but do not squeeze through the door yet continue walking and kill the monitor lizard. Its the exact same as we killed before

if you came with Lann you will either have to fight couple of enemies not worth noting down or the same lizard.

Either way our paths converge for now. Time to enter the Shield Maze!


First room has nothing of note of expect religion check for little exp. Head carefully to the next room

Sadly this room isn't as easy. We have two mages capable of blasting magic missile (always hits!), pesky archer and Baphomet cultist wielding glaive giving him quite the reach!

So what should our strategy be? Those two mages need to be focused down so make sure Seelah and Cam are at charge distance for Mage and archer in the middle. Position Wenduag so she has clear line of sight to the mage at top right or if you have good stealth on your main sneak up to him.

Now pause the game and sync those charges and wenduags shot. You should be able to almost instantly kill the ones in the middle. Take care of the other mage if Wenduag missed and move to deal with the Baphomet cultist. Easy!

Feel free to loot the room, if you didn't loot it already. in case you took lot of damage you can rest unlimited amount of times in Shield Maze which is not the case normally so take advantage of the fact and cast all buffs you have before every fight and rest often.

Now continue into corridor. Beware of the trap and take the left into the library. Be careful of the cultist in the corner. He is stronger than he looks you might wish to avoid him until you level however I managed to take him down by group charging him without buffs.

After you are done loot the library for useful scrolls and Tome of Minotaur: Sermons from the Labyrinth. Make sure to go to your inventory and right click the book and choose info, this will give your character permanent buff!

Continue back into the corridor and into the next room. Set up a group charge and kill the three mongrels.

Open the door closest to the corridor we came from. Disarm the trap, but avoid the cultist champion! We will cover him later so head back.

Head to the door north of the room.
This room can be easy or pain depending on your rolls. You got two archers and two melee cultist who can take hit or two. Hug the wall and walk to the Baphomet statue sync a charge and try to take simultaneously down the archer on the right and the melee cultist in the middle. Hopefully you can then quickly mop up the archer in the middle before taking down the right most melee cultist.

(If you struggle with the encounter skip ahead until you level up)

Go back and deal with the Cultist Champion. His AC is is high alongside his health, but you should be able to kill him by group charging him.

Head back to the room with baphomet statue and head west to the dining room. Hopefully you manage to perception check to spot the lever to open the store room. Make sure to loot the Masterwork Cold Iron Longsword! Go back to the dinining room and continue heading forwards.

Position yourself so you can see all of the enemies without aggroing them.
We have from left to right Cleric (with Sharpshooter above him), Sharpshooter with Mage and Baphomet Cultist and Cultist Fighter (above him).

Luckily for us the cleric has only 8 hit points so Wenduag should be able to take care of him with one shot. Sync wenduags shot and your melee characters charge on the two in the middle. Peel one of your melee characters of from the rest after you killed the pair in middle to kill the remaining sharpshooter. Tie down approaching fighter with your highest AC character (or pack pedal whilst shooting him if your main is ranged) luckily for us the Baphomet Cultist wastes his first turn casting divine favor let him cast it before charging him.


For Camellia I went with Vivisectionist and dodge.

For Seelah I went Paladin and chose heavy armor focus. (Probably mistake I am doing a test to compare how high AC Seelah can get in heavy armor) If you are doing pajama tank mirror what I am doing with Camellia (Stigmatized Witch dip is good idea).

For Wenduag I put level into Spawn Slayer and chose throwing axe focus. (I don't recommend going with dual throwing axes build. Focus on bow)

For myself I picked (Sword Saint) arcane accuracy, and cleaving finish.

Head backwards to the room with bunk beds and take note of the door we havent passed through yet. Choose your party members one by one and carefully avoiding the enemy noticing you.

Kill the wizard with archer while your melee charge the Cultist Champion. After you win make sure to loot the Potion of Resist Cold and Protection From Cold

Head out of the room and south back to the room where we killed 3 mongrels and continue into connecting room we didn't go to yet and keep moving onwards.

Some early run enders lay down here so start preparing mentally. Open the door carefully and one by one head into the next room hugging the wall. You know the drill at this point. the 3 mongrels are nothing worth talking about unless rolls fail you.

Afterwards check the door to the east and loot the small store room.

Head south and kill the two corrupted mongrels. Be careful as these two are tougher than ones we have faced so far the Corrupted Mongrel Guard especially has relatively high AC for our party.

After you emerge victorious be wary of the door before as behind lies one of the hardest fight in this dungeon.

Make sure to fully buff and rush the Corrupted Mongrel Brute. If luck (or true strike) is on your side loot your reward Ring of Protection +1! Make sure to give it to yours tank now lets head back to where we came from and go through the door next to small store room.

Head to the room carefully one by one yada yada. Keep the archer hiding beyond your sight in your mind. Charging the Hand and fighter is your best bet strategy wise.

Go through the door near where Neophyte Sharpshooter was.

The hardest fight in this dungeon. You will be facing Corrupted Mongrel, Corrupted Mongrel Guard, Corrupted Mongrel Brute and Corrupted Mongrel Ranger. What makes this fight hard is there are two high threat enemies those being the brute and the ranger. Former has high health pool, good ac and high attack whilst the later has good ac and capacity to pick off your party members.

So what strategy should you pick? Charging might work, but is prone to few reloads. If you go that route kill the brute fast and move to stand near ranger to get attack of opportunities.

Other option is to be to put grease entangle spells on and luring the enemy through them to you piece meal. Remember you can be coward so if you go with luring strategy you can kill one and run away to deaggro and return to deal with the those who survived. If you went with rowdy inquisitor slayer Wenduag feel free to laugh your way to the bank with true strike vital strike.

After winning or being filtered go to the locked door (or not so locked if you picked Wenduag). Hopefully you managed the perception to check to spot Crypt Raiders Armor.

Now head back toward room with where you fought Hand of Hosilla and to the only room we haven't explored in the basement yet.

I find this fight over hyped and easy compared to mongrels we had to fight before. AC is nothing special compared to what we have seen before though if gets hit it will hurt (and potential take down multiple party members with great cleave!).


So what are we to do? Its good time to bust all our potions on our tank. (This is where those potions against cold come in hand!)


For strategy engage with your tank and cycle charge (eg move backward and charge again) in RTWP mode. Make sure to have used enlarge on your melee for this to work!


He didnt have chance at all. If you are playing on core and above enjoy your achievement! Loot the room for ring Flow of Water (If you miss the perception check dont fret its almost useless)

(There is also 100% guaranteed way to cheese her. Put your squad far away and kite the elemental with archer. You can use the round table in the room where we killed the first mongrels.)

Now with the basement dealt with its time to head back to the pew room. Pull the torch and head through the door you just opened. Go down the stairs and through the door waiting in front of you.

Easy fight, but beware of the Clerics as they have ability to channel negative energy (read AoE damage). Either take out the clerics first with your initial charge or focus down Hand of Hosilla first either way you should win easily.

Open the door to the connecting room.

You will see bunch of Monitor Lizards be wary of the ferocious one. Aggro them with ranged attack and use the door to funnel them. This way you can get by fighting only one or two at a time. Make sure to have either reach weapon or enlarged buff on to be able to hit over your tank.

Time to return to the corridor we came from and head further in.

This time we face four Cambions separated into two pairs, each pair has one archer. Position yourself like in the picture.

Your goal is to tie lower group with your tank whilst you quickly attempt to clear the upper group. Charge the bow wielder of the lower group with your tank and the melee Cambion of the upper group with your melee. Mop up quickly and hopefully relief your tank before they die.

(Remember Seelahs smite and protection against evil!)

Loot the "secret room" and northwards.

Big brothers of the elementals we killed earlier. Nothing much to say here than they got relatively high attack so try to take one out quickly, remember to cycle charge. Once only one is left you can spam Strand of Tangled Knot to avoid any hits.

Afterwards head one room back and go through the eastern door.

One of the more trickier fights. We got huge square room with pit in the middle and the enemies are put in such way its hard to win quickly. Two melee cambions are on the sides of pit blocking our access to the archers and if we engage one of the melee cambions, the archers will very likely catch us flat footed!

So what are we to do? Put your team up the stairs behind a corner and shoot enemy with crossbow equipped Cam then quickly switch back to her shield and run back to rest of your team with Camellia closest to the corner.



Pray the Cambions don't roll the crit, luckily for us enemy doesn't have precision shot feat meaning they get huge -4 penalty for shooting into melee! Use this to your advantage and kill the enemy melee characters and quickly afterwards engage enemy archers one at the time.

First puzzle of the game and they only get harder. Can you guess or brute force the answer?
Paintings at the room where we killed our first mongrels.

Enjoy your new reward. Be careful not to sell it.

Head back to the pew room and time to take the door we havent opened yet. Be careful of the trap!

Our first demonic enemy. Remember to use cold iron weaponry (there is one cold iron javelin you should have looted) Do not waste our cold iron arrows yet these guys arent worth it.

I aggroed them by throwing javelin with Wenduag and withdrew back through the door way into pew room. Dretches cast stinking cloud but you can just keep moving backwards until they run out and then engage them.

Make sure to rest afterwards and head up the stairs but make sure to fully buff yourself half way through! (Make sure to enlargen your melee dps characters and give them reach weapon if they use STR!)


You find yourself at the crossroads again. What will you choose to do?
IIRC I might be wrong so take what I am about to say with grain of salt. If you went with Lann and succumbed to demonic rage you can choose to recruit either Lann or Wenduag. If you chose Wenduag you can pick either no matter what you did. Either way spare the person you didn't pick.

This is it! We are at the boss fight! Hosilla is and isn't scary at the same time. If she lucks out and manages to hit you its reload time. if you are enlargened and have reach weapon equipped on your melee gang you can just cycle charge her. (Dont forget about Seelahs smite)

Problems come from the quasit she summons in phase 2. These bastards will flank you and can poison you warranting a reload. This is why I recommended what I did as Lann might distract the other one for few rounds and you don't have to deal with Wenduag shooting at you.

Either way make your choice and afterwards sell to Dyra who has conveniently arrived. If there is loot you left behind go to exit and click it once. Do not click collect all instead click each item one by one. This method is faster than running all over the dungeon to collect them. Sell to Dyra and proceed "upstairs".

(No need to rest your health and spell slots will be restored once you proceed)

Loot the area and go up once again and continue moving forwards. After bit of dialogue we are once more faced with combat. Stay back, enemy has the nasty ability to cast channel negative energy damage living which will drain your much needed HP.

In my playthrough this did not happen, but no reason not to be careful. Let you allies handle it and after your enemies are hugging ground take crack at the locked door. (Dont worry if you fail to lockpick it) Loot everything, buff yourself and go upstairs.

After a brief cut scene we will be faced down with two groups of cultist. Luckily for us Irabeth and her group has one side covered thus it seems like we should face the other group yet paradoxically the best way is actually rush the other group with Irabeth and afterwards letting her face the other group whilst we cover behind her.

If you decide to fight the other group of cultists head on it is possible even on unfair but be wary of their magic caster who will cast magic missile and burning hands, the Horde of glaive wielding cultist can also be dangerous just because of the amount of attacks coming your way, but after you have dealt with them don't rush the enemy archers as this will trigger the enemy group behind them.

Loot everything (and I mean everything don't worry about party encumbrance), heal/buff yourself and head up

I wont say much about this fight as Irabeth like Anevia in the caves will take care most of the heavy lifting for you. Only thing of note is the dretch casting stinking cloud so consider sniping him (feel free to waste couple of cold iron ammunition's here)

Afterwards loot everything, take crack at the religion check and do the mobility check which is where I will leave you on your own for little while!

Congratulations for beating the prologue and thank you for reading this guide! After you wake up and survive Irabeths info dump remember to loot your personal storage for the special edition items you might posses.


There is lot to do at the Defender's Heart before we can get back to adventuring so lets start by asking Staunton about the blind elf.

After getting the location from Staunton now might good time as any to pick up the gold we are owed from Horgus. If you fail the skill check deny him the first time he will double the price without the need to for persuasion.

If you want to talk to Camellia while we are here and are interested in potentially romancing her as male character make sure to pick the option "Your speech tells me you are of noble birth." and then after her reply choose "Forgive me if my questions disturb you. I couldn't resist such a noble and beautiful lady. I will stop bothering you immediately if talking to me upsets you.

Talk to Gemyl Hawkes who is just behind the bar and make sure to pick "Any news in city" followed by "Are there any places in the city worth visiting?" You might want to to check his goods but don't buy anything yet (other than spicy pastry recipe, more on him and other vendors below).

Head to the kitchen behind Gemyl and talk to Jernaugh until you have reveal "Chilly Creek" location and unlocked the quest "Cold Waters. Continue heading towards the stairs to the basement but talk to Forn Autumn Haze first until you get his quest.

Talk to Woljif and promise to help, but before we head out loot the shield on the wall which will reveal the button behind it. Take look around the room and notice the levers on the wall.

Puzzle Solution
Lever closest to wall, up and others down. Afterwards click the button.

Head back up and talk to Anevia. Make sure to pick the "Are there any suspicious place in the city that I should pay attention to? Aftewards talk to Indarah and group of crusaders close to the fire place. Exhaust some of the dialogue options and pick "You’re wrong to treat the crusaders with such disdain. Allow me to explain."


Enjoy your new shortsword if you manage to win the debate!

Afterwards talk to Seelah about the missing Aldori then lets move on why we came back here and talk to Irabeth. Ask about Woljif and tell her to tell you about the Eagle Watch. On the contrary, if it wasn't for you, there wouldn't be a headquarters at the Defender's Heart. The Cultist would have served up the city on platter to demons.

Hilor is also here and offers retraining and mercenary companions. (Note: mercs are cheaper lower level you get them.)

Time to head back to basement and tell Woljif the good news.

If you are using the experience trick after you get the experience turn off "Only active companions receive experience setting" Dont worry we are getting close to the last time we do this.

Woljif is great rogue companion while he doesn't come as clean slate he has good enough attributes and class. His class eldritch scoundrel also gives him ability to cast spells! Make sure to to focus on buffs dont try turning him into DPS or DC mage unless you know how! Spell wise True Strike and Mirror Image are must have with Sense vitals and Shield coming soon after!

Woljif: Another level into Eldritch Scoundrel (for Debilitating Injury -2 AC or -2 Attack when you perform sneak damage is superb), +1 Dex
Seelah: Another level into Paladin, +1 Dex
Wenduag: Another into Spawn Slayer, (Slayer Talent combat trick/Fighting Style Two-handed fighting but I recommend you stick with the bow) +1 Dex
Camellia: Instinctual Warrior, +1 Dex
Myself: Another level into Sword Saint, +1 STR

After you recruited Woljif take stairs to the courtyard

One more thing before we start with final preparations speak with Joran Vhane and make sure to show him Radiance. Now we can start talking about how to spend all our hard horded gold.

• Icy Protector (all from Vissaliy inside Defender's Heart)
  
• 1x Scroll of Remove Blindness
  
• 2x Scrolls of Deathward
  
• 2x Scrolls of Veil of Positive Energy (After quest Stolen Moon)
  
• 1x Scroll of Protection From Fire Communal (After quest Stolen Moon)
  
• 1x Scroll of Protection From Cold Communal (After quest Stolen Moon)
  
• 1x Scroll of Protection From Fire, Communal (After visiting Estrod/Market Place. For Topaz Solutions)
  
• 1x Scroll of Protection From Acid, Communal (After visiting Estrod/Market Place. For Topaz Solutions )
  
• 1x Scroll of Resist Acid, Communal (After visiting Estrod/Market Place. For Topaz For Topaz Solutions)
  
• 1x Scroll of Resist Fire, Communal (After visiting Estrod/Market Place. For Topaz Solution)

You should be able to afford this if you followed the guide. If you are missing gold consider selling inflict wounds scrolls. Feel free to spend extra coin on other items, I recommend getting one delay poison communal scroll for the market place.

Optionally after you have completed market place you might want to purchase resist fire or protection from fire, communal for Tower of Estrod alongside delay poison scroll and resist electricity communal for Silken Thread Atelier.

Most acts we have to take care how we spend our money (even if it may not always seems so) especially this early in the game when we have to buy certain scrolls to account for our lack of access to certain great spells.

Below I have listed all three vendors in Defender's Heart and my recommendations and thoughts on their stock.

Gemyl sells variety of useful items from food ingredients and potions to some powerful magical items which I have listed below.


Located inside Defender's Heart in the corner with the wounded. Vissaliy is our cleric vendor who sells some must have scrolls and even better magical items.

Remember natural armor buffs from different sources stack!
Vissaliy also sells academical items I wouldn't waste the gold on them yet if you wish buy Scroll Scriber's kit l for Upcoming companion or the Alchemist Kit I if you picked background that gave ability to make potions for free.

Our trusty stereotypical dwarven blacksmith sells what you would expect weapons and armor. Excellent opportunity to buy weapon you are specialized for if you didn't find it yet but you might want to hold off on that purchase (trust me).

Lot of these items are also weaker than they seem especially considering the price. Still there are some worth looking here.

I would only consider Pain Channeler and Deceiving Facade or Living Ram Devastating Blow From Above if you are cavalier.

I hearken you to remember what Anevia told us when we left our bed. We have time limit of 3 days to accomplish what we need to accomplish. If we move too slow certain things will change or be denied to us. Now don't fret on lower difficulties this isn't too bad of a limit and I got route to see that you will get everything you need to do done, no matter the difficulty setting!

I strongly recommend taking the chill route!

(Thieflings Hideout > Defender's Heart > Ancientries and Wonders Shop> Thieflings Hideout > Defender's Heart* >) Market Square > Arandae Party House > Gwerm's Mansion > Topaz Solutions > Tirabade Residence > Pitaxian Wine Cellar > Blackwing Library > Silken Thread Atelier > Tower of Estrod

You might want to hold off with Stolen Moon quest as it will take approximately 5 hours of travelling and you risk fatiguing yourself. You got approximately one extra rest.

Thieflings Hideout > Defender's Heart > Ancientries and Wonders Shop > Thieflings Hideout >(Defender's Heart >) Market Square > (Silken Thread Atelier*) > Tower of Estrod > Arandae Party House > Gwerm's Mansion > Topaz Solutions > Tirabade Residence > Pitaxian Wine Cellar > Blackwing Library

Remember your time limit of 3 days. If you rest two times at market square you might want to go to Tower of Estrod (for time extension more on that Tower of Estrod section) before Silken Thread Atelier (remember to do it after!)

If you are doing the chill route consider taking the time before going to Arandaes Party House to visit Defenders Heart to sell and buy some equipment (scrolls of protection against fire/acid communal)

I cant predict certain important random encounters! If encounter seems special check the guide!

These routes don't account for reagent drops eq fallen horse near Defender's Heart time wise! I will avoid for safety's sake.

Woljif sure needs our help first with being jailed and now getting the thiefling mafia off his back. Is this how we want to spend our 3 days? Trust me it will be worth it maybe...?

This quest line is pretty linear so I wont waste space too much space on the first bit and assume you do the following.

• Visit Thiefling Hideout (Remember to loot Lockpicker's Kit I and equip it on belt slot of your rogue!)
  
• Speak with Kerismei and agree
  
• Visit Defender's Heart and speak with Irabeth

and now I will pick back up with us following Irabeth's lead by paying a visit to Ancientries and Wonders Shop. Help Finnean from under the shelf and enjoy the main reward of this quest. This item will be very useful to us for long long time. Equip it on yourself or companion and loot the minor loot in the room including Pipefox in chest. (Remember to give it to high perception/nature character)

Time to talk to the rubble, rock and stone brother. If you forget the code word is Hand of Irori ask about suspicious individuals and exhaust the remaining conversation options. End the dialogue and hopefully manage to lift the rubble covering the basement hatch.

Go down to the basement and talk to the gnome. You will either have to succeed either bluff (24) or intimidate (24) skill check orrr let Woljif take the lead. Either way after he starts talking ask about all the suspects, feel free to kill him if you are exp minmaxing.

Thiefling Trial
(You might want to save)
Time to name the culprit. Talk to Kerismei and tell her you are ready (examine first and check quest journal if you need to.) We got everything we need to name the culprit. Melroun. Only one with redhair and green cloak.

Congratulations if you got it right! Despair at the skip and whats about to follow. You will need to roll diplomacy (24) and intimidation (26)! This can be hard even with charisma character!

If you succeeded enjoy the free key to the vault providing us with much needed 1500 gold and Ring of Sharp Strike!

Time to stop by Defender's Heart to talk to Woljif to wrap things up and spend our new funds, check the shopping list above and spend left over as you want eq wands of bless etc. (Feel free to check Woljifs vendor inventory)

Woljif Spoilers
Woljif personal quest keeps track of things you say to him in pivotal moments. This is one of those more details in the next spoiler..There is "human" and "demon" counter. the "demon" ending technically has better rewards. If you are aiming for human pick "You deceived the people who considered you a friend." if you wish to aim for demon pick "You did the right thing by not giving away the amulet"

Hopefully you made it here without suffering any random encounters, weirdly it seems its based on whether your MC succeeds in stealth check one would assume it would be your party member with highest stealth attempting it but who am I to question Owlcat coding?

Anyways after you made it to Market Square we briefly visited in prologue we ran into another Thiefling who mentions secret passage to Gray Garrison! Feel free to take chaotic option for some extra money.

After you finish your chat with the Thiefling turn west towards the buildings where you will find two dretches. Same strategy as in Shieldmaze throw cold iron javelin with Wenduag and retreat once they cast stinking cloud. If you want to be fancy divide your team so you can immediately counter attack once the spell ends.

Turn back and walk along the rift until you come across bunch of crusaders fighting two dretches and Abrikandilu. You should be fine rushing into the Stinking Cloud but I would recommend waiting for it to end. Focus on the Abrikandilu!
Note: Do not loot trash items here as it will effect your ability to loot more distant places. More important on the aggressive route.

Its about time we filled our party roster. Head back to where we killed those dretches and continue on that path staying between the buildings until you come across brazier and couple of crusaders.


Note: Technically we would earn more experience if we held off doing this until later, but for QoL I am doing it now.

Killing the crusader is slightly the most optimal solution, but solve the situation however you want and adopt the strange girl.
Remember to turn off only active companions receive experience if you are using the trick! This is the last time we have to fiddle with the settings.


Ember is one of our saving graces on unfair and I will be keeping her in my party for rest of the game. Role wise she is suited towards being spell blaster and buffer with hexes giving her even more additional value.

Sadly devs gave her Vulnerability Curse which block us getting access to much needed cackle/protective luck combo. Why is this combo so good? Protective Luck makes enemy's roll twice to hit you and Fortune lets you roll twice to hit foe. I don't need to tell you why these are strong buffs but problem is they only last for one turn which is where cackle comes in by extending the duration by turn meaning you can have these great buffs up always!
Toybox has option to make cackle extend the buffs by 10 minutes. Whether you use it or not I will leave up to you.

(Lvl 4)
Stigmatized Witch, boneshaker, protective luck, 1+ CHA.

Note: Evil eye and fortune are also valid picks. Evil eye might be the strongest choice here as it is solid work horse ability that doesn't require secondary hex eq cackle to effective.


Now that we got full party lets how well the machine functions. Time to take care of marauders just east of where Ember was, but before that quick talk on how to use Ember in combat.

I recommend right clicking slumber/evil eye to make ember auto cast it in combat and you should start almost every combat from now on with slumber. If you picked protective luck you need to manually cast it.


Power of slumber! Remember you can perform coup de grace on a sleeping enemy.

Fight itself is relatively straight forward rookie marauders and two (barbarian) marauders backed by illusionist and archer. Tie their melee with your tank and take care of illusionist quickly then wrap up. Nothing compared to corrupted mongrels we faced before.

Lets mop the other group of marauders while we are it. Go north and west from where you found Ember. This fight is more tricky as there are more melee characters and two archers who will shoot your vulnerable team members.

Luckily there is strategy to make this fight easy. Shoot with your archers and pull back, until enemy archers are forced to target your tank, with protective luck they should be able to weather the storm. Now just send your melee in and clean up.



After your victory make sure to save and continue west where you will run across couple of crusaders fighting bunch of neophytes. Wait for crusaders to lose or charge in while the enemy is distracted there is not much else to say.

After mopping up the trash continue up the slope where the cleric was standing.


You will come across wounded woman and soon realize who she is which lead us to another choice. Will you follow Forn's directive or not? Killing her here and now grants you leather armor +2 and scroll of death ward from Forn yet locks us out of future quest line. I strongly recommend sparing her.

After your choice loot the gem sin wall little bit further ahead if you succeed the perception check. You will see Area Exit but we still have lot to do here turn back and head to where we met Ember.


You might have noticed the house we didn't enter yet and there is reason for that. The rat swarms inside it are surprisingly annoying and require some skilled play to be deal with painlessly. Meaning you might want to do this later!

When you enter inside you will be besieged by rat swarms. These guys are annoying as they will always hit and can hit multiple party members and give nasty diseases. So what do we need to do do deal with this? Basically abuse RTwP and turn based mode. Move in real time away from rats and when you have your actions ready with enough distance between you switch to turn based. Use Woljifs and Embers burning hand spell to deal with the rats.

After your victory disarm the trap and loot the Hide Armor +1 and Seasoned Wings and Thighs Recipe!

Things to do don't end there. Move to book case and examine the summoning circle revealing knowledge arcane check. You can do this later if you find it intimidating as the reward for succeding can be nice.

With that done its time to finally leave.

With this section of map cleared its time to head to north west towards the rift (straight ahead from the area exit we found earlier.) Build the bridge and head across it.

Be wary as soon as you walk through the arch you will be ambushed by creepy crawlies. Funnel them through the arch and be merry.


Keep walking forward don't wander over to the fenced area we will be staying clear of that for while.

You will come across heated confrontation between Ramien and Hulrun. Reveal the light of heaven even if you don't mean to commit to angel. Stay neutral, and don't let wrath lead you to slay Hulrun.

Walk forward and still stay clear of the fenced area. You will notice blue light make sure to interact with it Retain the Aeons power if you are going for Aeon or just trying to get most achievements in one run.

Be wary of group of cultist close to you.

Make sure you don't use the midnight bolt nearby!

Time for for tough fight, this time we are facing rather well balanced group of foes so let us take closer look at the opposition.



So we have 3 clerics that will buff the opposition and debuff us, 2 dretches that will cast stinking cloud, 2 fighters and finally the Flameblade himself. Note: Delay poison protects you from stinking cloud!

So how should we approach this fight? The key here is speed and aggression our regular tactic of pulling back wont work here. Separate your team into two squads (I had Woljif and Wenduag on left and rest hugging the crevasse.)

Charge in real time from both sides focus on dretch with the team on left and with your other team hopefully kill the enemy you charged. Push the advantage and try to kill Flameblade quickly with the right side before he buffs himself also try to land slumber on him.

If you manage to to knock out Flameblade and the couple of fighters in the initial strike before dretches cast stinking cloud you should be fine.

Grease might be good strategy also as he has low reflex save.

After your victory enjoy your new Half Plate +1. Pick up the midnight bolt nearby if you haven't already and never use these unless told so!

Save and head left (south) from the festival tables just past the stairs.

You will be ambushed by rat swarms they are hidden until they get close to you for some reason. Luckily you can just kite them so its only matter of patience. Use reach weapons with your melee to be able to hit them whilst keeping your distance. Be wary of the hungry rat swarm as it has better stats.

After mopping up climb the stairs. Talk to the stranger if you wish though they dont say much continue on and talk to thieflings just above you.

You will notice group of Thieflings just above you. Exhaust the dialogue and take the evil option for bit of gold (110) if you wish, before they leave you get option to recruit them funnily the meta option is not to recruit them, but for roleplay reasons I will recruit them on my playthrough. They will disarm traps during our assault of Gray Garrison and one of those traps gives load of exp!

After you dealt with the thieflings we might as well clear rest of this area little bit south of Thieflings is another encounter.

Title says all that is needed to say about this fight. Remember to use cold iron and charge one of them. If you remember to keep protective luck on your tank this fight should be a breeze.

Only thing to be wary of is their ability to sunder armor, luckily this should not cause you any trouble if you are pajama tanking.

After you are victorious head backwards to the festival area (where we killed flameblade).


Head northwest following the blood trail until we are stopped by Count Arendae's Servant pleading for help. Agree and continue north up the hill, run as group hugging the fence near the tree until you spot Ramien (or use see invisibility if you have it.)



Talk to him, exhaust the dialogue if you wish before asking why him and Hulrun are feuding followed by "Is there a chance you can resolve your conflict?"

Leave the conversation which is when hidden Ilkes reveals himself. Talk to him as much as you want, but make sure to pick "Do you need any help?" which unlocks new quest Starward Gaze!

After you end your conversation head back to Hulrun and tell him you talked to Ramien and he wants only good. This completes the quest and gives us the option of get aid of either Ramien or Hulrun. I strongly recommend picking Hulrun so leave the conversation and talk to him again new option should be available.

Now run back to Ramien and tell him what happened.

With that being done head north of Ramiens location towards the church and from that head little bit east until you see the enemies beyond the fence.

I wouldnt call this fight tricky but I would call it costly. The enemy mage will cast burning arc to start with which will likely one shot its target on higher difficulties and he has annoying 48 hp to boot.

Note: It might be worth it to use Woljifs resist fire on the most likely target

My advice? Put your party south of them and wait until the mage walks down then charge him. Be prepared for your tank to go down and for Flameblade to arrive, I had to switch Seelah to shield and board in middle of the combat as Camellia went down.

After you are done make your way back to your makeshift bridge before we take the athletics check over the rubble (remember protective luck!) I would like to notify you this up coming fight can be tricky so consider using some buffs.

This fight can be very annoying based on your initiative and luck rolls. Abrikandilu might get swipe while you are flat footed downing your tank or dretches cast stinking cloud neutralizing your team. Your best is to hope you nail the initiative and in turn based mode block the Abrikandilu with your tank, hopefully killing one dretch with rest of your team and putting the other dretch to sleep with slumber.

Or just hoping your slumber lands on the Abrikandilu letting you focus on the dretches.

After your victory up north are more centipedes and flies. Just use choke point and you will be fine.
(remember to take the athletics check back for more experience)

Continue along the path and interract with the basement trap door.

Remember to save after you are done as soon you will be ambushed as you continue on your way.

Note: Feel free to use Scroll of Veil of Positive Energy for this fight if you want.

Hate ghouls simple as. Be careful as these guys can paralyze you on hit which means guaranteed death unless you can kill them quickly afterwards. Luckily their AC is low so your tank should be able to gather them up and be fine with protective luck.

Continue down the steps and you should come across a graveyard and be able to see zombies shuffling there beyond the face.

Use Scroll of Death Ward on your tank don't use the other one we have still need for it.


When you are ready start the combat with your ranged character and funnel them through the crates. Keep eye on the shadow that will come out and attack you. Make sure to tie it up the shadow with your tank.

You can only damage shadows with magical weapons and even those don't deal full damage! Luckily the weapon we got from Stolen Moon quests has the appropriate property to deal full damage! Camellia can also give her own weapon ghost touch.

After you are victorious quickly loot the back of the cemetery for Throwing Axe +1. After you have done that backpedal and walk up the steps we didn't come down.

We again see bunch of zombies lumbering around. This time however there are more shadows so be careful we want to avoid them hitting any other party member than our tank. If they target someone else try to quickly kill that shadow, if they get hit in, it results in nasty drain effect warranting a reload (not necessary on easier difficulties).



Continue on wards until you see down slope. Be careful once you go too far brief cutscene plays and you will be attacked.

You might want to hold off with this fight!

One of the most challenging fights in the area and don't take this as idle warning, you might honestly want to wait until level up before tackling this.

Of course it depends on your build if have sanctified slayer/rowdy Wenduag this fight wont be hard, but for the rest of us...this fight can be hard, buff yourself and consider using scrolls.

So what exactly are we up against? Necromancer, 3 zombies and 4 Flameblades/Cutthroats. Necromancer will start by casting haste, followed by blind and scare after. All of these spells are dangerous haste gives extra attack (along with bonus to attack) and movement speed, blind reduces our AC, denies us our dexterity bonus and gives your attacks base 50% miss chance and finally scare will make your whole party run away (triggering attacks of opportunity)

Worst part is that Necromancer has nasty amount of HP making sniping him difficult unless you are or possess Kineticist or ranged character with true strike.

So what is man to do? (do women read rambling strategy guides?)

I can offer you two ways to approach this fight.

1. cast grease on them (you can actually get sneaky grease on them before the fight if you carefully inch closer and avoid triggering the cutscene) consider using scroll of pit, but (metamagic) selective grease would be preferable here.

Afterwards wait for Baphomet cultist and zombies come to you one by one. This strategy relies on Necromancer failing his reflex saves which is unlikely.

Note: You will likely have to use remove blindness scroll we bought in combat, be ready!

2. Put grease/pit between you and them before you trigger the fight. Pull immediately back in RTwP mode. Necromancer should attempt to close the gap with cultist behind him or on their ass. This gives you brief opportunity to charge/slumber him bonus being he will likely switch to using vampiric touch at this point.

Make sure to move your tank to intercept the soon coming cultists. She will likely need to be buffed and protective luck to survive. In turn based mode the cultist will ignore tank at least in my experience so you will need to use RTwP.

After you have beaten the necromancer or saved it for later head to north and then west.




Talk to Curl and feel free to ask for drink we are in need of it after the necromancer. You might want to save us when we walk little bit west of her some ghouls will pop up. This fight is nothing so I wont dwell on it.

Continue west where we will run into another group of cultists.


Our group of foes is made up of barbarians two mages, Vermlek and sharpshooter. If you fiddle enough you can set charge on one of the mages.



Focus of them as usual as they will cast magic missile. What gives this fight some flavor is that we are facing our first Vermlek. Make sure to tie him up with your tank to block him from casting inflict light wounds, mass.

Continue west and head inside the house. Once inside disarm the trap and loot. Read the lore text if you wish and after that descend to the basement.

Loot the corpse for the Scroll of See Invisibility be careful once you cast it we will be faced with powerful foe.

I sound like broken record but as always I mean it. Unless your party is built very well and/or you are willing to purchase and use scrolls this fight will be hard (resource heavy), which is why I strongly recommend casting Slumber on Ember and reloading until you get it to land followed by group coup de grace.

If you want to take this fight head on true strike/magic missiles are your friend, especially with Woljif who can give the enemy -2 AC with debilitating injury which we desperately need.

Either way before you start its time to use that protection from cold scroll we bought earlier.



One thing in our favor is that enemy is alone and deals relatively low damage so even despite his high AC we can deal with him by attrition and heavy potion chucking.

Once you are victorious clear the rubble and loot your reward, the Wicked Longbow!



Leave the basement and head west towards the Desnan church (where Ramien was), adopt the tiger on your way. Our destination is the area past the fence where fought the mage and couple of cultists.


Note: Remember to save!


Once you are here you should see corpse of a crusader with blood trail behind it, follow it, but stop before you get to the loot-able bag. See there is hidden babau there who can one shot us and whom you cannot see even with see invisibility!

Buff yourself accordingly then either use scroll of summon monster or some aoe spell like grease to trigger him and rob him of his ambush!



You might want to consider slumber here, but your tank with protective luck, protection against evil, , reduced person, shield etc should be able to hold him in bay.

Note: To optimize coup de grace against single foe make sure to play in RTwP and disable AI so you can deliver synched blow!

Head south from the temple of Desna to the place where we killed the three Abrikandilus. Do the mobility skill check to climb down and proceed ahead.




Nothing we havent handled before only thing added to the formula is Schir. Relatively good AC with reach attack, but with protective luck our tank should hold. Start combat with synced slumber on Schir and charge on cultists.

Be wary of the archers here as they like to switch their target, if you can sneak past the schir and kill the archers first (be careful though he has reach!)

Loot the Scroll of Vanish and continue east, don't go up the slope yet.


You will come across another group of cultist. Sneak to side and assume position like in the picture below.



We are up against Evoker, 2 Schirs, Cambion and Cultist Conjurer. Enemy front line is formidable but nothing we cant hold with protective luck. The problem is the conjurer who will cast haste and start summoning. We cannot kill him quickly as he has concealment, giving us 50% miss chance and we do not yet have the tools to deal with it.

So what do I recommend? Cast protective luck on your tank, charge slumber on the Cultist Conjurer, but before its cast pause, set up your charges (I recommend killing the evoker) and go.

If you manage to land the slumber be careful as coup de grace triggers AoTs. (Woljifs) Mirror Image works great here as it soaks them for you.

If the Conjurer manages the will save the fight becomes simple battle of attrition.

After your victory against the Conjurer talk to the mongrels little bit south from where the Conjurer was located. Make sure to pick "Right now we need everyone who can hold a weapon. I have a plan: go back below ground and start at the Shield Maze exit. We'll get the beasts at both ends."


Now its time we backtracked towards the first Schir we fought and go up the ramp we skipped before. You should be able to see Schir or Abrikandilu, ignore them for now and hug the eastern side until you are south of the momument. You should now be able to see Vermlek or two.

This fight isn't anything out of ordinary just make sure you charge Vermlek and quickly tie the other one to stop them from casting inflict light wounds mass.



With that wrapped up head enter inside the burning house.


Time for the last fight of this zone and then we can finally leave. Sadly forces of evil wont make it easy for us as this time we are facing 2 Abrikandilus (One is wrecker and more dangerous) and 2 Dretches which alone would be annoying to deal with thanks to the layout of the house, but what makes this fight troublesome is the Brimorak.

Brimorak is fire demon and has access to fireball and fire breath which both deal massive damage. Luckily for us we have Scroll of Protection from Fire, Communal to help us out. This is also good time to bust out any scrolls of fire belly you might have found for extra 5 fire resistance.

So what can we do strategy wise?

Well the first option is using grease/pit etc and luring the enemies to the room you entered from and hoping couple of them fall down. (Or using it more offensively and charging in right after.)

The other option well....

Note: Brimorak and Wrecker have relatively good attack so make sure you are buffed!

Here I used Scroll of Vanish on Woljif and used summon scroll as with no party members in sight it means Brimorak must focus on our summons who just happen to be next to his demonic allies! Afterwards I retreated back to the small room and killed the demons using the door as choke point.

After you are done loot Abrupt Force from the Brimorak, disarm the trap and from the containers in the house collect Piece of a Holy Symbol and Signet of House Vespertilo! Lot of useful items from single location thats for sure.

Congratulations you completed Market Square! Feel free to check around for anything you missed before we head to next location on our route!

This is where aggressive and chill routes part ways! Please consult "Leaving Defender's Heart and Optimal Route" section of the guide for where you are supposed to go next and jump to that part.

At some point whilst you are travelling you will be interrupted by random encounter. What makes this encounter different from the generic ones is the fact you will not instantly attacked by cultists or vermin.

Before proceeding forward go south towards cultists and crusader corpses to loot Longsword of Detriment. (Hidden behind perception check.)




After that quick detour cast magic armor if you are pajama tanking and proceed onward where you will meet Nenio getting ready to quiz some cultisst. Let her and enjoy small amount of experience if you succeed in religion checks. You should easily triumph in the inevitable battle even without buffs, just be careful with the enemy archers.

After you are victorious its time for your grey matter to be probed. Correct answer in spoilers below.

• Which colors does the goddess Iomadae prefer? - Red and White.
  
• Did Aroden take part in any crusade before he died? - No, He didn't
  
• What is the title that Areelu Vorlesh bears? - The Architect of the Worldwound.

When you have answered her questions ask her to join forces with you and recruit her. Whether you want to put her into your party immediately is up to you and depends on your party composition (how many casters do you have etc. If you don't have anyone capable of casting haste put her in your party)


Nenio comes to us character built towards illusion spells (dc caster) which I will build her towards. Boost her intelligence and choose spells from haunting mist, blur, invisibility and true strike (for ray spells)

For feat either go with; greater spell focus (illusion), ambuscading spells and spell specilization (or some metamagic like persistent and selectice).

For level 5 spells consider displacement, heroism, haste, keen edge and protection/resist, deep slumber and magic weapon greater.

But from that list I recommend strongly picking haste and displacement.

Note: Remember you can learn spells from scrolls with her!

I would like to offer my apologies, I completely blanked on Arandaes Party house when I was charting the optimal routes. Guide has been amended to take it into account.

You will be spawned in long corridor. Take the door to your right to the kitchen (which has some food ingredients you should be sure to loot)

Ahead you will be room full of dretches that should not pose any problems for you as they don't even cast stinking cloud.

There is only one way to go now. Be careful as you open the door you will thrust straight into battle. (Note: One of the requirements for "Truly Important Deed" requires you to save all the courtesans. This can be easy or very very hard depending your difficulty/party set up)

The encounter itself is pretty challenging the ferocious schir has 35 AC that be hard to pass without heavy resource usage (Seelahs smite etc) not to speak of Cambion and the other demon.

My recommendation is to immediately pull back into the hallway and as far as you can make it before Schir catches up to you. Your best hope is landing slumber and syncing coup de grace with your party.

After dealing with the Schir you can even save the game before dealing with the rest of the demons!
(Note: you can even cheese even further by pulling the demons one by one into the hallway until only the wizard is left.

Be wary of Cambion Wizard as he will cast burning hands twice dealing aoe damage in cone. Sending only one party member with (Woljifs) resist fire to weather the initial storm is great idea.

After your victory. Talk to Aranka and make sure to tell her I am friend of Ilkes's. He asked me to find you and protect you. followed by Do you know where the third of your group is?

(Save your game)
Time to talk the Count himself. Make sure to pick I expect a little gratitude for saving you. for ring worth 1000 gold! Recruit him, but don't put him into your party. (addendum: Its not horrible idea to take Daeran into your party, consider taking him to evaluate him and reload if you dislike the idea.).

Oh I almost forgot. Remember to loot Decimator from the Schirs corpse.

Finally sweet level up and another feat! Sadly our BAP (Base Attack Bonus) locks us from getting some great feats we need like outflank forcing us to go towards more long term investments hence the combat reflexes. I also picked extra hex with ember which could be considered waste, but I really want fortune next level up to help us with the early game.

• Camellia: Instinctual Warrior (2), Feat: Improved Unarmed Strike.
  
• Seelah: Paladin (4), Feat: Combat Reflexes
  
• Wenduag: Spawn Slayer (3), Feat: Rapid Shot
  
• Woljif: Vivisectionist (1), Feat: Combat Reflexes. Spell choices: Cure Light Wounds, Enlargened Person, Expeditious Retreat, Firebelly, Reduce Person, Shield, True Strike.
  
• Ember: Stigmatized Witch (5), Feat: Extra Hex (Cackle). Spell choices: Cure Moderate Wounds (feel free to pick what you want)
  
• (My MC: Sword Saint (5), Feat: Combat Reflexes, Seize the Moment. Spell choices: Blur, Cat's Grace.)

I often don't know what to do with daeran and usually keep him as just buffer, but I suppose you could turn him into ray blaster or dispeller. Boost his charisma and I would recommend either going with point blank shot, dispel or spell pen for feat.

for spells consider; align weapon, animate undead (lesser), arrow of law, boneshaker, bears endurance (or bulls strength etc), protection from aligment communal and summon monster.

After your level up take the mobility check over the rubble. Loot the corpse and head out, we are done here.

Let's not waste any time and talk to Horgus straight away. He will inform us of our task, kill the marauders inside his home, sounds easy enough considering what we have done.

Take the door to your right and continue onwards until you come across locked door to your right. Lockpick it to gain access to storage room straight out of fifty shades of grey. Make sure to pick up Sickle of Falter while you marveling the collection.

Now its time to deal with the Cambions in the kitchen north of us.

This fighting is nothing to be scared of, we are facing only cambion archer and regular abrikandilu. Kill them and loot the Onion Soup.

Continue to the dining room and be wary of the enemies in the library.

Hang out in the entrance don't go further in. Let the summoner use his summons they are not threat to your tank. Once he shows himself and his summons are dead its time to move in for the kill.



None of the books in library give any benefits if you read them. Continue to next room and go south and east towards entrance hallway.



Disarm the trap and raise the eyebrow at the torture instruments before heading to the next room.

Next room has one melee and one archer cambion. You might want to trigger fight with only your tank in sight of them to force the archer to target them, Otherwise the fight is unremarkable. Loot the room for Silver Robe. Which I suggest you equip on your tank.

With first floor cleared time to head to next floor where we the fights get noticeably harder.

Immediately to your left is room with two Abrikandilus. I wont even comment on the fight itself, but make sure to loot the Magic Essence. Always loot these when you see them!

Continue ahead until you come across next group foes around the circle shape on the floor.

This fight can be tricky, as our enemies are scattered across the room forcing us to dart around. So what are we up against? On our left is normal Abrikandilu, ahead of us is deskari cultist, flameblade and sneaking(?) archer cambion and on our right is a cambion wizard (thankfully not with burning hand spell this time)

Strategy I used was charging the cambion wizard with my non tank melee characters while tank went forward towards flameblade, but I had to swing around to meet the Abrikandilu which I quickly killed when rest of my melee characters arrived. Afterwards I quickly mopped up rest of the enemies. Slumber helped me greatly here and I suggest you make Ember to automatically cast it, but I also got lucky with the archer targeting my high AC characters.

Time to head to the room south to us with open door.

Don't rush straight to ahead meet the cultist slayer in combat instead pull around the corner as this forces enemy archer close the gap. Be careful even with protective luck Cultist Slayer likely will shed through your characters with his ridiculous 20 base attack (not including flanking bonus or study the target).

Heave buffs or slumber needed to deal with this encounter!

Afterwards go near painting by the side of bed. If you pass perception check you will reveal Scroll of Displacement, Scroll fo Remove Disease and Scroll of Stoneskin! Displacement and Stonekin are both very powerful buffs.

Alright time to tackle the last room left. While this isn't as tough as the last room it can still be nasty as when we start the fight we think we are only facing abrikandilu, cambion and single babau which while potentially dangerous is nothing we cant handle. However the game throws curveball against us with another sneaking babau.

Not much finesse here. Use the doorway as chokepoint, hope slumbers lands. This is good time to consider using those cold iron arrows we bought earlier or the scrolls we found in the last room.

Before we signal Horgus disarm the trapped chest and loot Shortbow of Code.

Not much to say other than remember to loot the Breastplate +1. and that if you attack Horgus or refuse you have to kill Camellia.

With that we have completed Gwerm's Mansion!

We arrive at a small shop with only two rooms. Let us first take look at the room in front of us.

If you careful peak through the door way you will notice Cambion alchemist. Strong class able to throw bombs, be careful as these target your touch AC instead your regular AC. He has access to both acid and fire bombs.

With him also are two mimics, foes with lot of health but with no other characteristic we should be afraid of. Their main function in this battle is to annoy us by preventing us approaching the alchemist quickly.

And quickly we must reach him for his damage is unreal even with resist spells. We will need communal protection if we want to have any chance of attrition strategy working.

Better route would be shooting him out of combat with vital strike (I regret trying unfair throwing axe wenduag) and hoping second one lands. This would put him near to death and provided you rushed one of your melee characters in you should be able to finish him of before he starts throwing.

Another option could be deep sleep if you are wizard as his will isn't superb. Selective grease works also great on his mimics.

If you are desperate slumber + coup de grace (probably need demoralize there too) will work but would require many reloads. If you take the slumber road start by moving your tank and preferably STR melee character into the room. With practice you should be able to get the dps character to Alchemist while tying up the Mimics with the your tank.

After your victory loot the Light Crossbow of Oracles Misery. Now lets go clear the other room.

Other room has two mimics masquerading as chests, certified CRPG classic. Just pull back into the door way and take care of them one by one.

Continue ahead until you come across barricade built out of carriage. You will notice you can enter from either side, but both have entranced fighter blocking the way, heralds of what we will face in the future. What makes this fight tricky is the fact that there is babau hiding behind them alongside vermlek necrophage further back from him.

Neither is too much of threat in melee but vermlek will cast Inflict Light Wounds, Mass (atleast) twice! Dealing aoe damage we cant avoid. This singles him out as target we have to engage in melee unless you have vital strike bow user. (just like in market place vermleks will stop casting if they are in melee).

Here is picture showing the approximate location of the sneaking babau and vermlek. My party was hurt in the production of this screenshot.

Problem this presents however is the fact while you can tie vermlek and babau both down with one character the entranced fighters will aim for your vulnerable party members now if you have lets say another character with decent AC or pet this wont be problem otherwise you will have to rely on mirror image, slumber and other control spells. Thankfully as coomers their will saves are low.

After your victory head inside the building.

Inside Tirabade residence we find two more entranced fighters. As the title of this section gives away there is also succubus hiding behind them. This fight can be challenging as the succubus has nasty level drain effects alongside dominate that will almost certainly land.

Luckily there is hope as protection from evil/chaos will protect us from her mind control. Also while her ability to level drain is annoying it can be negated with simple scroll of death ward (though I would recommend saving it for later unless you bought extra) and after she has used her tricks she can do naught but resolve to use her fists.
I got vague memory of her actually using her fists to attack, but apparently Owlcat gave her claws which do decent damage. Sigh everything truly better in the past.

Her AC of 40 is ridiculous and might warrant usage of dispel to remove her mage armor and shield but long enough time spent crit fishing (or true striking/bone shaking/magic missilling) will bring her to her inevitable demise.

Just be aware thanks to her AC even with the aid of true strike you might not be able to hit her. Try to squeeze every attack bonus you can from charge to spells like prayer, bless, bull's strength, magic weapon, divine favor, heroism etc.

Glitterdust works great here if you can get it to land and make her blind. (Ill omen witch spell can boost your chances)

Divine zap, a cantrip certain classes have is also great here if you are desperate.

If you lack the spell slots and potions to give protection from evil/chaos to your whole party you can always unequip one of your characters weapons and reequip after she used domination.

If all else fails intimidate followed by slumber and coup de grace will work after enough attempts.

If you know the dispel dc required to dispel her mage armor/shield let me know.

After surviving succubus and your true foe this big block of text loot the room for Rapier +1 and 830 gold alongside some other minor loot and lore items.

Feel free to ignore carry weight and loot everything!

Ah breath of fresh air. Why do I say that about damp undead filled cellar? Because there are no 40 AC foes here, just your regular old wights and cairn wights.

This is why we bought those scrolls of veil of positive energy.

Strategy wise I did not even bother with charges and came from right and funneled them between the shelves. One tried to flank me but I diverted Woljif with mirror image to block and spanked him with my enlargened melee characters while Camellia held others at bay. I liberally used Embers burning arc here to great value alongside true striking with Woljif to give the enemies debilitating injuries.

Only real threat here is the wight with his large health pool.

If you have Daeran here you can also make use of Channel Positive Energy - Damage Undead. (or Seelah depending on how you built her)

After your victory loot the Icebreaker from the wights corpse and if you succeed in the perception check of 25 Tempest from the next room!


That crit effect is pretty nice early game, real shame its wasted on battleaxe :/

Time to hit the books! Immediately to your left is book titled "Terendelev, the Guardian of Kenabres" which after you right click it in your inventory and choose info gives you permanent 1 AC against dragons, not the most useful of buffs but we take what we can get.



if you continue left (west) brief cutscene will play and you will unlock achievement "Wings of Stone." This is actually my first time playing with The Last Sarkorian DLC.

Past the statue you will find Padded Armor of Focus good for nothing expect selling but it sells for nice amount along with another permanent modifier book!


Even more niche buff that only serves to make me self conscious about the fact that I never did natural attack build...

Lets swing towards the other side now, when we get close to where we entered from will spot Chaleb. Now might be good time to apply some light self buffs (or not). When you are ready approach.

This will trigger dialogue and you will be given many options on how to proceed. Ask the questions you want, but pick options to [Take a closer look at the ruthless crusader] and [Examine the crusaders armor and the symbols on it.]

I am not sure whether it matters if you succeed or not, but this should unlock you new dialogue option. [Give in to the strange instinct]

Whether you want to pick this option depends on your RP, build and if you are trying to get the most achievements. Don't worry this wont lock you into anything permanent yet so I recommend you to do so.

This unlocks trickster path and helps you ever so slightly with your assault on Gray Garrison later on alongside allowing us to get ally which will aid us in Act 2 and Act 5.

In this playthrough I will choose to give into this strange dark ur- I mean instinct. If you picked same option as I did make sure to follow that with the (evil) option unless it goes against your roleplay followed by [Listen to your gut]

Whether you fought them or tricked them before freeing the captives save your game and head towards the east-southern corner of the room. You really want to succeed in this perception check (Difficulty 24) as it will reveal secret room. Make sure to loot the Magic Essence and Quarterstaff of Coercion. anything that boosts DC is super great!

There is also another permanent modifier book called the "Temples of Iomedae: Father Lorian's Guide for Neophytes" which gives us 1 shield bonus to AC! Nice now we are getting somewhere.

North of captives are some bookshelves and one of them contains yet another book that grant us modifier! This one is called "Keen Edge of Truth: Recollections and Admonitions of an Inquisitor of Asmodeus." This one give us +1 competence bonus on our saving throws against swarms. Trust me it will be way more useful than it seems.

Loot everything and I mean everything in the library no matter the weight and finally lets talk with the captives.

Say what you want and take them to Defender's Heart. This functions as free teleport hence why you want to save this place for last and loot everything in here and Pitaxian Wine Cellar.

Before we get out of here Storyteller refers as to Klaem. Make sure to ask him who he is and all the options about Miammir before sending off to Defenders's Heart.

With that we can finally get out of here and back to sweet respite.

As we arrive at the Tower of Estrod you might want to save before we get moving as couple steps ahead we will confronted with the consequences of our actions.

If you picked angel option at end of Shieldmaze you will be praised and your party will be given great buff called angelic aspect. If Instead you picked the demon option they will attack you (this might happen when you leave), but take this what grain of salt as its been while since my demon run. Fight should be easy in any case.

After that is done continue moving forward until we are beckoned over by dwarf to vantage point where we watch demons squabble about attacking Defender's Heart.

I guess this is as good time as any to talk about the time limit. You remember how at Defender's Heart section I talked about time limit of 3 days? After that time is passed demons will attack Defender's Heart and we will get messenger telling us to get over there to defend it.

After the attack time will progress for lack of better word meaning for example Ember will be killed etc locking us out of few things if we hadn't done those already [/spoiler]Ember, Library allies, Thieflings, tower of Estrod. hulrun/desna sidequest[/spoiler], I believe any optional encounters like Tirabade Residence etc would still be there.

But here is the trick, if we decide to go against Greybors advice and fight demons stationed here at Tower of Estrod we will get huge time extension of 6 days (IIRC) which is more than enough to clear the whole map.

If we launch the attack on Gray Garrison before demons attack on Defender's Heart we get extra reward, however I want the time limit to pass after we have done everything we needed to as it unlocks optional boss required for sadistic game design achievement. (defeating it on core also unlocks another achievement)

Note: I believe you get more exp from Defender´s Heart battle than if you skipped it.

If we go right and succesfully take the mobility check over the gap we come across pillar we can push which starts the fight as you can probably guess. Be careful that your own party members aren't in the way!

You can also keep sneaking around them to another pillar you can push down.


I wont go into much detail with the fight itself as its relatively simple if you bought scroll to help you with Faxons fireball spell (he has only one and casts relatively harmless spells after it). Largest problem in this fight are the dretches who will cast stinking cloud once, luckily you can easily deal it with by repositioning or using scroll of delay poison, communal.

After your victory before we head to the basement take the time to loot the Heavy Mace of Fire from Faxons corpse.

Basement is encounter free so there isn't much to say here. Loot the room directly opposite of the stairs you came across from. Continue into the center of room and choose how you want to deal with the cultist. If you spare him we will run into him later in the game.

Inside the room that is to the left of the central pillar is Teudon who has the keys to the doors of this basement if you want to avoid pick locking (pick locking the doors here doesn't grant exp.)

Loot the rest of the rooms on this floor, but be careful of the room above the central pillar as it has some traps.

After all is said and done you should have found Magic Essence, Entrapping Longbow, Grace of Peace, and Lady Callandra's Chainshirt.

Start walking along the street that is in front of us, but be careful of the enemy laid trap. Soon after the trap you should see neophyte barbarian. He is not alone and little bit above in neophyte fighter with wizard and archer behind him. This fight is easy but be careful of the mage as he will cast magic missile.

Note: Remember shield spells makes you immune to it.

Time to turn our attention to the trapped trap door. Disarm it and head inside but be wary we will start very close our enemies.

You will immediately see pair of neophyte barbarians standing guard outside the room and inside that room is one more fighter with our foe of note: Kervil the Sparkling Fist, kineticist (Dark Elementalist to be exact.)

Use the scroll of resist electricity, communal if you purchased one and cast other buffs you might have access to.

Charge the pair of guards and try to quickly try to cleave your way to the Kervil. He hits relatively hard if he manages to actually get hit in, but his relatively low HP dooms him. In fact I am pretty sure he could be killed with single vital strike.

With that make sure to loot Lesser Kinetic Diadem and after that we are done with this area.

Here is list of things not covered in rest of the guide you should do before assaulting Gray Garrison (and Defender's Hearts Defense)

• After your first rest you will get ominous dream and errand "Day of Strife" talk to Vassily in Defender's Heart to finish it.
  
• After you have visited Market Square and found Jannah Aldori talk to Seelah in Defender's Heart and agree to help.
  
• After you have recruited Nenio talk to her in Defender's Heart and agree to help her in visiting the ruins.
  
• After you have dealt with Kaylessa at Market Square talk to Forn in Defender's Heart.
  
• After you have talked to Aranka at Arandae Party House go to Market Square to find Thall. (He is straight ahead from spawn masquerading as crusader.) Hulrun will interrupt your chat, intervene and show the light of heaven.
  
• After you have you have found Thall and saved him from Hulrun visit Desnas temple to complete "Stalward Gaze" choose the option to sing along (if it fits your rp). This will thrust you into storybook event where you can unlock more options later down the road if you choose "Yes. I really want to" when it comes up.
  
• After you have cleared Tower of Estrod report the fact to Irabeth for some experience.
  
• After you have visited Blackwing Library and rescued storyteller talk to him in Defender's Heart, show him the items you have collected and make sure to ask him "Can I help you?"
  
• If you posses the Last Sarkorians DLC, after you have visited Blackwing Library make sure you have triggered "cutscene" by leaving and entering Defender's Heart.

• After you have completed everything else take few trips to Market Square to haul thousands of weights worth of equipment to sell at Defender's Heart (Will net you approx two thousand gold.)
  
• If you summoned the Vrock at Market Square its time to go kill it now (More about below.)
  
  You may also take the time to talk to your companions, Hulrun, Klaem and the Thieflings if you wish.
  
  Make sure to take look at your own quest log at this point to see if you or I forgot something!
  
  
  Vrock
  Vrock can be challenging foe at this part of the game, but luckily for us he is alone. This allows us to use general cheese tactic of intimidate followed by (evil eye and) slumber. If you are set on fighting him for real or your slumber fails you should know to bring bless scrolls as he will most likely first use ability that hits you in AoE which causes DoT damage, but can be removed via bless.
  
  He also will cast mirror image and use stunning screech.
  
  It should be said you should be fully buffed and I would recommend casting true strike on your melee combatants before engaging (remember bless weapon on woljif if you are using him)
  
  (You can also true strike with nenio to blind/dazzle him with blinding ray)
  
  Other than that there is not much to say when you are ready make your way to back to the Market Square to the fenced area we skipped before, here is reminder if you forgot.
  
  
  

We could launch our attack on Gray Garrison right now by talking to Irabeth, but as I promised I will intentional let time pass in order to trigger attack on Defender's Heart which in turn will progress "time" and make optional boss appear in the Market Square.

If you don't care about that skip to section "Preparations for Gray Garrison" where I will talk about who to bring along and what to buy!

Note: Option to skip time without resting is in bottom left corner of the screen. This is only important for those going for sadistic game design achievement.

If you haven't completed Through the Ashes DLC and want to do so for rewards now is the time! Once we begin the battle we will be prompted to import save file!

Messenger has come to get us! Our fair inn is under siege, if you haven't already buy grease from Woljif and learn it with Nenio. (Or just buy them)

Grease will be useful in the upcoming fight doubly so if you have wizard with selective metamagic lucky you. If you aren't fully rested now is the time for nap.


Before we talk to Irabeth, if you have access to spells use them to buff yourself as these carry over to the battle itself and saves you time! You might even want to consider using scrolls and potions.

Note: You can use scrolls and potions on your party members if you choose them in your inventory before casting/drinking. Remember Vissaliy will cast scrolls here for you! No skills needed.

Battle
Battle begins with sweet cutscene of cultist breaking down our doors. Our main objective will be to kill arsonists who will attempt to destroy defenses.

Even though we are thrust straight into combat take second to buff your team it will pay dividends later on (Haste with extend rod works well!)

As I said earlier grease at the entrance work wondrously and one on the stairs little bit later on as well. You will be facing horde of neophyte fighters (and barbarian) supported by dretches, schirs, deskari cultists and Flameblades. Don't feel to need to engage every neophyte who spawns if you can let them go to where crusaders are holding the line to be killed and focus on what really matters.

You know you arrived at the final wave fiendish minotaur appears. He shouldn't be able to hit your tank if you have buffed them through the fight but if you wish to play carefully cast displace on them.



After you have killed the minotaur, arsonists and dretches demons will retreat allowing us to claim victory! Remember to loot the carriage outside for gold!

After emerging victorious from the demonic assault its time to face the optional boss of this act and see if we can fare better than Hulrun. Before we head market square few things about scrolls we need to buy.

Demon we will be facing will cast mass hold person which will land and paralyze us! Luckily this can be avoided with freedom of movement which Vissaliy sells scrolls of, sadly they are very costly with 700 gold a pop, you can buy only few if you wish to try to bait the Nabasu to waste spell on your protected party members with rest staying at safe distance until its used.

Second thing we need to protect our self against is his drain effects as such we need to purchase scrolls of death ward though if your teams dps is high you can avoid purchasing these.

After you have decided on your purchase time to head to face our foe, the Nabasu will located where necromancer was here is picture of his location in case you forgot.




Stat wise he is push over for us with ample buffs and there is no reason to hold back you can easily focus him down. Only thing to be wary of his ghouls will come to his aid from every side, you could try to focus him down and then play whack o mole with ghouls or pull back to force ghouls come from one side.


Nani?

After your victory loot the Amulet of Devouring nice item for Ulbrig or any pet you might have.

Here are what buffs I had on at the time of fighting him, nothing too special.



There are also some couple of extra fight in the area you can do for exp, they are all easy fights eg ghouls or small fry demons.

Addendum: Vrock fight used to be at this part of guide, but as it turned out to be mistake I am moving it to "List of Things to Do Before Gray Garrison".

I dinged here and this is what I went for level ups.

• Camellia: Vivisectionist (2), Discovery: Crane Style.
  
• Daeran: Oracle (6), Spell: Animate Undead, resist energy communnal, searing light, delay communal poison and magical armor are all great options.
  
• Ember: Stigmatized Witch (6), Hex: Fortune.
  
• Nenio: Scroll Savant (6), Spell: Keen edge, Magic weapon, greater, and fireball are all great options.
  
• Seelah: Paladin (5), Horse
  
• Seelahs Horse (5), +1 Int, Feats: Dodge, Toughness, Improved Unarmed Strike.
  
• Ulbrig: Griffonheart Shifter (6)
  
• Wenduag: Spawn Slayer (4), Feat: Combat Reflexes.
  
• Woljif: Vivisectionist (2), Feat: Combat Reflexes.
  
• (My MC: Sword Saint (6), Magus Arcana: Enduring Blade.)

Here we finally are almost ready to jump in to the finale of this act. Be careful with your preparations as once we go in there is no turning back until we emerge victorious so making hard save here is advisable.

Take a minute to consider which party members you will bring along with you. I strongly recommend bringing Nenio if you don't have other any arcane casters, but take note of the fact we will start the assault with very long duration haste (if you followed the guide and saved Klaem) meaning you wont need to assign spells slots to haste.

If you haven't already I would strongly recommending pick up Dark Veil and Extend rod (allows you to extend spells duration 3 times per day) both of these will be very useful items for the whole game.

Note: Now might also be good time to consider investing in buff bot for dividends later on in the game. Control+F Buff Bot to find dedicated section.

IF YOU WANT TO COMPLETE INEVITABLE EXCESS NOW IS THE TIME!

This time we dont have as strict shopping list as last time. Remember to also consider other equipment that Defenders Heart vendors sell eq special longspear/armor if you are cavalier.

We will arrive at the Gray Garrison using the smuggling route Thieflings told us about earlier, right next to us are group of crusader wizards who once we move will cast ritual to grant us haste that will last 1h 30m!

This is potentially enough time to potentially complete the dungeon even on unfair! Before we move on to upstairs take the time to loot the basement, be wary of the traps as they will spew forth fireballs potentially one shoting you on higher difficulties. If like me you were confused about where to disarm the traps here is picture.



Make sure to loot special item (in case you missed it you will know once you see it) from the room I placed the yellow dot!

With that its time to climb the stairs, just be aware moment we get to the next floor we will be attacked so apply your long lasting buffs if you haven't already!

Fight itself will be just warm up. Two Deskari cultists alongsid twoe wizards who will cast useless spell. Only character who might posess danger to you is the cultist archer.

My build is finally starting to do something. Here you can see my character hitting and killing 3 foes with one attack with all the hits being crits. Keen edge spell cast with extend rod (1h duration) and fortune synergise well.

Comb the rest of the floor and continue to the second floor.

Next floor straight left to us is locked door with some minor loot behind it, straight ahead of us are two vermleks.

You don't need me to tell you how to kill them. Lets keep moving.

Next fight is easy but may cause you attrition if you haven't buffed correctly. Make sure to have to delay poison, communal up if you haven't already alongside shield with your tank.

Enemy force is made up by couple of speed bump demons and supported by dretches and by two wizards and archers. Enemy wizards will cast magic missiles which will be negated by your shield spell after they will move to more effective burning arch.

Quickly and boldly move forward while you ranged characters kills their ranged characters and magic casters (with Ember trying to slumber them.)

After your victory take the stairs downstairs. You will see group of Deskari cultist through the door gap. Another easy fight your shield will block magic missiles of their wizards so mop up and proceed.

Click the door with blue sigil. Your wizards will open it for you, kill the small group of patrolling cultists and turn back (Kill the cleric first as he will cast channel negative energy to damage you).

Lets not continue going that way for now. Head back and towards the room with altar.



Once you enter the room you will be ambushed by group of invisible dretches. Pull back into the door way and take care of them. If you succeed with religious check on the mural you will unlock corruption cleanse. Don't take it yet, if you rest you will get corruption and this will remove it.

Once you bullied to lowliest of demons head to adjacent room.

Once again another fight that should not possess any trouble unless you are rocking heavy armour. Use the door way to your advantage if you wish but you should be fine without..

Make sure to loot the Magic Essence from this room and then lets head to the room north of dretches and take the stairs down to the basement.

and it has along some welcome allies...more dretches. Kill and move back upstairs, our destination this time is the room north of where we killed the Abrikandilus. Lock pick the door and make sure to loot the Lesser Sonic Quiver and Heavy paws.

Now time for the adjacent door


Those doing Last Azlanti be careful. Game will save once you open the door and begin the encounter! Prepare accordingly!

We will be up against alchemist and bunch of cultist both ranged and melee. Your best pet is pulling back behind the corner and casting pit/grease in the area. Make sure to snipe the alchemist, I think he throws fire/blinding bombs, but I actually killed him too fast to check (he has only 100 hp so in range of getting two shotted via vital strike.)



He is also has decent AC with blur which annoyingly grants us 20% miss chance.

What most often get me in this fight are the archers. Be careful as they like to snipe your magic casters magic mirror works wonders here!

After your victory loot our first Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2 (This doesn't stack with cats dexterity.)

See if you can reveal the secret door (masquerading as cabinet) which leads to staircase. Don't take the stairs up but loot the potion room with healing and restoration potions.

Once you step back into corridor you should see arch way its time to make our way to that room.

Don't be scared by the title this succubus is weaker than the one we faced before. Hopefully you still have some crusader wizards alive, if you do you can use option to [dispel] and free some crusaders from her charm.

Not much to say, focus on the fallen crusaders and let the redeemed simps take the hits from the succubus. 30 AC shouldn't be threat to you at this point of the game.

After you have dispatched her its time to turn our attention to the puzzle of this room. This one can be confusing on your first playthrough first time I came across it actually solved it via sound the statues played.

Answers to puzzle below






Reward is access to hidden armory. Loot what you want from it and lets continue.

Since I used scrolls of resist/protection (from) fire for Othirubo fight and still have those buffs up I am going to make use of them quickly.

Head back to the where we fought Othirubo and take stairs hidden behind the cabinet to the second floor.

You should be in cramped corridor with door in front of you. Don't touch it yet and double check you have buffs to protect you from fire up. If you do select your highest AC character and open the door, this will immediately start the fight with all the enemies (including the archer!) targeting your tank!

You will soon see the reason for the fire protection as two fireballs are launched your way. This fight is relatively simple just be careful with the archer in the back and cleric who will channel negative energy.

After your victory loot the room and go back downstairs.



Proceed like in the picture snaking along the corridor until you see demon corpses. Stop and take the time to do the knowledge check if you brought the Thieflings with you they will interrupt and proceed to disarm the trap for you robbing us out of bunch of experience.

Go into the room just next to the corpses and loot Tankard of Freespirit, the Malady and Magic Essence.

Continue onward and loot the next room for Shiny Dagger!

When you come across trap in middle of corridor don't follow your natural instinct of trying to disarm it instead move around it and go through the door at the end of of the corridor.

You will see group of Cambions but don't fall into sense of easy for behind them are the real threats the vermleks. Set up charge on the furthest cambion you can see on your highest AC character and charge with rest of your team the one closer to you.

As the battle starts immediately move your tank to engage both Vermleks to prevent them for casting. You should play this battle in RTwP mod. In turn based Vermleks have the tendency still cast in melee.

Now is good time to back track to disarm that trap we skipped before. When you enter the room you will quickly notice the lone cambion, if we had done this before the Vermlek fight he would called for help, but now there is no one left to hear his screams.

After you are done you will notice lever to open locked the door we saw before do that and then open the door right next to Vermleks we killed to enter a room with with pair of...Vermleks. You know the drill at this point.

After you dealt with them move the cabinet to reveal room with some minor loot and with that its time to tackle the next floor!

Immediately to your right is room with some minor loot and way to cleanse corruption for when you need it and to our left is well... before I get to that deal with the 3 schirs in front of us if you haven't already.

Done that? Sheezh I guess we can talk about whats behind that door now.

Behind the door is the boss and the hardest encounter of this dungeon. Be careful as the encounter begins once you take few steps in so make sure you are properly buffed for it.

If you have the dark veil now is the time to use it.

We will be faced with small group of demons (abrikandilus, schirs and cambions) backed up by three archers at the back and the Deskari Priestess of Kenabres Jeslyn.

This is one of those battles where we have to kill the target quickly and not allow them to finish what they are doing which here would be Jeslyn summoning swarms.

Thanks to our earlier actions we are not alone as Hulruns inquisitors will arrive to help us. They wont last for long but will help us tie down demons and all the help is welcome.

So what should we do strategy wise? I would recommend holding the melee demons with your highest AC character while you sneak your other melee characters to take care of Jeslyn. If you are especially blessed she might fail her check to cast in melee which happened to me.



Another option might be letting her cast and running away and letting her summons expire. I haven't tested this strategy yet so try at your own risk.

No matter how you dealt with her after your make sure to loot bunch of nice items including Befouled Key, Dark Glowing Scythe, Amulet of Natural Armor +2 and Cloak of Resistance +2. You should always prioritize cloaks of resistance on your tanks as consequences of failing saving throws are hardest on them.

The loot doesn't end there as left (north) from where Jeslyn was standing is fake wall (which your thiefling escorts will spot) and behind that is some loot most notably Bulky Pick.

With that done lets head to where the 3 schirs were and from there continue moving forward.

We will arrive into the library. To the left (north) of us is door with blue sigil. Sadly at this point I didnt have anymore crusader wizards alive, but the door can be locked picked and behind is small room with chest containing Mordant Waraxe and Scroll of Stoneskin.
(I recommend using Apprentice Lockpick)

Our games might differ slightly once we proceed further into the library. If you did what I did at the Blackwing Library we will be met with cutscene of Chaleb and local cultists self deleting. Otherwise you will be faced with easy encounter.

Whatever happened in your game make sure to go into the room left (north) of the cultist and from there loot the Elven Notes From the Gray Garrison that is laying on the table.

Once you are ready return to the library and open the door to the south which will bring us to U-shaped corridor be careful as there is pair of babaus patrolling.

Lets head to the (left) north for now which will lead us immediately to another door. Enter it and once you have checked it let move to the last room left to us on this side.
Here behind mobility check we will find chest with Magic Essence. As always make sure to pick it up before heading back to explore the other route.


Make your way down and ignore the first door you will as this will trigget encounter. Instead maneuver around the traps and position yourself at the corner before opening the room with your tank.

Resulting fight will be quite easy if you triggered this encounter like I advised. Block the door way and focus your ranged on their ranged. Cast control spells like grease if you wish, I used Haunting Mist here which helped Ember land slumber on minotaur.

Note: Keep close eye on your party members. Ember run into the trap because I ordered her to sleep one of the archers

You might want to consider using displacement here on your tank as they will be receiving lot of attacks and even with protective luck you might get unlucky. Once the enemy front line is terminated pull back and let the archers approach you if your ranged didn't deal with them already.

Now we check whats behind the door we skipped.

Once we open the door we will be greeted with sight of some poor souls who have been presumably transformed by the Deskari priestess we killed earlier. Luckily for you they are slow and only real danger are the ghoul stalkers. You should be fine here even without control spells, but make sure to focus on the ghoul first.

After you granted the dead peace you can do religion check on the basin. If you succeed you will be presented with athletics check to clear it to unlock corruption cleanse. Be warned however this takes some time so your buffs might expire.

Once you are done open side door and lets take the stairs to the third floor!

As you arrive to where we once were be prepared, after we take few steps we will trigger encounter.

We will be up against sole Minotaur with not too high AC and while his attack is respectable its nothing too crazy so what exactly is the problem here? Well he has the tendency to charge through our party members straight into our vulnerable back line.

You might be able to avoid by hanging back with your vulnerable characters and summon summons before this encounter. (remember the tankard we found earlier) Using displacement/mirror image on them also works well as does using true strike+blinding ray with Nenio.

He also has DR/Good 10 meaning from every hit we get on him 10 damage will reduced from the damage unless the damage dealing weapon had "good" property which is where align weapon scrolls come in handy.

Ultimately though for all his bullish vigor he is alone and if you are really desperate you can fall back into slumber cheese

After you have vanquished him loot the Blocker from his corpse and take the time to go check if you missed anything and to loot the earlier floors of the dungeon.

FINAL CHANCE TO COMPLETE INEVITABLE EXCESS DLC

After you have made your final preparations jump over the rubble and interact with the wardstone. This will present us with whole slew options.

Our decision here wont lock us into mythic path, but can make getting the secret ending easier. Be warned if you don't choose Aeon option here the ability to pick Aeon mythic path will be blocked from you.If you are going for secret ending and don't care about Aeon path picking either "quell the anger" or "unleash the demonic fury" are the optimal choices.

I went with the "quell the anger." If you are playing on core or less enjoy your moment of power fantasy if you are on unfair let me grace you with little help before we leave Act 1.

If you are playing on unfair this can be somewhat challenging encounter as the demons are many and all around you and still hit as hard they ever did with Minagho ready to punish you with phantasmal putrefaction (which nastily damages our wisdom and will be costly to heal.) Luckily for us there is easy solution to this you see demons will fail their saving throws while we have the "mythic power" buff active meaning we can just slumber or otherwise incapacitate Minagho.

This lets us land coup de grace on her which hopefully ends the battle. You may also use spells like grease to stun large amount of demons.

After your victory prepare to leave the Gray Garrison, don't worry about mythic powers yet I will talk about those soon for now just click to leave and make sure to click collect all! We need all the money we can get in the next act!

During the celebration when the source of mirthful voice is revealed if you are wishing for romance pick the option to [Kiss Her Hands]

Mythic powers! This is where the fun starts. In this section of the guide I will give you my take on the generic mythic abilities and feats alongside briefly talking about "First Ascension."

As brief reminder I would like to mention this is not build guide and while I will attempt to take the meta into account (as far as I know it) I have yet to acquire full blooded build autism required to speak in absolutes.

As the game mentions this wont bind us to any of the mythic paths so choose freely to your roleplaying or minmaxxing hearts delight.

Here are my opinions on the perks of each Ascension summarized in neat table.



Mythic abilities are powerful traits and abilities we get every other mythic level. We will acquire up to 10 mythic levels during our playthrough meaning we will get to choose around 5 mythic abilities.

So consider your picks carefully also take these two things into the account while making your choies.

Firstly, we get some mythic levels very late in to the game and secondly some abilities scale of mythic levels we have like for example mythic beasts. This means we should take them later on in the game.

Here is chart to show my rough rating of the mythic abilities.

From left to right in no particular order.
Meta: Archmage Armor, Always a Chance, Corruptor, Ever Ready, Impossible Domain, Inspirational Leader, Last Stand, Master Shapeshifter, Mythic Inspiration, Rupture Restraints and Second Mystery.

First Picks: (Greater/Improved) Abundant Casting, Ascendant Element, Battle Meditation, Best Jokes, Defensive Study, Distracting Shots, (Greater) Enduring Spells, Everlasting Judgement, Explosives Expert, Favorite Meta Magic, Limitless Rage, Ranging Shots and Second Spirit/Bloodline.

Good: Beneficial Curse, Bloodline Ascendance, Boundless Healing, Ranging Shots, Expose
Vulnerability, Leading Strike, Mythic Charge, Mythical Beast and Over-Infused Blasts.

Nice to have: Abundant Arcane Pool, Abundant Bane, Abundant Ki, Abundant Smite, Brutality Incarnate, Dimensional Retribution, Domain Zealot, Emergency Help, Full Reservoir, Magic Nullification, Perfect Cavalry, School Tolerance and Witch Wandering Hex.

Never Pick: Any means Necessary, Ascendant Summons, Elemental Barrage, Powerful Shadows and Throw Elixir.

It dawned upon me whilst I was making this that I probably should have used names instead of picture my apologies.

Anyways I want to talk about some abilities in greater detail. Most Meta minded players pick Last Stand as their first mythic ability and for good reason. It basically gives you 2 turns of invulnerability once per day! This is good pick on any character especially frontliners/tanks and must must have on Last Azlanti mode. In same vein rupture restraint is good to lesser degree as bad status effect can cause wipe.

While we are talking defensive Archmage Armor is the reason why pajama tanking is so strong even one 1 AC bump is powerful and this can give up to 10!

Impossible Domain should be your first pick on any character that can choose it. Community/Animal domain is just too strong or you could go for law if you know how to boost your DC.

Ever Ready can give you up to 10 bonus on attack when you AoT and remember outflank/seize the momentum trigger AoTs!

Corruptor allows spells like Stinking Cloud and Cloudkill to pierce demons (and other foes) immunity to poison.

Master Shapeshifter used to work with kitsune in human form though I don't know if this is patched.

I rate Enduring Spells higher than most of the Meta community do and I am aware of that, but its just huge QoL to have buffs up all the time and it also makes the game very easy.

I might as well cover mythic feats now as well. I will probably make this its own section in the future when we actually take our first Mythic feats but if you are curious here are the details.

You get mythic feats every second mythic level, you may choose to take mythic ability (or normal feat) in its stead if you wish.

Many but not all mythic feats are improvements on normal feats and require the normal feat to be picked up, for example to pick power attack (mythic) you need power attack.

Anyways here is rough ranking of mythic feats, with text this this time.
Same rules apply as with regular feats. You want to boost your characters specialty. Are they front liner with good AC? Boost AC. Are they caster? Grab spell penetration and if they are DC caster like Nenio boost their DC.

I tend to personally value boost to attacks over damage hence why I placed Point-Blankshot so high with Two-Weapon Fighting.

Someone of these feats can also be argued to be lower or higher in certain instances like Destructive Shockwave can be good if you are fighting foe you have hard time hitting and/or you throw tons of attacks (eq strength based dual wielder.)

Destiny Beyond Birth could give 2 to important stat, but why you would play race/class combo that doesn't mix well is beyond me unless you are playing some edge case like pounce kitsune or the gnome cavalier class.

Combat Maneuvers like Bull Rush etc are in my experience meme on higher difficulties, but might rate higher if you have class that attempts those for free.

And with that we have finally escaped Act 1 and made it into Act 2! If you somehow stuck with this guide all the way from beginning to here I would like to offer my deepest thank yous, I truly hope I have been some help to you.

With that being said back to regular programming. It seems we have new station to live up to alongside monarch we need to have chat with, but before we tackle that lets take the time to explore our new hub.

First things first talk to Storyteller who should right next to where game dropped us. Make sure to give the Storyteller the pages we found at Gray Garrison and while we are talking to him pick "Please, examine the items..." followed by [give the storyteller the Broken buckle...]

Our dilligence will reward us with The Covenant of Inheritor.


+2 to penetrate spell resistance is amazing and our weapons counting good-aligned is nice QoL.

Next places in our list are the Tirabade's Tent where we can loot Half-Plate of Vigor.
Tirabade wont mind us nicking it surely? Check Nurah's tent while we are here for some minor loot before we swing "Eagle Watch Encampment"

By the way if you are wondering why I haven't described directions its because they all right there on our map!

Just southeast of Nurah's tent is our companion Daeran, who, like the scoundrel he is, is making ready to leave the Crusade with his courtesans in tow. If you are looking to romance him I believe the line If you feel you don't belong here, go. But i'd like to see you again someday in the future. To get to know you better. You can throw a banquet for me to celebrate our victory in Drezen, what do you say?

I wont cover Daerans romance in the guide, but if you follow my overall choices with him you should be able to do it. No hard promises though. This is good place to mention if you are looking to romance someone have them in your party all the time.

Anyways lets continue our counter clockwise sweep of this place. Just above Wenduag you will find some people we saved earlier and you will have to make most important choice of this game /s

Continuing the sweep will bring us to Seelah to whom we can interact with and right above her are the Nerosyan recruits.

Take the time to drop by field medic which is where we can buy our scrolls in this Act.

Moving onwards bring us to the Chapel tent and Kenabres Crusaders.

Doing all that finally brings us in front of Commander's Tent, but before we head in lets talk to our quartermaster just little down from it, you can even ask him what crusaders think of you for some reactive dialogue, rarity in this game and yes I will cover vendors and items later so dont buy anything yet but feel free to sell your crap.

I just now realize I haven't told you this, but you should always have back up weapons of different damage types on your martials.

Right next to our quartermaster Wilcer is Jernaugh make sure to ask him "Have you joined the crusade?"

With that we can finally go and have chat with the queen. There are only few things I need to tell you about this conversation. Firstly you may show her the Covenant of Inheritor and even give it to her but I strongly recommend against as it may be done later and truly probably should not ever be done.

Secondly you should ask her "And what are you going to do?" which presents us with the opportunity to ask her to remain with the crusade.

Her joining the crusade is net boon and gives you the ability to kindle(?) a romance, however if you want to access the secret mythic pathSwarm-That-Walks you DON'T want her joining the crusade.

With that this Act opens up and we are almost ready to leave. Don't worry I wont write another word wall this time.

• Talk to the Mysterious Elf. (Next to quartermaster Wilcer)
  
• Talk to Horgus. (Next to quartermaster Wilcer)
  
• Talk to Irabeth, give her the scabbard, ask and pay for reinforcements and brown nose her by picking "It's hard to believe..." (Irabeth Is in front of her tent)
  
• Talk to Liotr and agree to help. (Near encampment of Kenabres Soldiers)
  
• Talk to Sosiel and ask him why he wanted to see you. (Sosiel is front of the Chapel Tent)
  
• Talk to Daeran after talking to Liotr and pick "I'd love to visit Heaven's Edge" (Daeran is near Sosiel)
  
• Loot Glowing Croissant recipe from Chapel Tent.
  
• Talk to Ulbrig if you possess the Last Sarkosian DLC. (West from Commander's Tent)

Feel free to take the time to your companions and fellow crusaders if you wish. There is no strict shopping list we need to adhere to this time around, but I will note we will be fighting some fire based enemies (which Sosiels resist should be enough to handle) and once we enter Martyr Zacharius's Cemetery a fight will start immediately, meaning you should use scrolls and potions to buff yourself on the map before you enter. I strongly recommend buying haste scroll from Woljif and magic armor protect from evil etc if you have none.

I suppose I should take moment to talk about our new companion. Sosiel is good at determining your perspective on life. Are you glass is half full or half empty type of guy? Well lets find out you see from one perspective Sosiel is great because he is cleric and our only cleric at with access to great spells and domains.

The other way of looking at him? His build is god awful, his domain picks are at best niche meaning we will have to waste multiple mythic points to get him to where mercenary we could hire right now could be immediately!

Camellia: Archmage Armor (consider last stand)
Daeran: Enduring Spells (I wont use Daeran actively in my party hence my pick)
Ember: Ascendant Element Fire
Nenio: Abundant Casting
Seelah: Mythical Beast
Sosiel: Impossible Domain: Animal Domain (I chose leopard for help tanking early game, but IIRC STR pets are better late game. If you go with leopard pick anything that boosts AC/HP and pump its intelligence by one when you get attribute point. Remember the crane wing feat line!)
Ulbrig: -
Wenduag: Ranging Shots
Woljif: Archmage Armor
My Character: Last Stand, Instrument of Freedom

I will be taking Sosiel with me (along rest of my party) and heading to Martyr Zacharius's Cemetery. Afterwards I will be dropping him off at the camp and taking Seelah for Houndheart Camp.

Next section will cover vendors of this act and one after that will be (hopefully) brief rundown on crusade management.

If you are skipping vendor section I strongly recommend that you buy Bracers of Rough Landing from Wilcer and atleast 2x protection arrows communal (along with 1 scroll of dimension door, mass if you used it) from from Vassily for the cemetery!

You might want to immediately return to camp as you get errand to talk to Galfrey which will net us 400 experience. You might need to clear the two battles in crusade mode (next section) for this to be possible.

If you pick "May I ask you personal question?..." following it with "Mendev is lucky to have such a Queen..." or "I look forward to working with closely with you," will start/progress the romance.

Alright its time to tackle the topic of vendors in this chapter and what topic it will be let us just say we wont be running out of the ways to spend money.

And as side note as money is precious whole game consider twice your purchases. Its better to wait than to purchase for example Ring of Protection that is one higher. Likewise consider your weapons purchases is the effect good?

Wilcer sells some great equipment, mainly weapons, but there is one accessory I consider must buy.



Woljif has pretty varied stock from scrolls and potions to weapons and rods, most are worthless some however are pretty great.


Good old Vissaliy totally dominates other merchants in the category of fleecing our pockets by selling great accessories, items and scrolls. So many in fact that I cant list them all, I suggest you take look at the scrolls on your own.

Most people hate the Crusade Mode I am not quite in that camp, but its clear it needed some extra time in the oven before it was ready. Just like Rogue Traders fleet combat...what is it with Owlcat and unfinished mini games?

Anyways in this act Crusade Mode is basically linear tutorial.


Your first move should be hiring and assigning an general to the reinforcement army we bought which is near Kenabres.

You can easily do this by clicking the "i" on the bottom left your screen and clicking assign general. This will open screen with many general picks. Closing it and reopening it gives you new options, choice of general is very very important as such I recommend the meme Setsuna Shy or if you are feeling experimental Baroness Gaunther.

I will talk more about generals later, but for now I will give quick rundown on most valuable perks and abilities.

• Damaging spells (Ability to damage any troop in the battlefield)
  
• Healing Spell (Ability to heal in battle)
  
• Master of Maneuver (Boosts how many stacks we can have in the army)
  
• Anything else that boosts QoL or strength of the general or units.

After you have assigned general to your army near Kenabres click the recruit button on bottom left corner and hire some Archers (in general prioritize archers over infantry) with your remaining funds, don't worry this time its not coming out of our gold reserves.

With that done we can move our Kenabres stack and combine with the troops Galfrey granted to us. Blitz forward and clear the two first fights. You should not able to lose these but play them to get idea how things work. Remember to hire more troops with funds we get from these battle and keep moving forward until your daily movement is spent.

(How the ♥♥♥♥ did we hire more troops than Galfrey with our measly 7500 gold? is Queen really that big of cheapskate?)

Note: Crusader camp will move further on map as you clear fights. Keep this in mind.

I had rough time deciding how to even even format this, but decided to cram it into (hopefully) single page. Take note as we get troops weekly and time time we entered Act 2 differs time you or I get troops/funds will differ

Combine your two armies and go fight the first group of flies, the battle should be easy. Afterwards decide if you want to engage the larger group flies.

The army of flies will be our first challenging crusade mode fight and will cost us troops as we are meant to tackle it later, but I hate moving armies backwards which is why I am deciding to get it out of the way now. You may wish to leave it for later yourself though.


You will want to huddle your army in corner with your archers in the safest position. You will want to defend with your ranger and cleric while you do damage with archer and your dps spell (which you should cast every turn. Do not focus on whipping out units, but try to whittle their numbers in each stack (so they do less damage.)

Heal with cleric as needed.

Here are my results. I could have done better as I foolishly attacked with my cleric instead of defending few times.

Usually we want to avoid taking any casualties in battle as getting new troops is slow and battles will be only get harder. (Read we don't want to go over what the infirmary covers)


With rest of your movement move and clear the demon army near Vilareth Ford (One with archers) you should be able to reach it.

Move and engage the Demon Army composed of cultist fighters, footmen and archers which is located towards Chilly Creek close to army made of elementals.

Speaking of Elementals go engage them as well. Be careful as I have faint memory of them hitting pretty hard which is why I relied on magic. Taking air out with spell and fire with archers worked well for me.

With that we have gotten new weapon with cool proc the Tyranny of Mind! Free dominate while unlikely to land is great, just don't wear it on non-good characters!

with rest of your movement start moving towards Vilareth Ford.

Clean Vilareth ford. Dont keep your forces in corner in this battle as the cultist will cast channel negative energy. Focus on the cultist, keep them at range for as long as you can and once you move in make sure you can get the kill. You should be able to do this battle without using magic.

Move and engage the army of undead blocking our way to the Nameless Ruin. Focus on the Wight. Stay out of his melee range for as long as you can. You should be able to do this battle without using magic.

With rest of your movement move downwards towards the demon fortification with gargoyles in it.

Clear the demon army blocking our way to the reliable redoubt (one with gargoyles and undead in it.)

Spread your units (and put them back) then move and engage the newly revealed demon army which contains demons already familiar to us brimoraks. I have never seen them use fireball in this battle, but I do not know the logic which dictates whether they use it not.

For safety sake engage the brimoraks with your melee. If the cultist go for your archers block them with your ranger. You should bea ble to get through this battle without using magic

Nothing to do until you clear Reliable Redoubt.

Once you have cleared your Reliable Redoubt merge your armies. You should be able to hire more troops at this point.

You can engage the giant undead army now or return to it later. I will be engaging it now.

Firstly arrange your army like this. This is crucial.


First turn use scorching ray on one on the archer down and shoot the archer who is up. Move your hellknight forward one tile. Make sure to toggle hellknights and shieldbearers shield mode on.

Second turn dash with the hellknight against the enemy archer.

From now on your mission will be making sure all your units survive. Use the hellknights to distract the remaining units and use magic on enemy units who are hitting units other than your shieldbearer (priority on enemies targetting the cleric)

Use the heal only when absolutely required. After you have only foe remaining make sure not to kill them until you have healed your units.



For level up I picked Protective wards though magical reserves is great pick as well. With your remaining movement move up.

Move your army northwards.

Kill the army blocking our way north (one with ghouls.) Afterwards clear the demon fortification staffed by incubuses. This is important as it allow us to reach their lair.



Position your army like this and keep healing your archers who the enemy general will target with scorching ray. Attrition warfare doesn't favor our enemy.

Afterwards you might as well follow with clearing the demon army with minotaurs that is revealed after you killed the incubuses. Be careful of the cultists Channel Energy!

You should still have enough movement to clear last demon army of this part of the map composed of couple horses. Pull your troops back and don't let them get their charge or path to your archers. Use magic if you have to. With your remaining movement start moving back.

Clear your way to the Ash Giant stack and win. Both battles are nothing of note, but the Bell of Giant Strength +4 means we wont need Bull's Strength on that character anymore! With rest of your movement move towards the demon fortification blocking our way to Drezen.

Clear the demon fortification blocking our way to Drezen. This will move our camp forward and reveal new demon army just below it. Engage that as well and proceed backwards towards where we fought the ash giants and take the route north (towards the demon armies that have vescavor swarms in them.)

Proceed to engage demon armies north. None of them are of note which is why I haven't talked about any of these battles. Eliminate as many as you can with the movement you have left which should mean there is only one demonic army left in the region.

Clean the last armies in the north and afterwards move your army towards Crusader Camp, as close as you can get.

When you are ready to assault Drezen aka when you have done everything, clear the last demon fortification and the newly revealed demon armies. For more details read the section "Preparations for Assault on Drezen"

Note: If you are running Setsuna Shy as your general I strongly recommend picking up fireball on his level up. Haste might be technically better much later when we get access to other AoE spells, but the value of fireball is too strong early on.

None of the remaining demon armies should give you trouble if you use magic.

Once you enter you will be thrust straight into battle without the precious time needed to be buff yourself as you will be swarmed from all sides! Prebuff in campaign map before entry!

We cant rest once we go in so make sure have rested!

This area can be hard so you might want to visit Houndheart Campsite first and return to Crusader Camp to unlock minor errand of talking to Queen Galfrey for 400 exp

With that warning out of the way we can start.

Once the initial dialogue is taken care of we will be swarmed by the undead. Try to cover with your tank and pets the retreat of rest of your party. This fight is prime time to use pit/grease spells to hopefully thin the horde.



Once you have secured your positions start applying buffs and doing damage. Not much else to say as other than the initial ambush this fight is relatively simple slog, just dont be fooled there will be second wave after the first! Don't let your guard down!

After Sosiel speaks to you and if you have completed Inevitable Excess take the time to go backwards to loot our first reward!



Totally not busted at all by the way.


After you ready to progress forward before we leave the cemetery there is voice calling for help. You should take the time to help. Laying her down to rest grants you item to sell worth of 625 gold.

Other than that there is also option to take mobility check to crawl under some fences for some minor loot.

Now we are ready to leave the graveyard, now is good time to apply buffs on yourself if you haven't already. Up north is lone Zombie Lord which is not worthy of coverage.

Little further south is more challenging fight.

You will come across small group of undead who are occupied by corpse they eating. Be careful as there are two larger groups behind them.

Start the fight by shooting at the enemy. Send in your first tank to intercept the undead, save your other high AC characters for the second wave.



You should take the time to save the one civilian cornered by single zombie lord just east of here before continuing heading south.

As we make our way past the corpse eaters Sosiel will tell us we should take another route, but who are we to skip good exp?

You may skip this fight if you wish it should not effect Sadistic Game Design, but I may be wrong. Strategy wise send only your highest AC in this will make enemy archers target them (who are the biggest threat in this fight.)



I had to make it through this fight without any spell usage, but displacement is great here alongside grease/pit on the archers. After you have mopped up the melee move to the archers.

After your victory lets take the route Sosiel recommended.

Be careful as the choice to come from the front or back will be proven meaningless as Sosiel in all his wisdom rushes forward putting us bad position to say the least. Dark veil or summons applied before the fight will make it much more bearable.



Put your hope in liberal use of control spells or your parties killing potential and if you have faith in neither use scroll of Dimension Door, mass to escape up the stairs or towards the gate!

Hopefully you made it through this area easier than me as Nenio died here to skeleton archer in my game and I had to waste six thousand gold on her resurrection. Anyways after you are victorious loot everything and haul it to crusader camp to be sold.

Camellia: Instinctual Warrior (3) feat: Crane Wing
Daeran: Oracle (7) feat: Point-Blank Shot
Ember: Stigmatized Witch (7) feat: Spell Penetration
Nenio: Wizard (7) feat: Greater Spell Penetration spells: Greater Invisibility and Phantasmal Killer (Probably should gone with spell specialization)
Seelah: Paladin (6) feat: Seize the Moment
Sosiel: Cleric (7) feat: Boon Companion
Ulbrig: Griffonhearted Shifter (7) feat: Combat Reflexes
Wenduag: Spawnslayer (5) feat: Seize the Moment
Woljif: Vivisectionist (3) feat: Martial Weapons (for kukri)
My Character: Sword Saint (7) feat: Focused Strike spells: Haste and Displacement

There is not much to be say about this area so just progress forward until you meet the Seelah's friends. You might want to take the time to kill deers wandering around the area for some free meat and minuscule exp.

Once you get to the camp loot everything else expect the chest in the middle. There is mobility check which you no doubt saw and reward for succeeding it is Divine Protector mitral shield pretty nice.

To the west is interactable tent, whatever you do do not touch it twice. Near the tent is also Hat of Heartening Song which is pretty nice item for all the bards out there. To the east (IIRC) is Piece of Antique Ring which is another relic for us to restore later on!

Once you ready interact with the chest.

Give chase. Be careful after you have chased target of our quarry down and then to the west towards the tent since next time you catch up to him (in the middle) it will be a fight so buff up!

Fight itself is easy with one thing that makes it tricky. We will start next to babau which will likely put your vulnerable party members in his attack range so either kill him, control him quickly or pull back.

I myself ate the AoT and tied him down with Sosiels pet whilst Camellia held up others.

Here you can see the power of Seize the Moment/Outflank feats. Seelah scored critical hit which triggered AoT from my character which critted thanks to fortune and good crit range which killed the babau, triggering cleaving finish giving me free attack against another babau!

With that done with its time to check the tent to the west. Be careful as once you have interacted with it twice brimoraks will jump out so prepare your fire protection!

Not much to say here. Three Brimoraks should be easy to kill at this point of the game. Single protection from fire, communal got me through damage free.

What a shame they dont drop anything interesting. Still with that we have completed another area!

When you move past Houndheart Campsite and before you reach Conundrum Unsolved take the right turn to reveal Nightingale Grove!

Also make sure you are rested as there is potentially challenging random encounter on that will likely happen as you are travelling further

At some point you will be pulled from your travels on the campaign map and thrust into desolate and rocky wilderness. Couple steps ahead of you will be trio around small fire and when you see them it will be a good time to start applying buffs.

When you are ready send only your highest AC character forward.

I spoiled the ambush didn't I?

These guys can be real bastards thankfully I got that flawless ring to save myself but you might need to rely on displacement etc to survive the amount of attacks enemy will be throwing. If you have your own archers focus on the the enemies up on high. Take your melee and kill the archers on the down floor. Be careful as there will trickles of knife masters joining the fight.

Drow archers on the hill also have few knife master guarding them who will attempt to block your approach when you finally reach them.

Well well this grove isn't as peaceful as the description would make it seem. You should see few marauders moment you have taken few steps forward, don't be fooled by the fact they arent hostile they will attack once you take few steps forward so apply buffs on yourself before you step forward (feel free to go all out on spell slots etc there are no battles at Conundrum Unsolved.)

Fight itself should be straightforward and easy as you should be level 6 at this point and thus have access to greater invisibility and the like, but the marauders still have few tricks up their sleeve.

Firstly some of them will be invisible and secondly there will be alchemist in their ranks. Luckily protection from fire will keep you safe.

To further go into detail about the enemy group it is made up of 3 archers at the back, alchemist, two rapier wielding tieflings, barbarian and the enemy leader who acts as miniboss.

If you brought Sosiel or cleric animate undead worked great for me in this battle just make sure to apply buffs like haste and protection from fire after you summon them.

Here you can see the power of greater invisibility.

After your victory its time enjoy your spoils. Make sure to loot the Magic Essence from the second carriage. You can loot from the corpse of the Marauder Leader one of the best cloaks in the game Blood Clarity. Granting immunity to mind-affecting effects for 3 turns after kill is HUGE and cant be understated. Also from marauder leader you can loot Momentum pretty decent light hammer and another light hammer +1 also make sure to loot and learn the recipe Moss Pottage.

Alchemist also wore some minor +1 magical equipment soon I wont mention such minor loot in the guide.

This are has nothing apart from the puzzle at its center so I will get back to you once you reach it.

Loot the blocks from the vases and start by fitting in the one-block pieces (method to solve in spoilers) followed by inserting two block pieces in way that symbols connecting them match. You must also take the one-block pieces in to the account and make sure they match the two-block pieces the line across (not by connection.) Kinda hard to explain, but I hope you get it as you tinker with.

IMAGE BELOW CONTAINS THE PUZZLE SOLUTION!


What you say to the ghost after you solve the puzzle doesn't matter.

This will open the secret loot cache containing Hide Barding +2 and more importantly Elven Notes!

With that our next destination is Crusader Camp followed by Moon Dance Meadow and Chilly Creek.

When we approach crusader camp for must needed rest we are thrust into making another decision. Do we want to slow our assault towards Drezen by taking the time to help the Hell Knights or will we leave them to their faith?

Gameplay wise its always wise to help them as it will give us exp/loot and crusade troops though this will force us to tackle what is my opinion one of the hardest encounters in the game. If you playing on unfair you might want to skip or keep 6000 gold in for scroll of raise dead.

I chose to take the time to help them.

While we are here you will want to step outside your tent as you will lead us to another event. This time with Ember.

This is chance to affect what ending Ember gets more details in next spoilerGame keeps track of "Good", "Lawful" and "Evil" choices you pick which effect the ending you get at the end of her guest line. Good is objectively the best as it will lead to stat buff (and spell), going lawful will give you offensive spell which is kinda trash and evil and mixing lawful/good will break her mind giving you the bad ending.

I chose the option "Don't second guess yourself"

Head to Hilor and interact with the Mysterious Elf and ask Hilor what did they want.

Talk to Seelah to complete her quest if you haven't already done so.

If you haven't already talked and completed the Queen Incognito by talking to Galfrey do so.

If you pick "May I ask you personal question?..." following it with "Mendev is lucky to have such a Queen..." or "I look forward to working with closely with you," will start/progress the romance.

I recommend buying War Kilt of Sarenrae or Cape of Pest Control from Vissaliy after you sell your ill gotten goods.

Walk forward until you see Plagued Smilodon and buff yourself.

I suggest going heavy with buffs it might be worth using scroll of stone skin as these Plagued Smilodons have high attack bonus and throw lot of strikes per turn. DR is great here (Coin of protection and that one helmet in act 1) as we will likely have to resolve to tanking with our hit points so be ready with in combat heals!

Displacement works great here. Be ready for third Plagued Smilodon to appear (from the left.) Other than that there is not else for me to say as the encounter leaves little for finesse. One trick that might help if you if have Nenio is using True Strike to land Blinding Ray.



After your victory loot the Cold Iron from the nearby corpse alongside the Keen Longbow +2.

For once we are somewhere idyllic. Walk forward until you meet Jernaugh and after that...walk forward (you might want to apply long lasting buffs) until we come across villagers fighting a Hydra. I wont comment on the fight itself as foe is easy and I killed it without buffs on unfair with bad builds.

After your victory however take the time to loot the Oppressor Gloves from the nearby crate (right at the "docks") this is solid item especially for crit builds as anything that gives boost to our DC or negatively impacts enemies saving throws is gold.

Now explore the village make sure to loot the Godspeed Salad recipe while you are there.


Once you are done exploring the village itself its time to explore the forest underneath it. Sadly there isn't any interesting loot there, but there is one challenging fight against foe we fought previously. the Plagued Smilodons.

I wont comment on the wolf fights as at this point of the game you can cull the local fauna like Ultima Online player.

Same strat as the last time we fought these. Buffs buffs and more buffs, displacement is a must. I sadly lacked many spells as I used them at the last location luckily I was still able to pull through by using scroll of stoneskin and chugging health potions like mad.

Be careful with the bear as it likes to ignore your front line if you switch to/play on turn based!



Next we will be heading to the Nameless Ruin (remember to bring Nenio) after stopping by Crusader Camp to sell loot and to talk to Mysterious Elf who is this time located in our tent. As it turns out Mysterious Elf is revealed to be Kaylessa I recommend sparing her once again as it will give us extra content in Act 3. Afterward before you head off inform Forn of your decision.

"A word once uttered can never be recalled" Time to make good on our promise of helping Nenio visit the ruins (don't mind the fact that Hell knights are in trouble trust the plan.)

There is only one way to go and its down I recommend applying lost lasting buffs now and perhaps even some shorter one as pack of Ghouls will run towards you. Your best strategic option is to charge immediately when you see them as this often leaves them clumped together unable to use their numbers.

The ghouls themselves are not noteworthy other than the fact that they have one archer and often disengage to target your more vulnerable party members. Still with buffs this should be easy fight.



With the pack dealt with its time to enter the cave.

We are presented with two ways to go lets stick with the northern path for now which will bring us to room with two traps, patrolling plagued smilodon (curse them) and couple ghoul huntsmen.



You could wait for Smilodon to move away and use that chance to disarm the traps but the optimal way is to agro the beast and pull back. The ghouls aren't the problem only the smilodon is so focus it down and after the beast and the other melee ghoul are taken care of either pull back to force the archers to come closer or more preferably hug the left side with Camellia and disarm the trap to allow rest of your team to move in to kill the remaining ghouls.

After your victory investigate the stone that was in between the traps with your highest will save character to gain our first Ring of Protection +2! Loot the rest of the room for Cloak of Cleansing, Midnight Soup and Headband of Vast Intelligence +2!

Now lets check the other path we could have taken to reveal bunch of Ghouls feasting on corpses. This fight is non issue, but you may want to take look at the pillar in the room.

With that done its time to head back outside.

Continue going down the mountain until you see stone stairs. Once you are in middle or so you will be ambushed by gargoyles and after you kill the current group even more drop. Keep this in mind so your backline isnt caught unaware you might even want to send only your tank and fight them at the top of the stairs.

Other than that they are unremarkable foes though they are immune to trip/prone so no using grease for us.

At the end of the stairs are two undead bears. Kill them and move on.

As you continue going down the hill you will notice stone crest that depicts a lion. Answer to this puzzle is to turn both circles blue alongside the left half of the square.

Solution to the puzzle below!



Reward for your wit is Phylactery of Positive Channelling. Nice when you are healing, but otherwise very meh and with that being said I leave you on your own for now as there is nothing else to do than go down to trigger the story event.

Next we will be tackling Reliable Redoubt, but before you head there I strongly recommend you pick up scroll of dimensional door, mass if you do not have it at the Crusader Camp!

We have arrived to area quite similar to the Nameless Ruins. Apply your long lasting and get moving. After we meet with Yaker who is just down the slope we will be attacked by bunch of Gargoyles. Fight itself is easy if you are buffed so kill them and continue.

Little bit further down you will see another Gargoyle. This time slightly stronger variant backed with two regular ones despite this you should have little trouble dealing with them.

As we move down the hill to where Yaker again is make sure that after your conversation you loot Bastard Sword of Hope which has surprisingly nice crit effect.

Be careful when you see the crusader tents as nearby lotering is Gargoyle cleric making this the first challenging fight of the area.

You can take two routes with this fight. Either blitz in and try to knock out cleric quickly as he will cast hold person, boneshaker and channel negative energy or you can start the fight followed climbing back up the slope we just descended. This will give us excellent choke point to hold against the gargoyles.

Be careful in either case since after you killed Clerics bodyguards more gargoyles will sweep in. If you are going aggresive it might be worth it to leave your vulnerable party members up to the slope to keep them safe.

In any case buff yourself to high heavens as we will be taking rest after this fight hardest thing is yet to come.



After your victory rest we will need all our health and spell slots for whats to come.

Enter the cave and apply your buffs and walk forward until you see Regill. Once we get close enough Regill will talk to us and we will be on railroad to fight.

This is the fight I talked about earlier in the guide and I consider this the great filter of Act 2, but don't fret! I will see you through.

So what are we up against? Gargoyles but let this lure into fall sense of ease. The bastard we will fighting now are much tougher than the ones we had to get through to get here.

Fight will start with wave of Gargoyles coming at you from entrance, but be on your guard as another will soon drop directly behind you and this time with Cleric.

As I spoke earlier cleric are the highest threat as they will cast boneshaker which will cause huge damage we cant avoid on unfair, but the real threat is the channel negative energy which Gargoyles are immune to but which will deal huge AoE damage to us.

After you have killed the last normal Gargoyle (not counting the cleric) we will be faced with another fresh wave of Gargoyles backed by TWO clerics which you guessed it will cast spells we cant protect ourselfs from. To add more oil into the fire more Gargoyles will swoop to our backs, but this time with High Cleric so that brings total of Clerics we are facing to 3!

Another feature of this fight I should mention is the bizzare beelining of the Gargoyles on RTwP. They will quite literally run through your lines to reach your MC. Sometimes this will work to your advantage as you can use it to trigger AoTs on your martials, but it can mean swift game over as well.

So what should our strategy to tackle this encounter be?

Your best option is mobility and aggression. If we rely on hunkering down boneshaker and channel negative energy will be our doom (unless you got great healers or vital strike archers/kineticists.)


Note: To pull the hunkering strategy you most likely need atleast 2 high AC characters or party with great killing potential backed by healing (eq Daeran/Sosiel channel energy)

Attack Gargoyles coming from the entrance, but anticipate the arrival of the second group with the first cleric and pounce on them immediately as they come. With enough practice you should get the pattern of where to move and when down.

Second "round" in either case will be chaos hopefully you can snipe the High Cleric as he arrives at your back but other than it will be brawl.

Unless you pull some cheese of your own...you see there is mobility check to jump across the gap which we cant take in combat yet if we used dimensional door we could get across, so in theory one could wait for the second round of enemies to appear and as they do use the dimensional door to get across away from their reach and then proceed take care of them with your archer. (If you lose sight cast AoE spell at approximate location of the enemy to get it back.)



One could also use the dimensional door at the start of the battle but this would involve waiting for Regill (who is unkillable) to kill them on his own which could take many many hours (depending on difficulty.)

After your victory take the mobility check over and loot the Ring of Protection +2 and the Headband of Wisdom +2 from the Gargoyle corpse before talking to Regill.

I would advise strongly against killing Regill as allying with him will net us new companion and allow us to recruit Hellknights in crusade mode which are great unit!

Other than that when Yaker is brought up picking the chaotic option will make him like us which will aid us later.

And with that we are done and ready to leave! There is only route left to us on campaign map so will resume our journey towards Drezen. Make sure to remember start combing your armies in crusade mode!

Next section will cover preparations for challenges ahead.

I might as well take the time to give my take on Regill here. He has interesting build on glance, sadly Hellknight is pretty bad class. He can be made usable and even good on core by putting two levels into Hell Knight and picking up the ability to let him make enemies frightened.

Sadly pivoting him towards intimidation build takes time and effort and instead of bringing him along you could bring someone much better.

As for his level up I went put another level into Hellknight and picked destructive shockwave as his mythic ability.

I must be a bearer of bad news and tell you time has once gain to take good look at the vendors and consider what to purchase as we are heading to another section where cannot rest and foes are potentially trick.

Take note none of these are hard requirements. Though I strongly recommend you buy scroll/potion of Cure Serious Wounds.
We will be fighting swarms who have resistance to fire and electricity of 10 and to whom slashing and piercing damage type deal half the damage, but whom take 50% more damage from AoE spells.

True Strike+Snowball will be very useful combination keep that in mind while you assign your spell slots.

Oh and they cause confusion which at best means you might spend turn hurting yourself or at worst you will attack your own teammates!

After you are ready make your way up north towards Drezen.

Sometime after you progress past Nameless Ruins you will be thrust straight into "random" encounter. There is nothing of note here expect 3 babaus who you should be able to kill with light buffs.

Your reward will be note from stranger which will reveal new location on the map.

I will use this opportunity to give you a warning: Make sure you rest before you enter Leper's Smile!

Final reminder: Rest before you enter! There will be no rest until you accomplish your mission!

After you enter you will be thrust into storybook event describing the situation before you. Which ever option you choose you will be prompted to pick one of your allies and you can expand this to include some of companions if you pick the option to "look at your companions."

Here is list of our candidates. As you can probably surmise not everyone will perform equally. I will reveal consequences of picking each leader in spoilers after their name.Whom we choose effects how much moral and troops we lose, if any. This is further influenced by the choice to either fight or scatter.

• Irabeth - Bad. Do not pick.
  
• Nurah - Bad. Do not pick.
  
• Regill - Regill does alright if you pick the option to "fight" instead of scattering. Your troops will take minor damage. I would go with him if absolutely want to bring Sosiel
  
• Lann - Will do "fine" if you choose" move-and-cover.
  
• Sosiel - If you choose the option to "hold" Sosiel is the best pick.

Be warned if you pick companion you cannot bring them with you!

Ulbrig is excellent companion to bring just remember the "Swarmsbane Clasp" he has is half redundant on him as his attacks count as bludgeoning so already deal full damage!


Are you ready Commander?

And so we arrive in what looks like Eqypt during the 10 plagues. You will see Anevia in front you whom will warn you against looting. But what does it mean in practice?

Well there is loot scattered across the map and each time you take the detour to loot (or do certain other thing we will get to later) means our army will take damage. Most of the loot is trash anyway and we wont bother with it.

Only exception is certain robe that is monk exclusive but grants 1 AC! Apparently you can grab it "for free" or so I have heard it parroted since the beta, but I have not experimented with it.

But enough talking time to move forward!

And so we will be faced with our first and sadly not the last Vescavor Swarm. These are basically rats we fought in Kenabres on steroids. Running around them while your ranged party members bombard them works as does moving out of the way (as they need to be on top of you to attack.) Meaning if you have reach you can charge and they cannot attack you on their turn!



With the first swarm dealt with take the northern path.

Sadly the last fight was just the beginning as this time we are facing 3 swarms AND Vescavor Royal Guard. This big bug will spit acid at you from range though you can force him to switch to melee if you close the distance. I would rate the swarms as higher threat than him, but it still might worth to tie him up just be prepared as this might open you for the swarms.

After you emerge victorious continue north keep your eyes open for crack in the ground. You want to approach with one person who can bail fast and who hopefully as lot of HP with rest of your team further back. (Or use vanish/invisibility on the person you sent forward)

After you get on top of it pick the option to [Look into the crevice] if you succeed it will be revealed that there is person down there, however if we help him our army will pay the price.

Pick your poison crusader.



If we help him this will grant us great item much later in the game calledAshmaker, quarterstaff that grants wielder +2 bonus on attack rolls AND to caster level of all all evocation spells you cast!

If you choose to help him you will be ambushed by two vescavor swarms and you need to use "Cure Serious Wounds" on him in dialogue afterwards. Potion or scroll version will also work.



If you do not have any there is two at this location on map (alongside two Vescavor swarms), but it will cause more casualties! In either case we will heading there now to loot the robe I spoke of earlier as looting it doesn't cause any casualties in my testing! Huzzah!



Afterwards go back to the crevasse where you hopefully saved the lost traveler and continue proceed northern. You will soon see blood sigil on the ground, be careful as this is where the vescavor queen we need to slay is!

Cast greater invisibility on your archer and this fight is over. Be careful approaching her in melee as you might get confused despite any protection you might have. It literally might be worth it to send your tank alone and letting your archer do the work.

After your victory you will be presented with choice to either burn the corpse or take sample. Burn it unless you are going for Swarm-That-Walks Mythic path.

Sadly our adventures are not over yet as we need to brave the caves below. You can also take the time to explore rest of the Leper´s Smile though the loot is gone replaced with junk items, but still there is little bit of experience to be had killing vescavor swarms remaining.

Few steps in and we are already greeted with another vescavor swarm and I can tell you it wont be the last. Keep in mind their ability to confuse you as your melee might swipe each other. Still you should be able to take care of this lone one relatively easily.

You should see rolled boulder just north-west (left) of where the vescavor was. We will be tackling this route first while our buffs are still up. Little bit in you should see see two wights, herald of things to come. Their attacks will cause level drain, if they hit that is so death ward is not needed (yet.)

Continue ahead banishing the pairs of undead as you clear your way, but be careful when you reach the location of loot bags in the image below as this group of wight is larger and your tank might struggle to wrangle all the undead.

After you have slew them from left of Ember in water is Belt of Incredible Dexterity +2.

At this point you should see overturned carriage with Wight behind it this. This is where we will be facing facing the boss of this section of the map.

Initiate the battle by ranged attack and fight the undead horde in the choke point between the carriages. You should easily be able to get them to focus on your tank and cull good number on them as they slowly approach one by one.



Harkel is himself only noteable because he has levels in very good class, freebooter and such he can give bonuses to rolls and boost flanking bonus of him and his allies. Yet beyond that he is nothing remarkable.

Still the encounter has not revealed its true hand as once we kill Harkel he will simply get back up! You will have to interact with the wand nearby to stop this.

I strongly recommend you choose the option to [Set free the horrifying thing hiding inside the wand] as otherwise you will have to fight the undead horde again and this time potentially out of position. Another perk of this evil option is that it will give us content later, dont worry you are not locked into anything.

If goodness inside you demands otherwise pre placed grease spells, hast and other movement buffs are great in allowing you to reposition (or vanish scrolls/spells.)

Either way you dealt with area after your victory loot the Vermin Bane Elven Cured Blade +2 make sure to click the "magnifying glass" icons you see. One of them (in between the carriages) should reveal a Piece of Terendelev's Claw make sure you loot this. Beyond that there is some minor loot for you here and if you continue to the caves end Mind Piercer rapier.

With this part of the cave cleared its time to take the other route where we will soon find yet another vescavor swarm. Be careful as this time we are fighting 3 at same time. Same rules apply as usual kite or fight in turn based. I would say AoE spells for rooms to come as the encounters will only get harder.


If you get confused by my directions here is picture of the path we will take.

After this fight we will have to decide route to take as our path splits into two. I will be taking the left way first which leads us to vescavor royal guard. Astitute among you probably already sensed something wrong with us only facing one and you would be right as immediately after he is reinforced by five swarms.


If you want to win this fight as painlessly as you can engage vescavor royal guard with your ranged characters. You should catch him flat footed and almost be able to bring him to death. Dont charge. When the swarms arrive drop ice storm to deal damage and slow the down and retreat with rest of your party.



After that either take care of them as they come or drop more AoEs to weaken them before they catch you. Its resource intensive way, but I had no choice as my part health was dire.

Either way 3 routes are present to us now. We could go south, clear the rubble to the west of us or take the passage north which is where we will go next.

You should see huge locust like demons. These are Derakni our bane for this dungeon. Lets take moment to explore why that is before we engage.

Firstly, they have relatively high AC of 38 and good heath pool meaning if you don't catch them flat footed or have very well optimized attack bonuses hitting them can be struggle (unless you bust out greater invisibility!) Secondly, they have annoying ability to cause AoE confusion every third round which can result in our team killing each other. Thirdly, they have poisonous attacks so make sure to have delay poison up!

There is not much room for fancy maneuvers here sadly. You will want to charge and hopefully overwhelm at least one of them quickly. You might want to wait to charge with rest of your team after enemy has used drone.

As for where to go next our only real path is up north again as the other way is blocked by trap. So following only route we can we are soon face to face with another Derakni this time backed by vescavor swarms oh boy.

This fight can be real tricky as if you attempt to hold the Derakni at the bay while the swarms are alive they will chew through your tank unless you bust out big heals and DR (eq stoneskin, coin of protection, that one cape.)

Luckily one of the swarms likes to separate itself and come closer. This is opportune time to cast true strike and use Snowball spell which will deal damage to it and most likely stagger it!

After you kill one of the swarms battle becomes much more bearable, but I still recommend that you bust greater invisibility on your ranged character.

After your victory loot the Voice of Hollow from nearby chest. Excellent mace with great effect which confusion in this dungeon has taught us to appreciate. Disarm the traps and make your way backwards time to tackle the other route.

Dice gods giveth and taketh...pssst dont tell Owlcat that Deraknis are supposed to be immune to this in the lore.

Taking the other way our way is blocked my trap and to disarm it we need to clear the rocks which will take hour, but we have nothing else to kill at the moment.

Moving the rocks will reveal the mechanical spider hiding behind it. You might want to tackle this boss after your rest or killing him after we cleared rest of the cave. You can hug the wall to disarm the trap safely if that is your wish.

Stat wise he is pushover. While his AC is high he has measly 144 HP meaning you should be able to kill him in single charge.



If he survives you might be in trouble as the Hunter Retriever has ability to petrify you! If you fail the saving throw you can cure it with scroll sold by Vissaliy (Stone to Flesh.)

After your victory loot the Retriever's Claw from the Retriever there is also amulet hidden behind perception check near the dead spider crawling out of the hole.


Be careful as after some time you pass the stone arch way in the formerly trapped tunnel you will be ambushed by vescavors. This is why I recommend using haste/other movement speed buffs followed by applying vanish on one of your party members.

Then send in the party member you applied vanish to in alone and after the encounter is triggered run him back to your party in RTwP mode and after you get back to your party switch to turn based and fight them.



After your victory proceed to the caves end where will face the last fight of this dungeon against familiar foe...

Time to get over our PTSD the hardway as this time we are facing Vrock we fought in Act 1 expect there are three this time.

Luckily we have some more tools at our disposal this time around like greater invisiblity. This fight should be pretty easy if you have your buffs up, just keep in mind their stunning screech and the spores (which can be removed by bless.)

Strategy wise there is no need for fancy maneuvering. Just charge and focus them down one by one.

Make sure to look Radiant Kukri +1 after your victory from one of the corpses and hey with that we are done with this area!

Make sure to drop by Crusader Camp as we continue forward on the campaign map.

Time to take care of minor tasks while we are here. Firstly you should talk to Wilcer Garms (quartermaster.)

He will talk talk to you about recent vescavor attack and suggest action. If you wish to metagame "We'll commemorate the fallen." raises crusade morale by 10 which is useless. "We will mourn the fallen not with wine, but with words of prayer." will grant our army temporary buff until this act is complete and finally "Have the recent loses not taught you anything?" gives us 8 clerics which will stay with us permanently thus is the best option.

You might want to ask him how our army is doing and this gives us similar dilemma. "I am afraid that boots and ropes alone won't be enough." will grant us 30 scouts which will be useless in this act, but useful in the next so I recommend picking it. "Equip the soldiers as you see fit." grant our armies extra 5 daily movement for this act which is useful but not permanent whilst "Wilcer, follow the regulations." grant us another temporary buff for this act.

Head to Nurah's tent might as well check in with our expert right? Make sure to loot the hidden perfume after you spot it and after you have looted it talk to Nurah about it afterwards.



I suggest taking long rest here (if you are gunning sadistic game design cook food that delays fatigue.)

Remember to bring Daeran along with Ulbrig if you have the Last Sarkosian DLC. We will fighting some electrical foes so consider purchasing Scroll of Protection from Electricity, Communal.

There will be fire spell using foes in Currantglen so keep that in mind.

If you don't mind resting
Inconspicuous Camp > Heaven's Edge > Currantglen > Underground Camp

If you are trying to minimize amount of rests
Inconspicuous Camp > Underground Camp > Currantglen > Heaven's Edge

My reasoning for this is route is that Underground Camp is the hardest one which is why I am going straight there after Inconspicuous Camp to avoid becoming fatigued. Depending your build and whom you bring along this might not be issue for you in which case I recommend saving it for last. (eq paladin mercy, clerics lesser restoration or some other resistance to fatigue.)

Lets try to make shortest section of this guide. Pick up Elven Notes next to the camp fire and talk to sender of the message.

Accept his help and when he ask you question answer with the (chaotic) option.

Make your way down to the crevasse. Make sure to loot the Magic Essence near the trap ( in small bag) before you head inside the cave itself.

Once you enter be on your guard as this cave is filled with invisible foes buff up and be ready for fight once you near the glowing mushrooms!



This is much more sign of things to come than a real fight, you should be easily able to dispatch the two incubuses. Afterwards continue forward but be careful of the trap on the slope.

Once you traveled down the path don't lower your guard as there are more invisible foes here with us. Its time to use scrolls and spells to protect us from from electricity as we are facing will-o'-wisps.

Nothing much to say about this fight other than they have weakness to magic missile so consider casting that. Focus them one by one and move on.

You will see patrolling incubus be careful as if he spots you rest will join him. Now this is the challenging fight of this area as it features annoying boss. You see Shivial will use dispel magic to remove your buffs followed by divine power (self buff) and vine trap which will render your character defenseless! This makes this fight one of those encounters where we have to kill the target quickly.

So how should you tackle this battle? If you want to be daring you could put mirror image, concealment etc on one of your party members. Run him forward and aggro the incubuses and kite them away to give your characters easy access to Shivial.

Still the better way in my opinion is to use animate undead few times with Daeran and aggro the patrol man. Use the slope as choke point and use enlarge person/reach to hit through your line.
Shivial will most likely waste his Vine Trap on one of your undeads which are immune and even if he uses it on one of your characters they would be safe behind our wall of bones.

Focus the normal incubuses down (though you might want to have your greater invisibility archer chipping Shivial) and after they are down you have two choice before you.

• 1. Engage Shivial while he is fully buffed, but occupied dealing with your undead swarms though be warned they wont last long against him.
  
• 2. Run away to the entrance to lose aggro. Wait for his buffs to run out and then engage him on more even footing!
  
  That is all the advice I can give you. May you emerge victorious!
  
  
  
  After your victory loot the Chainmail Of Comradery from Shivails corpse and Righteous Crusader's Ring from the torture rack (nature check.)

NOTE: As I have said before I have not played with the Last Sarkorians DLC. Keep this in mind as you read this section.

We arrive finally at Ulbrig's village or whats left of it to be the precise. This area is linear so I wont bother with the usual go there etc.

When you see corpse tied to tree you might want to apply long lasting buffs because if you fail the athletics check to take it down you will be ambushed. By what I don't know as I succeed in doing so.

Once you return and take the other way you might want to apply buffs if you haven't already as you will be attacked.

Easy foe. I wont bother explaining his spell rotation as even exhausted my party managed to take him down easily. Just know Ulbrig wont deal damage to him and as he is ghost he will cause level drain unless you are protected by death ward, but I wouldn't waste the spell slots on this fight.

Ulbrig will warn you about the undead laying on ground and you should heed his warning for while the Skeletal Sneak and Skeletal Guardian are no danger to you the Skeletal Spellcaster...Well take a look at this picture.



Most of time he will cast fireball followed by controlled fireball, but I have seen him start with enervation. Your priority should be taking him out. You can move close to the skeletal guardian/sneak but not past them as they will attack if you do, even if you were invisible.

It doesn't need to be said, but any protection from fire spell is great here. Alternatively if you were fancy you could try to bait him to use his spells with your summons. Since you brought Daeran with you, you could also try to heal through the damage.

In any case focus him down and then deal with rest of his rabble.


Before you enter the cave that lies open before you take moment to explore the hut north of you though be wary of the trapped entrance. You can find Strange Charm and Blessed Amulet from inside.

You will find yourself in linear cave so just progress until you meet another ghost. If you ask them a question it will give us persuasion check to convince them to tell their story. Do so to unlock side quest Restless Spirit.

Further in you will come across altar prompting Ulbrig to start talking. After you finish your conversation don't loot the weapons on the ground as it triggers fight.

Leave only your tank in the altar room and retreat rest of your party back deeper into cave, once they are in position loot the weapons until fight starts.

You will be up against two animated longbows and one animated longsword. Fight should be breeze if you any sort of buffs, just focus first on the bows and mop up the longsword after.

Be careful as the longsword has the tendency to switch targets.

After your victory take the exit out of the cave.

You will see some elementals out and about ignore them and interract with nearby stone which gives us the opportunity to use blessed charm we looted earlier!

You may decide to attack the elementals after you are done if you wish, but as I haven't rested I will avoid doing so.

You will soon see another cave entrance lets head there before we follow the spirit wolf.

There is only way forward so follow it until you see shadows, remember that their attacks drain you so protect yourself with death ward and the fight will be easy.

Also of note is after you tackled the first group second group made up of stronger shadows will arrive.

Make sure to loot the rod on the ground also in the cave is athletics check which will take you to chamber with some minor loot.

With that its time to take our leave. Remember to talk to Areviel (the ghost whom we helped) to get your reward before we go where the spirit wolf beckoned us.

You should see the "Stone of Voices" be warned once you interact with it after fight will soon begin.

Fight itself consists of two vermleks necrophages backed by brimorak and I wish it remained that simple sadly after you kill one of the Vermleks three two incubuses and single succubus will teleport in alongside another Vermlek.

Strategy wise I don't need to tell you that anything that protects or mitigates fire damage is welcome in this encounter as is protection from evil to protect us from the dominate of the succubus. I feel that greater invisibility is must here and I strongly recommend going heavy with your buffs.



Yet biggest threats are the Vermleks as they deal unavoidable AoE damage meaning we will have to deal with them quickly or stoop to mass potion chugging to survive.

Good way to stop Vermleks is engaging them in melee which can be challenging to do with your own party members, but luckily for us summons do the job just as well.

Oh, and there is THIRD wave after you kill more foes (I think the trigger is killing the succubus) which is worse than both waves added together! This time reinforcement consist of Vermleks, succubuses and kalavakus.

When you have dealt with the third wave the fight is finally over and we are free to free this place. If you follow the path to the end you will find tree you can knock over for shortcut to the exit.

This section is is very much like storybook event turned to quest as such I wont blabber too long here. Just heads up there is trust mechanic here meaning certain clearly rude options lower it, try to keep that in mind.

• Talk to Liotr.
  
• Loot wine, talk to Daeran ignore the pull of the abyss to be a ♥♥♥♥ and ask about history of the estate
  
• Interact with the wine cart to make it go boom
  
• Return to Liotr
  
• Go talk with Daeran. Dare him to dance with either Camellia or dare him to ask Sosiel paint nude portrait of him
  
• Loot the chest in Daerans bedroom containing 203 diamond dust and Clear Purpose
  
• Ask Daeran if he is having fun
  
• Suggest drinking contest, say you will be his competition

Note: When you have completed Currantglen, Underground Hideout etc visit to your newly moved Crusader Camp.

Once again we are met with familiar message and dragged hopefully not kicking and screaming into another event. Take the time to apply buffs if you access to them on your main or Wenduag/Lann.

You will arrive into hellish scenes of your camp burning as Gargoyles are sweeping down sky to slay your troops. Time to act Knight-Commander!

This fight can be really really trick or piss easy depending on how you built yourself and Wenduag. We will be up against large group of relatively weak gargoyles who will nevertheless tear you apart if you do not have good AC or very strong attack. You are blessed with few crusaders allies but they wont last long acting as your shield!

And your troubles don't end there after first group is slain second, slightly stronger group will swoop in in for the glory of killing you! Also to add dirt to the wound Gargoyles have tendency to beeline towards your MC!

So what is Knight-Commander supposed to do if you are struggling? Well there is cheese to this fight you see if you move to the left (south) immediately without wasting time you will run into Camellia who will join your party! Potentially giving you your partty tank back.

Act quickly and if she is your tank, apply magic armor on her before the Gargoyles reach you! Rest is up to you! Last hint is as your actions to buff are limited remember your potions as they only take move action to use!



After your victory head north to run into familiar face in trouble.

WARNING: If you are playing on Last Azlanti you might want to save this for later until we gain another companion

You should see Nurah covering in corner be warned once you get close to her with your MC fight will start. You might want to save before you do as there is important dialogue option we want to take behind perception check!

Leave your party members further back to block the choke point.

When you are ready approach her and pick the dialogue option "Why do you have a vial of alchemist's fire on your belt."

When you see the Gargoyles swoop in retreat your MC back to rest of your party. We do this because once we kill the normal gargoyle enemy reinforcements will arrive. If we moved to Nurah as one these would have flanked us.

Only other way to make progress is continue where we reunited with Camellia. Be warned as not very far from there you will once again be met with more gargoyles this time the bane of our existence clerics.

As you doubtless know boneshaker and Channel Negative energy hurt. There are no reinforcements in this battle and the two normal gargoyles are there just to annoy you. Try to focus down the Cleric anyway you can.

Soon after you move past where you meet Seelah you will come into large clearing. Be warned as this is where hardest fight of the area is.

You will be up against 3 Gargoyles with some crusaders to help you, but once again more Gargoyles will arrive after you kill few including Cleric who can deal 40 damage with his boneshaker if your team member fails their constitution saving throw. I highly recommend coming into this fight with full HP!

Strategy wise either charge if you are confident in your party killing potential or pull back if your builds are weak as I have in this run. If you can snipe the cleric great! But I would focus on killing the normal Gargoyles first.

After your victory Ulbrig rejoins you. Once you move forward on one of the corpses is Lesser Phylactery of Positive Channeling.

Note: You will be fully healed when we transfer to the next area

If you haven't already go do Nurah section now!

With that done you can move to the final stretch of the area, but before you do loot everything as you can sell it all to Wilcer (when game prompts you go to your tent he is there)

Hot on trail of gargoyles we arrive in their fortress of Lost Chapel.

Right, lets get started by talking with Anevia to get briefing on the situation, if you are feeling cold hearted you can ask her for wand of healing, I have never done this even in my playthroughs so I cant be 100% sure of the consequences, but if toybox is to be trusted you can take it without issues.

This is also good time to mention you can talk to Anevia to switch your party members, this will be useful as we rescue more to apply buffs or heals from companion we are not using.

Final note is run your tank alone before rest of your squad move up as in this area Gargoyles like to spawn all around your party.

Indeed you will be ambushed by three fiendish gargoyles almost immediately after you move past Anevia.

Continue moving until you come across Daeran and Ember take one, both or neither into your party and continue on be warned soon there will be another attack by you guessed it, three gargoyles.

Soon you will see crusader being killed by two gargoyles. Proceed to kill them as swiftly as they slaughtered the crusader and move on.

Don't let over confidence be your killer for soon after you move past the dead crusader you will be ambushed by large pack of gargoyles. You remembered to lead with your tank alone right?

Note how my poor positioning in this picture is leading to my MC soon to be ganked by smite happy gargoyles.

All jokes aside if you are playing good aligned MC you want to stand far back and let the enemy horde swarm your tank and waste their smites. Be warned it will be likely two or so will still break of from the group to target them, but its much much more manageable. Your option is to trust in mirror image/displacement.

This is not "real" fight you should be fine even if you took your hands of the keyboard this section was just made for organizing purposes.

Help Hellknights and crusader recruits deal with the ghouls they are fighting. Afterwards if you say "I see not everyone here boasts your fighting spirits" you will be given few choices to that will result in boost of morale in crusade management side (absolutely useless as you will be likely at max.)

Pick either the good or chaotic option. Do not pick evil or chaotic as it will result in casualties.

Proceed further and get Sosiel without fight! Two things to note here make sure to keep the shield you get in this encounter and keep it equipped on him ALWAYS.

Secondly if you want to romance him I don't judge "Oh Sosiel..." starts the romance. (I lied and I judge. Sosiel is boring and bland.)

If you succeed in perception check you will notice the ghouls are planning ambush use this to your advantage to get optimal positioning.

This one is easy just be careful with the enemy archer as they like to target your low AC characters so make sure to lead with your tank and thats it I have nothing else to say.

Another easy fight. I don't think picking [Those gargoyles won't leave your unit alone!] is required, but choose it just in case.



Little further you will find soldier trapped in scrap pile rescue him if you wish to dare the mobility test afterwards be warned you will once again be ambushed by you know it three gargoyles. So lead with your tank and try wrangle the aggro on them before you engage with rest of your team.

Luckily that is the last of the ambushes so travel up the hill without fear when you come across the walls of Lost Chapel go west (eq travel alongside the the wall.)

You will see group of ghouls don't be fooled into complacency this can be annoying fight as behind them are Kabriri cultist and succubus.

We know the characteristics of succubus and ghouls well enough at this poinyt, but what about the Kabriri cultist? Well he has 3 uses of boneshaker and that's bad enough, but he also has one use of boneshatter which is pretty much direct upgrade on it.

Needless to say you need to deal with him quickly, but how is up to you.

You could go the road of true strike (+vital striking) him with your ranged, you could stun him or you could try to blender through the ghouls quickly to reach him and deal with him in melee.



I myself went with haste+greater invisibility and fireball to start the fight. I focused Kabriri cultist with Wenduag and dropped Ulbrig on him to finish him off. Camellia held the ghouls bay easily enough while I diverted my MC and Ulbrig to deal with the succubus who ran to drain Wenduag, who thanks to Embers evil eye easily accomplished it.

Time to tackle the entrance!

We are up against another cultist, dont be fooled by the name this one is more dangerous thanks to his AC and even more dangerous spells. You see he has access to the melee TOUCH spell called harm which can deal up to 220 damage!

My recommendation is charging down consider using true strike scrolls if you want to make it sure you get him in one go. After his death more ghouls will rise to avenge him so retreat swiftly to the entrance, you will most likely want to move your non tanks down the hill for moment to lose the archer aggro

Proceed to mop up afterwards you have yourself victory! On one of the corpses is Honorable Judgement which is actually decent gnome hooked hammer thanks to the 1d6 it deals on first hit in the round (if the wearer is lawful.) Make sure to give it to Regill when you get the chance!

Immediately inside we will thrown into brief dialogue followed by non skip able fight. Queen will join you for this fight if you brought her along nevertheless this fight is fodder just be aware of the trap roughly located in the middle of room and you will be golden.

If you kept the wand of Zacharius in the Leper's Smile door will open to you. We will return to that later, but for now lets us proceed forward.

Another easy fight, but I will mention it as if you want to save the captives it can be challenging. Focus on the side with the ghoul huntmaster first, after his side is dealt engage the three ghouls who should be coming towards you with luck one or both crusaders should survive.

After your victory take the north western door to the graveyard.

Another fight, another crusader at mercy of ghouls. This time however enemy has cleric with them with access to hold person!

My suggestion is to charge group of three ghouls with your tank while sending your melee to deal with the huntmaster and cleric. Mop up the rest of ghouls after and you are done!

After your victory head back to the torture room and take the other door to save Irabeth don't be mean.

After that if you took the wand at Leper's Smile its time to head to the room we entered first and go through the secret door.

Walk forward and take the first door you come across where we will meet the first of annoying foeS of this sub area, the stone golems.

These guys are pain because of their ridiculously high attack of 36! This means we need to rely on other methods of survival like stuns as they have relatively low saves, displacement, summons or good old kiting.

Remember to unequip armor of your archer if you plan to go the kiting route!

Sadly there is no notable loot to celebrate our victory here so exit the room and take the northern path where we will find room with...two stone golems oh boy I wish I had went traditional vital strike archer build with Wenduag this time.

Oh well, second verse same as the first eh? Technically if you are going for sadistic game design achievement I think the optimal way is to kite them around the table, but I have wasted enough hours of my life and just caved to buff usage. Owl's Wisdom/Cats Dexterity, enlargened and haste was all that I needed to get victory. Thankfully with reach weapons I could repeatedly charge them.

After your victory make sure to loot the bookshelf at the back for Zacharius, "Towards Eternity" book which will grant you permanent modifier. (+1 DC to spells you cast with death descriptor.)

WARNING: Do not go close to Zacharius unless you are definitely sure you want to unlock Lich mythic path! We will talk to him later when we are prepared!

Time to backpedal and take only route deeper into this dungeon which will bring us into library which lives up to its name as you can find three skill books here Crusade Chronicles, Know Thy Enemy! Crusader's Brief and History of the Worldwound! which if we add all buffs together grant us 10 hit points and 1+ bonus to nature, religion, stealth and perception bonus. Pretty nice!

Ignore Zacharius and take the hidden passage (perception check) at the back of the room. When the passage way splits head south to another library.

This time we are facing golem backed by ghosts one death ward should see you through, ghosts are distraction focus on the golem. Not much else to say about this, but be warned as stone golem sometimes like to go for your backline so one summon of skeletons might be advised.



After your victory loot the chest for some quality scrolls while I am not as sold to usefulness of vampiric shield and undeath to undead heal is one of the best spells in the game and much later on we will be purchasing lot more of them.

If that was not enough already chest also has Lesser Maximize Metamagic rod! but the loot doesnt end there as also in the corner of the room on the top of bookshelf is Duality of Conjuration of Summoning which will allow evil characters to summon devas and good aligned characters to summon nabasus which can be useful quality suprisingly late into the game, make sure though to note the 10% chance of summons breaking free and the random buffs you get from using this item which one of is one smite user per day permanently! it doesn't need to be said that you should always bring this item along on your adventures and use it with your paladin if you have one in your party!

Lets clear the room north to us now

Much less to be said about this room as it just filled with around 5 or 6 ghosts and no notable loot to speak of remember your deathward and you will be fine.

and with that dealt with its time to return and handle Zacharius.¨

Right, so you might have wondered why I warned you not to go near Zacharius yet and well to explain that I will need to spoil very lightly what will happen.

If you don't want any spoilers no matter however light they might be then I will just leave you with this: You should bow down to his demands.

Why? - If you refuse him you will start very very hard fight which I would consider almost impossible without preparation or very strong minmaxed party. Giving him what he wants also unlocks the lich mythic path. Editor's note: I might have overstated the difficulty as I thought he had access to wail of banshee etc could be he was nerfed or that I am missremembering. Anways fight is still challenging but consider what I said before hyperbole.

To those brave who wish swim against the current - You want to approach him from the hidden passage. Apply your buffs and summon nabuses and few skeletons then apply haste. After you are done approach with one of your characters to trigger the dialogue. Refuse Zacharius and pull IMMEDIATELY back.



Zacharius will start by most likely casting undeath to undead make sure to summon more undead to replace those that fell as Zacharius will continue casting his AoEs. Once he is out of gas spring out and finish him. He has relatively high AC so you might need to crit fish or rely on true strike.

No matter how you chose to deal with the situation loot the library of Devil, imp pet and head out to the room where Irabeth was tortured. Its about time we dealt with the person who we came here for.

WARNING: We will soon lose our access to switching our companions by talking to Anevia so get your buffs from casters you are not bringing along! I also suggest you bring Sosiel with you.

Fight will start once you take few steps out of the door. You will be up against Nulkineth (nabasu) and bunch of ghouls.

What you have to know about this battle is that Nulkineth will start it by casting hold person, mass and we will have to keep in mind or wipe is unavoidable.

As Nabasu he will drain so remember your death ward!

Now there are two ways you can tackle this battle.

• Protect damage dealers of your party with freedom of movement. (Sosiel has access to it)
  
• Trick AI to cast it on your summons. AI on this is wacky as sometimes Nulkineth springs forward to cast it on you.

Whichever way you go about it you should make liberal use of summons in this battle and you should have them up before you trigger the battle. Ignore the ghouls and go straight for Nulkineths throat as fight ends when dies! As final note Nulkineth's touch AC is pathetically low 20 which could even be reduced to 16 with evil eye!

Well, I suppose when I said final note I lied there is one more small detail I will mention for completions sake. When you deal certain amount of damage to him (not sure if its half or little over 100) brief dialogue will start. If you were hit by held person the effects will end.

After your victory enjoy your new mythic level up! If you are wondering why I haven't talked about level 8 yet reason is I haven't been to camp yet to level all my companions and for that same reason I will not talk about this mythic level up yet in detail, but make sure to get impossible domain for your cleric (sosiel) if you haven't already!

Aside from that I am sorry to tell you we aren't yet finished with this area there is still much to do before we talk Anevia.

So head to the graveyard and start walking down the cliffs once you are down the first athletics check you can thin the horde of ghouls by sniping few, don't worry they cant retaliate.


Hold off with jumping down for now there is something I need to tell you.

Before you decide whether to jump down or not I have warn you there is more challenging foe than ghouls down there, you see there is gargoyle chieftain who as you might have surmised is gargoyle on steroids. I am talking 44 AC, access to destruction (if it hits and you fail the save you die) and other annoying spells and he is backed by whole cackle of other gargoyle. Thank god his flat footed AC is low and thus he is weak to greater invisibility.

Now you could jump down and handle this fight the traditional way OR you could use pit spell up from the safety of the cliff to trigger the battle and pelt them to death.

Note: You have to be very precise with casting the pit so make sure you save before you attempt to do so!

You can even kill the gargoyle chieftain this way, but it requires you luring him closer with summons which can be tricky but definitely doable.

After your victory loot Blaze of Disaster quarterstaff which allows wearer to cast fireball 3 times per day! Very Useful for clearing chaff.

Continue onward until you come across another pack of Gargoyles. Don't worry there are no cleric among them, but as always know they like disengage from your tank to target your MC so have mirror image etc ready!

After your victory you will no doubt notice the stone altar. Ignore it for now, but next to hidden behind perception check is corpse that has Hammer of Obstinacy.

You might have also spotted athletics check to climb the cliffs but ignore that as well for now and continue forward.

Ah, nice simple fight for change of pace. We will be up against pack of ghouls including one huntsman and Kabriri cultist roughly in middle. If you have two high AC characters or even pet this fight is very simple. If you don't you have to pay more attention to the ghouls to make sure they don't overwhelm your more vulnerable characters, perhaps use of haste might be warranted?

As always try to take out the cultist first.



As you move forward you will run into another pack of ghouls backed by Kabriri Cultist expect this time the fight is even easier as you can get clear charge on him from get go and there are fewer number of ghouls.

You will soon will find the path forward becoming very narrow and might be tricked to thinking we are walking outbounds but continue forward until you see more Gargoyles. Do not engage, but hug the wall and take the athletics check up (even if the nearby demons spot.)

You see you can climb up the cliff even in combat and this once more allows you to pelt the gargoyles and demons to death from your vantage position up high. Just remember protection against evil as the succubuses will try to dominate you!



As we are up here we might as well clear this path directly behind us are 3 gargoyles. Little bit behind them is gargoyle ambush so move your tank in alone! Other than that this cliff side is clear and its time to go back down.

On nearby corpse of crusader is Small Sextant make sure to loot it!

You can fight these guys honorably head on, but who would want that? Leave rest of your party next to the athletics check whilst you send your tank forward armed with some sort of ranged weapon.

Once you are ready shoot one of the succubuses and pull immediately back to the rest of your party. Wait for them to be near as you can before you climb the cliff and make sure to cast protection from evil, communal also before succubuses hit you with the dominate!



As always you can use summons to lure them closer to you if they are too far off to shoot and hey presto who knew crusading was this easy?

You might have noticed Stringy Demodand appear as you killed the last of the demons.

Meet the optional boss of this area and what boss he is, servant of thanatotic titans with AC of 46 and whopping health pool of 410 and of course very high attack to top it all off.

If you want to handle him legitimately for the street creed guarded hearth, tons of summons, all the buffs you can muster and greater invisibility backed by your other characters using true strike will see you to the victory.

To those who are willing to deal with this menace by any means necessary we can pull the same trick we did with the gargoyles and demons. You are welcome!

Continue ahead where you will face two encounters against ghouls. At this point they shouldnt pose you any problems anymore.

After you have dealt with the second ghoul pack pay attention. Stay away from the broken carriage and chest in north-eastern corner of the map!

For when you get near to it named nabasu will sweep from the sky to jealously guard it or to consume your soul, your pick.

48 AC, 300 HP and high attack. Strategy wise you should employ same plan as one would fighting Demodand.

Guarded heart, waves upon waves of summons,. all the buffs, greater invisibility. Only thing that really changes is that you should apply death ward to yourself if you can.

Or you could employ the god-blessed cliff we to cheese him. Choice is yours crusader!

After your victory enjoy your new Big Game Gloves, Do not sell this item!

Go forth and into the cave we are almost done with this area.

Don't worry this gargoyle cave isn't as painful as the last one we cleared. Inside you will find two groups of 3 and one slightly larger group of gargoyles. Nothing you cant handle at this point.

Loot wise we are in gold mine so make sure you have have looted Small Harp, Bruiser's Chainshirt, Book of Dreams and finally the Cold Iron.

If you own and have completed Inevitable Excess you will also find clouds of darkness you can interact with. Click them with true sight buff on and you will discover chest, you are mostly likely at this point few points exp sort so come back later for it.

Inside it you will Minor Nightglass which allows you to buff your summons. Bad Owlcat you wont tempt me into making bad build I refuse! Alongside 8 Void Shards which can boost your necromancy DC by +2 for one round and very powerful scrolls of Weird and Polar Midnight!

You might think we are finally done with Lost Chapel, but not quite yet! There is still one final thing left. Remember that Altar? Its time to return to it.

Once you are the altar click and insert inside it Small Sextant and Small Harp we found earlier.

Afterwards Click Right, Left and Middle followed by Right, Left and Middle.

Remember to loot the altar after you completed for the puzzle pieces (you can sell them later) and the first decent hatchet in the game! Trust me the chance to silence magic caster is way more useful than it seems.

And with that we are finally done with Lost Chapel and you are free to head back to Anevia! Remember to loot everything as you exit from the area and, if you have have that darkness in your game you might want slot in true seeing in Sosiel spellbook, rest and go open that chest!

WARNING: You might want to save before you leave more on that in next section.

Sorry for still talking about Lost Chapel, but I didnt want to make part 4 for one paragraph. If you are going for sadistic game design achievement one of the requirements is to complete all optional bosses as SOON as they are available, but here the game throws us a dirty one for as soon as we leave Lost Chapel perception check is rolled to see if we discover Ruins of Ashberry Hamlet where one of those optional boss resides.

If you do not spot it and you are not going for sadistic game design its no issue as we will get chance to visit it later. If you don' spot it and you are going for the achievement kiss it good bye. I know this all from experience as yes I did not get the achievement for this very reason on my demon run and yes I am still seething about it, but Owlcat could have changed it as I did not see perception check in my log.

With that out of the way lets proceed with the regular programming.

Move back to the Crusader Camp, do not clear the final demon army blocking our way to Drezen.

After you arrive Anevia will prompt you to talk Ulbrig as always warning I have not completed The Last Sarkorians DLC before so I do know if there right or wrong choices here.

Dialogue options I picked are below.

• [Sit Next to Ulbrig]
  
• "I don't think I can even begin to imagine..."
  
• "Don't say that. You are excellent fighter and loyal friend..." (If you are wanting romance go with obvious "what if there was someone close who needed you")

We can finally confront Nurah about what happened during gargoyle assault. You might be tempted to try chop her head off, but if you unlocked trickster I recommend strongly you go with the trickster option as it will pay dividends.

Picking the trickster option will change Nurah to be ally instead of enemy during final fight of the Act in Drezen. She will also aid us much later on in the story as without her help we will be forced to make sacrifice.

We can once more talk to Wilcer Garm to gain either one of two temporary buffs or more units for our army. Choose the option to host tournament.

We can also talk to Sosiel about what happened in Lost Chapel. Your choice after "Did you think about what Hellknight told you" is very important.

As you might have guessed at this point. Sosiel is another companion whom like Ember at specific points asks about your opinion and your answers will effect his ending. In his instance its about his brother and I must say I don't think anyone has gotten the right ending on their first playthrough blind. More details in next spoiler

Sosiel has 3 counters representing his view of his brother, Victim, hero and traitor. We want to the victim to be highest and thus you must not glorify or vilify him. Pick "You don't know what your brother has endured in this war..."

Talk to Daeran and pick "You don't let anyone get close there might be good reason for that"

I also somehow still had the quest to talk to Ulbrig in my quest log and so I did just that.


Level 8
Camellia: Instinctual Warrior (4) Rage Power: Guarded Stance
Daeran: Oracle (8)
Ember: Stigmatized Witch (8) Hex: Evil Eye
Nenio: Wizard (8)
Seelah: Paladin (7)
Sosiel: Cleric (8)
Ulbrig: Griffonhearted Shifter (8)
Wenduag: Spawnslayer (6) Slayer Talents: Improved Two-Weapon Fighting
Woljif: MIA
My Character: Sword Saint (8)

Level 9
Camellia: Alchemist Vivisectionist (3) feat: Deflect Arrows (You can also go toughness etc)
Daeran: Oracle (9) feat: Precise Shot
Ember: Stigmatized Witch (9) feat: Greater Spell Penetration
Nenio: Wizard (9) feat: Metamagic (Persistent Spell) spells: Phantasmal Web (Make sure to pick this up! Second spell is not as relevant animal growth is great if you have STR pet, but I went with summons)
Seelah: Paladin (8) feat: Boon Companion
Sosiel: Cleric (9) feat: Weapon Focus Glaive (You should probably make Sosiel fodder summoner and ignore what I am doing here)
Ulbrig: Griffonhearted Shifter (9) feat: Seize the Momentum and Improved Critical (Claw)
Wenduag: Spawnslayer (7) feat: Improved Critical (Throwing Axe)
Woljif: MIA
My Character: Sword Saint (9) feat: Vital Strike (Finally I unlocked vital strike. Should I have dipped into rowdy at level 3 as I did in beta dont know what madness came over me.)

Mythic Level 2
Camellia: I went with Mythic Dodge, but I probably should gone with endless rage or mythic toughness etc.
Daeran: Spell Penetration (Mythic) I will not be using Daeran so getting enduring spells would probably have been better. More on that below.
Ember: Spell Penetration (Mythic) Likewise I am not convinced this is the optimal choice, but I want spell resistance be as small issue as it can be.
Nenio: Spell Focus (Mythic) (Illusion) I could avoid +2 boost to DC. Nenio has not landed single illusion spell so far in my campaing.
Seelah: Inspirational Leader My Seelah build is FUBAR and I did not know really what to pick.
Sosiel: Mythic Ability: Impossible Domain: Community Domain Guarded Hearth!
Ulbrig: Improved Critical (Mythic) (Claw)
Wenduag: Two-Weapon Fighting (Mythic) I should have gone with Rapid Shot here and I recommend you doing so.
Woljif:
My Character: Vital Strike (Mythic) I waited for level 9 before picking this and it will be worth it.

You might have noticed noticed how most encounters are easy with the right buffs and challenge mainly comes from rationing them (if you are doing sadistic game design.) While we have option to pick enduring spells and greater enduring spells as mythic abilities to extend their duration this would take up two of our precious mythic levels.

So is there solution? You could turn companion you do not use to buff bot by picking enduring spells and greater enduring spells, but you could also alternatively hire mercenary from Hilor to accomplish this.

The main problem from hiring from Hilor is of course is exorbitant price (40500 gold) which we could use in next Act believe me, but it is probably best to bite the bullet unless you are planning to use permanently benched companion for this role as the price will only keep on rising.

Note: I would have hired one earlier, but mix of forgetfulness and losing money to resurrection halted me.

Take note you do not need to bring buff bot along with your party merely slot them in temporally travel to nearby location and apply buffs, switch them for companion you want and then go about your business. While this strategy limits usability of the buff bots to close by areas (24h travel distance) its still nevertheless VERY nice QoL to have and will be very useful in minimizing amount of rests at multiple points during the game.

I recommend Brown-Fur Transmuter as it can improve transmutation spells bonus to ability scores! (eq +4 from Enlargened)

Before resting and heading out to clear the last location before our assault on Drezen make sure to cure any negative levels you may have. Free way to do this is to slot companion like Daeran who might have restoration and go to nearby location and casting restoration there as for some reason we cannot do this in "safe" location.

We will be fighting ghosts who use electricity so prepare your spell slots appropriately and rest. If you are using buff bot apply the buffs in Lost Chapel. If you did not spot Ruins of Ashberry Hamlet or wish to save it for after Drezen for some reason skip to Preparations for Drezen section of the guide.

Game wont let us easily into the next Act trust me on that. Start making your way until you see our foe Ancient Sarkorian Ghost. Take a moment to inspect his stats and spell he has access to.

So what in the hell are we up against? Strong mage who will cast very problematic spells starting with Rift of Ruin which is basically pit spell we have access to on steroids and almost certain death to anyone who falls into it. Sadly he is no one pump chump as he will immediately follow it with blasphemy which will likely AoE paralyze you after which he will throw Plague Storm at your causing major stat drain. I am sure he would continue bringing more pain, but I never let him live that long.

Luckily for you Freedom of Movement can shield you from worst of Blasphemy while Life Bubble will protect you from Plague Storm.

Note: Other less dangerous ghost will join our foe, but simple death ward will protect you from them.

Strategy wise you got three paths before you.

• 1. Try to kill him swiftly
  
• 2. Attack between his spell casting
  
• 3. Try to exhaust him with summons

As you might have noticed strategy you want to take should be based on how daring you want to be and how prepared you are for each route. Killing him swiftly is of course optimal way and definitely possible and the boss only has around 370 HP which you could deal easily blender through by melee party or whittle with ranged.

Middle route and one which takes most skills is to attack, quickly retreat when the ghosts gets close to casting rift of ruin/blasphemy and attack again rinse and repeat when he is ready for the next cast, make sure you have movement speed buffs if you attempt this. Obviously if you got freedom of movement/life bubble to protect you from blasphemy/Plague Storm you do not need to retreat when those spells are cast.

Most cautious option is to try to completely exhaust the ghosts spell slots by sitting far away and letting your summons take the heat. I cant speak to efficiency of this strategy as I never tried it, but it should work if you have the ability to summon enough summons. Take note though you should not summon all your summons out at once and instead send them in trickle. As final note you could probably even retreat to end the fight, save and go again.

No matter what route you decide to go with (other than exhaust route) apply your single target buffs to your party members, throw guarded hearth to where ghost is located, summon your summons, apply AoE buffs (so your summons get them too) and go claim your victory!

Warning: Pay attention that you do not run into Rift of Ruin after the battle is over!

After your victory you can find Lustrious Blade in one of the stone huts, the first decent greatsword in the whole game! But more importantly nothing expect our final preparations are barring us from assaulting Drezen!

Here we are again at the precipice of daring assault. You must think I have gigantic shopping list for you, but this time I really don't as at this point in the game we have access to spells we previously had to buy scrolls for.

That's not to say you shouldn't buy scrolls quite the opposite. Think what the party you wish to bring in is lacking. For example do you want to buy certain scrolls so you can dedicate to your spell slots to other things?

Nevertheless it would be cruel of me to kick you to the deep end without any guidance, below I have made very loose list of scrolls that could be useful. Do not take this as shopping list its just rough list of scrolls that could come in use.

• Scrolls of True Strike/Mirror Image/Shield
  
• 2x Scrolls of Delay Poison, communal
  
• Scrolls of Restoration
  
• 1-4x Scrolls of Dispel Magic, Greater (Target)
  
• Protection from Arrows (specially if you are using Nenio)

Arguably more important than looking through scrolls is taking a final look at the equipment our merchants sell. Is there any that catch your eye that you still haven't bought?

Do not feel compelled to spend your gold as we can really use it next Act.

Now also is final chance to check that you haven't missed anything in your quest log. It happens to best of us.

When you have prepared accordingly proceed like I have listed down below. As for how to assign your spell slots its hard for me to tell you as our adventures in Drezen will take long and we will be facing variety of challenges in that time, but one advice I can tell you is that you should prepare as many blesses as you can get on your cleric first tier spell slots, trust me on this they will come in handy.

• Pick up your buff bot(s) from crusaders camp
  
• Clear the demon fortification blocking your way
  
• Clear the newly appeared demon armies
  
• Head to Lost Chapel
  
• Apply your 24h buffs
  
• Rest (camp)
  
• Apply 24h buffs again
  
• Move to crusader camp that has moved near to Drezen
  
• When you have to choose whether to join Regill's attack in the strategy meeting do not. Its objectively the worse option and forces you to take Regill with you.
  
• Do your last minute shopping if you have any
  
• Leave the camp (this begins the assault and locks your party)

See you at trial of fire that will be Drezen Knight-Commander!

Note: If you take Drezen under certain amount of rests AND you didn't take too many losses in Leper's Smile while having high morale (green flags) you will get extra reward of Ring of Protection +4 and Cloak of Resistance +3 upon your victory.

The time has arrived Knight-Commander! Finally we are knocking the gates of Drezen, yet the demons wont let us leave this act easily and the toughest challenge of this act is still in front of us!

I am assuming you did not take Regill suggestion, but if you did just control+F and jump to "Nabasu and Schirs (Regill's Route)" section

Take quick moment to apply basic buffs to your characters, because your crusader are already in trouble fighting two babaus. Don't worry there are no sneaky reinforcements waiting for you.

With the babaus dealt with the map is open to us and Drezen can be tackled in many different ways. It is probably the best "dungeon" in the whole game, but for now our goal is to shut down the very giants Regill mentioned earlier.

Why is this our goal you may ask? They will throw flask of fire down from the walls and this manifests as unavoidable damage which can potentially deal up to 36 fire damage on unfair, if you do not have protection from fire up that is! For this reason we will be heading east.



You will soon see votary fighting some of your crusader, be warned when you join the battle schirs will appear from god knows where to surround you! If you do not have second tank to distract them pull to the entrance or hide behind crusaders.

Note: Kill the two babaus in the corner after your victory.

With the schirs dealt with we are free to take the athletics check to climb to the next level!

Remember these guys? Cultist slayer especially used to be threat so lets go measure how you have grown! And so we face another relatively easy battle, this time we are up against Baphomet Hexblades, conjurer and slayer, but be the most wary of the three hasted(!) cultist archers at the back!

They are the true threat of this battle, but at this point in the game I do not need to tell you how to deal with archers anymore do I?



After victory we have to take moment to ponder where to go next. We could continue towards our goal of shutting down the giants or we could take slight detour to enter with the prison for reasons explained in the spoilers.

Inside the prison we will find our next companion and oh boy they are good and will most likely take the role of archer in your party unless you are playing as one yourself as such I recommend taking this detour now unless your Wenduag/Lann is very heavily buffed by Brown-fur Transmuter etc.

If you do not want to read the spoilers my spoiler free suggestion would be that you should enter the prison. If you decide to take the detour and enter the prison jump to " " section.

For now I will head west, where we can open the gate from behind! Be careful fight will start once you do so however!

Marilith's Votary is dual wielding scimitars a weapon type which has annoying crit range of 18-20 which potentially could make him threat if you cannot kill him quick enough.

However the true annoyance of this battle are babaus who back him up for one among them will try to remove our buffs with dispel magic!



Luckily this time our foe is relatively bad at it and with the gate opened we are free to continue our journey towards east (Do not take the stairs up!)

You will soon come across two marilith's votary's alongside two babaus nearby and when you have deal with them only single lonely dretch remains fighting hopelessly against group of crusaders.

Yet do not yet spring forth to slay it, first take moment to apply delay poison if you haven't already.
When you attack the dretch you are on road to ambush as groups of dretches and schirs will soon teleport to surround you good way as always to deal with this is to pull back, but mirror image/positioning/good dps will easily also see you through.

When you have survived demons little trick continue north-east where you will find Schir's and Nabasu's votary to whom I wont dedicate section to.

After you have showed them the error of their ways, take the athletics check to get to the top of the roof, from there parkour your way across the rooftops until we can escalade over the wall itself.

Note: Fight will start once we take the final athletics check!

The enemy will desperately try to deny us our ascend, as vrocks (3-4) will descend from the sky to aid the outmatched cultist archers.

Strategy wise there is little room to maneuver. I would focus down the archers first and then focus down the archers one by one. Vrocks as always will annoyingly screetch to stun us and their spores will deal constant dot damage. Make sure to use bless after the battle to remove it!



After repelling the vrocks continue slaying your way across the wall when you reach the first gate house make sure to pull the lever to open another gate!

Once through take note of the mobility check to climb down and continue forward. Soon you will spot group of brimoraks below you and fight will commence. Luckily for us they cant harm and we can safely kill them and the support schirs and dretches!

Enter the second gate house (be careful of the trap inside) and pull the lever to open another gate before you continue onward to the last ash giant of this wall!

While we are here we might as well completely clear this wall. Last encounter waiting for us at its end is mirror image of the earlier vrock fight.

Note: You can shoot the cultists and Kalavakus below from the wall if you want.

Our goal now that the giants are dealt with is to clear first tier of Drezen before we move to next. You can tackle this in anyway you wish, I myself will do it by sweeping west from east. As such the tavern in east most corner is first on the list.



You should see couple babaus larping as bartenders moment you step in. There is nothing special about this encounter just be aware more babaus will attempt to flank you from your side.

Before we tackle the room behind the counter lets first swing to north-east corner of the tavern where we will find our next target.

These guys are bastards. They are preview of what Nenio can do as they will start the battle by phantasmal web (potentially making us nauseated, robbing us of our attacks) followed by phantasmal putrefaction (wisdom damage!) which we really don't want him to cast which in turn means we have one to two turns to kill him.

So, I highly recommend you make most out of your initial charge. Consider casting true charge. Before we head to the backroom make sure to loot the Fracturing Battleaxe from the locked chest, its pretty decent axe, but I am biased to ability damage.

More importantly make sure to loot the Cracked Steel key from the corpse of the dretch!

So what waits us in the backroom? Sadly, I am sorry to announce its the first true challenge for us in this siege and sadly alas not the last.

And what exactly makes our foe dangerous? AC of 47 which Zgur will boost by casting shield backed by relatively robust amount of hitpoints (317) and those defensive stats are enhanced by multiple relative high attacks (37.)

He also has true sight robbing us from using displacement, mirror image or greater invisibility to our benefit, but what I find most annoying about him is his reach as he will most likely switch from targeting your tank to targeting your melee characters who do not have the AC required to survive.

Still there are some silver linings here as Zgur has relatively low reflex save of 15, even his will of 19 could be considered low and all of these saves could be possibly brought down further by demoralize or evil eye.

And most importantly, single dispell magic, greater (target) can rob of him of all his buffs!


From 47 to 32 not bad at all eh?

With little tactical thinking we can save our guarded hearth, sneak important party member into the corner room one by one, apply your long lasting buffs followed haste and greater invisibility and when you are ready to charge cast true strike.

Charge and allow him to cast shield and immediately after cast dispel magic on him. This will allow our ranged character with greater invisibility hit him flat footed!

Lootwise Zgur was rocking Belt of Physical Might +2 which is pretty disappointing, but you can find Alchemist's Shirt from nearby corpse which grants immunity to nauseated! As rule of thumb try to avoid selling items that give outright immunity or big resistance to something as these items will come useful in some gimmick fights. If you remember that is.

With the tavern liberated its time continue onward!

Coming from the tavern climb the ramp to the gate, but make sure you send your in first as you will be ambushed by three vrocks. You might want to wait for them to scream before you send rest of your party in to engage them, but otherwise we have done this before.

Before we head further up I need to give you warning

Underneath the gatehouse laying in wait for you is Shadow Demon's Votary. Be very careful as you cannot spot him until you are close for some reason, even if you come from behind him. In fact coming behind him is the worst option as for some reason you cannot even shoot him unless you directly touch him.

So for this reason I recommend coming from the ramp side and using true sight (+haste/greater invisibility.) Votary will cast phantasmal killer if you are not in melee range with him and if you are he will cast phantasmal web followed by phantasmal putrefaction. He will also automatically get mirror image for free.

He will be reinforced by two deraknis whom like the ones we fight in Leper's Smile will try to confuse us.

We might as well clear the other side of the rampart. You can find two crusaders fighting vrock, intervene and slay the vrock, but be careful as you move towards the rubble because two vrocks will fly in to avenge their brethren.

Note: I will be assuming you will be entering from where Baphomet's hexblades where.

Before we start messing up with the prisoners lets clear the enemies first. You should see archer and evoker in front of you and next to evoker is minotaur. Start the battle by charging the evoker and the archer. After slaying both of them swing to engage the spell casting minotaur. The fight should be over in seconds.

Evoker will start by casting Icy Prison which can do nasty damage if you don't manage the saves. The minotaur will try casting pillar of flame.

The cell next to the minotaur we just killed has illusionary backwall. Once you open it be ready for fight will start.

This fight will easy thanks to our choke point, allowing us easily to hold minotaurs and babaus at the bay. Focus on the Prophet of Baphomet who try to start by casting pillar of flame, but will likely switch to heal as you deal damage to him. There is also babau at back who will try to dispell your buffs at the back, have your archer ready to take him down and this fight should be easy!



After your victory loot Magic Essence from one of the crates and Quick Death, really decent javelin.

We are now free to talk to prisoners so let us start first with Arueshalae. Question her as you wish, if you unlocked azata path in Kenabres you will get option to [Sing the song of Elysium] which unlock the dialogue options to either recruit her as companion or recruit her as companion and start the romance.

I shouldn't need to tell you which is which, but just incase you are socially stunted like author it is the option (I see the spark of...) that starts the romance.

If you didn't unlock azata option for RP reasons don't worry, you can start the romance and recruit her later on.

Companion wise Arueshalae is in my opinion strongest range companion in game. Her stat block is busted and her build is strong enough.

Make sure to open the remaining cells and kill the prisoners. Loot the Broken Gauntlets and Fire-Damaged Steel Key they drop.

After leaving the prison our next target are the cultist directly ahead of the entrance to Drezen. (Up the stair)

Easy fight as long as you have protection from fire up alongside delay poison for the dretches. I would recommend approaching from prison, but you do you.

Continue your sweep westward until you see SD's Votary guarding gate

Lone SD's Votary and vrock who will appear as reinforcements. Do not interact with it (attempt knock it down) we can open it from behind later instead head south and take the mobility check to go down.

In the north-eastern corner is hidden Votary with incubus. Same rules apply as in every fight against them. Slay them and climb back up and take the mobility check to the roof top.

We are up against two vrocks. Nothing we haven't dealt with before so slay quickly and climb even higher where two more vrock wait us.

With the vrocks dealt with we can actually cheese yet another fight as the nabasu and schir below cannot target us, when you have finished them off enter the barracks. (Be warned we will be attack upon entry)

For some reason stairs broke the AI, but even if they could climb up to us we are in for another easy fight as babaus and the Votarys aren't a threat to us anymore.



After your victory loot the Magic Essence and Lethal Squall before taking the western door out.

Despite the fact I skipped this fight by shooting our enemies from the rooftop I will put this brief section here incase you are doing the siege Regill's way. After you exit from graveyard you should see Schirs (and maybe nabasu) same rules apply as all the times we dealth with them.

Remember death ward and freedom for movement and you should be fine. Make sure to loot the Graveyard Keeper's Helmet from the nearby graveyard as the two AC is massive bonus. (Graveyard has some minor demons if you didn't pick Regill's way.)

When you push northward from where schirs and nabasu where you will run into pack of demon. I have vivid memory that kalavakus should appear, but it didnt happen for me. I do not know if this is because I didn't go with Regill or because I shot them from the wall and forgot.

Continuing west you should soon see patrolling minotaur. Behind him are bunch of cultist archers and bunch of deskari's cutthroat lead by cultist slayer, but all of them only exist as shield for our priority target this fight, the two cultist evokers.

The evokers will cast Icy Prison which you don't really want to hit you unless you have freedom of movement up followed most likely by fireball and then lightning bolt/fire snake. Now the good thing is that the evokers can be easily tricked into casting the icy prison on any crusaders aiding you or summons.

As such I recommend summoning some summons pre-battle charging and killing the minotaur followed by quick retreat to trick the evokers and then rushing back into the frey. Nenios phantasmal web also works great here and will likely shut all or majority down.

If you want to be fancy you could also sneak past the patrolling minotaur or dimensional door to the platform where one could climb up the wall. Regardless after you have dealt with the cultist head inside the cathedral.

Just few steps in and we are already facing pain with two Shadow Demon's Votary instead of lone ones we are used to, this makes chance that one of them manages to cast phantasmal putrefaction significantly higher.

I strongly recommend you cast true sight for this battle in fact I would almost consider in requirement. If you have Nenio cast of phantasmal web can have huge dividends in this battle.


I had to rely on using Sword Saints perfect strike+critical to deal with with them, but its small price to pay for victory.

Very trolly enemy who automatically uses dispel magic on you, if you score critical hit on him. Other than that he likes to charge through your frontline to kill your backline. Keep this this in mind and be ready to move or use summons, other than that its easy fight.

As final tip remember nenio's true strike+blinding ray combo. After your victory head to the eastern room and kill the dretch there, loot his body for Sooty Steel Key. Open the hidden wall and loot the Rod of Mysticism from the skeleton.

After you are done with all of that we will change our approach, head out of the church and take the athletics check to climb over the wall and head west you should soon see Derakni.



Not much to say here expect be careful with their drone which in practice means when you engage the first one let it drone before you send rest of your melee in.

After your victory head inside the church (the ruins.)

Another easy fight. The biggest threat is their sheer numbers if you don't have off tank, but this can be remedied with usage of mirror image and the like.

Make sure to loot the Triceratops Statue from the room nearby. This is more valuable item than you think as we can use it without care force enemy wizards to waste their spells etc.

Another annoying votary and will soon see why we approached from behind. This one will cast blade barrier and disintegration. Former which our AI controlled party member love running into (deals unavoidable damage!) and later which has the capacity to one shot us. Fun!



I had unfortunate luck at beginning of the battle as the Votary got blasphemy off, stunning most of my party which in turn left me wide open for bladeward/disintegration, but then Wenduag managed to silence the enemy with her throwing axes. This is exactly why silencing throwing axe is great, even if the effect procs on enemy rolling 1 since if you are throwing enough axes those become pretty good odds!

With that we have cleared this holy place and can tackle next tier of Drezen.

Sweeping east from west we can finally clear the demons blocking the main gate. No more athletics check for us! This is easy fight as the gate way function as perfect choke point for us.



Is three holy number of Deskari or something? Identical to the earlier fight we had.

You will soon come across cultist evoker and dretch having arguement. Watch, if you want, but know they will they attack you immediately once the conversation is over no matter how far away you are spying at them from.

After they are dealt with use the keys to open the secret passage, if you missed any they are on the dretches hiding in tavern, church and prison.

Make sure to loot Scimitar of Wind from the rubble nearby! This is very important item!

Inside you will find another horde of incubuses. This can be tricky fight if you don't have off tank and if you dont be prepared with your displacements and mirror images. Otherwise very simple fight.

Pull the lever to open the final gate blocking our way and be prepared to move further up!

Fallen Crusader bars our way to the courtyard of the keep. He is not the most impressive foe, yet as we engage him another familiar face will climb down from the walls to his aid, retriever.

You might remember these mechanical spiders from Leper's Smile. On one hand we are higher level, but on the other hand we cant immediately charge him as we did back then. You do not really want the retrievers rays to hit you so consider displacement and regarding buffs haste/greater invisibility would be useful in this fight, but it can easily be done without them.

Once you step inside the courtyard you will find the enemy general. After brief dialogue fight will start and I strongly recommend you pull back for multiple reasons. For starter enemy will start by casting dispel magic greater (area) and we really don't want to be hit by that. Secondly he will cast firestorm which will deal massive AoE damage.

So just retreat and let your allies handle him while you pelt him from distance. Sadly vanquishing the enemy general isn't the end of things. Talk to greybor and before you take his advice do the following two things.

• 1. Loot everything and sell it to Wilcer (You can quickly do this by entering the next area and as you do so click collect all, then quickly run back to sell)
  
• 2. Check you have Radiance (tutorial dungeon sword) either on your inventory or party member who is with you. If you have have it on someone who is with you currently talk to Wilcer and unequip it form them.

Note: Level 10 will be in next section.

Time to tackle the second half of Drezen. If you are confused where to go after forcing Balor to retreat, climb the wooden stairs to get on top of the wall and follow it to door.

Once you enter we are back to linear dungeon dwelling, after few steps forward you will be brought to your knees in cut scene and we will be introduced to the unique mechanic of this dungeon Whisper of Madness. Way it works is every 10 minutes you must succeed 14 DC will save or take 2 charisma damage like most time limits in game this is not as bad it sounds so don't panic.

Nevertheless our first goal is to get rid of it, but for now keep going forward. Oh, and before I forget here is the map.



Arueshalae: Espionage Expert (9) (10), your favorite enemy is up to you, but I recommend demons.
Camellia: Alchemist Vivisectionist (4) Feral Mutagen (we are aiming for feral wings.)
Daeran: Oracle (10)
Ember: Stigmatized Witch (10) Ward
Nenio: Wizard (10)
Regill: Hellknight (3) rest into fighter Armiger, feat Dazzling Display
Seelah: Paladin (10) for Mercy Exhausted is better if you are minmaxxing amount rests otherwise go for confused or staggered
Sosiel: Cleric (10)
Ulbrig: Griffonhearted Shifter (10)
Wenduag: Spawnslayer (8) Snap Shot
Woljif: MIA
My Character: Sword Saint (10)

You will come across narrow pathway spiraling down with hexblade blocking your path and two archers at the bottom. Just be wary that archers don't kill your vulnerable party members and you will be fine.

You will soon come across woman in chains who introduces herself as Yaniel. Do not worry about giving or not giving her back what belongs to her as the choice is irrelevant, but make sure to free her. This is very important as it is required for secret ending.

Next to her you can see some rubble. Clear it (don't worry it wont pass time) to find Defense by Offense, one of the many reasons why monk dips are good any AC bonus is god-tier as always.

If you peak out the door you will see trap and pair of babaus. Disarm the trap and move your party members to the hallway. As you might have guessed behind the pair are more cultist most notably single evoker who will cast firesnake and icy prison.

I went so far as to turn AI of my archer so I could make sure I had shot ready for them. In summary another easy fight that act as attrition rather than real challenge.

After your victory head east. Open the door which you don't need to pick lock to reveal another hallway. Before you enter be warned fiendish minotaur patrols the length of it after you have handled him head to room directly ahead of you.

Inside you will find three stone slab, interact with each of them to reveal skill check we have to do the rid ourselves from the whispers. Be warned if you fail you will be attacked by ghosts, but can try again afterwards.

Loot the Bastard Sword of Hope from the crusader's glowing corpse.

Now you can also backtrack and check the room you might have ignored or the terrace where you can loot Headband of Mental Flow +2 from trapped chest (+2 to CHA& INT. In direction were babaus where.)

When you are done with that head south taking stairs down to door behind which our next encounter lies.

Enter the room and try to stop your monkey brain from opening the hidden wall if you spot them. You should see the miniboss of this encounter Theruk Nul. Gimmick of this fight is once we engage him or open the wall bunch of his minions will spring out and spam dominate.

My preferred way of doing this fight is apply protection form evil, communal and charge Theruk Nul while animal companion holds the chaff at bay. If you want to play it safe or lack animal companion you can easily pull back to where we came from and use the door way.



You might have noticed I didn't comment at all on the stats of the enemy and that is solely because they were unremarkable. After your victory, if you managed the perception check you will spot yet another hidden wall. Pull it down, disarm the trap and loot Eluding Target from the chest and Tender Touch from the vampire coffin after you have killed him.

When you are done with the room proceed out in the only direction we have left.

Path ahead seems to be blocked by 4 schirs, before you go charging in allow me to offer you warning. At some point in the fight more demons will teleport in and this includes nabasu who will cast hold person, mass (31 DC) and babaus couple who will attack you in melee and pair who will proceed to spam dispel.

As always when dispellers are in the play make doubly sure after each fight (or during) that your important buffs are not lost like mage armor.

Another old face. Remind him about his promise with Radiance and be prepared as sadly there is no way to avoid bloodshed, if only we could turn back time...

Fight wise just hold him in place with your tank and whack him until you get through, if for some reason you want to be quick dispel his buffs.

After your victory make sure to loot Solemn Hour, Rabid Underdog (near entrance) and Cold Iron (in crate near shelf) from the room.

Next we will be snaking our way along the north-west passage to tackle the hardest challenge in Drezen. No pressure.

You will probably want to make hard safe here. Open the door and carefully hug the south-western wall to disarm the trap trigger.

In the distance you can probably hear cultist conducting some sort of ritual and that ritual is the main gimmick of this fight. You see when you get close enough for them to spot you they will start sacrificing themselves on their turn, if you kill even one of them you will fight get to fight Chorussina the cultist leader herself.

Stat wise, she has nasty AC and crazy amount of attacks, but she is still vulnerable to being summon walled while you dispel her buffs and proceed to wack her to the afterlife.

But what if we allowed the cultist to finish their casting or we were too slow to interrupt them perhaps due to bad initiative rolls?

Then we get to the hardest optional boss of this act Blightmaw, this beast has high AC, high HP pool of 525 and throws 5 attacks per turn and each of those attacks has minimum attack value of 46. Cherry on top being the fact he has cleave line of feats meaning he gets free "cleaving finish" on kills meaning we will running dry of our summons awfully quickly.

Oh, and did I forget to mention he starts with mirror image and true sight?

Does he have any weakness? Well his reflex save is relatively weak meaning minmaxxed conjuration focused spell caster might have edge. More importantly however his touch AC is very low.



So which one do I recommend you fight? Blightmaw for the big chunk of exp he drops (10k), achievement and enchantment DC boosting item he drops.

Strategy for dealing with him is simple, but can be tricky to pull off in practice.

You will want to go all out with buffs pre-fight and this includes guarded hearth (more on its placement latter, when you are buffed trigger the fight and stay on the stairs. As the last of the cultists are sacrificing themselves summon summons far back enough that they don't interrupt the ritual, but close enough that they will move in front of the coming giant.

Note: Blightmaw arriving counts as start of new battle so dont delay. Now is great time to apply true strikes (remember extend rod) and the like.

What we want accomplish is that he spends his crazy movement running in front of our summons before killing them all, but as he does so next group of our summons arrive to take their place. As this is happening make sure to dispel his buffs and that your ranged character is standing on guarded hearth chipping away his hitpoints thanks to greater invisibility and guarded hearth.

You can send your melee in if they have long reach, but be prepared to step back after attacking and make extra sure you got summons to fill the gap!

If worst comes to worst and you want or need to tank him, it is doable with minmaxxed AC character who has stoneskin, displacement and mirror image up alongside other buffs. Nenio's blinding ray and Ember evil eye are great aids here.

Firstly, hats off to you king or queen. You just dealt with the hardest boss so far into the game and everything else here will be much more tolerable.

Make sure to loot Ring of Chaotic Fascination from Blightmaw's rotting corpse. Which is reskinned ring of protection +2 that increases DC of your enchantment spells by 2. Great item, if you got enchantment caster that is cough cough. Regardless +2 bonus to saves against enchantment spells that ring grants is always useful.

We will also get the chance to double dip on the loot as on Chorussina's corpse lay Lucky Dice which can potentially grant you one extra AC for whole day, very neat!

In one the corner you can also find Laboratory Journal of Xanthir Vang, 4712 which upon reading grants you +1 DC to spells with compulsion or mind-affecting descriptors as permanent modifier.

After you are done looting head back to the room where we fought Jorah Vhane and you should spot corridor we haven't been through yet, be wary though as its trapped and minotaur patrols it.

Before we get to the next room we will have to content with yet another minotaur. Luckily for us he is nothing of note.

At the end of the room you should spot cultist pacing back and forth and he is not alone for behind him you might even be able to spot the two minotaurs who are proudly flanking the rag we are here to liberate.

What you probably wont see is the evoker just behind minotaurs and couple archers on the side. So how should we handle this fight? Wait for cultist to walk east, move forth to spot the evoker and charge him, but be careful as the minotaurs love to go for your backline so consider either having your weaker character further back and have them join the fight later or use mirror image/control spells.

After your victory do not interact with the Sword of Valour! Instead loot the corpses for key and head towards Baphomet statue that is in the room. Hopefully you manage the perception checks to spot the two hidden walls. Pull them down and you see familiar looking stone slabs, do the skill checks associated with both while avoiding the traps.

Move your party to opposite side of the room, away from the Sword of Valour. When you are ready summon summons, apply haste and protection from fire then send one character to near Sword of Valour and preferably apply vanish to them before you interact with the Sword of Valour.

This will cause bunch of brimoraks to teleport in and yes they all will throw fireballs at you, if this wasn't enough alongside them teleported couple of dispeller babaus, but if luck is with you they should target your summons, if you hold back from charging in for second.

After you have dealt with the first wave a second wave composed of vrocks and babaus will arrive in the attempt to finish you off. Swat the aside and continue through the door in the room

You should spot trap immediately as your step in the corridor. Wait for the two patrolling minotaurs to pass by and disarm it quickly. We have slain many lone minotaur in this dungeon and even the magic caster kind are not new to us, yet this battle is little bit different. You see this Prophet of Baphomet has the stoneskin buff which means unless you are wielding adamantine weapon you wont deal much damage to him.



This in turn means he most likely will get pillar of flame off potentially killing your more brittle character if they are low health or lack the protection of protection from fire. With all in this mind focus the prophet down and distract the other minotaur with mirror image/blinding ray.

After getting through the minotaurs you should see doorway at the end. Beware combat will start once you walk through so take the time to apply death ward to your melee characters. I would also highly recommend casting freedom of movement and displacement/mirror image.

Positioning wise have your melee characters hiding in the corner whilst your tank holds the doorway put your other characters good distance away. When you are ready move forward with your tank to trigger the fight and assume your positions.



Fight itself consists of three waves of run of the mill ghouls whilst the later waves will start adding huntmasters into the mix and these huntmasters pose the greatest danger as they may shoot your melee characters. This doesn't happen often and usually going behind the corner between your attacks is good enough preventative, but it still happens often enough that having mirror image up is worth it. I should also that note that I have not seen them target my archers or even throwing axe throwers, but you should still pay close attention to whom the enemy archers target just in case.

As you are dealing with the last wave of ghouls their creators show up. Yes, more nabasus two in fact: a grown one and a plain regular one. Funnily enough its the normal one who will cast hold person (mass) and meaning you should try to slay that one first. Yet both can be dangerous as they will cast vampiric touch which will target our touch AC instead of our regular AC! This is why I suggested using displacement.

In the nearby chest you can find decent tower shield: Bastion of Lion's Heart.

As you proceed forward you will stopped by Yaniel. If you are going for the secret ending read the spoilers below.

When Yaniel starts talking about knowledge you need to either pick the evil dialogue option or the one that says "learning from enemy is always good" (I am paraphrasing.) Do not pick good option!

Once the conversation is over proceed through the newly revealed route.

You might have spotted the 3 dials on the ground. We will worry about those later as at this moment there is hidden shadow demon in the room with us. Normally he would attack us with his friends after have solved the puzzle, but we can actually force the fight to happen right now and and by so doing rob him of his allies.

You can initiate the fight by running around bottom left button (picture them forming triangle.) It might take while or you might run into him immediatly, its easier or harder depending how many characters you have trying.

Like the shadow demon we fought at Kenabres basement this one is bastard as well. He ignores our AC as his attacks count as touch attacks (so remember displacement and mirror image!) and as added danger has ability to cast nasty spells. He can blind us all with glitterdust and deal great damage to the unprepared with lightning and fireball.

Luckily for us he doesn't have protection against greater invisibility, but be warned he will spot the archer with his high perception if they stand too close and then proceed to target them.



Speaking of stairs I guess we have gotten to the point I have actually to recommend method of dealing with him. Well way I see it you got two options either have your party around the dials, buff them up and try to quickly mob him before he can cause too much damage. Other option would be staying up in the stairs with all your characters or few and attempt to rob him of his spell slots by utilizing summons before you close in for the kill.

Ah, actually decent puzzle for once. This one is quite easy to do even by brute force, but incase you cant be bothered here is the solution Middle button twice, bottom left button twice and bottom right button once. No judgement from me.

And with that we can finally reclaim the fabled Sword of Valour!

Note: You will attacked once you do so!

Easy fight, but can be tricky if you are running low on resources as I was when I did this (I haven't rested since we entered Drezen)

Few moments later after you reclaimed the real Sword of Valour cultist will come pouring in from the door desperate to stop you. Their numbers will be mostly made up of melee brawlers like hexblades and votary's, but there will be evoker among them alongside you guessed it Nabasu who will cast hold person, mass. (Evoker will cast icy prison followed two fireballs.)

Strategy wise if your buffs are hot park your tank near the door. Focus the evoker down first followed by the nabasu.

Other route is that you park your fastest character near the Sword of Valour. Put rest of your characters up the stairs where you can better space your party (eg control whom are hit by enemy spells) then pick up the Sword of Valour and run the flag picker up the stairs to join the rest of your party.

And that was the last the fight of this area. Little further lies on lies the exit, but before you go make sure to loot and sell everything here as the exit at the end is point of no return.

Note: I wont cover next area in any depth as its meant to be cinematic power trip, but I will mention they have archers who like to target your low AC characters so cast mirror image and turn turn based mode on if you are paranoid!

Here we finally are, the worst of the siege is behind us though more importantly we have arrived at the moment we must choose what mythic path we will dedicate ourselves to.

One could count on me to spend two pages explaining in painful detail pros and cons of each path laid before you and god knows I will spend equal amount of time on subjects of much lesser importance. Truth however is firstly, I cannot be bothered and secondly, this is not build guide as I stated at the start.

I also have faith in you dear reader as if you have made it this far you should have idea on strengths of your class. Read carefully what mythic paths offer (at start of guide I have brief synopsis.) and choose what most augments your build. Easy choices are angel if you are divine caster and lich if you are arcane caster (or demon if you are DC based caster.)

I myself will be choosing Trickster as perception 2 offers me the chance to expand my crit range on all my party members!

Arueshalae: Ranging Shots, Improved Critical (longbow) or Rapid Shot, The Bigger They Are
Camellia: Limitless Rage
Daeran: Greater Enduring Spells
Ember: Inspirational Leader (picked mainly because of my party composition. I would recommend spell more spell slots)
Nenio: Favorite Metamagic - Persistent
Regill: Last Stand
Seelah: Thundering Blows (Last stand probably meta)
Sosiel: Madness Domain (For broken ability that works great as buff or debuff if you can get through opponents spell resistance.)
Ulbrig: Last Stand
Wenduag: The Bigger They Are
Woljif: MIA
My Character: Ever Ready

This is also where our paths lead us further apart as each mythic path has it own flavor of quests and some even have major choices that further alter them. All this I say to convey that expect course of our games to be even more different and I wont have your mythic path quests covered in the guide (unless you are trickster)

I will be picking back up with you when you get off the wall. Fingers crossed we can finish rest of Drezen in one page!

Before you should be stairs going up and open doorway. We will save the upstairs for later for now check your combat buffs (nothing extravagant needed) and I highly suggest you apply protection from fire to yourself if you don't have it already.

As you step through the doorway cultist will spring ambush on you. You will be up against Schir and Babau Votary's (3 in total. Babau's Votary will be in stealth at start) backed by evoker and minotaur, so all in all nothing too special especially as we can use the door way to hold them at bay.



Next we will be heading in the direction minotaur and evoker came from (east.)

Note: Do not enter Citadel's Command

Stop moving when you spot trap on the ground as literal ♥♥♥♥ demons will will spring up from filth to attack us when we move past it. They have relatively high attack and AC, but their weakness is their low movement speed, in fact you could trigger the fight and run back to the room we entered from and the omoxes would give up the chase.

So use this to your advantage either lure them in to the door way where we killed the earlier batch of cultist or kite them to death with reach and ranged weapons.

Sadly neither they or the room they were in has any notable loot. That said with our janitor duties done its time to finally climb the tower, however I strongly recommend you rest before you do so as there is tricky fight waiting for us there and if you cannot beat it you can potentially softlock your game!

Once you get on top you should see chest right in front of you, do not open it instead use whatever spells you have to protect yourself from sonic damage and you might as well use haste alongside greater invisibility. I might even go so far as to recommend using guarded hearth.

As you might have guessed it fight will start moment you open the chest.

And oh boy, what fight it is below the chest in the corner will be two coloxuses and in the upper corner one slightly stronger coloxus.

The stronger variant will cast contagion: bubonic plague which will do constitution damage if you allow him to deliver it via touch attack. The bottom Coloxuses will cast haste into shout and mindfog into spell that makes you target your allies if you fail wisdom save.

You can probably see why I strongly considered using guarded hearth, eh? Strategy wise I would position your strongest tank to meet the slightly stronger Coloxus while your pets/dps characters handle the bottom two. Of course drowning them in skeletons works as well

Note: I am not exact on the order of spells the two below chest cast or which will cast which.

When you are done with them its down to climb down and head to Citadel's Command.

You will start in small room, beware once you leave forces of evil will leap at you, desperate to stop you. This is second to last fight we have left here in Drezen not counting the final showdown with Minagho and the last fight of any challenge.

So what are we up against once we leave the room? Well sole minotaur, pair of kalavakuses backed by trio of archers and single evoker.

Strategy wise I would pull back into the doorway or hold with your main tank in the middle and hold the door way with animal, but you do you. Sometimes demons run through the doorway and sometimes they get stuck and hold and I got no clue what, if any actions contribute to it. Anyways the biggest threat here are the trio of archers whom love to target your vulnerable party members, don't give them the chance or protect yourself with spells and you will be fine.

Once you crushed the defenders final hopes of snatching victory from jaws of defeat proceed forward, do not open the large door you will see and continue to end of the corridor where you will see normal door.

Inside your future bedroom you will find two schirs making a mess. Best we clear them off now, eh?Also with them is invisible babau not that it makes any difference.

And that's it, there is nothing else to do than confront Minagho and so lets head back to that door we left open earlier.

And so we arrive at the end of this act, only final clash against Minagho and Staunton is holding us back so for last time this act let me tell you what we are up against.

Fight will begin once you get into glaive distance of the trio. Staunton will proceed to buff himself with self buff spells like righteous might, Minagho will start by casting Phantasmal Putrefaction (40 DC!) followed by self buff spells and lastly Nurah (your ally if you caught her and chose the trickster option) will cast buff spells like haste and song of courage.

Minagho is the biggest threat here with her AC of over 50 and her claws that will act like blender. Luckily we are save to ignore her as downing Staunton will progress the fight. Minagho will bail once you bring Staunton (or her) down. after that game will place you in circle around Staunton. IIRC initiative will be rerolled and if you are unlucky with your rolls Staunton might go first and make mince meat of your mages this is why I strongly recommend protecting your vulnerable party members with displacement/mirror image before you trigger the fight.



There is no other guidance I can offer you other than recommend you to initial position your team outside the room to avoid worst of Minagho's Phantasmal Putrefaction, it is rarely fatal, but is annoying to deal after. You are also completely free to go hog wild with your resources so apply your buffs and summon all the skeletons you can to give you the time needed to deal with Staunton.

Note: I had multiple crashes when I got close enough to Minagho to trigger the conversation and these crashes were so hard that they actually shutdown my computer. Luckily turning on turn based mode fixed it for me. (15.9.2024)

After your victory make sure you talk to Nurah. She might have been rendered uninteractible due to Minagho's phantasmal putrefaction which she will recover from if you wait long enough. If she was your ally I strongly suggest that you pick the dialogue option "Thanks for your help, Nurah. And now... I never saw you here." if she was your enemy I suggest you kill her.

And so Act 2 draws to close. You are now free to leave through the way we came from.

I would like to take this moment to say if you are one of those special few who has somehow trekked your way from the start of this big block of text to this line, I thank you. This guide has done better than I expected and I hope it has been some use to you.

When I started this I thought I would hammer the guide out in few weeks, but it has turned into much bigger beast which life seems reluctant to let me tame which is my pretentious way to say friends, responsibilities, broken sleep pattern and potential litigation have hampered my progress, but I will finish this guide. This I promise you, may it be this year, if the Lord permits.

Our entrance into next act starts by queen grading us on our performance. If you did well you will receive Ring of Protection +4 which is very nice item this early in the game. You will also get Cloak of Protection +3 which we can still make use of.

If you are curious whether you pass or not is mainly based on amount of rests you had during the siege (I do not know the number you can have safely) followed by morale in crusade mode (green flags) and how many casualties you took in Leper's Smile.

If you passed with flying colors and got the ring you can make joke about it to the Queen by saying "A ring? What, are we betrothed now?" for extra romance points, if you so desire.

Irabeth doesn't waste any time in giving us list of task to check off. I will comment more on these as we are tackling them, but more importantly (well not really) we are presented with choice of what to do with Staunton's body. If you are lich, go with the lich option. Difference between burning body, honorable burial and showing it off in town square is minusculeIf you choose the option to bury or the evil option to mock him even in death we will meet him later as foe.

Its about time we get to crossing them off. I will try to avoid writing too much so its bulletins only for you!

• Enter the Citadel
  
• Give Solemn Hour to Irabeth
  
• Pick the option "We need to talk about what happened during the attack on Drezen."
  
• Talk to Anevia and ask if she figured out how demons are sneaking up on us
  
• Take look at the map on table to open crusade mode. Familiarize yourself with it, but don't do anything yet.
  
• (If you are trickster enter your closet heh and attempt every diplomacy check)

• Talk to Daeran and reply with "Was that an overly verbose and oblique attempt to thank me..."
  
• Enter the building in front of the inn (one-eyed devil stands in front of it.) Find "Crusade Chronicle" on one of tables and read it for 10 hit points
  
• Go upstairs and talk to Nenio, find and give her bottle of alcohol (you can find some in tavern)

• Enter the inn/tavern and say to Fya "How is that such a young lad owns tavern"
  
• Talk to Greybor and hire him (for 2500)
  
• Go outside and talk to Wenduag to start her romance and talk to her again to bang
  
• If you banged Wenduag ask her about her scars, go through all of them until the option "Why do you pick fights with the crusaders" shows up, make sure you pick it.

• Enter the barracks (You can find it on the quick travel menu) and loot until you find "Know thy enemy! Crusader's Brief" when you do make sure to read it for another permanent modifier
  
• If you recruited Arueshalae and didn't start the romance you can do so by saying "May I ask you personal question..." "Do you still feel desire?" This should unlock the dialogue option
  
• Enter the Cathedral and proceed to loot and read "The History of the Worldwound" for another permanent modifier.

As companion I would rate Greybor above Regill just based on his strong class sadly his feat picks leave lot to be desired for and as such he falls short the likes of Seelah, Camellia and Arueshalae. Still he can be turned to passable and even effective, if squishy melee damage dealer especially with trickster crit feats. For his mythic levels pick last stand and wait for level 11 to pick Improved Critical (mythic) as for his level 10 I would recommend constitution damage or dex damage as slayer feat.

Its time to get back on the road, but before we do that its time to spend the funds you acquired with sweat and blood. If you need some pointers on what to spend money on the next section covering vendors has got you covered, but keep at least 25000 on hand you will need it for quest!

As is almost tradition at this point I will have to throw just "one more thing" before I let you back on the saddle and that thing is the crusader mode. Yes, it has followed us into this act and you should check out the section "Crusade Mode Act 3 Guide" for details on the first moves.

First on our agenda is taking care of the dragon harassing our back lines. As such taking Greybor along with you for our first array is mandatory. This is the point in the game paladins ability to cure exhaustion starts to become useful if you are trying to minimize your amount of rests for sadistic game design.

Our route west looks like something like this. If you have paladin with you that can remove exhaustion prioritize Ashen Grotto first, in case you do 24h buffs should last until you get there (I recommend fire protection.)

Temple of the Good Hunt > Ashen Grotto > Grimwood

Note: Make sure you have your Swarmbane Clasps with you.

Likely somewhere near Temple of the Good you will encounter scripted encounter and for this reason you might want to rest, if you become exhausted especially if you are playing on Last Azlanti mode! It is very important you pause the game as soon as the event happens, more details on its own section.

Crusade Mode Note: Try to play "Lost Scouts" card as soon as you can. You should also clear road to Wintersun (south of Drezen) sometime soon.

As promised we got no shortage of ways to burn our newly acquired funds. To aid in this most noblest of endeavors I have prepared list of purchasable items I value most in this act.

Speaking of acts in next one we will burn money even faster, but doesn't stress or go overtly frugal just yet. I will remind you when the time comes to curb your spending.

Note: I would recommend keeping 20-40k gold on hand for certain quest Greybor's introduction and scrolls/reagents.

Your go-to trader for diamonds as the name implies. I would like to give honorable mention to Enlivening Leadership if you are going for intimidate/kill yourself trickster memes.



Our dear Arcane Weaver can always weave your gold pouch open as she sells many useful scrolls (shield, boneshaker, hurricane bow...) and magic items you don't really need, but could use. Honorable mention to Source of Dividing Power for summon pumping clerics and Gloves of Dueling for those who posses weapon training.



Name kinda gives it away doesn't it? If you are unique and special individual like me this provider probably has something for you.



Our favorite quartermaster has new stock, just don't buy boots of battle herald as we are about to unlock that spell! I wonder if he has bleach which my eyes desperately grave after seeing certain meme(s) about him....



Sells mainly recipe, potions and cooking ingredients, but somehow must have goggles for archers have landed in his possession? Honorable mention to pricy and probably not worth it the ghost touch shortsword he sells.



Best girl from Kingmaker returns! Sells same stock as the clerics in crusader camp alongside few added goodies.



Note: One-Eyes Devil is not included in the list as he sold nothing of value.

I would like to start by mentioning I will be moving away from day by day method I used for Act 2's portion of the crusade mode guide. This is change something I felt very conflicted about, but I decided to move to more bigger picture format for few reasons.

• Act 2 introduced crusader mode thus more hands on approach was warranted.
  
• Act 2 was much more linear.
  
• In Act 3 you can take your time in clearing the map, in Act 2 you were much more on the "clock."
  
• Value it would provide to you would low and it would take lot of space.

However, I will still cover all (council) decisions, relics and settlement management alongside of course any especially hard demon battles.

Right, where to start? I suppose we should start with the old and familiar so armies it is. Like whenever possible start by hiring troops and mercenaries. You should be able to afford all of them even if just barely.

With our armies reinforced new question arrives: Where and how should we move them? Well you got two ways to approach this. First is the normal method of combining all your strongest units in one army that you will clear everything one by one with secondary army made up of what refuse you had left maybe helping with the easier stuff. Second is the more sweaty strategy is trying to spread your forces between two armies to attempt to clear with both at the same time. If you go this route I would suggest putting weaker force with your main general as they should have damage spell and heal spell at this point, also make sure to hire general for your second army I would recommend Chief as she comes with damage spell right off the bat!

Now that you got your method of map painting selected what should your objectives for them be? As you probably noticed in the last act hovering over the demon armies with your cursor reveals the rewards for defeating them. Take moment to do this to get lay of the land and prioritize following (in order) when you consider where to move your armies.

• 1. Demon Armies/Fortifications Blocking Your Path to Quests Locations (Wintersun!)
  
• 2. Daily Finance/Material Points
  
• 3. Relics
  
• 4. EXP/Finance or Material Points/ETC

Hopefully now you have moved your armies or atleast have inkling as to where to move them. There is one more thing to cover before I can let you back to adventuring and that is the card system. Way it works is we can play one leadership, logistics, diplomacy and military card at a time.

Generally speaking we will always want to be using those "slots" to play card if we can. For now our first priority will be to play "Forming a Leadership/Logistic/Diplomatic Council" though there is certain caveat I must mention.

In nutshell when you form (or level after forming) your council you must pick "reward" from the options your advisors and companions offer. The catch here is if you do not have that companion yet or that companion is missing for some reason you do not get their option! Below I have listed what companions are in what council. At this point you should be only missing Woljif (and Arueshalae, if you did not recruit her early in Drezen.)

Note: Greybor is special case and only appears in the councils after you have finished his quest (Dragon Hunt) keep this in mind!

Note: Missing companion isn't always a problem if you are going to pick option other than what the missing companion would suggest. I have whole section dedicated for Council choices check it for more details!


I know this got pretty confusing so my recommendation are form Staff and Diplomatic Council and wait with the Logistic council until you get Woljif as from him you get get the option for +1 to attack and AC for all trainable troops. (Form the logistic council, if you prefer +2 to saves for trainable troops or 10% health buff.)

As final tip I highly suggest you build Teleportation Circle in Drezen as this will allow you to teleport back! Followed by Engineers Workshop for 10% discount on all future buildings, after I recommend you focus on getting main stables built with few inns/supply centers in your outposts. There is section dedicated to Forts and Settlement Management below, if you want more details.

That's the opening moves! Sorry it got long believe me I tried to trim it down.

When you attack demon fortification and emerge victorious you will be rewarded with brand new outpost. For every 3 (IIRC) outpost you capture you can upgrade one outpost into a bastion which allows new and more buildings to be build in that settlement. This is more important than it seems as teleportation circles can only be built in bastion or higher forts! And we will have access only to six or so of them so correct placement will be key!

Listed below are my recommendations (Under construction)

There are also myriad of different buildings we can build inside our forts. Apart from the Teleportation Circle and Engineer's Workshop, which I mentioned earlier, the Hospital and Mercenary Guild also stand out to me.


Note that to recruit troops you first need to build the main associated building in Drezen, main archery range and main barrack come prebuild, but you will have to build stables yourself and unlock the rest through military council or story progression.


Note that majority of these need to be adjacent to recruitment buildings to work (diagonally adjacent does not count!) and can only be built in bastions which is why I highly suggest you specialize your bastions towards military.


Inns and supply centers will be your bread and butter, and butter (supply centers) you should build most liberally as it is the most serious bottleneck.

There are few buildings catered towards generals and as someone who kneels to the meta I swear by hospitals, infirmary size is extremely valuable and will keep your ♥♥♥♥ unripped when enemy generals start slinging spells. Alchemist's Laboratory on other hand I am not so keen on though I know some who swear by it.


This section was originally meant to cover overall building strategy, but honestly as system is relatively simple and it boils down to building what you need at the time I decided to change it ever so slightly more interesting question. Should you consider trading gold for finance/material points? Short answer is you should avoid it, but there are few times I might consider it.

• Important relics to your build
  
• Main recruitment building in Drezen (eq Main Stables)
  
• Bastion upgrade for important teleport locations (if you are in rush)

(Funnily enough without intending this covers overall building strategy, expect at the start you should build few inns and supply centers to boost your income)

If you are romancing Wenduag (can you call BDSM sex romance?) she will come to you complaining about "uplanders." I probably haven't yet commented on Wenduag's romance up until this point, but it was the few quest lines I "failed" on my first playthrough solets make sure it same doesn't happen with you, eh?

Correct replies are "What Happened" > "Tell me Everything" > "This world is full of Idiots..." > "Comfort a fighter who's not afraid of blades or demon claws?" > [Giver her 500 gold] or "You can keep it."

The key here like with her rest of her romance is to offer comfort while not coming across as pitying or patronizing. Do not worry you will get the option to soften her later if that is more to your taste.

(Note I will probably attempt to squeeze this section inside another crusade mode section once I get idea of its size. Sorry for the clutter)

Likely the first challenging demon fortification you will run into in Act 3. The enemy army is not too scary only composed of Incubuses and cultisst, but what will cause you grief is the enemy general who will cast lightning every turn which very likely will one shot your archers and/or filling your infirmary.

Best advice I can offer here is to avoid this noob trap for while. Clearing it is not worthy it (early) and you can access the easier battles behind by taking the route from north of Drezen. Still there are couple of tricks you can take advantage of if you are serious about clearing it as soon as possible.

• AI likes to go for your archers, prioritizing highest cost.

This means, if you have lets say ten marksmen from event or mercenary pool you can use them to bait the enemy magic for one round. You should in return spam your own spells liberally as you are basically on clock to win this battle before enemy mages snipe your split stacks or fill your infirmary.

This section covers all the rank ups of the different councils and my takes on what the best choices are, but before we get to do that I would like to quickly cover how you earn the experience to level up each stat.


Leadership rank ups mainly unlock decrees dealing in morale and recruitment growth and as the function suggests grants positive modifiers to your generals. Very much useful, yet perhaps not the most exciting at least in the start.

Note: If you are skimming strongest picks are in bold.

Glory to the Heroes is the obvious choice here. Morale is rarely problem and when it is you do not really want to pay for the fix. My recommendation stands even, if you take Refugee Recruitment at rank 4.


I feel Master of Maneuver gets slight edge here, but all choices are valid. More experience from Striving for Distinction allows you to level your generals quicker (and by proxy Staff Council) which means faster access to powerful general spell and traits. Pious Officers infirmary size bonus is powerful as always, but could be gotten via other ways. Heroic Officers is no slouch either, stacking combat morale bonuses will allow your troops to act twice regularly, very powerful stuff.

As you probably guessed from the method of leveling, the logistic(s?) council is how you unlock new buildings. Surprisingly though, it start with unit upgrade and later on even grants our generals modifiers!


Most people I seen discuss this choice have leaned towards +1 to attack and AC to all trainable troops, but I myself see value in all choices presented here. +10% HP is very valuable when enemy generals start slinging spell, but what I find myself gravitating towards the most is Ready for Anything. No, its not because I am in Arue's legion of simps (Targonna best girl.) More so the fact that +2 to saves is rare in crusader mode only really accessible from general upgrades and I really got bad memories from demons mind controlling my units.

Ah, probably one my favorite councils because of the valuable rewards it grants YOU directly later on and not because it will make you hate furries I swear.


I would go with Bribery or Royal Parade material points is major bottleneck at the beginning and long time after that, but on the other hand more finance points without any drawbacks will always be useful.

Energy points from Religious Feast will be useful later on, but you should have enough sanctuaries at that point and in mean time it will be doing nothing for you.

Commander's Parade is for memers among you who want to commit to double buying mercenaries every week and stacking every merc cost reduction.

As logistic council unlocks more buildings, military unlocks new units for you to play with it. Your choices here can really determine how easy or hard time you will have so choose carefully!

Note: Your choice here determines type of infantry you recruit going forward and all your current footmen are changed to the chosen unit.

Maybe you re-evaluate your choice of prey as you see what swoops in to interrupt you. Whatever you do pause your game as soon as soon as the cut scene ends. The timing can be hard, but if you paused fast enough and began immediately running into the opposite direction of the dragon you should be able to escape its clutches.

Note: This event can repeat!

Remember to move your armies and check crusader mode every day!

There are no enemies here so, if you are exhausted and the dragon event triggered for you already you do not need to rest. Outside there are only few cooking ingredients so without further adieu let us head inside the temple.



Inside you will find Kyado whom we met earlier, chat to him if you wish though its not required. He also acts as vendor, but boringly has same wares as Drezen's cleric.

At the back of the main hall you find statue of Erastil, hidden with the offering bowl is secret button to reveal a hatch. Kyado will pipe up in protest and now you can get the truth from him alongside the key if you manage the skill check.

Kyado confesses he might die if we enter so question naturally arises, should we? Short answer is no, trust me we will return later. If you are trickster you can take the mythic option and enter consequence free now. If you are angel take the option, but do not enter yet.

For those curious about what happens if you decide to ignore his warnings and enter after you come back out he dies and transforms into swarm of rats. Down in the crypt you will find tomb of the person this temple is dedicated to you can crack it open for +2 holy bow (can only be used by good characters) and +3 leather armor that gives +2 caster level on plant domain spells.

You can also animate Delemere if you are a lich and potentially recruit her. Last I checked lich unique "companions" say one or two lines whole game. If you are enjoyer of story kino do not force her to join you yet.



We are not done with the temple yet, head west to loot Ultimate Predator and notes mentioning our favorite sentient sword Finnean, read them and chat with him (in your inventory.)

On the east side you can find our first Belt of Incredible (+4) Dexterity, Magic Essence and Elven Notes!

and that's it another location explored and checked off from the list.

We arrive in place suspiciously similar to place we visited before, but just ignore the error in the simulation and head inside the cave. You should see lone sleeping giant and that is the signal to you to apply your buffs.

I will have to give slight spoilers here after you kill the giant you will be ambushed by lone tick swarm who can be pain in ass depending on your build. Firstly, they deal constitution damage which is pain and secondly, tick swarms are immune to weapon damage (unless you have Swarmsbane Clasps also elemental enchantments still work.)

Strategy wise rush the giant and summon summons as old ones die and allow them to take the hits while you kill the tick swarm.

Cave is linear and as you can expect there is fight waiting for you in the chamber. Hold the choke point, throw down Guarded Hearth and summon bunch of summons (Remember Duality of Conjuration and Summoning etc) you want to strike balance between having enough at the start and being able summon wall up as giants will cleave through them. If you have elemental caster (eq fire ember) cast protection from fire (it applies to your summons.)



Couple of swarms also back up their hosts which is why you should play this battle in turn based to slows them down. I find them much bigger threat even compared to the Thraz and his (2) friends speaking of which I know I haven't spoken of him and reason for that is I find him unremarkable as long as you have good tank.

After your victory make sure to loot the Cheese Crostata recipe, Magic Essence and Nature's Chorel, a quite decent blunt weapon to keep as your secondary.

Once you arrive in Grimwood rest and make sure you slot in your fire protection, but do not cast your buffs yet. Once you have rested interact with the burned out campfire Greybor will lay out the plan how we will take down the dragon terrorizing us.

Incidentally this will pass time 17h which is why we did not buff ourselves yet, throw down Guarded Hearth without triggering the fight, buff yourself, summon your summons and make sure they get the protection from fire buffs.



Devarra herself (himself?) has impressive AC of 56 which with buffs and guarded hearth isnt unreachable for us anymore, but if you lack ability to buff your attack that high rely true strike/volume of attacks or ray spamming as Devarra has pitiful AC of 23 which pretty much means that with guarded hearth/reduce person you are hitting on every ray.

Lastly, but not least he/she is vulnerable to ice magic so ice mages among you rejoice or just use Rod of Mortiferous Blizzard (DLC item) to turn all your elemental dmg to cold dmg :)

Next we will be heading to Bloody Trail just south of Drezen after which we will be bouncing to Drezen for rest (and to use buff bot) before we head to Artisan's Tower just beneath Bloody Trail.

On your waystop to Drezen you will be most likely swarmed by different events. Most of these are meaningless few that matter (eq Wenduag stolen knife event) I have put on their own page.

Note: You can tackle Shrine of Sacrilege on the way if you want as I will do. If you do jump to next section.

WARNING: We will enter Artisan Tower via storybook event that happens before we reach location on the map and we cant pull out until victory. So make sure you are rested!

As we approach our destination we will be thrust into storybook event and presented multiple skill checks. Just take the ones you have best chance of winning. You got little bit room to fail (eq Greybor catches you as you fall) but if you still ♥♥♥♥ up lets just say you will be put in bad position and that is why I recommend you reload in those cases.

Assuming you did not fall right into dragons maw you start on wooden platform leading to hole in the towers wall. Before you head there, apply your long term and lets discuss whats happens next.

When you get to the hole Greybor starts dialogue with you. There are multiple options, but the two real ones are the stealth check or sneak away. Choice here might be obvious, but in reality its not so clear cut, if you succeed in the stealth check (IIRC I believe its two or three in row) Greybor charges in and gets hit in dealing some respectable damage. Problem with this? He will solo tangoing with the dragon way out of position and if that wasn't bad enough he is considered "essential" this mission meaning you get game over if Greybor dies!

But take this with grain of salt as this used to be the case and I would be surprised if Owlcat hasn't fixed it yet. In either case I know Toybox had option to fix/mend this issue.

If you choose to sneak away on the other hand this turns to normal encounter meaning you are free to position and charge in at your leisure, but you wont get the free strike in cutscene with Greybor.

Fight against Devarra is the same as it was last time expect this time he hastes himself but the strategy remains the same. Apply buffs expect haste and protection from fire which you will cast after you have summoned some meat shields. This combined with guarded hearth and some ray spamming should be enough to see you to victory.

When you have managed to lower his HP past certain point he flies away for the last time. Chase him and finish him off with however you would like, a single ray will most likely do it. (he should have 10 hp)

After the beast lays slain Greybor will initiate conversation where you get the option to hire him permanently and get the benefits of having him as advisor etc. He requires 12500 payment of to be retained, yet you can go above and pay him 25000 twice the sum he asked for. There is benefit to this as this raises his respect for you which influences his questline higher the better obviously. I am 99.9% certain you can easily max it without paying him double, but for sake of being sure I did so myself.

Talk to the Storyteller whom asks you to find his Elven Note's do so and loot the Demon Blood along with Half of the Pair and Bracers of Abrupt Onslaught while you are it.

We are not done yet its time to clear the downstairs while we are here. (You probably dinged I will cover level up later.)

You think the dragon was the worst we have to face today? No, in the basement lies the more dangerous foe, three plants. They are invisible at the start and attack you once you move into the next room.



My recommendation is to aggro and run back and use the door way, but before that you might want to rest as some of them have more AC than the dragon itself, they also poison so remember delay poison! Guarded Hearth/greater invisibility is much appreciated in this battle, but I managed without by crit fishing, but make sure you tank is up to task if you try this route as their attack is high (48 base). Luckily though they do not have true sight so displacement can come clutch, but they compensate by having outright immunity to mind-affecting effects (and evil eye!)



The three mandragoras also come in three varieties. You got the "enraged" one with the highest attack, "spelleater" that should cast greater dispell area, but for some reason that did not happen for me (and trust me it was not because I killed him fast enough) my theory is that he casts it immediately and be retreating he misses your party and, lastly the "silent" who hangs at the back and does AOE insta death thing but this is coming from my memory as in my game he killed himself.

Your reward for dealing with them is Lesser Kineticist Rod, bet you wish you had kineticist in your party, eh? Next we will be heading back to Drezen before we tackle Green Gates and Molten Scar.

Shrine of Sacrilege sounds like a good name name for metal band, but that tangent aside I will be starting this section inside the cave. Outside you will only find couple of plague wolves and pack of normal babaus (and approximately 2000 gold if you look around.)



Inside you will find it same as outside, but this time there are some traps (where the path forks) as added hassle to deal with. Just lure the babaus in and hug the wall with your trap disarmer.

This is where Owlcat drops us to the deep end after having lured us into the ease. We are up against pack of babaus that act as distraction that at worst will ignore your tank and go for your backlines, but whats worse is there are two Voracious Glabrezus, these guys are bastard with their 48 AC and HP of 306, but what I find most annoying is their reach as they will often switch targets to your melee damage dealers.

Their weakness are their low reflexes (18) and will saves (21), if you bought DC boosting items and have DC caster you should golden. Did I bring one? Well....No. So if you are in same boat as me alpha striking (mass charge) is your friend. Glabrezus have relatively low AC flat footed and if you manage to kill closest one quickly enough you should be able to crit fish (or true strike) the remaining glabrezu and the babaus are just pests.

Remember true sight allows you to ignore their mirror image!

Soon you will come across narrow bridge with couple of babaus standing guard behind them is the leader of this rabble, Gormandizer with few of his Glabrezu slavers.

Babaus and Glabrezus we know well enough at this point so I will skip straight to talking about Gormandizer. Gormandizer has deceitfully low AC of 39 but his base attack is scary 48 which while surpassable with well built and buffed tank is nonetheless intimidating.



Which is why I recommend either holding on the bridge and forcing the enemy to stand in grease and other such spells. Kiting them with movement buffs until Gormandizer is dealt is also option. In either case your archer buffed with hurricane bow, aspect of the falcon, cat's dexterity, bull's strength etc should cleave through the opposition if they are under fortune or Sosiel's bit of luck. if you are still intimidated Guarded Hearth and flooding the bridge with enough summons to clog it will guarantee your victory.



Claim Blitz Cut from our slain foes corpse. Shortsword that pierces any resistance is handy to have for certain enemies, but if you want the gold you can sell it. Other than that make sure to loot Demon Blood, Magic Essence and the Puzzle Slabs.

We will be returning to Drezen to rest and clear some (council, Verg's message) events. Once those are dealt with talk to Irabeth to inform her that the dragon is dealt followed by the Storyteller (check the map for his location.)

For those who want to get Greybor approval high via talking with him in the tavern.

"I want to know more about you" > "Tell me about your past." > "You had your reasons." > "Do you have a family?" > Good/Chaotic > "What's your opinion on the crusader?" > Evil/"Sounds logical."

"Tell me about your craft." > "Are you haunted by remorse?" > Evil/Chaotic/"I hear you."

Talk to him about the tower if you wish, but you may now start feeding him the Elven Notes you find on your adventures, oh and before I forget make sure to show him Terendelev's Claw. Its been while, but do you remember how he restored the Covenant of the Inheritor for us? We can once more ask him to restore artifacts we find, this is why I was so intent on you collecting every Magic Essence, Demon Blood and later, Hide of a Magical Creature you find.

Take note that while you can find enough resources to craft every artifact (IIRC) doing so might delay you drastically from getting the ones you really want which is why I have made chart showing what is available.



Note: I was considering making list of how many materials you get each act, but that would be too autistic even for me. Maybe I do it in my next run and add it here)

Arueshalae: Espionage Expert (11) Combat Reflexes (Probably mistake)
Camellia: Alchemist Vivisectionist (5) Beast Totem, lesser (Feel free to go for something else)
Daeran: Oracle (11) Improved Critical (Ray)
Ember: Stigmatized Witch (11) Spell Focus: Evocation
Nenio: Wizard (11) (Spell Specialization)
Regill: Armiger (3) Improved Critical
Seelah: Paladin (11) Mounted Combat
Sosiel: Cleric (11) Spell Penetration
Ulbrig: Griffonhearted Shifter (11) Raking Claws
Wenduag: Spawnslayer (9) Hammer the Gap
Woljif: MIA
My Character: Sword Saint (11) Improved Critical, Improved Vital Strike

Deeper I get into this run more I regret my build choices. My only cope is they will stand as proof you can beat this game on unfair with bad builds.

Note: Section "(Unfair) Companion Builds" provides decent builds for all companions (when I get round to finishing it.

At this point Arue should have approached you in Drezen, asking you to visit Greengates or if you didn't recruit her early you should have had storybook event pointing you that direction. If for some weird reason you haven't yet gotten the "A Demon' Heresy" quest do not panic and tackle it later when it shows for you.



After Greengates we will be heading to Molten Scar which is undiscovered unless you have played "The Lost Scouts" card, if you haven't yet done so you can also manually find the place by succeeding in perception check near it.

Note: You can get to Greengates with buffbot buffs (eq visiting the location under Drezen to buff going back to Drezen to drop the buff bot back, but you will most likely be fatigued or exhausted so consider taking Seelah with you or couple restoration scrolls.

Note: Lann/Wenduag have unique choices at Molten Scar along with Seelah to lesser degree.

This location plays slightly differently depending on if you recruited Arueshalae earlier or not, not that it makes any major difference.

Soon after entering we will run into our first demon pack and to describe them I will just paraphrase Neo from Matrix "Hmm, upgrades."

So what exactly is arrayed against us? From highest threat to lowest Derakni Devastator, Two Kalavakus, Vrock and Babau. Not insurpasable by any means but its marked up threat from schirs, cultist and babaus we have grown used to slaying. There are no fancy advise I can offer you help you this battle other than aggro them and pull back to the tight alley you came from and be careful with the Kalavakus they have tendency to ignore you tank.

Your reward for victory is great however in the north-western corner of the room you can find Cold Iron and Aroden's Wrath, a great item that changes Smite Evils AC bonus to sacred from deflection which is bigger deal than it sounds, remember usually Same AC bonuses don't stack!

After looting head forward and go south and climb up the stairs, you should see Derakni and Kalavakus.



What you don't see are the two Rift Drakes behind them (and one more Derakni.) Apply protection from Acid and either set up charge on the Derakni and try to quickly overwhelm the opposition or aggro with an archer retreat and fight at the stairs.

Make sure to loot Wind Master Helmet in some nearby vases, +4 to initiative is not half bad.



Continue heading east and you should come across pile of rubble, disarm the trap and jump it. You should spot bell´s clasper with your perception. Loot it and jump back over it to where you came from. Now head north to that intact building, once inside fix the bell and loot Demon's Terror, okayish flail and Boots of Free Rein, great boot you should sell. Even when you can cast freedom of movement yourself its useful when enemy dispels you and the like.

Back over the rubble we go and forward (west) towards another battle.

You should see retriever staring at you, now I know you might be tempted to charge as you see its weak AC, but hold your horses its just another demon trick. Flanking it are couple of Gibrieth which while new are not threat though watch out their acid spit (your protection from acid from the last battle should see you through.)

Behind them are Kalavakus (who will cast haste) and Glabrezu. Strategy wise shoot, the retriever to death and maybe charge if you feeling the bravado in your veins (pull back after.) Focus the Kalavakus and Glabrezu after as they tend to ignore your tank after while.



Only comment I have to offer about the wicked witch is this: What a jobber. Dreadfully low AC, dreadfully low attack, but I guess she can casts displacement on herself? Yawn.

After defeating her I would just kill her. If you try to talk to her she does her politician empty speak and tries to escape magically (after two or three questions) If you fixed the bell IIRC it stops her. If you are lore nerd you can ask her one or two question and execute her after, don't feel bad hags are evil.

Loot wise you can pry Amulet of Circulating Blood from her corpse (after returning to her corpse) which always tempts me to try run as Bloodrager stacking every fast healing buff available. In nearby container you can find Crippling Kiss, S tier +3 Estoc that on crit gives enemy -2 to attack and saves.

In the nearby tower you can also find our first Belt of Physical Perfection.

This area is relatively short and easy so if you are fatigued and aiming for sadistic game design think twice before resting. True sight is also incredible nice in this area, but once again not required.

Our old foes return, luckily this time we have ways to deal with their mirror image and for the spores stone skin works well. Not much else to say here expect remember than you can bait their stunning screams



Down the hill you will find talkative Vrock. Do not attack straight away and dont go for the skill checks either instead ask him questions. After that take your pick between two bluff checks or (IIRC) one intimidate check.

I went with bluff route and had one vrock pillager to mop up, your results may wary. Fight should still be easy.

After your victory...

• 1. Pick and read "Page Smeared with Blood and Soot" that the Vrock dropped.
  
• 2. Loot Magic Essence and the Gloves of Arcane Eradication, god tier item for ray spammers (+4 bonus to hit!)
  
• 3. Talk to Wollard, pick any mythic option or send them with Wenduag/Lann if you brought her/him.
  
• 4. Talk to Jannah Aldori and either jail her or set her free (I went with Jail.)

After you return to Drezen show the note to storyteller and choose the following options The center of the magic shape was a prisoner. > It looked like a small rift was opened to the Abyss. > They repeated the word "Ravukh."

Note: If you didn't bring Seelah here talk to her and inform her of what has happened.

You got two options, you can either head straight to Wintersun or complete any miscellaneous objectives you might have to be slightly closer to level up.

Wintersun marks the end of the early Act 3 (Yes, we will be here for while) and will be probably be the biggest challenge we had to face post-drezen. Which is why I say later of two option I offered is probably the wisest course of action, but I myself will be heading straight to Wintersun as I am pretty comfortable that I can handle what the game will throw at me.

I strongly recommend you bring greater dispel (scrolls) and Goggles of Truesight to Wintersun! Fire based magic caster come useful too but not required (eg ray spammer Ember/Daeran.) I highly recommend you do not bring Ulbrig (or any character with bite attacks.)

Remember Control+F + the location/quest name is your friend when our paths diverge!

Note: If you are romancing Arue bring her to Wintersun with you.

Note: You can get to Wintersun with buffs from your buff bots. Rest and cook xxx, go to Lost Chapel, apply buffs, teleport to Drezen to drop buff bot off and afterwards proceed to Wintersun.

Crinuhk that wouldn't happen or chaotic

Note: I can make map only after I have completed the area

I quite like Wintersun, it is nice big open area that you can tackle as you please. Breath of fresh air compared to the few on the rails maps we have been doing recently and like I said earlier in my opinion it marks the end of early Act 3.

Coming down the hill we run into some familiar faces, at least they are not undead this time. Your tank should be able to hold them especially with protective luck, but displacement can work wonders here. Be very wary as they like to charge your backline which they will very likely mince through thanks to the pounce ability allowing them to make full attack.

So either commit your archers to the fight later or protect the most likely target with displacement.



Lone ent should not cause you any trouble, just adding brief section here to warn you to be careful with your pets and party members who have bite attacks as biting the ent might deal dexterity and constitution damage to them!

They also have weakness to fire if you are struggling for some reason.

Near by you should also see first of the standing stones. Do not dismiss these as mere lore dumps they will be important so make sure to interact with all of them.

When you come to the crossroads take the western route and climb up the hill when the path forks again.

You should come across lone ent patrolling, but as my titles so often spoil there is another ent further up and will cast lightning which deals nasty damage. Still with protection from electricity up this should be easy battle and from my limited testing ents stop casting if you get in melee with them.

After your victory climb to the top and loot Ring of Protection +3 from behind the tree and talk to the mad woman to unlock new quest.

Come down from the stone tree and walk slowly across the stone slab until you see babaus, that is your sign to stop for you have arrived at contender for the hardest fight in this area, so lets dissect it.

We will be up against single lone treant, but this one isn't same push over as his kin, he rocks AC in the 60s and list of nasty nasty buffs. Chief among them being Winds of Vengeance which renders ranged attacks useless (50% of miss before we even roll the attack.)

Attack wise he is also a beast, rocking base attack of 54 which his cleave makes good use of. We could play around this easily enough sadly this kit synergies very well with another ability of his that being overrun. Overrun allows him to basically charge in line and trample all who were in his path under his foot, stunning them and knocking them to the ground, wide open for his cleaving attack.

This battle is also pretty unique for the fact we have some pseudo help here as group of babaus is after our prey. They are no threat, but keep in mind that they will take swipe at you if opportunity presents itself and when you have killed enough another group spawns on the stone slab.



So how can we overcome our opposition? Your best chance is using Goggles of True Sight and cast greater dispel on him. This should make the battle easy especially if you bring out greater invisibility/guarded hearth etc.

But lets say you like certain other person whom I wont name just happened to forgot bring those scrolls, what should you do then? The answer is you must unleash all the buffs in your arsenal and chief among them being True Strike. Forgot ray spamming as the concealment will cuck you, instead trust in AOE spells like Fire Snake. With your archers and character who are not doing anything throw Alchemist's Fires which you should have surplus off.

In either case think twice how you position your team and try to avoid giving the boss the ability to hit multiple with overrun. When he inevitably does dimensional door (mass) can be used to save the knocked down team mates.

You should also be able to see another standing stone with 24 knowledge check you should try to make sure you pass it. Down the hill you can also find Padded Armour of Refined Maneuvers straight out trash, but its worth 7k.

Backtracking one slope down you should see ruined straw huts. Head westfrom there and you should come across next tree to be felled.

Not much to say here, high AC foe you might struggle to hit but your tank should be online at this point. Throw enough attacks at it and you will hit, but if you are on clock for some reason touch attacks are your friend (or greater invisibility for your archers.)

Behind the one we just slew you will find two more, but its the same song and the dance.

Behind the trees you will find group of Sarkosian outcasts made up of three brutes and slayer (melee), two archers and a druid. They also have some animals with them that are inconsequential.

What makes this battle little bit special is the fact some precious positioning is required for charges just like back when we were stuck in Shield Mazes, but before we get to that I would like to mention as almost always archers and druid are the biggest problem here. Archers will most likely target your MC and druid will start by casting stoneskin (followed by vine trap which can paralyze.) As we want to stop druid ASAP I suggest casting displacement, protection from arrows, stoneskin and the like to mitigate the danger of the enemy ranged contingent (remember the dark veil if you have it!)

Roughly where Wenduag is standing is where I managed to get charge of.

Positioning wise put your party under the bramble bush. Exact position is hard to say, but if fortune favors you should be able to get charge right to the druid and hopefully kill him quickly. Start the battle with either using Scroll of Tsunami with magic caster who is standing behind the rock or alternatively if you brought Nenio via her illusion magic.

After your victory loot the minor magic items they were equipped with, but more importantly The Illustrious Sweep the druid had. There is also Studded Armor of Trinity behind them, behind a hut in chest.

Remember to do the world check on the standing stone here as well!

Taking the dirt path down the hill (north) from the ruined hut I talked earlier leads us to another fight with bane of my early game, smilodons. You will be up against boar, bear and two smilodons and the usual rules apply with them; be careful with their attempts to flank.

Continue on wards until you see collapsed smilodon. Don't worry about him he isn't hostile, but behind are two more who are and they will be joined by bunch of 70 hp boars. Just stand behind tree pictured below to force aggro on your tank and spring upon them.

With that we are can cruise clear into the cave just remember to do the standing stone just before it!

There is not much for us to do here. Progress forward pick up the letter you find along the way and read it in your inventory. Loot the loot peppered on your way and talk to Soanna and exhaust the dialogue with her and do not kill her.

Note: You will be attacked upon leaving the cave.

Upon leaving the cave and wandering few steps we will be attacked by Orso. Fight is nothing to special as our foe has base AC 42 and 30 flat footed. What makes him slightly dangerous is his access to dimensional door meaning he can teleport in middle of your party and make full attack on your vulnerable party members.

So if you are feeling paranoid protect them with spells or pu them some distance away from your tank. After your victory take crack at the skill checks and spare the bear.

Now you are free to return to Soana and learn the truth of the matter. Choice you have to make is hard from roleplay sense, yet easy in gameplay. Gameplay wise its moot unless you are Aeon in which case sparing her apparently unlocks something in Act 5 (if other factors also align).

I personally have always killed her, but for curiosities sake I will spare her this run. Which roleplay wise means Sarkosians aren't forced to leave, because they are defended by the posessed animals.

Swinging all the way to the east you should come across wandering pack of babaus led by lone kalavakus, but not all is what it seems on first glance. Kalavakus will cast haste on babaus and this might lead you to believe he is the biggest threat, but no for among the lesser babaus are two babau eliminators who are the biggest pain in ass.



They have high AC and are rocking buffs which you might want to bother dispelling though I would recommend just using greater invisibility. What makes this battle very tricky is the fact that while you can get everyone focused on your attack every enemy in this encounter has the habbit of disengaging and going for your backlines so make sure you have some distance or that there is wall of summons in the way.

Near by you should see another standing stone, there is also chest next to it that has Sequence of Murder inside it. Weapon itself is not half bad as extra 1d12 is always welcome.

From the standing stone head north-west down the hill to the stonehenge looking structure. Don't touch the skeleton yet we will get to that latter for now continue ahead, be careful as there are two smilodons up the hill. Enter the cave at the end of the path.

Inside we will find Morveg pleading us for help, exhaust the dialogue if you wish and agree to slay the demon. This cave is completely linear and only thing worth a note is standing stone on the way to our target.

I have bad memories of this deskaris spawn, but he is weaker than he is appears. While his AC is in fifties we have tools to nerf that and buff to close to gap. He is also alone so we do not have to worry about positioning or doing anything fancy. If you brought Arue and your tank is solid just use quarry on him and its only matter of time until you have crit fished him to death.



Only thing to note here is that if your party is melee leaning be careful as our foe likes to switch the targets so its probably wise to send in only your tank. Devastator also casts cloud kill if you don't get in close quarter combat with him immediately so remember your delay poison.

After your victory loot the robes of Elemental Imbuement from the nearby chest. +2 elemental damage per dice rolled is nothing to be scoffed at and you can trigger yourself.

Once you enter you might want to stop and read ahead. Fight against Morveg can be hard if you enter into it with wrong mindset or without being prepared.

Our foe has base attack +54 which can be troublesome for even the most well optimized tank builds. Of course its still doable if you place your faith in displacement/stoneskin and debuffing the enemies attack, but I would not recommend.

This in turn means we are in damage race where we will have to deal 400 damage in 1-2 turns (or until your summon wall breaks.) Luckily 40 AC is not enough to stop us this far into game and 10 DR likewise wont save him.

If you have access to ethereal summon from something like being an angel (spirit paladin?) this fight can be cheesed. You see our foe cannot damage ethereal summons thus they will completely lock him in place an allow you whittled him your ranged weapons.

After your victory enjoy your spoils and make sure you loot Monster Caserolle recipe and Warden of Darkness. Oh and be careful you don't sell Fang of Malice!

Arueshalae: Espionage Expert (11) Combat Reflexes (Probably mistake)
Camellia: Alchemist Vivisectionist (5) Beast Totem, lesser (Feel free to go for something else)
Daeran: Oracle (11) Improved Critical (Ray)
Ember: Stigmatized Witch (11) Spell Focus: Evocation
Nenio: Wizard (11) (Spell Specialization)
Regill: Armiger (3) Improved Critical
Seelah: Paladin (11) Mounted Combat
Sosiel: Cleric (11) Spell Penetration
Ulbrig: Griffonhearted Shifter (11) Raking Claws
Wenduag: Spawnslayer (9) Hammer the Gap
Woljif: MIA
My Character: Sword Saint (11) Improved Critical, Improved Vital Strike

note these are level 11 until I get around to updating them

Next we will be heading south-east hugging the maps corner where we will find to flying diseased meatballs. There is not much to say here as we are in for easy fight. Only thing of note here is the standing stone behind them.

Next we are finally free to enter namesake of this area, the settlement of Wintersun (Its just next where we are standing.)

Wintersun is pretty linear and you will soon run into where we have to go and get to have chat with the local head honcho. After your conversation is over and continue moving forward until you find big statue of the Lady of Wintersun, next to that should be our next person of interest Gesmerha.

Note: If you cant find her check the next picture. She is where my party is standing on the map.

Talk to her and pick these options. They should be obvious and non-spoilery.

"I am the Knight-Commander of the Crusaders..." > "I've been looking for missing crusaders..." > "There's something strange going on in Wintersun..."

Good blind Gesmerha will task us with little egg hunt for Rune Stones. If you need help their locations are in the picture below. When you have found them all talk to Gesmerha again and share your findings.



With all that done and dusted with we are finally free to enter the clan hall and comfort Marhevok (choose the option to expose the rune stones sabotage in dialogue.)

As you can probably guess it wont end peacefully so buff wise make sure you apply protection from cold (after you summon your summons.) I also strongly recommend greater invisibility (+ true sight) and that you don't play this battle in turn based mode.



Why? Because in turn based mode kalavakuses and dragon are very likely to ignore your tank and ♥♥♥♥ up your backline. In real time you are much more likely able to tie the Marhevok with your tank and the rest with your summons while rest of your party takes care of the kalavakuses. I strongly recommend you save the dragon for the last.

After defeating him and his cronies before you chase him down loot his bedroom (east) for Bracers of Dominance. While the effects are unlikely to procc it can be life saver when it does.

When you have chased Marhevok down you will get to choose Wintersuns fate. Will you preserve the lie and the peace or is the bitter truth better?

If you preserve the illusion Incubus trader will move into the village. This sounds better than it is in reality unless you are heavily specced into pets (Lich/Azata MC with pet class) or eartbreaker wielding evil character.

Breaking it gives no concrete benefit as IIRC I am pretty sure Gesmerha will still act as our merchant, but I might be misremembering.

Second question is the fate of Marhevok. Will you let Jerribeth spirit Marhevok away or not?I would suggest killing him. This will make Jerribeth "angry" and she will not give us "advice" later on, but we can do without her help.

After you have made your choices talk to Gesmerha for you reward and check if anything of what she sells interest you.

There is one more matter left in Wintersun for us take care of before we leave? Well two technically, but more on that later. Do you remember that Stonehenge type of place with the skeleton? Its time to head back there. (If you forgot the location its just below Morveg's Cave entrance.)

Click the skeleton to open the storage window. Do not loot the Brazen Whip yet for once you do angry spectre will demand you put it back, if you refuse to do so at specific points in the map super powerful spectres will attack you (Lvl 25 IIRC.)

These are the hardest fight in Wintersun and reward does not match the effort required, but for sake of completion and incase it is required to sadistic game design achievement I will cover them.
(at the time of writing I have dealt with one ghost and not received experience which you used to receive. Thank you Owlcat.)

My advice is that you should save this for later visit when you are leveled up, but you are your own boss.

This one spawns when you proceed towards Morveg's Cave from the stonehenge (At the top of the slope.) and trust me when I say while it might feel hard the game is still using lube it will get much much worse than this.

So what exactly are we up against? Well we are up against incorporeal ghost which is first annoyance as we currently lack the methods to damage them. You should have Finnean and my recommendation would be to give it Arue if you brough her along for she deals great damage with her quarry.

Second annoyance and blessing is the ghost like the shadows in Kenabres market have touch based level draining attacks. Meaning death ward will make us immune to them, take note however the ghost likes to switch targets so you likely wont be able to cruse by with just one cast. (Remember the equip the amulet you got from Gesmersha before casting it!)

So in summary death ward (2x) and crit fish the first spectre back to undead.

This one is located straight north from entrance to Wintersun (the settlement) next to the carriage and splitting block.

This one is same as the last expect it starts combat by casting baleful polymorph which you really don't want to hit you as it turns your character permanently into wolf. You can cure it via remove curse or remove enchantment but have to role against DC. Just avoid it by having summons and immediately pulling back to trick the AI into wasting it. After that crit fish.