Tyranny Complete Guide

Overview

Walkthrough of the entire (base) game.

Introduction

Welcome to my guide to Tyranny! I really love this game. Obsidian outdid themselves with it, and it’s good for at least 4 different playthroughs from each different perspective. Even still, there is a lot of things to be missed, so I hope my guide helps you come across all of the things Tyranny has to offer.

In this guide, I will give a walkthrough, but I plan to do it differently than usual. I will give a walkthrough of individual sections, rather than campaign paths. Since there is so much overlap, I think it would just be easier to cover each area individually.

I also plan to include a walkthrough of the magic system and the locations of all magic sigils, since there are a lot. And there will be a few other assorted guides, like artifacts and achievements, etc.

As much as possible, I will endeavor not to spoil things. This means that individual quest lines will not be given. Instead, I’ll simply say “follow the quest” when it’s easy to keep track. If something is tricky or not immediately apparent, I will note that in the section detailing it.

Character Creation (Attributes and Backgrounds)

Character creation is fantastic, and fun, but not all creation builds are worthwhile. So let’s get down to business. I’m going to cover just the most important aspects of it.

Attributes: There are six attributes, and each one affects something entirely different. The good news is that attributes don’t influence conversation options, so you can safely make one or two a dump stat if it does not apply to your character and never miss a roleplaying option.

Might: Affects damage done by anything non-magical, and endurance defense (resistance to bad physical ailments, like poison or prone). Crucial for fighters, dump stat for mages.

Finesse: Accuracy and armor class. Important for all characters who aren’t AoE mages.

Quickness: Reduces cooldown time on abilities. Does NOT affect attack speed – that is a weapon-specific stat called “recovery time”. Still, this is crucial for mages, and for characters who use a lot of weapon abilities. Dump stat for anyone who exists to do brainless auto-attacking and not dying.

Vitality: Health. Crucial for front-liners, but important for everyone. Dump stat for Sirin if she takes her “don’t target me” abilities.

Wits: The magical equivalent to Might, this affects the damage of anything magical in nature. Crucial for mages, dump stat for fighters. Also affects mental resistance to bad magical effects, like frightened.

Resolve: Increases good effects on the character, and decreases bad effects. Also increases resistance to bad effects. Good on every character, but should never be a main focus. Acceptable as a dump stat if you find items resisting negative side effects that are a problem for you.

In general, if you plan to min-max, learn what type of status ailments your character is most vulnerable to, and find items that grant immunity to that status effect. So if you have a beefy fighter, give him the Hero’s Insignia, which grants him immunity to fear (among other things), and he’ll never miss a beat.

Also, be aware of the character’s role in the party. If you want to use the character as a frontliner, he needs vitality and resolve. But if you intend to have Barik be your meat shield, feel free to focus less on those and more on the offensive stats of your choice. But again, everyone will be getting attacked at some point, so everyone needs at least a little investment in vitality, finesse, and resolve.

Backgrounds: Each background carries its own unique benefits and drawbacks. I will say that, in general, each background has about as much influence as the others when it comes to gameplay and conversation options. However, some background choices are more usable in certain campaigns. It is worth mentioning that while the backgrounds give you buffs to certain abilities, they don’t lock you into a style of play. You can choose Pit Fighter and still use exclusively magic, and not really notice the difference. But if you’re doing a Path of the Damned run, min-maxing is your friend.

Pit Fighter: Good in any playthrough for conversation options, this is the background of choice for straight DPS builds.
+2 Dual Wield
+3 Unarmed
+3 One-Handed

Soldier: Has significantly more conversation options in a Disfavored campaign, so worth picking if that is your choice of allies. Also solid buffs for anyone wanting to use the Sword and Shield style fo fighting.
+2 Athletics
+2 One-Handed
+4 Parry

Hunter: Only truly notable interaction is with the Beast tribe, and thus, most useful in a Rebels campaign. But overall, conversation choices for this option are generally meh. Good if you want to play a sniper or archer build.
+2 Dodge
+3 Bows
+3 Subterfuge

Lawbreaker: Probably the most entertaining when it comes time to pay visits to the court, this background option is equally fun for all playthroughs. Good for stealthy characters, though subterfuge is a universally useful skill.
+2 Thrown Weapons
+6 Subterfuge

Guild Apprentice: Easily the best background if you want to use magic, the conversation options are about the same across playthroughs. If you pick this, there are a few unique options in the Burning Library, so make sure to visit there.
+2 Magic Staff
+6 Lore

War Mage: Good across all playthroughs for conversation options, this class is good for people who like crosses between spellcasters and warriors. Not a bad choice for min-maxers.
+2 One-Handed
+4 Lore
+2 Parry

Noble Scion: Probably has the worst conversation options of all backgrounds. Good if you want to play a tanky mage-warrior.
+2 Lore
+2 Parry
+4 Two Handed Weapons

Diplomat: Easily the best choice for a Rebels background, and possibly has the most options in conversation of any background. Also has the most universally useful buffs, allowing you to do just about anything without sacrificing min-max potential.
+3 Lore
+5 Subterfuge

Character Creation (Skills)

Skills: Now that you know about the attributes, it’s time to cover skills. Each skill gets its value from attributes, and increasing associated attributes at level-up also increases skills. Skills also increase with use, and on leveling up at random. So you may get an entirely useless skill increase on levelup, like unarmed when you’re playing the dual wielding DPS shredding machine. Just accept that it’s a poorly optimized leveling system and roll with it. You still control what skills are your primary focus through skill usage and attribute levels. If you only wield two handers the whole game, that will be your highest skill regardless of what random level-up skill increases occur. Note that you can turn off skills by marking them in your character sheet, so you don’t level up unarmed when you’re playing the dual wielding DPS shredding machine anymore, and the random bumps at level-up go to skills you want to increase.

The calculation for skill level goes as follows: ([Primary Attribute]x1.5) + ([Secondary Attribute]x0.5) + Other Modifiers. Max skill level for any one skill is 150.

“Other Modifiers” refers to skill levels gained from training, random level up bonuses, skill use, backgrounds, etc. Every skill will list what it does, suggestions for min-maxers interested in the skill, and the primary and secondary attribute for the skill.

Now, onto the list! In order, it addresses Weapon Skills, then the Support skills, then the Magic Skills, each in alphabetical order.

Bows: Makes you better with bows. Shocker. Higher skill makes your attacks more accurate and more likely to result in critical hits. In general, your ranged characters need a meat shield to hide behind. Barik or Hides-In-Shadow are good options for this role. Bow users benefit from lots of high critical hit chance weapons and abilities, and do best with high Finesse and Quickness scores to spam out abilities and critical hits. Might is less important than consistent criticals, but should still be a consideration. Your archer should not be getting engaged or hit often, so defensive attributes are less important. This also means you should be equipping armor with a lower recovery time, rather than a higher armor rating, in order to increase how often you fire your bow. The Gravebow is the only bow artifact, but it’s passive and active abilities are both crit-based and awesome. You find it in the Blade Grave Oldwalls – East, if you want to max out your artifact power early on.
Primary – Finesse, Secondary – Might

Dual Wield: Allows you to wield a one-handed weapon in both hands effectively. Higher skill makes your attacks more accurate and more likely to result in critical hits. There are a plethora of good one-handed weapon options, including artifacts. This skill DOES stack with the One-Handed skill, so consider that as you create this build. Dual Wield allows the highest possible damage output of the game. With frequent attacks come frequent critical hit rolls, so you should focus on weapons and abilities that maximize your chance of scoring a critical. Thus, high finesse is important, as are weapons and armor with lower recovery times. Heart’s Blood is easily the best artifact for this build, with it’s lifesteal active ability and its insane passive damage boost when low on health. Even better, it can be created the moment you upgrade a spire with a forge. The Dauntless is a good option as well, with plenty of AoE and high damage output options, and can be acquired at the Infested Oldwalls in the Blade Grave.
Primary – Quickness, Secondary – Finesse

Magic Staff: Determines the accuracy and crit chance of magical staffs. Note that this skill stacks with the magical skill for whatever element of staff you are using as well, and using a Fire Staff will count as experience towards both Control Fire and Magic Staff. Obviously, magic staffs are good on mages who focus on magical damage. Damage comes from Wits, not Strength, making this an obvious choice for any magic-focused character except Lantry, who has a really cool thrown weapon ability tree. Artifacts for this skill are abundant and the best option depends on your chosen element. Refer to the proper magic skill for specific artifact suggestions.
Primary – Wits, Secondary – Finesse

One Handed Weapons: Makes your one handed weapon attacks more accurate and more likely to crit. One handers fill many different roles, but universally need strength and finesse, and usually quickness. High vitality is also wise. Sword and Shield users use this skill, but do NOT use the Dual Wield skill. In their case, the Azure Shield basically makes you extremely tanky, and you can choose your one handed artifact based on flavor. I personally love the Dauntless for it’s stun effect.
Primary – Might, Secondary – Finesse

Thrown Weapons: Frankly, if your name isn’t Lantry, you have no business using thrown weapons. They have no artifacts, they suck as melee options, and are outdone by bows at range. Lantry has a skill tree that makes his thrown weapons badass and gives him upwards of 5 attacks per “turn”, but nobody else shares this advantage. If you do use them, decide if you want to be a sub-par melee or a sub-par ranged character, and enjoy your handicap.
Primary – Might, Secondary – Quickness

Two Handed Weapons: Makes your two handed weapon attacks more accurate and more likely to crit. Two handers really shine when you’re fighting multiple opponents. Two handed abilities often hit more than one target, or attack several times in one “attack”. Using a two handed weapon means dealing well with hordes of enemies, and they usually do consistent damage, but also have very slow attacks. Thus, Might is top priority for two handed weapons, with a focus on abilities rather than auto-attack damage output. This also means you can wear the heaviest armor you can find to compensate for your low Quickness and Finesse stats. My personal favorite artifact is the Deathbringer (requires library and forge upgrades, then research artifacts for the forge plans, and the obsidian shard from the Burning Library to create it), but Tempest is also a solid option that can be acquired earlier with much less planning and effort (Lethian’s Crossing Oldwalls, in the chest near Zdenya, no spires or upgrades required).
Primary – Might, Secondary – Resolve

Unarmed Combat: Unarmed combat is kinda gimmicky, but really fun. Your gauntlets determine your damage, and you sort of… copy dual wielder builds for everything else. The bright side is that while dual wielders do the most damage, unarmed combat grants the fastest attack speed of anyone, so with a high enough crit percent, you CAN out-damage the dual-wielders. If you manage to get the Bindings of Shadow from Bleden Mark (talk to him when you have Favor 3 or higher), they allow the most versatile use of the unarmed combat skill, and have solid passive effects as well. Obviously, low recovery time is crucial for unarmed combat to be viable.
Primary – Finesse, Secondary – Quickness

Athletics: The ability to do physical stuff. This has no effect on combat, but has lots of scripted interactions in conversations and map events. Honestly, just have one character (I always pick Barik) be your Athletics slave, train their athletics skill every level-up, and have them pass all the tests. Use your own training moments on more crucial skills.
Primary – Finesse, Secondary – Might

Dodge: Defends against ranged attacks, both physical and magical. Does not defend against AoE spells. Levels automatically as you play the game, and I’ve never really given it much attention, even on my ranged builds. Extremely high values lets you dodge ranged attacks forever, but it’s not worth paying individual attention to.
Primary – Quickness, Secondary – Wits

Character Creation (Skills cntd.)

Lore: The single most useful and widely needed skill in the game. It gives you tons of options in conversation, and is the limiting factor on how many customized effects your spells can have. If you’re a mage, ramp this baby up as high as you can and train it every level. If you can hit 150 with it, awesome. You need those spell slots to count. Otherwise, get it to around 70 to unlock all conversation-based options and world interactions that need lore and then ignore it.
Primary – Wits, Secondary – Resolve

Parry: Helps you block melee attacks. Two handed weapons and shields give the biggest item bonuses to this skill. Like Dodge, this is one of those skills that largely deals with itself over the course of the game, and will be higher on the characters it needs to be higher for. Ignore it and let it do its thing.
Primary – Finesse, Secondary – Wits

Subterfuge: Second only to Lore in terms of usefulness, Subterfuge affects your ability to sneak, spot traps, open locks and also grants several conversation options. Worth training to about 50 on your main character regardless of build, but unless you’re doing some janky sneak build, it doesn’t really need to be much higher.
Primary – Quickness, Secondary – Wits

Control Atrophy: Oh, but atrophy spells are terrible. Like all other skills, this increases your accuracy and crit chance with Atrophy spells. “Crits” with a non-damage spell merely increases its duration. I hate this school of magic. It focuses on debuffing enemies, which is a nice concept, but your time is more efficiently spent just… killing them. Or buffing your allies, who are not going to die in two turns with or without a debuff. Might possibly have a place in a solo run build, but as I have not done a solo run, I have never used this.
Primary – Resolve, Secondary – Wits

Control Emotions: In a similar vein to Atrophy, Emotions is a largely irrelevant school of magic. It does, however, have a few good buff options. Still, you’re better off focusing on Control Vigor or Control Life if you want to go the buff route. Control Emotions does have some fun spells, though.
Primary – Vitality, Secondary – Wits

Control Fire: Oh baby. Fire has lots of damage spells that couple with residual damage (because, you know, they are on fire). Solid pure offense choice with one or two decent defensive buffs against other fire users. Can also be comboed with frost magic using the Frostfire Sigil, which gives status effects from both elements and is really cool.
Primary – Vitality, Secondary – Wits

Control Force: Force is a strange beast. I never really used it. But it’s good at battlefield control. If one ally is getting swarmed, you can blast away a group of enemies and give your ally a disengagement attack against each of them (really good with Barik’s ability tree). It can also knock enemies prone, granting free hits and vastly improved crit chances for the melee brawlers. Not a bad secondary skillset for any mage, and it does respectable damage as well.
Primary – Resolve, Secondary – Wits

Control Frost: Like Control Fire, except instead of doing continual damage by lighting enemies on fire, instead it freezes them in place, paralyzing them. Solid choice for your starting magic school if you’re building a mage, and the Frostfire Sigil can be used with these spells as well.
Primary – Resolve, Secondary – Wits

Control Gravelight: You cannot cast gravelight spells unless Eb teaches you the sigil. That said, this is one of my favorite magic school. It focuses on sapping health from enemies and healing yourself. It is also one of Eb’s main schools, and usually what I specialize her in. Excellent magical option once it becomes available.
Primary – Finesse, Secondary – Wits

Control Illusions: Illusions is actually really good, despite my initial impressions of it. It has some really great defensive spells that make your characters all but unhittable, and it can also cast useful debuffs at enemies to make them confused. It’s support magic, but it doesn’t feel like it when you use it.
Primary – Quickness, Secondary – Wits

Control Life: Healing magic. It’s great, but unless you heavily specialize, you’ll never be as good as Lantry at it. So don’t reinvent the wheel – just bring Lantry along and do something different. Still, if you don’t want Lantry, you should always have at least one dedicated Control Life guy in the group.
Primary – Vitality, Secondary – Wits

Control Lightning: Like Fire and Frost, only slightly worse, but available from the start. It’s able to disable enemies like Frost, and push enemies around like Force, but isn’t as good at doing it as either of those. But it does have it’s own dedicated artifact, The Staff of Hours, which you can get at the end of the Burning Library, which might just be motivation enough to use lightning over other options.
Primary – Quickness, Secondary – Wits

Control Stone: The other school of magic with its own dedicated artifact (Staff of Cairn, though getting it is a multi-step process), this school of magic has a little bit of everything, and it’s passable at all of it. If you want to be a generalist, use Stone magic. You can do buffs, damage, battlefield control, debuffs, and use an artifact that draws off of this skill. Not a bad choice for an “everything” mage character.
Primary – Might, Secondary – Wits

Control Vigor: The buff school of magic. If you want to increase allies’ abilities through spells, this is the way to go. It can do more to make your allies better fighters than any other school, but can’t really do damage on its own. Not a bad choice if you want a frontliner to have a bit of magical ability on the side.
Primary – Might, Secondary – Wits

Performance: Sirin’s ability. Obviously really good, but it increases on its own. You don’t really have any direct control over it. I’m not even sure it has a trainer.
Primary – Vitality, Secondary – Wits

Tidecasting: Eb’s ability. Like Performance, it’s exclusive to her, I don’t think it has a trainer, and you don’t really have any direct control over the skill. But worth mentioning all the same.
Primary – Might, Secondary – Wits

Conquest Guide

So you’ve made your character. Congratulations! Prepare for a wild ride. The conquest portion of character creation involves several decisions that change the state of the game world when you begin, and alter how various parties view you. Occasionally a decision will affect more than is immediately apparent. I will try to bring attention to this when the situation arises.

Conquest: Year One

Literally nothing comes of the first option. Choose either the city or the outpost, and choose to fight next to either the Disfavored or the Scarlet Chorus. This grants favor with the side you fight with, but has no other effects in game.

The second option is much like the first. Choose based on whichever faction you want more favor with at the start of the game. The options have no other effect.

The third option presents interesting possibilities. “Inside Agent” is entirely neutral, and has no effect at all in game. “Containing the Fire” allows you to get favor with a faction, but the Scarlet Chorus option also grants additional favor with The Voices of Nerat and gives additional information about Eb (obviously only if you side with the Chorus).

The final choice has no influence on faction reputation, and should be made solely on which ability you gain.

Conquest: Year Two

Here, you get to choose between Lethian’s Crossing or Apex. Lethian’s Crossing allows you to set up a specific game state, build favor with Lethian’s Crossing, the Forge-Bound and possibly the Bronze Brotherhood, and is useful for all playthroughs. Apex is only really useful if you plan on siding with the rebels, and even then its decidedly less influential than Lethian’s Crossing. However, the only way to begin the game with the Bronze Brotherhood in control of Lethian’s Crossing is to NOT go there during the conquest, and choose Apex instead. This opens up different options for allies during the Rebels campaign.

Lethian’s Crossing

The first option of Lethian’s crossing gives you a choice between The Iron Must Flow or The Cult of Sirin. Cult of Sirin lets you build favor or wrath with Sirin specifically, while The Iron Must Flow lets you build favor with Lethian’s Crossing, the Forge-Bound, and the faction of your choosing. I recommend choosing The Iron Must Flow for the universal benefits.

The second option is the first really unique option. In addition to the reputation changes that normally happen by siding with one group over another, each choice here offers a reputation change with a third party. A Guardian’s Due allows you to gain wrath or favor with the Bronze Brotherhood, while Pick of the Armory alters your reputation with Tunon, and also offers evidence in A Trial Of Archons against both parties. If you plan on siding with the rebels, it might be worth building support with the Bronze Brotherhood, otherwise choose Pick of the Armory.

Finally, you have to choose who controls the crossing. This changes who resides there during your campaign, as well as the usual reputation changes. Whoever is in charge will also have one more piece of evidence against them in the Trial of Archons mission. Obviously, putting the Scarlet Chorus in control and then siding with the Disfavored during the campaign will make life harder, and vice versa. It is worth mentioning that you must put the Scarlet Chorus in control of Lethian’s Crossing in order to access the “Solo Performance” achievement.

Apex

The first choice in Apex is pretty vanilla. Choose which faction you want to have love you, and side with them. Capturing the mages does offer a small bonus to Sage’s Guild favor if you end up siding with the rebels, while killing them increases wrath instead.

The second choice is completely vanilla, and alters your reputation solely with the Disfavored and Scarlet Chorus, with little influence in-game beyond some flavor text.

The final choice allows you to choose to challenge the queen, or negotiate for peace. Negotiating increases your favor with the rebels, making it easier to side with them during the campaign.

Campaign: Year Three

You get to choose between three areas, and each choice has massive consequences for that area’s view of you during the campaign. It is worth noting that no matter what you choose, you will end up casting an edict and ruining the region.

Vellum Citadel

Your first choice here is fairly vanilla. Your choice regarding muzzling or releasing the mages will give you wrath or favor with the Sage’s Guild, accordingly. The other option only affects the Disfavored and the Scarlet Chorus.

Your second choice is similarly vanilla. Choosing to release the sages to The Voices of Nerat will increase your favor with him and get you some money from him when you first meet, however.

The final choice is the big one. If you plan on siding with either the Scarlet Chorus or the Rebels, give the sages a warning, as this gives massive favor with both of them. Giving no warning grants massive favor with the Disfavored. Giving a warning also opens up a very tiny area within the Burning Library later that is otherwise unreachable.

Stalwart

First option here is entirely vanilla, except when choosing to force the Disfavored to share their provisions in Marching on Empty. This opens up a unique interaction with The Voices of Nerat where he offers you a gift. Accepting it grants favor with him and wrath with the Disfavored.

Second option is entirely vanilla either way, resulting in an increase of favor with one faction and wrath with the other.

As with the Vellum Citadel, delaying the edict grants you favor with The Voices of Nerat and grants a unique conversation with him later. It also improves your favor with the Unbroken, a faction you will recruit if you side with the rebels.

Azure

This area seems like it should be the most influential, but its actually the least. The only option of any interest is the final one, in which you choose whether to send the Disfavored, the Chorus, or both. If you send just one, you gain favor with the side who does not fight. If you send both, you gain wrath with both armies, but gain favor with the Stone Sea Villagers, and Halfgate is not ruined in-game, and is referred to as Plainsgate instead.

Campaign Act 1 – Vendrien’s Well

Act 1 is fairly simple, and so my walkthrough for it will be fairly short and sweet. I’m not going to walk you through each and every quest, but instead focus on key points worth noting. You decide on your ending in Act 1, which might seem constricting, but it really isn’t. There are four different endings, and one “extra” ending that doesn’t really count. The first act is almost a tutorial, so I won’t go through the various quests, as they are simple and easy to accomplish.

NOTE: In each act, wherever you are, you should investigate everything and speak to everyone. You may miss quests otherwise, and as a result miss something you can use later. The biggest instance of this is The Trial of Archons, an overarching quest where you gather evidence against Graven Ashe and The Voices of Nerat. Missing a sidequest will often result in missing a piece of evidence as well.

Day of Kyros Ending: This one’s easy. If you fail to capture Vendrien’s Well by the end of the Day of Kyros, the Edict kills you and everyone else in the valley. This is technically an ending, and you get an achievement for it. Congratulations on your accomplishment?

Disfavored Ending: Setting yourself up for the Disfavored ending is simple. Side with the Disfavored when it comes time to assault Vendrien’s Well, and use the first act to solidify your favor with Graven Ashe and with the Disfavored.

Scarlet Chorus Ending: Also easy. Simply side with the Scarlet Chorus when assaulting Vendrien’s Well. Like the Disfavored, spend the first act solidifying your reputation with The Voices of Nerat and the Scarlet Chorus in order to make your life easier in the future. This is the only campaign in which The Voices of Nerat will side with you at the end.

Anarchist Ending: Another easy ending, but one with a slightly more nuanced act 1. The act of setting yourself up for this ending is as easy as betraying whatever side you decided to fight for at the very end, claiming Vendrien’s Well for yourself, and kicking them out.

It is worth noting that the Anarchist campaign is the only one which can be accessed later simply by betraying your alliance in a later act. You can never make a new alliance, however, so choose with care. This is the only campaign in which Bleden Mark will side with you at the end.

Rebel Ending: This is the most complicated ending to set up, so I will go through each step, one by one, and then explain afterwards.
-(Optional) If you chose Apex during the Conquest portion, and chose to negotiate surrender, you will start with higher favor with the Vendrien Guard.
-NOTE: You cannot side with the Rebels if you went to Apex in the Conquest portion of character creation and chose to assassinate the queen. They will never trust you, and will always attack on sight.
-Execute Tarkin Deimos; giving him to the Chorus results in a gain in Wrath with the Vendrien Guard, executing results in no change.
-When interrupted by Eb, answer her questions honestly, and adhere to the rules of peaceful parley. Allow her to leave peacefully.
-When distracting Matani Sybil at the bridge, use the Lore option to build more favor with the Vendrien guard. Offer a chance for peaceful surrender.
-When taking Echocall Crossing, allow Matani Sybil and her soldiers to escape.
-When tasked with capturing Pelox Florian, allow him to leave with his soldiers, and kill (or sneak past) Fake Limp afterwards.
-If you have done all of the above, you will receive a missive from Tarkis Arri. Meet with her before attending the meeting between Graven Ashe and The Voices of Nerat. Agree to join with the rebels.
To my knowledge, the only archon who can possibly side with you at the end of a Rebel campaign is Tunon, so your focus on acquiring Favor and Loyalty should revolve solely around the Vendrien Guard.

Missables: Act 1 has very few missables, but there are a couple. Missables do not include things that are missed by not completing quests.
-Sirin appears in the Scarlet Chorus Camp the second time you visit. Speaking with her grants an additional piece of evidence against The Voices of Nerat in the Trial of Archons quest. This is also a chance to influence Sirin’s loyalty/fear.
-The Voices of Nerat devoured Graven Ashe’s son. This usually is discovered naturally during the meeting of Archons, but can be missed if you take certain conversation options, and is a major piece of evidence.

Campaign Act 2 – Overview

Act 2 begins after you have claimed the spire in Vendrien’s Well, and activated the strange device on top of it. There are always three big overarching quests in Act 2.

The first big quest is to activate all the towers. This is done by visiting each of them when given the chance. There is one in Lethian’s Crossing, the Blade Grave, and two in Azure. With each spire, you have to activate the portal in a certain design. Refer to the Spires section for details about each spire. You do not NEED to activate every spire during the course of the game, but it’s certainly worth your time, and they’re all encountered during the course of the game.

The second big quest is The Trial of Archons. This quest involves finding evidence against Graven Ashe and The Voices of Nerat to be used in a trial at the beginning of Act 3. The evidence will be encountered as you play the game, and pieces of evidence in each area will be highlighted. Some pieces of evidence can be gained during the Conquest portion of character creation, and during Act 1. More details about this quest will be covered in Act 3.

The final big quest varies from faction to faction. The Disfavored seek to subjugate everyone in the Tiers, one by one, while removing the Chorus. The Scarlet Chorus seek to recruit everyone, with an emphasis on leaders in the tiers, and many quests revolve around recruiting generals and named characters. They also fight against the Disfavored. The Rebels seek to push out the Disfavored and Scarlet Chorus out of the Tiers and to build an alliance between the fledgling factions that remain. And the Anarchist path revolves around gaining as much power for yourself as possible, through hoarding artifacts and disrupting the Disfavored and Scarlet Chorus efforts.

It is imporant to remember that, with the exception of the Anarchist path, you can only go to 3 of the 4 locations. If you wish to dispel all of Kyros’ Edicts, you must skip Lethian’s Crossing. Note that while Lethian’s Crossing itself is always available, the quests that occur there are not. Mages are encouraged to go to the Burning Library for the large number of magical accents available exclusively there. Artifact hunters are encouraged to go to both Lethian’s Crossing and Blade Grave, as some artifacts are only available by going to the Oldwalls in both places.

As a final note, there are several opportunities throughout each playthrough to “break alliance” with whoever you are working with, reverting to the Anarchist path. I have never taken an option to break an alliance, and so I have no idea what effects that has midway through Act 2.

Campaign Act 2 – Lethian’s Crossing

Overview:

Lethian’s Crossing is an area that can change a huge amount depending on your choices in the Conquest portion of the game. There are three different factions that can control it at the start, and all three react differently to your presence. If you chose to govern Lethian’s Crossing, then you got the option to put either the Disfavored or Chorus in charge. They will remain in chage when you arrive in game, and will react as normal. The Bronze Brotherhood governs Lethian’s Crossing if you chose Apex during the Conquest section instead.

The pros and cons of any one group really depend on your playthrough. The faction you are aligned with will have some minor sidequests for you to do, and if you side against them, you will have to kill off the entire garrison before you can accomplish anything. The Bronze Brotherhood are the exception. Leaving them in charge allows you to side with them on a rebel playthrough, instead of the Forge-Bound, which opens up alternate story paths in Azure as well.

No matter your faction, you have to go through Raetommon and his Bronze Brotherhood cronies to get there. They will blockade the bride leading to Lethian’s Crossing, and charge rings to pass. Depending on your playthrough, he will either let you through with no problem, or force you to fight and kill the bandits. Either way is fine.

In Lethian’s Crossing, there are a few universally important locations regardless of who runs the place. Eldian is the elder, and is involved in the questline. The Forge is where the Forgebound hang out, and where you can begin the main quest line. And the Oldwalls entrance up at the top of the map is where you can access the Oldwalls and the Spire. Note that the majority of the Oldwalls are closed off here, but can be accessed through an alternate location unlocked over the course of the main quest for Lethian’s Crossing.

Finally, and arguably the most important location, is Sirin’s Sanctuary, where you recruit Sirin, Archon of Song. She is remarkably powerful and carries a lot of unique and useful abilities. Swing by Lethian’s Crossing long enough to recruit her each playthrough, even if that’s all you do here.

Missables: There are a few missables here that are not immediately apparent.

1. In the forge-bound Forge, there is a smith apprentice who gets angry when you try to talk to him, saying you are distracting him. Click him until he explodes to get a hidden achievement.

2. Sirin’s Sanctuary is easily missable here if you neglect to come before the main quest line is locked out. Meaning if you only stop by after doing the other three areas first, Sirin will not be recruitable. I usually stop by at the start of each playthrough JUST to recruit Sirin.

3. The brothel changes depending on who runs Lethian’s Crossing. With the Bronze Brotherhood, there is no brothel. With the Disfavored, the brothel exists but is fairly small. But with the Chorus, you can get the Solo Performance achievement by asking for a room to use. By yourself. Easy to miss if you never put the Chorus in charge of the Crossing.

4. In a house in the northeast side of Lethian’s Crossing, there is a couple – Deya and Phaedra – who you should talk to. The initial conversation is fairly uneventful. Once 24 hours have passed, the next time you come to Lethian’s Crossing, Deya will be outside, waiting to give you the quest, A Widow’s Revenge. However, her house is fairly out of the way, so you aren’t likely to revisit it unless you know about the quest. Took me 3 playthroughs before I caught on to this.

5. In the Oldwalls dungeon, there is one section that requires Torchkeys from the Oldwalls dungeon in the Blade Grave. It leads to a magic rune and a one-handed Artifact. Skippable, but worth coming back for.

6. In the Oldwalls dungeon, there are runes on the walls that can only be acquired if you have Lantry in your party, and he has learned his Voice of Ages skill from the Sage skill tree. While these aren’t super interesting, it’s also really low-cost to acquire the Voice of Ages skill, and Lantry is a solid party member.

Main Quest: Raetommon will not let you pass without a fight if you are Disfavored or Chorus. Kill his guys. If you left your allied faction in charge of Lethian’s Crossing, you get welcomed with open arms and can find a few minor side quests/interactions around town. Rebels don’t have to fight if the Brotherhood is still in charge. Anarchists have to kill everyone, as usual.

Typically the main quest goes like this: go to the Forge, and follow Eldian and Zdenya to put their custom-made fancy magic helmet on a rock to stop bad things from happening. Go inside the Oldwalls to check to see if it worked. It didn’t. Kill the bad things, and leave. Oh look, the Bronze Brotherhood attacked because they wanted the shiny magic helmet. Kill them all, and after the end of the fight, go talk to Eldian to get your main quest arc and two locations. Be sure to check back at the Forge to get two sidequests that can be easily completed along the way.

You may, over the course of the main questline, feel a need to try to be diplomatic with the Bronze Brotherhood. Don’t bother – you can’t be friends. The main quest is fairly linear after this point. I will spare the details of getting from point A to point B. Just roleplay how you like, and go do the thing.

HOWEVER.

Maybe you left the Bronze Brotherhood in charge of Lethian’s Crossing, and you’re on a rebel playthrough, and you want to ally with them. Well, that changes this a bit. Not a ton. But a bit. To ally with the Bronze Brotherhood instead of the Forge-Bound, be sure to do the following:

1. Talk to Welby when stopped at the bridge, before ever reaching Lethian’s Crossing.
2. Take all peaceful options at the bridge, and avoid any killing or violence.
3. When searching for Raetommon, at Deserter’s March, talk to both Locke and Myrek. Attempt to peacefully deal with the situation, but side with Locke in the end.
4. At Twin Rivers, agree to help the Bronze Brotherhood kill the Bane. Find Welby in the easternmost area of the map, and ally with her against Raetommon.
5. If you do all these things, when you finish dealing with Raetommon, you will get to choose between the Forge-Bound and the Bronze Brotherhood (you cannot have both).

Allying with the Bronze Brotherhood lets you ally with the Stonestalker Tribe in Azure, rather than the Earthshakers, and is the path to unlocking 2 achievements that otherwise would not be doable (join the Stonestalker tribe, and Leave Cairn Alive).

Campaign Act 2 – The Burning Library

The goal for this section is universally the same. Get to the bottom of the library, and do a thing regarding the Silent Archive. However, this area also has several missables, and I will be covering all of those.

Missables:

1. If you chose the Vellum Citadel during the conquest, and chose to give a warning before enacting the Edict of Fire, a new area will be available. On the bottom floor, just past the third Scarlet Chorus group, the path will split. Normally, it only splits two ways, one way leading up to a section that requires you to jump across lava to reach a small island, and then another to lead further into the library. A third section opens up down and to the left that leads to another area. There is a sage burning in the lava, and carving out the rune in his chest gives you the Unconventional Materials achievement.

2. You do not have to burn the library to the ground! With a high enough lore skill, and a free artifact in your inventory (the Staff of Ages is in the same room as the Silent Archive and is fairly mediocre), you can replace the Silent Archive with a different artifact, preserving the stasis spell on the library. You do this by reading the notes of the dead sages (you actually have to right click the note and read it), opening up a new option when interacting with the archive. This allows you to break the Edict of Fire without destroying the citadel. Once the edict is broken, return inside, and a new area will have opened up with a few magic sigils, two artifacts, and the Bane for this area.

3. I don’t have to tell you this, but explore everywhere. There are tons of sigils and pieces of evidence for the Trial of Archons here that can’t be found anywhere else. When in doubt, check the mini map to see if you missed a treasure spot anywhere – here more than anywhere else, almost every spot is worth investigating. The Tab button is your friend here.

4. The Silent Archive, once taken, unlocks some research options at your library that are not available any other way, including research to unlock Snowfang and the Scales of Mercy. These two artifacts are both very powerful, and if your character build leans towards scoring criticals, they’re definitely worth the effort. It’s also good for Anarchist runs when you need to gather as many artifacts as possible.

Main Quest: If you are Scarlet Chorus, you can simply waltz right in. The Disfavored must first rescue their lost scout from the sages, who you have to kill, before going to the Burning Library and killing the Chorus members there. The Rebels side with the Sages, and have to fight the Chorus. And the Anarchist just kills the Chorus and ignores the Sages entirely. In every case, once you get inside, it’s very straightforward until you get to the very end.

In the final room, you can simply take the Silent Archive and run, destroying the Burning Library, or you can follow the process detailed in the Missables section to preserve it instead, opening up more areas. The Disfavored get cranky if you don’t outright destroy the Silent Archive, but can be talked around it. The Chorus, Anarchist and Rebel path love that the Silent Archive survives. Probably the easiest area to maneuver.

Campaign Act 2 – The Blade Grave

Main Quest: This is easily the grindiest section of the campaign. The main questline revolves around dealing with the Unbroken and retaking Sentinel Stand. To do this, you will eventually have to go through the Oldwalls, solve tons of puzzles, fight another Bane, and get the Steadfast Insignia, and then go through the storm, take down Sentinel Stand, and break the edict.

Unless, you’re doing the Anarchist playthrough. Then you just kill everyone, and take the artifacts.

The only real difference comes from who you side with. The Disfavored battle with the Unbroken to find out how to get through the storm to Sentinel Stand. This takes you through three different battles with the Unbroken, followed by a final push through a battlefield leading to the storm itself. And once you’re through the storm, you simply raid the keep.

The Rebels side with the Unbroken, and this plays out much like the Disfavored side, except you are repelling the Disfavored attack, rather than spearheading it.

The Chorus plays oddly similar to the Anarchist playthrough, in that you need to kill literally everyone. However, they have a key difference at the end, where their main goal is to recruit Amelia, and keep the Edict going. You can still end the edict if you desire, but it requires careful conversation choices, or you will be auto-locked from it.

The Anarchist run does not have to take Sentinel Stand, though it’s recommended in order to get the Steadfast Insignia artifact, which is fairly useful all around. The goal in this run is to find the Dauntless, an optional side-quest for the other three playthroughs. Once you have acquired it, you can leave and be done with the area. For this reason, Anarchist runs have the most missables for this area.

Regardless, like all the main quests, it’s very linear. The quests give you good direction on where to go, and everything is fairly transparent. You shouldn’t miss much if you just talk to all the named characters and finish all the journal quests. Like always, there are a few unique interactions with your own chosen side that don’t occur in other playthroughs, but they have no lasting impact.

Missables:

1. For the Anarchist run, you can skip Sentinel Stand entirely, bypassing the Oldwalls and therefore missing everything there, including the Spire for the Blade Grave. It’s recommended to go through with it anyway – the Oldwalls have some really sweet loot, and the Steadfast Insignia is a great artifact.

2. In the Oldwalls, there are a couple of areas that can only be accessed with the torchkeys acquired in the Lethian’s Crossing Oldwalls. These areas lead to a few extra magic sigils and some artifacts, all of which are worth the extra effort. Be sure to take the time to backtrack if you head to Lethian’s Crossing second.

3. The Dauntless is a one-handed sword Artifact, which makes it a rarity. One of the best swords in the game, it’s worth doing the quest to acquire it. It’s required for Anarchist runs, but the other three can miss the sidequest if you choose the right conversation options and rally the troops behind you without it. The Scarlet Chorus, in particular, have an easy time missing this one, as they tend to kill the man who tells you where it is, and a cutscene moves you away from the area you fight him in. Be sure to backtrack to search his corpse for directions.

4. Ashe’s daughter, Amelia. If you went to the Burning Library and checked everywhere like I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ told you to, you’ll have a piece of paper outlining how to break the edict without killing her. Otherwise, you need to pass the highest lore check in the game – 71 – in order to keep the edict in place. This is important, because only by ending the Edict through a technicality can you convince Tunon to side with you at the end of the game.

5. In the battle between the Disfavored and the Unbroken leading up to taking Sentinel Stand, there is a crucial piece of evidence against Nerat placed on a body on the western portion of the map. You have to backtrack a bit AFTER reaching the edge of the storm to get it, but it’s worth it. Again, the old rule applies – just search every container on the map. But if you’re busy focusing on wrapping up this super grindy area, it’s easy to just breeze past it.

Campaign Act 2 – The Stone Sea

Main Quest: The main quest in the Stone Sea revolves around Cairn, and what to do with his not-quite-dead-body. Depending on your faction, this area can end quite a few ways, and there are a lot of achievements to be unlocked here. And a lot of how this area plays out depends on who you have allied with up until this point.

So, the Disfavored here are the simplest. You literally just kill everyone and everything that gets in your way, until finally the Earthshakers get their ritual completed.

The Chorus are, likewise, simple. They try to recruit the Stonestalkers, and have a few sidequests to that effect, but in the end, their goal is to kill all the Disfavored.

The Anarchist playthrough gets a little complicated, but stays in the general realm of “kill everyone”. You side with the Stonestalker Tribe, and kill off all the Disfavored and Chorus troops in the area. As a reward, you are given the Azure Shield, a special artifact and one of the few shield artifacts in the game. See the Missables section for important Anarchist run information.

Finally, there are the Rebels. Who you side with here changes depending on who you sided with in Lethian’s Crossing. If you sided with the Forge Bound, then you will be courting the Earthshakers, who will have you defeat the Chorus in the area, and negotiate with the Stonestalkers for rights to harvest the glowy rocks from everywhere (make sure you pick up as many as possible on your travels). You do not have to kill the Stonestalker tribe, but it is an option here.

If you went through the trouble of siding with the Bronze Brotherhood, you will recruit the Stonestalker tribe instead, and in this case, will finish the chapter by killing off all the Earthshakers, as well as the Disfavored and Chorus in the area.

Missables:

-For Anarchist players, AFTER you get the Azure Shield, your next quest marker will say to go back to Bleden Mark. Don’t. Instead, go back to Hundred-Blood with the Stonestalkers. She will open up the path to Cairn and the second Spire in this area. If you return to Bleden Mark, the conversation option to access the final spire and Cairn will not be available, and you will miss out on that entire area permanently.

-If you chose Azure during the conquest portion, and sent both armies to stop Cairn, Halfgate will be replaced by the not-destroyed Plainsgate. Plainsgate has different quests, an entirely new area to explore, and more chances to play nice with the Stone Sea Villagers (even though getting high rep with them is worth literally nothing). Ultimately, you miss nothing either way, but it’s worth experiencing once, and it’s really cool to see the benefit of your choices in such a stark way.

-Joining the Stonestalker Tribe is easily missed. When you have to negotiate peace between the Earthshakers and Stonestalkers (only during a Rebel run), speak to Red Fang before doing anything permanent. The option to join the Stonestalkers will appear after you promise to help Red Fang, THEN kill off all the Earthshakers in the area, THEN return. Good for that one achievement.

Campaign Act 3 – The Trial of Archons

The Trial of Archons is an ongoing quest over the entire game. It comes to a head at the beginning of Act 3, when Kyros pits all the Archons against one another. It’s a complicated quest, with all manner of missables. I’ll be covering each piece of evidence, and where to find it. A few pieces of evidence change who they count against depending on Conquest decisions. This will be noted as well. No conquest evidence is required to convict an Archon, but it can help if you miss a piece here or there during the main game.

I have not tried to convict both archons yet, so I have no idea if it works. If someone can confirm this, I would appreciate it. I plan to try it regardless on my next Rebel run.

Note that the entire quest can be “completed” by killing either The Voices of Nerat or Graven Ashe before the trial. This earns wrath with Tunon, but ultimately does not prevent you from earning his loyalty. Anarchist playthroughs will always kill the archons first, and therefore never experience the trial. That said, the quest is done in passing, and there’s no real reason to skip it. It’s one of the better moments of the game, and you should experience a successful trial against each Archon at least once.

Also note that midway through Act 2, Tunon will request an update on your progress. Don’t worry about this – nothing you say is binding, and it has no effect on the final trial.

So with all that out of the way, here is each piece of evidence available in the game, and where to find it. I have given the map name where it can be found, because you really shouldn’t need anything more specific than that. You do not need to convict an Archon to gain Tunon’s loyalty, and convincting an Archon does not guarantee Tunon’s loyalty (though it helps). Graven Ashe is considerably harder to convict than The Voices of Nerat, but it is still doable. I convicted him on a Rebel playthrough. Nerat is the obvious guilty party, and is laughably easy to convict in any playthrough. Enjoy, and I hope this helps.

The Voices of Nerat:

Conquest:
-In Apex, there is a chance to allow the Chorus to participate in a Tiersman festival. This counts against them in the trial if chosen.
-In Apex, one path reveals the Chorus looted Disfavored bodies. This counts against them, regardless of your choice.
-In Azure, Chorus soldiers poison Disfavored soldiers accidentally
-In Stalwart, Chorus soldiers try to recruit from the Forge-Bound ranks
-In Stalwart, Chorus soldiers can possibly raid Disfavored supply lines.
-In Stalwart, Chorus soldiers can be spotted fighting alongside the Unbroken
-In the Vellum Citadel, one path reveals that Nerat wanted the knowledge of the sages for himself, despite it being forbidden
-In the Vellum Citadel, Sirin conscripts from the Disfavored ranks
-In Lethian’s Crossing, both Archons try to bribe you for more weapons.
-In Lethian’s Crossing, the Chorus tries to capture the Forge-Bound master.

Act 1 – Vendrien’s Well:
-Nerat killed Graven Ashe’s son, absorbing him and his knowledge. This is a big piece of evidence, and is found during the final confrontation between archons before the siege. It is also missable. Be sure you don’t miss it if you plan on convicting Nerat.

Act 2 – The Blade Grave:
-At Sentinel Stand, there is a Damp Report that shows Nerat was feeding the defenders information during the Disfavored siege. This report is easily missed on a corpse before passing through the storm the second trip here, when all sides are fighting. See “Missables” in the Blade Grave section for Act 2.
-In the Rust Canyons, Elia has a map that shows that Nerat was giving the Unbroken information about Disfavored patrols.
-In Trapper’s Junction, you can find Jagged Remedy’s Orders in a crate nearby that gave him orders to conscript from Disfavored lands.

Act 2 – Lethian’s Crossing:
-If you completed the quest in Act 1 to find the Disfavored iron, you can go to Tunon and get the House Seal, which can be taken to Harchiard Bronze. He will then inform you that Nerat was supplying the Vendrien Guard with Disfavored iron.
-Apprentice Garrick in the Oldwalls was allowed to enter by the garrison. If you awarded control of Lethian’s Crossing to the Chorus, this evidence counts against them.

Act 2 – The Stone Sea:
-Rending Hound gives you a piece of evidence against Nerat when you succeed at tracking him down. However, he also only appears during a Scarlet Chorus playthrough. Basically useless, since you likely want to ally with Nerat if you even encounter Rending Hound.

Act 2 – The Burning Library:
-When you reach the Silent Archive, the Censor reveals that she wants the information inside of it for herself. This counts against Nerat.
-The Censor pitted her soldiers against each other. This is found out by talking to the gang leaders after entering if you did not get the information from the Censor herself (because you sided with the Disfavored, for example, and she didn’t feel chatty).
-At the entrance to the Burning Library, there is a man named Foul Murmur. He has a report on him that gives you another piece of evidence against Nerat, but you have to kill him for it.

Graven Ashe:

Conquest:
-At Apex, Cairn kills a lot of Chorus soldiers taking Edgering Fort.
-At Stalwart, the Disfavored march on Sentinel Stand despite the imminent Edict
-At Lethian’s Crossing, both Archons try to bribe you for more weapons
-At Azure, Ashe was unable to get Cairn to follow orders
-At the Vellum Citadel, the Disfavored can execute sages belonging to the Chorus, if you choose this option.

Act 1 – Vendrien’s Well:
-Do everything required to arrange a meeting with Tarkis Arri, and then ask about the ceasefire. Ashe arranged several unauthorized prisoner exchanges in attempts to get his son back. This is a big piece of evidence, since there is decidedly less evidence against Ashe overall. Note that you do not have to ultimately side with the rebels in order to get this evidence piece.

Act 2 – The Blade Grave:
-In the Oldwalls – East section, there is a corpse with a note that incriminates the Disfavored for sending in civilians to the Oldwalls
-Ashe’s daughter is a traitor. This is unlocked by taking Sentinel Stand and killing Herodin.
-Talking to Osmios during a Disfavored run reveals another piece of evidence. However, much like the evidence from Rending Hound, you’re unlikely to ever actually use it, as it’s only available on a Disfavored campaign.

Act 2 – Lethian’s Crossing:
-Clear Gino’s name after the attack by the Bronze Brotherhood to unlock knowledge of Disfavored killing Chorus members even before the campaign. Only availabe if the Disfavored own Lethian’s Crossing.
-Apprentice Garrick in the Oldwalls was allowed to enter by the garrison. If you awarded control of Lethian’s Crossing to the Disfavored, this evidence counts against them.
-If the Disfavored own Lethian’s Crossing, there is a corpse in the Oldwalls Antechamber that gives another piece of evidence against the Disfavored with A Note from Iron Guard Vintara.

Act 2 – The Stone Sea:
-During a Disfavored playthrough, you will receive a piece of evidence against Ashe when attacking Jagged Maw Shrine. Again, useless, since you’re on Ashe’s side anytime this is availabe.
-The Earthshakers intend to use Cairn to blight the land. This can be learned either through talkign to Radix about his plan, or finding the note on his corpse.
-The Earthshakers wanted to keep Cairn alive against Kyros’s will. Unlike before, this can only be found out by talking to Radix.

Act 2 – The Burning Library:
-Maric lost track of his own soldiers in the Library. This is only learned through talking to him, and is available to Rebel and Disfavored players.
-The Dusty Missive in the shelf just before going downstairs to the Silent Archive gives a piece of evidence against Ashe.

Campaign Act 3 – Final Showdown

This is it. The final battle. You have to choose your allies and enemies. Fighting each Archon is as easy as telling them you don’t care to talk, that you prefer to just fight. But getting them to ally with you? That’s another story entirely. This portion of the guide will focus more on how to gain each Archon’s allegiance. If you have come this far, you should know how to handle the combat in this game, and other guides and lets-play videos can help for higher difficulties. Despite this being the grand finale, the Archons will not be the hardest fight you’ve had thus far, and you shouldn’t have that much trouble with them. Color me a little bit disappointed.

Tunon, the Adjudicator:

Tunon is an emotionless judge. Appeals to emotion will have no effect on him. Throughout the game, take conversation options to increase your favor, and stay clear of options that increase your wrath. Having a Wrath of 3 or higher makes it so that Tunon WILL NOT side with you, even if you do every other step correctly. Additionally, having a wrath of 1 and 2 makes it harder to convince Tunon in conversation at your own trial, as the other fatebinders will interject with little remarks about your untrustworthiness. There is a remark for wrath 1, and a second remark later for wrath 2, and both make your life harder (but not impossible). It is possible to go up to Wrath 3 from Wrath 2 if you are already close due to these little interjections. Likewise, you MUST HAVE a favor score of at least 4 for Tunon to side with you.

To convince Tunon, during your trial, do the following:
-Your companions will testify for or against you. Be sure you bring the companions with the highest loyalty (NOT fear). Do not bring anyone with a loyalty lower than 3, though loyalty 4 is ideal. So long as they have at least loyalty 3, their fear score is irrelevant.
-When asked about venturing into the Oldwalls, state that it was circumstance that took you there. This is the first moment where another fatebinder will interject if you have a wrath score of 1 with Tunon.
-When asked about why you have the Silent Archive and/or the Magebane Helm, there is a Lore 51 option about being a servant of the court, and being qualified to watch over the items. Pick that option.
-This is important. When dealing with Ashe’s daughter in the Blade Grave, you can resolve things through the use of a legal loophole. You MUST USE this loophole. Then, during the trial, Tunon will be enraged that you defeated an edict through the loophole. Using a Lore 71 check (highest lore check in the game, tied with the check to use the loophole in Sentinel Stand without the papers from the Burning Library to bypass the check), you can reason that Kyros is not infallible, subverting Tunon’s faith in his ruler. If this is not done, Tunon will not side with you.
-When given the chance, state you suspected corruption from the start. All other options here are bad.
-If you have done all these steps, your closing statement should be to challenge Kyros’s peace, stating it is a lie. This should end with Tunon declaring you innocent of all charges, and bending the knee to you. Well, he doesn’t have knees. Or legs. You get the idea.

Bleden Mark, the Court Headsman:

The court headsman and Archon of Darkness cannot ally with you outside of an Anarchist run. He will always try to kill you after the trial with Tunon, though you can opt to fight him ahead of time at Ashweald if you have a high enough favor with him. All this does is bypass the Trial of Archons quest and make Tunon angry. He is also remarkably easy to recruit – just make sure you have a favor score of 4 by the end of the Anarchist playthrough, and do the quests he gives you.

Graven Ashe, the Disfavored General:

Recruiting him is likewise easy. You need a favor score of 4 or higher, and side with the Disfavored. After you have killed The Voices of Nerat, return, and Ashe will try to get you to kneel. Choose the options that point out how loyal you have been to the Disfavored, and finish off with mentioning that you have been a better general than Ashe. With favor 4, he will admit it is true, and kneel. If you have lower than favor 4, you will have to fight him, even if you sided with the Disfavored.

The Voices of Nerat, Spymaster of Kyros:

So this is a little tricky. Nerat wants to absorb your mind, and is not interested in peace. Before you can get to the conversation, go kill Ashe. When you return, Nerat will try to convince you to kneel. He will not kneel to you. He can be convinced to temporarily hold off on fighting you until the two of you fight off the Overlord, assuming you have favor 4 or higher with him. But he will require a sacrifice of one of your companions.

Any companion with a Loyalty score of 4 or more will take control of Nerat’s mind when he tries to absorb them, effectively recruiting him to your side. If you want that companion for combat purposes, make sure this is the last thing you do in the game, as the companion is no longer available after being absorbed by Nerat.

A companion with a loyalty of 3 or lower will not take control of his mind, and Nerat will not bend the knee, and you will still have to fight him. What a jerk. As a side note, consider saving before having your companions absorbed. Every companion has a different, amusing conversation tree after being absorbed and taking control of Nerat, and it’s worth seeing each one.

Companions

Verse:

Verse is a Scarlet Fury, and will typically be a damage dealer in your party. She also tends to be fairly squishy, which limits her usefulness over time. You automatically recruit her early on. In fact, she is the third allied character you encounter in the game, in the very first area. She is a solid DPSer on her own, but paired with Barik, she is even better, as the two of them get their own special combo attack that is very effective. Consider using her if you plan on using Barik and your main character doesn’t fit the DPS or Tank role.

Barik:

Barik is a walking tank. In any playthrough, he is likely on your list of potential meat shields. Barik is granted to you after initially speaking with the archons in the Disfavored camp. Of all your companions, he is also easiest to lose due to plot decisions – be sure to build up at least a loyalty of 3 with him before the end of Act 1, or he may not side with you over Graven Ashe. Obviously, this is not an issue during a Disfavored run.

As a note, if you plan on using Barik, construct a Forge for your first Spire upgrade. Barik has some of the best armor in the game, but it starts at Common quality, and cannot be unequipped. If you give him some love at the forge however, his armor can be upgraded to be better than any other armor set in the game. Crucial for him to remain relevant in the later stages of the game, especially on higher difficulties.

Lantry:

Lantry joins you after you save him from his Scarlet Chorus captors. He joins automatically, and is easily the best magical character in the game, with good options for magical specialization, a uniquely high Lore skill for better spells, and the ability to use his quill skill tree to be competent with his regular attacks as well. I always auto-include him in any party of mine. The only way to learn the Sigil of Life is for Lantry to teach it to you.

Eb:

Eb is… a more offensive mage than Lantry. She is fantastic at this role, but I personally did not use her much, as my main character almost always filled her role to some degree. That said, she is very good at filling either a support or offensive role. What’s more, her magic saps health, and her skill tree allows her to do more with Terratus spells than most. She is recruited automatically after acquiring your first spire. The only way to learn the Sigil of Terratus is for Eb to teach it to you.

Sirin:

Sirin is a bit of an odd duck. She has skills that keep enemies from targeting her, and her role is almost exclusively support magic. She can also do some semi-effective debuff magic for enemies, but I find that skill tree unimpressive. Unforunately, Lantry is a better all around mage option. Sirin is fun to use, though, and worth recruiting. She is in Lethian’s Crossing, in Sirin’s Sanctuary, and can be recruited immediately in Act 2. Know that if you put off recruiting her long enough, she may disappear, so don’t dally too long. If Lethian’s Crossing’s main questline gets skipped, Sirin leaves, so recruit her first.

Kills-In-Shadow:

Kills-In-Shadow is hilarious. She is a beastwoman, uses no equipment aside from trinkets, and does tons of unarmed damage. Her skill trees both revolve around different types of damage dealing. She can fill either a DPS or tank/control role, and I have used her to great effect in either. She will eventually interrupt your travels in Act 2, at which point she can be recruited.

Edicts

I felt like this one merited its own special section. There are a total of 6 Edicts in the game, 5 of which can be learned. I will list them here. You can cast Edicts at any point after casting the first Edict, and they will affect the chosen area in which they are cast. Very very useful when dealing with the final showdown between yourself and other archons in Act 3, especially on the higher difficulties. Edicts are cast using the Mysterious Device on top of the Vendrien’s Well spire.

Edict of Execution: The only Edict you cannot learn yourself, this is the edict cast over Vendrien’s Well at the start of the first act. You break it when you claim Vendrien’s Well.

Edict of Stone: This Edict can be learned by breaking the Edict of Stone in the Azure region by killing Cairn. When you cast this Edict yourself, certain effects occur in the area the Edict is affecting.

-Persistent +10 Control Stone skill for allies
-Bonus to Prone Defense for allies
-Increased Prone time for enemies
-Weakened Bane
-Weakened magic
-Increased party Dodge and Parry
-Decreased enemy attack
-Decreased enemy defense
-Added random chaotic elemental damage to all attacks

Edict of Storms: This Edict can be learned by breaking the Edict of Storms in the Blade Grave by ending the line of Regent. When you cast this Edict yourself, certain effects occur in the area the Edict is affecting.

-Increased ranged attack rolls for party
-Decreased ranged attack rolls for enemies
-Reduced visibility
-Reduced movement speed

Edict of Fire: This Edict can be learned by breaking the Edict of Fire in the Burning Library by removing the Silent Archive from the pedestal. When you cast this Edict yourself, certain effects occur in the area the Edict is affecting.

-Increased party magic skill
-Decreased fire damage to party
-Bane become stronger
-Party heals for a portion of any frost damage received
-Consumables are more potent
-Enemies have reduced Quickness, and are Fatigued
-Reduced Resolve for everyone
-Negative status effects last longer on enemies
-Added random burn damage to all attacks

Edict of Malediction: This Edict is never encountered in the game, and is easily missed. It can be researched at the Spire’s Library after casting your own Edict for the first time. When you cast this Edict yourself, certain effects occur in the area the Edict is affecting.

-Party gains a bonus to all skills, hit precision, and graze precision
-Enemies gain a penalty to all skills, hit precision, and graze precision

Edict of Nightfall: This Edict is never encountered in the game, and is only available on the Anarchy campaign. This Edict can be acquired from Bleden Mark with a favor of at least 4 at the start of Act 3. When you cast this Edict yourself, certain effects occur in the area the Edict is affecting. This Edict really shines for stealth-based parties.

-All enemies begin combat blinded
-Party gains a bonus to Subterfuge and damage
-All “at night” effects always trigger
-Enemies receive a penalty to ranged accuracy and have reduced visibility

Spires

Spire & Upgrades

Unlocking all the spires carries a lot of benefits. There are four upgrades, and four spires that can be unlocked. Once a spire is unlocked, it can be used to fast-travel to any other unlocked spire, saving on travel time, and each upgrade carries passive and active benefits, many of which extend to all activated spires. It is worth the effort to unlock all the spires in any given playthrough for the perks.

The following section includes information about the spire upgrades and what can be done with them, as well as particular things they unlock. Each spire can be upgraded, with Vendrien’s Well automatically including the Mysterious Device plot upgrade. Each upgrade can be built once, and provides universal benefits and specific activities that can only be done at that spire. Upgrades also allow recruits to be hired on for that spire, and each upgrade has specific recruits available. In each spire, ONLY SIX recruits can be hired, so you’ll have to choose which recruits get left behind. Also note that regular trainers can train skills to 75, while master trainers can train skills all the way to 150. Conquest recruits require certain decisions in the conquest portion of the game.

Upgrading a spire costs 10 bronze rings. Once upgraded, regular maintenance costs come out once a month to the tune of 2 bronze rings and 50 copper rings. If you ever can’t pay this for whatever reason, the spire ceases to function until you pay up. Plan accordingly.

Mysterious Device Upgrade: The mysterious device is auto-installed at the Vendrien’s Well spire, and does not have any use until the third act, when it can be used to cast any edicts you have learned. It does have it’s own recruit list, however.

Mysterious Device Recruits:
Corpse Eye – armor and weapon merchant
Isolon – trainer for athletics, parry and one handed weapons
Kenrick – occasionally generates free weapons
Lone Fang – occasionally generates food
Revos – item merchant, ocasionally generates camping supplies
Saetus – trainer for dodge, parry, subterfuge and unarmed attacks
Sword-Breaker – trainer for athletics, dodge, thrown and two handed weapons
Tanara – trainer for dodge, parry, and thrown/one handed/two handed weapons
Lysandra – trainer for magic staff and control gravelight/atrophy/life/vigor; conquest recruit
Tychon the Swindler – occasionally generates items, conquest recruit

Given that these are the first recruits you can hire, choose who will be most immediately useful.

Forge Upgrade: The forge allows you to smith your weapons and armor to be better quality, which is absolutely essential for Barik to keep up with the rest of the party if you intend to use him into the endgame. The forge allows you to craft custom items as well, including artifacts. This is easily the most useful upgrade.

Upgrading the quality of your items requires a specific amount of rings, material (hide or ingots), and recruits, using the following chart:

Common to Fine: 10 bronze rings, 1 material
Fine to Superior: 20 bronze rings, 2 materials, 1 recruit present
Superior to Exquisite: 35 bronze rings, 4 materials, 3 recruits present
Exquisite to Masterwork: 50 bronze rings, 7 materials, 6 recruits present

Forge Recruits: The forge has 8 recruits. They are listed below.
Nikosters – trainer for control fire/frost/lightning/vigor
Pelagus – trainer for control stone/vigor
Ragus – light armor merchant
Vora – metal armor merchant
Thantos – occasionally generates bronze ingots
Praxis – occasionally generates iron ingots
Temerin – special weapon merchant
Mire – master trainer for control atrophy/fire; conquest recruit

Of those 8, I tend to leave the non-master trainers out, because their specialties can be found at other upgrades. I always prioritize hiring Praxis, then Thantos for the passive ingot generation.

Forge Creations: The forge has a lot of custom creations that it allows. Some require research at the library upgrade. More details coming in a separate section.

Library Upgrade: Typically, the library is my second upgrade after the forge. It allows you to research additional recipes, and has several master trainers for magical skills. The library is crucial because it opens up lines of research into several otherwise-unattainable artifacts and the Edict of Malediction.

Library Recruits: The Library has 7 recruits.
Phila – trainer for lore, control fire/frost/lightning
Eirena – sigil scroll merchant
Velos – occasionally generates scrolls
Lithos – trainer for control atrophy/stone/force
Erastus – master trainer for magic staff and control stone/force
Noxia – trainer for magic staff and subterfuge
Puppet – master trainer for control fire/emotions
Sage Nerea – master trainer for control gravelight/illusions

This is always a hard call for me. All of these recruits are super helpful, but I typically drop Noxia and Lithos. Prioritize Velos for the passive scroll generation.

Library Research: The library lets you research a variety of things that open up options at other upgrades. More details coming in a separate section.

Training Grounds Upgrade: The training grounds are unique in that the recruits all tend to be master trainers. Very important upgrade for the late game, when you want to round out your skills. Remember that you can train each character 5 times per level up, and that the higher your current skill level, the higher the cost to train it further.

Training Ground Recruits:
Death Leaper – master trainer for athletics, dodge, and unarmed attacks
Dream Slayer – master trainer for bows, dual wielding, and subterfuge
Sage Lumosa – master trainer for control frost/lightning/force/illusions
Scar Fist – master trainer for athletics, bows, unarmed attacks, and control vigor
Selina – master trainer for one and two handed weapons, and thrown weapons
Thalla – master trainer for one handed and thrown weapons, and parry
Torvus – master trainer for two handed and thrown weapons, and parry
Verus – occasionally generates hides
Jagged Claw – occasionally generates hides; conquest recruit

Always prioritize item generation. Hide is used in armor creation, so it’s worth investing if you have a forge built and need the items. All of these recruits are useful depending on playstyle, so make your choices accordingly.

Infirmary Upgrade: Ah, the infirmary. I never used this, but it has a lot of stuff you can do with it. Think potions. Potions of all flavors for all your potion needs, even needs you didn’t know you needed.

Infirmary Recruits:
Arasto – alchemy supply merchant
Arina – occasionally generates free rare potions
Bleak Anthem – trainer for control life/emotions and magic staff
Damiro – occasionally generates alchemy supplies
Enebrus – occasionally generates free common potions
Gela – potion merchant
Nereus – poison merchant
Sage Eupheria – master trainer for lore, control life, and magic staff; conquest recruit

Always prioritize passive generators. If you plan on doing a lot of potion creation, hire Damiro first, otherwise hire Arina and Enebrus first for free potions. Sage Eupheria is high priority if you have her available for hire, as lore, magic staff and control life are all universally needed magic skills in a playthrough.

Puzzle Solutions

The following section includes the solutions to each spire’s puzzle.

Sunset Spire – Lethian’s Crossing:

Ocean Spire – The Blade Grave:

Dawning Spire – The Stone Sea:

Aurora Spire – The Stone Sea:

Artifacts – Weapons

Here we are. The artifacts. I’m going to list them all here, including how to obtain them, their abilities, and my own general opinions on how they can be used effectively. I have favorites, and I apologize for nothing.

Weapons

Dauntless: One Handed Weapon – Passive dazes all nearby enemies for 10 seconds on a critical hit. Active ability damages and stuns all nearby enemies. And the kicker? It only adds .25 seconds to recovery time, meaning it has almost no impact on your attack speed. This is it. This is the perfect one-handed weapon. It fits with like… every build that uses a one handed weapon. Shields? Cool. Duelist? Absolutely. Dual Wielding? Oh baby. It can be obtained in every playthrough regardless of your chosen alliance, so long as you go to the Blade Grave. I just… can’t imagine NOT picking this weapon up and using it, either on my main character or Verse or Barik.

The Dauntless is acquired by gaining the intel on the Infested Oldwalls from Irentis at Trapper’s Junction, either through conversation or looting his corpse. Always a priority for me, just because it’s such a fantastic artifact.

Deathbringer: One or Two Handed Weapon – Passive removes 5 vitality from the target for 20 seconds on a critical hit. Active ability deals damage to everyone in a cone in front of you, ignoring armor, and removes all positive enhancements. Removing 5 Vitality equates to -15% health and magic resistance for 20 seconds, and it works against bosses, which is absolutely insane. The downside is that this artifact is not really built for fast attacking, so you probably won’t get THAT many crits out of it, even as a one-hander. This weapon works fine as both a one and two hander, but focus on doing more base damage so your active ability wrecks face, and take the crits as they come.

Obtaining Deathbringer requires researching Artifacts at the Library until you gain the plans for it, and taking the Obsidian Shard from the final room in the Burning Library. Once you do this, craft Deathbringer at the Forge. You can decide then whether to make the one-handed or two-handed versions.

Final Scream: Passive ability deals additional AoE damage on a crit. Active pushes enemies back, dazes and confuses them. Lame abilities on Nerat’s lame artifact, which you’ll never use because you get it in the endgame anyway.

Gravebow: Passive ability triggers on a crit, and weakens all nearby enemies defenses. Active ability damages and blinds enemies in it’s pathway, and Bane struck by it explode, doing more damage to those nearby. This artifact is the only bow, making it by default pretty good if you want to use that playstyle. Unfortunately, it’s crazy slow and does average damage, but used in tandem with the ability tree, it’s not half bad.

The Gravebow can be found in the Blade Grave Oldwalls.

Heart’s Blood: One Handed Weapon – Passive increases your damage dealt by 40% when your health is below 35%, while your active shoots a bolt of energy that damages enemies and heals you (and the healing scales with renown). The bolt also drains enemies Might, Quickness and Vitality by a small amount. Meaning they do less melee damage, use abilities less often, and their maximum hit points go down. And this dagger? Zero addition to your recovery time. Plus. Zero. Seconds. Hoooooly ♥♥♥♥, this is a DPS build’s wet dream. Just so we’re clear: the active ability scales with the passive, meaning you get around 1/3 hit points, the nuke everyone around you for a ton of damage, which then heals you for a proportionate amount, and you keep fighting at max while every enemy you hit is now a little bit weaker. Wash rinse repeat. Dual wield this with literally any other one-handed weapon, and that skill tree becomes crazy good. One of the best artifacts, use it yourself or give it to Verse.

To obtain Heart’s Blood, research Weapon Plans at the Library, then when this project is researched, craft it at the Forge.

Peacemaker: Passive ability triggers on a critical hit, and takes -4 might from the target while pushing them back. Active ability does AoE damage to all enemies. This artifact might have been great if you didn’t only get it by killing Graven Ashe at the very end of the game. As it is, you probably won’t use it because you’ve already figured out what your favorite build is, and this is therefore relegated to the “trophy artifact” spot in your stash.

Snowfang: One Handed Weapon – Passive has a chance to freeze enemies when they are crit for 12 seconds. Active ability freezes the target, then after 6 seconds they unfreeze and take a ton of damage. This weapon is also fairly quick – it adds .75 seconds to your recovery time. Paired with Heart’s Blood and a decent Quickness stat, and you can juggle your way through tough opponents just by healing yourself, freezing them, and cranking out damage. This weapon was made for fast attacks to squeeze as many crits in as possible, so light armor and minimal recovery time is crucial.

To obtain Snowfang, you must take the Silent Archive from the Burning Library. Then research Artifacts at the Library until you gain the plans for Snowfang, then craft it at the Forge.

Staff of Cairn: Staff – Passive ability depends on the piece of Cairn you took. Active ability deals damage and petrifies enemies in an area, while buffing your allies Might, Vitality, Resolve and armor. This is a really fantastic artifact, and the only Control Stone artifact. Stone magic is one of the more useful schools, and works well at battlefield control, which this artifact also does.

To get the Staff of Cairn, you have to resolve the Stone Sea questline on the side of the Disfavored, then claim a piece of Cairn. Each piece buffs a different stat when made into the staff. Head governs Wit, which is always my choice, because you’re making a weapon for magic users, but the different pieces tell you what they influence when you hover over them.

Staff of Hours: Staff – Passive reduces a hit to a graze and a graze to a miss 50% of the time (really good). Active – slows enemies in a target area (good if you need to run away, bad otherwise). This weapon is the only lightning based artifact. The abilities are all survival-oriented, which is good for a squishy mage, but the lack of any solid offensive ability makes this artifact underwhelming.

The Staff of Hours can be obtained just before you reach the Silent Archive in the Burning Library.

Sunlance: One Handed Weapon – Passive gives you +2 Vitality and Wits, and 30% fire resistance. Active shoots 5 bolts of fire at nearby enemies (chosen randomly) and does a respectable amount of fire damage. This artifact is sub-par. It’s honestly an autopilot artifact, with good baseline abilities and a decent active ability.

The Sunlance is in the Lethian’s Crossing Oldwalls, but it requires a torchkey from the Blade Grave Oldwalls to reach.

Tempest: Two-handed Weapon – Passive deals extra shock damage on a critical hit, active calls in lightning strikes on random nearby enemies. Not bad, and there aren’t many two-handed artifacts and this one does really good baseline damage. It is, understandably, very very slow, negating the passive ability for the most part, and the activated ability is underwhelming.

Tempest can be found at the end of the Lethian’s Crossing Oldwalls, in the chest Zdenya is next to.

Artifacts – Equipment

Alchemist’s Gloves: Hand Slot – Passive gives you more precision and control life. Active creates a zone of healing for your allies. This artifact is actually really great on your healer (see: Lantry). They have absolutely terrible recovery time, but that’s not what they’re made for. Stick them on a mage, and focus on your magic abilities.

The Alchemist’s Gloves can be crafted immediately upon making the Forge spire upgrade.

Azure Shield: Shield – Passive gives you +2 Parry when you’ve taken damage (so literally all the time) and the active gives you a buff to Quickness, Accuracy and movement speed. I like the Azure Shield because it fits with every shield-using build, and the active bonus is great for letting you use your abilities more and positioning yourself correctly at the start of combat. That said, it’s also pretty boring for an artifact – good if you want a reliable artifact that just does what it does without much input needed from you. Just pop the active ability at the start of combat and then go to town.

Red Fang gives you the Azure Shield as part of the Stone Sea questline, so be sure to do Red Fang’s quests.

Baneward: Shield – Passive adds bonus arcane damage to your attacks, and adds arcane armor to your character for 6 seconds after you hit a target. Active ability drains nearby enemies of health, and stacks bonus damage to your attacks for a short (scaling) amount of time based on how many enemies were affected. This shield is great for shield wall characters who exist to force enemies into engaging and staying engaged with them. It doesn’t really require a high attack speed to activate its abilities (~3 seconds between attacks is ideal), so heavy armor and high recovery time is acceptable.

To obtain Baneward, research Weapon Plans at the Library, then construct it at the Forge when you have the plans.

Banner of Ardent: Accessory Slot – Activated ability reduces damage by 75% and paralyzes attackers for 8 seconds. Really, really good, one of the best. Unfortunately it takes a lot of setup to acquire.

To obtain, choose Vellum Citadel during the Conquest, give a warning before issuing the edict, then go to the Burning Citadel, save the citadel, then return afterwards, find the area with the Havoc, kill it, and find this on a desk nearby.

Bindings of Shadow: Hand Slot – Passive damage reduction, and active ability turns you into a shadow that deals more damage and takes less damage for 60 seconds. Outstanding damage makes up for the average recovery time, these are the top tier unarmed artifact. Worth using at least once to experience the thrill.

Can be obtained by killing Bleden Mark in the endgame, or by talking to him at Tunon’s Court with Favor 3, at which point he gives them to you early enough in the game to actually use and enjoy them.

Commander’s Plate: Chest Slot – Passive decreases the cooldown time for all Leadership ability tree active abilities. Active ability swaps places with an ally and buffs Vitality and Finesse for that combat. This artifact has fantastic abilities, but garbage stats. Not recommended.

This can be crafted at the Forge immediately.

Face of Judgement: Head Slot – Passive AoE damage on getting hit by a crit. Active ability freezes a target enemy. Tunon’s artifact is good, but it also can’t be acquired until the endgame. Still, Tunon is fought first, so you at least can use this against the other Archons.

Helm of the First Regent: Head Slot – Passive ability buffs all nearby allies when a crit happens. Active ability reduces enemy resistances. This is honestly not bad for a heavy armor head gear artifact. The solid support abliities and good stats make it worth the time.

However, this can only be obtained if Blade Grave was chosen during conquest, no warning was given before the edict, and then the map to it is given by Elia (or looted) in the Rust Canyons.

Hierarch’s Robes: Chest Slot – Passive +30 to all magic abilties, active terrifies all enemies in a cone. Boring. Good if you have no other armor to give to a magic user, except it’s too much of a hassle to get this in the first place.

To obtain the Hierarch’s Robes, research Artifacts at the Library, then craft at the Forge.

Magebane Helm: Head Slot – Passive gives you a ton of spell resistance, active ability weakens and fatigues all bane in the area. Honestly, the passive makes this helmet worth keeping. 50% spell resistance is crazy. The active ability is fine and all, but only situationally useful.

This item is the center of the Lethian’s Crossing questline. Just… keep the helm at the end of the quest.

Nightwalker’s Boots: Foot Slot – Passive lets you perceive farther out and buffs your trap detection. Active teleports you behind an enemy and deal a higher-damage attack. This works really well with sneak builds (the teleport ability still allows sneak attack, and buffs the baseline damage, which therefore buffs the sneak attack damage, which can be buffed by the ability tree sneak abilities, and so on…), but unfortunately can only be obtained while allied with the Scarlet Chorus.

To obtain, go to the Stone Sea, talk to Misery while allied with the Chorus to get the quest to kill Rending Hound. Kill Rending Hound to get the Hound’s Hide Mantle, which is a required component to craft this item at the Forge. Feels bad, man.

Scales of Mercy: Accessory Slot – Passive ability reduces critical hit damage against you, and increases your critical hit rate by 5%. Active ability reduces enemy accuracy within an area and gives random negative status afflictions. This item is bonkers on DPS builds. 5% buff to crit chance doesn’t seem like much, but is actually insane, especially when so many other artifacts trigger on critical hits. Worth the effort it takes to obtain it.

To obtain this artifact, you need the Silent Archive from the Burning Library to unlock the research project. Then research Artifacts at the Library until you get the plans for it, then craft it at the Forge.

Steadfast Insignia: Accessory Slot – Passive +3 resolve. Active +5 resolve to all allies, and 50% knockdown and push back resistance. Solid artifact. Resolve is universally useful but almost always a secondary focus, so this makes up for that. I always use it unless I skip the Blade Grave.

You obtain this artifact as part of the Sentinel Stand questline in the Blade Grave.

How Combat Works

There’s a lot happening behind the scenes during combat, and understanding what everything means and how it all interacts is crucial if you want to master this game and, y’know, get the Path of the Damned achievement. Below is a breakdown of combat mechanics.

In general combat goes like this: one character makes an attack. The game rolls a percentage behind the scenes, and then adds a character’s accuracy to that number. If the final result is higher than the target’s defense, the attack is a hit! For each hit, there are degrees (graze for barely hit, regular hits for most of the time, and critical hits when you are way way past a target’s defense). The damage is also determined based on weapon stats plus a target’s ability score modifiers, then reduced by the target’s armor score for that damage type. The final damage score is deducted from a target’s total hit points. After each attack, a character has to wait a certain amount of time (their recovery time) before they can attack again.

Characters are able to move around the battlefield freely, even while they are waiting for their recovery time to finish. This should be done sparingly, as leaving an enemy you are engaged with gives them a freebie attack outside of the normal recovery time cycle.

Instead of auto-attacking, a character can use an ability, which does a variety of things depending on build. If an ability would affect an enemy, the enemy typically has a chance to resist the effect using either their Endurance, Will or Magic Defense scores. Abilities have long cooldowns, which can be reduced by a character’s Quickness stat.

Weapon Stats: Each weapon has a few numbers attached to it. “Damage” is the baseline damage, before being modified by the user’s related ability score – strength for melee, wits for staffs and magic, finesse for ranged weapons. “Recovery Time” is how much time this weapon adds to your recovery time. “DPS” is the game calculating how much damage this weapon will do on average each second of combat, and this number can be changed by increasing or decreasing your recovery time. DPS is a handy tool for determining if a weapon’s raw damage output is better than you currently have, though this is not the only consideration when using a weapon. Damage type for each weapon will also be listed.

Armor Stats: Each piece of armor also has some numbers attached to it. “Armor” is how much a piece of armor increases your overall armor score. Like with weapons, “Recovery Time” is how much a piece of armor increases your recovery time. Heavy armor obviously will slow you down more than light armor.

Defense: In combat, every character has a Dodge and Parry score. Dodge is used to avoid ranged attacks, while Parry is used to avoid melee attacks. Thus, both are needed. There are abilities that allow you to focus solely on one, though. Arrow Shield in the Agility ability tree allows you to use Parry for ranged attacks, and Evasive in the Ranged ability tree allows you to use dodge for melee attacks. Usually worth picking up one or the other in order to focus your defense abilities.

Note that Parry and Dodge are what affect whether or not you get hit. The “Armor” score affects damage reduction against all types of damage except Raw and Arcane, not chance to get hit, so you can build a heavy armor user with garbage defensive stats and be ok.

Attacking: When attacking, a character’s accuracy is compared to a defender’s defense score. Accuracy is affected by Finesse for physical attacks and Lore for magic, the specific weapon/magic skill being used, and any other modifiers from equipment or consumables. Defense is affected by the defender’s dodge/parry score. If the attack roll + accuracy overcomes the defense score, the attack hits. You always have at least a 5% chance to hit a target.

Graze/Hit/Crit: When an attack is a hit, the type of hit is determined by how much an attack roll bypassed the target’s defense. Grazes do half damage, hits are regular hits, and crits occur when a character bypasses a target’s defense by a high threshold. Grazes and crits occur, at a minimum, 5% of the time. Certain abilities increase crit ranges and decrease graze ranges. Important for DPS builds to consider. Also worth noting is that status effects also are affected by your crit/hit/graze modifiers! If a negative status effect ability grazes, the duration is halved, and it doubles on a crit.

Deflection: For each type of hit, there is a type of deflection, and a defender’s Crit Deflection is a separate number from their Hit Deflection, and so on. If a defender is able to succeed on their deflection roll, the hit is reduced by one step, so a crit is reduced to a hit, a hit is reduced to a graze, and a graze is reduced to a miss. Deflection is affected by Finesse and certain equipment.

Precision: The opposite of deflection, precision is affected by certain items and abilities, and is the chance any given hit is upgraded to the next level (from a miss to a graze, a graze to a hit, and a hit to a crit). Important for DPS builds.

Recovery Time: The amount of time, in seconds, it takes for your character to take another action. This is determined exclusively by equipment, not stats. Quickness affects how long the cooldown timers are on your abilities, not how often you act in combat, and there are viable reasons for high quickness, high recovery time characters. Lower recovery time is better, as it means you can attack or use abilities more often. Low recovery time is crucial if you want to make a critial hit focused build, as more attack rolls mean more chances to crit and trigger crit-based abilities. High recovery time can be fine, as many tank-build and two-handed abilities have long durations intentionally to compensate, but even in this case, there’s a point where you are moving so slow that you become irrelevant in combat.

Endurance/Will: Resistance to status effects. In general, Endurance resists physical status effects and Will resists mental status effects. Both are affected by Resolve, with Might and Wits affecting Endurance and Will, respectively.

Magic Defense: This specific score affects your ability to resist arcane damage and magically induced negative effects. It is affected by Resolve and Vitality. To be clear, this means the arcane damage type is not reduced by a target’s armor score, but by their magic defense score. Banes do exclusively Arcane damage, which is why they crank through your usually tanky characters so quickly. Prepare accordingly.

Damage: There are nine types of damage: Slash, Pierce, Crush, Burn, Shock, Freeze, Arcane, Corrode, and Raw. Raw damage can never be reduced, and is reserved for specific abilities and status effects like Bleeding. Arcane damage is reduced by Magic Defense, while the Armor score reduces damage for all other types, though specific pieces of armor can focus more on specific types of damage. If a weapon lists more than one damage type, it will always default to the type of damage a target is most vulnerable to, making multiple damage types ideal.

Engagement: Once you are in melee with an opponent, you are considered Engaged with them. All this means is that if either of you leaves the melee range of the other, the other gets a free attack against you. Some abilities increase how many enemies you can Engage at once (default is one), while other abilities make you immune to being Engaged at all.

Interrupt: Interrupts are specific abilities given from the ability tree or weapons that allow you to interrupt enemies actions. An interrupted character pauses for 1-3 seconds, meaning their recovery time stops counting down. You cannot stack interrupts, but you can chain them back to back if you time them correctly, preventing a target from acting effectively.

Magic Guide

Link to the wiki.[www.tyrannygamewiki.com]

The above wiki has every sigil location, and the effects of said sigil. I WAS going to type all this out, but I found the wiki, and decided not to reinvent the wheel. All the magic in the game is a lot of fun to use, but some is decidedly more useful and fun. Experiment with different combinations on your own. Different things work with different character builds, and exploring literally every option is a worth a whole guide by itself.

So instead, I’m going to focus on missables. And there are a few sigils that are just… easy to miss.

Missables:

-The Sigil of Life can only be taught by Lantry.
-The Sigil of Terratus can only be taught by Eb.
-The Sigil of Emotions can only be gained by visiting both Oldwalls (Blade Grave and Lethian’s Crossing) OR by giving the Tidecasters to the Scarlet Chorus in the Conquest portion, at Apex. Failing either of these means you won’t get access to this core sigil.
-The Sigil of Guarded Form can only be acquired from Sterling Hagnon in Act 1, if you allow him to stay and set up shop. Be sure to buy it before the end of Act 1, or you miss it entirely.
-The Sigil of Limitless Boundaries I is only available from Sniggler Dagos in Act 1, and will not be available if you haven’t purchased it by the end of the first act.
-The Sigil of Timeless Form I is only available in Act I from Kosma, and will not be available if you haven’t purchased it by the end of the first act.

Other than those, any missable sigil is missable simply because you chose not to do an area, and thus the sigils from that area are not available. I will mention that the Sigil of Frostfire is great for upping the power of either your frost or fire spells, and the Sigil of Bounding Bolts is actually my favorite sigil for shenanigans. But go experiment for yourself, and see what works for you. The magic system is detailed and fun, and deserves to be explored.

Achievements (part 1)

Tyranny has 51 achievements in the core game (not including Bastard’s Wound DLC achievements), and it will take at least 5 playthroughs to unlock all of them, if you’re really that dedicated. This is due to several achievements having different outcomes despite doing the same actions, depending on who you are allied with at the time. I will list each achievement and how to unlock it below.

A Slow Death: Execute Tarkin Deimos at the very beginning of the game. After you subdue the rebels in the first area, talk to the leaders arguing over what to do with Tarkin. Tell them to kill him to get this achievement.

All You Survey: Gain control of all 5 spires. Super easy to complete.

Apocalypse Later: Reaffirm your loyalty to Kyros at the end of Act III.

Arcanist: Create a spell using each of the 11 core sigils in one game. This is only difficult because acquiring all 11 core sigils in one game can be aggravating. The Sigil of Emotions is particularly tricky. Refer to the Magic Guide for locations. Once you have all 11 core sigils, just create a base form spell for each one, assign it to a spell slot (you can overwrite the previously created one) to get the achievement. You never have to actually use the spells.

Arsenal: Acquire 5 artifacts. Acquiring an artifact means equipping it once to unlock the artifact special ability. Usually done automatically, especially during Anarchy runs.

Bane of the Crossing: Claim the magebane helm at the end of the Lethian’s Crossing main quest. Super easy to do.

Boom: In the Forge-Bound forge in Lethian’s Crossing, there is an apprentice who comments that it is hard to focus. Keep talking to him like 50 or so times, and he will explode, giving you the achievement.

Buidling a Reputation: Gain your first reputation ability. Super easy.

By Our Powers Combined: After you have recruited every companion, use a combo ability with each one at least once to get this achievement.

Capstone: Learn the final ability in any of the main character’s skill trees. Usually done automatically, since the final abilities are all pretty fantastic.

Chaotic Victory: Win the game with no allies (meaning do an Anarchist playthrough).

Charismatic: Reach maximum favor with a faction. Super easy.

Chorus of Victory: Win the game as an ally of the Scarlet Chorus.

Correspondence Course: Send your first missive. Easy.

Cry Havoc!: Defeat every havoc in the game, except not actually. There is one havoc per area, to a total of 4. You only need to defeat 3, since one area closes off for all campaigns except anarchist runs. Lethian’s Crossing and Blade Grave’s havocs are part of the area’s main quest. The Burning Library havoc appears after you break the edict of fire without destroying the library. The Stone Sea havoc appears as part of the Elder Teeth quest for the Stonestalker Tribe.

Day of Swords: Don’t take Vendrien’s Well in time in Act 1. Just… rest at a tent over and over until you lose the game and get the achievement.

Eternal Suffering: Keep Cairn alive. This merits a small walkthrough.
-During the Conquest, DO NOT go to Lethian’s Crossing.
-During Act 1, ally with the rebels.
-During Act 2, go to Lethian’s Crossing and ally with the Bronze Brotherhood
-This will allow you to recruit the Stonestalker Tribe instead of the Earthshakers in the Stone Sea. Take this option, and when the final battle around Cairn resolves, you will get this achievement.

Exarch: Unlocked automatically.

Feel the Burn: Take the Silent Archive without replacing it with another artifact to destroy the Burning Library and unlock this achievement.

Final Judgment: Gain Tunon’s fealty, rather than killing him in Act 3. Refer to the earlier walkthrough for details.

From the Shadows: Gain Bleden Mark’s fealty, rather than killing him in Act 3. Refer to the earlier walkthrough for details. Note that to get this achievement, you must also NOT gain Tunon’s fealty, allowing Bleden Mark a special betrayal scene that is awesome.

How the Mighty Have Fallen: Kill all four main archons (Sirin and Cairn do not count)

I Am The Law: There are random mini-trials you can take part in throughout act 2. Each time you complete an area, return to the Bastard City and resolve anything new happening, and you should unlock this achievement.

Achievements (part 2)

Inspiring Leader: Gain Loyalty 5 with a companion

Intimidating: Gain Wrath 5 with a faction.

Iron Victory: Click the Trial of Iron option at the start of a new game. Beat the game afterwards.

Lawyered: At the end of The Blade Grave’s main quest, when dealing with Amelia, utilize the loophole to end the edict. See above guide for how to do this.

Legendary: Acquire an artifact. Acquiring means to equip an artifact once to unlock it’s special ability.

Legion of Victory: Win the game allied with the Disfavored.

Look on My Works, Ye Mighty: Construct all five spire upgrades.

Loremaster: Create a spell with a lore requirement over 100. Endgame Lantry should be able to handle this pretty much all the time.

Made to Be Broken: Break all of Kyros’s Edicts, meaning you have to go to the Burning Library, Stone Sea and Blade Grave, and skip Lethian’s Crossing (unless you’re doing this on an anarchist run).

Magnetic Personality: Recruit all companions. Sirin is the only missable one, as she will disappear from Lethian’s Crossing once you have officially “skipped” that area. Still easy to do this one.

Master of Ascension: Automatically unlocked.

Might Makes Right: Gain Graven Ashe’s fealty, rather than killing him in Act 3. Refer to the earlier walkthrough for details.

Overkill: Acquire 10 artifacts. Acquiring means to equip an artifact once to unlock its special ability. This… is easiest to do in an anarchy run, but still requires some dedicated effort.

Paved with Good Intentions: Gain The Voices of Nerat’s fealty, rather than killing him in Act 3. Refer to the earlier walkthrough for details.

Perceptive: Detect 25 hidden things. Automatically unlocked, usually on your first playthrough.

Savage Stone: Officially join the Stonestalker Tribe. This is NOT allying with them, and this is NOT beating Hundred-Blood for the position of Prima. This is done by talking to Red Fang in the Stone Sea, and taking his quests to join the Stonestalkers. It’s easily missed, as you cannot kill the Earthshakers before talking with Red Fang, and you have to do things in a specific order. Consider saving before doing that area.

Shattered Stone: Kill Cairn on the Anarchist path. Easily missable for stupid reasons. AFTER you get the Azure Shield, your journal will direct you back to Bleden Mark. DO NOT GO BACK YET. Go to Hundred Blood instead, and she will open the path to Cairn. At this point you can go do that whole area and get this achievement as usual, but if you go back to Bleden Mark, the conversation option to unlock Cairn’s area is not available, and you miss out on this achievement.

Solo Performance: Hue hue hue. Give Lethian’s Crossing to the Scarlet Chorus in the Conquest portion of character creation. Go to the brothel, ask for a room for some solo action. Giggle at the fact that this achievement exists.

Some Assembly Required: Construct a single spire upgrade.

Taking a Stand: Claim Sentinel Stand Keep on the Anarchy path. Easy, but also missable since your journal does not ever direct you towards Sentinel Stand on Anarchist playthroughs.

The Mountain Spire: Automatically unlocked.

The Prosecution Rests: Convict an archon at the resolution of A Trial of Archons quest. Refer to the earlier walkthrough for this quest.

This! Is! Tyranny!: At the end of Act 1, kick someone off your spire. You’ll know the option when you see it.

Tyrant: Reach Fear 5 with a companion.

Unconventional Materials: This is an easy achievement that is needlessly complicated to find. Steps below.
-Choose the Vellum Citadel during the Conquest portion of character creation.
-Delay casting the edict when given the choice.
-During the main game, go to the Burning Library. On the bottom level, a new side section opens up, at the far right side of the map in the middle. Go there, find the sage stuck in lava.
-Choose the conversation option to cut out the magic sigil from his chest. This will give you massive wrath with the Sage’s Guild, so save beforehand if you are looking to stay on good terms with them.

Victorious Alliance: Win the game while allied with the Rebels.

Victory of the Damned: Beat the game on Path of the Damned difficulty without ever changing the difficulty to a lower setting. Obviously must be chosen at the start of the game.

Zero Consumption: Use no health potions, ever. Super easy to do, just play the game on easy mode, and keep Lantry in your party as a dedicated healer, and autopilot through. Other potions are fine, but any potion of healing will negate this achievement.

And that’s it. That’s all the core game achievements. Bastard’s Wound adds more on top of these. Some of these were needlessly vague and aggravating, and I felt it was frustrating enough that I needed to include a section dedicated to the achievements. Still, the achievement hunting was fun, and it showed me new areas to explore that I likely would not have found otherwise.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading! I hope you find this guide helpful. This is by far the longest and most in-depth guide I’ve made, so if I’ve missed something, please leave a comment below, and I’ll address it whenever I get the chance.

I tried to avoid spoiling many things (except when needed for guide clarity) because I feel a game like this needs to be experienced firsthand. My focus was mainly on alerting you to things you might have missed, and things that were not immediately apparent (like Plainsgate, which I didn’t discover until my 4th playthrough). If you find anything else that didn’t seem straightforward or easily noticed that is not included in the guide, let me know, and I’ll edit it in.

Now go, and have fun in Terratus!

-Kenny