Sacred FAQ/Walkthrough
Version 1.
By Matt P
Email elementalizard@aol.com
Please email me for permission to post this FAQ on other websites and
definitely email me if you have insight into skills and characters.
Sacred is copyright Ascaron entertainment. It's a decent priced dungeon hack
similar to Diablo 2.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overview
The purpose of this FAQ is to provide some general hints into developing your
character and enhancing your character's power. There is also a walkthrough
at the end that lists quests to do on a point by point basis. This is a
general guide that will speak in generalities and try to avoid references to
specific characters.
Contents:
0) Characters
1) Difficulties
2) Ability management
3) Skill management
4) Rune/Combo management
5) Experience building
6) Item finding
7) Item management
8) Walkthrough/Town Checklist
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0. Characters.
Battle Mage: The master of magic, the battle mage is the easiest character
to play, though he starts out somewhat tough. Several of his spells can do
1000s of damage with modest investment. His main stat should be mental
regeneration. The best spells include fireball, ice shards, fire spiral, ring
of ice, meteor swarm, ghost meadow, and lightning. Useful subclasses are the
ice mage and fire mage. His sets are Dagowit's (miscellaneous low level
skills), Mammon's (trading skills), Byleth's (fire and earth spells),
Blackstaff (ice and wind spells), and Paternus (fighting skils).
Dark Elf: A trapper and monk character. His traps are very potent. He can
also do more poison damage than most other characters. Increase physical
regeneration, charisma, and maybe dexterity. Useful subclasses are a poison-
trapper elf.
Gladiator: The main warrior of the crowd. His skills like in killing with
pointy things. Raise strength and physical regeneration.
Seraphim: A jill-of-all-trades, the seraphim is good at both physical and
magical attacks, but excels at neither. She is one of the most fun characters
to play. Rotating blades of light, celestial light, attack, and combat jump
are all very useful. Physical and mental regeneration are the way to go with
her. Useful subclasses are the fighter, caster, and hybrid seraphim. Her
sets include the Dream netting of the gods (magic set), sereish thunder
(rotating blades of light set), sereish lightning, uriels set, and others.
Vampiress: A fierce woman knight who can turn into an even more potent
vampiress. Strength and physical regeneration are excellent abilities to
raise. I like her bats, blood kiss, and other skills. Her vampiress mode is
able to kill things much better than most characters, but is hurt by daylight.
If you fight a lot with the vampiress (in that mode) then she gains
"bloodlust" which makes her attacks all the more powerful. Useful subclasses
are the perma-knight, and perma-vamp. Note that the Vampiress gets very few
set items but many rare items.
Wood Elf: An archer who is a blend of mage and fighter. Dexterity, physical
regeneration, and mental regeneration are excellent abilities to raise.
Underworld: I've not played these two characters yet.
Daemon
Dwarf
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Difficulty
Difficulty levels are based on the metallic level you start your character
in. There are five difficulty levels- Bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and
niobium (Sacred Plus). There are significant benefits to playing each level.
New levels are opened up by beating the previous level in single player.
Bronze and silver are both available at the start of play, so to open gold,
you must (almost) beat the game on silver. To play platinum, you must beat
gold, and to play niobium, you must beat platinum. Note that any set item
found in a specific level will be better if found at a higher level. For
instance, Dagowit's bonds (level 45) found in bronze are weaker than Dagowit's
bonds (level 45) found in silver. This is mainly due to the increased bonuses
from the set item.
**Bronze**
When you first start Sacred, your best bet is to enter bronze. There's no
real benefit to beating the game on bronze, so don't feel like you are
required to finish everything on bronze prior to exporting your character and
entering silver.
Benefits: Very easy enemies, bronze allows you to experiment with your
character and try out special abilities to see what gives you the best return.
All characters should initially start in bronze and stay in bronze until they
reach level 20 or so. After this, you can either export and start over in
silver, or continue through and beat the game.
Detriments: Enemies in bronze will soon be too low level for you to gain
decent experience from killing them. This is especially true if you like to
explore. The item drops in bronze are pretty poor as well.
Strategy: You have two good options when it comes to bronze: 1) play through
until level 20-30 and upgrade to silver, or 2) play through bronze completely,
but go fast. When I first played the game, I explored nearly every part of
Sacred in bronze. The Second time I played bronze with a different character,
I did not explore to nearly the same extent, though I still completed most
sidequests. At the end of both plays, one character was at level 50
(completely explored), and the other was level 49 (main and side quests only).
The level 49 character reached level 50 in less than 5 minutes of play in
silver. It is NOT worth exploring the game in bronze. ** WHEN IN BRONZE, HIT
ALL OF THE TELEPORTERS YOU SEE TO MAKE YOUR LIFE MUCH EASIER AT HIGHER
DIFFICULTIES **
You can use bronze to build up your rune collection, if you don't spend/eat
many.
**Silver**
Silver is when things start to get interesting. Enemies are more difficult,
but the rewards are much better. Additionally, if you've reached level 20-50
in bronze, the enemies in silver will always be around your level or 1-3+
above. This results in a good experience point gain per monster slain, which
will help you level up much faster.
Benefits: Enemies provide much more experience per kill in silver than bronze,
mainly because the enemies will usually be 1-3 levels higher than you. This
has the added result of making the area much more interesting to explore.
Completion of silver opens gold. The item drops in silver are much better,
with many more set item drops and more powerful drops as well.
Detriments: If you don't have a strong character with some idea of strategy,
silver will hurt. It is best to get acquainted with your character first,
before trying silver difficulty.
Strategy: Jump right into silver after finishing bronze in whatever capacity
you choose. Stay for a longer time here than you did in bronze- you'll find
better items and richer enemies.
**Gold**
Gold is a nice increase from silver. The enemies aren't that much more
difficult, and the rewards are very nice. Set items fall about as frequently
as rare items in this difficulty.
Benefits: Lots of goodies, plenty of experience, and slow leveling make this
an ideal difficulty to explore the map in. Try entering around level 60-80
for maximum benefit.
Detriments: Since you must beat the game once to get this difficulty, some
people will never make it this far. Nonetheless, there's not much wrong with
this difficulty.
Strategy: After beating silver, enter this difficulty ASAP.
**Platinum**
This difficulty is another smooth transition from gold. This one is designed
for you to beat after gold. The items and enemies are better, as before. As
such, not too much can be said about this difficulty.
**Niobium**
There's a big increase in difficulty between Platinum and Niobium. However,
there's an equivalent increase in nice drops.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Ability Management
Abilities are the basic stats of your character. They include strength,
dexterity, endurance, physical and mental regeneration, and charisma. A
character will automatically gain a bonus of 10% of his/her starting value in
an ability per level up. That is, the Battle mage has a starting value of 30
in mental regeneration. Every level up increases his mental regeneration by
3. Additionally, you can add one point to any skill of your choice per level.
This doesn't have a huge effect on the overall game, but can make a
difference. Below I summarize the skills and the effects they have on your
character (taken in part from my Battle Mage FAQ):
Strength: Increases your health by a few HP, your attack rating, your
defense rating, and your physical damage.
Endurance: Increases resistances and perhaps some damage.
Dexterity: Increases your attack rating, your defense rating, and some
damage.
Physical Regeneration: Increases your health by a few HP, increases the rate
at which you regain health, decreases combo recovery time, increases some
resistances.
Mental Regeneration: Increases spell damage and decreases spell recovery
time.
Charisma: Decreases item prices and increases poison damage.
What you should improve broadly depends on what you are playing. Two
abilities stand out above the rest, and you can't go wrong with improving one
of them each level. These two skills are physical and mental regeneration.
If you use character combat arts a lot (like melee fighters- gladiator,
vampiress, dark elf, dwarf), then increase physical regeneration. If you use
spells a lot (battle mage), then increase mental regeneration. If you are
playing a seraphim, demon (underworld only), or wood elf, then it will depend
on whether you like casting spells or hitting things more.
Strength and dexterity also provide some very nice bonuses to the correct
character. These two skills make you a better melee fighter and increase a
few other damage types. I wouldn't recommend placing every point you earn
into these abilities, but a point every now and then for melee fighters
doesn't hurt.
Charisma is most useful for poison-using characters, in other words, the
dark elf. Most other classes won't find putting points in this skill at all
advantageous, especially if they take trading.
Endurance doesn't provide enough of a bonus to ever warrant putting points
in, no matter what class. Skip it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Skill Management
Skills are selected by the character when they gain level 3, 6, 12, 20, 30,
and 50. They give bonuses to specific abilities and are grouped below:
**Damage-enhancing abilities**
Weapon Lore
Magic Lore
These skills enhance the damage of weapons and magic, respectively. The
bonuses gained from these skills are pretty large, and you should consider
increasing these skills often.
**Character art/magic regeneration enhancing abilities**
Meditation
Concentration
Trap Lore
Vampirism (also decreases damage from sunlight)
Dwarven Lore
These skills broadly increase the regeneration rate of abilities, allowing
you to use the ability more often. The rate of increase is fairly constant,
and you always benefit from putting points in these skills, at least up to
level ~100 or so.
**Magic/ability casting speed and regeneration enhancements**
Ballistics
Fire Magic
Air Magic
Water Magic
Earth Magic
Heavenly Magic
Moon Magic
Bloodlust
Hellpower
Weapon Technology
These skills increase the regeneration rate of abilities, and also increases
their attack animation speed (i.e., your battle mage casts fireball faster).
The bonus starts out large, but quickly levels off to the point where adding
points beyond level 50 gets very little return.
**Weapon attack/speed enhancing abilities**
Blade Combat
Sword Lore
Axe Lore
Long-Handled Weapons
Ranged Combat
These skills enhance the attack % of your character, and also increase the
attack speed. In early version, combat arts never missed, but later versions
(1.8.26) combat arts can miss. In general, the bonus from this skill is
decent but not excellent. Weapon lore is usually better. The bonus to attack
always helps, though.
**Other weapon skills**
Dual wield
Unarmed combat
As before, these skills enhance the attack % and attack speed of your
character. One point in dual wield will also let you equip two weapons
together, and will override the bonus from the above skill set. In other
words, DON'T TAKE BOTH DUAL WIELD AND SWORD/AXE/LONG WEAPON LORE UNLESS YOU
KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING! Dual wield overrides the bonus from these skills, so
unless you want to use both 2 weapons and a weapon/shield as your main
attacks, they don't help. Some weapons are a bit confusing as to which skill
they use, especially for the Sacred Plus Dark Elf, so be careful in your
equipment set up.
**Other combat/defense skills**
Agility
Increases the attack and defense of your character. Take this skill if you're
more melee-focused, and/or if you are using two weapons or a two-handed
weapon.
Parry
Increases the defense of your character, especially when using a shield. The
bonus provided to defense is much larger than the bonus from agility. Take
this skill if you think you'll be using a shield or are mainly a magic user.
Disarming
Gives you a chance to disarm opponents when hitting them. There is no benefit
to getting above level 99 in this skill (a fact taken from Sacred_summit).
This skill will cause enemies to drop their weapon, and do much less damage to
you. However, it's slightly buggy, so beware. You're probably best off
avoiding this skill.
Armor
Provides a bonus to resistance (especially physical resistance), and a small
speed bonus. Quite nice for the characters that get it, this reduces the
damage you take from attacks. The speed bonus is pretty small, but doesn't
hurt.
**Other skills**
Constitution
Increases the regeneration rate of HP, and provides a HP bonus. Pretty much
all character will want this skill, since after a modest investment, your HP
are doubled. Not too shabby!
Forge Lore
Dwarf (underworld) only. Gives you the ability to improve items. I'm not
sure how this one works as I've never tried the dwarf.
Trading
Increases selling prices, decreases buying prices, and increases merchant
inventory. The first two aren't that important, as you'll soon max out the
money you get from selling items and will eventually have way too much money
to spend anyway (my level 102 battle mage has over 50 million), but the last
one is nice. If you are playing single player, then trading is pretty useful,
as you'll be able to supplement your equipment with some potent items.
However, in order to do so, you'll need to invest a good number of skill
points in trading. Purchasing the skill will increase the number of magic
(blue) items available in a merchant's inventory. Investing a number of skill
points equal to your current level will get you a few rare (light yellow)
items. If you don't mind have the most potent equipment available or enjoy
"dragon-shopping", then you can skip this skill.
**Trading is great at Braverock Castle. After one quick quest for a merchant,
you'll have two merchants right next to each other. This is advantageous for
one major reason. Merchants only reset their inventory when you are gone from
them for 10 minutes or more, when you reload save and reload your game, or
when you talk to another merchant. With two merchants right next to each
other you'll be able to quickly check out each one's inventory and then check
the other's inventory. With a bit of practice you'll get a bunch of great
items in no time, including rare rings. You won't have nearly as much luck
without trading.**
**Note that all characters can socket the two battle mage set items, Mammon's
usury and Mammon's safeguard. Doing so will get you a bonus of +10 to your
trading skill. This counts toward the trading=level requirement for the best
items.**
Riding
Allows you to ride nice horses. Without this skill you're stuck with light
nags, which are useless beyond bronze. Horses give a somewhat faster attack
rate for some characters and a fast movement rate, but horses also prevent
some combat arts and spells from being cast, or really decrease their attack
speed. Horses give the best benefits to the seraphim, and little benefit to
some of the other characters. In general this skill is best avoided as you
can increase your speed substantially with items, voiding that benefit of a
horse, and the other benefit (increase attack rate) is usually outweighed by a
lack of ability to use several special abilities. However, there is one horse
that may make it worthwhile- the horse in Ferry's crossing. In order to ride
this horse, you have to have 72 points in riding (yikes), but getting the
horse will net you a powerful steed indeed. The horse is nearby the guy who
gives the "find my niece" quest, and who ultimately tries to kill you. His
horse also turns into a monster, so you can't complete this quest if you want
the horse.
+Note that in Underworld, horses have been improved and may actually be useful
beyond bronze/silver. I haven't tested this, though.
To summarize skills, your best bet is to improve skills that increase damage
and regeneration times (lores and magics, meditation/concentration), to take
constitution and at least one defensive skill (parry/agility/armor). Trading
is nice, but you can survive without it, and riding is a bit less necessary,
though it does add an interesting facet to the game.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Rune/Combo Management
This info is partially taken from my battle mage guide.
Character combat arts make up the meat and potatoes of the game. These arts
make you much more powerful than your average warrior by casting spells,
performing feats of weaponry, and summoning help. There are two things to
consider when using abilities- damage and regeneration time. What good is a
combat art if you can't use it? Of course, on the other hand, what good is
being able to use an art a whole bunch of times if it's too weak to affect
your enemies. These two factors must be considered and care must be taken not
to allow a favorite art to become too weak and not to allow the same art to
take too long to regenerate.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Regeneration time- Two abilities influence the regeneration time of your
combat arts- physical and mental regeneration. Broadly, the regeneration time
of a combat art can be determined by:
Time = Base-time * regeneration
Base-time is equal to:
(Base-time of rune level used + 1/2 Base-time of rune level of equipment)
**So increasing levels of combat arts from equipment is always much better
than increasing levels from using runes.**
Regeneration is equal to:
1/(1+regen ability/100) * 1/(1+regen skill/100 + item regen/100)
*1/(1 + special regen skill/100)
"Regen ability" is mental regeneration for spells (Battle Mage, Wood elf, and
seraphim only), and physical regeneration for combat arts (all but battle
mage). Note that the vampiress uses physical regeneration for her magic
spells as well.
"Regen skill" is one of the following: meditation, concentration, trap lore,
vampirism, and dwarf lore. The number used is the number provided as a
percentage, not the skill level.
"Item regen" is the regeneration bonus provided by items. This is either a
bonus to regeneration of combat arts or to spells. The bonus is similar to
the "regen ability" set- that is, the vampiress's spells benefit from bonuses
to combat art regeneration, and not to spell regeneration time bonuses.
"Special Regen Skill" is one of the following:
fire/air/water/earth/heavenly/moon magic, bloodlust, hellpower, ballistics,
and weapon technology. As before, the important number is not the skill
level, but the bonus as a percentage.
Note that a few extra skills may be of interest, including ghost meadow. This
adds a small bonus described as a percentage that acts similar to the "regen
skill bonuses."
Early on, your best bet is to raise meditation and elemental magic skill.
Both provide substantial early bonuses compared to spell regeneration.
However, later when the return per point (~50 for special regen skills, ~100
for regen skills) becomes lower, bonuses to spell regeneration are better.
The largest bonus you get from items typically affects the "item regen"
bonus. Items with large values for this bonus are generally superior to items
with bonus to ability, or the regen skills in terms of bonuses to casting more
frequently.
Bonuses to your regeneration ability (physical or mental) will eventually
outweigh all others, but not until you get to a much higher level. This is
broadly due to the fact that these abilities affect other talents, including
your magic spell strength and your health points.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
"Damage" output- the damage a combat art will do to an enemy, or the length of
time it will be activate, or the health it will restore are dependent on a few
factors- the art's level, item modifiers, your weapon, your skills, and your
abilities.
The level of combat art has the biggest influence on the damage an art will
do. This is the reason it is often tempting to use ("eat") every rune you
find- your arts will be very strong. However, this is counteracted by the
fact that they also increase in time it takes for regeneration. As before,
bonuses to combat arts from items are the best way of improving the strength
of an item.
Item modifiers include elemental damage bonuses and abilities like "+ 30%
physical regeneration to physical damage" which can make a huge difference in
the damage a skill will do. However, you have much less control over this
facet of combat art strength than you do the level of a combat art.
Your weapon typically influences combat arts which provide bonuses like "+30%
damage". The better your weapon, the better these combat arts become.
Skills that increase damage strength include magic lore and weapon lore.
These two skills are a must for most characters, and should be increased
frequently.
Strength, mental regeneration, dexterity, and charisma are all able to
influence the power of your combat arts slightly, depending on the combat art.
The effect is not that large, so don't depend on these bonuses. These
abilities also increase other facets, which is why they can provide nice
bonuses later in the game.
-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
SUMMARY:
Generally, abilities that you use often (attack spells and arts) should be
kept at a regeneration time of less than 3 seconds, and ideally less than 1
second. Buffing abilities should be kept at a regeneration time that is less
than their duration (if ghost meadow lasts for 40 seconds, make sure it will
regenerate in less than 40 seconds). This is where combos can help immensely.
A single buffing ability can be stored in a combo attack, where it will
frequently regenerate faster than the ability will on its own. This isn't
always true, but is definitely true for some characters. Some abilities are
good when stored in a combo together, for instance ghost meadow and reiki.
Others are excellent for specific actions- a perma-vamp will have as her main
ability "Turn into vampire" as a combo. It will regenerate faster as a combo
than as a stored skill for the knight.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Experience Building
So you want to gain a level, eh? Every enemy will give you some experience,
but when the amount of points needed to gain a level is about 2,500,000, it's
just not practical to take on 30 EXP goblins. What creatures give the best
EXP?
A quick overview of my experiences suggests that enemies can be ranked as
follows in terms of experience dolled out per kill:
Humans (archers/fighters)- include brigands, mercenaries, ronin, and other
scum. Mainly found in the baronies.
Animals (wolves, flying lizards, boars, bears). Mainly found in forests.
Goblins (warriors and shamen)- Mainly found in areas with orcs, or frost
regions.
Orcs- Mainly found in desert regions, though some are in the forests.
Small Spiders- mainly found in the swamps, these come in three flavors-
black tarantulas, yellow tarantula, and itty-bitty poison spitters.
Mages/Priests- include various mages found throughout the game, and the
Sakkara priest(esse)s found later on in the game.
Solid Undead (include skeletons, zombies, liches, mummies, ghouls)- Mostly
found in the desert, though a lot are found in the baronies in the later game.
Ephemeral Undead (ghosts)- various locations, though there are many nearby
Mystdale.
Demons- Found in the fire plains and a few set locations.
Miscellaneous Monsters (Cave Fish, Gargoyles, harpies)- mostly found in the
swamps, forests, and the late-game regions.
Elves- come in two varieties: the ice elves North of Tyr-Fassul, and the
Dark elves of Zhurag-Nar (with a few in the forest regions).
Trolls- come in two varieties: the fire trolls of the fire plains where the
fire element is locate, and the swamp trolls in east Ancaria.
Big Spiders- these are big and nasty, and can be found in the swamps and the
late parts of the game.
Dragons- there are nine to attack, found in some very specific locations
(see appendix). There are also two unique enemies that give roughly the same
amount of experience as a dragon, and they too are included in the appendix.
A more useful list follows, where I re-rank them here in terms of frustration
per EXP.
Solid Undead (especially skeletons): it's really not worth fighting
skeletons for experience. Why not? Because you may have to kill them up to 4
times in order to kill them permanently. Sure, you can drink a potion of
destroy undead, but it's not really a good option if you're trying to gain
levels. You don't want to have to drink potions constantly just to get a few
experience points.
Miscellaneous Monsters (especially Cave Fish): Cave fish are a decent source
of EXP, but are a lot of trouble. Why? Because they charge you, and their
charge is faster than you will ever be, and is really difficult to break.
They're not that annoying if you're a battle mage, since you can attack even
when stunned, but melee focused characters will find them to be extremely
annoying. Other monsters can fly, which is also a pain.
Dragons: Dragons are a lot of fun, and give you a lot of EXP all at once,
however, they aren't that great for experience building. This is because once
you kill them, they don't respawn, and they take a lot of time to kill.
Dragon's breath is also pretty nasty and can kill a well-equipped character
with some ease if you're not careful. Still, you should always drink a mentor
potion before killing one.
Mages/Priests: These aren't too difficult if you're a mage yourself, but
they are very annoying for melee based characters. This is because of their
ability to web you. Webbing freezes you in place for a while, making it hard
to retaliate if the mage is not nearby you. Combat jump is a good way of
getting out of a web if you're really bothered by it.
Big Spiders: Big spiders give a lot of experience but are also very tough
and fairly rare. It's not too unusual to find two sitting next to each other,
which is a great excuse to use a mentor potion.
Demons: Demons rarely appear as the solo monster, but can be really annoying
since they fly around a lot.
Animals: Bears are very strong but not good sources of EXP. Some obnoxious
animals fly as well.
Small Spiders: Small spiders give decent experience, but don't have that
good of drops, and will frequently poison you.
Humans: Humans are pretty easy but give crummy EXP.
* Goblins: Goblins are as easy as humans but give better EXP (and drops)
* Orcs: Orcs are tougher than goblins/humans, but give much better EXP, and
drop as well as goblins.
* Ephemeral undead: Ghosts are a bit tough, but can be good sources of EXP.
* Elves: Elves of all sorts give a lot of EXP and tend to travel in groups.
They are good sources of EXP.
* Trolls: trolls aren't that common, but are great, easy enemies for the
amount of EXP they give. Fire plain trolls are especially easy, and swamp
trolls tend to appear with elves, resulting in a good overall location for
gaining experience.
To summarize, the best areas to gain levels tend to be those places with few
annoying enemies. Annoying enemies include flying enemies, skeletons,
Webbers, and cave fish. Good enemies to level up on are denoted by an *.
Good areas to gain levels are the orc cave SE of Khorad-Nar, the dark elf
territory where the water and earth elements are located, and the plains
around Porto Vallum and environs east.
Some items will help you in your level-building adventure. Battle mage runes
give you 5% bonus to EXP per kill if you have them socketed. Some set items
give much more, and you can find rings with about an equal bonus.
However, the best way to increase the EXP per kill is to drink a mentor
potion. Mentor potions increase the EXP you gain by about 40-50%. This makes
a huge difference especially when taking down a large enemy, like a dragon.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Item finding
Items can make or break your character. There are five classes of items,
grouped below in order of increasing rarity:
Normal (white)- These are items that anything and everything will drop.
Very few are at all decent, though some have a good collection of sockets.
Magic (blue)- These are a bit more rare, but often have some very nice
bonuses. Surprisingly, heavily socketed magic items are much rarer than
normal socketed items.
Rare (yellow)- When you see one of these drop, smile. They're nice
improvements that often give a good bonus to your character.
Set (green)- You'll probably find your first set item between the 10-20
level. These items usually have pretty good bonuses, and lots of sockets.
Additionally, they provide additional bonuses when worn with items of the same
set. About half of these drops are specifically for your character class.
Unique (gold)- Very rare drops that are typically very powerful. I've got
maybe 20 from 50,000 kills, so don't expect them. Sadly these items seem to
be very randomly distributed and more often than not you'll find a unique item
that belongs to a class other than your own.
Note that Rare, Set, and Unique items are broadly grouped into the "uncommon"
category from here on out.
Your best bet for collecting items is to kill champion and unique monsters.
Unique and champion monsters are surrounded by red rings around their base.
This is the biggest hint I can give for item collecting. Go where there are
several champion and unique monsters, and you'll soon find an uncommon item.
I am uncertain of the exact drop %, but it's probably around 1 in 40 or so for
unique/champion monsters. So to find uncommon items, go where the enemies are
unique and champions- this includes quest bosses (who frequently drop uncommon
items), places with abundant leaders (like goblin shamen, orc champions,
sakkara priests, dark elf priestesses), or try dragon shopping.
Four areas typically give good uncommon item drops, mainly due to the
abundance of leaders. These are detailed below.
The Silver Creek- Porto Vallum (Chapter 1) area gives a lot of good drops
due to the presence of a lot of goblin shamen. This is also a good area to
build XP in levels other than bronze. This will probably be the location
where you find your first few uncommon items.
The Orc Cave Southeast of Khorad-Nar (Chapter 2) is not the most obvious
place to travel, but it's well worth it. The leaders here are orc champions.
The level is large, and I usually get 1-2 uncommon items each time I clear out
the cave on gold and platinum. Enter near Khorad-Nar, and head to the east.
Turn around and take the north path on the way back. Several of the enemies
will have respawned. Exit the cave from the west, and save your game outside
the cave. Saving the game causes the enemies in the cave to respawn, allowing
you to go back in again and pillage once more.
The Dark elf region around the water and earth elements (Chapter 3) is the
northeast-most area you travel to. Stay in the outdoors and kill the elves
with their priestess leaders. This region isn't quite as good as the others,
but is better for EXP.
Tristram (Chapter 3). It's a kind-of secret area north and east of Mystdale
and Moorbrook. The town seems innocuous enough, though everyone tells you to
go to the center of the village for a feast. When you do so, they all turn
into champion zombies. Woot. There's 10-20 zombies, and they all drop good
items, and you're bound to find 2-3 uncommon things. The enemies don't
respawn, so you'd have to export your character and try again to get more
goods.
Four things seem to affect the quality and number of drops your character
recovers:
Level/type of enemies fought- This has a large effect on the items you find.
Basically, you shouldn't bother with enemies that are a significantly lower
level than you. Once they are 1-2 levels lower, the drops are pretty much
useless. Try to keep moving enough that the enemies around you are 1-2 levels
above yours. In other words, skip out of bronze early. Also, if you want to
get good items, kill good enemies. Champions and uniques are the way to go,
as described above.
Survival bonus- This has a large effect on the quality/quantity of drops your
character accumulates. What it means for you is that you shouldn't expect too
many good items until it's around about the 40%, which occurs at about chapter
2 in Bronze. Also, it means that you should SAVE often. When you die, your
character loses his survival bonus. It will take well over 10,000 enemies to
go from a survival bonus of 95% to 96%, which is way too much time for most
people. Of course, it's easy to go from 0 to 50%, but bonuses beyond that
take much longer.
Character type- Some characters seem to win nice items more frequently than
others. For instance, the vampiress has a very poor set item drop rates, but
excellent rare item drop rates. The seraphim is somewhat similar. The battle
mage seems to have great set item drop rates.
Item finding bonus- This seems to have a minor effect. Some items provide a
bonus to your item finding percent. One that always has a bonus is the
enchanted iron, a nice weapon found in every game. I've not noticed a huge
benefit from using items with high item bonuses, but I imagine that one does
exist.
Additional facets of item hunting:
Ephemeral undead are the best way to accumulate magic rings. Find some
ghosts and kill them. Some will drop magic rings, and you'll eventually get
some decent bonuses. This is especially useful for characters without the
trading skill.
Statistics.
Here I present my experiences with item drops from characters in bronze,
silver, gold, and platinum from both normal play and dragon slaying. The
Silver and platinum experiences are incomplete, but should provide a good idea
of what's going on.
Bronze (Seraphim, level 1. When bronze was finished she was level 49 and had
a survival bonus of 80%).
A rare item drop rate of 7 drops every 1,000 enemies.
A set item drop rate of 2 drops every 1,000 enemies.
A unique item drop rate of 2 drops every 10,000 enemies.
A dragon rare drop rate of 107 drops every 100 dragons.
A dragon set drop rate of 4.5 drops every 100 dragons.
A dragon unique drop rate of 3.4 drops every 100 dragons.
Silver (Seraphim, level 49. She starts with a survival bonus of 80%).
Incomplete statistics.
NO dragons fought yet.
Gold (Battle mage level 76. He started with a survival bonus of 89%).
A rare item drop rate of 9 drops every 1,000 enemies.
A set item drop rate of 7 drops every 1,000 enemies.
A unique item drop rate of 6 drops every 10,000 enemies.
A dragon rare drop rate of 82 drops every 100 dragons.
A dragon set drop rate of 15 drops every 100 dragons.
A dragon unique drop rate of 2.0 drops every 100 dragons.
Platinum (Battle mage level 97. He started with a survival bonus of 91%).
A rare item drop rate of 7 drops every 1,000 enemies.
A set item drop rate of 8 drops every 1,000 enemies.
A unique item drop rate of 11 drops every 10,000 enemies.
A dragon rare drop rate of 81 drops every 100 dragons.
A dragon set drop rate of 8.6 drops every 100 dragons.
A dragon unique drop rate of 5.2 drops every 100 dragons.
From this, you can see that with increasing level, your set item drop rate
increases significantly, as does the unique item drop rates. Rare items seem
to drop with a fairly constant rate. Dragons have a good drop rate for rare
items, but a lousy drop rate for set and unique items (they're still your best
bet overall, though). Dragon locations are detailed in the walkthrough and
appendix.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. Item Management.
Item Modifiers- Some items have good modifiers, some don't. The strongest
modifiers are denoted by gold. I provide my opinion beside each
"Bad" modifiers:
Damage received reduces gold, saving health +%: This skill gives a chance to
drain gold instead of health when attacked by an enemy. Although this doesn't
sound that bad, it's really not that good. Potions cost a few hundred gold
and will return 1/3 to full health when drunk depending on your difficulty.
Contrast health potions to this modifier. This modifier will save your health
for you, but at the cost of several million gold if you're caught off guard.
Let's see- a 500 gold potion or 15,000,000 gold for a third of your health.
Hmmm.
Each hit drains own life energy +%- It sounds bad, and it kind of is. The
thing this modifier doesn't tell you is that it augments your damage by a
similar percentage. However, unless you have a lot of life leech, it's not
worth it.
"Neutral" modifiers
Split +%- gives monsters a chance to split in half when hit. Unique /
champion monsters never split (so no double dragons), but most all the rest
can. This modifier doesn't sound too good, but the split monsters also have
only half health, and can really get your exp up with a bit of effort. Not
too horrible, but not that useful either.
Far sight +X- Increases the distance that you can see enemies on your
minimap. Somewhat useful for planning attacks, but not by all that much.
For attack and defense +X- An excellent bonus early in the game, this bonus
usually peters out quickly. Later you will want percentage bonuses to your
attack/defense instead.
Light radius +%- increases the brightness of the light around you. Purely
cosmetic.
Extended day/night +%- The map is easier to reveal during the day, and the
vampiress functions best at night. Useful, but not excellent to any character
other than the vampiress.
Enemies below level __ die on sight- Useful on bronze, but not anywhere
else. Still, it can be fun.
Chance to trap flying opponents +%- Flying enemies are rare, though this
modifier will effectively paralyze them at random moments.
Chance to gain gold by hitting an opponent +%- getting more gold is good,
but this modifier doesn't give you too much. You're better off just selling
the items they drop instead.
"Good" modifiers
Wounds increase damage dealt +%- This one doesn't appear all that great at
first, but if you get enough of this modifier, you'll really hurt your
enemies. The battle mage has several set pieces that increase this modifier,
allowing you to do double, triple, or even quadruple your damage at half
health. Really only useful at high difficulties.
Each hit draws life from opponent +%- Returns some health with each
successful hit. Very nice for all characters, and makes you think twice about
getting rid of vampiress runes.
To all resistances +%- a nice bonus that gives a bonus to all resistances.
Better than most modifiers.
Critical hit chance +%- gives you a nice chance to do 2X, 3X, or even 4X
normal damage per hit. Excellent.
To all combat arts/skills/spells +X- The bonus to skills is good except at
high levels. The bonus to combat arts/spells is almost always good (except
that combat arts don't benefit the mage, and spells don't benefit fighters),
as it acts as a socketed bonus.
Experience gained from monsters +%- increases the exp gained per kill.
Nice, especially if you switch to it right before killing something big (like
a giant spider or dragon).
Chance of finding special items +%- A rare bonus that increases the chance
of finding set and unique items, and maybe rare items.
Sockets
Generally speaking, the more sockets an item has, the better. An inferior
item with a lot of sockets is often better than a superior item with none.
This is because you can get huge bonuses from the items you socket. You can
socket the following items:
Runes- if you socket a rune for your character, you gain the bonus to the
skill provided by the rune, in addition to the lower bonus from a rune. Runes
are great things to socket, especially early in the game.
Skulls- Skeletons drop these, and they typically increase damage. Skip them
except at low levels.
Rings- usually provide a bonus to damage, and should also provide one or
more bonuses to other abilities/skills/modifiers. Save good rings for potent
items.
Amulets- usually provide bonuses to armor/defense/resistances. May also
provide bonuses to other skills, but not usually as often as rings. Keep
these in mind.
Blacksmith runes- provide bonuses to attack/defense/damage. Good, but never
socket an item only with these runes. The bonus increases with changing
difficulty.
Scales/orbs- two unique items can also be socketed. Both are rewards from
quests, and neither is really worth socketing unless you have a specific plan
in mind.
What should you socket? I typically will socket one nice item/rune, and then
fill the rest of the sockets with runes for other characters or less useful
rings. For warriors, socketing blacksmith runes may also be a good idea. Why
only one good socketed item per piece of equipment? You can extract socketed
items from a socket by visiting a blacksmith. However, you can only extract
one socketed item. Keeping only one good item in each piece of equipment will
allow you to upgrade and change your items all that much more easily.
Note that blacksmith runes can not be unsocketed, so you will always have
blacksmith runes if you only socket with blacksmith runes.
Note also that socketable items that are specific to a given character class
(Like vampiress-only amulets) can be socketed and used by any character.
However, all requirements carry over from the item to the piece of equipment
you're placing the socketed item into. In other words, if you socket a ring
that has a requirement of 10 concentration (or minimum level 100), then the
equipment you're socketing will also have a requirement of 10 concentration or
minimum level 100.
This is a double edged sword. On one hand, you can screw up and make an
item unusable. On the other hand, you can use this to override requirements
from the equipment. For instance, if a sword requires sword lore 10 to use,
you can socket a ring which requires 11 concentration instead and override the
requirement. Very nice.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. Walkthrough/Town checklist
Generally speaking, most towns have three quests for you to complete. Once
you complete a majority of the quests in a town, you are able to do minor
quests for small rewards. Minor quests are given by light blue people. Major
quests or subquests are given by people denoted by a white dot. Note that I
do not list quests given by light blue people.
Bellevue: This is your starting location. Your main quest is to go see
Commander Romata at the fort, after completing whatever else you have to do
first (kill the gladiator slavemaster, kill the troll, kill the brigands, kill
the slavers, kill the dark elf hunters, etc.). There are several things to do
in Bellevue, which you may want to do before seeing the commander (especially
if you're being escorted by a decent character, like the battle mage,
gladiator, wood elf and dark elf). These are described below:
O Wolf's Eyes quest- Kill the wolf for the farmer- reward is a ring and some
runes. The ring will probably be your first.
O Where is the blacksmith- from a quest nearby Romata. Do this quest for
your first unique item, the sword Hack. This also opens up the blacksmith
shop for you.
O Arogarn the Forest Ranger- SW from the blacksmith quest. Give a message to
the ranger Arogarn. This is followed up in a later quest.
O Abducted- Free the novice from the slavers. She will tell you about a
kidnapped seraphim.
O Free the seraphim- to the east of the fort, a seraphim is held captive by
some slavers. Completing the quest gets you a rune, and if your character is
a seraphim, will enable you to get a strange weapon much later in the game.
O Worried Mother- NW from the ranger quest. A mother has lost her son.
Travel south to fight a witch, then enter the nearby cave. Kill the wolves,
and free the boy. Return to the mother for some potions.
O Messenger- NE of the fort. Talk with a noble woman to deliver a message to
Silverbell (note that this quest is buggy for me, and I can't complete it
every time). Head west to Silverbell. The man you must deliver you package
to is in the bar.
Silverbell: You need to have spoken with Romata to enter this town. Note that
there is a hidden island you can get to if you're playing a battle mage (by
phase shifting). Nothing much is there though.
O Minotaur- I'm uncertain of the trigger for this quest, but it is
immediately to the north of the town. Several guards will be fighting a
minotaur, and if you help them kill it, they'll be grateful.
O Shining Light- A drunk in the bar gives you a treasure map. Get the
treasure and talk with him to give him 500 gold for some experience.
O The Book of Wisdom- The magician needs his book back. Kill the orc who
stole it for a rune and the ability to use the combo master.
O Adelina- find the rich nobleman's daughter and return her to him for a
reward. Adelina is to the SW of Silverbell.
O Escort- A rich nobleman needs to be taken to Porto Vallum. His bodyguard
will help you. Try not to let the bodyguard die for a better reward.
O Enlightened iron- an excellent unique sword can be found along the way to
the town of Porto Vallum. There is a grave about halfway from Silverbell to
Porto Vallum that you can click on to fight a lich. Kill it for the sword and
for a rune. The sword gives you a bonus to find magic items. While here,
kill lots of goblin shamen for good items and xp.
O This area is a good source of XP and rare items.
Porto Vallum: Nearby you will need to free Wilbur, a companion who will stick
with you through the end of the chapter. There is a portal very close, be
sure to hit it. When you're ready to rescue Wilbur, head south and kill the
orc shaman.
O Orc Slayer- Go kill the nasty orc. While here, be sure to complete...
O Hidden Merchant- Nearby the orc you had to slay for the above quest is a
cave. Enter it and free the merchant. Take him to the market, and he'll
trade with you. This is the first time that two merchants are close to each
other, so you can search both of their inventories at will, resetting them
each time.
O Orcs!- Head to the SW and save a family from a nasty pack of Orcs.
O Cattle Rustlers- Help a woman to the north save some cows from some
brigands.
Urkenburgh: Not much to do here other than show Prince Valor that you've
rescued Wilbur. You'll get your first rune/portal set this way. Head North.
Florentina: An interlude town with three quests. Normally you'd head directly
to Ferry's Crossing after this, but I recommend going west to Mascarell first.
O Whisper in the Wind- A witch wants you to retrieve some herbs. Doing so
summons a bunch of champion undead, so be sure to drink a potion of undead
death during this battle. You can get some nice items from the undead.
O Hunters of the Night- A ranger wants you to kill some wolves for a slight
reward.
O Ravenous Beasts- Save a farmer's cows from some wolves for a small reward.
Mascarell: This town is much more interesting than other nearby locales, and I
strongly recommend heading here before taking on the main quest. There is a
portal to the SW. Two quests are immediately available, and a third is won
after chapter 2.
O Groom on the run- fight a man in the marketplace till he surrenders, then
take him to his bride-to-be.
O The Painting- threaten a merchant to get back a painting. This makes his
four champion guards hostile, which will probably drop you some nice items.
O Boris Richfield- Also, to the north of Mascarell is a small pathway which
leads to a minor quest- to beat up a knight who is preventing farmers from
crossing a bridge. Do so for a minor reward.
O Thain's Axe of Flames- Across the NW side of the creek from the Boris
Richfield peasants is a hidden area with a powerful unique axe. You must have
axe lore in order to use it, though.
O Pony Express- Once you've finished act 2, come back to town and race some
goods to Ahil-Tor (eventually- first to Port Draco, then to a bunch of other
stops).
Porto Draco: A town with a few more quests than before, and also precedes a
nice battle with a dragon that you should definitely attempt by the time
you're level 20 or so.
O Love Token- take a message from a soldier to his beloved. This opens up a
later quest.
O Nucquam Astralis- Guido wants you to kill some ghosts. Do so, and talk to
the last remaining ghost. She wants you to kill Guido (who is the nasty guy).
Do so for some xp.
O The confused Marten- a lunatic on a bridge won't let you pass. Don't kill
him for 500 xp.
O The robber's camp- the mayor wants you to kill the Robbers in a cave to the
West. Do so for a small reward.
O Lorinor of Tyr-Faul- A dragon. Kill it and take the cursed treasure behind
it (there's no curse with it, fortunately).
Ferry's Crossing: A small town with three quests.
O Poisoned Wells- Head north and kill the brigands to get an antidote for
poisoned water.
O Family Ties- A nobleman wants you to retrieve his daughter. Doing so will
cause him to turn into an evil mage and attack you. **His horse here can be
acquired if you have a riding skill of 72. This is the most powerful horse in
the normal campaign. I believe you can only get the horse by taking the quest
but not completing it.**
O Ronin- go across the bridge to kill the aggressive DeMordrey Ronin.
O Pacman Cave- a hidden area to the SW of the "Family Ties" quest- play
pacman with your character and eat experience globs (about 10 xp each).
Timberton: The next major town, this area has a portal. To the north of the
town is a region with a lot of strong orcs, a good area to gain some
experience and items.
O Traces of the Forest Ranger- recover an amulet from a dead ranger then
escort another ranger home after giving him an herb.
O Blood Money- Kill four monsters and report back.
O The Tree of Life- Escort the barbarian woodcutter Vim to the tree of Life.
This can be difficult as Vim is pretty weak, so save often.
Crow's Rock Castle: Here is where you must go to talk with the baron
DeMordrey. You can also fight another dragon here.
O Gypsy Camp- Outside of the castle to the west is a gypsy who needs your
help protecting her home. Kill the DeMordrey blood hunters to get a rune.
O Captain Pigface- a peasant wants you to kill captain Pigface and will give
you a reward.
O Inquisition Plans- A moderately complex quest. Head north to where she
directs you, and use the bells, then head immediately south. Go east and
claim the plans for a small reward.
O Draconis Mortis- right before the entrance to DeMordrey's room is a long
narrow pathway that leads to a dungeon. Explore the NE corner of the dungeon
to find a portal. The portal takes you to an island with the dragon Draconis
Mortis. Take it on at level 20-25 or higher.
Wolfsdale: Head south and east from the castle to reach this location.
O Tax Collectors- an involved quest, the mayor wants you to kill some
soldiers, take the collectings to a contact to the SE, and escort the contact
to a cave. Along the way you are attacked by some nasty enemies. I usually
get at least 1 set item during this quest.
O Elven Art Stealer- an elf wants you to retrieve a painting for her. Leave
a swath of bodies in your wake. Again, take the cursed treasure- there is no
penalty.
O Wolf's blood- a farmer wants you to kill a wolf. The wolf wants you to
kill the farmer. Side with the wolf for a lot of good items.
Slater's Grave: Take the cave in the NW of Wolfsdale to get here.
O Outlaws of Slater's Grave- a soldier wants you to kill some outlaws. The
outlaw doesn't want to die, and will give you the unique sword Albion for your
troubles. Side with the outlaw.
O Merchant of Slater's Grave- a woman wants you to free her sisters and kill
a nasty merchant. Do so for a small reward.
O Abduction of the Women of Slater's Grave- Free the women taken hostage in
2-3 days to complete this quest.
Head north to the Shakura Camp, and you'll be attacked. Kill the Shakura
guards, talk with Wilbur, then take the portal to Mascarell. Head south to
the fields of Urkuk, killing the DeMordrey soldiers along the way. It's a
pretty straightforward path to where you need to be- you'll find a soldier who
needs some water, go south and get him some. Note that leaving this area is
best accomplished through the portal, but the portal is very difficult to
find. I show its location on the map below:
+------------------+
| | ^ are mountains shown on the map,
|^^^^^^^^ | ++ is a small inlet also seen on the map
| * | ||
|---+ | s is the soldier you find
| | ++ s | w is his water bottle.
| | || w |
+------------------+
Head back to Mascarell and free the baroness. Head north into Tyr-Fasul.
There are more quests here. When ready, take the portal to the Oasis.
O Unknown Warrior- a bit before you reach a ranger, there is a small path off
to the west. Head west and you'll find a big man surrounded by bears. Help
him kill them then talk to him. He needs your help. Unfortunately this quest
is fairly buggy, though the eventual reward is great. You must take the
unknown warrior to the fortress with the baroness, at which point he leaves
your party. Take the baroness to see prince Valor, but don't enter the portal
they open up. Then go back and talk with the warrior. At this point, you can
take him to the edge of the forest to the south and he will leave you. Your
reward for this is an excellent quest later in Braverock Castle. You don't
have to take him to the edge right away, as the warrior is actually pretty
powerful and also doesn't die easily (he's kind of like Wilbur and only gets
knocked out most of the time). He is definitely a help for the next set of
quests.
O The Plains of Tyr-Fasul- a long, tough quest. Talk with the ranger near
the fortress, and he sends you to talk with some elves. The elves want you to
escort them to Tyr-Hadar, the elven fortress. Do so, and the leader of the
elves charges you with a mission to kill three ice elf priestesses. One is
located to the south, another to the east, and the final one to the north (the
most difficult to get to by far, for reasons described below). Your reward is
a fair bit of exp and a rune. Additionally, the ice elves in this area are
very rich and will drop nice items. You can level up quickly in this area.
O Frosted Death and Winter's Rigor- Two dragons guard the final entrance way
to the third priestess. They're tough and nasty, like all dragons. They also
drop excellent items.
O Elven Lady from Tyr-Hadar- Once you kill the dragons and final priestess,
head NW from the dragon/priestess and talk with an elf. This elf wants you to
take her back to Tyr-Hadar. Do so for some exp.
The Oasis of Ahil-Tar: you pop out at this location after taking the portal.
There are a few quests for you to do here.
O Lonely soldier- if you did the quest for him at Porto Draco, you can give
him the lock of hair for some exp.
O Scout Post- the leader of the fort wants you to go talk with some scouts
that were sent out earlier. This quest has you spanning the desert for three
scouts. Between completing the first and second scout are two things of note:
O Lightsaber- if you are playing a seraphim and saved the seraphim from the
slavers in Bellevue, head SE from the first scout to a burned out building. A
seraphim is fighting with some monsters. Kill the monsters then talk with the
seraphim. She gives you a bizarre book and a lightsaber (glowing sword that's
not all that powerful).
O Sunglasses- immediately east then south from the second scout is a small
path that follows a nearby cliff. Take the path and you'll end up at a small
dock. Take the boat at the dock to go to a new island. Talk with the orc and
he wants you to get rid of some orc champions. Go and run across their
towels, they'll get angry. Kill the orcs (they can drop some really nice
things if you're lucky) and you'll get a pair of sunglasses. Sunglasses give
a nice bonus to charisma at the expense of making things a bit more dark for
you. Pretty neat, all in all. I wouldn't necessarily wear them, but they're
a nice Easter egg.
O Settlers of the Desert- go save a settler.
O The Lost Settlers- go save his family
O Evacuation- protect the settlers from the undead that want to kill them.
Khorad-Nur: To enter you must either kill a dragon or kill an orc. Choose to
take out the dragon for much better rewards. There's a portal here.
O The Camp of the Undead- A dragon, D'cay, is to the south of the town. She
is by far the easiest dragon in the game. Her drops are the same as always.
O The Scroll of Mhic'Dar-Mon- an orc shaman gives you this quest.
O The Cowardly Dog- retrieve an orc's husband.
O The Slaves of the Orcs- kill some goblins and track down their leader.
Bravesbury: Use the portal to go to Porto Vallum and then to here.
O Hunt for Poachers- an elf north of the town wants you help killing some
poachers.
O Bah, Spiders!- a farmer to the NW wants you to talk with his witch fiancee
to remove spiders from his property.
O Terrible Crime- accompany a boy back in to town.
O The Plans of the Brotherhood- head west from "bah spiders" on the road, and
kill the priests and mage that are bothering a woman, then accompany her back
to town. Kill the priests near her house for a small reward.
Shire's Pen: North of Bravesbury, west of Braverock.
O Rascals- hunt down a thief for the town commander.
O Blackrobes- save a man's daughter from some Sakkara priests.
O Compromising situation- Return a necklace to a woman so that her husband
doesn't suspect she is cheating on him.
Braverock Castle: The largest town in the game, Braverock has a lot of quests,
and a fair bit of intrigue. When you're ready to continue the main plot, talk
with a woman on the east side of town, then head to the Ascaron inn. Make
your way to the bottom and talk with Valor and his witch to go to the
Monastery of the Seraphim.
O Demon Food- Find the source of demons that have been eating peasants.
O The Rescue of a Noble Lady- kill a kidnapped woman's husband and take her
to her lover.
O Law and Justice- Kill a corrupt judge and a guard.
O Escort to the Thieves' District- take a merchant (Sarevokk) to the thieves'
district. During this quest you will be attacked by champion robbers, who can
drop some very nice items.
O Goods Messenger- Take some goods from a merchant in the square to a contact
outside of town. This quest opens up the double merchants, allowing for some
excellent trading opportunities.
O The Tournament- Found inside the arena, defeat three enemies for a reward.
O Jacquaire's Battle Uniform- Note that if Jacquaire is not present (same inn
as the "law and justice" quest) and if you've done the quest as I described
above, head back to Mascarell and go back to the edge of the forest where he
last left you. This should cause him to disappear and reappear at the Inn.
Jacquaire has one of the best quests in the game for gladiators, mainly
because you can get two unique items. Talk with Jacquaire and he tells you
that he got mugged of his battle outfit. Head east into the thieves' district
and beat up the thief there to get info on where the outfit is located. He
gives you a unique axe for your troubles (with two slots and some nice
bonuses). Go to the merchants square and talk with the "trader." He sells you
Jacquaire's armor and shield. The armor is also unique, but only usable by
gladiators. It's also a very high level. Next head to the arena, and talk
with the trader of stolen goods. Kill him for the last few items. Now you
have to decide if you want to be evil and keep the items or if you want to be
good and return them to Jacquaire. If the items are better than what you
have, definitely go the evil route. Otherwise, return them and you'll get a
weak ring and a rune. 2 unique items and several ordinary items for a ring
and a rune? Well, if you don't need the items, it's definitely the route to
go.
O Moca the Minotaur- The arena master wants you to retrieve his minotaur
slave. Moca wants you to set him free. Set Moca free for a better option,
which also kills the arena master.
O Magical Thistle- a witch wants some thistle to save her sick husband. The
hustband will trade with you after doing so.
O An Officer and a Gentlemen- kill the soldier for a woman to keep him off of
her.
O Ancarian Snow- a merchant wants you to take a thief to the thieves'
quarter. On your way you are stopped by a soldier. You can either kill the
thief or the soldier. Killing the thief may be a bit better.
O Arm of the Black Priest- Some Sakkaran priests have kidnapped some
townsfolk. Free them for discounted goods at stores.
Hedgenton: I'd head here next, since if you head after you've got the fire
element, the enemies will be skeletons and undead, which are less fun than the
humans.
O Forbidden Love- a merchant wants you to kill his daughter's love. Instead,
free his daughter from the merchant.
O The Gallow of Hedgenton- a fletcher has been convicted of murder. Prove he
didn't do it.
O Robber Baron- Kill the leader of the robbers.
O Blockade Breaker of the Trade Embargo- gets some steel across the bridge.
You'll be attacked by two champion soldiers.
O Art Robbers- Retrieve some art from some thieves.
O Assassins in the Family Crypt- Free a woman's husband.
O Arogarn's Sword- if you did Arogarn's quest at the beginning of the game,
there is a continuation you can do nearby Hedgenton. From the southern part
of Hedgenton head east till you reach a cave. Go through the cave and you'll
enter a small cove. Arogarn is waiting, and he wants you to get his sword
from some ghosts. Do so for a small reward.
O Thorwyn's Club- a unique item is located close to Arogarn. Touch the
gravestone nearby and you'll get a unique club.
Head North to Icecreek Dale. Follow the path to the Monastery of the
Seraphim, and then go to the hologram. Nearby is a portal. Head back out and
go get the air element.
O Sisslith, Guardian of Frostgard- An ice dragon blocks your way. Take him
out.
Alkazaba Noc Draco: This is the next place you head to. There are a lot of
quests here to do. Also, there are fire trolls, which will probably give more
experience than normal for your character.
O Dragon Slayer- kill the dragon slayers to the east of the town.
O Egg Thief- kill the egg thief to the east of the town.
O Dragon Scale- Retrieve a dragon scale for a unique socketable dragon scale
item. It's not really that good.
O Runaway Virgin- Take a virgin out of the plains so that she isn't
sacrificed.
O Sirithcam, the Fire Dragon- Kill the dragon, similar to before.
Take the portal and you'll end up in between Porto Vallum, Bravesbury, and
Silver Creek. Head east from Braverock creek.
Bravewall: this fort has a few quests.
O Kalim-Khor- the captain of the fort was poisoned. Head east across the
river then NW up the river to get the antidote.
O Ilim Zhurag-Thalir- There are some dark elves hiding in a far to the east,
along with a giant spider. Kill them for a small reward.
O Dreamer of Winters- between Bravewall and Highmarsh is a dark elf priestess
just south of the creek. She has a quest to kill a bunch of champion Sakkara
priests for a small reward.
Highmarsh: east of Bravewall, there is a portal to the NW of town.
O The Lost Daughter- A woman wants you to find her daughter (but is a demon
in disguise).
O Mother's Powder Cup- Retrieve an heirloom from a group of monsters hiding
in a cave.
O A Dish Eaten Cold- Kill the dark elf assassin who killed a woman's husband.
Zhorad-Nar: When ready, head to this location. There are many dark elves
around, as well as swamp trolls. As such, this is a great place to get exp
and special items. Grab the element of Earth after killing the Medusa Guard.
One quest is here.
O Buried Slaves- In the east part of the caves you will find a warrior slave.
Kill the guards nearby him and get the key to free him. Then head to the
armory, and afterwards head to the kitchen. At this point you have two
options. I always take the first (accept)- take a woman to the entrance of
the cave.
Gnarlstadt: The dark elf mines lead to a cavern where you pull a switch and
empty a pond. Once you've pulled the switch, grab the element of water. This
area also has a dragon:
O Relerissith the Swamp Dragon- near the NE of the map.
Gloomoor: Head south from Highmarsh to reach this area.
O The Lich Lord- Kill the wizard who is making undead cows. He will always
be in the last tomb area you search, I think.
O The Eye of Hell- interrupt some people who are trying to summon demons, and
kill them. Then enter the portal and make your way to the end.
O Panem et Cirensis- Fight in the arena 10 times. Doing so lets you do:
O Tombraiders Treasure Hunters Inc- Pay 100,000 crowns to become a member.
You should have plenty of money by now. You probably won't make that money
back, but you'll be able to do the longest and most interesting quest in the
game. Head west and talk with the tombraiders. You'll be able to use their
combo master as well as a smith and merchant. When ready, talk with the
leader. You then proceed north. Usually most of your crew gets killed off
fighting poisonous trolls, but that's OK. You have to do most of your
fighting alone, anyway. However, I have kept a few characters alive with a
bit of care, and they will accompany you forever if you watch over them (give
them potions when their health is low, or cast healing spells on them). Go
talk with the goblin, then talk with the other goblin, then go grab the items
you're directed to grab. Talk to the first goblin again, then go get another
item, then head to the NW, fighting snake things and undead goblins. The
goblin will tell you to use the items on the altar. Doing so causes you to
fight the Swamp god, who is about as tough as a dragon, though he doesn't spit
fire. His drops are about equal to your average dragon drops. Once dead, use
a nearby stone to be warped back into the goblin village. Don't attack them
and they'll tell you the location of a good chest. Head to the chest and
you'll get some nice items.
O Sssiliths, the Swamp Dragon- Right before the Tombraiders is a swamp
dragon, the last one in the game to fight if you've been following this
walkthrough. He drops a portal rune that will take you instantly to Mystdale
on a nearby pad.
Drakenden: From the Tombraider's area, head south to a small town. The first
time I played, I completely missed the main quest giver in the town, who
happens to be a large dragon, Loromir, to the north.
O Female Dragonslayer- Go retrieve a female dragonslayer for Loromir. You
have to fight her comrades in order to convince her to come. When you bring
her to Loromir, she likes him, but her dragonslayer comrades followed you and
must be taken out.
O Toothpick for a Dragon- Go get a diamond from a cave then go see a
blacksmith to get a toothpick.
O Brothers of the Dragon- Go find four men. Fight each one, beat him, and
have him accompany you to the dragon. Get the four men prior to going back to
the dragon for a nice, socketable jewel.
O Jason's Items- head west through a secret pathway through the main town to
find this secret. This secret may not be retrievable in later versions of the
game. These two items are among the best for gladiators.
Moorbrook: Head east from Drakenden, past the stream and to a town that is
famous for its whiskey (your character will say something to that effect).
O The Narcotic Witch- Really, this was probably mistranslated and should read
"Narcissistic". Oh well. You'll find a nobleman all up in a huff on the
eastern side of town. It turns out his fiancee was kidnapped by a witch. Go
find the witch and kill her and bring back the girl to her husband-to-be. If
you really want, you side with the witch for two runes, though people won't
like you as much.
O Whiskey Supplier- The whiskey salesman of the town wants you to take some
whiskey to an innkeeper in Drakenden. You get some money for this.
O Whiskey Supplier 2- Talk to the whiskey salesman of the town after doing
his first quest to get a free cask of whiskey. Take the kegs to miscellaneous
innkeepers/barkeeps around the world for a tidy profit. You get about 10,000
gold for taking it to Mascarell, not too shabby.
O Pure Water- A captain wants you to stop some smugglers. Head east and kill
most of them, but the leader wants you to let him live. He poisons you if you
accept (the antidote is on his body and you may have already picked it up-
drink it if so). Go back to the captain once he is dead for a cask of
whiskey.
O The Spider Monster of Moorbrook- A wizard to the south wants you to kill a
spider to the North. It turns out that the spider is actually a sorceress.
Kill her as she demands and take her brain back south. Kill the wizard and
then go down the ladder and find her body to restore her.
O Tristram- One of the best places in the game to get items, Tristram is to
the north of Moorbrook. When you get close your character will say something
like "Haven't I been here before?", a reference to this game's debt to the
classic dungeon hack, Diablo. If you get near the center of the town, you'll
be attacked by 10-20 champion zombies. Kill them all and take their stuff.
You'll be pleased with the results.
Mystdale: The castle of wizards, south of Drakenden, and SW of Moorbrook.
There is a portal here. Be sure to activate it.
O Dragon's egg- Talk to the merchant to the far north of town, and he'll
offer to sell you a dragon's egg for 1000 gold. Buy it. Then either give it
to the mage to the south, or to Loromir. Loromir is the "good" option.
O The Lost Experimental Beings- Do this quest prior to the next one, as
you'll get the chance to finish the next one along the way. Speak with a
wizard near some snow and go kill four creatures. Some are in caves. Near
the last creature you kill is the Regentium Silver Blossom, a quest below.
O The Regentium Silver Blossom- Find a flower and return it.
O Rabbits!- The innkeeper is being troubled by a swarm of rabbits. Kill them
all for no reward, but a bit of humor.
Talk to Shareefa again, and she sends you to find the last element. Go to the
east and take the portal. Follow the long windy route to the Castle of
Shaddar. Be sure to activate the nearby portal. One sidequest awaits you:
O Glubba-Jar- An ogre wants you to clean the tower of monsters. You have to
do this anyway, so it doesn't matter much. Do so. If you want, Glubba-Jar
wants you to take him home on the way back. If you take this quest, you have
to take him to the bridge to Tristram.
When ready, take the elements back to Shareefa in the Ascaron inn in Braverock
Castle. The prince, the baroness, and Shareefa accompany you to assault the
castle and DeMordrey. When you reach the castle, be sure to touch the upper
part of the door to make it open. It's not always obvious that you have to do
this. Go and kill DeMordrey, then go down and accompany Shareefa to the
basement of the castle. Use the elements to make the heart to free the demon.
Kill the demon and leave. The demon has drops similar to dragons, although I
had a bug that prevented me from finishing the game when I reloaded after
killing the demon to get better items. Just kill it once. You're in for a
surprise, and a short act 4 where you have to take out the guy behind all the
problems plaguing the land. You're also told to export your character, as a
new difficulty level is unlocked.
Underworld: Coming soon!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Appendix:
Dragons (this is taken from my battle mage guide):
There are 10 dragons, 9 of which will attack you. A useful and cheap way to
get potent items is to save before you fight/kill a dragon, and reload if you
don't like what it dropped. A dragon will almost always drop at least one
rare item, including rings. Dragons drop unique items more frequently than
any other type of opponent.
The nine dragons are found all around the world. You will fight about 4
during normal gameplay, but the others you will have to hunt down.
Locations:
Mascarell (3 dragons): From Mascarell go south then west to Porto Draco.
Head to the NW and take the narrow path to the end where you'll find a dragon
and his hoard. Kill him and take his stuff. After rescuing the baroness,
head north to the prince's camp, and continue north to the elven camp. If you
attempt the elves' quest, you'll find a pair(!) of dragons to the north.
Khorad-Nur (1): The orc guarding the entry to Khorad-Nur wants you to kill
D'cay, a dead dragon to the south. She is the easiest dragon to kill, I find.
Crow's Rock Castle (1): After talking to the Baron DeMordrey, head a bit
north of his room to a cave. Enter the cave, and make your way NE to a
teleporter. Enter the portal and you'll be taken to a small island with a
dragon. The close quarters make this fight harder than some other dragon
fights.
Seraphim monastery (1): after claiming the element located here, head to the
NW and you'll have to fight another dragon. When this one dies, it drops a
rune for a nearby portal allowing easier transport.
Alkazaba Noc Draco (1): You fight this dragon prior to claiming the fire
element. It also drops a rune for a nearby portal.
Zhurag Nar (1): This one is easy to miss. Thoroughly search the area where
you open the dams. One dragon is lurking here.
Drakenden (1 and 1 non-hostile): North of Drakenden is a swamp dragon. Kill
it for a rune that will take you to Mystdale castle. The other dragon is
Loromir, and he will give you several quests.
I add two more enemies to this list, because they could be considered "Dragon
Caliber" in their item drops and difficulty.
Swamp God. This is a nasty beast that is found by completion of the "Heroes
guild" quest. It has the same drop stats as a dragon.
Sakkara Demon. You'll kill this enemy as the big bad before the second big
bad in the game. It too has the same drop stats as a dragon. However, I
found that if your reload a bunch when fighting it, you may not be able to
finish the game as a bug makes it impossible to grab the heart of Ancaria a
second time. I wouldn't try to save/reload here if you're playing on anything
but bronze. It's ok if you can't finish bronze since you can always export
into silver.
Followers: Several people will accompany you on a quest, and a few will stay
with you for some very long quests. You can give a character a new weapon if
you desire, especially if it helps them fight. If they like the weapon you
gave them they will tell you as much.
Four followers are semi-immortal, that is, they don't die permanently when
they lose all health. These four fighters are Wilbur, the Baroness, the
unknown warrior, and Dreamer of Winters. There may be more, but these are the
most important ones. Note that some of these followers can die, so be sure to
save frequently.
Most followers will die if there health gets to 0 HP. Heal followers by
opening your inventory and grabbing a health potion and dropping it on the
follower's portrait.
Amazing Games. Many Cheats. Such Wow.
