Silverfall FAQ/Walkthrough Version 1.0 By Matt P Email: Elementalizard at aol dot com. Welcome to Silverfall! This game is a Diablo clone (with elements of Arcanum sans RP) which stands fairly well on its own legs. However, parts of the game can be fairly frustrating, so this FAQ will help you in your quest to bring back the city of Silverfall. Currently I am playing a nature-aligned archer elf. I have a tech- aligned fighter lined up for the next playthrough, but for now the walkthrough will be written from a nature-aligned perspective. Some quests change with a tech character, as will the play experience. ======================================================================= Contents: 1. Starting the Game 2. Walkthrough 3. Skills 4. Statistics 5. Strategy 6. Equipment 7. Companions 8. Quests ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 1. STARTING THE GAME You can choose from four major races: Human, Elf, Troll, and Goblin. In general, Humans can do most anything, elves excel as magicians, trolls are excellent fighters, and goblins are good technologists (especially with guns). Male and female don't seem to matter much. You start out in the city of Silverfall in control of an archmage. Kill everything and make your way to the marker. Fight the boss. You then get control of your own character. Some major hints: 1) TURN OFF THE DEMO THROUGH THE OPTIONS MENU. Don't bother playing it again, unless you really, really want to. 2) If you're stuck on a quest, go into your quest menu and click on the quest. It'll move your green marker to the location where the quest is at. This doesn't work for hunting quests though (i.e. kill five eagles), but works for pretty much every other quest in the game. 3) Choose either a Nature or Technology path and stick with it. You get access to a few more skills and, most importantly, expanded equipment. 4) Equipment drops are rated White-Yellow-Green-Blue-Gold-Red, with white fairly mundane and Red unique. That said, often white items will be quite powerful in terms of armor or damage compared to their improved counterparts. Pick up everything at the start of the game so as to get acquainted with what's what. Also, pay attention to the "Level" of a weapon to figure out what's worth picking up later on. A level 30 white sword is always better than a level 3 blue sword. 5) Warp from map to map by clicking on the small target sign on your main map (M). This will save you from backtracking. 6) Constitution is always worth increasing. In addition to the bonus to HP you get for increasing constitution, you also get resistance to interruption (having an attack or spell interrupted), which is useful for all characters. 7) Get your companions early. Talking with them at plot-specific points in the game has a nice bonus to your tech/nature alignment. ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 2. WALKTHROUGH MAP: +-----+ |S | S- Silverfall Passage | | | C W C- Camp, W- Cloudworks desert | | |R | R- Flooded Ruins Passage +--M--+ M- Mangrove | | |E | E- Elf Village +-----+ Refugee Camp This is the starting point where you first get to control your character. As always, you have pretty much nothing. Go ahead and talk with Kara/Kaharon to get your main quest- to kill some zombies around the perimeter of the camp. Also go ahead and get a few more quests from the people nearby (green dots). REMEMBER: If you don't know how to complete a quest, touch its name in the quest sheet and a guiding arrow should pop up! Probably the most important side quest to perform is to heal Morka, as Morka will join you as a healer. Once you talk with Morka, talk with Lissae to learn how to heal Morka. You will need to find three red mushrooms (all of which are located to the north). Return to Lissae with the mushrooms, then give the potion to Morka. You now have a valuable healer who can also use ice magic to freeze your foes. For any fighter/melee attacker, Morka is invaluable, and makes the intro area much less tedious. Also, with Morka on your team, you can increase your nature/technology alignment by engaging him in conversation at some points in the game. Chalnuk the blacksmith has a quest to cap off some gas vents (this is a technology quest). The vents and their guardians are to the west. Complete this quest if you'd like for him and you'll get a second quest (which won't be completed for a bit). This quest is to build a zeppelin port in Silverfall. You will complete this when you make it to Cloudworks (tech helmet for a reward). Chalnuk will also trade with you. His assistant wants you to get some fossils (also a technology quest). The fossils won't be found for quite a while, in a mine at the cloudworks desert. Completion of this quest improves your tech rating and gets you a tech-based weapon. Salma will ask you to do some nature quests for her. First she wants you to scare off the buffalo hunters to the east. Do so and you'll get a potent necklace (alternatively you can side with the buffalo hunters to change this into a technology quest). Then she asks you to meet with the beastman shaman to the south (in Mangrove). Completion of that quest gets you some weak boots. If you side with the buffalo hunters you'll be asked to kill three nearby buffalo. Do so for a rifle (which may be the first you encounter in the game). Lilitip is a goblin who asks you to retrieve his magic chest. Also open the chest nearby to get a few nice minor items. His magic chest is located to the north. Bring it to him and you can store your extra goods for free. You can also buy "Life Insurance" if you desire. Klisiere the alchemist will give you one more quest- to get three megaspider eggs. The spiders are fairly common on this board and look like giant insects. You'll find them in the wettest areas of the map. Kill some and have him make you a potion for +1 to strength. Lissae gives you a quest to kill a tree dragon and take its bark to make a potion. There are a few tree dragons around on this board, to the N, S, and W at the edges. Kill one (they have good drops as well!) for a bunch of potions. Lissae will give you one more quest- to rescue some refugees to the NE. Go do so for some cash. When you're ready, explore the northern perimeter of camp and kill the zombies. Kill about 10 and return to Kara/Kaharon. Kara/Kaharon gives you some gold then and tells you to buy yourself something. Check with Chalnuk for goods, then head back. Kara/Kaharon then tells you to go to Mangrove and meet with the elves to procure their help. Enemies: Zombies: These are the most common enemy on the board. They aren't especially difficult, but are annoying, especially the bow-users. Take them out as best you can. Skeletons: Similar enough to zombies, these are similarly weak opponents. Ghouls: Probably the nastiest enemy on the board, as they are moderately common and can hit hard. Use freezing attacks to keep them in place. Usually occur in groups of two with a bow-using zombie. Water Spiders: Live in the water in the swamp. You need to kill a few of these in order to get eggs for Klisiere's quest. Usually occur in batches of three, with two large spiders and a very large spider. Not too difficult. Qje-Shi: These plants usually occur in batches of three. Use your bow if at all possible, if it has adequate range you should be able to kill them without taking any damage whatsoever. Tree Dragons: There are about three of these on the board- one far north, one far east, one far south. Kill one of them for the Lissae "Tree Dragon Bark" quest. They're not too difficult, but heal up if they start to do too much damage. They may summon smaller versions during the fight. Try to focus your attention on the large dragon, and kill the mini-dragon afterwards if you can. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mangrove Your goal here is to make it to the elf camp to the SW. However, I'd also recommend picking up Danselame, the mercenary fighter. He's located to the center west of the map. He requests that you check up on his prior contract, a cartographer. Go to where he points you, it turns out the cartographer has been slain by the Mangrove Fairy Queen. Kill it and return, Denselame will join you. Make your way to the southwest. Talk with the elf leader and he will agree to Kara/Kaharon's conditions, but will warn you that they can not help much with the Necrophage blocking the way. Also while you're here, grab the quests from Elona (if Nature) or Hurgol (if Tech). Elona wants you to destroy ten boxes on an island which houses an altar. Do so for 15 nature points. Hurgol wants you to retrieve a boat-building kit. Do so for 10 tech points, and some tech items. Also while you're here, head to the shaman Salma told you about. The shaman will want you to kill some of the necroraiders here, in exchange for his help. Do so if you're nature, and return to Salma for your reward. When you're ready take on the Necrophage. I'd recommend a level 15 or higher. Farm tree dragons for their loot if you're not at that level yet, and to augment your character's equipment. I also found my first unique (orange) item here. Head to the Necrophage, and try to ignore the zombies it spits at you, and hit it with weapons or fire. It will go down without too much of a hassle. Return to Kara/Kaharon once it's dead. Enemies: Zombies Skeletons Ghouls Water Spiders Qje-Shi Tree Dragons Mangrove Fairies: These foes are fast and bat-like. They're not that difficult. They are led by the Mandrake queen. Necro Raiders: There's a small batch of these foes in the south- central portion of the map. They are the target of a nature quest, but you can kill them even if you're technology-focused. Egg-layer: One of the more obnoxious enemies of the game, this foe will spawn piranhas to attack you. Try to kill it first so as to stop the flow of piranhas. Piranha: Very weak foes which swarm you. One hit should kill them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ruins Kara/Kaharon now sends you to some ruins located in the SW corner of the refugee camp. Head down there. Make your way to the center of this area, and prepare for battle. I'd recommend being level 18-20 before attempting this fight. You'll find a dragon-riding zombie captain. Kill it, and listen to what it has to say. Report back to Kara/Kaharon and you'll now be sent to Cloudworks. Enemies: Zombies Skeletons Ghouls Troll Zombies: More powerful than your standard zombie, these are still manageable. Champions can put the hurt on, so be careful around them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Cloudworks Desert +-----+ | S | S- Sewer | U | U- Upper Cloudworks R | R- Refugee Camp, | M | M- Abandoned Mine | | +-----+ Finally, a new set of foes and different environment! Head to the north. You'll probably encounter several goblin fighters, mechanical dragons, reapers, and buffaloes along the way. Get practiced fighting them. As you make your way to Cloudwork, you'll find a goblin who is being threatened by other goblins, because they claim he is a were-beast. If you want to support nature, beat up the threateners (for some item reward and a bonus to your nature alignment), otherwise kill the were- beast to boost your tech alignment (I got a gun as a reward). Before you enter Cloudworks if you're doing Chalnuk's zeppelin quest you'll find Sharptik. Sharptik thinks building a zeppelin port would be a fine idea, but won't do it unless you get him some body parts. The body parts are found on goblins nearby. Kill standard goblin pillagers for a chance to get corpse parts (5 needed), and wheeled goblins for a chance to get metal (1 needed). Return and Sharptik will be happy (increasing your tech alignment). Tell Chalnuk of your success. You'll find plenty to do in Cloudworks. Of major note first are two new companions- Dril the mechalchemist goblin, who wants you to recover some notes located in the higher portion of the city, and Tanya, who you can get to by performing the "Cloudworks Bandits" quest. If you'd like Tanya, head to the arrow and challenge the bandits. Take out the challenger, and request the bandits disband. You can then get Tanya to join you. Tanya is a sharpshooter specializing in guns. Talk with Kara/Kaharon. He tells you to talk with the guard, do so, then talk with Nekol. Nekol wants you to give some alcohol to Nob, but to do so you must go through the sewers. Go ahead and enter. While talking with Kara/Kaharon, Danselame will ask your opinion on nature/science. Give it to improve your alignment with the answer given. Enemies: Goblins: These guys are the grunts of the level, but include wheeled goblins. Not too difficult. Many have guns and will try to snipe you from a distance. Reapers: Beetles that hide in the ground and spit at you when they come up. You can only damage them from up close, or Mechanical Dragons: The strongest foe on this board, mechanical dragons have lots of HP and can hit you with some nasty fireballs. They have excellent drops, however. Buffalo: Buffalo are strong melee fighters, but can be avoided if you like. They have the ability to knock you down, effectively disabling you. Watch out! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Sewers The Sewers are loaded with foes, primarily goblins. Immediately NW of the entrance is the archeologist who will give you a quest to recover the "Founder's Tomb". Head to the arrow and grab the skull, bring it back for a random item (probably a backpack). Make your way to the exit of this level, the only thing of note here is the large quantities of foes for now. Enemies: Egg-layers Goblins: Now you get to face flying goblins, which aren't that much different from the rest. Spider Goblins: Nastier than other goblins, these have more HP and do more damage. Sentinels: The guardians of the exit, these are about as tough as spider goblins. Were-rat: Nasty melee foes for which you will get a bounty. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Cloudworks Desert You return to the desert city, but up top. Make your way to Nob, give him the alcohol, and he will give you the task of ending the goblin strike. Head to talk with Binard, and give him the demands. Return to Nob and he'll let you explore the upper city. Also, you can now access the lower city via some stairs that get repaired. In the meantime, finish off a few of the quests around here. Garilda is a goblin who wants you to retrieve some mushrooms from the sewers. Do so for a free point in strength. The rat-killer is a goblin who will pay you every time you kill 10 were-rat goblins. The were-rat goblins are in the sewers. This quest is repeatable. Panix will ask you to retrieve his engagement ring from some thug goblins located in the sewers. Do so for some items. Teoussa wants you to retrieve her lost caravan. Head into the desert and SLOWLY walk the caravan back to her for some cash or something. Chopit wants you to figure out what the problem is for the goblins on strike. Talk with them- it turns out they don't want to work any more and want to go free and join nature. If you want to improve your nature, side with the workers and kill Chopit- you'll get a minor item reward as a bonus. Otherwise, kill the druid who is inciting the goblins. To kill the druid, you'll have to leave by the east of the town (essentially straight east through the door from Binard). Head south then, and curl around to the west and you'll find the druid. Kill him and return for your reward. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mine There is a mine to the south or SE of the cloudworks desert map. Go into it and claim your fossils if you'd like to complete this quest which started so long ago. You'll have to fight some nasty enemies though. There are more than 12 bones scattered throughout this map. Try heading east first and you'll find a bunch. Enemies Zombies Troll Zombies ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Upper Cloudworks Go make your way to Lord Urdu and talk with him. Then head back to this area. There are a few quests to do here, but ONLY ACCEPT THEM IF YOU ARE FOLLOWING SCIENCE/TECH. I found out the obnoxious way that accepting them will hurt your nature alignment. Oh well. One quest is from Razia, who wants you to kill some goblin terrorists who are threatening her forge in the cloudworks desert (upper level of the city). If you're tech, take the quest and go down near to the sewer exit, and kill the terrorists for some gold (and probably tech improvement, though my character was maxed out by this point). Brock gives you two quests. The first is to kill some beastmen located on the refugee camp map. Head there and wipe out 10 of them for a magic weapon. The second quest is to eliminate Brock's competition. Brock's competition consists of a few guards and a bunch of boxes located NE on this same map (Upper Cloudworks). Go there and destroy everything, then report back to Brock. Brock will send wood and ore to Silverfall now. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Lady Zokor's Palace Lots of tech foes here, including some new ones. Make your way slowly to the SE corner of the map and beat up Zokor till she surrenders. Yup, she was taken over by an evil spirit. Oooh, big plot twist there. Go back and talk with Urdu. Enemies: Goblins Trolls: Melee fighters that are stronger than goblins, but otherwise not too noticeable. Robot Bombs: Kills these foes with missiles if you can, or else they will wander over right next to you and do a bunch of fire damage. Destroyers: Nasty tank like things with lots of HP. The champions are especially scary. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Robot Factory Urdu will send you to the robot factory. Head back to the desert and talk with the goblin. Kill the troll zombies threatening the goblin in the center, then enter the factory. This area is fairly confusing, but make your way to the marker. You'll have to fight the shadow of death, and then watch as Kara/Kaharon dies of a sort. You are then sent to Silverfall. For my nature character Salma did the summoning. Enemies Goblins Robot Bombs Destroyers Spider Goblins ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Silverfall There's a fair bit to do here in this ruined city. You will find a bunch of the old crowd from the refugee camp, and as you fix things around the city, it will start to look better for you. First you can talk with Lissae, the potion maker she wants you to get a gland from an Urguln, a flying monster from the country. Do so for a bunch of potions, and her gratitude. Talk with Klissiere to get another stat-potion quest, this time to collect ten lionroot claws for a point of agility. The claws may drop from any of the lionroot beasts you find on the next board. Talk with the "Priest" for another useful quest- this time, you need to recover a stone that was stolen from the temple. You won't come across this for some time, so keep this quest in mind for later in the game. Once you have it, you get some decent minor items. A "hunter" will give you a repeatable quest to kill 10 beastmen. Do so for some XP and cash. There are plenty in need of killing in the next board or so. The Silverfall guard will ask you to get some protection for the city. There are some mercenaries on the next map who you can recruit, return for some sort of minor reward. Bedaud will come across you (for one of the most humorous exchanges in the game, in my opinion) and will tell you that Silverfall needs a blacksmith. For nature users he tells you to go get Sylvo, a nature- making blacksmith. Do this long and involved quest to bring Sylvo back to Silverfall, and you'll be able to buy some top of the line nature equipment (and can get a minor commission reward from Bedaud, for what it's worth). I'm pretty sure this quest increases your nature alignment, too. Salma gives you the main quest of the level (at least for Nature- users anyways), to go get some pure water from the Druids of Gaian. Let's head to Gaian next. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Gaian You start in the wilds here. There are lots of new enemies. I first recommend heading to the town proper to get a few quests. Inside of the town you will find Sormyr, an alchemist. He will request (after a long but interesting dialogue) that you retrieve several beastman runes for him. In exchange he will give you a potion that will increase your intelligence by a point. There are plenty of beastmen on this map, check around the dark crater-like region. You'll find what you need (and will also clear the Silverfall hunter's quest). You will also find Portiz, who can become a companion if you retrieve his clothes. He is an archer, but I've not used him yet. You'll get a fresh batch of choices on the next few maps in terms of potential companions. Another "hunter" here will give you a quest to kill five eagles. The eagles must be killed on this map (you'll encounter some later, but only the ones here count). You'll get some gold for your troubles, and this quest is repeatable. Go talk with the druids. They will agree to help, but do not have the water to cure Silverfall. They will tell you to explore an abandoned mine and get the water from the beastmen within (who aren't quite friendly). Another potential companion quest is given to you a random townsman. He tells you of Hulart, who is a hierophant druid located to the far east of this map. Head to Hulart and talk with him. If you are nature-aligned, he will agree to join with you if you can break his vow to nature. The vow can be broken by heading back to Gaian and going nearby the druids. You'll have to fight a foe. Then return to Hulart and he will agree to join with you (and gives you a nature necklace). Note that the quest marker doesn't move from the tree, but Hulart will still accept it as finished when you've destroyed the beast. I've not tried Hulart yet. One of the easiest things to do here is to find an Urguln to kill for Lissae. They're dragon-like fireball-spitting flying beasts. Kill one and it'll drop the needed ingredient. Lionroot foes are fairly common throughout this map. Collect ten claws from them and give them to Klissiere for a free point in agility. Head near the center of the map and you'll find some mercenaries that Silverfall would like to hire for protection. You'll have to fight one of them however. Do so and they'll move back to Silverfall. Enemies: Reapers Mandrake Fairies Wererat Goblins Werelion Elves: A bit tougher than wererats, werelions will charge you to engage in melee attacks. Minotaurs: Bullish enemies that are even tougher than werelions, these with the two above tend to form groups in the north. Beastmen: Here the beastmen come in three varieties- soldiers (meleers), archers, and shaman (weak mages). The first two will engage you in melee, whereas shaman will run from you and should probably be killed from a distance if at possible. Most beastmen are found around the gray crater location of the map. Later you will also find beastman leaders, who are tougher melee foes. Lionroots: Come in three varieties- young, female, and male. They're melee foes that aren't especially noteworthy. Urguln: Nasty foes that look like dragons and spit fireballs. Freezing them helps. Eagles: Big flying birds that are hard to hit unless you provoke them. You're best off fighting them in melee if you can. Damned Tree Dragons: darker versions of their swampy cousins, these foes spit fire at you but don't summon mini-tree dragons. They have some of the best drops on the board, and aren't too tough to kill. They are often accompanied by a single lionroot. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Abandoned Mine This level is full of beastmen, lionroots, and were-creatures, and is fairly convoluted and maze-like. Make your way to the hidden spring and you'll find the beastmen leaders. They will ask you to kill some zombies to the east in exchange for the water. Make your way to the zombies and kill ten of them (there is no apparent leader), and go back to the beastmen. They will give you the water, and you can warp back to Gaian. Enemies Wererats Werelions Beastmen Lionroots ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Gaian You travel back to the main town, only to find it occupied by corrupt elves. Kill them and make your way to the center of the map. The druids will ask your help to purge the druid tree of the elves. Head to the center and kill the elves, especially the boss elf. Once you do, the druids will take your water and charge you with killing the leader-prince of the dark elves who is two maps north. Time to head out! Enemies Corrupted Elves: These foes will be the staple of the next few maps. They come in three varieties- foot soldiers, mounted calvary, and eagle-mounted elves. In all three cases, they are approximately equal in terms of melee ability, and can really put the hurt on, so be careful around them. Champion level elves are especially nasty. Several elves appear to be immune to air attacks (keep this in mind for your spell suite!). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Forest Your main goal on this map is to head north. There are elves, minotaurs and buffalo throughout this map, and it will probably take you some time to make it through to the top. Near the south west portion of the map you will find Alina, who is being accosted by several corrupted elves. Kill the elves and Alina will thank you, and will be a companion if you have room in your party. If not, you can always pick her up later. Also of note on this map is Sylvo, the nature blacksmith. Sylvo will join you in Silverfall only if you can recover his hammer for him, which is located on the map to the north. Enemies Corrupted Elves Buffalo Minotaurs ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Camp of Corrupt Elves Make your way to the center of the camp. Be sure to grab the temple stone and Sylvo's hammer if you're doing those quests. Then head and take out the prince. He first rides an eagle, but then attacks you on ground subsequently. Kill him and you'll get a bit more action. Also, at this point Delselame gave me a new quest to find vengeance on the one who exiled him. You'll find the goal in Graybay. Head back to Gaian, grab the water, then head back to Silverfall. You'll be crowned regent of Silverfall then will have to head to Graybay. Enemies Corrupted Elves ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Graybay You can get here by two means- on foot or by boat. Note that necroraiders surround the area either way, so choose whichever you find least annoying. In order to get here by foot you must go through the Forest map and head east. Independent of how you get here, try to make it to Graybay proper (with the target mark) so that you won't have to backtrack if you quit the game. You can only take the boat once, though. Head to the city, slaying all sorts of necroraiders. When you reach Graybay you'll find it under siege by a bunch of necroraiders. Kill them and enter the city. Jarnak is a scientist who will ask you to explore the land to find several nature shrines for study. This is a technology-aligned quest, so only do it if you are tech-aligned. There is a "Hunter" here who wants you to kill five necro-brains. They're found throughout this map. Lord Gort is a powerful melee fighter who will only join you if you are tech-aligned. If you are nature-aligned he'll make fun of the way you smell (and you'll do the same in retaliation). Your goal here is to talk with the serpent-tongued person to the SW. You will have to pay him 10000 gold to get him to talk, at which point he'll direct you north to the land of solitude. Let's head there now. Enemies: Necroraiders: Necroraiders come in several varieties. The first is a standard grunt with tail who will either attack you from afar, or engage in melee. Very similar to 70% of the rest of the enemies in the game. The second is the Necro-brain who also appears to primarily engage you in melee. Flying Necroraiders have decent dodging skills but are also primarily melee foes. Giant necroraiders are considerably more frightening as far as fights are concerned, as they have a healthy damage capacity and can hit hard. Finally, necro-cannons are very obnoxious ranged foes who can do decent damage. They're probably the most fearsome of these foes. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Solitude Not too much here to do (unless you have Danselame, at which point you should try to complete his quest). Head to the map, killing the necroraiders and enter their laboratory. Enemies: Necroraiders ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Necroraider Laboratory This level is fairly straightforward to migrate, but you may get a bit confused by the level layout. Ramps make up the majority of the elevation change here, so if you're confused, look for a hatched pattern and follow it up. You'll exit to Solitude, and will then be able to board the zeppelin. Enemies: Necroraiders ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Necroraider's Zeppelin More necroraiders. Make your way to the front of the ship, and you'll find the captain. He'll send a large, kind of scary giant necroraider on you. Kill it then kill him. As usual the captain dies, but you'll find a map on his body that leads you to a cave. Enemies: Necroraiders ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Great Cemetary Wastelands Head to the marker from the south. You'll find a door, and will need to kill a necroraider captain. Kill it and you'll get a tablet. It informs you that you need to explore Iznahel's crypt, which is also on this map to the NE. Head there now. Enemies Necroraiders: You now face some more human-like necroraiders. They are not significantly different than the rest. Ghosts: Barely substantial, these melee foes float and attack you. Not too tough. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Iznahel's Crypt Iznahel taunts you 3-4 times as you proceed through the crypt. Kill the necroraiders and make your way to the end of the map. You'll find Iznahel and the elf princess-ghoul. You must first kill the elf princess ghoul, then must kill Iznahel. You are then told to go to Steelight. Sheesh. You can get there from Graybay by heading into the cemetery, then going south around the main fort and east. Enemies Necroraiders Ghosts ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Steelight Duchy +N---L+ N- Snowy Forest, L- Lozrun Labyrinth | | S- Silverfall Passage | | | S M S- Steelight City, M- Rocky Mountains | | | | +-----+ Ah, the requisite snow world. Make your way around the snow and towards Steelight proper. Once you enter, you can do most of the normal requisite stuff, including trading with merchants, changing NPCs, and working with the skillmaster. Also here is another "Hunter" who will give you a quest to kill five ice "elements", actually ice monsters. Do so for some cash. Fero near the entrance of the palace is a bit of a perv and will ask you to steal something of the duchess's. When you do, come back for some cash. This is a fairly odd quest. If you have Morka, then Morka will finally break down and tell you why she is so goofy. It turns out that she worked for the Duchess and was with her son when he was killed in battle. Go and speak with the duchess to get Morka's main quest. When you're ready enter the palace. Enemies: Boars: Fairly generic melee foes, these are actually less tough than the smaller Lozruns. Lozruns: Come in elite form (soldiers), and plain form (Wizards? Archers?). For something so small and abundant, they can take a lot of punishment. These are the most abundant foe in the next few worlds. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Duchess' Palace Go and talk with the Duchess. If you have Morka you can get a quest to go kill some nasty monster to the SW, which will rectify Morka in the judgment of the Duchess. Once you've killed the beast and enter another above-ground layer, Morka will be happy and will tell you that everything is just peachy. Finally. The Duchess will not give you the jewel willingly. She will send you on a quest to find the heir of Steelight, a bastard child to the north. Let's head north now. You can get to the key area by exiting Steelight to the south, then heading east and north all the way to the next area. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Lozrun Labyrinth Lots of Lozruns here. Make your way over to Hob and talk with him. Then talk with Veyra, who tells you that her son, Ilio, was kidnapped by the Lozruns. Head to the north and you'll find the Lozrun King. Kill it, and you'll find Ilio. Head back to Veyra, then head to the Duchess (use the map to save time!), and the Duchess will direct you to the family crypt. Enemies Lozruns ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Snowy Forest Get here from the NW of Steelight. It's a fairly convoluted path to get to the crypt, but if you get close enough you can use the map to travel their instantly. Otherwise it'll take a while. Oh well, you'll probably build up a healthy amount of experience. Enemies Lozruns Boars ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Steelight Crypt Make your way to the tomb. You're greeted by a ghost, who will give you the crystal willingly. You try to heal Kara/Kaharon, only to find that someone else is blocking your attempt. Kill the dwarf foe who tries to prevent you, and you'll get some more of the backstory (if you care). Back to Steelight. Enemies Ghosts Knights of Darkness: Little dwarf-like foes that are melee like 70% of the rest. Kill them. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Steelight Duchy Steelight is under attack by druids! Head south, killing the enemies as you find them. Head to the SW, and you'll find the boss, a haunted mound (a cool looking tree-dragon thing). Whack it until it dies, then you're accosted by the druids from Gaian. Tell them what's going on, and they send you to Silverfall. Go speak with Salma, then head to the Rocky Mountains just east of Steelight. Enemies Lozrun Werelions Beastmen ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Rocky Mountains This area is unique for its enemies. You have to fight the first (and only) ice user, the ice monster. Kill five for the Steelight hunter. They're not too difficult, but will freeze you fairly easily. Make your way up the path and you'll find an entrance to the subterranean world. Enemies Lozrun Urguln Ice Monsters ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Subterranean World You'll immediately see the goblin Xilipp fleeing from some Guekheness bugs. Kill the bugs and Xilipp will tell you that if you want to go to Koroziom's palace, you'll have to rescue his brother Klirix. That's our next objective apparently. Note that this area does have a small town (Dripp) to the south with a merchant. Make your way east and north. Eventually you'll come to a purple area. Go into it and you'll find the Guekheness hive. Enemies Qje-Shi Zombies Zombie Trolls Guekheness: Bug like melee fighters. They can take a beating, but are actually less difficult but faster than the larva. Guekheness Larva: Slow foes that have high resistances (at least to air). Kill them from a distance. Rayne: Alien-like beasts that are fast but weak. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Guekheness Hive Make your way to the NW. You'll find Klirix, free him and you'll be warned. Immediately the "Larva Boss" attacks. It has a lot of HP and resistances, but doesn't seem to be that much more difficult than your average boss. Kill it and talk to Klirix again, but he'll run away to Dripp. Head back to Dripp in the Subterranean Underworld and speak with him. He'll send you east to reach the dwarves. Enemies Guekheness Guekheness Larva Rayne ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dwarf Town This level is full of nasty dwarves, which are tough foes that rush you. Additionally, you'll find some other enemies. Luckily this area is straightforward enough if you just want to go kill everything. Head south and get to Koroziom's Palace. Enemies Ghouls Knights of Darkness Dwarves: Melee and missile foes that aren't that hard, but can be pains in the butt. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Koroziom's Palace This area is swarming with foes. Make your way to Koroziom and he'll run away to Blazis. Kill everything around you then enter the portal. Enemies Dwarves Knights of Darkness ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Blazis First head to the camp to the west. Salma (for nature characters) greets you and tells you of the situation. Yikes! Things aren't going well. Then head north through the town of Blazis proper. Kill the magma beings and go into the elemental palace. Enemies Dwarves Knights of Darkness Troll Zombies Magma: These are some of the more interesting foes in the game, and include large arms and heads. They have pretty good drops so try hunting them down here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Elemental Palace Run to the center of the map. Koroziom is sacrificed bringing up the Avatar of the dark god (or something). Dodge the avatar's first few attacks (red globes), and kill it. It has some nasty ice spells it uses on you, as well as big globes of red energy. Get your summons and companions to distract it for added effect. It should go down without too much hassle. You are crowned king of the land, and the end game sequence starts. Now you can wait for Silverfall Earth's Awakening (which supposedly improves on a lot of the less than good features of the game, including interface and camera, and includes two new races and new items). If you enjoyed Silverfall 1, you will probably enjoy the expansion. ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 3. SKILLS: The meat and potatoes of your character, these influence what you can do and how you can do it. There are three sets of skills- combat, magic and other, each with three subsets. There are two types of skills- passive and active. Passive skills provide a constant benefit to your character, whereas active skills must be mapped to a specific type of attack. In general, passive skills [P] are a bit more valuable to have one point in, and active skills [A] should be concentrated in. Active skills tend to cost mana, and are further divided to buffs [B] which give bonuses to your fighter, replacement main attacks [R], which can be placed into one of the three main attack types you have available (and don't cost SP to use), and summons [S], which call support for help. Necessary starting levels are given in parentheses. Skills are divided into General skills (not in skill trees) and specialized skills which are in skill trees. Useful Skills, those skills of use for all characters, are denoted by ****. Note that you can only have as many points in a high-level skill as the lowest level of the skill tree (in other words, in the first skill of a skill tree has two points, the maximum the second and third skills can have is two points), so invest wisely. ======================================================================= COMBAT SKILLS These skills influence your ability to do damage with weapons. They include several skills of use for all characters, and even magic-users will probably want to specialize in at least one of these categories so as to not dilute your character significantly. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Melee In general, these skills are the ones for fighters. You have 3-5 options for fighters- 1) One-handed + shield, 2) Hand weapons (either two or plus a shield), 3) Two-handed weapons, 4) Defensive, 5) Berserker. 1-3 are the most exclusive, and I would recommend that if you want to have a fighter, choose one and stick with it. In general, trolls seem to favor option 3), whereas the smaller races are well- suited for 1 & 2. That said, anyone can wield a two-handed weapon. General Skills: **** Hand to Hand [R] (1): Passively increases the damage of your melee attacks. If you're going to be hitting with melee weapons, max this out. The bonus is substantial. One-handed Skills: Double Attack [A] (1): The default attack for sword-and-shield (or axe/mace/etc.), this attack does two hits in a row. It's fairly potent, and worth it for characters who like shields. The cheapest of the weapon skill spells. Critical Knowledge [P] (10): Increases your chance of doing double damage. If you're going for double attack, this is icing on the cake. Master of Small Arms [P] (20): Increases your to hit%, your damage, and your chance of a critical hit. If you use one-handed weapons, this is an excellent skill. Two-handed Skills: Circular Attack [A] (1): Swings your big weapon all around you. If you're using a two-handed weapon, this is the skill for you. Useful for clearing crowds, though the damage output isn't that great. Stun Knowledge [P] (10): Gives you a chance to stun your foes. Effectively "freeze" with weapons. Makes two-handed weapons impressive. Master of Heavy Weapons [P] (20): Increases your to hit%, your damage, and your chance of a critical hit. If you use Two handed weapons, this is an excellent skill. Hand Weapon Skills: Volley of Punches [A] (1): Attacks five times in a row. If you want to dual-wield hand weapons, this is the skill for you. One to two hits will kill most weak foes. Note that the five attacks Sweet! Maxed out this skill is essentially five fast normal attacks (no penalty!). Knowledge of Injuring Attacks [P] (10): Gives you a chance to do bleeding damage (note that most everything can be bled or poisoned, so it's better than in some games). Still, not quite as cool as some of the other middle skills. Master of Hand Weapons [P] (20): Increases your to hit%, your damage, and your chance of a critical hit. If you use hand weapons, this is an excellent skill. Berserker Skills: Berserker [R] (5) Berserker Charge (15) Knockdown (25) Defensive Skills: Defensive Stance [R] (5) Counter Attack (15) Smash (25): ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Shooting The shooting skills influence your abilities with bows, crossbows, and guns. These are your three major choices for weapons. Goblins receive a large bonus when fighting with guns, so keep that in mind (this also means goblins will find the technology route to be useful). General Skills: **** Long-range Shot [R] (1): The equivalent of hand-to-hand for missile weapons, this one improves your missile abilities across the board. Worth it if you want to use any sort of missile weapons. Aiming Skills: **** Aiming Stance [R] (5): If you're going to use missile weapons, you can't go wrong with this skill. This skill will augment ALL of your attacks, including to hit %, damage, and critical chance, with NO detriment. However, don't go any further along this tree! Head Shot [P] (15): OK, this is where this skill evens out. Head shot decreases your attack rate in exchange for increased damage, which is why I don't recommend getting too far advanced here, unless you're interested in the following skill. Element Shot [A] (25) Reflex Skills: Rapid Fire [R] (5) Reflex Shot (15) Multiple Shots (25) Bow and Arrow skills: Disabling Arrow [A] (1): Wounding Arrow (10) Master of Bow and Arrow [P] (20): Increases your to hit%, your damage, and your chance of a critical attack. If you use bows, this is an excellent skill. Crossbow Skills: Destabilizing Quarrel [A] (1): A blast from your crossbow has a good chance of knocking a foe down and doing extra damage. If you like crossbows, this is the skill for you. Knockdown doesn't work on large foes, bosses, or flying foes, but should work on nearly everything else. Explosive Quarrel [P] (10): Gives your crossbow quarrels a chance of doing explosion damage (which does damage to nearby enemies as well). If you like crossbows, go for it, if only to max out the next skill. Master of Crossbow [P] (20): Gives you increased damage, increased to hit %, and increased critical chance with crossbows. Again, if you like crossbows, this is quite useful. Firearm Skills: Weakening Shot [A] (1): Stun Shot (10) Master of Firearms [P] (20): Increases your to hit %, your damage, and your chance of a critical attack. If you use guns, this is an excellent skill. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Techniques Technique skills are primarily passive abilities that give substantial bonuses to fighting. Some of these are useful for pretty much all characters. Others will be primarily useful for only some characters. General Skills: **** Glimpse [P] (1): Increases your chance of getting magic items. Worth maxing out for everyone, as equipment can make or break a character. With this skill maxed out about 1/10-1/5 drops will be a magical drop. About 1-2% will be orange, 2-4% will be blue, 30% will be green and 65% will be yellow. I have found all of 2 unique items in all my gameplay. Speed [P] (1): Increases your movement speed by a portion. Not too bad, especially if you're being hit a lot, or find yourself needing to run away from battles. **** Deadly Weapons [P] (5): Increases the damage from all weapons. If you're playing anything non-magical, max this out. Master of Parrying [P] (5): Increases your chance of parrying an attack (a blue bolt that blocks an attack completely). Cool for at least one point. Best probably with shield-users or for melee fighters. Don't bother if you are an archer (or a magician using a bow), as the bonus doesn't apply to anything non-melee. **** Master of Armor [P] (10): Increases the strength of your armor (hence decreases the damage you take). Well worth at least a point, probably worth maxing out. Master of Dodging [P] (10): Increases your chance of dodging an attack completely (denoted by a blue "Dodge!" on screen). Nice to have a point in at the very least. Rapid Missiles [P] (15): Makes you missiles fly faster and with better precision. Not too bad for missile users, not too interesting for anyone else. Reflexes [P] (15): Provides a bonus to your dodge and parry chances, and decreases the likelihood of a critical hit against you (contrary to the manual). Well worth getting a few points in for most characters. **** Armor Penetration [P] (20): Gives you a chance to ignore the armor of your foe, getting higher damage. Effectively another serving of "Deadly Weapons". Worth it for everyone. Endurance [P] (20): Gives you resistance to stunning attacks. Nice and useful place to dump spare skill points. **** Master of Critical Blows [P] (25): Cool- gives a nice bonus to your critical attack chance. Worth getting a few points in, when it becomes available. Poison Skills: Poisoned Weapons [P] (1): Gives you a slight chance (10%-15% at max) of poisoning a foe. Does increased damage with higher level, as well as a slightly better chance. Good for one point. Only increase if you like the damage from subsequent points. Works really well with rapid attacks (for instance, from hand weapons/volley of blows). In general, poisoning does piddly damage, but the next two skills give some good debilitating effects. Corrosive Poison [P] (5): Reduces the armor of a poisoned foe. If you've got poisoning already, go ahead and get this, it's a nice small bonus. Weakening Poison [P] (15): Slows and weakens (Strength and agility go down) poisoned foes. This is even nicer for poison. Go ahead and get it if you have any points in this tree. Concentrated Poison [P] (25): Increases the chance and duration of poisoning. Not as useful, since it's still a very small chance of poisoning, even when maxed out (and that costs lots of skill points tossed into less useful skills). Still, with this tree completely maxed out, you'll be taking most foes down fairly fast, as the poison will do damage and severely weaken and slow them. ======================================================================= MAGICAL SKILLS These skills provide spells and influence your magical abilities. Some are buffs, meaning they make your spells and attacks stronger but don't do damage, others are active spells which hit your enemies with specific affects, still others summon help. Still others are passive and provide bonuses by other means. There are three subsets of magic skills- elemental, which do damage with elemental attacks, light, which heals and buffs you, and dark, which includes shadow magic, evil summons, curses and similar types of attacks. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Elemental Elemental skill include damaging and delaying skills, and also one of your generic attacks. Ice damage and freezing is very useful in this game, and well worth augmenting. You can also access several buffing spells which provide healthy bonuses to resistances. General Skills Servant [S] (20): An impressive summon that will cast several different elemental spells on your opponents, including fiery rain and ice spells. Probably one of the better summons out there, both in terms of damage done, and impressiveness. Master of Elements [P] (25): The best route to increasing your elemental damage, fully buffed this gives +50%. If you use elemental spells for damage, definitely increase/max this one out. Elemental Projectile Skills: Elemental Projectiles [R] (1): These are your default attack #3, and fire a small bolt of elements at your foes. At increased level, you will get more bolts (to a maximum of 5). As far as damage alone, these suck. Even with shooting five, you'll only do about 50-100 damage. The best thing this skill does is increase the range of your other spells, and that's the primary reason you'd want to augment this skill. Non-magicians can probably ignore it, and replace this skill with a replacement skill in their skill lineup. Applied Spells [P] (10): Increases your chance of critical hits with elemental spells. If you use elemental spells, this is great and useful. Ice Spells: **** Ice Ball [A] (1): This is the most useful for spell early in the game. With this spell, you will freeze and opponent in their tracks, and can kill them with ease. Note that nearly all foes can be frozen, even undead. It doesn't do much damage, but that's not the reason to get this skill. Cold Ring [A] (5): Freezes all the foes around you, allowing you to pick them off one at a time. Very useful if you're a mage, still fairly useful even if you're not. Ice Crown [B] (15): Increases your armor, ice resistance, and can freeze melee attackers. A decent buff for fighters. Tornado [A] (20): Fire Spells: Fire Blood [B] (5): A buffing spell that increases your fire damage significantly, and increases your fire resistance. A decent low-level buff. Fireball [A] (10): Sends a bolt of fire at your foe, damaging them with fire damage. Mix it with fire blood for a potent spell. Costs a lot of SP though. Does a lot of damage if maxed out. Good for magicians as a staple damage spell. Combustion [A] (15): Fire Rain [A] (25): Air Spells: Lightning [A] (1): Zaps foes with lightning. Pretty dang slow, and not that powerful, since the damage can get pretty low. Several enemies are immune as well. As far as the elemental spells, this one stinks. Wind Spell [B] (10): Decreases the casting time of spells so that you can cast faster and are less likely to be interrupted, and increases your air resistance. Good for magicians, not good for everyone else. Shockwave [A] (20): Sends a bolt of energy outwards from you, damaging your foes. Supposedly it also stuns them, but that doesn't seem to work so well. Not that great. Shock [A] (25): ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Light Light spells are those spells that heal and/or buff your character. They are quite useful, and it's worth investing in a few points here and there. General Skills: **** Serenity [P] (1): Will cause rapid healing and regeneration of SP when you are standing still for about 5 seconds. This is one of the best skills in the game, as you can effectively heal completely if you're willing to wait a few seconds after every fight. Add at least one point to everyone, more is not necessary, but doesn't hurt. Pure Light [P] (5): Increases the affect of healing spells on you (so you will gain the amount of HP increased by said percentage. Not too bad, but there are more interesting skills out there. **** Resurrection [A] (10): This spell will heal your companions if they are killed. Get at least one point in case of emergency. It takes a LONG time to cast though, so make sure you're done fighting. You never know when a companion is going to get killed! Increasing the skill points devoted to this skill decreases the casting time and increases the HP the dead companion regains, which isn't worth the exra skill points. Rapid Recovery [P] (15): Increases your HP regeneration rate. Nice, but not that impressive. If you can be a bit patient, serenity is by far superior. Power Regeneration [P] (20): Increases your SP regeneration rate. About the same as rapid recovery. If you can be a bit patient, serenity is by far superior. Transmutation [P] (25): If you have full health but not full spell points, then your health regeneration augments your spell regeneration, and vice versa. Thoroughly mediocre, in my opinion. If you have a large difference between constitution and intelligence it could be useful, though. Healing Spells Healing [A] (1): The generic healing spell, this one increases your HP in exchange for SP. You may find it useful, but since Morka is available very early, there are better paths to go. Rapid Healing [P] (5): Decreases casting time of healing spell, so that the spell is cast faster. Makes healing spell slightly more useful in the midst of battle, otherwise not that helpful. Applied Healing [P] (15): Gives a chance of a "critical hit" with health- doubling the HP recovered. Not so bad. Health Absorption [P] (20): Absorbs HP from nearby foes when you cast healing spells. Bleh, hit them with sharp things instead. Healing spells shouldn't be damage spells. Master of Healing [P] (25): Increases HP from health spells, and decreases spell point cost. If you like healing spells go for it, otherwise ignore it. Illumination Spells Illumination [B] (5): The illumination buff spells are among the most potent in the game. Illumination will give you a bonus to damage, to your chance of hitting, and gives you a resistance to shadow damage. This spell branch is one of the strongest buff spells (though also fairly skill-point intensive). Fervent Prayer [P] (10): Makes illumination last a bit longer. Not too shabby if you use illumination, though there are better uses of skill points. Sacred Shield [P] (15): Increases armor by a fixed amount with each casting of illumination. OK. The armor bonus is less important later in the game, as 50 armor points doesn't make that big of a difference. Reverend's Prayer [P] (20): Also casts illumination on all your allies. Only increases it to the level of this skill, unfortunately. Probably not worth bothering with, since most companions have their own spells they cast. Superior Benediction [P] (25): Increases your statistics while under the illumination spell. Icing on the cake for this spell tree. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Shadow These spells are the opposite of light spells and consist of damaging and debuffing spells to cast on foes. It also includes some of the earliest available summons, which can be useful. If you're not a magician, you can skip most of these and be fine. General Skills: Shadow Rage [A] (1): A generic shadow-casting damage spell. Sort of the equivalent of elemental strike, but doing shadow damage instead. A bit more powerful than elemental strike, but also much more expensive (20 SP vs 0!). Damnation [B] (5): Increases your armor substantially and increases your shadow damage. However, you lose a lot of resistance to elemental attacks, making it easier for some foes to hurt you. Master of Death [P] (25): Increases the Constitution and Intelligence of your summons, as well as their damage. If you like summons, go for it. Master of Necromancy [P] (25): Increases your shadow damage. If you like shadow spells, go for it. Cursing Spells: Putrefaction [A] (1): Amplified Curses [P] (5): Power Leak [A] (10): Contagion [A] (15): Element Curse [A] (20): Abomination Spells: Abomination [S] (5): The cheapest and earliest summon available, this one calls forth a zombie to fight at your side. It's not too tough nor that strong, but serves as an excellent distraction. If you want any sort of summon, this is great, otherwise, skip it. Education [P] (10): Increases the damage done by the abomination. If you like the abomination, you'll like this follow-up. Reconstitution [P] (20): Gives your abomination some vampiric abilities, so that it regenerates health with each successful hit. The amount regenerated isn't worth writing home about though, and it won't make much difference in any fight of length. You can skip this. Lost Soul Spells: Lost Soul [S] (15): Summons a ghost who will cast shadow rage for you. If you like the spell shadow rage, or if you'd like an archer companion, then this spell will double your firepower. Otherwise skip it. After-Life [P] (20): Increases the spell strength of the Lost Soul's casting. This gives the lost soul and increased "shadow rage" skill, which shoots more bolts and does more damage. While nice, the damage is never that great. Vampirism Spells: Health Drain [A] (15): Gives you five life-draining attacks. You don't actually get any of the HP unless you've invested in the next ability. At max you'll do 250 damage per casting. Not good. Vampire Hit [P] (20): Passively gives your attacks some minor life-draining abilities. Doesn't seem to work on non-melee attacks, which is lame, or else this one would be cool. ======================================================================= OTHER SKILLS These skills are available based on race and on alignment (tech/nature). You can only access one of technology or nature, and they have alignment and level requirements (listed in parentheses). Racial skills are available based on race. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Nature General Skills: Master Druid [P] (25, 100% Nature): Increases the durations of several skills and spells in the nature school, and decreases their cost. If you find yourself using nature spells a lot, or if you like the werewolf, then this is a fine passive skill to invest in. Else you'll probably just want to add a point or two and leave it at that. Wild Skills: **** Wild Marks [P] (5, 10% Nature): Increases your strength and agility by one point. Stat points are a bit rarer than skill points in this game, and with 2 points per skill point invested, you get a decent bonus. Plus, you can access the subsequent skills. Nature's Help [S] (10, 25% Nature): Summons a Lion-root beast to fight on your side. Kind of looks like the demon dogs from Ghostbusters. Not that great of a summon, though, as it's fairly weak in terms of damage. It has lots of HP, but is primarily a melee attacker. If you don't have any summons, it's not too bad though. Lycanthropy [B] (15, 50% Nature): Probably the best single buff in the game, lycanthropy gives a huge bonus to constitution, to hit%, damage, attack speed, and movement. You are stuck with physical attacks and no other attacks, not even spells, but get a special ability- lacerate, which seems similar to volley of blows in terms of affect. This is an excellent skill for melee fighters as they get some really potent attacks and start with decent strength. Otherwise, it probably won't fit into your playing style. Note that you can become a werewolf and transform back fairly easily. Also note that under lycanthropy, your weapon skills are not in effect (like stun knowledge), so keep that in mind for your character types. Acid Blood [P] (20, 75% Nature): Returns a percentage of damage back to a foe. Doesn't return a lot of damage (300% when fully maxed, which may be 30-100 points), which makes this skill less than useful. I think it also only returns melee damage (as the description states), but it may also return a small amount of other damage types too. I'm not sure. Survival [P] (25, 100% Nature): Gives you a chance of ignoring an attack. Kind of like dodge, I suppose. Not a very large bonus, but worth it for late-game fights. Nature Power Skills: Protective Bark [B] (10, 25% Nature): Increases fire, ice, air, shadow, and even poison resistance when cast. A potent buffing spell for certain occasions. Still, very few places have enemies that use elemental attacks exclusively. Ancestral Power [B] (20, 75% Nature): Rapidly regenerates your SP when cast. Good for magicians, everyone else can probably skip it. Swarm Skills: Swarm [A] (5, 10% Nature): Sends a hoard of insects against your foes. Doesn't do too much damage in the late game (~50 per second), may be OK in the early part of the game. I would say to ignore it. Rust [A] (15, 50% Nature): Does "a lot of damage" to mechanical enemies, in other words, robots. There are very few areas rich in robots, and the damage isn't that great. You may want to use it in Cloudworks, then remove the points and use them someplace else through a skill master. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Technology General Skills: Master Engineer [P] (25, 100% Tech): Improves the duration of mechanical slave, overload, and shield, and decreases the cost of their casting. The time bonus is nice when coupled to overload, and the rest is ok. Implant Skills: **** Implants [P] (5, 10% Tech): Increases your intelligence and constitution by one point. Stat points are a bit rarer than skill points in this game, and with 2 points per skill point invested, you get a decent bonus. Plus, you can access the subsequent skills. Intelligence and Constitution are quite valuable for most characters, too. Mechanical Slave [S] (10, 25% Tech): Summons a small robot melee fighter to help you in battles. The robot isn't terribly impressive, but still serves as an excellent distraction. **** Overload [B] (15, 50% Tech): Wowza, this is a powerful buff. It increases your damage, attack speed, and several of your stats (above and beyond illumination). Tech characters are quite lucky to get this buff, for certain. The power of overload just may merit addition of points into master engineer, if only to make it last longer. Magnetic Shield [P] (20, 75% Tech): Provides some damage cancellation. Neural Modification [P] (25, 100% Tech): Steam Skills: Steam Jets [A] (5, 10% Tech): Shoots jets of steam at a foe that do damage. You get five jets of steam each cast or thereabouts. Not that good in terms of damage or anything else. Radiation [A] (15, 50% Tech): Shield Skills: Shield [B] (10, 25% Tech): Makes a shield that blocks all missile attacks. Doesn't last long, but isn't really meant to. This could be especially ideal when facing missile-focused enemies (Qje-Shi, goblin pillagers, necrocannons, etc.). More useful for archers who trade shots with foes. Power Siphon [A] (20, 75% Tech): Drains power from foes. There are very few casters in this game, so the offensive capabilities of this spell are pretty minimal. It may be useful to fill up your SP, however, power potions aren't that rare, and are pretty cheap. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Human Humans get sizeable racial bonuses to magical attacks. They can make strong magicians. However, they also get some really nice bonuses to passive abilities, which can make them good warriors as well. All in all a balanced set. General Skills Inspiration [A] (5): **** Toughness [P] (10): Increases your interruption resistance. Worthwhile for all humans, as all of your attacks can be interrupted (including spells, melee, missile). **** Knowledge [P] (15): Decreases SP cost of skills. Useful for pretty much everyone, as you will be casting spells, or using special attacks. Invoker [P] (20): Increases the damage you do with spells. Good for magicians, everyone else can skip it. **** Tenacity [P] (25): Increases your chance of a critical attack or spell (including doing double strength healing spells). Quite useful for everyone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Elf Elves get some pretty decent bonuses to magical attacks. I've never quite been able to get premeditation to work, or else it may be an interesting enough skill. I'd recommend that a devoted mage try either this or a human as their race. Affinity with Magic [P] (5): Gives a chance of completely ignoring a skill or spell's cost. Excellent for magicians, modestly useful for everyone else. Inflexible [P] (10): Increases your shadow resistance. I've not yet encountered shadow magic, but maybe it's around. You can become completely immune to shadow magic with this skill maxed out. Premeditation [A] (15): Makes your next attack really powerful. Myeh, just attack twice instead. Takes too long to switch back and forth, anyway. Amplification [P] (20): Increases your elemental damage. Master of Elements is by far superior, but this one can be good for elementalists late in the game with skill points to spare. **** Agility [P] (25): Increases your chance of dodging and critically hitting a foe. Excellent for all elves, especially when coupled with some other passive abilities. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Troll Trolls are the fighters of the game. They excel at killing things. You can try to play a troll magician or archer, but it just doesn't fit with their size or persona. Go for the up-close-and-personal damage route, you'll get some healthy bonuses and can wipe the floor with most enemies. **** Fury [B] (5): An excellent buff spell that increases your attack speed, firing speed, and damage. Lasts for either a set amount of time or for a set amount of attacks, whichever runs out first. This buff may be one of the few that stacks with other buffs. **** Butcher [P] (10): Adds to your damage in melee. Seems to be higher than "Deadly Weapons" so add to this skill first if you're a melee troll. Troll Strength [P] (15): Increases your strength multiplier. Tactical Troll Vision [P] (20): Increases your chance of hitting in melee. Useful for most troll fighters. Channeled Strength [P] (25): Increases the bonus from your strength in damage. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Goblin **** Gunsmith [P] (5): Gives a sizeable bonus to you to hit %, firing speed, and damage when using guns. If you're a goblin gunslinger, this is the skill for you! Resistance to Spells [P] (10): Gives you a small bonus to fire, ice, air, and shadow resistances. Not too shabby, though there are better skills available. Thick Skin [P] (15): Increases your constitution modifier. ? Evolved Armor [P] (20): Provides a bonus to your armor. Seems as though it's better than "Master of Armor" which makes it quite useful. Elusive [B] (25): A buff that increases your movement speed and dodging ability. There are better buffs out there. ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 4. STATISTICS: There are four statistics in this game- strength, agility, constitution, and intelligence. Strength: Strength provides a bonus to the damage you can do, affects what equipment you can wear, and your chance of interrupting enemy attacks. If you use melee weapons, increase this one frequently, that way you'll do more damage, and will be able to get better armor to survive longer. If you don't use melee weapons and aren't in the thick of it, you can neglect this stat without too nasty of repercussions. Agility: Increases damage done by missile weapons, your chance of hitting a foe, the chance of a critical hit, and the ability to dodge. If you use bows/crossbows/guns, this is the skill for you. Useful for melee fighters for the chance to dodge and get critical hits, and should follow strength fairly well. Constitution: Each point of constitution increases your HP by 10 points, increases your HP regeneration, and increases your resistance to interruption. You will need HP, and the resistances are excellent. I'd add at least one eighth of your points to this stat independent of character type, and probably 1/4th. Intelligence: Increases your SP by 10 points per point added, the regeneration rate of your SP, and increases your chance of interrupting spells, and resistance to interruption by spells. You do need SP, and the resistance to interruption and ability to interrupt definitely help. I'd add 1/4th of your points to this for mages at the least, and 1/8th to 1/12th for everyone else. Melee fighters (not fighting-spell intensive): 4/12 to strength, 4/12 to agility, 3/12 to constitution, 1/12 to intelligence ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 5. STRATEGY Choose a character type early in the game and stick with it. I believe there are three major types of characters- Mages, Fighters, and Archers. Mages have it easy the first half of the game, fighters and archers hold the later half a bit better. I would recommend that all mages also become proficient with some sort of weapon, in those cases where SP runs out or where the killing blow doesn't need a fireball. Also, the late game has several foes resistant or immune to magic, and spells don't as much damage as other things. Still, you can wait to level 20-30 to start improving melee/missile abilities for mages. At your first level up, add at least one point to "Glimpse", then add one point to your main damage skill (e.g., long rang shot or hand to hand or probably elemental strike or a spell). Then select a primary right click option for rapid killing of foes (e.g., double hit, volley of punches, etc.). Continue to add points to these skills as you level up. Once you hit level 10, these skills should be maxed out, and you can do the same for the next buff. ======================================================================= Character builds: Trollish Fighter: Max hand-to-hand, glimpse, fury early. Use fury as your primary spell. Goblin Sharpshooter: Max long range shot and well-aimed blow early. Elvish Summoner Human Fighter ======================================================================= Comparison of Buffs: There are several buffs available for characters. These buffs are summarized below: Name Maxed-out Bonus at Max-Out Skill Point Cost ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ice Crown 30 68 Spell point cast, 150 second duration, Armor + 85, Resist Ice 55%, Freeze foes for 2.35 seconds Fireblood 10 48 Spell point cast, 75 second duration, Fire Damage + 10, Fire Damage +30%, Resist Fire 55% Wind Spell 20 53 Spell point cast, 33 second duration, +100% Incantation Speed, Resist Air 55% Illumination 10-50 38 Spell point cast, 75 second duration, Damage + 30%, Resist Shadow 55% OPTIONAL: Duration 170 seconds, Armor + 65, +5 to all stats Damnation 10 34 Spell point cast, 120 second duration, Armor + 100%, Fire, Ice, Air resistance - 100%, + 10 shadow damage Lycanthropy 20-30 28 Spell point cast, 60 second duration, Constitution + 25%, To hit + 160%, Damage + 88%, Attack Speed + 68%, Move Speed + 50%, OPTIONAL: 160 second duration Protective Bark 10 68 Spell point cast, 120 second duration, All resistances + 55% Ancestral Power 20 48 Spell point cast, 28 second duration, SP regeneration +190% Fury 10 33 Spell point cast, 84 second duration or 28 attacks, +50% attack and fire speed, +100% damage Overload 20 39 Spell point cast, 70 second duration, +100% damage, +50% attack and fire speed, + 10 to all stats Shield 10 The most appropriate buff for you will depend on your character. Some are only available for specific alignments, and others focus primarily on spell casting abilities. For melee fighters the best buffs are probably those that increase damage and armor. Illumination, ice crown, damnation, and lycanthropy all work quite well. Illumination does require a healthy skill point investment to max out, whereas these others require less. Damnation comes with a nasty curse (loss of resistances), so it's mostly useful under only some rare circumstances. Ice crown is good for most, especially with the freezing ability. Lycanthropy is probably on top, though it's designed only for certain characters, and not for tech-aligned. Protective bark isn't that interesting, all in all. Overload is excellent for tech characters and should be purchased for all techies. Mage focused buffs include Wind Spell and Ancestral Power. Combustion is also fairly powerful, especially for fire-focused elemental mages. For this reason, most magicians will probably want to go Nature. You can only have one buff active at a time. ======================================================================= Comparison of Summons There are also several summons available for characters. Name Maxed-out Bonus at Max-Out Skill Point Cost ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Servant 10 Ranged attacks (elemental spells) Abomination 10-30 Melee attacks. Lost Soul 10-20 Ranged attacks (shadow spells) Nature's Help 20 Melee attacks Mechanical Slave 20 Melee attacks You can have as many summons active as you want (up to 4, one of each). I would recommend illumination (reverend's prayer) as your buff if you want to be a summoner, as the damage bonus is quite helpful. With four summons and two companions you probably won't need to do much in the game. ======================================================================= Technology or Nature? In general, you can't go wrong choosing either one. The only way you can go wrong is if you don't choose one and play middle-of-the-road. In that case, you'll lose out on lots of bonuses. You can be a tech mage, a nature archer, or many other variations in classes. There is a slight bonus to go for nature for mages and technology for archers, but you're fine if you want to go the opposite routes. Nature has Nature Necklaces, for which there is no counterpart in the technology tree. Nature necklaces have bonuses to Intelligence and Constitution, and are probably the best necklaces in the game. Technology has some of the cooler armor in the game, and a good portion of it will make you look like a cyborg. ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 6. EQUIPMENT There are 8 (+1) slots for armor, and 2 (+1) slots for weapons. You will want to equip something in nearly every spot, if only for the small bonus provided. The exception here is the earring, necklace, and ring spot, which don't provide any bonus unless the item is magical. ARMOR: Earring: Magical earrings are fairly rare and are not frequent drops. That said, you can find a few over the course of the game. The only ones with bonuses are colored yellow and higher. Head: Head armor includes hats, helmets, and headbands. Headbands are primarily useful for magicians as they often provide bonuses to elemental, shadow, or healing spells. Necklace: Magical Necklaces are also fairly rare drops. You will get one for free if you complete Salma's first quest, however, that's a Nature-only quest. I've found other Nature necklaces in the course of play, and all have bonuses to intelligence and constitution, which makes them fairly useful. Arms: Arm armor consists primarily of gloves. They are pretty middle- of-the-road as far as armor is concerned. Tech equipment here tends to get a bit better bonuses than nature. Armor: Your main route to increasing the armor score of your character is through body armor (though shields are a close second). Body armor is also a good route to augmenting other forms of damage, especially magical damage. Backpack: One of the more unusual pieces of armor is the backpack. You can generally find backpacks at blacksmiths/equipment merchants. Backpacks will tend to augment a statistic by a few points, add some armor, or add a chance to your magic find % (the master's backpack). It will depend on what your character type is as to what is most useful for you. Ring: Magical rings are fairly rare drops, but you will encounter some in your course of play. Legs: Primarily boots. Usually add a few points of armor, and will have a bonus or two hear and there. Fairly similar to gloves and helmets in terms of bonus. TECH ONLY: Pilot's gear, mechanical, engineer's NATURE ONLY: Animal skins, Shell, Druid's Shield: The second best source of armor is your shield. Of course, if you have a shield, you sacrifice the ability to use two-handed weapons, or two one-handed weapons. Also, the bonus from shields is not active for missile weapons, so if you are using a bow even if you have a shield, your armor is as low as it is without the shield. Shields are great for magicians, as the extra armor is always a plus. TECH ONLY: Guild, Mechanical NATURE ONLY: Feathered, Tribal WEAPONS: Missile Weapon: This can be a bow, a crossbow, or a gun. Select these with the 2 key. TECH ONLY: All Firearms, technology crossbows, some bows. If you are going technology, you have a slight leg-up here on nature users, as guns tend to be fairly powerful, though not too diverse. NATURE ONLY: There are a few bows and crossbows that are nature- focused, but none that are truly exceptional. Melee Weapon (1): This is your primary melee weapon. Melee Weapon (2): If you choose to, you can equip a second weapon. Doing so can mix up your damage types, and help you to fight faster. HAND WEAPONS: TECH ONLY: NATURE ONLY: ONE-HANDED WEAPONS: TECH ONLY: NATURE ONLY: TWO-HANDED WEAPONS: TECH ONLY: NATURE ONLY: UNIQUE ITEMS: I have found a few unique items over my course of play. They are listed below. Lightning Crossbow Damage 34-131 Attack: Very, very fast Range: 10 +50% damage Add 1-30 Air Damage +50% weapon speed This crossbow made my archer's day, since they found it in Mangrove, and are still using it to the end of the game. Wow. ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 7. COMPANIONS You can have up to two companions to accompany you on your journey. Companions serve well as extra guns (either literally or as spellcasters), as healers, and as melee fighters. Some companions do not start with a significant alignment (Morka, Danselame) and will slowly align their alignment with yours through conversation or questing. Others start with a specific alignment and will either not align with you, or won't even join you in some cases. Once you have completed a quest to get a companion, they will follow you always, and can be traded in and out at most major cities (probably areas marked with the target sign on the map). Don't feel locked in to the first two companions you meet, definitely experiment and see who matches your style best. Morka: Morka is the first companion you meet and is a troll healer. She can cast healing spells, buff spells (likely illumination), and ice spells which can be quite helpful both in delay foes from reaching you, and as assistance in fights. Get her early, she has some good dialogues too. Her ice spell repertoire increases through the game. She augments melee fighters quite well. SUBQUEST: Once you make it to Steelight, Morka will inform you of her backstory, and will ask judgment from the Duchess. The Duchess has you and Morka kill a nasty boar to the SW. She will eventually match your alignment. Danselame: Danselame is an elf mercenary who specializes in hand weapons and berserker. He is a potent fighter who uses volley of blows and fireblood frequently. He is available fairly early in the game, and complements range fighters (including magicians) quite well. SUBQUEST: If you beat the corrupted elf prince with Danselame, Danselame will ask you to strike vengeance against the one who banished him, who is located in the Graybay/Solitude region. Danselame augments mages and archers quite well. He will eventually match your alignment. Dril the Mechalchemist: Dril is a goblin healer/caster who specializes in tech and darkness attacks. She uses a number of dark-oriented spells to buff (damnation) and weaken your foes (life drain). She can also cast healing spells on you. Dril is the tech answer to Morka (who isn't nature anyway, but oh well). Dril works well with any group that needs a healer or caster. Tanya: Tanya is a bandit human who is specialized in using guns to blow away her enemies. She's one of the better range fighters in the game, but has a technology alignment, which may not work for nature fighters. She casts Overload a lot. Portiz: Portiz is a goblin archer. Hulart: Hulart is a human druid. I believe he will join you only if you have a nature alignment. Alina: Alina is an elf mage. Lord Gort: Lord Gort is a tech-aligned troll fighter and will only join you if you are aligned with science. Otherwise you'll make fun of each other's smells. ======================================================================= ////////////////////////////////////\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\/////////////////////////////////// ======================================================================= 8. QUESTS Nature quests: Salma's run out the Buffalo Hunters (+15%, Refugee Camp) Find the Shaman (+15%, Refugee Camp) Stone to Rebuild Silverfall (+15%, Mangrove) Avenge the Altar's Destruction (+10%, Mangrove) Save the Werewolf (+10%, Cloudworks Desert) The Supervisor must die in the name of Nature (+25%, Cloudworks Desert) Tech Quests: Kill the Buffalo (+10%, Refugee Camp) Fossils (+15%, Refugee Camp) Gas Extractor (+10%, Refugee Camp) Delivery of a Boat Kit (+10%, Mangrove) Burn the Werewolf (+10%, Cloudworks Desert) Zeppelin Port (+15%, Refugee Camp) Body parts for Sharptik (+15%, Cloudworks Desert) The Druid must die in the name of progress (+25%, Cloudworks Desert) The Gaian Idols (Graybay) Hunter Quests (get you a small amount of experience and a decent amount of gold). Kill 10 wererats (Cloudworks Desert) Kill 10 beastmen (Silverfall) Kill 5 eagles (Gaian) Kill 5 necro-brains (Graybay) Kill 5 ice monsters (Steelight) Potion Quests: Rock Potion (+1 Str, Refugee Camp) Rabbit Potion (+1 Str, Cloudworks Desert) Heron Potion (+1 Agility, Silverfall) Intelligence Potion (+1 Intelligence, Gaian)