Salt and Sacrifice can be a pretty tough game, especially if you dive in headfirst and don't take the time to explore every area you come across. You can find yourself feeling like you've missed something or someone important. Luckily, the hub area, Pardoner's Vale, is full of useful NPCs who can (and will!) point you in the right direction. If you're ever feeling a bit stuck, just chat with Champion Hera, and she'll have some tips for you.
For everything that the NPCs don't tell you, however, you have us and our tips!
Keep An Eye Out For Traps
The traps scattered about Salt and Sacrifice are some of the most annoying traps you'll come across in gaming. They'll deal damage, inflict status ailments, and may even end up pushing you down deep chasms, killing you outright.
Once you know what a trap looks like, you'll be able to avoid them handily. Keep an eye out for ropes that you can jump over and holes in the ground that you should roll over. You don't want to get booted into the air by a huge spiked mallet or impaled on spikes that burst up from the ground. Be wary, especially when checking out conspicuous ledges and suspicious chests.
Speaking of chests, get in the habit of attacking them before attempting to open them. Chest mimics exist in the game, and if you interact with a chest without opening it, there's no avoiding a brutal attack.
Don't Neglect Your Glyphs
Many weapons in the game, especially those crafted from mage parts, have special abilities attached to them. These can be powerful in a pinch and even crucial to a specific build – but there are prerequisites to using them. On the bottom half of the level-up tree, there are nodes that allow you to use Divine or Forbidden Glyphs.
You can tell what Glyphs a weapon's abilities require by their description in the equipment menu. For example, the Brilliant Rapier has three abilities: Luminous Blade, Star of Three, and Celestial Lance. These require you to have the nodes for Divine Glyphs level one, three, and five unlocked, respectively.
The damage an ability does will generally be linked to the type of Glyph it requires. Divine Glyphs scale with Conviction, while Forbidden Glyphs scale with Arcana.
Use The Bestiary
Once you have defeated an enemy once, it will be recorded in your Bestiary, which can be accessed from the menu. Bestiary entries tell you a little bit about the monster, what items it drops, and most importantly, what elements it's associated with.
This is important because you don't want to be using elements against monsters that resist them. For example, when fighting the annoying Electromancer and his minions in Ashbourne Village, you'll want to avoid using Fire or Light weapons as they'll take less damage from those.
If you ever have consistent trouble with a foe, try checking out their resistances in the Bestiary.
Use Both Weapon Slots
Related to the point above, it's a good idea to wield two weapons of differing elements. This means you can always have a tool for the job presented before you by quickly swapping weapons with the Up button.
Having varied elements is a good idea, but so is having varied weapon types. This will be a larger drain on your Skill Tree, but different weapons tend to thrive in different situations. For example, the wide, sweeping attacks of larger weapons, such as the highblade, are great for dealing with groups of mooks, but bosses are better tackled with precise, quick weapons such as the rapier.
Fighting Generic Mages
When fighting a mage in the wild – in other words, a mage that isn't part of a Named Mage Hunt or a Nameless Mage Hunt – you won't have a handy particle trail that points to the mage's current location. In these situations, you'll need to be more watchful when taking them on.
When a generic mage teleports to a new area, they'll give you a hint as to the new area's location with the direction their silhouette dissipates towards.
- Be aware that mages will teleport around without your intervention, so it's very easy to lose track of them.
- Dying at any point will reset the mage to its initial location. Resting and resupplying at an obelisk does not do this.
Also, note that when fighting a generic mage, you won't get a health bar and a normal boss arena. Instead, you need to attack them until they slouch, almost defeated. Then, you must devour them as you normally would.
Recruit NPCs To Pardoner's Vale
There are a few important NPCs that you should talk to as soon as you possibly can. This will get them to return to Pardoner's Vale and offer you their services.
- There is a man who stands above the entrance to the Archridge District in Ashbourne Village. When returned to Pardoner's Vale, he will be able to break artifacts down in to Memories, combine Memories into stronger Memories, and use Memories to level up and reroll an artifact's stats. In addition, he can break down high-level Pyrstones into multiple, smaller Pyrstones.
- There is a man who can be found to the east of the Cryomancer's victim in Ashbourne Village. To get there, head up the hill to the west of the starting area and then grapple across the gap to the northeast. This man opens a shop that sells armor and a few different items.
Both of these NPCs can be recruited as soon as you have the Grappling Hook.
Endurance And Will Are The Most Important Stats
Will and Endurance affect two things: your maximum Stamina and your maximum equipment load, respectively. As a result, investing a lot into these stats is a great way to improve your overall performance in a fight, especially if you use Heavy Armor.
- Having more Stamina has obvious benefits. Being able to roll more and sprint more will give you an edge in both survival and exploration. The biggest boon, however, is that you'll be able to attack far more in a short period of time with more Stamina. For weapons that attack quickly, this means you can deal a staggering amount of damage in those windows where a boss is vulnerable.
- Every piece of armor you equip has a certain weight, and your roll speed and Stamina consumption is dependent on how much your equipment weights when compared to your maximum equipment load.
- If your equipment load is 25 percent of your maximum equipment load, you'll have the best rolls and the lightest Stamina consumption. This is signified by a green backpack icon next to your Carry stat.
- There are worse penalties for having equipment loads above 25 and then 50 percent of your maximum. Try to stay below these for the best experience in battle – better avoiding damage is superior to taking damage at all.
Weapons, daggers, amulets, rings, and artifacts do not contribute to equipment load.
Ask Champion Hera For Rumors
If you're at a loss for things to do, you can always chat to Champion Hera for some pointers on where to go next. Asking for Rumors will get her to point you in the direction of either a Named Mage Hunt or the next main boss you should take down.
Just because Hera tells you to beat a boss, it doesn't mean that this is something you can immediately do. Sometimes, you'll need to beat up more Named Mages to unlock sealed doors that lead to those bosses.
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