Transcription
I just went from level one to maps in under 4 hours on a mercenary. No stash, no trading, completely self-found, picking up dozens of guaranteed rewards along the way, including five elks, 14 exalts, six regals, a greater jewelers orb, and more. All guaranteed.
But first, we've got to get past the miller. We fight him in the corner opposite the entrance. Stay above 35 life for the slam, and you can tank everything. When he spawns zombies, clear them with fragmentation rounds while hitting the miller at the same time. We fought him away from the entrance because if you do, you can go past the blockage and enter town straight away.
If you found that useful, stick around. I'm going to be dropping tips like this for every boss and every zone in the entire game. And so you know you're getting strategies that are proven at the highest level. I'm guy that dies. Rank one race winner and demigod winner across multiple classes.
In Clearfell, there are only two things that actually matter. Grab your skill gem and kill Bayra. We're skipping the mud barrow. You'll also start seeing the league mechanic here, which you'll be using throughout the run. Each zone has a predetermined reward. In Clearfell, it's just a transmute, so only do it if you run into it naturally.
For skills, we already have explosive grenade from Renley, and we pick up frost bomb from the guaranteed campsite gem. It applies exposure, lowering boss resists. Now, for Bayra, start with frost bomb, then throw out a grenade or two, but don't use them all yet. After your second frost bomb, throw all remaining grenades. And in between cooldowns, use fragmentation rounds. When she spawns wolves, time your grenades so they run into the explosions as they chase you. After you defeat her, you'll get a permanent 10% cold resist buff.
From there, make your way to the Growwood. This zone is important. We're picking up our first support gem, and it's a serious power spike for explosive grenade. You'll probably find Ariagne first. When you get to her, respawn its checkpoint so there aren't any nearby monsters. Before stepping out of the hut, drop a frost bomb and two grenades. After that, just stick to your main rotation. Grenades on cool down, fragmentation rounds in between, and frost bomb for exposure. Once she's down, you'll get a guaranteed support gem. We're putting multi-shot one on explosive grenade. This effectively doubles our damage on bosses and dramatically improves our clear.
Now, just like in Clear Fell, we're ignoring almost all monsters while we make our way through the zone. As for the league mechanic, I happened to run into it, so I did it for an orb of transmutation, which I'm going to use on my next crossbow upgrade. After that, it's just a matter of picking up the grim tangle checkpoint and getting to the red veil. This is where we get our first weapon upgrade, and it's a big one. Make sure to click every refined arm you see. They drop the next tier of weapons. These are a huge damage upgrade, and the higher item level means that if you upgrade them to magic, they're way more likely to roll stronger stats than the weapon you found on the riverbank.
Now, for the league mechanic, this will be the last time I cover it in detail, except for rare cases where the reward is extremely good. If you want a full list of every zone's reward, check the cheat sheet linked in the description. The reward in the Red Veil is a level two skill gem, which we use on explosive grenade for just over 10% more damage. After clearing both obelisks, picking up the runes, and reaching level four, swap in the flasks from Aries's hut. When you finally find a tense crossbow, use a transmute if you have one. The difference between your average magic tense crossbow and the white makeshift crossbow is massive.
When you click the third obelisk, the rusk king will spawn. Play it the same way as before. Cross bomb, grenades, then crossbow shot in between instead of fragmentation rounds. If you want a bit more damage, you can move multi-shot over to crossbow shot during cooldowns, but that is completely optional.
Now, as we're about to kill the Rusking, here's one of the biggest mistakes when rushing the campaign, staying in town too long. Before each trip, decide exactly what you'll do. Do you need movement speed boots, gloves with damage, a better crossbow? Go in with a plan, get it done, and get out. If you do that every time, you'll save a ton of time over the course of the run.
After we kill the Rust King, portal back to town. If we're lucky, we'll get some huge power boosts here. First, ID any rears. They sell for way more identified. While you're at it, clear your inventory and grab the spikes from Renley. Next, do a quick vendor check using your reix, which allows us to filter and highlight items. Link in the description. One of the best upgrades here is damage on gloves, especially lightning damage for shock. These gloves here would be around a 15% damage boost depending on your gear.
Once that's done, head back to the growwood. Put the spikes in this tree. Then go to the grim tangle. We're going to portal to town to talk to Oona. Then go back in and talk to Unona again. If you stand next to the checkpoint after that, you can go straight past the blockage. Here, we're heading straight to the boss for a guaranteed support gem and aiming to leave at level five or higher. This area has a lot of tight corridors, which can make fights awkward, especially on grenades, so be careful and take your time. On top of that, fungal zombies explode on death, so avoid standing on corpses. The boss has a teleport, so don't dump all your grenades at the start. Start with a frost bomb and a single grenade, then wait for his teleport. As soon as he reappears, dump all your grenades and finish him off.
Pick up your support gem. We're taking elemental arament on explosive grenade. Then move on to the cemetery of the eternals. Your focus is a few key objectives. The tomb of the consort, the league mechanic for a regal orb, the mouselium of the pria, and the sarcophagus, which drops either a lazuli ring or iron ring. Whichever ring you get, use a transmute, hoping for damage on the prefix. We'll start with the tomb of the consort where we get another support gem. When fighting the rear mob here, stay close. If you hit him while his shield is up, he'll fire projectiles that deal a lot of damage. Once you get the gem, cut multi-shot for crossbow shot. And don't forget to level explosive grenade to level three. There's not much else to this zone. Just find the boss as quickly as possible. Just like with the Grim Tango boss, we hold our grenades until after she teleports. And thanks to the magic tense crossbow from the red veil and the damage gloves from the vendor, we're already doing big damage.
After her, we're going to checkpoint to the mouse to fight Draven. Your goal is to be level seven before fighting him. Assuming you've been killing basically any monsters, you're probably well past level seven already. A quick thing I want to mention is inventory management. Doing it while moving is a huge time save, but if you struggle with that, do it during downtime as I do here.
Draven is one of the harder bosses to hit with grenades as he moves around a lot. Your best opportunity is when he stabs the ground and does his wave attack. The last boss is back at the cemetery waypoint. After opening the gate, respawn at checkpoints to make him spawn instantly.
When you kill him, he'll drop Count Lachland's ring. It lets you access the hooded one, but forces a long cutscene. Since you unlock him at the end of act one anyway, just leave it on the ground and skip the downtime. Make sure to check the vendor for any upgrades. Then head into the hunting grounds. With the level three gem from Lachlan, take flash grenade for clear and boss stuns and move multi-shot over from crossbow shot. Fragmentation rounds has done its job at this point. Just drop it on the ground. Your main goal is crowb for two passive points. On the way, keep an eye out for the dryic ritual. It's a quick support gem if you find it. You'll also need to pick up Freethorn and complete the League mechanic for a guaranteed exalted orb.
Now for our passive points, put multi-shot back into Crossbow Shot and then hit Crowbell while running to the second arena. This speeds up his pathing and gets you into the next phase faster. When he phases, cast Frost Bomb again. As he moves to the next arena, place another one in his path so he gets exposure on the way. After the fight, you'll get two passive points and a level three skill gem. We're going to use that gem on pounce, so make sure you pick up a talisman at some point.
Before entering Freythorn, you want to be level eight. This is important because of the exp penalty. It can be brutal and in some cases you lose over half your experience. Throughout this guide, I'll point out the key levels you should aim for at different parts of the campaign. But if you want a deeper breakdown of how the XP system works, I've linked the full guide in the description.
In Freon, your goal is to complete all three rituals, then kill the boss for 30 spirit. If you find the boss early, look at the streams of dark energy coming off the altar. They point toward the remaining rituals. As you can see here, if I run in the direction they point, I eventually come across the last one. For the boss fight, he teleports a lot, so hold the most of your grenades until after he teleports. In the second phase, he gets knocked back pretty far when stunned, so keep that in mind when placing your grenades.
After the fight, pick up the gem bloom skull for 30 permanent spirit and a spirit gem. Open the ritual window and grab a reward or two. I usually prioritize gear upgrades, things like damage gloves or a better crossbow. If there's nothing useful, just take currency. You can use the spirit gem on attrition or war banner. War banner is generally stronger, but I prefer attrition so I don't have to worry about placing the banner.
Back in town, start with Finn to pick up a charm. Check Una for greater life and mana flasks and Renley for any gear upgrades. If you're level 10, you should be able to get a sturdy crossbow. Once you're done, go back to the hunting grounds and checkpoint to Ogum Farmlands. This zone has another two free passive points. Look for Una's loot. We'll turn it in later for those points. You'll also want to pick up a level four skill gem, either from the league mechanic or from the rear mob at the crop circle.
When you reach the center of the crop circle, the mobs will spawn. Throw your grenades and stand on top of them so they explode as the mobs run in. Once you have the gem, upgrade explosive grenade before moving on to Ogen Village. This is where we pick up some really important crafting currency. Grab the smithing tools to unlock your salvage bench and the blacksmith's chest for a blank rune and an artifice orb. We'll be saving these for our level 16 weapon. After that, it's just a matter of killing the executioner. When he dies, his loot takes a few seconds to drop. Use that time to pull the lever, then run back and grab everything. Before leaving, talk to the NPC. Then head back to town and turn in Unona's loot for your passive points. If you don't already have a greater life flask, pick one up now. The next few zones can be pretty dangerous.
Turn in your blank rune denley for a lesser storm rune. We'll be saving this along with other high tier currency for our level 16 weapon. While you're here, check for a crossbow upgrade and grab your level five gem. Click the corpse to receive a level one support gem, which will save for later. If you click the corpse and move away immediately, the support gem will drop beside you instead of on the platform, letting you pick it up instantly. This is also a great area for experience, so ideally try to be at least level 13 before entering the next zone, ogre mana.
Before the final fight, there are two key rewards to pick up from the league mechanic. We get an orb of alchemy, which we'll use to craft a weapon in act two or three. You'll also get 20 permanent max life from candle mass.
Once you have both, it's time for your final preparations. This is the last stretch of act one. Aim for level 14. That lets us equip gas grenade, which makes the upcoming fight much easier. Set up your links. Gas grenade with multi-shot and elemental armorament. If needed, move multi-shot over from crossbow shot. Once you're ready, head down the elevator. At the bottom is Count Geonor, the final boss of act one.
At half health, he'll phase shortly. Just dodge and wait it out. And just like that, he's down. Act one complete.
Before we move into act two, here's a quick rundown of our setup. We're using explosive grenade with multi-shot one and elemental arament one with the same supports on gas grenade. We've also got flash grenade, pounce, and frost bomb with attrition as our spirit gem. We were only using the shield for Geonos's cold beams, so we can just drop it.
Now, moving into act two. If you find the raided camp, grab the free tier 2 support team. We'll use it for multi-shot two on explosive grenade and move multi-shot one over to flash grenade. Keep an eye out for the league mechanic as well. It rewards an exalt, so it's worth going out of your way if you're low. Once you're ready, head to the boss. To reach him faster, use bounce to jump straight up. Just stand by the cliff, target a mob next to the boss, and bounce across.
For Wrath Breaker, if you're struggling, stay close and try to position behind him. The only real threat is his slam, which you'll avoid just by staying behind. Once he's down, grab the loot and portal back to town.
This doesn't in town. Talk to Asala. Then use the desert map to head toward the Helani gates. Take a moment to vendor before moving on. Once you get the quest state, you can TP out straight away. From there, use the desert map to go to Mortn Quarry. Whenever you're waiting for the caravan to move to the next destination, it's a good time to check vendors. At this point, you're mainly looking for a level 16 crossbow, better damage gloves, and ideally 15% movement speed boots.
In the quarry, there's a guaranteed artifice orb somewhere along one of the walls. If you find it, great, but it's not worth backtracking for. You'll also get a lot of armor scraps and wet stones here, which is super nice for your upcoming weapon. There are a lot of support gem upgrades in this act, so I won't be calling out every small change. Just keep your gems up to date. There's a build guide linked in the description.
You'll usually hit level 16 around this point, which means we can finally craft and equip a varnished crossbow. This is going to make the rest of hacks 2 completely trivial. Start with the best magic base you found, then use a regal and exalts to fill out the prefixes. After that, use one or two artifice absorbs depending on your runes. Then socket your storm rune and any other damage rune you have and finish with quality. That said, you do need to play it by air. If your base is bad and you regal into something like accuracy, you can end up with an absolutely terrible crossbow. In that case, save your currency, wait for a better base, and try again. You'll get another regal and mess it on badlands if you need one. And don't forget, you can also use essences instead. If you want a deeper breakdown of campaign weapon crafting, including which modifies good and which are bad, there's a full guide linked in the description.
As soon as you enter the mine, respawn at checkpoint to skip the elevator. For Ruger, it's just your usual combo. Stay close and position behind her whenever possible, especially if you're not fully comfortable with the fight. After the kill, talk to Risu and drop a portal while waiting for the loot. Back in town, talk to Risu and Asala. Then move on to the traitor's passage. And as always, do a quick vendor check before leaving.
You can fight Balbala here, but I usually skip her and do Dash instead. In Dasha, there are two rare mobs that drop a guaranteed barrier, which you can use for your first ascension. There's also a guaranteed level six skill gem from this chest, so keep an eye out as you move through. Throughout the Helani gate, you'll need to wait at bridges for Asala to open them. If you move too far ahead on the first bridge, she can get stuck permanently. Just before the second bridge, there's a checkpoint. Respawn there to bring her back if needed. Make sure you're at least level 18 for Jamandra.
Before entering the arena, throw two gas grenades, a frost bomb, and an explosive grenade. Then go in, hug the wall, and throw your grenades toward it. He'll usually move straight into them. I shall.
After the fight, take the elevator down and follow the wind to trigger the next quest state. Head back to town, grab your level seven skill gem, and move on to Masttodon Badlands. Abysses can spawn here. They give abyss currency, but I usually skip them. If you do want to use abyss currency, you'll need to run lightless passage, but I normally skip that as well and come back later. Around this point, start upgrading your armor bases. The difference between low-level and current gear is massive.
In the bone pits, you're looking for a relic that only drops from hyenas. If you reach the end without finding it, go back and check any packs you may have missed. Avoid resetting a checkpoint, though. The relic spawns on a random monster, so you may end up having to clear the entire zone again. To reach the boss, just follow the direction of the entrance. At this point, drop frost bomb. Level one doesn't work on monsters at this level. For the fight, position to the side, throw two gas grenades and one explosive grenade, then dodge roll behind the caster. This lets you hit both bosses with your full damage.
Head back to town, pick up your support gem, and move on to Kith. The league mechanic here rewards a gem cutters prism. If you find it, save it for cluster grenades at level 52. There are two more rewards you'll want to pick up. You'll get two passive points from Cabala. There's also a guaranteed amulet in this room. For the plus one charm relic, make sure you're killing snakes here and in the next area. They're the only mobs that drop it.
In the lost city, you can get a jewel from this giant beetle, but I usually skip it and go straight to buried shrines. There's a guaranteed lesser jewels orb from the league mechanic here. If you don't find it naturally, go out of your way to pick it up. At the elemental offering, you'll get a resistance ring and a matching rune. Take whichever resistance you're lowest on, or just go with lightning if you're unsure. After that, kill the boss. Once he's down, don't wait around for the loot. Instead, go straight to the water goddess and start the essence of water animation. Then run back, grab your loot, and return to pick up the essence before heading to town.
Pick up your support gem before we make our attack on the titans. Before moving on, use your lesser jewels orb to add magnified area to explosive grenade. Your goal here is to activate the three seals at level 23 and place your relics for the passive bonus. Grab the titan grotto checkpoint near the start. If you're behind on XP, this is a great place to do the abyss. You can get almost a full level from it. Set up your relics to get plus one charm and increased charge generation. And once you're ready, activate the three seals, then checkpoint back to the Titan Grotto entrance. There are guaranteed runes in this zone, but only grab them if they're along your path. Otherwise, head straight to the boss. For this fight, be careful with your grenade placement. If you throw them too far, they'll fall off the arena and won't hit him. The further your cursor is from your character, the further your grenades will be thrown. Once he's down, head back to town.
Pick up your support gym and the horn. Sound the horn, then navigate to Dara. Before leaving, make sure your flasks are up to date. You should have giant flasks available by now. Early on, there's a guaranteed artifice orb along either the left or right wall. You can also get a guaranteed barrier from the watchful twins, which lets you run your second matrial. If you don't need your first ascension, feel free to skip it. You want to be around level 24 and a half before leaving. If you're behind, take some time to farm. Once you reach level 22 and have enough intelligent, you can use ferocious roar. This is purely for boss minmaxing. Use it to generate max rage. It's helpful, but definitely not required. Don't forget to pick up the letter. We'll exchange it in town later for two passive points.
On the way to Spies of Dash, you can use pounce to leap over broken bridges and save some time. Or you can do this. Here's how it's supposed to look. Pick up your permanent 10% lightning resist buff from the sisters of Gokan. And make sure you're level 26 before fighting Togle. Your damage might feel a bit low here if you got unlucky with your varnish crossbow. That's completely normal. We haven't upgraded our weapon in a while. Just make sure your support and skill gems are up to date.
After returning to town, exchange the letter with Shamron for two passive points. Then head to the dreadnaugh. This area and the next are pretty dangerous, so take it slow. Try to be at least level 28 and a half before Jamandra. If you need to reset the zone and farm some XP. Once you're ready, it's time to take on the final boss of Act 2. If you're struggling, make sure you have armor and or life on your gear. In the second phase, stay close and time your dodge rolls with his slam and slash attacks. Dodging can be quite difficult, but with decent gear, you can usually just tank it.
Back in town, talk to the hooded one. After going through his dialogue, log out log in to return to the caravan. Then talk to Asala to move on to act three. If you come across Rootridge, make sure to kill him for a level 9 skill gym. Before heading to town, we want to be at least level 29. Early act 3 XP is pretty rough, so farm up if you're behind.
The league mechanic rewards a tier three subordium, which we use on deliberation. You'll also get a lesser jewel absorb from the chest at the Azac fire. Replace magnified area with deliberation on explosive grenade. Then move it over to gas grenade. In town, check Oswald for a bombard crossbow and any other gear upgrades. Then head out to the jungle ruins.
At this point, I've got some tier 2 support gym spear, so I cut stun one and put it in flash grenade. This helps us stun bosses more reliably, making it much easier to land our grenades. If you want to see the full skill gem setup in passive tree, check out the build guide linked in the description. There's a few things to pick up in the jungle. Kill the monkey for the extra passive points. You can also pick up guaranteed rear gloves from this chest next to the NPC. The league mechanic rewards an orb of alchemy. Definitely grab it if you're struggling with currency for your bombard. If you come across the jungle grave, click on the ravaged corpse to summon Servy and grab a free rare belt before heading in to the venom crypts. Pick up the corpse snake venom and return it to Servy for a passive reward. They usually take stun threshold. And as always, check Venice for upgrades, especially a good bombard crossbow before heading to the infested baronss.
Pick up the waypoint, then make your way through the zone. If you need a bit of extra XP, you can dip into this cave for some extra mobs. When you hit level 31, upgrade your gems to level 9 and start using all grenade for bosses. You'll also find guaranteed rare boots in this chest next to the NPC. From here, make your way to the Azac bog. The flame skin ritual here is an incredible source of XP. I've put a timer in the top left, and I'll play some of this out in real time so you can see exactly how it works. I've cut out the load screens, but the timer is running the entire time. The strategy is simple. Clear most of the mobs, respawn at checkpoint, and repeat. Your grenade cooldowns reset when you respawn, which makes this amazing for grenades. This works so well because of the density and the high number of magic and rare monsters, which gives significantly more exp. Starting from level 31 and a half, I gain a full level in under 2 minutes and hit level 33 and 1/2 in just three.
Once you're done farming, move on to the boss. Drops a ghastly spear and a gym rot skull. Trade the spear to serve for a charm. I recommend thoring or staunching. If you don't think you'll be able to sell your weapon to other players, salvage it to get back your wet stones. Once you're done, head back through the infested baronss and in to the chime wetlands. You can find the trial of chaos here, but I usually skip it. There are also a couple of guaranteed rewards in the zone. an amulet and a chest with a random rare item, but they're not very important. I only grab them if I happen to run past.
At this point, start using oil grenade before your regular combo on bosses and reapply it as it expires. Moving on to Jucani's mechanium. Start by picking up a soul core so you can progress to the next part of the zone. From there, follow the main corridor, only leaving it to grab soul cores or to find black draw. You can use pounce to move through the blockages. When you have a spirit available, engrave herald of ash and enable it. It just gives a little bit of extra help with clear. Make sure to pick up your permanent 10% fire resist buff from black draw before moving on to Juwani Sanctum.
Start by running in one direction until you find the checkpoint. Then checkpoint back to the start and go the other way. If you're missing soul cores, you can scout using checkpoint resets, but I usually just clear toward the center since that's where they tend to be. Once you've placed the second soul core, respawn at checkpoint and return to the start to fight the boss. I made a small mistake here and forgot to reset, so I ended up doing it at the boss. This fight is pretty much a joke. He's so large that your grenades overlap easily, letting you deal huge damage. Once he's down, pick up the large soul core and take it back to the infested barren. From there, make your way into the Matlin waterways. There's not much to mention here. Just pull the levers and move through the area. At the end, you can place a portal before pulling the final lever to save a few seconds. As the interaction finishes, just spam click the portal.
Back in town, head down the stairs and talk to Alberta to enter the Drowned City. Pick up the waypoint before continuing through the zone. We'll need it later. I believe this is the first area where regular essences can start appearing. If you've had terrible luck and still don't have a good bombard, keep an eye out for an essence of abrasion, flames, electricity, or ice. Any of these can craft a strong crossbow if you find a good magic base. There's two zones connected here, the Molten Vault and the Apex of Filth. Start with the Molten Vault to unlock the Reforging Bench. This is a super simple, mostly linear area. The only notable feature is the league mechanic, which rewards a unique item. Make your way to the boss. You should be able to absolutely obliterate him. Afterward, return to town and talk to Oswald to unlock the reforging bench. Then head back to the drown city and proceed to the apex of filth. The only thing I have to mention about this zone is how empty it is. Just make your way to the boss. If you come across any mushroom quest items or Cauldron Keeper, just ignore them. The boss can be a little tricky. Her most dangerous attack is the rolling slam. You'll need to react and dodge roll as she lands. That said, with your bombard online, this and most upcoming bosses should be trivial until the end of the interludes. After the fight, pick up the quest item and use the checkpoint to return to the waypoint. From there, go back to the drown city and enter town. You'll arrive right at the entrance to the temple of Copic.
My gloves haven't been upgraded in a while, and I've got a bunch of gold, so I decide to do some gambling. And these gloves here are exactly what I'm looking for. Double flat and armor applies to elemental damage. A lot of players think the stairs to the second floor are a random one in three, but that's not the case. There's a 50% chance they're in the far corner. Head straight out past the central sun and check that corner first. If they're not there, reset and check the others. On the second floor, the exit is always on the blocked side. Look at the cracks in the ground. One will run from the central sun all the way to the wall. Bounce across it and continue to the corner to find the stairs. From there, kill the boss. Summon Elva and start her dialogue. As soon as she says offering, you can portal out and offering.
While waiting for the gateway to appear, take some time to vendor items and prepare. The next few areas are much more dangerous, so make sure your gear is up to date. In this zone and the next, you'll need to kill every Goliath you see. They're the only enemies that drop the sacrificial heart. As you clear them, make your way toward Viper. This boss can be tricky, especially with grenades. Use flash grenades to stun her and create safe damage windows. I would show you guys how to do the stab phase, but I deal too much damage, so I'll just explain it instead. During the stab phase, avoid the attacks with dodge rolls. Even if you think you won't get hit, it's better to dodge. This helps you keep your timing consistent.
After the fight, you'll get a tier three support gem. If you don't already have deliberation on both explosive and gas grenade, set that up here. And once you're done, continue forward into Agarat. Make your way quickly to the second half of the area where you'll be able to find the sacrificial altar for two passive points. Could be wrong about this, but I'm pretty sure in this zone the sacrificial heart only drops from Goliath in the second half. So, if you still don't have it, stay there until it drops. After getting your passive point, respawn at checkpoint and continue to the final zone of the act, the black chambers.
When you reach Doriani, here's the ideal opener. Start with oil grenade, then gas and explosive, timing the explosion to land after he spawns. Use flash grenade to stun him, then follow up with more gas and explosive grenades. If done correctly, you'll get him to 50% HP before he summons his lasers, saving around 15 to 20 seconds. If you didn't get the skip, just focus on avoiding the lasers. Phase two is very straightforward. Run in circles around him using your combo and he should go down quickly. There is no escape. I expect it.
After the fight, portal back to town, talk to Doriani and Alva, and proceed to act four. We made it.
Now heading into our first couple of islands, Kage Bay and Journeys End. From Kidge Bay, head straight to Juny's End. You'll find Captain Hutland to get his quest item, Verissium. Once you have it, TP back to town and exchange it with Danig for Verissium spikes. Then waypoint back to Journey's End and start the Delarium. Clear the monsters and kill Omnifobia for two passive points along with some Delarium currency. We'll be saving that for later when we get a new amulet from the Singing Caverns. Once you're done, return to ship and sail to the aisle of kin.
Along the outer walls, you can find a fossilized formation that contains a lesser jewel. Keep an eye out for it. You can also pick up a greater rune from the blind beast, which is a nice damage boost for your crossbow. Volcanic Warren has one of the best optional rewards in the entire campaign. You'll find two bosses here, a fire and a lightning golem. And whichever one you kill last determines the ring you get. Kill the fire golem last for a ruby ring or the lightning golem last for a topaz ring. Both come with quality and usually roll very strong modifiers, making them extremely powerful for this point in the game. Definitely don't skip them. After that, kill Crew. Then return to ship and sail to Fakapanu Island. Time.
You'll probably run into the shark bit. Just skip it. The reward isn't worth your time. Just focus on getting to the singing caverns as quickly as possible. You're looking for the beckoning clam. It drops a humming pearl which you can trade to rogue for an all re am em amulet at the boss. There's an absolutely diabolical cheese you can do. Normally at around 60% HP she dives underwater and starts an insanely long ant phase, but if you stand in just the right spot, you can do this. The exact position changes depending on the arena layout, so it's probably not worth your time learning it. But if you do get it done, it saves a ton of time. After that little bit of cheese, return to ship and head to abandoned prison.
Find the chapel key from one of the necromancers. Then open the gate and choose your reward. You'll have the option between mana or life recovery from flasks. I recommend taking life. There's not much else here, so just make your way to the next zone. Hug the wall next to the ocean. This prevents you from running into long dead ends. You can also use pounce to move through the barred walls. At the boss, stand next to a ballista, spam your grenade combo, and activate it whenever prompted.
Once he's down, return to town. Pick up your amulet from Rag, your greater storm room from Danig, and instill back in action using red, pink, and yellow delirium currency. Then set sail to the island of the birds. One trick you can use here is to skip the shrine at first and go straight to the boss. After that checkpoint back, grab the shrine and take it into the fight. If you get a damage shrine, this lets you deal a huge amount of damage. I didn't get one here, but I'm showing it so you can see how it works. Once you're done, talk to the NPC to unlock the eye of Hinagora. Then return to ship and head over.
After defeating the warriors of Namahu, Tafoa, and Tasal Leo, you'll come across a well. Interact with it to gain 5% maximum mana. Then respawn a checkpoint and continue to the halls of the dead. You'll come across several totems that spawn waves of monsters. After clearing them, they drop tattoos. You can use these for plus five resists or plus five attributes. I recommend resists. At the end, you'll find Yama the White. defeat him to get a silver coin which you can exchange with Navali in the next zone for two passive points. And that marks the last island before we move onto the final part of the act.
Return to ship and set sail to Arasus. Talk to the NPC, head inside, then go back out and wait for the cutscene. To break the barrier, just hit the bubble with crossbow until it's destroyed. Make sure to kill all the monsters here. Otherwise, resetting a checkpoint can bug out and send you back, wasting a lot of time. Don't forget to pick up the bells, one gives three exalts and the other gives three regals.
For Tovian, when he picks up a rock, stand next to one of the priests that are buffing him. If he hits a priest, it removes the buff. The priests on the left and right are the most important to deal with. Once he's down, move on to the excavation. Just like in Strike Island, we can use the shrine trick here.
When you reach the boss, enter the arena, then respawn at checkpoint to skip his long dialogue. If you get a damage shrine, go back, grab it, then return and start the fight. At 50% HP, he becomes immune and drops rocks on both sides of the arena. While that's happening, prepare your grenades so you can burst him as soon as he becomes vulnerable again. After going through some of the lore, when you see speak to the hooded one at the bottom of your screen, respawn at checkpoint and portal back to town. From there, set sail to Nanu.
The League mechanic here rewards a greater jewel orb. Pick it up and save it for cluster grenades at level 52. As you move through, hug the right wall to find the heart of the tribe. The only objective here is to kill Taravakai. Before he spawns, prep your grenades. oil, gas, then explosive timed so the explosion lands as he becomes hitable. Keep your distance to avoid his slam and use flash grenades to help stun him. In the second phase, the easiest approach is to position in the corner, then dodge roll out and back in as he fires spikes into the air. From there, you can hold that position and keep throwing grenades until the next phase. You can do something similar in the final phase, but it's a bit riskier. If you land a flash grenade and follow up with your combo, you can usually stun him and finish the fight right there. Once he's down, return to town and make your way to interlude 2.
For the interludes, I'm not entirely sure what the optimal order is. I usually start with Interlude 2 since it feels like the hardest. Doing it first means the zones are lower level, which makes it easier overall. Start by hitting right and killing the two bosses. Once they're down, portal back to town and grab your two passive points from Risu. Take the top right entrance and head straight north. If you hit a wall without seeing the objective, go left. That's where you'll find the 5% maximum life passive. Pick it up, then respawn at checkpoint. From there, hug the wall to the left. Grab the Golai gates waypoint and head to the pools of Catal and then to the Salari Sanctuary. As you clear through the area, you'll find two barriers. Place them in the two pedestals along the outer wall to choose one of four amulets and one of four rings. After that, kill Alzer to get a level 60 barrier, which you'll use for your third ascendancy. Once you're done, talk to Asala, return to town, and waypoint back to the Golai Gates.
Early in the interlude, you'll hit level 52. This is a huge power spike. Equip cluster grenades with cooldown recovery 2 and multi-shot 2. Then use your greater jewel orb and add short fuse one along with either fire atunement or deliberation depending on your gear. For clear, just throw your cluster grenades and keep moving. Mobs will die behind you as they detonate.
In KA, pour some water and grab your passive. I usually take all resists. Then enter the KA reservoir. You'll often come across vials here. You can use them on the wells for random high tier currency like exalts or chaos. But our main goal here is to kill Asmardi. Then move on to Mount Cryar. After getting past Ashen Forest in Cryar Village, you'll reach Lethara. This fight is very similar to Viper and can be quite rough. Try to stun her when she's on half HP. You can usually finish the fight during that window. She'll drop a gym crossed skull which gives 40 spirit and a tier 14 spirit gym. Enter glacial tan and hug the right wall to reach the howling caves. Pick up the tusks from the abominable yeti. Return to town and give them to Hilda for two passive points. Continue through the interlude taking down Rakar and Stormgore until you reach Zelina and Zolin. For this fight, focus on killing Zelena first. Zelena's claw attack applies bleed and can deal a lot of damage. So, if you have a staunching charm, make sure you equip it here. Once they're down, return to town and talk to the hooded one to head into the final interlude.
Grab the checkpoint next to the darkness. Then kill the two bosses to unlock the path to the stones of Surirly. Click all six stones. Then head to the center to fight Siora. She moves around a lot, so use flash grenade to keep her stunned. Once she's down, wait for Oona. Finish her dialogue. Wait for the quest state to trigger. Then enter Scorched Farmlands. checkpoint back to the darkness and enter the Blackwood. You'll find chests here that drop omens, but they're not very useful, so I just ignore them. Head left to reach Holton. In the center, you'll find the Soul of the Furyman, who sells various greater runes. Pick these up so you have runes ready for your gear and your next weapon upgrade. Then, continue on to Wolven Hold. Here you'll fight Oswin for two passive points. Once he's down, checkpoint back to Holton and make your way to the final zone, Holton Estate. To reach the boss, loop around to get to the stairs on the left. On the second floor, follow a similar path to reach the final encounter. Start by taking out Lady Ellsworth, then clean up the rest of the fight. Once that's done, return to town. Talk to Renley. Waypoints to act four. Pick up your passive points from the hooded one and travel to Oreath. After talking to Elva, you're ready to start your first map.
And there we have it. That's how you get to maps in less than 4 hours with decent resists and damage to start mapping. This guide took a ton of time to put together. weeks of work, over 30 pages of notes, and dozens of iterations and revisions. So, I hope you guys found it useful.