Choose Your Weapon and Amber Core
Pair the Rapier with Duellist's Focus and Dominatus for parries, the Claymore with Glass Soldier and Butcher's Carnage for aggressive melee, or firearms with Lucky Shot and Sleight of Hand. For Fire or Stasis, combine Bottomless Well and Lunatic's Grasp, then choose Potent Concoction to retain healing flasks or Life Diverted to turn flasks into Nephtoglobin refills.
Match Your Skills to Your Equipment
| Option | Recommended Combination |
|---|---|
| Parry melee | Rapier, Duellist's Focus and Dominatus. Prioritize Parrying Impact, Critical Damage and Maximum Endurance. The wider parry window supports Posture breaks, while Critical Attacks provide healing. The Rapier cannot block properly. |
| Heavy melee | Claymore, Glass Soldier and Butcher's Carnage. Prioritize Maximum Health, Melee Damage and Melee Endurance Cost. Heavy hits and melee healing suit aggression, but you lose parrying and flask healing. |
| Firearms | Lucky Shot and Sleight of Hand, with the Pistol for Weak Points, Musket for range or Blunderbuss for close crowds. Prioritize Headshot Damage, Ammo Restock and Ammunition Drop Chance. Take Airborne Aiming for shots while jumping. |
| Transmutations | Fire or Stasis, Bottomless Well and Lunatic's Grasp, plus Potent Concoction or Life Diverted. Prioritize Nephtoglobin Sufferance, Nephtoglobin Extraction, Status Buildup and Transmutation Damage to support your resource pool, refills and casts. |
Equip and Improve Your Ambers
Open the Levelling menu at a Lantern and select an available Amber slot to equip a passive effect. Additional slots unlock as your character levels, and duplicate pickups improve ranked Ambers you already own. You can change equipped Ambers at a Lantern, so adjust your setup when a fight demands different strengths.
Find the Gear for Your Build
- Collect the story weapons. The Saber and Fire arrive at the start. Take the Rapier from the body blocking the village path from the Abandoned Church; collect Stasis after using the rotating walkway's crank at Caverns > Weeping Ledge.
- For firearms, take the Pistol from the train car during the bridge platforming section. At Fallen Village > Fields, defeat the large-sword Volunteer and check the carriage table for the Blunderbuss. At Vale of Wrath > Under the Bridge, defeat the dual-sword Volunteer, use the Wagon Key and collect the Musket inside.
- For the parry setup, return uphill from The Battlefield > Onslaught Arch, pass the camp and take the left fork. Shoot the wall's weak point, defeat the guardian and open the chest behind it for Duellist's Focus. Find Dominatus in the corner tent left of the uphill path at Valley of Ashes > Military Camp.
- Obtain the Claymore inside the church after shooting the weak spots beside its front entrance. For Glass Soldier, visit Fallen Village > Orchard, climb the building on the right of the boss area, break the boxes and drop behind it to the chest. Butcher's Carnage is awarded through In the Name of Art near Under the Bridge.
- Find Lucky Shot at Caverns > Last Sunlight by entering the hole with a visible tunnel in the enemy-filled cavern; follow it to the chest near a Grenadier. Complete An Unheard Farewell in the Valley of Ashes and return to the Adjutant for Sleight of Hand.
- For Bottomless Well, turn back from The Battlefield > Onslaught Arch, climb the cliffs across the branches and burn the gold vines on the left to reveal its chest. For Lunatic's Grasp, follow Caverns > Weeping Ledge until you drop among Carrion enemies; check the chest left of the gold vines.
- Find Potent Concoction at Valley of Ashes > Quarry: climb the wooden platforms, drop to the ledge and turn right toward the shortcut ladder. Burn the vines opposite it and check the chest near the enemies. For Life Diverted, follow City of Orphans > Shamble Street through the building and open the chest on the way out.
Put the Build Into Practice
- With the Rapier, time your defensive input as a parryable attack lands. Build Posture through parries and melee hits, then use the Critical Attack opening to trigger Dominatus healing.
- With the Claymore, wait for a clear opening before committing to a heavy attack. Use dodges and positioning around retaliation; the weapon cannot parry.
- Use firearm shots deliberately on exposed Weak Points and headshots. Against General Lothaire, Pistol shots into Weak Points help build stagger; finish the bar with melee attacks or parries.
- For Fire, apply Ignite and land melee hits between casts to replenish Nephtoglobin. For Stasis, fill the enemy's segments, collect expelled Remnants and attack once the target is fully frozen.
Upgrade the Equipment You Use
Upgrade blades and firearms at James's Iron Bench in the Abandoned Church, and Transmutations at Louis's Laboratoire. Explore for materials and buy missing supplies as merchant stock becomes available. Collect duplicate Ambers along the way to improve their ranked effects.
| Option | Materials to Reach Maximum Level |
|---|---|
| Melee weapon | Level 10: 6 Crude Blade Material, 6 Pure Blade Material, 3 Distilled Blade Material and 1 Quintessential Blade Material. |
| Firearm | Level 10: 6 Standard Firearm Parts, 6 Superior Firearm Parts, 3 Exquisite Firearm Parts and 1 Masterwork Firearm Parts. |
| Transmutation | Level 5: 2 Crude Transmutation Material, 2 Pure Transmutation Material, 2 Distilled Transmutation Material and 1 Quintessential Transmutation Material. |
For Masterwork Firearm Parts at University > Main Hall, return to the chandelier area and take the opposite poison hallway. Descend the elevator, pass through the lower library and enter the lecture hall with hanging bodies. Open the chest at the back beneath the balcony.
Watch Your Healing and Resource Tradeoffs
Glass Soldier increases melee damage while making you more vulnerable. Butcher's Carnage heals through melee attacks but stops Ferrofluid Flasks from healing. If that leaves you struggling to recover safely, replace Butcher's Carnage with Dominatus to keep your healing flasks.
Firearms depend on ammunition, and the Musket and Blunderbuss share special ammunition. Lucky Shot can preserve a round, while Ammo Restock improves supplies received at Lanterns. For Transmutations, remember that Lunatic's Grasp lowers your own status resistance, and Life Diverted replaces flask healing with Nephtoglobin restoration.