Note: this guide does not include everything (yet) but has a great deal of information to help you get started
Route Notes Any% Mixed Mage by Susan_Moonshadow (estimated best ~2:00): https://pastebin.com/0eQWX1WS Gem Mage by Aelond (a bit faster than MM) : https://pastebin.com/SCyufK7k
Any% DLC
100%
Misc
Things Race: choose the one with the most skills already in whatever you need for your route (more important at lower levels) Gender: no confirmed differences between m/f Gods: None (1% exp) is what we've mostly been using. Death (1% crit, 8% crit damage) may be useful for Varani or Dokkalfar
- Need 12 fate essence (4 per potion) for tirnoch. These can drop from any enemy you fateshift, or unique enemies you are forced to fateshift (like tutorial troll). Have seen up to 8 drop from a single champion
- Spacebar counts like clicking (or double clicking) whatever the mouse button was last hovering. Can make menuing quicker
- Tab scrolls to next school on abilities page (might->finesse->sorcery->might)
- '2' (xbox360 'x') advances to the next page during level ups, and can open the consumable menu when mapping to radial
- '3' (xbox360 'y') moves item from inventory to junk, opens the shop option at merchants, in shop sells all junk, switches between local/world views on map
- With almost any menu open you can press the inventory key to close out of the menu
- Rolling moves faster than running, but the animation at the end of rolls makes it slower, if you can skip this animation (interacting, entering water, etc), it's faster
- Blinking/Teleporting is a little slower than rolling but allows you to move through some small collision (enemies, ledges, doors after you start opening)
- Shrine buffs last for 5 minutes. You can (and probably should) acquire all of the in Ysa before doing any dungeons/fights
- Weapons equipped in your other (non active) slot still apply their buffs. Something like +20% damage vs tuatha (Kellerac's Sword) would apply to your other weapon too. Direct damage, like % to steal health, only apply to that weapon itself
- Aggro is slow to change, it takes a second after encountering enemies to start, and can stay on you after leaving the area (watch the red glow around minimap)
- See https://www.speedrun.com/koar/resources for blank maps if you want to draw/plan your own route
- Not KoAR related but https://github.com/joelnir/SplitNotes is a nice tool that shows you only the notes for your current split and updates automatically through the run
Fate Management
- only the very last hit of a weapon's basic combo earns fate, getting interupted or killing enemies too quickly makes this difficult
- additional weapon abilities that are combo attacks also only earn fate on the final hit (like the greatsword's spin, up, then down)
- certain story interactions give fate automatically. Including: the fate rock/codex in Dellach, the chimes required to enter Urul-Tusk
- some special enemies are automatically fateshifted when you kill them, so using manually may be a waste. These enemies could still drop fate essence. These enemies include: tutorial troll, Azghaal (tyrant in Urul-Tusk), Octienne, Balor.
- the higher class the enemy is, the higher the maximum fate essence you can find on them. Champions like Threshes and Tyrants can drop up to 8, mediums like niskaru, ettins, leanashes can drop up to 5, and smaller enemies may drop up to 2.
- some enemies cannot be fateshifted at all and will die outright while in reckoning mode. Ignore: brownies, venomspitters, rats and passive wildlife
Destinies Wayfarer - 4/4/4 - Gives 1pt to all skills, 10% all damage, and -25% equipment requirements (it's really good) Seer - 0/0/28 - blink, 35% elemental, 13% mana cost reduction, +1m/s Arcanist - 0/14/14 - blink, 22% elemental, 10% pierce, 5% crit, guaranteed crit vs panic Battlemage - 14/0/14 - blink, 30% dam received as mana, 17% elemental resist, 10% melee
Skills Alchemy - 5pts to craft fate potions Blacksmithing - 4pts allows crafting with 4 components Detect Hidden - 5pts to use secret doors Dispelling - 3pts for House of Ballads quest when done at level 5 (more at high levels) Lockpicking - Not required? Mercantile - Usually higher is better since not much money is guaranteed Persuasion - Not required? can make Elund's ring easier to get (good money) Sagecraft - 3pts to obtain Kellerac's Sword Stealth - Not required?
Abilities Storm Bolt (lightning) - mediumish mana cost, medium damage, good for stun (chance) and finishing hits Mark of Flame - low/high mana cost, cast is good for quick interupt, great for killing large groups, DOES NOT EARN FATE Ice Barrage - high mana cost, inaccurate (be close and use on large targets), good for fate and niskaru tyrants Conservative Casting - doesn't change cost number on abilities page Sphere of Protection - 30% mana reserved, not worth it Healing Surge - high mana cost, slow animation, just use potions Summon Faer Gorta - high mana cost, just why (NPC messing around?) Elemental Rage - high/high/high mana cost, slow to animate
Harpoon - low mana cost, interrupt small enemies, pull towards large enemies, great for melee weapons, earns fate Quake - low/low/low mana cost, always felt weak and slow Relentless Assault - medium mana cost, likely low armor so no real downside, very useful with might builds Battle Frenzy - 30% mana reserved, better for for fighting large groups or sequential fights
Shadow Flare - medium/medium mana cost, great for fate, piercing and bleed damage are very good, somewhat short range Smoke Bomb - high mana cost, very usefu for removing Aggro (can interact, fast travel, skip some gadflow conversations) Envenomed Edge - 25% mana reserved, only applies to weapons with inate pierce damage, chance of decent DOT Frost Trap - medium mana cost, slow to place and bait enemies into (NPC messing around?) Lunge - high mana cost, earns fate, useful to get behind shielded enemies Blade Honing - 15% mana reserved, only applies to piercing weapons (not bow), great if high crit chance
Twists of Fate Unwritten One - 3% exp, 5% gold - Give fae king in Ysa the tablet from Dellach Unraveller - 5% exp - Kill Octienne and finish quest Siege Breaker - 4% exp, 6% damage - Kill Balor and finish quest Unstoppable Force - 6% physical, 7% gold - Kill Dren and finish House of Pride Destiny Defiant - 5% damage, 5% damage resist, 10% health, 10% mana - Kill Tirnoch and continue playing Fearless - 1 sorcery, 5% elemental - mage questline, in archsage's mind (top convo) Discipline - 1 sorcery, 5% elemental resistance - mage questline, in archsage's mind (bottom convo) The Chariot - 1 finesse, 6% pierce - travellers questline, go left when it tells you to choose (frame queen) Temperance - 1 finesse, 6% evade - travellers questline, go right when it tells you to choose (frame grim) Forsworn - 1 might, 10% physical, 5% fire - Accept niskaru's blessing instead of warsworn (finishing questline?) Iconoclast - 10% faeblades, 6% mana, 3% 5 health steal - Finish House of Ballads Child of Autumn - 5% elemental, 5% vs fae - Finish House of Sorrows
Money (maximum sell value AKA 10 merc, best merchants) Dirge's Dancing Shoes - 56,211 - east of Didenhil, swim then jump down, loot bedroll (slow) Kellerac's Sword - 35,985 - pulled from stone after destroying gem (unsure if true sword with gem [needs 42 might] has higher value) Nyralem's Grace - 9,467 - Persuasion on tree after Haxhi Dam/Gnarsh quest - 9,300 - High Kinga in Ysa after Dellach Solstice (chakrams) - 21,346 - In the final room of Urul Tusk, right chest quest - 11300 - After Tilera gets the piercing lightning Elund's Ring - 47,089 - Persuasion on Elund, after Urul Tusk before Mel Senshir quest - 13,300 - After killing gnomes in Adessa quest - 13,300 - After killing Balor, talk to dude, also gives 1 or 2 random equipment based on conversation choice (Tilera running, bottom, gives 2) Cydan's Faeblades - 49,703 - Talking to the fae in Foe's Hearth after destroying crystals (Klurikon) quest - 22,300 - with Cydan's Faeblades Soul Lens (magic shield) - 38,753 - Talking to gnome after Dannestar Tower quest - 20,300 - with Soul Lens
Equipment (some decent things we've found, 10 merc) Helmgard (out of the way but they have many good things, not all listed here)
- Dilettante's Chakrams of the Perfectionist - 35,819 - 25+25/36, -15% requirements, +12%fire/ice/lightning, +1 sorcery
- Archmagus Chakrams of the Avalanche - 32,051 - 25+25/25, +2 sorcery, 15% ice
- Archmagus Chakrams of the Wildfire - 31,266 - 33/25, +2 sorcery, 15% fire Emaire, Blue Bear Tavern
- Noble's Band of Growth - 34,410 - 60 health, 6% experience Mel Aglir, Kandrian Goods
- Archmagus Chakrams of the Avalanche - 133,069 - 31+31/31, +2 sorcery, 15% ice
- Archmagus Staff of the Avalanche - 94,851 - 63/27, +2 sorcery, 15% ice Rathir, Gwalchmai's Goods, left merchant
- Archmagus Chakrams of the Avalanche - 133,069 - 31+31/31, +2 sorcery, 15% ice Mel Senshir, left merchant
- Electrifying Daggers of Precision - 64,611 - 35/35+30/15, 7% crit
- Electrifying Longbow - 34,692 - 73/33+30/15 Odi's Camp
- Spy's Ring - 70,030 - +2 finesse
Glitches?
- You can upgrade skills beyond their level limit by clicking on the skill name instead of the bar, this does not go past the maximum of 10
- If you navigate the menu to the Skills screen, while you have a level up, you can allocate points and later remove them. This is only visual though and does not actually add the skills to you until you level up.
- When crafting equipment with +% damage effects they compound together instead of simply adding as the numbers suggest. The blacksmith in Didenhil sells (2 each) damaging grips and bindings that are 10% damage each. The merchant in Camp Moondown (Alabastra) sells (2) greater damaging bindings for 19%. Finesse class armors allow you to have the most of these components at once. In two trips to the didenhil merchant you can craft leather head, gloves, legs, boots and shield for a total of 8 +10% damage components. 1.1^8 is 114% more damage although the pieces display 80%. Additionally you could craft a greatsword, hammer, sceptre, or chakram for another 2 components each In DLC routes you also have access to the House of Valor where you can buy (4 each) improved damaging grips and bindings for 14% damage increase.
- During the first phase of the Dren fight (assuming you've done Dannestar) you both have near invulnerability. You can still hurt Dren in this phase with any vampire/health leech damage. If you kill Dren in this way, you still have the near invulnerability on yourself and can keep it for the rest of the game.
- Shield Rolling, if you hold block while rolling/blinking (1st), the instant that the shield appears in your hand you can roll/blink again. This is slightly faster than allowing the end of roll/blink animation to play, and much faster than the end of the 2nd roll/blink
No Effect We have tested and confirmed that these things do not apply their buffs at all
- Noxious Armor (bought from right merchant in Pride of Pryderi in Rathir)
- Duelist, Gladiator, and Warlord modifiers. (Scorching Hammer of the Gladiator from Mel Senshir, left merchant. Cavalier's Hood of the Warlord, Helmgard Keep)
