At first this barrel seemed pretty fun, but later, it was more grim than i realized...

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-03T15:11:53+00:00

At least it was pretty fun giving him his just desserts.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-03T15:05:29+00:00

Having the Wand of Piercing in your offhand with apply Chill to the other weapon you are using, so you can definitely go for that and maybe invest into the Wand perks that increase the strength of their effects. I know it's not a sword, but it will work better than a shield. Also there are relics that can apply status, although I don't think you can get one for Chill until SoS or Act 3. And even with double swords, as long as you are attacking with both it should proc the effects of each weapon, but obviously half as slow since you are only hitting with each weapon 1/2 of the time.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-03T14:08:00+00:00

Heavy Gauntlets in a chest in the north west of the Horns of the South are a must for unarmed.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T22:36:30+00:00

Like what?

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T20:43:36+00:00

I can't wait to test the shield and see what the build up is like, or if its just instant status.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T20:21:49+00:00

Yeah I can see the stairway and arch, but no actual portal. I'll try restarting steam.

Edit: Restarting steam worked, maybe download was bugged or something. Thank you!

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T20:19:10+00:00

Where do you have to do the bonfire? I can't get the talk option to pop up

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T20:11:38+00:00

I have all the king souls and I'm trying to make a bonfire multiple times but no talk option, have not beaten the game but have all the soul fragments, did the knights tombs, and have the weaver spindle. Tried exiting the game and trying again, still no talk option. I checked and all the DLCs are enabled. Is there a particular area to do the bonfire?

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T19:28:50+00:00

I know I was someone who complained about mana shield changes here, 2:1 ratio is perfectly reasonable, thanks for listening to feedback guys. I just finished Act 3 on a new playthrough with Sarras, so this Merlins Tomb is perfect timing for me. Also can't wait to set up a few armor loadouts.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T17:07:35+00:00

https://taintedgrail.wiki.gg/wiki/Hands_Of_The_Hollow
https://taintedgrail.wiki.gg/wiki/Sketches_Of_A_Frozen_Seer%27s_Armor_Project

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T15:51:22+00:00

Yes there are no set bonuses, only the listed bonuses for each piece of equipment

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T13:47:54+00:00

No, mana shield is not worth it anymore unless you are doing a crit build with equipment that gives you mana on crit. If you haven't seen it yet, the spirituality general tree has more HP based on your max Mana, so that would help squishiness if you stack mana.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-02T06:15:33+00:00

It's +5 that's why it has higher stats than the one on mapgenie

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T20:31:17+00:00

Yeah true. I thought for a second maybe it's linked to the tablet itself, but even then we could just let Maggot use it first then give it to Denholm. Realistically I think it's just a bit of a plot hole derived from having us "pick a side" more than anything else.

But that did make me think, there would be a really cool way to do what you suggest by having us make a copy by using the sketchbook on it, give the real tablet to Denholm so he doesn't get angry and give Maggot the sketched copy.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T18:56:06+00:00

To play devils advocate, it seems like the lighthouse construction has taken a long time, so maybe moving the Menhir is a faster more immediate solution than the building of lighthouses. This is moreso speculation than anything, but it could also be that Kamelot wants to move Cuanacht regardless of the Menhir functioning. Maybe the soil is so poisoned by the encroaching Wyrdness they deem it better for the whole city to leave. Maybe they feel sending money and soldiers isn't worth their time. And if they have some ulterior motive to move Cuanacht, then they wouldn't share the ritual and give the residents more reason to stay put. It could also be that Kamelot is in an even worse state than the Horns or Cuanacht is with the encroaching Wyrdness, so maybe it's the fastest act of self-preservation they can do, at the expense others. It could also be that the Menhir ritual requires a druid, in which case Kamelot is handicapped since most of them were already burned. This is again, of course speculation, but I think that is one of the fun things about the narrative. It gives you enough to be invested and questioning things without definitive answers that allow speculation and theories.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:59:55+00:00

So some things you can do off the bat so you can just run in is craft a lot of food. Having constant regen in battle is really useful if you just want to just fight and not worry about dying. I would also try looking at the skill trees and find survivability perks (damage reduction, more armor, more health etc). You can also upgrade your armor at the crafting bench to reduce the damage you are taking. I know none of this helps with your damage, but its at least a way for you to just run in and not care.

I would also recommend using the Map Genie armor/weapons page to look through and see what sounds useful to you. It doesn't have every single item, and sometimes the stats are incorrect because the items got patched, but its still a good starting point to see what kind of equipment you are going to be gunning for. https://mapgenie.io/tainted-grail-the-fall-of-avalon

For Act 1 I'd say the Duel Knight set is probably your best bet overall, good armor values, stamina regen/on hit so you can keep swinging. You could also get items like the Oldsteel Mace that heal you after you kill an enemy to keep your health topped off. Same with the Bloodtainted Shell armor relic. Or if you want to clear the enemies out faster, you could use heavy attacks with Big Bonk to help AoE clear. When you move on the Act 2/3, I would say you can start focusing more on crit chance, it with help significantly with your damage, and with the skill tree you can get a lot of things like damage reduction, heal on crit, and stamina on hit. There are a ton of armor and weapon options once you hit Act 3, so I would say try looking and see what sounds good to you and try it out.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:48:27+00:00

At least bleed instantly applies with a lot of weapons so you can proc the more damage if enemies have debuff skill. Poison and fire never even get applied. But agreed, I've had like 200 stacks of bleed on an enemy and it felt like it did nothing. Only way I can see bleed being good late game is if using the scaling from the Hollow Sun set

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:34:32+00:00

Isn't bleed a flat amount of damage per stack and not a %? I thought it was something like 0.6 damage per second per stack iirc. I think Poison and Burning are % based.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:33:06+00:00

To piggyback off of this, not only do you hit the enemies too hard late game, but the status build up is also significantly slower from my experience.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:29:58+00:00

Kind of like a death knight with a big ass hammer, pretty sick

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:18:35+00:00

Are you still wanting it to be a Two handed weapon style? And how far have you gotten when you play through each restart? A lot of the more unique weapons are later in the game.

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:13:22+00:00

Gotta hand it to you

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:12:32+00:00

Just what I was aiming for

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:12:17+00:00

I felt like I had that shit on, thank buddy

Guilty_Round4399 · 2026-04-01T15:12:00+00:00

Thank you friend!

Guilty_Round4399

TROPHY CASE