Avowed 100% guide

Avowed has 50 achievements worth 1,000G on its shared Xbox Series X|S and Windows Xbox Play Anywhere list. All 50 are single-player and can be earned offline; there are no co-op, multiplayer, server, or population requirements. The Anniversary Update (Patch 2.0, February 2026) added New Game+, custom difficulty options, and other features but did not add any achievements, and Patch 2.1 (March 2026) did not change the list either.

As verified on 2026-10-09, there are no CURRENTLY CONFIRMED UNOBTAINABLE or CURRENTLY CONFIRMED DISCONTINUED achievements. PATCHED / NO LONGER A CURRENT ISSUE: The Finer Things in Battle, Pentiment, Cooking By The Book, and Now Riposte! all had tracking problems that are fixed on the current version.

Use two practical playthroughs:

• Run 1: play on Story Time, Easy, or Normal. Do the full exploration route, every side quest, every collectible category, every missable, and the Steel Garrote ending. Strategic save reloads cover Fior Extinguisher and Allochory without sacrificing the main Tyranny route.
• Run 2: use New Game+ and rush the main story on the stock Path of the Damned difficulty for A Test of Your Reflexes. Do not enable custom difficulty modifiers on this run because the Anniversary Update explicitly makes those modifiers invalidate the Path of the Damned achievement.

A one-playthrough completion is technically possible by doing everything on Path of the Damned and using the same save branches, but it adds unnecessary difficulty to a long collectible run. The two-run route is safer and faster in practice.

The hard point of no return is entering The Garden near the end of Our Dreams Divide Us Still. The game warns you with a pop-up; once you commit, you cannot return to the four main regions, and the completed ending does not provide a normal post-game free-roam state. Make a manual preventative save before entering The Garden and finish the entire four-region checklist first. There is also an earlier, unannounced lock in Emerald Stair: finishing the Naku Tedek underground sequence of Ancient Soil (touching the Adra pillar at the bottom and leaving) fails several Emerald Stair quests and bounties and, on this guide's route, closes Fior mes Ivèrno permanently. Simply entering Naku Tedek is safe.

Important missables to protect are Hawkeye in Fort Northreach; Historian and Get in the Statue, Envoy inside the Eothasian Temple; Retirement Plan and the Revenant Bell Collar during The Animancy Method; Fior Extinguisher versus the Tyranny route in Emerald Stair; Dream Fungi Rotation, Reverse Card, and That Sign Can't Stop Me Because I Can't Read in Shatterscarp; the four companion moments in The Garden; and the final Sapadal and Steel Garrote decisions.

Tyranny is not tracked by any in-game meter. It depends on a chain of Steel Garrote-aligned decisions spread across all four regions and the finale, and missing one can get you executed at the final kneel instead of knighted. Treat every Tyranny instruction in this guide as required, and keep the manual saves the guide asks for so a wrong decision can be reloaded. The conversation with Lodwyn at the Mt. Forja summit doubles as a mid-run check on your record.

Before you start, turn on Settings > UI > Compass - God Shrine Totem Pieces. It is off by default and marks nearby uncollected totem pieces on your compass.

For regional exploration, use this rule throughout Run 1: finish all available side quests, bounties, treasure-map rewards, totem pieces, caches, memories, Strangled Adra, camps, beacons, and optional dungeons before leaving each region. Several quests and locations change state after main-story advances, so the guide places the cleanup windows before those changes rather than relying on late backtracking. Two totem pieces are the exception: the Effigy Necklace and the Hunter's Arrows of Seeking are picked up inside main-quest sequences, and the guide calls them out at those points.

Play the tutorial normally until you climb from the beach into Fort Northreach. This is your only practical chance to grab the hidden-room achievement, so do it before continuing through the fort.

Kai joins at the beginning of Message From Afar. From now on, interact with every Party Camp you pass, talk to companions after major quests, and use dialogue tags deliberately. Several achievements count choices made over the same active playthrough, so progress them naturally instead of leaving all of them for the end. Counters progress per playthrough and save lineage; progress on one character does not carry into a separate new game.

Once Paradis opens up, start the region-wide work while the map is stable. Dawnshore has 12 side quests for Pentiment; several start quietly, so use this list as your discovery checklist:

• Cabin Fever: talk to Dehengen (Dehengen's Cottage beacon).
• Mapping the Living Lands: Dawnshore: talk to Sanza on the road just north of Claviger's Landing. It is easy to walk past, and the later regional Mapping quests chain from it.
• Totem of Rightful Rulership: starts when you pick up any Dawnshore totem piece.
• Armor Fit for the Wilds: starts when you find a piece of armor after On Strange Shores; upgrade armor at a workbench.
• Escape Plan: Remei Gardiola northeast of Liviana's Clinic in Paradis, or Leoflaed upstairs in the shantytown south of the city.
• Lost Suoles: Miteno in front of the tavern in Paradis.
• Dawntreader: Ofryc outside the Aedyran Embassy, or Secgwin and Kauia at the Eothasian Temple entrance. Finish it before leaving Dawnshore.
• A Lady Never Tells: Giuliana or the Concerned Courtesan in the northeast corner of Paradis.
• Precious Light: Captain Trevik on Castol's Folly southeast of Paradis, or Sapiento de Falva in the Market District.
• The Call of the Past: starts on its own after you rest at a Party Camp a few times; listen to the Voice's memory through to the end.
• The Finer Things in Battle: starts automatically after you defeat Thalla the Taskmaster during An Untimely End; equip a Fine weapon and Fine torso armor. It is a normal progression quest on the current version.
• Forged of Star-Stuff: starts when you pick up any Fragment of Starmetal and finishes in Galawain's Tusks. Reporting the couple in Escape Plan or the brothel owner in A Lady Never Tells to the Steel Garrote is not needed for Tyranny, so resolve those quests however you like.

Also start Forged of Star-Stuff by collecting the Dawnshore Starmetal at the Godless Altar. This quest intentionally stays open across later regions because all four Starmetal pieces are required.

As you sweep Dawnshore, complete all five bounty-board targets and discover the four Party Camps: Overgrown Expanse, The Rise, Ivona's Threshold, and Southern Embrace. A camp registers when you walk up to its large Adra waystone; interacting with the waystone is a harmless extra confirmation. Also enter the three dungeons, activate every beacon you pass, and take the Dawnshore collectibles before leaving the region. The three dungeons are Eothasian Temple, Ruinous Cavern, and the story-related Cistern.

Treasure maps are sketches, not waypoints, and you never need to own a map: looting the reward from its chest or corpse is what counts. The three Dawnshore treasures:

• Captain Henqua's Spoils: the map is on a skeleton near the top of the lighthouse beside Claviger's Landing; climb the outside by ladders and platforms. The treasure, the Wind and Wave shield, is in an underwater cave on the west bank of the river by the Old Pargrun Wall, just outside Paradis. Dive near the shore, hug the left wall under the arch, and surface in the air pocket.
• Woedica's Inheritance: the map is sold by Sanza at Sanza's Emporium in Paradis Hightown. The treasure, Gloves of the Strangler, is in a secret room in Paradis' outer eastern wall, in the dead-end corner between the Hightown east exit and The Mermaid's Den. A tiny switch on the right-hand wall near the foliage slides it open; first-person view helps you spot it.
• Intimidating Feline Codpiece: the map is sold by Lynna at The Best Offense on the Claviger's Landing docks. The treasure, Stelgaer's Pride, is in a small cave on a cliff-edge path just south of Watcher's Mirror in far eastern Dawnshore; approach from Yellowband Camp to the south and drop into the ravine. Smash the wooden barricade to reach the chest.

For the Totem of Rightful Rulership, collect the base and six fragments and place them at a Party Camp before moving on. Pantheon Purist requires the pieces to be placed, not merely carried. Place the base in the camp's totem shrine first, then add the fragments. Sanza sells an optional clue item, Fragments of the Scales, for 500 coins, which lists the pieces in your journal. The seven Dawnshore pieces:

• Golden Plaque of Promises: inside the same Claviger's Landing lighthouse. About halfway up the outside path on the east side, step through the broken interior wall; it is on a small crate.
• Broken Crown Jewel: in Sanza's private room, through the door immediately left of his counter at Sanza's Emporium.
• Golden Scale of Justice: in the locked building with a painted balcony north of the Market District, west of the Apothecary's Shop. From the stairs just before the Hightown entrance, hop the railing onto the grass patches and follow the stone wall to the balcony. Inside, burn the webs, take the ladder down on the left, and defeat the phantoms; it lies beside a broken bookshelf at the back.
• Golden Plaque of Oaths: at Usher's Hand just outside the Hightown east gate, beyond a crumbled ruin. Freeze the metal grate in the ground and drop through, or dive into the pool to the south and swim to the end.
• Scales of the Oathbinder (base): on the altar of the Shrine to Woedica, across the bridge north of The Rise camp. Talk to the soldier beside the shrine first.
• Golden Scale of Order: inside the Dawnshore Pargrunen Cache (see below), in a bird's nest past the tripwires at the top of the building.
• Golden Flames: on the eastern cliff of Castol's Folly near Southern Embrace camp. Go through the smuggler camp, crouch under the scaffolding left of the entrance, climb the ledges, and jump the gap; it sits on the cliff edge.

Open the Dawnshore Pargrunen Cache east of the Overgrown Expanse camp near the Strangleroot. Shoot the explosive barrels to break the weakened wall, follow the ruins, and disarm the tripwires as you climb to the main chest. Visit the Ancient Memory at Watcher's Mirror on the far eastern side of Dawnshore. Watch every Ancient Memory to the end without refusing or interrupting the Voice; an interrupted memory does not complete. Cleanse the Strangled Adra on the east side of Southern Embrace, by the bridge toward Emerald Stair; reach it through a ruin by powering its essence generators with electricity.

For fast travel, Dawnshore has 13 beacons, including two in Paradis Hightown (High Market and Street of the Gods) that are the most commonly missed. Open the map and press X to show the region sidebar, which counts found beacons, camps, memories, caches, Adra and bounties. Undiscovered beacons are not marked, so use the named list under The Outer Worlds if the count is short.

Start Dawntreader by speaking with Ofryc near the Aedyran Embassy in Paradis. Do both achievements during this visit because the Eothasian Temple is not a safe place to postpone cleanup. Finish Dawntreader before you leave Dawnshore; it can fail once you move on, and the temple closes when it ends.

Continue the main story. Marius joins during An Untimely End.

Before taking the main route into Emerald Stair, finish every Dawnshore side quest that can be finished now, all five bounties, the three treasure rewards, the complete regional totem, the Pargrunen Cache, the Ancient Memory, the Strangled Adra, all four Party Camps, all 13 beacons, and all three dungeons. Forged of Star-Stuff is the one intentional long-running side quest.

At Party Camps, exhaust Kai and Marius dialogue after major story beats. Kai's training offer can appear during this region once enough camp dialogue has been exhausted. Take it when offered.

When you first enter Emerald Stair, accept Scofflaw's Vase from Yatzli instead of walking past it, and finish it before advancing The Animancy Method to the conversation with Giatta and Quilicci; it fails after that point. Scofflaw's Vase starts with Yatzli at the Clifftop Sinkhole right after you enter from Dawnshore. Then collect the region's other side quests before pushing the main story too far:

• Nature vs. Nurture: Dolina and Masco Laima north of the Farmer's Market. Fails if unfinished when the Naku Tedek sequence ends.
• Food Theft: Sielo Piannini north of the Farmer's Market.
• Totem of Defiance: starts when you pick up any Emerald Stair totem piece.
• Memory of the Deep: Josep Abaccio at the Coastal Farms near the Fior docks, or the Giftbearer near Lake Lacuna.
• The Sinkhole Stroll: starts when you approach Felipe's Depression, the large sinkhole west of the Farmer's Market, and hear Old Felipe.
• Mapping the Living Lands: Emerald Stair: the note on the Fior bounty board, or Sanza once the Dawnshore map is turned in.
• A Relic from the Ashes: Luminous Alfons at the Naku Tedek Grounds.
• Missing Rangers: Lieutenant Fidelio at the Bone & Boar in Fior, or by finding Belenna.
• Elder Offerings: Rossana Fallo outside Quilicci's House in Fior. Fails if unfinished when the Naku Tedek sequence ends.
• Steel Resolve: the rangers at the base of the Ranger Headquarters tower east of Fior. Fails if unfinished when the Naku Tedek sequence ends.
• Battle Scars (Kai): starts from Kai's Party Camp conversation after you arrive; progress it whenever it updates.

Buy the optional totem clue, Fragments of the Offering, for 500 coins from Lluisa Melcer at the Farmer's Market in the Coastal Farms on arrival.

Do not finish the underground portion of Naku Tedek for Ancient Soil until this region's entire final sweep is complete. Emerald Stair is the most choice-sensitive region for Pentiment, Bounty Hunter, and Fior's fate.

Grab the second Starmetal in the Emerald Stair region in the ogre cave near the Rolling Crags camp and keep it for Forged of Star-Stuff.

Near Maxim's Claim, collect the world recipe for Ivory Spinner and Sporeling Fire Pot. Do not rely on an old fixed recipe count. Collect this special recipe, eventually max the Ranger Survivalist perk to reveal its extra recipes, and cook every recipe that your Party Camp menu presents.

The Elia portion of The Animancy Method contains two linked missables. The offer exists only in your first conversation with Elia at Elia's Revenant Farm near Maxim's Claim. Do not kill or otherwise resolve Silvo before offering Elia the future-corpse deal.

Do this entire sweep after Giatta joins and before you make the Fior Extinguisher branch save or finish Ancient Soil. On the permanent Tyranny route, Fior mes Ivèrno becomes inaccessible after the Naku Tedek sequence, taking its vendors and the Emerald Stair bounty board with it. Several Emerald Stair quests and bounties fail at the same point, and a Steel Garrote captain occupies the Ranger Headquarters afterward.

Complete Nature vs. Nurture, Elder Offerings, Food Theft, Memory of the Deep, The Sinkhole Stroll, A Relic from the Ashes, Missing Rangers, and the Mapping quest. Advance Steel Resolve up to the point where Ranger Dorso is ready to confront you at the waterfall camp in the Wildwoods Outskirts, but do not hold that conversation yet.

Complete all five Emerald Stair bounties, including Old Nuna in the Ancient Grotto, and turn them in at the Fior board. Buy anything you want from Fior's vendors now.

Collect the three Emerald Stair treasures:

• Practical Pockets: the map is sold only by Ector Brewer at The Gifted Magpie in Fior, for 660 coins. It is optional, and Fior's vendors disappear on this route. The treasure, Hjilde's Handy Hide, is in the far northeast corner of the region northeast of the Ranger Headquarters in the Rolling Crags, near the Rolling Crags beacon. From the clearing north of the partly ruined tower and the bioluminescent mushroom patch, hug the cliff on the outer border and drop into a small burrow holding the chest.
• Painter's Regret: the map is a canvas in an empty cottage near the Maxim's Claim camp. The treasure, Painter's Brush, is at an artist's campsite on a ledge beside the waterfall below the large bridge west of Fior. From the base of the falls, take the vine-covered passage right of the falls round behind them, jump the gap, and climb the slope to the camp. Stay outdoors and ignore the inner branch into the cave.
• Earthly Aegis (also printed as Earthy Aegis): the map is in a chest inside a ruined building behind the market tents at the Naku Tedek Grounds camp. Cross the giant root and jump through the hole in the wall. The treasure, the Nature's Ward shield, is in the lone vine-covered tower on a cliff at the eastern edge of the Delemgan Glade. It sits next to the Rock Arch beacon, west of Tama's Cabin, between the Wildwoods Plateau camp and the Godless Sinkhole. A similar ruin by the Ranger tower is not the right one. Walk around the right side along the root, press the small switch on the cliff-side wall in first-person view, then open the front door and loot the sarcophagus.

Collect six of the seven Totem of Defiance pieces now and place them at an Emerald Stair camp, base first. The seventh, the Effigy Necklace, is inside Naku Tedek and is picked up during Ancient Soil.

• The Schemer's Offering (base): at the top of the Shrine to Skaen, a tower near the Delemgan Glade west of Tama's Cabin. Start the climb from the ledge on the east side near the glowing blue mushrooms. Strong enemies guard the area.
• Obsidian Prayer Beads: on a high platform in the far west of the Delemgan Glade. From the Glade beacon, cross the bridge west, climb in the southwest corner, go up the stone ramp and tree branch, follow the path left, and jump the gap; they lie by a skeleton.
• Idol of Covert Plots: on the altar of the ruined church at the Infested Camp in the Grim Wetlands. Drop in through the collapsed roof from the ledge to the west, or press the hidden button in the statue's lantern on the left side to open a side door.
• Sacrificial Dagger: stuck in the north outer wall of the northeastern building at Abandoned Farms, north of Fior. Clear the xaurips there.
• Idol of Violent Rebellion: at the very top of the Ranger Headquarters tower, beside the signal fire. Climb from the Rolling Crags beacon by the stairs, canopy, and ladder.
• Idol of Secret Hatred: in the Ancient Grotto. In Old Nuna's first room, dive into the pool on the right and take the long swim; follow the path and the narrow fork marked by a torch to a skeleton beside the idol.

Open the Pargrunen Cache in the Wildwoods ruins southwest of the Wildwoods Plateau camp, visible from the camp; it needs electric damage or Electric Lily Seed grenades. Complete the Ancient Memory at the Ranger Outpost west of Fior. Cleanse the Strangled Adra between the Grim Wetlands and Wildwoods, just north of Tama's Cabin.

Discover all seven Party Camps (Grim Wetlands, Riverbend, Rolling Crags, Wildwoods Plateau, Wildwoods Outskirts, Naku Tedek, and Maxim's Claim) and enter all five dungeons: Waterfall Cave, Riverside Cave, Fortified Xaurip Camp, Ancient Grotto, and Naku Tedek. Leave Waterfall Cave for the Steel Resolve section below. Entering Naku Tedek is safe; only finishing its underground sequence triggers the regional state change. Riverside Cave is the easiest to miss: it is north to northwest of Fior, up the river near the top of the Emerald Stair map beside the Moldering Godless Ruins. Follow the river to the Riverside Cave beacon and cross the stone platforms to the entrance.

Emerald Stair has 16 physical beacons, but the map sidebar counts only 15 because it leaves out the Fior Plaza beacon inside Fior mes Ivèrno. Activate Fior Plaza now, because Fior closes on this route; a beacon you have already found keeps counting afterward. Then work through the full Emerald Stair list under The Outer Worlds rather than trusting a 15/15 counter.

As soon as you complete the region's Mapping the Living Lands objective, keep the result for Sanza. You will turn in all four regional maps before entering The Garden.

At Party Camp, exhaust Giatta's new dialogue and take any companion training session offered. Keep checking Marius' region-specific conversation and ask about surviving in Emerald Stair; his training unlock is tied to carrying those camp conversations across the main regions.

With the sweep complete, make a manual branch save before speaking to Ranger Dorso at the waterfall camp. Dorso's conversation reveals where the Steel Garrote are hiding in Waterfall Cave. Keep this save until the following achievement has unlocked.

Before finishing the Naku Tedek underground sequence, confirm the Emerald Stair Final Sweep is fully complete. In particular, check that Nature vs. Nurture, Elder Offerings, Steel Resolve, and all five bounties are done and turned in, because they fail after this sequence. Until you touch the Adra pillar at the bottom, you can still back out of the ruins.

Pick up the Effigy Necklace, the last Totem of Defiance fragment, as soon as you enter the underground. Use the animancy equipment with Giatta to open the hidden stairwell and descend the long spiral staircase. At the first split, go left. Have Giatta's Spectral Jolt, an Electric Lily Seed, or a shock spell power the essence generator beside the locked door. Freeze the pool in the next room, cross the ice, and climb the giant root; the necklace is on the stone table at the top. Do not leave it for later. No source confirms that this room can be re-entered once the sequence is finished, so if you finish without it, reload a save from before the Adra pillar. Place it at the next Party Camp you reach to complete the Totem of Defiance.

When A Path to the Garden takes you north out of Emerald Stair through the Fetid Swamp, Captain Aelfyr of the Steel Garrote stops you at the Shatterscarp Gatehouse. Hear her out and do not take the [Attack] option; she hands you Lodwyn's Missive and lets you pass. Not attacking her counts in your favor in Lodwyn's later assessment.

Follow A Path to the Garden through Eagle's Reach and on to Thirdborn. As the route opens, pick up the region's side quests instead of immediately pushing into the next main mission. Shatterscarp has 10 side quests:

• Totem of Revelations: starts when you pick up any Shatterscarp totem piece.
• Mapping the Living Lands: Shatterscarp: the note on the Thirdborn bounty board, or Sanza after the Emerald Stair map.
• Heart of Valor: Keipo in Thirdborn.
• One Last Drink: Captain Ngunu at The Dead Swordfish in Thirdborn.
• That Which Remains: starts when you search the houses or the Aedyran cleric's body at the burned village of Scaedclef.
• The Wasteland Courier: Daiko at Fleet Master's Perch in Thirdborn, or by approaching Aiko's camp in the Deadfall Highlands.
• Home Sweet Home: Nameho and Tamamu near Eagle's Reach.
• Don't Look Down: Moapo north of the Shark's Mouth beacon, or the wounded Aedyran outside the tower west of the Tago's Tower beacon.
• First Contact with the Enemy: Private Nauki at a camp in the Deadfall Highlands.
• Fires in the Mine: the Aedyran soldier at Eagle's Reach. Cinzia at The Dead Swordfish in Thirdborn's Leviathan Market sells the optional totem clue, Fragments of the Eyes, for 500 coins.

Collect the third Starmetal from the Abandoned Mine area and keep it for Forged of Star-Stuff. Continue Battle Scars whenever its next step opens.

Begin Face Your Fears when you are ready to add Yatzli permanently. Once she joins, spend companion points immediately.

Progress The Wasteland Courier from Daiko at Fleet Master's Perch in Thirdborn until you reach Aiko's camp in the Deadfall Highlands near Naku Kubel and receive the package. Being friendly with Aiko is recommended.

The order of this quest matters, so follow it exactly and make a manual save before step 2:

1. Start One Last Drink with Captain Ngunu at The Dead Swordfish and recruit his three missing sailors: Tauwe, Kowha (kill all the Dreamthralls in that fight, including any up the hill), and Ruanga, who refuses the first time you ask.
2. Climb the ladder to Ngunu's quarters at the top of the lighthouse at Fleet Master's Perch. Open the lockbox with 3 lockpicks to take Ngunu's Vial of Poison, and take the book Perilous Plants and Where to Pick Them nearby.
3. Return to Ruanga and tell her you visited the captain's quarters and think he plans to poison her. Then suggest she turn the tables on him.
4. Only now collect the drinks for the final toast.

Players have reported losing the cup-switch option after reporting the plot to the guard at the bounty board, after collecting the drinks before the Ruanga conversation, or after finishing Thirdborn's main story first. Reports conflict on how strict the order is, so the route above avoids all three. The essential part is having the poison and Ruanga's cooperation before the final toast. Do not go looking for the poison before the quest starts either.

Heart of Valor sends you into the Sand Sea Ruins. The lever achievement is in the opening portion, so do it before riding deeper into the ruin.

The Dead Man's Mail treasure map is on a skeleton inside a tent in the Great Sand Sea, sitting on the "S" of "Sea" in "Great Sand Sea" on your map. The treasure is in Shark's Teeth, in the northernmost Pargrunen ruin northeast of Tago's Tower and just south of the Ruined Village. Climb the collapsed pillar leaning against the path toward Tago's Tower to the upper platform; the chest is in the alcove by the door. It is locked and needs 3 lockpicks, so bring them. It awards the Necropants.

When your character reaches level 15, spend at least one point in the Ranger tree and take the Ranger Bear Ally ability. Do not worry about maximizing it; you only need the summon available. If you would rather not keep the ability, save first, unlock it, earn the achievement, and reload.

Before finishing this region's main arc, make sure all side quests you care about are complete; some regional states change after the main decision.

In Fires in the Mine, enter and clear the Sulfur Mines before talking to Darle at the exit, because the mine cannot be re-entered afterward. For the Tyranny line, let him blow it up by answering "Very well. Do what you must." This is recommended rather than proven required. Do not attack him or tell him he is making a mistake. Make a manual save before both the mine and the Naku Kubel destruction choices in case either one interferes with your Dungeon Siege count.

Finish all ten Shatterscarp side quests and all five bounties. Also complete the Pargrunen Cache on the east side of Shark's Teeth, the Ancient Memory atop Twin Offerings Outlook east of Thirdborn, and the Strangled Adra at Broken Crown Rock, northeast of Thirdborn in the Great Sand Sea.

Finish the other two Shatterscarp treasures:

• Seafarer's Boots: the map is on a picnic blanket beside the orlan Loato on the cliff just east of the Thirdborn entrance. The treasure, Wavebinder Boots, is on a corpse, not in a chest. Follow the red river below the Sulfur Mines Basecamp, take the fork east to the stone arch overhead, and check the alcove on the left.
• Robe of the Arcane Cheater: the map is sold by Ihaka at The Thrifty Pig, a small cave shop at the far east end of the Deadfall Highlands just west of Tago's Tower, for 1,680 coins. The treasure, Robes of Surpassing Brilliance, is in a small dark cave beside colorful foliage in the Ancient Lakebed. This is the same cove as the Kukae Maka bounty; drop in from the cliff ledge to the east or climb the rocks.

Collect and place all seven Totem of Revelations pieces:

• Eyes of the Obscured (base): on the altar in the Shrine to Wael, a seaside cave in southwest Shatterscarp. Take the coastal path south of the Infected Homestead through the pink crystals, cross the wooden bridge, drop to the ledge, and crouch into the cave.
• Ruby Eye: on the shrine's outdoor top ledge, reached by the climbing crouch passage from the base room. It lies at the feet of the Ward of the Eye. Answer one of her questions and she lets you take it; if the conversation drops, walk away and talk to her again.
• Amethyst Eye: on the east side of the Ancient Lakebed, southeast of the burned settlement of Scaedclef. It is on a rock under an overhanging rock wall beside the Mourning Thirdbornian.
• Topaz Eye: in Leviathan's Hollow, the large xaurip camp northeast of the Sulfur Mines Basecamp (not inside the mines). Swim in through the giant skull's mouth, climb the wooden platforms, take the stairs up on the right and down on the left; it is on a table by Manu's body.
• Agate Eye: at the Sand Sea Ruins entrance. Go around the left side, climb the scaffolding and ladders at the back, enter the tower from above, drop to the lower platform, and take it from the table in the lit green room.
• Sapphire Eye: underwater at the bottom of the Sand Sea Oasis, on a sarcophagus under a stone archway.
• Emerald Eye: at the top of the half-built statue east of the Shark's Teeth camp; climb its scaffolding and ladders.

Discover all four Party Camps (Eagle's Reach, Deadfall Highlands, Thirdborn, and Shark's Teeth), all six beacons, and enter all five dungeons: Scaedclef Grotto, Sulfur Mines, Sand Sea Ruins, Ryngrim's Domain, and Naku Kubel. Complete Battle Scars before leaving if its final step is now available.

If Grounded, Alpha Strike Protocol, Now Riposte!, or any of the four dialogue-counter achievements are still unfinished, check Statistics and work on them now or in early Galawain's Tusks. Do not carry avoidable counters into The Garden.

At Party Camp, exhaust Yatzli and Giatta dialogue and take their training sessions if offered. Continue asking Marius about surviving in the current region.

Activate the Sallow Steppe camp on arrival and start the regional side content before committing to the Solace Keep main sequence. Galawain's Tusks has 8 side quests:

• Totem of Perseverance: starts when you pick up any Galawain's Tusks totem piece.
• Mapping the Living Lands: Galawain's Tusks: the imprisoned cartographer in Solace Keep. This one is easy to miss.
• Boundaries of Antiquity: the notice board in Solace Keep's Main Hall, Raluka's Expedition Journal west of the Twinedwood South beacon, or Chief Engineer Gabral.
• Wardens Warding: Warden Radut at the Southern Warden Tower.
• Homecoming: Captain Geofri in a ground-floor side room of Solace Keep.
• Keep History Alive: Elder Grigore at The Living Archives in the northwest, or Novice Bojan near the Primordial Depths South beacon.
• A Cure for Rage: Grakohr in his cave, or Warden Lerae on the road through the Sallow Steppe.
• A Home for Outcasts: the Pargrun outcast on a rock overlooking Berath's Bounty.

Marius' companion quest Chorus of the Lost starts from his Party Camp conversation or when you discover the Lost Village in the far northeast. Complete it before the Garden; it is also what gives access to the Cavern of Voices dungeon. Also finish Kai's Battle Scars if any final step remains.

The first entry to Solace Keep needs Marius in your party. On that first visit, buy the optional totem clue, Fragments of the Spoils, from Quartermaster Yorgu on the first level. If you want The Blade That Hungers map, buy it from Bulti at the Shrine to Woedica on the keep's top floor; take the stairs, not the lift. Both purchases may become unavailable once Solace Keep's fate is decided.

Collect the fourth Starmetal west of the Ash Forest beacon area. Its vicinity also ties into the Destul bounty. With all four Starmetal pieces in hand, return to Forgemaster Dela in Solace Keep before doing anything that can destroy access to the keep. The four fragments cover crafting both Starmetal weapons, the Meteor Blade and the Moonstrike, plus one refinement each, Ondra's Offense and Heavenstrike. Do this all in one visit so Forged of Star-Stuff completes. Do not sell or break down either weapon before its quest step is finished, because dismantling a weapon before its upgrade can block the quest.

Galawain's Tusks has the second locked treasure chest, so carry 3 lockpicks for it. The three treasures:

• Ancient Arrowhead: the map is on a skeleton in the Writhing Ruins cave just inside the region from the Shatterscarp gate, where a giant skull sits in a pool and the Mater Mare bounty lives. The treasure, Scout's Reach, is in a locked chest needing 3 lockpicks. It sits on a rocky cliff ledge directly east of the Warden's Rest building near the Salt Flat Farms, looking toward Solace Keep. No beacon is close, so walk from the Southern Warden Tower or the Solace Keep camp.
• My Loyal Shield: the map is sold by Stockkeeper Eberk at the Southern Warden Tower for 5,220 coins. The treasure, Time's Tarnish, is in a Godless tower on a rocky outcrop above the lava river, northwest of the Southern Warden Tower and south of the Outcast Tower Camp area; look for scaffolding behind it. Climb the ledges at the back to the blue-lit room and press the hidden button on the central table. First-person view helps. Take the chest in the room that opens.
• The Blade That Hungers: the treasure, Umbral Needle, is in the far north near the Ash Forest. From the Ash Forest beacon, head to the border cliff between the Ash Forest and the Living Archives. Find a spider nest in the rock face; the narrow crevice to its right twists upward to the chest. Expect spiders.

Collect six of the seven Totem of Perseverance pieces now and place them, base first. The seventh, the Hunter's Arrows of Seeking, is on the Mt. Forja summit during the main quest.

• Antler of the Persevering Stag: under the Bridge to the Garden on the east side of the Sallow Steppe. From the Twinedwood South beacon, walk to the cliff edge on the right side of the bridge and drop down the platforms to a corpse. Do not attack the Steel Garrote soldiers camped nearby.
• The Huntmaster's Spoils (base): on the altar of the Shrine to Galawain in Twinedwood, east of the Twinedwood North beacon via the stairs on the western side. It is guarded by the Congasar and Crusta bounty ogres and skeletons; sneaking in works.
• Hunter's Arrows of Slaying: in an open chest inside a small overgrown ruined tower north of the Slumbering Fields beacon, just before the bridge to the Ekidan Workshop. Climb the outside and jump through the hole in the wall.
• Hunter's Arrows of Surviving: near the Lost Village, on the same route as the Galawain's Tusks Pargrunen Cache. From the Primordial Depths North beacon, cross the lava, pass through the spider cave, climb along the wall to a three-way fork, and take the middle path to a small building; they are on its table.
• Antler of the Pursued Stag: also near the Lost Village. Leaving the spider cave, turn right and have Yatzli use Dispel Illusion on the fake wall. In the new cave, turn left, burn the brambles sealing a small hut, and take it from the table.
• Wolf's Pelt Trophy: on the roof of the southern building at the Ash Forest Outpost, northwest of the Ash Forest beacon, beside a great hammer and crates. Climb in through the hole in its side (watch for traps) and up through the ceiling hole. Its compass marker only appears once you are above ground level.

This is the major cleanup window. Complete all remaining regional exploration before you commit to the main sequence that can destroy Solace Keep and lead into The Garden.

Before starting the destructive portion of Our Dreams Divide Us Still, finish Galawain's Tusks itself. That means all eight regional side quests, Chorus of the Lost, all five bounties, all three treasure rewards, and six of the seven Totem of Perseverance pieces placed. It also covers the Pargrunen Cache, the Ancient Memory reached through the Restless Cavern in the far southwest, and the Strangled Adra just east of the Sallow Steppe camp on the south side of the steppe.

Discover all three Galawain's Tusks Party Camps (Primordial Depths, Solace Keep, and Sallow Steppe), and all nine beacons, and enter the Cavern of Voices. The other two Galawain's Tusks dungeons are reached through the story later in Our Dreams Divide Us Still, so they are not part of this sweep: the Mt. Forja Mines on the way to the summit, and the Lava Tubes after it. Both count toward the 16 pre-Garden dungeons, and The Garden is the seventeenth and final dungeon.

Make sure your preferred weapon and one armor piece are upgraded to Superb +3 before entering The Garden. Legendary upgrade materials are concentrated in The Garden, and you need one weapon and one armor piece at Legendary +3 for the two equipment achievements.

Try to be close to level 30 before the point of no return. A thorough run should reach 30 during the final content, and the Anniversary Update's respawning enemies provide an extra XP safety valve if you are unexpectedly short before committing.

Proceed with the main quest only after the checklist above is complete.

At the Mt. Forja Quarry entrance, a Dreamscourge-infected Captain Aelfyr attacks you. This forced fight is fine to win and does not count against Tyranny.

Make a manual save before leaving the Mt. Forja Mines onto the summit. When Lodwyn asks what you intend to do with Sapadal, answer "You're right. I'm going to the Garden to destroy Sapadal." She then reviews your record, covering Ygwulf, Fior, and Naku Kubel, and counts it in your favor that you did not attack Aelfyr. If your record is clean, she stands down and does not fight you. If she attacks anyway after you chose to destroy Sapadal, something earlier went wrong, most likely the Ygwulf choice. Reload and fix it rather than continuing toward Tyranny. Telling her you will free Sapadal always starts a boss fight with her and breaks the Steel Garrote route.

On the clean route you still have to defeat the Steel Garrote soldiers who were turned into Dreamthralls; this forced fight is fine. Then touch the Adra pillar to speak with Sapadal. Before you leave through the doorway that opens, take the Hunter's Arrows of Seeking from beside the chest on the short ledge climb at the south edge of the summit near the mine exit; your totem compass marks it. Fast travel stays locked until you are back at Solace Keep, and the route back to the summit changes afterward, so do not leave without it.

With Pantheon Purist and Pentiment confirmed, continue Our Dreams Divide Us Still into the Lava Tubes beneath Solace Keep. Entering the Lava Tubes completes the 16 pre-Garden dungeons, since the Mt. Forja Mines were entered on the way to the summit.

Before crossing into The Garden, stop and verify all of the following on the permanent save:

• Ygwulf was killed or confessed to the Steel Garrote, and you never attacked Aelfyr or other uninfected Steel Garrote.
• Fior was razed after you reloaded the Fior Extinguisher branch.
• The Sulfur Mines were blown up and Naku Kubel's ruins were destroyed.
• You told Lodwyn on the summit that you would destroy Sapadal, and she did not fight you.
• Kostya lived and Solace Keep was flooded.
• Explorer, Pantheon Purist, Pathfinder, Gotta Cache 'Em All, Bounty Hunter, The Outer Worlds, Pentiment, Training Arc, and Cooking By The Book are unlocked.
• All four open-region Ancient Memories and Strangled Adra are complete.
• All 18 pre-Garden Party Camps are discovered: 4 in Dawnshore, 7 in Emerald Stair, 4 in Shatterscarp, and 3 in Galawain's Tusks.
• All 16 pre-Garden dungeons have been entered.
• Your dialogue counters and combat counters are finished.
• Your chosen weapon and armor piece are at least Superb +3.

Make a manual preventative save here. This protects the open-world state. It is not a claim that every achievement can be retriggered from a restored cloud save.

The Garden is the final region and cannot be treated like normal post-game cleanup. Follow the achievement detours while moving forward because you will not return to the four main maps during this sequence.

The Garden opens the optional Pulling Back the Veil objective. Treat all four companion moments as missable and complete them on the way forward.

Before climbing beyond the Broken Aqueduct section, collect the fifth Ancient Memory south of the aqueduct behind the closed door.

Near the end of The Heart of the Living Lands, you loot two Severed Maegfolc Arms to open Sapadal's prison. After looting both arms and before inserting them into the device, make a manual branch save. The final Sapadal conversation follows when you approach the prison. It has three outcomes: free Sapadal, destroy Sapadal, and a hidden option to become one with Sapadal that appears if you press Sapadal about another way. Never choose the hidden merge option; it awards no confirmed achievement and does not lead to a knighting.

During the summit with the leaders and Ambassador Hylgard, commit to Lodwyn and the Steel Garrote rather than choosing a compromise ending. Make a manual save before this meeting.

Path of the Damned must be active before you reach the beach. Changing the difficulty after loading in has been reported to invalidate the run, so never set it from Settings once New Game+ has started. Use one of these two methods:

1. Recommended: start New Game+ and select your completed Run 1 data, then choose to create a new character instead of skipping character creation. Move to the last tab, Finalization, select Path of the Damned, and confirm the character.
2. Alternative: before starting New Game+, load your Run 1 save from just before the final boss, switch to Path of the Damned, and finish the ending again. New Game+ then inherits Path of the Damned, and you can skip character creation.

Once you are on the beach, open the settings only to confirm that Path of the Damned is shown, without changing anything.

Do not enable any custom difficulty modifiers at any point on this run. The Anniversary Update states that custom game difficulty options invalidate the Path of the Damned achievement even though most other achievements remain available. Changing the difficulty and leaving the menu displays a warning that the achievement is invalidated. Reloading a save made before the change is reported to restore eligibility, so keep a save from before any settings change. New Game+ runs are reported to qualify.

New Game+ carries useful progression such as unlocked abilities, spent attribute points, unique equipment, enchantments, and accessories, but equipment quality is reset and resources do not carry over. Treat it as a fast story run, not as a fully geared victory lap. Upgrade one dependable weapon and armor path as resources become available and skip optional content unless you need power or materials.

Rush the required main quests in order: On Strange Shores, Message From Afar, An Untimely End, The Animancy Method, Ancient Soil, A Path to the Garden, Face Your Fears, Shadows of the Past, Our Dreams Divide Us Still, The Heart of the Living Lands, and The Siege of Paradis. Pulling Back the Veil is optional for this run because its achievement was already earned.

Never lower the difficulty and never activate custom difficulty modifiers. Normal character, accessibility, interface, and control preferences are separate from the prohibited custom difficulty modifiers; leave the actual combat difficulty as stock Path of the Damned from the start of the run through the ending.