The Blood of Dawnwalker 100% guide

The Blood of Dawnwalker has 46 Xbox achievements worth 1,000G on one shared Xbox Series X|S and Xbox PC achievement list through Xbox Play Anywhere. There are no online or co-op achievements. The launch list is entirely single-player, and the Eclipse Edition add-on is bonus digital content rather than an achievement DLC pack.

As of 2026-10-07, there are no CURRENTLY CONFIRMED UNOBTAINABLE or CURRENTLY CONFIRMED DISCONTINUED achievements. Current Xbox players are completing the list. The major completion risks are the Duelist difficulty requirement, the 30-day family deadline, several side-quest branches, the two early endings, Infamy-based vendor and city access, and the lack of post-credits free roam.

Expect roughly 60-80 hours for the full list. An efficient run that follows this route closely can finish in about 45-65 hours, but reloads and branch replays often push it longer.

The practical minimum is one campaign plus save reloads. Start on Duelist and never alter the preset or its modifiers until you have completed one full ending and reached the credits. Keep rotating manual saves throughout the run, then preserve one permanent save when A Deal with the Devil appears. Reloading branches from that point lets you collect the mutually exclusive endings without another full playthrough.

The route uses Ambrus, then Bakir, then Xanthe as the canonical boss order because their regions scale upward in difficulty. Court Activities can technically be completed in other orders.

The save plan, in one view:

1. Duelist campaign with rotating manual saves through all three boyars.
2. During the Duelist run, also push Lacra's and Crake's questlines as far as their finales, so less work remains after the deadline-sensitive save.
3. MASTER — PRE-FINALE when A Deal with the Devil appears. Run The Turncoat from it immediately, on Duelist, through the credits.
4. Reload MASTER, lower the difficulty, take the early endings, then finish whatever Lacra and Crake prerequisites remain.
5. ENDINGS — ALLIES READY, as early as you can and before day 30. Run The Patricide, The Knyazmaker, and The Folk Hero from it, reloading after each.
6. Reload ENDINGS one last time and do every remaining achievement on that save without ever starting a finale.

Use a fresh manual slot at least once per in-game day and before every major boss, early ending, companion finale, and final-ending branch. The game provides 54 manual slots, so there is no reason to rely on one rolling save. Quicksave before difficult fights and free-roam detours because autosaving is not reliable enough to replace manual protection.

Time does not pass continuously. Each day has 8 day segments and 8 night segments, 16 in total. Quest steps marked with an hourglass, some dialogue choices, shrine upgrades, camp clears, and shrine waiting spend segments; roaming, fast travel, ordinary combat, looting, and menus are free. A blue clock icon on a journal objective means a real countdown. The family deadline is 30 in-game days. The main quests alone can be finished in under 10 in-game days, so the Court route fits comfortably inside that limit if you avoid long side-quest detours before the first ending.

Passing day 30 does not end the game. A "Time Runs Out" cutscene plays in which Coen's family dies (there is no achievement for it), free roam continues, and the objective becomes avenging your family. On that save, In the Nick of Time and The Turncoat are lost because both need your family alive. Unstarted side content stays available, and The Patricide, The Knyazmaker, and The Folk Hero are reported to remain completable, but this is not confirmed by a tested unlock, so the route below still runs those endings before day 30 as insurance. The only known extension is the sanzhani reward: complete all five sanzhani tasks and report to the Tsarina to push the coronation back one day. Treat the end of day 29 as the last safe point for family-dependent achievements.

PATCHED / NO LONGER A CURRENT ISSUE — Xbox Hotfix 1.0.4, rolled out on 2026-09-09, fixed multiple quest-progression blockers and an issue that could prevent saving. Keep rotating saves anyway because the route still depends heavily on branching and there is no mission replay. No later Xbox patch had been released as of 2026-10-07.

The difficulty presets are currently Story, Fair, Challenging, and Duelist, with Duelist the hardest. An announced October update adds a new, easier tier and may rename the lowest existing preset. For post-Duelist cleanup, simply use the easiest preset available; only the Duelist run matters for Uphill Battle.

For the cleanest run, treat these as hard rules until Uphill Battle unlocks:

• Stay on the Duelist preset from character creation through the credits of your first full ending.
• Do not enable assists or alter individual difficulty modifiers if doing so changes the preset to Custom.
• Give Esme the correct medicine during Withering Away.
• Do Selfish before Infamy 9.
• Do Smuggler after reaching Infamy 4 but before Infamy 9.
• Tear down Brencis's five banners on Svartrau's gates before Infamy 9.
• Finish A Monk and a Saint (St. Mihai's hilt) before Infamy 9.
• Prefer finishing each boyar's vrakhiri transports before killing that boyar (they are reported to stay available afterwards, but doing them early costs nothing).
• Advance Lacra's and Crake's questlines during the Court route, stopping short of their finales.
• Leave Home Sweet Home untouched during the Duelist story route so Together Forever can be done later on an easier difficulty.
• Aim to have the three boyars resolved around day 20-22, leaving a buffer for the Turncoat setup before day 30.
• Never overwrite the manual save made when A Deal with the Devil appears.

Svartrau at Infamy 9: the edict arrives the day after the level rises. From then on the gates are shut, fast travel into and out of the city is disabled, and guards attack on sight. The city is still enterable (Shadowstep over the wall at night, or squeeze through damaged wall sections by day), but every city objective becomes a fight, which is why the city tasks above are routed earlier.

Choose the Duelist difficulty preset at the start and leave every difficulty modifier alone. Uphill Battle checks that the run remained a Duelist preset through a full ending, not merely that the final fight was completed on Duelist. Changing any single modifier, such as Auto-Block or the Directional Indicator, flips the preset to Custom and voids the achievement, and so does lowering the difficulty at any point.

During Withering Away, prepare Esme's medicine with hot water (not boiling, not cold) and three spoonfuls of herbs, and finish the quest before the Sacred Covenant. A wrong temperature or dose, or leaving the quest unfinished, means Esme dies during the Sacred Covenant. Make a manual save before brewing. The achievement list can still be completed through save branching even if some story outcomes change, but current evidence does not fully resolve whether a dead family member can invalidate In the Nick of Time. The safe completion route is therefore to keep Esme alive.

Laslea is the first of the eight villages for Tour Guide Training and is visited during the Prologue.

The optional Prologue side quests disappear when the Prologue ends, but none is required for the Xbox achievement list. Prioritize the main path so you do not waste the early time budget. Do not try to beat Brencis in the Prologue fight on Duelist; nothing in this route needs it.

Buy Shapeshift in the Vampirism tree and Mercurial Fervour in Witchcraft as early as practical. Shapeshift gives you fast wolf travel at night, while Shadowstep and Planeshift make night exploration and tower climbing substantially easier.

Use the first several nights to climb towers and clear safe northern points of interest. Avoid red-skull enemies until your level catches up. Open-world activities are useful here because they build levels and skill points without committing you to long side-quest chains.

Tower sweep for these nights (all at night, 0 time segments each):

• Church Tower and Briar Sloughs Tower. The quest From Above starts right after the Prologue and sends you to a bonfire-guarded tower near Laslea; do it. Afterwards, check the map: both the Laslea church tower and the river-side Briar Sloughs Tower (south of Laslea Glen, in the bog south of the Castle of Brencis) must show cleared fog. Climb whichever one is still blank.
• Maragir Wealds Tower on the rocky high ground at the far eastern edge of Maragir Wealds. A Vidmo spectre waits inside; clear it first, or come back a little later.
• Boar's Back Tower, an open stone ruin at Shrike's Crag, west of Svartrau City.
• St. Tyna's Grove Tower on a hill west of the Pilgrim's Trail Shrine in the eastern swamps. Undead patrol the base.

Villages on the same loop:

• Military Camp (also called Stoneward Post), the fortified garrison in Briar Sloughs south-west of Laslea Glen. Standing outside does not count; you must get inside. By day, talk to the Post Guard at the gate: "I want to enlist!" lets you in with your gear, while the other entry lines make you surrender your weapons. At night the guard attacks, so you would have to infiltrate over the palisade and fight. The Firebrand later takes you inside the same fort, which also counts.
• Maragir, east and slightly south of the Military Camp. It is easy to skirt the edge without entering; walk to the centre.
• Parlita, in farmland west of the Military Camp/Maragir line; use its shrine.

Reach Svartrau early while access is normal. You will return repeatedly later, but several achievements are easier or outright safer before Infamy reaches its maximum.

Do the first visit in this order: enter by day (this registers the Svartrau village visit and Big-City Living) and do Selfish. Then, that night, climb the three city towers and cut all five banners in one pass:

• Neustadt Tower, in the battlements by the West Gate in the south-west corner. Shadowstep onto the battlements, then go roof to roof and aim for the spire.
• Market Tower, in Altenmarkt, north-central, south of the North East Gate.
• Cathedral Tower, the highest point of the Cathedral Complex, south-east of Market Tower. Use the wooden scaffolding on the south side, then the roof, then the traversal prompt to the cross.

Guards turn hostile if you linger on the walls (a red TRESPASSING bar appears), so get onto the rooftops quickly. Climbing these three towers also marks all five banners on the map.

These are easiest before the build becomes too specialized. Do not delay Feral Hunger until after investing heavily in automatic healing.

Clear northern Monster Lairs, Persons in Danger, Soldier Camps, Bandit Camps, and Ancient Circles until you are roughly level 20. You do not need to clear every point of interest now. Preserve time for the Court route and avoid starting unrelated side quests whose objectives can become timed once activated.

Try to remain before day 15 when you begin the main Court push. Alongside the Court route, start Lacra's chain (A Friend Like This) and continue Crake's chain past Where Loyalty Lies (see the Companion Prerequisites section for the steps), stopping before their finales. Every step done now is one less day of pressure after MASTER. Keep biting enemies during night combat so Corruption rises naturally toward Creature of the Night later.

As your level allows, finish the remaining towers and villages (if you are under-levelled, come back around Bakir's stage):

• Tantari Tower, north-west of Tantari Woods on high rocky ground north of Howling Keep and the Withered Gorge Shrine. Shadowstep across the wooden boards, then Planeshift up the stone walls in short bursts to save stamina; fog can hide the tower, so keep its marker on screen.
• Tantari village, south-east of Svartrau along the road; interact with its shrine on arrival.
• Rockfalls Tower, on the mountaintop south of the abandoned village of Oghasti and west of Lunar Manor, up a mountain path with stone stairs. Go inside through the base opening and chain Shadowstep between the interior boards; climbing the outside wall drains stamina.
• Oghasti, the small ruined, monster-infested village just south of Rockfalls Tower. Step into the village centre.
• Silts Tower (also called Aurelius's Tower), in the far south-west of The Silts, far south of the Turtle Rock Shrine. Scout it from the outside only: climb the outer wooden scaffold, Planeshift onto the outer wall, Clawride up the stone, follow the roof to its peak, and press the survey prompt. Make a manual save before you approach. Do not open the locked top-floor interior door: it immediately starts Home Sweet Home with no confirmation prompt, spends 4 time segments, and strips your gear and vampire form.

After these, only Uriash Village remains for Tour Guide Training; it opens later through Lacra's chain.

Legendary amulet for Gear of the Gods: while you are near Parlita, pick up the Arbiter's Medallion. From Parlita, head south-east toward the river and the large stone bridge. Do not cross it; climb down the cliff edge on the left of the bridge to the river, wade upstream to the twin waterfalls, and go through the right-hand waterfall into the cave behind it. The medallion is on a skeleton a short way in. The cave has no map icon, and no quest or boss guards it. Check that its card reads Legendary, then stash it at a shrine; never sell it.

Court Activities raise a boyar's anger and also push Infamy. You do not need every activity to trigger a boss confrontation; completing roughly three quarters is normally enough. Prioritize nearby activities and transports, and keep manual saves before any objective with a blue clock icon. Each boyar kill adds a full Infamy level, and Infamy stops rising once the third boyar is dead.

Do Ambrus's four vrakhiri transports now, before his duel, if your time allows. They are cheap (Ambrus's activities start at low level). Court Activities are reported to remain available after their boyar dies, so this is preferred routing rather than a proven missable, but clearing them now avoids relying on that. Each costs 3 time segments, and each needs every guard dead plus a post-fight interaction:

• Roadside Surprise: a forest-road camp in Briar Sloughs, in the shadow of the Military Camp, just south-west of the Stoneward Post shrine. After the fight, destroy the yellow-highlighted barrels, then talk to Klaus the Brave, who is hiding in one (either answer ends it).
• Bloody Business: a woodland road at the eastern edge of Ambrus's domain between Maragir Wealds and Maragir village. After the fight, loot the captain's body and read the Letter of Reprimand; killing the patrol alone does not end it.
• Lucky Crossing: a road in the north-eastern corner of the Svartrau Outskirts, usually near the Svartrau Bridge shrine. Kill the escort and talk to the prisoners (do not take the night "give in to the hunger" option), then keep talking until Ursul invites you to his camp; the activity ends when you speak to Ursul. His duel is optional.
• Fate's Mercy: on the Briar Sloughs road running north from the Military Camp toward Stelian's Redoubt Shrine; the escort moves along it. Kill the guards, free the prisoners without feeding on them, and answer the reward offer (either answer ends it).

The journal files Lucky Crossing and Fate's Mercy as "Ambrus's Prisoners" rather than "Ambrus's Transports". Doing all ten across the three boyars covers Delivery Delay under any reading, but any 8 normally unlock it.

As soon as total Infamy reaches level 4, return to Svartrau before continuing toward level 9.

Continue Ambrus's activities until The Gilded Gauntlet becomes available. If offered the optional route that weakens or poisons Ambrus, take it; it reduces the hardest part of this early Duelist stretch without affecting achievement eligibility.

Ideally finish Ambrus's four transports before starting the duel. There are 10 transports in total (Ambrus 4, Bakir 2, Xanthe 4) and Delivery Delay needs 8 of them; this route aims for all ten as insurance, and any you skip can still be done later.

Move to Bakir's branch once you are around level 20 or higher. Continue clearing his Rebel Hunters, transports, distilleries, and pillories until his anger reaches maximum.

Finish both of Bakir's transports before the Lunar Game if you can:

• Curious Shipment: north-west Rockfalls, on the snowy path uphill from the Jagged Rocks shrine. Kill and loot all three armoured lackeys; when the journal says "Investigate the cargo", loot the barrel from the barrel-carrier's corpse and read "Orders: Carrion". If the cargo cannot be investigated, reload your last save and try again.
• Fool's Gold: the wooded road around Turtle Rock in The Silts, near the Turtle Rock Shrine. Defeat the larger escort with its wolves. Survivors surrender and offer a treasure map; sparing them gets you the map, but killing them still completes the activity. Sweep the ground for the Diplomatic Missive before leaving.

One Bakir activity can intersect with the Ocha/Lacra side-quest chain, but it is not required to reach Bakir's boss. Leave the long companion questlines for later unless you specifically need a short objective for levels.

Legendary ring for Gear of the Gods: while you are on the western Rockfalls road, do the side quest The Highland Grave for the Ring of Quick Strikes. At the quest marker on the road west of the Rockfalls mountains, a cart lies crushed under a landslide; loot the skeleton under it for the Scholar's Map, the Scholar's Key, and the Tattered Journal. Follow the search area west to a small stone ruin built into the mountainside. It is only enterable while the quest is active, so do not abandon the quest. Talk past or avoid the two uriashi inside, open the sturdy door with the Scholar's Key, and loot the chest; the ring is inside, and taking it completes the quest.

The Lunar Game is one of the roughest Duelist sequences because of its extended combat and maze structure. Enter with upgraded gear, healing, and a strong stamina setup. If an enemy or encounter is clearly outscaling you, leave, gain a few levels from open-world activities, then return without touching the difficulty settings.

You should be roughly level 25 or higher before pushing deep into Xanthe's territory. Complete recruiter, excavation, transport, and Blood Guard activities until her anger reaches maximum.

Preferably finish all four of Xanthe's transports before The Cycle of Love. Her regions are tuned for level 25 and up.

• Past Glory: a moving convoy in Xanthe's territory; its road is not pinned down reliably, so reveal it from a tower in her lands and run the road until the "?" turns into "!". Defeat the escort and the wolves that join partway, loot every body and the cargo, and pick up Orders from Xanthe, which ends it. It also rewards the Legendary Ring of the Night.
• When Two Dogs...: a forest road in northern Tantari Woods, north-west of the Drunken Bear Inn Shrine near the Tantari Watermill Shrine. Approach on foot; choosing "I'm Coen of Laslea" defuses the standoff, or fight. Then loot the highlighted goods a few metres away in the trees.
• Fair Maiden: a moving convoy on a Tantari Woods road; follow the "Intercept the transport" objective and run the road. Kill all three guards, then speak to the freed woman; clearing the guards alone does not end it.
• Chosen One: a swampy road near Tatzelwurm's Lair, east of the Tantari Twin Rocks Shrine, with narrow paths and a plank bridge. Kill every marked defender, including those on the bridge, then watch the cutscene with the freed prisoner.

Executive Order and the Blood Guard camp: Xanthe's Blood Guard activity "Unquenchable Thirst" takes place at the same enemy camp that the sword-shard quest Executive Order sends you to. The shard in that camp's main tent is the Executive Order shard, not an extra one, and the activity has nothing to do with the Vicho achievement The Unquenchable Thirst. Clearing the camp once serves both; take the shard before you leave the tent (full directions are in the sword section). Keep every sword shard you find.

Legendary ring for Gear of the Gods: in the extreme south of Tantari Woods, follow the sloping path to a kobold pack, kill them, and enter the Kobold's Nest. The chest inside holds the Arbiter's Ring. No quest or key is needed. Check that its card reads Legendary. A buried Knightly Ring near the Tantari Bog shrine tree (dig at the yellow dirt patch with Focus Mode; needs a shovel) is a backup if either ring is not labelled Legendary.

The hilt for Arbiter's Blade comes from A Monk and a Saint, whose key steps happen at Svartrau Cathedral. Finish it before the third boyar dies, while Svartrau is still open. The crypt boss is tuned for about level 25, which fits this point of the Duelist run.

A Monk and a Saint can start two ways, and either one gets you the hilt:

• Night route (simplest): Night Terrors. At night, in the courtyard on the north/west side of Svartrau Cathedral, hold Focus Mode on the boarded well, open it, and drop down (1 segment). Fight the kobolds, use Focus Mode on the thief's corpse (1 segment), and read the Thief's Note; this reveals Mihai's symbol and starts A Monk and a Saint. Push the highlighted boulder to exit beside a grave in the cemetery behind the cathedral.
• Day route: Albertus and the Deacon. A letter, or Anca after Echoes of Silenced Bells, sends you to the monk Albertus in The Middens outside Svartrau's west gates, then to the Cathedral and its Deacon. This route can also offer the optional Court Activity A Dubious Gift, which is lost if you start Night Terrors or learn about the crypt first. No achievement needs A Dubious Gift.

Either way, finish at the grave. In the courtyard north/west of the cathedral there is a row of five highlighted graves; Mihai's is the one bearing his scales sigil, second from the right (fourth from the left). Clear the leaves covering it, open it (1 segment), descend, inspect the sealed wall with Focus Mode, and defeat Mihai, Patron of the Cathedral. The Broken Sword of St. Mihai is always in the crypt boss room afterwards. Keep it for Forge It Anew.

Finish The Cycle of Love. Xanthe can be killed or spared, and either outcome satisfies her story achievement. For the cleanest achievement route, kill her and drink her blood; that unlocks access to Blood Surge. Sparing her does not give Blood Surge, because you never drink her blood.

After all three boyars are resolved and Infamy is maxed, advance to the next day if necessary until the Infamy Edicts scene plays and Brencis sends a message. This adds A Deal with the Devil to the journal, without a map marker.

As soon as it appears, make a permanent manual save named or mentally treated as MASTER — PRE-FINALE, and note the in-game day. Never overwrite this slot. The Deal is reported to drop out of the journal on day 29, so run the Turncoat from MASTER straight away rather than doing other work first.

The Turncoat requires access to the Manumit hideout. If you have not already done Crake's opening quests, complete The Firebrand, Shadows in the Woods, and Where Loyalty Lies so you are invited inside the hideout; ideally do these during the Court route, before Infamy 9. The Firebrand starts at the Military Camp in Briar Sloughs, and each of the three starts automatically after the previous one. The Firebrand gives you 4 days (64 segments) to reach Mert. Once Shadows in the Woods gives you the Rescue Sara objective, finish that objective within 32 time segments. Where Loyalty Lies also requires Infamy level 4, which this route has already exceeded. Keep the run inside the 30-day family deadline while doing this.

Before starting the finale, open the difficulty menu without changing anything and confirm the preset label still reads Duelist, not Custom.

Then begin A Deal with the Devil. At the first prompt choose "I just want my family back", and at the third prompt choose "I'll do it". Avoid the sword option, which attacks Brencis immediately. The parley at Shrike's Crag happens at night. Follow the betrayal objective and interact with the Manumit hideout door at night; interacting during the day does nothing. Choosing "Mark" at the door is the commitment, so make a manual save before lighting the signal fire and another before marking the door.

Start the Deal at the beginning of a night, with most of that night's segments still unspent. It costs 4 time segments, and players report the quest vanishing from the journal when dawn arrives before the betrayal is finished (one save that started with exactly 4 night segments left failed this way). If the Deal disappears, reload the save made before lighting the signal fire and start again at the beginning of a fresh night.

Reload MASTER — PRE-FINALE and change the difficulty to the easiest preset. The Duelist achievement is now secured on your profile, so the remaining work can be done with assists and easier combat.

Make a separate manual save before each early ending because each one ends the current run and returns you to the title screen.

Deadline budget: MASTER sits around day 20-22. Done entirely after MASTER, the Lacra and Crake prerequisites cost about 50-55 segments plus one-day and two-day waits, realistically 5-8 days, which would land the ENDINGS save at day 27-30 at best. That is why this route advances both chains during the Duelist run. Whatever remains after MASTER, keep this line lean: take the early endings, finish only the remaining Lacra and Crake prerequisites (Lacra's chain through The Night of Horrors, Crake's chain through A Closer Look), fill the waits with other prerequisite work rather than shrine waiting, and make the ENDINGS — ALLIES READY save as early as possible. Day 26 is a target, not a guarantee.

The deadline matters differently for each ending. The Turncoat and In the Nick of Time need your family alive, so they must be done from MASTER before day 30; this route takes them first. The Patricide, The Knyazmaker, and The Folk Hero are reported to remain available after day 30, without a confirmed tested unlock. If ENDINGS ends up past day 30, carry on anyway, and keep MASTER as your rollback.

Go to Silts Tower (also called Aurelius's Tower; some outlets say Ambrosius Tower) in the far south-west of The Silts and climb through the interior to the top-floor door. The way up needs Shadowstep and Planeshift. Opening the door starts Home Sweet Home immediately with no confirmation prompt, commits four time segments, and strips your weapons, armour, upgrades, and vampire form for the dream. Make manual save A immediately before touching the door.

The dream loops through two enemy groups and a boss at the church gate, then resets to the house. After the first full loop, the game lets you use a well near the second enemy group, which is the escape route. Ignore the well for the ending branch, and set up your saves like this:

The well only works on loops 2 to 4, so the branch save has to come before you pass the well on loop 4. Manual saving works inside the dream.

1. Play loops 1 to 3 normally, killing the boss each time.
2. At the start of loop 4, before you reach the second enemy group and the well, make manual save C. If you want zero risk, make an extra save at the start of loop 3 as well, where the well is most clearly confirmed to work.
3. From save C, finish loop 4 by killing the boss. At the start of the fifth cycle, talk to your family and choose to stay with them.

Start Lacra's chain with A Friend Like This, which begins in an alley on the north-east edge of Svartrau City, then continue Song of the Mountain, Hive and Seek, and Our Rotten Roots. Lacra is a vrakhiri, so her steps run at night. She waits for you at Crown Rock in Rockfalls.

At the end of A Friend Like This, spare the captured uriash prisoner and promise not to kill the uriash; that starts Song of the Mountain. In Song of the Mountain, climb the pass west of Rockfalls at night from Crown Rock. Make a manual save before the summit. At the gate, the matriarch Bakr-Erga's warriors test you. Take the peaceful route: answer "Nobody needs to die", then "It's clearly a test, go on", and choose to do nothing during both stone-throwing prompts. She calls off her warriors and leads you into Uriash Village. Attacking locks the village vendors and A Mother's Plea for that save, and other outcomes may also lose A Mother's Plea, so reload if anything other than the peaceful entry happens.

Inside Uriash Village, use the village shrine. Uriash is the last of the eight villages, so Tour Guide Training should unlock now if the other seven were visited.

Bakr-Erga then starts A Mother's Plea, which leads into Ocha's story. Lacra's Our Rotten Roots also drops Coen and Lacra into Anachora, which is where Realmwalker normally unlocks.

Do The Night of Horrors before committing to Lacra's ending quest Midnight Reckoning. Wait one in-game day after Our Rotten Roots before Lacra will speak again.

You already completed The Firebrand, Shadows in the Woods, and Where Loyalty Lies for the Turncoat setup. Continue with What Hunts the Night, What Moves the Dead, and Who Pulls the Strings. After Who Pulls the Strings, Crake asks you to come back in a few days (at least two in-game days); fill that time with Lacra's chain.

When Distant Shadows becomes available, complete it and follow through A Closer Look before starting Crake's ending quests. If a conversation gives you a choice between leaving the subject alone and investigating further, choose the option that continues the investigation. If Svartrau is already at Infamy 9 when you need the hideout, reach it by climbing the city wall at night.

Once Lacra's and Crake's prerequisite chains are complete (Misery Loves Company and The Manumit unlocked), make a new permanent manual save, ideally by day 26 and before day 30. This is your ENDINGS — ALLIES READY branch. Keep MASTER — PRE-FINALE as well in case a companion quest choice went wrong.

The remaining three endings are mutually exclusive outcomes. Complete one, return to the title screen, reload ENDINGS — ALLIES READY, and do the next. Run all three straight away, before doing any other cleanup: starting any finale fails every unfinished quest on that save, and each ending ends the run.

Start Midnight Reckoning only after Misery Loves Company is secured. It enters the journal after Our Rotten Roots; talk to Lacra at Westridge Outpost Tower, at night, after waiting at least one in-game day. Accepting Midnight Reckoning and the later throne-room conversation are both points of no return, so save before each.

Midnight Reckoning has unconfirmed community reports of progression bugs on all platforms: Lacra disappearing or freezing, enemies or interactables not spawning, and Shadowstepping onto cave walls sending Coen out of bounds. TrueAchievements also currently flags The Patricide as buggy, although the specific problem behind that flag could not be confirmed. Keep several rotating manual saves through the quest, follow the scripted route rather than shortcutting with traversal abilities, and prefer the calmer dialogue options in the confrontation scene. If Lacra or an encounter breaks, reload an earlier save in the quest rather than pushing on.

Start Rise at Dawn only after The Manumit is secured. Follow the Crake/Manumit route through the ending sequence; Fall Before Dusk begins automatically at the end of Rise at Dawn. Telling Marat (Crake) you are ready is the first point of no return, and there is a second "ready" before you follow him to Greifberg, so save before each.

The safest solo route is the quest A Lone Wolf's Hunt, which starts when you enter Greifberg Castle alone. It costs no time segments and has no deadline. Get in by any one of these:

• the side-gate key looted from Gheorghe Racovitza, "The Rabid Duke", in north-east Tantari;
• Father Florin's quest chain (In the Name of the Father);
• climbing the castle wall at night with vampiric traversal.

The Brencis conversation inside the castle is the point of no return, so save before entering the castle and again before that conversation.

Alternatively, while A Deal with the Devil is still in your journal and before day 30, you can choose "Enough. Time to end this." in the first dialogue of the Deal's final quest. Because the Deal may have expired by the time you reach this point, A Lone Wolf's Hunt is the recommended route.

Every ending returns you to the title screen, so all remaining achievements are earned on a living save that never starts a finale. Reload ENDINGS — ALLIES READY and play the rest of this guide on that save (or a fresh manual save made from it). None of the remaining achievements needs an ending. Do not start Midnight Reckoning, Rise at Dawn, A Lone Wolf's Hunt, or A Deal with the Devil on this save.

This save can run past day 30 safely. The Time Runs Out cutscene will play, but free roam continues and the side quests, crafting chains, exploration, and character progression below all remain available. Level 50 normally arrives after day 30 anyway.

Anca's chain begins after the Prologue with Echoes of Silenced Bells at the Crossroads Inn. Continue through Between the Words, Where Old Devils Lie, and Stronger Than Achilles. Most Precious Thing is optional.

During Echoes of Silenced Bells at St. Tyna's Convent, pick up the Saint's Tibia from the corpse under the wooden ladder on the west side; it is easy to walk past. Any saint relic satisfies the Arbiter armour, and the Tibia has no other use, so it is the best relic to give up. Avoid using the Relic of St. Dasius (from Xanthe's Howling Keep), which is also a Legendary amulet, or the Relic of St. Tyna, which is also an accessory.

Go to Vicho's house in Svartrau or pick up one of the quest leads that points there. Complete the opening portion of A Study in Crimson, then allow the required in-game days to pass until The Good Samaritan becomes available during the day.

The five sanzhani tasks are Good Home, Come Hither, Burrow Sorrows, Pearly and Precious, and Tiny Dancer. None of them shows a map icon until you are close to its start, so use these anchors. Together they cost roughly 9-15 time segments.

1. Good Home (must be first). It is available right after the Prologue. Go directly north of the Sandy Gorge Shrine in the Svartrau Outskirts, north of Svartrau City, until you find a ring of mushrooms with glowing lights above it. Follow the trail of rings east, then crouch and enter the burrow. Help Heile find her brother Tonis (ask at the coal burner camp to the west, then follow the X-marked trees north-east of it) and bring him back to the burrow, where the Tsarina reveals herself. Either outcome completes the quest, and this burrow becomes Yawning Burrow on your map.
2. Letters to Lunka. Finishing Good Home opens the other four sanzhani tasks and also starts this optional side quest. You do not need to send any letters to find or start the remaining four tasks; each one begins when you reach its location below. If you want the letters, return to the Tsarina in Yawning Burrow (Focus Mode highlights her) after a task, talk to her, and choose a letter topic to send to Lunka; you can batch several letters at once, and Lunka's reply arrives in your inventory after one in-game day. The letters are not required for the achievement.
3. Come Hither. A crying sanzhana in the marshes north of the Vedera Marsh guardpost (cross the bridge north of the outpost, then head north). A Murohn has taken her burrow; kill it in its lair. The free Silk Threads are here.
4. Burrow Sorrows. Northern Rockfalls, in the forest north-west of Shrike's Crag near the Boarback Trail Shrine. She claims kobolds took her den; crouch in, kill them, and take the charm from their shrine.
5. Pearly and Precious. Briar Sloughs, at an attacked camp near the Small Bridge Shrine, south-east of the Military Camp. Use Focus Mode on the blood trail south-west of the bridge, clear the bandit camp, and return to the sanzhana. This also opens the sanzhani merchant.
6. Tiny Dancer. Svartrau City, at night, in the Curious House where a sanzhana is caged. Enter through an upper balcony or attic door, take the cage key from the desk in the same room, and free her. On this save Svartrau is already at Infamy 9, so climb the city wall at night to get in; if you do the sanzhani chain earlier, before Infamy 9, normal access works.

To find a missing task, check the Letters to Lunka objective "Help the sanzhani" in your journal and which letter topics you have not yet used.

Forge It Anew starts as soon as you collect any sword piece or finish A Monk and a Saint, and has no fail state. Collect every piece before visiting the blacksmith (see the warning below). You need three sword shards plus the Broken Sword of St. Mihai, which you took from Mihai's crypt before Infamy 9. The three shard quests can be done in any order, but the Executive Order camp is tuned for about level 25. Each shard pickup costs 3 time segments.

• Do Not Disturb: north-east Maragir Wealds, north of the Upper Maragir Wealds shrine and east of Mert's Mill. Pass under a large slanted rock to an abandoned camp with painted handprints; the quest starts on arrival. Follow the blood trail to the kobold cave, fight through the kobolds, and take the shard from the broken altar bearing the name Sanctus Mihai at the back.
• Hostile Takeover: in the northern Rockfalls hills near Shrike's Crag, west of Svartrau City; fast travel to the Giant's Pawns shrine. The cave entrance is marked with a large white X, south-west of the shrine; crouch under the low entrance. Kill the kobold boss Munch-Munch and take the shard from the largest nest at the back.
• Executive Order: the quest starts when you approach a cave south-east of the Crossroads Inn in St. Tyna's Grove. Xanthe's soldiers have already ransacked it; use Focus Mode on the bodies and read the Soldier's Letter, which points to a separate Xanthe camp west of the cave, south of Tantari (fast travel to the Drunken Bear Inn or Tantari Watermill shrine). Clear the camp; the shard is in a small chest at the barrel on the right of the main tent's entrance. Search every container in that tent before leaving. This camp clear also completes Xanthe's Blood Guard activity Unquenchable Thirst if you did not do it earlier.

Do not discuss the sword with the blacksmith until you hold all three shards and the hilt. Talking to her about it early can trap the conversation in a loop with no exit option; the developer's advice is to collect everything first. Make a manual save before your first conversation with her as a precaution.

Once all three shards and the hilt are secured, bring them to the uriashi blacksmith Nareh at the Uriashi Hermitage shrine, a stone hut in the north-west of Briar Sloughs, north of Parlita. When she asks why she should help, choose "I want to kill Brencis". She turns the pieces into the Restored Sword of St. Mihai, which is only Epic.

She then directs you to a nearby cave north-west of the Hermitage. Have the Restored Sword in hand, because it cuts through the blood webs and vines sealing the entrance. Descend through the cave, fight the undead, go through the door to the ritual chamber, and interact with the red orb. This costs 3 time segments.

A Bulwark Against Darkness becomes available at Infamy level 4 (Notorious), through a courier letter in Svartrau's Altenmarkt district or from Anca. The four required materials are any saint relic, a bundle of Silk Threads, the Flask of Quicksilver, and a Large Lizard Moult. The component list is fixed, so you can collect materials before the letter arrives.

You should already have the Quicksilver from completing Home Sweet Home correctly, and the Silk Threads come free from Come Hither or from the sanzhani merchant. For the relic, use the Saint's Tibia or the Lost Saint's Relic from The Night of Horrors. The Large Lizard Moult is in an unmarked cave: fast travel to the Muddy Trail shrine, head due east across the bog to the rock cliff and pond, follow the base of the cliff to a narrow vertical crack, squeeze through, and take the moult from behind a rock formation at the far side of the inner chamber. Expect a fight inside.

Return all four materials to Nareh. Making the pieces costs 2 time segments, and the binding ritual costs 3 more. Before the ritual, unequip the Epic Arbiter pieces (otherwise you fight without armour), heal, and save. The ritual is a fight against wolves and then the Ursine Apparition. If the pieces still read Epic afterwards, speak to Nareh again.

All three Ultimate achievements (Creature of the Night, Master of Arms, Arch Warlock) come from one checkpoint, the ULTIMATES save. Make it once, before buying any Ultimate:

1. Reach Corruption 15 and collect the Swordmastery and Witchcraft perk manuals listed below.
2. Bank at least 39 unspent Skill Points in total (35 on perks plus 4 for the Ultimate). You do not need 78: you reload this same checkpoint between trees, so the same 39 points are spent separately in Swordmastery and then in Witchcraft.
3. Make a new manual save named ULTIMATES in a fresh slot. Never overwrite it.
4. Buy one Ultimate, confirm the achievement, then reload ULTIMATES before the next one.

Several sources report that buying one Ultimate Perk locks out the other trees' Ultimates on that save, and there is no respec. This has not been conclusively confirmed, but reloading ULTIMATES between purchases works either way, so use it for all three.

Continue using Voracious Bite and drinking blood during night combat until Corruption reaches level 15. Feeding can build Corruption even when the health recovery itself is no longer needed, so make it part of every remaining combat encounter.

Swordmastery and Witchcraft use a different gate. Each requires 35 Skill Points spent on Perks in that tree before an Ultimate becomes available, then four more points to buy the Ultimate itself. Points spent on Abilities do not count toward the 35-Perk requirement.

You do not need enough total Skill Points to permanently buy both trees on the same save, because each tree is done from the ULTIMATES save and then reloaded. Level 50 gives roughly 160-170 points in total.

Most perks must be unlocked with a manual before you can buy them, and reaching 35 points usually means also buying the cheap utility perks (economy, foraging, crafting) in that tree. Collect the manuals before making the ULTIMATES save:

• Swordmastery: Ursul (after his duel in Lucky Crossing) sells most combat perk manuals, such as Omniblock, Perfect Riposte, Counterattack, Perfect Block, Stinging Blade, and Precision. The General Store in the north-west corner of Svartrau sells Endless Effort, Fleet of Foot, and Vigour. Constantin and Catalin's Tutor sell Sharp Eye, Growing Momentum, Restless Blade, and Renewed Focus. Armourers in Maragir, Svartrau, and Tantari sell Second Skin, and Ocha sells several more.
• Witchcraft: Vera, the Witchcraft Vendor in Maragir Wealds, and the Matriarch of Uriash Village (Bakr-Erga; trade with her only works if you entered the village peacefully) between them sell nearly every Witchcraft perk manual, including the utility perks (Forager, Herbal Remedies, Medicus, Amalgam). A few come from quests or chests, such as Font of Life from Stronger Than Achilles and Aether Flow from the Rockfalls Tower chest.

If a tree's perk list cannot reach 35 points, look for the remaining locked perks' manuals at those vendors before spending anything.

Finish remaining side quests and points of interest on the ENDINGS save. Passing day 30 there triggers the Time Runs Out cutscene, but free roam continues and none of this cleanup is time-gated. Quests award much more experience than random enemy farming, so exhaust meaningful content before grinding ordinary enemies.

Before declaring the game complete, compare your Xbox list against the following common natural-progress achievements:

• Shadow Roamer should have unlocked from night traversal.
• Balanced Diet should have unlocked from ten healing feeds.
• Miser should have unlocked while holding 5,000 denarii.
• Untouchable can be cleaned up on the easiest difficulty.
• Realmwalker should have unlocked during Our Rotten Roots or one of the Brencis final fights in Anachora.
• Delivery Delay needs any 8 of the 10 vrakhiri transports, each fully cleared including its post-fight interaction.
• Make It Rain requires the enemy to explode from the Active Ability, not merely die to ordinary damage.
• Gear of the Gods requires all eight Legendary equipment slots filled simultaneously.
• Capture the Flag should already be done from the Svartrau gate visits before Infamy 9.
• Bird's-Eye View needs every one of the 11 towers fully scouted; any tower with a blank surround on the map was not.

If any character quest achievement is missing, reload the oldest save from before that questline's finale rather than starting a second campaign. If an ending achievement is missing, reload ENDINGS — ALLIES READY or MASTER — PRE-FINALE. A Hero They Deserve can be taken from a throwaway copy of the cleanup save at any point. The whole purpose of the rotating save structure is to turn mistakes into short replays instead of another full run.