The legendary gear worth the detour
Two of the best pieces are projects rather than drops, several sit in rooms a quest is trying to hurry you out of, and one of them has no armour value at all.
The two you build rather than find
The Arbiter set starts with a letter Anca hands you once you are Notorious, and needs a lizard moult, a flask of quicksilver, silk threads and a relic of a saint before Nareh will bind it — and the pieces arrive epic, turning legendary only when the set is complete. The ritual costs three segments and throws wolves and a bear at you. The component hunt is here, and which relic to give up is here.
The sword is the longer road: the broken blade under the cathedral, three shards at three segments each, Nareh's reforge to epic, and a final tempering that makes it legendary. Forge It Anew covers the shards.
Armour worth chasing
| Piece | Slot | What it gives | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Enhanced Arbiter set | Heavy, all four slots | Chest: weapon, claw and witchcraft damage, charge restoration from actions. Shin guards: witchcraft cooldown, charge restoration passively, from actions and from perfect blocks. Bracers: maximum vampiric health, vampiric health regeneration, blood-drinking restoration, weapon damage. Boots: maximum human health, human health restoration, maximum stamina, magical damage reduction. | Crafted by Nareh from four components in A Bulwark Against Darkness, then bound in a ritual that pits you against wolves and a bear. |
| Runic Enchantment | Chest | Lifesteal from attacks, witchcraft damage, magical damage reduction, damage against supernatural enemies — with no armour value and no weight at all, per GameSpot. | Guaranteed in Stronger Than Achilles, when Anca paints the runes on Coen. |
| Isbrand's Plate | Medium chest | Maximum vampiric health, critical hit chance and damage, blood-drinking restoration. GameSpot lists the critical bonuses as general; Eurogamer says they apply to claws. | The chest beside the chained Isbrand at the end of Hive and Seek. Loot it before you talk to him and Lacra again. |
| Ancient Greaves | Heavy trousers | Witchcraft damage, charge restoration from blocks, passive charge restoration, magical damage reduction. | By destroying the Font of Life at the end of Stronger Than Achilles. TheGamer says there is no other way to get them. |
| Ancient Hero's Armor | Heavy chest | Human health restoration, witchcraft damage, charge restoration from actions, damage against supernatural enemies. | Beneath Svartrau City, after the miniboss in the quest Father Florin sets you. |
| Ambrus's Cuirass | Heavy chest | Eurogamer: lower vampiric ability cooldown and attack stamina cost, more charge restoration from attacks and perfect blocks. | Looted from Ambrus's body once you kill him. |
| Pieter's Garb | Light chest | Maximum human health, human health restoration, critical hit chance, critical hit damage. | Volk's Buried Past: do his chores until he mentions your father's treasure, then dig it up. |
| Ancient Footwear | Heavy boots | Witchcraft damage and cooldown, charge restoration from attacks, magical damage reduction. | In Xanthe's dagger excavation: find the ritual dagger, then compel the dead assistant to open the locked chest. |
Stat lines follow GameSpot’s roundup, the only one that gives four effects for nearly every piece.
Weapons worth chasing
| Weapon | Type | What it gives | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Imbued Sword of St. Mihai | Greatsword | Swordmastery cooldown, critical hit chance, critical hit damage, damage against supernatural enemies. Rock Paper Shotgun's copy came out at level 21 and 331 DPS. | The long project: find the broken blade under the cathedral, gather three shards at three segments each, have Nareh reforge it, then temper it in the red orb after the fight. |
| Durandal | Long sword | Swordmastery cooldown, attack stamina cost, dodge stamina cost, damage against supernatural enemies. | The Cursed Chasm, at the broken bridge west of Briar Sloughs — drop in, clear the creatures, loot the wrecked cart. |
| The Kingslayer | Greatsword | Attack stamina cost, block stamina cost, stamina gain from perfect blocks, perfect-block window. | Two fixed routes, per Method: dig it up on the riverbank west of Svartrau, or buy it from the silver trader for just under 5,000 denarii. Rock Paper Shotgun also reports looting one from the guards at the Executive Order outpost in its playthrough. |
| Gladius | Short sword | Maximum vampiric health, damage against mortals, critical hit chance, critical hit damage. | Deep in the Beast of Balaur's lair: beat the miniboss, then climb the wall to the chest. Brencis's own blade. |
| The Vrakhir | Sword | Maximum vampiric health, vampiric ability health cost, vampiric ability cooldown, damage against mortals. | Lodged in a dead creature in the tunnels of The Night of Horrors, on Lacra's line. |
| The Hand of Fate | Sword | Witchcraft cooldown, witchcraft damage, passive charge restoration, charge restoration from actions. | Take the Stone Key from the cathedral treasury before the underground quest. Method says the Uriash hermit also sells it, once you have the Witchcraft perk that opens her legendary stock. |
What to wear, by build
- Day, sword and witchcraft. Eurogamer pairs the Ancient Hero’s Armor with the Ancient Greaves and calls it a no-brainer foundation. Method puts Pieter’s Garb and Bakir’s Armor in the same bracket, the latter for people leaning on perfect blocks.
- Night and claws. Eurogamer’s advice with Isbrand’s Plate is to drink whenever you can and use claws over the sword. Method adds Ambrus’s Cuirass for vampiric abilities and the Wolven Bracers specifically for hunting animals.
- Witchcraft. The Runic Enchantment, which trades every point of armour for lifesteal and spell damage. Method’s description of it is wearing paint as armour.
- Everything at once. The Arbiter set, which Eurogamer says lets you keep one chest piece across both forms and fiddle with jewellery instead.
Where the guides fall out
- Whether the Ancient Greaves are worth the Font. IGN says they are nothing to write home about and advises against the choice; TheGamer calls them exceptionally strong for a charge build; GameSpot would rather Coen drank it. A genuine three-way split on a one-time decision.
- The Purge and The Shredder. GameSpot has both dropping from headhunters that only appear at Infamy 7; Method and G2A say The Purge is simply for sale, and G2A puts The Shredder in a chest at Infamy 2 and calls it an amulet rather than a weapon.
- The quicksilver tower’s name. Everyone agrees it is the tower in the far south from Home Sweet Home. Rock Paper Shotgun and Method call it Aurelius’s Tower; GameSpot says Ambrosius Tower and Eurogamer says Silts Tower.
On levels: Steam's Glass Ceiling achievement asks you to reach level 50, which shows that level is reachable without proving it is the ceiling.
The best armour, the best sword and the level cap
- What is the best armour in The Blood of Dawnwalker?
- Method and Eurogamer both pick the Enhanced Arbiter set — Method calls it the best set in the game and Eurogamer says it covers both day and night so you only have to swap jewellery. It is also the most work: four components, an Infamy gate and a ritual fight.
- What is the best sword?
- The Imbued Sword of St. Mihai, once fully upgraded. Method calls it arguably the best in the game and GamesRadar used it to the end. G2A's practical note is that Durandal is the better early target because it takes far less work.
- Is legendary always better?
- No. G2A's warning is the useful one: check the bonuses, the armour proficiency and the stamina demands, because a well-matched epic can beat a legendary that fights your build. Gear also rolls at the level you pick it up, so the numbers on a piece are not fixed.
- What is the level cap?
- Steam has an achievement, Glass Ceiling, for reaching level 50. That shows level 50 is reachable; it does not by itself establish that the cap is 50.
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