Arx Fatalis - Walkthrough Index and General Tips

Arx Fatalis is available DRM-free and with Risk Free Guarantee from Good Old Games. We are playing version Arx Libertatis 1.1.2.

Walkthrough Index
Arx Fatalis has a basically linear main quest and each stage is easy to follow, unless you deliberately deviate from it. Therefore, our walkthrough will only touch on things you may not have considered doing. For more mundane information, try Aldernon NL's 3-part Arx Fatalis guide on Steam, including level maps and a list of spell rune locations.

Level 1 - Yellow Tulip Tavern, Human Outpost, City of Arx, Human Palace
Level 2 - Goblin Prison, Troll Sculptor, Crystal Caves, Ice Dragon Cave, Temple of Akbaa
Level 3 - Tutorial Area, Goblin City, Troll Mines
Level 4 - Great Sea, Crypt level 1, Serpent Pillar, Rebel Camp, Access to Ylside Bunker and Akbaa
Level 5 - Twin Traders, Hostile Trolls, Crypt level 2, Ylside Bunker and Akbaa
Level 6 - Crypt level 3 (Shield of the Ancients), Sisters of Edurneum
Level 7 - Ratmen, Labyrinth of Lost Souls
Level 8 - Dwarven Forge, Helm of King Poxellis

General Tips and Notes
Character Build / Attributes / Skills

Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, and Constitution can all go over 23, and Skills can exceed 100 (although they may not necessarily benefit you more at a score of over 100).
Plan to reach only character level 9.
Do not raise utility skills to 100. Instead, raise them and then use Bless to bring them up the rest of the way.

You can equip gear with requirement you do not meet by casting Bless to meet those requirements. You will not automatically un-equip them when the Bless expires.

Your (Magic Skill/10, rounded) is basically your effective magic level, not your character level.
Bless has a maximum bonus of +10, which you will get at Magic Skill 90+. A +10 bonus provides +20 to most skills and +25 to Object Knowledge (out of 70-75 needed for the game).
You can Bless yourself and then store an Autocast Bless that is based on your currently improved stats. Cancel the current Bless and use the Autocast one to access the improved Bless.

Because you can do this, you really only need your Magic skill to 90+ AFTER Bless. It is fairly easy to acquire two Rings of Casting for +20% Magic, so your final Magic Skill only needs to be 64 (+20% from rings = 76, +16 from resulting Bless = 92).

To cast Bless you require Mega Stregum Vitae. The hardest to get is Stregum. To get it early, lockpick into the Crypt in Arx and use the secret passages to get to the caves where you can buy it from the Twin Traders.
You will only really have trouble in the Dwarf mines on floor 8 where magic is not allowed, but a Technical Skill of around 70+ should allow you to lockpick anything that can be lockpicked.

You get XP for picking locks and disarming traps with A Set of Tools instead of using a key or spell. Some doors re-lock every time you enter the area, such as Tafiok's shop while he is at home, and the kitchen in the human castle at Arx when the cook is not in.
You will know if a key is necessary if the feedback from the character is that it is impossible; in almost all cases your lockpicks will not lose Durability.

[Level 3 Area 1] is an exception -- despite the audio message, you must use the key. Even at a Technical skill of 110 you cannot lockpick it.

You need about a skill of 90 to easily handle most locks, even in some early game areas like the city of Arx. 95+ for the human castle -- so ultimately you will want to aim for 100 to get maximum XP.

You always lose Durability on items you repair unless your Object Knowledge is 100+ AND you are wielding a Blacksmith Hammer.

Magic

When you pre-cast a spell, your current magic skill is recorded. So, if you cast a Bless before pre-casting a spell, that recorded spell will be cast as if you had the Bless effect even when the Bless effect is no longer on you.
The fastest way to get early overwhelming firepower is Magic and Aam Yok Taar. If you focus on the Magic skill, you can basically one-shot almost anything with the Fireball spell.
Invisibility (Nhi Vista)

You can cast spells, including attack spells, while invisible (Nhi Vista) and remain invisible. It is not foolproof against being detected, however, as you still make noise walking.
You can use it to trespass areas and even open/close doors while invisible. In this way you can easily avoid detection by guards and resulting hostility, even if you just use it briefly to enter/exit the restricted area. Opening/closing a door to a restricted area will not trigger hostility, so you can lockpick open a door, then use Nhi Vista to enter and shut the door (thereby blocking the line of sight of guards).

Lightning Strike Aam Folgora Taar hits everything it contacts. While the spell is active, you can turn and "spray" the attack like a water hose.
Runes of Guardian (purple glowing traps on the floor) can be triggered by creatures other than yourself.

Use a Summon (e.g., Raise Dead) near it and walk away before the summon actually appears and triggers the trap, making it explode. Then because typically your summon is hostile to you unless you have a control spell, cancel the summon spell to banish your creature.

Miscellaneous Notes

Any blade weapon (and, strangely enough, a Blacksmith Hammer that can be wielded as a weapon) can unmake a Fishing Rod or cut A Piece of Wood into Stakes (which stack in inventory, unlike sticks).

Note that you need at least 2 Piece of Wood to repair floor levers in the Crypt (and typically a Piece of Wood will be nearby), so don't immediately convert all of them.
If you click on the Piece of Wood while it is in inventory, you get two Stakes instead of just one.

A Fishing Rod sells for as much as a Rope, so you might as well sell the deconstructed Pole and Rope separately.
Many areas eventually respawn some vermin like Rats and Spiders. Other areas may spawn enemies based on your quest / sidequest progress for tasks in that area. Quantity is typically very little, maybe 1-2 scattered over the area.
Containers and Stacking

You can stack more than 10 units of an item in a container. First, put in a stack of 9 or less. Then, put in a stack of any size and let the interface automatically place it (e.g., by dragging the stack over an item of another type in the container). The interface will select a stack of the same type of item that is not yet at maximum (10) and add to it, even if the new total will be over 10.
You can sometimes get a stack of more than 10 units of an item by getting it from a container that already has such a stack. Use the "get all" button at the lower left of the container inventory window.

note #1 - level 1 room 42 Tavern upstairs, to the left of Enoill
note #2 - level 4 room 8, one of two chests
note #3 - level 3 room 42
note #4 - level 3 room 4, need Reveal spell
note #5 - level 6 room 30, need shovel
note #6 - level 8 room 11, need Levitate (Mega Spacium Movis)
note #7 - level 3 room 50, south-eastern most point, need shovel; attempt to equip your shovel as a weapon to "use it" and the key will appear
treasure - level 4 room 8, other chest

An interesting alternate "walkthrough" is this Arx Fatalis speed-run video where the player basically shortcuts most of the game and ignores most of the quests, and therefore has to do a lot of things in an alternate way.

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