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Leveling in Salt & Sanctuary is a subtle thing. You don't get a massive boost of power every time you ascend. Rather, every level, you gain a single black pearl you can use to either spend in your skill tree, or save up, in the hopes that you'll grant yourself a tactical edge over what the game throws at you. Moreover, every 4 or 5 levels, you gain an additional 5 hp. Which whilst minimal on it's own- does in fact add up late game. (at level 129, I had 265 HP).

Thus, when it comes to gaining a large tactical advantage, a few levels might not be sufficient for most people.

Which is where this guide comes in- as I'll point out three particular areas which are absolutely phenomenal for gaining experience rapidly- one of which aids greatly in tearing through the early game, whilst the latter buffers you in preperation for the late game.


GENERAL TIPS

#1 As your starting item, take the grasping ring. It grants 10% more salt, or in other words - 10 % more exp. Which can be further stacked in areas by placing an area leader. And always, always ensure you at least have 1 area leader in your inventory, for the final leveling area. You'll thank me.

#2 As a general tip? Don't invest more than 1 point in a stat node, at first. Whilst you can invest up to 5 points in any respective stat node- there is a soft cap of around 50 for strength ..33 or so when two handing weapons. Endurance and Willpower do not have a soft cap for scaling, but there's also ample amounts to be had from just following the skill tree towards more rewarding nodes, like armour unlock nodes, additional pieces of equipment, or extra Potion nodes. I have no idea if Dexterity caps for scaling, but considering the number of weapons that rely on it- it likely does cap at 50.

Reinforcing existing stat nodes should only really be an issue once you've filled out what you want to see from your skill build.

If, by chance, you want a -very- early start on power leveling, and like the idea of being level 12-14 at the very start of the game, gaining an achievement, as well as acquiring a rare crafting material - well, you have your work cut out for you. But the option is there, courtesy of the unspeakable deep. Whilst this particular "Boss" Monster is meant as a very Dark Souls esque 'welcome to the end of your life' type situation, it is in fact quite possible to beat it, and therefore claim all of the above mentioned perks.


The downside to this particular encounter, is that should you fail to beat it, you'll be forced to restart your game, as you only get -1- opportunity to fight it, and that's during the tutorial.


And you are likely going to be restarting a lot. The deep, after all, is a extremely tanky boss, as it has around 1000 hp, and can kill most starting classes in 1-2 hits. Moreover, it's attacks have shockwaves on them, which make them difficult to dodge while in front of the creature, and also make it possible for you to be knocked into the air- and then tackled by it while you're still falling for an instant kill.

To -beat- the deep, I personally chose the thief starting class, as it was lightly armoured, and therefore extremely quick, and was able to roll behind the deep during most of it's attacks, getting itself clear of it's attacks, and in a position to retaliate. Their starting weapon of a dagger, whilst low dungeon, is extremely quick, and can frequently dish out a comparable amount of damage to anyone else's starting weapon, if not more, because of their ability to hit The Deep so rapidly. They -also- have a number of Grenado's, which can be thrown at the deep -after- it's jumped for a tackle towards the position it's landed in, for a good burst of 30 or so damage.

As pointed out by 'Lord Windos', the throwing knives can also be used to stack Poison damage on the deep, by successfully landing 4-5 of the daggers. The deep lacks poison resistance, and therefore the damage dealt would be fairly significant.

Carefully combo and avoid the deep, and you'll net yourself approximately 8000 salt. Upwards of 8800 Salt, if you took the grasping ring as your starting weapon. (Again, i recommend this. Highly).

The Village Of Smiles is the second location available to the player that provides a significant and rapid means for salt gain, courtesy of a small nook close to the entrance of the area, which contains a quartet of creatures known as the saltless. Each of them drops a sizeable amount of salt (considering they're extremely late game creatures), can drop a slew of useful crafting materials, and also can drop sizeable pouches and bundles of salt.

And they respawn, each and every time you visit a sanctuary. The catch being that they have a fairly sizeable portion of health compared to anything else at this juncture in the game, a ranged attack which debuffs all your defenses and makes you vulnerable to Anything else that hits you- and a lurching close range attack that should it connect- will likely just kill you right off the bat, at least at first.

To find these particular jerks, you need to drop down from the first dungeon, and enter the Village of Smiles. It's the subterreanean area connected to the Feast castle. Upon entering the Village, watch that first step (or don't), murder the bronze knight, and then saunter merrily to the left, killing drowned minions, puppies, and archers, until you reach a downwards cliff. Climb down the latter, and go right- avoiding the two crossbow traps if you can, as well as the duo of puppies, and the pair of drowned (one archer, and one that spawns after you walk by). REMEMBER THIS LOCATION. We'll call it the Salty Spot.

From here, go down, kill the bronze knight, and possibly the little jerks at the bottom, and then hang a left- and then immediately hop up the ledges. There is a small cave here hidden at the top of the ledges, which contains an -extremely- powerful great sword (Kuromeia). if you're a strength class, or even if not- it might still be worth it to grab this weapon early on. And especially, if you don't take the two creeds that provide these at the blacksmiths, as this is the only greatsword you can natually find in the game (And therefore, is necessary, for any transmuting you do. And yes, there is a magic scaling greatsword. Kuro, in itself, has an S rank scaling in strength, but -also- scales of dexterity).

Once you have the sword, pop out of the cave, head left, avoid the trap, and head up the ladder to activate a sanctuary. Congratulations, you now have a nearby save spot, and a place to spend your salt. Time to get some.

Head back to the Salt Spot (Remember that spot I said to remember?) except this time, jump -above- the doorway you originally entered, and climb up where the crossbow was. Jump across the collapsing wooden platforms, kill the archer and grab his +3 stamina ring, and then leap across to the area. From here, grab the pumpkin head helmet, and then -slowly- creep forward. The Saltless will emerge from the ground, and engage you shortly after spawning, so ideally, you'll want to kill them as quickly as you can. Moreover, once you kill a Saltless, another one will spawn (there is 4 total, after all). Doing so will net you a tidy amount of salt for early game, as well as access to their drops. Feel free to drop back to the sanctuary, spend your salt, and run back. Rinse repeat, and you can gain a sizeable amount of salt early game.

My own personal tactic, as a follower of the Three (Creed), and a strength specialist, (Choosing, thief, after all, didn't heavily impact my build. it just meant I had slightly more will to start with)- was to use the Kuromeia, and I had upgraded my creed to have access to the imperial pitchfire, which does a -staggering- amount of damage to those guys. a few swipes, and they'd drop dead, giving me delicious, delicious NaCl.

Thus, to those would be conquerors and survivors::

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For those not satisfied with an -early- lead however, read on.

The Castle of Storms is a fairly accessible spot for material and salt gain early on- courtesy of the various enemies in the castle. Most enemies in the castle are fairly fragile with the notable exception of the armoured guards.



The towering armoured giants in the castle are not terribly squishy- and can be tricky to dodge due to the shockwaves on their attacks, as well as the fact that they have a surprising amount of mobility due to their leaps. Nonetheless, they can drop one of the best shields in the game (The tower shield, which when fully upgraded, can block any type of attack in the game, and also has a negligible amount of stamina drain when fully upgraded). They also drop decent salt.

Moreover, as 'Lord Windos' noted, the split swordsman in this region are an accessible means of farming upgrade items such as soldier's poems (which can be bought), and Lord's orders (which cannot be bought, and are necessary to upgrade items to Rank 5 and 6 respectively).

Some caution is advised when dealing with the split swordsman as though they may be fragile, they can deal decent damage due to their aggressive combo-capability, teleporting, and tendency to attack you -while- you're engaged with other enemies.

Likewise, the mages in the Castle of Storms are a half decent source of salt, fragile - can wreak a fair degree of havoc on you with a spell - and also happen to be a source of amber idols. Which is to say, should you be in dire need of transmuting a weapon, farming in the Castle of Storms provides you an opportunity to feasibly set up a few alternative weapons so you can murder everyone that would stand in your way.

The next leveling section becomes available once you've cleared the first part of the Ziggurat Of Dust, and acquired the final brand (And therefore, have the wall jump, Hard Light, and Air dash brands necessary). Once you've acquired these, You'll want to go to the Dome Of The Forgotten, and exit from the left side into the valley. Once you see the blue mist symbolizing a Hardlight platform, light your torch, jump, and dash over to it. And do the same for the next platform, onwards, until you get to the wooden platform and roots you can climb. Do this until you see a gravity inversion totem, which, y'know, you use. Just be certain -not- to move to either side after you use it, as that'll be a pretty quick way to instantly kill yourself.

Navigate your way further up from where you end up (There's a semi long wall jump segment involved), and then go to your right, to activate a sanctuary. Congraulations, welcome to Mal's castle - You are going to be seeing this room a lot. At this point, you'll likely want to put a Guide (Convenience + increased item drop), A Blacksmith (Item Upgrading + Increased attack), and a stone leader (10 percent increased salt, to go with your grasping ring). And then whatever you'd like to add from there. A merchant, or a mage or cleric. Or an alchemist if you want to use the oodles of salt you'll be making to alchemize neat new gear.

Once you're set up, go left, across the pit, up the stairs, and ...meet the Metal Giant that's going to fuel your ascendancy into godhood 6050 salt at a time (as well as feeding you -heaps- of rare material drops, such as lord's, and king's orders, Shimmering pearls, and crypt lord ashes.



Or that's going to utterly murder you into paste, smearing your remains across the room, and feasibly becoming empowered by the salt you were carrying. The crypt lord hit's -hard-, is fairly mobile, and can jump large distances. That said, he has approximately 500 hitpoints, and is vulnerable to both fire and lightning. Kill him, hop back to the sanctuary to replenish your health and flasks, and repeat the process anew. Also, if you can trick him into following you out of the castle and jumping off the edge of the floating island, he -will- grant you the salt his kill would normally grant you. ...Just good luck on collecting the item or gold drops. It's really more time effective to just engage him outright, however. Especially since if you do enough damage to stagger him in 3 hits, you can end the engagement rather quickly and start the process anew.

With 33 strength, a rank 5 Jaws of Death, a bloodflower charm and ring (+10 percent damage, respectively, for each one), and a imperial Lightning stone thingy. I was able to kill the Crypt lord in 4 heavy scissor attacks. When he jumps, he is usually vulnerable long enough for 1-2 hits, depending on how close you are to him. When he does his normal 1 hit melee attack, you -might- have time for an attack, before needing to immediately roll to avoid his incoming attack. But should he do his 2 hit combo, his second attack will leave him open for a substantial period of time, and allow you to punish him for possibly 3 hits, and if you can stagger him, that leaves him open long enough to outright kill him.

Now, there might be those amongst the readers who don't have the time or patience to reach Mal's Palace to power level - or who don't want to deal with the Three. For those individuals- an alternative presents itself in the form of the 'Dome Of the Forgottens' Sanctuary. But only if you have Faith, and Searing Ray. The reason for this, is because above the room, there rests 4 Whisperman- who die immediately whenever you use searing ray. This quadruple murder spree gives 1960 Salt (With grasping ring + Leader Buff), and is able to be cycled dozens of time a minute, requiring the input of 'F' to cast, C to pray and rest the mobs, and then escape to get out of the prayer menu. Repeat. It's really that fast.

Really, the only limitation is a players patience, the ability to cast this particular Level 4 Faith spell (Leveling up your devotion to Devaras Creed allows you to outright buy this fairly early on, as well), and the occasional errand to loot grab. The latter because the area above the sanctuary will occasionally become -so- cluttered with loot, that Searing ray stops being able to kill anything in that area and therefore stacking more clumps of loot on those locations.

Get Searing, Folks. #Credits to Old Iron Johnson For this.

So, you've beaten the game, and you're now rampaging through the island. Suddenly, everything gives increased experience- though the most noticeable jump is in fact the bosses, who give around 10 times as much salt as they used to, if not more.

Every loop of NG+ will make enemies do more damage, and progressively more tanky, and the enemies which had been efficient sources of experience are no longer quite as efficient to murder (I'm staring at you crypt lords, with your experience only going up to approximately 9 k, as opposed to your 6050 before).

That said, when you get to the Crypt Of the Dead Gods, you're provided with one last chance to pad your levels to -astronomical- levels. To be precise, The opportunity is provided by the 'Forgotten Three' Optional boss encounter, though in essence, this exploit would work to a lesser degree on every boss fight that has more than one enemy. Essentially, set up the area so you have a stone leader, and wear your grasping ring- and then murder 2 of the Forgotten 3- and use a return bell to exit the fight. You don't get the item drops- but you reset the boss encounter, and most importantly- you escape with all that salt. In NG+ this net's you a bit over 200 k salt a run.

I personally used this tactic to get myself up to level 203 >.> At about which point I decided 203 was probably a decent level to challenge the Nameless god, and prepare myself for the NG++ Cycle.

Moreover, because bosses scale up to a far greater extent then normal enemies for Salt gain- this tactic will also work in the next NG+ cycle, and onwards- so long as you're able to survive the bosses onslaught, and kill them efficiently.

Work In Progress- But if someone had a list of all the black pearls that are located in chests, that'd no doubt be useful, since I think there are somewhere between 5-10 ish of them per playthrough.

As ascending via salt becomes progressively more costly, the value of these little finds become exponentially more. And you can continue to find these things, even after you hit the max level of 549. In theory, you could keep replaying the game and acquiring these until you hit stat cap, but that'd be ridiculous.

Free Black Pearl #0 :: This one requires that you beat the Unspeakable Deep, and therefore is only available to NG players that actually beat it. If you've been following this guide so far, that oversized squid should have ended up fried calamari loooog ago.

Festering Banquet ::

Free Black Pearl #1 :: Once you've killed the Sodden Knight, and can open the exit doors of the Festering Banquet, there will be a collectible up ahead. Take it. That's your first free Black Pearl. Which is in essence, a single stat point, without having to fight.

Free Black Pearl #2 :: Once you've obtained the Vertigo Brand, head back to the oblesik in the area (its by where the Mending Band is located). Then invert up into the tower, until you can un-invert yourself at the top of it. On the platform underneath the Bronze Knight should be your newly found black pearl. Don't forget about the chest up there too!

Village Of Smiles ::

Free Black Pearl #1 :: Once you've killed the Queen of Smiles, continue down the passage until you come to a ladder leading up, and a shortcut leading to the sanctuary. Open the shortcut, and grab the pickup near the switch for another free black pearl.

Watching Woods ::

Free Black Pearl #1 ;; Once you've killed the Mad Alchemist, proceed left of the boss fight club. There will be several pickups along the way, one of which is the 3rd free black pearl.

Fort Beyound The Mire ::

Free Black Pearl #1 :: Enter the the fort from either the left or right, then start scaling the tower. Once you reach the sanctuary, continue onward to the right, and start wall jumping your way up the tower. The last jump up either requires the Shadowflip Brand to make it, or preforming a air combo after the last wall jump at the right positon. Search the roof of the fort, and you should find the 4th free black pearl.

Gray pearls grant you the ability to remove a stat point from any non 'skill node', allowing you to respec towards a more preferred stat, or to acquire access to desired skill nodes, and removing the less desireable ones you used to access the aforementioned stats/skills.

Village Of Smiles ::

Free Gray Pearl#1 :: After Entering the area, head down, and then head right, past the two arrow traps. Specifically, you want to head above the cave, and platform across the bottomless pit towards the group of saltless. 1 Gray Pearl, here.

Free Gray Pearl#2 :: Before you fight the alchemist in the forest, there's an ogre, and a wooden shack right past it. If you jump onto the roof of the shack, you can open the chest, and pick up the small item on top of it. 1 Gray pearl, here.

Sunken Keep ::
Free Gray Pearl#1 :: After you kill one of the bosses and talk to the jester to get the vertigo brand, head over to the black pillar in the midst of the Sunken keep (To the right of the false jester boss), and use it to hop up to the area above the two archers. Get on top with Vertigo shenanigans, and begin to platform to the right. Picking up the voracious charm, and then just dropping to the right of the platform, where there's a chest containing 1 Gray pearl.

Castle Of Storms ::
Free Gray Pearl#1 :: After you kill the Kraekan Wyrm, and have the jagged key, open the door that's in the room south of the Sanctuary (Giant armour guy). The door is to the left. If you then proceed to platform left towards the grabbable item. Collect it for 1 Gray Pearl.

Red Hall of Cages
Free Gray Pearl#1 :: As you descend through the level, you'll be introduced to slowly rotating wheel platforms. Continue south down these passages, traveling in the only direction you can- until you can see a ledge that you can wall jump up against, to reach an overhanging room. In this room you can find the thief to talk to, and some loot if you head to the left of the room. Very specifically, at the bottom left most part of this room, you can find a grey pearl, among other things.

Hagar's Cave ::
Free Gray Pearl#1 :: To get the Grey pearl here, go south of the sanctuary, until you reach near the bottom of the area, and then head east. You shoudl come across a cave passage which leads to a locked door that needs a cellar key. Obtain the cellar key from the southern area of this 'cellar', and then proceed further east- to the room with Minty Skell (A Vendor), and the Gray Pearl.

Far Shore -> Pitchwoods ::
From the Farshore Sanctuary, go West until you reach the ladders, and immediately go South. From here, you'll engage in a platforming section that will require the air dash. Amidst these segments, you can find a pair of Grey pearls, The Russet Armour set, a High level Crossbow, and the Arcane Damage Charm.

Still Palace ::
From The shrine - Go upwards, using wall jumps and air dashes to ascend the platforms. Once at the topmost platform, go and airdash to the left, and enter the nook. Continue ascending until you reach the cavern. Inside will be a pair of chests. These are Mimics, and slaying each one earns you a grey pearl.

Shout out to Ska Studios for making this game. it's pretty amazing, and I can only hope there's more games in the future- or possible expansions to the world of Salt & Sanctuary.

A shoutout to my Steam Buddy & RL pal Eckhart - He's the reason I first got into this game, and proceeded to go on a rampage through the game. << I can only hope online play is unlocked at some point so I can play with him :3.

Another Shoutout to Lord Windos for a number of discussions about skill progression.

And lastly, a shoutout to Jack- whose discussion with me about shenanigans led to the crypt of the dead boss massacre.

P.S. Shoutout to Old Iron Johnson for the Dome Of The Forgotten Trick.

Anyways, Show's over, folks, move along.