Valor Mortis doesn’t go easy on you, even in its opening hours. One More Level’s first-person soulslike drops you into a plague-ridden Napoleonic Europe with a sabre, a pistol and plenty of enemies who hit hard. The basics click quickly, yet a few early choices shape everything that follows: which weapon to favour, which skills to buy first, how ambers work and where to grind a few levels in relative safety. This guide pulls together the advice published by GamesRadar+ and PC Gamer since launch, with each tip credited to its source.
At a glance
The Rapier arrives very early, makes parrying easier and lets you target enemy weak points.
Put four points into Maximum Endurance first, then into Blocking or Parrying Impact.
The barn next to the Marketplace lantern is a quick way to gain levels before Chapter 3.
Switch to the Rapier as soon as you find it
You start the game with the Saber as your only melee weapon, and two more are waiting along the way. According to Billy Givens’ early game tips for Valor Mortis on GamesRadar+, the first of them, the Rapier, turns up very early. It attacks very quickly and opens up easier parries, which often makes it the better main weapon against bosses and tougher foes.
The Saber is still a perfectly good tool, and nothing forces you to drop it. It suits blocking better, which matters when you pick your skills further down. If you like to absorb hits and counter, keep it in hand; if you prefer quick duels built around parrying, the Rapier will suit you better.
Aim for the glowing orange sacs first
Billy Givens also points out that the Rapier can target weak points. In Valor Mortis, these are glowing orange sacs of pus on an enemy’s head, chest or back. Hitting them deals heavy damage, and basic enemies often go down in one or two hits once those sacs have burst.
Keep an eye on the scenery as well. Some glowing spots can be shot with your pistol to spring environmental traps, such as a cart that rolls down onto a group of enemies or crates that drop onto snipers perched above. When a group looks too big to take on, look around and above it before charging in.
Four points into endurance before anything else
Each time you level up, Valor Mortis lets you buy skills from a tree, in place of the usual soulslike stats. In his ranking of the best skills to buy first in Valor Mortis, Billy Givens puts Maximum Endurance at the top. He recommends four points straight away, because nearly everything you do early on, from blocking to attacking and dodging, drains endurance. Maximum Health can wait, since early enemies hit hard enough to take you down in a few blows anyway.
Your second purchase depends on your weapon. With the Saber, go for Blocking, which reduces the endurance cost of blocking and gives you health back if you attack shortly afterwards. With the Rapier, take Parrying Impact, so that every successful parry does more posture damage and opens up critical hits more often. Melee Damage comes next, followed by Melee Endurance Cost, which cuts the endurance each attack uses.
Even if magic is your thing, melee still matters. Nephtoglobin, the resource that powers your Transmutations, is a finite supply that you often refill by landing melee attacks, GamesRadar+ notes. You might as well hit as hard as you can while you’re at it.
Your first Valor Mortis amber slot opens at level 5
Ambers in Valor Mortis are precious gems that grant passive bonuses and abilities. In his Valor Mortis amber guide for PC Gamer, Sean Martin explains that you equip them at any lantern, through the level-up menu. The first slot unlocks at level 5, then a new one every ten levels, at 15, 25, 35 and 45, for five slots in total.
You’ll most likely find your first amber before you’re able to equip it. They mostly come from quests and chests, and an amber you already own levels up when you pick up a duplicate. Nothing is locked in either, as you can swap them at any time.
A barn by the Marketplace for quick levels
According to Billy Givens, the difficulty in Valor Mortis really ramps up around Chapter 3, and he suggests a spot to gain a few levels beforehand. Fast travel to the Marketplace lantern and look for the barn right beside it. A group of enemies charges out whenever you approach the entrance: equip Fire Transmutation, use the doorway to bunch them together and set them alight for 600 Catalysts each time. Rest at the lantern, the enemies respawn, and you can repeat the loop for as long as you like.
Those Catalysts have another use. Once you reach the church in the opening hours, Louis’s Laboratoire sells upgrades for your healing flasks, according to GamesRadar+. They’re a little pricey, so it’s a good moment to use any Catalyst Clots you’re carrying. Louis and James also sell upgrade materials for your weapons and Transmutations.
Leave the green gas for later
One last tip: don’t waste your time on areas filled with green poison gas. Billy Givens warns that you can’t cross them early on, and that the best approach is simply to note where they are and return much later, once you have the ability you need. These areas hide some excellent optional items, along with some of the toughest fights in Valor Mortis. If you’d like to know what the game is worth before diving in, our Valor Mortis review covers its strengths and weaknesses.
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