Combat | Salt and Sacrifice Wiki

Combat Mechanics in Salt and Sacrifice

Salt and Sacrifice is a 2D action RPG, with Souls-like combat mechanics in place. This means that you must always be careful in combat. Rushing down attacks on enemies is not the way to go in this kind of game, as even the most basic of attacks can make you vulnerable to counters. Even the weakest type of Enemies can make work of you in a matter of seconds if you don't play carefully. You would have to be patient, time your attacks, know when to dodge, and manage your stamina. Your stamina is tied into your blocking, attacking, and dodging.

Combat revolves around blocking, dodging, and attacking. These 3 are tied into your stamina, so you would have to use them wisely when trying to best an enemy. 

 

Rolling and i-frames

Like Salt and Sanctuary and the soulslikes that inspired it, Salt and Sacrifice leans heavily on rolling and invincibility frames. Your roll speed and i-frames per roll is determined by your equipment weight. 

 

Blocking and parries

You can soak up some damage by blocking, but timing your block to right before the point of impact dramatically reduces the stamina damage you receive.

 

Runic Arts

As an Inquisitor, you don’t use Magic. However, many weapons employ elemental effects called Runic Arts. These can either require Focus, which is refilled by Haze Decoctions, or Rage, which fills by engaging in combat. 

 

Alchemy

You’ll come across materials that can be converted into alchemical bombs by Herbalist Shenna. Once these recipes are learned, they’ll always refill during a rest, provided you have the raw materials.
You can also field restock by holding the 'Interact' Button

 

Boss Encounters in Salt and Sacrifice

Boss fights are punishing and require that you learn their attack patterns so you can avoid them and strike back. Each boss is based around a certain type of element and you can often make an armor set that is good against that type. So if you are struggling with a boss you can always farm previous bosses and craft an armor set that is good against the elements that you are fighting.

Bosses are almost the same as regular enemies, except they have tankier build, more health, diverse attacks, and locks you into an area, therefore, you can't just run past them, and you will be forced to eliminate them. Once you encounter a boss, you would have to inflict enough damage so that it will relocate to somewhere else. As you chase your target, it will summon more allies and move further into the region you’re exploring. Eventually, the boss will decide it’s time to stand its ground, the camera will zoom-in, and show the name of the Boss, then the battle begins. There could be several creatures already in the area when you encounter a boss, these creatures could also target the boss, you might want to use this to your advantage. Eventually, the boss will wipe them out, some bosses can summon their own minions to help them in battle. Different bosses have different damage types, in which their elemental attacks and summoning powers differ. You might have to get obliterated a few times before you pick up the boss' patterns, usually almost all types of enemies leave a gap in their attacks, and that's how you'll know when to dodge and strike. Take note that timing your dodge and attacks is very crucial, as mistiming them can result in a brutal death. From here, this plays out much like previous Bosses in Salt and Sanctuary, and you can expect to find the boss in the same location should you die and have to run back.

Once you've defeated a boss, you will be rewarded, this means you get to devour their hearts and plunder their remains. Remains can be used to craft unique equipment that hone powerful abilities. Doing this will make you stronger and make the boss' powers your own.

 

Character Builds and Progression in Salt and Sacrifice

In the demo, each level up will increase your Max HP and grant you a “Black Starstone” for unlocking skill nodes in the tree. A “Grey Starstone” is obtained every five levels, and it is used to reset a spent node.

The game then allows you to follow different branching paths that will improve your Stats which are:

• Strength
• Dexterity
• Vitality
• Will
• Endurance
• Arcana
• Conviction
• Resolve
• Luck

Much like Souls, each of these stats affects your weapons based on their scaling, plus other bonuses such as Luck increasing Item Find rate, Will increasing your Stamina pool, and Endurance determining your Equipment Load.

 

Multiplayer and Co-op in Salt and Sacrifice

Online multiplayer and co-op features are also added in Salt and Sacrifice, unlike its predecessor, it was only limited to local and couch co-op. This game is instead embracing a full souls-like covenant and online experience. You will be able to use asynchronous features such as leaving messages for others, and engage in fully coordinated PvP and Cooperative play. The game features six factions:

• Dawnlight Cooperators - Aid fellow inquisitors in devouring mages. Use a “Pale Candle” to find a host to assist.
• Oathbound Watchers – protect Inquisitors who have been invaded by members of the Shroud Alliance. Wear an Oathwrit Amulet to be summoned to protect a host.
• Sheriff Inquisitors – Slay invading Blueheart Runners. Wear a Tealfeather Amulet to be summoned to protect a host.
• Shroud Alliance – Invade and slay fellow inquisitors. Use a “Page of Curses” to find a world to invade.
• Blueheart Runners – Hunt creatures called Hazeburnt Husks in the realms of their fellow Inquisitors. Use a “Blue Candle” to find a world to harvest.
• Chaos Hunter – Invade and can slay hosts, allies, invaders and monsters. Use “Unspeakable Flesh” to find a world to invade. This faction is not yet fully implemented into the game.

Invasions and co-op both work only when the player isn’t “Spellmarked”, which is the equivalent of being “Hollow”. When you want to engage in online play, you need to use a Guiltless Shard that can be looted from many places on the landscape or purchased from a demo vendor. Once you are in the “Atoned” (human) state, you can initiate co-op by using a “Golden Candle”, or wait for PvP adversaries to join as you play. Guardian faction members can be summoned into other worlds even when being Spellmarked.

 

Weapons Types, Upgrades, and Crafting in Salt and Sacrifice

The weapon types available in the skill tree also go to Class 5, and feature:

• Bludgeons
• Crossbows
• Channeling Rods
• Glaives
• Greatblades
• Greathammers
• Halfspears
• Highblades
• Rapiers
• Shortbows
• Sickles
• Staves
• Throwing Axes
• Throwing Knives
• Thrown Weapons
• Twindaggers
• Twohanders
• Vanguards
• Whips

As you explore the lands within the Kingdom, you will find many materials that you can harvest. These are often simple items to create more healing and mana potions or replenish your stock of ranged ammo. But some materials and items dropped by Enemies and magi are actually used to upgrade your gear, create new gear, or upgrade your stock of Consumables.

Enhancing: You can upgrade your equipment using Magestones. As you upgrade, runes will appear in your gear and you will need to gather higher level materials. This applies to Weapons and Armor alike.

Crafting: Engage in “Carnifice” and use the flesh and bone relic of mages to create new Weapons, Armor, Charms and more. During the demo, your hunts can yield Class 2 equipment as well as give you the option to craft “Trophies” to display within your tent in the safe hub. The remains of each mage usually yield an armor set resistant to their element, and a weapon set that deals one of their damage types: Physical, Fire, Cold, Poison, Light and Dark.

Hunter Tools: Trista, the Verdantvoice awaits at the hub to identify the herbs and materials you find in the field, and help you discover new potion and consumable recipes. You can use the Apothecary’s Tools nearby to enhance your Hunter Tools, giving yourself more Ammo or Potion capacity by using the flowers, herbs and items you find when exploring.