Are you ready to venture forth into a fantasy realm with nothing but a blade forged by your own hand?

Blades of Fire is a new action-adventure title from MercurySteam and 505 Games. You play as Aran de Lira, the realm’s last hope against the machinations of the tyrannical Queen Nerea. You'll craft all sorts of weapons and wield them against countless enemies, from the queen’s corrupted knights to undead hordes and other otherworldly entities. Blades of Fire will surely test your mettle—or should that be metal?

Our Blades of Fire beginner's guide contains tips to help you get started on your weaponsmithing journey and survive in a hostile realm. Read our tips below to forge ahead with your destiny.

 

Master the dynamic combat system

Combat in Blades of Fire utilizes directional attacks through single-button presses. These include strikes from the left and right, as well as to the head and the body/lower torso. You can also hold down each attack button to perform a charged/heavy strike that deals more damage, though the animation can leave you open to hits from an enemy.

Stamina is gradually depleted when you attack foes and dodge blows, but rapidly replenished if you hold down the block button. A perfectly timed block even briefly staggers an opponent after a bright flash.

 

Choose the right weapon types for opponents

The most important Blades of Fire tip to remember is that specific weapon types tend to be more effective against certain targets. You can see this by manually locking onto enemies and checking the colored outlines that appear on their body.

• Green means your weapon is highly effective.
• Yellow means the damage might be slightly reduced.
• Red means the item is completely ineffective and you should avoid using it against that target.

You’re able to equip up to four different weapons, and you'll need to swap your armaments around depending on the type of opponent that you’re facing.

 

Unlock new Forge Scrolls by defeating enemies

You unlock new weapon types by obtaining Forge Scrolls. Most enemies in Blades of Fire wield a particular weapon. If you defeat the same type of enemy enough times, you’ll eventually acquire their Forge Scroll, too.

We recommend looking for areas near Forger’s Anvils that are crawling with dozens of hostiles. You can rest and cause these creatures to respawn to rack up your kills in no time.

 

Fine-tune each weapon that you craft

Aran holds a mythical blacksmith’s hammer that allows him to craft armaments in the Forge of the Gods. When you select a type of item, you'll see all the different parts that you can make. In the image above, for instance, you’ll notice that the Claymore has the following parts: Blade, Cross-Section, Guard, and Pommel. Other weapons, such as Spears and Polearms, are made up of their own component parts.

You're able to pick which materials you want to use for each of these components, such as higher-tier steel or wood. Additionally, you can switch to other kinds of designs for each part.

All of your choices in the Forge of the Gods affect the final weapon’s stats, including damage, durability, block and parry windows, stamina consumption, reach, weight, and more. The idea is to fine-tune the armament you forge so that it serves you well in the battles ahead.

 

Hammer your weapons to improve their quality and gain free repairs

After selecting materials and parts for a specific weapon, you need to hammer the billet. The goal is to strike the metal to as close a shape as possible based on what you see on the interface. The white line shows you the shape that the piece of metal is supposed to take. You can tweak the strength, angle, and width of your strike, which are denoted via bars.

Each successful strike increases the number of points toward a Repair Star, up to a maximum of four. Conversely, failed strikes decrease your points, though you can try to heat the metal to progress. Repair Stars represent the number of times you can repair a particular weapon. Once a weapon is out of Repair Stars, you won’t be able to restore its durability anymore. You can either dismantle it via the Forger’s Anvil or offer it to Glinda (more on this later).

If you don’t want to attempt this minigame again (or you're happy with your results), you can choose to hammer the billet from memory in the future. The weapon type in question will automatically obtain the number of Repair Stars from your best attempt.

 

Take note of the functions of the Forger’s Anvil

The Forger’s Anvil is equivalent to a bonfire in the Dark Souls games. You can do a few different things at the Forger's Anvil:

• Travel to the Forge of the Gods to craft weapons.
• Fast travel to other Forger's Anvils that you’ve already activated.
• Repair a weapon if it still has Repair Stars left.
• Recycle or dismantle a weapon that you no longer need.
• Rest up to recover your health and flask charges.

If Aran perishes, he will respawn at the closest Forger’s Anvil in the area. You won’t lose resources. Instead, you’ll lose the weapons in your inventory. You must return to the site where Aran died to recover your armaments.

 

Listen to clues from Adso

Adso is a teenager who follows Aran throughout the adventure. You can chat with him to learn about the background lore of the world. Alternatively, you can send him back to your camp so he can draw the locations that you’ve discovered. You can always call on him again if you need his expertise as part of progression.

 

Be on the lookout for chests that grant bonuses and buffs

Another important Blades of Fire tip is that the chests scattered all over the world contain valuable items that offer huge boons. Here are some examples:

• Health Crystals: Collect four of these to increase your maximum health.
• Stamina Crystals: Collect four of these to increase your maximum stamina.
• Life Criptex: Offers upgrades for your healing flasks.
• Forge Criptex: Lets you earn more Repair Stars for certain weapon types.

Search for Blue Ladies and Seneschals

Look out for Blue Ladies and Seneschals, many of which are in hard-to-find areas. Here’s what they do:

• Blue Ladies imbue your weapons with runic properties, which are denoted by a color and symbol. When you encounter strange symbols during your travels, you can strike these with a weapon that has a matching rune to discover secrets.
• Seneschal statues hold a specific weapon type. If you spot one, equip the same kind of weapon in your hand and interact with the statue. It unlocks a new design or part that you can select in the Forge of the Gods.

Increase a weapon’s reputation before offering it to Glinda

The Master Forger, Glinda, might be grumpy, but she becomes a valuable ally once you meet her in Kar-Lethel Swamps. Aside from giving you hints toward progressing further into the campaign, she also enables your weapons to gain reputation.

You can increase an armament’s reputation by slaying a lot of enemies with it. Later, if you’re no longer able to repair it, you may offer it to Glinda to earn valuable resources.

 

Take care of your Bony Prince ally

Upon reaching the Crimson Fort, you’ll meet a skeletal child known as the Bony Prince. What follows is one of the toughest levels in Blades of Fire, since you need to babysit the Bony Prince all the way through the area.

If the Bony Prince falls off Aran’s back, some spectral enemies may grab him and pull him through walls. You then need to find your buddy by interacting with glowing sigils. From there, you must defeat a Vermillion Nurse enemy that’s guarding him. You need to do this whole process whenever the Bony Prince gets kidnapped in this location, so be careful and try to avoid it.

 

Discover more secrets while exploring

Blades of Fire is filled with numerous secrets and activities that you might stumble upon while exploring. Hidden paths might lead to the aforementioned treasure chests or statues. The Nerea Statue requires you to find teardrop gems to uncover its purpose. Magical birds might lead you to petrified templars that you can then defeat in battle. Keep an eye out—you never know what you might find!

That does it for our Blades of Fire guide. We hope these tips help you create some strong weapons and survive the long road ahead.

Blades of Fire is available now on the Epic Games Store.