Walkthrough

This page provides instructions on one way to beat Vampyr: Talisman of Invocation. While this is an RPG and you have many options, the presented guide was found by the author to be the easiest way to beat the game.

Character Creation
Given the unbalanced nature of the game, there are better ways than others to set up your character for success:
 * Name don't matter
 * Race can contribute to Stats. I recommend high physical strength, so Corintir is best
 * Generate a character with high Physical Strength (preferably 20)
 * Melee is the recommended combat method (offensive spells are the alternative but they are next to useless)
 * Dump 100 points (the max) into Fighting attack to further boost melee damage and hit chance
 * Dump 82 points (the rest) into Magic miscellaneous
 * This lets us cast the good spells, like healing and Exit to Land

Training Strategy
Assuming that you've created your character as above, spend your stat points as follows: Don't bother with Magic offensive because offensive spells are terrible. Also don't bother with Perception because we already know where the secret doors are.
 * 1) Max out Magic miscellaneous first, for healing spells (Cure Light Wounds, Cure Critical Wounds) and Exit to Land
 * 2) Max out Fighting defensive because almost everything hits you with physical damage
 * 3) Max out Magic defensive to have a better time against those Evil Cleric s
 * 4) Max out Lock picking, Climbing and Stealing, in any order, it really doesn't matter

Starting Out
Enter the Castle, go to the second floor, and talk to the King to get the first mission.

After that, we'll need to grind for weapons and armor. We'll need enough to buy a 2H Sword (or several) and Full Plate. 2H Swords are the highest class of weapons. They'll do more damage than most +1 equipment. Full Plate is the highest class of armor. Both these are sold by the merchants in the Castle. If you happen to have enough right after character creation to buy a 2H Sword then go for it.

The best place to grind at low levels is in the Forest Ruins (coincidentally, this is where we need to go for the first mission). To get there: exit the Castle, cast Wizard Eye to help navigate the forests, then head directly northwest until you find the entrance in a clearing. Ignore any encounters along the way because they are way too strong for you at this level. Outside the Ruins, save then rest.

Here's a couple of general tips: Inside the ruins there are two chests in the top left corner of the map. Not only do chests give gold but they also have a chance of giving items which can be sold for more gold! The strategy is this: Here's the strategy for battles: head immediately to the right until the monsters have lined up (or as close as you can get to a line) so that you only have to fight them one by one. If you find yourself in danger of losing then run away, cast Cure Light Wounds, then attack again. Monsters that you've already defeated will stay dead, so you can whittle down large encounters this way.
 * If you're being hassled by monsters on the overworld: run from the fight, save, then reload the game. This will clear the overworld of all monsters,
 * Always save before resting. Resting passes in-game time, so there's a chance that monsters will find and attack you.
 * Enter the ruins
 * Beeline north-northwest for the chests. Fight as much as you can along the way to get experience.
 * Get the chests
 * Cast Exit to Land. Given that our magic miscellaneous has not been maxed out, the spell is not guaranteed to work. If it fails then beeline for the exit.
 * Save and rest
 * Repeat until you have a full inventory

If you encounter Goblins and still have Cloth armor then be sure to take their Leather armor!

Repeat the grind until you have a full inventory or until your weapon breaks. Go back to the castle, sell your swag, then buy some 2H Swords and Full Plate.

Now that we have equipment covered, we're going to focus on training. Level 2 happens at 300 XP (takes about 35 Gold) and level 3 happens at 900 XP. To grind for this XP go back to the Ruins and beat the random Spiders, Green Slime, and Wolves. If you're brave enough try attacking the Evil Clerics in the top middle; they're tough but give 70 XP a pop. They also drop a Mace +1 which can be sold for good cash. When you run low on health just leave, save, rest, and enter again.

When you have enough to level up: go to Balinar (the town next to the castle), talk to the trainer and agree to his fees. There's a section dedicated to leveling up (above) so consult that. When you level up you also gain more Life, Magic, and sometimes a Stat point. The amounts you get are entirely random. If you really want to maximize your stats you can save outside of Balinar, train, and reload until you get what you want.

Completing the first mission
I'd suggest being at least level 3 to survive the first mission. You should have already picked it up from the King in the Castle.

Go back to the Forest Ruins. Head to the very top left corner. There will be a secret wall just to the south, hiding an Evil Cleric. Talk to the Evil Cleric to steal his parchment. Now you have to get out and head back to the castle; you can do this however you like, but the easiest way is to cast Exit to Land. Note that all the Evil Clerics will become aggressive, so you'll be attacked by the one you talked to after anything you do; the others will come after you as well if you decide to try to walk out.

Head back to the castle and talk to the King for your reward. He'll also give you the second mission.

Completing the second mission
You're now tasked with finding out who Dalagash is. That's it. Very little to go on.

I guess at this point you are supposed to wander around? And end up in Trocines? And just happen to find the guy in jail who mentions that Tulik in Zachul is in trouble and you should go there? Not that you actually need to do all this, you can just go to Zachul.

Zachul can be reached by boat from Rendyr. While you're at Rendyr you might as well shop for 2H Sword +1, 'cause they're better than plain ol' 2H Swords. Take the boat to Zachul. The armor shop there also sells Full Plate +3 (the best armor in the game) so pick one up. After shopping make sure to save!

Now onto the mission: enter Zachul, cross the river, then climb the fence. Kill the Evil Cleric guarding the door, then pick the lock to face a Vampire. Casting Time Delay might be useful here. Enter the house and pick the locked door to reveal Tulik. Talk to him to advance the mission. Since you killed both the Evil Cleric and Vampire in town, the Guards will be after you! So avoid them as you run for the exit.

To get back to the main continent you'll have to take a boat. Enter town and for whatever reason everything will be cool, no guards chasing you (short memory I guess). Take the boat back to Rendyr. Head back to the Castle and talk to the King to finish the quest.

Completing the third mission
Myron has been invaded! You can reach Myron by boat from Trocines. The town is overrun by Evil Clerics and they're all aggressive. Some of them are camping out by the entrance to jump you when you arrive, how nice. Enter the weapon shop and pick the locked door, followed by the one behind it. The next encounter has two Evil Clerics in one stack. There will be a secret entrance behind the counter leading to the ring leader, another vampire.

After killing the Vampire (and taking the chests obviously) it's time to escape any way you see fit. When you enter the town again everything will be back to normal. This is good, because we need to take a boat back to main land! You can either go to Balinar (which is closer to the Castle) or Rendyr. Head back to the Castle and talk to the King to finish the mission.

Time to make some money (and some levels)
The next quest will require some XP and some gold to get there so time to learn how to grind.

First, making cash. If you've maxed out Stealing then head to Myron, climb the fence guarding the Evil Cleric, then just start picking his pockets. It's totally fenced in so the guards can't get you, and there's a wall to the north that you can climb to escape. If you're adventurous enough you can try finding Blackeye's treasure in Blackeye's Dungeon. I wouldn't recommend this because it's a very hard dungeon and the payoff isn't that great.

Next, grinding levels. The best way to level up is attacking guards; each one gives 40 XP and there's always eight in a stack. Also there's plenty no matter where you go. You burn through equipment pretty fast though, but thankfully you have lots of money now, right?

Completing the fourth mission
This mission is difficult because of one monster: Rust. They have a chance to destroy your armor every hit! To add insult to injury, the game doesn't let you carry multiple suits of armor. The dungeon also has a lot of high level monsters (which doesn't help when you have no armor).

I'd suggest buying some 2H Sword +3 from a town, like Maninox. If you don't have Full Plate +3 then get one now too.

When you're ready, head to the Talisman Dungeon hidden in the mountains up north. Prepare for a world of hurt. Head down a floor and fight the dragon behind the secret doors in the middle of the floor. Ignore all Rust monsters along the way. There's another floor below but don't bother, it's a waste of time.

Once you've beaten the dragon (looks more like a green dog to me but whatever) return to the king.

Completing the fifth mission
There's one more roadblock in giving Dalagash a slap in the face: we must find the Great Sage that has gone missing! He's in the Mountain Ruins. This one is annoying because the sage is hiding behind some secret doors in the top-right corner. The place isn't that easy to explore either because it's teaming with Giants. And they hit hard. To make matters worse there are giants specifically spawned to block your way so you have to fight them.

Ideally you would rush to the sage (minimizing the number of Giants you fight), talk to him, them cast Exit to Land to make a quick escape. Easier said then done. If you manage it then lick your wounds and scamper back to the King for your reward.

''If the King doesn't give you a reward then you're playing the buggy 1.1 version. To fix: download version 2.0, copy your save file from Version 1.1 to Version 2.0, then try talking to the King again. For more information, see the page on Version Differences.''

A little detour to the Afterlife
Before we proceed we need to die. No, you heard me right. We need an item from Heaven in order to beat the game. That item is the Blue Rose. How you die is up to you, but I sold my armor (instead of letting it get destroyed by being attacked) and went to the mountain ruins to be beaten up by those nasty giants.

When you arrive in heaven, look for the wandering merchant and talk to him; agree to pay 500 gold to obtain the Blue Rose. You know you have it because it will say "Blue Rose" in blue text underneath Luck on the status panel. If you need to do any shopping the afterlife is a great place because they sell +3 stuff.

To get out of Heaven, enter the building to the north and talk to either Victor or Brian. They should find you worthy (since you've done five missions) and drop you back to your last location on the overworld map.

''If the Victor/Brian dialogue gets stuck in an infinite loop then you're playing the buggy 1.1 version. To fix: download version 2.0, copy your save file from 1.1 to 2.0, then try again. For more information, see our page on Version Differences.'

To Vampyr's Castle!
Head to Maninox and talk to Marsus in the pub. He will sail you over to Calatiki for a sum of 2000 gold. Once you agree there is no turning back; this is a one-way journey. What I'm trying to say is ' don't save here unless you're max level and fully equipped because you ain't going back when you do. '

Enter Vampyr's Castle and head to the largest room on the top floor where Dalagash starts. Talking to him or trying to attack him will cause him to flee to the basement. However, this will also open up the basement to you as well. At this point the basement stairs will remain open even if you exit the area. Climb down to the ground floor and go around the center tower to the basement stairs.

There are always two stacks of eight bats waiting in the basement to get a piece of you. Too bad you're probably level 15 and bats ain't got nottin' on you at this point. Take the path to the south and and go west at the T-junction. Make your way through the winding maze-like path and the lava (which hurts every step, by the way) to the summoning chamber. Beat Dalagash's two forms to win the game!