Early game power route: Rattay Wealth, Al-Buraq, and St. George's Sword
Rattay hands out more money and better gear in its first few hours than most players realise. Rob the armourer and the blacksmith in broad daylight, buy Al-Buraq without the Groschen vanishing into the transaction, pull one of the game's strongest longswords out of a treasure chest north of town, then settle into a training loop that levels combat stats safely and indefinitely. This assumes you already know how to fight, pick a lock, and find your way around Rattay. It is a power start, not a first playthrough.
Before you start
- Reach Rattay and unlock the main story quest Keeping the Peace
- Lockpicking at level 6, which unlocks the two perks the whole wealth route depends on
- A little alcohol on hand. Luck of the Drunk only works while Henry is drinking
Builds that make this easier
Rattay Wealth Generation
Reach Lockpicking level 6 and take both perks
The armourer, the blacksmith, and the tailor sit within a few steps of each other in Rattay, and between them they hold at least 4,000 Groschen. Getting to it needs Lockpicking at level 6 and nothing else. At that level take Lasting Lockpicks, which stops your picks snapping so fast, and Luck of the Drunk, which lets you open every lock in the game so long as you have had a drink first. The next two steps double as the grind itself, since the armourer's doors and chests hand out lockpicking experience while you are robbing them.
Pick the armourer's very hard door
Find the armourer's shop in Rattay and pick the very hard lock on the ground-floor door during the day. This whole area can be robbed in broad daylight without the guards taking an interest, and the door itself is worth doing purely for how much lockpicking experience a very hard lock pays out.
Empty the armourer's upstairs storage room
Go straight upstairs and pick the door at the top, then head into the small storage area on the right. Four chests sit inside, and one of them holds roughly 2,000 Groschen. Take the money rather than the goods. Stolen Groschen carries no stolen tag, so a guard who stops and searches you cannot confiscate it or trace it back. That also means you can spend it in the same shop legally, then walk back into the chest and take it again once the vendor's inventory resets.
Take the blacksmith's 1,500 Groschen
Come around the corner to the Rattay blacksmith and open the door into his storage area. The chest on the left holds about 1,500 Groschen. Close the doors behind you on the way out. That puts Henry at roughly 3,500 Groschen without a single stolen item in his inventory.
Transportation and Knowledge
Buy Al-Buraq at Neuhof, and keep your money
Leave Rattay heading straight north past the training grounds and ride to the Neuhof stables. Al-Buraq is the best horse sold here, with excellent speed, 452 carrying capacity, high courage, and a deep stamina pool. Buy every piece of tack you want from the stable mistress first, then go into the stable's storage closet and take your Groschen back out of her chest, and only then buy the horse itself. Order matters. Money spent on tack lands in that chest and can be recovered, but money spent on the horse never appears there at all, it simply leaves the game.
Ride to Uzhitz and learn to read
Travel north past Ledetchko and Talmberg to reach Uzhitz, and talk to the bailiff there to begin learning your letters. Reading turns every skill book in the world into free experience, and any book showing a star in the corner is one Henry has not opened yet, so opening it pays out immediately. Two things on the way. There is an apothecary in the woods with an alchemy bench and a good spread of ingredients, worth a stop. There are also bandits through this stretch who badly outclass an early Henry, so stay mounted and ride straight past them.
Elite Gear and Combat Training
Dig out St. George's sword near Ledetchko
Go directly north of Rattay to Ledetchko and look for a tree ringed by a fence in the woodland garden. The chest there is a treasure map chest, and it holds St. George's sword, widely considered the strongest longsword in the game. The creator puts its strength requirement at 12, so it may sit in your chest for a while before Henry can swing it.
Train with Captain Bernard instead of going on watch
Push the main story to Keeping the Peace, the second quest after arriving in Rattay. The bailiff will send Henry on watch duty with Nightingale. Ignore that entirely and walk to the training grounds to find Captain Bernard, who may need a few hours skipped before he shows up. Training with him runs on practice weapons, so it costs nothing but time and levels your main character alongside Strength, Agility, whichever weapon skill you pick, and Warfare. Defence levels too, but only on certain training types.
Farm the Wrath Strike combo, then pick up False Edge
Choose Learn Combos, pick longswords, and once Bernard finishes his intro ignore the pattern he highlights in the top right. Run the pattern on the left instead, one into two into three. Wrath Strike unlocks at sword level 3 and is the best longsword combo in the game. Repeat it about seven times, then spend your last three repetitions on the top-left pattern to pick up False Edge as well. If False Edge never appears in your stats, the training session was failed rather than completed, so go back to Bernard and finish a clean run. After that the whole session is repeatable without limit, which makes it the safest experience loop in the game.
Beat Hans Capon at archery for his bow
On your first pass through Bernard's training, move through it quickly rather than grinding, because the sequence eventually introduces Hans Capon. Beat him at archery and he hands over Capon's hunting bow, which is the best bow available at this point in the game. Once that is done, come back and grind the combo training as long as you like.
