Lord Backael here, your resident pacifism enthusiast, beta tester, and demonic conjurer. I've seen a few discussions regarding pacifism runs, which makes me very happy, so I figured I'd finally get this guide up and running. Truth be told, if I'd been more on the ball, I probably could have gotten this one out a few days after launch. Alas, motivation is a fickle mistress.

As with the previous guide for Geneforge - Mutagen, the pacifist run is more of a followup run after you've gotten a few previous runs under your belt, it's not meant for a first-time go. There is a ton of new content added to this GF2 remake and most of it is heavily combat focused. My suggestion is to go through the game once or twice as a combat character, and than come back if you're still interested in a pacifist run.

Anyway, let's begin. Be prepared for total spoilage down below.

-As always, be prepared to save and reset. A lot. The changes to monster abilities and melee blocking mean that getting caught by any charge-based creation is pretty much an instant reset (as you have no real way of running away from them once they're on top of you), and there's a LOT of them in this game. Some areas require pretty precise movements in order to traverse properly. Have a main save & backup save handy, save both often, and don't be afraid of loading a backup save if you end up getting stuck in a tricky area

-Stealth is required, but not always 100% reliable. You can execute the exact same movements around enemies, sometimes you'll pass with no issues, and sometimes they'll just decide they want you dead. Some enemies straight up ignore stealth checks entirely, or have their on independent detection systems. See the point above: save often, have a backup

-Scavenge and steal whenever possible. No combat loot will significantly lower your overall funds, and you will still need them for skill trainers and area bypasses. While you won't be spending nearly as much gold as a combat character, you still need quite a bit to buy living tools, potions and Healing Craft/Blessing Magic skills

-All mental magic abilities, from Daze to Charm, count towards your attack count, making them unusable for this run and again reinforcing the previous points regarding stealth and saving often.

-BLESSING MAGIC NO LONGER SEEMS TO ADD TO THE ATTACK COUNT. This addition is huge, as it allows access to many fantastic defensive spells that'll make your life easier. They are not, however, strictly required, as pods & potions can produce similar results. For complete transparency, the two runs I used to write this guide were done without ever having used a Blessing Magic spell... which was totally done to preserve the spirit of the run and not because I'd assumed it added to the attack count like in Mutagen and didn't check to see if that was still the case in this remake...

-The Loyalists and Awakened are the most optimal Pacifist-accommodating routes to take, as the Takers and Barzites both require blood sacrifices to join their ranks. The latter two may be possible to join as a pacifist (I know in the original GF2, it was possible to use the Drayks in Barzahl's throne room to take him down, but doing so was an absolute nightmare), but this guide doesn't entertain either possibility

-While it's not a requirement or official achievement, this guide also assumes a 0 canister usage. I know of at least one fairly critical chokepoint that can be turned hostile via excessive canister consumption, so use at your own discretion

-DO NOT DISREGARD HEALTH & ENDURANCE. Perhaps one of the biggest changes compared to Mutagen is that combat can no longer be completely avoided. Early game will require you to exploit Overload damage from hostile Fyoras, and late game you will need to pull hostile boss mobs into specific killzones while directly tanking their fire. This was the folly of my first run and it ended up being a miserable experience at the end

-There are several artifacts in this game that can be created with specific materials. Most of these are combat-locked, however the Infiltrator's Ring is the defining artifact for this run, giving +3 Agility and +2 to each infiltrator skill (Leadership/LS, Mechanics/Mech, and Stealth). It's components are:
Pure Crystal Shard, located in the Crystal Mines (Chapter 1)
Rogue Drayk Tendon, located in the Clockwork Maze (Chapter 3)
Purified Essence, located in Phariton's Hall (Chapter 3)

Guardians and Agents are the most optimal choices, with Guardians being my recommended choice for their better base survivability.

Shapers get significantly less health and worse combat skills (melee weapons and evasion, specifically), making them overall inferior choices. Thus, they generally won't be included/entertained in this guide. Use them at your own discretion.

Starting Stats:

Guardian:


Agent:


Important Base Stat Goals for Endgame (Without Items):

8 - 12 Endurance - Guardians will want to aim for the higher ends of this scale. 10 is a reasonable goal for both classes if you prefer using the Gloves of Spell Mastery over Drayk Gauntlets

3 Melee Weapons - this sounds counterproductive, however the Shielding Knife unlocked in Chapter 1 gives +7% physical armour and +15% evasion chance, making it worth invest into for both classes. Guardians can reasonably get this in Chapters 1-2, while Agents will be more looking towards Chapters 2-3

6 - 8 Evasion - can look to go higher, but don't do so if it's at the cost of Endurance

4 Blessing Magic for Agents only, in order to unlock Essence Shield. Guardians should invest in more Endurance and Evasion instead

4 Healing Craft - Group Heal and Regenerate are nice for problem areas, and (Strong) Heal at 4HC will help immensely with tanking during difficult fights

8 Leadership, 8 Mechanics, 6 Stealth - don't over-invest in these skills, as the Infiltrator's Ring will boost these to 10/10/8, which is all you'll need to complete the game. Extra Stealth sounds tempting in a vacuum, but will not help you in the long run, and will in fact make a critical endgame fight harder

Choose whatever character you want. Note that you don't start with skill points like in the original.

Drypeak Ascent: Don't put your starting dagger in the junk bag as this softlocks the starting room (may get patched out). Along the south road is a vase with a crystal in it. Head west until Shanti tells you to loot a southern building. Avoid the SW corner with rats, don't put iron bars in junk bag, read all lore books for XP, and be sure to bind all healing pods and spells to the hotbar. The boarder of the northern transition screen will grant a level up, get 3 in LS & Mech. There's a healing pod in the middle northern shop (requires 2 mech to unlock) if you want to go back for it.

Drypeak Gates: Walk up to Thahd to pacify it, ignore the southern Fyora (no worthwhile loot in nests), and instead hug the northern treeline and loot the small potion shop. After the creation battle with Shanti and reaching the locked gate, hug the southern treeline to avoid hostile Scavlings, through the eastern buildings to grab the gate key from the unguarded nests. The War Blessing book in the locked SW room of the western locked building can be skipped. Sneak past the northern patrolling Artila, the locked room beside it contains some decent loot. Unlock the gate and follow Shanti through. The NE room beside the level transition contains a pair of gauntlets.

Drypeak: Tell Takena your orders are to be taken to Zackary personally for a bit of XP, grab bread and read the book in SW quarters, give bread to Zaph in far SW corner, loot the western guard shacks, get quests from Elili (Find Saltweed) & Zuniga (Find Steel Bars) - can steal the Chainmail Armour and Iron Shield from the table beside him without angering the town. Tell Keeper Thosilla in the northern Servile quarters that she's being too mean to the serviles, than accept her quest for locating a suspected smart servile. They're working the fields around the middle northern storerooms, their dialogue will be different than the others. 3 LS is required to threaten to punish them, making them reveal their facade. Turn in the quest to Thosilla, be sure to keep the servile's identity a secret for more servile rep. Buy all the living tools (LTs) you can from Allizar, than loot the northern storerooms.

Drypeak Warrens: Loot the western alcoves, than debate philosophy with Zensital for more servile rep and a quest to visit the different factions. Talk to Zackary, read all the scattered lore books, get crystals from upstairs, and buy Cure Affliction lesson from Shaper Tyallea in the NE corner (Agents probably won't have Healing Craft to use it yet). Past the doors north of him will be a room with two Artila in it, who will go hostile once you go past the western book. Edge steadily southwards one tile at a time, until they go hostile, than immediately run out of the room (Agents will likely need to use their one curing pod once they've rounded a corner) - lead them to Tyallea to have them dealt with. Afterwards, demand a free lesson as compensation, giving enough XP to level up - get 4 mech & LS + 2 stealth, go back to Artila holding room for a LT and free Fyora skill book (gives XP), though opening the chest may not be worthwhile at 3LTs. Buy LTs from southern shop (can also get caught stealing 2 Shaper Equipment sets without section turning hostile). Loot the SE storerooms, the locked one in the back has a pair of Grounded Boots.

Talk to Shanti in the SW quarters back in Drypeak for more servile rep and XP. Additionally, come back to her every once in a while to let her know of your progress. These conversations will usually give a little bit of XP. Go back to Takena in the western guard shack and convince him to give you supplies for XP, as well as a quest to explore a crystal mine in the west.

Drypeak Mines: Scout Zora in the western alcove is a fantastic companion for the first chapter, unfortunately we can't use her for this run. Loot the entrance storerooms (remember to keep all Shaper Equipment, which we can sell later in Chapter 2 for gold & XP), and demand that the northern servant mind tell you how to activate defences for XP. The defences key is in a barrel just west of it's alcove, and the first defence switch is in NE corner (along with 3 iron bars). This will begin powering local defence pylons, which will activate when you're near. Many patrols are scripted to roam past these, so be sure to wait at each one for a bit and watch them get obliterated. Try not to stand between mobs and the pylon, as it has AOE abilities that will do tremendous damage at this level and can stunlock you. Clear out the patrolling Fyora Hunters, than head to the second switch just past the first western entrance, and clear the Thahd & Fyora patrols. Loot the passageways afterwards (northern locked door not worth the high LT cost), then head south, and quickly use the SW level transition to unlock it and save time later. The last pylon switch is in SSE corner of final section, use it and than clear out the remaining patrols. You can also lure the nearby Fyora nest towards pylons for topaz & wand loot. Talk to the lost serviles in the southern barracks, and bring them back to Drypeak entrance (need to walk them to map's edge and let them transition over, if you leave the area the serviles will count as being killed). Go back to Drypeak, drop off any iron bars you still have, and turn in the Lost Servile quest to Keeper Thosilla. Her reward used to be a lesson in Cure Affliction, here it's a book containing a Thahd creation lesson... which really doesn't make sense but whatever.

Western Mines: First pylon control box is immediately north of entrance. The mobs here are obscenely strong compared to the previous ones, so activating the pylons is required even for combat characters. Carefully clear out the patrolling super mobs, you can bait some of the mob nests by aggroing patrols, however this also runs the risk of having them overwhelm the pylons and cause headaches. The NE corner is completely off bounds, as the mobs here are even more ridiculous. A stairway in the northern middle of the map lead to a dazed Glaahk and a strange servile, take whatever free crystals you can but don't steal any of the owned ones - the entire map will go hostile from this, including the defence pylons.

Once out of the mine, convince Ciphar in the NW house to help you with the tunnel areas to the west. Loot his home but skip the locked storeroom - it has a Searer textbook and 50 coins, which isn't worth the LTs at this stage. You should get level up somewhere around this stage, depending on how many mobs were killed by the pylons - 6LS is enough to convince Jes in the Drypeak Warrens to sell you 8 more living tools for a cheaper price, as well as handling all remaining LS checks for the entire zone.

Sharon's Grove: Saltweed can found in the NE garbage patches, past some hostile rats. Talk to Sharon for a couple quests (Explore Secret Tunnel, Research Old Book), and pick up any potted plants in & around the house, as these will come in handy later. Loot the storerooms to pick up the Shielding Knife - Guardians only have to put +1 points into Melee Weapons to unlock it, however Agents will need to spend 8 skill points for +2 MW, something I found I could only afford at level 12 (I felt I could finally afford to unlock it at the transition from the Barzite and Taker lands at the end of Chapter 3, your calculations may vary). Make sure you hold onto it for later if you can't use it now. Return to Drypeak, give the saltweed to Elili and pick up her followup Wiry Moss quest.

Drypeak Fields: This area may feel a little weak, as it's meant to be an alternative path to the mines. Convince Del to give you more equipment, and loot the SE storerooms. Beware of rats and patrolling ambushes to the south, you can pull mobs into the turrets to the NE but this can be a miserable experience at best. Your goal is to reach the SW transition point, however the SE approach is very time consuming and annoying. Instead, wrap around to the NW entrance (past multiple patrolling mobs), and exploit the Fyora spawns by having them attack you, activate Overload, and than run away while the constant damage takes them down. In an amusing twist of irony, this section is actually easier on higher difficulties than on lower ones, as lower difficulty mobs aren't guaranteed to have Overload unlocked. The far SW nest yields a helpful Shielding Ring.

Infested Woods: The middle southern path is inaccessible to you, instead head SE, sneak past the roamer in NE corner, and calm down Tseunami for XP. Unlock the southern rooms for loot (gives a Projection Band, which can be sold), you can also open the wooden door, sneak a little bit south, and pick up a Fine Cloak in the next room slightly further down.

Head back to the entrance, take the western path while hugging the far wall where possible, and pick up the Wiry Moss in the SW corner of map. Past this is a locked room that has a Vat Thahd that can be controlled for XP - don't even bother trying to have it take on the spawner next door, as it's not enough to take on the mobs and spawner even with buffs/blessings from you. Also note that stepping inside the room to get a look at the spawner unfortunately isn't enough to complete the "Find Source of Rogues" quest from the Drypeak Warrens.

Head to Drypeak and give Elili the Wiry Moss. Somewhere around this time you should level up, which should be spent getting 6 mech and 4 stealth. Guardians can also get +1MS to equip the Shielding Knife.

The Crags: This is the first truly difficult section of the run. During testing in the first version of the beta, both myself and the developers thought this area was extremely difficult, if not impossible to traverse as a pacifist. I'd managed to initially get through with 8 stealth, coming back to the section after I'd cleared most of Chapter 2, but later testing revealed that you can actually get through with as little as 3 stealth. The secret is good technique and execution.

Enter from the north, pulling Fyoras and having them overload themselves to death, while avoiding Thahds where possible. Hug the western wall and sneak around the corner as tightly as you can, making sure that the mob patrols are pathed as far away as possible. Getting caught isn't necessarily a reset, as long as you can keep running west without getting melee blocked by a Thahd.

Help Braan defend his farm by healing him (presuming he's still alive, on my very first beta run he was dead when I entered that area... supposedly this bug has been patched), than accept the Find Escaped Servile quest. His house contains minor loot. Your next goal is to head SW, there are two options for this: if you can, sneak past the patrols and head to the SW exit. It's okay if you're spotted by the final Artila, as this area auto-clears on it's own which helps save time and energy backtracking. Alternatively, you can pull the patrols back to Braan and have him take them out while you heal him.

Crystal Caverns: Don't try to loot any of the crystal spires, as this will turn the area hostile. Lost servile to the south can be convinced to go home for XP. Carnelian gloves and some scattered loot are in NE corner. Wyx, a Cryodrayk, is in NW corner and can be intimidated into giving up his Pure Crystal Shard with 6LS. Hold onto this for now, as you can give it to Sharon to help make the Infiltrator's Ring.

Return to Braan in The Crags to turn in he Lost Servile quest - he sells LTs and a Girdle of Nimbleness, although one can be looted from the Awakened's Radiant College in Chapter 2 if you're comfortable waiting. You can also turn in Takena's quest in Drypeak, granting XP and servile rep if you tell him that Wyx should be spared/ignored.

Saltmarsh: Enter from the East, and talk to Ciphar twice to get him to follow you. Hug the northern wall to sneak past the rogues (you can alternatively have Ciphar clear out some of the rogues, although this will probably get messy on his own), then head west to the Servile blockade. You'll be approached by their leader - command them to stop and threaten to enslave them, which will cause them to flee. The area becomes largely cleared and lootable (one Clawbug to the south was still hostile on my runs). Ciphar will despawn permanently the next time you leave the area, while you're still here you can clear out the western passages if you want - the top passage has a Terror Vlish that may cause difficulties for Agents without Cure Affliction, and both camps have minimal loot. When you're done with everything, exit to the north.

Secret Tunnel: Explore the entry area, but do not immediately go through door, instead head back to Drypeak to report your findings to Shanti. Around this time, you may have enough iron bars to complete the Get Iron Bars quest (a somewhat significant change from the original title, as the quest was previously limitless). Avoid the northern passage, and instead clear the minefields to the east. 5 Mech is enough to clear all mines (though you should have 6 at this point), loot everything of value and make sure to pick up the 3 potted plants, this should add to your 7, for 10 total (another reminder here to keep all Shaper Equipment in the main bag for later). There is a very useful Vat Chitin in NW storage room (as well as Helix Bracer which is unfortunately useless for this run). Don't pick up the canister at end of tunnel, and don't go south either as there are rogues there. Exit to the west, this will complete the first chapter.

Some very strong power spikes in this region. Your overall goal is to reach 8 LS, 8 Mech, and 6 Stealth, than whatever combination of Endurance, Evasion, Healing Craft and Blessing Magic you see fit. Refer to the previous segments for more specific overall goals.

Freegate: The great secret is revealed: the mountains are nowhere near as dead as they seemed. Walk westwards, you'll discover that Shanti has been attacked. Past the gate, you'll be assaulted by hostile serviles from the west and south, however a group of loyal serviles from the north help fight the hostile ones. Afterwards, Brodus Blade can be convinced to give you some supplies, which should also be enough XP for a level up. You can freely loot the eastern areas, but don't go into the NW forests as there are Vlish here.

As a note: my XP optimization started differing between my runs here, so specific level up suggestions will largely cease from this point onwards. In general, I would suggest working up to 8 Mech first, followed by 8LS, 6 Stealth, 4 Healing Craft, and than whatever combination of Endurance, Evasion, and possibly Blessing Magic you feel appropriate.

Also of note: at this point, you can immediately go back to to Zackary and demand he tell you the truth, which grants XP. If you plan on completing the game as an Awakened, you can convince him to allow you to join him even if you have terrible Loyalist reputation (requires a 6LS speech bypass, which you should have). This will allow you to loot everything in the northern barracks of the Drypeaks Warrens (most notably, the Shaped Shield) and give you access to cheap spells from Shaper Tyallea. If you've been fanatically praising serviles this entire time, the Awakened will still let you join them despite this reputation hit.

If you plan on completing the game as a Loyalist, hold off on this for now, as you'll need to join the Awakened for their stuff, and I don't believe you can rejoin a faction once you've left.

Medab Road: Can largely skip this area. You can talk to Loyd Blade for some servile rep, and there's some loot in far NW shack that you have to sneak past patrolling Roamers and a minefield to get to. Otherwise this area is combat locked and not worth exploring. Head north into Medab instead.

Medab: There are several combat locked quests that you won't be able to complete (Clear Medab South Road from Seli, Zyan's Lost Package, Find Lost Ornks from Praw, and Letter to Rising). Go NW and tell Kashya that you'd like to see Learned Pinner - when asked about the oath of loyalty, say you can only offer to save them if you see her (grants XP). Talk to Pinner and offer to join the Awakened, but mention that your time is limited in order to skip out on one quest (gives a large chunk of XP). You'll be given a quest to get rid of a Drayk (combat locked) and a quest to clear out a spy in Eastern Medab. You can also tell Shaper Zensital back in the Drypeak Warrens about the Awakened, which will net some XP and have him travel to Eastern Medab (the quest description for this is still greatly misleading).

Talk to Dayna in middle of town for a book retrieval quest from the Magus Complex. Lora in the SE tavern will buy your Shaper Equipment for gold and XP. One LT is in a SE barrel behind the tavern, also be sure to pick up the Medab gate key in the eastern barracks. Carnelian will give a quest to retrieve some strong healing spores (can complete once you join the Awakened).

Eastern Medab: General loot in the surrounding areas, including an almost literal ton of bags of meal in the NW corner sheds, and a Static Band in a SW house (hold onto this for now, the energy resist may be useful later on). Talk to Lorrick in the NE corner, and Ghree in the SW corner, for servile rep (if you still need it). Shaper Zensial can be found in the middle SE hut if you've told him about Medab, you can continue his quest by informing him about the other factions as you meet them, but I personally found it more useful to tell him to stay in Medab and net the early XP. The spy can be found in the far SW corner, tell him to scram for a big XP drop. Loot his home but don't go past the door in the back, as this contains a pair of buffed up venom turrets.

Go back to Learned Pinner, tell them the spy has been taken care of (large XP drop), and then join the Awakened (gives a massive XP drop). Make sure to ask Pinner for aid to unlock the western storerooms - nets you Awakened Information, several high-value loot items, some Major Healing Spores to complete Carnelian's quest, as well as a Shaped Breastplate & Agent's Robes.

To be completely honest, I always disregarded the Agent's Robes over the Shaped Breastplate, due to the false assumption that Blessing Magic still counted towards the attack count. Now that this is no longer the case, I'm genuinely curious if the stat boosts would outweigh their otherwise lesser defensive utility. More test on this may be required. If you do choose the Shaped Breastplate instead, note that we'll be replacing it with an even better chestpiece in about 5 zones.

Pinner's room contains a Shiny Cloak (slightly stronger defensive stats than Fine Cloak), a pair of Shaped Boots, and a treasury room with mines that require 10 mech to pass... however these can be easily cheesed by creeping close to them while in combat, and than immediately running out of the room. Can go through town again and pick up all static items lying by the vendors (now marked as unclaimed). Additionally, Brodus Blade in Eastern Medab will give supplies with a LS check (gives XP), and Loyd Blade in Medab Road will tell you where the spawners are for a small XP drop, though they still won't help you clear them out.

Infiltrator's Fort: West of Medab Road, this area is largely combat locked. The serviles here won't attack the SW Taker encampment without the quest for it (need to clear the Medab Road spawners first, which is also combat locked). There's some interesting loot in the SE Vlish nest, but during my tests they didn't seem to want to follow me past the treeline. Overall there's no reason to be in this area.

Medab West Road: Capping off the initial western Awakened Lands areas, for most people the only reason to enter this area is to loot western storeroom. With that said, if for whatever reason you're playing an unaligned run, or have developed some sort of rush strategy, you can just run up the path and transition north. This area sadly won't clear unless Grahg is dead, and he'll flee if you try to lure him towards the guards. Skip ahead to the Hunted Fen section of Chapter 2 - Part 3 if you use this route.

Patrolled Path: The northern minefield can be cleared with spore boxes, and the blue crystals & venom turrets can simply be walked around. Some minor loot is in the storage shed at the end. The surrounding areas are filled with Clawbugs & Vlish, and generally aren't worth exploring. A Taker infiltrator in an adjacent area wants Twini dead as part of their loyalty quest, which can be accomplished fairly easily by pulling activating a Clawbug group, pulling them towards Twini's camp, and letting them do the dirty work.

Belik's Crossing: Can sneak past the patrolling Fyoras with some diligence. Ty, a Taker infiltrator, has a camp in far SW corner - ask how to get into the Taker ands and he'll give you the quest to kill Twini in the Patrolled Path to the west. Do so for XP, and a hint to search the Magus Complex gates for a feathered token. Makkan guards the bridge to the east, and is sturdy enough that the roaming Fyoras in the forest (plus the boss Fyora to the south) can be lured to them for free XP.

Currently, you will not be allowed to pass the bridge unless you are allied with the Awakened. This is a point of contention that may change - I was informed by the devs that you could LS your way through this interaction even if you weren't allied, however during my testing I couldn't get this to trigger even with high LS. If it is indeed possible, I suspect you'd need to be unaligned but have high servile rep, in which case you might as well be aligned with them anyway. Again this section might change in the future, as there's supposed to be a change that opens up the secondary crossing up north with a LS check, but I've not tested this yet.

Regardless, this guide assumes you're allied with them at this point, so crossing should be no problem. Loot the remaining area, except for NW corner which has strong Thahds.

Stinking Marsh + Mines: These are heavy combat areas and extremely difficult to traverse. The area also can't be cleared without killing the spawner in the southern mines, which are full of ghosts and a constant strong damaging aura. The hostile Drayk that Learned Pinner mentioned is in these mines, you can LS your way into getting them to leave, but the effort required to sneak your way to that point would be a monumental effort and IMO not worth the hassle, if even possible.

Complex Gate: There are two ways to progress here - you can sneak around western crystal traps fairly easily, or directly through the middle if you're quick/lucky enough. To the east is the gate to the Magus Complex. Hug the eastern wall, and quickly go south until you get the prompt for the feathered pass. Immediately head back north, as rogues will break through the treeline to the west if you aren't fast enough.

Magus Complex: Talk to Loha in the western entrance corner for a complex pass, access to the teachers to the east, and the Turn Off Power Core quest. Paths of Fire for Dayna's Book quest can be found in the northern Servile quarters, as well as an Infiltrator's Vest in the middle northern quarters (should be used as switchable armour for problem areas, don't wear it all the time as it has terrible defensive values). Talk to Swofford in the middle southern library for multiple book retrieval quests - frankly these will come so late into the game that their rewards are largely irrelevant. Charye and Raeche are located in the east, and teach healing craft and blessing magic spells respectively. I would recommend buying all available tier 1 HC spells as you can, as well as tier 1 Protection and Essence Shield. I wouldn't recommend buying the second stage spells yet - most are very expensive for what they give you, and we'll be exploring ways of significantly lowering training costs in the future.

Complex Core: Lots of loot in this zone. Steel gauntlets can be found in the middle SE alcove past the guards, the NW has a huge storeroom filled with great fantastic loot, as well as a Girdle of Nimbleness. Tuldaric in the centre complex teaches advanced healing spells after augmentation (this doesn't count against any achievements).

The far SW corner has two rooms - the one on the right is free, the one on the left has two golems that are very powerful. It's possible to pull them individually by hugging the bed and inching closer into the closest golem's line of sight. Use all the defensive tools you have available - I burned an armour pod and a few shielding pods in my runs. Afterwards, run back into the complex towards the friendly patrolling golems, moving with 7AP and healing on the last turn. Once the golems have engaged each other, heal your friendly golem(s) until the fight's done. Save, and repeat for the last golem. Doing so will net you a decent gold income, as well as the Crystalline Plate, in my opinion the absolute best armour in the game.

Experiment Chambers: Mostly combat-locked. Some decent loot can be found along the SE passageways. Scavlings in the SW section can be pulled to Kizer for a little extra XP. 5 stealth lets you pass by far western Thahds - this realistically only lets you loot the items from the Infernal holding room and probably isn't worth your time.

Power Station: An extremely simple area, your goal is reaching the centre power complex to turn off the hostile mob patrols. With stealth you can pretty easily rush past a single patrol, and pacify the entire are by turning off the two pylons in SE corner of the middle complex. Disabling the four central pylons nets you the Ring of the Eye as a reward (best in slot for now). Afterwards, gather the now free loot from the surrounding areas, then turn in the quest back to Loha at the Magus Complex for 300 gold and a good chunk of XP.

Golem Bridge: Buildings offer some minor loot. A hostile servile camp is in the SE corner. A damaged golem guards the middle bridge - in times past you could BS your way through this encounter with a high luck stat if you had to enter the area from the west, apparently there's now a LS option to bypass it but I've not been able to confirm this. Talk to Septi in the northern hut for the password - choose the LS option saying you could destroy the golem as this nets you XP.

After crossing the bridge, climb the tower and accept the Hana's Eggs quest, a new Patreon addition with a cute little puzzle and a very nice, scaling shop/trainer cost reduction that perfectly balances being useful, but not game-breaking. There are 4 eggs to find in total: 1 in Drypeak's Western Mines, 2 in Barzite lands, and 1 in Taker lands. After exiting the map to the west, you can grab the Drypeak Western Mines egg now (found down the stairwell, past the dazes Glaahk) for XP, various monetary items, and a Charged Vestiment (Crystalline Plate is still way better).

Marsh Crossroads: The Takers in the middle of the crossroads can be pacified by showing your Feathered Token. This area is extremely annoying and frankly should be skipped - my playthrough notes basically break down here and devolve into repeated curses against how much melee blocking hurts this run. The mobs here seem to run on their own detection system, independent of current stealth mechanics. Their pathing and aggro range are completely randomized, they have the leap ability to guarantee melee blocks against you (plus poison attacks to really rub salt in the wound), and get even more erratic when trying to pick raw adaptable spore pods from the small stalk trees scattered around. Lindian in the NW corner needs 4 spore pods for his quest - getting them is a very painful process. Reward is a somewhat decent chunk of XP, and being able to buy some potions at a cheap price. His follow-up shield quest is combat locked.

Triola: Wald's "Servile Crypt" quest & Griffith's "Clear Servile Bandits" quest are combat-locked, however the latter will give the "Message for Fort Muck" quest if you're aligned with the Awakened (which you should be). This area is mostly useful for it's merchants. The hostile serviles in the inn can be sacred off with LS for XP. Some random loot can be found in the surrounding buildings, though one has a hostile servile in it.

Fort Muck: Hawke no longer buys gems for whatever reason. Patrolling Vicious Scavlings are not fun to get caught by, though you can lead them into the centre fort's defences for XP if you're close to a level up. Save before going into the fort, as it will be attacked when attempting to leave. A bed is available near the entrance to heal you up. Give Griffith's message to Herik Blade for XP, then prepare for the attack. The first wave consists of Artila, Thahds, and one Servile, while the second wave consists of Battle Alphas. The defenders here do a pretty good job of holding on by themselves, they just need your healing support to win decisively. You get an XP drop once the battle finishes, and another for completing Griffith's quest.

The attacking servile here drops the Gloves of Spell Mastery, the only item in the game I consider blatantly OP. The base stats are alright, but the 20% chance that spells won't use up all your action points is completely busted. Barring the Drayk Gloves (renamed from Ornkskin Gloves in the original game), which have immense defensive stats, no other glove item in the game comes close to the power levels of GoSM. The utility of possibly being able to cast a second heal, or Essence Shield after running & healing, cannot be understated. The effect chance also feels like it triggers way more than 20% of the time, but this could also be confirmation bias speaking on my part.

Minor note: it's also roughly around this point where the vendor in Medab stopped buying shaper equipment in my runs. Your mileage may vary, depending on the intensity of your looting wealth redistribution endeavours.

Hunted Fen: Pure combat area that only clears when enough mobs are killed. The only reason you'd really be here is if you were entering from the south via the Medab West Bridge, in which case slipping along the SE forest and into Triola is pretty trivial.

Ellhrah's Tomb/Pit of the Bound One: Another combat-locked zone. I suspect you might be able to pass by the patrolling shades here with difficulty, but I can almost guarantee it'd be too much effort trying to run past the shade blockade at the end, if even possible at all.

Western Marsh: Slip past the Battle Alphas and Swamp Scavlings, than roughly west along the treeline towards the middle entrance with a path going through it. Walk up to the patrolling Taker Infiltrators and show them your feather pass to clear the area, they should come from the north. Make sure it's a Infiltrator though, as there's a group of cultists from the south who also send patrols into the middle of the map.

While a slow process, it may be worth aggroing the hostile patrols, than running north towards the now friendly Taker camp, who'll dispatch the cultists for you with some assistance (might take a while on Torment, however). Doing so rewards the Swamp Boots, which give 25% poison and acid resist & only slightly less defences than Shaped Boots. I used these up until Chapter 4, where the Stability Boots replace them.

Bandit Marsh/Warren of the Three: Combat areas to be avoided. Bandit Marsh has a bit of utility for a later quest, but that's about it.

Northern Pass: Show your Feather Pass to guards to gain passage west. However, heading north through the minefields will net you the Infiltrator's Cloak from the body in the far NE corner. This will become your endgame cloak, except during a few forced combat encounters. Lootable items are in the building in the middle of the map.

Barrier of the Wind: No reason to come here yet.

Infected Crossroad: Right, some interesting lore here: in the original Geneforge 2, someone discovered that boosting your Quick Action and Parry skills to the moon at game start (thus maximizing Shanti's tutorial training lessons at the time) made you basically unkillable in the first chapter, and VERY difficult to kill everywhere else. Something like a 50% chance of blocking every source of damage completely, a very high chance of deflecting damage in general, and taking Guardian's "if I can melee something this turn, it dies" philosophy to it's absolute maximum. Without exaggeration, I had an old run Torment run where I died a singular time to a Vlish in Chapter 2 (which was entirely an ego death), and went entirely unkilled for the rest of the game. For the briefest of moments, old GF2 made Guardian the most overpowered character in the game.

Anyway, there was a route I liked to use that involved holding off on getting any sort of magical skill, rushing west via this path into the Taker lands, and buying magic lessons from an Drakon Krayoss in the Hermit Crossroads a bit farther into the Taker lands, to save many levels worth of skill points on Blessing Magic, Mental Magic, and Spellcraft lessons. Guardians at that time really didn't have much to spend at that stage anyway, so this strategy ended up working out quite well. Alas, the overall formula's changed, Guardians are more traditionally tanky now, and that tutor has been heavily nerfed. For all intents and purposes, you aren't really supposed to go through this area yet. However, with the addition of Stealth, you very much can. While my guide doesn't prioritize rushing into the Taker lands, and instead recommends going back south into the Barzite lands at this stage, future runners might find use for it.

The patrolling guards here are all very strong, but can be snuck around with difficulty (tricky but doable with 8 stealth). The gate box in the middle SW corner is usually opened by first getting a key from the mob nests in the SE corner, than fight a Gazer boss in the NW corner of the map. However, both locks can alternatively be opened with around 18 living tools. Note that this area only clears via combat, so be prepared to backtrack through tough mobs if you choose to proceed. Skip ahead to the "Zhass-Uss Outskirts" section in Chapter 4 if you're planning on continuing into the Taker lands.

Clawbug Canyon: Combat area, avoid.

Experimental Valley: Carefully head north past the mines, and disable the strange wooden acid traps. Pulling the spore box in the NE building will disable the local mines - this buildng has a trapped vat containing a Glaahk, but it only activates if you try looting the box further in (which only contains a wand and a few crystals). Walk around the entire map, looting and disabling traps as you go (should have 8 base Mech by now, with the Infiltrator's Cloak & Vest boosting to 10, which is enough to disable all traps). The SE body holds a Vat Chitin which may be useful for next section.

Kss-Urg's Valley: No reason to come here - the patrols can be evaded easily enough, but the southern building has Cryora in it that automatically hunt your character and engage through stealth. Otherwise, you'd be able to go into the building and convince the Cryodrayk there to disable the patrols for XP.

Upper Reseach Hall: The Vat Chitin may be useful here for looting (not sure if it's situationally better than Crystalline Plate). Find the spore boxes to disable certain clusters of mines, starting with the north and west boxes when entering from the SE, than work your way northwards. The Power Core in the middle north of the map contains two spore boxes in it's NE section (disables many mines in the NW areas). The far NW corner holds turrets that are impassible.

Gheth Gates: The lone Golem patrolling the northern sections can be disabled with a living tool for a big XP drop. Some minor loot is scattered about, watch out for random Glaahk in some of the nests.

Clockwork Maze: The quintessential infiltrator section, this should be completed all in one go as the golems here reset after being disabled (I recommend having at least 5 LTs on hand before entering). Random patrolling golems can be disabled with LTs, with the first disable giving a big XP drop.

There are 4 stationary golems here that you'll want to activate. The first can be found just north of the entrance area without too much hassle. Afterwards, head SW clockwise along the parameter, activating golems as you go. The rest are found in the middle south, SSW, and middle north areas of the map. With 2 golems, you can start fighting the patrolling mobs effectively for XP, if you so desire.

In the NE corner lies the Clockwork Drakon - 4 golems is more than enough to defeat it, but be careful not to get immediately blasted by it's AOE attacks when the fight first kicks off. At 50% HP it'll try regenerating - use a LT to disable this (likely need 8 Mech) and instantly and win the fight. Rewards include a Spellstone Charm (+2 Spellcraft), several LTs, a Rouge Drayk Tendon for the Infiltrator's Ring, a book containing a Mech lesson, and a pair of Tinkerer's Gloves (+2 Mech, honestly a bit redundant at this point). The surrounding storage rooms contain a huge amount of LTs, iron bars, and other valuable loot.

Gheth: The town's vendors won't buy or sell anything if you're not aligned with them, so for now this town is mostly a resting point. However, you should sneak into the NE complex, hugging the northern walls until you find the shaping vats (information comes in handy for quests later on). The second bedroom in the far NW sleeping quarters can be broken into for decent monetary loot, and you can intimidate Commander Brent in the SE to give you clues as to what happened to Shanti for XP. Finchy in the western tavern gives you a quest to retrieve an item from his bed in the Thahd Dumping Grounds to the south.

Thahd Dumping Grounds: A heavy combat area with modified Thahds, however they can be fairly easily bypassed by hugged the western coast. Finchy's cabin is in the far SW corner, and can be accessed fairly easily with good stealth timings. A new area is also located in the SW corner of the map, something I initially missed on my very first playthrough, as I skipped over the area to avoid having to fight through the annoying exploding Thahds.

Shandoka: This is an entirely new zone with lots of lore. Pass the minefields in the southern path to get into town, or LS your way through the main gate guards. Scout Ilyusha gives you a quest to clear the southern mine, Intisar gives you a quest to secure a crystal spire in the mine (combat locked).

Yu-La gives you a multi-stage quest to locate a canister factory, which is mercifully not another "red vial" quest like in GF1 that completes regardless of your actions (combat characters can VERY much shut this questline down - I mentioned this in the early beta, and I'd like to think my input helped convince the devs to add the option later on). Talk to Sage Markov back in the upper Drypeak Warrens - doing this and coming back gives XP, but requires trekking through the uncleared Thahd Dumping Ground again. Afterwards, head to the Bandit Marsh, hug the western cliff until you find the ruined statues, go inside towards the western pillar, and tank the exploding bug spawns while running out. Returning to Yu La gives XP and further quest progression at Buck Creek.

Back in Shandoka, go north while hugging the northermost path to avoid the creations roaming around (an Artila can come down the path without warning), and go into the eerie home in the NW corner and talk to the Demonic Emissary, who's my Patreon quest addition. She gives some cool new lore, and while most of her quests are combat locked, the first part can fortunately be completed as a pacifist. You're tasked with imprisoning the Aspect of Chaos in the mines to the SW of Shandoka.

Lapidiary Ruins: Head to the NW minefield (brown mines are low damage and can be stepped on to proceed) - some precision walking is required for these. Sneak past the ghosts and pull the second spore box to the east, than slightly SW past a ghost, and into the small stone room to unlock the eastern gate.

Walk across the bridge over the river of lava, wait for the Aspect of Chaos to patrol east, than talk to the two golem sentries to turn them to your side with mech & LS. Dip into the south passageway, go east, wait for the Aspect of Chaos to patrol west, than turn the two remaining golems to your side. Once this has been completed, introduce yourself to the Aspect of Chaos and tell it to get in the wand, Shinji you intend on capturing it with the wand.

Two golems will be activated initially, and two more once the Aspect falls under 50% health - even at 2 Healing Craft for Agents, this fight isn't particularly hard, just long. At most you might burn a few healing spores and maybe an essence pod. Once the fight's over, take the Frosted Annulet, and head north through the tower. This section is combat locked if you try climbing the stairs, so instead head out to the north (have to sneak around a large section of ghosts - this part is annoying but doable), or backtrack the way you came for the easier but longer route back into town. Talk to Scout Ilyusha to turn in his quest (big XP drop, minor loot upstairs, and unlocks Buck Creek), as well as the Emmisary's quest (medium XP drop and minor loot - again the subsequent demon hunting quests are all combat locked). If you haven't done so already, also turn in Finchy's quest in Gheth for a big XP drop and some gemstones.

Guarded Groves: A stealth section designed for non-stealth characters, the patrols here should be fairly easy to evade unless they path directly into you. This area also auto-clears immediately. Head to the middle to find Shanti's body, starting a revenge quest that you unfortunately won't be completing. Servile Gamege is to the NW and asks you to spy on Rising if you're Awakened.

Rising Bridge: This is a heavy combat area with Battle Alphas, however it's not too difficult to sneak your way towards the bridge. You don't necessarily need to go here unless you want to minor loot and the ability to change your reputation. Otherwise go southward, than west just before the bridge to reach Darian's Sanctuary.

Darian's Sanctuary: Learned Darian is the sole reason to come to this zone. The two quests she offers are unfortunately combat-locked, however she also offers the ability to flip your reputation if you've messed up thus far (or plan to farm factions for their rewards - it is possible to join all 4 with strategic reputation management... I just don't recommend it for this run). There are also many LTs and a Rod of Succor in her house to loot.

Old Rising Bridge: Head south along the river and into the treeline, which leads through a simple minefield and into a building. This gives minor loot and a few LTs. Convince servile Dregh to raise the bridge for you (this gives a small amount of XP - you can do it yourself but this doesn't grant XP), then clear the minefield once passing the bridge (these mines had a tendency to detonate immediately in the original game).

To the south is a wandering Drayk and a trapdoor leading downwards, to a shrine guarded by worshipping Fyora & Cryora. This is part of the Hanna's Eggs quest. Taking the egg at the back of the shrine will turn the guards hostile, but you can sneak past them and the Drayk outside with minimum difficulty using 8 stealth. Head back to Hannah's tower by the Golem Bridge in the Awakened lands for some XP - if this is your second returned egg than she will give you a coin that gives cheaper shop & training prices. This can be upgraded with further quest progression.

Loyalist Encampment: A large Shaper encampment is in the middle north, talk to Bunk at the entrance to receive the "Spy on Gheth" quest. You should already have completed this step by sneaking into Gheth's shaping laboratories in the NW corner of town, so turn it in immediately - the first reward is a large XP drop and Bunk's Blade (the +2 Healing Craft from this sword is awesome but realistically you'll never be getting the 6 Melee Weapons required to use it... as an aside, my Agent still had 1 melee weapons here and didn't even have access to the Shielding Knife yet). You can also ask for an additional reward with a speech check immediately afterwards, which will net you +1 Quick Action. Agent Kima gives a combat locked quest. The NW storeroom has creation-trapped vats and the Crystal Woven Shield (useless for you) - the creations can be pulled towards allies and killed for XP, but this process is slow and generally not worthwhile (even for the Perfect Glaahk Scale from the NW container). There are hostile mobs in the SE and NW corners of the map which should be avoided. A road to the north leads to the newly added Buck Creek.

Buck Creek: The strong mobs patrolling the northern path can be snuck through with good timing. Drayk Grimwing is in the NW corner of the map - he puts on his best Monty Python impression and asks you to bring him shrubberies. You should still have 10 in your inventory from Shanon's Grove and the Secret Tunnel, turn the quest in for a good XP drop. There is also a second part to this quest to get tall trees. Shanon will let you access some but they are combat locked, while Shaper Elissia in the Upper Shaping Halls will give you access to them for free (located in a middle western compartment - you'll need 5 free inventory slots to carry them, so plan accordingly). Doing so grants another good XP drop. The third stage of the quest involves cutting down a magic tree in the South Rising Road with a magical axe. Barzahl can vaguely point you in the right direction, but the ultimate destination seems to be deep in the Taker lands. Good luck from this point out, I've never been able to locate the axe in any of my games.

NE is the Sholai encampment, talk to Captain Zosima who'll ask for you to prove yourself. You can convince him to require just one task instead of two for a small XP drop. Of the two tasks he offers, the one you'll want is finding out who set up the spawner in Shandoka (this will involve you talking to the Taker leaders, we'll come back to it in Chapter 4). Talk to Joshua in the middle SE corner to have the shed near the entrance unlocked. You can find another one of Hannah's eggs here, which will make the dazed Thahds outside turn hostile, though you can easily sneak past them. Giving the egg back to Hana grants XP and makes the discount coin more effective, at this stage is worthwhile to look at purchasing all the second stage spells you can afford. You can also raise the southern bridge to make repeat visits to this area easier.

Trapped Forest: The traps here are all easily defeated by your mech skills. To the SW is a body with a Wand of Succor, while the SE has a main warehouse containing several lootable items and a Pouch of Stones special item (not sure what it's used for). The NW has a nest of exceptionally strong Inferno Worms that you don't want to go anywhere near.

Mountain Base: Guardian Krogst patrols around the center - you can convince him to not be hostile to you for a bit of XP. There is a strong Drayk in the west who you can easily walk past, while the centre has pylon rows that you can't pass yet. Instead go to the NE, there are crystal traps and turrets which can be avoided with as little as 4 stealth. Past this is a storeroom which has various loot, including a steel shield if you've not bought one previously. Inside are a group of Barzite serviles who can be convinced that you're one of them and left your badge at home - note that this is the exact encounter that'll make you regret heavy canister usage, as you'll be forced to attack them and make the area impassable. Inside this building is various loot and the Fiberous Scale shield, which might be useful if we weren't going to immediately replace it in the adjacent zone. The pylon rows can be disabled via a spore switch, this will clear the area and give you reliable access to the Taker lands to the north.

Creation Holding: There's excellent static loot to be found in the beginning areas. The wandering Ur-Drakon (now re-named "Icemaster Sunman") can be convinced to let you pass with a leadership check for a good chunk of XP.

Most of this area has dubious value - there are many powerful items present, but many are locked behind high-LT doors. NW is impossible as both paths are combat-locked, SW holds the Charmed Plate (focuses on mental magic, which is useless to you and defensively inferior to the Crystalline Plate), and the SE is a combat zone. The poisoned tunnels to the NE are the only real zone of value - with regeneration and 8-10 stealth, you can sneak past the Oozebeast (surprisingly high detection on them) and grab the Stasis Shield at the end, which gives incredible defences as well as 20% stun and mind resists. This will be your endgame shield, and well worth the 6/7 LTs used to obtain it.

Rising North Gate: Some loot can be found in the NE corner (one shed has a rat in it solely to annoy pacifists) as well as the SW corner (second stage of this shed has hostiles). To the west is the entrance to the Radiant College, Learned Versa is in the SW, and Lem the Tinker in the center, who will sell you very cheap potions & goods respectively if you are Awakened. Zoka in the western tavern gives a combat-locked quest.

The Radiant College: Convince Meena at the front gate you have permission to visit for a medium XP drop. A couple of LTs can be bought from the nearby vendors, and some decent loot can be found in the southern bedrooms. Agent Mockli will give you a quest to recover a book, Lark gives you a quest to fix the power supply, and Shaper Fenen will task you to destroy a Rotghroth. The latter can be found in a vat in one of the closeby storerooms, this fight is dangerous because 2 hits or a crit + acid will probably kill you. Pop all the defensive abilities you can, run southwards and have the Battle Gamma distract it (it'll likely down itself with Overload damage) - completing this quest nets a solid chunk of XP (as well as a Stockthorn canister which you can't use). Runecasting, one of Swofford's books back in the Magus Complex in the Awakened lands, can be found in the middle library (grants basically no XP at this point and a Wand of Succor... dubiously worthwhile). Both Mockli's and Lark's quest are both in the NE corner of the map, with Esoteric Craft being found on a long right inside the electrical passage way, and the damaged power supply being found in the panel just after that section (regeneration helps mitigate some of the ambient damage in this section). Completing Lark's quest nets a big XP drop (plus two canisters you can't use), while returning Mockli's book nets a medium amount of XP and opens up the inner library. Here you can find information on Sharon's book - returning to her to complete the quest nets a good XP chunk and a free Spellcraft lesson.

Don't head to the NW sections yet, we'll come back to these later.

Rising: A pair of Stylish Slippers (+10% haste chance) can be found in the NE storeroom - it might be worth holding onto these for forced combat encounters in the endgame. The storerooms below that can be freely lootable, and a pair of shopkeepers can be found below that, with one selling 5 LTs. Trace in the SW gives you a mission to kill some Battle Alphas, which is combat locked and unfortunately also locks you out of the "Delivering Note to Rising" followup quest. Through the SW canister shop, you can access the Control Nexus - poke your head in here for Lem the Tinker's quest, but don't stay too long - completing the quest gives a big chunk of XP. A tarnished copper key can be claimed from the NW barracks.

Barzahl is in the middle western hall, hear his story and than ask to join him, but emphasize that you'll only be tested so much (gives minor XP) - he will task you with getting rid of Gamege back in the NW section of the Guarded Groves. Do so, but only after telling Gamege about Rising's defences (grants another big chunk of XP, additionally you gain another small XP reward for telling Gamege to leave). Completing this quest with Barzahl will give yet another large XP drop. He will afterwards ask you if you forgive Guardian Stanis for Shanti's murder, since you're a pacifist you should do so - this grants you gold. You can also turn in the Awakened information for 1000 gold.

Breeding Pits: This area is normally a heavy combat one if one entered from the SE. Entering from Rising causes all mobs despawn or become passive - this area is basically free loot. The Vampiric Lance in the NW corner is a major power item for combat classes, but not for you. By this point you realistically won't need much more in the way of funds, but the 3 or so LTs scattered around and XP from opening locked doors are nice.

South Rising Road: Even with 10 stealth, the roaming Glaahk make travelling here difficult, as their detection range seems to be quite high. Manny in the NW gives a quest to get some Mandrake Root back from Bernard in the SE, doing this quest gives a moderate XP drop and access to an expensive potion vendor. Grimwing's tree is in the northern section of the map, from the dev's tutorial booklet I got the impression this part was combat locked. Still have no idea where the damned axe is though.

Road to Phariton: A very important transitional area for you, stealth will serve you well here (you can get by with as little as 4 stealth). Pylons don't die in this remake and instead go into a shut down/regeneration stage when below a certain health threshold - for regular characters this section is a pain, for you it's trivial. Head to the first pylon terminal in the SW corner of the map, than the second in the NW corner. Loot the remainder of the map at your leisure, which consists of a couple interesting but combat-focused shields, some LTs, and lots of gems.

Phariton's Hall: Enter the NE tunnel when a servile is out on patrol (otherwise they turn on you), and sneak behind the guard Artila past the door. The first locked door has you sneak by a pylon to open it's control room, disable it with a spore box, than later sneak past a chained Cryodrayk. The middle door has you disable a row of creation mines. The top door has you sneak past rows of turrets. All paths lead to the same end point. One of the side passages in the throne room contains coins. Heading SE has you go through another small turret maze, this one is rather tight & difficult even with 10 stealth. It's okay being spotted by one of the last turrets, as long as you can tank a hit and hide behind cover the next turn.

Phariton will be in the small shaping hall to the east. He has no use to your mission. Violence is required. Going east will anger him, so instead go sabotage the 3 pieces of electrical equipment, going from south to north while he isn't present. Flip the third switch when he's inspecting the open shaping vat, and watch the fireworks. Having the Helix Bracelet in your inventory will give it a charge (useless to you). Going east will set off an alarm (only makes the serviles near the entrance hostile), loot everything for a vial of Purified Essence, a Conduit Shard, and various other monetary loot. The serviles will probably spot you on the way out, it can sometimes be a pain to run past them.

After completing this section, you should now have all the components required for Sharon to create the Infiltrator's Ring. Head back to her house with the Pure Crystal Shard, Rogue Drayk Tendon, and vial of Purified Essence in hand. Having her create the ring for you nets a large XP chunk. The ring itself provides 2+ to all infiltrator skills, as well as +3 Agility, and easily becomes your endgame ring.

Western Pass: The crystal traps can all be easily dismantlement here, and the northern pylons snuck around. The Rotghroths in the SE cave tunnel can be snuck around, either via the longer northern entrance, or the shorter southern entrance that requires LTs to unlock. The building in the SW corner holds a Shaped Fiber Cloak, which will be your best defensive cloak for forced combat sections. Exit the zone to the north to clear this section, than immediately come back and exit via the east instead.

Taker Toll Road, Icy Breeding Pit, Infested Pass, and Infernal Depot: Lumping these northern areas together, as they all equally have no real value to you. Three of these these areas are heavy combat zones, you can probably sneak through some of them but they aren't worth the time or effort at this point. Taker Toll Road is interesting, and highly amusing, in that high stealth seems to break Dryss' AI in trying to extort you from money (in that they can't see you, and thus can't chase you down to collect their toll). This area only clears if you have the advanced Taker Token, or if Dryss takes a dirt nap, so again this zone can be avoided. As stated before, backtrack to the Western Pass, and take the eastern exit to proceed.

Pit of Misfits: Talk to Frem, taking care not to path too closely to the eastern warding circles. Lie to him and say that you want to make a deal with The Eye, this'll grant a medium XP drop and free passage through the area. Talk to Malancon Eye and bluff saying you'll kill the Taker leader Syros for him. The northern passageways have heat traps and are guarded by turrets (not useful to you). Some of the loot in this area can be stolen, but at this point it's probably not worth the time doing so. Additionally, some of the passageways have rogues. One is an... exceptionally questionable Patreon addition.

Infested Farmland: Show your Feather Pass to the guards to keep them friendly. You can also lie and take an oath of peace to pass, if for whatever reason you don't have it. There are spinecore clusters in the southern areas you'll want to avoid. To the west are a group of Robo-Ornks, downstairs you'll find more, and a crate containing the last of Hannah's eggs. The room will turn hostile and is difficult to navigate, however it is possible to pass with 12 stealth and good timing.

Turning in this quest nets a small XP drop, and makes the merchant coin more powerful... though at this stage it likely probably won't matter for you. If this is the last egg you've turn in, you'll also get another medium XP drop afterwards.

Hermit Crossroads: This area might possibly be bugged when entering from the west. I swear the Drayks here asked to see your Feather Token before, which cleared the area. In my test games they never asked for my credentials, and the area never cleared. Regardless, this is basically a transitional area with no value for you whatsoever, beyond some lore from a Servile hermit in the SW corner. To the NW and NE are hostile nests. You can convince Drakon Krayoss in the SE corner that you're a Taker for a medium XP drop. She used to be the absolute best trainers for magically unskilled Guardians back in the original GF2, now she's basically been nerfed to irrelevance. To the south are the gates to Gazak-Uss. You shan't be going there.

Zhass-Uss Outskirts: If you're allied with the Awakened, this area will be friendly even if you have bad servile reputation. You can convince Symon in the south to make you wands for a medium XP drop. To the south are prisons and creation holdings, while the north is filled with mad(der) Serviles, neither of which are helpful to you. Kieron Stoff is a merchant in the NW that sells a few LTs. His quest is combat locked.

Zhass-Uss: To reiterate, the town here won't be hostile if you're allied with the Awakened but have bad servile rep. Teresa is an Awakened spy in the NW that sells a few LTs, and has a very helpful quest to find her friend up north. Ignar in the NW will give you a quest to kill the southern spinecores (combat locked), a merchant in the middle western part of town also sells LTs, and Dhorass in the main building gives a quest to kill Malancon Eye (combat locked). Syros gives some Taker lore, and reveals that they sent the spawner to attack the Sholai (handing this quest in grants almost no XP and progresses the questline... I didn't bother with it in my games, but I believe the canister factor questline can be completed by pacifists).

Dead Pass: Going back east, past the Northern Pass. This area I wrote off as a combat locked area, with an impossible to pass chokepoint with some shade guards. This is still largely true, however when writing this I did manage to sneak past. With 14 stealth. So... it's possible, just not practical. Going through the Infected Crossroads is still more practical. Both areas only clear from combat anyway.

Shath's Waste: The roaming hostiles here can be avoided with care, and the area seems to clear immediately. The central control system has a Drakon Sentinel guarding it. If you decide to come through this way, head north and agree to help Shath test his creations. You can pacify them all with leadership, granting a small XP drop for each pacification, and a big one for completing the quest. Shath then offers to sell you items, including a few LTs, and the Quicksilver Plate (offering similar defensive stats as the Crystalline Plate, but dropping 30% curse resistance and +1 HC for +10% haste chance and +2 Quick Action, at this point of the game either option is valid). There are also some lootable storehouses in the NW and NE sections of the map.

The Shade Patrol: There are different horns here that trigger different actions for the fast shade patrols travelling along the pathways, but frankly you won't be staying long enough to figure out what they mean. Heading on the NW road will give you a straight shot to their spawners, which can be disabled for a large XP drop. This should be rushed immediately, as the area will clear and the shades will gradually return back to their pedestals to despawn. Be careful though as they have an extremely long aggro range, and rushing the spawner building will give you very little room to evade their sight - even being in line of sight inside the adjacent rooms isn't always enough to avoid detection.

Jeek can be found just north of the southern exit point, and can be healed with a strong healing pod for XP and a Girdle of Health. Handing this quest in also gives a large XP drop. A golem to the NW opens and closes the door to the next exit point.

Benerii-Uss Power: Roaming golems can spot you here, but take a while to become fully hostile. The goal is to reach the servant mind in the NE corner of the map and have them deactivate everything & open doors. However, even with 14 stealth, the stationary hostile golems to the north can't be snuck past. Instead, you need to travel clockwise around the SW, NW, than north parts of the map to reach it. SW has hostile mining golems that can attack with proximity. Having the servant mind disable the facility grants no XP for some reason. There is a dead servile in a NE storeroom that has both an Infiltrator's Cloak and Tunic on him (both of which you should have already). A row of chests in the SSE alcove contain a pair of Stability Boots, the best footwear in the game. Exiting to the NW grants access to the 3 primary Geneforge complexes.

It's now time to choose your endgame faction and beat the game. You technically don't have to, but it's worth choosing one to get the achievements for it.

The two recommended factions to choose from are the Loyalists, and the Awakened. You should still be allied with the Awakened at this point, and Zackary will still take you as a Loyalist regardless of your moral choices. Both are legitimate paths to take, however the Loyalist option is quicker.

There will be a lot of overlap regarding quests, so I'll just go over everything down below and mark what faction it's for.

Loyalist Goals: Destroy the Magus Complex, Destroy the Radiant College, Slay the Three Taker Leaders

Awakened Goals: Destroy the Radiant College, Assist with the Barrier of the Wind (Remove Drakon, Get Marjan, Recover a Conduit Shard), Slay the Three Taker Leaders

The Radient College Part II (Awakened and Loyalist): Head through the northern energy corridors, and then west into the main complex. Quickly duck into the middle laboratory to avoid the patrolling golems (to my knowledge, they usually don't, or can't, patrol the northern parameter), than to the west section where you'll find a book of research notes. Tear these out for XP, but be warned that the entire facility will turn hostile (Rising will also turn hostile, but not Gheth - this will he helpful later for Awakened). After this, head to the SW side corridor and duck into it, here you'll find a cluster of toxic barrels sat right next to a power conduit. Turning the dial up to 11 will cause a cataclysmic chain reaction that ruins the facility. Retrace your steps and run for the exit, while keeping regeneration up as often as you can. You may have trouble at the exit with a chasing Battle Beta, however it tends to push you away from melee blocking range, so as long as you can tank it's hits and keep running you should be good. Turn the quest into your respective faction.

Barrier of the Wind (Awakened): Immediately head NW as soon as you pass the triple door layer, and talk to Learned Varkan. You can ask him to open the NW storage room for some minor loot. Your first task is to get rid of a prematurely awakened Drakon. Head SW and tell it to follow you, than lead it towards the map exit. Simple enough.
Your next task is to locate Marjan, in Gheth. Again this area is not hostile, even though Rising will be. Marjan is in the middle southern home, and will ask that you spy on the shaping center in the NW corner of town before he comes with you. You should have already done this previously, however you can also just force him to come along with a speech check for a bit of XP. Note that by doing this, you technically have a companion. However there is no official "have no companions" achievement, and thus as long as you immediately take him back to the Barrier of the Wind, the spirit of the challenge remains intact.
Upon reaching the Barrier of the Wind, Marjan departs. Turning in the quest grants a big chunk of XP.
Your next task is to secure a Conduit Shard, which you should have secured already from Phariton's Halls. Hand this in for a very large chunk of XP, after which you'll be directed back to Learned Pinner. Hand in the quest for another fairly large XP drop.

Magus Complex Core (Loyalist): Enter from the west, and head eastwards into the primary shaping core. Tuldaric patrols around the interior and wanders around randomly, don't get caught. There are 4 control panels in each of the corners of the facility, hitting all of them will permanently disable the entire complex. Alternatively, activating Regeneration and heading into the energy-filled power core will let you destroy everything with the singular panel contained within. A book of research notes is located in the SE corner, tear these out for XP. You should be able to then exit back west with few difficulties in the way of patrols.


With these tasks completed, your final assignment is to slay the three Taker leaders in Benerii-Uss.

Benerii-Uss Holding: Pick the locked door immediately next to the exit and head south. Once you sneak past the pylon, head into the first door you see. You'll find a room full of Drakons in stasis, with activation mines scattered around. Deactivate them, than head north towards a pen full of Gazers/Eyebeast. Talk to Zekzai Eye, and agree to help them slay Akkat. Head south, load yourself up with whatever buffs you can before the fight, and than head inside. Akkat is surrounded by many Drayks, try to lead the Gazers in all at once as they can sometimes get stuck in the narrow airlock, and try to stay out of AOE range as possible. You may need a few attempts at this, you can get very unlucky with a number of factors. After Akkat is down, the Gazers will head west and clear out everyone they find. Akkat drops the Drayk Gauntlets, keep these as they can help out later. You can head west to unlock the next area, as well as sneak back towards the SE corner, past the Rotghroth patrols, and towards the south exit towards the Geneforge.

Benerii-Uss Shaping: Despite not being the technical final area, this very much feels like it for this run. All your past choices culminate here: if your build is bad, you'll have a lot of time to regret your life choices.

Upon exiting the northern entrance, immediately take the western door towards the lava vents. There is little rime or reason to this puzzle, most lava vents triple hit you out of nowhere and the pylons can spot you even with 12 stealth. Your find yourself at a southwestern room with a purification forge in it, with Rhakkus waiting at the far end. Your end goal is to lure Rhakkus away from his resting spot, and into the purification forge. Once activated, the acid vat will splash for several turns before burning away. It will do minimal damage to you, but cataclysmic damage to Rhakkus the moment he gets splashed once.

You'll need all the tricks, tools, and defences at your disposal here. Start by equipping either the Crystalline Plate, or the Puresteel Plate if you went to the Geneforge first. Next is the Shaped Fiber Cloak, Stability Boots, and Frosted Annulet. The latter is a particularly critical piece of kit, it's +30% fire resistance buff is absolutely game changing vs Drakons, which most lategame bosses are. I'm again quite thankful one of my Patreon quest characters has the honour of holding it. Finish off by either wearing the Gloves of Spell Mastery, or Drayk Skin Gloves. The former gives you the possibility of healing & shielding on the same turn after a long move, the latter gives you better raw defensive stats.

You can either pre-activate the forge if you think you're fast enough, or activate it once Rhakkus is chasing you. Both are up to personal preference. Be sure to save beforehand though.

Inch as close to Rhakkus as you can to initiate combat. Having a higher stealth skill will ironically hurt you here, as it requires being closer to activate combat. This was a painful lesson I learned with my first character. Once Rhakkus has engaged you, begin running towards the purification forge, using 7 turns for movement and the last for healing/shielding. Once the acid splashes him, Rhakkus will begin to disintegrate. Continue running into the tunnels, using the walls to block LOS. Rhakkus had trouble chasing me in these sections. Eventually, the disintegration damage will take him down.

The Geneforge: Enter the middle control room, engage all control boxes and mechanical pillars (may have to focus one side, than fall back to entrance to avoid the rapidly patrolling golems - they go hostile VERY quickly, after just 2 turns of detection). Than head NW, sabotaging each power pylon as you go (you can see your progress on the floor conduits down below). Afterwards, grab the Puresteel Plate and Shaped Gauntlets from the cabinets in the Geneforge room. Back track out and follow the narrow maintenance corridors west through the middle sections of the map (helps avoid golems, who seem to ignore stealth completely). Talk to Easss, and goad him into showing you the Geneforge (need 10 LS). When he's using it, hit the final overload switch to the right of the Geneforge to make him disintegrate.

Turn in the quest to whatever faction you chose, and leave the mountains for good.

This concludes this walkthrough for the Geneforge 2 Infestation Solo Torment Pacifist run. I'll likely be editing sections of this as I re-read them, and/or as the game gets updated.

If you found this guide useful, find any inconsistencies, or discover any optimizations, please be sure to give feedback down below.