17 Salt & Sanctuary Tips and Tricks

If you're looking to have an experience with more of the good kind of salt and less of the bad, then here's a list of tips and tricks to get you on the right path.

17 Tips and Tricks

1: Feel free to use a Stone Guide in every sanctuary that you uncover. Stone Guides are in plentiful supply and one can usually be found in any given zone. There may actually be enough to populate every sanctuary in the game. Considering that they give an item drop boost and allow you to teleport to that sanctuary by using a horn, you definitely want a lot of them.

2: Dome of the Forgotten is, in my opinion, the best (and safest) location to farm salt. The invisible Whispermen are easily dispatched with one or two melee hits, and the potions that reveal them will be in plentiful supply after a couple runs through the area. A single group of 3 Whispermen nets you around 1300 salt (with Grasping Ring equipped), and that's not even taking into account the bonus from having a Stone Leader placed in the sanctuary. (This was tested in the regular game and not NG+)

3: You can quickly and safely slide down ladders by pressing the roll button while on a ladder.

4: Drinking (or to use this game's terms, "quaffing") more than one Red Shard at a time will cause your HP to recover faster.

5: If you choose to be a mage, don't think you're limited to casting spells and wielding a dinky little sword for the whole game. There are a variety of different weapons that scale with your Magic stat. Such as the greatsword, Black Widow.

6: Boss fights are not only a test of your skill, but they can also be a test of your physical dexterity when it comes to selecting items, miracles, or spells. Trying to switch to an item that adds fire to your weapon and then switching back to your healing item isn't easy in the middle of a boss fight. This is made even more difficult on an Xbox controller, as you would normally have to take your thumb off the left analog stick to switch items, leaving you standing still and vulnerable. Here's a tip. Try moving your right thumb over to the D-pad while keeping your left thumb on the analog stick. This will allow you to move and switch items at the same time. I started doing this compulsively in the middle of boss fights because it's such an effective alternative.

7: If you're having difficulty with a boss fight, consider changing your equipment to something with resistance to that boss's damage type. There is always a ring that offers resistance to a specific element and there are many armor sets that significantly boost resistances. For example, the Blacksmith's armor set (not armor that the blacksmith sells, but his actual armor) offers extremely high fire resistance. That, combined with the fire resistance ring, made my fight with The Dried King much more manageable.

8: Hit a chest with your weapon to check for a mimic. If it is a mimic, you can likely kill it with a combo before it can even attack.

9: If you're two handing a weapon, you can still parry attacks the same way you would with a shield.

10: If you plan on joining one of the later creeds in the game, such as the Keepers of Fire and Sky or the Order of the Betrayer, save up all of the Crystal Spheres that you find. This item converts a creed in a sanctuary to your current creed. I went for the Keepers of Fire and Sky creed in my second playthrough and had about 5 Crystal Spheres by the time I joined.

11: You can use the Static Geist incantation to summon more than one geist at a time. You can even combine it with a Lightning Pod incantation to turn yourself into a moving thunder turret.

12: If you wish to defeat The Unspeakeable Deep on the ship at the beginning of the game, I recommend using the Paladin. Adopt a hit and roll strategy. The Morning Star that the Paladin starts with hits very hard while two handing, so you don't have to lay down a combo to deal damage like with a dagger. Just hit once, roll through the boss to avoid its attack, and repeat for about 5 minutes. When you reach the last 20% of HP, use your Lightvessels to finish it off safely. Also be sure that your equip load is below 25% to get the best roll. This is vital.

13: If you're directly under an enemy that's on a platform above you, you can often cheese in a hit from underneath by using your down slam while in the air. This works especially well with weapons like Reapers or Greatswords.

14: The Spindlebeasts in the Pitch Woods can be difficult due to their nearly one hit kill skewer attack. Not only that, but the salt reward from killing them is a meager 100. With these facts in mind, just use the disappearing platforms above them to skip them safely. It seems these enemies are only there to bring grief players with a one track mind of kill, kill, kill.

15: Items and enemies can be seen through walls. With a keen eye, you can use this to tell where some secret doors are. And since sometimes enemies run into adjacent rooms and wait right at the entrance for you to walk in, you can use this to tell if the area is safe. (Note: This is true for the PC version. It's possible that the console version does not have this quirk.)

16: You can use light melee attacks while falling to briefly pause your decent and get your bearings. Note that this does nothing to prevent fall damage. This is only meant as a means to get a better view of your surroundings.

17: You can put multiple Black Pearls into a stat boosting node on your skill tree to increase the effect. This may be common knowledge, but I didn't figure this out until 50 hours in. (I discovered this in NG+, and the game allowed me to put more than just 3 Black Pearls into the node. So it's likely that only 3 can placed in the regular game, with that restriction being removed in NG+)

[TheOldOne]

Any tips for those enemies that hang you? The float away and you can't get to them. And running past them doesn't always work. And those two guys who two shot me if I do make it past the hanging enemies. I rage quit this evening. Get back to it tomorrow

[Benevolent Fox Spirit]

Something of note as well: The game has a hidden/glitched long jump - it takes some time (10 minutes maybe) to get the timing down but it's amazing in helping you traverse the game faster or break the intended path once you know what you're doing (aka. ng+, second character etc.)
Press jump and roll at the same time (jump just the very slightest bit befor roll) and the direction your faseing a bit later.
If you do it right you jump about 2/3 of a screens distance at below 25% equip load. Even below 50% you still get a decently long 1/2 screen.

[Cteklite]

Regarding #17, you can put up to 5 regardless of NG status, at least in my experience.

[FilthySouls]

It's funny to me that the Spindlebeasts, as the only regular enemy, get their own entry here.
First time I saw them I laughed because they just kinda looked ridiculous & innocent... and then they impaled and insta killed me, that must've been the Devs idea to troll the players, even the death animation takes so long to look at

[Castia]

With switching items, I've always adopted a "claw" type grip on my controllers. When playing shooters, I bend my second finger down to reload, mount, or crouch. Same with switching items on the D-Pad. I simply bend my finger down. This allows me to move, and use the L1/L2 (LB/LT) at the same time. Just a little tip for anyone who doesnt want to take their hand off of the right side of the controller

[sex ganyu]

a true betrayer just walks into the sanctuary to convert it

[.VM8RA]

thanks... I use number 6 in Borderlands 2 as well for switching guns as I play with a controller.

[Tsuki Zero]

The Dried King is already a joke, one doesn't need any fire resist.

[TakeMyLunch]

saddly i knew most of them. darn, thanks for the creed one in the comments tho :3

[Sleepy Frogge]

One, rather useful tip (Possibly not intentional); If you want, say, a challenge run using one of the later creeds but want to join asap...

Take advantage of the two player mode. A character that has access to a creed sanctuary can have even a lvl one player join in co-op and they can join that creed right away!