Rituals and Demons: not really a guide.

[DarthSimp]

So, since there isn't much info out there, I'd like to share my experience with the game's rituals and stuff.

Needless to say, this post is chock full of spoilers, so if you wanna go in the game blind, please disregard this post, do not read further and save your soul.





















As of right now, I only ever found use in rituals in summoning stuff and advancing on the enlightment/power/sensation goal, even though I've only ever experimented with the enlightment goal and never actually managed to gather the 36 Lantern (!!!) needed for winning the game. The best item I had with that was the summon Teresa, with 12 Lantern, but even with my most powerful influences and objects I arrived only at 24 Lantern at most, so if everyone has a tip on how to grab some sweet Lantern loot, I'm all ears








Here we go, all the rituals I found:




Rite of the Mother's Mercy: arguably the easiest rite to find and the most straightforward to utilize.
It's found by Studying Knock and Forge.
It requires an Ingredient, Lore and an Assistant to utilize.
Lorewise, we are actually sacrificing our Assistant and it's only because of the great mercy of the Mother of Ants that she takes the Ingredient instead, sparing the life of our minion. From what I've gathered, the Mother of Ants should be the Hour of Knock? I'm still trying to piece the lore together and writing this more as a personal analysis of the lore than actual information, so I'm probably wrong, since I'm still learning about in-game lore.

Sunset Rite: the other easiest rite to get our grubby hands on, it's pretty straightforward along with the Rite of Mother's Mercy.
It's found by Studying Winter and Forge.
It requires an Influence, Lore and an Assistant, so basically it's like the other rite, but if you find yourself low on Ingredients (maybe you prefer to use Lantern minions than Forge minions and gather more Influences than Ingredients) this makes your job easier.
It's intriguing how in this rite the Sun-In-Rags, the Hour of Winter, lends you its help in the summoning only if tears of true emotion are cried. As the Winter is the aspect of silence and endings, I would've thought its Hour to be untouched by emotions. It's also interesting how all the ghosts and undeads that are stuck in the Mansus "dream of Winter".

Rite of the Sea's Feasting: one of the twin rites dedicated to the Witch-and-Sister.
It's found by Studying Heart and Forge.
It requires an Ingredient, Lore and an Assistant, just like the Rite of Mother's Mercy.
It's interesting to compare this and the Rite of the Sea's Marriage, which confronts the Witch-and-Sister with the Sister-and-Witch. This one in particular seems of a darker nature, requiring a sacrifice of an object to the Witch-and-Sister for the summoning to happen.

Rite of the Sea's Marriage: the other one of the twin rites, dedicated to the Sister-and-Witch.
It's found by Studying Moth and Forge.
It requires an Ingredient, Lore and Influence: no assistants to help you out here.
In this rite you offer yourself as a spouse to the unknown, or the sea, trying this way to appease the Sister-and-Witch. Both the Sister-and-Witch and the Witch-and-Sister seem to have some link with water bodies, like lakes or the sea. Also, the Witch-and-Sister seems deeply connected with the Aspect of the Heart, while the Sister-and-Witch seems more attached to the Moth (see also the Fucine Book where there is some interesting lore about them on this regard.)

Rite of Map's Edge: my favourite rite! I don't like to use assistants in my rites, so this one and the Rite of Sea's Marriage are the ones who appeal more to me. Also, I usually found a society based on Lantern and have my Seer constantly popping Influences, so this comes as pretty easy to use for me, since the Instrument is never actually used.
It's found by Studying Secret Histories and Forge.
It requires Influence, Lore and an Instrument.
I have no idea who the Vagabond is. He seems like a very punctual Hour, though.

Rite of the Crucible Soul: one of the most powerful rites in the game, and one of the two I've found that allows you to go on with your goal of Enlightment/Power/Sensation.
It's found by Studying Grail and Forge.
It requires a Victim, Lore and an Instrument. You can also put your Goal there and advance it first from objective to obsession and then I suppose by getting the Seventh Mark even though I have never managed to do it myself. Of course you can upgrade your objective in obsession only after you answered the Stag Door's Riddle and became a Know.
Also here you kill one of your minions, a prisoner or a summon. This makes it the perfect rite to actually summon again powerful summons, since you can just kill them and summon them again as a result.

Rite of the Rebel Striving: the other one of the most powerful rituals. This one also can help you with your Enlightment/Power/Sensation goal.
It's found by Studying Edge and Forge.
It requires an Instrument, Lore and an Assistant. Be mindful that during this rite the Instrument will be shattered, and you will never see it again. So I wouldn't use anything particularly important, like the Geminiad. Talking from experience, I once shattered it without knowing that I could learn Fucine.

Rite of Watchman's Sorrow: this is a weird one, and I don't know if this is intended, but you find it by Studying Grail and Forge...AFTER finding the Rite of the Crucible Soul.
It's kinda weird in a way that I suppose lorewise is the "right" rite to get the Watchman's Marks for the Enlightment goal. Maybe in future updates it will shed some light on what to actually do with it!

Rite Intercalate: the most powerful rite I've ever managed to find. It has the nasty effect of sacrificing whatever you use to activate it.
You find it by Studying Secret Histories and Winter.
It requires EVERYTHING. You can use an Assistant, an Instrument, an Influence, a Lore, an Ingredient AND it allows you to move upwards with your goal. I think this is actually the only way to win the game as of right now, but I wouldn't use it for anything other than that, since it destroys everything you use for it. It's interesting to test it for the summoning of stuff that you couldn't summon before, though, I might get in on that later.
Lorewise, with this rite you repeat the history of the Sun. I think it's the now Sun-in-Rags.





SUMMONS

These are all the creatures that I managed to summon during my playthroughs. If you want to add something, be free to do it. If you want to I'll add it even in this post.

The numbers near the Aspect are the lowest numbers I managed to summon the creature on.

Voiceless Dead: Knock (2) + Winter (6) + Heart (2)
Undead ghosts stuck in the Mansus that keep dreaming about Winter. Maybe the spirits of conjurers past that found the Mansus but couldn't ascend? They never talk.

Shattering Dead: Knock (2) + A Human Corpse + Edge (6)
These guys are not ghosts. These are real, flesh and bones zombies, reanimated by a shattering force. They crack and crinkle as they walk and do your bidding. And are very good assassins against pesky investigators.

Bloated Dead: Knock (2) + A Human Corpse + Moth (6)
The other zombie guys. These guys are bloated and seem to be turning into trees, thanking the power of the Wood that the Moth entails.

Hint: Knock (2) + Edge (2) + Lantern (6)
These guys are the perfect assassins. Ghosts of dead people that turned and changed inside the Mansus into something else. They always hide, because a human's gaze would shatter their form and annihilate them.

Percussigant: Knock (2) + Edge (2) + Heart (6)
A creature from the "Thunderskin". Apparently he is a member of some sort of ritualistic society in the Wood, since the first thing you hear when summoning it is the "thump of the ceremonies it attends". It's basically a weird hairy, headless gorilla. Merry and ready to kill.

Caligine: Knock (2) + Winter (2) + Forge (6)
This nasty vapour is some sort of elemental, born from the light of the Glory's Fire with baser elements in the Mansus. It seems to have the ability to infect mortals' dreams.

Raw Prophet: Knock (2) + Grail (6) + Moth (10)
GOOD LORD WHAT EVEN IS THIS.
WHY DOES SUCH A THING EXIST.
IT'S PURRING? CAWING?
WHY? WHY WOULD YOU SUMMON IT?
IT'S ALL OVER THE FLOOR.
I'M GONNA PUKE.
IT TALKS TOO. BURN IT. BURN IT WITH FIRE.
(turns out this thing is amazing for disposing of evidences. What do you know.)

Teresa, the Name known as Baldomerian: Knock (2) + Secret Histories (6) + Lantern (10)
It seems like your old elementary school teacher.
If your old elementary school teacher is a demonspawn without shadow that wants to drink your secrets dry, of course.
This is the strongest summon for Lantern I found, with an amazing 12 of Lantern and 12 of Secret Histories

Name-emanation of the Forge of Days, King Crucible: Knock (2) + Lantern (2) + Forge (12)
A demon of fire! AMAZING.
I managed to call this creature only once by using a Iotic Essence (an ingredient with 12 Forge obtained randomly).Unfortunatly is also not amazing to resummon it by using it since he has 12 Edge and 12 Forge, but no Lantern needed to summon him. Still, it's pretty amazing as an assassin.

Maid-in-the-Mirror: Knock (2) + Winter (8) + Edge (2)
A Servant of the Sun-in-Rags, someone who died ascending the Corridor of Knives and managed to ascend to the Sun-in-Rags. She is always female, always mimicking your expression and lip movements, like a mirror. And is a FANTASTIC assassin. Even more than the King Crucible, since she can be resummoned indefinitely with her help and some Knock in any ritual ever.


And this is all, for now. If you guys want I can update it with other stuff I find, when I find it. And of course you're free to add your own stuff, so we can all merrily swap strategies for terrible demon summons together!

EDIT: added some stuff after the tips of Reddit user /u/ThelastA who shared with me some info the community gathered on Discord. Keep in mind that this is only true for the Adept Build and stuff is bound to change!

[roehcai]

So, quick question without looking at spoiler info -
I've noticed a lot of the 'hints' displaed when placing cards in different rites are the same. Is the only difference in rites the slot types (influence/assistant/ingredient/etc), and what it consumes?

((I'm unsure how you're uncovering lores by studying. Studying has only ever gotten me upgraded lore (lore 2 + lore 2 = lore 4). But then again, I've never had a duplicate of anything other than Secret Histories (yet). Also, my first three cultists have all been edge, but i have no edge lore. I'm still early in. Ha!))

[StratAll]

Originally posted by roehcai:

So, quick question without looking at spoiler info -
I've noticed a lot of the 'hints' displaed when placing cards in different rites are the same. Is the only difference in rites the slot types (influence/assistant/ingredient/etc), and what it consumes?

((I'm unsure how you're uncovering lores by studying. Studying has only ever gotten me upgraded lore (lore 2 + lore 2 = lore 4). But then again, I've never had a duplicate of anything other than Secret Histories (yet). Also, my first three cultists have all been edge, but i have no edge lore. I'm still early in. Ha!))

Without revealing too much as you request, it makes little difference in what slot you place a certain lore color. To get results from rites, which can be several things, you'll generally need to combine about 3 lore types, which are hinted at when you combine 1 or 2 out of the combo, with a minimum intensity (also hinted at without giving you the numbers).

So if the game mentions you need a decent amount of grail combined with some edge and moth, you would combine a high(er) level grail cards, be it an instrument or influence or studied lore, with two smaller ones of the hinted combination. The challenge comes from having a rite which accomodates the card types you have at sufficient level. Some rites want an instrument, others an influence. Do note that some rites consume e.g. an ingredient or influence which means you lose it after the ritual.

[Faey]

Originally posted by roehcai:

So, quick question without looking at spoiler info -
I've noticed a lot of the 'hints' displaed when placing cards in different rites are the same. Is the only difference in rites the slot types (influence/assistant/ingredient/etc), and what it consumes?

((I'm unsure how you're uncovering lores by studying. Studying has only ever gotten me upgraded lore (lore 2 + lore 2 = lore 4). But then again, I've never had a duplicate of anything other than Secret Histories (yet). Also, my first three cultists have all been edge, but i have no edge lore. I'm still early in. Ha!))

What a rite does is based on the Aspects used and their intensity, not whether it's Lore, Tool, Follower, etc. Most summons require 3 different Aspects, which you can generally figure out from the hints you mentioned. The hints don't, however, actually tell you what you need more of, just that you need more of at least one of the Aspects.

There are 9 different Lore aspects, each has seven levels (from 2 to 14) which have different text on them. Additionally, you get Lore from Studying books (except Secret Histories which also be gotten elsewhere) which also have bits of knowledge when you read them.

[roehcai]

Thanks for the info. I know about the lore aspects, and are starting to get some from books.

But I mean, the rituals *seem* to do the same thing given the same lores. For example, I have the 'Rite of the Watchman's Sorrow' and 'The Rite of the Crucible Soul'.

In both cases, I put in a Lore 6 Winter, Assistant 5 Lantern, and instrument Edge 4. Exact same three cards. Both say they'll perform 'Reason's Glory'. The only difference is in the card that is consumed permanenly.
I have the Sunset Rite, but it doesn't allow an instrument - it does allow a Desire, and my guess is if I did the same formula with an Edge 4 desire, I'd also get Reason's Glory.

So it seems to me the only difference in rituals is which card types you need, and which card is consumed.

[eva02soul]

Yeah, spells are combinations of aspect. The ritual itself doesn't matter unless you are doing something like raising the dead

[LordBlade]

So are all the rites basically the same? You just use them to summon or to win the game if you have your Mark Six Desire?

[Aquillion]

Rites differ in terms of what cards they need. Depending on what you've acquired, you may only be able to complete the final rites with certain rituals. And, of course, for summoning, what you sacrifice matters a great deal, too (hence why the rites that sacrifice influences are so valuable, since you lose those rapidly anyway.)

[JungleJollies[]]

Originally posted by blackrose357:

ive added this information onto the cultist summulator wiki page and credited your name with a couple additions added myself, awesome work here.

You might check some of those numbers. I wrote out a guide with a summoning table a month ago. Check out page 2.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1628506443

[Sepulchurz]

Rite of crucible soul

requires sacrifice, lore, instrument

sacrifice teresa for 12, lore max is 14, instrument watchmans glass should have 10.

total = 36. should be enough to rise yet higher.