Brands - Salt & Sanctuary Passive Skills

S & S has a large varity of weapons and armor to collect, create, and kill with. You will find however, that several points along your journey you will require a specific skill to reach a new area. This is where the brands come in. This guide covers the brands, how they work, and where to find them.

Brands: why certain characters get to burn my hand.

Brands are special skills that you unlock along your quest that open up new areas throughout the island. Each grants a specific power that is given to you by NPCs through a branding ritual (that part where they take an iron brand a burn your hand).
These skills are activated by either a tool in your possession or an item in the world environment (more on this later). The best part about these skills is that they are passive and require no stamina, health, or magic to use. So, feel free to use them as much as you like!
The downside is that these brands are needed rarely and some can only be used in specific locations. Once aquired they can't be upgraded upon and each is protected by a strong boss that you must defeat if you want to continue as you will need brands to progress.

Breakdown of Brands

So now lets move on to the actual brands themselves. Their are five brands total in the game:

The Vertigo Brand - Grants the user the power to reverse gravity and move along the underside of plateforms. Locations where there's a black obelisk this brand can be activated. When indicated, press the B button and you will be turned upside-down. The skill is deactivated by passing over the triangles emitting purple light where you will be filpped back to normal. Be careful not to do this over open space as you fall all the way to the next platform, regardless of how high up you are.

The Shadowfilp Brand - I consider this the most useful brand as it allows the user to jump onto walls stick to them, then jump to another wall of platform. Allows for both wall jumping and reducing falls. This skill can be used anywhere there's a wall within normal jumping reach. If mastered, the player can hang to a wall to prevent a instant death freefall or avoid attacks. It should be noted that you will only hold onto the wall for a few seconds before letting go and if you miss a ledge while airborn you will freefall all the way back to the bottom. (Using this skill while using the vertigo brand allows you to downward wall jump, as well as fall up.)

Redshift Brand - Allows the user to pass through red walls of light found starting in the Mire and Cran's Pass. One of two brands that require the use of a torch to activate the brand, simply light a torch using the down arrow key and walk to the barrier. It will fade away and you can pass through, returning as your torch moves away. This skill does not remove the barriers permanently and you need a torch lit to pass through again (other sources of light will not work, including the Ring of Brilliance that grants a passive light). It has been noted that this brand is not required to finish the game, but will open shortcuts between areas and new gear.

Hardlight Brand - Creates platforms that the user can walk and grab onto when illuminated. The second brand requiring a torch to activate, locations where floating packs of thin smoke appear will form platforms of blue light when exposed to torches. Like the redshift barriers they dissappear when the torchlight does and will not form from other sources of light.

The Dart Brand - The name is slightly missleading, suggesting a throwing skill. This brand lets you dash while airborn for what the game considers a 'double jump'. Press the RT button while jumping to use this skill. While this skill is not very powerful, it has several valuable uses, particularly when chained with shadowflip allowing you to jump off a wall and midair jump back to the wall to get higher (I found you can only do this twice in a row). The other big use is jumping clear over stronger enemies, especially bronze or dread knights where rolling doesn't always get you clear in time. It cannot be used when already falling sadly and has a short reach (jump attacking has a greater reach distance).

Locations

Each brand is found after a boss battle where you will meet with a NPC that will disscuss some ability or power they know. Keep talking to them until they ask if you like to learn this power as well. Say yes and they will use red-hot rod to brand your hand, granting you that skill. Here are where they are found:

Vertigo Brand - Found in the Sunken Keep after defeating the False Jester. Leave the boss area to the left and you will meet the true jester (called the Mad Jester) who will gift you the brand to reverse gravity.

Shadowflip Brand - Found in the Castle of Storms after slaying the Kracken Wyrm. Head to the left side of the boss area and head down the three short platforms and head inside. Once there continue to the center of the chamber and drop down to the platform where you meet the Despondent Thief. She'll tell you about being the greatest thief in the world and her goal to find a treasure at the center of the island. Talk long enough and she will ask if would like to move around like she does and gifts you the brand to cling and jump off walls (you will need this to leave the castle).

Redshift Brand - The optional brand can be found at the far end of the Mire of Stench. You need to defeat That Stench Most Foul to reach the farest platforms. Travel left to the wheel elevator and ride it down to the lowest platform, then walk over to the far side of the wheel, shadwoflip to the next platform up, and hop onto to elevator base going up. At the top you will see the entrance to a cave and a NPC standing above it. The Mirekeeper will talk to you about the lost power of redshift and how it was used to seal away monsters too dangerous to fight. The power to pass through these barriers still exists and she will ask if you would like to use this power. Say yes and she gifts you the brand that grant access to the passage below that leads to The Fort Beyond the Mire where a ferryman on the other side of the castle will take you to The Far Shore.

Hardlight Brand - The most difficult brand to aquire. Found at the Dome of the Forgotten you have to defeat both The Untouched Inquisitor and The Third Lamb to reach to Luma Sage. He's standing on out on the balconey at the far end of the boss area looking at the stars. He tells you he is the last of the order that once ran the Dome and their practitioners mastered the power to create objects from hard light. He wonders if your interested in having this skill passed down to you and gifts you the brand to create platforms from light (you will need this brand to reach Mal's Floating Castle).

Dart Brand - The final brand can be aquired in the Ziggurat Of Dust after defeating The Dried King. Climb up the ledges pass the boss area to a small platform where you meet the Black Sands Sorcerer. He congradulates you in defeating the undead king and wonders about how this temple came here to this island after he once studied here. Talk a little longer and he will gift you the brand to double jump. (This skill is required to reach Mal's Floating Caslte also.)