Collecting Blueprints & Runes.

So, you know the basics, you've upgraded the castle a bit, but where are all the blueprints and runes? Let's find out!

Introduction

So, you've played through a few lives, you've started upgrading your family tree and now you want more equipment and runes to set your family up. It's time to learn all about it!

This image was taken at the end of my third playthrough so everything's unlocked now. The important parts for this guide are the three unlockable NPCs, "Smithy", "Enchantress", and "Architect"

Blueprints

When you upgrade the "Smithy" part of the castle, a blacksmith will move to outside the caslte. When you find blueprints, you can pay him a fee to build the equipment on the blueprint. It's a one time cost one size fits all approach.

On your first run through it's likely that you'll only be able to find the first 7 or so items for each slot. It is possible to obtain more by grinding, but beating the castle once increases the levels of all monsters as well as upgrading the quality of items found in chests.

The final blueprints are "Dark Gear". These are best obtained on your third playthrough as random drops from the games Mini-Bosses (Not to be confused with the games 5 'Actual Bosses'). Some rooms have a Question Mark symbol on the map. In these rooms are either a single or pair of large and strong creatures. Beat them after collecting all previous equipment and you can get the final blueprints "Dark Gear". These items give +1 Vampirism +1 Syphon and +1 of Air Jump or Air Dash (Sword/Chest have Dash, the rest have jump).

NOTE: I recieved the Dark Gear on my third playthrough (New Game 2+) of the game using 5 Curse Runes. I'm not sure if that's needed to unlock them, but seems worth noting. Please leave a comment if you find anything different and I'll update my guide! :D

NOTE 2: Steam User Peter Lustig reports that it's possible to get Dark Gear on New Game 2+ with no curse runes and only 1 grace rune consistently, this may help some of you hunters out there! :D Thanks Peter!

NOTE 3: It is possible to get Dark Gear on an earlier playthrough but drop rates are much lower and they take much longer to find. This is because drops are based on level. You could in theory get the top gear on your first playthrough if you're willing to grind sufficiently. In my experience, the first half of the gear was collected on my first playthrough, the second half on the 2nd playthrough and the final "Dark Gear" on the 3rd playthrough with curse runes.



Also note, if you're not trying to get the achievement for all equipment, dark gear isn't actually any better than the other choices. I personally prefer a mix of Royal and Slayer (the other two on the final column).

Runes

These can be found throughout the game in "Fairy Chests". These are chests that can only be unlocked by reaching them, having followed the games instructions. These might be "Kill all enemies", "No Jumping", "Take No Damage" or even "No Looking".

Each of these rooms will be different and can be accessed by having the right runes/class/spells on that playthrough. If you're unable to get one on a run, it may be worth saving the castle using the "Architect" to try it out again.



Besides instruction rooms, some chests are hidden outside the obvious confines of the level. Sometimes a 'Dwarfism' trait is needed to fit into a tiny gap in the wall. These walls are slightly darker than regular walls and can be walked through. It should be noted that some of these gaps are big enough for a regular character to walk through! Paying attention can earn you free stuff!! :D

Final Notes & Tips

If you're having trouble, don't worry about it too early in the game. Many of these chests become simple to attain later in the game as you have access to better classes and better equipment.

I find it's generally worth having a single Sky Rune on any given character (except the secret character) as the mobility allows easy access to MANY different fairy chests. As of the latest version, any chests which say "No Jumping" will still allow flying if you don't jump first (The maze room however will fail you for going back up a level, so that one's just random chance).

One of the final blueprints is a "Royal Cape" this item gives +3 flight. This makes almost all chests MUCH simpler and is well worth wearing if you can find it until you get the rest of the blueprints/runes.

As a final note, if you beat the Pooyan "Circus" mini game, you can recieve a mini-boss gold chest! This could help with collecting the 'Dark' gear, stats or money. Trouble is, this is a super hard achievement to complete. If you have access to Chakras, throw a couple backwards at different heights a split second before talking to Pooyan, I was SUPER lucky and somehow cleared 5 targets on the dagger game doing this :O (Trick also works on the Axe game, using spells before crossing the threshold AFTER talking to Pooyan). PensiveOwl in the comments suggests that SpellSword also has a bug where weapons could be thrown during the game too! Here's an image of the chest :)



Take THAT you ennui filled clown! (not that it was infuriatingly hard to achieve and I'm holding it against him....)

Comment Below!

If you've found anything that should be added to this guide, or would like to ask anything else, comment below and I'll answer when I can! Good luck and make your family prosper!

[The Lost]

I mean, I managed to get both the Sword and Cloak of Vampirism on my first run(Of which I'm only halfway through)

[pensiveowl]

yeah

[Magical☆Melody]

Wow, definitely sounds like a bug then! I'll add it in! Probably not going to be patched much from here?

[pensiveowl]

it only worked with that class though

[Magical☆Melody]

Wow, good thing for people to know then! I have a note that I was able to use the skills JUST before talking to him (like the Chakras or axes) but not after talking to him where I was locked into the locked down versions.

[pensiveowl]

yes i got the prize from the bug

[Magical☆Melody]

Sounds like a bug, but I haven't played in a while now, maybe I'll try the sequel at some point! Were you able to get prizes from it?

[pensiveowl]

i don't know if it was a bug or not but with the axe game i was destroying targets with my sword (i was a spellsword)

[Shellback27]

I know I'm responding to an old guide here, but another bit for people looking for Dark Gear:

In only New Game +1 and not running any Chaos runes, just got two Dark Gear blueprints in the secret room revealed by Calypso's Compass. Not sure what the odds are on that, but it is another option to keep an eye out for

[the1216shadow]

I found another way to cheese the clown mini-games I was playing as the secret character and was able to spam the knife ability and only use one knife per second. I then decided to try it with the axe game and was able to get two axes with it only registering one