Lord Backael's Geneforge: Mutagen Guide to the Torment Solo Pacifist Run

Geneforge Mutagen's "Path of the Pacifist", "I Walk Alone", and Torment Difficulty Steam achievements have a global completion rate of 0.3%, 0.6%, and again 0.6% respectively (as of March 15th, 2021). I'm here to change that.

Introduction

Playing Geneforge as a pacifist is like going to Jurassic Park/World, but staying on the boat the whole time. Yeah you won't get eaten by the T-Rex (which to me kinda feels like the whole point of going, since you're actively tempting fate at that point), but you also don't get to see a whole lot. That is to say, in a game where you can make fire-breathing velociraptors, shoot lightning out of your hands, and become a literal god of death, restricting yourself into pacifism feels like it's missing the point. It's like going to your own pizza party, only to eat the salad.

With that said, playing as a pacifist also does do a fine job at testing the player's knowledge of the game, as resources, movement, and experience gains all need to come from non-violent sources, which isn't always as easy as it sounds. When everything does click however, it's a bit of a trip rapidly blowing through major areas, and completing what normally is a 10 - 20 hour experience in around 2 - 4.

As of writing this, an extremely small number of people have the "Path of the Pacifist", "I Walk Alone", and Torment Difficulty Steam achievements unlocked (0.3%, 0.6%, and again 0.6% respectively, as of March 15th, 2021). This guide sets out to easily get all 3 (and more) in a single run. Be warned: total spoilers ahead.

The Basics, and Changes from OG Geneforge:

-Be prepared to save and reset. A lot. The changes to monster abilities and melee blocking mean that 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 unreliable. You can execute the exact same movements around enemies, sometimes you'll past, and sometimes they'll just decide they want you dead. 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. Mercifully, all vendors in Mutagen will now allow you to sell goods to them, regardless of faction alignment, so don't be afraid of choosing certain factions before the vendors of others have been cleaned out (like in the original game). As a very rough goal, save up to 3000 coins for an area bypass, buy living tools only if necessary & at good prices from faction vendors, and save the rest for skill tutors (roughly another 4000 - 6000, depending on faction choice)

-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

-Your reputation pretty well doesn't matter for the endings: a player with high rebel influence can still get the best Shaper ending, a loyalist can still get the Awakened ending, etc. All endings pivot on a single decision with how you interact with the Geneforge, and if you officially aligned with the Takers. Thus, this guide assumes faction membership based solely on opening up paths of least resistance (IE. the Takers), but realistically you can join whatever side you want and still complete the game as a pacifist

-Minor point, but Mutagen now lets you check canister skills before you use them, and gives a small, but noticeable nod to low canister usage if you complete the game as a loyalist. The choice is ultimately up to you though: canisters give a small amount of extra XP, so those going for the Taker or Awakened paths may be more inclined to still mass-use them for extra experience, but I recommend against this as there's a questline later on that can be affected by mass-using canisters

The Early Game (Vakkiri, Ellhrah's Keep, Pentil, Northbridge) - Part 1:

Choose whatever character you want. Agents are technically the most canonical and optimal for this run, as their increased health over Shapers and innate 6% spell haste from Spellcraft gives a very niche buff of sometimes being able to cheese chases, but this difference is minor and literally any character will do.

Breeze through the first area, invest 4 levels into Leadership and the last into Mech; this will allow you to do all speech-based quests in Vakkiri to gain another level. Pick up the healing canister in Abandoned Vale, but leave the Fyora canister. I recommend not picking up any creation canisters throughout the game, just to avoid that very small amount of temptation and possibly ruining the "I Walk Alone" achievement. Tame the hostile Fyoras further in, walk around the Thahd in the servant mind building, get clearance to pass, move onto Vakkiri. 

With 4 Leadership, you can complete all speech-based quests in Vakkiri for an additional level (Servile Spy, Steel Knife, Servile Bandits, and War Blessing persuasion). When heading north into the Bandit Woods for the Servile Bandit quest, you can threaten their leader twice and gain experience for both instances. The next level up should be spent getting 4 mech and 2 stealth. Buy an iron shield from the shop, and steal a chainmail vest from the shop & steel gauntlets from the NW lab (both can be stolen in plain sight without turning the town hostile). Grab the living tool from underneath the Vakkiri shop, use it to open the shop locks for more living tools, and open Ham's box (can come back later if need be). For the path of least resistance later on, I recommend showering praise on the serviles, with the intention of joining the Awakened for XP & combat training, and then pivoting into the Takers to open up some bridges later on and gain a ton of free loot. Regardless of your faction choices, head east to Watchhill after you've completed everything.

Watchhill is the first area you'll come across that you probably won't be able to clear, especially on Torment. Doing so requires recruiting a local servile and getting them to fight the map by themselves. I've been told this is theoretically possible with blessings & healing, and being able to do so does unlock around 3 quests which offer tantalizing XP, but from my tests they simply don't have the firepower to handle the endless mobs by themselves. My recommendation is hiring them to clear the perimeter after you've seen everything in Ellhrah's Keep, and leave the fort spawner alone, saving you a ton of time in the process (even considering having to backtrack through this area a few times). Your choice. Regardless, slip past the roaming thahds as best you can (again save often; melee blocking means being caught is an automatic death sentence), and head south into Ellhrah's Keep.

Head east into the Keep's maze, travel to it's center, and talk to my Chris (never realized that adding him in as a "small but useful reward giver" would translate so well into a pacifist run, but I'm quite happy for it) for a bunch of XP. Then go west and to Ellhrah, convince him to give you a key to access the discipline wand in the southern supply area. Grab it and the mind nutrients from the SW storage areas (the latter requires 2 living tools for the lock, come back later if you don't have them). Additionally, you can lure a couple Cryora away from the SE corner of the map towards guards to mop them up, which will grant access to the Cure Affliction canister (Agents might not be able to use it right away - don't worry if you can't, you can get boosting items later, and it's best to save your skill points for infiltrator skills anyway). You can also come back later if you don't have the heath to tank the Cryora hits. Head back north to Watchhill, convince Seerula the servile in the SE to follow you, and use her to clear out some wandering Thahds around the perimeter for you. Again give yourself a good walking path for later travel, but don't worry about clearing the Watchhill fort itself, unless you have time to kill and/or a burning need to clear the area. Thus, when your satisfied, head north again to Crag Valley. 

Convince a patrolling servile in Crag Valley to give you their chainmail, then make your way to the north artila spawner. As an Agent and Guardian, you should have enough combat priority to evade and lure the two thahds blocking the western path down towards the patrolling serviles that'll mop them up. If you're a shaper and still have enough combat priority for this, then great. If not, you may have to go through the significantly more painful eastern path, luring the roaming artila back to the guards and then looping around to the western path connection (which takes significantly longer than going the western path, but is still doable). Regardless of your path choice, sneak past the two roaming artila to the north, sabotage the power pylon to blow up the artila spawner, then backtrack and leave through the eastern path towards the Hill of Jars.

Around this time you should have another level up: put it into getting 6 leadership and the rest into stealth (if able), which will let your persuade Swan in Ellhrah's Keep to open up the Inutile Village to the east of the keep and do the quest there. You won't have enough mech to bypass the village mines just yet though, so head back to the Hill of Jars. This area is mech heaven: you'll gain a ton of XP, and around a dozen living tools if you're through with your looting (don't forget to check all the pots around the 3 entrances). Disable the turrets with spore boxes, reach the servant mind for some juicy XP (don't forget to ask about getting the Sholai leader's name, Trajkov), grab the storage keys beside the mind, and loot to your heart's content. Make sure to use the mech canister in one of the storage areas east of the mind, this should give you 5 mech total (I don't remember if the Inutile Village requires 5 or 6 mech to disable it's mines - if 5 than go there and do it's quest, if 6 than wait a little bit longer). Head east towards the Pentil Plains.

The Early Game (Vakkiri, Ellhrah's Keep, Pentil, Northbridge) - Part 2:

The serviles here are more than capable of cleaning up the gate siege creations to the NE on their own: you can join them to heal them up when required, or wait out of combat LOS until they're done on their own (you'll still get XP for their kills, even if you never witnessed them). Theoretically, you could try sneaking past two areas of rogues to the south of the Hill of Jars first, head into Pentil to grab the official gate clearing quest, and backtrack before initiating the charge, but this will likely use lots of time and I personally didn't do it. Anyway, once the gate is cleared, head into Pentil; most quests here are combat-locked, but you can use the door just north of Leader Rydell to steal a belt upstairs, and use a bunch of living tools on the nearby lock, opening up his private quarters containing decent loot, and most importantly a book containing a mech lesson, which should bring you up to 6 at this point. Praise the librarian for their efforts in preserving the shaper records, which will let you sell shaper research for gold and XP. Talk to Pixley near the south entrance for Coale's merchant quest back in Vakkiri, and a bridge clearing quest. 

Quickly detour back to Ellhrah's Keep, convince Swan to unlock the Inutile Village gates to the east, then head in. Disable the minefield, talk to the head servile, intimidate the group of bandits to stop harassing the local serviles, then complete the quest for some XP. This will unlock the Ascended Labs to the east; go there only to unlock the area, but immediately head out, as it's way too high level for you at the moment. 

Head east to Pentil East; this area is another travel-locked one, as the guards really aren't able to properly tackle spawners (even with haste & blessings, the Cryora spawns here are just too tanky & evasive). Grab the Sholai speech lesson from the NW servile if you're allied with the Awakened. Make your way east along the side paths (not the main road, as you'll get ambushed), and combat-rush the last part out of the forest to avoid the final ambush. 

This'll unlock Northbridge for you; head to the northern hut there, convince the servile to lower their store prices, fix the spore baton in his cupboard, use it to clear the bridge mines, then drop Trajkov's name you got from the servant mind in the Hill of Jars to pass the Sholai scouts at the east end. Backtrack west to complete the bridge clearing quest in Pentil.

A final note on this section: somewhere between the bridge sections and the early sections of the next stage, you should get another level up, letting you get 8 leadership. This will let you bypass both the Awakened and Loyalist faction quests (which you otherwise have no chance of completing, as they rely on going into combat-heavy areas you realistically can't sneak into), for a big XP and loot gain. I again recommend choosing the Awakened, as the combat training from Swan gives you Quick Action training and thus combat priority to cheese/avoid fights.

The Early-Midgame (Freeplace, Taker Lands, Southeast Docks, Northern Mines) - Part 1:

As a quick aside before starting this section, I count Freeplace, located 3 zones north of Pentil, to be lumped in with this section. With 8 leadership, you can convince the guard Battle Alpha out front of the alpha refuge to let you through, and their leader in the back NW corner to give you the freest loot of your life if you give him tips on how to survive on his own. Stupidly, this area doesn't clear by walking down the perfectly open path to the NE, instead you have to go through the minefield forest in the SE to unlock the area, requiring 8 mech if I remember correct. Do this section at your leisure, it's basically just a chunk of free XP and loot.

You'll enter the Buried Cells coming from Northbridge. Head to the southernmost entrance, and use the servant nutrients to wake up the mind here, who'll unlock the doors and let you loot the place. It's more worth doing this for the canisters on combat runs, but you won't be needing many nutrient mind containers on this run anyway, so you might as well get some use out of one here. Anyway, use the spore boxes to bypass the mines. One of the SE cells contains a vlish shade and a spray baton on a body; I've found that you can pretty handily tank the damage from the vlish, yoink the baton, and leave with minimal fuss (as the vlish doesn't seem to chase much beyond the cell, due to the closing doors). The cells to the north contain some minor items, and you should be able to easily sneak past the reaper turret in the NW cell with enough stealth skill. Be sure to exit the facility and take the NW path to the servile hut in the corner of the map, and give the spray baton to them for XP and the ability to loot their hut freely (take their back room key from a plant pot north of them, use TAB if you need to highlight which one it is). Then sneak past the artila patrols to the east, and exit to the Quiet Marshes.

Entering the marshes will either give you a message indicating you've used too many canisters to get the 100% good Shaper ending, or nothing if you've been frugal with them. Head east, easily bypassing the patrols. Swing north quickly to unlock the northern path and loot the abandoned camp beside it, then back east towards the Kazg Plains. Convince the gate guard there to let you into Kazg proper, and turn in the Obeyer spy in the NE of this map for XP and the girdle of endurance (this or the girdle of nimbleness will become your endgame belt, as the otherwise fantastic girdle of leadership is essentially combat locked & inaccessible).

Kazg still features some combat-locked quests, but there's still a decent amount to do. Loot what you can, the library by the south entrance gives you some XP and shaper records, while the SW tower gives you a Sholai language lesson, loot and clues to getting the entry baton & control rod. Gnorrel requires 10 leadership to bypass her loyalty quest; getting this should be your first goal in this zone, followed by roughly 10 mechanics and around 6-9 stealth. One of the cells in the main Kazg hall contains a captured Obeyer spy, who'll task you with informing Rydell in Pentil about his sacrifice for a generous amount of XP.

The Kazg Ruins to the south gives the last merchant quest objective from Vakkiri, though this involves backtracking through 2 uncleared areas now. This area is mostly lootable, but I personally ignored it. East Kazg's southern mixing hall can be looted safely if you know how which control panel options are traps (control panel options 1, 4 & 5 spawn rogues, the rest unlock doors). Be sure to talk to the servile just outside the hall, convince him you're an ally for some free XP. Check in with Eko Blade in Kazg before trying to pass east, be sure to tell the guard here he sent you. The Tribal Woods NE of Kazg can be cleared by convincing the feral serviles here that you aren't a threat & would like to trade for a good chunk of XP, and a couple shaper records looted from the western edge of their village.

Your two next main areas of interest in this region will be the docks to the south/southeast, and the mines to the northeast.

Sholai Refuge and Docks (East/Southeast):

The Sholai's Refugee Cave 2 zones east of Kazg is guarded by Battle Alphas, requiring a decent amount of stealth and patience to pass. You'll likely be entering through the Kazg entrance, spawning you west in this area, as the northern route through the Tribal Woods & storage areas are significantly harder to pass through (if not impossible, I tried multiple times to pass the woods patrols, but to no avail). Past the alphas, the rows of turrets at all entrances will require some finesse to get through. In general, you're going to have to tank a few shots from the turrets, and ideally you want only one firing at you per turn to make this bit manageable. Your reward for doing this will be access Sholai questline, which will give a bunch of XP, loot, lore, and a language lesson. Face-tank the mines at the north & eastern exits out of the caves, and take the eastern route out (it's the one past the mines, not the south exit past the alphas).

The Eastern Docks (not the Dock Ruins, which are a combat area) require a couple simple skill checks to pass. If you have enough stealth to pass a few key pylon chokepoints, it's easy. I believe 8 mech is required to turn off the power conduits in the middle of the building and loot the place. After leaving the pylon building, you'll find a gate and a south building. The latter is useless to you; the office contains clawbugs, and the staircase a bunch of stranded Shapers who's quests are combat-locked by proxy. Instead, head to the gate, and grab the key off the body immediately beside it. The glaahk patrols are generally more forgiving to bypass than most roaming mobs, so you can dedicate a bit of time looting the buildings along their patrol route if you wish.

Head back to the Refugee Caves, talk to Masha for a big XP drop & language lesson, then do her follow-up quest where you contact Astrov, located in the Wooded Valley just north of Pentil. If you haven't done so already, this is a good time to backtrack to Pentil & Vakkiri and complete the bridge, trader, and captured spy quests. Find Astrov, ask about the paths to Trajkov (requires multiple inquiries into the layout of the northern areas), get the free spellcraft lesson from the mage at the eastern part of the cave, loot everything (multiple free shields & armour sets near the cave's trader), go to Rydell and then back to Astrov to complete his mini quest, then back to Masha to complete the rebel Sholai quest series. This entire endeavour should reward you with lots of loot, and likely a level or two.

The Early-Midgame (Freeplace, Taker Lands, Southeast Docks, Northern Mines) - Part 2:

The Mines (Northeast):

What was a bit of a timewaster in the OG Geneforge is pretty well trivialized in Mutagen, the mines offer very useful loot, an entry baton, and the "Clear the Mines" achievement, unlocked by crossing one end of the mines and exiting out the other.

Exit Kazg from the north, go east through the tribal forest, than northeast through the Icy Tunnels into the Underground River. Having 6-8 stealth is required to bypass the turrets (the last cluster of them requires very precise movements to pass safely, be warned) as well as at least 8 mech (10 is better - there will still by power conduits that you can't disable at this range, but you can tank their explosions at full health). 

Disable the power conduit to the immediate west of the Underground River's southern entrance (which will disable some heat vents to the east), then head east past a few turret rows. The northern-most turret cluster is the hardest to pass and requires a high evasion to clear... if you're caught, you won't be able to tank all 3 firing on you at once, at least not without a very lucky round of low damage rolls and/or dexterity evades. Past this are power conduits that you won't be able to disable even at 10 mech, they'll instead explode on you for a similar result, but you can tank the damage at full health. Don't disable the two conduits next to the bridge control panel in the building to the far west of the map, as it'll likely travel lock this zone by not allowing you to raise the bridge anymore, like it did in the original game. Head north to the mines proper... don't bother with the servant kiosk in the NE corner, you can't afford anything from it anyway.

The mines in OG Geneforge required the strategic dismantling of the defense pylons to proceed, which chewed up time but was the motherload of all loot areas. In Mutagen, you can sneak past them pretty easily with stealth, and there's still plenty of loot to go around.

Rush the NW exit of the eastern mines, don't try looting yet. Head to the mine core, then immediately down the south path when entering from the east end... you've gone down the right direction if you hit a locked door. Open it, head into the south building, and wake up the servant mind with a speech check to avoid using a nutrient container. He will disable the local pylons around the core, and can additionally disable the pylons in one of the other sections (you can switch between areas by going back to him). 

Your looting goals in this area are:

Eastern Mines - Scattered crystals & loot, and a Reflecting Shield in the NW corner (protects against poisoned areas, becomes your endgame shield)

Mine Core - Scattered crystals & loot, and a pair of Tinkers' Gloves from the Glaahk nest in the SW corner of the map (the patrols here are somewhat unforgiving, and follow a pathing pattern that sometimes deviates without reason - be prepared for a bunch of resets)

Northern Mines - Scattered crystals & loot, Danette's Cloak in the NE corner (saves you from taking one fatal hit - niche use, and a personal tossup between this and the Symbiotic Cloak if you're a Taker ally - don't get rid of it though, save it for later if you don't plan on making it your main cloak), and an Entry Baton at the very north end (past two persuadable Battle Alphas)

Western Mines - Scattered loot... this section is filled with wandering rogues and is a headache, so I'd suggest just clearing a couple buildings that don't have rogues in them, and bypassing the rest. Walking out the western exit clears all the mines areas (north has to be entered and exited to register for some reason), and gives the "Claim the Mines" achievement

The Mid-Lategame (Ascended Labs + Yu-La Quests, Sholai Bridges, Western Pass to Goettsch Temple, Northern Pass) - Part 1:

Ascended Lab + Yu-La Quests:

Something I completely ignored on my initial playthrough, due to my thinking that the entire questline was combat-locked. The Ascended Labs and Yu-La quests can actually be completed easily for Pacifists, grating the "Promising Research" achievement in the end. 

Head back to the Ascended Labs you unlocked earlier. Evade the patrols by using the treeline to their south, then talk to Sessina to learn about the cockatrice research and have them pacify to rogues outside. Accept the quest to kill the one held in the area, then head north, using the small alcoves and large storage building to evade patrols. Upon reaching the cockatrice chamber, sneak along the perimeter, headed south towards the pen of charmed alphas. Convince them to fight with you, then lead them to the cockatrice. It uses AOE attacks, which can cause random status effects that might lead to a few resets. Your job is to bless and heal the alpha group; in my test I used somewhere between 4-8 healing spores. Even on Torment, this fight isn't very hard if all the alphas stay up. Finishing the fight gives you a cockatrice feather, head back to Sessina to complete the initial quest, and accept the follow-up quest. 

North of the Pentil Plains lies the Junkyard; this area has advanced patrolling Vlish, but you can sneak past them easily, and you can head west to automatically clear the area. Do so, reaching the Barrens Research zone. Sneak past the vlish nest right by the entrance, then head to the main inutile complex. The guards here will only let you in after seeing the cockatrice feather. Talk to Alonzo & Swanwick to unlock the Barrens Bunker to the north. Save that bit area for later, and instead head west of Alonzo's building to Yu-La's trading post.

Tell Yu-La that Thrackerzod sent you, and get a vial of red fluid (likely a plot device that'll be used in future games). Head back to Thrackerzod in the Eastern Docks, give him the vial, and ask him if he'd like more help from Yu-La (of which he says yes). Go back to Yu-La, ask her about trading again, and receive a sword from her. This sword absorbs the power of canisters (or rather, it destroys them and gains minor buffs to power), so you'll need to find 3 canisters to destroy. Assuming you haven't used every one you've found (if so, than good luck locating fresh ones on your own), than locate 3 of them and use the sword on them (I ended up going with the Fyora canister way back at the Abandoned Vale, and the two Taker reward canisters in Kazg). Once you've done this, head back to Thrackerzod and give him the sword, likely netting you a good chunk of XP.

Bridges and Sholai Zones:

If you aren't allied with the Takers by this point, than good luck; your only route to the Geneforge is through the northern pass, consisting of multiple combat-focused areas that won't clear through stealth, and a tremendous loss of loot and time. I'll include a brief summary of the northern pass later on (ignore the entire Taker zone section and proceed straight to the Temple section if this is the case), but this guide assumes a Taker alliance, especially considering that you can still get the loyalist ending from this route anyway.

Quick and dirty:

-The western Patrol Bridge gives minor loot, and a purchasable stealth lesson from Dig for 2k (make sure you don't fall below 3k coins when doing this though, you'll need them to clear an area later on)

-The eastern Guarded Bridge contains very good loot via a speech check with the Sholai captain, and a pair of Soft Shoes (+2 stealth) in a nest in the NW, guarded by multiple roamers and vlish. I tell you this now, getting these is as painful as pulling hair out; you will die many, many times trying to lure the rogues out to the bridge (you need the perfect combo of not getting lit up by multiple attacks at once, and having none of the roamers jump and melee-block you - be prepared to reset several dozen times), but it'll essentially save you a level's worth of grind if/when you get them. 

-Patrolled Dell, north of Guarded Bridge, contains a Sholai lesson from a book in the NW, loot in the NW and SE corners (the former via a speech check)

-The Arena, east of Patrolled Dell, is a combat zone and should be ignored

-Winding Road, west of Patrolled Dell, contains the easily-stolen Symbiotic Cloak in the central building (my personally recommendation for your endgame cloak), loot in the SW building (accept the beta-slaying quest, then immediately intimidate the quest giver for loot), and a purchasable mech lesson for 2k coins

-Crossroads, north of Winding Road, contains no real loot and is forgettable. Taking the mined route east of the southern entrance saves you some time, as it skips a sequence of having your Taker protection amulet stolen, and having to reclaim it via a trivial stealth sequence

-The Front Gate, east of the Crossroads, contains little in the way of loot or meaningful dialogue, and only serves as an access point to the late-game Geneforge areas. It's only real value is to make you appreciate how much time & effort you're saving by not having to slog your way through this part via combat

-The Southern Workshop, west of the Winding Road, contains very good loot, a decent XP drop from a quest to kill the area's boss (IE. watch some pylons do it for you... also you get some stat level ups at the end of this quest, which are nice for a combat run, but pretty much worthless here) and the exceptionally useful Control Rod, which helps unlock some key endgame doors/levers, and is used during some endgame decisions. You need 12 mech to activate all the pylons that deal with the ghost spawns and final boss (basically, you hide while the pylons take aggro, and/or watch as an otherwise hard boss gets absolutely annihilated with no counterplay). I again recommend getting the Reflecting Shield from the Eastern Mines, and buying am Ivory Band from a merchant in Kazg to help mitigate the ambient poison damage (I couldn't find an accessible Cure Affliction canister when I went through on my run, making this problem a bit more of a pain to deal with). You can do this section either before or after the temple section, the control rod only really comes into play for the very endgame

-The Sealed Lab, west of the Southern Workshop & east of the Patrol Bridge, is a combat dungeon that is easily bypassed for Takers, due to it auto-clearing upon arrival, and the lack of hostiles along it's entire outer perimeter

-Ice Walls (and it's western storage area), north of the Sealed Lab, are also combat-locked, only clearing after taking out multiple spawners, which you have no hope of doing on this run. This is the combat alternative for getting an entry baton, but since you picked one up from the mines, this section is worthless and avoidable

The Mid-Lategame (Ascended Labs + Yu-La Quests, Sholai Bridges, Western Pass to Goettsch Temple, Northern Pass) - Part 2:

Western Pass & Goettsch Temple:

These sections are the real test for your mech, leadership and stealth skills. Head to the Ancient Crypt west of Freeplace, the start of an infiltrator-focused gauntlet. Some average loot can be found in the side coffins, but otherwise follow the path west & then NW, disabling the mine & reaper turret crystal triggers along the way (you don't have to get them all, just enough to sneak past them). Keep a backup save outside at the entrance at all times, as it's surprisingly easy to get trapped here (either by a crystal triggering accidentally, sometimes through walls, or during the upcoming stealth section). Hug the east side of the final access wall to avoid the only always-hostile reaper turret past the mine section (it's likely to out-speed and one-shot you otherwise). The proceeding open section with ghost patrols is extremely annoying, as they seem to bypass stealth checks and always rush you. Keep an eye out on their patrols, be patient, have saves & backups ready. There's a ruby in one of the middle skull piles, and reaper thorns at the end of the only side alcove. The next crypt guardian section is equally annoying for the same reasons. Additionally, the otherwise fantastic Girdle of Leadership is combat-locked in this part. With something like 8 or 9 stealth, I tried many, many times to grab it from the southern coffin, but the best you can do is walk up, grab it, and then immediately get instagibbed by the ghost guarding it. So just ignore it and stealth past the crypt guardians (likely will need a few resets here), and the final mine area beyond it. Exit to the west to proceed to Drayk's Vale.

Easy area: you either have the 3k coins to pay off the master cryodrayk here, or you don't and have to go get some. I've not tried refusing payment and attempting to sneak through this part... frankly I figure the area just won't clear if you don't pay up, and by this point you should certainly have the funds if you have been looting properly. Take a small detour to the SE cave to ponder why there's been a consolidated effort to put that particular cave layout in every single Geneforge game published (and also get rebuffed out of a leadership lesson from a servile at the end if you're a Taker ally), then head west to The Sentinels.

Another quick area: ignore going south (there's lots of hostile uber-ornks there that jump you), instead go NW through the ruined buildings. The sentinels are all easily bypassed by speech checks. Loot the buildings that don't have acid pools in them (which likely two-shot you at this stage), accept the mark of hatred from Heustess at the end of the Sentinel string, then head into The Great Temple. Side note that you can alternatively bypass both the sentinels and Heustess by going along the mech-focused path around the area's south & western perimeter instead (the entrance of which is immediately south of the Drayk's Vale entrance, right before the ornk combat area).

The Great Temple offers the highest two skill checks in the game: you need 11 leadership to bypass the mark of hatred given by Heustess when talking to Goettsch (otherwise you're forced to fight him), and 14 mech to steal the pair of genuine shaper gloves from the NW corner of the map & disable the minefield before it (it might be 13 mech to get the gloves; the mines in front require 13 mech to disable, and the mech check to disable the gloves alarm may or may not be 14 - I assume 14 just to be safe, it's not that much harder to get). Doing the latter doesn't have to be completed immediately, but should at some point to unlock all ending paths. Do both of Goettsch's quests: the first quest is located in the Dry Wastes north of the Vakkiri Bandit Woods can be completed with stealth & leadership (you'll need a bit of patience to navigate the random clawbug patrols), the second quest can be bypassed with a speech check telling Goettsch to stop wasting your time. Your reward is a decent chunk of XP, and the fake shaper gauntlets (a second pair can be found in the Geneforge Research Quarters, but are effectively combat-locked). Again be sure to get the true shaper gloves once you've reached 14 mechanics. 

With this section done, you should have the entry baton, control rod, Taker amulet, fake shaping gloves, and true shaping gloves, unlocking every possible ending path to you (technically you can leave the true shaper gloves with Goettsch for his ending, but it's bad and only worth it for curiosities sake). 

The Northern Pass:

Again, don't do this unless you're a diehard loyalist or are doing it for the memes. Complete the temple section before this, as you do NOT want to be backtracking.

Head north of Freeplace to the Power Station, and bypass this area by going east (this section requires combat to clear, the first of many). 

The Hill, admittedly, has some very good loot, but you'll likely chew through 15-25 living tools going through all the locked doors, which is the biggest resource drain of pretty much any area.

Kantre's Realm offers very good loot, and can by bypassed with a speech check by telling the servant mind in the middle north section that they're doing a good job and you need to pass through safely. The southern exit leads to the Icewalls which you want to avoid - head east towards The West Gate instead.

The West Gate is full of hostile Stealth Sholai (if you aren't allied with the Takers) & ghosts, offering little in the way of accessible loot, and being unclearable with stealth alone. The NE gate requires the entry baton to open and access The Vats.

The Vats are bypassed easily via the mech path to the south. Get the servant mind in the SE corner to clear the area of poison debuffs, then exit east into the main Geneforge Central Labs.

The Lategame (Research Halls, Geneforge Complex, Barrens Bunker Notes) + Endings Guide - Part 1:

If for whatever reason, you've made it this far and still don't have 11 Leadership and 14 Mech, you can loot these areas to get gold for the trainers, if you're a Taker that is.

Surprisingly, the Central Labs is pretty straightforward for all paths. Takers can loot the place for free (again if you don't have 14 mech and 11 leadership... it you do than don't bother with anything here and just leave the area) and persuade the servant mind in the Vats to the west to shut down for some quest XP, then decide if you want to go the north through the Holding Cells, or east through the Research Quarters/barracks. Non-Takers will be entering the complex from the NW, taking the northern pass through a (somewhat tricky) pylon maze, leading out to the northern exit towards the Holding Cells.

The northern Holding Cells are easy to clear; take the northern door through the pylon and heat vent maze (they should be trivial with the skills you've gained thus far), heading to the NW corner, then east towards the NE exit and the Geneforge.

The eastern Research Quarters for Takers is another loot area (again only if you really need it - the northern route saves some time if you already have everything). Loot if you need to, I believe the final step of Toivo's questline in Kazg is found in this area if you care to do it. The eastern rooms contain good loot, and another pair of fake (damaged) shaping gloves, which you won't be able to access because the room it's in contains 4 reaper turrets that will pretty well instantly spot you, regardless of stealth. The mage guarding the northern exit to the Geneforge demands you kill the drayk in the NW corner as a test. You can't bypass this part, but you can convince the drayk to kill the mage instead. Just stay out of their engagement range, and heal the drayk every turn. Then head into the Geneforge proper.

Head to the middle of the Geneforge complex. Regardless of your alignment or past deeds, Trajkov will deal with you (provided you have at least 3 Sholai language lessons, which you long should at this point). Don't outwardly refuse to help him, hear him out, agree to help him, and be truthful when relaying the information from the book behind him. If you plan on tricking him, you can convince him to send his guards away with a speech check afterwards.

You now have total control over which ending you want to proceed with, with your options as follows:

-To follow the Taker route, simply give Trajkov the real shaper gloves, and let him use the Geneforge. Make sure you've officially allied with the Takers before doing this, as not doing so results in a bad end for your character

-To follow the Loyalist route, give Trajkov the fake shaper gloves (via skill check), let the Geneforge consume him, then use the control rod to disable the Geneforge's 4 surrounding power conduits, and destroy the Geneforge without using it yourself. Doing so gives the Loyalist ending, regardless of your reputation or faction affiliation. Slight ending dialogue change if you didn't use many canisters (IIRC 5 or more... it's only a small text difference of "The shapers realize you aren't warped and fully accept you", vs "You gain great power, but the upper ranks of Shaper society are closed to you due to your augmentations", so don't worry too much about it)

-To follow the Awakened route, give Trajkov the fake shaper gloves (vis skill check), let the Geneforge consume him, put on the real shaper gloves to use the Geneforge proper, then use the control rod to disable the Geneforge's 4 surrounding power conduits, and destroy the Geneforge. Using the Geneforge, but not destroying it afterwards, gives a slightly different ending text where others find a way to use the Geneforge, and a power struggle ensues, but you still manage to come out on top

-And for the memes, you can follow the Goettsch route, where you leave the true shaper gloves alone in The Great Temple, trick Trajkov with the fake shaper gloves, and leave the island with the Geneforge & it's power conduits still intact. Doing do gives a very "well, what were you expecting?" kind of bad end, and should only be taken as a side curiosity path

If you chose to help Trajokv, go back to the Icy Caves and use it's SE exit towards the Guarded Docks. Use gray & green spore batons to clear the minefields, go east past the Sholai encampment, and board the small boat to escape Sucia Island.

If you chose to betray Trajkov, pick up the red spore baton to the north end of the Geneforge chamber, then go back to the Icy Caves and use it's SE exit towards the Guarded Docks (there'll be a hostile Sholai outpost there that you can bypass with a speech check). Use gray & green spore batons to clear the minefields, head along the south path into the forest, clear the southern minefield with the red spore baton, then sneak along the coast to the small boat at the eastern pier, and board it to escape Sucia Island.

The Lategame (Research Halls, Geneforge Complex, Barrens Bunker Notes) + Endings Guide - Part 2:

Barrens Bunker:

Call this a victory lap after completing the main game (though you can technically do it before tackling the Geneforge core sections), which should net you the "A Sad Tale Ends" achievement. I... will admit that I didn't end up completing this section on my initial run & follow-up trips, as I'd gotten rid of Danette's Cloak which is generally required to pass through this area. I have, however, completed this route's non-combat ending as a previous combat character, so you should be able to do the same as a Pacifist if you follow the proceeding advice.

Head into the Barrens Bunker from the Barrens Research zone. Your goal here is to lure Oroboros, a mad augmented servile in the NW corner of the map, towards some machinery in the center north of the complex, which will unmake her. There are two paths: one through creations on the left, one through mines to the north. The mines to the north are unfairly deceptive: an initial spore box can be activated to disable the initial set of mines, but ones to it's immediate west don't deactivate on their own. I spent many, many, many attempts trying to sneak past a pair of two mines to reach this secondary box, leading to repeated deaths and more than a few verbal fits of anger. The mines simply can't be snuck past, and their damage is so high that most characters simply won't have the health to tank even one, even with defensive buffs. The only way to get through is to equip Danette's Cloak, which will leave you with 1HP and consume your essence, which should let you reach the secondary box (and subsequent ones later on). 

For those curious, yes I did try sneaking past the guards to the west, hoping to lure Oroboros through them and reach the spore box through the north path. The result was thus; the rogues require insane amounts of precise movements and luck to pass (12-14 stealth doesn't really matter, they can just spot you whenever they feel like it). Reaching Oroboros' chambers, you can tell her to follow you to the machinery, but a door to the east of her that's supposed to lead you there doesn't open (it only unlocks by going through the mine path), and even if you get her through the rogues, she'll suddenly ragequit right before reaching the device (stating that the mines are still active, even if the ones directly to the machinery are deactivated) and leave. Why this interaction occurs is frankly mindboggling to me. But, the takeaway is that the mech path is your only option.

Once you've cleared this path, Oroboros can be lead to the northern machine, which will unmake her after several turns of combat. Your goal here is simply to survive for a few turns while the massive passive damage wears away at her, all while booking it to the exit (as her two creations will immediately start chasing you once combat is first activated, and will only take a few turns to reach you). On an earlier alpha run, where I went through this section as a combat Guardian that still took this particular mech path, I distinctly recall Oroboros casting a charm spell on my PC, which succeeded in charming me (a very jarring experience, considering all subsequent games introduce PC immunity to mental effects), but made her incapable of attacking me. So we sat there awkwardly for a few turns before the passive damage took her down, it was a hilarious experience, but I'm not sure if it's still there in the official release. If not, than do your best to run 7 tiles towards the exit, and pop a restoration pod or something before ending the turn. Your reward will be the "A Sad Tale Ends" achievement, if playing on Veteran or above, another rare achievement. 

Thank you very much for reading this guide, I hope it was helpful. I'm open to comments if certain sections are incorrect, or if alternative/more efficient paths are mentioned.

[Shining Hector]

Trying this out, made it to Pentil at Level 6 so far.

It wasn't a chore at all clearing Watchhill with Seerula, she actually smartly focuses on the spawner once you drag her there and ignores the spawned creations until it's dead. Opens up nearly a level of experience with the kills and quests. You can also clear Crag Valley by pulling the thahds and artilla from the northwest to the two Obeyers, then with only Mech 3 set the pylon behind the spawner to explode once you get some distance, killing the spawner. With a little extra pulling, you can get the Protection canister for your own survivability as well as that of serviles you pull stuff to.

[Oishii Kudasai]

I did it on normal and it is possible. But holy fuck it was difficult. Easiest thing is to get your lowest skills to 10 except stealth with 8. Rest can be endurance and enough blessing magic and healing craft for shielding and healing. The best cheese is to go south workshop and have about 8 mechanics to turn pylons to help you and the power sources and just leave and come back so specters respawn till you want to kill Corata. The fact that you get xp from these kills without fighting is insane.

Thank you for the guide. Read a little bit because I wanted to try my own way but making it possible was enough. Just went Takers and helped Trajkov.

[Ghostforge]

Re: the Danette's Cloak confusion, i'm on the spiderweb software discord where a bunch of the people who beta tested hang about and chat and also give advice, and at one point the cloak came up: TL;DR, for each point of essence it eats, that's a point of damage you don't take.

[Seph]

I'd add that killing Oroboros with the trap requires 13 speech (not sure about the mechanics necessary to operate the panel, I had 12 at the time) and that Danette's cloak only works if the overall damage doesn't exceed your total HP + Essence. I was only able to tank the mines by lowering the difficulty from Torment to Veteran, since that lowered the damage from the 300s to 200s.

[Seph]

Thanks for the guide, I successfully got a bunch of achievements following it. It was a very interesting playthrough, too.

[Astra]

I fixed it somehow by loading the save where I used the Geneforge and trying to go through, and the cloak worked this time. Idk what's up but I guess that's a solution lol. Thank you for the great guide btw!

[Lord Backael]

@Astra So in truth I've seldom used Danette's Cloak, and in the only pacifist run I did as an Agent, I'd sold it to get more money for stat training. I'd been told by a few people on the forums about using it to get rid of the mines in Barrens Research, but I haven't actually tried it myself to confirm ^^;

I know it consumes essence to leave you at one HP, but I'm not sure if you need full essence for it to activate, and/or if the amount of essence it consumes is the amount of overkill HP it'd protect you for.

My best advice is to stack as many defensive buffs as you can (Protection and Essence Shield), pop an essence potion or two to get you back to full, and then trying to walk into one of the mines to see if the cloak saves you. If that doesn't work than I'm not sure tbh... I'd hope that those mines wouldn't be hard-coded to bypass the cloak activation, but I suppose anything's possible.

[Astra]

Danette's Cloak isn't working for me to get past the 2 mines in Barrens Research, any idea why?

[Lord Backael]

@Soul4hdwn Huh, that's an extremely interesting angle I hadn't considered before. Tested it with my Agent save, two Cryora can clear out the Watchhill spawner pretty handily. No attack count additions letting them kill stuff with the aura passive either.

Despite that, the long and short of it is that it's still faster to run through problem areas than it is wasting time trying to clear them out. You're basically trading most of an early-game level (getting the 2 levels of Fire Shaping for Cryora) for the ability to clear Watchhill & Pentil East for their fast travel access. Realistically, you'll only be making say... 3-5 round trips walking through those sections anyway, it's not that bad. And doing all the non-combat quests give more than enough XP to get through the game anyway, so to be honest it feels like it'd just be a waste of time, not to mention a waste of an achievement.

Appreciate the thought process, just yeah, it'd still be faster to just run through problem areas.

[Soul4hdwn]

how much different would this guide be without doing "i walk alone"? via using cyro summons' short range passive AoE damage to still count for pacifist but able to deal damage.