RELICS in-depth guide (working on updating to 1.1)

This guide will attempt to explain everything you need to know about Relics as well as list them all in as much detail as possible.

Currently working on the new additions as of version 1.1
I've been busy + a lil' burn out from working on the guide so much but I'll get to it, I swear.

This guide is still a work in progress. There's only so much one person can do so feel free to ask questions, make constructive criticism or give feedback, on both the guide's style or its content, to help make it better and more complete.

If you have questions, you can post them here in the comments, or reach me on the Cellar Door Games' Discord: https://discord.gg/cellardoorgames @Rhadamante#3192

Introduction

Relics are an important part of Rogue Legacy 2's gameplay, and knowing how to use them will greatly enhance your runs. This guide will list all the relics currently in the game with as much information about them as possible to help you make the best decisions.
But before we get to that, let's have a refresher course on what relics are and how you can use them.

Relics: they're items your character can hold giving them a variety of effects/bonuses like increasing your damage, giving your main attack a status effect, protecting you from harm, increasing your hp/max hp, etc.
Relics come in different rarities:
- common relics are the most numerous (this rarity doesn't have a label in game)
- Rare: these relics cost more than the common ones, and usually have a stronger effect
- Epic: more expensive relics and more powerful
- Master: the most expensive relics in the game and usually powerful ones
- Oath relics: cheaper than common relics, they boast a strong positive effect offset by a strong negative one
- Cursed: these relics cost nothing to take and have no effect of their own, but until you purify them, any hit to your character is fatal
- Purified: once the requirement on a cursed relic is fulfilled, it changes into its purified counterpart giving you its positive effect
(- special: an additional rarity not in the game that I'll use for all the relics that don't have their own rarity and/or cannot be bought)

Currently, there are three ways of obtaining relics.

Relic Rooms: these rooms randomly found in the Castle will give you a choice between 2 relics, and taking one will make the other disappear. An upgrade in the Manor will allow you to reroll the relic choices once per room (up to 5 times total when fully upgraded).
All the relics which can be stacked have a chance of spawning there as Twin Relics. Same relic, same effects, but it gives you an opportunity to buy two copies at once (for double the price of the single version).

Antique system: allows your character to start with a relic already in their possession.
Note that all Cursed, Purified and Oath relics are excluded from the pool of relics obtainable this way.

Curio Shoppe: these special rooms offer a single item - weapon, talent or spell - to swap with the one currently in your possession. After the exchange, they will also grant you, free of charge, one of three relics: swapping your weapon will give you a Blessing of Strength. Your talent: a Blessing of Talent. Your spell: a Blessing of Wisdom.

Aside from the Cursed/Purified rarity (and a few more exceptions), every relic in the game will have a cost, expressed in %, of a special resource called Resolve (an upgrade in the Manor decreases the costs of all relics by up to 5 points when fully upgraded).


Location of the Resolve counter in your HUD (top left of the screen)

Resolve: it represents your character's determination to fight despite the odds and is influenced by how light your amor is. The lighter the gear you're wearing, the higher your resolve. Let's see how all of it works by explaining everything from the beginning.

Equip weight: each piece of equipment you'll find in the world (weapon, helmet, cloak, etc.) has a weight. Some gear sets, like the Leather set, don't weigh much (full set weight of 75) while others, like the Kin set, are much heavier (full set weight of 635).

Max equip weight: through upgrades in your manor (as well as Mastery bonuses), you'll be able to increase your equip weight capacity, allowing you to wear more and heavier gear.

Encumbrance: it's the percentage of your max equip weight that is used by the gear you're currently wearing. Example:

Equipped gear weight	Max Equip Weight	Encumbrance
70	140	50%
150	500	30%
400	700	57%

Armor rating: armor rating is determined by your encumbrance, and determines how much resolve you'll end up with. There are 4 armor ratings based on encumbrance limits (an upgrade in the manor allows you to raise those limits):

Armor Rating	encumbrance limits (base)	encumbrance limits (upgrade maxed)
Chunky	> 60%	> 90%
Heavy	> 40% but ≤ 60%	> 60% but ≤ 90%
Medium	> 20% but ≤ 40%	> 30% but ≤ 60%
Light	≤ 20%	≤ 30%

Resolve (again): now that we have everything, we can start calculating how much resolve your character will have at its disposal to buy relics.

First, every character starts with 100% resolve.
Then, they'll get bonus resolve based on their armor rating:

Armor Rating	Bonus resolve
Chunky	+ 50%
Heavy	+ 75%
Medium	+ 100%
Light	+ 125%

An upgrade in the Manor will also allow you to get an additional 25% bonus resolve when fully upgraded (later, a soul shop item will allow you to increase this skill's cap to 50%).
Finally, down at the Enchantress, the Resolve rune will grant you +10% resolve for each copy of the rune curently equipped.

Penalty: so now that you know what relics are, what resolve is and how much of it you'll get, it's time to talk about using that resolve and the penalty associated with it.
As you buy relics, your resolve will logically decrease. So long as it doesn't go below 100%, nothing will happen.
Once it does decrease below that mark though, a penalty will be applied to your character: their max hp will be decreased down to your current resolve percentage. Let's see this with numbers.

Starting Max hp	Resolve	New Max hp
2000	150%	2000 (unchanged)
2000	100%	2000 (unchanged)
2000	85%	1700
2000	50%	1000
2000	10%	200
2000	0% or below	Max HP stuck at 1 can never be increased

Please note that any increase to max hp acquired after your resolve has decreased below 100% will also be affected. Example: a 10% max hp increase with a resolve of 85% will only effectively increase your max hp by 8.5%.

Basic Strategy: in light of how the resolve system works, there's one strategy you should remember to apply, and that is to not be afraid to spend your resolve above 100%. There's no penalty for doing so and the only problem you might encounter is in choosing your relics poorly (which the main part of this guide will try to help avoid).

How to read this guide

The main part of the guide will list all relics (and similar items) in alphabetical order, with detailed information. Let's see how to read and understand these. Following this will be a short glossary of the terms used in this guide.

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Name of the Relic

In-game description of the relic's effect.
The relic's flavor text (when available).

RELIC RARITY

Cost	The relic's base cost (the cost with the manor upgrade maxed)
Effect	A more detailed and in-depth description of the effects of the relic
Stacking	Whether the relic can be stacked, and how it does so if it can
Synergies	Whether this relic has synergies with other relics, or with any spells, talents, weapons, traits, or classes A ✔ will mark positive synergies, while a ❌ will annotate combinations to avoid Some entries will also use a ⚠️ to warn of potentially dangerous situations
Strategies Pros & Cons	An overview of how best to use the relic, including advantages, disadvantages, situations where it shines, and situations where it doesn’t A ➕ will mark the pros, while a ➖ will signal the cons
Notes	Any additional information about the relic not covered by the previous categories

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Glossary

                                                                       Stat Screen

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STR = Strength, determines Weapon Damage
Weapon Damage: damage dealt by all weapons (some weapons have additional damage scaling off of Intelligence) as well as the spin-kick
Formula for weapon hit damage is: (STR × weapon modifier)

DEX = Dexterity, determines Wpn Bonus Crit Damage
Wpn Bonus Crit Damage: bonus damage dealt during Weapon Critical Hits
Formula for bonus critical damage is: (DEX × weapon modifier × Skill Crit. Scaling (Dex))

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INT = Intelligence, determines Magic Damage
Magic Damage: damage dealt by all spells, talents, and certain relics
Formula for magic hit damage is: (INT × spell/talent modifier)

FOC = Focus, determines Magic Bonus Crit Damage
Magic Bonus Crit Damage: bonus damage dealt during Magic Critical Hits
Formula for bonus critical damage is: (FOC × spell/talent modifier × Skill Crit. Scaling (Focus))

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Critical Hits: almost every weapon or magic attack has a way to go critical and deal bonus damage. Critical hits can happen by chance (Random Crits), or while performing Skill Crits.
Skill Crits: critical hits triggered by specific actions rather than chance (ex: the Dragon Lancer's Lance has a charged attack, Flying Joust, that is always a skill crit)
Random Crits: critical hits that happen randomly based on Random Crit Chance (wpn) for weapon attacks, and Random Crit Chance (spells) for magic attacks
Random Crit Chance (wpn): chance for normal weapon attacks to randomly go critical
Random Crit Chance (mag): chance for normal magic attacks to randomly go critical
Super Crits: Skill crits have a chance to become super crits and deal 35% more damage; the chance for a skill crit to become a super crit is equal to half of Random Crit Chance (+ bonuses)

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VIT: Vitality, determines Health (or HP, i.e. health points)
Base HP: your character's starting health before any modification from relics, traits or Blessing of Life (max hp increasing option from the tree rooms).
Formula for Base HP is: (100 + VIT × class modifier)

Special enemies: Estuaries & Void Beast bosses, Blightborn mini-bosses; these enemies are not affected/counted by certain relics
Non-special enemies: every other enemy type, including Commanders

DoT (damage over time): a source of damage that, once applied, will keep hurting the target periodically; each instance of damage is called a tick.
AoE (area of effect): used for attacks/effects that apply equally to all targets within a certain area, ignoring walls and obstacles
DPS (damage per second): a measure of damage potential over a period of time rather than on a per attack basis

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Base Damage Formulas

Normal Weapon Hit	(STR × weapon/talent modifier)
Critical Weapon Hit	(STR × weapon/talent modifier) + (DEX × weapon/talent modifier × Dex Scaling)
Normal Magic Hit	(INT × spell/talent modifier)
Critical Magic Hit	(INT × spell/talent modifier) + (FOC × spell/talent modifier × Foc Scaling)

Example:

A character with

• 100 STR, 75 DEX, 120% Skill Crit Scaling (Dex),
  
• 100 INT, 75 FOC, 120% Skill Crit Scaling (Focus),
  
• the Knight's Sword with a modifier of 2,
  
• the Magma Mass spell with a modifier of 1.6

will deal:

• Sword Slash = (100 × 2) = 200 dmg
  
• Critical Sword Slash = (100 × 2) + (75 × 2 × 1.2) = 380 dmg
  
• Magma Mass = (100 × 1.6) = 160 dmg
  
• Critical Magma Mass = (100 × 1.6) + (75 × 1.6 × 1.2) = 304 dmg

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Bonus Modifier

Before being applied to base damage, all bonuses from relics, traits or status effects are added together in a bonus modifier.

Bonus Modifier

(1 + Bonus 1 + Bonus 2 + Bonus 3 + ...)

Example:

A character with

• the Achilles' Shield relic (+10% wpn & spell dmg),
  
• the Blessing of Strength relic (+8% wpn dmg),
  
• the Blessing of Wisdom relic (+8% magic dmg),
  
• the Combative trait (+50% wpn dmg)

will have the following bonus modifiers

• Weapon Damage Bonus Modifier = (1 + 0.1 + 0.08 + 0.5) = 1.68
  
• Magic Damage Bonus Modifier = (1 + 0.10 + 0.08) = 1.18

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Bonus Damage Formulas

Normal Weapon Hit	Base damage × Bonus modifier
Critical Weapon Hit	(Base Damage + Bonus Crit damage) × Bonus modifier
Normal Magic Hit	Base damage × Bonus modifier
Critical Magic Hit	(Base Damage + Bonus Crit damage) × Bonus modifier

Example:

A character with

• 100 STR, 75 DEX, 120% Skill Crit Scaling (Dex),
  
• 100 INT, 75 FOC, 120% Skill Crit Scaling (Focus),
  
• the Knight's Sword with a modifier of 2,
  
• the Magma Mass spell with a modifier of 1.6,
  
• the Achilles' Shield relic (+10% wpn & spell dmg),
  
• the Blessing of Strength relic (+8% wpn dmg),
  
• the Blessing of Wisdom relic (+8% magic dmg),
  
• the Combative trait (+50% wpn dmg)

will deal

• Sword Slash = (100 × 2) × (1 + 0.1 + 0.08 + 0.5) = 336 dmg
  
• Critical Sword Slash = {(100 × 2) + (75 × 2 × 1.2)} × (1 + 0.1 + 0.08 + 0.5) = 638 dmg
  
• Magma Mass = (100 × 1.6) × (1 + 0.10 + 0.08) = 189 dmg
  
• Critical Magma Mass = {(100 × 1.6) + (75 × 1.6 × 1.2)} × (1 + 0.10 + 0.08) = 359 dmg

AETHER'S GRACE (added in 1.1)

Gain additional Double Jump(s).
(Total Bonus Double Jumps: 1).
The Power of Zephyr, granted to the worthy.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	This relic's effect is pretty simple and straightforward: it grants one additional double jump. It has a similar effect as the Vault rune and like it, can only be found once the Aether's Wings heirloom has been acquired .
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic grants one more double jump.
Synergies	✅ Labrys weapon's aerial attack: this attack has the heir spin and deal damage all around themselves before landing and is better the more mobility you have; the additional Double Jump from Aether's Grace can help with that ✅ Kasa-obake weapon: the secondary attack which allows you to float down slowly until you touch the ground (activated by pressing up and attack) can be given more height and airtime with more double jumps, like the one granted by Aether's Grace ✅ Saber weapon: this weapon's air attack has one of the highest DPS in the game and benefits from more double jumps which Aether's Grace can help with ✅ Dance buff: this buff, gained by spin kicking enemies, increases your damage and is lost when landing; the additional double jumps from Aether's Grace can help you keep that bonus longer ✅ Sun Tower biome: this biome's exterior rooms are more platforming intensive than the rest of the game and can be made easier with more double jumps like the one given by Aether's Grace 🟥 The Icarus' Wings Bargain relic: this relic grants Flight which is activated by jumping, making double jumps irrelevant and Aether's Grace useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	Whether you should take this straightforward relic depends on a simple question: do you need more mobility/double jumps? Early on, when you haven't found the Vault rune or only have few copies of it, Aether's Grace can help you in situations where more double jumps can help (clearing the Sun Tower, certain boss fights). Later in the game, seeing as the Vault rune is the most expensive rune in terms of runic weight, it can be difficult to equip enough of them (or less efficient) and Aether's Grace can prove useful. If, however, you're content with the mobility you have, this relic becomes a lot less useful given its very simple and limited effect. ➕ Easy way to get more mobility ➖ Limited effect similar to the Vault rune
Antique	🔴 This relic cannot appear as an Antique.
Notes	The relic's name and lore refers to the double jump heirloom Aether of the Wind, itself a reference to Aether, the personification of the Upper Sky in greek mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aether_(mythology)

ANANKE'S GRACE (added in 1.1)

Gain additional Air Dash(es).
(Total Bonus Air Dashes: 1).
The Power of Momentum, amplified.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	This relic's effect is pretty simple and straightforward: it grants one additional Air Dash . It has a similar effect as the Dash rune and like it, can only be found once the Ananke's Shawl heirloom has been acquired .
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic grants one more Air Dash.
Synergies	✅ Weapons with dash skill crits: these weapons can skill crit with dash attacks and Ananke's Grace's additional Air Dashes can give them more opportunity to crit; includes the Dual Blades, the Labrys' aerial attack, the Boxing Gloves, the Saber, the Great Sword, the Cannon, the Fauchard and Hephaestus' Hammer ✅ Weapons with useful Attack Cancel: attack canceling is the ability to stop an attack animation/recovery early using, among other means, dashes, and for certain weapons, it's extremely useful; Ananke's Grace's additional Air Dashes grants more opportunity to use attack canceling while airborne; includes the Katana, Charon's Scythe, the Charge Lance ✅ Corrupting Reagent relic: this relic activates on dashing making the additional Air Dash from Ananke's Grace helpful while in the air ✅ Vanguard's Banner relic: this relic sends a shockwave every time you dash; the Air Dash granted by Ananke's Grace allows you to activate it more often while airborne ✅ Sun Tower biome: this biome's exterior rooms are more platforming intensive than the rest of the game and can be made easier with more Air Dashes like the one given by Ananke's Grace 🟥
Strategies Pros & Cons	Whether you should take this straightforward relic depends on a simple question: do you need more mobility/Air Dashes? Early on, when you haven't found the Dash rune or only have few copies of it, Ananke's Grace can help you in situations where more Air Dashes can help (clearing the Sun Tower, certain boss fights). Later in the game, seeing as the Dash rune is the second most expensive rune in terms of runic weight, it can be difficult to equip enough of them (or less efficient) and Ananke's Grace can prove useful. If, however, you're content with the mobility you have, this relic becomes a lot less useful given its very simple and limited effect. ➕ Easy way to get more mobility ➖ Limited effect similar to the Dash rune
Antique	🔴 This relic cannot appear as an Antique.
Notes	The relic's name and lore refers to the Air Dash heirloom Ananke of the Shawl, itself a reference to Ananke, the personification of Necessity in greek mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananke

AZURE AEGIS (added in 1.1)

10% of incoming damage is absorbed by your Mana.
"The Azure Legion was relentless. The harder you fought them, the stronger they became."

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	While holding this relic, every time you get hurt, it will block up to 10% of incoming damage by consuming your mana by the same amount. If you don't have enough mana to block all 10%, the relic will only block as much damage as your remaining mana. If you have no mana left, the relic cannot block any damage. Note that the blocked damage is calculated after armor reduction, and is shown in light blue damage numbers. You can also tell when Azure Aegis has blocked damage by the blue shield effect surrounding your character.
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic blocks 10% more damage.
Synergies	✅ All things increasing Max Mana: the more mana you can have, the more damage Azure Aegis can potentially block; includes the Capacity runes, the Lotus Petal, Dreamcatcher and Demeter's Reward relics, the Kin unity 50 bonus. ✅ All things increasing Mana Regen: the more easily you can regen your mana, the more likely you will have enough to make Azure Aegis useful; includes the Astromancer and Mage's passive, the Siphon and Trick rune, the Leviathan unity 20 & 50 bonuses, the White Beard relic, the Minimalist trait ✅ Cosmic Insight relic: this relic shares the same trigger as Azure Aegis, getting hurt, and grants 100 mana that can Overcharge (up to twice the max) meaning it can help have enough of it when blocking damage; note that Azure Aegis will always proc before the mana gain from Cosmic Insight ✅ Arcane Necklace: this relic grants free spell casts (every 4th spell cast with one copy) helping save your mana to be used by Azure Aegis; at max stacks (4 copies) all spells cast are free making all your mana available solely to Azure Aegis ✅ Masochism trait: this trait prevents you from gaining mana from weapon attacks, which would be bad for Azure Aegis, but it instead grants 50% of your max mana every time you're hit, sharing a similar trigger as Azure Aegis; note that Azure Aegis will always proc before the mana gain from Masochism ✅ Limitless trait: this trait grants infinite Overcharge at the cost of increased damage taken; that means you can store a lot of mana to be used by Azure Aegis while its damage blocking can help mitigate the trait's downside ✅ Crippling Intellect trait: this trait grants a delayed but quick mana auto-regen meaning you can often have enough mana for Azure Aegis, while the relic's damage blocking effect helps with the trait's max HP malus 🟥 Lotus Stem relic: this relic can block a hit, but does so by consuming 150 mana sharing a similar mechanic to Azure Aegis; when one of these relics procs, it's thus makes it harder for the other one to proc on following hits 🟥 Zealot's Ring relic: this relic promotes the use of spells by giving them bonus damage, which goes against Azure Aegis' effect requiring mana to be effective; moreover, it requires being at max mana for that, something made harder if Azure Aegis triggers 🟥 Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: Azure Aegis requires getting hurt to have any effect which means death for characters stuck at 1hp; 1 max hp reached through the One-Hit Wonder trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve
Strategies Pros & Cons	Azure Aegis is a defensive relic with a weak but cumulative effect. It won't do much if you're hit many times in succession as it may not even reduce how many hits you can take before dying, but over the course of a run, it can increase your survivability by a fair margin. Considering it consumes mana to protect you, it's best suited for characters with high mana regen and high mana capacity. ➕ Increases survivability ➖ Weak effect per hit ➖ Requires enough mana to be useful
Antique	🟢 This relic can appear as an Antique. • Good with Astromancer, Mage • Increase your max mana with Capacity runes (or the Kin set) • Increase your mana regen with Siphon runes (or the Leviathan set)
Notes	The Azure Legion mentioned in the flavor text doesn't seem to refer to anything outside the game. The relic's name on the other hand, is a reference to the Aegis, a powerful (most likely defensive) item worn by Zeus and Athena in Greek mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aegis

CLOAK OF EVENTIDE (added in 1.1)

Standing still for 1.2 second(s) grants you Cloak.
Only prey fear the shadows.

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	While holding this relic, standing still for 1.2 seconds grants you Cloak. Standing still means no action taken (attacking or aiming with your weapon, using your talent, casting spells, spin kicking), no movement (falling, jumping, dashing, flying) and not getting hit. Cloak is similar to the Obscura and Comet Form talents' Cloaked effect, it grants total immunity to all forms of damage. The difference is that Cloak isn't on a timer but dispells once you're not standing still anymore and thus, doesn't grant any movement speed bonus. Note that the immunity effect of Cloak extends for a few frames upon exiting it , making it possible, for example, to jump away from an enemy that was touching you while avoiding contact damage. Note that while the toggle spell Flame Barrier is on, it's not considered standing still. It is however possible to be surrounded by the Shield of Thorns spell's effect while Cloak is on if you stand still immediately after casting it.
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic reduces the time before Cloak activates by 0.2 seconds .
Synergies	✅ Ambrosia relic: this relic extends the invulnerability time after getting hit making it possible to get hit, land and stand still long enough for Cloak of Eventide to activate before said invulnerability wears off; great if you need to collect yourself in chaotic situations 🟥 The Icarus' Wings Bargain relic: this relic's effect is to grant Flight which, while it's on, is not considered standing still even if you're not moving; this makes it a lot harder to use Cloak of Eventide effectively 🟥 Burden of Aggression: this burden makes enemies attack more frequently making it more dangerous to stand still long enough for Cloak of Eventide to activate 🟥 Burden of Flame: this burden makes enemies' projectiles faster making it more difficult to use Cloak of Eventide's effect to dodge them
Strategies Pros & Cons	Cloak of Eventide is a great defensive relic, but one that fits more cautious, slower play styles. It can be really useful for you if you have trouble dodging attacks from several enemies and often find yourself overwhelmed by crowds of enemies. Against bosses, it's useful in letting you completely ignore the attacks that you're less comfortable with, while you wait for the prefect opportunity to attack. Relying too much on it can be a little dangerous as you can find yourself standing still to avoid a particular attack, only to misjudge the timing and get hit when you could have avoided easily it by moving. Care must be taken when fighting enemies moving towards you as they can end up surrounding you while you wait, cloaked, potentially making the situation more dangerous than if you had tried to run away. ➕ Great defensive relic for cautious players ➖ Easy to rely too much on it
Antique	🟢 This relic can appear as an Antique. • Good with any class. • •
Notes	Eventide is an old/literary term meaning evening.

FEATHERED CAP (added in 1.1)

Casting your Talent grants you Charged for 1.5 seconds.
Quite dashing.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	While holding this relic, every time you use your talent, you gain the Charged buff for 1.5 seconds. Charged guarantees that your next weapon attack will be a skill crit . The buff is consumed immediately on your next attack even if you don't hit anything. This relic has a similar effect as Duelist's passive, Show-off . If used on that class, the relic's Charged duration stacks with that of the passive.
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic increases the duration of Charged by 1.5 seconds.
Synergies	✅ Combat Roll talent: as the talent with the shortest cooldown (only 2 seconds), it can be used often and gives the most opportunity for Feathered Cap to activate ✅ Deflect talent: it recharges after only 5 hits making it a good talent to activate Feathered Cap; moreover, it can instantly recharge if used to destroy at least one enemy projectile making it possible to activate Feathered Cap even more often during intense fights ✅ Immortal Kotetsu talent: its short 5-seconds cooldown allows Feathered Cap to activate often; this talent can also recharge instantly if it kills an enemy, with a potential for Feathered Cap to activate several times ✅ Super IBS trait: this trait replaces your talent with the Super Fart talent; with its short 3-seconds cooldown, it's great with Feathered Cap which it can activate often ✅ Shield Block talent: used normally (ie by blocking damage), this talent has a 10-seconds cooldown making it a bad choice with Feathered Cap; currently however, you don't need to block anything to trigger the relic, and merely holding the shield up for a fraction of a second (which you can do quickly and infinitely) is enough, making it an excellent talent for Feathered Cap ✅ Knockout Punch talent: you only need to hit enemies 3 times to recharage this talent making it a good choice when paired with Feathered Cap as you can benefit from Charged often ✅ Makeshift Explosive talent: while its cooldown is rather long (8 sec) it has 2 charges; since the cooldown timer starts as soon as you use one and recharges both charges at once, it's possible to use this talent every ~4 sec making it a good choice with Feathered Cap ✅ Handheld Ballista weapon: the Ballista's skill crit being timing based (it requires holding the attack long enough before releasing it at the right moment) can make it difficult to pull it off in certain situations and it makes the slow weapon even slower; Feathered Cap easy-to-trigger Charged buff allows you to skill crit immediately and pairs well with the high damage per attack of the weapon ✅ Kasa-obake weapon: with its potentially difficult to trigger skill crit (it requires blocking a projectile) and its high damage per hit, this weapon pairs well with Feathered Cap ✅ Lachesis' Measure relic: this relic heals you every time you kill an enemy using a crit; Feathered Cap and its Chagred buff can greatly help with that ✅ Lamech's Whetstone relic: this relic applies Magic Break to enemies hit with a weapon skill crit which the Charged buff from Feathered Cap can help with ✅ All things increasing weapon crit damage: the Charged buff from Feathered Cap helps guarantee skill crits on weapon attacks, making it better to increase their damage; includes the Might rune, the Warden equipment set unity 20 & 50 bonuses, Pirate's passive, the Atropos' Scissors relic ✅ All things increasing super crits chance and damage: super crits have a chance to occur whenever a skill crit happens, which Feathered Cap helps with; includes the Lucky Roller and High Stakes runes, the Obelisk relic, the Assassin's passive, all things increasing random crit chance ✅ Alchemy Lab upgrade: this upgrade makes picking up potions instantly recharge your talents allowing you to use them more often, thus making Feathered Cap better ✅ Perfectionist trait: this trait makes only skill crits and spin kick deal damage; Feathered Cap can help with the former 🟥 Talents with longer cooldowns: a longer cooldown means you won't be able to use them often, making the Charged effect from Feathered Cap a lot less useful; includes Comet Form & Ivy Canopy (7 sec), Crescendo (12 sec), Pirate Ship (8 hits) 🟥 Obscura talent: its 10 hits cooldown and the fact that this talent applies Vulnerable to enemies hit while cloaked (making Charged useless) makes it a bad choice for Feathered Cap 🟥 Stew talent: while it comes with up to 3 charges, the randomness of its recharge condition (finding health drops) and its utility (healing) makes it a bad choice for Feathered Cap 🟥 Winter's Shout: this talent recharges only when hit which is something you do not want to happen too often, making it a bad pairing with Feathered Cap 🟥 Weapons with easy skill crits: Feathered Cap helps guarantee a skill crit on your next weapon attack, making it a lot less useful when used with weapons that can already skill crit easily; includes the Dual Blades, the Labrys, the Charge Lance, the Dragon Fangs, the Blunderbuss 🟥 Fast weapons with low damage: since Charged only applies to the very first attack/hit, weapons that rely on a fast attack rate but a low damage per hit don't pair well with Feathered Cap; includes the Boxing Gloves, the Celestial Sceptre, the Dual Blades, the Kinetic Revolver, the Lute, the Blunderbuss, Crow Storm, the Dragon Fangs, the Pepperoni Pizza, Hephaestus' Hammer, the Labrys' air attack
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic granting the Charged buff means it's going to be the most useful if: - you cannot skill crit easily, either because it's risky (like in the case of dash attacks skill crits) or because your weapon's skill crit condition is harder to trigger, - and your crit damage is high enough. If you can already skill crit easily, or have low weapon crit damage, it won't improve your overall damage much tojustify its cost. It's also heavily dependent on the talent you have and whether you remember to use it often. ➕ Makes getting skill crits easier ➖ Useless without enough crit damage ➖ Heavily dependent on your weapon/talent
Antique	🟢 This relic can appear as an Antique. • Good if you have Combat Roll, Knockout Punch, Shield Block, Deflect, Immortal Kotetsu, Makeshift Explosive or Super Fart • Good only if you can't crit easily and if your crit damage is high enough • Increase your crit damage with Might runes
Notes	The relic's art represents the Duelist class' hat.

MAMMON'S BOUNTY (added in 1.1)

Gain 3 random Relic(s) and 30 Bonus Resolve per Mammon's Bounty.
Leave nothing, not even the scraps.

OATH RELIC

Cost	???
Effect	Upon picking up this relic, it gives you 3 additional relics as well as 30 bonus resolve. The 3 relics are chosen randomly, still cost their normal amount of resolve , and can be duplicates . The rules applied by the game to choose the random relics are: - it can only give you relics that can appear in normal relic rooms (it excludes for example Kerguelen's lilies, Pishon's keys or any of the broken relics) - it cannot give you any relics you've already encountered in the same room as the one where you picked the Mammon's Bounty (ie the relic on the other pedestal or any relics you've re-rolled) - it cannot give you relics past their respective max stack value - it excludes certain relics (see below for a full list) List of excluded relics: All Cursed & Purified relics, certain Oath relics Special relics ( curios blessings, broken relics, mics relics ) Pandora's Trial Charon's Trial Demeter's Trial Pandora's Reward Charon's Reward Demeter's Reward Mammon's Bounty Transmogrificator Diogenes' Bargain The Future Successor's Bargain Blessing of Strength Blessing of Talent Blessing of Wisdom Hyperion's Broken Ring Broken Key Broken Sword Lily of the Valley Pearl Key Onyx Key Nerdy Glasses Empty Vessel Ancestral Soul
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic gives 3 more random relics and grants 30 more bonus resolve.
Synergies	✅ War Drum relic: this relic gives +4% damage for each unique relic held; Mammon's Bounty helps with that by giving you up to 4 different unique relics (Mammon itself plus 3 new relics provided you're not getting duplicates, or relics you already had), and by giving you bonus resolve so that you can pick up more of them ✅ Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: because they're already at the minimum 1 max hp, these heirs can't suffer from one of Mammon's Bounty's main downside which is the cost of the 3 random relics possibly sending you below the 100% resolve limit and reducing your max hp; 1 max hp reached through the One-Hit Wonder trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve ✅ All things increasing Resolve: because it gives 3 random relics at once (and despite the 30 bonus resolve), having more resolve helps mitigate the risk of getting a bad combination of relics that would send you below the safe 100% limit; includes the Psychiatrist manor upgrade, improving your armor rating, the Resolve rune, swapping your talent in a Curio Shoppe (Blessings of Talent relic), purifying a Pandora's Trial relic, the Tattered Rope and Transmogrificator relic, the Leather set unity 20 & 50 bonuses ✅ Leather set unity 100 bonus: this unity bonus makes it so your resolve can never decrease below 30%, thus allowing you to take as many relics as you want without dropping to the minimum 1 max hp making it much safer to pick a Mammon's Bounty ⏹ Resolve Cost house rule: this house rule gives you the option to decrease the cost of relics; alongside Mammon's Bounty's bonus resolve, this can help you amass a lot of relics for powerful builds ⚠️ Sources of increased damage taken: if you're already affected by one of these, taking a Mammon can prove dangerous as there's a risk it will give you a relic with the same effect; includes the Vampirism and Limitless traits, The Serrated Handle's Bargain, The Icarus' Wings Bargain and Tattered Rope relics, the XXX weapon 🟥
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic is a great way to accrue many other relics and thus get more powerful, but it comes with two major downsides. The first is the randomness of the relics given. Depending on your builds and play style, some of the relics will be, at best, useless, but at worst, detrimental. In particular, the Oath relics not excluded from the list of possible relics (Heavy Stone Bargain, Serrated Handle Bargain, Icarus' Wings Bargain and Tattered Rope) can severely affect your chances. One trick to remember to help with that randomness, is that Mammon's Bounty cannot give you any of the relics you've already seen in the same room (ie the relic on the opposite pedestal or any relics you've re-rolled). You can use that to avoid unwanted relics. The second downside is that the cost of the relics given still applies. While Mammon's Bounty gives 30 bonus resolve to help a bit, this can still means that if you don't pay attention or if the combination of relics you get is more expensive than you hoped, you can easily dip below the safe 100% resolve limit and lose max hp in the process. ➕ Easy way to get lots of relics ➖ The relics are random and still cost resolve
Antique	🔴 This relic cannot appear as an Antique.
Notes	Mammon is a term in the New Testament of the Bible commonly thought to mean money, material wealth, or any entity that promises wealth, and is associated with the greedy pursuit of gain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon

MONKEY'S PAW (added in 1.1)

Gain 5 bonus Re-roll(s) per Monkey's Paw, and disables Room Re-roll Cap.
(Total Bonus Rerolls: 5).
Be careful what you wish for.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	While exploring the castle, you'll come across Relic and Curio Shoppe rooms. They offer respectively 2 relics and 1 weapon/talent/spell for you to choose from. Initially, you're unable to change what these rooms have to offer, you either take it or leave it. But once you buy the Medieval Forgery skill in the manor, you're given re-rolls (1 per level of the skill, up to 10 total). These re-rolls allow you to change the items offered once per room. Another upgrade, The Bizarre Bazaar (locked behind a Soul Shop upgrade) will improve this further, by allowing you to re-roll relics/curios up to 3 times per room. The Monkey's Paw relic affects this by giving you 5 additional re-rolls and by lifting the room re-roll cap , allowing you to re-roll the content of the relic/curio as many times as you want until you run out of re-rolls. This effect applies even if you haven't bought any of the re-roll upgrades mentioned above. Note that, within the same room , re-rolling can never give you an item you've already seen before.
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic gives 5 additional re-rolls.
Synergies	✅ Mammon's Bounty relic: this gives you 3 random relics but it's possible to controle the randomness a bit since it cannot give you any relic you've already seen in the same room you found it in; Monkey's Paw helps with that by giving you more re-rolls and allowing you to use them all in the same room ✅ Resolve Cost house rule: by giving you the option to decrease the cost of relics, this house rule allows you to take many of them without worrying about the max hp penalty; Monkey's Paw is useful then, as it gives you a lot more opportunities to get the relics you want/need ✅ All things increasing Resolve: because it helps you build the best combinations of relics, and because of its own cost, the more resolve you have, the better you can make use of Monkey's Paw; includes the Psychiatrist manor upgrade, imrpoving your armor rating, the Resolve rune, swapping your talent in a Curio Shoppe (Blessings of Talent relic), purifying a Pandora's Trial relic, the Tattered Rope and Transmogrificator relic, the Leather set unity 20 & 50 bonuses ✅ Leather set unity 100 bonus: this unity bonus makes it so your resolve can never decrease below 30%, thus allowing you to take as many relics as you want; Monkey's Paw synergizes well with that by giving you more options when choosing relics 🟥
Strategies Pros & Cons	If you like picking up relics and building powerful combinations of relics, then Monkey's Paw is the perfect tool to help you. Not only does it gives you additional re-rolls, increasing the odds you'll find the specific relic you've been looking for, but it lifts the room re-roll cap. The reason it's useful is because, within the same room, you can never re-roll relics you've already seen. So by using several re-rolls in the same room, you can increase the chance of finding whatever relic you're looking for. The caveat is that it's only useful if you can spare the resolve for it, and the relics it'll help you pick up. ➕ Great at helping you make the relic build of your dream ➖ Require lots of resolve to be useful
Antique	🟢 This relic can appear as an Antique. • Good if you have lots of resolve and plan on picking up many relics • Can be a good idea to equip the Leather set unity 100 bonus to ignore resolve cost entirely
Notes	The relic's name and flavor text is a reference to a short story by W. W. Jacobs, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monkey%27s_Paw about a wish-granting monkey's paw.

NERDY GLASSES (added in 1.1)

Removes all Visual Ailments.
They look pretty good on you.

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	On top of their weapon, talent and spell, each of your heirs have a chance to appear with one or two traits . These are positive or negative modifiers that apply to them and/or to the enemies/world. Some of these have a visual effect like hiding your health bar, darkening the screen every time you're hit or adding colored trails to moving things. While your heir is affected by one of these traits, picking up the Nerdy Glasses relic will remove all the visual effects associated with it . List of visual traits affected: - Diva (the cheers and roses thrown on room clear persist) - Synesthesia - Associative Agnosia - Colorblind - Nostalgic (the distorted audio persist) - Panic Attacks - C.I.P. - Alexithymia - Puritan Another effect of the glasses is that they completely remove Pishon Dry Lake's darkness , even the strong version before you acquire the Theia's Sun Lantern heirloom. Moreover, upon picking up the relic, they appear as a pair of thick-framed glasses on the heir. Note that Nerdy Glasses is a special relic that is not part of the normal pool. It only appears if you have a visual trait , and it has a greater chance to do so (12.5%) than normal relics (~1.5%).
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Cannot reappear (even as the replacement relic Empty Vessel) once you pick it up.
Synergies	✅ All visual traits: all these traits are negative and therefore come with a gold bonus once you buy the very first upgrade in the manor (Universal Health Stair); picking up Nerdy Glasses allow you to keep the gold bonus without suffering the negative effects of these traits. 🟥
Strategies Pros & Cons	The Nerdy Glasses relic is essentially a gold farming tool. You're exchanging resolve to cancel the negative effect of a trait, while still keeping its gold bonus. As such, if gold is important to you but you do not want to keep playing with a visual ailment, it might be worth the rather high resolve cost. If, on the other hand, you're able to manage well despite the visual trait's effect, you're probably better off using that resolve for something else. ➕ Turns visual traits harmless ➖ Expensive
Antique	🔴 This relic cannot appear as an Antique.
Notes	The Nerdy Glasses are one of the few returning items from the first game, in which they had a similar effect.

SILK SLIPPERS (added in 1.1)

Your Spin Kicks grant you 1 stack(s) of Dance.
"The sky is your playground, and the floor is your foe."

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	While holding this relic, spin kicking an enemy grants you 1 stack of Dance . This effect is similar to Bard's passive, Performer, and will stack with it. Dance is a buff that increases your damage bonus modifiers (weapon spin kicks, talents, spells, relics) by 15% per stack , up to the maximum of 5 stacks (for +75% dmg). All stacks of Dance are lost whenever you land on the ground. Spin kicking most invulnerable enemies counts and will grant a stack of Dance; includes the Orbs & Zorbs, enemies protected by a Shield Banner commander, shielded enemies, Vengeful commander about to die. Dance has a special interaction with the Lute weapon: if the explosion triggered by spin kicking a Lute's note hits an enemy, it grants 1 stack of the buff as if you had spin kicked the enemy directly.
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic grants one more stack of Dance per spin kick.
Synergies	✅ Lute weapon: because of its special interaction with Dance (cf. above) and because spin kicking the notes it fires allows you to stay airborne for a longer time, it pairs really well with the Silk Slippers relic ✅ Electric Lute weapon: this weapon requires spin kicking something both to recharge it and to skill crit with it, and an easy way to do this, is to spin kick an enemy before quickly firing at it; this synergizes well with Slik Slippers almost guaranteeing 1/2 stacks of Dance on every shot ✅ Crow Storm weapon: this weapon grants flying while you channel its attack allowing you to keep your Dance stacks active until you land, making it an excellent choice paired with Silk Slippers ✅ Charge Lance weapon: the charged attack of this weapon, Flying Joust, allows you to fly upward and stay airborne for a long time, allowing you to make full use of the stacks of Dance ✅ Kinetic Revolver weapon: while shooting this weapon, your character stays suspended in midair allowing you to make full use of your stacks of Dance; this also helps by giving you more time to think of your next move making it easier to stay airborne ✅ War Bow weapon: because of its long range, this weapon allows you to safely accumulates stacks of Dance on safer enemies (which cannot easily reach you), while attacking more dangerous enemies from a distance; besides, attacking directly downward slows your fall making it easier to stay airborne, helping keep your stacks of Dance for longer ✅ Charon's Scythe weapon: this weapon allows you to stay airborne for a long time as long as you attack since it sends you flying forward without falling; this allows you to keep the Dance stacks given by Silk Slippers longer ✅ Kasa-obake weapon: this weapon's secondary attack allows you to float and even double jump while doing so to gain some height, making it easy to stay airborne for a long time; this allows you to use Dance stacks' bonus damage more effectively ✅ Dragon Puppet weapon: this weapon allows you to essentially fly so long as you attack upwards making it really simple to keep your Dance stacks, making Slik Slippers a good pairing with it ✅ Fauchard weapon: this weapon can attack downward allowing you to bounce off of enemies making it easier to stay airborne after gaining stacks of Dance ✅ The Icarus' Wings Bargain relic: this relic grants Flight; by flying after gaining stacks of Dance from Silk Slippers, you can keep the damage bonus up for a very long time, making it an excellent choice ✅ Steel-Toed Boots relic: this applies Armor Break to enemies spin kicked, increasing the damage they take from weapon attacks; this shares the same trigger as Silk Slippers' Dance allowing you to easily combine both damage bonuses ✅ The Heavy Stone Bargain relic: this relic increases your damage but gives your weapon a cooldown; it pairs well with Silk Slippers since you can focus on spin kicking your enemies for Dance stacks while you wait for your weapon to go off cooldown, and combine both bonuses for some heavy hits ✅ Weighted Anklet relic: this relic increases the damage of your spin kicks, which goes alongside Slik Slippers' Dance on spin kicks well ✅ Clownanthropy trait: this trait allows you to spin kick off of terrain, walls and even hazards allowing you to never land and keep the Dance stacks from Slik Slippers for a very long time ✅ Hollow Bones trait: this trait slows you down as you fall, giving you more airtime and more control over when/where you land, making it good with Slik Slippers ✅ Better movement options: to make the most of Dance, you have to stay airborne without landing for as long as possible; more movement options allow you to do so more safely. Includes all the Heirlooms, the Vault and Dash runes, Ananke's Grace and Aether's Grace relics, the Superfluid & Clownanthropy trait ✅ Talents with airtime: these talents can help you stay airborne for longer if used at the right moment, giving you more use out of your stacks of Dance; includes Comet Form, Makeshift Explosives, Super Fart, Crescendo ✅ Trick rune: Slik Slippers promotes a spin kick-heavy play style which works well with this rune which grants mana when spin kicking enemies ⏹ Flying house rule: by flying after gaining stacks of Dance from Silk Slippers, you can keep the damage bonus up for a very long time 🟥 Handheld Ballista and Triangulator weapons: both of these weapons can only be fired from the ground and can never make use of Dance's damage buff 🟥 Ivy Roots relic: this relic grants bonus damage to attacks while on the ground making it impossible to combine it with Silk Slippers' Dance bonus 🟥 Short range weapons: their short ranges make it hard to hit enemies on the ground without landing, making Silk Slippers difficult to use effectively; includes the Great Sword, the dual Blades, the Labrys, the Frying Pan, the Saber, Hephaestus’ Hammer, the Dragon Fangs
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic has the potential to give a great damage bonus but requires a good build and has a higher skill floor than most relics. If you can easily spin kicks enemies to gain stacks of Dance and then stay airborne long enough to make good use of the damage bonus with other attacks before landing, it can prove an excellent choice. In particular, it's great against bosses as their big hitbox is easy to spin kick off of, and you can do so for the whole fight making it easy to stay airborne for a long time. It can, however, still be of some use even if you have difficulties staying airborne: by spin kicking an enemy right before attacking them, you can increase your single hit damage, but this may come at the cost of your DPS. ➕ Potential for a great damage increase ➖ Difficult to use at its fullest
Antique	🟢 This relic can appear as an Antique. • Good with Astromancer, Gunslinger, Dragon Lancer, Ranger • A bit redundant with Bard, but will still help if you can spare the resolve • Equipping more Vault & Dash runes can help, Trick runes too
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silk https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slipper

STAR SLING (added in 1.1, changed in 1.2)

Casting your Talent or Spell will fire 1 Star Bolt(s).
Fallen gems from the upper crust.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic
Synergies	✅ ***WORK IN PROGRESS*** ⏹ house rule: ⚠️ Attention: 🟥 ***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Strategies Pros & Cons	***WORK IN PROGRESS*** ➕ ***WORK IN PROGRESS*** ➖ ***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Antique	🟢 This relic can appear as an Antique. • Good with Duelist, Mage, Astromancer • Increase your INT & FOC, Magic Crit Chance and Magic Crit Scaling •
Notes	***WORK IN PROGRESS***

TATTERED ROPE (added in 1.1, tweaked in 1.2)

Gain 50 Resolve per Tattered Rope.
Take 160% increased damage from Hazards.
(Total Bonus Resolve: 50).
"... In the end, even nature will bend to the power of your will..."

OATH RELIC

Cost	0
Effect	Picking up a Tattered Rope relic instantly grants you 50 bonus resolve , and increases the damage you take from hazards by 160% . Though the wording can be confusing, each Tattered Rope only grants 50 resolve once when you pick it up. You can see the total resolve gained in the relic's description. Hazards include static and retractable spikes, black roots, pressure plate stakes, SAWS, flaming pinwheels, nightmares, snow crystals, explosive scrolls, windmills, void mushrooms, the cannonballs added by the burden of Mundi's Flagship , cold snaps, the void wave added by the burden of the High Scholar's Metamorphosis, spectral dragon lancers, automaton swarms, flamethrowers, fireball/arrow/curse shooters, void walls (as seen in the Study for ex.), stygian waters, ash clouds, explosive barrels. Though they look and act as hazards, this excludes Orbs, Yorbs (void orbs) and Zyorbs (resonant orbs), which are treated as enemies instead. Note that the extra damage taken as a penalty is calculated before armor reduction, meaning that, if you reach the armor block cap, the actual extra damage received can easily be more than 150%.
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic gives 50 additional resolve and increases hazard damage by another 160%.
Synergies	✅ Hermes' Boots relic: this relic makes you immune to all static spikes removing one source of concern while you're holding a Tattered Rope relic ⏹ Resolve Cost house rule: this house rule gives you the option to decrease the cost of relics; alongside Tattered Rope's bonus resolve, this can help you amass a lot of relics for powerful builds ⚠️ Pishon Dry Lake biome: while almost every trap deal low damage compared to most enemies, Pishon Dry Lake houses explosive barrels which have one of the highest damage in the game beaten only by 5 enemies, all T3; Tattered Rope's increased hazard damage can make them extremely dangerous, capable of nearly one-shotting many classes 🟥 Other sources of increased damage taken: the way the extra damage taken is calculated is already bad enough, cumulating several sources can easily send you into dying-in-one-hit territory; includes the Vampirism and Limitless traits, The Serrated Handle's Bargain and The Icarus' Wings Bargain relics, the Dragon Puppet weapon 🟥 Burden of Ruin: this burden increases the damage done by hazards; while usually a safe enough burden as hazards do low damage, its effect is multiplied by Tattered Rope's increased damage taken and can makes hazards deal extreme damage 🟥 Leather unity 100 bonus: this unity bonus prevents your resolve from going below 30% no matter how many relics you pick up; not only does this makes Tattered Rope's bonus resolve potentially useless, the Leather armor you're required to wear to get it is one of the weakest and will offer little protection against the increased damage taken from hazards 🟥 Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: since they can't suffer from the penalty stemming from a low resolve, Tattered Rope bonus is irrelevant for these heirs; 1 max hp reached through the One-Hit Wonder trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve
Strategies Pros & Cons	If you plan on taking many relics in a run, and so long as you avoid other sources of increased damage taken, one copy of Tattered Rope is an excellent choice. Its drawback is that it increases damage done by hazards but, with the exception of Pishon Dry Lake's explosive barrels which becomes extremely dangerous, that downside is manageable. That's because hazards' damage is lower than that of most enemies, and once increased by the relic's 150% malus, is comparable to the damage dealt by Spear Maidens, ie medium high damage. One copy of Tattered Rope thus makes traps as dangerous as enemies, which is reasonable so long as you're a little careful. On the other hand, taking more than one copy of Tattered Rope is a lot riskier, making hazards deal a lot more damage than any monsters, giving them the potential to ruin your run. ➕ Great bonus resolve ➖ Makes hazards more dangerous ➖ Extremely risky with more than one copy
Antique	🔴 This relic cannot appear as an Antique.
Notes	Until the v1.2, Tattered Rope's increased damage takenwas multiplicative[/b] with the other sources of extra damage taken like the Serrated Handle Bargain or The Icarus' Wings Bargain relics making them far more dangerous when combined.

TRANSMOGRIFICATOR (added in 1.1)

Randomize your Weapon, Spell and Talent.
Deal 7% more damage, and gain 20 bonus Resolve.
There's power in unpredictability.

OATH RELIC

Cost	0
Effect	Picking up this relic instantly randomizes your kit: you'll receive a weapon, talent and spell chosen randomly among all the existing ones (including fabled weapons, but excluding the Super Fart talent). Note that it's not possible to receive the same weapon or talent as the one you had. This relic also increases your bonus modifiers by 7% (affects all damages except Retaliation) and gives 20 bonus resolve . These effects are similar to holding one of each Curio Blessing.
Stacking	Max stack: ∞ . So long as you're able to find more Transmogrificator relics, you can keep stacking them infinitely. Each additional copy of the relic will randomize your kit as you pick it up, increase your bonus modifiers by 7% and grant 20 bonus reolve . Cannot appear as a twin relic.
Synergies	✅ War Drum relic: this relic gives +4% damage for each unique relic held; Transmogrificator counts as one and is free, and because it gives you bonus resolve, it helps you pick up more relic to increase War Drum's effect ✅ Pacifist trait: this trait replaces your weapon with a peace sign and makes you totally unable to deal any damage to enemies but picking up a weapon changes it to the Pacifier trait which removes that restriction (while keeping the gold bonus); Transmogrificator is thus an excellent choice as it counts as picking up a weapon ⏹ house rule: ⚠️ Attention: 🟥
Strategies Pros & Cons	As a free relic, whether you should take the Transmogrificator comes down to 2 things: - are you comfortable enough with all the available weapons, talents and spells to not mind the randomization of your kit - and is your current build dependent on a specific kit The first point can make this relic risky if there are too many weapons/talents/spells you really don't like as getting them can ruin your run. One strategy that can help with that is to keep Curio Shoppes untouched until taking the Transmogrificator. The second point requires some knowledge of the game and to take into consideration the relics you already hold since switching your weapon or talent can make some useless (for ex Incandescent Telescope if you pick up a short range weapon). ➕ Free bonus damage and bonus resolve ➖ Rnadomize your kit
Antique	🔴 This relic cannot appear as an Antique.
Notes	The relic's art and name references the Transmogrifier, a device, from the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip, capable of transforming things into another https://calvinandhobbes.fandom.com/wiki/Transmogrifier

WHITE BEARD (added in 1.1)

Attacks apply Mana Leech for 2 second(s).
It was always the beard.

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Stacking	Max stack: 5 . Each additional copy of the relic Cannot be stacked. Finding another XXX relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✅ ***WORK IN PROGRESS*** 🟥 ***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Strategies Pros & Cons	***WORK IN PROGRESS*** ➕ ***WORK IN PROGRESS*** ➖ ***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Antique	🟢 🔴 This relic can/cannot appear as an Antique. • Good with • •
Notes	***WORK IN PROGRESS***

ACHILLES' SHIELD

While ABOVE 50% health, deal 10% more Spell and Weapon damage.
No strength in weakness.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	As long as your current hp is above 50% of your max hp, this relic adds 10% to the bonus modifiers for both Weapon and Magic Damage. It affects all types of damage with the exception of the DoT (Burn, Poison) and Retaliation damage.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 10% to both Weapon and Magic Damage bonus modifiers.
Synergies	✔ Healing relics: they help you stay above the minimum HP required for Achilles' Shield to activate; includes Body Buffet, Freon's Reward, Lachesis' Measure, Cornucopia ✔ Healing runes (and similar): they help you stay above the minimum HP required for Achilles' Shield to activate; includes Lifesteal, Soulsteal and Quenching runes, the Sanguine set unity lvl 20 & 50, the Kin set unity lvl 20 & 50, the Leviathan set unity lvl 100 ✔ Hypercoagulation trait: this trait gives you HP regen (in exchange for losing max HP when hurt), so no matter how much you get hurt, you can easily get back to full health and activate Achilles' Shield's effect ❌ Hector's Helm relic: opposite requirement for this relic and Achilles' Shield mean one or the other will end up useless ❌ Hero Complex trait: not being able to heal ever means that once you go under 50% HP, Achilles becomes useless for the rest of the run
Strategies Pros & Cons	Ideally, you want to stay as healthy as possible at all times, so, as long as you can stay above 50% hp you will activate this relic's effect and can get a cheap but solid damage bonus. However, this relic can end up useless during boss fights as healing is harder to come by. ➕ Increases all forms of damage ➕ Requirement to activate the relic is pretty generous ➖ Though it is generous, the hp requirement means this relic can become useless at times ➖ In particular, it may not be the best choice for boss fights as healing in them is harder
Notes	Used to be terrible as the hp requirement was to stay at full health. References the greek hero Achilles: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilles

AITE'S SWORD

You deal 150% more damage, but this Relic is fragile.
All the power...

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	Increases your damage bonus modifiers by 125%. Affects weapon attacks, spin-kicks, talents, spells, DoT, and damage from relics but doesn't affect retaliation damage. This relic is fragile , which means that any damage sustained while holding it will break it. Note that hits whose damage was blocked (through relics or talents) do not count. Once broken, it is replaced by the Broken Aite's Sword relic which has no effect.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another Aite's Sword relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic. Not taking this Empty Vessel and breaking the currently held Aite's Sword will bring back the Aite's Sword in the Empty Vessel's place, which can then be taken.
Synergies	✔ All things blocking damage: they allow you to keep your Aite's Sword intact after getting hit; includes the Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem & Grave Bell relics (the last one only if the damage would have killed you) and the Shield Block talent ✔ Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: getting hurt means death for them making Aite's Sword's fragility irrelevant and a great choice in increasing survivability through higher damage; 1 max hp reached through the Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve ❌ Cosmic Insight: this relic's requirement to activate, getting hurt, makes it a poor choice when holding an Aite's Sword
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic boasts the highest damage bonus of all relics, but comes with the huge negative that any damage sustained breaks it, making it useless. How useful the relic is to you then depends on how good you are at avoiding damage. The longer you can go without getting hurt, through skill or the use of relics or talents, the more you can get out of it. ➕ Highest damage bonus ➖ Can easily become useless
Notes	References Aite, the Greek mythology goddess of mischief and ruin https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At%C3%AB

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AITE'S BROKEN SWORD

This Relic is broken and no longer grants any power.


special: this relic is obtained after breaking Aite's Sword

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	This relic replaces Aite's Sword when it's broken after sustaining a hit, and has no effect.
Stacking	Max stack: ∞. Stacking it has no effect.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: though it has no effect of its own, an Aite's Broken Sword counts as a unique relic, and is counted separately from an Aite's Sword as far as War Drum's effect goes
Strategies Pros & Cons	Don't take damage next time.
Notes	Cf. Aite's Sword.

AMATERASU'S SUN

Your Weapon applies (or extends) Burn for 2 seconds.
The power rages, scalding those who wield it.

MASTER RELIC

Cost	55 (50)
Effect	Upon hitting an enemy with your weapon, you'll apply the 2 seconds long Burn DoT, dealing 4 ticks at 55% INT damage each, with the last tick skill critting. If your weapon already applies burn on hit, the relic extends the duration of its Burn by 2 seconds. Hitting an enemy already affected by Burn will only refresh its duration.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic adds 2 seconds to the Burn DoT duration.
Synergies	✔ Catalyst relic: the Burn applied by Amaterasu is a status effect, and activates the bonus damage from this relic; Burn itself also benefits from it ✔ Gear increasing INT or FOC: INT determines Amaterasu's Burn damage and FOC its bonus crit damage so any increase to these stats improve the relic's effect ✔ Amplification runes: they increase the duration of the DoT increasing the number of ticks and thus the total damage done. For best results: ? runes = ? ticks, ? runes = ? ticks, ? runes = ? ticks ✔ Exploding Casket Syndrome trait: enemies drop explosive potions on death; Amaterasu can give you time to get away from enemies while it kills them ❌ All other things applying Burn: Chef's weapons (passive), Searing Shot, Fireball and Prismatic Spectrum spells. These already apply Burn; spending 50~55 resolve to extend/refresh its duration can be inefficient
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic's worth depends on playstyle a lot. More cautious players will highly benefit from it as they can hit an enemy once and let the Burn deal additional damage while they retreat to safety. It's also useful in situations where avoiding enemy attacks is the priority as the Burn DoT can keep hurting your target while you focus on dodging. In situations where killing the enemy as fast as possible is your objective, Amaterasu is a lot less useful. Certain burdens will allow enemies to attack a lot and close in on you while you wait for the Burn to do its thing. Its INT/FOC scaling also means it'll have a weaker effect if you focus solely on STR/DEX and weapon damage. Having said that, it's a decent increase in damage if you wait for the whole DoT duration and it's extremely useful in dealing with shielded Commanders, especially for classes with lower attack speed, as it'll put/keep their shield down. ➕ Increase your overall damage and adds a safe way to hurt your enemies ➕ Great at keeping Shielded Commanders' shield down in between attacks ➖ Expensive ➖ You have to wait for the full damage ➖ Scales off of INT & FOC
Notes	The name of the relic references the japanese sun goddess: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amaterasu and in particular, the relic's art references the video game Ōkami (whose main character is named Amaterasu): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%8Ckami

AMBROSIA

After taking damage you are Invincible for an additional 1.25 seconds.
Liquified Red Aether. Given to those whom the Estuaries deemed worthy.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	After taking a hit, your character is naturally invincible for 2.25~2.5 seconds. This relic extends this duration by an additional 1.25 seconds. It does not extend the invincibility gained after a perfect block from Knight's Shield Block talent or after using the Duelist's Roll talent.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of Ambrosia adds 1.25 seconds of invincibility after taking damage.
Synergies	✔ Rage Tincture relic: more invincibility time means more time to use the increased damage effect from this relic ✔ Panic Attack trait: this trait darkens the screen temporarily after every hit received, making Ambrosia helpful as it protects you from harm longer while your visibility is reduced ❌ Algesia trait: this trait completely removes the invincibility after taking damage rendering Ambrosia useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	Avoiding damage should be a priority in RL2 making a relic that activate on this condition inherently bad. But it's not entirely useless. If you find yourself taking damage in bursts either because of panic/inability to reposition yourself, or because of complex situations in crowded rooms, this relic can help by giving you more breathing room. Paired with Rage Tincture, it can also be effective at helping you take down troublesome bosses if you know you won't be able to avoid getting hit. ➕ Good when paired with Rage Tincture, especially against bosses ➖ Effect is only useful in specific situations and requires to be hit
Notes	Ambrosia was the food/drink of the gods in greek mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosia

ANCESTRAL SOUL (Kin Unity)

Revive from mortal blows and regain 50% of your HP.


special relic: obtained when equipping enough Kin equipment pieces to reach its unity level 100 bonus

Cost	0
Effect	Ancestral Soul acts essentially the same way as the Hyperion's Ring relic: it is automatically used when your character dies, bringing them back with 50% of their hp. Upon being consumed, it is replaced by the Ancestral Dust relic. Ancestral Soul will always activate first in case you're also holding any number Hyperion's Ring relics.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. This relic can only be obtained through the Kin set unity level 100 bonus and is therefore unique.
Synergies	✔ The Future Successor's Bargain relic: this relic grants you a 35% gold bonus but kills you; Ancestral Soul can revive you from that and allow you to either continue your run or take another The Future Successor's Bargain relic for an additional 35% gold bonus
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic can prolong your runs by granting you a revive, and while its one-time health gain comes with the highest equipment weight, it has the advantage of being extremely useful in most boss fights where the cheaper healing relics become useless. Invaluable with Osteogenesis Imperfecta characters (die in one hit). ➕ Especially useful in boss fights where healing relics become useless ➕ The Kin equipment set required to obtain it has some of the highest stats (really?) ➖ The Kin equipment set required to obtain it has the heaviest equipment weight
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul

ANCESTRAL DUST

A pile of dust.


special relic: replaces Ancestral Soul when it's consumed

Cost	0
Effect	No effect.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. This relic can only be obtained when Ancestral Soul, which is unique, is consumed.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: though it has no effect of its own, Ancestral Dust still counts as a unique as far as this relic's effect goes
Strategies Pros & Cons	Try not to die next time.
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust

ANTIKYTHERIA

Gain 10% more Magic Damage per enemy defeated. Bonus lost when hit. (max 50%)
A guide for the stars.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	Increases the bonus modifiers for Magic Damage by 10% per enemy defeated (up to a max of 50%). The kill counter is visible on the relic's icon in the lower left, a yellow number indicating it's reached its cap. Taking any hit (even one whose damage was canceled by a talent or relic) will reset the kill counter and make you lose the bonus. Only defeating non-special enemies count toward the bonus.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic increases the bonus max by 50%
Synergies	✔ Mage class: their talent slot is replaced by another spell, and their passive allows them to cast them more often making Antikytheria a great choice to boost their damage
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic's worth depends on how often you use spells and talents, with a potentially great bonus damage maxing at +50%, and how good you are at dodging enemy attacks, as any hit will make you lose it. It's specially useful as default Mage as most of their damage will come from spells. Its main drawback is the bonus lost on hit (even when the damage was negated) as it can make the relic quickly useless during boss fights. ➕ A rather easy way to get a great increase to Magic Damage (spells, talents) ➖ Bonus lost on hit meaning that it can easily become useless in Boss fights
Notes	The name, flavor text and art of the relic references the ancient Greek mechanism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism

ARCANE NECKLACE

Cast 3 spell(s) to charge the necklace, and make the next cast free.
Never trust the jewelery of royalty. They provide more protection than the soldiers around them.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Casting 3 spells charge the relic. Once the relic is charged, the next spell cast costs no mana. Free spells do not require having enough mana and can be cast even at 0 mana. The relic icon on the lower left of the screen has a counter for the number of spells cast. It turns yellow to indicate that the relic is charged. For the continuous spells Flame Barrier and Blaze Bellows, the relic counts each damage ticks instead.
Stacking	Max stack: 4. Each additional copy reduces the number of spells required by 1. At the max stack of 4 Arcane Necklace, casting spells becomes entirely free and limitless.
Synergies	✔ Zealot's Ring: this relic gives bonus damage to spells cast at max mana; if cast at max mana, free spells from Arcane Necklace also gets the bonus allowing you to cast more spells benefitting from Zealot's Ring's effect ✔ All things increasing INT & FOC: spells scaling off of INT & FOC means that increasing those stats allows you to get more damage out of the free spells from Arcane Necklace ✔ Mage class: as a class built around spells (they have a second spell instead of a talent, and a mana leech passive) they can benefit more from Arcane Necklace; in particular, they can cast a lower cost spell to charge the relic and then use the free cast on a more expensive spell ❌
Strategies Pros & Cons	How useful that relic is to you depends on how much and how often you use spells. If you rarely (if ever) run out of mana while using spells, Arcane Necklace's free cast will likely not be that useful to you. If, however, you use spells often enough that your mana capacity is what regularly limits you, that relic will help you by getting more spells out of your mana bar. Note that, if you can manage to reach the max stack of 4 Arcane Necklace, the relic makes all spell casts free, making it extremely powerful (so long as you remember to use spells). ➕ More spells for your mana ➖ Useless if you don't use spells enough
Notes	Arcane means secret, known only by a few.

ATROPOS' SCISSORS

Critical damage from Spells and Weapons increased by 20%.
Fate wills it.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	This relic adds 20% to both of your Skill Crit. Scaling.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 20% to both Skill Crit. Scaling.
Synergies	✔ Clotho's Spindle relic: the more crit chance you have, the more often Atropos' effect can trigger ✔ Lachesis' Measure relic: the higher your crit damage, the more likely crits are to kill an enemy, increasing the chance for Lachesis to heal you
Strategies Pros & Cons	For its price, the damage increase from this relic is most often not really worth it. There are a variety of better damage increasing relics out there (Glowing Ember, Achilles' Shield or Hector's Helm for some examples at the same rarity). It's also reliant on how often you crit. It can still be a decent choice for classes with easy/guaranteed skill crits if you focus more on DEX and crit scaling. ➕ Can be decent on crit oriented builds if you can skill crit consistently ➖ Weak effect for the relic's cost
Notes	References the goddess of fate Atropos in ancient Greek mythology (one of the Moirai or Three Fates along with Clotho and Lachesis), who chose the mortals' deaths and ended their life by cutting their threads https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropos Is likely being changed next update.

BLESSING OF STRENGTH

Deal 6% more Weapon Damage.


special relic: obtained when swapping your weapon in a Curio Shoppe

Cost	0
Effect	Increases your Weapon Damage bonus modifier by 6%. Affects weapon attacks and spin-kicks.
Stacking	Max stack: unknown (presumably ∞). Each additional copy adds 6% to your bonus modifier.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Blessing of Strength counts as one and is free
Strategies Pros & Cons	Not much to say: this relic is obtained for free when swapping your weapon in a Curio Shoppe meaning that, as long as you're ok with the weapon swap, there's no downside to it. ➕ Free bonus weapon damage ➖ Need to swap your weapon first
Notes	Curio shoppe's weapon swap used to cost 35 (30) resolve (for a 10% bonus weapon damage) and was thus a lot less interesting.

BLESSING OF TALENT

Gain 20 Resolve.


special relic: obtained when swapping your talent in a Curio Shoppe

Cost	0
Effect	Instantly adds 20 points to your resolve.
Stacking	Max stack: unknown (presumably ∞). Each additional copy adds 20 more points to your resolve.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Blessing of Talent counts as one and is not only free, but the resolve it grants makes it easier to get additional relics
Strategies Pros & Cons	Not much to say: this relic is obtained for free when swapping your talent in a Curio Shoppe meaning that, as long as you're ok with the talent swap, there's no downside to it. ➕ Free bonus resolve ➖ Need to swap your talent first
Notes	Curio shoppe's talent swap used to cost 35 (30) resolve (for a 5% bonus wpn dmg and 5% bonus magic dmg) and was thus a lot less interesting.

BLESSING OF WISDOM

Deal 6% more Magic Damage


special relic: obtained when swapping your spell in a Curio Shoppe

Cost	0
Effect	Increases your Magic Damage bonus modifier by 6%. Affects spells and talents.
Stacking	Max stack: unknown (presumably ∞). Each additional copy adds 6% to your bonus modifier.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Blessing of Wisdom counts as one and is free
Strategies Pros & Cons	Not much to say: this relic is obtained for free when swapping your spell in a Curio Shoppe meaning that, as long as you're ok with the spell swap, there's no downside to it. ➕ Free bonus magic damage ➖ Need to swap your spell first
Notes	Curio shoppe's spell swap used to cost 25 (20) resolve (for a 10% bonus magic damage) and were thus less interesting.

BODY BUFFET

Defeated enemies have a 8% chance of dropping a Health Drop.
If you're not picky, everything can be delicious.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	Everytime you kill an enemy, it has 8% chance to drop any food healing item. Description specify Meat but it can drop both the chicken drumsticks as well as the pizza slices. Note that neither special enemies nor the regular enemies in arena challenges drop meat.
Stacking	Max Stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 8% to the chance of a dying enemy dropping meat.
Synergies	✔ <Gear increasing INT>: same as above, more INT, more healing from Body Buffet's drops ✔ Gnawed Bone relic: more food means an easier time triggering this relic's effect ❌ Vegan trait: pretty obvious. Not only can you not heal off of the additional items dropped, but since they hurt you, you'll be adding more hazards ❌ Hero Complex trait: you cannot heal when affected by this trait, making Body Buffet useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	As one of the healing relics, its worth depends on how much survivability is important to you. If the lifesteal/soulsteal runes, the random drops or your skill at dodging are enough, it may be a better idea to invest your resolve elsewhere. ➕ A good relic if you need to increase your survivability while clearing the Castle ➖ Useless during boss fights and arena challenges
Notes	Chicken heals for 200% INT (+ up to an additional 15% bonus with a manor skill). Pizza heals for 200% INT + 20% of current max HP. Per 100 grams, a chicken drumstick is around 175 calories, while a pizza slice is around 250~275 calories.

BOXING BELL

Your Weapon applies Combo.
Keep standing, keep fighting. The bell rings only for the weary.

EPIC RELIC.

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	Makes your weapon have the same effect as Boxer's Gloves: hitting an enemy give your character 1 Combo stack (as a status effect) for a short duration. Any subsequent weapon attack while the effect is still up will add 1 more Combo to it (up to a max of 30 Combo stacks) and refresh its duration. Attacking an enemy with any number of Combo stacks on your character will increase the damage by 2% per stack. Affects all sources of damage: weapon, talent, spin-kicks and spells. Every weapon attack from your character while they have 15 or more Combos is a Skill Crit. Additionally, the Boxer's talent K-O Punch (which can be found in Curio Shoppes) removes all the Combo stacks from your character and uses them to greatly increase its damage by 30% per stack. Boxing Bell's effect stack with the Boxing Gloves' own effect, thus adding a total of 2 Combo per weapon attack.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic add 1 Combo stack per weapon attack.
Synergies	✔ Boxer class: can easily benefit from Boxing Bell thanks to their fast attack speed and talent that can use Combo stacks to greater effect ✔ Knock-out Punch talent: this talent sees its damage increase greatly for every stack of Combo, making Boxing Bell a great choice when swapping for this talent ✔ Gunslinger class: a fast hitting class that can easily reach higher stacks of Combo, and thus higher damage increase ✔ Amplification runes: they increase the Combo status effect's duration, making it easier to keep stacking them ❌ Catalyst relic: while it's a status effect, Combo applies to your character and thus doesn't activate this relic's effect
Strategies Pros & Cons	How good this relic is depends on your playstyle. Careful players taking their time while clearing the Castle might often lose their Combo stacks before they have increased it enough to make the relic worth its cost. Players moving faster between rooms might be able to reach higher stacks and thus get a great bonus damage (+60% at max stack). Another thing to consider is the average damage increase it provides: after 11 weapon attacks, it will give you 10 Combo and thus a +20% bonus to your next hit, but the average damage increase over those previous 11 attacks will amount to only 10%. The higher the Combo, and the longer you keep it, the more it shines. ➕ A great relic if you can reach high stacks of Combo ➕ Great against bosses as long as you can maintain the status effect ➖ Not worth the cost if you can't accrue Combo stacks easily ➖ Expensive and require a faster playstyle to justify its cost
Notes	Used to be a lot worse as Combo were applied to enemies and was thus lost when they died. Boxing Bells are also called Trip Gongs and are mechanically operated alert bells used in boxing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxing) to signify the beginning and end of a round by being rung respectively once and thrice. The idiom "Saved by the Bell" refers to this as the bell ringing the end of a round could prevent a boxer that had been knocked down from being counted out.

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CATALYST

Deal 20% bonus damage to enemies with a Status Effect.
Scientific Annihilation.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	When attacking an enemy affected by any status effect (burn, sporeburst, freeze, mana leech, armor break, poison) you +20% to all bonus modifiers, affecting all types of damage: weapon, spin-kicks, talents & spells.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic increases damage against enemies with a status effect by 20%
Synergies	✔ All things applying Burn: Amaterasu's Sun relic, Chef's weapons (passive), Searing Shot, Fireball and Prismatic Spectrum spells. As burn deals damage over time, it can trigger Catalyst's bonus damage and benefit from it ✔ All things applying SporeBurst: Ivy Canopy talent and Ivy Seed relic (by attacking while standing on their ivy platforms), Fungal Spread and Prismatic Spectrum spells. Only the charging part of the status effect activate Catalyst's effect ( and if SporeBurst is the only status effect on the enemy, the final explosion doesn't benefit from Catalyst's boost) ✔ All things applying Freeze: Winter's Shout talent, Freeze Strike and Prismatic Spectrum spells. Note that any hit on a frozen enemy removes Freeze and is also a skill crit. ✔ All things applying Vulnerable: Shield Block talent, Thunderstorm spell. Note that on top of Catalyst's increased damage, any hit to enemies affected by Vulnerable is also a skill crit. ✔ All things applying various status effects: Steel-Toed Boots relic (Armor Break), Mage's weapons (Mana Leech from the passive), Serqet's Stinger relic (Poison) ✔ Amplification runes: they increase the duration of all status effects (except SporeBurst) increasing the time window to benefit from Catalyst's bonus damage
Strategies Pros & Cons	Not much to say, if you can consistently apply status effects to your enemies, this relic is a cheap but good damage increase. If you can't apply them easily (or at all), it's not worth it. Thus, this relic is invaluable with characters whose main weapon inflicts a status effect (like Cook or Mage). ➕ Great damage for the cost if you can trigger its effect ➖ Useless if you have no (easy) way to apply status effects, or if they kill the enemies too quickly
Notes	References catalysts, substance that can increase the speed of chemical reaction: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catalysis

CHARON'S TRIAL

Until purified, any hit taken is Fatal.
Defeat 15 enemies to purify it and gain a 20% Gold, Ore and Aether bonus.
The toll must be paid.

CURSED RELIC

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	This relic is a cursed relic and until it's purified (by killing 15 enemies) its only effect is that any hit sustained is fatal. The lethal damage from this relic's effect can be blocked like regular damage by various means: Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem and Grave Bell relics, a perfect block with the Shield Block talent. Death from this relic's effect can trigger Hyperion's Ring revive effect giving you a second chance to keep purifying it. The relic icon in the lower left of the screen will show the kill counter. All types of enemies, including special ones, count towards it. Note that killing an Estuary while holding a Charon's Trial will instantly purify it, no matter how many kills were still needed.
Stacking	While its purified form can be stacked, the cursed version cannot. Finding another Charon's Trial while holding one will instead change it to an Empty Vessel relic. Not taking this Empty Vessel and purifying the currently held Charon's Trial will bring back the Charon's Trial in the Empty Vessel's place, which can then be taken.
Synergies	✔ Pandora's Trial relic: since both relics make any hit fatal and require kills to purify, taking both at the same time can be efficient (each kill counting once for both relic) ✔ Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem & Grave Bell relics: they can protect you from fatal blows if you're hit while purifying a Charon's Trial ✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Charon's Trial counts as one and is free
Strategies Pros & Cons	Don't get hit, good luck. :p Before taking the relic, scout the rooms around (or in a low risk area), and kill the troublesome enemies only leaving the easy to deal with ones. Might be a good idea, if you intend to take this relic, to leave Citadel Agartha and Axis Mundi mostly untouched for their easy enemies/hazards. The Ore and Aether bonus affects drops from golden and fairy chests, so it might be a good idea to leave Arena and Fairy challenges untouched until you get Charon's Trial purified. ➕ If you can purify it, a decent gold, ore and aether bonus. ➖ Until you purify it, you die in one hit.
Notes	References Charon, the character from the game (and its prequel), itself a reference to the Greek mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon

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CHARON'S REWARD

Gain a 20% Gold, Ore and Aether bonus.
The toll must be paid.

PURIFIED RELIC

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	Obtained after purifying a Charon's Trial relic. Adds 20% to your gold bonus and increase the ore and aether found by the same amount.
Stacking	Max Stack: ∞. Provided you find enough Charon's Trial to purify, you can keep stacking Charon's Reward infinitely. Each additional copy of this relic increases the bonus to gold, ore and aether by 20%
Synergies	✔ Diogenes' Bargain: this relic transform your gold bonus into an XP bonus; Charon's Reward gold bonus is taken into account, whether you get it before or after picking up the Diogenes' Bargain ✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Charon's Reward counts as one and is free
Strategies Pros & Cons	Nothing to say here, this relic is just the purified version of the Charon's Trial relic.
Notes	see Charon's Trial

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CLOTHO'S SPINDLE

Critical chance for Spells and Weapons increased by 10%.
Stronger than you think.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Adds 10% to both your Weapon and Magic critical chance.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic adds 10% to both types of critical chance.
Synergies	✔ Lachesis' Measure relic: an increase in crit chance means a higher chance of killing an enemy with a crit, improving the odds of activating the healing from this relic ✔ Atropos' Scissors relic: the increase in crit damage from this relic boosts Clotho's Spindle's DPS increase
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic's worth depends on both your base crit chance and how often you use skill crits. The lower your base crit chance, the greater the effect this relic will have on your DPS. Similarly, the less often you use skill crits, the more useful it becomes. If a high percentage of your attacks are already crits, the increase in damage from this relic isn't worth its price. ➕ Good if you don't crit often ➖ Not worth its cost otherwise
Notes	References the goddess of fate Clotho in ancient Greek mythology (one of the Moirai or Three Fates along with Clotho and Lachesis), who controlled the mortals' lives by spinning their threads https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotho

COEUS' SHELL

Defeat 6 enemies to prevent the next source of damage.
A shell composed of keratin and a strange alloy. A note inside says "I.O.U.".

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	After defeating 6 non-special enemies, the relic will completely block the next source of damage sustained by your character. This includes the damage from taking a Blessing of Life (max Hp increasing option from the Tree rooms) as well as the damage from fatal blows sustained while purifying Cursed relics. You can see the amount of enemy killed counted by the relic in the lower left of the screen, and a yellow number means it's loaded, ready to prevent damage. The relic protects you from the damage, but not from the hit. Any challenge or condition requiring not to get hit will still fail. If you also hold a Lotus Stem (another damage preventing relic), and both it and Coeus' Shell are ready to protect you, the latter will always activate first.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of this relic will reduce the number of enemies required to be killed to charge it by 1.
Synergies	✔ Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait: a trait that makes you die in one hit; Coeus' Shell can greatly improve your survivability ✔ The Trial relics: both Charon's Trial and Pandora's Trial make any hit fatal; Coeus' Shell can protect from the lethal damage ❌ Pacifist trait: as you're unable to even attack enemies when affected by this trait, Coeus' Shell can never be loaded
Strategies Pros & Cons	Among the best relics when it comes to survivability. Its main draw backs is the need to kill enemies to load it meaning its usefulness is limited in boss fights. ➕ Excellent at keeping you alive ➖ Can't be loaded without enemies to kill
Notes	The name of the relic references the Greek mythology titan Coeus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coeus The relic as a whole is a direct reference to Cellar Door Games' previous game, Full Metal Furies, in which Coeus is a titan portrayed as a tortoise with a metal plated shell.

CORNUCOPIA

Health Drops restores an additional 8% of your Max Health.
"Be generous to others, you have more than you know."

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Every time you pick up meat, it restores the normal amount plus an additional 8% of your current max HP. Meat is both the chicken drumsticks and the pizza.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of this relic heals for 8 more percent of max HP.
Synergies	✔ Gnawed Bone relic: Cornucopia's improved healing make it easier to reach the full hp requirement to activate this relic's effect; since it increases max HP, it also increase how much Cornucopia heals for ❌ Vegan trait: not only can you not heal from food, making Cornucopia useless, this trait makes all food picked up hurts you for the same amount they would have healed you, making Cornucopia an even worse choice ❌ Hero Complex trait: you can never heal making Cornucopia useless ❌ Hypercoagulation trait: your HP regenerate when hit making Cornucopia's improved healing unnecessary ❌ Osteogenesis Imperfecta: there's no point in healing since you're stuck at 1hp, making Cornucopia useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	A good way to increase your survivability by increasing the healing effect of food items, its usefulness thus depends on how much you depend on them. While most food's healing scales off of INT, this relic adds healing based on max HP making it a lot more useful for characters with high HP and low INT. ➕ Can greatly increase food's healing ➕ Useful for character with low INT ➖ Usefulness depends on random drops ➖ Is useless during bosses
Notes	References the classical antiquity symbol of abundance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornucopia

CORRUPTING REAGENT

Dashing leaves a poisonous cloud behind for 1 seconds.
Not for consumption.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	While holding the relic, every time you dash, Corrupting Reagent will release a poisonous cloud at your starting position. This cloud lasts 1 seconds and deals 2 ticks of 20% INT Magic Damage to all enemies in its medium-sized AoE. Each tick also applies 1 stack of Poison to each enemies hit.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of this relic increase the duration of the poisonous cloud by 1 seconds (adding 2 additional ticks of damage).
Synergies	✔ All things increasing INT & FOC: Corrupting Reagent's damage, as well as the damage of the Poison it applies, scale off of INT and FOC; more of these stats means more damage from the relic ✔ Better movement options: the better way to make use of Corrupting Reagent is to get close to your targets and dash away; more movement options, especially more air dashes, allow you to do so more safely. Includes all the Heirlooms, the Vault and Dash runes, the Superfluid trait ✔ Boxer's passive: Elusive allows your heir to go through most enemies without taking damage, allowing you to safely release Corrupting Reagent's poisonous cloud as close to them as possible ✔ FND trait: this trait locks away your main attack, talent and spell every time you're hit, but it doesn't prevent Corrupting Reagent from activating, giving you a way to keep hurting enemies while you wait for FND's effect to disappear ✔ Vanguard's Banner relic: as an other relic activated by dashing, it's possible, by dashing around enemies, to attack them with both relics' effects ⚠️ Stygian Study (& Citadel Agartha/Pishon Dry Lake when using their burden) biome: these 2 biomes can contain mimics and/or painting enemies which can be accidentally woken up by Corrupting Reagent ⚠️ Pishon Dry Lake biome: take care around the Explosive Barrels found there as Corrupting Reagent's poisonous cloud can trigger them putting you in risky situations; it can also destroy the mushroom platforms ⚠️ Breakables in all biomes: you can destroy them unintentionally by dashing next to them while holding this relic ❌ The Icarus' Wings Bargain: this relic grants Flight but is a poor choice combined with Corrupting Reagent since dashing cancels Flight (which you'd then have to reactivate); moreover, running out of air dashes while flying means you'd have to land to reset them, going against The Icarus' Wings Bargain' effect
Strategies Pros & Cons	Although using Corrupting Reagent's poisonous cloud offensively can be tricky since you have to get close to enemies, its big AoE can reach behind walls and obstacles. It's then possible to repeatedly dash against a wall or above/below your target to spam it and quickly accrue damage and poison stacks. It can also be used defensively as it will destroy cursed projectiles. It also helps fighting shielded commanders as its 1 sec duration followed by the Poison's 4 sec duration make it an excellent way to take down their 4-hits shields and keep it down for a long time. Similarly, fighting Vengeful commanders, it allows you to both protect yourself from cursed projectiles and apply poison which can lasts longer than the buff's invulnerability, killing the commander as soon as it wears off. It shines while fighting bosses as their big hitboxes and predictable movements make it easy to keep Poison applied to them for long time, allowing it to reach the max 10 stacks and start to skill crit, making it a great source of damage. ➕ Great against Bosses ➕ Great against Shielded & Vengeful Commanders ➖ Can be dangerous to use efficiently ➖ Weak INT/FOC scaling damage and relies on Poison
Notes	Used to require dashing multiple times to charge before the poisonous cloud would be released.

COSMIC INSIGHT

Gain 100 Mana when hurt. Mana gained can Overcharge.
"In time you will learn that even injuries bring their own advantage."

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Every time you take damage, you gain 100 mana. The mana gained can overcharge, meaning it can go over your max mana. The maximum overcharge amount is twice your max mana, taking into account Capacity runes and the Lotus Petal and Dreamcatcher relics. Hits whose damage were negated (Coeus' Shell & Lotus Stem relics or Shield Block talent's perfect block) do not count, and won't give mana.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of this relic grant 100 mana when hurt. Overcharge amount doesn't change with more copies.
Synergies	✔ Zealot's Ring relic: a spell cast while your mana is overcharged is considered cast at full mana so this relic can greatly benefit from Cosmic Insight ✔ Masochism trait: you're already relying on getting hurt to recover your mana, Cosmic Insight increases the amount and add the ability to Overcharge ❌ Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait: you die in one hit and the requirement of Cosmic Insight to get hurt means this relic can never activate
Strategies Pros & Cons	As a relic requiring you to get hurt to activate, how often this happens helps determine its worth. It's fairly useless for characters who do not rely on spells much (or at all). For Mage-type characters, and in situations where getting hurt can't be avoided, Cosmic Insight can help turn that into an advantage and a DPS increase. The ability to overcharge also gives character with higher mana capacity the ability to cast a lot of spells at once for high burst damage. ➕ Useful to cast a lot of spells at once, especially with Zealot's Ring ➖ Requires to get hurt to activate
Notes	Relic art = yin yang ? ***WORK IN PROGRESS***

DEMETER'S TRIAL

Until purified, any hit taken is Fatal.
Collect 1 food/potion to purify this Relic and gain [30% of base] Max Health and 50 Mana.
Those who give now will be rewarded later.

CURSED RELIC

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	This relic is a cursed relic and until it's purified (by collecting 2 food drops or potions) its only effect is that any hit sustained is fatal. The lethal damage from this relic's effect can be blocked like regular damage by various means: Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem and Grave Bell relics, a perfect block with the Shield Block talent. Death from this relic's effect can trigger Hyperion's Ring and Ancestral Soul revive effect giving you a second chance to keep purifying it. The relic icon in the lower left of the screen will show the counter for food/potions collected. All types of food, including event ones (cookies, candies) count towards it. When this relic is purified, it's replaced by the Demeter's Reward relic which will grant you the Max HP and Max MP increase.
Stacking	While its purified form can be stacked, the cursed version cannot. Finding another Demeter's Trial while holding one will instead change it to an Empty Vessel relic. Not taking this Empty Vessel and purifying the currently held Demeter's Trial will bring back the Demeter's Trial in the Empty Vessel's place, which can then be taken.
Synergies	✔ Prop heavy rooms with teleporters: these rooms always contain a decent number of props, no enemies and a teleporter nearby, making them excellent destinations after picking up a Demeter's Trial; includes all biome entrances, the portal to Murmur's fight in the Study, Pizza Mundi below the Sun Tower entrance, the Nibiru Deep room in Pishon ✔ Prop heavy rooms without teleporters: these rooms always contain a decent number of props, no enemies but no guaranteed teleporters, making them decent destinations after picking up a Demeter's Trial; includes Citadel's journal and memory rooms, Study's observatory, Kerguelen's lilies rooms and Pishon's storage and Void Beast's portals rooms ✔ Body Buffet relic: by increasing the probability of finding food, this relic make it easier to purify Demeter's Trial ✔ Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem & Grave Bell relics: they can protect you from fatal blows if you're hit while purifying a Demeter's Trial ✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Demeter's Trial counts as one and is free ❌
Strategies Pros & Cons	Don't get hit, good luck. :p Before taking the relic, scout the rooms around (or in a low risk area), and kill all enemies leaving as many props as possible. Might be a good idea, if you intend to take this relic, to leave prop heavy rooms untouched for a chance at purifying the relic safely. Whether you should take it depends on how much survivability you need and already have. ➕ If you can purify it, a great Max HP and decent Max MP increase ➖ Until you purify it, you die in one hit.
Notes	References the ancient Greek mythology goddess of harvest and agriculture Demeter: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demeter

---

DEMETER'S REWARD

Max Health increased by [30% of base]. Max Mana increased by 50.


PURIFIED RELIC

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	Obtained after purifying a Demeter's Trial relic. Instantly increase your Max HP by 30% of base, and your Max Mana by 50. The relic only increase the max value but doesn't restore health/mana.
Stacking	Max Stack: ∞. Provided you find enough Demeter's Trial to purify, you can keep stacking Demeter's Reward infinitely. Each additional copy of this relic increases your Max HP by another 30% of base, and your Max Mana by 50 more points.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Demeter's Reward counts as one and is free ✔ Cornucopia relic: this relic heals based on max hp and thus benefits from Demeter's Reward's effect ✔ Hypercoagulation trait: Demeter's Reward max HP boost can help compensate for this trait's loss of max hp when hurt ✔ All traits lowering max HP (at less than 100% decrease): as Demeter's Reward's effect is calculated from base HP, it ignores the malus from these traits, potentially giving a huge boost in survivability ✔ Lotus Stem relic: by increasing Max MP by 50, Demeter's Reward can help you reach the 150 mana required to use this relic's protecting effect ❌ Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: their max HP can never be increased, making Demeter's Reward only useful for its max MP bonus; 1 max hp reached through the Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve
Strategies Pros & Cons	Nothing to say here, this relic is just the purified version of the Demeter's Trial relic.
Notes	Cf. Demeter's Trial

DIOGENES' BARGAIN

No more gold. All Gold Bonuses are converted into an XP bonus (bonus%) instead.
"It is the privilege of the gods to want nothing, and of god-like men to want little."

OATH RELIC

Cost	15 (10)
Effect	Gold no longer drop once you take this relic, neither from monsters nor from breakables or any kind of chests that usually drop it. Instead, your gold bonus becomes a bonus to XP gained. Note that the gold bonus in question is the bonus visible on the left of the HUD (from traits, runes, unity bonus) added to the base 100%. Diogenes' Bargain does not prevent The Future Successor's Bargain's effect to apply to the currently held gold, and doesn't prevent Freon's Reward to heal you, even when opening empty chests.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another Diogenes' Bargain relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Charon's Trial relic: this relic increases the amount of gold found and thus, Diogenes' Bargain XP bonus; the gold bonus will still contribute to the XP bonus even if this relic is purified after picking up the Diogenes' Bargain ✔ All things increasing the gold bonus: they increase the amount of gold found and thus, Diogenes' Bargain XP bonus; it includes traits, the Bounty runes and the Gilded unity bonus 20 & 50. ❌ Pacifist trait: despite its high gold bonus this trait prevents you from killing enemies making the potentially high XP bonus that would be obtained with Diogenes' Bargain useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	If your current concern is leveling certain classes in their Mastery ranks rather than more money, this relic will dramatically speed up the process. In this case it's extremely useful. Another way to use it without sacrificing money is to leave all the Arena challenges untouched until you've cleared most of the Castle and are ready to retire your character, then take Diogenes' Bargain and attempt them all. Since the monsters in them do not drop money, you're not losing anything and still get to benefit from the XP bonus (though in a limited manner). ➕ Invaluable if you're trying to quickly level up Mastery ranks for a class ➖ Useless otherwise
Notes	References the Greek philosopher Diogenes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes , in particular, the lore of the relic is a quote often attributed to him.

DREAM CATCHER

Defeat enemies while at Max HP to gain 5 Max Mana. (Max 200).
"To appreciate the good, one must filter the bad."

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	Every time an enemy dies while your character is at Max HP, this relic adds 5 to your Max Mana. It can only increase your Max Mana by 200 max (equivalent to 40 enemies killed at Max HP).
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy increases the amount of Max Mana gained per enemy dying while you're at Max HP by 5, and increases the max possible increase by 200.
Synergies	✔ Healing relics: they help you stay at Max HP to activate Dreamcatcher's effect; includes Body Buffet, Lachesis' Measure, Freon's Reward, Cornucopia ✔ Healing runes (and similar): same reason as above; includes Lifesteal, Soulsteal and Quenching runes, the Sanguine set unity lvl 20 & 50, the Kin set unity lvl 20 & 50, the Leviathan set unity lvl 100 ✔ Hypercoagulation trait: the HP regeneration it grants allows you to easily be at Max HP to benefit from Dreamcatcher's effect ✔ Characters with only 1 Max HP: you're stuck at 1 HP and thus always at Max HP; can happen when affected by the Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, reaching 100% or higher health decrease from a combinations of two other traits, or reaching 0% resolve ✔ Emotional Dysregularity: this trait doubles your spells' cost, sometimes making characters unable to cast some spells; Dreamcatcher can help mitigate that ✔ Crippling Intellect trait: this trait gives you MP regen at the cost of a reduced mana pool; Dreamcatcher can mitigate that, and its effect is not reduced by the trait ✔ Lotus Stem relic: this relic requires a minimum of 150 mana to activate; Dreamcatcher's mana pool increase can help use it ❌ Hero Complex trait: you can never heal while affected by this trait, meaning that as soon as you get hurt, you can never benefit from Dreamcatcher's effect anymore ❌ Pacifist trait: Dreamcatcher only activate if enemies die, which can never happen while affected by this trait ❌ Zealot's Ring relic: this relic grants bonus damage to spells cast at Max MP; the bigger mana pool from Dreamcatcher can make that requirement harder to reach
Strategies Pros & Cons	How useful this relic can be depends mostly on playstyle, how you use spells and how often as well as how quickly you regain mana. A bigger mana pool can allow you bigger bursts of damage, especially useful in boss fights or against crowded rooms/dangerous enemies as well as more use for utility spells. It can also be useful with utility spells by giving you more uses before you run out of mana. ➕ A potentially huge increase to your Max MP ➖ Only useful if you remember to use spells
Notes	References dreamcatchers, protective charms from some of the Native American and First Nations cultures https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcatcher

EMPTY VESSEL

Gain 10% bonus Health, Weapon, and Magic Damage.
"A replacement for that which has been lost."

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	This relic is a replacement relic. If your character is holding a relic that cannot be stacked anymore and encounter the same one again, the Empty Vessel will spawn in its place. It increases your max health by 10% of base hp, and increase Weapon and Magic bonus modifier by 10%.
Stacking	Max stack: ∞. So long as you're able to find Empty Vessel relics, you can keep stacking them infinitely. Each additional copy of this relic will increase hp by 10% of base, and increase bonus modifiers by 10%
Synergies	None ?
Strategies Pros & Cons	If you're as concerned about surviving attacks as you are dishing them out, this relic is a great choice. While its bonus damage is average, the fact that it comes with an increase to max hp at a cheap price make it an all around good relic. ➕ Decent damage AND bonus hp at a low cost ➖ Requires to find multiple copies of unstackable relics and taking one
Notes	Before Empty Vessel and its replacement mechanic was introduced, taking more than 1 of any unstackable relic took your resolve without giving you any benefits.

FATE'S DIE

Defeat 6 enemies to load the die and instantly defeat the next enemy.
Granted to those who've made a deal with Death. A reminder that everyone pays eventually.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Killing enough non-special enemies (6 with a single copy of the relic) will load the die. Attacking an enemy with any type of attack while holding a loaded die will instantly defeat it. The relic icon in the lower left of the HUD shows the kill counter, with a yellow number indicating the die is loaded and ready to kill the next enemy attacked. Only non-special enemies count for the kills required, and only them can be killed by the die; this excludes Estuaries, Void Beasts and Blightborns. Note that killing enemies with the damage from the Retaliation runes doesn't increase the counter, but also doesn't use a loaded die.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of this relic decreases the number of kills required to load the die by 1.
Synergies	✔ Perfectionist trait: this trait make it so only skill crits or spin-kicks deal damage, every other attacks being harmless; a loaded Fate's Die can still activate on those harmless attacks
Strategies Pros & Cons	The usefulness of this relic depends on how easily you can kill enemies with your current character. If you struggle at clearing the Castle, this relic can help speed up the process and prolong your runs. Used cleverly, it can also be extremely useful with any character as you can load the die by killing regular enemies, and then use it to instantly defeat dangerous ones, like Commanders. Note that on Blocker Commander, the ones with a regenerating 4-hits shield, you will have to first take it down before Fate's Die can activate (the same is true for the one-time 2-hits shields of Tubal's summoned minions). ➕ Can make Castle clearing easier and faster ➕ Can quickly kill tougher monsters (including Commanders) ➖ Not that useful if your current character is strong enough
Notes	something about dice ? Fate ? ugh. ***WORK IN PROGRESS***

FREON'S REWARD

Opening chests restores Health (100% of INT.).
All poisons have their uses. Some more than others.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Opening any chest (normal, silver, golden, fairy or boss chests) heals you for an amount equal to 100% of your INT Works even if the chest is empty (due to Diogenes' Bargain's effect or when at -100% gold with the Architect).
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of this relic heals you for 100% more INT per chest opened
Synergies	✔ All gear increasing INT: straightforward; will directly increase Freon's Reward effect ❌ Hero Complex trait: you can never heal while affected by this trait, making this relic useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	As a healing relic, Freon's Reward is all about increasing your survivability in the Castle. If you find yourself dying because of a lack of healing, it can help you prolong your runs. And while its healing is potentially lower than other relics, it has the advantage of giving you total control over it: you can leave chests unopened, and come back to them for healing later. It is, however, useless during boss fights, as well as during arena challenges. ➕ Decent healing with control on when it's applied ➖ Weaker healing (REALLY ?) and useless during boss fights
Notes	The art and relic name references the first Rogue Legacy's remixed boss Ponce de Freon https://rogue-legacy.fandom.com/wiki/Bosses#Remix_.28Ponce_de_Freon.29 . That boss' name itself is a reference to the chemical freon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freon .

GLOWING EMBER

Deal 75% more damage on every 6th hit.
Warm to the touch, this ember has fallen from Hephaestus' Forge,
and will never burn out.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	This relic counts every hit given to enemies and adds 75% to the bonus modifier of every 6th attack. The relic icon on the lower left of the HUD shows the hit counter, a yellow number indicating the next attack will be boosted. Almost every hit that deal damage counts including spin-kicks, retaliation damage, or status effects with the exception of Burn and Poison ticks.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of this relic adds 75% to the 6th attack's bonus modifier
Synergies	None ?
Strategies Pros & Cons	While its average damage is already good (a 75% increase over 6 hits coming down to an average increase of 12.5%), the strength of this relic lies in its ability to greatly boost a specific attack. If you can pay attention to the counter, you can reserve your most damaging attacks so that they benefit from it. Especially paired with skill crits, this mean the ability to deal very high damage in one attack on command, allowing you to better deal with dangerous threats. ➕ Good average damage ➕ Ability to deal high damage attacks ➖ You must pay attention to the counter to use it at its fullest
Notes	The relic's lore references Hephaestus, the smithing God in Greek mythology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hephaestus

GNAWED BONE

Eating Health Drops while at Full Health increases Max HP by 10% (Max 3 stacks).
Gnyarf.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	While at full health, eating any food (chicken drumstick or pizza slice) will increase your max hp by 10% of base hp. Can only be done 3 times per Gnawed Bone held. The counter in the lower left will turn yellow when the max stack has been reached.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic increase the max stack by 3.
Synergies	✔ Body Buffet relic: by increasing the probability of finding food, this relic make it easier to activate Gnawed Bone's effect. ✔ Cornucopia relic: this relic increases healing from food making it easier to reach the full health requirement of Gnawed Bone; it also heals based on max hp and thus benefits from Gnawed Bone's effect ✔ Hypercoagulation trait: the hp regen from this trait means you can easily reach the full hp requirement to benefit from Gnawed Bone's effect; Gnawed Bone is also a great choice as it compensates for the loss of max hp when hurt ✔ All traits lowering max HP: as Gnawed Bone's effect is calculated from base HP, it ignores the malus from these traits, potentially giving a huge boost in survivability ❌ Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: their max HP can never be increased, making Gnawed Bone useless; 1 max hp reached through the Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve ❌ Blessing of Life: the damage from this Tree room option is based on current max hp meaning it will deal more damage if Gnawed Bone has activated; it's thus better, when possible, to use it before picking up/activating Gnawed Bone
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic increases survivability by giving you more hp. How useful it is to you depends then on useful that is to your character. If you're able to easily heal and stay near full hp during castle clearing, more hp might not be the best use of resolve. It is a lot more useful when dealing with bosses, since most form of healing become useless, while the additional amount of hp it provides can help survive one or more hits. It is also extremely useful when dealing with traits that lower your max HP, since the calculations for how much max HP it gives is based on the base HP, before any reduction from the trait. ➕ More hp to survive longer ➕ Useful against bosses even when healing is scarce ➖ Less useful if your character is strong enough and can heal reliably
Notes	In its first iteration, back when relics cost max hp instead of resolve, this relic was over-powered. It had no cap and increased your max hp every time you picked food . Taking one or two early, especially paired with a Body Buffet, meant you could reach really high max hp.

GRAVE BELL

You have a 25% chance of avoiding a Fatal Blow.
"Mourn the dead, not the living."

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	Whenever your character receives a hit that could kill them, the Grave Bell has a chance to activate and completely negate the incoming damage thus preventing death. It still gives the normal invincibility window after getting hit. It can save from any fatal blows including those received while holding a Cursed relic.
Stacking	Max stack: 3. Each additional copy of the relic adds a 25% chance to avoid fatal blows.
Synergies	✔ Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait: you die in one hit meaning that every direct hit is always fatal making Grave Bell extremely useful ❌
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic acts as a safety net, potentially saving you from fatal blows. Unfortunately its worth depends on luck as it's possible to not have it activate even at max stack (a 75% chance). Its main advantage is that it can save you from death multiple times. It can thus prove extremely useful during boss fights where the other survivability relics (Hyperion's Ring, Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem, the healing relics) have a limited use or no use at all. Its drawback is that it only protects you from the hit, and you're still likely to be one hit away from death afterwards. ➕ Can save you from death multiple times ➖ Relies completely on chance
Notes	References one of the design of safety coffins, wherein a person buried alive could ring a bell to signal they're alive by pulling on a string https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Safety_coffin

HECTOR'S HELM

While BELOW 50% health, deal 20% more Spell and Weapon damage.
An honourable death.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	As long as your current hp is below 50% of your max hp, this relic adds 20% to the bonus modifiers for both Weapon and Magic Damage. It affects all types of damage with the exception of the DoT (Burn, Poison) and Retaliation damage.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 20% to bonus modifiers.
Synergies	✔ Hero Complex trait: since you can never heal, once you go below 50% of your max HP, you're guaranteed to keep Hector's Helm's effect active, and because you have 100% more hp, you can keep it for a long time ✔ All sources of Revive: by resurrecting your character to 50% of their HP, they can prolong the time under the threshold necessary to activate Hector's Helm, especially in boss fights where healing is scarce; includes Hyperion's Ring relic and the Kin set unity level 100 ✔ Grave Bell relic: by potentially negating the damage from fatal blows, this relic can allow you to survive at low HP, when Hector's Helm is active, for a longer time ❌ Healing relics and runes: to use Hector's Helm great bonus, you need to stay below 50% HP, and healing relics and runes can prevent that, decreasing the relic's usefulness ❌ Achilles' Shield relic: opposite requirement for this relic and Hector's Helm mean one or the other will end up useless ❌ Hypercoagulation trait: your HP regenerate after being hit, meaning you can only ever be below 50% HP for very short durations making Hector's Helm almost useless ❌ Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait: you're stuck at 1hp and can never be below the HP threshold necessary for Hector's Helm to activate
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic is cheap, yet its effect is powerful. If you can activate it consistently, it's a great choice. Unfortunately, the requirement to activate it, staying below 50% HP, is difficult to maintain safely and goes against basic survivability. It is, however, particularly great against bosses since healing is scarce, allowing you to get a great boost to your damage if you get hit too much. ➕ Great damage boost for all types of attack ➖ Requirement to activate difficult and unsafe to maintain
Notes	References the Greek mythology Trojan warrior Hector: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hector

HERMES' BOOTS

You are Immune to static spikes
"No path was too dangerous for the messenger of the Gods".

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	Makes you immune to the upward pointing static spikes. Does not work on other type of spikes: leftward, rightward and downward pointing static spikes, pressure triggered spikes
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another Hermes' Boots relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Algesia trait: because there is no more invincibility after taking damage, falling on spikes can be a death sentence if you run out of jumps to escape them
Strategies Pros & Cons	Can be really helpful in clearing certain fairy challenges (and reaching certain chests) with any class before you get enough movement. Can also help in certain boss fights as it removes one danger to keep track of. Other than that, its usefulness depends on how often you fall prey to static spikes. ➕ Useful for certain Fairy challenges ➖ Limited effect for its price
Notes	References olympian god Hermes in greek mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes https://www.theoi.com/Olympios/Hermes.html

HERON'S RING

For every point of Resolve below 100, deal an additional 1% bonus Magic Damage. (Current bonus X%)
On the battlefield, one must always beware the frail soldier.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	For every point of Resolve under 100, this relic increases your Magic Damage's bonus modifiers by 1%. So if your Resolve is at 100% or more, this relic has no effect, while at 90% Resolve, it increases your bonus modifier by 10% (100 - 90 = 10). Its max bonus is reached when your Resolve drops at its minimum of 0%, the relic then giving you a bonus of 100%. Before taking the relic, the " (Current Bonus) " in the description doesn't take the relic's own cost into consideration, but once taken, it's accurately updated if viewed in the Gear menu. It affects all Magic Damage, increasing the damage of talents, spells, status effects and relics.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy increases your Magic Damage bonus modifiers by another 1% per point of Resolve under 100.
Synergies	✔ Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: being stuck at 1 max HP means the Resolve penalty when under 100% is irrelevant to these heirs allowing them to make full use of Heron's Ring's effect by taking as many relics as possible; 1 max hp reached through the Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve ✔ Heirs with high Max HP: their high health pool allow them to get a good bonus from Heron's Ring while keeping enough survivability despite the low resolve penalty ✔ All gear increasing INT and FOC: these two stats determine how much Magic Damage you deal, which is what Heron's Ring increases ❌ Heirs with low Max HP: for Heron's Ring to be any good for these heirs, they'd need to put themselves in greater danger by decreasing their already low health pool further
Strategies Pros & Cons	Using so much Resolve that you get penalized for it, which happens when you go below the 100% mark, is a risky but potentially rewarding strategy where you trade having more relics for less safety. Heron's Ring make this strategy more worth it by giving you increased Magic Damage the more Resolve you decide to spend. Whether it's useful to you depends on how much risk you're willing to take, and how much you rely on Magic (spells, talents, relics) for your damage. ➕ Can give a great increase to Magic Damage ➕ Can make a risky strategy more rewarding ➖ Requires losing Max HP to be useful ➖ Only affects Magic Damage
Notes	Name and art of the relic reference the heron, a type of bird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heron

HYPERION'S RING

Revive from mortal blows and regain 50% of your HP. Can occur 1 time(s).
A ring of the Titans. Engraved on the inside are the words "The East Pillar".

MASTER RELIC

Cost	55 (50)
Effect	This relic is automatically used when your character dies, bringing them back with 50% of their hp. Upon being consumed, it is replaced by the Hyperion's Broken Ring relic.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic grant one more revive.
Synergies	✔ The Future Successor's Bargain relic: this relic grants you a 35% gold bonus but kills you; Hyperion's Ring can revive you from that and allow you to either continue your run or take another The Future Successor's Bargain relic for an additional 35% gold bonus
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic can prolong your runs by granting you a revive, and while its one-time health gain comes at a steep price, it has the advantage of being extremely useful in most boss fights where the cheaper healing relics become useless. Invaluable with Osteogenesis Imperfecta characters (die in one hit). ➕ Especially useful in boss fights where healing relics become useless ➖ High price
Notes	The name and flavor text of the relic references one of the Titan in greek mythology: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperion_(Titan) https://www.theoi.com/Titan/TitanHyperion.html

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HYPERION'S BROKEN RING

A broken ring.


special relic: replaces an Hyperion's Ring relic when it's consumed

Cost	55 (50)
Effect	No effect
Stacking	Stackable but has no effect
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: though it has no effect of its own, a Hyperion's Broken Ring relic is counted separately from a Hyperion's Ring as far as this relic's effect goes
Strategies Pros & Cons	None
Notes	It's just a broken ring

INCANDESCENT TELESCOPE

Deal 12% more damage to enemies far away.
Safety in distance.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	This relic adds 12.5% to the bonus modifiers of any of your attack when the enemies hit are far away enough from your character. While holding the relic, its range will be indicated by a faint circle around your character. Anything outside of that circle will take increased damage. It affects every damage, including DoTs and Retaliation damage. The bonus is calculated at the moment of impact which means you can start an attack close to an enemy but still get the +12.5% increase if you get far away when it hits (with spells like White Star for example). Note that the value in the description is truncated, but the game uses the real value of 12.5% for its calculations.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 12.5% to your attacks' bonus modifiers when far away enough.
Synergies	✔ Long range weapons: they allow you to attack enemies while at a sufficient distance to get the bonus damage from the relic; includes the War Bow, the Handheld Ballista, the Electric Lute, the Enkindled Gauntlets and the Lute's notes passive damage (it's possible but extremely tricky to get the bonus damage while spin kicking notes); while it's also possible to make use of it with the Gunslinger's Kinetic Revolver, the window for it is really small ✔ Long range spells: they have a long enough range to possibly benefit from the bonus damage from the relic; includes Fireball, Fungal Spread, Gravity Beam, Magic 8 Ball, Searing Shot, Shockwave, Windwall, Tesla Spike, White Star and Magma Mass (the last two requires moving away as their default range is too short but they don't hit the enemies instantly) ❌ Short/Mid range weapons: you will always deal less damage with these weapons; includes the Great Sword, the Dual Blades, the Labrys, the Boxing Gloves, the Frying Pan (though the fireball it creates when reflecting projectiles have a long enough range to get the bonus damage), the Charge Lance, the Saber, the Wand of Blasting, Charon's Scythe, the Katana and the Fauchard ❌ Short/Mid range spells: their range is either too short to ever benefit from the bonus damage, or barely long enough that triggering it requires precise placement; includes Blaze Bellows, Flame Barrier, Lightning Storm, Prismatic Spectrum and Freeze Strike
Strategies Pros & Cons	Pretty straightforward relic: if your heir has the means to consistently attack enemies from a distance, Incandescent Telescope will help their damage output, if they can't, it will be mostly useless. Even with melee characters, hybrid classes can still make it work fairly well by using the weapon attacks mainly as a mean of replenishing mana to then use spells from a distance as the main source of damage. ➕ If you can attack from a sufficient distance, good and cheap bonus ➖ If you can't, becomes useless
Notes	References the Telescope, an optical instrument used to observe distant objects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telescope This relic went through several versions. First, its only effect was slowing down time while aiming spells. The 0.8 update then made it an Oath relic that greatly increased damage at a distance (longer than the current version) BUT greatly decreased it if you were too close.

IVY ROOTS

Deal 12% bonus damage while on the ground.
Stand your ground, the roots will bind you.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	This relic adds 12.5% (the value in the description is rounded) to all your bonus modifiers but only while your heir is standing on the ground . Affect all attacks (weapon, spin kicks, spells, talents, relics, DoT) but not Retaliation damage. This includes all the different types of platforms (crumbling, magical, mushrooms, ivy) as well as sitting on enemies (what'stheirname?). Ivy Roots' effect applies at the moment of impact so an attack launched while airborne can still benefit from it if your heir touches the ground before the enemy is hit.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 12.5% to your bonus modifiers.
Synergies	✔ Ivy Canopy: Ranger's default talent spawns an Ivy Platform in mid-air allowing you to benefit from Ivy Roots' bonus even vs airborne enemies ✔ Ivy Seed: this relic spawns an Ivy Platform upon performing an Aerial Recovery, allowing you to benefit from Ivy Roots' bonus even vs airborne enemies ✔ Long range weapons: their range give you more options to attack enemies from the ground, and thus benefit from Ivy Roots, compared to shorter range weapons; includes the War Bow, the Handheld Ballista, the Electric Lute, the Enkindled Gauntlets, the Lute (only on the notes passive damage) and the Kinetic Revolver ✔ Most spells: whether it's their range, their delay before impact (allowing you to land), the fact that you can aim them or the verticality of their attack, they allow you to attack enemies from the ground even when your weapon wouldn't allow you to; includes Fireball, Fungal Spread, Magic 8 Ball, Searing Shot, Shockwave, Windwall, Tesla Spike, White Star, Magma Mass, Blaze Bellows, Lightning Storm, ❌ Short/Mid range weapons: while they can still benefit from Ivy Roots' effect, their limited range mean you won't be able to attack all airborne enemies from the ground, limiting Ivy Roots' usefulness; includes the Great Sword, the Dual Blades, the Labrys, the Boxing Gloves, the Frying Pan, the Charge Lance, the Saber, the Wand of Blasting, Charon's Scythe, the Katana and the Fauchard
Strategies Pros & Cons	How often you can attack enemies from the ground determines how useful this relic is. Since its effect isn't limited to weapon attacks but also applies to spells & talents, it can be used effectively even with short range weapons which would have trouble vs airborne enemies. ➕ A good and cheap bonus damage ➖ Requires to be on the ground to work
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedera

IVY SEED

Create an Ivy Canopy every time you do an Aerial Recovery.
"The shade hangs low, but the roots run deep."

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	After getting hit while airborne , you lose control of your character for a short period. Pressing the jump button during that time allows you to regain control early and is know as an Aerial Recovery . The Ivy Seed relic automatically creates an Ivy Canopy every time you perform one. The Ivy Canopy created is similar to the one created by Ranger's talent: it blocks small projectiles and grants SporeBurst to all weapon attacks (and certain talents) performed from it.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another Ivy Seed relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ All gear increasing INT & FOC: both stats increase the damage of the Sporeburst applied by attacks from Ivy Seed's canopies ❌ ***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Strategies Pros & Cons	***WORK IN PROGRESS*** ➕ ***WORK IN PROGRESS*** ➖ ***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Notes	***WORK IN PROGRESS***

LACHESIS' MEASURE (changed in 1.1)

Enemies defeated with a critical hit restore 5% of your Max Health.
Mortality measured.

MASTER RELIC

Cost	55 (50)
Effect	Killing an enemy with a critical hit, whether a skill crit, a bonus crit or a super crit, heals you for 5% of your current max HP. Works for any kind of attack so long as it crits when it kills the enemy.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy heals for 5 more percent when killing an enemy with a crit.
Synergies	✔ All things increasing bonus crit chance: by increasing the crit chance, they increase the likelihood of a crit or super crit happening making it more likely for Lachesis' Measure to heal you; includes Clotho's Spindle relic, the Sharpened and Focal runes, the Warden and Scholar unity 100 bonuses ✔ All things increasing crit damage: by increasing the crit damage, they increase the likelihood of crits killing enemies making it more likely for Lachesis' Measure to heal you; includes Atropos' Scissors relic, the Might and Eldar runes ✔ All attacks with automatic skill crits: by using these attacks exclusively or at the right moment, you can make sure Lachesis' Measure activates; includes the Labrys' ground attack, the Lance's Flying Joust, the White Star spell, Sporeburst's explosion ✔ Perfectionist trait: while affected by this trait, you can only hurt enemies with skill crits and spin kicks which makes it more likely for enemies to die to crits, increasing how often Lachesis' Measure will trigger ❌ Retaliation runes: the damage from these runes never crit meaning it can kill an enemy before you have a chance to use a crit on them ❌ Hero Complex trait: you can never heal while affected by this trait, making Lachesis' Measure useless ❌ Hypercoagulation trait: as your HP regen quickly, you don't need any form of healing, making Lachesis' Measure useless ❌ Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait: you're stuck at 1 hp and never need healing making Lachesis' Measure useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	One of the best survivability relic while Castle clearing so long as you can reliably crit. Its healing being based on you max HP rather than INT (like the other healing relics) means it's just as good for STR/DEX builds. ➕ Great and reliable healing while Castle clearing ➕ Healing based on max HP rather than INT ➖ Expensive and useless in some boss fights
Notes	References the goddess of fate Lachesis in ancient Greek mythology (one of the Moirai or Three Fates along with Clotho and Atropos), who decided how long each mortals' lives would be by measuring their threads https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lachesis

LAMECH'S WHETSTONE

Weapon Skill Crits now apply Magic Break for 2.5 seconds.
Perfection is the drive, not the goal.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	While holding this relic, hitting an enemy with a weapon skill crits will apply the status effect Magic Break on them for 2.5 seconds . Magic Break adds 20% to the bonus modifiers of all magic attacks aimed at the affected enemy. This includes spells, talents and certain relics.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another Lamech's Whetstone relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Catalyst relic: the Magic Break applied by Lamech's Whetstone on your weapon skill crits is a status effect and triggers Catalyst's damage bonus, and since status effects are applied before damage, the attack applying Magic Break also benefits from it ✔ Mage class: spells are their main source of damage, and also the trigger for their weapon skill crits making Lamech's Whetstone a good choice ✔ Assassin class: with an INT-focused build and a good offensive spell, Assassin can make great use of Lamech's Whetstone thanks to their guaranteed weapon skill crits and great mana regen ✔ Hybrid STR-INT builds: several classes can be made to rely equally both on weapon attacks (STR-scaling) and magic attacks (INT-scaling); Lamech's Whetstone, triggering on the former and empowering the latter is thus a great choice ❌ STR builds: if you barely use magic attacks, and gear mostly with weapon attacks in mind, Lamech's Whetstone won't be of great use
Strategies Pros & Cons	As a relic that triggers on weapon skill crits and increases the damage of magic attacks, how useful Lamech's Whetstone is to you depends on these two things: it's a great choice if you have a reliable way to skill crit and often use talents and spells. ➕ A good bonus damage to magic attacks if you can activate it ➖ Only triggers on weapon skill crits ➖ Only affects magic attacks
Notes	References the first boss of the game, Estuary Lamech: https://rogue-legacy-2.fandom.com/wiki/Estuary_Lamech

LILY OF THE VALLEY

A lily of the valley
Our Lady's tears

special relic: have to be bought, only appears before opening Naamah's throne room door

Cost	10 (5)
Effect	These special relics only have one effect: holding at least 2 of them and entering Naamah's throne room in the Kerguelen Plateau biome will unlock the door to her boss fight. You need resolve to buy them, but entering the boss fight will remove all lilies from your inventory and refund their cost.
Stacking	Each Lily of the Valley is considered a unique relic, so they cannot be stacked, and cannot be replaced by an Empty Vessel either.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: because lilies are separate, they count as unique and each will trigger War Drum's effect
Strategies Pros & Cons	The Kerguelen Plateau will always spawn 3 special rooms containing a unique pedestal with one of the Lily of the Valley relic on it. For the purpose of opening the throne room door, only 2 of those are necessary, but until the door is opened (a cutscene makes that clear) it's possible to grab all 3. Once the door is unlocked however, the Lilies are replaced by a regular relic in the current run and all future ones until you change or reset your thread. These relics have no effect on their own but they each count as unique and when holding the War Drum relic, will grant a damage boost. It can be interesting then, to purposely avoid the throne room until you grab all 3 lilies to get the most out of them and your War Drum(s), and fight Naamah last. ➕ Required to open Naamah's throne room door ➕ Each count as unique relic ➕ Their cost is refunded when entering the boss fight ➖ Without a War Drum, have no effect until you enter Naamah's boss fight
Notes	In the game's lore, lilies of the valley (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lily_of_the_valley) are a symbol of the Estuary Naamah and some of her attacks (the big pink projectiles) are shaped after them.

LOTUS PETAL

Increases your total Mana Pool by 50
White for clarity. Blue for sincerity. Pink for harmony. Yellow for....

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Increases your max Mana by 50.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 50 to your max mana.
Synergies	✔ Emotional Dysregularity trait: this trait doubles the mana cost of spells making it possible for most classes to not have enough base mp to cast certain spells; Lotus Petal can help circumvent this issue ✔ Crippling Intellect trait: in exchange for quick mana regenration, this trait lowers your max mana; Lotus Petal can help offset that negative ✔ Lotus Stem relic: this relic consumes 150 mana to protect you against damage; Lotus Petal can help the characters with low mana to use it
Strategies Pros & Cons	Simple and straightforward relic. By increasing your mana pool, it allows you to use your spells more. How useful it is to you then depends on your base mana pool, and on your reliance on spells. ➕ Cheap and easy way to increase your max mana ➖ Only useful if you really need more mana
Notes	Used to be a lot worse, increasing max mana by only 25. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera

LOTUS STEM

Blocks up to 2 attacks. Consume 150 mana per block. Mana potions restore charges.
"Longer than you, longer than me, the Lotus Flower will outlive us all."

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	Consumes 150 mana and 1 charge to completely block the next source of damage sustained by your character. This includes the damage from taking a Blessing of Life (max Hp increasing option from the Tree rooms) as well as the damage from fatal blows sustained while purifying Cursed relics. You can see the remaining amount of charges in the relic in the lower left of the screen. The relic protects you from the damage, but not from the hit. Any challenge or condition requiring not to get hit will still fail. The relic holds up to 2 charges. Picking up a potion restore one charge. If you also hold a Coeus' Shell (another damage preventing relic), and both it and Lotus Stem are ready to protect you, the former will always activate first.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy increases the max amount of charges by 2.
Synergies	✔ Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait: a trait that makes you die in one hit; Lotus Stem can improve your survivability ✔ The Trial relics: both Charon's Trial and Pandora's Trial make any hit fatal; Lotus Stem can protect from the lethal damage ✔ All things increasing max mana: allow certain classes with a base mana lower than Lotus Stem's requirement to use it; includes the Capacity runes, the Lotus Petal, Cosmic Insight and Dreamcatcher relic ❌ Crippling Intellect trait: this trait heavily reduces your max mana, potentially making Lotus Stem unusable
Strategies Pros & Cons	A great survivability tool. Compared to Coeus' Shell, another damage negating relic, Lotus Stem can be harder to charge, either because of its mana requirement, or because of the potions (a random drop) needed to recharge it. It is however much better during boss fights thanks to its higher number of charges, especially when stacked. Another advantage of this relic is the control over its use: by using your mana to stay under the required amount, you can preserve the charges for the stickier situations. ➕ Great tool to keep you alive ➕ Good for boss fights ➖ Requires random drops to recharge
Notes	This relic used to have 5 charges requiring 175 mana, with no way to restore charges. While it's called Lotus Stem, the relic art represents a lotus seed head instead. The lore references the capacity of the lotus seeds to germinate even after a long time (up to a record 1300 years). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelumbo_nucifera

MARBLE STATUE

Landing creates a small shockwave that destroys Mid-sized Projectiles and deals 75% Magic Damage.
A perfect moment, crafted in eternity.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	Every time your character lands on any surface (all types of platforms, props, enemies), this relic will generate a circular shockwave centered on them. This shockwave goes through walls, deletes Mid-sized projectiles and deals 75% INT as Magic Damage to all enemies it touches. It also deals some knockback and destroys props and trick walls.
Stacking	Max Stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 75% to the Magic Damage dealt when landing.
Synergies	✔ Barbarian's Labrys weapon: the aerial spinning attack of this weapon ends with a landing attack with a similar range as Marble Statue's shockwave allowing you to combine both their damages ✔ All things increasing INT & FOC: INT determines Marble Statue's damage and FOC its bonus crit damage so any increase to these stats improve the relic's effect ✔ FND trait: this trait locks away your main attack, talent and spell every time you're hit, but it doesn't prevent MArble Statue from activating, giving you a way to keep hurting enemies while you wait for FND's effect to disappear ❌ Icarus' Wings' Bargain relic: this relic grants flight most likely decreasing how often you land ⚠️ All breakable props: while holding Marble Statue, it becomes impossible to stand on props as the shockwave it generates will destroy them; using them as stepping stones to reach higher areas is also made difficult ⚠️ Stygian Study (& Citadel Agartha/Pishon Dry Lake when using their burden) biome: these biomes can contain mimics and/or painting enemies which can be accidentally woken up by Marble Statue's shockwave ⚠️ Pishon Dry Lake biome: take care around the Explosive Barrels found there as Marble Statue's shockwave can trigger them putting you in risky situations; it also makes it impossible to land on the mushroom platforms as the shockwave will destroy them (it's still possible to spin kick them however)
Strategies Pros & Cons	Marble Statue is a cheap, easy to activate tool to delete mid-sized projectiles for characters that lack this ability. Because of the delay between the jumping and the landing when the shockwave is effectively launched, it can be tricky to get the timing right, however, its shocwave can be spammed by repeatedly chaing small jumps. As the shockwave it sends is circular, Marble Statue allows you to attack enemies below you. ➕ Cheap, easy way to protect from smaller projectiles ➕ Can be spammed and can reach below you ➖ Timing the shockwave can be hard ➖ Its AoE is not that big
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marble

OBELISK

Your Skill Crits have an extra 20% chance of becoming Super Crits.
Provide providence.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	When performing skill crits, there's a chance that these attacks turn into super crits gaining 35% bonus damage. Normally, that super crit chance is equal to half your random crit chance; Obelisk adds 20% to it. Obelisk's effect still applies if your super crit chance is zero.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds another 20% to your super crit chance. Note that while your super crit chance caps at 100%, the game will still let you pick up copies Obelisk if you reach it.
Synergies	✔ High Stakes runes: they increase the super crit damage bonus making super crits, and thus Obelisk, more effective ✔ Skill Crit attacks: the more often you perform skill crits, the more useful Obelisk becomes ❌
Strategies Pros & Cons	In terms of average damage increase, this relic's effect is rather weak compared to its cost. It also relies heavily on how often you can skill crit, and how many High Stakes runes you have equipped. For both, the more, the better. It can prove more useful when higher damage per hit is sought (to kill enemies in fewer hits) as it increases the chance for super crit hits. ➕ Okay DPS increase ➖ Weak effect for its price
Notes	References the Ancient Egyptian monument https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obelisk

ONYX KEY

A black key.
"One chain to supress the power..."

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	While held, this relic has no effect other than being able to unlock the Onyx Portal in the Pishon Dry Lake area. When used at the Onyx Portal: - the key unlocks it for the current run and all future ones until a thread change, - the key is removed from your inventory and its resolve cost is refunded, - until a thread change, the key never spawns again and is instead replaced by a regular relic if its pedestal is encountered. The Onyx Key can only be found in a special room in the Pishon Dry Lake that requires the Void Bell heirloom.
Stacking	The Onyx Key is a unique relic. It cannot be stacked, and cannot be replaced by an Empty Vessel either.
Synergies	None
Strategies Pros & Cons	The Pishon Dry Lake will always spawn a special room containing a unique pedestal (accessible only if you possess the Void Bell heirloom) with the Onyx Key relic on it. This special room contains a tuning fork, allowing you to more easily find it (though its exact location is not clearly indicated on the map). The portal unlocked by the Onyx Key leads to a fight vs Gyges the Axe and Aegaeon the Shield minibosses. ➕ Required to unlock the Onyx Portal ➕ Its cost is refunded when unlocking the portal ➖ Expensive ➖ Without a War Drum, has no effect until you unlock the portal
Notes	Onyx is a type of mineral https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onyx

PANDORA'S TRIAL

Until purified, any hit taken is Fatal.
Defeat 10 enemies to purify it and gain 50 Resolve.
Some things are best left alone.

CURSED RELIC

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	This relic is a cursed relic and until it's purified (by killing 10 enemies) its only effect is that any hit sustained is fatal. The lethal damage from this relic's effect can be blocked like regular damage by various means: Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem and Grave Bell relics, a perfect block with the Shield Block talent. Death from this relic's effect can trigger Hyperion's Ring revive effect giving you a second chance to keep purifying it. The relic icon in the lower left of the screen will show the kill counter. All types of enemies, including special ones, count towards it. Note that killing an Estuary while holding a Pandora's Trial will instantly purify it, no matter how many kills were still needed.
Stacking	While its purified form can be stacked, the cursed version cannot. Finding another Pandora's Trial while holding one will instead change it to an Empty Vessel relic. Not taking this Empty Vessel and purifying the currently held Pandora's Trial will bring back the Pandora's Trial in the Empty Vessel's place, which can then be taken.
Synergies	✔ Charon's Trial relic: since both relics make any hit fatal and require kills to purify, taking both at the same time can be efficient (each kill counting once for both relic) ✔ Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem & Grave Bell relics: they can protect you from fatal blows if you're hit while purifying a Pandora's Trial ✔ War Drum relic: this relic grants a damage boost based on the number of unique relics held; Pandora's Trial counts as one and is free
Strategies Pros & Cons	Don't get hit, good luck. :p Before taking the relic, scout the rooms around (or in a low risk area), and kill the troublesome enemies only leaving the easy to deal with ones. Might be a good idea, if you intend to take this relic, to leave Citadel Agartha and Axis Mundi mostly untouched for their easy enemies/hazards. ➕ If you can purify it, a great resolve bonus ➖ Until you purify it, you die in one hit.
Notes	References the greek mythology character Pandora (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora) and the myth associated with her of a box containing all the evils of the world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box)

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PANDORA'S REWARD

Resolve has increased by 50 points


PURIFIED RELIC

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	Obtained after purifying a Pandora's Trial relic. Instantly adds 50 points to your resolve.
Stacking	Max Stack: ∞. Provided you find enough Pandora's Trial to purify, you can keep stacking Pandora's Reward infinitely. Each additional copy of this relic increases your resolve by 50 more points.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: not only is this relic free and count as a unique as far as War Drum's effect is concerned, but by granting you bonus resolve, it allows you to pick up even more unique relics to increase War Drum's damage boost further
Strategies Pros & Cons	Nothing to say here, this relic is just the purified version of the Pandora's Trial relic.
Notes	see Pandora's Trial.

PEARL KEY

A white key.
"... The other to supress the will."

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	While held, this relic has no effect other than being able to unlock the Pearl Portal in the Pishon Dry Lake area. When used at the Pearl Portal: - the key unlocks it for the current run and all future ones until a thread change, - the key is removed from your inventory and its resolve cost is refunded, - until a thread change, the key never spawns again and is instead replaced by a regular relic if its pedestal is encountered. The Pearl Key can only be found in a special room in the Pishon Dry Lake.
Stacking	The Pearl Key is a unique relic. It cannot be stacked, and cannot be replaced by an Empty Vessel either.
Synergies	None
Strategies Pros & Cons	The Pishon Dry Lake will always spawn a special room containing a unique pedestal (accessible, among other ways, by spin-kicking the wall saws) with the Pearl Key relic on it. This special room contains a tuning fork, allowing you to more easily find it (though its exact location is not clearly indicated on the map). The portal unlocked by the Pearl Key leads to a fight vs Cottus the Sword and Briareus the Hammer minibosses. ➕ Required to unlock the Pearl Portal ➕ Its cost is refunded when unlocking the portal ➖ Expensive ➖ Without a War Drum, has no effect until you unlock the portal
Notes	Pearl is an object produced by most shelled mollusk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pearl

RAGE TINCTURE

After taking damage, deal 100% more damage during the Invincibility window.
A concotion for soldiers who shall not return.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	After getting hit, your character is invincible for 2.25sec. During that invincibility window, Rage Tincture activates and grants +100% to your bonus modifiers. Affects weapon attacks, spin-kicks, talents, spells but doesn't affect status effects (Burn, Poison) or Retaliation damage. Despite what the description states, you do not need to get hurt for it to work. Hits whose damage was blocked (by the Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem or Grave Bell relics or by the Shield Block talent's perfect block) still grant the invincibility window and still benefits from Rage Tincture's damage boost.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 100% to bonus modifiers.
Synergies	✔ Ambrosia relic: this relic extends the invincibility window after getting hit, giving you more time to use Rage Tincture's damage boost ✔ Duelist's Roll talent: this talent grants you a short invincibility window that also activates Rage Tincture's effect; works on the roll's own damage, but also on any attack performed mid-roll ❌ Algesia trait: this trait completely removes the invincibility after taking hit making Rage Tincture useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	This relic grants one of the strongest damage boost in the game but comes with two downsides: in most cases, this boost can only be used after getting hit, and it is short lived. How useful Rage Tincture depends then on how often you get hit and whether or not this huge damage boost is needed. It can, for example, be really useful in boss fights or against crowded rooms full of strong enemies if you know you won't be able to dodge every hits, especially paired with Ambrosia. It becomes a lot less useful in Castle clearing against weaker enemies, against which a 100% damage boost might not be worth the downside. ➕ Huge damage boost ➖ Requires to get hit ➖ Short lived
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tincture

RAVEN'S RING

For every point of Resolve below 100, deal an additional 1% bonus Weapon Damage. (Current bonus X%)
Some run from death. Others embrace it.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	For every point of Resolve under 100, this relic increases your Weapon Damage's bonus modifiers by 1%. So if your Resolve is at 100% or more, this relic has no effect, while at 90% Resolve, it increases your bonus modifier by 10% (100 - 90 = 10). Its max bonus is reached when your Resolve drops at its minimum of 0%, the relic then giving you a bonus of 100%. Before taking the relic, the " (Current Bonus) " in the description doesn't take the relic's own cost into consideration, but once taken, it's accurately updated if viewed in the Gear menu. It affects Weapon Damage, increasing the damage of weapon attacks and spin kicks.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy increases your Weapon Damage bonus modifiers by another 1% per point of Resolve under 100.
Synergies	✔ Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: being stuck at 1 max HP means the Resolve penalty when under 100% is irrelevant to these heirs allowing them to make full use of Raven's Ring's effect by taking as many relics as possible; 1 max hp reached through the Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve ✔ Heirs with high Max HP: their high health pool allow them to get a good bonus from Raven's Ring while keeping enough survivability despite the low resolve penalty ✔ All gear increasing STR and DEX: most of the Weapon Damage you deal, which is what Raven's Ring increases, is determined by these two stats ❌ Heirs with low Max HP: for Raven's Ring to be any good for these heirs, they'd need to put themselves in greater danger by decreasing their already low health pool further
Strategies Pros & Cons	Using so much Resolve that you get penalized for it, which happens when you go below the 100% mark, is a risky but potentially rewarding strategy where you trade having more relics for less safety. Raven's Ring make this strategy more worth it by giving you increased Weapon Damage the more Resolve you decide to spend. Whether it's useful to you depends on how much risk you're willing to take, and how much you rely on your weapon and spin kicks for your damage. ➕ Can give a great increase to Weapon Damage ➕ Can make a risky strategy more rewarding ➖ Requires losing Max HP to be useful ➖ Only affects Weapon Damage
Notes	Name and art of the relic reference the raven, a type of bird: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raven

RED SAND HOURGLASS

Every 5 seconds your next weapon attack deals 75% bonus damage. Timer resets if you take damage.
Time treats some people better than others.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	While holding this relic, a timer will start (visible in the lower right of the relic's icon). Once it reaches 5 seconds, the counter number will turn green and Red Sand Hourglass will be ready to activate. It will do so on your next weapon attack by increasing its bonus modifier by 75%. Note that it also activates when hitting enemies with a door opening (whether you opened it with your weapon or spin kick). The timer will reset if you get hurt. It won't reset if you get hit but blocked the damage.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic decreases the timer's duration by 1 second.
Synergies	✔ All things blocking damage: they allow you to keep your keep your timing going after getting hit; includes the Coeus' Shell, Lotus Stem & Grave Bell relics (the last one only if the damage would have killed you) and the Shield Block talent ✔ Slower, high damage weapons: the slower a weapon, the more of its attacks may benefit from Red Sand Hourglass' bonus; the higher its damage, the more likely that bonus is to help finish off an enemy faster; includes the Katana, the Labrys' ground attack, the Electric Lute, the War Bow, the Charge Lance, the Handheld Ballista and the Kasa-obake's ground attack ✔ The Heavy Stone Bargain: by adding a 1.25 second cooldown to your weapon attacks, this relic forces a slower play-style which benefits Red Sand Hourglass' time-based bonus ✔ Glowing Ember relic: this relic gives a 75% bonus damage to every 6th hit so it's possible to get this relic ready, and then wait for Red Sand Hourglass to also be ready and combine both their bonus for a really strong attack (either to one-shot a regular enemy or severely weaken the stronger ones) ❌ Faster, low damage weapons: the faster a weapon, the fewer of its attacks will benefit from Red Sand Hourglass' bonus; the lower its damage, the less impact that bonus damage will have; includes the Celestial Scepter, the Boxing Gloves, the Kinetic Revolver, Hephaestus' Hammer, the Pepperoni Pizza, the Dragon Fangs, Crow Storm, the Blunderbuss, the Triangulator and the Labrys' air attack
Strategies Pros & Cons	Having to wait 5 seconds to get Red Sand Hourglass' bonus means it fits a slower play-style and favors slower weapons. You can for example wait until the relic is ready before entering a new room or while hiding in a safe spot, allowing you to make use of it more often. It doesn't suit a faster play-style as the average bonus damage you'll get from it will be much lower, especially on those really fast hitting weapons with low damage. ➕ Excellent bonus damage if you can wait for it ➕ Cheap and easy to use ➖ 5 seconds to charge can be a long time in busy rooms ➖ Bonus lost when hurt means you have to be extra careful to use it well
Notes	Relic art, name and the way it works reference the hourglass, a device use to measure the passage of time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hourglass

SERQET'S STINGER

Your Weapon applies 1 stack of Poison.
"The sting is quick, but the pain is endless."

MASTER RELIC

Cost	55 (50)
Effect	Upon hitting an enemy with your weapon, you'll apply 1 stack of Poison . This DoT's default duration is 4 seconds, dealing a total of 7 ticks at 5% INT damage per stack. Hitting an enemy again while Poison is up will increase the stack by 1 (up to a max of 10) and refresh its timer; after being up continuously for at least 6 seconds, all ticks start to skill crit.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy applies 1 more stack of Poison per weapon attack.
Synergies	✔ Catalyst relic: the Poison applied by Serqet's Stinger is a status effect (the longest in the game), and activates the bonus damage from this relic; Poison itself also benefits from it ✔ Gear increasing INT or FOC: INT determines Serqet's Stinger's Poison damage and FOC its bonus crit damage so any increase to these stats improve the relic's effect ✔ Amplification runes: they increase the duration of the DoT increasing the number of ticks and thus the total damage done. For best results: ? runes = ? ticks, ? runes = ? ticks, ? runes = ? ticks ✔ Weapons with a high attack rate: the faster you can apply Poison stacks, the more damage you'll deal; includes Assassin's Dual Blades, Boxer's Boxing Gloves, Gunslinger's Kinetic Revolver
Strategies Pros & Cons	Damage-wise, this relic's worth depends on how long you can keep it applied continuously and how fast you can apply stacks. It shines at high stacks and after 6 seconds when it always skill crit. Unfortunately, that also means that, most of the time, it will have a limited effect while Castle clearing as most enemies will die from your attacks before Poison has dealt a substantial amount of damage. Its INT/FOC scaling also means it'll have a weaker effect if you focus solely on STR/DEX and weapon damage. Having said that, it's an excellent tool against bosses as it's easier to apply and maintain the DoT long enough for it to deal huge amount of damage. It's extremely useful in dealing with shielded Commanders, especially for classes with lower attack speed, as it'll put/keep their shield down. ➕ Excellent against bosses ➕ Great at keeping Shielded Commanders' shield down in between attacks ➖ Expensive ➖ You have to keep it up for a long time ➖ Scales off of INT & FOC
Notes	References the Egyptian goddess Serqet, known to be able to protect/heal from venom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serket

SKELETON KEY

Open Locked or Melted Fairy Chests.
Every door a window, every chest a reward.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	While Castle clearing, you will encounter Fairy Chest rooms. These rooms will contain a locked Fairy Chest (containing runes or Red Aether) that can only be opened by completing the challenge of the room. Failing the challenge melts the chest instead, taking away its content. The Skeleton Key relic allows you to open locked chests (without having to complete the challenge first) as well as melted chests (if the challenge was already failed). Each Skeleton Key can only be used once, after which it breaks and is replaced by the Broken Key relic.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy allows you to open 1 more Fairy Chest.
Synergies	None?
Strategies Pros & Cons	Nothing much to say here, if you need Fairy Chests and you think you can't complete their challenge, or have already failed them, this relic can get you their content effortlessly. ➕ Gets you Fairy Chests easily ➖ Very specific use
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skeleton_key

---

BROKEN KEY

A broken key.

special relic: replaces a Skeleton Key relic when it's used

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	This relic is what's left after using a Skeleton Key to open a Fairy Chest. It has no effect.
Stacking	Max stack: ∞. Can be stacked, but does nothing.
Synergies	✔ War Drum relic: while the Broken Key has no effect of its own, it still counts as a unique relic, and is counted separately from unused Skeleton Key relics.
Strategies Pros & Cons	As the byproduct of the Skeleton Key relic, not much to say. If you hold a War Drum relic, and grabbed Twin Skeleton Key relics, it might be interesting to use at least one so it adds a unique relic for War Drum's effect.
Notes	see Skeleton Key.

SOUL TETHER

Every 5 seconds, your next attack deals 150% bonus Magic Damage to all nearby enemies.
No one is truly alone, no matter what you believe.

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	While holding this relic, a timer will start (visible in the lower right of the relic's icon). Once it reaches 5 seconds, the counter number will turn green and Soul Tether will be ready to activate. It will do so on your next weapon attack by dealing 150% Magic Damage to all the enemies in a large AoE around your first target . Note that it also activates when hitting enemies with a door opening (no matter what you used to open it). Also note that it doesn't trigger when hitting enemies that can't be hurt by weapon attacks which include enemies protected by a Shield Banner commander, invulnerable enemies (Tubal's summons, Vengeful commanders), orbs and resonant enemies.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy of the relic decreases the timer's duration by 1 second and increase the Magic Damage dealt by 75%.
Synergies	✔ All things increasing INT & FOC: Magic Damage scaling off of INT & FOC means that increasing those stats allows you to get more damage out of Soul Tether ✔ All things increasing Magic Damage: Soul Tether deals Magic Damage so anything that increases it will make the relic's effect more powerful ✔ Incandescent Telescope relic: in crowded rooms, thanks to it's huge AoE, Soul Tether's effect will often benefit from this relic's bonus based on the distance between you and the enemies attacked ⚠️ Stygian Study (& Citadel Agartha/Pishon Dry Lake when using their burden) biome: these biomes can contain mimics and/or painting enemies which can be accidentally woken up by Soul Tether's attack ❌ none?
Strategies Pros & Cons	As another relic with time-based activation, Soul Tether favors a slower play-style: waiting before entering new rooms or while hiding in safe spots can allow you to make the best of it. It is, however, fully dependent on INT/FOC (as it deals pure Magic Damage) and as such is much better the higher these stats are for your character. While it is expensive, it also gets a lot more powerful the more of it you stack, as it not only can trigger more often, but also will deal higher damage. For INT-focused characters, it's usually worth it to take additional copies (if you have enough resolve). Its attack's AoE is huge (around a whole screen wide) so it's really useful when fighting crowds, but even against single targets like bosses, the relic will still activate and grant additional damage. ➕ Huge AoE and decent damage ➕ Easy to use ➖ Expensive ➖ Relies on INT/FOC
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul

STEEL-TOED BOOTS

Spin-Kicks now apply Armor Break for 2 seconds.
Weaponized safety gear.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	While holding this relic, spin-kicking an enemy applies the status effect Armor Break on them for 2 seconds. Enemies affected by Armor Break take 20% more damage from Weapon attacks (as well as spin-kicks).
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another Steel-Toed Boots relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Catalyst relic: this relic increases damage against enemies affected by a status effect, like the Armor Break applied by Steel-Toed Boots ✔ Electric Lute weapon: this weapon requires spin-kicking something before it can be fired and doing so gives you the Charged status effect guaranteeing a skill crit; spin-kicking enemies while holding Steel-Toed Boots allows you to combine Armor Break to that ✔ Bard class: their passive grants them Dance stacks when spin-kicking enemies which increase damage; doing so while holding Steel-Toed Boots allows you to combine Armor Break to that ❌ Hollow Bones trait: you fall slowly while affected by this trait, meaning that, after spin-kicking an enemy you will take more time until you can fall to their level to attack them (with most weapons) making the Armor Break from Steel-Toed Boots harder to benefit from ❌ Handheld Ballista weapon: this weapon requires you to be on the ground to be fired and is the slowest of all weapon making it unlikely you can fire it before the Armor Break from Steel-Toed Boots run off
Strategies Pros & Cons	How useful this relic is depends on your play-style, specifically how often you spin-kick enemies. If you never get close to enemies or never spin-kick them, this relic's effect might not be worth the resolve. While harder to use on smaller enemies, it can be a lot more useful on bigger targets, especially Bosses. It's also a good relic for Bards which are built around spin-kicks. ➕ Decent damage boost if you can activate it enough ➖ Effect is too short lived
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel-toe_boot

THE FUTURE SUCCESSOR'S BARGAIN

Increase your current gold by 35%.
"One life lost for one lineage's gain. Ignore the humanity, and there's no better bargain."

OATH RELIC

Cost	Depart this world
Effect	As soon as you buy this relic, your character dies and the gold they were carrying gets immediately increased by 35%.
Stacking	As your character dies when buying the relic, and it doesn't appear in their inventory, it cannot be stacked. However, it's possible, by holding at least one Hyperion's Ring relic, to use multiple copies of it on the same character. In such (rare & lucky) cases, the new gold amount increased by the first copy will in turn receive a 35% bonus.
Synergies	✔ Hyperion's Ring relic: this relic can bring you back from the dead after using the Future Successor's Bargain allowing you to keep playing while keeping the increased gold ❌
Strategies Pros & Cons	With how useful this relic's effect is, it's a good idea when found to save it for a later use whenever possible. You can then come back to it either after you've cleared the whole castle and have nothing more to do but retire or when you've amassed a lot of gold but are unsure whether you can survive any longer. If you're lucky enough to find two copies of this relic, it's a good idea to see if the Hyperion's Ring relic isn't also available elsewhere, allowing you to survive the first Future Successor's Bargain to then use the second for a whooping 82.5% increase in gold overall. ➕ Can grant a huge amount of gold ➖ Ends your run
Notes	***WORK IN PROGRESS***

THE HEAVY STONE BARGAIN

Your Weapon deals 100% more damage, but has a 2 second cooldown.
"Keep me in hand, and no man will dare cross you."

OATH RELIC

Cost	15 (10)
Effect	This Oath relic's positive effect adds 100% to the bonus modifier for all weapon attacks. Its negative effect for most weapons is a 2 seconds cooldown after attacking. The three exceptions are: the Kinetic Revolver which instead sees its attack speed reduced, Hephaestus' Hammer which gets an even slower move speed while attacking, and the Electric Lute which requires 3 spin-kicks to charge instead of one.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another The Heavy Stone Bargain relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Labrys weapon's air attack: the 2 seconds cooldown starts as soon as you start this attack, meaning that if you can stay airborne long enough, you have almost no downtime ❌ ***WORK IN PROGRESS***
Strategies Pros & Cons	Although this relic comes with a great damage boost, for most weapons, the 2 seconds cooldown will actually translate to a decrease in DPS. It is not entirely useless though, as the huge damage boost can reduce the number of hits needed to kill enemies, potentially to just one, making Castle clearing easier and faster if you can work around the 2sec downtime. Another downside of this relic is the decrease in mana regen through attacks making it a poor choice for characters relying on spells a lot. ➕ Huge damage boost at a cheap price ➖ Huge decrease in attack speed due to long cooldown
Notes	***WORK IN PROGRESS***

THE ICARUS' WINGS' BARGAIN

Jumping in the air enables Flight, but you take 75% extra damage.
Beware the danger of false confidence.

OATH RELIC

Cost	15 (10)
Effect	While holding this relic, jumping while airborne will make your heir start flying . Jumping again will turn the flying off. You can turn Flight on and off as many times as you want while in the air. Certain actions like spin kicking something or dashing will interrupt Flight. Note that the extra damage taken as a penalty is calculated before armor reduction , meaning that, if you reach the armor block cap, the actual extra damage received can easily be more than 75%.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another The Icarus' Wings Bargain relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Labrys weapon's aerial attack: this attack has the heir spin and deal damage all around themselves before landing and is better the more mobility you have; The Icarus' Wings Bargain's Flight allows you to stay airborne and keep the attack going ✔ Hephaestus' Hammer weapon: this weapon has a toggle attack that makes the heir spin and deal damage all around themselves at the cost of slower movement; The Icarus' Wings Bargain's Flight allows you to go airborne with a total freedom of movement ✔ Kasa-obake weapon: The Icarus' Wings Bargain can help for both of this weapon's attacks; the basic horizontal attack sends you forward, potentially into the enemy you're attacking but activating Flight during the attack will stop you short making it safer; the secondary attack which allows you to float down slowly until you touch the ground can be given total liberty of movement if Flight is activated while you use it ✔ Saber weapon: this weapon's air attack has one of the highest DPS in the game but can be tough to use as you have to jump constantly; The Icarus' Wings Bargain's Flight allows you to spam it safely ✔ Dance buff: this buff, gained by spin kicking enemies, increases your damage and is lost when landing; The Icarus' Wings Bargain's Flight allows you to keep it for a long time; sources of the buff includes Bard's passive and the Silk Slippers relic ❌ Other sources of increased damage taken: the way the extra damage taken is calculated is already bad enough, cumulating several sources can easily send you into dying-in-one-hit territory; includes the Vampirism and Limitless traits, The Serrated Handle's Bargain and Tattered Rope relics ❌ Corrupting Reagent relic: this relic activates on dashes and is a poor choice combined with The Icarus' Wings Bargain since dashing cancels Flight (which you'd then have to reactivate); moreover, running out of air dashes while flying means you'd have to land to reset them, making Flight less interesting ❌ Handheld Ballista and The Triangulator weapons: these two weapons can only be fired while standing on the ground; The Icarus' Wings Bargain's Flight would thus prevent from attacking until you turn it off and land making it a lot less useful ❌ Ivy Roots relic: this relic grants bonus damage to your attacks while you're on the ground making it useless while flying ❌ Marble Statue relic: this relic creates a shockwave everytime you land on the ground; The Icarus' Wings Bargain's Flight will make it a lot less useful ❌ Vault runes: double jumping becomes obsolete once you hold The Icarus' Wings Bargain since jumping gets you in and out of Flight making the rune weight used on Vault runes wasted
Strategies Pros & Cons	Two things determine whether this relic can be worth the risk for you: - whether your weapon greatly benefits from the flying as some of them become easier to use/deadlier - and whether you have trouble dodging stuff since the great mobility it grants makes avoiding dangers a lot easier, especially if you don't have many double jumps/dashes or if you have trouble using them efficiently. The extra damage taken can however reverse the situation quickly, especially if you have low armor, so extra care must be taken when holding this relic. ➕ Grants excellent mobility at a cheap price ➖ Big increase in damage taken
Notes	References the greek myth of Icarus and his escape from the Labyrinth using wings made of feathers and wax: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarus Started as a common relic that replaced your main jump by 3 double-jumps before being made into the Oath relic it is now. The first version of The Icarus' Wings Bargain added 100% extra damage instead of the current 75%.

THE SERRATED HANDLE'S BARGAIN

Deal and take 100% more damage.
"The pain only lasts for a short while."

OATH RELIC

Cost	15 (10)
Effect	As an Oath relic, this relic has both a strong positive effect, which is to add 100% to all of your attacks' bonus modifiers, and a strong negative one, which is to double all damage received. Note that the relic doubles the damage before armor deduction, meaning that, if you reach the armor block cap, the actual damage received can easily more than double. The damage boost affects all regular attacks: weapon, spin-kicks, talents, spells, but does not affect certain status effects (Burn, Poison) and Retaliation damage.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another The Serrated Handle's Bargain relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Coeus' Shell relic: this relic can completely negate incoming damage thus helping with The Serrated Handle's Bargain negative effect; this damage blocking effect recharges with kills, which The Serrated Handle's Bargain huge damage boost can greatly help with ❌
Strategies Pros & Cons	This risky relic is as strong as it is dangerous, and whether it is worth taking depends on your playstyle and skill level: if you prefer more damage to take out enemies as fast as possible rather than more safety, and if you're good enough at dodging enemy attacks, this relic is a great choice. If you find yourself taking a lot of damage already, and have trouble healing yourself, taking this relic will probably result in a faster death. ➕ Huge damage boost at a cheap price ➖ Huge increase in damage taken
Notes	***WORK IN PROGRESS***

VANGUARD'S BANNER

Dashing creates a wave that destroys Mid-sized Projectiles.
Waves travel 2 units.
Those in the forefront know what their lives are for.

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	Once you hold that relic, every time you dash you will send forward a wave that destroys mid-sized projectiles in its path. The wave is created at the start of your dash, will always move horizontally in the direction you're facing and can go through walls. It also damages and knocks back any enemy it hits for 100% INT as Magic Damage and can destroy trick walls and props. The wave travels for 2 units which is ≈ to twice the Greatsword's range or ≈ to the Katana's range.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy lengthen the wave's travel distance by 2 units (≈ to twice the Greatsword's range).
Synergies	✔ Corrupting Reagent relic: as an other relic activated by dashing, it's possible, by dashing around enemies, to attack them with both relics' effects ❌ ⚠️ Stygian Study (& Citadel Agartha/Pishon Dry Lake when using their burden) biome: these 2 biomes can contain mimics and/or painting enemies which can be accidentally woken up by Vanguard's Banner ⚠️ Pishon Dry Lake biome: take care around the Explosive Barrels found there as Vanguard's Banner can trigger them putting you in risky situations ⚠️ Breakables in all biomes: you can destroy them unintentionally by dashing next to them while holding this relic
Strategies Pros & Cons	The wave created by this relic is a cheap way to deal with the vast majority of projectiles, and while it does require that you dash first, which can be difficult to do safely in certain conditions, it comes with no cooldown or mana cost. How useful that is to you depends thus on whether your character has any other ways to deal with projectiles (weapon, talent, spell), and how easy to use they are. In addition to that, the wave is also a mid range magic attack that can go through walls which, while weak, can be used rapidly and allows you to attack enemies more safely. The only issues with it: - the wave travels horizontally which can make it difficult to use against projectiles coming from above or below - dashing to move faster while exploring can destroy breakables you might have wanted to save for later (or explosive barrels in Pishon) or wake up inactive enemies. ➕ A cheap and unlimited way to erase a lot of incoming projectiles ➖ Requirement to dash can be risky
Notes	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard

VOLTAIC CIRCLET

Hitting an enemy with your Weapon will generate a damage aura around you for 1.5 seconds.
Energy through friction.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	This relic activates every time you hurt an enemy with with your weapon, generating a damaging aura centered on your character for 1.5 seconds. The aura deals 6 ticks of 25% Magic Damage, can destroy all types of cursed projectiles and props, goes through walls, and can open trick walls. Its AoE's radius is the same as that of the Assassin's Dual Blades and XXX weapons. Note that the relic also activates when hitting enemies with a door opening (no matter what you used to open it). Also note that it doesn't trigger when hitting enemies that can't be hurt by weapon attacks which include enemies protected by a Shield Banner commander, invulnerable enemies (Tubal's summons, Vengeful commanders), orbs and resonant enemies.
Stacking	Max Stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 1.5 seconds to the aura's duration (ie 6 more ticks of damage).
Synergies	✔ All things increasing INT & FOC: INT determines Voltaic Circlet's aura's damage and FOC its bonus crit damage so any increase to these stats improve the relic's effect ✔ Short range weapons: these weapons force you to be close to your enemies as you attack them making Voltaic Circlet's aura able to reach them; includes the Dual Blades, the Labrys, the Boxing Gloves, the Frying Pan, the Saber, the Great Sword, the Fauchard, Charon's Scythe, Hephaestus' Hammer, the Dragon Fangs, the Kasa-obake ✔ Magic oriented and Balanced builds: because the damage it deals is Magic Damage, Voltaic Circlet will benefit magic oriented builds with more INT; and because it triggers on weapon attacks, hybrid builds with balanced STR and INT will deal decent damage both with their weapon and this relic's aura ✔ Boxer class: their passive allows them to walk through most enemies without taking contact damage; doing so while Voltaic Circlet's aura is up will ensure it hurts them more often (particularly useful against bosses) ✔ Flame Barrier spell: this spell generates fireballs orbiting around your character at a similar range as Voltaic Circlet's aura meaning you can combine the two to deal more damage at melee range ❌ Medium/Long range weapons: while this relic's aura can still be of use with these weapons (in particular to protect from cursed projectiles) being far from enemies as you attack them will likely reduce its usefulness; includes the Celestial Sceptre, the Lute, the Kinetic Revolver, the Wand of Blasting, the Cannon, the War Bow, the Katana, the Bag o' Spoons, the Electric Lute, the Enkindled Gauntlets, the Handheld Ballista, Crow Storm, the Triangulator ❌ Weapon oriented builds: because the damage it deals is Magic Damage, Voltaic Circlet will deal very little damage on STR-focused builds compared to their weapon attacks making it useful mostly as a cursed projectile protection ⚠️ All breakable props: the aura generated by Voltaic Circlet destroys props so care must be taken if you want to conserve them for later ⚠️ Stygian Study (& Citadel Agartha/Pishon Dry Lake when using their burden) biome: these biomes can contain mimics and/or painting enemies which can be accidentally woken up by Voltaic Circlet's aura ⚠️ Pishon Dry Lake biome: take care around the Explosive Barrels found there as Voltaic Circlet's aura can trigger them putting you in risky situations; it also makes it dangerous to attack while standing on the mushroom platforms as the aura will destroy them
Strategies Pros & Cons	Because of its melee range, this relic is most suited for a play style that spends a lot of time close to the enemies. It will help by dealing additional damage and killing enemies faster while providing protection from cursed projectiles. If you prefer to attack from a distance whenever possible, the fact that it protects from cursed projectiles while it's up might not be enough to make it worth the resolve spent. The fact that the aura it generates is circular means you can use it to hurt enemies above and below you (if your weapon can't reach them), including those behind walls. It can also helps against shielded enemies when attacking them with slower weapons. ➕ Deals additional damage in melee range ➕ Protects from cursed projectiles ➖ Scales off of INT & FOC ➖ Not worth the resolve on ranged characters
Notes	Voltaic is a term relating to electricity produced by chemical action in a battery as in the Voltaic Pile (the first electric battery): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voltaic_pile

WAR DRUM (changed in 1.1)

Every Unique Relic increases your damage by 4%.
A signal to the people to take arms. There will be no quarter for those who hide.

EPIC RELIC

Cost	45 (40)
Effect	For each unique relic held, not counting duplicates, War Drum adds 4% to all of your attacks' bonus modifiers (weapon, spin-kick, talent, spell & relics). To know what counts, look at the bottom left of your screen: each icon represents one unique relic. This includes, among others, War Drum itself, the free Blessings from the Curio shoppes, the broken versions of Hyperion's Ring, Skeleton Key and Aite's Sword, the Ancestral Soul received from the Kin equipment unity bonus 100, the Lilies of the Valley (each 3 counted separately), the two Pishon's Keys.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another War Drum relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ Blessings relics: received after swapping your weapon/talent/spell in a Curio Shoppe, not only do each one comes with its own effect, they increase War Drum's damage boost without needing to spend resolve ✔ Ancestral Soul relic: received for free when reaching the Kin equipment set's unity bonus 100, this relic boosts War Drum's effect even after it's consumed as it's then replaced by the Ancestral Dust relic ✔ Cursed relics: as long as you can deal with their dangerous effect, these relics (and the safe versions that replaces them if purified) count as a unique without costing resolve; particularly, Pandora's Trial actually grants additional resolve making it even easier to boost War Drum's effect ✔ Mammon's Bounty relic: this relic grants you 3 random relics and a bonus 30 resolve making easier to get many relics to boost War Drum's effect ✔ Tattered Rope relic: this relic grants 50 bonus resolve, allowing you to take more relics to boost War Drum's effect ✔ Lily of the Valley relic: these relics are cheap and all 3 of them are counted separately as unique relics which mean that you can greatly boost War Drum's effect for a low resolve cost ✔ Red Portal arenas: the reward for these rooms now always include a relic room giving you more opportunity to get more unique relics to boost War Drum's effect
Strategies Pros & Cons	War Drum has the potential to be one of the best damage increasing relic in the game. Even though it's expensive and does little by itself, it's possible, even with low resolve, to get a huge boost from it thanks to all the free/cheap relics in the game. It also applies to all attacks and is active at all time. One strategy to maximize its effect regards the Lilies of the Valley in Kerguelen: while only 2 are necessary to open access to the boss room, it's possible to collect all 3 as long as you do not trigger the door opening sequence. You also need to fight Estuary Naamah last as entering her fight removes the Lilies, decreasing War Drum's effect. ➕ Can potentially give a huge damage boost ➕ No requirement for the boost to be active ➖ Expensive and weak by itself
Notes	References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_drums War Drum has been re-balanced several times to be less overly powerful. It started by granting 5% bonus damage for every relics held including duplicates . It was changed after that to granting 7.5% bonus per unique. Both of these versions were also cheaper (Rare instead of Epic rarity). The last change occured in the 1.1 version (which made stacking relics even easier) when War Drum was finally made unstackable and its bonus per unique relic only 4%.

WEIGHTED ANKLET (buffed in 1.1)

Your Spin Kicks deal 60% more damage.
Beware the allure of gold. It is heavier than it looks.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	This relic adds 60% to the bonus modifier for your spin kicks.
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 60% to your spin kicks' bonus modifier.
Synergies	✔ Bard class: this class is built around spin kicks with their passive, Dance (grants bonus damage after spin kicking enemies and last as long as you stay airborne) and their weapon, the Lute (fires spin kickable notes) and will benefit a lot from Weighted Anklet's bonus damage ✔ Silk Slippers relic: this relic grants Dance which give you bonus damage after spin kicking enemies (bonus lost when landing) pairing well with Weighted Anklet's bonus ✔ Electric Lute weapon: this weapon recharges by spin kicking things, and the same action grants Charged which guarantess a skill crit making Weighted Anklet a good choice ✔ Kanganthropy trait: this trait gives you 150% more damage on your spin kicks (but always makes you bounce high); Weighted Anklet's bonus damage can make each of your spin kick even more impactful, reducing the trait's downside
Strategies Pros & Cons	A straightforward relic based on your playstyle: if you spin kick enemies a lot, either as a form of mobility or for the added damage, it's a great choice. If you use spin kicks more sparingly and mostly on props, it will be less useful and may not be worth the resolve. ➕ Gives spin kicks a lot more impact ➖ Only really useful if you spin kick enemies a lot
Notes	This relic was buffed multiple times: first released with only a 25% bonus, it got successively buffed to 40% and then 60% more spin kick damage as of the 1.1 patch.

WEIRD MUSHROOMS

Defeated enemies have Sporeburst applied to them.
Tastes like poison.

RARE RELIC

Cost	35 (30)
Effect	Every enemy that dies while you're holding this relic will now have SporeBurst applied to them, making them explode, dealing 200% INT as magic damage in a large AoE (radius = to XXXX's range). The explosion from SporeBurst is always a skill crit, and can open trick walls.
Stacking	Cannot be stacked. Finding another Weird Mushrooms relic while already holding one will replace it with the Empty Vessel relic.
Synergies	✔ All gear increasing INT and FOC: the explosion from SporeBurst is always a skill crit and is considered Magic Damage and thus benefits from more INT and FOC ❌
Strategies Pros & Cons	Because this relic's effect only applies to defeated enemies, it's useless against single targets, in particular most bosses. It can however prove extremely efficient at dealing with crowds thanks to the chain reaction potential. ➕ Especially useful in crowded rooms ➖ Useless against single targets
Notes	The relic's art resembles morels mushrooms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morchella

ZEALOT'S RING

Spells cast while at Max MP deal an additional 20% damage.
Power to the pious.

common relic

Cost	25 (20)
Effect	This relics adds 20% to the bonus modifier of any spell cast while at Max MP (or over in case of Overcharge ).
Stacking	Max stack: 5. Each additional copy adds 20% to your spell's bonus modifier if cast at Max MP.
Synergies	✔ Cosmic Insight relic: this relic grants the ability to Overcharge, ie to gain mana over your Max; any spells cast while over your Max MP also triggers Zealot's Ring's damage boost meaning you can benefit from it more often and more easily ✔ Crippling Intellect trait: this trait grants a quick MP regeneration meaning you can really easily be at Max MP to benefit from Zealot's Ring; be careful though, as it also lowers your Max MP and can prevent casting certain spells ✔ Flame Barrier spell: if you toggle this spell on while at Max MP, it will retain Zealot's Ring's bonus damage until it stops; characters that can keep this boosted Flame Barrier for a long time can thus make a great use of the relic's effect ✔ Blaze Bellow spell: if you start channeling this spell while at Max MP, it will retain Zealot's Ring's bonus damage until you stop; characters that can keep this boosted Blaze Bellow for a long time can thus make a great use of the relic's effect ✔ All things increasing mana gain: by increasing mana gain, they make it easier and faster to reach Max MP to then benefit from Zealot's Ring; includes Siphon runes, Leviathan equipment set Unity lv 20 & 50, Trick runes, and OCD trait ✔ Mage class' passive: it applies Mana Leech on weapon hits, making it great at recovering mana to meet this relic's Max MP requirement ❌ All things increasing MP capacity: while they give you more mana to cast spells with, they also make it harder to reach Max MP, making Zealot's Ring's effect harder to activate; includes Capacity runes, the Lotus Petal and Dreamcatcher relics, and Bookish trait
Strategies Pros & Cons	Straightforward relic. If you use spells often enough, and can cast them at Max MP easily, this relic will give you a great damage boost for a cheap resolve cost. If you cast spells too often though, this Max MP requirement can make it harder to activate the relic's effect. On the other hand, if you barely use spells, this relic's usefulness plummets. ➕ A great damage boost for your spells, at a cheap price ➖ Max MP requirement can restrict its usefulness
Notes	A zealot is a person who is extremely enthusiastic about something, especially religion.

Blessing of the Root rooms

These rooms offer you a choice between two health related effect. One will increase your max HP but will hurt you, while the other will heal you and replenish some of your mana.

BLESSING OF LIFE

Take damage
Increase Max HP
Offer a scarifice of blood and earn a Blessing from the Root

special: doesn't count as a relic

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	Increase your max HP by 15% of base max HP. Hurt you for 30% of your current max HP. The damage from the blessing can be blocked by the Coeus' Shell and Lotus Stem relics' effect. If the damage would kill you, it can also be blocked by the Grave Bell relic.
Stacking	One time Max HP increase. Note that while the amount of max HP gained stays the same no matter how many blessing you take, the amount of damage taken increases each time.
Synergies	✔ Cornucopia relic: increases healing by a % of Max HP, so higher max HP means more healing from this relic ✔ Lachesis' Measure relic: heals by a % of Max HP, so higher max HP means more healing from this relic ✔ Hypercoagulation trait: this trait make you lose max HP when hurt but gives you HP regen; the amount of max HP gained from a Blessing of Life will always be greater than the one lost from it, making it an insta-take as there's no need for the Nectar option ❌ Heirs stuck at 1 max hp: their max HP can never be increased, making Blessing of Life useless, and the damage taken, if not blocked, will kill you; 1 max hp reached through the Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, at least 100% less hp from a combo of other traits, or reaching 0% resolve ❌ Hero Complex trait: since you can never heal while affected by this trait, the max HP gained can never be used making the blessing useless
Strategies Pros & Cons	If you can heal the damage taken (or if you're lucky to be able to block it) this option is usually the superior one as more max HP mean better survivability and longer runs. Blessing of Life is particularly beneficial to characters with traits that lowers their max HP, as long as the malus do not reach 100%, because the increase is based on their max HP before the reduction from the trait. ➕ Increases Max HP ➖ Deals a lot of damage
Notes

CONSUME NECTAR

Restores health and mana
Consume the nectar to reinvigorate both the body and mind

special: doesn't count as a relic

Cost	0 (0)
Effect	Heals you for 500% INT and restores 100% of your mana..
Stacking	One time healing. No stacking.
Synergies	✔ <Gear increasing INT>: directly increases how much this option heals you for ✔ ❌ Hypercoagulation trait: the HP regen granted by this trait means the Nectar will only be useful to restore your mana, and is better left in favor of the Blessing of Life
Strategies Pros & Cons	Extremely useful in early game when healing is scarce, it becomes less useful as you progress in the game. In situations where healing isn't needed anymore, such as being stuck at 1 hp (Osteogenesis Imperfecta trait, or reaching 100% less HP from other traits or 0 Resolve) or the Hypercoagulation and Hero Complex trait, Nectar can still be useful for its ability to restore 100% of your mana. ➕ A good and reliable source of health and mana ➖ Becomes less useful than the Blessing of Life option as you progress
Notes

Notes and Credits

2021-12-03: finally done with the first phase of this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ guide! There's still a lot of work to be done but at least there's an entry for every relic in the game so far (ver. 0.7.1)

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Credits:
Guide content: Rhadamante
with help from: Vilks
and all the nice (and weird) folks in the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Discord (in no particular order): Fennor, Entoren, Salrane, TheSeaToad, Rainbow, Shotgun, Jeelore, Wangled_Teb, Braydon, Gnodab

[Rhadamante]

There are *a lot* of combo worth adding, especially with the most recent additions but I haven't been working on the guide as much as I'd have wanted.
Thanks for the sugestion, I added it.

[Bastion]

good work but there is a combo worth adding, perfectionist + LACHESIS' MEASURE, since you can only skill crit any kill will automatically heal you making the chance of survival much higher,

[John Helldiver]

Hey Rhadamante! Would you mind if I helped contribute to this with the new update out?

[Rhadamante]

Yeah, things change a lot and the spoon changed right after I made a pass to correct some things...
Once I complete everything with a bare minimum, I'm gonna ask for help to find all the little things like that, that I missed/forgot.

[E-Drago]

Quick note.
In the catalyst section you mentioned that the spoon applies Sporeburst, but it no longer does this.

[pensiveowl]

The Dream Catcher relic is a rare rarity relic that increases your max mana by 5 (up to 200 per copy) every kill when at max hp

[Rhadamante]

Ah thanks, I know he is a Titan in greek mythology but that's another layer of reference I didn't have. And thanks for the award !

[John Helldiver]

Also side note, the Coeus Shell is a reference to Coeus the Titan from Full Metal Furies
The tooltip for it "IOU" is also a reference to what Coeus says to the Furies before getting defeated.

[John Helldiver]

Dang Rhadamante!!! Great job, I will 100% be giving this an award, you deserve it!

[Rhadamante]

Sorry, I haven't been able to really update the guide much as I'm pretty busy. I did add all the relics as of 0.5.2 with their in-game description at least.