Valbrace Ultimate Guide - Maps, Spells, and More!

A classic throwback guide for Valbrace! Maps, Spells, Items, Secrets, Tips & Tricks, and more!

Introduction

1P, Adventure, RPG
"No knight has ever survived the journey into Gnothrok Keep. What makes you think you'll be any different?"

Well for one, you have this handy guide to help you along, dear player!

I grew up a child of the 80s; with the likes of Wizardry, Might and Magic, and other classic dungeon crawlers, so mix those with Punchout and I knew this game was right up my alley as soon as I saw it!

I thought it both fun and a blast from the past to create a nice guide for y'all - so please, enjoy!

Please note: SPOILERS yes, spoilers abound in this guide! I've provided a small "Spoiler Free Tips & Tricks" section if you're curious, but beyond that there are full floor-specific maps, tips, tricks, and walkthroughs, so be careful!

If you want to mainly explore on your own, bookmark this page (by favoriting it) then come on back later to check out the secrets, tips & tricks you might've missed, or how to beat the game & get the Cherry Cart!

Spoiler Free Tips & Tricks

VERY IMPORTANT - ABOUT SAVES

The game only saves when you arrive at a new floor, and also restores your game only at the beginning of said floor. You'll also lose ALL of your essence gained from fights, and your health, stamina, and mana will be reduced (in case you had it at full at the time).

Inventory & Items

Your inventory limit is pretty small, but you can drop items everywhere and they'll stay put. If you have a lot of useful items it may be appropriate for you to leave them lying around and make a note of where you left it.

Also note there's no way for you to go back to a previous floor, so make sure you've done everything you want to do there before leaving. Make sure you don't leave anything important behind!

Combat & Mechanics

Lots of experimentation, learning attack patterns, patience is key to surviving the attrition you'll experience on many of the floors. Most importantly, check out all of the controls in the main menu, and test them out during early battles (P.S. leave the game on the Title screen for a while to see the "Attract Mode" sneak peek at how the game plays out later on)

When fighting more than 1 enemy, try to divide and conquer! They'll bump into each other and prevent each other from getting in your face, so when you run out of stamina, keep only 1 enemy in front of you capable of attacking you. On that note, you can also still move while out of stamina, so you can still avoid a hit by the skin of your teeth if you're quick enough!

About the Turn Timer

If you're in a relatively safe place, you can just hold the primary button on the "Pass Turn(s)" menu option to slowly restore your mana without needing to move anywhere (i.e. having the "zoomies") Very handy in a pinch!

Be careful with certain interactable spots on the map, as every single interaction will pass a turn, and if there's an enemy chasing you, then they'll immediately engage in battle and it may cancel it out! Be sure to clear out the area first before interacting with something important.

Mapping & Discoveries

If you don't want to use this guide to help spell things out for you, then a pen & paper (or F12 screenshots) is actually super handy for referencing things you find in the game!

Spoilers from here on out; reader beware!

Floor 0 (Dungeon)

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Enemies Encountered:

Slime, Rat, and Mimic

Additional Tips & Tricks:

Super simple tutorial-y stage to get your feet wet with Valbrace! Take your time and get used to the main mechanics before things start getting spicy later on.

Block: hold down to block incoming attacks at the expense of your stamina. Your stamina will slowly recover while you remain blocked. If you use it too much for a single battle, your shield may reach it's limit and no longer be usable for the rest of the fight!

Attack: use your primary key to execute combo attacks and punish your enemies when they're exposed. Some weapons later on can pierce and have the range to attack the back row, so keep an eye out for those! Just like a bunch of old school games, a turbo button for Attack does actually help you here quite a bit, so feel free to make use of it!

Dodge: hold down very briefly, then roll left or right (note that the timing for this is very short, so practice a little bit to get used to it)

Cast Spell: hold down your secondary key to attempt to cast a spell in OR out of combat. In combat, this will pause the fight briefly, so take full advantage of it when you see the enemy winding up a huge attack! The higher your WIS (wisdom) stat, the longer you'll have to fully cast a spell.

About the torches: in general, extinguishing torches seems to make the game more difficult, and lighting the torches makes the game easier, so keep that in mind from here on out. They can reward you with bonus loot(!) or a head start on getting past some difficult fights.

About the spikes: they retract and extend every 2 turns, so if you leverage the "Pass Turn" option when opening your menu, you can plan it out so that you always have the right timing before traversing a tricky setup!

Floor 1 (Dungeon)

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Enemies Encountered:

Slime, Rat, Orc, Mimic, and Crone

Spells Found:

Map, Gate, Minor Heal, and Pierce

Additional Tips & Tricks:

On the first "real" floor of the dungeon, you'll now encounter inscriptions for Spells etched on various walls, which you'll either need to remember, write down yourself, or consult my handy dandy cheat sheet down below!

This floor has consistent encounters with another enemy that can block your attacks: the Orc! Same as the Mimic on the previous floor, you can dodge and counter, block and counter, or hit them right before they hit you (this also exposes them to attack).

My favorite strategy for dealing with this (and many other enemies on later floors) is to walk into their attack range from afar to bait a swing, then punish with a counter attack immediately. This counter attack during a swing will stun them for longer, allowing you to get more hits in!



This floor will be your first encounter with the Crone (basically acts like a shop). Note: you can attempt to steal something, you will *always* be caught! Afterwards you'll have to fight the Crone! For certain items this is absolutely worth it, if you think you can win the fight.



The Crone's inventory will be fixed for this floor, but future floors will have a random selection to choose from when you visit the Crone's shop once again. Use this to your advantage to snag a Lion Shield super early!

You will also encounter another friendly down here called the Red Knight, with quest of sorts. If you speak with him 3 times, he'll say:
"Hail, stranger! You too plumb these depths in search of glory?"
"I have no quarrel with you. Only with the vile lord of this place."
"I seek a weapon hidden in the shadows of a pillar filled room."



You also have the option to give him random items, which is extremely useful for getting rid of items that the Crone will not give you any gems for trying to sell. After you give him something, he'll say:
"Gracious stranger, your kindness will not be forgot!"

After a certain amount of items given, the Red Knight will say:
"Generous stranger, I shall repay your kindness: take this!"
and give you a random item, 5 gems, or (if you're very lucky) increase your maximum health(!!) and inventory capacity(!!!)

Note: there does NOT appear to be an upper limit to this, so you can farm away to your heart's content to have a better chance of surviving the later floors.



If you try to fight the Red Knight, he'll simply teleport away and say:
"I'll not fight you, stranger. My quarrel is not with you."
He'll be gone for the rest of the game, including all his secrets, so be careful!

This is also the first opportunity to encounter a Throne which allows you to trade essence (basically experience points) for stat upgrades to customize your character.



STR (Strength) increases your physical damage, stamina recovery rate, and reduces stamina consumption for swinging your weapon.
CON (Constitution) increases max stamina for every stat point, and your max health every 3 stat points.
WIS (Wisdom) increases your max mana, spell damage, and time to cast spells.

Don't miss out on any Thrones if you can help it! The stats you gain help immensely for the fights ahead. There is exactly one Throne on every single floor from here on out.

The boulder trap in the upper left corner of the map can be used to fill in the chasm, allowing you to cross and grab the chest on the other side.

Floor 2 (Dungeon)

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Enemies Encountered:

Slime, Rat, Orc, Mimic, Lizard, Skeleton, Crone, and the Phantom Knight (Boss)

Spells Found:

Spark, Whirlwind, Invisible, and Slow

Additional Tips & Tricks:

Much tougher enemies from here on, as well as mostly randomized loot, so hopefully you'll be able to find some good weapons, armor, and items to help you on your dungeon crawl! Block, dodge, and experiment with casting spells to give yourself the best advantage for the challenges ahead!

This floor will have Gem Puzzles on various walls. If you solve them you'll get 4 to 8 gems for use at the Crone's shop! You can solve the puzzle by making sure no 2 gems of the same type are touching side-by-side, like so:



There's a room in the middle of the map that has a statue and pillars that you can use a menu command on: Search Room. If you spoke to the Red Knight in the previous floor, this was the room he was talking about! Keep searching the room until you can no longer search it. You'll get into fights and get some random loot, but eventually you will find a Zweihander, the weapon the Red Knight is looking for! This will trigger 1 of the 4 secrets for Valbrace!



This floor has a boss called the Phantom Knight at the end, so I highly recommend leveling up at the Throne and preparing as best as you can before you tackle it! Make ample usage of the Pierce (↑↑↑) spell to get some good hits in without waiting for him to be exposed, and also practice the dodge move with some plain enemies beforehand.



Another strategy if you just wanna opt out of dodge: when you see the Phantom Knight charging his powerful slashing attack (flashing yellow), you can start casting the spell for Invisible (↓→↓→↓→↑↑); he won't be able to hit you, and you'll be able to attack freely without getting blocked!

Still can't beat him? Just use the Invisible (↓→↓→↓→↑↑) spell outside of combat, and walk right past him!

A hidden secret I've found based on hints given by the Red Knight, if you've been lighting all the torches thus far with the Spark spell, you'll get a head start on damage done to the Phantom Knight:



And on the flip side, if you instead extinguish as many torches as you can, making things more difficult, you will get the (arguably) best shield in the game after defeating the boss: the Phantom Shield!

Floor 3 (Hive)

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Enemies Encountered:

Lizard, Egg, Larva, Formid, Spore, Mimic, and Crone

Spells Found:

Major Heal, Ice Block, and Fly

Additional Tips & Tricks:

The first new "biome" of sorts for the keep. The major new mechanic on these floors is the Poison status effect, as well as floor hazards in the form of Slime that also poisons you! Note that the switches that "shift slime around" affect the ENTIRE stage and swap between two groups: "Slime Group A" and "Slime Group B". See the map for full details!

There are still hidden gate doors down here, but they're much harder to see than they were in the previous floors. See below for what the Hive hidden door walls look like:



Enemies here will also drop a one use item (the Formid Head) that will allow you to teleport around a 16x16 grid (same as the Map spell) if you've already explored the space. Extremely helpful if the poison or the chasms get in your way, and you need to zip around fast.

If you want to avoid the poison and chasms without dealing with all the switches, make ample use of the new spell Fly (→→↑→↓↓←↓) that is found on this floor!



The Red Knight is here on this floor too; speak with him 3 times to have him say:
"You again! I am pleased to see you still live!"
"Be careful here. I've seen others about who thrive in shadow."
"Stay safe, friend. Who knows what dangers lie further below!"

If you give him the Zweihander that you found on the previous floor (in the pillar room) it will unlock another one of the 4 secrets for Valbrace, and he'll say:
"Ah, this is indeed the blade I sought! You are a true ally!"
"Take this coin, a token of our friendship!"
The Red Knight gives you a Red Coin!



Note: this is optional, as he'll still show up on a later floor. You can keep (and equip) the Zweihander in the meantime (if you meet the STR requirements).

If you have the Red Coin in hand, either on this floor, or later when you meet the Red Knight once again, the 3rd and 4th secrets are now possible! Find a fountain that grants healing (a Font of Wellness), NOT poison (a Font of Illness), and "Use" the Red Coin on it. This counts as another one of the 4 secrets for Valbrace! You'll then throw the coin in, and be given 3 options:



If you choose "Transformation", you'll lose 2 from each stat, and gain the ability to allocate 7 points (net gain of 1 stat). If you choose "Treasure", you'll get 20 gems, a random item, and a random weapon:



Finally, if you choose "Honor", you'll get no immediate reward, but "You feel lighter, and more focused in your purpose." Head back to the Red Knight and speak with him again. Here's what he'll say:

"Such honor you embody! I had sought to depose the fell lord of this place, but I see now that destiny is yours."

He will then give you the Red Star Sword(!!!) Be very careful not to have a full inventory, or you will not get the sword, nor will you get another chance! This is the last one of the 4 secrets for Valbrace! You'll also need to beat the final boss with THIS sword to fulfill the Cherry requirements.



If you're curious about what happens when you "Use" the Red Coin on a poison fountain instead of a healing one, you'll get these options:

• Poisoned Transformation: "Pain runs through you and your body twists!" Lose 2 in each stat point, then gain 3 stat points to allocate (a net loss of 3)
  
• Poisoned Treasure: "Greedy fool! You deserve nothing - so nothing you'll have!"
  
• Poisoned Honor: "Honor? Pah! A dream for the weak. You need no honor."

Consult the map, or drink from the fountain first before using the Red Coin to avoid some bad outcomes!

Giving the Red Knight more items here on this floor: he gave several potions, some gems, increased max health (!!) and increased inventory capacity(!!!), so it's highly recommended to dump your extra (and cheap) items on him instead of selling them to the Crone!



If you take his advice about "others who thrive in shadow" and start lighting messing with the fungus torches, be warned that choosing the option to "poke fungus" (activating the light source) will drain all of your stamina! Extinguishing them on the other hand, should be safe to do.

Floor 4 (Hive)

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Enemies Encountered:

Lizard, Egg, Larva, Formid, Spore, Mimic, Crone, and the Queen (Boss)

Spells Found:

Fireball, Haste, and Lightning Storm

Additional Tips & Tricks:

Similar to the special pillar room on floor 2, there's another special room here called the "Hive Room". If you keep searching until you exhaust all the search options, you'll find an Insect Egg which eventually turns into a Combat Larva, which then also eventually turns into a Combat Bug! (see Items section for more details about each)



The Queen (Boss) at the end of the floor can be pretty tough, but quite winnable if you're careful. You'll need to contend with constant adds (additional enemies spawning in) as well as attacks from her claws on both her left and right side.



You'll notice over on the right side of the screen that the left and right arms have health bars, which is a huge clue about how to defeat her! In order for the Queen proper to be vulnerable, you'll need to destroy both her right and left arms, respectively. Same as enemies prior to this, either block or dodge, then punish them immediately after they are exposed. You can also leverage the Pierce (↑↑↑) spell, or anything else that bypasses enemy blocking.

For your efforts, you'll also receive a unique Fungal Cloak piece of armor, which is a guaranteed drop!

P.S. If you can't beat the Queen on this floor, you can just use the spell Invisibility (↓→↓→↓→↑↑) and walk right on through!

Floor 5 (Star Castle)

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Enemies Encountered:

Lizard, Naga, Doll, Jester, Skeleton, Rat, and Crone

Spells Found:

Silence and Double

Additional Tips & Tricks:

Now things are getting serious! You'll start encountering regular enemies like the Naga that have un-blockable attacks, as well as attacking in significantly greater numbers, and more dangerous combinations.

Try saving some mana for Lightning Storm (←→↑←←↑→→) OR Ice Block (↑↑↑→→↓↓←←) in case you run into large packs of enemies and can't risk taking any more damage.

Be exceptionally wary of the packs of enemies that have 2 Skeletons and 2 Nagas. One strategy I've found quite reliable for these: use the spell Pierce (↑↑↑) to bypass block in both rows, then use a piercing weapon that hits the back row (like the Partisan or the Zweihander) to stun lock and kill both of them at the same time!

Unlike the Poison status on the last floor, the Burn status here will also deplete your health over time, but it will kill you instead of leaving you at 1 health! Be wary of traversing the lava pits without ample healing or the Fly (→→↑→↓↓←↓) spell handy.

The Red Knight can also be found on this floor. He's still quite happy to accept most of your items in exchange for things like inventory capacity upgrades here too:



Just like on floor 3, you can still get the Red Star Sword here:



If you try to turn on/off the lanterns by using the action "reach into light", it'll drain 30 essence to turn one on, and give you 10 essence for turning one off.

Floor 6 (Star Castle)

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Enemies Encountered:

Lizard, Naga, Doll, Jester, Skeleton, Rat, Hand, Crone, Abyss Lord (boss)

Additional Tips & Tricks:

The final floor! You will encounter all the same enemy types as on floor 5, but with one new enemy type, the Hand.

The first obvious hidden door you can use the Gate (→↓↓↓) spell on here is bait! You'll die instantly, so don't "fall" for it, especially after you've explored for a while!

The final Throne is available here, as a different color and for 0 essence (for some reason); so max out your stats while you can!

There is a special room here that you can search similar to floors 2 and 4, however, you will only get random loot and fight random battles this time, instead of a unique weapon or item at the end.



The objective this time is to find 3 unique key items: the Ruby, the Emerald, and the Sapphire, and to place them into the pillar in the unique room in the middle. As soon as you've braved the wilds of floor 6 and come out on top (with the gems), you'll be ready for the final fight!



He looks intimidating, but if you've come aptly prepared, you should be able to triumph on your first attempt! Each gem grants it's own abilities to the Abyss Lord (like summoning unique enemies for the Sapphire) and can eventually be destroyed if you can reach it with ranged damage, or melee when they come closer to the ground.

If you've beaten the game regularly, you'll get the "bad ending"; and if you've brought the Red Star Sword for the final fight, you'll get the "good ending" and a Cherry cart for your troubles! For the sake of avoiding spoilers (despite all the guide shenanigans) I'll leave it to you to discover them for yourself!

Full Video Walkthrough

Still having trouble? Check out this full casual walkthrough of Valbrace with the requirements fulfilled for a Cherry Cart!

Hopefully there is a technique or two not explicitly covered in the guide above that will help you accomplish your goals.

Enable subtitles/closed captions for the full contextual play-by-play!

Inaccessible Changes after v1.4.0

The v1.4.0 patch for UFO 50 removed the ability to get a second Red Coin:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1147860/eventcomments/4700161870965905639

Before that patch, you used to be able to get a Red Coin from the Red Knight on Floor 3 from giving him the Zweihander, then get another on Floor 5/6 for being friendly with him.

Then, when you threw the 2nd Red Coin in a fountain with the Zweihander in your inventory, there was a secret 4th option "...FOR TRUTH" that turned your Zweihander into the Red Star Sword directly.



You could also take advantage of the 2 Red Coins to get both the Zweihander and the Red Star Sword!



Another secret trigger was that wishing "...FOR TRUTH" after throwing the Red Coin in a Poison fountain (instead of Healing) would give you the False Star Sword, with greatly reduced stats.



If you still have a SAVED GAME from before v1.4.0 with 2 Red Coins, then all of this will still work! If you have started a NEW GAME after that point, then you're unfortunately out of luck! (unless they change it again)

Weapons, Armor, Shields, & Items

Weapons

• Dagger: Your starting weapon!
  
• Rapier (3 STR required): Attacks very quickly, and is capable of stun-locking enemies with good damage. Sells for 2 gems.
  
• Club (5 STR required): Has a chance to stun. Sells for 2 gems.
  
• Orcish Club (5 STR required, Can drop from Orc): Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Longsword (6 STR required): Attacks a bit slower but good damage. Sells for 4 gems.
  
• Mace (8 STR required): Has a chance to stun. Sells for 7 gems.
  
• Partisan (8 STR required): Has the ability to attack the back row. Sells for 7 gems.
  
• Claymore (8 STR required): Deals good damage in wide sweeps. Sells for 7 gems.
  
• Warhammer (10 STR required): Deals good damage and has a chance to stun. Sells for 9 gems.
  
• Battle-Axe (12 STR required): Deals great damage in wide sweeps. Sells for 10 gems.
  
• Zweihander (15 STR required): Has the ability to attack the back row. Very strong weapon, but also a quest item for the Red Knight. Sells for 10 gems.
  
• Red Star Sword (5 STR required): Required for Cherry completion! Weaker than the high STR weapons, but makes up for it in other ways. Has a charge attack (hold attack button) that pierces blocking just like the Naga's Bracers. Shoots a magic projectile at (or near) full health that can hit flying enemies, but drains your mana. Sells for 14 gems.

Armor

• Loincloth: Your starting armor!
  
• Clothes: Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Hooded Cloak: Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Leather Armor: Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Gambeson: Sells for 2 gems.
  
• Bronze Plate: Slower movement than light armor. Sells for 4 gems.
  
• Iron Plate: Slower movement than light armor. Sells for 6 gems.
  
• Steel Plate: Slower movement than light armor. Sells for 7 gems.
  
• Fungal Cloak (Drops from Queen): Releases spores when you get attacked, dealing a small amount of damage back to the enemy (if they're not immune to poison). Also you will restore about 75% of your lost health after expending stamina after getting hit! Sells for 1 gem.

Shields

• Wooden Buckler: Your starting shield! Reaches limit quickly (can't be used anymore for a fight if blocking too much)
  
• Wooden Shield: Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Lion Shield: Sells for 3 gems. One is guaranteed to be in the Crone's Shop on Floor 1.
  
• Dragon Shield: Sells for 9 gems.
  
• Lizard's Bracers (Can drop from Lizard): Can't block! Increases movement speed and poisons enemies with successful attacks. Sells for 2 gems.
  
• Naga's Bracers (Can drop from Naga): Can't block! Increases movement speed and has a charge attack (hold attack button) that pierces blocking just like the Naga enemies have.
  
• Phantom Shield (From Phantom Knight): Only drops from the Phantom Knight boss when all torches are extinguished. Restores mana on a successful block. Sells for 11 gems.

Items - Potions

• Red Potion: Restores a large amount of health. Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Black Potion: Temporarily grants physical attack power.
  
• Blue Potion: Restores stamina and mana.
  
• Green Potion: Grants "haste" making you much faster for a short time.
  
• Yellow Potion: Grants "reflex" stunning all enemies for a short time in your next fight.
  
• Grey Potion: Grants "sturdy" making your shield stronger for a short time. Sells for 1 gem.

Items - Enemy Drops

• Slime Skull (Can drop from Slime): Throwable at the start of a battle, stuns enemies and bounces around.
  
• Rat Heart (Can drop from Rat): Restores a small amount of health.
  
• Orc Tusk (Can drop from Orc): Deals damage to an enemy at the start of a fight (scales with STR) Sells for 2 gems.
  
• Hard Skull (Can drop from Skeleton): Same as Slime Skull but lasts longer.
  
• Bone (drops from Skeleton): Scares away nearby enemies when used out of combat.
  
• Formid Head (Can drop from Formid): Allows you to teleport to an explored space in a 16x16 grid. Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Poison Sac (Can drop from Lizard): Poisons an enemy on the start of a fight. Sells for 1 gem.
  
• Bouncy Ball (Can drop from Jester): Bounces around like the Slime Skull and hits enemies, but can be hit continuously and lasts the entire battle. Sells for 1 gem.

Items - Special

• Red Coin: Given by Red Knight after giving him the Zweihander found in the pillar room from floor 2. It can be used infinite times and will result in "Heads" or "Tails". "Heads" will cause a positive effect (restore health/mana, etc.), and "Tails" will cause a negative effect (poison, etc.)! Can be thrown into Fonts of Wellness/Illness for various effects, which will consume the coin completely.
  
  
• Insect Egg: Leave it in your inventory for a while, and eventually it'll hatch into a Combat Larva! Sells for 1 gem, if you are so inclined.
  
  
• Combat Larva: Joins you in multiple battles and bounces around like the Slime Skull, stunning and damaging enemies! Eventually it will turn into a Combat Bug. Also sells for 1 gem.
  
  
• Combat Bug: Fights in your place if you have it equipped! Has it's own health bar that regenerates between fights, and can be dismissed with the same button you use for casting spells. Can die and be lost for the rest of your run! If you've had it fight for you for a long time, it can also go feral and attack you! Sells for 1 gem.

Enemies

Slime

Details: Has a blockable basic attack. Can't block. Can drop a Slime Skull.

Rat

Details: Flying enemy! Has a blockable basic attack that exposes them to melee damage. Can drop a Rat Heart.

Mimic

Details: Throws rocks at a distance, but are blockable! Immune to poison. Drops specific or random loot, same as the non-Mimic regular chests.

Strategy: Move just far enough for them to wind up their ranged attack, then quickly swoop in and punish them.

Orc

Details: Has a blockable basic attack, but consumes a lot of your stamina. Can drop an Orc Tusk and an Orcish Club.

Strategy: You can somewhat easily bait them into exposing themselves by walking into their range from afar, then counter attacking immediately! This will stun them for longer.

Crone

Details: Flying enemy! Has a blockable basic attack, shoots fireballs, and casts lightning! Worth 150 essence.

Phantom Knight (Boss)

Details: Flying enemy! Has a blockable basic attack, a blockable charge attack (flashes yellow & consumes a lot of stamina if blocked) that strikes more times depending on how low his health is, and can throw his shield at you! Health is halved on fight start if torches are lit. Drops a guaranteed Phantom Shield if torches are extinguished.

Lizard

Details: Has a blockable basic attack, and a poison attack that drains your stamina if you stay in the cloud! Can drop a Poison Sac and Lizard's Bracers.

Strategy: They always alternate between their two attacks, so you can plan ahead if you're paying close attention.

Egg

Details: Hatches into a Larva if left alone for too long.

Larva

Details: Has a blockable basic attack, but attacks endlessly. Can't block.

Formid

Details: Has a blockable basic attack. Attacks you immediately if you run out of stamina, so be careful! Can drop a Formid Head.

Spore

Details: Flying enemy! Can throw blockable & dodgable spiked spores at you. Can also use a move that heals other enemies (including from the back row), so try to take out the others quick, or attack this enemy first. Immune to poison.

Brood Queen (Boss)

Details: Attacks with a blockable poison spit ranged attack. Comes with multiple enemies, and has 2 claws with basic attacks that you must destroy before the Queen is vulnerable. Drops a Fungal Cloak.

Skeleton

Details: Has a blockable basic attack, but very large attack radius. Can drop a Hard Skull and a Bone. Immune to poison.

Naga

Details: Has a blockable basic attack, but also an un-blockable charge attack! Can drop Naga's Bracers.

Strategy: They always alternate between their two attacks, so you can plan ahead if you're paying close attention.

Doll

Details: Can't block. Has a blockable ranged attack. Can be summoned by a Jester. Immune to poison.

Jester

Details: Has a blockable basic ranged attack. Has the ability to summon additional Dolls into a fight! Can drop a Bouncy Ball.

Strategy: I recommend using the Pierce (↑↑↑) spell or piercing charge attacks (Naga's Bracers/Red Star Sword) to bypass their block, otherwise you'll need to bait them into using their ranged attack from afar then punish them quickly.

Silver Formid

Details: Moves significantly faster and has better stats than the regular Formid. Has a basic blockable attack AND a ranged poison spit attack. Can only be encountered after you've used the Combat Bug for a while. Immune to poison.

Hand

Details: Erratic movement, and has multiple attacks including dropping rocks from the ceiling and a ranged attack that can both be blocked. Immune to poison and burning.

Strategy: I recommend using the Pierce (↑↑↑) spell or piercing charge attacks (Naga's Bracers/Red Star Sword) to bypass their block, otherwise you'll need to bait them into using their attacks to expose and counter them.

Abyss Lord (Boss)

Details: Starts with 3 gems that give different abilities. Has 3 different phases. Immune to poison, burning, and freezing.

Spells

Note: There is no restriction on which spells you can use, as you "learn" them by finding the right patterns throughout each floor. If you have the patience (and mana) to experiment, you can discover them much earlier too! You can use this to your advantage to cast spells much earlier than you would have normally learned them - very useful for a new game.

The higher your WIS (wisdom) stat is, the more time you'll have to cast the more complicated spell patterns, as well as the mana to cast them.

The patterns can be created in any way you choose (see spell images), but I've also provided a shortcut with arrows too (→←↑↓) for the most common way I normally cast each spell, if you're so inclined!

Floor 1 Spells

• Map (↑↓→): Display a 16x16 map centered around the player.
  
• Gate (→↓↓↓): Turn walls with hidden door outline into real door passage.
  
• Minor Heal (→↑←↑↑): Heals a small amount of health.
  
• Pierce (↑↑↑): Deal minor damage, bypass shields, and stun the enemy for a brief moment. Extremely useful for shielded enemies! Also hits enemies in the back row.

Floor 2 Spells

• Whirlwind (↑←↑→→↓↓): When used outside of combat, sweeps away enemies directly in a line in front of you.
  
• Spark (↑→↓←): When used in combat, slows and damages enemies directly in front of you. When used outside of combat, it will light torches in the Dungeon floors.
  
• Invisible (↓→↓→↓→↑↑): When used outside of combat, you will disappear from sight and you can pass directly through enemies, including bosses! When used in combat, you can strike enemies without them blocking your attacks (they can't block what they can't see) Lasts longer depending on your WIS stat.
  
• Slow (↑↑↓→): When used in combat, slows ALL enemies in front of you.

Floor 3 Spells

• Major Heal (→→↓←←←↓↓): Heals a large amount of health.
  
• Ice Block (↑↑↑→→↓↓←←): Freeze & stun enemies, allowing you to attack them freely.
  
• Fly (→→↑→↓↓←↓): Allows you to bypass chasms, poison, and other hazards! Be careful, if it runs out while you're over a chasm, you will fall and die! Lasts about 10 turns regardless of your WIS stat.

Floor 4 Spells

• Fireball (↑→↓→↓←↓←↑↑): Can be cast out of combat, pre-emptively burning (causes damage over time) and dealing damage to enemies in front of you. In combat, it does the same thing, but only hitting enemies directly in front of you.
  
• Haste (→→←↑): Dramatically increases your move speed in combat.
  
• Lightning Storm (←→↑←←↑→→): Deals significant damage to all enemies on screen (very useful when attacked by 4-5 enemies at once)

Floor 5 Spells

• Silence (↑→→↓←↓←↑): Silences enemies, preventing them from casting spells.
  
• Double (↑↑→→↓←←←←): Creates a clone of your character that also attacks in combat.

Hidden/Experiment Only Spells

• Shield (↑←↓↓→): Covers your body in a shield, absorbing attacks until it breaks or until it fades over time. Capable of protecting you even from un-blockable attacks!

All Spells Cheat Sheet

Gift, Gold, & Cherry Requirements

For the Garden gift:
OBTAIN 8 IN ANY STAT (STR, CON, WIS)
You can easily get this on floor 1 with a single throne, by using all 3 points for a single stat (STR, CON, or WIS)

For the Gold cart:
DEFEAT THE ABYSS LORD AND ESCAPE GNOTHROK KEEP

For the Cherry cart:
DEFEAT THE ABYSS LORD WITH THE RED STAR SWORD
Missable! Check out the details in the guide above to make sure you don't miss out on the Red Star Sword on your playthrough.

Terminal Codes

• DUNS - Shortcode for Valbrace, combine with commands like HELP to make and enter the string HELP-DUNS (lists a bunch of possible commands)
  
• BUGG-BODY - Start a new game of Valbrace as the Combat Bug (same as the item) permanently, and with saves disabled
  
• 4RCH-M4GE - Start a new game of Valbrace with a 0 STR, 5 CON, 15 WIS, no shield, a hooded cloak, and with saves disabled

Easter Eggs

About a Meta Secret: if you turn around right as you start on Floor 0 and cast the spell Pierce (↑↑↑) on the wall, it will say "IN THIS MOMENT, YOU COULD REALLY USE A WINSTON SHIELD."

Soundtrack

1. Valbrace - Intro[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]
   
2. Valbrace - Dungeon[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]
   
3. Valbrace - Throne[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]
   
4. Valbrace - Hive[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]
   
5. Valbrace - Star Castle[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]
   
6. Valbrace - Boss[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]
   
7. Valbrace - Ending[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]
   
8. Valbrace - Game Over[phlogiston.bandcamp.com]

Outro

Currently in the finishing touches stages of the guide! Probably won't update it too much after this, unless more things are discovered or I get OCD about some more details.

Major credits for additional details, guidance, and information in this guide:
Supreme thanks to the developers! Also thanks to Delta, CG65, Calla, Ottfried, Rascyc, Flub Zero, and razerblazer03 for the extra tips! Y'all rock!

Spot anything I missed or found something you would like to add? Add a comment and I'll look into it when I get the chance!

Want more? Then please check out my other:

• Guides
  
• Mods
  
• Games[llamakazi.itch.io]
  
• Videos

Please do not copy without my permission! If you'd like to support my work by buying me a coffee I'd greatly appreciate it! https://ko-fi.com/llamakazi

Also if you can, please help out with this guide's overall visibility by clicking the real versions of these buttons up top - many thanks y'all!

[Llamakazi]

@P4wn4g3

@PONY
Took me a while, but fixed; thanks for letting me know!

[PONY]

There is a treasure chest here, but it is not marked on the map. Also, thank you very much for your guide, it has been very helpful to me.
https://i.imgur.com/eS0jd4U.png

[P4wn4g3]

Ok that explains why my images were fine.

[Llamakazi]

@P4wn4g3
Aye I've seen it an additional time ages ago when I was working on some other Steam Community stuff; it affected probably 50%-ish of all images uploaded after a certain date/time. I've seen bits of it online but not much; nor does it seem to be a solved problem unfortunately!

Example of one place I've seen it reported:
https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/3877095833486424258/

It seems to happen during Steam's Tuesday maintenance, which very likely means there's a bug that Valve has to fix on their end with their cloud sync.

In this recent one, 2 of my mods for Warhammer 3 lost images that were uploaded after September 1st, 2024, and all of my Guides created after that date lost images too.

[P4wn4g3]

How did you learn of this? I've seen it affect multiple guides but I haven't seen any discussion on the forums about it. Seems like it would be a kinda big deal.

[Llamakazi]

Sorry for the inconvenience y'all! Steam deleted images EVERYWHERE (other guides, mods, etc.) it seems. Likely a snafu with wherever they store their images (cloud issue/backups)

I've just re-uploaded them again to solve it for now.

[zenflight]

I'd love to have the maps back. I found a couple online but I can't find maps for the later floors anywhere.

[P4wn4g3]

Help, your maps disappeared from the guide!

[CG65]

I can’t believe that I found that.

[Llamakazi]

@Sanny
Glad to hear this guide helped you out! Thanks for the kind words