Secrets and Sanctuary

A guide to all things secret in Salt and Sanctuary.

Forword

Salt and Sanctuary, a game produced by Ska Studios, creators of the Dishwasher series and Charlie Murder, is much like its inspiration, Dark Souls. From story to gameplay, this game oozes with affection and homages to the series that helped create it, making it feel like a game FROM software would of made.

Like them, the developers have an awfully large propensity for cleverly hidden secrets. While experimentation and time will give that obscure knowledge, do you want to spend hours upon hours digging it up yourself? No? Well, this guide for you! I'll go into detail about all the little secret in S&S, from what up with the weapons, to places you might have not known existed!

Fair warning before I start: this guide asumes you have at least beaten the game once, so their will be unmarked spoilers. Minor ones, really, but spoilers none of the less.

With that out of the way, let us get cracking!

Hidden Weapon Attributes

Like its inspiration, S&S has a diverse selection of weapons to rip and tear enemies into gory paste. From the much beloved Greatswords and Greathammers, to the under appreciated Daggers, there is a weapon out there that will suit your purposes.

Amoung these instruments of pain, several of them have additional damage modifiers that add more complexity them, such as poison or magic scaled damage. Most would think that is the extent of these qualities, but the developers have squirled away many attributes that are not mentioned or shown in the weapon text. This adds even more nuance to the weapons, and makes choosing one not as cut and dry as some may like.

If you have wondering why your weapon has been acting quirky, this section is for you!

Fast Hitter

Items that give this trait: Mossy Charm

As the name suggests, Fast Hitter is an attribute that makes a weapon attack faster than other weapons of its category. Given how DPS can scale the difficulty of the game up or down, a weapon with this quality can make some parts of the game a cakewalk. Because of this, not a whole lot of weapons have this quality, with half of the weapons that do being low rank, and the other half of the selection not being avaliable until late game. Don't despair, though, since the Mossy Charm, a charm you can get as soon as the Watching Woods, perfectly emulates the effect. If you really want speed, you can even pair it up with weapons that have Fast Hitter to make them attack even faster! Become a whirlwind of death and destruction!

Weapons that have Fast Hitter: Carsair's Backsword, Tachi, Flint and Steel, Iron Pot, Scharfrichter, Trinity Greatsword, Trinity Spector

Slow Hitter

Items that give this trait: None

As there is a light side to the dark side, so too does Fast Hitter have Slow Hitter. Weapons with this attribute have notably slower attack speed compared to there contempories (unfortunately), with axes and hammers being inudated with this flaw. Why would you use weapon with this awful drawback? Two reason: These weapon typically have high raw damage to compensate, and most of them have an extra hidden attribute that helps make up for its deficienty (more on those later). However, there is a solution to this problem: the Mossy Charm! It will negate the bad effect, giving you a weapon with all the ups and none of the downs!

Weapons that have Slow Hitter: Kraken Longsword, Mountain Breaker, Batsuichi Tsuka, Venom Arbelos, Kraeken Axe, Guardman's Halberd, Kumo Sasumata, Saltreaver, Blade of Envy, Monstrous Mace, Bone Crusher, Headtaker, Earthsplitter, The Coveted

Extra Blades/Extra Blunt

Items that give this trait: None

The names of these attribute are somewhat confusing, but it quickly makes sense once the terms are matched to the physical damage types, Slash and Strike. Extra Blade weapons deal more slash damage/ slash damage; vice versa for Extra Blunt weapons. This effect quite useful on weapon that would normally only deal one type of damage. A great example of this are Greatswords, as many of them have Extra Blunt to complement their slash damage. Since so many weapon have one or the other quaility, if you want these attribute, you don't have go far for them.

Weapons that have Extra Blades: Morning Star, Harmen Mace, Tetruncheon, Battle Axe, Stone Cleaver, Naginata, Tainted Rahseur, Umbral Partisan, Overlord's Bident, Purifier, Red Eclipse

Weapons that have Extra Blunt: Opal Tusk, Virulent Saber, Branding Iron, Phoenix Tail, Aster Monolith, Scopian Tail, Sacrifical Garrote, Pitch Fork, Adder Fang, Rusted Greatladdle, Gravedigger, Shrouded Bulkward, Chiten Oblisk, Northern Cross.

Slide

Items that give this trait: None

Motion is key when it come to this weapon attribute. Weapons with this quality have more horizontal momentum with their attacks, meaning you cover more distance per action than usual. Do not underestimate this ability, as it allows you to intiate an attack from farther away and enables you to keep up with you enemies more easily. Its a blessing to have it on some of the daggers, and the Spears/Poleaxes that have it really do perform better than normal. Most of the weapons with Slide are Dex based in some way, giving those build more variety, but Strength is not totally excluded, as a couple of the axes have this quality.

Weapons that have Slide: Iron Butterfly, Katlic Razor, Pessklaw, Shikeimaru, Raider's Axe, Headman's Voulge, Beach Pike, Stardust Spire

HP/MP Leech

Items that give give trait: Voracious Charm (HP), Saper Charm (MP)

Ah, the gift that keeps on giving. These weapon qualities grants Health or Focus (MP), respectively, with each hit. While not entirely useful abilities, with all the Health and Focus restorative option avaliable, they still have their niche. Mending Band+Voracious Charm, combined with HP Leech, can restore a noticable amount of health, while mages and priest appreciate having a weapon that can give them theri mojo back. Still better abilities to have than Slow Hitter, anyway.

Weapons that have HP Leech: Eviserator, Overlord's Bident, Red Eclipse, Seawolf Cutlass, Trinity Greatsword

Weapons that have MP Leech: Kaltic Razor, Sacrificial Garrote, Gravedigger, Shrouded Bulkward

Poise

Items that give this trait: Stone Charm

Stop, drop, smash! Veterans of Dark Souls know all about how important that little stat is, and would love (or hate) weapons like these in the newest instalment... if poise was worth a dink anymore. These weapons deal more stagger damage to enemies, making is easy to stunlock the poor sodden misers... in theory. Remember how I said that Slow Hitters often have a secondary trait? Well, with the exception of the Lump Hammer, Cepholoponder, and Obsideon Pillar, ALL poise weapons, alas, have Slow Hitter as well. Makes sense, as fast stunlocking would make already top tier weapons total BS, but it is not necessarily fun to work with. The Mossy Charm will fix the issue, fortunately, but then there also the Stone Charm, which would stack even more stagger damage. The choice is up to you.

Weapons that have Poise: Lump Hammer, Cepholopounder, Mountain Breaker, Stone Cleaver, Salt Reaver, Monstrous Mace, Bonecrusher, Obsideon Pillar, Headtaker, Earthsplitter, The Coveted

Two-Handing Your Weapon

This is less of a weapon attribute and more of obscure game mechanic, but hey, it fits the 'Hidden Attribute' qualifier. As I will discuss later in greater depth later, two-handing your weapon opens up new combos for your weapon. Takes less stamina to use too, and increases the stagger damage. For Class 1 weapons and up, you are forced to two-hand you weapon unless you have the next skill node up for that weapon catergory (eg. You need Heavy Macefighter Lv 2 in order to wield a Lv 1 Greathammer/Greataxe one handed).Finally, weapons generally get stronger as you two-hand them.

How, though, is the interesting bit. See, two-handing a weapon does not affect the damage directly, but rather the weapon's strength scaling. When two-handing a weapon, it gives ~1.5X the strength scaling, but only up to 34 point in STR. After that point, diminishing gains kick in, while one-handed still gets the full benefits of scaling up to 50 points. In short, if you plan on two-handing your weapon, you only need 34 points in strength. For weapons with no STR scaling, it makes no difference whether you T-H or O-H, outside of stamina use/ the moveset.

Hidden Weapon Attribute Continued!

Turns out there is even more secrets behind our somewhat cumbersome equipment then I first researched! Talk about slippery and shaddy, eh? Well, it would be remiss of me not to cover this new knowledge, so here it shall go. Have at you!

Shields

Ah, our trusty protecters. From the simple Wooden Targe, to the portable tank that is the Iron Rampart, there always a means to defend against the multitude of enemies on the island. They can also parry them too, leaving them flat footed and helpless as a greathammer comes hurtling toward their supple bodies. Still, this isn't the extent to all the shields in the game, with a select few having additional properties not apparent at first glance. While the hidden attributes are not as diverse nor as plentiful on shields as they are on weapons, they are still important enough warrent at least some mention!

Reflect

Items that give this trait: None

Caught in a wizard duel with no magic mojo to back you up? Just use one of these shields to send their spells right back at their gobbsmacked faces! Shields with this attribute have the ablitlty to reflect not only enemy magic, but also some of the magic that is casted by player characters. While the latter use of this attribute use is somewhat debateble, having a way to parry an monster magic is still rather useful ability to have. Probably not useful againt the Witch of the Lake and her magic spam, but against smaller baddies? Hehehehehe....

Shields with this attribute: Mirror Shield, Bloodbrow Scutum

Thorns

Items that give this trait: None

Want to punish the enemy for even daring to breach you defence? With this attribute, everytime an enemy uses a physical attack while your defending, it will deal damage back to the sodden miser! This works even against bosses, making it possible to passive aggresively whittle down their health to zero. Take about being spiteful! Sad to say, that as awsome, if somewhat impractical, this ability is, only the Ashen Effegy has this trait. Given its unwieldly weight (2nd only to the Iron Rampart) and the fact that its a Class 4 shield, it takes quite a lot of investment to even use it. Quite a barrier to overcome, but if willing, its one of the best shields in the game to have.

Weight Affects: Parrying

Turns out that if you have over 75% weight burden, you can not properly parry with (at least) tower shields. Instead, you have a shield pound that does nelegable damage to enemies, and, interestingly, kills an enemies when they are down. The more you know!

The Secret is in the Attire

As the saying goes, "Dress to impress." Fashion Souls has always been important to any adventurer worth their salt, but it pays to remember the practical aspects of armor. Like Dark Souls (very inspirational, Souls is), certain pieces of attire have nifty abilities that will assist in most any builds. With the right match up, armor pieces can free up more ring slots, help optimize a build, or are just generally all around useful. I will list them all, just so you don't have to go testing yourself!

As a warning, many of the attire pieces do not stack with rings, making wearing an piece of armor and a ring with the same effect result in a non-starter combo, but I will note the exceptions. Most of the armor pieces that are listed can be found during normal exploration and progression, but I will note were to find/get them at the earliest convenience. Now, without further ado, ShowTime!

Helms: Light & Heavy

Merchant's Fez/Mask of Splendor/Resplendent Armet
Effect: Increased Gold drop from enemies and bosses
Location: In chest before Amor Guardian in Dome of the Forgotten (Merchant's Fez); Purchased from House of Splendor Merchant (Mask of Splendor);Buy from House of Splendor Blacksmith at Rank 6-7 (Resplendent Armet)
Note: Effect stacks with Merchant Idol bonus

Jester's Crown/Guide's Cap
Effect: Increased item drop rate
Location: In the chest by where you first meet the Jester (Jester's Crown); After defeating the Bloodless Prince, go left to find it (Guide's Cap)
Note: Effect stack with both the Kismet Ring and the Traveler Idol bonus

Ghastly Gourd
Effect: Reduced Wounding (Less permanent HP loss from damage)
Location: In the Village of Smiles; drop down to where the Scarecrow is, then head all the way right until you hit the pumpkin patch. Be quick about getting it too, as there are some nasty enemies guarding that area
Note: N/A.

Frayed Sugegasa
Effect: Increased Stamina Regeneration
Location: Village of Smiles (require the Vertigo Brand): After defeating The Queen of Smiles, continue on until you reach the obelisk. Use it to get to the bottom exit, where there will be a chest that contain this helm.
Note: The Mountain Warhorn item and the Divine Will miracle effect overrides the enhanced stamina regeneration

Clay Mask
Effect: Magic Boost
Location: Can be dropped from the Clay Mask Phantom, or transmuted from any light helm using the Clay Mask Phantom's Ashes
Note: N/A

Alchemist Mask
Effect: Reduced FP cost of Magic
Location: Found in the Mire of Stench
Note: N/A

Tarnished Crown
Effect: Increased Physical Attack by ~10%
Location: Purchase from Nomad Merchant after defeating The Queen of Smiles
Note: Stacks with the Bloodflower Charm for ~20% increase in ATK; stacks with blacksmith idol;
stacks with Goldwine physical attack bonus (50%, obtained as a work reward for the House of Splendor)

Steepled Hat
Effect: +3 to MAG stat
Location: Purchase from Nomad Merchant after defeating The Witch of the Lake
Note: Effect stacks with the Charged Ring and Crimson Gloves

Alkymancer's Veil
Effect: +3 to WIS stat
Location: Purchase from Nomad Merchant after defeating The Unskinned
Note: N/A

Split Mask
Effect: +3 to END stat
Location: Castle of Storms; after defeating The Kraeken Wyrm, obtain the Shadowflip Brand, then go to the small side room that only has a single Split Guardsman. Wall jump up to the platform to obtain it. Alternatively, perform a long jump to get it a little earlier.
Note: Effect stacks with the Fused Metal Ring

Russet Mask
Effect: Increased Salt gained from killing enemies and bosses (~10%)
Location: Pitchwoods (Upper Section); It is in a chest in one of the towers
Note: Effect Stacks with Leader Idol bonus

Gloves

Blacksmith's Gloves
Effect: +3 to STR stat
Location: Found in the Village of Smiles sanctuary
Note: Effect Stacks with the Plated Band

Crimson Gloves
Effect: +3 to MAG stat
Location: Watching Woods; From the Village of Smiles Sanctuary, head into the area, then drop down to the alcove just below the two Skull Bats. Enter it to find helm.
Note: Effect stacks with the Steepled Hat and the Charged Ring

Warning: If you do not have the required level of Light/Heavy armor, the special effect will not kick in. Drat.

Combo Master! Part 1

If you played other Ska games, then it is no surprise that their weapons have some tech to them. Weapons of the same category generally share the same combos, but there are exceptions that will be noted later. In some cases, combos are even shared between weapons categories! If you do not like just spamming light or heavy attack, then try these neat moves out!

Terminology:

Lifter: Any combo the cause you to send an enemy skyward and/or you skyward; generally starts an air combo, or a heavy slam finisher.
Equip: Weight Load ratio. Some combos cannot be done if you are over a certain threshold, so pay attention to your total equipment load.
Slam: Heavy attack after a lifter combo, or just jump+heavy.
Chain: Ability to sequence combo into another combo, often a lifter.
Light/L: Light Attack.
Heavy/H: Heavy Attack.

Most Weapons (Sans Whips, Bows, Crossbows, and Staves) Two Handed

Light+Light+Light&Down+etc.

Two light attack, follow by a lifter. The defacto combo, in a nutshell.

Daggers

This is where dagger excel in, as there fast attack speed allow for rapid combos. Plus, if you want to get the most out of them, you HAVE to learn the combos. Otherwise they pale in comparison to any other type of weapon. Personally, its one-handed combos are its meat and potatoes, and vastly superior to the two-handed, but hey, use your cutty blade however you like!

One-Handed

Jump+Light X 3+Heavy
Standard Air combo, only with a spinning slam finish. Multihit too, so it is great for poison buffs/Pessklaw.

Light+Heavy+Light X 3+Heavy
The above combo, only start with the slash-kick flip lifter combo.

Roll+Light/Heavy
Roll ending with a heavy stab. Treat it like a poke, basically.

Two-Handed

Roll+Light/Heavy
Same as O-H

Light+Light+Heavy+Heavy
Two slash, followed by a stab and a delayed slash. Can't speak for its effectiveness, since I only one-hand my daggers.

Swords

The most diverse weapon category in the game! Given its size, it is almost a guarantee that you find something that will suit any build you concoct. Poison build? Virulent Saber! Spellsword? Branding Iron or Shikimaru! Wisdom build? The Leviathan has your name on it. Really, it is a matter of preferance when it comes right down to it, and the one-hand/two-handed combo share this theme. While most of the sword scale heavily in dex, you will still get some benefit out of two handing it, so it is a matter of which combo set you like better.

One-Handed

Light+Light+Light&Up
Two slashes, followed by a leap attack; good for closing the distance, and can be repeated without ending the chain.

Light+Light+Light&Up+Heavy
Same as above, but finishes the combo with a heavy sliding uppercut. Great for bosses, if you have enough time for the full chain.

Light+Light+Light+Heavy
Three Slash combo, followed by the sliding uppercut. Good it you need a fast, but damaging combo.

Two-Handed

Light+Light+Light/Heavy+Heavy
Two slashes, followed by a heavy stab. The standard poke combo; can be repeated ad nasum without delay.

Light+Light+Light/Heavy+Heavy+Heavy
The above combo, but with a diagonal slash that finishes the combo.

Heavy&Down+Heavy
Just the heavy stab attack, followed by the diagonal slash. Basically a short, very strong combo.

Hammers

Brute force has always been the crudest form of diplomatic exchange, but it is almost always the most effective. While some of the weapon in this category are hit with Slow Hitter, they are by no means a bad choose to pick a strength weapon from. From what I tested, these weapon only (apparent) combos are one-handed, so if you want to pull of tricks with them, you will have to forgo two-handing them. The are pretty nice, though, so give them a try before deciding!

One Handed

Light&Up
A back handed slam. Can be chained into with two light attacks, or can start a Light+Light+Heavy Lifter combo, giving this move some flexibility.

Heavy&Up
Your leap attack. You can not really combo with it, expect maybe with a three hit air combo, so treat it as an first strike against the enemy

Axes

Chop to it! Great strength weapon if you are looking for slash damage instead of strike, or if for a blade with a little bit extra. Found only one combo for the thing, and it only one handed, so your out of luck if you want two-handed combos.

Light+Light+Light+Heavy
A combo very similar to the one-handed light-chain-heavy combo, only you can shorten it to two slashes and still pull off the heavy drifting slash.

Spears and Poleaxes

The ranged melee combat choices for DEX builds, basically. You sacrifice air combos in exchange for outranging most enemies, making ground mobs easier to handle and flying mobs a total nuisance. Functionally, they have the same one-handed and two-handed combo, making transitioning between them convenient, combo-wise. Poleaxes have a couple of unique heavy combos, but aside from that, they work the same.

One-Handed

Light+Light&Up
Light stab, followed by an overhead pinwheel attack. Cannot chain it, and it is the only combo the one-handed move set has, but it is pretty effective none-of-the-less.

Two-handed

Light+Light+Light&Up
The two handed version of the one-handed combo, only with one extra poke.

Light+Light+Heavy
The primary alternative combo chain starter. Two light attack, follow a side winding pinwheel attack. From here, you can chain into two different combos, or just end it there, make it one of the most combos out there.

(L+L+H)+Heavy
Above combo, finishing with the overhead pinwheel. Great for poison and DPS!

(L+L+H)+Light
Primary alternative combo, only finishing with a light stab attack. Less damaging the heavy finisher, but takes less time to execute as well.

Poleaxe exclusive Combos (Two-handed)

Heavy+Light
An alternative lifter combo that starts off with a heavy attack. It has the same speed as the standard lifter combo, so no reason not to use it over the other beside convenience.
Heavy+Heavy+Light
Two have slash combo, followed by an overhead chop attack. A great alternative combo is you need to do a lot of damage in a short amount of time.

Reapers

Finishing off the trio of ranged melee weapons are the reapers. Unlike their cousins, Reapers are quite the quirky selection of weapons, even by regular standards. Broadly, they can be thought of as the quality weapon of S&S, but that really does not do them any justice. They are pretty strong, though, functioning effectively as the 'Greatswords' of the trio, while have similar combo potential. I, personally, say it is better to two-hand these weapons in particular, as its best combos are in T-H, and to get the most out of their strength scaling, but its, as always, up to you.

One Handed

Edit: None

Two-Handed

Light+Light&Up+Light&Down+etc.
A light slash attack, followed by two heavy pinwheel attacks, with the last one acting as an alternative lifter. It is a quite powerful combo to pull off, and it can be chained into an air combo or a slam attack, or stopped there. It takes a while to set up, however, so using the L+L&UP combo will suffice in a pinch.

Greatsword

Want a giant pointy blade? Then these are for you! Often considered a tie for the best weapon category with Greathammers, they are often considered the game's 'Easy Mode'. Given the damage the output even at low DPS, I agree heartily with that statement. The trade-off for this power, though, is a lack of special combo or synergy with guns or wand. I did not find any of what I might call 'hidden combos' while testing them, so this section is unfortunately blank. If you can, let me know!

Combo Master! Part 2

Greathammers

When all you have is a giant hammer, everything looks like nails to pound in. Like its sister weapon catergories, these tools of destruction excel in turning mobs into a nice, big, blood-stained colored mess. Only instead of dicing enemies, your mashing them instead. If you favor blunt damage, thier are worse weapons you can look for! Unfortunately, like Greatswords, they have absolutely have no combo potential what so ever, outside chaining basic attacks. Given the sheer destructive might of these hammers, though, it not that big of a sacrafice when using these OP weapons.

Greataxes

Want to fufill your dream of being the ultimate lumberjack? Do you have need for a really big axe to grind? Take a gander at these beauts, then! Greataxes are the third category of 'Great' weapons, and are partners in crime with Greathammers, given that they share the same skillnode path. If your already using Greathammers or Greataxes, then picking up its counterpart will just about do it for damage type coverage (beside magic mojo, but buffs can cover this deficiency). I am happy to say that, unlike the other Great weapons, they do have a few combo to them, albiet only two-handed. A great find for those that want to combo with the 'Greatest'!

Two-Handed

Light+Heavy

What it sounds like, only instead of the Greataxe's standard heavy attack, you get a downward slam instead. Good for just about any encounter.

Roll+Light

The standard heavy attack of Greataxes, only that it comes out much quicker. Great when counter attacking after a dodge, or for an opening attack.

Light+Light+Heavy

Two lights attack that is immediantly followed by a slightly faster heavy spin. A fluid, if slow, combo. Best used against mobs of enemies, or some of the bigger bosses.

Whips, Bows, Staves, and Crossbows

These weapons, in addition to not being very good (except staves!), also completely lack combos as well. Not looking to shabby there, weapons...

Pistols and Wands

Alone, these weapons are strong enough to make any enemy beg for mercy. With the right weapon. Magic happen... or grevious gutshot. Take your pick!

One Handed Weapon + Pistol/Wand (Except for Greatswords/Heavy Weapons {needs more testing})

Light+Shoot/Cast
A light attack, followed by a quickly firing of your tool of choice. This is much faster than regularly firing the weapon, so work this into your combos to really see the benefits!

Lifter+Shoot/cast

Standard combo, follow by a rapid fire off in the air. Great against big enemies and bosses!

Jump+Heavy+Shoot/Cast
Standard Slamm attack, follow by rapid gun/magic fire. Not to useful on its own, but...

Lifter+Heavy+Shoot/Cast
The ultimate combo for Pistol/Wand dual wielding! Depending of the weapon, you can get more/less hits in the lifter setup, so there is that.

The Oddball Weapons

Most weapons in there category share the same combo move set. These weapons are the playful exception to this rule.

Greatscissors

Basically, these weapons are Greatsword one-handed, but when two-handed, they gain a signature strong attack that give their nameshake. There is really only one combo for these weapons, but its quite the doozy!

Two-Handed

Roll+Light+etc.
Rolling, then quickly execute the scissor attack. Its slightly faster than just heavy attacking, and it can be spammed as long as you have stamina, or stop attacking. Fun!

Whipswords

Basically swords, but heavy attack replaced with a whip attack. Have not tested it yet, but I assume it shares combos similar to the sword, albiet with some changes.

Gunblades

Or should I say Gunblade? Yes, there is only one weapon in this subcategory, but its impressive in its own right. If you know the history behind it, bugwise, this thing used to be a nightmare! Crashing the game, deleting secound slot weapons... you get the picture. Thankfully (and hopefully) those problems are fixed, giving us a weapon that can both shoot lead and be able to use a charm with it! Only when two handed, though, so I can't say for certain if it share regular pistol combos, since I have not tested it yet. Help?

La Isla Misteriosa del Cielo

You know of the map of S&S? Look above where Shivering Shore is. See that island? Ever wonder what is up with that? Lets find out!

How to:

1. Rest at any sanctuary not of your covenant, then defile it.

2. Don't fight any of the enemies, but escape it before the time runs out. If you fudge this step, either find another sanctuary (not your type) to defile, or die/clease by salt lady/defile sanctuary again.

3. Go to the Festering Baquet, and head to where the Obelisk is. Use it, and kill all the enemies in the tower, so as for them not to interfere.

4. Carefully position yourself just outside the entrance to the tower when you go up from the obelisk (you need to be upside down)

5. Have a Bell of Return selected, then intiate a long jump while simultaniously using the bell. Binding the jump, roll, and the use-key together can help with this step if you have trouble, but all it takes is just practice in the end.

6. If everything went well, you should be merrily flying towards the island. Wait ~4-5 secound after jumping, the from the dialoge that should still be open, choose to 'yes' to use the bell.

7. If your time was right, you should slam into the island while the bell's effect is playing out. The screen will fade to black, but instead of dying, you should be on the island!

How does this work? This process utilizies two expliots: Broken Bell and The Long Jump, working in conjuction with how Vertigo Brand works.

Broken Bell works as follows: If you defile the last sanctuary you were resting at, then use a Bell of return, you'll end up in the same place as you used it. While this seems awful banal, there can be some clever uses to this. Want to get to Minty Skell early? Defile the House of Splendor sanctuary, escape, go to the pit under the boss area and jump into it while selecting the bell and using it. You should 'die', but end up at the bottem. You can then go to Mints! In this case, we used it to survive the impact into the floating island.

Long Jump: There is another guide on how to do just this, so refer to that if you do not know what is is.

The island itself contains three NPCs. One is a female merchant that sells all sorts of things, including Class 5 weapons (For 200000 gold) and some unused armor! Another is a cat that is...well... a talking cat. Finally, there is good old Scarecrow, who, if you missed the last one, can get the alternate ending with! Quite a feat and treat, eh? While this secret leans more on the expliot side of things, its still a secret, and a useful one at that. This was first discovered on PS4 by a redditer (creddit in the Epiloge), and I have tested it on PC and found that It works there too! Well, as of Version 1.04 of Salt and Sanctuary. If you want to see the place, you better act fast, otherwise the only other way to get there might be debugging/hacking yourself there. That is, is Ska Studio do not just remove the island...

Still, have fun with this while it lasts!

Video Guide:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiyXhukDJU8

Jumbled Up Lore

Per Dark Souls Standards, the backstory and plot of S&S is about as straightfoward as its Skill Tree. You have to talk to every NPC, completely going through the quests lines of the wandering ones, and read all the item descriptions just get a vague idea on what he heck is going on. Well, you might not know it, but there is more information that, funnily enough, is scattered throughout the skill tree nodes. If you read the text in each of those bubbles, you quickly begin to see a pattern emerge, discovering that all that text isn't just random scuttlebut, but actually several short stories and guide that is divided across mutliple nodes! While I could list them out, I will post a link to where I found the information, and let you read up on these stories. Be warned, though, that the Document is pretty much the largest spoiler for S&S you will find at the internet at the moment, so tread lightly if you want to aviod spoiler city!

https://www.reddit.com/r/saltandsanctuary/comments/4g8o47/the_drowned_tome_a_salt_and_sanctuary_lore/

If you do not want the comforts of the S&S community here on Steam, then there is a guide here that has all the entries laid out for by CapriciousCancer - Astorial !

PS: There are also several images in the Tree of Skil itself. Can you guess what they are?

Epilogue

Well, that is all the end to all the mysterious things that I have found and research. The guide is still a work in progress, however, so feel free to comment and critizise the the bejesus out of me! It will help out in the long run! And of course, thank you for reading.

Credit to the Fextralife wiki page for Salt and Sanctuary for the information behind the attire and weapons attributes, as well as some of the combos.

Creddit to the S&S reddit for information regarding some of the combos (Thanks, Vinterbot!), the Secret Island Expliot, the hidden lore that in the skill tree (Thanks, Asuko_XIII!), and finally information about how the strength scalling works (Thanks jrlionheart00!).

As for the picture, I got most of them of google search, but The Mad Alchemist pic was made by Black (Star) Rock Shooter. Sweet Picture!

[Croooc]

I think greathammers have one combo, that being light+heavy

[Paradox]

"Extra Blade weapons deal more slash damage/ slash damage"

What does this mean?

[Abaddon_CK]

Hey, any idea the way to reach the island still works or nah?

[Marvaine, Ad Liberam.]

@kip Can it block Unicorns?

[KipTheOtt]

I've found some info on other armor pieces that give hidden bonuses. Wearing the full Umbral set reduces incoming non-physical damage by 80%. I've tested it and it seems to work.

[KipTheOtt]

Corruption increases by 10 when you drink the Blood Vials given by the Order of the Betrayer. It turns the border of the screen black and at higher levels makes all creed NPCs (besides Order of the Betrayer) hostile to you by default. It can be gotten rid of by speaking to the Candlelit Lady.

[Corduroy O'Flannel]

Any info about the "Corruption" hidden stat?

[Yukeh]

Hello. I don't know if you forgot to write about it, or if you just never discovered it, but the poleaxe has another combo linked to it's unique heavy attacks.

If you hold up while using Heavy + Light you will do a slow multi-hit twirl instead of an air launch, which can be chained into an air launch by doing heavy + up-light + down-light, where you also jump into the air following your launcher.

[Lord Windos]

Sorry about going Dark for so long, its just that I more or less moved on from S&S at this point. However, I'll add in the info you provided me and do some testing on the Monk's and Lamprey's gloves in a couple of days. If there is anymore info that needs to be added, speak now, or forever hold your peace!

[Ham]

@Dislexeeya I believe the Lamprey Gauntlets add a fixed damage value to your unarmed, as the damage boost drops off sharply even by the time you're able to get them. The Monk set's gloves however add something to the effect of ~33% of your current unarmed damage which is governed by the Strength stat. (I should know I did an unarmed run) And yes charms do work with your bare fists, but I find elemental charms to be of more use as even with 80 strength (yikes) some of the more endgame enemies can be somewhat challenging without the elemental damage boost, I did try the pale charm in one instance against the tree of men as I was having issues even hitting it, but the range addition of the charm was utterly negligible.