Labyrinth of Refrain: Coven of Dusk

Guide (Not a Walkthrough)

This is a general guide to better understanding the game. It includes a static explanation of the puppet statistics system for Character Status, general tips for exploring, a general guide for how to know what to sell, and when, spoiler answers to frequently asked questions for getting over game hurdles, specific spoiler hints on which walls to break (and what you'll find), and it will eventually contain a comprehensive feature guide for all available "Pacts," a central game device in party creation.

Character Status

• Max HP: Maximum Hit Points, the amount of damage your puppet can sustain before incapacitation.
• Max DP: Maximum Donum Points, the maximum available points your puppet can use to perform donum (magic assisted) actions.
• R.Hand ATK: Effectiveness of Right-hand weapon attacks. STR affects ATK.
• L.Hand ATK: Effectiveness of Left-hand weapon attacks. STR affects ATK.
• DEF: Reduces your puppet's loss of HP on successful enemy weapon attack; does not reduce chance of Gore Strike or prevent status effects. CON affects DEF.
• AVD: Avoid enemy attacks; if successful, will show as an enemy "Miss" in battles. AGI affects AVD
• HIT: Hit enemy with weapon and donum (magic assisted) attacks; successful hits can be guarded against or defended against. DEX affects HIT.
• STR: You must work out, you're so strong! Each STR gives 0.5 ATK.
• CON: You beast! You can really take the pain! Each DEF gives 0.5 CON.
• DMP: The "impact" of your puppet's donum (magic assisted) actions; higher DMP gives stronger healing and stronger donum attacks.
• AGI: Where did you go? Each AGI gives 0.25 AVD and increases turn rate, reducing enemy alert when turning beside them.
• DEX: Well placed strikes! What finesse! Each DEX gives 0.25 HIT and gives roughly 0.01 Crit Chance (Crit Chance boost not verifiable)
• CHM: What a charmer! Rapport speed increased. Low CHM increases likelihood of being targeted by almost all enemies, some target high CHM.
• LUC: Do you feel lucky? A random factor in many calculations in game system, higher LUC means greater successes, faster.
• Element Res.: A very badly named simple idea, these are your percentage of damage resistances to various kinds of direct damage: Slash (think Swords, Scythes), Blunt (like Hammers, Stone Arms, Bells), Pierce (pointy things that poke you, like Lances, Arrows), Flame (um ... burning weapons, bombs?), Mud (filthy marsh scum), Fog (various airborn attacks).
• Status Effect Res.: Still, not an ideal name, these percentages affect both how unlikely you are to be affected by Poison, Illusion, Abyss, Confuse, Startle, or Stench, and how quickly you will recover from a given status.
• EXP: The experience acquired by this puppet.
• NEXT EXP: Target EXP to level up again; NEXT EXP - EXP = the amount of experience you must acquire to level up.
• TOTAL EXP: The experience acquired by this puppet (I cannot find a difference between this value and EXP).

Exploring the Labyrinth of Refrain

Don't worry, no spoilers in this part. Just general advice on game play when it comes to deciding which walls to break, how to manage mana, and other tips like that.

Don't Break THAT Wall!

Reinforcement Points can become more scarce as the game progresses, and as creating those expensive mud exits becomes more of a necessity than a momentary curiosity. Before breaking a wall, consider:

• Can you move to a position that offers a view of the section you want to access?
• Have you already accessed all the other areas of the current map, to make sure there are no doors, grates, or stairways from another floor that provide access to that area of the map?
• Have you exposed the map floor of that area in a previous descent from the caravan?

As a general tip, if you just want to break the wall to get a peek into that closed off area, choose a wall next to a chest, opened or unopened, if possible, so you can step in, survey the area, and exit. If you don't see any treasures, green walls, or Mana there's really no need to go further, just back out the way you came in ... unless you want to fight the harder enemies for better EXP and improved loot drops.

Once you've done your scouting thoroughly on a map, look for weird pockets of black, behind a staircase, or along what could have been a long hallway, or surrounded by accessible areas with no obvious impassable features. You may have identified a prime spot to break. Try breaking one wall piece along the longest edge of the area and taking a quick peek before stepping in. In this game, the traps usually occupy corners and narrowly restricted movement areas.

Don't be afraid to fight the bad guys in well traveled areas, this game is heavily geared toward grinding puppet and Pact levels. You will be making new puppets to level up from 1 and finding very powerful 1-star Pacts ... so, get used to the smell of freshly sliced onions.

What to Sell and What to Keep

Do I Really Need This Black Rat Corpse?

Maybe. It is easy to get confused about how the game sees items in inventory. It appears that you have a limit of 500 items, and the instinct, early on, is to sell all loot. Steel yourself: Keep the stacks of random weird stuff that seem to have no purpose. At least, keep as much as 20 of each on hand. There's a reason, eventually. The stacked items won't do you in, it's the equipment that piles up the item count. Equipment doesn't stack. So, what should you sell, and what should you keep?

• KEEP Artifacts when you can sense a soul ... as tempting as those thousands are, early on, there's no shortage of money soon
• SELL Unused Equipment
  • KEEP of a couple of each variety, the two with the best stats, on hand, for new puppets
• SELL Excess Loot (stacks > 20 aren't often necessary and Rocks pile up very quickly)
• SELL Excess Support / Healing items, you'll find more; stacks > 30 of each is money!

If you put these tips to work, you'll be swimming in pools of silver in no time!

Spoiler Frequently Asked Questions

Hopefully, the community will grow this list.

How do I learn that strange language? Collect enough samples of the language (documents) for Dronya to teach you how to communicate.

How do I get past the Grave Clad Man, who needs to dig? You can break a wall to get into the next room, be careful of the hole in the floor. Or, you can get the Iron Mattock (Pickaxe) from the Ferry Man on Campanula B3 map.

I'm developing a crush on one of my puppets, is that normal? Definitely not, please seek professional help.

There's a statue that is demanding a blood sacrifice, what do I do? The statue can be fought if you deny its demands, but it is powerful; recommend all puppets at least level 10. Bells, lamps, and Rock Crusher are effective attacks against it.

Spoiler Maps

Moderator Note: Please wrap map table cell contents in Spoiler Blocks

Map Area	Map
Dungeon Cobalt Campanula Subterra - B1	Indicates an area of very high risk, low survival.
Dungeon Cobalt Campanula Subterra - B2	(for missing lower left corner, see spoiler for B1)