Valdis Story: Abyssal City: Goibniu Mode guide

Valdis Story is one of my favorite metroidvanias, offering a wide variety of options for your character build. Goibniu Mode is its hardest difficulty mode, where you have to complete the whole game without dying once, and without saving your game. Of course, you get an achievement for completing that.

This walkthrough aims to provide a straightforward way of doing so, and conveniently gives you the No Time For Prayers achievement too. That said, Goibniu Mode is not exactly easy, and if you can’t deal with the Godslayer difficulty level I recommend against trying this.

The build used here is Wyatt with the Purgatory blade, going strength-based and dark affinity, and the Berserker skill. This is to capitalize on bleed damage, life leech, and black blessing; and Wyatt has the advantage that if you find a room difficult, you can bypass it with the Shadow Walk spell. The endgame equipment is Dreadnaut Armor, Weighted Bracelets accessory, and Kantae as assist.

On a general note, try to kill all enemies you come by, both for experience and for item drops. Open any easy-to-reach chests for more loot, but skip difficult chests unless the walkthrough says therwise. There will be some grinding in the run, depending on how skilled you are at combo ranks. Enjoy!

The first couple rooms should be routine. Collect the first life potion, the chest of iron, level up to get Tenacity skill (+15% combo damage), and take down the ogre sub-boss. If you have trouble with this part, you probably shouldn’t be playing Goibniu mode quite yet.

After climbing down, the wide room with several enemies can be tricky without a skill cancel, so use Shadow Walk. Once you get the Master Scroll, backtrack to the vertical room and get the Murderous Raiment; wear it for now. You should be level 3 at this point; get Grip skill (+5% damage).

Continue forward. Get the iron behind the ogre and rogue’s cowl in the save room. Grind on the two demons just right and up from the save room for level 4 for Dark Heart (as prerequisite for Black Blessing).

Time for the first boss: Azudor. Since you don’t have a lot of abilities yet, this is one of the hardest points in the run; but that’s ok since it’s only minutes from the beginning. The key to defeating him is Shadow Walk; whenever he jumps to the top, go invisible to follow him and strike him down. Also, I recommend Grace of Light, and of course focus mode. If he’s on the top platform and you combo him enough, he’ll fall down and jump right back up again, so you can continue hitting him. If you can deal with Godslayer difficulty, it gets easier after this boss.

Switch back to the Healing blessing. On your way down, collect two demon rubies and a spirit shard. In the first shop in Tagrum village, buy the first health charm. If you’ve used your life potion on Azudor, there is a healing statue in town; but as you can use each statue only once, let’s use the next one instead.

Enter the mausoleum. In the second room, collect two angel sapphires. In the third room, take the top route for the first spirit potion. In room four is your first templar angel; I recommend not fighting him at this point, and just skill cancel past. Complete the obstacle course to get Paladin Armor, but don’t put it on yet. To the right of here is a healing statue where you can refill your life potion.

In the fifth room, grind on the zealot at the bottom for level 5 and Black Blessing (flying swords). A couple rooms later, you find a zealot as sub-boss, who should be a pushover.

Boss: Tagu. Use Murderous Raiment and dark magics, to maximize the flying swords; but keep the Healing blessing available. When his crystal is exposed, use focus mode and cast Hellish Descent, then whack him. If the rain stops, cast Descent gain. If your dodging game is good, this should take him down fast.

Get the mana key stone and backtrack to the zealot you grinded at earlier, and kill him until you have focus mode back. In the next room, use the keystone to get the first mana charm. Now wear the Paladin Armor and enter the frozen crypts.

The cold damage is annoying and there’s really nothing you need right now in the crypts, so just use skill cancel to dodge all enemies and rush through the whole area, and cast a few healing spells to keep your life up. If you need to refill your life potion, there’s a statue in the middle.

Boss: Ruhkjahl. Take down the bottom crystal, then stand just left of his face until he opens his mouth. Skill cancel through the projectiles; then jump on the rightmost ice box, off the boss’s face, and to the top crystal. Use focus mode and wail on him. Repeat once more, just be careful with his missiles when attacking the face.

Go straight out of the crypts and collect one steel on the way to Hrukk. Talk to Claudia at the tram; then visit Vladyn for your next assignment.

Proceed to central skyway. Grind on the feral hermits until you have six polished stones, and on the siren until you get level six and Blade Shred (bleed damage on crits). Return to Hrukk and purchase a second mana charm at the tram station, and venom elixir at the merchant in the top right. Now travel to the gardens. There’s a sub-boss fight with two reapers; I recommend using Frost Blade and focus mode on them, and lots of heavy attacks.

Once in the garden, there’s a statue to refill life potions as needed. Put on the Murderous Raiment again, and all dark magic except for Healing blessing. The second room has a grand agate at the top. In the large room, don’t worry about the chests; but the next room has an easy steel right below you.

Collect the skeleton key, then continue counterclockwise. Get the spirit shard above the Laboratory door; then all the way left for the demon ruby, then drop all the way down and go right for the second life potion. Finally, at the pit, lean left for one more steel, and you’re back on track.

Two rooms to the right is the first demon mistress. Black blessing helps against the crows she summons, so you can grind on her for level 7 and Cunning (+10% crit, which goes well with blade shred). Then go back down and to the right and face two mistresses as sub-boss. This can get overwhelming with all the crows, and the assassins respawn. I recommend using Frost Blade again and prioritize one mistress; add focus mode if your health gets low.

Boss: Shu Gohth. The trick to defeating him is, when he stands bottom left, to wait on the center platform until he teleports there. This lets you hit him before he gets the chance to summon floating skulls and heal himself, and makes the fight much easier.

First, return to the mistress you grinded on earlier, and go for level 8 with Wisdom skill (prerequisite for Affliction). Whenever traveling through central skyway you may want to equip Paladin Armor because of the sirens, but generally wear the Murderous Raiment to trigger life leech and black blessing more often.

Then, travel back to Hrukk to visit Vladyn, buy the book of the old gods in the shop, and get the library key. If you need, use the statue here to refill your potions.

Inside the library, there’s a templar sub-boss with soldier support that can be tricky. A good way to deal with them is to cast Hellish Descent over the templar, then skill cancel behind him and attack. Focus Mode may help, too. Deliver the first book to Vladyn, and get Affliction skill (+20% afflict with spells). This allows us to freeze enemies with Frost Blade.

On the way back, there’s another templar sub-boss, which is much easier with Gilda on your side. And finally the tram is online; so go back to Tagrum to pick up Atalan as assist, and buy the third mana charm. From now on, activate Atalan frequently, even if there’s no enemy nearby, just to level her up. If necessary, recharge your potions in Tagrum village. Now make a second round through the mausoleum to pick up more items. First, the grand agate from Mesmer’s room; second, the spell lantern from the first mausoleum room, using ice pillar to get up; third, the final life potion right after Tagu’s room.

Now’s a good time to wear Paladin Armor again, and get the grand agate in the first room of the frozen crypts. Use Shadow Walk to make a brief excursion into the Hallow to recruit Daemahn, and go back the same way. If the frost damage gets too much, use focus mode to heal yourself. Finally, in the crypt room with the pyramid-like slopes, pick up the iron and warrior plate from the chests.

Back at the Central Skyway, grind the hermits for 20 polished stones. This allows you to buy level 2 ice magic with Daborsk in the library, as well as Daemahn’s Kiss the Sky and Be Like Water abilities. This gets you set up for the next group of bosses.

Boss: Yeti. If you wear the Paladin Armor, this should be straightforward as all its attacks are heavily telegraphed. This boss is optional, but also close to the route, and defeating him adds to your clock. And you should be level 9 at this point, learning Tactical Strikes (+10 armor ruin).

Switch back to the Murderous Raiment, then travel back to Tagrum village, and at Barbaroy’s trading post, buy all the steel you can get. There’s one more above the sewer entrance. Then enter the sewers.

The room with the Soul Ranger is one you can skip with skill cancel or Shadow Walk. In the first big room, get the spirit stone at the top and ignore the rest, passing through to the next room where you can refill life potions. In the big room after the statue, follow the tunnel all the way to the lower right for the grand agate; get the book in the room to the right; then back in the big room, use the mana trigger and climb back to the top for a fourth mana charm.

Boss: Dhistahn. One of the easier bosses, he shouldn’t give you any trouble. And since there’s no need to deal with Abomination in Goibniu mode, just kill him afterwards.

The room after Dhistahn has a spell lantern; the entrance to Ishk has steel and tahamagane. First go to the western skyway; take the upper doorway, get the book in the bottom middle; then drop down on the left for the saint’s opal, and go one room right to recruit Walter. There’s another Soul Ranger as a sub-boss.

Inside Ishk, buy a large emerald and devil onyx if you don’t have them yet; you can also refill life potions here. Then take the tram back to Hrukk to purchase the second Master Scroll; and on the central skyway grind the hermits for 4 lesser feral spirits and 14 polished stoes, and the sirens for 2 greater feral spirits. Since you’re close to the library anyway, drop off two books at Vladyn to get +1 strength and Combo Expert skill (+1 combo).

Back in Ishk, purchase the Superior Mana Keystone, Weighted Bracelets, and the second health charm. On the other side of Ishk, recruit Kantae.

Now let’s tackle the guardian temple. I recommend skipping the side rooms, and using Frost Blade to quickly deal with enemies. The first room has the fourth book, and the jumping puzzle on the far right has the Goibniu armor, which you should put on.

There’s another statue to refill your potions, and since this place can deal a lot of damage, skip the room directly after that with Shadow Walk. You’ll get to a room with three tunnels up and a warlock; use Frost Blade to defeat him, and go up all three tunnels to get an ancient coin, steel, and spirit stone.

Boss: Jahzracht. This is actually the last place where I’ve died in Goibniu runs, as this is where the build really comes together. Be sure to use Frost Blade, and prepare Arctic Javelin to knock him out of his fire tornado attack. You can also use Kantae for this as a backup; if you use him on the first tornado, he’ll probably be recharged for the third one, although no guarantees.

Finally, you should reach level 10, and take the Bloodlust skill (heal when an enemy bleeds). This and your life leech ability go a long way in keeping you alive in tough fights.

Behind Jahzracht is the third Master Scroll, the second spirit potion, and another warrior plate. Return the hammer to Sezzi, and have him upgrade your blade to Razor Blade then Wanderer Blade; if needed, you can get silken cloth or steel from the trader higher up in Ishk.

Take another tram trip to the library and on the way grind for ten polished stones. Give the fourth book to Vladyn, max out Soul of the Purifier with Walter, and learn Cord Cutter from Daemahn. You can refill your potions in the library, too.

Return to Tagrum, and visit the elder to save this village, then head for the sewers again.

Boss: Lozzo. Equip the Murderous Raiment, Atalan, Fire Brand, and all demonic spells to maximize your Black Blessing. The trick to deal with him is to make three light attacks, skill cancel behind him, and make three more attacks, then skill cancel again and attack until his shield breaks. If you find this tricky, add Atalan to the mix. Then make a big combo while he’s vulnerable, using focus mode as needed.

Switch back to Kantae, and head for Ishk. The first room of the western skyway is a good spot to grind for level 11 and the Leech skill (heal from dark magic). Back in Ishk, buy the fifth mana charm.

The mines can be annoying with their poison attacks, but you can just use Shadow Walk to skip all of that and head straight for the boss. There’s a convenient statue in the middle to refill your potions.

Boss: Azudor again. Stick with the Goibniu Armor and use Frost Blade on him and his followers; you don’t need Shadow Walk this time since you can double jump from below to knock him off the top platform. It helps to take out warlocks as soon as you see them, and Kantae can help with that.

Rushing out of the mines, it’s good to grab the Dreadnaut Armor on the far right, and wear it. Visit Sezzi in Ishk, and talk to the mechanic at the broken mana heater.

If you don’t have two lesser and one greater demon spirit, go to Tagrum first and grind a bit right above the city. There’s also a statue there, the first one from the beginning of the game, that you can use to refill potions. Take the tram to Hrukk, get a new heater from Claudia, and upgrade your Dreadnaut Armor. Then return to Ishk and enter the western skyway.

Boss: Magus. Technically skippable, but at this level, she should be an easy S-rank; you can even use Fire Brand right in front of her and deal massive damage before she steals it. This should take you to level 12, learning Master Focus (faster heavy attacks).

You should be well-equipped to handle this, and can use Shadow Walk if you don’t feel like dealing with most of it. Against the Greater Templar sub-boss, what works well is hitting her from behind with Fire Brand and/or Dragon Fist. The puzzle room with the lightning beams has the final book, and of course there’s a statue near the boss, although you could also heal after the other sub-boss, Tagu’s sister (who should be straightforward at this point).

Boss: Treu. With Fire Brand, this should be another easy fight; the third time he uses Seraphic Storm he’ll be at the very top of the room, but Kantae knocks him down handily. Keep hitting him with fire and down he goes.

In the first room of the skyway, grind to level 13 and learn Shatter (armor ruin on heavy attacks). You really shouldn’t be low on potions at this point, but if you are AND you have used all the convenient statues, you can just take the tram to Tagrum and skip to the Ziggurat.

Boss: Manawar. His attacks are actually pretty dangerous, so stay away from his laser beam in particular, when he turns red. That said, you do have three life potions. Kantae is nice here because he’ll make the boss just float there for a pretty long time, like a big piñata. And use Fire Brand again.

Right after Manawar is a good room to grind to level 14 and learn Attuned (prerequisite for Reaver). Fall down the pit here for chest with steel, and there’s a healing statue to the right.

Within the Ziggurat, using Frost Blade helps a lot, and you can use Shadow Walk to bypass the huge room with all the platforms and two void warlocks. When you come across the Widow sub-boss, some fancy jumping and Frost Blade should take care of her. Don’t forget the health charm in the widow’s room, and there’s another healing statue after.

Boss: Gernot. He is highly vulnerable to Volt Aura, and whenever he puts up his perfect guard just skill cancel behind him to backstab. Kantae is also nice; overall, with a good build this is not a hard boss any more.

Take the upper road back to Ishk, grinding on the angels again to get level 15 and Berserker skill (+15% damage). Deliver the mana heater, and you can likely afford the Executioner Blade at this point. Drop by at Tagrum to buy a warrior’s plate for 10 polished stones, then head for Hrukk to buy the level 3 Dreadnaut Armor, not that you need it. More importantly, buy a Frost Elixir, enter the Frozen Crypt from below and cross over to the Hallow to get the Life Blade. Optionally, you can defeat Abbigail at this point.

Take a final stop in the library to return the fifth book and learn Ruin (+20 spell ruin). You can also defeat Raven and/or Ragano at this point, or alternatively just rush through the Tainted Laboratory with skill cancels. There’s a statue on the way in the laboratory. The second room in the Sanctuary is a good place to reach level 16 and get Reaver (double affliction strength); if you have extra points from S-ranking Yeti or Dhistahn, then get Hunter’s Bounty and Warlord (+10% heavy damage).

Boss: Anemone. Well, this is it. You deal massive damage with bleed and double-strength Fire Brand, and you heal from everything with your massive life leech ability. Enjoy taking down the big one.

Final Boss: True Anemone. Same deal as before; enjoy taking down the even bigger one. And well done on getting the achievement!