Index
1. Tips & Tricks (<–you are here)
2. Skill Guide: A – D
3. Skill Guide: L – S
4. Review

Welcome to GamesBeat’s Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning game guide. Here you’ll find a bunch of tips and tricks I discovered during my time with the game, as well as a guide to the different skills you can choose from. If you have any questions or additions, please add them in the comments below.

Which race (character) should you choose?
At the very beginning of the game you will be given the choice of four different “races,” which are basically just two elves or humans with varying skin colors. However, each race comes packing three racial bonuses, granting an immediate bump to specific skills.

Check out the Skill page to better understand what each one does (or doesn’t).

Abusing Skill Trainers
Especially early on, you won’t have a lot of points to put into skills, so choosing which one(s) to focus on is extremely important. Luckily, there are trainers all throughout the world who can increase your skills, and even better, you can abuse the system in a number of ways to your advantage.

First, know that training is expensive. Basic trainers charge about $15,000, and this rate goes up another $15K with Journeyman trainers, and again for Master trainers. I spent more training in this game than I did on anything else, so make sure you have some coin to spare before you start.

A few rules:

  • You can only train once with each trainer.
  • You need to meet the requirements to train, meaning you need the minimum amount of skill level, but cannot exceed the maximum. For example, Journeyman trainers require you to have at least a skill level of 4, but no more than 6, otherwise they can’t train you.

Skills you have trained in will not be reset when you re-spec your character.

Now that you know all the basics, you can use the Fateweaver system to get lots of easy skill points quickly.

Basically, if there’s a trainer you want to train with, you can use a Fateweaver to re-spec your character (resets all skills and ability points) to meet the minimum requirements, or drop down below the maximum in case you’ve already exceeded it. Then when you’ve trained all that you can, visit a Fateweaver again and reset your skills a second time. When you re-spec your character the way that you intend to play with, you’ll now have those extra skill points, allowing you to use non-training skill points however you like.

Early Lore Stone Bonuses
Lore Stones are magical statues hidden all over the game world. Finding one will grant you a small XP bonus and add that lore stone to your collection. When you complete a set, you will be given a permanent stat bonus, such as increased damage, health, or experience gain.

It’s easy to miss Lore Stones, as there are tons, usually tucked away in nooks and crannies, but with a maxed out Detect Hidden skill, Lore Stones will show up on your map (along with hidden objects, secret doors, and treasure chests).

If you don’t want to level up your Detect Hidden skill but do want the bonuses (which are best grabbed early on, before they become negligible), there is a way. The Master skill levels (8-10) unlock at level 16, so as soon as you reach that level, find a Fateweaver and re-spec, putting 10 points in Detect Hidden. Now roam around each area looking for Lore Stones. This can get pretty time-consuming with all the exploring and traveling and combat in-between, but the end result will be worth it. Plus you’ll get an Achievement for finding every stone.

When you’re all done, re-spec back to however you want and proceed on with the game.

You can use the same trick for Alchemy, Blacksmithing, or Sagecrafting, if you plan to go on a crafting spree.

Learn all Alchemy recipes early
Just like with the Lore Stones, by temporarily re-specing all your points into the Alchemy skill, you can unlock every recipes in the game.

Then you simply take note of whichever recipes you need, and re-spec back to normal. Now you can choose “Experiment,” and once you successfully create the potion(s) you want, they will be permanently added to your recipe list, without the need to buy the recipe from a shop or use the Master Alchemy skill.

Gain all divine blessings whenever you want
Divine blessings are temporary bonuses granted by shrines placed throughout Amalur. They will appear as a green dot on your map, and you should always activate them whenever you see one.

However, in the city of Ysa, which is located roughly in the center of the Western continent on your map, there is a platform with six shrines. They will drastically increase your damage output, health/mana leeching, experience gain, and reduce the cost of spells by 25%. The effects only last for a few minutes, but they’re very potent, especially when all combined.

Once you have discovered Ysa, you can instantly fast-travel to these shrines at any time. Pretty much any time I was going to travel into new, hostile areas (usually heading from point A to point B for a question), or about to enter a dungeon, I would make a quick stop by Ysa to “power up.” It really does make a huge difference, and can even be done before some boss battles.

You can’t fast-travel from inside a building or dungeon, but anywhere else is fine. The whole process takes less than 60 seconds, but if you’re on a journey, just make sure you’ve discovered a nearby location that you can warp back to before heading to Ysa.

Do you need all these damn books/notes?
If you can add an item to your junk pile or sell it, it is not a quest item and can be disposed of. If you’re wondering why you have no inventory space, you might have picked up a lot of crap that you don’t really need!

Glitch: Wear both weapons
Despite carrying two weapons (and a shield) at all times, you only ever see one, depending on which you’ve used last. To get around this, temporarily, you can simply re-spec your skills. Weapons don’t have stat requirements, only level requirements, so after you re-appropriate all your skills and abilities and re-equip your armor, you should be left standing with both weapons visible on your body.

This will last until you attack with either weapon, so it’s not very useful, but it can come in handy if you’re looking to take some bad-ass screenshots!

Does difficulty really affect achievements?
Yes, but only one. There is a 100-point secret Achievement for beating the game on Hard. I beat the game on Normal and then reloaded the final boss and set the game to Hard, but this didn’t unlock the Achievement. So you’ll have to start out on Hard if you’re going for 1000/1000.

Even on Hard, the game isn’t too difficult, but you’ll definitely need to spend a little more time leveling up and finding/buying/making the best available equipment.