u/Diabolic16

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Finished my first playthrough as mage. 94 hour in Steam. Great remake and great game!

In recent days, I've seen several posts from people complaining that they got stuck in the Sleeper Temple with no resources, no way to return, etc.

On Sunday, I completed my first run of the Temple in Chapter 5, and it's somewhat different from what it was in the original game.

So I'd like to leave some advice for those playing as a pure mage and planning to enter this dungeon.

First of all, you need to understand that the Sleeper Temple is literally endgame content. Therefore, before heading there, I strongly recommend that you prepare.

1. Consumables.
Prepare as many mana potions and mana food as you can. Buy them from merchants, craft them yourself. You should also obtain/craft all the permanent HP/mana elixirs you can (>!the recipe is in a chest in the very top room of Xardas's tower, by the round table!<).
I had about 60 potions of 30 mana, 30 potions of 50 mana, 25 potions of 70 mana, and 10 of Syra's soups for 100 mana in reserve. By the end of the dungeon, I had 30/20/20/5 left, respectively.

2. Equipment.
Get the best equipment you can. The best mage robes, the best jewelry. I also recommend waiting for the Wolf to make you the Crawler armor and obtaining a set of damage resistance jewelry. In some moments, it can be a huge lifesaver.
I ran it myself in the High Water Mage Robe and with mana jewelry.

3. Skills and Spells.
Since this is an endgame dungeon, the enemies are high-level, and most of them will be immune to your 1st-circle spells like Fire Bolt and Ice Bolt.
Therefore, I strongly recommend learning the 5th circle of magic if you haven't done so for some reason. Every circle of magic increase your spell power. And at this circle, runes will become available that can help you get through the Temple less painfully. It will also be useful to get a few scrolls for summoning skeletons/golems.
Acrobatics can also be a great asset for getting through.
I went through without acrobatics.

4. Sleep to restore maximum health and mana.

5. Make a manual save.

Below will be more detailed tips that may spoil story moments, so if you don't want to ruin your first impression, don't read further.

>!In the original game, the first run through the Temple happens fairly quickly - you need to get Uriziel, realize you're powerless against the Orc Shaman, and return to Xardas.!<

>!In the remake, in order to advance the story further, you need not only to obtain Uriziel, but also to get all 5 crystals for it, which means you must defeat all 5 shamans.!<

>!This can be done in two ways:!<

1. >!Rush through the entire temple, ignoring all the shamans along the way except the one near Uriziel. Get Uriziel, return to Xardas, replenish your resources, and come back to the Temple to obtain the remaining crystals.!<
2. >!Fully clear the Sleeper Temple (with the exception of the very final boss, which will only be available in Chapter 6).!<

>!It's worth noting that the first way is pretty stupid, and you'll still need to kill almost all the enemies on the way to Uriziel, among them a bunch of various skeletons, demons, Orc Templars, and Temple Crawlers. And all these opponents, in my experience, are far more difficult than the Orc Shaman themselves.!<

>!Orc Templars and Temple Crawlers are practically immune to 1st-circle spells, so spamming Fire/Ice Bolts won't cut it.!<
>!I killed Templars using Wave of Ice (5th circle) and two casts of Death to the Undead (4th circle).!<
>!Ice Wave freezes them in one hit and gives you the chance to cast two Death to the Undead spells in a row. This combo costs 65 mana and allows you to kill several Templars at once. It all depends on your maneuverability/survivability and your ability to cast Ice Wave under a hail of blows. Templars are immune to Rain of Fire.!<
>!Crawlers I managed to kill with Ball Lightning (2nd circle), starting the cast from maximum distance. It took 2–3 casts per crawler.!<
>!Skeletons are easily one-shot with Destroy Undead.!<
>!Demons are probably the most difficult enemies in the dungeon (in my opinion, harder than the shamans), but they happen to be vulnerable to Ice Bolt, so I killed them by spamming Ice Bolt while avoiding melee attacks as much as possible. At one point, I also used 1 golem summoning scroll and 1 skeleton summoning scroll, since the last 3 demons were too tanky.!<
>!Orc Shamans are fairly straightforward opponents — I killed them in 3 casts of Death to the Undead. Freezing them with Wave of Ice didn't work.!<

>!My full run took almost 3 hours of real time, and I gained about 5 levels throughout the entire dungeon.!<

I'm at the beginning of Chapter 4. I spoke with Torus, and he said >!I'm no longer welcome at the Old Camp!<. However, I still can't talk to Saturas about >!joining the new camp!<. What should I do?

I'm at the beginning of Chapter 4. I spoke with Torus, and he said I'm no longer welcome at the Old Camp. However, I still can't talk to Saturas about joining the New camp. What should I do?