Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – Starting Zone Guide (Best Weapons, Armors, Potions, Builds)

The starting area in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon serves as more of a tutorial and practice area. And while you can very easily run for the exit and be done in 20 or 30 minutes, it can be worth taking your time and exploring it thoroughly.  Doing so will have you leave the prison zone much more prepared for the bigger section of the game, which presents a significant increase in challenge.

This guide goes over the best items you can find inside and outside the prison. Some of these items are out of the way and require you to have your exploring hat firmly on, and even fighting some hidden enemies that are stronger than the regular Red Priests and Red Guards. Don’t miss our general 60 tips guide for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon if you have already escaped the Island Asylum.

You too can leave the Island Asylum well-equipped for the challenges ahead.

If you are looking for more Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon guides and content, these are helpful:

Best Dialogue Choices and Bonuses in the Island Asylum

When you are talking to the first Red Guard outside your cell, he’ll ask about your background, which serves as the class choice and determines your first playstyle bonuses. Considering the type of gear you can find in the prison and around, some of the options may make this part of the game a little more challenging. 

The best choices for this first section of the game are to choose “I was on my way to enlist in the army.” and then, choose either “Infantry” or “Archers”. 

Best Overall Bonus choice: Joining the Army

Choosing “I was on my way to enlist in the army” gives you the following bonuses:

1. One-Handed +3
2. Two-Handed +3
3. Blocking +3
4. Heavy Armor +3
5. Athletics +3

This combination of bonuses is well-rounded for regular RPG players, and it will serve you well while you are getting used to the gameplay. Once you are more used to the game, you’ll be alternating between mana and stamina to keep your enemies on their toes, but if you are used to relying on either one of the other, this one is a solid choice to make this zone less stressful.

Army is more melee based and more forward in its approach, your classical RPG brawler

Best Secondary Dialogue Choice: Infantry or Archers

If you chose “Joining the Army” for your first dialogue choice, then it’s time to choose a secondary bonus, what the game called Playstyle Bonus 2. Considering the type of items you can find in the asylum, the best bonuses for this section are going to be the more physical ones.

Choosing “Infantry” gives you the following bonuses:

1. One-Handed +6
2. Blocking +3
3. Heavy Armor +3

Choosing “Archers” gives you the following bonuses:

1. One-Handed +3
2. Archery +6
3. Medium Armor +3

The best bonuses from these options are to the One-Handed, Blocking, and Medium Armor, but you cannot get all three in a single choice, so you have to choose one combination over the other. We recommend choosing “Infantry” because most of the weapons you’ll have access in this zone are one-handed weapons, and while you won’t find a shield, the Blocking bonus does help to block with your weapon.

The Archers option does provide a bonus to Medium Armor, which is the armor grade you’ll likely have for this entire prologue. However, it only offers 3 points to One-Handed as opposed to the 6 you’d get on Infantry. It does give you 6 points in Archery but you can only find 15 or so arrows in this area and won’t be able to craft any until you meet a blacksmith, making it significantly less worthy.

Worst Secondary Dialogue Choice: Battlemages

Choosing “Battlemages” gives you the following bonuses:

1. One-Handed +3
2. Heavy Armor +3
3. Magic +6
4. Burning Ember (Spell)

You may be tempted to choose the “Battlemages” option because of the inclusion of the Burning Ember spells that comes with it, but don’t be fooled. There is a Burning Ember spell to be found in the prison itself, halfway through, so this is almost bait to lead you to the Battlemage build. 

The Magic bonus is nice but the default mana recovery is fast enough that you may not even feel that much of a difference with the basic enemies in here. You are also sacrificing points in One-Handed and that Heavy Armor grade is, again, probably wasted for this zone.

Second Best Bonus Choice: Hunting

Choosing “I was hunting” gives you the following bonuses:

1. Archery +3
2. Medium Armor +3
3. Athletics +3
4. Evasion +3
5. Sneak +3

This is for the dashers, and the players that love kiting around enemies, baiting them to swing their weapon at you and meeting nothing but air. If you’ve ever wanted to play Skyrim like the Doomslayer, dashing and evading, then this is the best choice for you.

The Hunters are more sneaky and fast on their feet. Think of a Rogue build.

Best Weapons to Find Before Leaving the Island Asylum

Best One-Handed Weapons and Locations

Wooden Club (Unbroken): 11-13 base damage, 13 SP cost to swing.

Dagger: 8-10 base damage, 7 SP cost to swing.

Location: directly in front of the cell to the left of your cell, there’s the first lockpick to find, another cell door. If you got the lockpicks at the end of the hall to the right of your cell (not following your rescuer’s instructions of going to the left), you should have lockpicks to open it. You’ll see a Red Priest working on a table. Kill him and loot the first dagger you can find.

The Unbroken Wooden Club has the most raw damage, but it’s not found until the later zones of the Prison. The Dagger, however, can be found extremely early and with its SP cost being almost half, you can swing it almost twice as fast. They both benefit from the One-Handed perk.

Best One-Handed weapons to find in the Prison.

Best Two-Handed Weapon and Location

Dull Broadsword: 10-12 base damage, 13 SP cost to swing.

Location: Looted from the Wailing Effigy boss at the bottom of the stairwell in front of where Caradoc is waiting for you. Defeat the Wailing Effigy and take the Dull Broadsword and the Grief-Torn Armor.

The only real two-handed weapon is the Dull Broadsword, but is not as effective as the best One-Handed weapon, and you are giving away being able to carry a secondary weapon or spell. You may also find a Pickaxe and a Shovel that you can use as two-handed weapons but the damage range on those is too wide to be used reliably. They do enable Mining and Digging, so they are worth picking up.

Best Ranged Weapon and Where to Find It

Very Short Bow: 6-9 base damage.

The Very Short Bow can be picked up from the last body before meeting again with Caradoc, the knight that rescued you from your cell. There’s only a handful of arrows available in this first zone so use them wisely.

All Spells Locations the Island Asylum

Blood Transfusion (Location)

Requirement: 1 Spirituality, 1 Endurance.

Location: On the Red Altar with the large painting of the Red Priest, you’ll find the note with the Blood Transfusion spell. Get here either through the Alchemy Lab or using the Pickaxe to clear the rocks to the altar. Be ready to fight 2 Red Priests if you go this way.

Likely the first spell you come across, Blood Transfusion has a very low requirement, with just 1 of Spirituality and 1 Endurance, meaning anyone can use it.  This is a powerful early spell because you can stack multiple hits, resetting the counter each time.

Additionally, the Heavy Cast allows you heal yourself continuously while draining life from your enemies. This is valuable to save your healing items.

Light cast (tapping): Projectile, 3-4 base damage, 5 Mana cost. Dart-like projectile that applies Bleed damage at a rate of 0.6 per second. Stackable with additional 0.3 on top per hit. and resetting the counter with each hit.

Heavy Cost (hold down): Channel, 2 Health for you per second, 7 Mana Cost per second. Drain health from a target continuously for as long as you keep holding down the button. 

Burning Ember (Location)

Requirement: Requires 1 Spirituality.

Location: In the Alchemy Lab, you’ll find a restrained soldier called Ninian. He will ask you to kill him and put him out of his misery, as well as bring his tag over to the Horns of the South fort. Next to Ninian, on a table, you’ll find the burning Ember spell.

Burning Ember is the spell that was included in the bonuses of the Battlemage dialogue option when you are choosing your background, but it can also be picked up halfway through the prison. Also beginner friendly, since it only requires 1 Spirituality to be able to use it. 

The light cast is easy enough to use, and the burning damage is a nice bonus, but you need to hit the light attack square on your target. The heavy cast is a larger explosion, deals more damage on contact, but you can also throw it to the ground in between multiple enemies to cause burning on all of them.

Light Cast (tapping): Projectile, 5 base damage, 5 mana cost. Tapping the button casts a small fire ball. On impact, deals damage and causes burning, dealing damage over time for a few seconds.

Heavy Cast (hold & release): Projectile, 7 base damage, 10 mana cost. Holding the button for a second, until the animation of your casting hand changes, casts a larger fireball that deals more damage on a wider area. It also causes burning over time. It can be useful when dealing with multiple enemies.

Best Armor Pieces Locations in the Island Asylum

Best Helmet: Thorn Helmet

Requirement: Requires 1 Strength, 1 Endurance.

Location: Looted from the Frantic Berserker after defeating him. 

The Thorn Helmet provides 2.0 base armor and it’s enchanted to retaliate 5 points of damage back to the attacker when taking melee damage. In the hole where you meet Sirja, head left of her and drop to the pool of bodies, pickpocket the door and head downstairs. At the very bottom, a single large cell containing the Frantic Berserker, wearing the Thorn Helmet. Defeat him and loot the Helmet from him.

The best helmet in the zone is also the better looking.

Best Cuirass: Grief-Torn Armor

Grief-Torn Armor.

Location: Looted from the Wailing Effigy boss at the bottom of the stairwell in front of where Caradoc is waiting for you. Defeat the Wailing Effigy and loot the Grief-Torn Armor and the Dull Broadsword.

Provides 2.0 base armor, which is the same as the Torn Red Shield’s Leather Armor that you can find all over, but this one is enchanted, providing an increase of 5 points to your Max Health.

Best Cuirass after what’s the closest thing to a boss fight in the prison.

Best Rings, Amulets, Potions, and Crafting Recipes

Best Rings

Archer’s Ring: Increases Ranged Damage by 15%. Value: 200.

Ring of Protection: Increases Armor by 1. Value: 150.

Ring of Toughness: Increases Encumbrance Limit by 25. Value: 100.

Best Amulets

Aspiring Warrior Amulet: Increases Physical Damage by 1. Value: 50

Novice Amulet: Increases Spell Power by 5%. Value: 50

Best Potion

Origin Potion: Resets your skill and stat points. Value: 500

Located in the cell in front of the cell containing the shirtless imprisoned Red Priest (Brother Cassian). This cell where the potion is is unmistakable. You can see the tall, blue, glowing potion sitting on a table, and the lock is of Hard difficulty. These cells are on the lower levels of the prison.

Best Recipes

Cooking for the Resistant, Part 1

Located on the table to the far right after leaving the cell. Instead of going left like Caradoc asked, go right and loot the dead guard and cupboards there. On the table below the crude drawing of a woman, you’ll find the Cooking for the Resistant, Part 1, which will provide you with the recipes for the following:

• Mashed Potatoes
• Beggar’s Fare
• Cabbage Rolls
• Onion Bun

To Brother Sefton (Note)

This note, resting on the door to the Alchemy Laboratory. Make sure to pick it up to unlock the following recipes:

• Small health Potion
• Small Mana Potion

Best Valuable Treasure

Pearl Necklace: Can be worn in the necklace slot, but has no effect. Value: 600

Key Characters You Should Not Miss

There are a couple of characters you can meet early in the game, but you may miss them entirely if you go straight left as Caradoc asked. 

Conchur: A captured warrior of the Dál Riata, He’s a blunt and somewhat aggressive individual, but if not antagonized, he should not attack you.

Sirja: A pict, found among the diseased in Caunacht, escaped test subject of the Red Priests. She’ll be in hiding inside a hole in the wall going downstairs to find the Wailing Effigy. If you give her a Small Health Potion she’ll give you a Lesser Mana Ring.

Best Guides for Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon

Best Spellblade Build

Best Berserker Build

Best Summoner Build

XP Guide – Fastest Farming Routes & Tips

How to Make 10,000+ Gold Fast in Tainted Grail – Best No Combat Method

Best Early Game Gear in Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon – Weapons, Armor, Spells & Jewelry Guide

Complete Gear List (Skills, Weapons, Armor, Jewelry, Spells, Cubes)

Best Starting Class & Beginner Builds

Review - A Satisfying RPG (PS5)