About The Resonance Archives

[-Glue-]

I'm getting ready to dive into the archives for the first time. I made my first expedition to scope it out, find a good path, and take a peak inside. I know there is a boss somewhere in there, and I want to make sure I am properly prepared to fight it, since dying miles from home is a fast way to ruin my night lol.

Without spoiling too much, what sort of gear should I have? Should I go straight to iron? Does the arena have light, or is it pitch black? (I want to know if I should bring a shield, or expect to hold a lantern) Do I need range? Or would an iron sword suffice? Also, should I expect to sweat, or is it pretty casual? Speaking for someone who has no clue what it is or does lol

Again. I don't want a play by play or anything. Just really general tips that don't spoil too much! Thanks!

[Zane Mordien]

Do not use plate armor unless you have the blackguard armor or the other one. Player made plate armor = no healing unless you remove the armor. 

Have plenty of healing poultices. I use a shield always but keep torches to throw down to light up the area if needed. I still carry a lantern and have the shield ready to hot swap over. I personally think you should prepare to battle as both range and melee. Some people would disagree but that is my playstyle. 

Have fun, going through the RA the first time is awesome!

[LadyWYT]

Iron gear is a solid choice--I usually go for brigandine myself. If you're very confident you can probably do it in bronze or gambeson, but I would recommend iron. I also agree with @Zane Mordien, plate armor isn't the best choice for the fight due to the healing penalty, unless you're good at your footwork or don't mind popping a piece of armor off in order to heal.

As for lighting, the boss area is lit, albeit dimly, so your choice on whether to equip a lantern or a shield.

For ranged versus melee...melee is certainly stronger in this fight than ranged, but again, it also boils down to personal preference. If I'm not mistaken, @Thorfinn killed it using nothing but flint spears, though I would recommend taking the best weapons you have available. Better overkill than underwhelm.

58 minutes ago, -Glue- said:

I want to make sure I am properly prepared to fight it, since dying miles from home is a fast way to ruin my night lol.

Don't forget that you can reset your spawn point using a temporal gear, so if you run across an extra you might want to reset your spawn outside the Archive entrance. Or simply use the power of the console to turn keep inventory on death to "true", or otherwise teleport yourself back to the Archive.

1 hour ago, -Glue- said:

Also, should I expect to sweat, or is it pretty casual? Speaking for someone who has no clue what it is or does lol

It's not a particularly difficult fight, but if you've never done it before and are going into it blind, expect to sweat a bit...or a lot. Depends on your game settings and skill level. Bringing lots of healing items will help; horsetail poultices will do just fine, and if you carry the stacks of ingredients instead of the poultices themselves you make more efficient use of inventory space(just make sure to craft a stack or two if you're heading into a spot that looks like trouble). The honey-sulfur poultices are the best you can bring, since they heal a lot but don't need to be soaked and used immediately like the alcohol bandages.

[Thorfinn]

Solid advice. All I can add is practice strafing. If you can keep your cursor on a tree or a pillar while holding down A or D, you've got it covered.  When you get to the point you can do that to a brown bear, the RA is easy. Practice healing while doing so, and spamming torches with "Q" or whatever you remapped "throw" to. If you can spam torches, you can spam spears or poultices.

Above all, have fun!

[Zane Mordien]

@LadyWYT I always play blackguard and I still use flint spears even with the damage penalty. I'd say more for my preference but I don't want to spoil it for them.

[-Glue-]

8 hours ago, Zane Mordien said:

Do not use plate armor unless you have the blackguard armor or the other one. Player made plate armor = no healing unless you remove the armor.

I was thinking of going in with iron chain, or scale. Would need to double check the stats. I actually have the opportunity to buy the blackguard armor from my local trader, so I may go with that. I just don't have a lot of gears, and know the Elk costs 100, so I dont want to use them all up.

 

8 hours ago, Zane Mordien said:

Have fun, going through the RA the first time is awesome!

Thank you! From what I saw when I peaked in, its pretty cool!
 

8 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Don't forget that you can reset your spawn point using a temporal gear, so if you run across an extra you might want to reset your spawn outside the Archive entrance. Or simply use the power of the console to turn keep inventory on death to "true", or otherwise teleport yourself back to the Archive.

I've been incredibly unlucky with temporal gears this run. My first would I was drowning in them, but I only just managed to repair a translocator on my 1.20 world. I haven't found much of any loot, or underground ruins. I wonder if my world settings messed with them somehow? Anyways, I considered setting spawn there, but I only have one gear, so if I die at home later on, I would be back at the Archives lol

 

8 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

It's not a particularly difficult fight, but if you've never done it before and are going into it blind, expect to sweat a bit...or a lot. Depends on your game settings and skill level. Bringing lots of healing items will help; horsetail poultices will do just fine, and if you carry the stacks of ingredients instead of the poultices themselves you make more efficient use of inventory space(just make sure to craft a stack or two if you're heading into a spot that looks like trouble). The honey-sulfur poultices are the best you can bring, since they heal a lot but don't need to be soaked and used immediately like the alcohol bandages.

I'm not necessarily scared of it being too difficult, but I am worried that it will be a bit jank, due to VS being VS. I have had lots of wtf moments fighting enemies due to the jank combat. Good point on the poultices! I wouldn't have thought to bring the raw materials for space.

I appreciate all the tips! I am probably going to have to wait a bit more before I actually get into the Archives though. I got bored forging iron blooms on my temp setup, so I started making a whole blacksmithing building instead, so I can be cozy while crafting lol.

[LadyWYT]

4 hours ago, -Glue- said:

I've been incredibly unlucky with temporal gears this run.

Sometimes it do be like that. The surface drifters won't stop dropping them for me on my friend's server.

4 hours ago, -Glue- said:

Anyways, I considered setting spawn there, but I only have one gear, so if I die at home later on, I would be back at the Archives lol

You should be fine. Not to spoil too much, but the boss always drops at least one temporal gear upon defeat, so you'll have at least one to reset your spawn again once you make it back home.

4 hours ago, -Glue- said:

I'm not necessarily scared of it being too difficult, but I am worried that it will be a bit jank, due to VS being VS. I have had lots of wtf moments fighting enemies due to the jank combat.

There may or may not be a wtf moment or two in the Archive, but overall jank hasn't affected it too much. I think the worst concern there is the knockback bug that can trap you in a wall. On the rare chance that happens, you'll need to use spectator mode to free yourself.

[Vratislav]

I haven't tested it, but the Archives are equipped to help players to defeat the boss. If you feel underprepared, raid guardian's rooms, where some very good (albeit highly damaged) armor and bunch of iron arrows can be found.

Edited March 10, 2025 by Vratislav

[Vratislav]

On 3/9/2025 at 12:41 PM, -Glue- said:

I was thinking of going in with iron chain, or scale.

Iron chainmail was fully OK even for so clumsy fighter as me. The blackguard armor has to be repaired first, using some iron chains and plates.

[Maelstrom]

Consider building a little shack with spare supplies close to the entrance of the archives where you can also set your spawn point.  The boss is not the only way to die in the archives and it's prudent to take precautions against the unforeseen - such as a sudden stop at the end of an accidental fall from a very high place.  There's a couple places that can happen.

[-Glue-]

Update:
I ended up finding a whole lot of meteoric iron, so made full scalemail of that. Then I finally got my stuff together and did the Archives. My first attempt I ended up having to head back, because I ran out of food. I didn't expect it to be as involved as it was, and my stock was low, since it was mid winter. (Also, can't believe no one told me not to bring crocks of food. I had to leave the archives every time I needed to eat lol)
My second attempt I died to the boss right before killing him, as I forgot to bring my shield, and extra healing supplies.

Spoiler

He wasn't quite what I expected. I thought the bottom of that center room was going to be the arena. And once all the blue lights started coming on, (which was really cool) I started to think that ominous structure in the middle was going to be a part of it, so it was a little underwhelming in the end. But oh man, that final library room was quite a treat! After crawling around in the gutters that whole time, it was an amazing reveal! I hope the rest of the story areas are as crazy as the Archives!

Anyways, I got my Elk, and am going to start prepping for the next story location. That shit is waaaaaaay out there, so I am probably going to spend the rest of winter actually finishing my house, and moving everything in. Then I can build up a proper supply of food in the summer, to go out on one massive adventure! Hopefully I am ready before next winter hits lol.

[Never Jhonsen]

40 minutes ago, -Glue- said:

(Also, can't believe no one told me not to bring crocks of food. I had to leave the archives every time I needed to eat lol)

I always forget myself
But, that's why 1.20 added the ability to take food from a crock with a bowl in your inventory; all the story locations are like this

[-Glue-]

7 hours ago, Never Jhonsen said:

But, that's why 1.20 added the ability to take food from a crock with a bowl in your inventory; all the story locations are like this

Oh my god. I thought that may be a thing, but tried to do that in the crafting menu, so assumed it wasn't a thing. I just now tried clicking on the crock with the bowl in my inventory, and would you look at that, it worked! Would have been helpful earlier, but at least I know about this for the future lol. Thanks for bringing it to my attention!

[LadyWYT]

8 hours ago, -Glue- said:

(Also, can't believe no one told me not to bring crocks of food. I had to leave the archives every time I needed to eat lol)

7 hours ago, Never Jhonsen said:

But, that's why 1.20 added the ability to take food from a crock with a bowl in your inventory; all the story locations are like this

Honestly, forgot that was a thing, since I always pack a ton of pie when going on expeditions. Pie stacks ridiculously well(but make sure you cut it before heading in to story locations!), and in the case of redmeat pie is especially filling.

However, the main issue with packing a practical fridge's worth of pies...is that about half of it spoils before I can manage to eat it, even as a Blackguard. I always pack way too much food for the Archive. Does beat the alternative though.

[Never Jhonsen]

12 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

However, the main issue with packing a practical fridge's worth of pies...is that about half of it spoils before I can manage to eat it

I have the same issue with pie on long trips it just doesn’t last that long in my bags

[Maelstrom]

My issues with pies is that they are limited to a single non-grain ingredient and the non-meat pie has such low satiation that I find crocks of food much better.  The benefit of using a single slot for food isn't sufficiently good enough in my book.

[Never Jhonsen]

7 hours ago, Maelstrom said:

My issues with pies is that they are limited to a single non-grain ingredient

you and me both If we can mix 3 types of food in the crock then we should be able to mix at least 3 types of food in the pie. Shepherds pie my beloved.

The only "argument" I can see against it is that you could make a pie that has all your nutrients in one pie (Grain, Protein, Vegetable, Fruit), making it the "Ultimate Meal™", but in the overall view of things, I don't see the issue with that.

[Maelstrom]

Another drawback (as mentioned by @LadyWYT ) is that they spoil quicker than sealed crocks do.  So on really long excursions, alternate meal prep needs to be found - like sealed crocks.

[LadyWYT]

On 3/25/2025 at 10:16 PM, Maelstrom said:

So on really long excursions, alternate meal prep needs to be found - like sealed crocks.

I'd say that a cookpot might be the better option, in that case. A sealed crock is fine, but it'll unseal the moment you eat from it, and there's not much point in resealing it. Crocks don't stack either, so the more crocks you bring, the more inventory you sacrifice. With a cookpot though, you can do some hunting/foraging once your crock is empty, cook a meal, and use the empty crock to carry part of it around. Refill as needed, no sealing required.

[Maelstrom]

@LadyWYT  I concur.  Usually I mention such as well.  Thanks for the catch.