Valor Mortis Catalyst Farming & Max Level Guide

Catalysts are the only currency in Valor Mortis. They pay for every level, every upgrade material and every consumable, and you lose them when you die. Knowing where they come from, and what each level really costs, decides how fast your character grows.

This guide runs the numbers on all of it: the level-cost curve up to the cap of 400, every source of Catalysts (enemies, bosses, side quests and the 191 Catalyst Clots placed in the world), the best enemies to farm, the Surplus Amber, and what it costs to reset your build.

How leveling works

You level up at a Lantern by spending Catalysts. Levels are tied to the level-up board (26 upgrades across the Might, Endurance and Sufferance attributes): resetting your level also removes your board choices. Every level has its own price in the game's cost table. The first steps are cheap and the curve is exponential: level 2 costs 400, level 10 costs 2,566 on its own, level 100 costs 85,707, and the very last level costs 1,696,004 by itself.

For a sense of scale: every boss reward in the game added together reaches level 38, and a million Catalysts reaches level 61. Level 400 is a long-term, endgame-farming goal rather than a story milestone. Use the level calculator to price any range, for example level 30 to 45.

Where Catalysts come from

Enemies: the best per-kill payouts

Every enemy has up to six placement levels. These are not difficulty settings: the same enemy is placed at a stronger level later in the campaign, with more HP and a bigger payout. The table shows each enemy's Catalysts at its weakest and strongest placement.

Per unit of HP, the efficient targets are Eternal Guardsmen (1,200 Catalysts for 700 HP at their weakest), Abominations and Volunteers. Small fry such as Risen Musketeers (50 to 200) and Carrion (30 to 130) are fine on the way past but not worth a farming loop. Remnants of the Iron Regiment pay 3,000 each, but they are tough, resist firearms by 50% and appear only in six regions.

Bosses

Bosses don't respawn, so this is one-time income. General Lothaire also carries a Commander's Catalyst Clot (10,000) as an elite drop on the Battlefield, which makes the first boss worth 20,000 in total.

Catalyst Clots

Catalyst Clots are consumables that add a fixed number of Catalysts when used. 191 are placed across the regions, worth 342,450 together, and some side quests award more. Because a clot is an item rather than Catalysts in your pouch, a good habit is to use clots at a Lantern right before you level, rather than the moment you pick them up.

The richest regions for clots are the late ones: the City of Orphans has 12 Mythic Catalyst Clots (2,000 each), the Fortress 8 Imperial and 8 Eternal, and Napoleon's Prison 10 Imperial. The Whisker Gifts (3,000 and 30,000) are presents from the Mice in the City of Orphans storyline.

Side quests

Quest rewards are small next to bosses but often include more: Sleeping Beauty adds a Distilled Transmutation Material, Misericorde gives Remnant's Return vials, and The Choir pays the biggest single quest sum (6,000). See the side quests guide for every reward.

A simple Catalyst farming loop

1. 1
   Pick a Lantern next to a dense pack

   Resting revives every non-boss enemy, so a Lantern close to a cluster of Eternal Guardsmen, Volunteers or Abominations is a ready-made farm. Late regions (Fortress, University, Napoleon's Prison) use the strongest placements.

2. 2
   Slot Surplus

   Surplus adds +10%, +12.5% or +15% Catalysts per kill by rank. Copies are in chests in the Valley of Ashes, the Caverns and the Outskirts.

3. 3
   Add Warrior's Fury

   Up to +30% damage and extra speed for 8 s after each kill speeds up the whole loop.

4. 4
   Clear, return, rest

   Kill the pack, walk back, rest. Elite (Enraged) enemies with red glowing eyes do not respawn, so skip routes that rely on them.

5. 5
   Bank it

   Level up or buy materials every few loops so a death never costs more than one run.

Respec: resetting your level choices

At a Lantern you can Reset All Level Choices. It resets your level, removes your board choices and refunds every Catalyst you spent on levels, for a fee. The fee comes from the game's respec cost table, which has 52 steps and climbs from free on the first to 15,000 Catalysts on the last. The table is keyed by step; our pipeline reads it as the number of respecs you have made, so the first reset is free and each later one costs more.

• Reach level 9 for all Amber slots
• Slot Surplus while exploring and farming
• Use Catalyst Clots at a Lantern, right before you level
• Carry Remnant's Return into risky areas
• Spend Catalysts before every boss door