Griefhelm: All Unlockables Guide

Anything written in this guide is my opinion, gathered from my own experience playing the game. If I have missed anything or you happen to disagree with something, feel free to let me know in the comments.

Please do not take much of my advice too seriously, I mostly just gave my thoughts so the guide wasn’t literally just poorly-cropped screenshots. I am by no means the best Griefhelm player ever, and my word should not be taken as law whatsoever.

I will continuously edit the guide as long as new content is being added. I may eventually make the effort to grab some higher quality images as well.

Also this is my first guide and I apologise for any formatting issues. With all that being said, on to the guide.

To unlock a weapon in the campaign you must play a “node” with that particular weapon listed as the reward. This is the same for armour, helmets, and plumes, which we will get to later in the guide. So, in no particular order…

Longsword
= Starting gear
= The most “balanced” weapon, having average stats all-round
+ This secretly makes it the best weapon, cheese aside
+ Has a stab attack

One-Handed Sword
+ Faster, harder to read longsword
– Unfortunately it is also shorter, and I just prefer the reach
– Additional slash attack instead of the longsword’s insanely good mid-stab

Zweihander/Flamberge
– Very slow longsword with no stab
+ Longer reach, but it is not worth the trade-off in my opinion

Spear
= Only stab attacks
+ It’s so long this doesn’t tend to matter
+ Skewer everybody foolish enough to block anywhere but upwards
– Hitbox is a little finicky sometimes
– If someone closes in, your only options are shove or dash, both of which probably won’t work
~ Easiest weapon to cheese with, especially in co-op

Halberd
+ Spear length weapon focused on slashing
+ Still stabby if you want it to be
+ If you know the hitbox decently well, this is the most consistent weapon for committing acts of dismemberment
– Like the spear, if someone closes in you’re probably dead.

Mace
+ Crunch
– A bit slow
– Shorter than the One-Handed sword
+ It does not matter when you 1-shot half your enemies

Warhammer
+ Crunch mk2
– Hitbox takes some getting used to, as the handle is not part of it
– Fairly slow
+ Still kills nearly everybody with just a bit of a tap

Flail
= Your weapon hitbox is on a chain
+ This makes it very unpredictable for your enemies
– And also yourself sometimes
– I still can’t find it in the campaign 🙁
+ Same damage as the other two blunt weapons
– Similar speed as well

DAGGER
+ The superior weapon, used by the fearless and also those whose enemies have like 1 HP left
+ Everybody already has one, all you need to do is throw your worthless stick away
+ Makes you super fast
+ Show the world you don’t need to be able to block anything
+ Or have any form of decent reach on your blade
+ Perfect in every way

A Few Notes
~ All in all, every weapon is viable, and it really doesn’t matter which one you pick most of the time.
~ There are however certain matchups that favour a particular weapon over the other.
~ Blunt weapons do twice the damage while trading swing speed. They are best used when expecting heavily armoured foes (especially paired with blunt weapons of their own). Otherwise I recommend using a blade of some sort.
~ Stabs are brilliant because they have a long reach and an even longer attack animation, with the damage hitbox remaining until the start of recovery.

Not including starting gear and event stuff, there are a total of 11 different sets of armour in this game to unlock. 8 being unlockable in the campaign, the other 3 unlocked by defeating adversaries, whose gear is unfortunately only usable in the Multiplayer and Encounter modes (for now, hopefully?).

From what I can tell, armour sets only affect movement speed and how much damage you can take. All sets in the same category will have the same amount of “health” but the speed does vary somewhat.

Clothes (1 set)

= Only your starting gear fits this category
– Makes you very soft, you die from 1 hit
+ Fastest speed
~ I suppose technically this would be the best “armour” if you played literally perfectly, much like running around naked in a Dark Souls title

Light Armour (4 sets)

+ Fast speed
– You are still pretty vulnerable, death in 2 hits of a blade, and 1 from blunt weapons

Medium Armour (3 sets)

= Average Speed
= Takes 3 hits from blades, 2 from blunts
+ Average usually means versatile in this game
~ In my opinion, the versatility of this gear makes it the best to use for average play.

Heavy Armour (1 set)

+ Death in 4 hits from blades, 2 from blunts
– Slowest movement speed
~ You still run at a completely reasonable pace, making this the best armour in most people’s eyes (from what little I have seen online)

Basically you have to beat an adversary to unlock their gear for encounters. You cannot use any of these armour sets in campaign currently, and when using equipment stats, have the same overall properties as their campaign counterparts. There are currently 1 light and 2 heavy sets of armour you can only unlock this way.

The plume pictured is unlocked by defeating Edvin (in the gold armour).

Note – There are also adversaries wearing the campaign gear, but you must still unlock their gear in the actual campaign to use it there.

All cosmetic, nothing really useful or witty to say here, so let’s just dig straight into the images and move on. Edvin’s plume pictured again, for the sake of not getting in the way of the helmets.

Halloween 2020

+ Easily the best set of “armour” in the game to me, as it has the speed of your starting clothes and the “health” of medium armour. Also comes with a cool birb mask (invisible plume when?). Torch not included, sadly. Grab it while it’s available! Event ends November 6th.

Also unlocked by winning adversary matches, these stages all feature various backgrounds and obstacles for you to stare at and trip over while you lay waste to your foes.

~ No hazards

~ No hazards

~ Hazards include a particularly annoying bed and a dining set

~ Pitfalls and swinging traps are present on either side of the arena, it’s also pretty dark in certain areas

~ No hazards from memory

~ Tents and darkness are surprisingly good at obscuring the player’s vision at times

~ Seems to be a strange lack of danger for a blizzard

~ You can catch fire standing still in certain places, and there are some fields of grass that are nowhere near as bad as they used to be, but still obscure vision slightly

~ No hazards once again

I still haven’t unlocked the last stage it seems. I will update this once I have more information, but I suspect it is the Boss level from the campaign.

You’re done with the unlocks now, this is pretty much the end of the guide. Just thought I’d give a little information on the factions we know about in-game.

Most of the lore I’m about to quickly go through has been stolen from the Griefhelm Discord server, which I will again recommend heading over to if you have any questions for the devs or experienced players. Any moderators/admins/devs on the Discord server can certainly feel free to ask me to remove this section of the guide. I just thought it might be interesting to tack on.

So basically in the land of Not-Medieval-Europe there are 5 known warring factions, and 3 we couldn’t care less about right now. From here until I say so, everything typed below is ripped pretty much straight from the “choose-a-side” channel on the Discord server.

The Flames of Thorny Mountain (Red)
Out of all the factions, none are treated with more dread and fear than the Flames. Seeking to always push themselves to the limit and experience the high of battle, they live and train on the slopes of The Thorny Mountain, a volcano likened unto a rose in both is majestic beauty and hazardous surroundings. Within such a harsh environment, the crafty and resourceful are consumed by the overwhelmingly strong and powerful. Flames fight for fighting’s sake. Their bellows of laughter and shouts of battle put fear into the hearts of their enemies. They fight under the Standard of the Rose. To a Flame, there is a beauty in inflicting and receiving pain through combat. Unpredictable, unrelenting, and unstoppable, they crash through the land like a wave of burning lava – immolating any who stand in their path.

First Comet Alliance (Blue)
Spurred on by the falling star of the new year, a band of nobles came together to form the First Comet Alliance. Comprised of the heads of notable houses, the Alliance seeks to establish its members’ station and prestige through the artful execution of combat. Perfect in pedigree and practice, Alliance fighters are those who can make their name known throughout both the land and the pages of history. Their ranks are regimented and extensively catalogued. Though other factions mock their commitment to genealogy and pomp, members of the Alliance are able to make use of ancient and powerful techniques which can wholly overcome their foes.

The Brilliant Dawn Corps (Yellow)
Many are born into this world without noble blood, chivalrous caretakers, or a pull towards frenzy. Yet when their hands grip cold steel and they face down their enemies, they find renewed strength, cunning, even career. Thus are the mercenaries of the Brilliant Dawn Corps – a band of those who were gifted – or cursed with prowess in battle. Members of the corps strive for professionalism above all else. Developing new optimized tactics, efficient techniques, and practical skills, they make their living on the battlefield as unstoppable forces of nature. Derided by the other factions as nothing but greedy rabble, members of the Dawn have the most to prove. Underestimating them is a fatal error, though – as a skilled corpsman is more than a match for any of the factions’ greatest champions.

Order of the Emerald Scale (Green)
There was a time when order and chivalry governed the hearts of men. Now, greed and self-service drive them to violence and warfare. Only the knights of the Order of the Emerald Scale follow the ways of old, and let those who stand against them take proper care not to underestimate their storied prowess. Knights of the Order stand for that which is right and just – fair and true. In battle they strive to defeat their opponents while standing on the same ground and swinging the same steel. Considered burdensome and old-fashioned by the other factions, the Order does things in their own time and in their own ways. But a call to a duel from one of their knights carries with it the weight of a warrior’s unbreakable spirit.

The Hand (White)
No discord lore from this point onwards, but this is the faction your character is from when playing the campaign. We don’t know much about him or his people aside from what he tells us through dark and vague in-game text. If Dark Souls was an anime, this bloke would fit right in.
I’m pretty sure The Hand was (part of?) a faction that originally held some of the land you fight on. Seems our hero is also on a quest to prove himself worthy. Unfortunately in doing so, it seems he discovers that there is in fact “No rest for the worthy” and enters endless conflict or something? That’s all I can really make out currently, but if I spot anything unusual I will write it up here.

The Circle (Black)
The Circle was originally supposed to appear in the campaign apparently. Only the final boss wears black though, while his teammates (your clones) share your white colouring. So I don’t know what’s up with that aside from the fact that there’s probably some relation to The Hand in there somewhere. Two sides of the same coin sorta deal.

The Iris and The Pride (Purple and Orange, respectively)
The Iris and The Pride both go completely unseen and unmentioned, so I relate to them the most.