Blasphemous 2is a game so thoroughly drenched in religious imagery that it seeps from every vestibule. you’re able to’t go two screens without seeing an enemy or backdrop that draws inspiration from a particular passage in the Good Book, and you often can’t even go one screen without seeing that staple of international Catholicism, the statue.
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These statues manifest visually as set pieces and cues for hidden secrets, and they manifest mechanically as Altarpieces, small statues the Penitent One can strap to their back for some nice passive bonuses. These can be combined to creategame-changing Resonance effects, but today we’ll be focusing on the Altarpieces with the most standalone value.
10Cierzo
Since you need to expend Fervour to cast all of the elemental damage-inflicting Prayers you’ll find in the game, Cierzo’s boost to such damage when your Fervour is full initially seems counter-intuitive. However, that’s before you take into account the Verdadera Destreza and Blood Pact abilities for Sarmiento and Centella and Ruego Al Alba, respectively.
Both of these skills infuse your weapon with elemental damage without draining your Fervour in exchange, meaning that Cierzo suddenly provides a huge 25 percent damage boost in builds utilising them. If Prayer has done you no good so far, this is a great Altarpiece for a more skill-centric playstyle.
9Cobijada Mayor
This Altarpiece is your reward for hunting down allnine of the Cobijada Sisters, one of the trickier sidequests in the game, meaning it needs to be fairly powerful to justify the effort required. Thankfully it is, providing constant health regeneration for the Penitent One while equipped.
This is a strong passive healing source, one that differentiates itself from the other available options by not demanding that you land successful hits to regain health. It’s great during long stretches of exploration and drawn-out boss fights alike: just make sure you wrap up the Cobijada hunt early so you can get good use out of it.
8Crisanta
As with many games in a post-Souls world, dodging is a key mechanic in Blasphemous 2. Since your slide dodge allows you to pass through the majority of enemies and their attacks unscathed, bosses included, it’s a much more reliable means of avoiding damage than blocking, with much less risk involved.
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Crisanta takes this already-essential move and makes it even better, reducing the lead-in time for the dodge so that it’s nigh-instant upon pressing R2. Nearly every build wants to be dodging through enemy attacks regularly, which means nearly every build can benefit greatly from having Crisanta sitting on their shelf.
7Gregal
If you’re not making use of Prayers in Blasphemous 2, you’re missing out on one of the best sources of damage available in the game. Prayers have great range, and synergise nicely with any boosts to elemental damage you may be using with your weapons already. The problem is they drain your Fervour quickly, and you’re able to only replenish it by attacking enemies normally.
Or, at least, only if you don’t have Gregal equipped. This Altarpiece provides constant passive Fervour regeneration, ensuring you’re able to keep up your magical barrage for far longer than usual. Pair it up with some of the other Prayer-boosting Altarpieces to unleash the wrath of God on your foes.
6Lebeche
Critical hits are one of the less-obvious mechanics in Blasphemous 2. In fact, you probably wouldn’t know they existed at all if it wasn’t for the myriad Altarpieces and items that reference them. They do exist, however, and they’re just as important as they are in other games, offering a significant damage bonus each time they occur in combat.
Naturally, you’ll want to maximise your chances of scoring these powerful hits, and that’s exactly what Lebeche lets you do, providing a ten percent boost to their rate of occurrence. No matter which ofthe game’s three weaponsyou use, this is a subtly excellent Altarpiece that will swing many fights in your favour.
5The Confessor
Guilt is one of Blasphemous 2’s more interesting systems, a kind of risk-reward dynamic that builds up over successive deaths. Generally, despite the extra Tears of Atonement and Martyrdom Points you earn while your Guilt is high, the penalties to Fervour and defence make playing at a high Guilt level less than ideal.
Unless you have the Confessor equipped, that is. With this Altarpiece active, your overall damage is increased when your Guilt is high, swinging the risk-reward pendulum back in favour of reward. It’s also a great comeback option for when you’re dying constantly against a boss or area, and thus raising your Guilt each time.
4The Selfless Father
Your reward for sowing all six ofthe Wax Seedsin the game, the Selfless Father Altarpiece provides a very significant 25 percent Fervour cost reduction for all of your Prayers. Even when you’ve maxed out your Fervour later in the game, you’ll still find yourself running low frequently if you rely on Prayers, making this a must-have Altarpiece in such builds.
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Not only will you use up your Fervour slower with this Altarpiece equipped, but you’ll also be able to go from zero to Prayer in much less time and with far fewer standard attacks necessary. If you’re looking to dish out some divine justice, this Altarpiece is the answer to your Prayers.
3The Thirst
The best items in games like Blasphemous 2 are those that reward you for doing things you’re likely to do anyway. The Thirst is a prime example of this, an Altarpiece that grants a huge 20 percent boost to all of your damage once you’ve used up all of your Bile Flasks.
Throughout your quest, whether it be during a long trek through an area or a difficult boss fight, you’ll find yourself out of Bile Flasks quite regularly. Throw in the fact that The Thirst boosts all damage, be it physical or elemental, and you have an easy inclusion for any given build.
2The Traitor
Despite being the very first Altarpiece you find in the game, The Traitor is one of the best. Its effect is simplicity incarnate: it provides a ten percent increase to all physical damage that you deal. This applies to all three of the core weapons in the game, so no matter which one you chose and stuck by you’ll get a nice boost from this Altarpiece.
You’ll certainly find flashier options as you progress in the game and start leaning more into elemental damage with your weapons and Prayers, but The Traitor never stops being relevant. From the start of your journey to the very end, the sharp edge this Altarpiece provides will be a consistent aid against Blasphemous 2’s unholy hordes.
1The Unwavering One
The Unwavering One is more than just an Altarpiece: it’s also a self-contained late-game side quest. Beginning as The Maiden, a gift from the honey-drenched man in Choir of Thorns, you’ll need to break and repair it several times before it reaches its final, fearsome form. Once there, The Unwavering One provides a ten percent increase to both critical hit chance and critical hit damage.
This is an incredibly efficient Altarpiece that increases your effective damage by a lot when averaged out over the many combat encounters you’ll need to endure on your journey. It’s worth noting that these bonuses apply to Prayers too, meaning that, no matter how you play the game, this Altarpiece should be an Unwavering staple of your toolset.
