•Patrik Mršnik• 6 min read
Games
Valor Mortis Ambers, Catalysts and What to Buy First
Valor Mortis Ambers and Valor Mortis Catalysts carry nearly all of the progression in Valor Mortis, the dark action RPG from One More Level. Catalysts pay for every level, and levels open the slots where Ambers go.
In our Valor Mortis review, we called this setup simple. Progression starts slowly, and the early chapters leave you underleveled for a long stretch. Knowing where each Catalyst should go makes that stretch shorter.
This page explains Catalysts and death, Lanterns, skill points, every Amber and its slots, crafting, and what to buy first.
Valor Mortis Ambers and Catalysts Summary
Catalysts are the only currency. They pay for levels, materials, and consumables.
Die, and your Catalysts drop where you fell. Die again before reaching them, and they're gone for good.
Every level gives one skill point for the Might, Endurance, or Sufferance tree.
There are 29 unique Ambers and five Amber slots, all opened through character level.
Spend your first Catalysts on Maximum Health and Maximum Endurance.
How Valor Mortis Catalysts and Lanterns Work
Catalysts are the game's only currency. Enemies and bosses drop them, side quests hand them out, and Catalyst Clots add a fixed amount when consumed. You spend them at Lanterns on levels, and at merchants on materials and consumables.
Every unspent Catalyst drops where you die, and walking back to that spot returns the whole stack. Die a second time on the way, and the stack is lost for good. A consumable called Remnant's Return absorbs lost Catalysts for you, so carry one into a hard fight.
Lanterns act as checkpoints, and the story frames them as lamps placed by a craftsman named Lucjan Skawiński. Resting at one restores Health and Nephtoglobin, refills your Ferrofluid Flasks, and brings regular enemies back. Bosses stay dead, which turns a Lantern next to a big enemy group into an easy farm.
Fast travel between Lanterns opens once you beat General Lothair, the Eagle-Bearer, and reach the Abandoned Church. Before that, you walk, and with no map, you find your way by landmarks.
Valor Mortis Leveling and Skill Points
Valor Mortis leveling gets pricier with every step, and each level grants one skill point. Level 2 costs 400 Catalysts, the jump from 9 to 10 costs 2,566, and reaching level 10 from scratch takes 10,273 in total.
Points go on a level-up board with three trees. Might starts with Maximum Health, Endurance with Maximum Endurance, and Sufferance with Nephrophorine Sufferance. Four points in a starting node open the next row of its tree, and no class locks you out of any of them.
Bad picks are cheap to fix in the opening hours. Any Lantern can reset your level from the level-up menu, refunding your points for a Catalyst fee that starts small and climbs. Try a few spreads before the fee grows.
Every Valor Mortis Amber and Its Slots
Valor Mortis Ambers are passive perks you equip at a Lantern through the level-up menu. Each one changes a single habit. The world holds 29 unique Ambers across 56 pickups, mostly in chests, quest rewards, and miniboss drops.
You get five slots, and all of them open through character level. Published guides disagree on the thresholds, listing either levels 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 or levels 5, 15, 25, 35 and 45, so check the level-up board in your own save.
15 Ambers have three ranks, and picking up another copy raises the rank. Perfect Copy goes further and lifts your other equipped Tier 1 and Tier 2 Ambers by a rank.
Amber | Ranks | What it does |
|---|---|---|
Warrior's Fury | I–III | Damage and move speed after a kill |
Glass Soldier | I–III | More melee damage, far lower resistances |
Perfectionism | I–III | More melee damage at full Health |
Dominatus | I–III | Critical Attacks heal you |
Butcher's Carnage | I–III | Melee lifesteal, flasks stop healing |
Wound that Heals | I–III | Health regeneration |
Bottomless Well | I–III | Nephtoglobin regeneration |
Tomorrow's Promise | I–III | Flasks heal more and add regeneration |
Potent Concoction | I–III | Flasks also restore Nephytoglobin |
Life Diverted | I–III | Flasks restore Nephytoglobin, Transmutations siphon Health |
Surplus | I–III | More Catalysts from kills |
Lucky Shot | I–III | Chance a shot costs no ammo |
Indestructible Shell | I–III | Explosion damage resistance |
Lunatic's Grasp | I–III | More Ignite and Stasis buildup, no Ignite or Crystallization resistance |
Bountiful Harvest | I–III | Nephtoglobin Remnants heal you |
Iron Grip | I | Faster flask drinking that can't be interrupted |
Duellist's Focus | I | Wider parry window |
Perfect Copy | I | Ranks up other equipped Tier 1 and 2 Ambers |
Limit Break | I | Extra flask healing becomes temporary Health |
Transmuted Persistence | I | Transmutation damage restores Recoverable Health |
Volatile End | I | Shooting a Weak Point causes an explosion |
Sleight of Hand | I | Faster reload and weapon swap |
Marksman's Bane | I | Each parried bullet gives a Pistol round |
Sixth Sense | I | More gun damage during Perfect Dodges; dodged bullets slow time |
Dilated Moment | I | Aiming slows time, costs Endurance and gun damage |
Equivalent Exchange | I | Pay Health when Nephtoglobin runs out |
Fire Breathing | I | Attacks during a dodge cause a fire explosion |
Payback | I | Getting hit at low Health causes a Stasis explosion |
Silent Squeak | I | Enemies hear you less |
Valor Mortis Crafting and Your First Catalysts
Valor Mortis crafting opens later in the campaign. Weapons go to James's Iron Bench, and Transmutations go to Louis's Laboratoire, and the best upgrades need rare materials found off the main path. Weapon upgrades branch into separate routes at set points, and James and Louis sell missing parts for Catalysts.
Put your first points into Maximum Health and Maximum Endurance, two of the three starting nodes on the board. A thin health bar is why the early chapters hurt, and a longer stamina bar gives you more dodges to learn a boss with.
What goes in the first Amber slot? Warrior's Fury from a Fallen Village chest is the safe pick. Iron Grip, from a chest on The Battlefield, stops enemies from interrupting your flask drinks, and Dominatus earns a slot once boss fights get longer.
FAQs About Valor Mortis
Final Words
Valor Mortis charges a steep price for each level, and a second death can wipe out an evening's grind. Spend at every Lantern you reach and keep your carried stack small.
Ambers give your build its personality. With only five slots, which habit do you want the game to reward: parries, critical hits, gunplay, or flask timing? Pick one and fill the slots around it.
Slot thresholds already differ from guide to guide, and a patch could shift them again. Trust your own level-up board over any list, this one included.
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