From Startup to Late Game: A Progression Guide for Salt and Sanctuary

1. Game overview

Salt and Sanctuary is a 2D action RPG, Metroidvania game developed and published by Ska Studios. You play as a shipwrecked sailor stranded on a cursed, dangerous island full of monsters, lethal traps, and mysterious lore, and you must explore interconnected, atmospheric environments to uncover its secrets. The combat combines brutal, Souls inspired mechanics with platforming challenge, numerous weapon and magic styles, heavy resource risk vs reward (especially “salt” which functions similarly to Souls) and deep character builds and equipment progression. Players also rest and fast travel at Sanctuaries, customize their crest, creed, and face powerful bosses as they push through ever tougher areas

• Developer: Ska Studios
• Publisher: Ska Studios
• First Release: March 15, 2016 (PS4)
• Genre: 2D action RPG / Soulslike with platforming and exploration
• Platforms: PlayStation 4, Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One
• Core Loop: Explore dangerous zones → Fight enemies & bosses → Collect salt & gear → Level up / upgrade build → Die, return to Sanctuary / checkpoint → Repeat, pushing further into new areas

Heads‑Up: Platform storefronts sometimes show legacy Vita crossbuy notes or bundled editions; check the store page for platform specific fixes or bundled DLC before purchase.

2. Core facts table (quick reference)

System	What it does	Player impact
Combat	2D melee and ranged attacks, blocking, rolling/dodging with i‑frames, and stamina management	Timing and equip load determine invulnerability frames and mobility; proper pacing prevents overcommitment
Salt (currency)	Main currency for leveling up and many upgrades	Salt farming, safe banking, and routing are central to progression decisions
Blacksmith & Transmutation	Weapons can be upgraded; transmutation reworks weapons into other families at cost	Transmutation allows access to preferred weapon movesets while conserving upgrade paths when used efficiently
Equipment load	Determines roll distance/speed and whether jumping/rolling is restricted	Light load grants the best i‑frames and mobility; heavy load increases defense at cost of evasion

Build Reminder: Check your equip weight when switching weapons, because mixing a heavy weapon with light armor can force you into a worse equip bracket and ruin your intended playstyle.

3. Combat fundamentals and equip load

You get better rolling and dodging when you keep your equip load light because you move faster, roll farther, and gain more forgiving invulnerability frames. Endurance increases your maximum equipment load, so when you carry more than certain community tested thresholds, your roll becomes shorter, slower, and offers fewer i-frames. You use stamina for everything, i.e. attacking, blocking, rolling, so you avoid spending it all at once, or you’ll leave yourself vulnerable. High weight shields let you block more damage, but burden your movement and reduce roll effectiveness; lighter builds favor dodging to avoid hits instead of absorbing them.

1. I-frame & load breakpoints: Community testers report load tiers (e.g. <25%, 25-50%, 50-75%, etc.) that affect roll speed / i-frame effectiveness; aim to stay under the next heavier tier to maintain mobility.
2. Stamina discipline: Don’t drain stamina on long attack combos; always reserve enough to roll or block a likely follow up.
3. Blocking vs. rolling: Use heavy shields when you want strong defense, but expect slower recovery and reduced i-frame benefit; use light armor so you can roll more freely.

Pro Tip: Try your intended gear set in a safe area and perform repeated rolls to measure feel and invulnerability. Practical testing prevents surprises in boss fights.

4. Salt, upgrading, and transmutation (how to prioritize)

You use Salt as the primary progression currency both to level up at sanctuaries and to pay for gear upgrades. Blacksmiths increase a weapon’s stats by spending Salt and specific upgrade materials tied to the weapon’s upgrade path. Transmutation lets you turn an existing weapon, shield, or armor piece into another item type using Salt plus a transmutation material, though you lose one upgrade level in the process. It becomes especially useful when you want a different moveset without grinding a fresh weapon.

1. Leveling vs upgrades: Early in the game you prioritize leveling and upgrading one or two weapons to ease through tougher enemies. Later you focus your stat points (Strength, Skill, Intelligence, etc.) according to your build, and upgrade gear that complements the stats you have rather than upgrading everything.
2. Transmutation strategy: Transmute when you can spare the Salt and required materials, and when the moveset or new weapon type gives you a noticeable benefit. Because one upgrade level is lost, transmuting at a higher tier (if you can) often gives better value.
3. Material economies: Identify which upgrade material types drop more frequently and which ones are rare; plan your upgrade path to reuse or capitalize on commonly obtained materials. Consult community guides that map material locations and transmutation recipes to avoid wasting rare resources.

Upgrade Alert: Before transmuting, note the rare materials required. Transmutation saves time but can cost uncommon reagents, so track inventory and salt before committing.

5. Equipment, spells and build variety

Salt and Sanctuary supports many playstyles: light dexterity melee, heavy strength tanks, ranged or throwing builds, and spellcasters using sorceries or faith miracles. Hundreds of weapons and armor sets are available (including upgraded and transmuted variations) and equipment scaling with stats like Strength, Skill (Dexterity), Intelligence, and Faith demands careful stat allocation. Spellcasting requires catalysts or special items and consumes resources; some spells also rely on cooldowns or limited uses depending on your gear.

1. Stat scaling: Weapons and spells scale differently; you should prioritize growth in the stat(s) that power your main damage source (Strength for heavy hits, Dexterity for speed, etc.).
2. Armor tradeoffs: Heavy armor grants high defense but drags you into heavier equip load brackets, shortening roll distance and reducing i-frame effectiveness; light armor preserves mobility and often works better for aggressive melee or evasive play.
3. Spell use: Plan your casting build by balancing catalysts, resistances, gear that supports spell uptime, and allocating stat points to improve your magic or faith output without completely neglecting survivability.

Hybrid Warning: Hybrid builds dilute scaling, so if you plan a strength+faith build, keep nonprimary stats at the minimum needed to wield gear and focus points into your main damage stat to avoid soft scaling penalties.

6. Boss encounters and encounter flow

Bosses in Salt and Sanctuary often change behavior during fights, adding new attacks or speeding up at lower health, so observing tells and reacting safely becomes important. Players bait unsafe attacks to expose windows for attack or counter strikes, isolate add spawns when applicable, and delay using consumables until bosses become more dangerous.

• Observe then commit: Use early attempts to learn attack patterns, safe punish windows, and cues for more powerful attacks rather than using all your healing items or buffs on the first run. Community threads confirm bosses like The Third Lamb increase aggression and add instant lightning attacks in later phases.
• Positioning: Many bosses have multi-attack sweeps, area effects, or projectiles; players dodge laterally, use platform elevation, or stay out of range until opportunities to strike appear. For example, in the Coveted fight you avoid axe returns and shockwave attacks by keeping distance or using platform spacing.
• Consumables: Players save healing flasks, resistance buffs, and damage boosters until later in fights when bosses’ more lethal moves come out. The wiki confirms that consumables give temporary benefits and are depleted, making timing important

Boss Insight: When a boss spawns adds, treat add control as your first priority, because many boss patterns become trivial once extra enemies are removed.

7. Practical early game route and strategies

Early game success often comes from taking a cautious, efficient route, i.e. secure a reliable weapon you can wield early, upgrade it a couple of times to ease boss fights, and keep your stat investment focused rather than spread too thin. You should stay under a favorable equip load breakpoint so you retain good rolls and mobility; light armor and a medium or light shield work well here. Explore to find shortcuts, chests with useful gear, and sanctuaries where you can bank salt safely before high risk battles. Practice stamina management and observe enemy patterns, thus healing and special items should be held for moments when you know tougher attacks or bosses are coming.

1. Secure a dependable starting weapon and upgrade it once or twice to smooth early boss difficulty.
2. Keep equip load light to preserve roll i-frames; prefer light armor and a shield only if it doesn’t push you into heavier load classes.
3. Explore carefully for useful consumables, upgrade materials, and map shortcuts; return to sanctuaries to level up or restock before pushing deeper.
4. Observe boss patterns early; prioritize stamina management over aggressive burst attempts until you’re confident in your build and positioning.

Survival Tip: If an early boss feels unbeatable, step back and farm nearby low risk areas for salt and upgrade mats, because one or two small upgrades often shift the encounter curve significantly.

8. Advanced Pro Tips and Strategies

These strategies assume you’ve become comfortable with basic i-frame management, early upgrades, and transmutation mechanics. Use them to optimize late game progression and boss encounters.

1. Optimize transmutation for moveset efficiency: Rather than chasing a perfectly rare weapon with ideal stats, upgrade a weapon as far as feasible first, then transmute it, bearing in mind you will lose one upgrade level. Evaluate the required materials ahead of time so you avoid wasting rare reagents.
2. Double-check equip load windows when swapping armor mid fight: Some players swap gear between phases; measure your equip weight after including all rings and accessories to ensure you remain within the same i-frame bracket or mobility drops unexpectedly.
3. Use ranged lures and platform geometry to simplify add phases: When bosses spawn adds, kite with throwing weapons or ranged spells and use isolated platforms if possible so you can handle adds separately rather than engaging them and the boss at once.
4. Bank salt strategically at sanctuaries before attempting RNG heavy or high risk fights: Since you lose your unbanked salt if you die, depositing what you can before unpredictable encounters reduces the chance of catastrophic loss and allows upgrade planning.
5. Exploit stamina windows for punish conversions: Learn enemy recovery frames over multiple attempts. Chain a light attack into a dodge, backstep or a shield bash (if your build supports it) timed at a known recovery window so you deliver safe critical punishes while conserving healing items.

9. Conclusion

Salt rewards careful planning, practice, and smart risk management, so bank Salt at sanctuaries, upgrade a reliable weapon early, and use transmutation and stat planning to convert investment into a moveset you enjoy. Apply the combat and build tips in this guide, learn boss tells through patient attempts, and iterate your loadouts until your chosen playstyle becomes consistent and survivable. Thus, with discipline on stamina, gear choices, and resource timing you’ll turn repeated deaths into steady progress and eventually conquer the island’s deadliest threats.