Equipment and gadgets | Tips Styx: Shards of Darkness Guide

Sand

Styx has the remarkable ability to throw a handful of sand very far

Sand can be found in bags, where you can restock freely. You can have up to three fistfuls of sand in your inventory, giving you three throws. They will help you put out fires, lamps or torches used to light rooms, which, accidentaly, also help the guards detect you. You can safely throw sand from behind a cover. An extinguished torch will draw enemy attention, so you can use it either as a distraction or as a preparation for some kind of follow-up.

Acid solution

Acid may not solve all of your problems, but at least you won't be left with a skeleton in the closet

It can be used to dissolve the bodies of enemies. It's useful as it lets you save time, also when there's nowhere to hide the body - usually you can hide them in barrels, closets, chests or simply throw them off the edge of the map. For all the other situations there's always the solution...

Bolts

Bolts have auto-aim and they never miss

Always see to it that you have a supply of bolts. They are cheap and you can craft the from the very beginning. One shot (no manual aim), even from behind a cover, and you've one less fellow to worry about. Unless he's armored, that is... The basic guards die from a single hit, even when charging at you with their weapon drawn. As a bonus, you can use bolts to extinguish some lights and destroy some objects at a distance (such as chandelier mounts).

Poisonous bolts

You can unlock it on the ability tree. It allows you to stupefy the opponent for several seconds, without killing him. While the opponent is poisoned, he cannot perform any action, does not react to noise, nor to passing in front of his eyes. Also, he does not raise the alarm once the poison wears off.

Cocoons

To learn more about this element, see Abilities. Cocoons are used for remote summoning of clones, which you can later control to activate some of the elements, or distract opponents. To summon a clone, you only require Amber.

Glass bottles

Throw the bottle at a selected location to draw / lure away the guards

Glass bottles are used to distract enemies. First aim at the location of your choice and then throw it with the attack key/button. It's the easiest way to slip past your enemies, but is can also be used to lure them into a trap. The number of available bottles varies on each map, there may be a plenty of them or only a few. You can have up to three of them in your inventory.

Acid traps

The way to get rid of the most stubborn enemies. It kills and disposes of the body at the same time. The skill needs to be unlocked in the Alchemy tab though.

Odorous vial

These vials cannot be found in the game world and the only way to obtain them is to craft them. Before you do, however, you have to obtain the recipe. This is only possible during mission 5, in the village (precisely, in one of the inn rooms). It allows you to conceal your smell for 3 minutes. This way, you will avoid problems with the dwarfs that can smell you a mile away.