Plague Outbreaks, Explained for No Rest for the Wicked

Although No Rest for the Wicked focuses on a central story, it also offers plenty of optional activities. Once you finish the main storyline, Isola Sacra will change significantly, kicking off the endgame. From that point on, expect even more challenging combat.

Finishing the main story in No Rest for the Wicked isn’t the end of the adventure. There’s still plenty to explore and do in the world of Sacrament, even after you’ve completed the final quest.

As of today, No Rest for the Wicked is still being tested, and some features might be different when the final version of the game comes out.

How Do Pestilence Outbreaks Work in No Rest for the Wicked?

After you finish the main story, you’ll see purple fog appearing in certain areas of the map. This fog indicates a Pestilence Outbreak. These areas will have more monsters, and they’ll be tougher, but they’ll also drop better items, including special materials only found during outbreaks.

As you defeat enemies in these areas, the Pestilence Outbreak bar on your screen will go down. When you’ve defeated enough monsters in a zone, a special boss enemy will appear – you can locate it on your map by looking for a skull icon. Defeating the boss will end the Pestilence Outbreak and reward you with valuable items, including rare weapons and armor. While you don’t need to be at the highest level to participate, having higher stats will definitely be an advantage.

When Do Pestilence Outbreaks Appear?

A random zone in the game will occasionally be hit by a plague, generally within a day of the previous outbreak. Players can also trigger an outbreak themselves by burning a Torn Effigy at a campfire, and can use the same method to make the plague end.

World Difficulty Level

During Pestilence Outbreak events, players can increase the game’s difficulty. However, this change only applies within the Pestilence Outbreak zones and doesn’t affect the rest of the game world.

To make a Pestilence zone harder, go to any campfire and choose the ‘Burn’ option. This lets you destroy items from your inventory. Burning enough items will raise the Corruption level, which means better rewards when you complete the Pestilence zone.

As Corruption levels rise in an area, new and tougher enemy types appear, making the zone much more challenging. These changes, called modifiers, include:

Enemies regenerate Health
Players lose Focus when hit
Enemies attack faster
Enemies take reduced damage when on high health

If you’re stuck on a level or can’t beat a certain enemy, you can always change your character’s build and try a different approach.

Pestilence Outbreak Rewards

Monsters in areas affected by the Pestilence Outbreak are more likely to drop valuable equipment than monsters elsewhere. If you’re hoping to find a rare weapon or piece of armor you can’t yet craft, these zones are a good place to try your luck.

More importantly, Pestilence Outbreak monsters drop the upgrade materials you need for Exaltation.

How Does Exaltation Work in No Rest for the Wicked?

Exaltation lets you maximize the stats on your equipment. Currently, it’s only accessible after completing the game and progressing to the Pestilence Outbreak stage.

You can only enhance an item once it’s been fully upgraded. To do this, it needs to meet these requirements:

The item must be fully upgraded
The item must have either all gem slots or enchantment slots filled

When you exalt an item, it boosts the power of one of its gems or enchantments by 50%. The game randomly chooses which attribute gets improved each time you exalt an item, and you can upgrade the same attribute multiple times.

Exalting items also requires materials that drop from monsters inside Pestilence zones, including:

Torn Husk
Torn Marrow
Torn Sinew

Getting a complete set of Exalted gear will significantly boost your character’s strength, allowing even basic builds in No Rest for the Wicked to become incredibly powerful. But be warned: earning it won’t be easy, as you’ll encounter tougher enemies and bosses in outbreak zones along the way.

The Crucible

Although you can access the Crucible relatively early in No Rest for the Wicked, it’s really designed for players who have completed the main game and want to truly test and maximize their character builds.

The Crucible is a challenging game mode where players battle through ten different arenas. You progress by defeating all the enemies in each arena, and then taking down the boss at the end. Be warned, though – it’s easy to fail, and even a small error can end your attempt.

During your adventures in the Crucible, you’ll find temporary power-ups, just like in other roguelike games. These power-ups can do a lot of different things – from simply increasing your strength and abilities, to causing enemies to explode or summoning lightning strikes when you attack.

Crucible Rewards

The Crucible doesn’t offer as much experience or common item drops as other areas, but you’ll always receive loot equivalent to three chests whenever you complete the sixth floor. Defeating the final boss also gives you a chance to earn powerful, unique weapons. This makes the Crucible a good choice if you’re targeting a specific weapon or simply want to try out different gear.

The Seneschal

Okay, so when I finally made it to the sixth floor, I met this huge monster called the Seneschal. Don’t worry, it’s actually super helpful! It offers a bunch of different services. And the cool thing is, I can unlock even more services by giving it these things called Gloamseeds. I get those by beating floors in the Crucible, so it’s worth the effort!

The Seneschal offers more than just simple benefits for Crucible matches. You can upgrade them to become a shopkeeper or to repair your equipment. It’s worth exploring all of the Seneschal’s options, as one of them might be exactly what you need for your next run.

2026-01-23 12:35