A useful Blades of Fire cleanup starts by deciding which world you are cleaning. The first campaign has its own Health and Stamina Gems, Seneschals, Runes, crows, Paladins, dyes, and tablet route. Version 2.0 then adds 27 New Game Plus-exclusive forge statues, new weapon parts, Arcana, and new achievements. Mixing those layers makes a perfectly cleared base map look incomplete.
This guide builds a base-campaign audit that remains honest under Hotfix 2.1. It does not freeze a disputed global count. One readable 2025 checklist reports 80 Health Gems, 80 Stamina Gems, 111 weapon parts, 24 Blue Gems, and 12 tablet pieces. The current captured MapMaster payload lists 80 Health Gems but only 62 Stamina rows, 113 base Seneschal rows, and 12 Nerea-statue rows, while its surrounding prose claims 13 statues. The route below therefore uses the current client’s Forge Scroll silhouettes, trophy counters where available, Nerea door state, and post-story map markers as the final authority.
Keep the base campaign and Version 2.0 New Game Plus on separate ledgers
Finish the first campaign ledger before diagnosing New Game Plus. The official Version 2.0 announcement carries learned skills, acquired weapons, discovered blueprints, improvement materials, both stat-gem categories, Forge memory, codex progress, Arcana, and skins into NG+. It also adds 27 exclusive forge statues, visible on the map from the start of NG+, and ties them to new parts and skins. Those statues are not proof that a base-game Seneschal was missed.
Use two short headers in your notes:
- Base world: regional chests, base Seneschals, Iridescent Crow Templars, Paladin pairs, Runes, Forge Scroll progress, dyes, outfits, Nerea route, and dormant Forger’s Totems.
- NG+ world: the 27 visible exclusive statues, Titanium or normal NG+ completion, Anvil Trials, medals, Arcana, and the Version 2.0 achievements.
If the goal is the current Steam achievement set, remember that Steam now exposes 45 achievements. Legendary Warrior, Forged in Titanium, and Chosen by the Gods belong to the Version 2.0 layer; they cannot be completed by repeatedly sweeping the first campaign.
Use three passes instead of trying to empty every region on arrival
- Discovery pass: activate every Anvil, walk close enough to every unusable Seneschal to mark it, strike petrified Templars to reveal crow state, and open chests that require no later Rune, bell, skull, Kharamuth flight, or story object.
- Gate pass: revisit markers after acquiring Light, Time, and Soul Runes, the Bronze, Silver, and Golden Bells, Roggs’ Skulls, Hurmuz’s Amulet, Kharamuth, Blood Keys, and the late Palace items. Clear one prerequisite family at a time.
- Oracle pass: defeat Erin, return to free-roam, activate each transformed Forger’s Oracle, and clear the Golden Secret markers region by region. The post-story scan is more reliable than comparing two incompatible web totals.
The captured completion references agree that the base collectibles are not permanently missable and that regions remain revisitable after the story. Pick up upgrades during the campaign because they improve survival, but do not restart a long save merely because a Rune-gated chest was impossible on the first visit.
Make Seneschals consume the weapon slot you intend
A Seneschal does not grant a generic family part. Approach with a weapon of the statue’s family equipped, and it teaches one still-locked part for that specific weapon. If every slot on that weapon is already learned, switch to another weapon in the same family that still shows an outline in the Forge Scroll tab.
Carry one practical weapon and one unfinished weapon from each family when inventory allows: Swords, Sabers, Spears, Daggers, Twins, Polearms, and Greatswords. The unfinished weapon is the hand-in. The practical weapon prevents a forced family choice from ruining the combat loadout. If no eligible weapon is available, walk close enough to place the statue on the map and leave it for the gate pass.
Audit the Travel Book after every group of statues:
- An outline below a weapon means at least one learned-part slot is still open.
- A solid gold weapon image is the useful readback that all its parts are learned.
- A statue that will not accept the equipped family may be waiting for a different weapon within that family, not another statue visit.
- A part count from a launch guide is not authoritative in Version 2.0, because current NG+ adds its own 27 statues and parts.
The captured map payload places the densest base-game Seneschal return work in Doyen Graves and Kar-Lethel Swamp, followed by the Crimson Fort, Roggs Mountains, Egion’s Abbey, and Royal Palace. Save those for a family-by-family sweep. A remote one-statue region is cheaper to clear immediately; a six-family fortress is easier after the Forge Scroll audit tells you exactly which weapon to carry.
Turn each Iridescent Crow into a closed combat loop
Only some petrified Templars use a crow. Strike the stone body first. When the game reveals an Iridescent Crow on the compass or map, travel to the bird and approach it; it may move several times before returning to the Templar. Follow until it lands, defeat the reanimated enemy, and check the drop. These fights do not respawn, so a completed statue becomes a dependable audit state.
Crow-raised Templars can supply Stamina Gems or Nerea’s Tears; stone enemies that wake without a crow may drop neither. That distinction explains why farming ordinary Templars does not repair a missing Blue Gem count. If the bird vanishes from the compass, return to the original statue and strike or inspect it again before assuming the event is broken.
For a fast late sweep, combine three markers in each region: unresolved Templar, nearby crow, and nearest Anvil. Start at the Templar, trigger the reveal, fast-travel only if the bird is in another cluster, then return to close the fight. Do not mix two active crow trails in the same forest; their movements are much harder to distinguish by sound.
Pair every Cursed Paladin corpse with its name sigil
The five captured Paladin corpse rows and five sigil rows form paired puzzles. A corpse does not pay out simply because it was found. Adso must read the matching glowing name elsewhere, after which returning to the corpse frees the Paladin and awards the route’s Blue Gem. Treat “corpse found” and “name learned” as separate checkboxes.
The captured pairs span Besacarr/Hollow Plain, the Crimson Fort route, the Roggs Mountains with its Abbey sigil, the Dryad’s Forest with the Winter’s Wall sigil, and the Royal Palace. If a corpse interaction is inert, search the associated region’s story route for the glowing inscription before looking for another corpse.
Audit the twelve captured Nerea-statue rows by prerequisite, not by number
The saved map payload exposes twelve distinct Nerea-statue location rows. They are useful route targets, but the web sources disagree about whether the ending asks for 12 or 13 pieces. Use the following as a prerequisite checklist, then let the current Library door and Oracle markers decide whether the tablet is ready:
| Captured region | Access condition to verify |
|---|---|
| Crimson Fort | Climb from the library ground floor through the attic ladders; bring two Blue Gems. |
| Ancient Garden | Reach the pavilion on the hill after the fort’s underground route opens. |
| Doyen Graves | Return in Chapter 4 with Kharamuth and land on the otherwise unreachable tower. |
| Iron Castle | Open the locked gate with the nearby Templar’s key before spending the Gems. |
| Roggs Mountains | Lower the flooded area’s water level first. |
| Besacarr Hamlet | Reach the mountain plateau by climbing from the eastern Kar-Lethel cave route. |
| Kar-Lethel Swamp | Return with the Light Rune and extend the southern bridge from its brazier. |
| Winter’s Wall | Bring the Bronze Bell through the Pilgrim barrier and continue below the waterfall. |
| City of Curved Stones | Use the Watchtower rooftop zipline; carry a Roggs’ Skull for the one-use ride. |
| Southern Hiss City | Bring the Golden Bell, repair the adjoining floor with Time, then use the teleport plate. |
| Citadel of Tharas-Munda | Take the Dark Gazer from the Royal Palace, draw a Soul-imbued weapon, and offer the item at the hand. |
| King’s Bastion | First inspect the empty Royal Palace space, then return beneath the Bastion and defeat Vhoroo in the cave. |
Do not spend hours searching for a thirteenth fixed map row based only on a headline. One current page says 13 statues but serializes 12 locations; an older checklist says 12 tablet pieces; a walkthrough says 13 fragments. Record the exact Oracle markers still visible and the Library door response. Those in-client states are stronger than the unresolved count conflict.
Delay the true-ending decision until the Oracles stop revealing secrets
After Erin falls and the credits begin, move as Adso and interact with Erin’s body to surface the tablet objective. The previously dormant Forger’s Totems become Oracles. Visit the Totem in each major region and clear every new Golden Secret marker before returning to Egion’s Abbey Library.
At the Library route, carry a Soul-imbued weapon to the painting of Dorin and obtain the required book. The following puzzle calls on all three Rune types—Time, Light, and Soul—so prepare one weapon for each before leaving the Forge. Restore Kharamuth, use it to reach the elevated Library route, and place the reconstructed tablet at the final pedestal.
The decision at the end is not cosmetic. Burning the tablet produces one resolution. Walking away when Adso asks Aran to destroy it preserves the tablet; depart Dorin’s chamber on Kharamuth, then carry it back to the Royal Palace tomb where Nerea lies for the alternate revival outcome. Make a manual platform or cloud save before the pedestal if the current version permits it and both outcomes matter to you.
Let the readback diagnose the missing category
| Incomplete signal | Do next |
|---|---|
| Health or Stamina achievement is short. | Activate post-story Oracles, clear chest and crow markers, and use the platform counter rather than the conflicting web total. |
| A weapon still shows outline parts. | Equip that exact weapon, filter map markers by its family, and revisit base Seneschals before entering NG+. |
| A Seneschal is marked but refuses interaction. | Change to a weapon in the shown family with an open part slot; the current weapon may already be complete. |
| A Cursed Paladin corpse remains inert. | Find and read its name sigil, then return to the corpse. |
| A petrified Templar shows no reward. | Confirm whether it requires an Iridescent Crow; crow-less Templars are not guaranteed Gem sources. |
| The base map is clear but Chosen by the Gods is locked. | Move to NG+, clear the 27 exclusive statues, and complete the Arcana/new-part layer. |
| The Library route remains closed. | Clear every Oracle marker and trust the current tablet/door state rather than assuming a fixed 12 or 13 from a web list. |
Version and source boundary: current identity, Version 2.0 features, NG+ carryover, the 27 exclusive statues, and current achievements were checked against Blades of Fire on Steam and its official announcement feed through Hotfix 2.1. Base-world locations and cleanup behavior were reconciled across readable community guides and saved map payloads. The article intentionally does not claim a permanent global collectible total while the Nerea, Stamina, and base weapon-part counts conflict across readable sources.