Shards of Order Walkthrough – Breathless Sands

Welcome to the third part of our walkthrough for Shards of Order.

After making it out of the Purged Village with the Law of Intent, our heroes turn toward the Cathedral of Order. Their hunt for the Laws will take them all over the Continent, with the Breathless Sands to the south as their next destination.

This article is part of our Shards of Order – Walkthrough and Guides Hub.  

For more information about the game, check out their official website here. 

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The Cathedral of Order

Having escaped the Purged Village, you’ll arrive at The Continent. Head to The Cathedral of Order to the north first.

Go to the Square as you enter to speak to the Bellringer. Run through the dialogue to place the Law of Intent on the Altar.

With that done, you’ll leave Thade and Ayla to their conversation. Move to the Altar to the north and inspect it.

Then move to the Eyed Stones and talk to both Thade and Ayla. They’ll tell you more about the Laws and their Guardians. You can also speak to the Bellringer for some more information about the Laws.

Once you’re done exploring everything, leave the Cathedral of Order and return to the Continent. The path to the Frozen Marina to the east is blocked with ice. So make your way to the Breathless Sands first.

Meeting Neven & Durian

As you enter the Breathless Sands, Thade will point out the Pyramid in the north. That’s your destination and where you’ll find the Law of Hunger. But there’s a lot to do before you can face its Guardian.

Move toward the Rubble up ahead. You’ll spot a Giant Pit to the right, but it’s inaccessible for now. So go north toward The Magnificent Sundial.

You’ll speak with Neven as you approach The Magnificent Sundial. But you’ll soon be interrupted by Durian, who claims that the woman murdered his father and asks for your help bringing her down. You have the choice to either side with Durian or Neven.

The outcome is the same regardless of your choice. If you side with Durian, Neven will not attack you and will wait until you bring her health down to 1.

Once things have settled down after the fight, Neven tells Durian that his father, The Wine King, is alive and trapped in the palace. Durian will walk off after the conversation.

Rescuing Makar at the Collapsed Tower (The Taste of Water)

Head east to the Sundial Rim, where you’ll have your first encounter against the enemies of this zone.

Most of the enemies in this zone will change your card costs. Once you kill the first two Sand Beasts, three more will come into the fight. Kill them all to win the battle.

Go to the Collapsed Tower nearby. You’ll find Makar trapped in the tower. Run through his dialogue, but you can’t do anything here at the moment. This will start The Taste of Water questline in your journal.

Go to the next Sundial Rim to fight some more enemies.

You can spot some more enemies in the next Sundial Rim near the pyramid steps. Take them out as well.

Winning this battle activates a Checkpoint. Head to the Bazaar Stall to talk to the Blacksmith. He’ll ask for your help with smithing.

It’s a puzzle encounter. Use Pause when the Smithy is Invulnerable and Forge when the buff goes away. You need to use Forge three times before the Smithy’s Time reaches zero.

You’ll get the Hourglass Stone for completing this encounter. Run through the dialogue to start the Leave No Stone questline and also get a Crystallized Fleck.

Return to The Magnificent Sundial and interact with it. Click on the Hourglass stone on the Sundial.

This will turn back time and repair the Collapsed Tower where Makar is trapped.

Talk to Makar and complete the Skill Check to free Makar. He’ll also give you the Empty Canteen and ask for some water. At this point, you can forcefully get the Soldier’s Armor from him, but he’ll become antagonized.

Finding the Water Stone (Leave No Stones)

Now that the Collapsed Tower is repaired, you can head into the Desert to the east. There will be a few more enemies here you have to fight.

Move on to the Laboratory once you defeat the enemies. You’ll meet Shirin here. Choose a card to decide which Memory you want. We went with the Memory of a Wicker Man as it seemed more suited to our build.

Run through the conversation with Shirin to add the Love and Marriage questline to your Journal. But you can’t progress the quest right now.

Keep heading east to fight some more enemies in the Desert. You’ll find the Blood Staff weapon for Thade for clearing this encounter.

There’s one more enemy encounter you have to clear to the south. Take them out to activate a Checkpoint.

From here, you can see the drained Oasis to the south. Go toward the Obelisk with the waves drawn on it.

Interact with the Obelisk to get the Water Stone and the Porous Bow weapon for Ayla. Thade will also give you a stone button combination to use in The Magnificent Sundial.

Go back to The Magnificent Sundial and press the buttons in the following order as Thade instructed:

Hourglass | Water | Hourglass | Hourglass | Water | Hourglass

This will fill up the Oasis with water.

The Sphinx’s Challenge and Helping Makar again (The Taste of Water)

Make your way back to the Oasis and speak with the Sphinx. It will challenge you. You can also fill up the Empty Canteen here.

When you accept the Sphinx’s Challenge, it will ask you three questions. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll already know the answers to these questions:

• What is the name of the beast that haunts the Purged Village?

Ans: Shrike

• Who is the Guardian of Law of Hunger and Satiety?

Ans: The Wine King

• What is this region called?

Ans: Breathless Sands

You’ll get the Memory of a Gambler as reward for completing Sphinx’s Challenge.

Fill up the Empty Canteen and go back to Makar in the Collapsed Tower. Give him water to get the Spine Armor as a reward.

However, you don’t want to equip it just yet. The item is cursed and once equipped, you won’t be able to take it off. The Blacksmith can Cleanse the Armor to remove the curse, but for that you need to find an Incense, which you can find in the southern part of the region.

Finding the Eye Stone & Incense ( Leave No Stones, The Taste of Water)

Go to the Ruins to the south past the Oasis to fight some enemies.

There’s another encounter after this in the next node.

Head to the Pathway to the south where you’ll activate a Checkpoint and find Neven once again. You’ll learn more about her true identity and some more lore bits about the world.

From here, head right first toward the Ossuary. You’ll find the Mother’s Anger weapon for Ayla here.

Continue along the path to the west, past where you met Neven. You’ll come across some Sculptures. Interact with them.

This will open a skill check. But regardless of what you choose, the Sculptures will attack you.

Take out the enemies to get a Crystallized Chunk.

Head toward the Obelisk to the west and interact with it.

Stand on the platform that appears in the Giant Pit where you’ll meet the Legionnaire that you killed at the start of the game back at Shrike’s Nest. This time you’ll know his name: Iago.

Take him down once again.

After the battle, you’ll find a Chest and the Stone that you have to pry open. The Incense will be inside the Chest, and prying open the stone gives you the Eye Stone.

Exploring The Wine King’s Pyramid

With both the Eye and Water Stones recovered, and the Incense in your hand, return to the Bazaar Stall to talk to the Blacksmith. You can use the Incense to Cleanse the Armor, removing the curse and updaing The Taste of Water questline.

Tell the Blacksmith that you’ve got both the Stones, and he’ll give you the combination to unlock the Pyramid door.

Return to The Magnificent Sundial and enter the following combination:

Hourglass | Water | Eye | Hourglass | Eye | Water

This will open the Pyramid door. You’ll also get the Greatsword weapon for Lev.

Head for the door of the Wine King’s Pyramid and go inside.

As soon as you enter, you’ll run into a Sand Cultist. This will trigger a fight.

For this fight, you have to beat the Sand Cultist before the timer on the boulder above you reaches zero. After the fight, you’ll find the Bird Stone on the ground, updating the Leave no Stones questline.

Continue forward along the path, and you’ll encounter a group of enemies at an Obelisk up ahead. Defeating them will give you a Crystallized Fleck.

Head to the Wine Bowl up ahead and interact with it. Thade will find the Shifting Fabric armor here.

Defeat the enemy at the Corridor just past the Wine Bowl next.

This will activate a Checkpoint. There’s another Obelisk nearby. Defeat the enemies at the location and you’ll get a Crystallized Chunk.

Head toward the Gate to the north. The Gate is locked, and you’ll have to answer a riddle to unlock it. You can also spot an Obelisk with some more enemies near the Gate. Take them out.

To open the door, you have to inspect the symbols on the three Obelisks in the room. Interact with the door and choose the following options:

• A restless gale disturbs the dust
• and the moment refuses to end
• like you never had wings

Go through the door to find Durian up ahead. Run through his dialogue. He’ll agree to hold off the guards that are coming as you face the Wine King.

When you’re ready, move on to trigger the boss fight against the Wine King.

How to Beat the Wine King, Prisoner of Time

The Wine King has 600 HP, which isn’t too bad for this stage of the game, but he constantly changes the Time Cost of your cards.

The Wine King will shift arena once you get through around 100 of his health pool. You can’t see the Time cost of your cards during this phase, as everything shows up as 1.

Once you deal enough damage, he’ll revert to his original state. This will happen one more time later on. Remember to use your Ethereal Power smartly and only when at least two of your party memebers fall in battle. Getting Fractured early on can make the fight much harder.

Thade’s cards that inflict Rot are excellent for this fight since you can apply damage consistently without worrying about the increased cost of your cards. As for Ayla, use a Bow with a big Quiver and focus on filling it up. Use Barrage on a full Quiver to eat up a big chunk of his health pool in a single hit. With Lev, you’ll want to stack Strength as much as possible to increase the damage of your attacks.

Defeating the Wine King gives you the Azure Wine staff for Thade, and also adds the Crescent Moon Stone to your Inventory.

After the battle, you’ll run into Neven, and she’ll ask about Durian. Once the conversation ends, exit the Pyramid and return to the overworld of Breathless Sands.

Make your way back to The Magnificent Sundial and run through the dialogue. Then enter the combination given to you by Neven.

Bird | Bird | Water | Moon | Hourglass | Eye

This will turn back time again and open the path to the Frozen Marina, which is your next destination.

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This concludes the third part of our walkthrough for Shards of Order. For more interesting articles related to indie games, check out the links below:

• Into Indie Games Homepage
• Lifted Walkthrough Hub
• The Mermaid Mask – Complete Walkthrough Hub
• Dive or Die – Children of Rain: Guides Hub
• Desktop Explorer Walkthrough Hub