The Crimson Prince is one of the powers vying for control of the throne after the assassination attempt on the One True King. He doesn’t have the influence Faelin/Faerin has but he does know that he is fated for greatness. Given a little push, he may be able to rally the Fae despite everything that’s transpired as of late.
In this guide, I’ll you what you need to do in order to get the armor worn by the royal guards of the Crimson King, the Crimson Guard. (Formerly the Crimson Prince.) Following this guide will also allow you to unlock the ‘Succession’ Trophy/Achievement.
By the time you’re done with the quest, the Crimson Prince will be overseeing what’s left of the Fae atop the smoking ruin of his father’s decimated throne. And you can count yourself fortunate enough to be there during his ascension.
Crimson Guard Armor Requirements
Before we talk about getting the armor set, we first need to talk about what you’ll need to make it possible. You can’t get this armor set from the One Shot campaign. It is simply not possible.
Re-roll your campaign until one of the two dungeons closest to the Palace of the One True King is the Gilded Chambers dungeon. I’ve played multiple rolls of the Awakened King map, and I’ve gotten the Gilded Chambers three times in the same location – the underground dungeon entrance closest to the docks.
Once you’ve confirmed that you have the right map, it’s on to the next step.
Your next task is to defeat the One True King. It doesn’t matter how you do it. You just need to put down the mad king for good. After the fight with the king, it’s okay to talk to Nimue (if she lives) and Leywise for any follow-up stuff you need to do.
Now, we go to the most tedious part of the quest. This part requires you to hunt down and kill three Fae Knights roaming around the Gilded Chambers. Killing a knight will cause it to drop the Crimson King Coin. This is what you’ll need to be on the good side of the Crimson Prince.
I say this part is tedious because you basically need to go the full length of the map to find the roaming knights. Worse still, only one knight spawns per run. So, once you’ve killed your target and picked up the coin, take a drink of Liquid Escape to restart the run. For some reason, the third knight is always the most elusive. You can even make an entire run without having encountered any knights. This happened to me in the base game. It’s so annoying when that happens.
When you have the three coins in your pocket, it’s time to have an audience with the Crimson Prince. The Prince will receive you as normal and you can simply pay him his tribute and move on. (He has a strange way of showing his affection towards his subjects. But hey, if it gets us the armor set, I can let it slide. This time.)
Important: Be careful when you press in commands. It is very possible for you to unintentionally start the encounter with the Crimson Prince if you are in a hurry. There are no second tries. If you fail this part, you have no choice but to restart the whole thing.
When you next wake up next to the checkpoint stone, try going back to his chamber. If you see an empty throne, that means everything was done right. You can now go back to the Chamber of the Faithless one last time.
By the time you get to the throne room, you will find that it has been destroyed, much the same way the Iron Throne was destroyed to mark the end of a certain someone’s reign. The Crimson King will claim to have landed the killing blow with Leywise as witness. We don’t say anything to get in good with the new king.
He thanks us for our part in his ascension to the throne. As a reward for our efforts, we are given the Crimson Guard Armor Set. The ‘Succession’ Trophy/Achievement will also unlock as you are talking to the Crimson King.
Crimson Guard Armor Stats (Per Piece)
At first glance, the Crimson Guard set looks to be an altered version of the Fae Royal Armor. It’s exactly that. However, what matters is that the armor set is a stat monster. (And it does look awesome. That goes double for the helmet.)
It is worth noting that the Crimson Guard set is highly heavy. You may be required to invest a few points into the Strong Back trait if you want to avoid doing fat rolls.
This is what each piece of armor has in terms of stats:
- Crimson Guard Shroud
- Armor: 15.6
- Weight: 6.7
- Resistances:
- Bleed: 2
- Burning: 2
- Blight: 2
- Crimson Guard Plate
- Armor: 60.8
- Weight: 26.8
- Resistances:
- Bleed: 4
- Burning: 3
- Blight: 2
- Crimson Guard Sabatons
- Armor: 30.4
- Weight: 13.4
- Resistance:
- Bleed: 2
- Burning: 3
- Blight: 2
- Crimson Guard Gauntlets
- Armor: 15.2
- Weight: 6.7
- Resistance:
- Bleed: 1
- Burning: 1
- Blight: 1
And that’s everything I’ve got for this Crimson Guard armor set guide. For me, the set is a nice balance between form and function. Unless something really great comes along, I have a feeling that I’ll be using this set for a very long time. And this is from someone who has forever worn the Radiant set.
If you’re interested, check out our other guides for stuff you can find in the Awakened King DLC: