Owcat Games’ Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous just got its fifth major DLC. The Lord of Nothing continues the events of Through the Ashes, featuring a number of familiar characters and introducing some new faces to join in on the fun. The expansion also adds a spectacular boss fight to the main campaign and supplies players with 15 new Archetypes to toy with.
You can acquire The Lord of Nothing as a part of Season Pass 2 or purchase it separately if you are not interested in the rest of the pack. Playing through the DLC does not require the ownership or the completion of Through the Ashes and/or Season Pass 1, but it does add some context to the story.
By the will of the powers that be, the Commander of the Fifth Crusade gets to face off against the beings of unimaginable power early on and never really stops doing so from that point onward. But what happens when the will of an ancient demon lord is opposed by a group of mortals of no special disposition?
Can they survive against the deeply rooted malice and hold out long enough for someone sufficiently powerful to save the day? Or will they get swept aside by the icy winds of the Abyss, turning on each other and on their very own world? Find your answers in The Lord of Nothing.
Note: spoilers for the main storyline of the DLC, its endings and effect on the main campaign ahead.
Just like its predecessor, The Lord of Nothing is a relatively small sized side-campaign that focuses on a separate cast of characters. While the Commander and their Mythic companions do get their chance to shine, the prime focus of the expansion still lies away from the struggles of the Fifth Crusade.
Gnome sorcerer Sendri and tiefling rogue Rekarth, your trusty allies from the adventures in Kenabres, make a glorious comeback. You can import your character from DLC#2 or create a completely new hero for this task. In the latter case, you will get a brief introduction as to how your new protagonist arrived in the current circumstances.
And quite the circumstances they are! Stuck in an icy Abyss, with a looming resurrection of an ancient demon lord somewhere in the not-so-distant future, and the servants of said demon lord on your tail. The finer details depend on the choice you have made at the end of Through the Ashes or during the character creation for The Lord of Nothing.
Either way, your characters will shortly learn of Sithhud, the name that will haunt your little party throughout this adventure. This demon lord was ingloriously defeated long before Deskari and Baphomet invaded Golarion. However, he is not completely gone just yet, with his soul being split into a number of Soul Shards distributed among his servants.
Now this ancient evil seeks to retrieve them and regain his strength, and this is where you come in. As the Commander and the queen have already left Kenabres and set out to reach Drezen, there is no one else around to prevent the Shards from falling into Sithhud’s hands to greatly empower the embers of his might. Not only that, but your companions may already possess a few Soul Shards between them at that point, being well past the point of no return.
And so it falls to you, accompanied by Rekarth, Sendri and a new android companion Penta, to travel through the most unexpected places and meet unlikely friends and foes in order to locate the Shards and wrestle them away from Sithhud’s followers to buy Golarion some time and weaken the awakening demon lord in the process.
As comes from the premise of the DLC, it no longer follows the low-level down-to-earth approach used by Through the Ashes. In fact, your characters start this journey at level 5 and can go up to around level 10 to 12, packing a decent punch by the end of the expansion. Loot scarcity is also a thing of the past, as is the milestone experience. Back to killing for XP!
To make up for that, the DLC features a new power system that affects your characters both in terms of combat capabilities and in terms of narrative, much like a simplified version of the Mythic Path abilities. It revolves around the very Soul Shards that you set out to collect.
The Soul Shards you encounter need to be absorbed by either your protagonist, Rekarth or Sendri. In addition to a massive power boost via a unique feat up for grabs, it also brings in a number of drawbacks. There are a total of three tiers, one for each Soul Shard possessed by a character. Note that a character cannot have more than three Soul Shards at once.
Having your own character acquire three Soul Shards opens up some interesting choices. Additionally, choosing the option to leave Sendri in the Abyss either at the end of Through the Ashes or the beginning of The Lord of Nothing will have him start this tale with three Shards on his person and a much more sour disposition. If you get a chance, you should totally try out both options to see how it affects the DLC experience.
If the description “Icy Abyss” made you flashback to the hordes of demons and various undead you’ve faced in the main campaign and previous DLCs, worry not. The Lord of Nothing features a surprisingly diverse set of locations and enemies that will stand in your way. Not all of Sithhud’s servants skulk around the Abyss or the piece of Golarion he claimed as his own, and so you will get to travel through an enchanted forest, the ruins of a Sarkoris settlement, a mage’s tower (not the Storyteller’s for once), and even the Shadow World.
In addition to the main quest revolving around finding and claiming the Soul Shard, each zone usually has a handful of smaller side quests that will bring you experience and gear. There is also usually a choice of some sort involved when it comes to these: do you urge the Kellid warriors to fight against a powerful foe despite the heavy losses they’ll suffer, or embrace a more cautious path regardless of the damage to their honor? That kind of thing.
Just as the locations vary, so do the enemies you will face. Giants, animals, goblins, even dragons, all of that and more will stand between you and the power of the fallen demon lord. This way, despite the story revolving largely around Sithhud and his icy powers, you still have quite a diverse journey to go through. There are still some frozen undead and demons, though.
The DLC features two main endings with a number of smaller variations based on your choices, and unsurprisingly they are bound to the Soul Shards you’ve been collecting. The first option is to destroy the Shards, weaken Sithhud and to return to Golarion and warn the Commander, prompting the Crusaders to strike while the demon lord is at a disadvantage. All in all, a typically good ending.
There is another choice that unlocks when your protagonist possesses three Soul Shards or you spectacularly lose your fight – and it makes things go quite differently, both for the characters of the DLC and for your Mythic party back on Golarion. The fate of your DLC companions and one certain Sarenrae-worshiping NPC also depends on your decisions.
All in all, it took me about 7 hours to beat The Lord of Nothing and my DLC party was level 11 by the end. And if the journey of the Through the Ashes gang was more of the good ol’ Pathfinder content, then the boss fight that awaits you in the main game is one of the best ones yet.
In fact, it made me fondly remember the fight at the end of Beneath the Stolen Lands DLC for Kingmaker and how that boss (secret ending and all) wiped the floor with my characters.
Needless to say, that happened again.
But first things first: how and when do you get to experience the results of The Lord of Nothing in your main campaign. Your Commander will learn of Sithhud in Act 5 after you have completed Iz, so choose your saved game accordingly and rest in Drezen for a few days to trigger the cutscene. If you have multiple viable saves from the DLC (for example, with different endings), you will be able to choose the one you want to use.
Once the word of this ancient demon lord reaches your party, you will unlock a new area on the world map that contains the dungeon and the boss arena. Of course, being faced with the new demon lord, the Commander is immediately greedily sizing up the opponent on whether or not they will yield a Nahyndrian crystal – we have our priorities here!
Fighting against empowered Sithhud was the first time in Wrath of the Righteous that made me feel like my Mythic party is positively small and insignificant compared to this ancient creature. I am not ashamed to say that I had to lower the difficulty to defeat him – I will get him properly next time, on the full replay after the release of DLC#6.
Defeating the demon lord gives you a chance to wrangle the Storyteller to craft you some goodies from his remains. In particular, you have a choice between a one-handed sword and a rod. Check out the screens below to see the stats of the Sword of Sithhud and the Amplified Rod of Mortiferous Blizzard:
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous – The Lord of Nothing is an interesting addition to the game. While the story is focused on a separate cast of characters from one of the previous DLCs, the main game also gets a number of additional Archetypes and feats as well as an incredible boss fight that will test your builds and gear to the limit.
However, while a grueling boss fight is a great addition, I can’t help but wish for a DLC that would expand the main campaign with more content. The Last Sarkorians was great, and I am looking forward to DLC#6, but it feels like the story of the Fifth Crusade still has so much untapped endgame potential. And I’m not even talking about the Throne of Bhaal-type of DLC as it will be nigh impossible due to all the Mythic Paths and endings, but one can wish, right?
So if your only desire is to have more content in the main game, then you have to ask yourself whether 15 Archetypes and a boss fight (an amazing one, but still just a boss fight) are worth it. But if you are looking for more Pathfinder content overall, you will likely have a great time.
While the idea of a DLC for a DLC is a troubling one, especially for two expansions that come from separate Season Passes, the connection between Through the Ashes and The Lord of Nothing is not punishing those who do not own DLC#2. Players that create new characters to go through the latest expansion are not really missing out on anything besides more time with Sendri and Rekarth as well as a few NPCs back in the Defender’s Heart Inn that reference your adventures together (and give you some very basic loot such as potions).
There were still certain bugs – mostly graphical glitches and smaller problems, like walking through walls and missing textures – and the game tried very hard to prevent me from getting the “bad” ending. Fair, considering how badly I was unprepared for it. The team also continues to experiment with various cutscenes, leading to some impressive sequences in The Lord of Nothing that work in favor of feeling the sheer scope of the scenes.
Note that The Lord of Nothing is the second out of three DLCs that belong to Wrath’s Season Pass 2. DLC#4: The Last Sarkorians is already available and enriches the main game with a bunch of new content as well as a new companion, Ulbrig Olesk. DLC #6 is still in development and will bring your party back to Kenabres for a little break. Stay tuned to find out more once devs are ready to share.
- Note: the review was done using the early access DLC key provided by the developer. Outside of it, Season Pass 2 is a verified purchase by the author.
- Similar to: Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Varnhold’s Lot, Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire – Beast of Winter
