Which Old God Should You Follow in Welcome to Elderfield?

Quick Answer

Visit the Church of the Old Gods on Sunday to choose an alignment. I use Hagroth for farming and Luck, Kaal when survival matters most, Valtris for ritual damage, Gatis for Luck and Agility, Delvek for Luck and MP, Daeus for MP with physical Defense, and Nezroth for HP and physical durability. You can change again on a later Sunday, so check the current god’s Forge recipes and follower rooms before switching away.

You Can Change Old Gods Every Sunday

Choosing an Old God is not a permanent character decision.

Father Desmond lets me make the actual pledge at the Church of the Old Gods on Sunday. During the rest of the week I can still visit the church and inspect the God Forge, but changing alignment waits until Sunday comes around again.

That weekly cycle makes the choice much less intimidating. I am not trying to find one god that stays optimal for the entire game.

Before pledging, I look at three things:

• the stats I need for the next few objectives;
• anything useful I want from that god’s God Forge;
• follower rooms or God Doors I already know I can reach.

A farming week, a difficult boss and a mine route blocked by an alignment-specific key can all justify different choices.

All 7 Old Gods, Bonuses, Forge Recipes and Doors

Mine locations in this table are best treated as room variants and landmarks, not permanent coordinates. Mall Mines and Old Woods Mines can generate different layouts, so I look for the named Worm Room, big-tree or Ancient Statue layout instead of assuming one fixed route will appear every time.

Hagroth Is My Farming Choice, but I Avoid It Before a Damage Check

Hagroth is the easiest alignment for me to justify during a week dominated by crops, gathering and errands.

The combination of +10% Luck and +10% Max HP is comfortable when combat is secondary. The problem is the price: -10% Attack and -10% Magic Attack.

I am happy to take that penalty while working around the farm. I am much less willing to carry it into a fight where damage is already too low and every extra enemy turn costs healing.

The Forge is another reason to use Hagroth deliberately. Lesser Rune of Growth, Straw Hat and especially the Enchanted Pitchfork give the alignment more value than its passive stats alone.

If I know a Hagroth follower room is waiting in one of the mine variants or Catacombs, I try to combine that visit with the same week rather than changing gods solely for one door later.

Gatis Keeps My Damage but Trades Away Defense

Gatis fills a different Luck role.

It gives +10% Luck and +10% Agility without touching Attack or Magic Attack, which makes it much easier to carry through normal exploration when my damage already feels good.

The cost is -10% Defense.

That penalty is harmless only while ordinary encounters are under control. If I start spending food after every fight, faster turns and more Luck are no longer solving the problem I actually have.

Gatis is therefore a comfortable exploration alignment for me, not the choice I make when physical hits are already threatening the run.

Its follower routes also remind me that the correct alignment does not automatically solve the whole path. The Catacombs F3 route still needs Wire Cutters around the pit-room section.

Delvek Gives Luck Without Sacrificing Damage

Delvek is the other alignment I consider when Luck matters.

Its package is +10% Luck, +10% Max MP and -10% Agility.

Compared with Hagroth, I keep both damage stats. Compared with Gatis, I lose speed rather than Defense. That makes Delvek much easier to accept when I am using rituals or investigating Mysteries and do not mind a slower setup.

The Forge reinforces that role with Lucky Die, Cursed Die, Magnifying Glass and Whip of Delvek.

I especially like Delvek when one of its follower rooms is also available, because the same Sunday then covers Luck, MP, Forge items and a blocked route instead of solving only one of those things.

Kaal Is the Safest Answer to a Hard Fight

When the problem is simply that enemies are hurting too much, Kaal is the first alignment I check.

It gives:

+10% Defense and +10% Magic Defense

for:

-10% Max MP.

That is one of the cleanest trades in the whole system. Physical and magical durability both improve at the same time, and the drawback is manageable whenever rituals are not consuming most of my MP.

Kaal becomes especially attractive when I am losing fights because healing cannot keep up with incoming damage. More survivability can create the breathing room needed to attack instead of spending every turn recovering.

Its Forge also contains the Ring of Immortality, along with the Bone Shield and Bone Staff.

Ring of Immortality matters later for Borrowed Time; the exact achievement requirement is covered in the all 51 achievements guide, so I only make sure I use a Kaal week to craft what I need while the recipe is available.

Nezroth Works Better Against Physical Pressure Than Magic

Nezroth also looks defensive, but its weaknesses make it much more situational.

It gives:

+10% Max HP and +10% Defense

while reducing:

Agility and Magic Defense by 10%.

Against enemies dealing mostly physical damage, that extra health and Defense can feel excellent. I have more room for mistakes and individual hits are easier to absorb.

Against magical pressure, the same alignment can make the problem worse. A larger HP bar does not compensate as cleanly when Magic Defense is being reduced at the same time.

That is the main reason I separate Nezroth from Kaal. Kaal is the broader defensive answer; Nezroth is strongest when I know the danger is mostly physical.

The Forge includes Blood of the Gods, Bloated Chestplate and Finger Necklace. Blood of the Gods is particularly unusual because it restores 50 HP and 10 MP while also applying a random blessing and a random curse, so I do not treat it like predictable normal healing.

Valtris Is Worth a Sunday When I Need Its Keys

Valtris is the most interesting alignment when ritual power and route access overlap.

The stats are:

+10% Max MP and +10% Magic Attack

with:

-10% Max HP.

That makes the combat trade easy to understand. Rituals become stronger and easier to sustain, but mistakes are more expensive because the health pool is smaller.

The Forge is what often decides the pledge for me.

Valtris can craft:

• Basic Skeleton Key
• Small Mine Key
• Forbidden Lorebook
• Starmap of Valtris

A Small Mine Key can matter more than another week of ideal combat stats if it opens something I have already reached.

That is when I am happy to spend one Sunday on Valtris even if another god would look slightly better on the character sheet. A new route can keep paying off after the alignment changes again.

Its Catacombs follower route is also a good reminder that several blockers can stack together: the correct alignment does not replace the Wire Cutters or the need to break the door along that path.

Daeus Is the Defensive MP Option

Daeus gives me another way to build around rituals without copying Valtris.

The alignment provides:

+10% Max MP and +10% Defense

while lowering:

Magic Defense and Luck by 10%.

This is useful when I want more MP but the next area mainly threatens me with physical damage. The added Defense helps me stay stable while the larger MP pool supports ritual use.

The matchup matters.

If the next enemies are heavy on magic, reducing Magic Defense is a bad bargain. If I am intentionally chasing Luck-heavy outcomes, the second penalty also works against the plan.

Its Forge includes Lesser Holy Water, Greater Holy Water, Trident of the Deep and Earring of the Dark Sea.

The Mall follower room is around the broken elevator, while the Catacombs F2 route is behind the third breakable wall in the row near the church entrance. Those are useful landmarks to remember before committing to a Daeus week.

The God Forge Makes Switching More Valuable

The God Forge is unavailable until I actually choose an Old God.

After pledging, I check the Forge before I spend the week doing anything else.

That prevents situations where I use an alignment for its stats, switch on the next Sunday, then realize I forgot the recipe that was the better long-term reward.

Hagroth demonstrates this clearly.

A farming bonus lasts until I switch.

A crafted item can remain useful afterward.

The same logic applies to Valtris keys, Kaal’s Ring of Immortality and any other alignment-specific item I already know I will need.

Follower Rooms Need the Correct Alignment

Old God doors are easy to confuse with the many ordinary locked doors around Elderfield.

They do not work the same way.

If a door says only followers of a particular Old God can enter, another normal key is not the answer. I need to return while aligned with that god.

At the same time, alignment solves only the alignment requirement.

It does not:

• cut a Wire Cutter obstacle;
• destroy a breakable wall;
• guarantee the right mine room variant;
• or remove another tool gate along the route.

This distinction matters most in the Catacombs and deeper mines, where several conditions can sit close together.

I normally group these rooms by god rather than region. If Sunday is going to be a Delvek week, I check every Delvek route I can currently reach rather than visiting one door now and saving the next one for another weekly cycle.

Mall Mine and Old Woods Mine Rooms Can Use Different Layout Variants

The mine follower rooms are the easiest locations to misread as fixed coordinates.

They are not always fixed in that way.

On Mall Mines F3:

• Kaal is tied to the Worm Room variant;
• Hagroth uses the big-tree layout;
• Valtris uses the Ancient Statue Room variant.

The Old Woods Mines also use different F2 variants for Delvek, Hagroth and Nezroth.

If I arrive while correctly aligned but the expected room layout is not there, I do not immediately assume I chose the wrong god. The floor variant itself may be the missing part.

That is also why I avoid spending an entire Sunday on one random mine room unless the alignment helps somewhere else too.

Stats, Forge recipes and another known follower room can still make the week productive even if the mine does not generate the exact layout I wanted.

Xxarteck Is Separate From the Seven Sunday Gods

Father Desmond’s normal alignment cycle has seven choices:

Gatis, Delvek, Kaal, Daeus, Hagroth, Valtris and Nezroth.

Xxarteck does not belong to that rotation.

Professor Dayton identifies Xxarteck as the God of the End, connected to the old Stone Tower. I do not look for Xxarteck among the Sunday choices or count it as an eighth normal alignment.

That also matters for Zealot.

The seven Sunday gods are the alignments relevant to cycling through the normal system. Xxarteck belongs to the separate Stone Tower progression rather than the weekly church rotation.

Which Old God Should I Choose?

I make the decision from the next week rather than from one permanent ranking.

For farming and gathering, Hagroth is the easiest fit as long as the damage penalties are not about to matter.

For Luck without losing damage, Gatis and Delvek are the alternatives. Gatis trades Defense for Agility; Delvek trades Agility for MP.

For survival against mixed damage, Kaal is the most straightforward defensive choice.

For mostly physical danger, Nezroth’s extra HP and Defense become more attractive.

For ritual damage, Valtris gives the strongest offensive package of the MP-focused choices.

For MP with physical Defense, Daeus is the more defensive ritual option.

Then I check the second reason to pledge.

A Valtris week becomes much more useful if I also need a Small Mine Key. Kaal is easier to justify when I want a Ring of Immortality. Hagroth gains value when an Enchanted Pitchfork or Hagroth follower room is already on my list.

That approach also makes cycling through all seven gods for Zealot much less artificial. Instead of spending seven Sundays changing alignment only for the achievement, each pledge can solve something useful before the next Sunday arrives.