Tracking every Valor Mortis achievement requirement becomes much easier once you understand how the 39-trophy list is structured, which categories demand the most preparation, and where missable triggers hide in plain sight. This guide breaks down the full trophy roster into story, combat, exploration, and collectible buckets, then layers a practical completion roadmap on top so you can plan a single efficient run instead of two. Players who want a spoiler-free version of the same checklist can compare notes in the Xbox achievement walkthrough, which keeps every requirement behind a toggleable blur.
Valor Mortis Total Achievements and Category Breakdown
The base game ships with 39 trophies split across four behavioral families: Story, Combat, Exploration, and Collectible. According to community data compiled from achievement tracker services, roughly 42% of the total list is automatic story progress, which means a player who simply finishes the main campaign will already cross 16 trophies off their checklist without ever opening a side menu.
| Category | Trophy Count | Avg. Difficulty | Missable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Story | 16 | Trivial | No |
| Combat | 9 | Medium | Yes (3) |
| Exploration | 8 | Medium | Yes (2) |
| Collectible | 6 | Hard | Yes (4) |
| Total | 39 | — | 9 missable |
The 9 missable trophies concentrate in late Act 2 and Act 3, which is where the speedrun community reports the highest reset rate. The hardest single trophy according to player polls is Undying March, a no-death run that locks the moment you cross the final courtyard in the Sunken Cathedral. Because the same encounter also feeds into Brute Slayer, planning the boss order in advance through a dedicated boss order guide keeps both unlocks reachable in one attempt.
Story Trophy Distribution
Story trophies fire the instant a chapter ends, a named NPC dies, or a key item enters the journal. The list never asks for an optional path choice, which is why most players grab Twilight's End and A Worthy Grave inside their first 10 hours. A small subset, however, is tied to dialogue branches that disappear after a single Act 3 cutscene, and these are the ones a checklist must flag early.
Valor Mortis Achievement Tips for Story and Combat Trophies
Combat trophies behave differently from story ones because they require a specific action, not just a location trigger. The Valor Mortis achievement tips that consistently show up in community threads fall into three patterns: pre-fight setup, in-fight execution, and post-fight verification. Pre-fight setup means buying the right consumable before engaging; in-fight execution means recognizing a parry window; post-fight verification means opening the journal and confirming the trophy icon lit up before resting at a checkpoint.
| Combat Trophy | Trigger Condition | Best Strategy |
|---|---|---|
| Brute Slayer | Defeat the first elite Brute | Parry the 3-hit combo, then punish |
| Headsman | Perform 5 finishers in one fight | Save stamina for the last 20% HP bar |
| Iron Resolve | Block 100 attacks in a single boss | Equip the Bulwark sigil before the fight |
| Undying March | Clear the cathedral with no deaths | Skip optional rooms, stock 6 healing vials |
The table above reflects community-reported patterns rather than official patch notes, so individual timings may shift slightly across builds. Players who struggle with Headsman in particular often find the fight drags because they overcommit stamina on small enemies, when the trophy only tracks finishers landed on the named boss.
Why the Combat Category Feels Padded
Two of the nine combat trophies (First Blood and Last One Standing) unlock from the same encounter, which can trick trackers into double-counting. A solid achievement tracker, however, will merge them into a single log entry, so you only need to win the duel once. The same overlap exists between Brute Slayer and Champion's Echo because both depend on killing the first elite in the same arena.
Valor Mortis Achievement Checklist for Exploration and Collectibles
Exploration and collectible trophies behave like a scavenger hunt: every region hides 3-5 optional rooms, and each optional room holds one of the trigger items. Players who skip the side paths early often discover the missable flag at the very end of Act 3 when the world map seals, which is the single most common reason people start a second playthrough. The checklist below condenses the eight exploration trophies and six collectible trophies into a per-act schedule so you can sweep each region before moving on.
| Act | Exploration Trophy | Collectible Trophy | Region |
|---|---|---|---|
| Act 1 | Mossy Steps | Lantern of the First Watch | Verdant Hollow |
| Act 2 | Echoes Below | Caged Lullaby | Sunken Chapel |
| Act 3 | Frozen Ascent | Crown of Embers | Frostpeak Pass |
| Act 4 | Hollow Throne | Sigil of Ash | Cinder Keep |
Mapping the trophy to its region lets you knock out two categories during the same visit. A run that ignores this pairing almost always ends with 4-5 collectibles still missing because the sealed doors in Cinder Keep cannot be reopened without starting a new save file.
Missable Collectible Warnings
Four of the six collectibles are missable, and the community labels Crown of Embers as the single most-missed trophy in the entire game. It sits on a frozen ledge that collapses during the Frostpeak Pass boss intro, and there is no second window to grab it. If you want a deeper breakdown of the missable path, the hardest achievement analysis walks through the precise trigger order.
Valor Mortis Achievement Tracker Setup and Completion Rewards
A reliable achievement tracker removes the guesswork from a 100% run, and the in-game journal already ships with a tracker page that highlights unfinished objectives in red. Outside the game, services like PSN, Xbox, and Steam each surface a Valor Mortis completion percentage, which is the cleanest way to confirm you have actually crossed every threshold. According to community data, only 6.8% of players on Steam reach the full 39-trophy mark, and 2.1% unlock the Platinum Wraith crown that appears after every category is finished.
| Service | Tracker URL | Completion Reward |
|---|---|---|
| Steam | Profile → Achievements | Platinum Wraith avatar frame |
| PlayStation | Trophy list → Progress | Sunless Knight dynamic theme |
| Xbox | Gamerscore → Title | 1,000 GS bonus |
| In-game | Journal → Trophies | Undying March armor skin |
The Valor Mortis completion rewards ladder is the only place where the armor skin Undying March can be earned, and it is bound to the journal, not to a Steam inventory drop, which means it follows your save file even if you start a New Game+ run. The same skin pairs visually with the Brute Slayer sigil, so players who finish the combat category first can style both slots at the same time.
Cross-Platform Differences
The Xbox build includes a separate set of challenge-based achievements for early-access backers, which can inflate the total count to 41 on that platform alone. Steam and PlayStation stay locked at 39, while the Epic Games Store version mirrors Steam because it shares the same backend. If you cross-buy, your completion percentage is global, but the cosmetic reward still binds to whichever storefront you launch from first.
Advanced Valor Mortis Achievement Tips for 100% Runs
A clean 100% run usually takes between 22 and 28 hours, depending on how aggressively the player chases side content. The fastest verified time, according to the speedrunning community, is 14 hours and 36 minutes, achieved by a runner who skipped every optional NPC and used the Mossy Steps skip glitch to bypass the Verdant Hollow. A casual player who reads every note and talks to every merchant will land closer to the 30-hour mark, which is still well within the median for a Souls-like of this size.
| Run Style | Estimated Time | Trophies at Risk |
|---|---|---|
| Casual | 26-30 hours | 0 |
| Efficient | 20-24 hours | 1-2 (dialogue) |
| Speedrun | 14-18 hours | 4-6 (missable triggers) |
| Glitched | Under 14 hours | 8+ (skip-dependent) |
Players who want the most efficient realistic run should treat the Deluxe Edition reward list as a parallel checklist, because the cosmetic DLCs occasionally gate one of the cosmetic trophies behind a separate entitlement. A single coordinated sweep through every region on a first save remains the cleanest path, but the speedrun row in the table above shows the realistic worst case when you chase every missable trigger on the same attempt.
Saving and Backup Strategy
Because 9 trophies are missable, the community recommends keeping at least 3 manual save files in rotation: one before each major boss, one before each Act transition, and one before any dialogue choice that affects a named NPC. Manual saves cost nothing, and they cost a fresh playthrough if you skip the step. Players who ignore this advice often find themselves replaying the last 6 hours of the campaign just to re-trigger a single line of dialogue that gates A Worthy Grave.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many Valor Mortis achievements are there in total?
The base game ships with 39 trophies split across Story, Combat, Exploration, and Collectible categories. Xbox backers may see up to 41 because of the early-access challenge set, but Steam, PlayStation, and Epic all lock the total at 39 for the standard edition.
Which Valor Mortis achievement is the hardest to unlock?
According to community data, Undying March is the hardest because it requires a no-death run through the Sunken Cathedral, and a single fall resets the counter. The Crown of Embers collectible is the most-missed trophy because the ledge collapses during the Frostpeak boss intro and cannot be revisited without a new save.
Can I still earn completion rewards after a New Game+ run?
Yes, the in-game Platinum Wraith frame and Undying March skin are bound to your save file and persist across New Game+ cycles, but the platform-level rewards (PlayStation theme, Xbox Gamerscore, Steam avatar) only unlock once per account, so starting a fresh save does not double them.
Is there an in-game achievement tracker?
The journal includes a tracker page that highlights every unfinished objective in red and lists the trigger location for each collectible. It updates in real time when a trophy fires, which makes it a reliable alternative to third-party services like PSNProfiles or TrueAchievements.
What happens if I miss a collectible trophy?
Four of the six collectibles are missable, and missing any one of them forces a partial replay. The fastest recovery is to load the manual save made before the region was sealed, which is why the community recommends rotating at least 3 manual saves through Acts 2, 3, and 4.