1348 Ex Voto: How to Beat Chapter 3 – Collectibles & Boss Guide

Why Chapter 3 Is Tricky (and Why This Route Works)

After spending my first run of Chapter 3 wandering in circles and dying to the axe boss more times than I’d like to admit, I went back through the forest slowly, testing paths and puzzle solutions. This guide is the clean route I wish I’d had: it gets you all the important collectibles (including the San Francesco trinket and the Impera Guard sword piece), clears every raider camp, and sets you up to crush the stamina-based boss without burning all your healing.

Expect about 30-45 minutes if you follow this walkthrough and don’t rush combat. The chapter is mostly linear, but it loves to hide climbable ledges, small crawl spaces, and crates you’re supposed to push. The final boss is more about patience and stamina management than raw damage, so I’ll go into that in detail at the end.

Forest Entry and First Collectibles (San Francesco Trinket)

You start at the edge of a forest. From here, your goal is to reach the ruins and nab your first big collectible.

• Move straight ahead and pass under the fallen log.
• Climb up to the wooden bridge and cross it.
• Head towards the sound of the waterfall, then look to the left for climbable ledges.
• Climb these ledges and follow the path forward, ducking under another log.
• Keep going until you enter a ruined stone structure.

Inside the ruins, move through the main archway and then take a left turn. This left is easy to miss; the first time through I kept going straight and ended up looping around the same rubble.

Up ahead you’ll notice a tree with mushrooms at its base. This is your sign you’re in the right place. Near that tree:

• Climb the nearby ledges to reach a short platforming section.
• Carefully jump across the gaps to reach a stretch of stonework above.
• On one of these upper areas is a paper collectible.
• On a crate to the right side is the San Francesco trinket.

Don’t rush the jumps here. The camera can be a bit stubborn, and I fell off a few times before realizing I needed to nudge it manually before each jump. Once you have both the paper and the San Francesco trinket, drop back down into the ruins.

From here, look for a small opening in the ruins’ wall – Aeta can crouch through. This is your exit to the next section.

Following the Stream to the First Raider Camp

Once you squeeze out of the ruins, you’re in more open forest again.

• Go straight up the dirt path until you hear running water again.
• Grab any mushrooms you see along the way – I like to keep Aeta’s food bar topped so I’m not forced to heal mid-fight.
• Crawl under another fallen log; this takes you directly into the first raider camp.

There are a few raiders here. The combat in 1348 Ex Voto can feel clunky, so I recommend:

• Using Circle/B to dodge sideways instead of backward – side steps tend to avoid the wide swings better.
• Fighting one at a time: back up and let one raider commit to an attack combo, then punish.
• Only locking on if you’re down to a single enemy; with multiple raiders, free camera control helps more.

Once the camp is clear, climb the wooden stairs to reach the wheelhouse building ahead. This is your first environmental puzzle.

Wheelhouse Crate Puzzle – How to Escape Upstairs

Inside the wheelhouse you’ll notice a staircase that has collapsed, and a crate that looks like your way up. The crate is blocked by a big wooden beam and you can’t move it forward from the front. I wasted several minutes trying to “angle” it around before realizing the trick is behind the mechanism.

• Go around the back of the wheel mechanism. Look for a low obstacle you can climb over.
• Climb up and move behind the large log that’s jamming the wheel.
• Push the log away so the wheel is no longer blocked.
• Drop back down near the crate.
• Now push the freed crate toward the scaffolding and opening above.
• Climb onto the crate, then up to the scaffolding, and exit through the high opening.

This is the first place most players get stuck. The game doesn’t clearly hint that you can go behind the mechanism, so if you’re ever pushing a crate and it “should” move but doesn’t, look for a way to manipulate the environment around it.

Shack, Floating Crate, and Impera Guard Sword Piece

Once you emerge from the wheelhouse exit, you’ll see a fenced-off path ahead and shallow water nearby.

• Ignore the larger house on the right for now – you can’t enter yet.
• Wade through the water to the shack on the left.
• Go inside the shack and pick up the paper collectible on the table.
• Outside the shack is a movable crate. Push this crate straight into the water and watch it float downstream.

Now follow the crate along the stream until it bumps into the shore near the larger house you couldn’t access earlier.

• Push the crate out of the water and onto solid ground.
• Position it under the scalable wall of the house, near the large cart wheel leaning against the wall.
• Climb from crate to wall, then up into the open section of the house.
• Inside, grab the Impera Guard sword part from the table.
• Check the shelves for extra papers and supplies before you leave.

The Impera Guard piece is important for your long-term damage and weapon progression, so don’t skip this. The first time through I assumed the house was just scenery and moved on, only to realize later I’d missed a core upgrade and had to backtrack through the whole area.

When you’re done looting, climb back out the way you came and look north toward the higher ground. There’s a ledge path that continues the main route.

Towards the Tower: Mushrooms, Bridge Raider, and Lift Puzzles

From the house area:

Towards the Tower: Mushrooms, Bridge Raider, and Lift Puzzles

From the house area:

• Head north up the ledge and vault over the obstacle at the top.
• Follow the path until the tower comes into view in the distance.
• Keep near the stream and, when you see some fallen trees, veer left and start climbing over them.
• There are more mushrooms around here – grab them; you’re approaching a combat-heavy segment.
• Crouch under another fallen log; this leads you to a stone bridge guarded by a lone raider.

You can quickly deal with this single raider. A simple dodge to the side and a couple of strikes will do. Once he’s down, move across the stone bridge and push deeper toward the tower.

At the base of the tower you’ll see a bunch of crates and broken masonry.

• Push one of the nearby crates up against a low ledge.
• Use it to climb up to the next level, then continue up until you reach a set of stone steps.
• At the top of these steps is your first winch lift.

Interact with the winch to lower the lift. Now:

• Go back down and push a crate onto the lowered lift platform.
• Return to the winch and raise the lift, bringing the crate up to the higher level.
• Push that crate to the bottom of a broken staircase.
• Climb the crate, then the remains of the stairs, to reach the upper floor.

There’s a second lift ahead, but this one is more about timing than crates:

• Activate the lift, then quickly jump across to the opposite side before it fully descends.
• From there, hop up onto higher ground and head into the door on the right, the one secured with planks.

This jump is easy to miss; if you ride the lift all the way down, you’ll just end up confused in the lower area. If that happens, just bring it back up and try again, making sure you jump as soon as the platform starts moving.

Raider Gauntlet Before the Boss

Through the planked door is a sequence of raider camps. These are your last big resource check before the boss, so take your time and loot everything.

• First camp: A group of raiders right after the door. Clear them, then loot the camp for provisions and any papers.
• Follow the path to the next site, where you’ll fight around three raiders. Again, clear and loot the tents.
• Move through a tent opening to a third area with two more raiders.
• Pick up supplies from the tents – look carefully on crates and inside open chests.
• Crouch through the small gap at the end of this camp.
• Immediately after crawling through, vault over the log ahead to trigger the boss cutscene.

My tip here is to avoid using your best consumables in these camps unless you absolutely have to. You want as many healing options as possible for the boss. Use mushrooms and basic food first and don’t be afraid to kite enemies around obstacles to isolate them.

Boss Guide: Beating the Axe Raider with Stamina Management

This boss looks intimidating, but once you understand his stamina bar and attack patterns, he becomes very manageable. Think of this fight as a duel where your real goal is to drain his stamina, not chunk his health.

Boss Moveset and Safe Responses

• Single overhead swing: A big downward axe slam. If you block this, he loses a noticeable chunk of stamina and is briefly open for a couple of light hits.
• Double overhead swings: Sometimes he chains two overheads. Wait for the second swing to finish, then punish; the recovery window afterward is longer.
• Three-hit combo: Left swing, right swing, then overhead. This string has a much shorter punish window, so it’s safer to just side dodge each swing and back off instead of trying to counter afterward.

The big mistake I made early on was getting greedy after the three-hit combo and trying to squeeze in attacks. That almost always got me staggered and put me behind on stamina and health.

How the Stamina Mechanic Actually Works Here

The boss has his own stamina bar. It drains when he:

• Swings and misses.
• Has his attacks blocked.
• Blocks your strikes.

That last point is important: even if he blocks your hits, you’re still winning the stamina tug-of-war. This is why short, safe combos are better than all-in attacks. When his stamina is low, he goes into more obvious “tired” animations, and after a scripted clash moment, you can finally finish him off.

Step-by-Step Fight Plan

• Stay mid-range and circle him. Don’t hug his hitbox; it makes tracking swings harder to read.
• Bait out the overhead swing. Either:
  • Block it if your guard is healthy, then perform 1–2 quick light attacks, or
  • Dodge to the side and punish with a light combo.
• If he starts the three-hit combo, focus only on survival:
  • Dodge sideways for the first two strikes.
  • Backstep or roll the final overhead, then reset; no need to counter here.
• Watch your own stamina. Don’t empty your bar attacking his guard; always leave enough to dodge his next swing.
• When he visibly tires and there’s a longer pause, use a slightly longer combo, then immediately disengage.
• After the mid-fight, scripted clash event, just repeat this pattern: bait overheads, chip away, never overcommit.

If you keep your head, this fight becomes a rhythm: defend, 1–2 hits, back off. Any time I tried to play it like a typical action game boss and spammed attacks, he shredded my stamina and health in seconds.

Prep Tips Before the Boss

• Make sure Aeta’s food bar is healthy so you get some passive regen between exchanges.
• Equip your best available weapon setup, including the Impera Guard piece you just picked up.
• Save your strongest healing items for when you’re below half health; don’t panic-heal early.

Once you defeat him, you unlock the Fortitudo skill tree, which leans into endurance-style upgrades. It’s a fitting reward after a fight that teaches you to respect stamina.

Aftermath and Short Final Encounter

After the boss goes down, you get a story cutscene. When control returns, there’s a short follow-up encounter. By this point, the worst is over:

• Apply what you just learned about stamina and patience.
• Use your new confidence with timing to dispatch the remaining threat.

This sequence is more of a narrative coda than a real difficulty spike, so as long as you don’t switch back into “button-mashing” mode, you’ll be fine.

Clean Route Recap for Chapter 3

If you want a quick checklist for a 100% run of Chapter 3, here’s the streamlined flow:

• Forest entry → under log → cross bridge → climb left of waterfall.
• Through ruins → left at arch → platforming to grab paper and San Francesco trinket.
• Crawl out of ruins → follow stream → under log to first raider camp, clear it.
• Wheelhouse: go behind mechanism, move log, push crate to scaffolding, escape through high opening.
• Shack route: ignore right house at first, go left to shack, grab paper, push crate into water, follow it.
• Use crate to climb into house by cart wheel; collect Impera Guard and papers.
• Head north toward tower, grabbing mushrooms, clearing lone bridge raider.
• Tower base: crate to ledge and stairs; first lift + crate to repair broken stairs; second lift jump.
• Through planked door: three raider sites in sequence, looting each.
• Crouch through gap, vault log to trigger boss; defeat him using stamina-focused strategy to unlock Fortitudo.

Once you’ve run through it this way once, Chapter 3 stops feeling like a maze and more like a deliberate training ground for the game’s stamina-driven combat. If I could beat that axe brute after my first few messy attempts, you absolutely can with this route and a bit of patience.