Avowed: How to get the Philosopher's Riddle Unique greatsword

Avowed has a handful of powerful weapons to acquire in your playthrough, but not all of them are a walk in the park. In this article, we will be taking a closer look at the Philosopher's Riddle, a powerful great sword that can deal an insane amount of damage due to high attack speed and a poison DoT. However, this Unique is placed quite far off the beaten path, and it's not till you do the Escape Plan sidequest that you're near its location.

To get the Philosopher's Riddle, you will have to do some platforming, and this article will break down the process of reaching it.

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Where to find the Philosopher's Riddle in Avowed?

This is the spot (Image via Sportskeeda || Obsidian Entertainment)

To get the Philosopher's Riddle in Avowed, you need to head to Castol's Folly, an island southeast of Paradis. Specifically, you have to find your way to the ruined bell tower with the craggy rocks jutting out of it, at the north-western corner of Castor's Folly.

Castol's Folly has no shortage of aggressive smugglers, lackeys, and apprentices. The enemies lurking on the island don't take kindly to outsiders trespassing in their territory. However, if you're fast, it's possible to run past the enemies completely, pick up the sword, and jump into the water to escape.

To reach the tall structure, you must do some platforming. This place cannot be scaled from outside the island, so you'll have find your way in. From the campfire near the center of the island (with the four tents around it), follow the path southwest, and then take a right turn at the ruined building with the crater at its center.

Some extremely mild platforming required ahead (Image via Sportskeeda || Obsidian Entertainment)

You'll come to a clearing where a series of ledges should make it obvious how you can platform your way on to the tower.

This unique, great sword is worth the hassle (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

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Other resources are hidden at Castol's Folly

After grabbing the weapon, there's more meaningul loot to collect in the vicinity. Snoop around the tower, and you will come across a chest with some Adra — a rare resource used to upgrade the rarity of certain weapons and armor pieces — and some crafting material. It pays off to pump the brakes to explore and not rush through areas.

Exploring Castor's Folly is like killing two birds with one stone (Image via Xbox Game Studios)

To improve the quality of the Philosopher's Riddle, you will have to do some grinding and collect a handful of this Adra material, which is understandably quite rare. You won't be able to do much without Adra since the weapon upgrade mechanic is built around this rare resource.

You can upgrade this unique greatsword on a workbench with the necessary resources and gold. To upgrade the Philosopher's Riddle's enchantment, you will need the following upgrade materials:

• Gold
• Primal Rock
• Spider Leg
• Ogre Blood
• Spirit Residue

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The Philosopher's Riddle is a force to be reckoned with

The Philosopher's Riddle is a two-handed greatsword which can inflict poison effect status on whoever is on the receiving end and can increase your attack damage after performing a full combo without being interrupted by incoming attacks.

To better understand the destructive capabilities of this two-handed great sword, here are the stats at Legendary +3, which is the highest you can get to by the time you hit end-game:

• Physical Damage: 284
• Stun: 260
• Stamina Cost: 20
• Critical Hit Chance: 3%

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All enchantments for The Philosopher's Debate in Avowed

The Philosopher's Debate comes with the Aggressive Debate enchantment by default, which gives you 15% attack speed for 10 seconds after a full combo. This basically means three attacks back-to-back, so the buff is easy to keep up as long as you have a good Stamina pool (so pump points into Resolve). From here, you can enchant the weapon further to pick one of these two upgrade options:

• Overwhelming Argument: A Full Combo Attack gives you +25% Attack Speed for 10 seconds
• Cutting Retort: Power Attacks deal high Stun and Bleed Accumulation

It is worth noting that you can only select one enchantment, and there will be no do-overs or second chances. If you want to test out both, you should make a save-game before you commit to either enchantment upgrade.

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Avowed is available on Xbox Series X/S, Game Pass, and PC. For more related articles, check these out:

• Avowed: Dawntreader quest guide
• Avowed: All missions list (Main Quests, Side Quests, Bounties, and Treasures)
• Is Avowed coming to PlayStation?
• Avowed Cabin Fever quest walkthrough: All choices explained
• Avowed - Food Theft quest walkthrough