How to unlock the blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan – Destructoid

If you’re wondering where to find the blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan, your question is well-founded. They’re nowhere to be found at the start, and you’ll find plenty of items that mention them. Thankfully, it’s not too hard to unlock the blacksmith, at least by Khazan standards.

When do you unlock the blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan?

Players hoping to unlock the blacksmith quickly in The First Berserker: Khazan will be disappointed. You don’t even meet the NPC until the fifth main story mission, Strange Stench at Skoffa Cave, where you rescue him from a huge demon spider.

You then have to defeat the evil demon spider and talk to the blacksmith Qazumaka back in the Crevice basement, only for him to say he lost his hammer! You’ll need to complete a separate mission with its own boss fight, and then you can return to the Crevice and start crafting.

Now, how long does it take to unlock the blacksmith? In my playthrough, I was hard-walled by the Embars Ruins boss for a good two hours, and the boss before Skoffa Cave took me an hour. Including a fairly thorough exploration of each level and the other boss fights, I had easily spent eight or nine hours playing before I added the blacksmith to my growing collection of allies. That number will grow or shrink depending on how much grinding you do and how long you’re stuck on any of the bosses.

One final note: blacksmith Qazumaka is only available when you’re in the Human Realm version of the Crevice. You’ll need to travel back and forth between it and the Netherworld if you want to swap between mission areas and crafting.

How to complete the Blacksmith’s Heirloom mission in The First Berserker: Khazan

Blacksmith’s Heirloom is the name of the mission you’ll need to complete to get Qazumaka’s hammer and unlock crafting in the Crevice. It’s a shorter mission in a separate instance of Skoffa Cave, called Spider’s Tomb, on the Charnak Mountain Range travel map.

You load into the ruined mine at the start of the mission, at the Blade Nexus called Dead Spider’s Lair. A Grantie Jocko gorilla-ish enemy and some monkey-like Jockos are wandering close to the Nexus, so clear them out and proceed through the doorway at the far end of the chamber.

More monkey enemies will climb up from the chasm in the middle of the room, and you’ll notice a tougher vampire bat hanging from the ceiling on the other side of the pit. Hit the bat with a Javelin before it wakes up to drop it to the ground and stun it for a few moments.

Continue up the path to your right, then keep left through the additional monkeys and a rocky gorilla. Grab the treasure chest in the gorilla’s cave, then take the path across the room up and out of the cave.

You’ll arrive at the Jocko Hill Blade Nexus, where you should ignore the red items on the ground, as these are bait for Crypt Devourer worm enemies to try and eat you.

Head to your right from the Blade Nexus, clearing the Jocko enemies from the room as you go.

Knock down the tree shortcut to more quickly access the boss fog if you die against Bearius.

How to beat Bearius and unlock the blacksmith in The First Berserker: Khazan

Bearius, the boss of the mission, is nothing more than a boss-level bear enemy, several of which you’ve likely fought to this point. Besides its increased size and health bar, the only other difference between Bearius and regular bears is the damage it deals. I used armor with solid stats and was several levels above the game’s recommendation, and he could still easily two-shot me with his harder-hitting swipes.

We’ll go over each of Bearius’s attacks below, but they should be pretty familiar if you’ve fought the smaller bears earlier in a playthrough.

• Side swipe into uppercut. The right paw swipes horizontally, and the uppercut claws through the ground, sending you flying if it hits.
• Bear hug double slash. Bearius stands up on its hind legs and spreads its arms, slashing at you for big damage when it comes down. Counts as a Burst Attack.
• Belly flop. Looks like the bear hug grab startup, but Bearius stands a bit shorter and hunched over, slamming its bulk down for a large chunk of damage if it connects.
• Mouth grab. This grab has Bearius extend its neck and try to grab you in its fangs. It slams the ground with its left claw after throwing you away.
• Shoulder check. Bearius can rock back and try to knock you with its shoulder.
• Three hit combo. Bearius slashes once with its left claws, then uses the momentum to try and hit backhand, before raising up and slamming with the left claws for the third strike.

As a beast-type enemy, Bearius’s stamina does not regenerate, but it has a lot of stamina. You’ll likely only deplete its bar two or three times. Once the bear’s dead, climb the ladder at the back-left of the arena and speak to Hengie. After that, you can return to the Crevice.

All that’s left now is to visit Qazumaka, where he’ll thank you for returning his hammer and reward you with his services.