Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma: Every Sacred Treasure, Ranked

Getting an upgrade is one of the best rewards a game can offer, especially games which reward exploration. Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma certainly scratches that itch thanks to the Sacred Treasures.

Each chunk of the main story gives you a new Sacred Treasure. Most of ’em are associated with one of Azuma’s gods, and require progressing the main story to fully unlock their powers.

However, the moment you receive a Sacred Treasure, you can use it to explore Azuma. This adds a Zelda or Metroidvania vibe as you return to old areas to snag previously-unobtainable collectibles. You can also immediately use it in combat, spending RP to deal heavy elemental damage.

Since each Sacred Treasure has its own skill tree—requiring separate skill XP—the more you use one, the stronger it gets. But which treasure is best? Our list takes a look at each Sacred Treasure’s role in combat and exploration to rank which is best.

8 Terra Tiller

In a sense, the Terra Tiller is arguably the most important item in Guardians of Azuma. After all, receiving this treasure from Woolby unlocks the ability to farm crops and build your own village.

On the other hand, the Terra Tiller does nothing else—it doesn’t even have a skill tree!

Consequently, I reckon our list must either rank the Terra Tiller first for its importance, or last because it’s a one-trick treasure. Since there aren’t actual interactions facilitated by it, the Terra Tiller can languish at the bottom of our list.

7 Sacred Staff

The Sacred Staff allows you to summon light butterflies which chase down foes, and to see the invisible while it’s equipped. It’s the last treasure you receive, and unfortunately isn’t quite good enough to merit investing time upgrading it.

Since you receive this treasure late in the game, it’s likely you’ve already progressed far down multiple treasures’ skill trees. Its combat ability is decent—and the Sacred Staff is a valuable source of Light damage against late-game foes—but the Sacred Staff just doesn’t match up to your earlier treasures.

The staff’s passive ability also doesn’t really open up new areas. Guardians of Azuma primarily features invisible walls and platforms in areas associated with the Heavenly Realm. Since the Sacred Staff doesn’t even open up access to new goodies in old regions, it just doesn’t rank that highly.

6 Plum Branch

The Plum Branch is your very first Sacred Treasure in Guardians of Azuma. It allows you to perform the Dance of Bonds, unlocking Dragon Statue warp points, gaining recipes from Frog Statues, and so on.

Like the Terra Tiller, the Plum Branch has no skill tree, and doesn’t do much for combat and exploration. Sure, you can use it to tame even Guardians of Azuma’s boss monsters. But that’s still a fairly «passive» use of this treasure.

What nudges the Plum Branch a bit higher on our list is that the Dance of Bonds improves your Bond Level with NPCs. Sure, only by one point, but sometimes that’s the difference needed for a level-up! This incremental growth makes the Plum Branch almost always useful.

5 Earth Drum

Alright, now we’re into the good stuff! You receive the Earth Drum within the first hour of the game, allowing you to frantically spam an AoE heal to keep party members from death.

On the downside, the Earth Drum’s offense is pretty lacking, mostly pushing enemies back a bit. That’s somewhat offset by the Flower Storm skill’s heavy Earth damage. While the Earth Drum does also let you renew blighted trees to restore Azuma, that ability is more like a «chore» than a «power» used in exploration.

Finally, what keeps the Earth Drum out of our top four is the ready availability of healing that doesn’t cost RP. NPCs with the healer role keep everyone healthy. They improve as you raise the party member’s Bond Level, strengthening them with less investment than using the Earth Drum’s skill tree. Ulalaka can even revive defeated allies.

Add in the easy accessibility of strong HP-restoring food, and the Earth Drum’s main advantage is its AoE. This is a strong emergency tool, but you’re better off saving RP for offense.

4 Sacred Mask

Your penultimate treasure, the Sacred Mask is a potent Dark-type weapon paired with powerful skills. Lined up correctly, the mask’s basic palm strikes deal serious damage to cornered foes. Its passive ain’t shabby either—preventing flinching from enemy attacks—although this is also an easy way to get unexpectedly melted.

The Sacred Mask also allows you to crack those pesky purple blocks which barred your way earlier in the game. Finally, new loot!

Since you get the Sacred Mask fairly late in Guardians of Azuma, it has some of the same catch-up struggles as the Sacred Staff. However, skills like Sumo Stomp provide unique combat options plus its useful passive makes this treasure substantially more viable.

3 Sacred Sword

Total honesty, the Sacred Sword is my favorite treasure in Guardians of Azuma. Its attack pattern is similar to the Short Sword—the game’s first weapon—putting it square in the comfort zone. Further, the Sacred Sword’s flames spread out on all sides, preventing foes from approaching.

Surrounded? Whip out the Sacred Sword, and you’ll make short work of your enemies.

Since you gain this treasure in the Summer Region, it’s easy to build up the Sacred Sword’s skill XP. This is doubly true because it’s the first real «weapon» you receive among the treasures. Invest points into the Blessing of Flame perks, and you’ll be dealing absolutely silly damage late-game.

The Sacred Sword’s passive adds Fire damage to your arrows, and adds a few extra shots to charged Talisman attacks. Nice, but not really anything special.

In exploration, the Sacred Sword burns away purple blight blossoms and melts ice blocks. Since there’s only one previous area—the Spring Region—this only «opens up» a handful of places. Still, that knocks a few more collectibles off the checklist.

2 Sacred Parasol

The Sacred Parasol unlocks gliding after jumps, allowing you to cross previously impossible gaps. This cracks exploration wide-open in Guardians of Azuma.

For example, you can use the Sacred Parasol to reach the Spring Region’s Isolated Islet and the Summer Region’s Remote Island. Gliding also simplifies tricky platforming which doesn’t technically require this item. It’s also used to clear red blight blossoms throughout previous regions.

In combat, the Sacred Parasol follows a pattern similar to the Long Sword. It deals pretty good damage, but also has large gaps in which enemies can interrupt your attack chain.

Frankly, though, who cares? The Sacred Parasol comes in at number two primarily due to its movement abilities. It is a viable weapon, especially since in mid-game it’s not too onerous to build up skill XP. But in the end, we’re using it to sail around Azuma—not shank monsters with an umbrella.

1 Sacred Fan

The Sacred Fan is Guardians of Azuma’s best Sacred Treasure because it impacts both exploration and combat from the moment you receive it in the Autumn Region. Attacking with whirling tornadoes, the Sacred Fan is the best way to deal a treasure’s massive damage without putting yourself in harm’s way.

The fan’s tornadoes are also used to clear green blight blossoms, activate fans, and blow away mist. You receive it at a great time, too—late enough to backtrack and explore, but early enough to build up a new treasure’s skill XP.

In my opinion, it’s the Sacred Fan’s deceptively simple passive which really lets it shine. While the Sacred Fan is equipped, it boosts your sprinting speed. This lets you traverse the map quickly and easily outrun monsters. Perfect for blitzing past foes to snag the next Dragon Statue before passing out from late-night exhaustion.

Further, this sprint boost occasionally lets you make jumps which otherwise require the Sacred Parasol. You won’t skip full chunks of the game (at least, not that I’ve found), but figuring out how to snag collectibles early is still a fun puzzle.

Work your way up the Sacred Fan’s skill tree, and you’ll get Wind Burst, a perk ripe for abuse: sprinting can knock back monsters. Turns out, this passive is useful for both travel and fights!