The long-awaited sequel to the iconic religious metroidvania, Blasphemous, is now out in the form of Blasphemous 2. Like the first game, players take control of the Penitent One on a journey of atonement, but that's about where the major similarities end. All of the areas, abilities, and especially weapons are different this time around.

RELATED: Terraria: The Hardest Bosses & How To Beat Them

The Mea Culpa sword is gone and is instead replaced by a choice from the player to wield the Veredicto, the Sarimento & Centella pair, or the Ruego Al Alba. The Ruego Al Alba is by far the closest weapon choice in Blasphemous 2 to the Mea Culpa but with a few dramatic differences. With that in mind, let's go over what Weapon Memories (AKA Skills) players should look to invest in first with this weapon.

7 Blood Pact

Blood Pact is the main sort of 'gimmick' of the Ruego Al Alba. The Veredicto has its flame in the Embers of Faith and the Sarimento & Centella have the lightning of the Verdadera Destraza, so the Ruego Al Alba has Mystical damage infused into the blade through a Blood Pact. Of course, this also includes each weapon's unique traversal ability, which is the Veredicto's ability to activate the bells, the Sarimento pair's power to travel through those floating mirrors, and the Ruego Al Alba's ability to break certain walls with a downward stab (once players jump or double jump to the correct height).

All that said, as far as gimmicks go, Ruego's Blood Pact one is probably the strongest overall gimmick, as it buffs the damage of a weapon that already did a pretty decent amount, putting it about on par with the default Veredicto's damage when Blood Pact is active.

6 Mystical Striker

This next Weapon Memory might as well be an overall damage buff, simply because once players learn how to use the Ruego Al Alba correctly, they'll almost always have Blood Pact going during important battles in Blasphemous 2.

All three weapons, when they've been found of course, have a similar Weapon Memory that simply buffs the elemental damage the 'empowered' state of their weapon does, and all of them are worth grabbing ASAP. The only weapon that manages to keep their elemental damage going more often than the Ruego Al Alba is the Sarmiento pair, but that's only if they're in the hands of a player who excels in not getting hit at all.

5 Retribution

Frankly, while Blood Pact might seem more important, Retribution will make the most 'immediate' difference in a player's experience with the Ruego Al Alba. Both this weapon and the Sarmiento & Centella weapons start with a counter/parry/blocking ability of sorts.

RELATED: Indie Developers Punching With AAA Budgets

For the Sarimento pair, it's called a Cross Guard while the Ruego Al Alba has the Rosary Ward ability. And, it's actually relatively easy to get the counter timing down for the Ruego Al Alba, which makes the Retribution Slash that comes after most parries feel even more satisfying. Honestly, this attack alone feels like it has the most stun potential in the game, and that's only further enforced by a Weapon Memory further along in the skill tree.

4 Covenant of Atonement

The only thing that Soulslike or Metroidvania players like more than flat damage buffs to their damage are abilities that give them a way to regain health outside of the default methods. Usually, this is through lifesteal, and without some form of lifesteal, these difficult games like the Souls games or Blasphemous 2 can make the amount of space between checkpoints feel exceptionally cruel. So, players who find themselves almost always out of Bile Flasks in Blasphemous 2 should invest their Marks of Martyrdom into the Covenant of Atonement, since it gives the Penitent One just a bit more survivability overall.

3 Blessed & Sacred Steel

All three of the weapons the Penitent One will collect in his crusade-esque adventure have 2 specific upgrades in their Weapon Memory trees that just flat-out buff the damage of the weapon. They don't add an extra move or buff some specific source of damage, they're just flat base damage increases.

RELATED: The Best Games Made Using The GameMaker Engine

And to be quite honest, a simple damage buff is probably the strongest upgrade there is in a game like this, as it'll impact every single hit the player connects with from that point on. So, as soon as either Blessed Steel or Sacred Steel becomes available for the player after collecting another copy or two of the Ruego Al Alba, make sure to pick these Weapon Memories up ASAP.

2 Crimson Cleaver

Quite simply, this next Weapon Memory just gives the Ruego Al Alba more attacks in its combo chain. Compared to the other two weapons, the Ruego Al Alba is really the only one with an actual 'attack string', as it starts out with a three-hit sequence that players can commit to or just unleash a single hit (or two) from.

Meanwhile, the Veredicto just has its incredibly slow overhead swing and the Sarmiento & Centella really just have their directed 'poking' attacks (at least for the first big chunk of the game) So, adding a fourth attack to that chain, especially one that has this large AoE slashing spin to it, will at the very least give the player another tool to work with mid-combat.

1 Relentless Power

Executing enemies in both Blasphemous and Blasphemous 2 not only looks incredibly cool (and gruesome, depending on the enemy), but it's also a more rewarding way of defeating enemies. Executes give more Fervour, more Martyrdom Points, and can even regain health for the Penitent One depending on their weapon or Favors in their Altarpiece.

Additionally, the Ruego Al Alba already has high stun potential through the Retribution attack that comes after a well-time Rosary Ward. Combine this with the Relentless Power Weapon Memory and players will be using the Ruego to farm executions, which a lot of players are utilizing since the game is longer than most people seemed to have expected.

Blasphemous 2 is available for PC, Switch, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Games To Play If You Like Texas Chain Saw Massacre