Drowned RuinsReport
English：Drowned Ruins · Locations
Catch, a lost Second Empire market town, half sunk into the river Wend. The Armour King has been running his shop here for nine hundred and thirty-seven years, the highest-quality armour in the game is on those shelves, and the only way in is to swim.
The Drowned Ruins are the crumbling remains of a lost Second Empire town called Catch, midway up the river that separates Rebirth from the Hidden Forest, with half the town under water.
It was never entirely abandoned — a Skeleton merchant who calls himself the Armour King lives here with his royal guard and his thralls.
A dating anchor at the bottom of a river
The Armour King says his shop has been running for 937 years, and that when he opened it, Catch was a thriving Second Empire town.
That line is one of the most important dating clues in the game. If Second Empire towns were still functioning 937 years ago, the fall of the Empire was not an event on a particular date — it was a long, drawn-out rot. The Armour King describes it that way himself: it just sort of rotted and fell apart, a mental disease, very strange, not at all like the First Empire.
Which also means these ruins are probably older than 937 years.
Getting in
There is one route: swim.
Enter from the south near Blister Hill, or from the northwestern side near the Floodlands. There is no path on foot.
What is here
The shop carries the highest-quality armour in Kenshi. Its relative grade chances are Standard 2, High 80, Specialist 110, Masterwork 50 — Specialist and Masterwork are more likely than Standard, which is unique in the game.
Maximum stock is 32 to 48 items on a 48-hour restock. The site also has a gear artifacts value of 150,000 Cats, which spawns three additional weapons:
| Weapon | Manufacturer |
|---|---|
| Desert Sabre | Edgewalkers [Edge Type 1] |
| Guardless Katana | Skeleton Smiths [Mk I] |
| Topper | Skeleton Smiths [Mk III] |
The regular stock spans the whole mid-to-high armour range: Samurai Armour, Samurai Helmet, Samurai Legplates, Tin Can, Mercenary Plate, Mercenary Leather Armour, Blackened Chain Shirt, the Chainmail family, Plate Jackets in black and white, Dustcoats, Longcoats, Assassin's Rags, Police Helmets, Iron Hats, Visored Helmets and more.
There is also one service nobody else offers: the beds upstairs can be rented for free. This is the only armour shop that does that. Tellingly, they are ordinary beds rather than Skeleton Repair Beds — non-Skeletons have been customers here before you.
Who guards it
- The Armour King himself: Heavy Weapons 108–120, melee attack and defence 90–100, Swimming 90–100. He is one of the few traders who actively follows the player around the shop, and some way outside it.
- Armour King's Thralls x4: Skeletons he took from the Ashlands and modified to work in the shop.
- Security Spider II: mechanical sentries.
Why you would come
The Drowned Ruins are the most worthwhile shop trip in the mid-to-late game for one reason: this is the only shop that sells Masterwork armour naturally. Masterwork pieces elsewhere are one-off Artifact spawns — buy them and they are gone. Here Masterwork is part of the regular stock, and a fresh batch arrives every 48 hours.
The price is the journey. You have to swim in, carry the money, and keep your hands to yourself.