Doctrines

Doctrines are permanent upgrades that dramatically affect your cult, providing followers with new traits, unlocking new rituals and buildings, and more. There are 48 doctrines to choose from, divided into six categories. However, each time you proclaim a new doctrine, you pick between one of the two exclusives.

Choose wisely and plan ahead. You might find yourself wanting the Murder option when dealing with dissent, and having to fast-generate Devotion to unlock the Prison for instance.

Doctrines have a cooldown timer, preventing proclaiming too many of them in quick succession. They also consume a Commandment Stone.

In addition to these categories, there are also some doctrines that unlock through gameplay progression or quests. They don't require a commandment stone, aren't affected by the cooldown, are instantly proclaimed, and have no choice involved.

At post-game, missed out Doctrines can be reobtained with Forgotten Commandment Stones obtained from the mysterious figure with God Tear. This allows obtaining the other 24 doctrines missed out from earlier.

Sustenance

“

Instruct them on the liturgies surrounding their daily bread.

”

Tier 1 - Feast or fast?
Ritual Fast [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple to declare a fast. Followers will not eat or be hungry for 3 days.	Feasting Ritual [Ritual] Unlock the Feasting Ritual. Throw a grand feast for your Followers to refill their hunger and gain +25 Faith
Tier 2 - Food of the predator, or food of the prey?
Cannibal Trait [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Cannibal Trait. +5 Faith when eating a meal made from Follower meat.	Grass Eater Trait [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Grass Eater Trait. No negative Faith when a Follower eats a meal made from grass.
Tier 3 - Bounty of the land, or of the sea?
Ritual of the Harvest [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple that causes all seeds to immediately be ready for harvest.	Ritual of the Ocean's Bounty [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple which for 2 days will make special fish more likely to appear while fishing. You will also catch double fish.
Tier 4 - Enlightenment through discipline, or the release of inhibition?
Substances Encouraged [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Substances Encouraged Trait. Gain 20 Faith when Brainwashing Ritual is performed.	Belief in Prohibition Trait [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Prohibitionist Trait. Increase work speed and devotion generation by 10% but 50% chance of Followers becoming sick after the Brainwashing Ritual.

Tactical analysis

• Ritual Fast is overall more useful than Feasting Ritual. Hunger and Faith are not difficult to increase through other means, however being able to guarantee your followers won't starve to death for a full 3 days since they cannot cook their own food while you are gone can allow you to do very long Crusades that you never could normally.
• Grass Eater Trait is useful early game as a food source or in emergencies due to grass being plentiful from crusades. while the Cannibal Trait is more used for the benefits of Minced Follower Meat's loyalty bonuses and curing dissenters.
  • Cannibal Trait removes the faith penalty from butchering corpses, allowing safe disposal and conserving space that would be used by body pits.
• Ritual of the Ocean's Bounty is definitely more useful than Ritual of the Harvest. It is not difficult to have a good farm setup naturally producing plenty of food without the Ritual, however multiple rare fish that are critical for both recipes and certain quests are nearly impossible to find without the Ritual of the Ocean's Bounty being active at the time.
• For tier 4, Substances Encouraged is far less damaging than Belief in Prohibition. Unless you rarely use the Brainwashing Ritual, always pick Substances Encouraged.
  • When both doctrines are declared using Forgotten Commandment Stones, the illness chance of Belief In Prohibition is disabled, leaving only the stat boosts.

Afterlife

“

Reassure them that death is not the end.

”

Tier 1 - The necessity of sacrifice, or the comfort of the afterlife?
Belief in Sacrifice Trait [Trait] All Cult members gain the Belief in Sacrifice Trait. +20 Faith when another Cult member is sacrificed.	Belief in Afterlife Trait [Trait] All Cult members gain the Belief in Afterlife Trait. Only lose -5 Faith when a Follower dies instead of -20.
Tier 2 - Lay the dead to rest, or their service is not yet over?
Ritual of Resurrection [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple that allows you to bring a dead Follower back to life.	Funeral [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple to conduct a funeral for a recently passed Follower. Gain 20 Faith.
Tier 3 - A drain on our resources or keepers of wisdom?
Respect Your Elders [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Respect Your Elders Trait. Followers receive +5 Faith for every Elder Follower in the cult.	Good Die Young [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Good Die Young Trait. Gain +10 Faith if an Elder is sacrificed, murdered, or consumed, but lose -20 Faith if an Elder dies naturally.
Tier 4 - Return to the earth or preserve our earthly remains?
Return to the Earth [Building] Unlocks Natural Burial Building. The corpses of the dead Followers may return to the earth by becoming fertilizer.	Grieve the Fallen [Building] Unlocks the Grave building. Gain 2 Faith when Followers grieve at the Grave.

Tactical analysis

• With Belief in Sacrifice, you can eliminate a bad/dissenting/elderly Follower at will and gain faith instead of taking a penalty to it, and receive extra resources ( Bone and Follower Meat) when performing the Ascend Follower Ritual. With Belief in Afterlife, the penalty for Followers dying of old age is minimized - suitable for when you're away from the Cult and/or cannot get rid of old Followers, and Followers won't vomit when they see corpses (unless they have "Germaphobe" or "Terrified of Death" trait). Pick one that suits your playstyle.
• Ritual of Resurrection is almost critically important compared to Funeral. When you resurrect a Follower they come back with the same experience level that they died with, and they can be resurrected an unlimited number of times as long as you have the Bones to fuel it. This is the one and only way for you to get one or two ultra-powerful Followers of extremely high levels, which benefits everything they do including their effect when they are turned into Demon helpers on a Crusade.
• At tier 3, neither option is particularly strong in terms of the benefit it gives, however Respect your Elders is the less damaging of the two since it has no penalty aspect. Followers can easily die naturally while you are out on a Crusade and the various ways of killing a follower have somewhat lengthy cooldowns, so it isn't worth risking taking the Faith penalty while you are out.
  • If both doctrines are declared with a Forgotten Commandment Stone, the penalties of Good Die Young are disabled.
• Return to the Earth gives you Natural Burial, which can decompose an unlimited number of bodies without increasing the floor area it needs. Grieve the Fallen gives you Grave, which if placed strategically can easily negate any Faith loss you have. Pick one that suits your playstyle.

Work & Worship

“

Have them proffer both labour and love.

”

Tier 1 - What makes a virtuous Follower?
Faithful Trait [Trait] All cult members will gain the Faithful Trait. Generate Devotion 15% faster.	Industrious Trait [Trait] All Cult members gain the Industrious Trait. Increase work speed by 15%.
Tier 2 - Are great leaders loved or feared?
Inspire Inspire a Follower to significantly increase their Loyalty. Replaces the Bless action.	Intimidate Intimidate a Follower to slightly increase their loyalty as well as make them work 10% harder for 2 days. Replaces the Bless action
Tier 3 - Simple everyday actions or grand, everlasting monuments?
The Glory of Construction [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple that will immediately build all structures currently under construction.	Ritual of Enlightenment Perform a Ritual at your temple that will temporarily increase devotion generation speed at your shrine by 20% for 3 days.
Tier 4 - Does one find peace in rest or glory in labour?
Glory Through Toil [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple which allows your Followers to work through 3 days and nights without getting tired.	Holy Day [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple declaring a day of rest. Your Followers will not work that day and gain +80 Faith.

Tactical analysis

• At tier 1, both options are equally viable. Faithful will get you upgrades faster, Industrious will get you resources faster, and both could be considered evenly matched so pick whichever one suits your fancy.
• At tier 2, both options are potentially viable. Inspire is 40% stronger than Bless at increasing a follower's Loyalty per use, but the increased production capability from Intimidate could be worth the trade-off depending on what you are looking for.
  • When both doctrines are declared using Forgotten Commandment Stones, both actions will coexist and can be used on the same follower in the same day.
  • Intimidate cannot be directly used on elderly followers due to their having no use for the work speed increase, though they will still be affected and get the Loyalty bonus if in close proximity while a younger follower is being intimidated. Inspire, meanwhile, can be used on all followers.
  • As of the Sins of the Flesh update, when Intimidate is used on a follower they have a chance to gain the Coward trait.
• Ritual of Enlightenment is far more useful than The Glory of Construction. Followers help with every building construction and can build even the most complicated structure in a matter of seconds, making the construction ritual redundant. The Ritual of Enlightenment, however, will significantly increase the speed that you can get upgrades on a long-term basis.
• At tier 4, Glory through Toil is the tactically stronger of the two options but the most difficult to use without dire consequences. Holy Day is the very simple option and a good way to keep Faith up.

Law & Order

“

Teach them the true meaning of obedience.

”

Tier 1 - Punish sin, or celebrate virtue?
Murder Follower Unlocks the Murder Follower action, a simple solution to many problems, but some followers may find this upsetting... if they're awake to witness it.	Ascend Follower Ritual [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple in which you can ascend a Follower's spirit to a higher plane of existence. All Followers gain Loyalty.
Tier 2 - Is all fair in love and war?
Ritualistic Fight Pit [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple in which two followers fight to the death - unless you're feeling merciful.	Wedding [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple so you can marry one of your Followers. Gain 30 Faith.
Tier 3 - Are none above the law?
Belief in Original Sin Trait [Trait] All are born guilty. Reduced faith loss when putting a Follower in Jail who is not dissenting.	Belief in Absolution Trait [Trait] Freedom above all else. Every day that begins without anyone in prison, gain +10 Faith.
Tier 4 - Faith through devotion, or faith through donation?
Loyalty Enforcer [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple in which you appoint a Follower as your Loyalty Enforcer, tasked with patrolling the Cult and raising the Loyalty of your Followers.	Tax Enforcer [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple in which you appoint a Follower as your Tax Enforcer, tasked with collecting money from other Cult members.

Tactical analysis

• Ascend Follower is useful as a secondary "sacrifice ritual" to increase loyalty among followers. while Murder Follower can be used as a quicker way to kill unwanted followers albeit with the risk of 40 faith reduction.
  • This only occurs if the murder was witnessed by any nearby followers or during the day, assign the follower to a Prison or Bed away from other followers and kill them at night to avoid this.
• Wedding is stronger than Ritualistic Fight Pit in terms of growing very high level Followers. While the Fight Pit (sparing the followers) can give you stronger boosts per use it has a lengthy cooldown, whereas every Married follower can have the extra interaction Kiss done to them every single day forever, which in the long run gives more Loyalty to more followers over time.
• Belief in Absolution is more useful than Belief in Original Sin. Putting any follower in prison, even a dissenting one, has issues; you can simply use any of the various options for safely killing a Follower to deal with a Dissenter. Belief in Absolution gives nothing but benefits if you keep followers out of prison.
• Loyalty Enforcer is far more useful than Tax Enforcer. The amount of money gained by the Tax Enforcer is utterly pitiful compared to the various other income sources you have available; it is far more useful to have someone automatically increasing the Loyalty of all of your followers constantly.

Possessions

“

Preach on the value of earthly goods.

”

Tier 1 - Is money the root of all evil, or is the true evil withholding it from me?
Extort Tithes Unlocks the Extort Tithes Follower Action. Collect 2 coins from a Follower once a day.	Bribe Follower Unlocks Bribe Follower Action. Bribe a Follower with 3 coins to increase their Loyalty
Tier 2 - Private worship or communal ceremony?
Belief in Materialism Trait [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Materialistic Trait. Gain Faith when building better sleeping quarters.	Belief in False Idols Trait [Trait] All Cult members will gain the False Idols Trait. Gain more Faith when placing a decoration building.
Tier 3 - Exaltation of the self or of the devoted?
Alms for the Poor [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your Temple in which you distribute Gold to all Followers to increase their Loyalty. You will also gain +10 Faith	Ritual of Enrichment [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your temple in which all Followers donate coins to you.
Tier 4 - Worldly possessions mean everything, or nothing?
Sacral Architechture [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Sacral Arcitechture Trait. When a new building is constructed, gain +5 Faith	Devotee Trait [Trait] All Cult members will gain the Devotee Trait. Gain more Faith when delivering a Sermon.

Tactical analysis

• Early on in the game, extorting followers may be more useful until other methods become available, and can help to construct buildings faster by having the extra coin. Bribing followers raises follower loyalty, which will always be useful. there are many ways to get both coins and loyalty already, such as dungeons, rattlebones gambling and other rituals for coins. Sermons, marriage, ritual of ascension or dog followers for loyalty.
  • When both doctrines are declared using Forgotten Commandment Stones, both actions will coexist and can be used on the same follower in the same day.
• At tier 2 both options are fairly even in usefulness so choose as you please.
• Alms for the Poor acts as another method for increasing loyalty among all followers, and is unique in not requiring any bones to use. While Ritual Enrichment is used for gaining coins varied on the number of followers and their levels, with a single ritual raising an amount of ranging from several hundred in the beginning of the game to thousands or tens of thousands in the postgame.
  • Enrichment can be extremely unstable in larger cults with higher level followers. The Nintendo Switch version in particular is prone to crashing the game if Enrichment is used in large cults, though severe performance issues can occur on all versions. Caution is advised.
• Devotee is generally better than Sacral Architecture, simply by the fact that Devotee is a permanent free boost while Sacral Architecture takes resources to use (through construction) and you will eventually stop making buildings, eliminating the benefit from it, although you can demolish and rebuild them again (if you have resources to spare).

Sins

“

Those who sin shall be forgiven.

”

Tier 1 - In which expression does the greater sin lie?
Rite of Lust [Ritual] Perform a Ritual around the Totem in the form of a Naked, Naughty dance by the followers. The appointed Mayflower leader recieves a maxed out Sin. This acts as a brief vacation ritual. The chance of successfully creating an egg at the Mating Tent is increased for the duration of the ritual.	Rite of Wrath [Ritual] Perform a Ritual around the lands, causing havoc around by all of your followers. The appointed Wrath leader receives a maxed out Sin. Side effect includes negative trait earned by a random follower, some followers either gets injured or dies, and some structures and buildings gets destroyed, requiring repair.
Tier 2 - Sin of pride or gluttony?
Sinner's Pride [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your Temple, causing the chosen follower to take on the Sin of other followers. It will also accumulate sins from this ritual. There is a risk of losing the Follower due to the number of sin they are taking on.	Gluttony of Cannibals [Ritual] Perform a Ritual at your Temple, causing your targeted follower to be devoured by the other followers. Accumulates a full Sin, but at the cost of 40 Faith.
Tier 3 - To invite belief, must we also invite sin?
Doctrinal Extremist Unlocks the ability to generate Sin from Confession Booth rather than Loyalty.	Violent Extremist Sin has a chance to appear upon beating mini-bosses. Mini-bosses from Purgatory does not count towards this.
Tier 4 - Do you reap their fidelity or shame?
Born of Sin [Trait] One Sin is automatically extracted from Followers hatched in the cult.	Blind Allegiance [Trait] Followers hatched in the cult with be born with a high Loyalty level.

Tactical analysis

• You will unlock access to this section after defeating your third bishop and doing a sermon thereafter.
• Most of the doctrines found in this section are related to late game items. It would generally be recommended not to go to this branch of doctrine until you are well prepared to absolve and use Sin from the followers.
• Rite of Lust is more generally preferred to Rite of Wrath, due to the higher generation of Sin from an appointed leader after the ritual which may end up in earning one Sin immediately afterwards, whereas Rite of Wrath results in some followers injured, some structured destroyed (and requiring repairing) and potential negative traits given to a random follower. The Rite of Lust also increases fertility, letting you get some use out of your otherwise idle followers at the Mating Tent if you have some Sin saved up.
• Born of Sin makes breeding new followers effectively free, while Blind Allegiance only seems to grant 1 or 2 levels.

Trivia

• In the blind allegiance doctrine, there is a spelling mistake where there should be 'will', there is 'with'