Original Spells Only is a Game Mode where players are only allowed to bring spells from spellbooks that existed in Arcanists 1. As a result, all spells from the Book of Illusion, Book of Seasons, and Book of Blood are restricted. Additionally, various balance-related changes that have been made since the inception of Arcanists 2 have been reverted in order to preserve the game mode's distinct identity.
Original Spells Only was introduced as a game mode on May 26, 2020 to enable players to enjoy the game as it was originally and relive their nostalgia. On top of the new spellbook releases from future patches, various balance changes have been introduced which have greatly changed the dynamic of the game, and so the game mode was later expanded to omit these balance changes.
Below is a list of differences between the base game that are specific to spellbooks:
Book of Arcane[]
- Summon Dragon Egg is replaced with the Arcane Zero Shield spell, which functions similarly to the Zero Shield game mode.
- Arcane Portal does not scale in size based on the size of its caster.
- The Familiar for the Book of Arcane cannot be used.
Book of Flame[]
- The Flame familiar does not grant the user the Fire Wave or Meteor Shower spells.
Book of Storm[]
- The Storm familiar does not grant the user the Whistling Winds or Electrostatic Charge spells. It also does not grant the user a 7-turn cooldown for Wind Shield.
- Conductor rod does not stick to enemies and strike them after its initial cast, it dissipates instead.
Book of Stone[]
- Dwarf does not get Miner's Market.
- The Stone familiar does not grant the user the Stepping Stone or Summon Mountain Goat spells.
Book of Frost[]
- The Frost familiar does not grant the user the Frost Leap spell.
- Frost familiar instead makes the user's jumps higher and longer by default.
- Ice Bomb is available to players on Turn 1 instead of Turn 2.
Book of Underdark[]
- The Underdark familiar does not make Rain of Chaos less random.
- Drain Bolt's healing effect is not capped by the target's current health.
- The Overlight familiar does not grant the user additional Shining Bolt or Sunder damage.
Book of Nature[]
- The Nature familiar does not grant the user the Forestation spell, as well as an extra use of the Thorn Bomb, Vine Bridge, and Vine Bomb spells.
- Thorn Bomb is available to players on Turn 1 instead of Turn 4.
- Nature's Wrath has no cooldown.
Book of Seas[]
- The Seas familiar does not grant the user the Kraken spell, or make English Summer rechargeable.
Book of Cogs[]
- The Cogs familiar does not grant the user infinite uses of Blast From The Past, a lowered cooldown for Cog Fall, or the guarantee of Clockwork Bomb exploding after the turn it is cast.
