Spell Levels[]
On your turn, a spell bar at the bottom of your screen shows which spells you have available. Unavailable spells in your spellbook will be greyed out. Some spells can be used a limited number of times, or must be charged for a certain number of turns before they can be used. Hovering the mouse over a spell will display its name & description, and where relevant, the number of charges remaining or turns remaining until it can be used.
Spells have three levels:
- Level 1 - These spells are the very basic spells. They are found on the left hand side of the spellbook.
- Level 2 - These spells require you have the corresponding Level 1 spell in your spell list in order to use them. The corresponding spell will be exactly on the opposite side of the book on the left.
- Level 3 - These spells require that your spellbook has five spells (not counting Level 3 spells) from the same spellbook in order to use them. They are usually single-use, and are located directly on the top and the bottom of the spellbook.
Number of spells in each spellbook:
|
Spellbook |
Level 1 |
Level 2 |
Level 3 |
Familiar |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Total |
92 | 80 | 28 | 20 |
In addition to its spells, each book also has a familiar which grants special abilities to players using the entire book. To gain these abilities it is necessary to sacrifice health, in 20 point increments up to a total of 100. With the addition of elemental mode on December 21, 2020, many spellbooks also received bonus spells, granted when powering the familiar.
Ball Spells[]
Balls are projectiles which follow a parabolic trajectory. They are generally among the basic spells in a spellbook. Weapons are aimed and fired with the mouse; the weapon's velocity is controlled by how long the left mouse button is held. You can also right click to cancel fire. Balls explode (or, in a few cases, have another effect) at the point of their first impact with the terrain, a player, or a minion. If they fall into water or leave the playing area to the left or right then they have no effect. The one exception is the Water Ball: if its first impact is with the water, twice the usual number (12) of water drops bounce off the water.
Bomb Spells[]
Bombs behave similarly to balls, except they bounce instead of exploding on impact. They bounce around on the terrain until explode after a designated time (usually 5 seconds). Some bombs bounce more than others. Bombs are arguably one of the hardest forms of damage in the game, as their accuracy can be very unreliable. However, they tend to carry more damage or area of effect than traditional ball projectiles, making landing them very rewarding. They can also be very useful for enemies which are at the bottom of a pit, especially as many bombs have a cluster effect. They can be difficult to use against enemies who do not have obstacles close to them. It is highly recommended that you do not use bomb spells in close combat, because the damage done to your opponent may equally be dealt to you. Bombs can also stick to your opponent if used with low power (e.g. Shock bomb will stick on someone if thrown without holding the power gauge and is easier if used with flight).
Arrow Spells[]
Arrow spells are essentially homing ball attacks. These spells are excellent at damaging opponents at a distance and can be very accurate when used correctly. However, these attacks curve, which can make their direction difficult to predict without practice, and will be stopped by any obstacle. Players must first click the homing target, and then fire the spell by charging the power bar, as with ball spells. These spells are often fired at full power upwards, to allow the arrow to curve over the top of the landscape.
To make up for their increased reliability, arrows tend to have limited ammo or high cooldowns, with Fire Arrow being used only 4 times per game.
Arrows follow a three-stage flight pattern. First, the spell flies in a parabolic arc. Second, the arrow makes a circular arc, changing its course to fly directly at the target. Third, it goes straight towards the target. Most arrows have a turning circle with diameter approximately the width of 20 players. Arcane Arrow, however, has a turning circle diameter of about 3 players, making it the only arrow spell to be able to "turn on a dime".
If for some reason the arrow does not strike anything when it reaches its target, it will curve back, making a circle back to the target. It will do this several times, with a bit of variation, until the arrow loses its energy. At this point, it reverts to a parabolic trajectory.
Bolt Spells[]
Bolt spells are similar to firearms: they are aimed in one direction and always fire at a set power with a number of shots, normally around 10. They are aimed and fired with the mouse. Some care is required as shots may damage you if you stand too close: in this case, you will usually cease firing. If you stand really close then with some bolt spells the shots may go completely through your intended target, who remains completely unscathed. Enemies may be knocked away mid-shot with these spells, so it is advisable to back them against terrain.
Arena Spells[]
These spells affect all the players in the game. No aiming or targeted placement is required for them.
Targeted Spells[]
These spells are not directed from your character. Instead, they come from the terrain, for example, from the sky or the water. For this reason, they are very useful for players hiding in an enclosed space, as they do not require any line of sight from the player, although they may require a line of sight from somewhere else (for example, attacks from the sky can be blocked by scenery above the player).
Personal Spells[]
These spells affect the player that casts them. They are often some kind of defence against attacks. All personal spells, with the exception of Lichdom, Shining Power, and Arcane Energiser are cancelled when they enter the aura of a Sanctuary. Also, all shields except Static Shield are destroyed if their owner falls into the water or out of the map's boundaries.
Melee Spells[]
These spells are essentially close-range attacks, which affect all targets within a small radius. They are often used for dealing damage to opponents that get too close. Some examples of melee spells include Blood Lust, and Ferocious Strike.
Minions[]
Minions are creatures that you summon to aid you in different ways. Control of these creatures is cycled by using the C or N keys. Minions are moved in the same manner as your player, although some have limited abilities (for example, many giants cannot jump very well). Minions will generally have a limited move-set consisting of 1-4 moves, which may use ammunition from your own spells. This means that some minions may not have spells regularly available to them if they are not available in your spellbook.
Some minions are capable of transporting their owner or certain other minions belonging to their owner. To mount such a minion it suffices to bring the rider and the mount into contact by moving your player into the minion you wish to mount. To move the pair, the mount should be controlled. To dismount, use a jump - generally a long jump, as a high jump will usually result in landing on the mount again. A mounted minion will take damage in place of its rider (so double damage overall); however, the rider may be knocked off of a mount by a strong impact.
Most minions become zombified when killed by death damage. For more information, see here.
Most minion summoning spells have a recharge time of 5 turns. However, some stronger minions have one use only. Brine Goblins can be summoned every turn.
Note: There are currently four types of minions.
1. Arcane Minions - These minions can not be turned into Undead Minions (via Aura of Decay, Raise Dead, etc.). Not to be confused with minions summoned from Book of Arcane, which can be healed with Arcane damage.
2. Living Minions - These minions can be zombified and controlled by other players via Death Damage.
3. Undead Minions - These minions take 5 damage at the start of the controlling player's turn. The undead are healed by death damage (this makes it impossible for another player to take control of an undead minion), and they take double damage from Light Damage.
4. Soulless Minions - These minions can be drained or healed by spells, however they cannot be zombified via Death Damage.
Towers[]
Towers provide a temporary increase to your HP total but also have limited movement and render the player immobile (except the Arcane Tower which brings along the tower with Arcane Gate, the Clock Tower which can roll, and the Floating Castle which sails into the air until stopped by terrain or the border). They have a limited amount of health of their own, which is added to that of the player for display purposes. This is the only way to make your player appear to reach health of over 250 (excluding the Book of Illusion familiar in elementals or the Arcane Monster). When damage is dealt to a player in their tower, the tower's health is depleted rather than the players; when the tower's health reaches 0, the tower vanishes. If more damage is dealt by a single source (e.g. a single fire ball) than is needed to destroy the tower, the surplus damage is not carried over to the player.
A tower spell cannot be cast if the tower would overlap another entity ( e.g. another player, a minion, or a living Forest Seed).
Towers are damaged by the Quake spell (except the Clock Tower), and many spells from the Book of Stone have increased damage against towers such as Pebble Shot.
Pressing any jump key will cause you to leave your tower.
Note that although selecting Arcane Gate while in a tower will give a large targeting circle, the Arcane Tower is the only one which you can take with you when gating.
Damage Types[]
Many damage-dealing spells affect all Arcanists and minions equally, but others have special effects.
| Type of damage | Spells | Special effects |
|---|---|---|
| Arcane Damage |
|
Do not hurt the caster, with the exception of Imps' Self-Destruct; heals Imps, Arcane Towers and Arcane Monsters. |
| Pebbles |
|
Double damage to towers. |
| Storm Damage |
|
Cyclops and Storm Dragons are immune. |
| Snow Damage |
|
Heals Frost Giants, Sylphs, Frost Dragons, Ice Castles, and Snow Globe. |
| Death Damage |
|
Will "zombify" a minion instead of killing it if the minion isn't already a Zombie or an Arcane Minion. It also heals Undead minions and Liches. |
| Light Damage |
|
Deals twice the usual damage to lichs and zombie minions. *The Sphere of Healing heals 25 health and Thanksgiving Dinner heals 50 health; however they also deal 50 & 100 damage respectively and provide high knock-back against undead minions and lichs. |
| Water Damage* |
|
This damage is reduced/prevented by the Seahorse familiar. At level 3, no damage is received from Deluge or English Summer; and at level 5 the user is completely immune to all water damage spells.
*The information available in game incorrectly states that Maelstrom and Ocean's Fury deal water damage. There is a conceptual difference in that they use salt water rather than fresh water; the damage that they do is indistinguishable from normal damage. |
| Blood Damage |
|
This does initial damage on spell cast but then has damage over time effects. The effects can be cleansed by jumping into the water. |
[]
| Arcanists | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main Page | Patch Notes | ||||
| Spell Info | |||||
| Spells | Familiars | ||||
| Zombie Minions | Advanced Topics | ||||
| Spell Books | |||||
| Arcane | Flame | Stone | Storm | Frost | Underdark |
| Overlight | Nature | Seas | Cogs | Holiday | Illusion |
| Blood | Druidism | Cosmos | |||
| Features | |||||
| Game Modes | Rating | ||||
| Prestige and Achievements | Maps | ||||
| Outfits | Arcane Monster | ||||
| Events | |||||
| Tournaments | Special Events | ||||