Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon - Magic and Spellcasting
I decided to pursue a magic and spellcasting build in the RPG Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon after the story prologue. During the opening section of the game, the player is presented with a sufficient range of weapons to determine which type suits them best, although you can change at any time during the game. For me, casting spells feels right and is fun. Plus I have fond memories of the magic system in Two Worlds II and Skyrim. So once I started playing through the first zone, I started putting attribute and skill points into the appropriate trees to bolster my spells strengths and frequency. I also chose gear that would bolster those statistics further. The results have been surprising, as magic and spellcasting is not presented in the usual “glass cannon” style you find in some other RPGs. Here it offers robust DPS output and with the right gear and spell combination, a strong degree of survivability.
I decided to pursue a magic and spellcasting build in the RPG Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon after the story prologue. During the opening section of the game, the player is presented with a sufficient range of weapons to determine which type suits them best, although you can change at any time during the game. For me, casting spells feels right and is fun. Plus I have fond memories of the magic system in Two Worlds II and Skyrim. So once I started playing through the first zone, I started putting attribute and skill points into the appropriate trees to bolster my spells strengths and frequency. I also chose gear that would bolster those statistics further. The results have been surprising, as magic and spellcasting is not presented in the usual “glass cannon” style you find in some other RPGs. Here it offers robust DPS output and with the right gear and spell combination, a strong degree of survivability.
Magic in Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon consists of the following. Spells that can be cast which cause damage or drain health. Cubes which are chargeable magical artefacts that enhance existing magic attacks or provide an additional one. Wands that players can use to enhance spellcasting, manage mana and provide defensive options such as parrying and blocking a melee weapon. There are 6 types of spells available in the game. Summoning, healing, projectile, ray, channeled, and area of effect. Players can equip up to 2 spells simultaneously on their loadout and can hotswap between 4 loadouts. There are 55 spells available in the game. Cubes are charge-based equipment that collect energy through actions such as attacking an enemy, spending mana, or spellcasting. Once fully charged a cube can activate its effect. If 2 spells are equipped, instead of a spell and a wand or shield, the player will have to rely on dodging incoming attacks, instead of parrying and blocking.
Most spells can be cast in two different ways. Light cast and heavy cast. Light cast is faster, uses less mana but deals less damage and has no bonus or crit related effects. Heavy cast is more powerful but costlier in terms of mana and takes longer to cast. Their respective use and benefits are situational, depending on which enemies you’re facing and what their respective weakness is. The main resource to cast spells is mana which is the blue bar on the UI, between health (red) and stamina (green). Each time players cast a spell, mana is spent and the blue bar is reduced accordingly. Channelled spells, keep spending mana while they’re being used. Mana regenerates slowly over time, both while in or out of combat. Spirituality is the main stat for spellcasting and magic. Points spent on it increase spell power, mana and its regeneration. The more spirituality players have, the more efficiently they use mana (IE the cost of spellcasting).
To use magic and spellcasting effectively in Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon a player has to manage their use and regeneration of mana. All of which is dependent upon how they spend skill and attribute points and what gear they wear. If done correctly the right armour set, coupled with appropriate skills will regenerate mana upon enemy kills or critical hits. Thus the player should seek a build that uses mana and regenerates it, allowing the player to sustain prolonged attacks. For example the Waning Moon Set is a specialized armour set that provides continuous mana regeneration and is particularly effective when your mana is low. The set effect increases mana regeneration by 1% and boosts this by 50% when your mana is below 25%. The spell Soul Salvage is a spell that when targeted at your active summon (IE an AI companion you have summoned to help you), dismisses them and restores 75% of the mana cost used for the initial summoning, based on their current health.
Some players favour melee combat and the experience of fights being up close and personal. I prefer stealth, ranged attacks and the ability to move quickly, find cover or dodge. Magic and spellcasting is the perfect fit for such a strategy in Tainted Grail: Fall of Avalon. I am currently in the second zone of the game and have a build that allows me to take on two to three mobs simultaneously. Ranged attacks using lightning and ice projectiles are particularly effective on standard landscape enemies. I tend to use a wand when fighting melee bosses, as I can parry and block, exhausting their stamina. Then as they pause to recuperate, I can hit them hard with a ranged or AoE attack. Or I can summon multiple AI companions if I run low on stamina during a fight and they can act as temporary “meat shields”. All of which makes combat very satisfying, as there are always options depending on the situation.
