With its massive open world and dozens of spells, Forspoken can feel daunting when you first start. Not everything is clearly explained, and it is easy to form bad habits while playing due to a lack of knowledge. Many of the tutorials only tell you how to activate your abilities, but not how to properly use them, with Killer Blows being a great example.
Nowhere in the tutorial does the game tell you that it takes stamina to activate Killer Blows, which is confusing the first time you run up to a monster and the icon is grayed out. Playing the game is a great way to learn finer details like this. But even then, there are things that you might miss that can transform your experience in Athia from a Breakstorm Nightmare to a cat-filled dream.
8 Visit Founts As Soon As Possible
When you defeat a Tanta and gain access to their spells, you'll notice that several spells are always grayed out. These spells require you to visit the appropriate Founts to unlock them, which you can find on your map by pressing the button indicated above the spell.
The movement spells the founts unlock will save you hours of travel time, especially Shimmy and Rush. Diversify and Fortify are essential for equipment upgrades, as Diversify allows you to add a fourth upgrade slot to each piece of gear, and Fortify lets you upgrade the defense on them.
7 Don't Shimmy Downhill
With five regions to explore, it can sometimes feel like it takes an eternity to reach your destination. Thankfully, the developers added several movement spells like Shimmy and Flow that make traversing the map less painful.
Shimmy is great for covering long distances of flat land or going uphill, but if you've ever used the spell on a sharp decline, you'll probably have noticed that you enter a free fall after almost every jump. This is because the arc of Shimmy's jump puts you too far above the ground, and the game thinks you've jumped from a ledge. To avoid this, stick to using Flow when running downhill, coupled with Rush if you've unlocked it.
6 Learn Equipment Upgrade Spells
Your Cloaks and Necklaces are the main sources of your damage stats in Forspoken, so it is important to make sure that you're getting the most you can out of them. Every Cloak and Necklace can be upgraded to the max stats, meaning finding new equipment is less important than learning the spells that allow you to make upgrades.
The spells you need to learn and upgrade are: Vivify from Frey's spell tree, Amplify from Sila's, Fortify from Prav's, and Diversify from Olas's. You'll need to search out the founts for Fortify and Diversify, but they're both well worth it. Being able to add a fourth upgrade slot and raise the defense of your gear to 50 will make your playthrough significantly easier. Make sure to also enhance Vivify and Amplify so that you'll be able to max out your gear before you finish your playthrough.
5 Use Photo Mode To Plan Jumps
Photo Mode is great for taking screenshots of the scenery or taking action shots of you fighting enemies. What you might not have considered, however, is that it is a useful tool for giving you time to think during platforming challenges.
The longer and more complicated platforming areas can be frustrating, especially when you can't see where the next Zip attach point is or where you're supposed to land. Float can help buy you time to look around, but its massive stamina cost limits its practicality. Instead, just pause your game and enter Photo Mode. From here, pan the camera around you while you take a breather and plan out your next move. Sometimes this can even help you find a more efficient route to your destination.
4 Using Zip
When you first get Zip, you are presented with a lackluster tutorial that says to aim the spell and grab onto a snap point. Even in the Magic tab, there is little information given on the spell. It would first appear that the spell's only use is for attaching to the jump and swing points around the map.
What the game doesn't tell you is that Zip can also be used to grab onto enemies. When used on an enemy, Zip will pull you to them, which is great for closing the distance on enemies that can't be pulled with Drag and Drop. You can also use the spell to negate fall damage that would normally deplete all of your stamina or damage you. By aiming at the ground just before you impact, you can stop your free fall and land safely.
3 Use Spell Combos
As you make your way toward Tanta Sila, the game will pop up with a tutorial window that mentions spell combos. The tutorial lists the different actions that activate the combos, but it doesn't emphasize how important the mechanic really is. Being able to simply jump attack while Flow is activated and immediately cast a level three spell afterward is fantastic.
Casting tier-three spells with combos takes a fraction of the time it would take for you to stand and charge your spell. At the bare minimum, you should be using your basic attack spells first and chaining your final spell, as this doesn't limit your mobility and lets you put out more damage.
2 Make Sure To Always Select Spellcraft Challenges
By visiting a bookshelf at any refuge, you can select up to three spells to complete Spellcraft Challenges for that will enhance the spells' powers. While your first instinct might be to do the challenges for your favorite combat spells, you should consider enhancing passive spells first.
The first spells you should enhance are your equipment upgrade spells like Vivify and Fortify. Next, you should complete the movement spells challenges, as they generally only require you to use the spell a certain number of times and upon completion either reduce or eliminate the spell's stamina costs. Only after this should you consider enhancing combat spells. And when you do, you should take on the easier challenges first, since each spell you enhance gives you plus one damage to that spell tree. This might not seem like much, but with all the spells available, it adds up.
1 Use Burrow, Modify, And Rarify
Burrow, Modify, and Rarify are material-related spells that can be found in Frey's spell tree. Between Modify and Rarify, you will always have access to the exact type of material you need for your equipment upgrade, and if you enhance them, they'll even let you upgrade to or modify Garland materials.
Burrow is useful because it lets you pick up materials on the ground over a wide radius. It works on enemy drops and plants, and if you use it after every battle, you'll always have the materials you need. Enhancing the spell also drastically reduces its recharge time, so you won't have to save the spell for special occasions, either.