I recommend that you remove all your armor since the begin, this seems counter intuitive but believe me, armor just make things hards on the first gameplay, you can even play a ng+ without armor no problem. On this game mobility is better than defense, it's better take zero damage rolling than 5 with a heavy armor. As you level you can put some point on endurance (and on the type of armor you want to use light or heavy) the objetive is to always keep a difference of 75% between your equi load and the max you can carry. You can see how much you are carrying and your max load on the menu (as on the image above, it's the last line called equip) and why you may ask, why 75%? Because with this valeu you get the max speed roll that give you more iframes and remove you from some really horrible situations... it's the difference between roll far away from the third lamb or to just take a full hit.

If i see one more guide saying that you have to put points on sword to use the "black widow" i will shoot myself. While there's some really good builds for this weapon on the long run it's like the "drake sword" on dark souls. It will kill enemies on one or two hits but soon you will face enemies that will destroy you while tanking all your damage.
Wands are useless. They do low damage and it's really complex to use with keyboard and mouse (it's barely ok with joystick). GO FOR STAVES!
Staff allows you to use 2 magics pressing the "normal attack button" or the "heavy attack button" it's the only decent way to use the storm ring (who gives you 50% more damage with fire and lightning) without dying a horrible way.

PS: Almost forgot it. While being a mage is cool and all, always carry a second weapon for safety. Some enemies are really annoying like bats and the flame skull, they give little space for you to cast, a side weapon like the initial sword or any other of you liking, will help to deal with them. Later you get a spell that will shield you against them but for now just have a side weapon.

First you have to defeat the first boss, the sodden knight, spawn fireball like crazy as he is really weak against fire as soon he is defeated keep playing until you have acess to the low part of The festering banquet.
Find this wall and press action button while pushing her.
It will reveal this secret passage. Enter and keep going down until you find it
It's a the lightning bolt a good spell for start (i believe it's give double hit on some enemies). The reach and the ability to pass through enemies make it really good for cleaning rooms. Keep going, eventually you will find a really dark cave with a enemy way too strong for you to fight now. You can fight it now and get a really good quantity of salt now but if it's you first time playing the game i recommend to avoid it and just pass roll it.
Killing it or rolling you will reach the end of the cave and the stone mage. Now get out of here and return to the sanctuary.
On sanctuary, choose the offering option and use the stone mage
And now go on the npc that spawned and buy your first staff. Don't worry you not need another one until later...
DON'T FORGET TO UPGRADE IT! More than normal weapons staves get a really good bonus on upgrade.

While on the castle of storms you will encounter this enemy:
Killing him make that his ear drop. You can use it to transmutate a staff to another i little more stronger (but heavier too). You don't really need it but...

As a pure mage using staves i recommend this path to be followed.
The up path seeking the staves nodes as it will give you easy access to the magic user nodes too. ALWAYS put points on magic user and then on staves because as i said you will be using the same staff until very later on the game.Try to take some "phial sleeve" nodes too. I learned by the hard way that you can't be trusting only on the flask of the creed for supplying you with focus. Put some willpower too for focus and more stamina.

I will be sincere here. For a long time i just didn't understand how magic supposed to works. At first i thought that magic would drain from stamina but later, looking really close i notice that small bar under stamina. That's your focus.
As you uses magic your focus start to drain and so you stamina. There more you use magic the more you stamina get capped until half you stamina bar (if i'm not wrong). Once you focus bar get red, like on the photo below, you can't cast spells anymore, you must to use any flask that restore focus to keep casting or to rest on sanctuary.
There's 2 rings that make this effects less severe on stamina, one lock the stamina to 1/3 instead of half capped and other decrease even more the effect of focus on stamina. I will talk about this rings later.

Rings are the most important part of being a mage. Here's a location of all them... Of course if you seek the keepers of fire and sky creed you can buy almost all of them from the shop but as this creed only appears really late on game its not a really good idea to wait.

The first one is located on the village of smiles. Soon after speak with the scarecrow, go right until the end of the path and enter on the door. Inside you will find a really annoying enemy, defeat him and he will drop the ring.

The next one will be located soon after the the mad alchemist and the doors of the Kraekan cyclops. On the photo below i already had got it but he is supposed to be there.

Next we have the most important of them all. After defeating the false jester and acquire the vertigo brand (the one that make you walking on ceilings) go back to the first castle area (festering banquet) and go right until you find the devara's sanctuary leaving it by the right and go up until you find this.
Active it and go left until the end, falling on the ring's platform.
So what this ring does that make it so important? Well, it increase your fire and lightning damage by 50% (magic only guys) BUT it's make you elemental imbalance goes crazy. What is elemental imbalance? Well i will teach it on the next topic, for now just throw away your useless link of the fire and sky.

Last but not least. This ring can only be obtained really later on game. Soon after defeating The Bloodless Prince go right until you reach the switch that activate the elevator.
Once activate it will open the shortcut to the far beach's sanctuary. Take the elevator and jump on a platform to the left (use torches because it a pretty dark place and you can easily miss the stair).
Once upstairs, keep going left until you found 3 dolls, be careful this dolls can ♥♥♥♥ you up pretty fast. Once defeated jump climb the platform to get the ring.

Well now you will understand why you can't use this ring with wands efficiently. Until now you was probably casting spells without a care in the world, that was only because all mages start the game with the link of fire and sky equiped, this ring nulls the elemental imbalance but without it you can't use the same element for long without taking damage.


See that bar on the top of the screenshot? That's the bar of elemental imbalance. There more magic from one element you use the more the bar fills if you use too much lightning spells a blue bar will fill on the left, if you use too many fire spells a orange bar will fill on the right. Once one of the two sides are completilly full the next spell, of the same element that filled the bar, will cause you damage and can kill you.
To prevent it, you must cast a spell from opposite element to clear the bar. That's why you must keep a lightning spell and a fire spell on you staff ALWAYS. Some spells fills the bar faster. By my knowlegde fire barrage and lighning barrage are the best ones to spawming before fill the bar.

On the 0:12 mark of this video you can see what happens when the bar get full, look the hp. It's really easy to die while casting spells like this.

Here are all spells you can get on the game to use with your staff. I tried to put a video showing how it works and a picture on the place where you can get it.

The first lightning spell you get. If you took the time reading the tutorial you know where he is.
It's a really good spell to kill multiple enemies at once and have a really good reach.


The buffed version of the lightning bolt. It's a amazing spell that almost took over my predilection over the lightning barrage. It have a amazing range and can clean a room pretty fast. The only downside is that the rays sometimes don't go where you expect and you have to cast it a second time I always use it on mid jump for maximum reach. It's a amazing spell to destroy tree of men too.

(it was supposed to be a full battle but i had forget the free fraps limitation of 30 secs. Still good enough to show how fast this spell get you from phase 1 to 2.)


You can find this spell on the cave under the village of smiles, to get it you will need the vertigo brand, the one that let you walk on ceilings. Go to the sanctuary on the village of smiles, exit it by the right exit, go down and enter on the entrance to left, keep going until you find a cart and hole on the ground go there and search for this:
Keep walking until you find this place. Run and jump on this platform:
Keep jumping until you find the purple switch on the side of one platform. Jump to get impulse and try to grab on the left wall. There will be a lot of annoying monster that you probably can't kill yet. So just roll until the end of this room and get the spell on the place that i showing on the photo below.


Used to be my bread and butter (with the flame barrage). Low focus cost, good range and fast casting. You can use it a lot before your elemental bar get full. On the video below you will see how pratical it is.


You find it fairly early on the game. Once you reach the castle of storms, go up on the left side, defeat some annoying flame skulls and enter on the room to the left. Inside you will find a armored guy between to lightning pole, let him kill himself once he is dead jump over the switch on the ground and go to the left until you find it


I really don't know what to tell about this one. You get it really later on game and by the time you already using barrage o arc, some people say that it really god spell to use on sword and wand builds.


Found in a pouch in Castle of Storms. Leave the sanctuary to the right and traverse the Hardlight platforms, or use the Dart Brand to jump over.


Initial spell. Not really much i can tell about it, get the job done until you get better things.


fireflash older sibling. Do more damage and have a small "splash zone". Causes damage if you get hit by the flames (but nothing that causes panic). Good replacement until flame barrage.


Found in Red Hall of Cages, past the first flamethrowers go left and it's right before a shortcut lever.


Best fire spell in the game. Just like the lightning equivalent good focus use, great range and excellent damage, although you only get it really late in the game (you can buy it with the house of splendor but by the time you can reach this creed it better just wait to get it free. You will need level 5 devotion to buy it anyway.)


Found in Ziggurat of Dust. Dropped by the Mimku after the obelisk platforming section before The Dried King boss.


Maybe someone out there can use it in some manner that make it good, for me this is the more useless spell on the game.


In a chest next to the Black Sands Sorcerer in The Ruined Temple after The Coveted. (You need do some jumps with shadowflip and dart brand to reach that room)


This bad boy used to be the best spell on the game to the point to kill any boss on seconds but after some nerfs it barely worth to use. High focus usage, high stamina drain and really high build of elemental imbalance just make the same (or less) damage that flame barrage do


The only elemental spell who needs to be bought. House of splendor, keepers of fire and sky and order of betrayer sells it but you will need a level 7 devotion before it appears on the npc.


seems very weak at first but the capacity to penetrate multiple enemies, the homing capacity and to be easy and fast to cast make it a really versatile spell



Medium alcance spell BUT deadly. Can't penetrate multiple targets but can be cast very fast.



Really low damage, almost useless one can say BUT there's a hell of a good perk this spell can stunlock anything even the nameless god. You can use it to buy time for dark swarm.



While it's not being a spell (it's a incantation) it's one of the great heavy hit on the game. There's a small casting time and the homing ability is not all that great but it can cause great damage to any enemy.

There's only 2 creeds that i can recommend for mages. Devara's light and keepers of fire and sky. Both have items that help greatly the mage.
PS: Use your gold and buy as much bells you can on the normal shop. It will make you farm experience and return to sanctuaries less painful.

This is a creed that would be better suited for a paladin BUT playing on multiple characters one thing on this creed make me realize that it can be a really good thing for starting mages, the orange phial.
The orange phial restore 30 focus, heal just like the normal health potion AND cures poison. Believe me, having a potion that heal and cure poison is a god gift.Of course to have access to it, you need to level up your devotion on the creed. To do it use a stone leader on a sanctuary and go on the tab works and he will show you what you need to level it up.
Devara's light ask you to give these items:Drowned Berzerker's Ear, Vilehawk's Ear, Poison Cytoplasm Gel, Caged Man's Ear, Angsty Bones' Rib and Armor Mite Chitin.

Can be farmed really early on the game. On the small sanctuary(the one with candles below the boss) inside the festering banquet go left until the next screen and he will be there with a "dog". Kill him, return to the small sanctuary and repeat until he drops 3 ear.
The annoying archers on Watching woods and sunken keep. The easy and safe way to farm their ears is to leave by the sunken keeps's sanctuary and kill the archers on the upper part. Kill them return and repeat. You need 3.

The annoying blobs that keep falling on you head while you walk around on watching woods. The easiest, safe and fast way to farm it is to use the watching woods' sanctuary and go to the point before the screen where you fight the mad alchemist, there's one blob there. Kill it, jump for the right and just enter the sanctuary. Repeat. You need 3.

Easily found on Red Hall of Cages and Castle of Storms. This is that enemy that keep throwing fire projectiles on you. Easy way is to use the red hall of cages' sanctuary, go left, use the oblelisk to walk on the ceiling until you return to the ground and go back to the next room where you will find 6 of this guys. Kill it and repeat. Another 3

THIS ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥! I can't help you here, prepare to suffer. Use the hager's cavern's sanctuary and go down to where this ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ are. Kill it until they make you punch a baby. You need 3

The big guys with swords that live on hager's cavern. Very easy to kill with mage (they are weak against elemental damage). The easy way to farm them is to use the small sanctuary next to the broken ship on hager's cavern. Leave by the right kill the 2 down there, return to the sanctuary and repeat. You need only one this time.


Just to find this creed is a challenge. You need to be really good on platforms to make it easy. Can take some tries. I tried to record my climb there but 30 seconds wasn't enough. So i took this video from lon3_a1ex on youtube to show where you need to climb.
Besides the obvious implications to choose this creed. The crown jewel of this crees is the Sky Crystal. This crystal increase your magic damage by 25% for 60 seconds. You can literally burn a boss with seconds using this crystal and the rings' combo just like on the video below:


Like the orange phial you need to level up your creed to get one.To level up this creed you will need: Drowned Archer's Ear, Bloated Monstrosity's Ear, Armor Guardian's Ashes, Dropspider's Tusk, Thing of Arms' Ear and Bola Eye Nerves.

Really weak archers that you can find on the village of smiles. Best way to farm it is to use the village of smiles' sanctuary and leave by the left, jump the gap between the platforms(see the video below) and kill the 2 archers on the room up there. Rinse and repeat

Giant monster that release venom clouds or just smash you with his club on watching woods. The easy way to farm is to use the watching woods' sanctuary and leave by the left. You will find one there, on the top of the stairs. Kill it, return to sanctuary... You'll need 3.

That giant guy on castle of storms. To farm it "fast" use the castle of storms' sanctuary then go down on that room where one will be there with the 2 annoying fire skull. Keep killing it, might take awhile to drop but it will drop. You just need one.

Spiders. What more to say? They are annoying? You can find a really good amount of them on hager's cavern. Normally i use the small sanctuary next the ship but if you are felling luck you can use the sanctuary next to the Angsty Bones. It's on the same place where you fought the spiders to get the key for the Disemboweled Husk's key.

You will find this guys on the ruined temple. Use the room before The Bloodless Prince to save and walk from there until the ruined temple. Kill the enemies there and use the bell to return. Rinse and repeat. You will need 3.

Really annoying enemies on Salt Alkymancery that keep jumping and poisoning you, kinda boring to kill. Fast way to get it done is to leave the Salt Alkymancery's sanctuary by the right and use the tube who goes to the right you will drop by their side. Kill them, return to sanctuary and you know... You will need 3.

Once you finally hit the Salt Alkymancery (or even siam lake) you can consider yourself on the endgame territory. You can go straight to the end killing the 3 last boss OR you can assure you sucess on the ng+. Here a list of things to do before face the nameless god.


Completely optional. I just posting it here in case of someone wanting to try the blood magic.
Blood magic can be quite powerful even on ng+ and if used with the Flask of Defilement it will cause a even greater damage. Not being elemental, you can cast blood magic freely, of course it will render the storm ring completely useless. The only negative point is that while using it you get the same debuff that the flask of defilement causes to the enemy, something aroud of -50 on all resists (you can't see it on the menu) make you more like to die if hit.
To find this creed you have to pass for a series of falls and must have a bloody writ. You acquire a bloody writ when you fail to expunge a sanctuary, to expunge a sanctuary you must use a stained page on the idol it will activate a counting and all npcs on this sanctuary will be hostile to you. Kill the npcs and try to kill the guardians but die, as soon you revive the bloody writ will be add to you inventory. DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT try to expunge a sanctuary from your creed, it will make all sanctuaries from your creed to attack you on sight.
Here's a video showing you how to reach there. From the siam lake sanctuary go right until you found a pit and drop. There's 8 falls, when you reach the last one don't jump down but jump forward and use the dart brand if you just drop you will fall on a breakable platform that will break. To know where to fall next just look for what side the water is falling. When asked if you want to server say YES, if you say no it's gone he'll never let you enter the sanctuary until the next ng+


A location that can be easily missed. It's a optional area with an optional boss but this not important. The important thing about this area is that it give you the best farming on the game. I will leave a video teaching how to get there from the Dome of the Forgotten's sanctuary.


Once you finally reach the mal's castle go right and you will find a sanctuary. Put a merchant and a leader here, then remove one of your rings and put the Grasping Ring (you can find it on castle of storm before the room where you fight the dragon).Buy as many bells you can with the merchant and do as the vide bellow.


Keep farming until you reach 100k of salt and get at least one shimmering pearl for the next step.

The most powerful (and heavier) staff on the game. You will need to transmutate it from another staff using the The Witch of the Lake's Ear (easy enough to kill), Shimmering Pearl and 100k of salt. Very important. Transmutate a staff with level 7 of upgrade.You really don't want to upgrade the saira staff from zero.

So on the first topic i said that armors would make you life harder, it's still true, but on this point you probably already have put enough points on endurance that you can roll freely even with a set of light armor. I recommend the assassins set or the Evanescent set, both have excelent elemental defense and are super light weight. The assassins set can be found on the castle of storms. Go where the thief gave your the brand and go up until you find a blue cloud, use the torch and get the set on the chest. The evanescent must be bought from The Candlelit Lady, to find her go back to the room after the queen of smiles (the one with a cart) and walk through the dark corridor until you find the switch to open the shortcut, enter the door on the lower level and keep seeking it until you found her. Talk with her until she opens the menu.
Here's a comparison between the 2 sets on level 7. (evanescent set don't have a glove, so i completed it with the assassin's glove.)



Both will have the same weight and by calculations you will need to have at least 67.2 of carry load to use this set and saira's staff to roll on max speed. You can reach this numbers going for light armor after reach staves lvl 5 and magic user 4 and put some points on magic and willpower.

Before you finish the game, i can't stress enough how important it to put all your equipament on level 7. It's easy now because you have acess to all the game's map and all npcs and enemies are relatively weak compared to the ones on the ng+. Take you time farming salt and items to do it. There's a npc on the game that sells everything you need to put everything until level 5 he's sitting on a corner of the castle of storms (next where you need to open the door to the red hall of cages).
The other ones "lord orders" and "king orders" can be dropped from the same enemy that you farmed the shimmering pearl. The only real challenge will be the drowned tome. You can get only one on the entire game, two if you are playing a new game and manage to kill the unspeakable deep.

I made a video showing the exactly location of the only tome on the game. Here: