Gamer's Spot

Hello readers!

This is my review of a really fun online game called Arcanists. You can either play it from FunOrb or Arcanists. All you need to do is make an account before you can start playing, which only takes about 5 minutes.

In Arcanists, your character is this magician that wields spells to attack and compete with. Once you start playing you should do the tutorial so you have the basic controls of movement and aiming. You should do it a few times until you can beat it really fast. After that, you are ready to select your spells and change your character’s appearance, and head out into the multi player games. If you want to have the most fun with this game, you should become a FunOrb member so you have access to Rated games and all of the spell books available to members. I believe the membership price is around 4$-6$.

When you just begin playing(whether you are a member or not) you will only have access to the 2 books that are available to free-to-play accounts(or F2P for short). the F2P books that are there once you start are the book of Arcane and the book of Flame(F2P players don’t have access to the level 3 spells of the book of flame, but all of the level 1 & level 2 spells are available). The book of Arcane is mainly utility spells to help dig through land or for teleporting away from dangerous places. The book of Flame consists of spells that do fire damage, and most of them are pretty good. When you just start the only Arcane spells you should have should be Arcane Arrow, Arcane Tower and Arcane Gate(Arcane Arrow is used for digging, Arcane Tower is a tower spell which puts you in a tower with more health and Arcane Gate is a teleport spell). The rest of your book should be flame Spells.

Once you’re in the multi player game Lobby, you can see to the right of the game screen a whole bunch of games that say “join”. If you do not wish to join a random game, you can always make your own by clicking on the button that says make game. I suggest that you start out with doing team games, which means that you have team mates to help you. I suggest you get the controls of the bomb spells and arrow spells first because they are the ones that usually do the most damage. If you are a member, you should play a whole bunch of Unrated games(the game type available to F2P accounts) for practice before you start playing Rated games. Once you are in the game, you start out with 250 HP. when it reaches 0, you die.

In a Rated game, if you lose your rating will go down and if you win it will go up. I suggest you play team Rated games before you do 1 versus 1 so that if your character dies, you still have a chance of winning the game(if your character does die, you SHOULD NOT leave the game because then you’re rating will go down and you don’t get any wands). In Arcanists, you earn wands by playing Rated games. You don’t get them from winning, but you get them from the rewards that are listed at the end of the game. Some rewards give you less wands than others, but its good if you still get one wand. Some of the best rewards for getting wands are: Most Honourable, Most Cruel, Most Powerful, Most Bouncy and Most Fit.

Wands are used as a currency in Arcanists; you use them to buy the member spell books and spells. To buy a book it costs 5 wands because when you buy it, you receive all 5 of the level 1 spells that are in it and you have to buy the rest with more wands. All level 2 spells cost 2 wands each, and level 3 spells cost 3 wands each. Each book only has 2 level 3 spells, and most of the time they are 1 use only and require 5 other spells from the book that they belong to so you can use them.

Some books have a tower spell in them too. Tower spells put you into a tower with more HP than usual. Some of them even heal back you to full hp and one of them can even move(none of them can move except for 1).

When you have gotten every spell from every book, you are able to purchase a Prestige Hat. Prestige Hats are things that go above your character’s head while playing the game. Each time you get a Prestige Hat it gets harder for you to get all of the spells back again because you start to need a required rating to earn wands at the normal speed. You can purchase up to a maximum of 10 Prestige Hats, every time the icon above your character’s head changing and it getting harder for you to get all of the spells back.

Each book has a familiar to go with it. The familiar drains 100 HP to cast it to full power, but most of the time it is worth it. To use the familiar you must have the full book being used by your character. Here is a list of all of the books:

Book of Arcane

The book of Arcane is mainly like I said utility spells. They don’t do very much damage but they can be quite helpful at some times. The spell Arcane flash is also really good because it creates a giant crater which is good for digging, and it has one of the highest knock-abouts of all spells(knock-about means that the person you used it on goes flying). Although that sounds really good, Arcane Flash is really hard to use when you just begin because you have to figure out the angles of the direction you want the other player to go. Arcane Glyph and Arcane Sigil are also really good spells because they can be used to block of entrances. The book of Arcane is the only book that doesn’t have a familiar or any level 3 spells, meaning that F2P accounts don’t have access to any familiars or level 3 spells.

Book of Flame

The book of Flame has fire spells in it. Like I mentioned before, F2P accounts have access to all of the level 1 & level 2 spells, but not the level 3s. Most of the level 1 spells have a maximum of 50 damage, like Fire Ball and Lava bomb. Although 50 damage isn’t a lot, it is good to have the level 1 spells so you can use the level 2 spells. The level 3 spells allow you to summon a Napalm Dragon which is immune to napalm damage, and the other level 3 spell allows you to call a volcano out from under the sea. The book of Flame’s familiar effect when it is at full power makes all of your fire spells do 50% more damage than usual, which means that is worth the 100 HP to summon it. The full Flame book is one of my favourite books to use because it can easily kill somebody with the increased damage.

Book of Stone

The book of Stone is also a really good book to have. Most of the spells in it do quite a bit of damage and trap people easily. The only bad thing about the book of Stone is that most of the spells have limited uses. Most of the level 2 spells are limited to 2 uses, and some of the level 1 spells are limited to 4 uses. It’s level 3 spells are called Fissure and Meteor. The Fissure sends a whole bunch of Scatter Rocks flying into the land and destroys a whole bunch of it. If somebody gets caught in it, they will most likely die because it does  A LOT of damage. Meteor isn’t as good as Fissure; it just sends a meteor to crash into the land and chew through a whole bunch of it. Meteor isn’t good if you use it on somebody who is on the surface of land; it’s only good when they are hiding in a cave or near the bottom of the map. The book of Stone’s familiar effect makes all stone spells do less damage against you. It can be good, but most of the time it isn’t.

Book of Storm

The book of Storm has lightning moves in it. Most of the spells are quite hard to control, so I would suggest that you only use it if you are good. Shock Bomb and Flight are the only good spells in it in my opinion. Shock Bomb has a pretty good knock-about, and it does a maximum of 80 damage. Flight does what it’s name says; the only bad thing about it is that it requires the level 1 spell Summon Storm Spirit to use. the Storm Spirit actually isn’t that bad at times, but it only has 25 HP so it will most likely always die in 1 hit. It’s level 3 spells are Storm and Summon Storm Dragon. The Storm really isn’t that good because it doesn’t do much damage. The Storm Dragon is really good because the kind of move that it has does a lot of damage. The book of Storm’s familiar effect lets you use Storm every turn at maximum power rather than waiting 5 turns to use it without it. I don’t really think the familiar effect is good though.

Book of Frost

The book of Frost has ice and snow spells in it. I think that it is really good because all of the spells in it do the most damage than any other book. Most of the spells are hard to control and hard to get their maximum damage though. Its fun to make your summons walk around on the water because they will freeze the spot that they walked on, but for a price of 5 hp. The familiar effect lets you also be able to freeze the sea, and it makes you jump really high at maximum power because all of the summons in the book of frost have the highest jump out of all of the other books. It’s level 3 spells are Comet and Summon Frost Dragon. Comet isn’t really good because most of the time it doesn’t do a lot of damage. The Frost Dragon is one of the best dragon summons because it’s Frost Dragon breath does a lot of damage. I think that the familiar is quite pointless though because jumping higher is sometimes bad(when you jump too long or high and off of the screen) and freezing the sea isn’t really good either because it costs 5 hp.

Book of Underdark

The book of Underdark is also one of my favourite spell books because most of the moves steal your enemy’s HP and give it to you. It also has some really good summons. one of it’s level 1 spells is one of the best target spells because you can put it anywhere. It is called Aura of Decay. Its fun to just put these wherever your opponents are because they are really annoying and if they stay in them, it’s damage adds up a lot. The book of Underdark’s level 3 spells are called Swallowing Pit and Lichdom. Swallowing Pit turns all of the summons and creatures on the map into Auras of Decay, so you have to use it at the right moment for it to be good. Lichdom turns you into a Lich, which is an undead creature that gains HP for all of the damage it does. When you are a Lich, you are restricted to spells from the book of Underdark and the book of Arcane. The book of Underdark’s familiar effect lets you come back alive when you die. How ever much HP you put into it is how much you will respawn with. The Underdark familiar is one of the best in my opinion.

Book of Overlight

The book of Overlight mainly consists of healing spells and spells that do light damage. The cool thing about light damage is that it does 2x the normal amount of damage to undead creatures(bye bye Liches!).It’s best summon is called a Paladin, which can do quite a bit of damage and ride the Pegasus summon. The Pegasus is good for fast transportation around the map, and it’s a pretty good meat shield(meat shields are summons with high HP that you can mount, so all of the damage is done to them instead of you). The book of Overlight’slevel 3 spells are called Invulnerability Shield and Shining Power. Invulnerability Shield puts a shield of complete protection around you; if you cast another spell or fall into the water when you’re using is it will dissipate. Shining Power turns you into an Angel; you sprout wings which makes you able to fly and you will gain 10 HP per turn. Angels are restricted to spells from the book of Overlight and the book of Arcane. The book of Overlight’s familiar effect at maximum power shields you 5 hp per turn, so it really isn’t that good.

Book of Nature

The book of Nature is one of the best books if you have the familiar at maximum power. The familiar makes some of your spells more potent like Flurry, Vine Bomb and Thorn Bomb. The book of Nature is one of the books that needs the most strategy to use though. When you are using it, you basically want to stall your opponent long enough for you to put your familiar to maximum power, summon Elves and finish them off with Flurry. When the book of Nature’s familiar is at maximum power, the Elf’s Flurry can kill an Arcanist with full HP in 1 hit, which makes full Nature wielders a formidable opponent if they know how to use it. The book  of Nature’s level 3 spells are called Vine Bloom and Nature’s Wrath. For Vine Bloom, you need to have a Man Trap somewhere so you can use it. Its best to have your opponent trapped somewhere before you can use it because when your familiar is at maximum power and you use Vine Bloom, it will kill them in 1 hit. Nature’s Wrath calls down a whole bunch of leaves witch disrupts anything from flying through it, which means jumping through it and trying to shoot spells through it will just be blown away. The book of Nature is one of the most fun books to use, but you just have to know how to use it.

Book of Seas

The book of Seas is also a really good book, but you also have to have good strategy with it. The spells do Water damage, and some of them are really good at digging. It’s level 1 summon is Water Trolls, which are kinda pointless unless you use hydration on them. Water Trolls really aren’t even that good anyways because they hit on contact, which can be quite annoying. It’s other summon is called a Brine Goblin, which when it dies explodes like a Brine Bomb would. The book of Seas’ level 3 spells are called Ocean’s Fury and Summon Water Lord. Ocean’s Fury doesn’t really do much damage wise, but it basically destroys the entire arena which is good for a full Seas user. Summon Water Lord makes this big and very weak Water Lord, which isn’t really good for anything but a giant meat shield(it has 500 HP, but it will go down fast because it takes more damage than normal summons do). The book of Seas’ familiar effect lets you walk on water(which is great if the arena has been destroyed) without having to sacrifice HP and at maximum power it makes you immune to all types of water damage. The book of Seas is also really fun, but like the book of Nature requires strategy for it to work best.

Book of Cogs

By getting the 1st Prestige Hat you unlock the book of Cogs. The book of Cogs doesn’t really have a lot of spells that do much damage, and there are really only 2 good spells in it which are Clock Tower(the tower that can move around) and Blast From The Past(or BFTP for short). It’s level 3 spells are called Redo and Summon Steam Dragon. The Steam Dragon is probably the worst dragon summon because it doesn’t do much damage. Redo puts every body’s spell book back to how it was at the beginning of the game, which isn’t a good spell because it gives your enemies their good spells back. The book of Cogs’ familiar effect at maximum power gives you 30 more seconds on your turn, which means the book of Cogs is really good at 10 second matches.

I think that this is a great game, and if you are a fan of strategy turn-based games, you should definately try out this one.

F2P Rating: 6.5/10

Member Rating: 9/10

 Here is a video of the gameplay. It shows some of the spells too.