Morph your mind-reading mystic into a master brawler with The Thaumaturge combat tips
Set amongst the political turmoil of early 20th century Warsaw, The Thaumaturge mixes magic and history to spin a mystery-filled tale surrounding titular, demon-summoning protagonist Wiktor Szulski.
Set amongst the political turmoil of early 20th century Warsaw, The Thaumaturge mixes magic and history to spin a mystery-filled tale surrounding titular, demon-summoning protagonist Wiktor Szulski. Fool’s Theory’s role-playing game leans heavily into storytelling, shaping Wiktor’s journey through regular character interactions and choice-driven dialogs.
But as narratively rich as it is, the title isn’t without its fair share of combat-fueled action. In fact, when not chatting up the locals, Wiktor’s often going toe-to-toe with them in complex, turn-based battles that carry life-and-death consequences. While these bouts gently ease you in, they quickly ramp up, potentially leaving Wiktor face down in the dirt.
With that in mind, we’ve put together some tips to help budding thaumaturges better navigate the various layers of the game’s deeply strategic battle system.
Collect now, read later
As mentioned above, The Thaumaturge is a talky experience that’ll frequently have you engaging in lengthy conversations with its sprawling cast of characters. When not communicating, you’ll spend equal time reading, as the world’s brimming with both mission-critical and optional printed materials, including books, notes, pamphlets, and inscriptions. And you should absolutely collect every single one of these items, as doing so earns you XP integral to acquiring the points that grow your combat skills and upgrades.
But you needn’t read every gravestone and study each scribbled-on scrap of paper to get that valuable XP. Simply interacting with these items grants you the gains. The story and lore are excellent, so we encourage you to consume every bit of it you can. But everything is archived, so you’re free to look at it at your leisure.
This is especially important early on, when you’re just beginning to build your character, and battles aren’t difficult. Locations like the train station, police headquarters, and Wiktor’s house are packed with these XP-earning goodies, but you’ll need to stray a bit from the beaten path to find them. So, search every corner of the map, collect generous amounts of XP, and save the reading—if you so choose—for later. This strategy will benefit you through the entire adventure but leveraging it in the first few hours will give you a heck of a head start in filling out your thaumaturgy combat skills.
A well-balanced build is best
Speaking of your ability to evolve Wiktor’s skills and powers, the game supports a deep character progression system separated into four Dimensions—Heart, Mind, Deed, and Word. As with most RPGs, The Thaumaturge affords players the freedom to invest points where they see fit, maybe focusing on a single discipline or dabbling in all of them. When progressing Wiktor down the various upgrade paths, however, the latter approach is always best.
Many things you do in the world require a certain number of points in each Dimension. Those points increase when you invest within that same Dimension. So, unlocking the Sabotage upgrade in the Deed Dimension, for example, will also up your Deed points. But while increasing all four Dimension levels will assist you in completing various tasks and interactions in the world, doing so will benefit you even more on the battlefield.
Each Dimension is tied to a specific Salutor, the demon-like beasts Wiktor can command and control. These creatures are invaluable in combat, helping you secure victories with their otherworldly attacks and distraction tricks. Most importantly, they possess the ability to disable Traits, special enemy attributes that can make foes immune to your attacks.
These Traits can also be removed by whittling away at your target’s Focus, but this is a far more time-consuming process that could end in your defeat. The most efficient way to disable a Trait is by unleashing a Salutor on it, but the demon must belong to the same Dimension as the enemy-protecting Trait. And the only way to access a Salutor and its full suite of skills is by regularly progressing its Dimension path. Not giving equal attention to Heart, Mind, Deed, and Word will eventually lead you to being on the wrong end of a Trait you can’t quickly remove with the right Salutor.
Assess the battlefield carefully
That aforementioned Focus is just one of many elements generously communicated by the game’s user interface during combat. The intuitive UI also displays expected elements, like health and status effects, but thanks to Wiktor’s heightened perception, many more useful cues and indicators are also displayed on the board. A portion of his life bar, for example, will lightly flash to signal the potential chunk of health he’ll lose if the enemy successfully lands their next planned attack.
On the offensive side, players can choose their own enemy-thwarting skills based on helpful highlighted info, such as their next moves’ speed and potential damage output. Of course, if you prefer to let one of your Salutors do your bidding, you’ll be armed with similar details to assist in making the right choice. In fact, those Trait-disabling attacks mentioned above are also well-communicated. With little digging, you can easily discover which demon is best suited to remove specific Traits. Swapping between Salutors to summon the right one for the job is also a breeze.
The Thaumaturge uses its hero’s innate mystical abilities to justify providing you much of this information, but the one that most showcases Wiktor’s perceptive powers is the Action queue. Located in the upper left of the screen, this interface allows you to anticipate and analyze your enemies’ upcoming attacks. It not only reveals who’s due to land the next blow, but what specific type of attack they have in mind. You can use this intel to strategically plan your next move. Whether your attacker plans on unleashing fists, blades, or bullets, you can examine your own arsenal beforehand and act accordingly. This could mean delaying or completely canceling their plans, or maybe even eliminating them before they have a chance to strike.
Since the first several hours of combat are not especially challenging—even on the highest difficulty setting—it’s easy to get in the habit of not utilizing the Action queue to your strategic advantage. But remember to fully delve into its available info, along with the many other cues the user interface kindly provides, and you’ll find yourself regularly holding the upper hand against Warsaw’s angry bearded men.
Reassign before a rematch
In addition to the numerous active and passive skills you’ll unlock through your Dimension paths, you’ll also access upgrades that can buff those skills. Once you’ve earned a new upgrade, you can assign it to a skill or attack. But these assignments aren’t permanent, encouraging you to experiment: to mix and match skills with upgrades to find the best combinations.
If you’re struggling to hold your own in a fight, you’ll want to access these upgrades—which live in a separate interface from the skill tree—and make some changes. This can be done before any battle and there is no associated cost or penalty, so don’t be shy about testing out new combos of skills and upgrades to find what works best.
From restoring focus and increasing damage to buffing your Salutors’ various attacks, these upgrades aren’t mere incremental perks, but significant buffs that can dramatically turn the tide of battle in your favor. It’s easy to assign them once and move on, but regularly revisiting and tweaking upgrade assignments—especially if your foes are frequently beating you—is a strategically smart habit to adopt.
Swapping your Salutors is similarly encouraged. You can access your full army of collected demon allies during combat encounters, so you needn’t stick out the entire conflict with the creature you chose at its start. While each of the eight available Salutors could fuel a lifetime of nightmares, their disturbing appearance alone won’t defeat your adversaries. Based on the Dimension they’re bound to, each possesses very specific strengths that are best triggered against certain types of threats. Again, if you find you’re often on the wrong end of battle-ending attacks, you’ll want to study all the info provided and apply it to select a Salutor who’s the best fit for the fight.
The Thaumaturge’s creepy world is filled with mysteries, challenges, and characters that’ll put Wiktor’s mystical set of skills to the test. But the biggest threats come during combat, where a poorly planned attack can see you and your monstrous allies belly up and bleeding out. Heed the above tips, however, and you can become as skilled at cracking skulls as Wiktor is at reading the thoughts within them.
