Time to get our hands and Salutors dirty. Be sure to follow this combat strategy guide below to learn how to survive your enemy encounters in The Thaumaturge.
How does the combat system work in The Thaumaturge?
The Thaumaturge – alongside a huge amount of dialogue – features a turn-based combat system that will pit you against both human and supernatural enemies. You play Wiktor Szulski, a thaumaturge that can influence the hearts and minds of other in-game characters and can control and command demon-like creatures named Salutors.
This will translate to both physical and mental attacks as well as different types of companions that will help you deal passive effects and straight-up damage. The combat system might be a bit overwhelming at first, so here are some tips so that you can dominate each encounter you may come across.
Check your enemy’s upcoming turns
One of the many things that will come to your help is the ability to check your enemy’s upcoming turns shown in the Actions queue at the top of the screen. By reading it from left to right, you will be able to know which of the enemies in the encounter will attack next. This will allow you and your Salutors to plan ahead of their attacks.
For example, you can choose to attack said enemy to knock them down, to protect yourself from an incoming powerful attack, or even deal Skill moves that will cancel their turns or drain their focus. You will also see how quick or slow your actions will be in the middle of the confrontation. Combine both of these to completely nullify the enemy and optimize your damage output.
Use your Salutors accordingly
Your Salutors will oftentimes carry you to victory during specific combat instances. While your attacks are limited, the sheer amount of Salutors you can have at a time will allow you to focus your attention on your enemy’s weaknesses. Not only will these Salutors have a plethora of different abilities that will prioritize damage output and status effects, but if you attack specific enemies with a specific Salutor, you will nullify any positive effect that they may be enjoying thanks to their flaws. These can include health bonuses, increased armor, and increased damage, among others.
Equip your upgrades with the correct skills
This might be one of the most complex aspects of combat. You will unlock skills and upgrades as you continue to level up and discover new Salutors. Each of your skills can be equipped with those upgrades, giving them specific types of effect bonuses. For example, Icy Armor will lower your taken damage by four points and Adrenaline will increase your inflicted damage by 50%. You will get the chance to always unequip these upgrades and allocate them to a specific combat skill, and the game will allow you to change these before every single combat. So, if you are failing to conquer a battle for whatever reason – say, lack of healing capabilities – you can allocate one upgrade to one of your skills to remedy that.
Make use of damage over time skills
One of the very first lessons that I stumbled upon during my failed combats was that dealing damage can be done without actively moving a finger or casting a curse. You see, from time to time, certain enemies will have strong resistance toward any incoming attack thanks to their Flaws. Moreover, if you focus your attention on one of your enemies, you might leave yourself completely wide open to the others. So, dealing damage over time through skills like Old Wound or Agony will ensure that your enemies will always suffer from passive damage and that you get something in return – for example, HP. Also, be sure to allocate the corresponding upgrade tier to the correct skill tier.
Use a variety of base attacks
While you can focus only on passive damage or DPS, what will benefit you the most will be using all the variety of attacks. Yes, even the smallest of punches can turn the tides of a battle. You see, by using base attacks during combat, you will then unlock their higher-tier version. For example, dealing a Quick Attack will then allow you to deal a much stronger Action-Reaction move. This applies to your Quick Attacks, Planned Attacks, Damage Over Time moves, and Influences.
Be sure to follow the steps above and craft your strategy to survive each encounter, especially those that surround a Salutor unlock. These are especially brutal since you will face various enemy rounds, so be prepared. And be prepared not just in combat, but as you’re about to finish a chapter because you’re going to want to finish your side quests before moving on to the next chapter.
