Astral Shards
Download the game
Knowledge base › Magic

How magic works

Five schools: fire, water, air, earth, astral. Each has its own skill, growing by use like a weapon skill. A spell’s power grows with the school’s skill, not with the hero’s Body.

  • A book teaches a spell for good. Only those with mana – mages – can read books.
  • A scroll can be read by anyone, once; its power is written in it (as with skill 20). That is how a warrior gets an area blow, healing and walls.
  • No cooldowns. A spell works the moment it is pressed and is ready again at once: only mana limits it.
  • A mage picks a spell against enemies and fights with it instead of a weapon: an order to attack, and the hero strikes the target with the spell while the mana lasts. Out of mana – it closes in with whatever it holds.
  • A spell cannot be dodged; only the target’s protection from the element cuts its damage.
  • Helping spells (healing, blessing, haste) land on the chosen “friend”, else on whoever is under the mouse, else on yourself.

Return to town

Every hero has it (key H). 30 seconds of prayer out of combat – and the hero is at the nearest town of its side. A step, a blow, a fight starting or any order breaks the prayer.

Invisibility

The invisible are seen neither by enemies nor by other players: no body, no name, no marks on the map. The first blow or harmful spell makes them visible again. A blow on a place – wall of fire, cloud, lightning – still touches them, and someone invisible poisoned by a cloud gives themselves away with damage numbers.

All spells

Fire

SpellTargetManaPower
Searing Sparkan enemy8030–52.5 (+3 per skill point)
Fire Wardself120Fire Ward
Flame Burstan enemy18037.5–67.5 (+3.75 per skill point)
Fire Walla place on the ground280Damage 37.5 (+3.75 per skill point) / 1 s

Water

SpellTargetManaPower
Ice Needlean enemy8022.5–45 (+3 per skill point)
Water Wardself120Water Ward
Chill Mistan enemy16015–30 (+2.25 per skill point)

Air

SpellTargetManaPower
Shockan enemy8015–67.5 (+3 per skill point)
Air Wardself120Air Ward
Chain Sparkan enemy16022.5–75 (+3 per skill point)
Rainbow Lightningself32030–67.5 (+3.38 per skill point)

Earth

SpellTargetManaPower
Stone Shardan enemy10037.5–60 (+3 per skill point)
Earth Wardself120Earth Ward
Stone Walla place on the ground240A wall of stone, 5 s
Poison Clouda place on the ground280Damage 22.5 (+2.62 per skill point) / 1 s
Stone Cursean enemy280Turned to Stone

Astral

SpellTargetManaPower
Return to Townself0Back to town
Bare Fistsan enemy4022.5–45 (+4.5 per skill point)
Mendan ally or self120Healing 200 (+16 per skill point)
Swiftnessself120Swiftness
Blessingan ally or self160Blessing
Unseen Shieldself160Unseen Shield
Cursean enemy160Curse
Teleporta place on the ground200Moves you where you look
Invisibilityself300Invisibility
The numbers on these pages come straight from the game's data and follow every version of it. Made by twixon