Examining how mana use in Graviterrus translates to in game spells.

On Instagram, we are diving into the lore behind mana in Graviterrus, looking at where it comes from and what sort of powers can be extracted from it. Mana is the driving force and energy source that all factions use to produce spells. Check out the Factions: Battlegrounds IG (@factionsbattlegrounds) to see how mana works from a lore perspective!!

This post, however, describes the various spell types that players can utilize during a game of Factions: Battlegrounds (currently!!)

Remember, each player starts the game with 10 mana. So far… every spell in the game costs LESS than 10 mana, which means that players theoretically can use any spell they want, and with even a tiny bit of skillful resource management, multiple spells per game.

Almost every spell (so far) in Factions: Battlegrounds targets enemies and delivers a negative effect, and the vast majority of them result in damage to your opponent’s unit or units. However, there are still a variety of spell types… let’s break it down!!

SINGLE TARGET SPELLS:

Single target spells are the most commonly found and usually the most used type of spell. The concept is very simple. The spell does a certain amount of damage (or lessen the attack attribute for Poison Orb and Necrotic Orb) to a single enemy unit, over a distance of a certain number of spaces. The one exception is Paralyze, which does not do damage or lessen the attack attribute. Instead it takes away the target’s activation for the round, but since it still targets a single enemy and delivers a negative effect, it falls into this category. These spells typically cost less mana than other types of spells because they do only target a single enemy. Don’t be mistaken though! Single target spells are probably the most effective and reliable spell type in the game. A big reason for this is you are not relying on your enemy moving to or occupying certain spaces on the battleground. The spell targets the unit, and as long as the enemy is in range and there is adequate mana, the enemy can be targeted!

Also, single target spells are the only spell type found in every faction!

Single Target Spells: Fire Orb, Lightning Bolt, Ice Missle, Poison Orb, Vaporize, Mystic Sliceblade, Necrotic Orb, Shockwave, Jolt, Paralyze

Most Damage: Vaporize (9)

Best Range: Ice Missle (4)

MULTI-UNIT TARGET SPELLS:

Multi-Unit target spells are capable of hitting multiple units, but they still target units as opposed to spaces or a physical area.. Multi-Unit target spells probably have the most point-scoring raw power, because they can be used (like single target spells) regardless of what terrain your opponent’s units are located on. However, the fact that they can hit more than one unit (or all units in range) makes them IMMENSELY powerful! Within this category, there are 2 smaller categories… Dividable damage and equal damage. Dividable damage MUTS spells allow you to divide a set number of damage between the targets in range, while equal damage spells deliver the same amount of damage to all enemies in range. MUTS spells can be quite expensive. They are also among the rarest of spell types.

Multi-Unit Target Spells: Arcane Blast, Fireball, Ruinous Blast, Lightning Storm, Deathwave

CONDITIONAL TARGET UNIT SPELLS:

Conditional target unit spells can only target units that have a certain pre-existing status on the battleground, such as Aerial or Wounded. CTUS spells can come in both single unit target or multi-unit target form, and vary wildly in terms of power and use, from the extremely dangerous and broad-reaching Tornado to the specialized, cheap, single target Skypierce. While they can be very, very useful, the major drawback is that enemy units have to meet the required conditions prior to being targeted, making units that use on CTUS spells have to rely on other units to help set them up in order to make the most of their spells.

TORNADO is a conditional target unit spell, as it can only target units that are Aerial.

Conditional target unit spells: Skypierce (single-target: Enemy Aerial unit), Deteriorate (multi-target, all Enemy Wounded units), Tornado (multi-target, all Enemy Aerial units)

AREA TARGET SPELLS:

Another category of spells are the Area target spells. Area target spells do not target units, but rather specified spaces on the battleground! Should a unit (or units) happen to be occupying one of the spaces (or spaces) that is targeted, it (they all!) take the damage. ATS spells are fantastic in multi-player games, as they often provide target rich areas and casting units rarely need to move into “range”. This allows them to score points and weaken enemies from a distance. They can still be effective and downright devastating in 2 player battles as well, however there is the slight drawback of units needing to be in the eligible target spaces.

There are a lot of unique area target spell subcategories, consisting of:

Row or Column (The player can choose either the row of spaces OR the column of spaces the casting unit occupies)

Row and Column (BOTH the row and column the unit occupies)

Terrain Tile (Adjacent Terrain Tile to the casting unit- 4 spaces)

Target Terrain Tile (Any Terrain Tile)

All Spaces Adjacent to (target space)– (Each space adjacent to the target space- 4 spaces total)

All Tiles of a specific Terrain Tile Type (Every Terrain Tile of the designated type on the board!)

Area target spells: Sandstorm (All Tiles of a specific Terrain Tile type), Blizzard (Terrain Tile) Maelstrom (All Spaces Adjacent To), Wave of Blades (Row or Column), Cataclysm (Row and Column), Meteor Storm (Target Terrain Tile)

SELF-TARGETS:

That covers most of the spells in Factions: Battlegrounds, but there are a couple of exceptions.. Those exceptions fall into the Self-Target category. Self-Target spells are pretty easy to figure out… the casting unit uses it on themselves! Right now, the 2 spells that self-target are Teleport (which allows the unit to move to any space on the battleground) and Regenerate (which allows the unit to return to the space it occupied with a new activation immediately after being eliminated).

Self-Target Spells: Teleport, Regenerate

ALLIED TARGETS:

So there is one spell left (For now!!) that falls into the Allied Target category… Allied target spells target another unit in your warband and have a positive effect on them. The only spell (for now!!) that qualifies as an AT spell is Reanimate Undead. Reanimate Undead brings a previously eliminated undead unit in your warband back into the game!

SPELL DEFENSES:

Each faction has a couple of units that can potentially lessen the impact of spells targeting them. These units have abilities that can enable them to negate some of the damage they take from spells with the ability Spell Ward. A number of units have the Evade ability, which allows units the opportunity to dodge a spell (via a die roll). Others have the best defense of all, Immune to Spells, rendering everything written in this post absolutely useless against them!!

Spells are a HUGE part of the gameplay of Factions: Battlegrounds, just like mana plays a HUGE part in the lore of every faction! What are your favorite spells in Factions: Battlegrounds?? Do you have any thoughts on the lore behind mana and how it is used in the game’s setting, Graviterrus? We’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments!!!