Spellblade Class Guide: Playing Steel and Spell in Wanderer's Tale

The Spellblade fights with a sword and a spellbook at the same time. It hits with steel, burns with fire, counters with arcane force, and can stack its enchantments into one enormous strike. If you like building up a fight and then cashing it in, this is your class.

The Spellblade is one of three premium classes in Wanderer's Tale, a free browser text RPG. See "How to unlock it" below. The game itself, and the four free classes, cost nothing.

At a glance

• Starting health: 75 base, plus 6 for every point of Constitution above 10, set when you create the character
• Starting Arcane Charge (your ability resource): 45 base, plus 4 for every point of Intelligence above 10, set when you create the character
• Starting bonuses: +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, +1 Dexterity
• Starting skills: Arcana and Athletics
• Each level gives: +12 max health, +12 max Arcane Charge, +2 Strength, +2 Intelligence, +1 Constitution, +1 Dexterity
• Starts with: a Rusty Sword, Leather Armor, a Small Health Potion and a Small Mana Potion

How to unlock it

Spellblade is a premium class. It is a one-time unlock on your account (listed at $4.99 in the Premium Shop), and once you own it, it is available for every character you create from then on. The Premium Shop needs a free account, so if you are playing as a guest, use Save progress first.

How the Spellblade actually plays

The Spellblade is a melee fighter, so its sword only reaches an enemy that is next to you. Most fights begin with the enemy several squares away, typically somewhere around 4 to 8, and it walks toward you a little each round. Your Advance covers 3 plus half of your Dexterity above 8, rounded down.

Here is the part that makes this class interesting. Two abilities, Arcane Strike and Runic Surge, only work when the enemy is next to you. But Flame Blade, Spell Parry, Blade Ward, Chain Lightning and Spellsword's Gambit have no range limit. So the rounds an enemy spends walking toward you are rounds you can spend building your enchantments. By the time it arrives, you are already charged.

Strength and Intelligence both matter

Spellblade abilities draw on two stats at once, which sets this class apart.

• Strength drives your weapon damage and the physical side of your abilities.
• Intelligence adds to the same abilities. It also sets your starting Arcane Charge pool, 4 points per point above 10 when you create the character. After that the pool grows by a fixed 12 every level.
• Constitution sets your starting health. You wear heavy armor, but you are not a Warrior.

Every level gives +2 Strength and +2 Intelligence automatically, so the class stays balanced as you grow. If you roll your own stats at character creation, split your best rolls between Strength and Intelligence, then Constitution.

Abilities

Every Spellblade ability spends Arcane Charge. You unlock them as you level.

Early game (levels 1 to 9). Arcane Strike is your main attack once the enemy is next to you. Flame Blade is worth casting while the enemy approaches, but note that its fire only triggers on plain Attack, not on abilities. So the pattern is: cast Flame Blade, then use Attack three times. Spell Parry is a counter, not a shield: the hit still lands, and you answer it for 8 to 17 damage.

Midgame. Runic Surge is your heavy hitter until the Gambit arrives: a combined physical and arcane strike with a 1.8 multiplier. Blade Ward at level 20 is the one that changes how fights feel. A hit you would have taken simply does not happen, so cast it before something big arrives.

Late game. Chain Lightning does not care about range, so it lets you keep damaging an enemy that you have not reached yet. Half of its hits ignore armor entirely, which makes it very good against heavily armored enemies. And then there is the Gambit.

The Gambit combo

Spellsword's Gambit is the reason to play this class. Its damage is your weapon roll multiplied by 1.4, plus another 0.5 for every enchantment you have active, plus a bonus from your Strength and Intelligence. It then consumes all of them.

The three enchantments that count are Flame Blade, Spell Parry and Blade Ward. With all three active, the multiplier is 2.9 instead of 1.4, which is more than double the damage.

The setup:

1. While the enemy walks toward you, cast Flame Blade, Spell Parry and Blade Ward. That costs 58 Arcane Charge for the three.
2. Fire the Gambit for 55 more before the enemy lands its first hit. That hit would spend your Ward and your Parry, and a spent enchantment no longer counts. The Gambit has no range limit, so it works from wherever you are standing.

If the enemy reaches you before you are fully set up, fire the Gambit with whatever is still standing. Every enchantment you have up adds 0.5 to the multiplier, so even one is worth having. Flame Blade is the safest of the three to keep, because it only ends when you use its three attacks, not when you are hit.

This is a late-game plan. Running all four abilities costs 113 Arcane Charge, which is why it only comes together once your pool has grown, around the level the Gambit unlocks.

Weapons and armor by level

The Spellblade shares its heavy gear with the Warrior. Mage robes and staves are Mage-only.

Constitution bonuses on gear raise the Constitution number but do not raise your maximum health. Your health total only grows when you level up.

• Armor cuts damage by a percentage: your total armor divided by that number plus 40, up to 80%. Chainmail with the helm, greaves and gauntlets is 15 armor, which cuts about 27% of damage.
• The Heirloom Weapon perk (2 points at character creation) starts you with a Heirloom Blade: 7 to 14 damage and +3 Strength from level 1.
• Restoring Arcane Charge: the Mana Potions in the store are for Mages and Necromancers. As a Spellblade, buy Rage Flasks instead. They are sold to Warriors and Spellblades and restore 25 Arcane Charge for 15 gold, with larger flasks at levels 4, 7 and 10 restoring 60, 120 and 200. Your starting Small Mana Potion works too.

Perks worth a look

If you use Customize at character creation instead of Quick Start, you get perk points to spend:

• Heirloom Weapon (2 points): the Heirloom Blade above.
• Unbreakable (2 points): once per quest, survive a killing blow at 1 HP.
• Weapon Expertise (1 point): +1 to both ends of every weapon damage roll, including on your weapon-based abilities.
• Iron Skin (1 point): +1 armor.

Common mistakes

• Casting Arcane Strike from a distance. It needs the enemy next to you. Use the approach to cast your enchantments instead.
• Wasting Flame Blade. Its fire only triggers on plain Attack. Cast it, then attack.
• Casting the Gambit with no enchantments up. It still hits, but the whole point is the bonus. Stack first.
• Playing it like a Warrior. You have more health than a Mage but less than a Warrior, so lean on Blade Ward and Spell Parry instead of trading hits.
• Buying Mana Potions. They are not sold to your class. Rage Flasks are.

Start playing

Wanderer's Tale is free, runs in your browser, and does not need a signup to start. The four free classes are Warrior, Mage, Rogue and Ranger, and the Spellblade unlocks on any account.

Play Wanderer's Tale free

See also: Spellblade in the Codex, Warrior class guide, Steel Longsword, Plate Armor