I am currently writing out all of the text part of this guide, so bear with me as things are going to be changing around a lot until I can get it all finalized. The video will remain at the top, however; so feel free to watch that.

So you want to learn how to craft fantastic spells, but haven't gotten your head around how it all works yet? That's alright, because we're about to go through everything you need to know to make some amazing spells.

First off, let's just pull up our inventory with the 'i' key. This is where your spell components and crafted spells are stored, as well as your gateway to crafting new and better spells. The three sets of 3 circles are your diffferent sigils (the magical disciplines you have acquired). In the center of them all is your shield. At the top of the screen are three option: Equip, Crafting, Synthesis. All of this, we'll get to as we go through this guide.

Each of your sigils has three spell slots that can house the following spells:

[Slot 1] (left mouse button):

1. Targeted - Single target, flies straight (possibility for slight homing)
   
2. Lobbed - Single large projectile that arcs and bursts into multiple projectiles upon impact
   
3. Ray - Continuous line originating from the player, relatively short range

[Slot 2] (tab / both mouse buttons):

1. AOE - Area of Effect, can hit multiple enemies within blast radius
   
2. Trap - Placeable AOE that remains dormant until triggered by an enemy or the player
   
3. Pool - Persistent AOE that continually affects enemies within its boundaries

[Slot 3] (right mouse button):

1. Barrier Nova - Can be held up to block a percentage of incoming damage*, Can be timed to absorb 100% of incoming damage and release nova blast**, Can be used to cast close blast around player when performing a charged blink***

* percentage blocked depends upon equiped shield stats/type
** ability to perform galvanized block dependent upon shield type (Tactical and Strategic only)
*** ability to perform charged blink dependent upon shield type (Agile & Tactical only)

Every spell is made up of 3 sections:

1. Sigil
   
2. Shape/Pattern (interchangeable terms)
   
3. Augment(s)

The sigils currently in the game are

• Fire
  
• Ice
  
• Lightning
  
• Kinesis
  
• Delirium
  
• Corruption

The shapes we have already covered in the previous section.

Augments

• Destruction (DE)
  
• Control (CO)
  
• Mastery (MA)
  
  

Augments essentially determine what your spell is going to do. Each different Augment type serves a specific purpose, and it is best to mix these up and try multiple combinations of them all.

Destruction
Destruction is primarily about damage. The higher the level of Destruction a spell has, the higher the spell's damage will be.

Control
Control is all about exercising control over enemies; how they can move and behave can be manipulated.

Mastery
Mastery is by far the most misunderstood Augment of all. Mastery spells do not deal damage on their own. Instead, they are meant to debuff enemies and enhance the power of your other spells. Hitting a target with a Mastery spell will imbue the target with a certain amount of this debuff (according to the spell's properties) and the enemy will begin to glow blue. If you then hit an affected target with a critical Destruction spell, it will consume a portion of the Mastery debuff in order to add bonus critical damage. If you hit a debuffed opponent with a critical Control spell, some of the Mastery will be consumed and the duration of the control effect will be increased.

Open up Crafting at the top center of your inventory screen. The first thing you'll pick is your sigil. Once you have done that (either drag it over, or right click it), choose which type of spell you would like to craft. There are sorting tabs at the top to show all spell shapes, only targeted spell shapes, only AOE spell shapes, or only Barrier Nova spell shapes.

Every shape will have some base stats listed on the item card; the most important of which to look at first is the 3 numbers under the icon. These 3 numbers represent the amount of Destruction, Control, and Mastery (respectively) that the shape will have to begin with. Early in the game 4 DE / 4 CO / 4 MA spell shapes are common, while later in the game, they even white rarity shapes will have 6 DE / 6 CO / 6 MA base stats.

Generally if you want to make a Destruction spell it is better to pick a shape that has a higher destruction stat (5/4/4 instead of a 4/5/4 shape). The higher the primary stat is on the spell, the more potent it is.


With this in mind, the last thing you'll choose is any Augments to add to the basic spell shape. These add to the main stats that the shape starts out with, as well as adding other possible effects listed on the item card for the Augment (faster casting, higher critical hit chance, etc.). In the begining most spells will have only 1 Augment slot, but later shapes with multiple augment slots become available.

One more tip as you're picking out your shapes and Augments: Everything is not always visible on the item card at a glance. Hold down the shift key while hovering over an item to see more detailed information about that component.

Synthesis is all about turning your existing spellcrafting components into new and better things. It can be broken down into the following subsections: Upgrade, Deconstruct, and Reforge.

Upgrade
Upgrading allows you to take the components you don't want and use them to improve the ones that you do want. When you want to upgrade an item, first make sure to inspect the item card to make sure that it says "0/1 Synthesis Upgrades" (hold down the shift key to see everything on the item card). If the item does not says this, then it is inelligible for upgrading (generally because it has already been upgraded). Once you have chosen an elligilbe item that you want to upgrade, place it in the first slot (the top left) either by dragging it over, or by right clicking on it. Then simply choose two more items that you don't want anymore and place them in the remaining two slots. Thes items will be "consumed" in order to upgrade the primary item (note: these do not have to say " 0/1 Synthesis Upgrades" as they are not the item being upgraded). You will also notice that as soon as you place an item in the primary slot, all components that are of a lower rarity than that item disappear from the left side. This is because you can only combine elements the the same rarity or higher in a Synthesis upgrade: i.e. if you are upgrading a blue (rare) item, then you can not use green or white items in the 2nd and 3rd slots, but you may use blue (rare), purple (epic), orange (legendary), or red (unique) in those places (though I highly advise against using higher level items than is necessary, as it confers no additinoal benefits). Once everything is in place, simply click UPGRADE on the far right. You will be presented with the resulting item which should be of the next highest rarity level and have an additional line on the item card for the new effect that has been added in the upgrade. Click Choose and the item will go into your inventory.

Additional Advice for Upgrading: items in Lichdom are scored on 2 scales. One of these is visible and readily apparent (the rarity system denoted by the color of an item) and the other is a "hidden" scale which I will refer to as the Tier system. Even though the Tier of an item is not explicitly stated, it can easily be inferred. For example: a Tier 1 white Control Augment will be just 0/1/0 (+1 Control) whereas a Tier 2 white Control Augment will be 0/2/0 (+2 Control). The tier of an item is important to consider, because it is generaly most efficient to use low tier, high rarity items as the throwaway items in your Sythesis upgrades. When picking items for the 2nd and 3rd slots of a Synthesis Upgrade, a Tier 1 blue Augment with base stats of 0/2/1 will work just the same as a Tier 2 blue Augment with 0/3/2. So there's no use throwing away a better item in your synthesis upgrade when you can use a weaker item. The simple way to find these weaker items is to look at how they are sorted in your inventory. Everything is sorted as follows:

Tier 2

• Unique
  
• Legendary
  
• Epic
  
• Rare
  
• Uncommon
  
• Common

Tier 1

• Unique
  
• Legendary
  
• Epic
  
• Rare
  
• Uncommon
  
• Common

Deconstruct

Deconstruction allows you to break apart spells you have already crafted in order to recover 1 component to use again in crafting. Simply drag the spel you want to deconstruct into the slot and all of the components that make up the spell will be fanned out around the spell. You can click on any one of them to see the stats on that component. If you decide you don't want to deconstruct the spell after all, you can hit escape to cancel out of it. If you do want to deconstruct it though, simply select the component you want and hit deconstruct to recover it back into your inventory.


Reforge

The Reforge section of the Synthesis menu is basically a loot slot machine. You put in a piece of loot that you don't want (say, some low level commons for example) and click Reforge. That piece of loot will be consumed as the 'payment' of sorts. You are not guaranteed to recieve anything in return, but there is a random chance to get loot back by doing this (sometimes much better than what you put in, sometimes worse). The higher the rarity of the item that you Reforge, the greater the odds of getting something back out 9theough again, there is no guarantee you will get anything). As you Reforge more things, you will slowly build up a meter at the bottom, and when that meter is filled compeltely, you will be guaranteed a legendary item in return (at which point the meter resets). In addition to being a way to potentially turn common loot into something better, Reforge is a great way to free up space in your inventory. At present, there is a limit of around 250 items in inventory at a given time. Throwing a bunch of components you no longer want into Reforge is a great way to avoid hitting that cap.