Despite Wizards getting a new Gandalf-style quarterstaff weapon type with Update 2.0, the playstyle remains buggy and frustrating.
The new quarterstaff weapon type are pretty cool. They’re meaty magical two-handed sticks that let you bap enemies like Gandalf and use a magical finisher against stunned enemies.
In theory, they should synergize quite well with the existing magical arsenal of Wizards, namely, wands and grimoires, while eliminating the awkward incentive to carry around two different wands and books.
The Unique quarterstaff found in each region buffs a specific damage type in Avowed (Electricity, Fire, Ice, and Poison), three of which have an accompanying grimoire and Unique wand that you also find in a designated region.
For example, in Shatterscarp, you can find an ice wand and the ice quarterstaff and pair those with the Grimoire of Rime to become an ice wizard like Ryngrim.
Whisper of Exiles (Wand)
Flight in Autumn
A Full Combo Attack deals low Frost Accumulation to nearby enemies
Exodus in Winter
A Full Combo Attack deals moderate Frost Accumulation to nearby enemies
Ill-Fated Return
A successful Parry deals high Frost Accumulation to the attacking enemy
Freezing Lash
Hits deal +10% bonus Frost Damage
You can swap between 2 pairs of weapons, like a primary and secondary loadout. Grimoires only go in the offhand slot (like a shield), wands are treated as one-handed weapons like a sword (so you have grimoire + wand), and quarterstaves are treated as two-handed weapons like a greathammer or bow.
The way the Wizard skill tree works is that spells are no different from Fighter or Ranger abilities that you can rank up by investing up to 3 points.
There’s also a Girmoire Mastery talent you need to pay for if you want to cast any spells from a Grimoire. This is a necessary protection so Fighters and Rangers can’t get easy access to 4 of the most powerful spells in the game by equipping a single piece of gear.
Grimoires (spellbooks) have 4 spells in them when you use the grimoire to cast them, each spell has its rank increased by 1, its Essence (mana) cost and cooldown duration are reduced by an upgradeable percentage, and, crucially, you are able to cast 4 additional abilities easily when using a controller.
Grimoire of Rime
Blizzard
Level 5 Frost Spell
Bristling Frost
Level 5 Frost Spell
Blast of Frost
Level 10 Frost Spell
Freezing Pillar
Level 15 Frost Spell
Unique quarterstaves expand on this concept by letting you cast all spells from their associated element as if they are 1 ▶ 2 ranks higher (after being enchanted) and have a reduced Essence cost.
Dread of Winter (Quarterstaff)
Rymrgand’s Favor
Frost Spells are cast as if they are +1 Rank. Frost Spells have -20% Essence Cost
Rymrgand’s Blessing
Frost Spells are cast as if they are +2 Ranks. Frost Spells have -40% Essence Cost
Ice Storm
Power Attacks on a Frozen enemy have a 30% chance of creating a Blizzard
Freezing Lash
Hits deal +10% bonus Frost Damage
Just to recap on the math here, it takes 3 points per spell + 1 point per Grimoire Mastery tier, with 4 tiers total.
I don’t know about you, but I would expect those effects to stack passively while the weapon is equipped like this:
- Grimoire Mastery unlocks access to associated spell tier in grimoires only
- Equipping grimoire unlocks specific spells for use at Rank 1
- Equipping Unique quarterstaff upgrades spells of associated element to Rank 2
- Enchanting Unique quarterstaff upgrades spells of associated element to Rank 3
But it doesn’t work like that. Instead, those rank-ups from the Unique quarterstaves only work if you cast the spell while you have the staff out.
Since quarterstaves are two-handed weapons, it’s impossible to benefit from the grimoire +1 rank-up and the quarterstaff +2 rank-up at the same time.
You also need to spend points in Grimoire Mastery to unlock tier 2, 3, and 4 spells even if you don’t plan to cast them with a grimoire, and they aren’t quickly accessible in combat when using a controller since you only have 4 bind slots for abilities and consumables.
The result of this system is that you are actively penalized for using wand + grimoire and quarterstaff as your equipment loadout. It feels like we get to play as Gandalf the Gray, not Gandalf the White.
If you want the full effect from your spells cast with grimoires, you need to spend 2 skill points on each spell in the book (along with 3-4 points in Grimoire Mastery).
If you want the full effect from your spells cast while holding (not just equipping) your Unique quarterstaff, you only need to spend 1 skill point on each spell you want to use (along with 3-4 points in Grimoire Mastery), but they’re less accessible via controller.
So, if you use both together, you’re either wasting 4 points while holding your quarterstaff and pulling up the big ability wheel for each cast, or your spells cast with the grimoire are weaker while being easier to access.
The game has a broader issue with ability access and keybinding in general. Grimoires are a Band-Aid for the 1.0 version of the game. Wizard had more abilities than Fighter and Ranger, but they’re all in the same pickle (jar?) as of Update 1.5.
The most straightforward way to fix this (along with making grimoires and quarterstaves and Grimoire Mastery function as described above) is to replace the dedicated grenade button (RB | R1) with a grimoire-style customizable modifier menu button that swaps what the d-pad buttons do.
Why grenades? They don’t need a special dedicated button. They’re no different from any other consumable or ability and with all that extra space with a four quickslots, it’s easier to justify dedicating some real estate to a grenade.
Maybe swap it to LB | L1 and have RB | R1 pull up the wheel as well so the whole left hand of the controller is more modifier-focused. You press LB | L1 to swap what the D-pad does and if you have a grimoire out, you press LT | L2 to cast those spells with the face buttons.
If all of these changes still end up making high-level spells too accessible to non-Wizards, it’s easy enough to fix by nerfing the base damage of spells by a percent and having the level 15 elemental skill points give the damage back.
The devs could also tweak Essence costs and values so it takes like more than half the total Essence bar for non-Wizards to cast it a single time.
Sadly, I have little faith that Obsidian will fix any of this and fear that the 2.0 Anniversary Update is the final patch of any kind for Avowed (feature updates are definitely done, just talking about bug fixes).
The game suffered from frequent crashes for the full first year it was out, though 2.0 finally seems to have fixed those. They never fully fixed the issue where AoE spells would get stuck being centered on you. That bug was introduced in Update 1.5 and has largely ruined AoE spells ever since.
It’s clear the devs love and care about the game. It’s not about laziness; it almost never is. Avowed just never had the budget of a AAA game and issues like this potentially remaining a part of the game forever is an unfortunate consequence. But hey, I’d love to be wrong about that.
