Spells are powerful abilities cast from the left hand by draining a portion of the players health (vitality) for each sigil. Spells consist of 4 sigils (except the death spell which contains 5 sigils.) in a specific order. These spells are seen by interacting with Blood Mirrors randomly placed in rooms as centerpieces (blood mirrors in Underground will always be that of The Spell Of Return). You do not unlock the spells at any point so you must remember the spells yourself. The vitality cost of sigils can be decreased permanently through offering Dream Spheres to the Wizard Statue and temporarily using certain rings. If enough cost lowering items are acquired the cost can become zero.
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Sources and community notes
- Spells are cast by cycling to a sigil with the mouse wheel and pressing the wheel to commit it; a spell fires automatically on the fourth glyph, and players say you can prepare three of the four in advance. Rings and the Wizard Idol reduce the blood cost.
- Spell choice: in a 2024 thread players recommend Cursed Weapon, Summon Golem, Swarm of Rats, Ignite and Freeze, and say the Slime King and the Necromancer are the hard fights.
- The achievements guide gives the sigil sequences for Summon Food (Chalice, Sun, Chalice, Sun), Summon Demon (Moon, Eye, Chalice, Moon) and the Grand Jump (Moon, Sun, Eye, Moon).
- The Spells guide covers eleven four-sigil spells. Read from its diagram images, the orders are: Spell of Return (Eye, Sun, Sun, Chalice); Grand Jump (Moon, Sun, Eye, Moon); Cursed Weapon (Moon, Eye, Moon, Chalice); Wizard's Scream (Sun, Sun, Sun, Sun); Ignite (Sun, Moon, Sun, Sun); Freeze (Moon, Sun, Moon, Moon); Summon Wall (Moon, Moon, Moon, Moon); Summon Golem (Sun, Eye, Eye, Moon); Swarm of Rats (Moon, Eye, Moon, Eye); Summon Demon (Moon, Eye, Chalice, Moon); Summon Food (Chalice, Sun, Chalice, Sun).
- The sigil order above was read from the diagram images in the Spells guide. Four of them (the Grand Jump, Summon Food, Summon Demon and the Spell of Return) match sequences given independently in the achievements guide and a forum thread, which is why the readings are given here rather than left as images.
- Two commenters on the Spells guide give the Death spell as Moon, Goblet, Moon, Sun, Eye, calling it the suicide spell.
- A strategy guide says the mouse wheel selects a sigil and the wheel button casts, matching the forum threads, and advises casting after a room is cleared and a blood fountain has been found, while watching your blood level.
Community-sourced (added October 2026, not yet verified in-game). Sources: Steam thread: magic; Steam thread: Manual does not cover spellcasting; Steam thread: Which spells are actually worth using?; Steam guide: Achievements guide (updated Jan 11, 2025); Steam guide: Spells by Groth; Steam guide: How easly win almost all your runs by GettyX.
From the official manual
- Blood Magic: each spell is a combination of magic symbols, input by pressing Select Spell Symbol and then Commit Spell Symbol. The manual warns that committing a symbol costs a lot of lifeblood.
- The manual shows the symbol set, and there are four: chalice, eye, sun and moon. This matches the four glyphs used throughout this wiki and in the Spells guide.
- You are free to experiment with symbols, but because of the danger the manual recommends first finding Blood Mirrors that contain spells.
From the game's official manual. Unlike the rest of the notes on this page, this is a primary source: it is the developer's own documentation, not community research.