Avowed has a wide variety of weapons that you can mix and match in any way you wish, ideal for shaping the game to your whim as you work your way through The Living Lands. With so many build combinations you have tons of freedom in how you approach combat—and then double it because you have two loadouts, giving you the ability to really change things up on the fly.
Wand and Grimoire
Magic is extraordinarily powerful in Avowed, making the game’s spellbook grimoires one of the most useful off-hand weapons in the game. If you plan to go all-in this playstyle, you may want to bring a wand with you too. These have a high attack speed and can build Stun damage on your foes very quickly. Most importantly, of course, is that it rounds out your Wizard vibes.
Though you can certainly get through the game mixing and matching spells, picking a single element to focus on with a single grimoire can make you ultra-powerful. If you want to go for high damage over time, I recommend choosing fire, because it absolutely slaps in this game.
Sword and Grimoire
Grimoires also pair exceedingly well with a good one-handed weapon like a sword. This allows you to cast spells and beat the hell out of enemies with rapid swings all at once. This Battlemage build can be one of the most rewarding in the game once you learn how to weave all of your attacks together.
If you decide to go for a fire-focused build, pick up the quest Dawntreader in Paradis during the early part of the game. This quest leads you to arguably the best weapon in Avowed, The Last Light of Day, an immensely strong fire sword with one of the most useful enchantments in the game.
Sword and Pistol
If you’re not really feeling the magic thing, maybe you should opt for a sword and pistol combo. The Ranger skill tree has some really great abilities for this playstyle, such as slowing down time for you to line up perfect shots on enemy noggins. When enemies close in, you can beat ‘em down with your sword (or other one-handed weapon of choice).
Do note, though, that going this route will mean investing fairly equally in the Fighter and Ranger trees to get the most out of the playstyle. As such, you’ll probably want to analyze how you’re approaching fights and make a build that capitalizes just a bit more on one or the other.
Pistol and Grimoire
If you’d like to go for a Bible thumper build, wield a pistol and grimoire. Slinging spells and poppin’ heads is a ranged player’s dream. It might be a good idea to invest in some frost spells if you choose this build, however, as pistols reload a bit slowly.
As with a Sword and Pistol loadout, opting for this playstyle may stretch your ability points a little thin. But you’re likely to benefit most from leaning more on the Ranger tree, as magic is pretty damn incredible even with limited investment, while pistols require you to level some passive abilities to really shine.
Wand and Wand
Hear me out. You may think dual-wielding is best suited for pistols and one-handed melee weapons, but you might be shocked at how powerful dual wands can be. The rapid attack speed of wands can result in some damn good DPS without the need to line up critical shots as precisely as you would with guns.
Even more, if you combine two elemental wands, you can rapidly build up status effects on your foes for even more damage. Add in a few magic spells and you’ll be whittling down health bars like you wouldn’t believe.
Avowed is available now on Xbox Series X and PC.