Beginner Tips For Sworn

Sworn is a fast-paced roguelite adventure that tests your skills against daunting enemies. Whether you pick up a sharp and trustworthy sword or rely more on your spell-casting and movements, the game offers different experiences for you to enjoy as you explore the regions of a fallen Camelot.

As you venture into this dark realm, dodging and slashing through enemies won’t be enough. There are upgrades to acquire, characters to unlock, and skills to master. Certain tips and strategies will be useful, especially for those stepping into Sworn for the first time.

Build A Playstyle Through Elements

Your first chamber in Sworn will serve as a playground for you to test the game’s movement and combat mechanics. However, the simple slashes of your sword won’t last long as you progress through the game.

With each NPC you speak to, you’ll be able to choose a path that helps you attain specific damage types and affinities, such as fire, poison, ice, etc. For the initial hours of the game, stick to a single path. At one point, you’ll unlock your first Sword in Stone.

This little event provides you with three choices. Out of these, choose the one that you’re starting to rely more on—spells or light attacks. You can also find upgrades for dodges and heavy attacks, but those are best left for more frequent upgrades.

Build a rhythm for your dodging and attacking. This rhythm can help you build a style of combat that can be used against most enemies.

Take Advantage Of Environmental Attacks

In almost every chamber, you’ll notice certain grids and squares that trigger a trap. When you step on them, you’ll be greeted by deadly spikes, arrows, or an explosion of some kind. Fortunately, these traps also damage enemies and can be used against them.

Before the attack is triggered, there’s an indication that you need to be mindful of. Since the traps are of varying types, knowing which ones work best for you is the key to using environmental attacks. For instance, certain traps trigger arrows that shoot through a specific path. When you’re aware of this, try to lure enemies along that path.

Certain traps may take a while to trigger, so keep the timing in mind before using it against enemies.

Choose The Right Chamber

Once you clear a chamber, you unlock the option to choose the next one that benefits you the most. Each chamber’s description is available at the door and provides you with information regarding what you can expect from it.

Selecting the right one can make or break your playthrough, and there’s no going back once the door is opened. While it may be tempting to walk into a chamber that promises a lot of gold, it’s a better choice to find a chamber that improves your survivability.

This means choosing one that improves your max health, restores it, or grants you some kind of additional bonus that helps recovery. After all, losing your life to a chamber is way more punishing than not being able to afford an item in a shop.

Certain rooms have a little icon of a skull underneath their door. This entails a big fight that awaits you ahead but also promises powerful rewards.

Master Spell-Based Abilities

Spells are an integral part of Sworn’s gameplay. If you keep upgrading your spell ability, it can act as your assistant that can take out multiple enemies at once without requiring much effort from you.

Even during boss fights, spells are an effective placement ability that helps you focus on your movement while the spell deals damage to the boss. It’s tempting to upgrade your dodge and single attacks, but your spell is an underrated ability that can win you a majority of encounters.

You upgrade it by speaking to different NPCs, and building a playstyle around it. It’s recommended that you upgrade your passives such as dash, Weak infliction, area-of-effect damage, and more. This way, your spell gets the spotlight while your character grows stronger.

If you’re having trouble aiming when casting a spell, press ALT/R3/RS to lock on and stay focused on an enemy.

Choose The Right Character

The option to unlock new characters shows up once you make enough progress through the game. Each character has a distinct weapon and attack pattern and helps you build a playstyle that’s best suited to a gameplay loop curated for you.

Before completely switching over to a new character, try each weapon type available for a single character.

Learning Enemy Attack Patterns

A big part of learning Sworn’s combat system is getting used to enemy attack patterns. Some enemies like to charge up and run into you, while others stay in place and deal long-range damage. In any case, you’ll be given a second or two to think about your next move and act accordingly.

Notice the red lines and shapes that form before certain attacks. Timing is the key here, and mastering it comes with forming your movement technique first. Within the first few chambers, you should build a movement technique and continue to follow it.

If focusing on multiple dodges is a method you rely on, then choose upgrades that improve your dash. For instance, inflicting damage by doing a dash, or leaving an ongoing damage status once your dash is complete.

Upgrades From The Source

Before starting a run, you’re free to move around the safe hub where you can equip weapons, spells, characters, and more. Here, The Source becomes a point of upgrade that grants you buffs that stay with you regardless of any deaths. Carefully pick the ones that suit your playstyle.

We recommend focusing on the Life path first, as it grants many vitality traits to your characters. Throughout the game, you will earn Moonstones and Crystals that are spent on traits like these. These are challenging to find and will require you to carefully consider your options before you decide to spend them.

Ideally, you want to first choose your preferred character and build before deciding on the upgrades you wish to spend on. This will help you set better goals for longer runs.

Utilize Weapon Blessings

Weapon blessings are earned from various encounters outside of battle. The more you earn, the better your chances of improving your combat style. Every blessing gives you a certain buff for your character, which can be in the form of rapid attacks, single attacks, or critical hits.

Usually, rapid attacks made of elements like poison or ice are best suited for someone like a Vigilante who is great at landing a succession of swift attacks, while powerful single attacks blessed with elements like stun and fire suit someone like a Rook who’s great at dealing heavy damage.

Choose weapon blessings that suit your build, rather than ones that seem a good choice on the surface. This lets you improve your mastery over the character rather than just attacks.

If you’re unsure about picking a weapon blessing, try to obtain one that grants critical hits, since they are versatile and suit most characters and weapons.