Spell Duel

What is Spell Duel?

Spell Duel is a word RPG. Battles are turn based. On your turn you spell a word by linking touching letters on a 4 by 4 grid, and the letters fly at the monster as a spell. Then the monster gets closer to its next move. Bring its health to zero before it does the same to you.

Between battles you collect coins, forge better gear, unlock new spells, earn hats and fill a bestiary with every monster you've met. It's free and plays in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. No download, and your progress is saved on your device.

How to play a battle

• Spell a word of 3 or more letters using tiles that touch, including diagonally. Each tile can only be used once per word.
• Your word hits the monster. The used tiles drop away and new letters fall in from the top.
• The monster's card shows a countdown and what it plans to do, like "Attacks for 9 in 2". Most monsters act every 3 of your turns, bosses every 2.
• When it acts it either attacks you or uses its special ability.
• Win by bringing its health to zero. Lose if your health hits zero first.

The Qu tile counts as two letters. If the board ever has no words left, you get a fresh set of letters for free.

Controls

Phone and tablet

Drag across letters and lift your finger to cast. You can also tap letters one at a time and then tap the last one again, or tap the word bar, to cast. Slide back a tile to undo it. Spell buttons sit along the bottom, next to Shuffle.

Computer

Type the word and the game finds the path on the grid for you. Enter casts, Backspace deletes a letter, 1 to 4 cast your spells, 5 shuffles, and Esc clears your word or pauses.

How damage works

Each letter has a power from 1 to 5. Common letters like A, E, S and T are 1. J and X are 4. Q and Z are 5. Your damage is the total letter power plus the number of letters, times a length multiplier, then boosted by your Staff.

Every letter you spell also fills your mana, about 2 per letter, up to 100. Mana pays for spells.

Gem tiles

Some tiles carry a colored gem. Use a gem tile in a word and its effect goes off after your hit. A 5 or 6 letter word drops a new gem into the refill, and a word of 7 or more drops two.

Spells

Casting a spell doesn't count as a turn, so the monster's countdown doesn't move. Shuffle mixes all the letters but does count as a turn.

Monster abilities

Most monsters have one trick, and bosses have two. The monster's card tells you which one is coming next.

• Stone: turns some tiles to stone for 3 turns. You can't use them.
• Spores: marks tiles with spores. Using a spore tile costs you 4 health.
• Shield: blocks the next chunk of damage.
• Heal: the monster gets some health back.
• Scramble: shuffles your letters.
• Enrage: the monster's attack gets stronger each time.

Modes

Adventure map

Thirty stages across five regions: Mossy Hollow, Ember Dunes, Frostpeak, Gloom Marsh and Starfall Spire. Each region has five monsters and a boss on stage 6. Each stage awards up to 3 stars: one for winning, one for finishing with at least half your health, and one for spelling a word of 6 letters or more. There are 90 stars in all.

Endless Tower

Opens after you beat the first boss. Climb floor by floor against random monsters, with a boss every 5th floor. You heal 30% between floors. Your score is total damage dealt.

Daily Dungeon

Five floors, the same for everyone that day: four monsters and a boss. Everyone fights with the same basic gear, and only Insight, Fireball and Mend are allowed, so it's a fair word battle against the whole world. Your score is damage, plus 150 per floor cleared, plus a bonus for health left if you clear all five. It resets at midnight UTC and keeps a streak.

Endless Tower and the Daily Dungeon both have leaderboards. Sign in to post your scores.

Gear, hats and ranks

Spend coins at the Forge. Each piece goes up to level 5, costing 30, 70, 130, 210 and then 320 coins.

Stars unlock wizard hats: Apprentice, Moss (5 stars), Ember (12), Frost (20), Gloom (30), Starry (45), Golden (60) and Prism (80). They also raise your rank from Apprentice to Spellcaster (10), Adept (25), Sorcerer (45) and Archmage (70).

Tips and strategy

• One long word beats two short ones. A 6 letter word gets x2.2. Two 3 letter words get x1 each and give the monster an extra turn.
• Check the move counter. If the monster acts next turn, a Sapphire or Frost now can save you a hit.
• Use Insight when the board looks dead. It's cheap at 20 mana and it often finds a 5 or 6 letter word you missed.
• Wait out stone. It wears off after 3 turns. Spell around it instead of spending a turn on Shuffle.
• Avoid spore tiles unless the word is worth more than 4 of your health.
• Against healers, hit hard and fast. Burn from a Ruby keeps chipping away even after they heal.
• Upgrade the Staff first, then the Robe. More damage ends fights before they can hurt you.
• Chase the 6 letter star. It's often the last star people miss. Endings like ING, ERS and EST turn short words into long ones.

If you like word grids with pressure, Alpha Rain drops letters into a well in real time. For a slower game against computer rivals, try Tile Tycoon.

Questions