Garden of Witches Spells

You take two Spells into a Garden of Witches run. That number has been true since the demo. What changed in 1.0 is that the spells are no longer tag delivery devices. They are verbs. Fireball is not “the fire tag.” Fireball is a Charge shot that an imprint can shatter into pellets. If you pick two verbs that both want the same button, you will drop one of them under pressure and play with a dash and a dream.

The Book in Sil’s house lists Weapon, Spell, Special Skill, Relic, and Curse. Open it with Tab. Read the tags on the tooltip (#Spell, #Cast, #CooldownSkill) as hints for imprints, not as a synergy grid. The grid is gone.

S — Fireball

Still the carry. Reviewers called it overtuned in Early Access. 1.0 did not delete it; it gave it homework. Imprints now choose between a charged heavy and a stutter of small shots that farm hit effects. If you like standing behind a telegraph and pressing one button, this is your identity. Pair with cooldown Relics, not with a second Charge spell that also wants your hold finger.

The video on this page is a Japanese Fireball chapter run from the Early Access months. Watch the spacing. Do not copy the old card names.

Garden of Witches Fireball high-damage chapter run

S — Ambush

Teleport behind a nearby enemy, hit the radius, gain Sharpness. Ambush is how melee scissors get to exist against bosses that like to walk away. Giant Scissors and Broken Scissors both eat this for breakfast. It is also a positioning Spell: you can Ambush out of a floor pattern if a valid target is standing in a safer tile. That is advanced and easy to fumble. Practice in trash rooms.

A — Counter

The Book is blunt: block most damage for 0.4 seconds; if you catch an attack, deal Spell damage to everyone in range and go invincible for 1 second. Numbers seen in 1.0-era captures: about 1350% damage, 17 second cooldown, 4 meter radius. Counter is not a clear button. It is a boss button. If you press it in an empty greenhouse you have wasted the fight.

Bind it on a key you can hit while moving. See controls.

A — Shadow Surge and Butterfly Walk

1.0 made these the only honest crow and flower factories. Crows and flowers are no longer a random synergy sprinkle; they come from these spells (and from Rush creating needles and threads). If you want a summon kit, you pick one of these on purpose and you imprint it. If you do not pick one, stop waiting for crows to appear from a Scissors swing. That world ended.

A — Blood Marble

A ground-control field. Stack-cast versions exist after the overhaul (the old “Sea of Blood” card became the baseline). Blood Marble wants enemies to stay in the soup. Channeling rules apply: walking away from your own marble is a self-nerf. Excellent in Maydel’s swamp and any Challenge floor with a clock, because the marble farms while you dash.

B — Rush

Rush became the needle-and-thread generator in the 1.0 ability rewrite. It is a build, not a default. Take it when you are committed to thread / needle Relics and imprints. Do not take it “because mobility” — dash already exists.

Removed or rewritten

Needle Shot lost its job during the overhaul and was cut as a distinct identity. If a 2025 list ranks it S-tier, that list is a fossil. Slash-as-tag-cap dump moved toward imprint / Relic space so thread, flower, and crow kits can still exist without a mandatory delete-all card.

How to pick two

Use this crude pairing table, then finish the thought on best builds:

• Giant or default Scissors: Ambush + Fireball, or Ambush + Counter
• Magic Scissors: Fireball (if you can handle two Charge holds) or Shadow Surge + a panic Counter
• Broken Scissors: Ambush + anything that lets you keep hitting; Cat’s Eye Ring if you also cast often
• Swamp / Challenge clock: Blood Marble + Fireball or Blood Marble + Shadow Surge

Two panic buttons is a dead kit. Two Charge holds is a clumsy kit unless you play mouse-only and like it. One damage verb + one survival or Sharpness verb is the shape of almost every clear.

Special Skills sit in a third mental slot. They are gauges, not Spells. Do not steal your Fireball finger for them. Details on how imprints rewrite both Spells and Specials are on the imprints page. Combat timing is on the combat system page.

When a patch retunes a cooldown from 18 seconds to 14, believe Steam news over this table, then check the updates hub. Spell identities last longer than their numbers.