Heart Circles
- What it is
- How to get it
- The twenty circles
- Master lessons
- The breakthroughs in detail
- Tribulations
- Ascension
- Re-tempering (0.12)
- Tips and counterplay
What it is
Casters build rings of condensed mana around their heart, from the 1st Circle to the 20th, the Master Heart. Each circle gives more mana, faster regeneration and more spell power. Four of them bring a perk, and from the 8th Circle on they open Master lessons. Nothing is crafted or farmed: circles come from casting, discovering and doing things with magic.
How to get it
A circle forms in three steps:
- Condense mana. Mana you pay to cast spells condenses in your heart, most of it only when those spells hurt hostile creatures.
- Earn the breakthrough. Every circle after the 1st also asks for milestones (see the table below).
- Meditate to form it once your heart is ready. The 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th circles must then be won in a Tribulation (below).
Hover the heart badge in the Cord screen to see your circles, perks and what the next circle still needs, each line checked or crossed.
Condensing mana
- The mana you actually paid counts, after discounts.
- Only a tenth condenses at once. The rest waits ten seconds and condenses only if one of your spells hurts a hostile creature in that time. Casting into the air or at a training dummy barely builds a heart.
- Spell kills count toward breakthroughs, but past 12 in a minute each further kill counts only now and then, so farms mostly don’t count.
- The 7th Circle’s boss breakthrough goes only to those who dealt the boss at least 2% of its health.
- A Blood Price spell counts 5 mana per point of health it costs.
- An overcast counts the mana you had before the circle cracked.
- First discoveries condense extra mana (table below).
- Passive upkeep, imbued items and glyphs letting go, a wild surge’s Free Recast, inscribing a scroll and Creative mode condense nothing.
The amounts are running totals. Nothing is used up when a circle forms.
| First discovery | Condenses |
|---|---|
| A creature’s weakness | 25 |
| A creature met (field guide) | 40 |
| A sword art played for the first time | 60 |
| An affinity’s first level | 100 |
| A quirk of your world | 100 |
| A reaction or a fusion | 150 |
| An Aura milestone (a method learned, a breakthrough, a first perfect guard…) | 150 |
| A feat, or a rune of the land attuned | 250 |
| A secret spell or a harmony | 400 |
| Beating the Cinder Warden, Star-Eater, Tide Scribe, Root Guardian or Storm Conductor | 1,500 |
| Beating the Archivist | 2,000 |
Meditating to form it
When your heart is ready, chat tells you, and the heart badge blinks.
- Wear a Cord, stand on the ground, and sneak without moving or using an item.
- Hold it for 10 seconds, or 5 seconds on a ley line.
- Any damage breaks it, and moving or standing up starts it over.
When it forms, the circle’s title fills your screen and your mana refills completely.
The twenty circles
| Circle | Mana condensed (total) | Breakthrough | Title | Gift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1,000 | none | A ring of mana forms around your heart | Passive slot 1; your innate rune wakes |
| 2nd | 4,000 | Know 10 runes | Your mana runs deeper | |
| 3rd | 12,000 | Wear a Copper Cord or better; 1 reaction | Mana Skin awakens | Mana Skin |
| 4th | 28,000 | Defeat 40 monsters with spells; 3 different reactions | Your circles turn as one | |
| 5th | 55,000 | Know 35 runes; wear an Amethyst Cord or better; Long Incantation | Flow: the circles quicken | Passive slot 2; Flow |
| 6th | 95,000 | Defeat 150 monsters with spells; slay 8 Runebound; 5 different reactions | Your heart burns brighter | |
| 7th | 150,000 | Help slay a boss; find 2 secret spells; In Rhythm | Overflow: mana spills from you | Overflow |
| 8th | 230,000 | Wear an Echo Cord; find 4 secret spells; The Last Page (beat the Archivist) | Archmage | Archmage; Relay Circle lesson |
| 9th | 330,000 | Know 60 runes; 6 different reactions | Widening Horizon | Circle Vow |
| 10th | 460,000 | Defeat 250 monsters with spells; Tempered (beat the Cinder Warden) | Forged Heart | Tollgate lesson, and a Heart Path |
| 11th | 620,000 | Find 5 secret spells; Fusion | Woven Wisdom | Circle Vow |
| 12th | 810,000 | Slay 20 Runebound; Low Tide (beat the Tide Scribe) | Ocean Within | Ebb Ledger and Reweave lesson |
| 13th | 1,030,000 | Know 90 runes; 8 different reactions | Boundless Study | Circle Vow |
| 14th | 1,280,000 | Defeat 400 monsters with spells; Starbreaker (beat the Star-Eater) | Starheart | Lifeline lesson |
| 15th | 1,560,000 | Find 7 secret spells; Knotted | Living Grimoire | Circle Vow |
| 16th | 1,870,000 | Slay 40 Runebound; Heartwood (beat the Root Guardian) | Rooted Heart | Excise lesson |
| 17th | 2,210,000 | Know 120 runes; 10 different reactions | Prismatic Heart | Circle Vow |
| 18th | 2,580,000 | Defeat 650 monsters with spells; Grounded (beat the Storm Conductor) | Stormheart | Conduit lesson |
| 19th | 2,980,000 | Find 9 secret spells; all 11 reactions | Convergence | Circle Vow |
| 20th | 3,420,000 | Defeat 1,000 monsters with spells; slay 100 Runebound; all 10 secret spells | Master Heart | Circle Vow |
Circles 9 to 20 give the same per-circle bonuses but no new perks or passive slots. Seven of them ask you to choose a Circle Vow (see below). Every breakthrough can be earned alone.
What every circle gives
Each working circle adds +15 max mana, +0.5 mana a second and +1.5% spell power.
| Circles | Max mana | Regeneration | Spell power |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | +15 | +0.5/s | +1.5% |
| 4 | +60 | +2.0/s | +6% |
| 8 | +120 | +4.0/s | +12% |
| 12 | +180 | +6.0/s | +18% |
| 16 | +240 | +8.0/s | +24% |
| 20 | +300 | +10.0/s | +30% |
The perks
| Perk | Circle | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Mana Skin | 3rd | A fifth of the damage you take is paid with mana instead, at 2 mana per point of health, while you wear a Cord and have the mana. |
| Flow | 5th | Cooldowns are 15% shorter. |
| Overflow | 7th | A spell cast at full mana hits 15% harder. |
| Archmage | 8th | Spells and passives cost 15% less. |
Circle Vows
Circles 9, 11, 13, 15, 17, 19 and 20 each ask you to make one vow: you pick one of two sides. When the
circle forms, chat shows both sides as buttons. Hover over one to read it, and click it to choose it. Type /vow
at any time to see every vow, what you picked and what is still open.
| Circle | One side | The other side |
|---|---|---|
| 9th | Wellspring: +30 max mana | Quickening: +1.5 mana a second |
| 11th | Keen Edge: spells 6% stronger | Spare Hand: spells cost 6% less |
| 13th | Swift Hand: cooldowns 7% shorter | Long Echo: spell effects last 15% longer |
| 15th | Overcharge: spells 10% stronger but cost 5% more | Austerity: spells cost 10% less but are 3% weaker |
| 17th | Torrent: cooldowns 10% shorter, effects 10% shorter | Vigil: effects 25% longer, cooldowns 5% longer |
| 19th | Reservoir: +60 max mana, 0.5 less mana a second | Spring: +2.5 mana a second, 20 less max mana |
| 20th | Crown of Power: spells 10% stronger | Crown of Ease: spells cost 8% less, cooldowns 5% shorter |
Choosing is free. To change your mind, /vow release <circle> costs 5 experience levels, and then you choose
again for free. A vow only works while its circle is whole: a cracked circle silences its vow until you mend it.
See Circle Vows for the commands and tips.
Passive slots and your innate rune
- Passive slots open at the 1st and 5th Circle. See Passives.
- At the 1st Circle one of ten innate runes wakes in your heart, at random. It fits any Cord and grows +6% stronger per working circle (+120% at twenty). See Innate Runes.
Master lessons
From the 8th Circle, your circles open advanced magic. Each lesson needs that many working circles (cracked ones don’t count) and a boss feat. You study them in the Master studies section of your Grimoire.
| Circle | Lesson | Also needs | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| VIII | Relay Circle | The Last Page | Relay Circle |
| X | Tollgate | Tempered | Lesson Pack |
| XII | Ebb Ledger and Reweave | Low Tide | Reweave |
| XIV | Lifeline | Starbreaker | Lesson Pack |
| XVI | Excise | Heartwood | Excise |
| XVIII | Conduit | Grounded | Lesson Pack |
Eight working circles also let you challenge the Sword Masters, even without Aura.
The breakthroughs in detail
| Milestone | What counts |
|---|---|
| Know N runes | Runes learned into your Codex. Knots don’t count. |
| Wear a Cord | The Cord you wear now, or a better one. |
| Reactions | Different reactions in your Grimoire. See Element Reactions. |
| Defeat monsters with spells | A hostile monster that dies within 5 seconds of your spell hurting it. |
| Slay Runebound | A Runebound you kill by any means. See Runebound. |
| Help slay a boss | Be alive within 96 blocks when a boss dies: the Wither, the Warden, an Elder Guardian, the Ender Dragon, the Archivist, any dungeon boss, the Buried Keeper or a Sword Master. Once is enough. |
| Secret spells | Secret spells cast at least once. See Secret Spells. |
| Feats | See Every feat. |
Milestones you reached early still count later.
Tribulations
The 5th, 10th, 15th and 20th circles don’t simply form. When the meditation completes, waves of tempered Runebound come for you: three at the 5th circle, up to six at the 20th, with a Herald in the last. Stay within 24 blocks and beat each wave within 75 seconds. Dying, fleeing or running out of time loses it (your condensed mana is kept) and you can face it again after five minutes. A won tribulation leaves runes and Mana Crystals where it ended, and a Tribulation Scar: one more heart of maximum health for good. Chat warns you a circle ahead.
From the 10th circle on, the last wave isn’t led by a Herald. Your own Shadow leads it instead. It wears your face, copies of your armour and your weapon, and casts your selected spell back at you (or a spell of its own, if yours won’t cast). It has your maximum health times the tribulation’s tier: twice yours at the 10th circle, three times at the 15th and four times at the 20th. It drops none of what it wears.
Facing it together
Party members standing within 24 blocks of you when your tribulation begins fight it beside you. Up to three of them count. The storm grows to match: every ally makes each wave half again as big and gives every monster in it a quarter more health, so a full party of four fights waves two and a half times the size. The size is set when the tribulation begins, so an ally who leaves partway through doesn’t make it any easier.
Only you have to survive. An ally who dies or leaves the ring drops out, and the fight goes on. If you win, the circle, the runes and the Scar are yours. Every ally still standing gets the experience and half the Mana Crystals, dropped where they stand. Your Shadow still copies only you.
Ascension
Twenty circles is the most a heart can hold, but mana keeps condensing after that. Each further stretch of it pays for an Ascension, up to ten. When you have enough, chat tells you. Meditate for 10 seconds without getting hurt, just as you would to form a circle.
Each Ascension adds +5 max mana, +0.1 mana regeneration a second and +1% spell power, so all ten add +50 mana, +1 regeneration and +10% power. Ascension I needs 3,860,000 condensed mana in all (440,000 past the Twentieth Circle). Each one after that needs a little more than the last, up to 11,420,000 for Ascension X.
Ascensions stand on all twenty circles, so they are silent while any circle is cracked. The Grimoire’s Heart page shows your Ascension and how much the next one needs.
Re-tempering (0.12)
The first time you join on 0.12, your heart is measured against these thresholds. You keep the most circles your condensed mana pays for, up to what you had; the rest form again as you condense more.
Tips and counterplay
- Fight with spells. Mana spent on spells that hit hostile creatures is what condenses. A ley line doubles your regeneration.
- Discover things. Each first reaction, feat and secret is free mana. The Grimoire shows what’s left.
- Form circles on a ley line, somewhere safe. Half the time, and a single hit starts it over.
- Cracked circles. Overcasting cracks your outermost working circle for 3 minutes. It gives nothing until it mends, and it can drop you below a lesson’s circle. Don’t overcast before a fight that needs your perks.
- Your rings show around you when you meditate or cast, tinted toward your deepest affinity.