Salutors are a crucial part of The Thaumaturge, with the acquisition of new Salutors opening up new combat and investigation options. Wiktor gains additional Dimension Force in any Dimension that he has an appropriate Salutor for, making him more effective at analyzing traces relating to that Dimension. In combat, Salutors linked to a specific Dimension are needed to disable enemy traits and make tough battles more manageable.
One Salutor players can acquire early in chapter 1 of The Thaumaturge is Lelek. As the first Mind Dimension Salutor players can acquire, Lelek is a fantastic ally in combat and will be useful when dealing with certain enemy traits. Its ability to reduce enemy focus and shield Wiktor from negative states makes it a powerful ally.
The Thaumaturge: How to Break Focus (& Exploit Breakdown)
The Thaumaturge's combat rewards players for breaking an enemy's focus and then exploiting the breakdown status, so here's how it works.
Starting the Quest
To find Lelek players will first need to complete "The Mermaid City's Son" and begin the quest "What We Leave Behind." As part of this quest, Wiktor must investigate the place where his father died. Investigating this location thoroughly and speaking with Upyr will lead to a reunion with an old friend, and begin the quest that leads to Lelek.
Bastards of the Night
After a rather poor reintroduction, Wiktor's old friend "Abaurycy Niedzic" will offer a "chance for redemption." Head out into the London Bar to confront the three troublemakers and Wiktor will catch a glimpse of a Salutor just before the fight begins.
Fight Time
In this fight Wiktor is up against three enemies with Abaurycy as an ally. Timur, the enemy on the left, has an Invulnerability trait that makes it impossible to inflict negative statuses on him. Luckily, Bukavac can strip that trait away by attacking him. Meanwhile, the middle enemy, Selim, has a Recovery trait that restores 4 health every round unless Upyr hits him to disable it. Luckily, this fight isn't too rough thanks to the additional ally, so deal with Danis on the right with Wiktor while having the Salutors remove the traits from the others. Inflict suffering where possible to cause some damage over time and set up Bukavac to do huge damage with "Bloody Wedding."
After the Fight
With the fight over, Abaurycy and the three men start laughing, and the leader of the three thanks Abaurycy. One round of drinks later and the group heads off to pick fights elsewhere. Wiktor will tell Abaurycy about the Salutor, leading to him spontaneously changing the name of the bar to "The Demon's Den." Investigate around the bar, reading traces, to reach a conclusion about the London Bar. Naturally, Wiktor determines that parties frequently get out of control here, ending in pain or even tragedy for those involved.
Have a quick chat with Upyr to collect your thoughts, then head back over to Abaurycy to gather more information. After choosing "Share your Observations", players can ask Abaurycy about each of the things they found around the bar. Eventually, this will lead to Wiktor remembering its name, "Lelek", and coming to the conclusion that it might have attached itself to Abaurycy. As Abaurycy suggests going out on the town, Wiktor follows to see if Lelek makes another appearance.
Elysium
Following Abaurycy down the road, Wiktor will arrive at the Elysium bar. Before speaking with Abaurycy be sure to investigate the bar with Thaumaturgy to gather as much information as possible. This will uncover Abaurycy's poetic side along with the uncomfortable realization that he wrote a poem in blood on a table here sometime recently. Speak to him to attempt to discern his flaw, causing some brief tension between him and Wiktor. It quickly becomes clear that Lelek isn't attached to Abaurycy, so the search continues.
Fighting the Lamppost
After leaving Elysium, Abaurycy will cross the road. On the far side are a pair of drunkards trying to pick a fight with a streetlamp, which has a trace on it. Read all four traces in the immediate area on the street and then speak to the drunkards. They'll describe the lamppost as a "colossus" looking down on them, prompting Wiktor to realize that Lelek's presence is strong here. Strong enough to make people lose track of the boundary between imagination and reality. Agreeing that the lamppost looks a bit stuck up will de-escalate the situation, but a pair of police officers will take an interest. This, unfortunately, means a fight is unavoidable.
Fight the Police
Both police officers have a trait to reduce incoming damage by 40%. Remove these first by using Upyr on the left officer and Bukavac on the right officer. Once those traits are disabled, focus them down one after the other to end the fight.
Lock, Stock, and Barrel
After the fight, the two drunkards will head to a nearby bar. Wiktor will suggest checking it out to see if Lelek is there. The bouncer will quickly fold and let Wiktor and Abaurycy in after Abaurycy asks him. Once inside, Lelek will make a brief appearance. Speak to the man at the table nearby, Danis, and it quickly becomes clear that we need to investigate further. After reading all the traces around the Bar, Wiktor will realize that Danis is the one with the Flaw that attracts Lelek. Before heading over to see Danis, though, players should speak to his two friends at the table with the gun on it.
Ask them about everything to deduce more about Danis' mentality. It turns out that Danis cared deeply for his comrade in arms, Pasha, who died in a game of Russian Roulette with Danis. With this added context, it's time to speak to Danis again. Provoke him into playing Russian Roulette and Abaurycy will appear, joining the game and offering his own gun. Use Abaurycy's gun here. He knows what he's doing. As the game continues, Wiktor will press Danis with the knowledge gained from his investigation and ultimately lure Lelek out of hiding.
Fighting Lelek
Now it's time to fight against Lelek and end the hunt. Send Upyr to deal with Selim's Shadow by disabling its trait, then use Bukavac and Wiktor to weaken the shadows and deal with the first round of combat. The main problem here is Lelek. During the first wave Lelek's Song will drain Wiktor's focus and interrupt his actions. After clearing out the first wave of Shadows, players will need to deal with the trio of Pasha, Danis, and Olga's shadows. These three deal a lot of damage, so focus and health restoration is crucial here. Using Upyr to purge status effects from Wiktor and provide much-needed healing is crucial to success, especially since Lelek's song will now transfer any negative statuses on the shadows onto Wiktor instead of interrupting his actions. Disable traits where possible, but don't bother trying to apply negative status effects during wave 2 due to Lelek's song.
In the aftermath, players can choose how to handle Danis now that he is free from Lelek's influence, before heading off with Abaurycy.
How Lelek Works
Lelek is a Mind Dimension Salutor who specializes in reducing Focus and manipulating negative statuses. Its first ability, Deceptive Song, will reduce a target's focus by 1 and shield Wiktor from having states inflicted on him for a round. Its second ability, Mournful Tones, transfers negative statuses from Wiktor onto the target while reducing that target's focus by 2. With Somber Trill, it can reduce a target's focus by 2 and, if they have the suffering status, interrupt their current action. Finally, Lelek's strong attack, Dead Man's Wailing, deals a decent amount of damage while also reducing the focus of all enemies by 1.
The Thaumaturge
- Released
- March 4, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Fool's Theory
- Publisher(s)
- 11 Bit Studios
- Platform(s)
- PC
