Magic spells

Not to be confused with the Halloween spells.

“

Grab the spells! Cast them on Blutarch's idiot army! Click to listen — Redmond Mann

”

"No Spell" HUD icon

Magic Spells are pickup items unique to the Haunted maps. They were introduced in Helltower and are found on several later Haunted Halloween maps.

Maps with Magic Spells

• Bloodwater
• Brimstone
• Carnival of Carnage
• Gravestone
• Hassle Castle
• Hellstone
• Helltower
• Monster Bash
• Moonshine Event
• Precipice
• Pit of Death
• Slasher

When playing on maps with Magic Spells, players who have the Spellbook Magazine, Fancy Spellbook, or the Fireproof Secret Diary equipped can cast Magic Spells that they can pick up around these maps. These Magic Spells vary greatly, from launching a player into the air to briefly turning invisible to summoning MONOCULUS.

Several normal Magic Spells have multiple charges. Rare Magic Spells only have a single charge, and using one unlocks the Helltower: Hell's Spells achievement. All Magic Spell effects are team-colored, and each has its own killfeed icon (except Overheal and Stealth). Players cannot pick up a Magic Spell if they already have one, but can always pick up a Rare Magic Spell regardless.

Strategy

Main article: Community Halloween maps strategy: Magic spells

Pickups

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  Book style

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  Crystal ball style

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  Flask style

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  Book style (Rare Spell)

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  Crystal ball style (Rare Spell)

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  Flask style (Rare Spell)

Regular Magic Spells

• Shadow Leap: Two charges. Fires a dark smoke-like ball that teleports the spell-caster to wherever it lands when it comes in contact with a surface. Also heals the user for 30 health on use. The projectile arcs under gravity. Hitting an enemy player will deal 10 damage. Cannot be used to enter the enemy spawnroom. The mercenary will say "ipsum instantarium" while performing the spell. This spell only appears on Helltower.

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  Projectile

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  Teleportation effect

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Fireball: Two charges. Shoots a ball of fire that sets enemies on fire in a large radius. Not affected by gravity, similar to rockets except they cannot be reflected by a compression blast. The attack deals 100 damage and sets the target on fire for 5 seconds. The mercenary will say "caputus crepitus" while performing the spell.

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  BLU projectile

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Blast Jump: Two charges. Propels the spell-caster into the air, high enough that falling damage will result. Can be used in the air. Will also heal the user for 25 health and deal 4-12 damage to nearby opponents in a small radius on use. The mercenary will say "amplus tripudio" while performing the spell.

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  Effect

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Overheal: Single charge. ÜberCharges the spell-caster and all allies within 275 HU and quickly refills their health up to an overhealed amount of up to twice their maximum health. The uber lasts for 1 second and healing lasts for 3 seconds. The Heavy will not reach 600 health in a single spell cast due to the spell timing out beforehand, but a subsequent cast can. Also pushes back enemies from the user. The mercenary will say "barpo kabalto" while performing the spell.

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  Effect

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  HUD icon

• Swarm of Bats: Two charges. Shoots a glowing ball that quickly falls in a steep arch, exploding in a small radius upon impact. Enemies hit will be assaulted by bats, causing them to fly into the air and bleed. The attack deals 40 damage and targets bleed for 3 seconds. The mercenary will say "deus invictus" while performing the spell. This spell does not appear on Carnival of Carnage.

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  Projectile

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Pumpkin MIRV: Single charge. Throws a bomb that produces a ring of small team-colored pumpkin bombs once it hits something; if it hits a player, it immediately explodes. The pumpkin bombs produced will only explode and deal damage when shot by the spell-caster's team; if they are shot by the other team, they simply disappear. Note that these pumpkins can also cause damage to the spell-caster or any teammate that detonates them, however, they will not affect nearby teammates should the spell-caster detonate them and vice versa, unless friendly fire is enabled. Pumpkins bombs that did not explode disappear after 40 seconds. The mercenary will say "pactum diabolus" while performing the spell.

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  Initial explosion

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  Primed pumpkin bombs

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  Chain explosion

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Stealth: Single charge. Temporarily cloaks the spell-caster for 8 seconds. The spell-caster is unable to push the cart, capture, or block capture while under the effects of the spell. The caster is fully able to attack, but attacking immediately breaks the spell. The spell also heals the user for 40 health on use. Skeletons are not affected and can still attack the spell-caster even if invisible. The mercenary says "barpo invisium" when casting the spell.

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  Effect

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  HUD icon

Rare Magic Spells

• Summon MONOCULUS: Fires a skull at the area. Upon impact, summons a ghostly team-colored MONOCULUS (smaller than the normal MONOCULUS) that floats upwards a fixed height and attacks enemies. Should both teams summon a MONOCULUS, they will attack each other when there are no players of the opposite team to attack. Unlike the real MONOCULUS, the one created by this spell will not move. The mercenary will say "invokum MONOCULUS" while performing the spell. This spell can only be obtained from Rare Spell pickups.

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  A summoned MONOCULUS

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Skeletons Horde: Fires a skull at the area. Upon impact, explodes into several team-colored Skeletons which begin to attack enemies. If not destroyed, skeletons suicide after 30 seconds have passed. The mercenary will say "mortis animataris" while performing the spell. This spell does not appear on Carnival of Carnage. This spell can only be obtained from Rare Spell pickups.

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  Initial impact

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  Skulls on the floor

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  Summoned skeletons

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Ball O' Lightning: Fires a wave of electricity that continuously deals 20 damage to enemies it touches and sucks them in. It will vanish after a certain amount of time or if it directly hits a large obstacle. The mercenary will say "imputum fulumenus" while performing the spell.

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  Projectile

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Meteor Shower: Fires a fire ball. Upon impact, summons several meteors above the targeted area, which does 100 damage continuously to enemies in a range about 1.5 times the size of a capture point. The mercenary will say "seismela tremoro" while performing the spell.

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  Effect

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

• Power Up: Causes the spell-caster to shrink and gain a big head. Results in the spell-caster becoming more difficult to hit, gaining a significant boost to their movement, attack, and reload speed, taking greatly increased knockback, having unlimited jumping capacity, and switching over to third-person camera. Also heals the user for 100 health on use. Spell-casters under the effect of Power Up can also enter tiny mouse holes that teleport them to opposite ends of the map. If the caster is on a slope or near a structure or prop when this spell runs out, they can suffer a crush death. The mercenary will say "paidum celeris" while performing the spell.

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  Effect

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  Mousehole warps

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  HUD icon

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  Kill icon

Bumper-cars Magic Spells

While competing in the bumper-cars minigames of Carnival of Carnage and the bumper-cars race of Gravestone, a different set of spells is available.

• Bomb Head: Applies a bomb to the player's head, which does 50% damage upon exploding to the user and nearby enemies. It explodes either when its timer runs out or the user makes a head-on collision with an enemy.

• Boxing Rocket: Fires a giant boxing glove forwards that knocks opponents far away and causes damage. Has a range of about four car lengths. The mercenary will say "deus invictus" while performing the spell.

• B.A.S.E. Jump: A variant of the Blast Jump spell where a B.A.S.E. Jumper parachute is used, allowing the player to fall slowly until they reach the floor. Pressing the jump button will stow the parachute and end the spell early; the parachute cannot be reactivated in the same way. Activating the spell near an enemy will launch them a small distance as well. The mercenary will say "amplus tripudio" while performing the spell.

• Overheal: Operates differently than the normal variant. It heals 50% damage instantly and leaves the player invulnerable for significantly longer. It also does not affect teammates. The mercenary will say "barpo kabalto" while performing the spell.

Related achievements

See also: Obtaining Halloween achievements

Bereavements

Helltower: Spelling Spree Use spells to kill 25 players

Helltower: Hell's Spells Get and use a rare spell

Update history

October 29, 2013 Patch (Scream Fortress 2013)

• Added a Halloween Map: Helltower.
  • Equip a spell book and cast spells against your enemies.
  • Spells can be found by pushing the cart, killing enemies, and during the Witching hour.
  • The Clocktower contains powerful magic during the Witching hour.
  • Win the race to start mega healed in the final battle for your prize.

October 31, 2013 Patch

• Fixed cloaked Spies losing their spells if they attempted to cast them while cloaked.
• Fixed the stealth spell only lasting for 2 seconds instead of 8 seconds.
• Fixed players keeping their spells if they were rolling for them while leaving hell.
• Updated spells so they cannot be deflected.

November 6, 2013 Patch

• Increased speed and damage of the lightning ball spell.
• Fixed some items and spell attributes showing incorrect expiration times.
• Fixed being able to get into the enemy spawn with the Shadow Leap spell in Helltower.

June 11, 2014 Patch

• Player condition #66 (used by the invisibility spell) has been altered:
  • Weapons now fire slower
  • Spies can attack while cloaked with only a short time of semi transparency as the cost

October 20, 2014 Patch

• Halloween spells can now be enabled and controlled on servers via ConVars tf_spells_enabled and tf_player_spell_drop_on_death_rate
• Halloween spells can now be enabled by map authors via HolidayEntity by setting the flag HalloweenSetUsingSpells

October 29, 2014 Patch

• Reduced the number of Fireball spells granted to 2. (This was already the case; the Fireball spell has always had 2 charges ever since its introduction to the game.)
• Updated the tf_spells_enabled ConVar
  • Removed the Shadow Leap spell from the general spell list when spells are enabled outside of Helltower.
  • Added rare spells to the general spell list, except Skeletons and Monoculus.

November 4, 2014 Patch

• Fixed the Shadow Leap spell not appearing in Helltower.
• Fixed rare spells appearing in regular Helltower spellbook pick-ups.

November 13, 2014 Patch

• Fixed an exploit that involved players killing teammates with the meteor spell by switching to Spectator.

October 28, 2015 Patch (Scream Fortress 2015)

• Lowered damage of the "bats" spell from 60 to 40.

November 2, 2016 Patch

• Updated the "tiny" spellbook spell.
  • Fixed a case where players could get outside the world.
  • Fixed not switching Heavies to their melee weapon.

Bugs

• Magic spells cannot be used if weapon switching is disabled, such as when under the restrictive effects of the Buffalo Steak Sandvich or Half-Zatoichi.
• The Swarm of Bats can hit ghosts of the enemy team, triggering the knockback and bleed visuals with no further effect.
• When decloaking from the Stealth spell as a Spy, the sound of the decloak is the same as his currently equipped watch.
• Spectators can be caught in the Ball O' Lightning. They will be pushed around as if they were a player.
• Multiple MONOCULUSes spawned by the same team will attack each other should there be no viable targets, or if they are spawned close enough to each other.
• As a Spy, if disguised as a player who does not have a Spellbook equipped, you cannot pick up Spells until undisguised or disguised as someone who does have a Spellbook.
• The eye effect from the Eyelander will not cloak while under the effects of the Stealth spell.
• While using the Power Up spell, kills with the Eyelander or its variants will not add to the player's head count.
• If the Power Up spell wears off while the player's resized character model is within any solid entity (most often a ceiling), the player will forcibly suicide.
  • This is to prevent players from being stuck in the environment and getting out of the map.
• The spell animation for the playermodel does not play at all and will instead put the player in a melee pose.
  • If this is done with Spy, it will use the Sharp Dresser idle animation.

Trivia

• The Shadow Leap spell functions similarly to the Translocator from the Unreal Tournament series, or the Ender Pearl from Minecraft.
• The acronym MIRV stands for multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle.
• The Bomb Head spell reuses the voice lines from the Merasmus boss fight on Ghost Fort, resulting in some voice lines erroneously telling the player to "run at that wizard." despite him not showing up in any of the bumper car sections.
• Only kills with the Ball O' Lightning, direct kills with the Fireball and kills while under the effects of the Power Up spell will count towards a Strange Haunted cosmetic in Carnival of Carnage.
• The voice lines used for each spell are a mix of pseudo-Latin and pseudo-English words with minor connotations to the attached spell:
  • Fireball: caputus crepitus, "crepitus" means "loud noise" or "explosion"
  • Shadow Leap: ipsum instantarium, contains the English "instant". "Ipsum" refers to the placeholder text Lorem Ipsum.
  • Blast Jump: amplus tripudio, "large hop"
  • Swarm of Bats: deus invictus, "invincible god", probably intended for the Healing Aura spell
  • Overheal: barpo kabalto, no connotations, although the line seems to be mixed up with the Swarm of Bats spell
  • Pumpkin MIRV: pactum diabolus, "deal with the devil"
  • Stealth: barpo invisium, contains the English "invisible"
  • Summon MONOCULUS: invokum monoculus, "invoke MONOCULUS"
  • Skeleton Horde: mortis animataris, "mortis" means "dead", so it becomes "animate the dead"
  • Ball O' Lightning: imputum fulumenus, "fulumenus" means "lighting" or "thunderbolt"
  • Meteor Shower: seismela tremoro, mix of the English "seismic" and the Latin "tremors"
  • Power Up: paidum celeris, "celeris" means "fast"