Left hand
Valor Mortis transmutations
Transmutations are left-hand powers. Casting one spends Nephtoglobin.
See the parry and the finisher
How a power is taken and spent
Transmutations are the left-hand powers, and they are also the off-hand spells. You keep the melee weapon in the main hand. The power does not ask you to sheathe the sword before it fires.
The cost is Nephtoglobin, the purple bar under health. It works like a mana bar. Recovery is not a lantern sip. You shatter enemy weak points, or you hit with the sword, and the bar climbs.
Acquisition is a scene, not a shop. You take a Transmutation from a unique plague-infected humanoid that latches onto William and passes the ability over. There are three powers, matching three melee options and three guns, and each has an upgrade tree.
One upgrade makes a flame effect explode burning enemies when they are shot. That node sits on a weapon tree. It is not a fourth power. The three powers are real, and their titles are not named yet.
Using one without dropping the sword
Open a fight on the sword. Break a weak spot early so the purple bar is not empty when you need the left hand. The Rapier is the fast weak-spot tool, so it is the melee weapon that feeds Transmutations most directly. The Pistol aims at the same spots from the hip and is smaller than the Musket.
The Musket is the long single-target gun. Use it to pick a shooter, then return to the sword so the bar can recover. The Saber is the starter that can parry and block. A block spends a little health, and the Saber refunds that health if you hit back quickly.
The block refund is a weapon line, not a Transmutation. The left hand is the spell. On Lothaire, Fire Transmutation is highly effective. That element is tied to him. Aurelius and the Sphinx do not share it.
His second stage grows an arm you can shoot to fill posture. A left-hand flame is the strong route into that shot. Ambers sit beside this, not inside it. A heal on execution still wants the posture break. Perfectionism still wants full health. Neither refills Nephtoglobin by itself.
If the purple bar is dry, stop casting and hit weak points. Casting into an empty bar is how the left hand becomes a dead button. Three powers with trees means a run will specialize. Pick the one you have actually been given by a latched figure, then read Lothaire's fight before you assume an element.
- Take a power from the plague-infected figure that latches on.
- Spend Nephtoglobin. Refill it on weak spots and sword hits.
- Keep the melee weapon out. The left hand does not replace it.
- On Lothaire, a fire power is the strong choice.
Which hand, and the one named flame
The power occupies the off-hand. A pistol can sit in that left hand beside a sword. While the pistol is there, the hand is not free for the power. Put the sidearm away for the stretches where you mean to cast.
Nephtoglobin is the purple bar under health, and casting drains it. The refill is physical: shatter a weak point, or connect with the sword. The Rapier breaks spots quickly, so it feeds the bar more directly than the Musket, which is fired from a distance where spots are harder to reach.
A power arrives when a plague-infected humanoid latches onto William and passes the ability. It is not bought at the lantern. There are three powers, each with an upgrade tree. A shot that explodes burning enemies is a weapon-tree node. It is not an extra Transmutation.
Fire is the only element named on a boss, and the boss is Lothaire. Burning him works well. Aurelius and the Sphinx do not share that weakness. Cast the power the latched figure actually gave you.