In Deathbound, a newer Soulslike from Trialforge Studios, you'll take control of four different playable characters at the same time. In fact, you'll actually switch between these characters right in the middle of combat, with each character (or Essence, as they're called in-game) having their own moves, Stamina, and Health Bar. That said, if any of these characters die in combat, you die as a whole, as they all share the same core 'body'.
Balancing the multiple characters, movesets, health bars, stamina, and more can be really tough in Deathbound and that's especially true once you start mixing and matching caster-type characters with melee ones. For example, both the characters Tehkri Haodai and Olivia Heinz are casters, with Mamdile Ogate being a sort of 'middle-ground' character who uses melee attacks with caster mechanics. Olivia Heinz is by far the most competent mage in the game, and she can be pretty difficult to utilize effectively. So, without further ado, let's go over exactly how this character works, and how best to use her.
Olivia Heinz Overview
Who She Is & What Type of Gameplay She Has
|
Input (Controller) |
Input (PC) |
Action |
|---|---|---|
|
RB |
Left Click |
Lightning Bolt |
|
RT |
C |
Flamethrower |
|
LB |
Right Click |
Fire Enchantment |
|
LT |
Left Control |
Freezing Ray |
Olivia Heinz is another member of the Death Cult faction in Deathbound. In this game, you'll pick up Essences from characters all across the world, with different goals, beliefs, and backgrounds. For example, the character you start with in this religious sci-fi setting, Therone Guillaumen, is a devout crusader of the Death Cult, while Anna Lepus (the second character you gain) was originally a follower of the God of Life. Olivia Heinz is a bit of a mixed-bag character in terms of her motivations, as she actively works for the sake of the Death Cult, but this is mostly due to her own self-interest and overall need to hide her magical abilities that, to the Cult, are blasphemous.
In terms of gameplay, Olivia Heinz is the most 'true' mage in the game, as Tehkri Houdai is a pretty unique caster as far as mages go. Tehkri's abilities are entirely based around the Corruption or Poison Ailment, with him having a basic projectile, an AoE projectile, a debuff, and a buff to your melee characters he can apply. In contrast, Olivia Heinz is an offensive caster who is designed around combo'ing' her spells in sequence and dealing with groups of enemies, which forces you to pay very close attention to her current Heat Level. She has a mid-range damage spell with her Lightning Light Attack, a close-range AoE Spell with her fiery explosive Heavy Attack, a fire buff for the melee Essences with her Block input, and finally a Crowd Control freezing Spell with her fourth Ability.
How To Best Use Olivia
General Strategies & Team Comps
Close
|
Talent Name |
Effect |
|---|---|
|
Inner Fire |
Spell Damage increases with Heat. |
|
Ice Queen |
Olivia's Morph Strikes have a 20 percent chance of causing ice explosions around her. |
|
Reciprocation |
Spellcasting Speed increases at low Health. |
|
Misdirection |
When in Conflict, Perfect Dodging creates small Overheat Explosions and removes the Heat cost of the next Spell for 3 seconds. |
|
Tenacity |
Reduces Attack Weight of hits taken by 50 percent during casting. |
|
Crisis Control |
Frozen enemies grant 50 percent increased Heat Decay in an area around them. |
|
Archmage |
Spells in a combo cost 50 percent less Heat. |
Now that we know all about her abilities, how should you actually use Olivia in Deathbound? Well, if you're not building around Max Heat, Spell Damage, or Overheat Damage, you probably don't want to use her. While Tehkri is great for taking out enemies at any range with his Light Attack, Olivia really doesn't have much range, so she doesn't have the same utility Tehkri does in an all-melee composition. However, if you're building for Spell Damage or Heat management at all, Olivia Heinz is absolutely worth using, you'll just need to be ready to spend the time to actively learn how to use her properly.
With the right items and proper usage of attacks, Olivia has some of the highest damage potential in the game, but she's probably the most high-risk, high-reward character you obtain as a result. While playing as Therone or Mamdile forces you to fight up close, both of these characters have Parries, making them a bit less risky. Meanwhile, Anna has her Speed and Iulia has the reach of her weapon (and her Huntresses Die Twice Talent). In contrast, Olivia really has nothing outside of her four Spells, so if you max out her Heat or can't seem to utilize her spells correctly, she's not going to feel very strong at all.
For example, on a team with Anna, Olivia's freezing Spell is incredible, as it easily sets up her backstabs. Additionally, she's also great alongside Agharos as her fire buff synergizes with a lot of his Talents and overall playstyle. And finally, Olivia is also great when used in combination with both Tehkri and Mamdile, as this composition makes the most use out of any Heat or Spell-related items, though Mamdile is a bit of a unique case since he wants to stay at Max Heat as often as possible.
Platform(s) PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S Released 2024-00-00 Developer(s) Trialforge Studio Publisher(s) Tate Multimedia
