Project Warlock is a retro first-person shooter that offers an enriching 2.5D take on the classic “get a bunch of weapons and kill things” formula. The real uniqueness comes in the level design, as well as the skill, perk, magic, and weapon trees.
Developer Buckshot was clearly inspired by the classics, however, brought forward subtle nuances to the game that gives it enhanced playability despite its overall simplicity. The skill tree lets users pick between health, strength, capacity, or spirit. Health obviously provides more health, strength increases melee damage, capacity improves ammo carrying capacity, and spirit increases magical mana. Different perks align with these skills, providing things like health regeneration, run speed, or ammo generation. But which combinations work best for defeating all evil? Below, we examine three of the most obvious builds.
Melee Axe Fighter
The melee axe fighter lets your warlock play through the entire game up close and personal. Even on the final end boss, players can effectively dispatch the Lord of the Underworld in the first two stages with just an axe and a decent amount of run speed. Here, there is a lot of flexibility but relies on two main stats, Life and Strength. Despite the obvious, it is actually highly recommended that melee players avoid the “Melee Master” perk, as it ruins the third strike of the axe by making it a vertical vs. horizontal swipe, limiting the attack to one foe, and dramatically slowing down the weapon.
Key Stats:
1st Priority - Strength - to ensure most mobs are one-hit kills
2nd Priority - Life - (Even split, perhaps a couple more points in life vs. strength)
Spirit - Obtain at least 5, to enable Ghost perk
Capacity - As needed, hopefully through Student Perk these accrue naturally
Perks:
1st Perk - Sprinter
2nd Perk - Student
3rd Perk - Toughness / Ghost
4th Perk - Toughness / Ghost
*DO NOT select the Melee Master perk, it will hinder this build
Key Weapon Upgrades:
Bloodthirst - Increases range and restores health with each landed hit
Magic Warlock
For the magical warlock, a completely different build is necessary, favoring magic over strength or ammunition. Here the gameplay can feel entirely different, and is a fun to try, especially if scaling up to a harder difficulty level. The warlock magical build can be incredibly overpowered, but requires careful selection with your upgrades. If you can remember to upgrade your staff with the lightning build, and otherwise spam your freeze and lightning spell upgrades, your foes will melt before you.
Key Stats:
1st priority - Spirit - this build is ineffective without mana
2nd priority - Life - Fairly even split ok, perhaps a few points under spirit
1st Perk - Soul Collector
3rd Perk - Sprinter / Magic Potential
4th Perk - Magic Potential / Sprinter
Soulstealer can be ok to top off mana level
Lightning Staff - outperforms freezing staff
Key Spell Upgrades:
Storm Rage - Can clear entire rooms and lasts for 10 seconds
Freezing Blast - Freeze clusters of enemies, even bosses
The Gunsmith
The gunsmith is the epitome of the classic first-person shooter. Load up on ammo capacity and life, and bring your trigger finger. Here, personal taste and style come more into play than other areas, but there are still a few key things to consider when trying to keep your ammunition flowing into the carcasses of demons.
1st Priority - Capacity - With no ammo, the gunsmith is in peril
2nd priority - Life - fairly even split with capacity makes sense
Perks:
3rd Perk - Lead Collector
4th Perk - Shotgun Expert / Pyromaniac / Toughness / Ghost (Depending on playstyle)
Slug Shotgun (Amazing)
Ballista Crossbow (Ammo Easy to Replenish)
Bloodthirsty Axe (Health Replenishment)
Firelance
Minigun Heavy Bolter
Ready to set your sights on a bloodthirsty mission to destroy all evil? With this guide, you should have all the information you need to pursue a melee, magical, or gunsmith style gameplay and easily succeed in your mission. Groovy.
