The neon-action roguelite shooter Lone Ruin is another game from the hands of Cuddle Monster Games, who have previously worked on another well-known neon game, Hell is Other Demons. In Lone Ruin, one of 2023's early indie game releases, players make their builds from a variety of different Primary Weapon Spells, Secondary Spell Abilities, and Items.
While this isn't a roguelike that almost plays itself like Brotato or one that has an absurd amount of wildly different builds, choices, and upgrade paths like Hades (or Hades 2, potentially), there are still some notable builds. And, the differences between all the Weapon Spells, in particular, are still worth mentioning, so let's rank them all from lowest to highest.
8 Scythe: Too Close For Comfort
Sadly, ranking at the bottom of the list is Scythe, the only melee Spell in Lone Ruin. Now Scythe isn't bad at all, in fact, it's one of the more enjoyable Spells to use in the game and has some unique upgrade options in comparison to other Spells. But, on both Normal and Hard, every hit a player takes really matters, and a melee Spell that forces the player to get close to every Bat (enemies that already attack incredibly fast) is just asking for trouble, especially for newer players.
7 Pulse: More Bark Than Bite
Initially, when a player first picks and starts to play around with Pulse, it seems like it'll be one of the better Spells. The three-hit barrage of yellow projectiles kills enemies in a single salvo and it even pierces enemies innately to some degree (even more so with the right upgrade).
But, as the levels progress or especially if the player is on the hard difficulty, Pulse's damage and utility quickly fall off. Upgrades would usually help with this, but many of the upgrades for Pulse either just increase the piercing power or the range it can hit enemies from.
6 Fireball: A Bit Too Precise
Fireball is the most iconic of Spells in Lone Ruin, as fireball spells are something that are almost always associated with spellcasters in some capacity in any form of media. And, in any other indie darling roguelike, this Spell would be fantastic. Its default explosion radius, damage, and cast time are all fantastic, the only problem is that it is in Lone Ruin.
This is a game where enemies are almost always spread at least a fair distance apart (excluding Hard-mode Survival), especially early on. So, Fireball requires a lot more pinpoint accuracy than almost every other Spell in the game, and since this game isn't much of a 'bullet hell' either (as something like Knight Witch is), there's not a ton of 'need' for such an AoE-centric Spell.
5 Boomerang: You Decide When It Comes Back
In contrast to Pulse, a Spell that initially seems overpowered but quickly falls off, Boomerang is the exact opposite. This Spell, when first used in a run or in Survival, seems like a fun but ultimately 'gimmicky' option. Players need to try and use walls and terrain to keep their Boomerang spinning at the right distance to stay on enemies or have to cast it and recall it constantly to deal damage to approaching foes.
But, as the player gets comfortable with the Spell and especially against enemies that stand still a lot (such as bosses), Boomerang is way too strong. This spell keeps spinning for however long the player wants it to, so if the boss or particular enemy isn't moving around much, Boomerang absolutely shreds their HP in just a few seconds.
4 Barrage: A Magical Arcane Shotgun
Moving on to one of the more unique Spells, Barrage. Barrage basically has the player summon a bunch of ice spear-like crystals above their head, the number of which depends on how long they hold the Cast input. Once the player has decided to fire, they simply let go of their Cast, and all the projectiles will fly toward their cursor.
The reason why this is so good, in particular, is simply because there's no real 'recharge' time like there is with other spells. Players can just let go earlier or hold for longer depending on the projectiles needed. Plus, the shotgun spread of projectiles makes it much easier to hit single targets than many of the other options on here.
3 Shards
If Barrage was the shotgun-type weapon in Lone Ruin, then Shards is the machine gun. This rapid-fire barrage of projectiles essentially means that the player never needs to let go of their fire button.
And, with just a single upgrade or two, players can make it so they never have to 'reload' in the form of recharging, and enemies are constantly slowed while hit. This turns them into a never-ending death machine that can make it so enemies will never be able to close the distance.
2 Rail
Now let's move to the other high-accuracy Spell in Lone Ruin, Rail. Rail is, as its name would suggest, pretty much a railgun Spell. The player charges up, releases their Cast, and a powerful beam is fired following the telegraph shown on the ground when the spell was charging up.
Rail is absolutely the Spell for pinpoint accurate players to choose as they can completely destroy the balance of Lone Ruin if they do. It's absurdly strong by default, but with the right items, upgrades, and general usage it can make just about every confrontation in the game a total cakewalk.
1 Chain Lightning
And finally, there's Chain Lightning. Some people might put Chain Lightning at the bottom of their lists, and that's understandable. It's a Spell that requires kiting enemies a bit to group them up for maximum effect.
But, if players invest in Chain Lightning and find it easy to group enemies up (especially if they get a secondary ability like Black Hole), it's the most useful Spell in the game. It doesn't require accuracy, it hits tons of targets at once, and it's even strong against the bosses as well. Plus, in the moments where players need a bit more single-target damage, they can just combine another spell with their build like Flame Breath to cover for Chain Lightning's few weaknesses.
Lone Ruin was released on January 12, 2023, and is available on PC and Switch.