The best Solium Infernum Rituals and how to use them

What are the best Solium Infernum Rituals? Solium Infernum is, on the surface, a complicated game to get into. You can, actually, get through and win a game without delving into half of Solium’s incredible mechanics, but once you want to develop even more diabolical plans, there is plenty to use to your advantage.

Among those mechanics are Solium Infernum Rituals, dark spells which can be cast to negatively impact your closest opponent or give your own Legions a boost in battle. Each of the Solium Infernum Archfiends starts with certain Rituals, and can learn and unlock more, so knowing which are the best to work towards in the political game can help give you a head start toward your next devilish scheme.

How to use Solium Infernum Rituals

To carry out a Ritual in Solium Infernum, you must have a free action and enough Tribute. There are five different categories of SI Ritual, and, for each, every Archfiend has a score. For a Ritual to succeed against an opponent, simply put, your power score must be higher than theirs. For example, considering base stats only, Astaroth would be able to successfully cast a Wrath Ritual on Lilith, with a Wrath score of two to Lilith’s zero.

This is Solium Infernum, though, so of course it’s not that simple. Most everything is done in secrecy, and Archfiends can level up their powers throughout the game. Solium Infernum Relics and Artifacts can also be used to adapt one’s Ritual scores. When casting a Ritual without the Scrying Bowl unlocked, you cannot see your opponents power score, so have no real way of knowing whether your Ritual will succeed or fail.

The Scrying Bowl is unlocked at level five of the Prophecy power tree, and, unless you’re playing a long or very long game, or are focused purely on your prophetic powers, it’s unlikely you’ll unlock that skill. So, think carefully about which Rituals you use, want to use, and which powers you might need to level up.

Different Rituals have entirely different uses, with some being used to weaken opponents, others to reveal enemy secrets, and a few even grant you the option to steal straight from another Archfiend. Your Archfiend starts with a restricted choice of Rituals based on their base power scores, but any Archfiend can level up any power of choice – a particularly good way of tricking your opponents. Here is each Archfiend’s base power level:

Using Andromalius as an example, you start the game with three Charisma Rituals, one Destruction ritual, and one Deceit Ritual. That said, you could still unlock all Wrath Rituals and level the power up to five – it would just taken longer and cost more to do so.

The best Solium Infernum Rituals

Depending on your chosen playstyle, almost any Solium Infernum Ritual can be used to advance your bid for the throne. That said, there are some immediately devastating ones that really stand out. Bear in mind that some Rituals that we haven’t included here, since they are good but only in very specific situations, could be incredible in your game. With that in mind, here are the best Rituals to consider for each power proficiency:

The best Wrath Rituals

Infernal Juggernaut is technically one of the best Wrath Rituals, but unlocking it is incredibly expensive and time consuming. Considering cost and time, in relation to use, the best Wrath Rituals to unlock are:

• Undying Vigor I
• Undying Vigor II
• Witness the Martyr

Undying Vigor

Undying Vigor reconstitutes the target from the brink of oblivion, restoring between two and six hit points. Undying Vigor I restores between two and four, while Undying Vigor II restores between four and six HP.

This is one of the only ways to restore the HP of your Legions and Titans, so is an incredibly useful Ritual to have at your disposal. There isn’t necessarily any point in using it on disposable, early-game Legions, unless you’re in a particularly disastrous situation, but being able to boost your own HP, perhaps alongside your attack power, could make you indomitable in battle.

Witness the Martyr

Sacrifice a friendly Legion on Hell’s burning altar so that a target ally can receive 50 to 100% of their combat attributes for the duration of the Ritual.

As such a cheap and readily unlockable Ritual, Witness the Martyr can be incredibly strong. The reason for this being that you need to use it at exactly the right time. Keeping this Ritual in mind, you might want to bid on such Legions as Vile Apostates, who has an incredibly high Infernal stat at 14, but zero melee and ranged attack, making them incredibly vulnerable on their own. If you have a decent Legion, therefore, who lacks in Infernal ability, you could sacrifice Vile Apostates to grant your other Legion some of, if not all, their Infernal attack. Just don’t forget that this Ritual only last for one turn, so you need to use it the turn before you plan to attack.

The best Deceit Rituals

The best Deceit Rituals are:

• Strategic Confusion
• Bribe Praetor

Strategic Confusion

Strategic Confusion befuddles a target Legion, leaving it unable to move. This means you have to be careful using Strategic Confusion, and keep a close eye on the turn order, as you must move before your target for this Ritual to have any effect. That said, it can be ideal for preventing an oncoming threat – if timing and luck are on your side.

Bribe Praetor

Bribe Praetor is exactly as it sounds, and it is one of the most delicious Rituals in the game. Bribe and opponent’s Praetor (we’re looking at Andromalius for this one), and they will become loyal to you instead. Because this is such a good Ritual, it’s expensive, requiring Deceit level 5 to unlock.

The best Prophecy Rituals

The best Prophecy Ritual is:

• Dark Augury II

Dark Augury II

There are six Dark Augury Rituals available in total, but we’ve specifically listed II as one of the best Solium Infernum spells. This decision is based on the value for money, essentially, how worthwhile the Ritual is considering how long and how much it costs to unlock and cast. Dark Augury in general reveals your targets secrets, starting at I, revealing just their weakest powers, with VI revealing their powers, Vault contents, events, ritual table, schemes, and relics.

Dark Augury II, meanwhile, reveals just your target’s weakest powers and the contents of their Vault. This tells you the specific Tribute they have, but, more importantly, their Praetors and Artifacts – all of which are up for the taking if you’re clever.

Dark Augury VI – specifically, revealing your opponent’s Relics – is incredible powerful, as it can reveal someone scheming against you. However, the only real use for this would be to expose a Blood Vassal who might be trying to steal your victory – consider unlocking this Ritual only if you are in that situation.

The best Destruction Rituals

The best Destruction Rituals are:

• Enfeeble
• Infernal Affliction
• Dire Dissipation

Enfeeble I – III

Enfeeble is a pretty simple ritual, and is used to reduce one or two of your target’s attributes by two to six points, depending on the level of Enfeeble cast. As with most Rituals, it only last one turn, but if you’re wanting to claim a Place of Power or defeat a nearby enemy Legion with better or even stats to yours, Enfeeble could turn the tide in your favor. Just make sure you only use it the turn before you plan to attack.

Infernal Affliction I – III

Infernal Affliction is similar to Enfeeble, but instantly deals damage to the target, up to a maximum of nine HP. This is better used against perhaps a Titan or to claim Pandaemonium, since they have far higher HP than most. Combine this Ritual with other boosts and nerfs to really get the upper ground. Again, though, only use this Rituals the turn before you plan to attack.

Dire Dissipation

Dire Dissipation is a level five ritual, and is expensive and time consuming to use. However, if you can get there, we actually think it’s worth it in this case, particularly if you are getting close to a strong Legion or Titan. Dire Dissipation, like Infernal Affliction, deals damage to the target, up to a maximum of eight HP, but also – and here’s the good bit – reduces their maximum HP by the same amount, so they cannot recover that health.

The best Charisma Rituals

The best Charisma Rituals are:

• Convert Tribute
• Burnt Offerings

Convert Tribute

Convert Tribute does require a specific set of circumstances, but the likelihood of most players being at the point in most games is fairly high. You see, Convert Tribute gives you the chance to turn some of your own Tribute into another type, and a cost of 2-1. For example, you could choose to turn six Soul Tribute into three Darkness Tribute. While this might not seem like a good thing, you never know what you might want to nab from the Bazaar at short notice. Alternatively, In the later game, you could have a Titan to upkeep. Convert Tribute comes at a cost, but when it’s needed, it’s worth it.

Burnt Offerings

Another of perhaps the best Rituals overall, Burnt Offerings is expensive, but worth it, and is mostly useful at the end of the game. Carrying out this Ritual grants you between nine and 11 bonus Prestige, immediately and without sacrifice. During the voting of the Conclave, this could be the difference between winning victory and defeat.

Now, go forth and use your sorcery skills to conquer hell with these Solium Infernum Rituals. While you’re here, don’t forget to read our in-depth Solium Infernum review for more context on the different ways to win Solium Infernum, and just how easy they are to get used to.