Spirit Island – Spirit Guides / Winning With Every Spirit

A brief primer on winning solo games with each core game spirit, including suggested growth orders. Helpful for unlocking The First Spirits Rise achievement.

Introduction

Note: Credit goes to Kalen Noreth

So you want to branch out and try new spirits, but it still isn’t clicking? The tips and growth orders below should help set you up for success at winning solo with each spirit. HOWEVER, if your only goal is to unlock The First Spirits Rise achievement, some spirits (especially Ocean) will do better by playing them in a 2-4 spirit game. Any feedback is appreciated, let me know in the comments below how things work for you!

Lightning’s Swift Strike

Innate power is good at all levels, but requires cards beyond starting ones to use at highest level.

Sometimes you want to play fewer cards than you have plays to set up a big turn with your innate power.

Sacred sites are very important for your innate and also Shatter Homesteads, so try to maintain 2-3 of them.

A big turn with 4-5 card plays will usually cost 6+ energy, so be sure to keep an eye on what you’re spending.

Suggested starting growth order:

1. 2 presence from energy track
2. 1 presence from card play track, +3 energy
3. Reclaim cards, gain minor power
4. 2 presence from energy track OR 1 presence from card play track, +3 energy
5. Reclaim cards, gain minor/major power

River Surges in Sunlight

Innate power only requires starting cards.

Cards are cheap and two of them give you energy, so try to play presence from the card plays track as quickly as possible.

Don’t be afraid to concentrate invaders into one land, especially on the coast. Your innate at max power will wipe them out easily, especially combined with Flash Floods for those pesky cities.

Suggested starting growth order:

1. 2 presence from card play track
2. 2 presence from card play track
3. Reclaim cards, gain minor power
4. Either 2 presence or 1 presence, gain minor power (presence from card play track to enable full strength innate power)
5. Reclaim cards, gain minor/major power

Vital Strength of the Earth

Your innate power will probably not come up a lot until late in the game, as it is very hard to get the card plays/elements to use it. Copying Rituals of Destruction to deal 10 damage late, however? Really good for ending the game.

Dahan are VERY important. You want to keep them alive and fighting, as well as working towards grouping three of them in lands with lots of invaders.

Remember that gathering an explorer to prevent a build is equivalent to destroying a town. Preventing builds where you don’t have Dahan and/or presence discs is important to avoid getting overrun in the late game.

Suggested starting growth order:

1. Presence from card play track, 2 energy
2. Presence from card play track, 2 energy
3. Presence from energy track, reclaim cards
4. Presence from either track, gain minor power
5. Any growth option, based on choice in (4) and needs

Shadows Flicker Like Flame

Innate power is good, but tricky to max out. Some specific power cards can help: Lure of the Unknown, Visions of Fiery Doom, Quicken the Earth’s Struggles, Shadows of the Burning Forest, Elemental Boon, Land of Haunts and Embers (basically, cards with moon and fire element).

Favors Called Due + Concealing Shadows is a good way to take out invader heavy lands, albeit while still allowing blight.

Energy can be tight early on, and you can’t play more than one presence a turn. Be careful what you spend and don’t be afraid to put off gaining new powers or sacrifice presence discs to play Concealing Shadows.

Suggested starting growth order:

1. 3 energy, presence from card play track
2. 3 energy, presence from card play track
3. Reclaim cards, gain minor power
4. 3 energy, presence from card play track
5. Reclaim cards, gain minor/major power

Thunderspeaker

Both your innate powers are good, and fairly easy to trigger. Getting presence off your energy track exposes elements that you can use every turn, saving you card plays and enabling fast-moving Dahan armies.

Protect your Dahan! Losing them loses you a lot of flexibility as well as potentially costing you presence discs.

Suggested starting growth order:

1. 2 presence from energy track
2. 2 presence from energy track (giving you permanent air, fire, and sun)
3. 2 presence, one from each track
4. Reclaim cards, gain minor power, gain minor/major power
5. 2 presence from card plays track

A Spread of Rampant Green

Your damage innate doesn’t do anything on its own at the lowest level, so try to pair it with cards that deal damage to structures. Your defend innate is incredibly useful, although there will likely be turns that you can trigger it with nothing to defend. 2 defend stops an explorer + town, and 4 defend stops a town + city.

Sacrificing presence discs to stop builds and ravages in incredibly useful. Stopping a town/city from being built is often as good or better than destroying one!

With two cards that let you play extra presence (in solo games), you will empty your presence tracks in most games. Note that your ability to play destroyed presence only applies to your growth phase, not your power cards, making two of your starting powers a lot less useful in the late game (they still give elements, though, and one can switch to creating fear).

Suggested starting growth order*:

1. 2 presence from energy track, extra card play
2. 2 presence from energy track, extra card play
3. 1 presence from energy track (if possible/needed), reclaim cards, gain minor power
4. 2 presence from either track, extra card play
5. 2 presence from either track, extra card play

*Because you will almost certainly be placing some presence through card plays, this spirit allows for a lot more flexibility in growth. Focus on the energy track first for the double plant elements, but take these suggestions with an extra grain of salt.

Ocean’s Hungry Grasp

Your innate powers are amazing for fear and controlling the coastal lands. You can theoretically drown a city as early as the second turn, and probably should unless there are inland invaders that can’t be ignored.

Dealing with inland invaders is an utter pain, and will likely require major powers. Luckily, drowning coastal invaders provides a lot of energy.

Forgetting powers from your discard pile really helps you put off reclaiming cards. Gain minor power, play it, forget it to gain major power is a good sequence.

This spirit is really tricky in solo play, look for powers that have range 2-3 even if they put down blight. A lot of your powers specify “coastal”, so Reaching Grasp is a bit of a trap; it’s mostly helpful for boosting range 0-1 major powers and not your starting or innate powers.

Suggested starting growth order, inland invaders need addressing:

1. 2 presence from energy track
2. 1 presence from card play track, gain minor power
3. 1 presence from energy track, gain major power
4. Reclaim cards, gain minor power
5. 1 presence from energy track, gain major power

Suggested starting growth order, inland invaders can be let be:

1. 2 presence from energy track
2. 2 presence, 1 from card play track, 1 from energy track
3. 1 presence from either track, gain minor power
4. Reclaim cards, gain minor/major power
5. 1 presence from either track, gain minor/major power

Bringer of Dreams and Nightmares

Innate powers cause fear, which is made significantly more important by your starting power which produces defense whenever you cause fear. Note that you need to have a disc in a land with invaders to generate the fear, so be sure to stay close and personal.

As long as you are getting presence discs off of your energy track, growth is pretty flexible. The reclaim one growth option is really nice if you need to make a sacred site and want to get an extra turn in before reclaiming all cards.

Dahan are very useful for keeping the invaders under control. Try to protect them and clear inland towns to help prevent explores.

Suggested starting growth order:

1. Presence from energy track, gain minor power or 2 energy (if you need to jump across the board)
2. Presence from energy track, gain minor power or reclaim one
3. Presence from energy track, gain minor power or reclaim one
4. Reclaim cards, gain minor/major power