Reference

The Magus Circle Upgrades: Spellbook & Build Choices

Last updated: October 24, 2026 · Patch notes through 1.1.5; historical demo stats labelled

Upgrades are where The Magus Circle stops being about drawing and starts being about decisions. The drawing is the input; the upgrades are the strategy layer on top of it.

Quick answer

The current Steam store advertises 600 possible upgrades augmenting 20 unique spells. It does not break that total into a complete item table or count of permanent unlocks. Older official material describes in-run choices and out-of-run progression separately; keep those layers distinct rather than treating 600 as the size of each layer.

Choose an upgrade by the problem, not a fixed ranking

The 1.1.2 developer note adds unlocked spells and their upgrades to the Spellbook in the Hub. Review that view before planning a combination; it is not a guarantee that the next run offers every option you inspected.

Use this editorial checklist with the descriptions in your installed build:

Balance changes that can invalidate an old comparison

• Prismatic Gale: 1.1.1 changes it to one mana for every two Gale casts. Its historical 1.0.3 zero-cost state is not a current universal exception.
• Omega Beam: 1.1.1 fixes its upgrades affecting Purification Beam; 1.1.2 fixes critical hits being applied twice. Do not base a ranking on the old double application.
• Executioner / Harvest Beam: 1.1.2 fixes on-kill effects. The 1.1.3 note also caps Executioner beam to address crashes or lag spikes.
• Cross Gale / Swift Gale: 1.1.3 fixes their amounts without publishing a full replacement damage table.

These are developer-reported fixes, not our own benchmark. Record the skill, upgrade, game version and relevant displayed stats when comparing two attempts. This gives you a useful experiment without pretending the patch notes prove a best build.

Chest choices and synergies after 1.1.4

The official 1.1.4 hotfix changes three things relevant to an upgrade decision:

• Chests disappear after five minutes. Treat an unopened chest as time-limited rather than assuming it stays for the entire run.
• If no upgrades are available, a chest gives mana and XP. A resource payout is not evidence that it was supposed to offer another upgrade.
• All spell synergies are buffed, and Mana Burn prevents mana regeneration. The announcement gives no numerical synergy table or universal ranking.

Version 1.1.5 also fixes Curse not receiving damage buffs. Check the exact effect and version when an older build demonstration behaves differently.

The two layers

An older Steam snapshot said over 250 upgrades, while the released Steam page now says 600 possible upgrades. STOVE separately describes over 600 in-game upgrades plus out-of-run upgrades. These are differently dated and worded storefront claims, not a verified count of individually tested upgrade entries.

Where the old “250” figure still comes from

Worth chasing down, because it is the number most third-party pages repeat. The figure is still live on the developer’s own website: bywitchlight.com/games still carries the pre-release wording — “Over 250 unique upgrades allow you to approach the game your way” — and still opens with “The Magus Circle is an indie action roguelike game, currently in development!”. That page was checked on October 24, 2026, more than a month after the September 24 launch.

The studio’s site header and homepage have moved on, but the games subpage has not. So the current situation is:

Use the Steam listing for its released product’s published total. The STOVE product page currently uses a different figure, 100,000 possible upgrades, in its feature description. That is a conflicting storefront claim, not a count independently checked by this wiki or proof of build parity. The developer’s games page retains older wording. We have not traced individual third-party articles to their sources.

What upgrades actually change

The pre-release demo exposed eight stats on the character panel. These tell you what upgrades compete for:

• Spell Power
• Projectile Speed
• Damage-over-Time Potency
• Damage-over-Time Duration
• Mana Regen
• Mana Cost
• Crit Chance
• Crit Damage

Notice the shape of that list. Four of the eight are offensive multipliers, two govern damage-over-time behaviour specifically, and two are economic — mana regeneration and mana cost. An upgrade that lowers mana cost is competing against an upgrade that raises crit, and which one you want depends entirely on what the run has already given you.

An Arcanist archetype also appeared in the demo, carrying sample modifiers such as −15% mana cost and +15% crit chance. If you have played other bullet-heaven games, that pairing — cast more, hit harder — will be familiar.

These values come from a pre-release build. We are reporting them as an illustration of what the upgrade system touches, not as final numbers.

Adapt, do not plan a shopping list

The most important sentence in the official material on this topic is not about quantity. It is this:

“Every run, you must adapt your spells and upgrades around the hand fate deals you.”

That is an explicit statement that the game expects you to improvise. Two practical consequences:

1. Learn what each stat does, not what each specific upgrade is called. Stat literacy transfers between runs; memorising a favourites list does not.
2. Have two or three directions in mind, not one. If the run refuses to give you crit, the mana-cost direction is still open.

Why we do not publish a tier list

This is the one place where being early is a genuine disadvantage, so we want to be explicit about the choice.

• The Hub reference is not our tested ranking. Version 1.1.2 exposes unlocked spells and upgrades in the Spellbook, but this wiki has not recorded and compared a complete numerical catalogue or drop-rate table.
• Demo-era numbers may differ from 1.0. The figures above came from a pre-release build. We have not independently rechecked those exact stat values in the released game.
• The pool is large. Ranking several hundred upgrades meaningfully requires the shipped values and real playtime across a range of runs.

A ranking assembled from old demo values would be unreliable. We will only add a 1.0 ranking when a current build or primary source supports the values; this page currently explains the system without fabricating a hierarchy.

Stacking: a demo observation, not a proven best build

Demo reviewers specifically named stacking spell upgrades as a mechanic they enjoyed. Enjoyment does not establish better damage or survival: we have not compared concentrated and spread-out upgrade paths in the released build.

Before combining upgrades, read the current descriptions, affected spell, duration, limits and costs. Compare what your run actually lacks rather than assuming similarly named stats multiply or always outperform other choices. We do not have verified 1.0 formulas to justify that claim.

Difficulty is an upgrade-adjacent decision

The out-of-run layer is tied to difficulty. The STOVE listing describes increasing difficulty through out-of-run enhancement elements while adding random rewards — in other words, the permanent progression and the difficulty scaling are connected rather than separate systems.

That combination matters for how you use it, which is covered in more detail on the challenges page.

Practical habits

1. Read the stat, not the name. Knowing that you need mana cost reduction is more useful than knowing a specific upgrade you once liked.
2. Check a combination before committing. Demo praise for stacking is not a released-build tier list; look for an explicitly described interaction and a benefit your run needs.
3. Treat mana upgrades as real choices. The mana economy is the system demo players argued about most, so upgrades that touch it are not filler.
4. Experiment in the released build. Treat demo-era values as historical observations until you verify them against the current 1.0 version.

FAQ

How many upgrades are there? The official Steam store says 20 unique spells and 600 possible upgrades, checked October 6, 2026. This is the published total, not an independently tested catalogue or a permanent-unlock count. The older 250 figure is a pre-launch snapshot.

In-run versus out-of-run? In-run picks apply to that run only; out-of-run progression is permanent and is tied to difficulty scaling and random rewards.

Which stats do upgrades change? Spell power, projectile speed, damage-over-time potency and duration, mana regen, mana cost, crit chance, crit damage — per the pre-release demo interface.

Should I plan a build? Have directions in mind rather than a fixed list. Official copy says you adapt around what the run offers.

Is there a best upgrades tier list? Not from us. Use the unlocked Spellbook reference introduced in 1.1.2; this wiki has not benchmarked a complete current catalogue.

Do upgrades stack? Demo reviewers praised stacking. We have not verified every stacking interaction or shown that concentration is stronger than spreading upgrades in 1.0.

What to do next

The spells guide covers what these upgrades are modifying. The challenges page explains how out-of-run progression connects to difficulty.

Sources and update note

October 24, 2026 targeted review: added the official 1.1.4 chest, synergy and Mana Burn changes and the 1.1.5 Curse fix. Corrected two earlier patch attributions to 1.1.1. Earlier store totals and demo statistics retain their dated evidence boundaries; no new client benchmark was performed.

October 24, 2026 update: traced the source of the recurring “250 upgrades” figure. It is still live on the developer’s own games page, which also still describes the game as “currently in development” — checked October 24, 2026, more than a month after launch. That page is stale official copy, so the Steam storefront’s 600 remains the current released-build figure. The 250 number is dated, not a competing count.

October 11, 2026 targeted review: added the official 1.1.2 Spellbook reference, version-specific mana/critical/on-kill fixes and an editorial decision checklist. Historical demo stats and STOVE progression wording retain their earlier review boundary. No client benchmark was performed.

October 6, 2026 additional correction: removed unsupported claims that stacking outperforms spreading upgrades or that particular stat pairs always compound. No released-build comparison or damage formula was measured.

Based on the official Steam store page key features, the STOVE Early Access listing, the pre-release demo interface, and aggregated reviews of the February 2026 demo.

October 6, 2026 update: rechecked the 20-spell / 600-upgrade totals in the official Steam listing and clarified that it does not give a standalone permanent-upgrade count. Historical STOVE wording and demo observations were not newly retested and remain labelled; they are not verified 1.0 values.

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