Scrolls: how to combine them and what each element does

Take two Stage 1 scrolls to Kevin the Scholar on the Church’s upper floor, choose his Mixing Magics option and place both in the 2 × 2 grid. The result is a Stage 2 scroll; the order of the two inputs does not matter and two copies of one scroll also combine. Pick any pair in the scroll combiner to see the result and its effect.

Rules for scrolls on a gun

• A gun holds one scroll, even with free slots. The scroll takes one of the slots a gun earns per rank.
• Every scroll adds 1 durability per shot, like an oil. Some also multiply the total: Least Resistance adds +200% durability loss and Toxic Lobotomy +350%. On a gun with a +200% scroll and four counting oils, each shot costs (1 + 5) × 3 = 18 durability.
• Stage 2 scrolls do not combine again. The one Stage 2 result that can, Scroll of Water, is itself a Stage 1 scroll (Embers + Frostbite).
• Removing a scroll at the Baptismal Font also removes its stat changes since 1.0.

The nine Stage 1 scrolls

Fex Shuen sells Stage 1 scrolls in the areas, and they turn up as loot.

Scroll	Effect on hit	Main stat change
Dark	Always blinds; blinded enemies wander and cannot target you	Damage −80%
Earth	20% chance to stun	None
Embers	20% chance to burn for 3 s, 40 fire damage per second; +10 fire damage per bullet (÷8 on 12Ga)	None
Frostbite	Stacks frost; slows, then freezes an enemy solid once frost passes a threshold tied to its missing health	None
Light	Railgun: instant bullets that penetrate everything	RPM −25%, penetration damage −50%
Nature	40% chance to root	None
Plague	25% chance to poison: one tick at once, then 40 damage every 1.5 s for 5 s; reapplying extends it	None
Surge	15% chance to electrocute: interrupts the enemy’s action and deals 60 damage	None
Water	Makes the target wet	Damage −99%, Bullet weight ×5

Frostbite needs damage beside it

Frost slows an enemy more with each stack. When the stacks exceed a threshold based on how much health the enemy has lost, starting at 50% of maximum health, it freezes solid and shatters on the next hit. An enemy at full health cannot be frozen, so Frostbite works on guns that both hit often and deal real damage, such as a high-RPM SMG or a multi-pellet shotgun.

Light and Holy Fire stack their RPM penalty separately

Light’s and Holy Fire’s −25% RPM is applied after your fire-rate oils, not added to them. An oil with +20% RPM on a Light gun gives 1.2 × 0.75 = 0.9 of the base fire rate, not 0.95. In return, railgun bullets travel instantly, so bullet-speed penalties from oils stop mattering.

Popular Stage 2 results

Pair	Result	What it changes
Light + Embers	Holy Fire	Railgun; penetrating hits gain damage after the first target (20% multiplier since 1.0); RPM −25%
Surge + Surge	Chain Lightning	Electrocution jumps between nearby enemies
Embers + Embers	Explosions	Bullets explode on impact; radius scales with bullet size; breaks cracked walls
Embers + Surge	Rocket Launcher	Bullets become rockets that explode
Plague + Surge	Toxic Lobotomy	Railgun; headshot damage +300%; every hit drops an organ; durability loss +350%
Light + Nature	Charm	Small chance to turn the target into an ally
Nature + Surge	Least Resistance	Homing bullets; bullet speed −90%; durability loss +200%
Dark + Dark	Foul Fate	Killed enemies rise to fight for you

All 45 pairings, with sprites, are in the combination chart.

Scrolls added in 1.0

1.0 completed the matrix with five combinations that were blank in Early Access: Snowman Head (Frostbite + Nature), Water Bomb (Nature + Water), Evil Seed (Dark + Water), Mud Ball (Earth + Water) and Teslacold (Frostbite + Surge). The same patch cut Holy Fire’s penetration bonus from 50% to 20%, halved the RPM penalty of Light and Holy Fire from 50% to 25%, and made Holy Purge deal 25% of weapon damage instead of 10%.

Choosing a scroll for a gun

• Shotguns and SMGs: many hits per second favour proc scrolls (Chain Lightning, Frostbite, Plague) and Explosions. Since 1.0, enchantment damage from 12Ga pellets is divided across the pellets, but the chance to proc is still rolled per pellet.
• Rifles and snipers: railgun scrolls (Light, Holy Fire, Thunderbolt, Toxic Lobotomy) remove travel time and let you take heavy damage oils with bullet-speed penalties.
• Crowd control for boss adds: Chain Lightning spreads damage through groups; Charm and Foul Fate make the room fight for you.