Deathbound: Tehkri Haodai’s Best Talents

Deathbound: Tehkri Haodai's Best Talents

As a seasoned gamer with over two decades under my belt and countless Soulslikes conquered, I can confidently say that Tehkri Houdai, the Essencemancer in Deathbound, has become one of my favorite characters to play. Initially, his squishiness might give you a heart attack, but once you’ve tasted the power he wields with Memory Points, you’ll be hooked.


In the gritty world of Deathbound, crafted by Trialforge Studio, I, your first mage-like entity, am the Essence you’ll absorb. This Soulslike game presents a unique challenge where you control four Essences simultaneously, all residing within a single body. A depletion in Health Points (HP) of any of these Essences means it’s game over for all of us.

Initially, I found it a tad nerve-wracking to play as Tehkri Houdai, an Essencemancer, in Deathbound because he’s quite fragile and doesn’t have a shield like the default character Therone does. However, I discovered that if you stay alert for Memory Point interactables scattered throughout the world, even one can significantly boost Tehkri Houdai’s power. What’s more, this character is already formidable in the game, but mastering combat really brings out his strength.

Memory Points & Talents

What Are They?

To start, could you explain what Memory Points are and what they serve to unlock? In the game Deathbound, there is a comprehensive skill tree that players can use to increase various attributes. New segments of this tree become accessible as you collect each new Essence.

In addition, each Essence, or character, possesses its unique skill set called Talents. These talents act as enhancements for the character, and activating them requires a single Memory Point per character. Importantly, each Memory Point is associated with an individual Essence, making it challenging to acquire multiple points for one character in quick succession. Now, let’s discuss which Talents of Tehkri Houdai stand out as the most effective.

Tehkri Houdai’s Talents

His Best Talent Options Overall

Name Effect
Composure Haodai’s Morph Strikes have a 40 percent chance of removing 60 Heat.
Bond Boost 25 percent increased Sync gain for 60 seconds after Overheat Explosion for bound Essences.
Aura of Absorption Casting buffs removes the beneficial effects of nearby enemies.
Essence Shield 25 percent chance to gain Heat instead of taking damage.
Symbiosis Killing enemies while buffed grants bonus Sync
Contingency Buffs last longer with more Heat.
Empathy When in Synergy or Conflict, spells have a 20 percent chance of not increasing Heat.

As a die-hard fan, I can’t contain my excitement as Tehkri becomes playable, unlocking all seven of his unique talents at your disposal (granted you have the Memory Points). That said, from my personal gaming experience with Deathbound, I’ve found Composure, Empathy, and Symbiosis to be the most advantageous talents. Here’s why:

  • Composure: 60 Heat is a ton, and you’ll be using Morph Strikes constantly in Deathbound. With this, you can basically get Tehkri to full Heat, Dodge Morph, attack once with another Essence, and then Morph Strike with Haodai to almost completely reset his Heat meter, especially with the right Rings and Artefacts equipped
  • Empathy: The Synergy and Conflict system in Deathbound is by far one of the most creative things this game introduces to the Soulslike genre. You’ll want to have as many Synergies and/or Conflicts active as possible, at all times, and as long as there’s one that involves Tehkri in it, Empathy is basically always active.
  • Symbiosis: Tehkri’s Corruption Enhancement is something you’ll want to be using often with him, as it basically puts the Corruption affliction on the weapons of any Essences you swap to for quite a long time (as long as they use a weapon). However, Haodai didn’t seem to benefit much from this buff at all. But, with Symbiosis, you can not only get bonus Sync getting kills with Haodai, but any character with the buff active will also generate bonus Sync.

Beyond the top three talents, the remaining Talents for Tehkri Haodai are generally average to good. If we were to rank them from least favorable to most, it might look something like this: Aura of Absorption, Bond Boost, Contingency, and Essence Shield.

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2024-08-07 16:44