Forspoken: Best Nails guide — All Nail Design locations

Nails are a type of collectible gear piece in Forspoken. Found all throughout the world of Athia, these items don’t just make Frey look stylish. Rather, they also provide her with several passive buffs. Even better, you could have different picks for your left and right hand to create a decent combination based on your playstyle and elemental spells. Here’s our Forspoken best Nails guide to help you with all the designs and patterns that Frey can equip during the campaign.

Note: For more information, check out our Forspoken guides and features hub.

Forspoken best Nails guide — All Nail Design and Pattern locations

Before we discuss all the Nails in Forspoken, let’s talk about the different ways you’ll acquire them:

• Preorder: Overclock Nails – If you pre-ordered the game on Steam, you’ll receive this design.
• Campaign Progression: Slay, Blue Flash, and Aftershock – There are a few that get unlocked during the campaign:
  • You’ll receive Slay and Blue Flash during Chapter 3. In fact, this is also the means of unlocking the mechanic. As you acquire these two fairly early (as well as Overclock if you pre-ordered), they’ll be your go-to combination until you find better items.
  • Aftershock, meanwhile, is obtained during Chapter 5.
• Abominations: There is an Abomination boss in the four major regions of Athia. They all reward you with some of the best Nails in Forspoken.
• Village Ruins/Locked Labyrinths/Cognoscents’ Guild Towers – These points-of-interest dot the world map. They’ll often involve taking out a group of enemies or a miniboss before you can claim your reward.

Due to the nature of Forspoken‘s campaign, we recommend progressing further so you can hunt more bosses during the story. Each boss gives access to a new region, and defeating them unlocks elemental skill trees, including spells that aid traversal and exploration. These should allow you to eliminate your foes to clear ruins, or just reach those otherwise inaccessible areas.

Moreover ,the aforementioned Abominations are gargantuan monsters that hit extremely hard. Ideally, you’ll only want to battle them once you’ve leveled up and upgraded a bunch of spells. You may also tackle these objectives, including finding all Nails in Forspoken, after beating the final boss. This leads to a post-campaign, open-ended chapter where you can still freely explore the world of Athia.

Screenshot by PC Invasion

Cipal Nail Designs

• Sacred Peaks: On Point – Due west of the Belfry.
  • +5% Frey spell damage; top-level/fully-charged attacks deal more damage.
  • This is one of the best Nails in Forspoken, at least in the early-game when you only have Earth magic until you beat Tanta Sila in Chapter 5.
• Blessed Plains: Clutch – South of the Refuge and east of the Locked Labyrinth.
  • +2% spell damage; potions recover more HP if your health is low.

Screenshot by PC Invasion: Sacred Peaks and Blessed Plains

Praenost Nail Designs

• Guardians’ Way: Dig Deep – In the remnants of a fort close to a Locked Labyrinth.
  • Increases the recharge rate of Surge magic, but lowers all damage by -5%.
• Middle Praenost: Ill – Discovered by defeating the enemy in Kloros Guild.
  • Frey/Earth magic debuffs last longer; +5% Frey spell damage.
• Path of Glory: Ignite – All the way at the southern end of the zone just below the crags.
  • +5% Sila/Fire spell damage; top-level/fully-charged spells can set enemies on fire.
  • Ideally used in conjunction with Passion (mentioned below).
• Fields of the Fallen: Nightshade – Take the southwest exit in Praenost Castle Town and follow the pathway to the east.
  • Top-level/fully-charged attacks can cause poison, but all damage is lowered by -5%.
• Mount Garrison: Passion – Take the southwest exit in Praenost Castle Town and go north. Then, past the Refuge, you’ll see a winding mountain pass and a fort.
  • +5% Sila/Fire spell damage; damage boost depending on how many Sila spells you’ve learned.
  • This is one of the best Nails in Forspoken, especially if you like using Fire Magic.
• Gigas Abomination: Fatale – Take the winding path in Mount Garrison’s northern Refuge and go right at the fork to arrive at this boss’ arena.
  • +2% all spell damage, and you can knock down foes a lot easier based on the number of spells you’ve learned.
  • It’s a viable option so you can drop enemies quicker. Once you’ve unlocked a bunch of magic powers, you’d see hostiles get knocked down more often.

Avoalet Nail Designs

• Water Garden: Blessed – In the ruins in the northern part of the marshlands.
  • +2% all spell damage and improves your critical hit rate.
  • This is a decent pattern if you don’t have anything else that boosts crit.
• Fountainfields: Twisted – Due northwest of the Refuge upon reaching the zone.
  • +5% Sila/Fire spell damage and makes Fire debuffs last longer.
• Untrodden Forest: Amped – In the ruins right next to a Cognoscents’ Guild Tower.
  • +5% Frey/Earth spell damage; increased DPS when there are lots of enemies around.
  • Another great Nail pattern in Forspoken, especially when used in conjunction with On Point.
• Golden Hills: Jet – Far to the north of the zone just past the Refuge.
  • +5% Frey/Earth spell damage; increased Support magic recharge rate.
• Samum Coast: Heavy – On a floating island high above the lake. You can try to pop Shimmy and/or Float just to close the gap before using your Zip grapple. However, you could still end up falling, which can be quite a hassle. To avoid mishaps, you can opt to finish the campaign and beat the final boss so you can acquire the Skip spell. This grants temporary levitation so you can cross gaps easily.
  • +5% Prav/Water spell damage and increased debuff duration.
• The Moulderings: Bounce – In a Cognoscents’ Guild Tower in the northern part of the zone.
  • Potions recover more HP, but all damage is reduced by -5%.
• Deinosuchus Abomination: Spectrum – You’ll have to defeat the Deinosuchus Abomination, a creature that lurks in a lake on top of a mountain.
  • +2% spell damage, and a significant increase to your crit rate depending on the number of spells you’ve learned.
  • Spectrum happens to be one of the best Nails in Forspoken. It’s primarily because of the crit rate increase, which becomes invaluable later in the game.

Visoria Nail Designs

• Shepherd’s Hollow: Grit – Fairly close to the Refuge and Belfry.
  • +2% all spell damage; increased DPS when you’re low on health.
• Visorian Isthmus: Savage – You’ll have to take the northern cliffside path in Humble Plain, whereupon you’ll come across a gatehouse that’s full of Nightmares. After taking them out, you’ll arrive at Visorian Isthmus. The ruins here have your prize.
  • +2% all spell damage, and a general damage increase based on the number of spells you’ve learned.
  • Your ordeal might be worthwhile since Savage is one of the best Nail patterns in Forspoken. It’s essentially a DPS boost that stacks since you’ll learn more spells as you progress.
• Visorian Plateau: Frostbite – At the northernmost tip of the zone, well past the Belfry.
  • +5% Prav/Water spell damage; top-level/fully-charged magic can freeze enemies.
• Inner Visoria: Beaucoup – In the village ruins in the middle of the zone.
  • Gain a boost to Surge recharge rate, but all damage is lowered by -5%.
• Tanta’s Demesne: Lit – From the Visoria Castle Town courtyard, take the southern exit to reach the open fields. Keep going all the way south until you stumble upon the ruins.
  • +2% all spell damage; attack spells do more damage if your Surge is charged.
• Yonder Cape: Flaunt – In the open fields of Tanta’s Demesne, continue going south until you reach Homestead Hills. Use Zip to grapple across the cliffside area to the south. This takes you to another zone, and Yonder Cape is at the very tip.
  • +2% all spell damage, and you gain a further DPS increase if your HP is high.
  • Flaunt is also one of the ideal Nails in Forspoken. As such, you’d want to parkour-dodge often to have 100% uptime.
• Amphicynodon Abomination: Honor – In Southern Plateau, follow the winding river that leads northeast. You’ll enter the lair of this Abomination boss.
  • +5% Prav/Water spell damage, as well as an extra boost based on the number of Prav spells you’ve learned.
  • Honor is one of the best Nail designs in Forspoken, especially if you’re a fan of Prav’s magic powers.

Junoon Nail Designs

To be clear, Junoon is the first region that you’ll visit in Forspoken, as that’s where Frey will end up once she goes through the portal. However, it also has tougher enemy mobs, and most areas can’t be reached unless you’ve acquired traversal spells later in the campaign.

• Physic Garden: Wisdom – In a fort that’s northeast of the Refuge; close to the Wolfwoods/Crosstide Coast border.
  • +5% Olas/Lightning spell damage, and an additional boost depending on the number of Olas spells you’ve learned.
  • Wisdom is a great Nail design for those who like Olas’ magic.
• Blossomwoods: Wired – In the ruins directly south of the castle.
  • +5% Olas/Lightning spell damage; top-level/fully-charged attacks can electrocute.
• Crosstide Coast: Hope – Inside a fort that’s full of Nightmares in the northwestern corner of the zone. If you go through the aforementioned Visorian Isthmus, you’ll end up here as well.
  • +5% Frey/Earth spell damage, and an extra boost based on the number of Frey spells you’ve learned.
  • Hope is the counterpart of other designs like Wisdom, Honor, and Passion, as it’s what you’ll use for Earth magic. This is one of the best Nails in Forspoken if you like using Earth powers.
• Nearcoast Terrace: Tease – On a small landmass in the middle of the river.
  • +5% Olas/Lightning spell damage; debuffs from the element last longer.
• Apsaravis Abomination: Escalate – You’ll need to go through the Farcoast Terrace jumping puzzle and gauntlet. Only then will you arrive at Nowhere, a secluded area of the map. There, you’ll have to kill the Apsaravis Abomination boss for your loot.
  • +2% spell damage, and enables Killer Blows to be chained together as part of a combo.
  • Escalate is also one of the best Nails in Forspoken, making the journey to this secret area and eventual boss fight worth your while. The pattern aids you if you’ve managed to down several mobs via AoE attacks, which means you could annihilate them with ease.

Forspoken is available via Steam.

Related: Who Made Forspoken’s Music? – The Escapist