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Author Topic: Commonly Useful Spells  (Read 18103 times)

MrSaucy

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Commonly Useful Spells
« on: January 04, 2014, 02:38:20 AM »
I didn't see a thread about this under the "Spells" forum so I thought I would make it. The topic is pretty simple - spells you commonly find useful. And by this I mean spells you tend to use in a variety of spellbooks regardless of which mage you are using. So why not make a list of such spells? It might not be useful for the hardcore players but it could be useful for players who are new to the game.

The majority of these spells are level 1 spells, which definitely plays a role in them being commonly useful.

FROM THE WAR SCHOOL
Ivarium Longbow (Equipment)
Gauntlets of Strength (Equipment)
Retaliate (Enchantment)
Battle Fury (Incantation)
Piercing Strike (Incantation)
Evade (Incantation)

FROM THE HOLY SCHOOL
Divine Might (Enchantment)
Healing Wand (Equipment)
Minor Heal (Incantation)
Heal (Incantation)

FROM THE DARK SCHOOL
Agony (Enchantment)
Maim Wings (Enchantment) - can use Knockdown instead if holy mage

FROM THE ARCANE SCHOOL
Mana Crystal (Conjuration)
Elemental Cloak (Equipment)
Nullify (Enchantment)
Seeking Dispel (Incantation)
Dispel (Incantation)
Teleport (Incantation)

FROM THE MIND SCHOOL
Block (Enchantment)
Force Push (Incantation)
Knockdown (Incantation)

FROM THE NATURE SCHOOL
Tanglevine (Conjuration)
Mana Flower (Conjuration)
Regrowth Belt (Equipment)
Bear Strength (Enchantment)
Hawkeye (Enchantment)
Falcon Precision (Enchantment)
Regrowth (Enchantment)
Mongoose Agility (Enchantment) - can arguably replace Evade in certain spellbooks
Rouse the Beast (Incantation)

FROM EARTH / AIR / WATER / FIRE SCHOOLS
Stormdrake Hide (Air, Equipment)
Jet Stream (Air, Attack)
Dragonscale Hauberk (Fire, Equipment)
Dissolve (Water, Incantation)
Acid Ball (Water, Attack)
Surging Wave (Water, Attack)

Edit on 1/4/14: Mana Prism removed. Mana Flower and Mana Crystal added. Surging Wave added.
Edit on 1/4/14: Retaliate, Jet Stream, Acid Ball, Healing Wand, Mongoose Agility added.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2014, 09:17:13 PM by MrSaucy »
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Aylin

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #1 on: January 04, 2014, 11:09:09 AM »
At the moment I'd run Power Strike over Piercing Strike regardless of book. It's slightly worse if your target has 3+ armour you need to get through, but much better in all other cases. With Zombies, Skeletons, and Plants out there are a lot more creatures with 0 or low armour at the start.

aquestrion

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #2 on: January 04, 2014, 11:24:42 AM »
Drain life/soul, whirling strike, and force crush are pretty good

Aylin

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #3 on: January 04, 2014, 11:58:32 AM »
Drain life/soul, whirling strike, and force crush are pretty good

Drain Soul and Drain Life are Dark Mage only, so wouldn't go on the OP's list.

Force Crush is kinda difficult to put into non-FM books due to the cost. Useful of course, but not to the point that a majority of books would take it at 6.

Also, I find Battle Fury to be much better than Whirling Strike. It's cheaper, you can get the same effect out of Battle Fury if the creature has a Sweeping Attack, and you can use it to apply more pain to one creature/object.

Kroko

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #4 on: January 04, 2014, 12:37:57 PM »
Quote
Divine Might (Enchantment)
For now it's not worth much. Whirling Spirit and Gray Wraith are only Incorporal monster for now

Quote
Mana Prism (Conjuration)
Again not worth to put in spellbook, very situational spell. Good only against mana control Wizard


Kharhaz

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #5 on: January 04, 2014, 01:00:10 PM »
Retaliate
(could be the most underrated card but one of the golden oldies)

Surging Wave!!!!!
(stay tuned for the for the cast I explain why)


I usually don't run any of the heal / minor heals. The only argument i find myself debating is healing charm.


Quote
Divine Might (Enchantment)
For now it's not worth much. Whirling Spirit and Gray Wraith are only Incorporal monster for now


The Invisible stalker goes in that list also.

Then there are the Incorporeal conjurations such as mana siphon, poison gas cloud, Pentagram, Fog bank, and wall of fire. (might have forgotten a few)

It is definitely a card that I have no doubt will be more useful later than it is currently


MrSaucy

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #6 on: January 04, 2014, 02:41:30 PM »
Quote
Divine Might (Enchantment)
For now it's not worth much. Whirling Spirit and Gray Wraith are only Incorporal monster for now

Quote
Mana Prism (Conjuration)
Again not worth to put in spellbook, very situational spell. Good only against mana control Wizard

I expect Divine Might to become more important as more incorporeal creatures are added to the game. Whirling Spirit, Gray Wraith, and Invisible Stalker are still quite difficult to kill without ethereal attacks though.

I have removed Mana Prism. I originally included it because I mistakenly thought it worked on removal costs for condition markers.

@Kharhaz I am on the fence about including Retaliate on this list. I need to use more Retaliate in more spellbooks before I can make that decision. Surging Wave is a good suggestion though. Didn't think about that. It is cheap, ranges 0-2, unavoidable, puts out burn conditions, and has ~83% chance of Slam. The only thing I dislike about it is that it can't target flyers.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2014, 02:49:31 PM by MrSaucy »
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aquestrion

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #7 on: January 04, 2014, 03:04:41 PM »
I don't think teleport is such a staple at 4 let alone 8 if u use 2 copy but its not like we have ever agreed on anything that's what opinions are for

MrSaucy

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #8 on: January 04, 2014, 03:10:28 PM »
I don't think teleport is such a staple at 4 let alone 8 if u use 2 copy but its not like we have ever agreed on anything that's what opinions are for

Playing as Warlord? 0 Teleport
Playing as Arcane Mage? 2 Teleport
Playing as something else? 1-2 Teleport if and only if you have spare points.

Teleport is useful for wiggling your way out of Tanglevines, ignoring walls entirely, punishing/containing enemy creatures (especially the slow ones), and putting the opponent's mage in an uncomfortable position. Teleport is by no meas mandatory, but it is certainly useful in a variety of circumstances.

« Last Edit: January 04, 2014, 03:17:53 PM by MrSaucy »
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baronzaltor

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #9 on: January 04, 2014, 03:20:53 PM »
Quote
Divine Might (Enchantment)
For now it's not worth much. Whirling Spirit and Gray Wraith are only Incorporal monster for now

Quote
Mana Prism (Conjuration)
Again not worth to put in spellbook, very situational spell. Good only against mana control Wizard

I expect Divine Might to become more important as more incorporeal creatures are added to the game. Whirling Spirit, Gray Wraith, and Invisible Stalker are still quite difficult to kill without ethereal attacks though.

I have removed Mana Prism. I originally included it because I mistakenly thought it worked on removal costs for condition markers.

@Kharhaz I am on the fence about including Retaliate on this list. I need to use more Retaliate in more spellbooks before I can make that decision. Surging Wave is a good suggestion though. Didn't think about that. It is cheap, ranges 0-2, unavoidable, puts out burn conditions, and has ~83% chance of Slam. The only thing I dislike about it is that it can't target flyers.

Retaliate is a really strong card, especially since the Battle Fury errata.

Its good because its not a mandatory reveal (so you can actually choose when you get your second attack)
And, like Battle Fury used to be ruled, its a new attack and not an "additional strike".. so you get full damage from melee+X, Vampirism, and other buffs.  With good timing, you can reveal it the same round as you Battle Fury and can squeeze a third attack out of yourself or a creature (assuming you or that creature is being attacked.)

Surging Wave's high Slam chance is reliable enough that I usually run it instead of Knockdown in most cases.   

Jet Stream is also a strong contender as a generally useful card, very high Push chance plus damageā€¦ if you are pushing a target through a passage attack walls you don't have to pay extra mana for the effect like you would with Push, Bash or Wave.  So in that case its not only cheaper but you also get the Jet Stream Damage on top of the Wall damage. (Plus its etherial and gets even more damage against Flying targets. )

The problem with Divine Might is that, by the same reasoning that they will add more incorporeal objects.. they will also continue to add Etherial attack spells and creatures with Etherial attacks, or weapons that do Etherial damage, all of which makes the card unneeded in most cases.  I generally have enough Etherial damage on hand passively just from Attack spells/weapon choice/creatures already present in the spell book.   
« Last Edit: January 04, 2014, 03:27:00 PM by baronzaltor »

Aylin

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #10 on: January 04, 2014, 03:25:03 PM »
It's actually Mana Flower, not Mana Plant.

You're also missing Mongoose Agility (permanent Evade), Acid Ball (softening up big targets/killing zombies), and Healing Wand (removing conditions) to name a few.

baronzaltor

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #11 on: January 04, 2014, 03:30:08 PM »
Id also mention Enchanter's Ring.  If you cast more than 2 friendly Enchantments it pays for itself.  It is not mage specific and can double dip discounts from Ring of Command, Force Ring, and so on if those Enchantments type up with the other.

Also, its one of the few examples of "OR" cards.. letting you be trained in it from two different schools to make it more open for spell book inclusion.  (Id like to see more "X or Y" style trainings in the future on spells.)

MrSaucy

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #12 on: January 04, 2014, 09:10:11 PM »
Great suggestions from everybody.  :)

If we get enough additional ethereal attacks from future expansions I will remove Divine Might from the list. For now I think I'll keep it.

I thought about adding Power Strike but Battle Fury seems like a better choice anyways, especially since Battle Fury still only costs 1 spellpoint.

I am not sold on Enchanter's Ring, though I have never used it to be honest.
« Last Edit: January 04, 2014, 09:28:08 PM by MrSaucy »
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ringkichard

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #13 on: January 04, 2014, 09:42:57 PM »
Playing as Warlord? 0 Teleport
Playing as Arcane Mage? 2 Teleport
Playing as something else? 1-2 Teleport if and only if you have spare points.

Man, do we disagree on this one. My Warlord books have 2 teleports, and it goes up from there.
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Aylin

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Re: Commonly Useful Spells
« Reply #14 on: January 04, 2014, 10:14:18 PM »
Playing as Warlord? 0 Teleport
Playing as Arcane Mage? 2 Teleport
Playing as something else? 1-2 Teleport if and only if you have spare points.

Man, do we disagree on this one. My Warlord books have 2 teleports, and it goes up from there.

I spend at least 8 points on Teleports, regardless of mage. 12 or 16 if I can afford it.