Under-rated spells

[Cerek]

Originally posted by Q'alooaith: Personaly I like to Dominate the mages instead of the fighters, then lob their own AoE spell's at their own feet, such fun, and just before the charm wears off have them cast an acid arrow into themselves so they can't cast..

That works too. I've done that a few times myself. I just prefer to use the fighter to attack the mage because (1) he will take down the mage's defensive protections, (2) the mage will use up the spells he was going to cast at my party, and (3) the fighter usually kills the mage, but is injured badly enough that one volley of arrows and bullets puts him out of my misery before he can attack after the spell wears off.

But to each their own. There are just as many good reasons to Dominate the mage.

have experimented with the Greater Malision + Emotion + Slow sequencer.

Extremely effective.

In my opinion, mages in the party should fulfill the same roll as priests. Sacrifice trying to dish out damage in favour of helping your warriors kick butt. This usually involves disabling/buffing spells.

Why a direct damage spell, when you can just hold the opponent and have your fighters smack him to pulp?

Even better, just leave them and deal with opposition which is still moving about.

[Andraste]

I find that Web can be surprisingly effective at times. Trolls seem particularly vulnerable to it, but I've even got good usage from it in the final fight with Bodhi.

From what I remember, it doesn't make enemies go hostile. So a just out of sight sorcerer can lob in 5 or 6, then a cloudkill, and then run back to behind the safety of the fighters, who can deal with the enemy as they stager out, one by one - except the trolls hardly ever stagger out, so, with a wand of fireball, the sorcerer can polish the whole group off on her own.

I'm not sure how underrated the spell is, except I rarely see it written about, and it doesn't get onto some people's lists of solo sorcerer picks

[Dundee Slaytern]

Web is highly rated in these areas.

[Link]

Cerek, there's a difference between Ilyich normal version and Ilyich improved version. Maybe you have to indicate what you're talking about better next time. Not everyone knows who Karamazov is, and I bet not everyone wants to know before trying out themselves what the (possible) solution to beating them is.

Just a friendly reminder, nothing bad

[Q'alooaith]

Don't think it's been mentioned yet but..

Hold Undead, a hold spell for the unliving but only for them, not much use I hear you cry..

Well maybe not that great for a sorc pick, but for a wizard it's great since you can in theory learn every spell that you can find a scroll for..

It's a great spell for dissabling undead untill your a high enough level to cast control undead..

Which brings me to control undead, another underated spell IMHO..

there are so many underated spells out there, nearly every spell has it's use, and if used correctly is more effective than all the normal spells you'd cast.

[Magness]

Originally posted by The Mountain Hare: quote: have experimented with the Greater Malision + Emotion + Slow sequencer.

Extremely effective.

In my opinion, mages in the party should fulfill the same roll as priests. Sacrifice trying to dish out damage in favour of helping your warriors kick butt. This usually involves disabling/buffing spells.

Why a direct damage spell, when you can just hold the opponent and have your fighters smack him to pulp?

Even better, just leave them and deal with opposition which is still moving about. [/QUOTE]I wouldn't exactly say favor disabling over direct damage. I put it this way. I like using mage spells that have Mass effects over those that are targetted at a single individual. I generally prefer to let my tanks and archers do the individual targetting.

Some situations favor disabling spells, other situations favor a good nuke.

You are correct about hacking at the opposition who have *not* been disabled over the disabled ones... at least as long as the disabling spell has a reasonably long duration.


BTW, here's a higher level mass disabling spell that's quite useful ... Greater Command. Yes, it's a cleric spell, but it is extremely useful. However, remember that it's a bit like a high powered Sleep spell. Any hit will wake up a "commanded" victim. So it pays to be careful about focusing everyone on a single target at a time, so that you don't wake up the entire mob. Still, it's a very useful spell for knocking out a good chunk of a mob.

I wouldn't exactly say favor disabling over direct damage. Some situations favor disabling spells, other situations favor a good nuke.

Hmmm.

The problem I have with 'nuking' spells is that my party members are often on the receiving end of that 'nuke'.

What's worse is that tough monsters usually survive the nuke, and are still kicking your butt.

On 'insane' difficult, a monster which has been nuked still does 30 damage per hit.
A monster which has been disabled does a whopping ZERO damage.

You are correct about hacking at the opposition who have *not* been disabled over the disabled ones... at least as long as the disabling spell has a reasonably long duration

Of course, that's just common sense.

BTW, here's a higher level mass disabling spell that's quite useful ... Greater Command.

Yah, that is a neat little spell.

Another neat little spell which is neglected is 'Minor Spell Turning' and 'Spell Turning'

And what does everyone think about summoning elemental, and gating fiends?

[solace in fire]

elementals are O.K, but they aren't good to summon in the middle of a battle because it takes so damn long to mentally ensnare them, not to mention theres a chance your mage wont successfully do that. they are better to summon before battle. druids can summon them in the heat of battle, however.

and yeah, the good ol Protection from Evil 10' Radius + Gate combo is always carnage. =)

elementals are O.K, but they aren't good to summon in the middle of a battle because it takes so damn long to mentally ensnare them, not to mention theres a chance your mage wont successfully do that

Yeah, that is a real bitch. Having the Robes of Venca helps with the casting time.

However, the Fire Elemental is darn useful. Immunity to Fire is great for a meat shield, and the fire damage disrupts spell casters.

druids can summon them in the heat of battle, however.

I always summon elementals with my druid. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

and yeah, the good ol Protection from Evil 10' Radius + Gate combo is always carnage. =)

MMMMMM. Gate. Although I personally like the level 8 fiend better. He looks more demonic.