what spells to learn & when

Since I have seen some posts with questions on character ascension etc ... I through in my ideas on which spells to get and when - hope it helps some of the newbies (and some others too):

Most important spells per craft (beyond level 2):

Sun - Incinerate & Firestorm (Illuminate for one char & artufact of fire as well).

Stone - Meteor, Lightning, Meteorstorm plus at least one char with Armored Realm & one with Artifact of Stone as well as two with Stone to Flesh & YES at least one Lavawalk

Spirit - Healing Realm, Resurrect, Restore Health, Exorcism & Rebirth (one Artifact of Spirit)

Vine - Cure Poison, (Toughen perhaps), Cure

Moon - Iceball, (Invisibility perhaps), and all lvl 5+ spells except perhaps Hands of Time & naturally the Artifact at least once

Fiend - Lifesteal & the Artifact


One note on Artifact spells - let one char learn them all, then you need only once to invest in Blessing/Enchants & can afford to go higher.

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More spells in each craft give you more mana, so it is worth acquiring them, but when?

While you are in the craft learn the highest spells possible and get up to level 7 at least - this will grow later and should reach 8 at some time (else you can buy out the end cheaply which oftenis less than buying a single book). So if you have all lvl 5-7 spells, you are ready to change roles at any time suitable (else you can catch up as warlock or other elite role). My suggestion is to wait with Warlock because all crafts will grow naturally when it that role.

Catch up phases (always Warlock & Zenmaster):

Sun - Samurai

Stone - only Valkyrie (except WL & ZM)

Spirit - Paladin / Monk & Valkyrie

Vine - Ranger

Moon - Bard / Ninja & Assassin

Fiend - WL only even though Bard can buy skill & Assassin

If you have several crafts at level 6+ you can catch up on the lvl 1-3 spells when being any elite role (especially barbarian) & on level 4 spells later in the game (my Assassin ratling leaned the very last spell, a level 4 stone spell, when at level 25).

Stone spells are certainly the most difficult to get up properly because they are only available as Wizzards when starting & then you do not have enough money to always buy the stonecraft level - in my last run I started with 5 wizzards, one went barbarian after level 4 (the above mentioned ratling Assassin) the others staid wizzards to level 9, one reached stonecraft 7 at level 8 (so got both level 7 spells) another reached it at level 9 (only meteorstorm then) and the other two ended with stonecraft 6 at that stage, they all caught up when being warlock later.

And do not forget, you will find some books later in the game AND (for those with plenty gold) spells can be bought, the list of spells which can be bought is as follows (I hope the list is reasonably complete) & the cost is quoted without merchant skill:

All level 1 spells which you do not get as default can be bought at 500 gold.

All level 2 spells can be bought at 1,000 gold with the following exceptions: Venom Bite (Vine), Shadow (Moon) and both Fiend spells [Sleep can be bougth at Magic shop only].

Level 3 spells cost 3,000 gold and you can buy Illuminate (Sun), Armored Realm (Stone), Pry (Vine).

Level 4 are 4,000 a pop and available are Dazzle & Reveal (Sun), Negate Magic (Stone), Heroic Might (Spirit), Toughen & Unbind (Vine), Freeze (Moon at Magic shop) & Dementia (Fiend level 4, not 3 as in manual, in Magic shop)

Now we come to the 5,000 gold level 5 spells: Healing Realm (Spirit), Invisibility (Moon in Magic shop).

Jumping to 10,000 for level 6: Incinerate (Sun), Lavawalk (Stone), Breath of Air & Cure (Vine), Create Portal & Vanish (Moon at Temple), Twisted Master (Fiend at Temple)

and finally 20,000 for level 7: Circle of Fire (Sun) and Call of Home (Moon at Temple).

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So if you want to get all spells - of the non-essential ones, leave the ones you can buy till the Warlock stage, then at level 7 or higher you can buy all those books in the crafts you know (if you haven't learned the spell yet). But remember, it might be cheaper to buy the upgrade to level 8 in a craft than buy a level 4 book.

(Those with horrible amounts of gold can buy the crafts out to level 12 and then learn up to level 6 later.)

What do those artifact spells do anyway?