Looking for PoP Spell Recommendations

[Inkblack]

I've been experimenting trying to come up with some good spell setups for PoP, and would like some ideas.

Here's what I use currently, but about the only thing I am unwilling to give up is Symbol of Fear:

Buffs: GH, Blur, and Resists plus Haste throughout the quest
Ramps: a very few Mass Hold, Hold Monster, Finger of Death, or Flesh to Stone
Inevitable: Firewall
Fire: Symbol of Fear, sparingly cast Finger of Death
Air: Symbol of Fear, Disco Ball, sparingly cast Finger of Death
Vampire: Flesh to Stone
Cold: Symbol of Fear, maybe a Firewall or Scorching Rays
Marilith: ???
Beholder: Web, Finger of Death
Boss: Symbol of Fear + ???, Groups say Wall of Fire, but it seems to do minimal damage even when empowered (don't have maximize). I also use Scorching Rays and Fireball in a Fire spec setup.

Any suggestions on what I can do to improve? What spells do you like to use?

Cheers,
Ink

[Vienemen]

maybe jump, & stoneskin for buffs

PK to cycle with FoD...depends on how much you need to kill for ramps

Inevitable: could add disintegrate
Fire: could try fear in place of the symbol, but same effect
Air: I FoD the air elementals asap
Vampire: try some webs if saves vs the flesh to stone in between casts
Cold: Fear works well in here too (if spreading them out isnt a problem)
Marilith: not sure if I should tell you what spells could work, or to do what we do and let someone vorpal her. Firewall with some metamagic should bypass enough of her resistance. debuffs are always a possiblity...ray of enfeeblement, curse, exhaustion, crushing despair, symbol of pain, fear (for shaken effect).
Beholder: cloudkill, but behind those other two
Boss: I usually cycle firewall, disintegrate, and scorching rays all max empowered

end note, the spells you listed should be able to get the job done. Missing both dmg enhancements will give you trouble bypassing some resistances. I know symbols can be cast prior to closing the planar gates and its prob why you selected them but the fear spell imo is slightly more effective (placement, positional, casting time etc).

[sigtrent]

I guess I'm not too creative with POP...

#1. FOD for everything that isn't a red name, most noteably the hallway, the elementals and the beholder/mindflayers

#2. Firewall for the end boss, skeleton, undead, vampire, marrut (at least maximized or its not too effective)

#3. Scorching ray for the end boss and vampire.

#4. Resists & Protects and other buffs as are handy

#5. Disintegrate for merelith and marrut and whatever else is resistant to scorching ray.

That tends to about cover it.. It partly depends on what your party is like. Vorpal works fine on the vampire and mereleth and many melee characters can handle the marrut, hallway, beholders etc... the elemental rooms are often rough on the melee characters but if you just CC a few of the critters it goes fine.

[isldur]

Ran pop last night after long boycott (loot weekend runs over and over lol) end boss seemed to have fire resist up. Fire wall and scorching ray was doing yellow numbers. I cycle through a few spells and lighting bolt seemed to do the most damage with all red numbers.

[KaKa]

you can FOD the maralith also

[turkeymoon]

Buffs: GH, Blur, and Resists plus Haste throughout the quest

Jump for self preservation


Ramps: a very few Mass Hold, Hold Monster, Finger of Death, or Flesh to Stone
Inevitable: Firewall

PK, Hold Monster, Flesh to Stone, FoD


Fire: Symbol of Fear, sparingly cast Finger of Death

Cone of Cold and Acid Fog


Air: Symbol of Fear, Disco Ball, sparingly cast Finger of Death

CC, firewall, and Acid Fog



Vampire: Flesh to Stone

Firewall and Scorching ray


Cold: Symbol of Fear, maybe a Firewall or Scorching Rays

Acid Fog, firewall, and scorching ray


Marilith: ???

Firewall


Beholder: Web, Finger of Death

FoD, PK, and flesh to stone


Boss: Symbol of Fear + ???, Groups say Wall of Fire, but it seems to do minimal damage even when empowered (don't have maximize). I also use Scorching Rays and Fireball in a Fire spec setup.

Firewall, Acid Fog, and scorching ray

Those are pretty much the top spells I use and haven't ran into a situation where I had to deviate from it.
De-Flamer
Yes, I'm addicted to Acid Fog.

[Rameses]

I've been experimenting trying to come up with some good spell setups for PoP, and would like some ideas.

Here's what I use currently, but about the only thing I am unwilling to give up is Symbol of Fear:


Buffs: GH, Blur, and Resists plus Haste throughout the quest
I give everyone Jump (It's my thing.)


Ramps: a very few Mass Hold, Hold Monster, Finger of Death, or Flesh to Stone
PK & FoD that's all.... one haste.


Inevitable: Firewall
be sure to have haste, diplacement and jump... max/empower/extend Wall of Fire...


Fire: Symbol of Fear, sparingly cast Finger of Death
SoF and PK is cheaper in the long run.... spread thickly.


Air: Symbol of Fear, Disco Ball, sparingly cast Finger of Death
lose the ball SoF in the middle of the room, PK everything use enervation if need be.


Vampire: Flesh to Stone
If you have the CON for it... Haste, Displace (possible Jump) Max/Empower/Extend Wall of Fire and break out your Tower Shield for Blocking in the Wall of Fire.


Cold: Symbol of Fear, maybe a Firewall or Scorching Rays
SoF and Pk... everything is resistant to Fire in here so don't waste SP on Fire Spells


Marilith: ???
easiest room... Displace, Haste the fighters and pull the lever.


Beholder: Web, Finger of Death
forget web. SoF in the middle... Jump up on the rocks... PK, FoD to your hearts content. If things get bad due to saves.... Feeblemind Kardin.


Boss: Symbol of Fear + ???, Groups say Wall of Fire, but it seems to do minimal damage even when empowered (don't have maximize). I also use Scorching Rays and Fireball in a Fire spec setup.
give out Cold and Fire Resists, GH, Blur and Haste to all. Adding Displace and Jump for you. Max/Empower/extend Wall of Fire.
Sit back and enjoy the BBQ.


Any suggestions on what I can do to improve? What spells do you like to use?

Cheers,
Ink

this is my way.... it works for me... hope it helps.

I am, Rameses!

[sigtrent]

Ran pop last night after long boycott (loot weekend runs over and over lol) end boss seemed to have fire resist up. Fire wall and scorching ray was doing yellow numbers. I cycle through a few spells and lighting bolt seemed to do the most damage with all red numbers.

The thing is.. even if someone has a 30pt resist, but you have a superior potencey, high crit, and enhancement for what the resist is against... you will still do more damage than an element you arn't specced out for.

Now if you don't have any damage enhancements then it works out, but since most casters do, then resists are largely irrelivent at higher levels.

[Locathus]

Ramps: a very few Mass Hold, Hold Monster, Finger of Death, or Flesh to Stone

I use Hold Person instead of Hold Monster - costs less.


Air: Symbol of Fear, Disco Ball, sparingly cast Finger of Death

I would use FoD more than sparingly here - air elementals are just nasty for the melee. One you get those down, you can pretty much do whatever.


Vampire: Flesh to Stone

Another Firewall room for me - melee can usually take out the vampire without a problem (since everyone has a vorpal now), but waiting for the shadows to pop is boring and takes forever.


Marilith: ???

The melees can usually handle the Marilith - I prefer to take out the lions she hangs out with. FoD works, and I think I've used FtS before.


Boss: Symbol of Fear + ???, Groups say Wall of Fire, but it seems to do minimal damage even when empowered (don't have maximize). I also use Scorching Rays and Fireball in a Fire spec setup.

Scorching Ray is still probably #1 here. I will also toss some Disintegrates his way - sort of like beating down the Titan. I also like the Disco Ball to keep the peripheral stuff to a minimum.

That's about it - good luck....
.

[Rameses]

You know we didn't even dicuss the "Gatewarden" or whatever that Giant Skellie is called.

I myself throw a Extended/Max/Empowered Wall of Fire diagonally towards the door, but still fully in the room. Then I exit the room.
I generally hit for about 190 damage on the first few hits and by this point if he hasn't been Disrupted, the melees will not take any damage because I have it's aggro. And burns away.

I am, Rameses!

[crimsonretribution]

I didn't read this whole thread, so if other people suggested the same stuff, just slap me.

Ramps: I alternate between PK and FoD, PK is less mana than FTS, and it saves a little time, you shouldn't have much of an issue with saves if your INT is 30+

Inevitable: Wall of Fire

Fire: Mephits can be hit with banishment quite well, I find that spell to be extremely useful (Reaver, PoP, Queen Prep, just to name a few quests that are easier with the spell)

Air: The trick to this room is to unload on the Air Elementals to get them down as fast as possible. I'd suggest Banishment, FoD, and PK. Just keep spamming the three until it works

Vampire: FTS/Wall of Fire

Cold: Fire spells don't do extra damage in this room because of the special effects for the room. Because of that, you might be better off with a few banishments (mana isn't usually much of an issue in PoP)

Marilith: Enervation OWNS the Marilith. I almost always keep that spell loaded for bosses that I can't one-shot (and aren't immune to energy drain). If the melees are having trouble, after maybe 2-3 successful Enervations she can be PK/FoD'd pretty easily as well. The Jariliths can be Banished pretty easily as well (notice how Banishment has many uses :p)

Beholder: FoD/PK/FTS. I'm usually more concerned with getting the mindflayers down as opposed to the beholder, but I might just be completely stupid

Boss: Just throw down Wall of Fire after Wall of Fire (if you have the mana max/emp/xtd them as well), if you have a shield, use it and turtle up behind it.

[Xyfiel]

Ran pop last night after long boycott (loot weekend runs over and over lol) end boss seemed to have fire resist up. Fire wall and scorching ray was doing yellow numbers. I cycle through a few spells and lighting bolt seemed to do the most damage with all red numbers.

If he spawned the ice plane, then by nature it lowers fire effects. It is why I stopped using firewall in the ice room, and go with fear instead. You have to look at what plane he spawns and adjust accordingly.

[geoffhanna]

Ran pop last night after long boycott (loot weekend runs over and over lol) end boss seemed to have fire resist up. Fire wall and scorching ray was doing yellow numbers. I cycle through a few spells and lighting bolt seemed to do the most damage with all red numbers.

Yes! I am not the only one who noticed!

I put up a FW, takes care of the various summons. But I hit the WF with Lightning Bolt/Ball Lightning/Chain Lightning one after the other as fast as the cooldowns let me. Usually he dies before I run out of mana but its close :)

[BigBadBarry]

In terms of the ramps...

I'm a fan of Dominate Person in PoP - I use it on all the fighter/archers and FoD and FtS the casters.

Then by the time I get to the Rakasha I let the army take them on.

Sure it's a little slower...but I usually clear the ramps whilst everyone else is selling/repairing.

The trick/challenge, IMHO, is to get through as much as you can as fast as you can without ever taking the soft option of recalling for mana...and I find charming the most efficient way personally of clearing.

[Inkblack]

Thanks for the many replies -- I'll have to try out your suggestions and try to integrate it with my style. Definitely more than a few good ideas. Thanks!

Cheers,
Ink

[MrWizard]

I usually just charm a lot to the skelly....brind the charms in to the skelly, firewall the skelly.
Bring the charmed to the marut, charm or stone the undead depending on what spawned.

Use firewall on the marut....and the wights...or slowly kill the charmed undead as they break...unless group is good then I just leave them be.

Fire- pk/fod and enervate..stone if I feel goofy.

Wind- enervate, pk/fod, even stone the main dude.

Cold- stone and pk...enervate the main guy once or twice then stone him...or pk everything (fod too)

Vampire- stone the guy then massive firewall and then become jumping bean

Law room- I sneak in, cast blur and invisible....I wear my acid robe and have a reaver ring on...I sneak to the main guy and unless I get really lucky he usually will not talk to me because I am not lawful.

Marlith- enervate, stone or pk....badaboom badabing

Beholder- stone stone stone...then firewall...

End guy- usually do any damage I can..acid and cold work better than fire....but I usually throw firewall for the noobs in the group to feel better about themselves...don't use elec but I bet he has no res for it...Charm a lot of the extras, stone the mindflayers....just have fun and kill him..

[Riddikulus]

You know we didn't even dicuss the "Gatewarden" or whatever that Giant Skellie is called.

I myself throw a Extended/Max/Empowered Wall of Fire diagonally towards the door, but still fully in the room. Then I exit the room.
I generally hit for about 190 damage on the first few hits and by this point if he hasn't been Disrupted, the melees will not take any damage because I have it's aggro. And burns away.

I am, Rameses!
For the Giant Skelly I simply fire off a heightened web in the middle of the room. Almost without fail he becomes entangled and is then easy fodder for the disruptor crowd.

It also works well on the Skellys in Madstone Crater.

[Mad_Bombardier]

For the Giant Skelly I simply fire off a heightened web in the middle of the room. Almost without fail he becomes entangled and is then easy fodder for the disruptor crowd.

It also works well on the Skellys in Madstone Crater.No need for Heighten. His reflex save is so poor, he'll get caught anyway. If he somehow makes a save, drag him back across the web.