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Hi all, I'm rearrenging my lvl 12 Air Sorc. He simple have way too many spell that do the same things (chain lighting/balllighting...etc). I need to re organize his spell list, rely on more of lower lvl spell with item boost, and free up higher lvl spell for group support. But as you all know, spell swap with sorc will take weeks. So I'm interesting what spells you guy have on your spell list?
Don't forget post your lvl and prestige class.
Thanks all.
I bet you havn't played Wiz yet :p
It's always good to have many spells that belongs to the same school, that's what a Sorc for: Nuking.
You can take Blood of Dragon for 75 favor from AA, will let you swap spell freely for an hour.
in my opinion as mostly Wizard characters...Quote:
Originally Posted by oldnoob
Chain Lightning just is not a good spell at all, and Ball Lightning is better. it's a matter of comparison: Chain Lightning's spell level costs, damage behavior, and other spells competing for its slot. Lightning Bolt, though, is definitely worth its slot even if you have Ball Lightning (different Area shapes, spell costs, and now Bolt has a chance to double-hit!).
as for non-nukes, it depends a lot upon what you use your Sorc to do, and how you play him/her. what race is s/he? do you raid often, or solo, or pug? do you farm particular stuff frequently? are you concerned with roleplaying "flavor" or "challenge mode" restrictions? what kind of money/gear do you have? do you group frequently with specific players whose abilities you can rely upon to perform certain tasks for you?
That is the first time I've ever heard anyone say that.Quote:
Chain Lightning just is not a good spell at all, and Ball Lightning is better. it's a matter of comparison: Chain Lightning's spell level costs, damage behavior, and other spells competing for its slot. Lightning Bolt, though, is definitely worth its slot even if you have Ball Lightning (different Area shapes, spell costs, and now Bolt has a chance to double-hit!).
First, there is no slot competition because one is level 6 and one is level 5, and there are no other electric spells after level 6. The cost is only a difference of 5 SP, and since Ball Lightning is a lower level spell, that will cost more to heighten than Chain Lightning.
Ball Lightning is limited to the area it hits, and is basically an electric version of Fireball, so I cant see how these two spells even compare. Chain Lightning has a wider range, and will even hit enemies out of the usual area of effect.
Ball Lightning caps at level 15; Chain Lightning caps at level 20.
The only reason to think Chain Lightning is not as good if if you want to not hit as many things at once, and do 5 spells levels less damage.
Ball lightning and chain lightning don't compete for the same spell slot, but 6th level spells are tighter for sorcs than 5th level spells, so it's a tougher call for chain lightning. Also, the mechanics of chain lightning are very, very buggy. On my air savant, if I need to take out a group of mobs quickly, I will always go with otiluke's freezing sphere over chain lightning, since it is more consistent and thus more reliable.Quote:
Originally Posted by soulaeon
I did not see any problems that were not also with any other ranged spell. Are you not jumping and zapping? Sometimes a straight line of sight is not there due to the crappy physics in this game.Quote:
Ball lightning and chain lightning don't compete for the same spell slot, but 6th level spells are tighter for sorcs than 5th level spells, so it's a tougher call for chain lightning. Also, the mechanics of chain lightning are very, very buggy. On my air savant, if I need to take out a group of mobs quickly, I will always go with otiluke's freezing sphere over chain lightning, since it is more consistent and thus more reliable.
More often than not, when I shoot a chain lightning at one monster in a group, it only hits that one monster. When I shoot a ball lightning or freezing sphere, it hits everything.Quote:
Originally Posted by soulaeon
Your mileage may vary. /shrug
My Water Savant's current spell list:
http://i.imgur.com/02koS.jpg
yep pretty much the same as the top with a few exceptions.
Ive mixed feelings about chain lightning. Sometimes it just nails everything in the room, other times it slips out somewhere.
However I still keep it with all of lightning mainly for the mass nuke affect of burning a mob like a skelly down quick.
It's good for those situations where all hells breaking loose because some nub dragged 10 extra things into the fray. Then you just spam that and ball of lightning.
Other then that I have cone of cold and the sphere cold thing since both come in handy again when things get hairy in sudden close combat.
Other then those and the sla's (for either lightning or ice) I don't really use the others unless it's situational. Ice storm gets cast alot, I still use wall of fire for dependable quick dmg up high.
After that it's just spells that benefit me. Blur and displacement for most any situation.
Resist energy and protection from energy (later elements switch) just for trap walking.
Stoneskin to survive, knock for not needed a halfling, jump for just pure awesomeness getting on ledges, detect door for convenience, expeditious retreat to always have run speed, haste to outrun mobs in slayer (trust me if it didn't benefit me in some way it wouldn't be there lol, as I don't like the after effects of rage and don't particularly care it ain't there.)
Ddoor for lava rescue missions and easier then climbing a ton of effen stairs. Teleport for never having to fun almost anywhere again (ya just me, the groups outa luck haha) And after that it's just some cc ****. disco ball, irresistible dance, finger of death, mass hold monster, **** like that for when it's needed.
Oh and the 2 dots niacs and eldars. It's always nice to cast those 2 and then jump back behind a pillar while it dot's a boss, especially a **** beholder.
My Water Savant's current spell list:
lvl
1: jump, nightshield, acid spray, tumble
2: web(earlier i had false life which is better with wand), blur,knock,resist
3: haste,rage.displacement, frost lance(have to change it when i have PrE)
4: flame sheild(i use cold version), enervation, dim door, ice strom
5: cloud kill, break enchantment, cone of cold, dismissal
6: GH, Otluke, reconstruct (earlier had mass suggestion), disintegrate
7: banish, otto, finger, control undead(have to change)
8: polar, wilting, sunburst, death mark
9: summon, dominate (rest i will change when i figure out what to take)
EDIT: I fail to see what mark of death does. Does it decreases the lvl/stat of mobs like energy drain/enervation? Because when I use it, that is the animation I see. Is wilting useful? I tried it but couldnt get it to work so changed it to death mark.
Level 1: Expeditious Retreat; Shield; Jump; Protection from Evil
Level 2: Blur; Resist Energy; Web; Knock
Level 3: Haste; Rage; Sleet Storm; Displacement
Level 4: Ice Storm; Solid Fog; Dimension Door; Fire Shield
Level 5: Eladar’s Electric Surge; Cyclonic Blast; Teleport; Protection from Elements
Level 6: Chain Lightning; Circle of Death; Greater Heroism
Level 7: (Blind or Dancing Sphere); Waves of Exhaustion; Finger of Death
Level 8: Otto’s Irrisistable Dance; Summon Monster IIX; Polar Ray
Level 9: Meteor Swarm; Mass Hold Monster; Dominate Monster
Here's what I'd run on any sorcerer at all:
Level 1: Expeditious Retreat, Jump, Nightshield, Protection from Evil
Level 2: Blur, Resist Energy, Web, Knock
Level 3: Haste, Rage, Displacement, open
Level 4: Dimension Door, open, open, open (see below)
Level 5: Eladar’s Electric Surge; Niac's Biting Cold, Cloudkill, open
Level 6: open, open, open
Level 7: Finger of Death, Otto's Sphere of Dancing, Waves of Exhaustion
Level 8: Otto’s Irresistible Dance, Polar Ray, (Summon VIII or PW: Stun)
Level 9: Wail of the Banshee, Mass Hold Monster, probably Energy Drain
Level 4: there are just too many good choices here for me to say that any given spell is "wrong". Dimension Door I always keep because you can't buy scrolls, but I like Ice Storm, Solid Fog, Crushing Despair, and Enervation, too. But there's plenty of other good options, like Fire Shield. It's a tough level.
Level 6: also too many good spells for me to have definitive selections. If you can scroll GH, great. If you're WF, definitely carry Recon. Otherwise, it's your call. Chain Lightning, Otilukes, Circle of Death, Disintegrate, are all solid choices. Again, one of the toughest levels to nail down.
I skip SM VIII personally because I have so many air elemental gems, but others may not have that luxury. Conversely, I like Energy Drain at 9th, because it opens up a 4th level slot that would have to go to Enervation otherwise.
A note on damage spells: you'll probably want two or three out of: Chain Lightning, Ball Lightning, Otiluke's Freezing Sphere, and Cone of Cold. Certainly not all of them, but having at least two AoE spells is very helpful.
I'm assuming that any end game savant will be Water or Air, because of Eladar's/Niac's.
Tag for later as my wiz levels I know which spells are good!
as one that has a capped air savant, I've always valued chain lightning over ball lighting since they fixed the spell. Chain lightning crits for well over 2k on multiple opponents, and always registers more damage than a ball lightning.
That being said, in shroud/tod or any other heavy nuking fight I alternate between ball/chain/eladars/lightning bolt.
During the level up process I would keep disintigrate over chain lightning for a few things in the level 12 range (wiz king is immune to lightning and any spell below 4th). Around 16ish i would swap it back in tho.
Why both haste and expeditious? You would be hasting melee anyways, so you dont need retreat. And retreat can be compensated by striding. Also sorcerer have excess SP anyways.Quote:
Originally Posted by GotSomeQuestions
Scrolling GH I found to be theoretically excellent but a failed idea. I really want to know if someone actually does it and is not bothered about it. Although when I was running amrath runs I kept GH as scrolls for other quests as amrath doesnt need GH. But that is really annoying so i swapped.
However except for lvl 2 spells, I wont say any spell is fixed. It just depends on what you are doing. FoD needs enervation or energy drain. Energy drain has slower animation.
Similarly, polar ray has no save. If you are water then yay!!
sphere of dancing is good in many situations (kobolds in fire and acid in twelve cave in end). Summons can be scrolled (lvl 7 summons) No need to waste a spell slot. And take a summon which makes the enemies fall... air preferably.
In the end my advise:
After the U9, the spell slots are no longer set in stone. Just take spells you like. However make sure they dont give you problems of targeting etc or other bug.
For the same reason one has Blur and Displacement. One lasts longer, and costs less to maintain, especially if all you want to do is move faster.Quote:
Why both haste and expeditious? You would be hasting melee anyways, so you dont need retreat. And retreat can be compensated by striding. Also sorcerer have excess SP anyways.
Scrolling GH I found to be theoretically excellent but a failed idea. I really want to know if someone actually does it and is not bothered about it. Although when I was running amrath runs I kept GH as scrolls for other quests as amrath doesnt need GH. But that is really annoying so i swapped.
How long have you played a sorcerer or a wizard? The air elemental is level 8, and a lot of us use it.Quote:
Summons can be scrolled (lvl 7 summons) No need to waste a spell slot. And take a summon which makes the enemies fall... air preferably.
Yes but there is another air summon at level 6 i think?? lvl 8 scrolls are not available iirc so using that lvl 6 air hurricane would work... summons die soon anywayz. air thingies escape the hits by making trash mobs fall. And for ice sorcerer, lvl 7 fire genie is good when fighting with ice mobs like frost giants ... though summons are useless there as those have high hp. Truthfully only summon I found worthwhile was mummy lord during mid level quests. But its too costly.Quote:
Originally Posted by soulaeon
About retreat and haste I just asked out of curiosity... i thought i was missing something.
Yes blur and displacement used to stack earlier i think but now its not so. However there is a big difference. Retreat is cast on self only while blur can be cast on others. In fact I still keep blur for clerics and all for most situations as displacement wont last long. It is not for self as sorcerers cast quickly.
Also retreat can be used as wand better as it is not that critical. I mean blur can be dispelled and would be a problem, so having high caster level on it helps, but retreat getting dispelled shouldn't matter.
Also you put them on your list like it was crucial so I was curious... I dont understand why it is crucial. Shouldnt that slot for retreat be open; unless you dont want to carry haste for some reason?
EDIT: oh! and I missed a comment. Haven't played for too long but I think long enough to know the spells :p
A few spells still confuse me... they sound very good but I cant get them to work. But these common spells of summon and retreat etc. are not among them.
I take Expeditious Retreat at level one, and I don't look back. Walking slowly is just too painful. It's a cheap, easy buff that saves an item slot. And there's very, very little competition at level 1. You could drop it, but I really like having boots as a swappable item slot, for stuff like Firestorm Greaves when needed.Quote:
Originally Posted by Oracle_Gil
Haste is obviously essential for party play, but with a duration of only 1 minute at mid-levels (2 minutes at cap), it can be tough to keep it running constantly, especially since I solo a lot. And having both up is excellent when facing enemy casters that try to dispel me, because it's double the odds that I retain my fast movement (which I need, to survive).
And the Air Elemental summons from Summon VIII are insane. They dominate many quests in a way that no other spell can. If there's an easy button in this game, its name is "Greater Gem of Ocean's Winds".
Also if you can confirm if there is another air elemental like lvl 8 summon which does same exact thing... because I remember using it. I like that one because it dies quickly and does not linger long to mess up my strategy when I am grouping my mobs. But I forgot which lvl it is. Is it just the genie who rotates and make people fall? Or is there another elemental who is called lesser air elemental which we summon?Quote:
Originally Posted by GotSomeQuestions
*racking brains*
Air savant:
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/6103/sorcspell.jpg
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