Another spell advice?

[shagath]

Nuker: What are your most used spells after level 16? Content is way different than before. I myself use DBF, web, wall of fire, scorching ray(would also use polar ray but don't have any boosts for it), disintegrate, ice lance and cone of cold. Gonna pick dismissal or banishment today, perhaps dismissal as I hate chain lightning.

Any suggestions? Wall of Fire at least is getting a bit old(and used).

I left out protective spells as I'm pretty sure I have the right ones.

[xtchizobr]

Nuker: What are your most used spells after level 16? Content is way different than before. I myself use DBF, web, wall of fire, scorching ray(would also use polar ray but don't have any boosts for it), disintegrate, ice lance and cone of cold. Gonna pick dismissal or banishment today, perhaps dismissal as I hate chain lightning.

Any suggestions? Wall of Fire at least is getting a bit old(and used).

I left out protective spells as I'm pretty sure I have the right ones.

Wail of the Banshee and Finger of Death are basically the ultimately efficient killers around that level, but as a sorc you'd have to wait till level 18 for Wail, and things quickly gain immunity to death effects around then. Disintegrate. you may want to pick up Chain Lightning anyway since the fix as stuff is growing immune to fire around your level and higher.

you seem to have plenty plenty of nukes anyway... you might consider offloading some of them since you don't need them all.

i can't recommend Banishment/Dismissal for the high teens because of the inflation rate of hit die.

may i suggest that you begin changing your spell list toward effects which don't allow a save and/or have unresisted energy types? the almighty heightened Web, Symbol of Stunning, Symbol of Pain, Finger, Wail and Hypnotism are really some of the few resistible spells i still use with any frequency. sad what's happening to casters in end game.

[Rice]

If you're running vale quests/explorer, you definitely want to have banishment. It works on just about everything in that area and is point for point the most efficient killer you have. Put it on a comfortable hotkey because you will be spamming it.

[shagath]

Thanks for the recommendations this far but I do not think I have "enough nukes". I use them all. It's all situational and I try to try everything against everything to see what works best and of course it's all situational. I will try to fit banishment in my spell book(I'm p2p so I have all the content) but here, see what I have:

Sorcerer Nuker 16, no spell penetration but (greater)spell focus on evocation
Primary hand: Major Fire Lore(or Major Ice Lore, swapping always when it helps)
Secondary hand: Greater Potency VII instead of Superior VIto boost DBF[/b]
LVL1: Detect Secret Doors(I need this everyday and it's my regular buff), Jump(also my regular buff), Magic Missile(I use this to kill very low health mobs because it always hits), Nightshield
LVL2: Blur, Knock(I rather have it on myself than on wands, I play a lot with my friend just two us and use this everyday), Scorching Ray, Web
LVL3: Displacement, Fireball(I don't even have a shortcut to this anymore but lvl3 spell school is pretty dull and I don't want to waste one spell chance for this unless it's something cool I just do know nothing about), Ice Lance(use it with almost every quest, my highest is against fire giants at gianthold 1,800dmg for first lance, also kills elementals), Haste
LVL4: Dimension Door, Fire Shield, Stoneskin, Wall of Fire
LVL5: Cone of Cold, Prismatic ray, Protection from Elements, Summon Monster V(just wanted to see this one level ago, I could get Dismissal instead of this and not take banishment)
LVL6: Chain Lightning(I know it's my only lightning spell but I don't even have enchantments for it because it just doesn't work as it should, would love to chance it to something but do I survive as a nuker without this? I don't have keyboard shortcut for it because I just don't use it, do I start to use it at some point?), Disintegrate, Greater Heroism
LVL7: Delayed Blast Fireball(starting to love this), Prismatic Spray(using this against mobs that are immune to my damage, has it's situations but would chance this for banishment)
LVL8: Polar Ray(I will use this, perhaps not today but not gonna drop it ever)

Now I had more time to type what I do have. Any recommendations or opinions? I could chance one spell now so fast answers are preferable.

[shagath]

Switched Summon V to teleport. Now I have time(3 days) to find out what I really need. Summon V was a waste for sure anyhow.

[bradleyforrest]

Switched Summon V to teleport. Now I have time(3 days) to find out what I really need. Summon V was a waste for sure anyhow.

I've found that there's really no benefit to actually having the spells Teleport nor Greater Teleport. You can buy scrolls of them from a vendor and you don't get anything extra by having the actual spell. I hate to tell you that you might have been better served with Break Enchantment, Ball Lightning, Hold Monster, or others.

[Siskel]

Not necessarily related to nuking, but you can drop Detect Secret Doors and scroll True Sight or use use a clicky. Also consider adding Dimension Door.

[shagath]

I have already dimension door. Just hit 17th level and got banishment, still thinking about what lvl8 spell to take as a nuker.

[dread333]

I wouldn't discount FW, even at higher lvls I still use it a lot, I'm a nuker too, but I took finger, early and level drain for 18, at that level I find myself using finger, and flesh to stone, combined with the level drain on single tartgets and good old FW for crowds.

[shagath]

Thanks for the all tips this far, I get to chance another spell today if I'm counting days right so this all matters now more than ever. By the way, picked as a second 8th level spell Greater Shout. I was eager to try out Sunburst but picked a little more safe route. Many keep on recommending death spells which seems a bit strange. Casters seems so fragile under disintegrate, potency/emp/max ice lance, scorching ray and if nothing works prismatic ray seem to always do the trick with a one shot but I trust in (longer) experience and try to fit finger of death or something similiar today to my spellbook.

[ProdigalGuru]

Why ask for advice if you are going to completely ignore it and do your own thing anyways?

[shagath]

I'm asking opinions, I'm not going straight to what people suggest of course. I just don't know what works and what doesn't. AND I am going for instakill-spell as I said, and as was suggested.

I've been getting different suggestion via pm by the way. Anyhow, I had no intention on ruining anyones mood.

As people suggested in this about CC, I picked greater shout... Also Banishment was recommended, which I picked. By the way, I love banishment very much already.

[Trillea]

I have already dimension door. Just hit 17th level and got banishment, still thinking about what lvl8 spell to take as a nuker.

I use Incindiary Cloud as an add-on to Wall of Fire and am LOVING it. Makes the Sor'Jek fight and such much more palatable... Also it works on Wiz King epic I believe.

[Rice]

Incendiary cloud is really, really bad. 4d6 damage with a reflex save for half as a lvl 8 spell is really, really bad. Not to mention fire is the worst damage type in end-game. Acid Fog is 2d6 acid damage with no save as a lvl 6 spell and can be used in conjunction with potency items, whereas incendiary cloud can't. You can drop disintegrate for it since disintegrate starts to lose a lot of its power around your level and will only get worse. Food for thought.

There's not much to take as far as nuking goes at lvl 8 besides polar ray, but I would recommend mass charm monster. It's very useful especially if you're soloing.

[Trillea]

Incendiary cloud is really, really bad. 4d6 damage with a reflex save for half as a lvl 8 spell is really, really bad. Not to mention fire is the worst damage type in end-game. Acid Fog is 2d6 acid damage with no save as a lvl 6 spell and can be used in conjunction with potency items, whereas incendiary cloud can't. You can drop disintegrate for it since disintegrate starts to lose a lot of its power around your level and will only get worse. Food for thought.

There's not much to take as far as nuking goes at lvl 8 besides polar ray, but I would recommend mass charm monster. It's very useful especially if you're soloing.

Epic Wiz king is immune to acid fog as far as I know, and incendiary cloud's damage is boostable with my fire enhancement line, singed sash, Rakhir's sash (both of which I have) and is also boostable by the phoenix regalia and eardweller (which I am trying to get but don't have yet). With the singed sash, I am getting approx half the damage from the firewall on every tick (and they stack), since I have double conjuration focus. (I love my webs.. ) Mass charm is nice, but web lands more often, and is more useful in the long run IMHO.

Edit: If you are dropping disint for acid fog, no reason not to use it as well, I guess.

[shagath]

This sounds pretty interesting. I've been noticing that disintegrate ain't that great anymore but feel need to still have it when facing golems(like flesh/clay golems), how do you bring them down without disintegrate? Of course there's always option to let someone else handle it but I like to get my hands dirty. It also still hits pretty nice on skellys(rare skellys and those big ones at subterrane) but I also think it's not that important anymore.

Incendiary cloud sounds pretty nice but I don't have boosts for it yet so perhaps I should think about it later. Anyhow, acid fog sounds like something I could live with but I'm pretty sceptic about mass charm monster. I like them dead even more than charmed but I'll start my thinking progress on this.

Thank you! This already helped me very much. Without your answers, I would have already taken some worthless summon and sunburst.

[Trillea]

This sounds pretty interesting. I've been noticing that disintegrate ain't that great anymore but feel need to still have it when facing golems(like flesh golems), how do you bring them down without disintegrate? Of course there's always option to let someone else handle it but I like to get my hands dirty. It also still hits pretty nice on skellys but I also think it's not that important anymore.
That is EXACTLY why I still use it..

Incendiary cloud sounds pretty nice but I don't have boosts for it yet so perhaps I should think about it later. Anyhow, acid fog sounds like something I could live with(smiling) but I'm pretty sceptic about mass charm monster. I like them dead even more than charmed but I'll start my thinking progress on this.
We think alike it seems...

Thank you! This already helped me very much. Without your answers, I would have already taken some worthless summon and sunburst.

Glad to be of help, even minor!

[shagath]

What do you think about this: Dropping chain lightning(I would lose my only lightning spell) instead of disintegrate for acid fog? Perhaps even feat change empowered for enlarge..

[Trillea]

What do you think about this: Dropping chain lightning(I would lose my only lightning spell) instead of disintegrate for acid fog? Perhaps even feat change empowered for enlarge..

I use ball lightning for my 1 lightning spell. Keep empower.

[shagath]

Thank you, keeping empower.

EDIT: So I thought why not, it's just 3 days. One advice was to swap disintegrate to acid fog so I did just that. We'll see how I like it. I also made enchantment reset to support acid/lightning so Chain Lightning is more powerful also.

I'll know in 3 days if I love it more than disintegrate.