Best spells?

[tjaysteno]

I'm thinking of starting up a FvS for my next trek up to level 20. Having had all my pathetic attempts to cross-class shot down ingloriously, my new plan is a pure human FvS. I've got the build mostly figured out (following Impaqt's Superior Soul more or less), but I'd like to know what spells I should focus on to avoid spending a ton of platinum swapping spells. I don't know just what kind of caster I'd like to play, but I will be switching between healer and melee if that helps. High Wis, just enough Cha to cast spells.

What spells would you have for your level 20 FvS?

[Thaminor]

Heal
nightsheild
sheild of faith (or mass, its inneffective around midlevel, but is +5 protection at endgame)
mass heal
mass cure critical/serious
freedom of movement
deathpact (or mass)
recitation (when they fix it....)
divine power/favor (if you want to melee)
remove fear (basic, but helps against despair, especially if you have no will save)
remove curse/disease/blindness (if you don't do potions/ward items)
blade barrier
destruction/implosion/cometfall (if you have wisdom, idk otherwise)
energy drain (personal favorite, good for kicking monsters down a notch, especially if you have no wisdom)
raise dead/ressurection?/true ressurection? (I don't know about the higher level spells, as there isnt many good level 5 spells but level 7 and 9 don't need another spell slot to cater to those who can't get into a safe zone before raising IMO)
stalwart pact (good for +50 or more HP)

thats my two cents, its incomplete and definetly up to debate. I don't know about the spell resistance spell line, I have never actually used them, but they look worthwhile. Idk how they fit into the big picture, though.

[tjaysteno]

nightsheild
sheild of faith (or mass, its inneffective around midlevel, but is +5 protection at endgame)

Thanks for the list. I was wondering about these 2 spells actually. Nightshield is a resistance bonus and shield of faith is deflection bonus so will those stack with equipment? I suppose it'd be nice to free up item slots, but it'd be even nicer if they stacked.

[Sibellya]

Thanks for the list. I was wondering about these 2 spells actually. Nightshield is a resistance bonus and shield of faith is deflection bonus so will those stack with equipment? I suppose it'd be nice to free up item slots, but it'd be even nicer if they stacked.

Won't stack with items, but Nightshield gives you immunity to magic missiles which I don't think you can get on items

[Dandonk]

Thanks for the list. I was wondering about these 2 spells actually. Nightshield is a resistance bonus and shield of faith is deflection bonus so will those stack with equipment? I suppose it'd be nice to free up item slots, but it'd be even nicer if they stacked.

Nightshield is resistance to saves, yes - and no, does not stack with items of same type. But it saves an item spot at lower levels, and it protects against magic missile type spells at all levels.

Shield of Faith does not stack with items of its type, either, but it's nice to have as mass version - doesn't cost that much to cast, and it makes sure everyone's AC is buffed a bit. Now, this might not matter much later on, but it never hurts.

[gDra]

deathpact (or mass)

You mean death ward?

Also for the mass cures, it depends on your equipment.
If you dont have anything higher than superior potency or ardor VI. I would stay with Mass Cure Light and Moderate.
edit: coming from a clerics viewpoint; as a fvs you may not need to cast with the highest efficiency or need the slots for other spells.

[blitzschlag]

Won't stack with items, but Nightshield gives you immunity to magic missiles which I don't think you can get on items

nightshield clicky is on abbot amulet turn in rewards.

shield clickies/wands give immunity to magic missile aswell...

[donfilibuster]

Clickies are nice but you may find room for nightshield and shield of faith.

At later levels you don't use cure light wounds so you can swap it for nightshield or another spell you left out.
(or any cure spell if high enough level, since you probably can do well with only the two highest)

Most levels don't give you a tough choice except level IV spells.
Mass shield of faith contends with neutralize poison, etc. but neutralize poison you can also find on clickies.
A healbot may pass on divine favor and recitation to get freedom of movement but that's probably underestimating the fvs combat ability.
Besides as a fvs you have excuse for not having freedom of movement, while the clerics are expected to deliver it.
Still, at higher level you can swap out cure critical wounds and make room for one of these.


If you are p2p and want to run the raids of the vale of twilight, you may want to keep both mass cure serious and mass cure critical.
These let you spam mass cures in emergencies and boss battles, because mass heal has a long casting time.
This leaves no room for some spells like mass protection from elements, so you have to choose.

[Wurmheart]

imo i'd go for something like this:

lvl 1:
-cure light wounds
-nightshield
-divine favor
-summon monster 1 [and replace for inflict light wounds / remove fear when it starts to die real fast]


lvl 2:
-cure moderate wounds
-resist energy
-sound burst
-hold person

ps. [the +4 stat spells are sometimes good, once you get a decent + item you wont need them any more tough]


lvl 3:
-cure serious wounds
-aid, mass
-water Breathing (again situationally usefull but since you'll wear heavy armor it can help quite a bit)
-remove curse

ps. [can replace water breathing with remove disease or remove blindness if you dont need it]


lvl 4:
-cure critical wounds
-shield of faith, mass
-divine power (a must if you depend on weapons to kill or want to solo)
-freedom of Movement

ps. [death ward is good as well, but in many places where it i's usefull enemies can and often will remove it anyway...]


lvl 5:
-Summon monster V (what other summon can earthgrab mobs in elite tempest spine?)
-Raise dead
-Flame Strike (first awesome dmg spell)
-cure light wounds, mass

ps. [replace summon with greater command once it starts to die to often]

lvl 6:
this gets tricky as several of the lvl 6 spells are just so good, and you'll only get to choose 3,
this where clerics shine tbh and where fsv's will wonder if they made the right decision....

-heal
-blade barrier
-cometfall

[other mentionable spells:
-Symbol of persuasion (easily charms most mobs in normal and can save your bum, random groups will hate it tough)
-Harm (Relatively usefull for tougher targets, still a bit meh)]
-Summon monster 6, a troll that regenerates quite a bit of hp isn't to bad.

lvl 7:
-destruction
-greater restoration (your first reliable spell that removes neg levels and most stats dmg)
-protection from elements, mass (it just prevents enough dmg to be easily worth it sp wise)

lvl 8:

-cure critical wounds, mass
-death ward, mass (prevents pesky neg levels/neg energy dmg and instant kills)

the third slot is once again tricky:
-death pact (take it as long as you feel you'll need it to back you up)
-symbol of death (not sure how good it is myself, most mobs that trigger symbols are melee and thus often have high fortitude saves but can trigger multiple times. take it if you feel you dont need death pact)
-fire storm if you prefer raw dmg without a save.


lvl 9:
-Heal, mass
-Implosion (heard it hits often enough to make it worthwhile)
-True Ressurection (so you can res without having to heal em afterward )



General tips:
Summon spells can help quite a bit as well, but some just plain suck atm
lvl 1, 5, 6 and 9 summons are great (no idea about summon 8 tough) the other summons either die to easy or hide to much to be of much use.

Cure/healing spells:
Cure's are always good till you get the mass versions, those might not always be needed and you'll have stronger single target heals.
Heal and Heal mass however simply rock, and can heal for tons and even the lvl 7 and 8 mass cure's can be usefull. But that depends on your playstyle on wether you'll need them.

You'll be quite lacking in terms of blindness removal, disease removal and curing stat dmg, so might be nice to bring wands/scrolls/potions for those conditions, but shouldn't be a problem if you don't have these.

And keep in mind this is all my advice, most likely you'll prefer other spells then me so do test out spells a bit to see what you like

[Matuse]

-greater restoration (your first reliable spell that removes neg levels and most stats dmg)

The only reason to cast greater restoration is to remove negative levels. Heal gets everything else.

lvl 8:
the third slot is once again tricky:

It really doesn't. First, you do not need mass cure critical. It doesn't benefit from your superior potency VI item, so unless you are burning shav belts on it all the time, it will heal for VASTLY less than mass cure moderate, while using more spellpoints.

Second: Holy Aura. Easily in the top 5 divine spells in the entire game (Heal, Blade Barrier, Mass Heal would be three of the others, the fifth would be more debateable). If you've never used it, you have no inkling of the godlike power you are missing out on.

-symbol of death (not sure how good it is myself, most mobs that trigger symbols are melee and thus often have high fortitude saves but can trigger multiple times. take it if you feel you dont need death pact)

The HD limit makes this spell useless outside of the harbor. It will literally never kill anything.

-fire storm if you prefer raw dmg without a save.

You'd be better off meleeing with 10 strength. Again, a level 8 spell, so unless you're carrying around an eardweller or phoenix regalia or some other way to boost damage on 8th level spells, the damage here is going to be woefully pathetic. Add in the total lack of any enhancement lines for damage or critical chance, and you're basically looking at tickling monsters to death.

Do not take either of those spells. Ever.

[tjaysteno]

And keep in mind this is all my advice, most likely you'll prefer other spells then me so do test out spells a bit to see what you like

This is what I was looking for. I'll probably take some advice from others and follow my own judgement on some spells (I've been spoiled by playing a Ranger so I'll probably take FoM just because it's so awesome), but this gives me a framework to start from. Thanks to everyone else that's commented too and feel free to keep it coming!

[Silverleafeon]

http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=255259 has a run down of divine spells in details

(added this thread to my list of links to possibly add when I get time to update)