help chosin spells

[omriman123]

i am at lvl 3 and i dont know witch spells i should get for the lvls
soo if you can recommend on spells i will be glad to/
10x for all helpers
i really love the hold person and hold mosnter soo i should take Enchantment feat?

[Jaid314]

my first suggestion is that you read http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=175911

some very good advice there, and he tends to give *reasons* which is something you'll not see often.

remember, you can exchange spells every 3 days. so for example, while my level 20 setup doesn't include charm person, my level 5 setup sure did.

i'll edit in more later, but here's my break-down of spell selection.

so, at 20, here's what i plan:

level 1:
jump (really, once you've tried it out you may never be able to go without it again! helps with mobility a lot)
expeditious retreat (you could replace with striders, but you only get an extra 5%. still, if you have a pressing need for the spell slot, you can swap this out)
nightshield (it's a +3 to saves at 20, which is not that different from a +5, and especially not that different from a +4. depending on how much you like having good saving throws, you *might* be able to get by without having a resistance save bonus item. but you'd be better off *with* one. you could also switch this spell for shield if you think the AC will help. in both cases, the immunity to magic missile is the thing you're really after)
hypnotism (some basic, simple, crowd control. don't bother using it if your group doesn't have the slightest clue how to dps one target down at a time, as soon as stuff takes damage it's broken. not as good at low levels since you can generally just dps stuff so quick anyways and making enemies not act is not as big a deal)

the runners up:
niac's cold ray is pretty nice for low levels as your single-target spell, but can also deal nothing. use it if you have good save DCs, otherwise forget about it.
acid spray or burning hands are also nice if you can kite groups of enemies together before firing. due to wierdness, they will occasionally hit twice i've noticed. short range, but the AOE is nice.
tumble is slightly less useless than most other level 1 spells at 20 because there are (very rare) occasions where you can't prevent falling damage with feather fall, but you can mitigate it with this.
ray of enfeeblement can sometimes disable beholders (at higher levels you'll probably just instantly kill them... i don't think there's any beholders immune to finger of death but not immune to ray of enfeeblement)
grease is good for making your party angry, if that's your thing.
charm person is an amazing help for the soloing sorcerer at low levels. it's less amazing for grouping sorcerers because the rest of your party wants to kill everything that moves and can't stand the thought of waiting for you to release it once everything else is dead, and they don't seem to appreciate that it's one less thing killing them and one more thing to take damage. something your healer won't have to spend any mana on, no less! later on, you'll probably replace this with more versatile spells.

level 2:
web (takes a bit of getting used to in the targeting... i'm firmly convinced mine almost always drops short of where i think i'm aiming. however, this spell is a great one. reflex save to hold the enemy in place, and it doesn't break when they're attacked, though they could break free on their own... but then, you can also get them stuck a second time. i throw it in just about every fight other than boss fights, it will usually stop 80% or more of the enemies for me... but then, my saves are probably a bit better than yours. i wouldn't hope for much more than 50% if you're not reasonably well-geared, but don't forget: 50% of the enemy standing there doing nothing is a HUGE difference!)
blur (this is one of your first defense spells. your AC sucks most likely, and this is the only thing keeping you from taking a beating. it's great for buffing the party also).
knock (there will be times when unlocking a door or a chest is either essential or extremely desirable. it's usefulness is very dependent on who else is in the group with you, of course, and what quest you're doing still, i find i use it fairly often)
resist energy (one of your most important spells. i would avoid going without this spell on any class that can take it, in fact... this spell covers 5 elemental resistances, is one of the most requested party buffs, and if you don't cast it then the healer in your party deserves to have all of your mnemonic potions because you're costing him a lot of mana to heal people in your party. even when you first get it, it's the difference between a 50 damage acid arrow that may kill someone and a 0 damage acid arrow that you ignore)

runners up:
scorching ray. excellent bang for your buck starting at level 7. "slow" casting spell for a sorcerer (compared to our other spells) but good recharge rate. the lack of a save DC means it's good on anything that isn't immune to fire. sadly, as you're likely to find out some day, lots of things *are* immune to fire. still, it's a spell that gets a lot of use from me as i level.
glitterdust. lots of people get annoyed by it. most of those people are not rogues, or possibly just like being hit by monsters. i'm not sure. while it's a decent spell, level 2 is a *very* competitive level, and it just doesn't make the cut for me on my sorcerer.
electric loop. ok, so the damage is pathetic, and the duration on the daze is pretty short. still, it's electric damage (good for stuff immune to fire/cold, which will probably be your main damage focus) and even a short-term, two-save daze is not completely horrid when applied over several enemies.

level 3:
haste (this is your most needed buff. if you don't have this at level 20, you're likely to make a few people's "special list". especially since there's not much else in level 3 that's good at level 20 still).
rage (some people get inordinately angry about this one. regardless, it's a good spell for anyone who isn't going to need those 2 points of AC, which most likely includes you. +2 strength for the melees usually means +1 to hit (never a bad thing) and +1 or +2 to damage (depending on weapon selection and current strength), and +2 con means more hit points and better fortitude saves. all for the low, low cost of being hit just as often since your pathetic AC allows enemies to hit you on a 2 anyways).
displacement (just like blur, only better. if it wasn't short-term, i'd ditch blur entirely. to be honest, i still am considering ditching blur entirely)
halt undead (if you want to lose one, this is my first suggestion to lose. it's useful in a handful of quests, not much use everywhere else)

the runners up:
frost lance. a fortitude save isn't the best, but at least it's only for half (and at least those pesky evasion/improved evasion types will still take some damage). it's got a lot of damage in it for it's level, and you can spam it alongside polar ray for boss fights.
suggestion. some people like charm monster, i like suggestion. it hits most of the stuff you care about charming, has a decent duration, and they don't get additional saves later. most importantly, it doesn't take up a precious level 4 slot.
various AOE damaging spells. fireball, acid blast, lightning bolt, even chain missiles to some extent, can be very good options while leveling up (mostly fireball and acid blast - lightning bolt is a very narrow line, and chain missiles is less damage although it is force damage which can be nice). as you get higher level, you'll likely replace them with better versions if blowing stuff up is your sort of a thing (for example, delayed blast fireball and cone of cold)
hold person. situationally useful at low levels, at high levels you'll never use it because you have better options.

honorable mention (scroll this)
summon monster III. i like the winter wolf. it occasionally trips things, which is by far the most useful thing most summons can do.

level 4: (this is a tough level to choose)
dimension door (not always a huge deal, but you'll find situations where you want it, and the scrolls are anything but cheap. if you've got tons of gold and don't mind paying a bunch of platinum, you could scroll this).
crushing despair (i'm going to go ahead and tell you to ignore my choice here. i have this because i'm crazy, and i like reducing enemy saves. it's also a debuff that works on bosses to make them easier to deal with i guess. that said, i'd say i'm the only sorcerer i know of that uses it. in fact, i don't think i even know any wizards that use it. maybe bards? anyways, decent for my purposes, probably not your cup of tea. then again, go ahead and try it sometime, after you've got some of the other, more widely useful, selections)
wall of fire (this is one of your best damage dealing spells in terms of efficiency. please do not spam it in every fight... if the fight is going to be over in 2 seconds, you do not need the wall of fire. if the fight is going to take 15 seconds, on the other hand, this spell will deal considerable damage over time. if the fight is against undead vulnerable to fire, you can throw it even if the fight is short, because after quadrupling the damage it actually is ok for a single-shot deal. you will need to learn the art of firewall kiting - that is, letting monsters chase you around and take damage from your firewall, especially by passing through it - for best results. multiple firewalls in the same location do not stack, but you *can* place 2 firewalls side by side, not touching, and kite monsters through both and they will both deal damage)
ice storm (this is actually not going to make it in until the new patch, but it will damage almost anything. it's basically kinda like wall of fire, only it deals ice and bludgeoning damage, and you can't kite stuff through it for bonus ticks of damage... it deals damage every 2 seconds, not when stuff crosses through.)

the runners up:
before U8, replace ice storm with: stoneskin (many people argue you can scroll/wand this, i personally like having it known so i don't have to switch gear when it runs out in the middle of a fight. guess i'm just picky. still, when the update to ice storm comes, this will indeed move to scroll/wand territory)
fire shield: this is actually one of the better spells. personally, i plan on scrolling it, but most people don't like that idea. something to do with kiting in ToD, i think. then again, i hate ToD with a passion, and i tend to die if i get hit while kiting whether or not i have fire shield up. still, if i didn't have bracers that proc cold shield on a regular basis, i'd probably be all over this spell. oh, did i mention it makes you immune to web as a bonus? you'll come to appreciate how nice that is when you get caught in webs from time to time.
phantasmal killer: a lot of people like this as they level up. it's your first true save-or-die spell. personally, i just ignore it's existence... 2 saving throws is just not as appealing to me. still, it comes highly recommended.
enervate. no-save, and the target takes some hefty penalties including a penalty to save. if energy drain didn't exist, i would have this spell known for sure. it's wonderful for high-save trash mobs, and even if you know energy drain you can spam this while energy drain is on cooldown.

level 5:
teleport (yeah, i'm probably just weird on this one. i use teleport a lot, and there's not much in the way of awesome when it comes to level 5 spells. still, if you're not as cheap as i am, you could easily scroll this and not notice much of a difference at all)
cloudkill (you'll need at least one cloud spell. some monsters can see right through blur, but can't see right through clouds. a lot of these monsters are the kind that hit you really really hard, and have so many hit points that they'll be making a lot of those attacks during the time when they're being killed. these are the kinds of monster where forcing a 20% chance to miss can be a really big deal, and that's why you should use a fog spell. cloudkill has the added advantage of not cluttering up visibility, doubling as a damage dealing spell (very slow, but if you're patient it can deal decent damage), and causing really low level stuff to instantly die (if you're doing low level favor runs, for example). also, it's level 5, which means you're not spending a really good spell slot on it)
cyclonic blast (this is my "damage anything" spell. most people will choose disintegrate instead. i like it because it's level 5, and i value my level 5 spells much lower than my precious, precious level 6 spells... which is where disintegrate is. it currently doesn't damage certain end-bosses, including raiyum-de, the giant lich at the end of madstone, and blaze ar'hind in gianthold tor. it probably also won't work on liches in the mabar event. however, it *should* work in all those cases, so hopefully this will get fixed)
waves of fatigue (did i mention i'm some kinda weirdo? it works on bosses, and stacks with waves of exhaustion as far as i can tell. it's a very minor debuff, and you probably won't want to bother with it, but i always figure anything i can do to keep tough mobs webbed is a worthwhile investment... most people don't)

the runners up: (note: while there are runners up in this list, that's mostly because i'm a weirdo and i use weird spells. these "runners up" are more likely to be spells that you'll see most non-weirdo sorcerers use)
break enchantment. this clears most annoying spells. the only one it clears that cyclonic blast doesn't clear (a nice, multifunction spell that) is blade barrier. (so yes, it actually does remove dancing sphere. haven't tested glitterdust yet though). it also removes curses, and supposedly can remove beneficial spells from enemies (i've never used it for such, and haven't tested it personally... still, you'll probably want it for it's other uses, feel free to test out the removing of enemy buffs sometime)
protection from elements. i usually scroll this, but you may not want to. and by "i usually scroll this", i really mean "i typically don't cast this on myself unless i'm preparing for something specific" these days. not that it isn't useful, i just don't use it much. it does have 12 more points of absorption if you cast it yourself though.
ball lightning. some people like having a lightning spell, mostly because sometimes fire and ice don't work. personally, that's when i get out cyclonic blast, but some like to take ball lightning.
cone of cold. this spell is actually *very* popular. it's one of the better AOE damaging spells. but i'm a weirdo, and don't use it.
hold monster: you'll probably keep this around while you level up. at level 20, you'll use mass hold monster instead.
mind fog: you may like this spell, or you may not. it doesn't work on epic mobs normally, which is a shame because otherwise it would actually add some depth to level 5 spells. i might even have to scroll teleport if it worked.

honorable mention (scroll this)
summon monster V. i like the earth elemental, lots of people like the bearded devil.

level 6: please note that while the list is shorter than level 5, the vast majority of the level 5 list is stuff that's kinda nice to have, while these spells, though relatively few, are all "zomg that spell is amazing" to have.
flesh to stone (a lot of monsters start to get immune to things for no reason whatsoever except that the devs want to make your life suck in certain quests. for those quests, there is flesh to stone, it's kinda like hold monster only the monster gets DR 15/adamantine, it's a fortitude save so it works well on casters, and the stuff that is immune to it aren't arbitrary... so yeah, don't use this on golems, 'cause they have no flesh)
reconstruct (yes, even on your non-warforged casters. this spell is what i like to call "the reason i'm allowed into any raids at all instead of just being replaced by a bard". well, that's not quite true. they'd let me into shroud either way. it's the only reason i'm allowed into VoD and ToD though)
mass suggestion (this spell is like mass charm, only 2 levels lower and therefore cheaper. it also doesn't allow saves partway through, so a suggested mob stays suggested. also, some mobs appear to be immune to charm, but not suggestion. go figure)

the runners up: (these spells are actually quite likely to get used by sorcerers, level 6 is a very competitive spell level and there's some tough choices to make)
disintegrate. up until cyclonic blast existed, i had this around for damaging the otherwise undamageable. i have yet to ever find so much as a single mob that will not take damage from this. there's stuff that makes the save all the time, which is a definite nuisance, but there's nothing that is just flat-out immune to it (yet).
greater heroism. one of the more frequently requested buffs, and one that you will appreciate yourself greatly... even if only because it gives you +4 to your UMD skill. i scroll it, personally, but you may want longer-lasting ones. you can also expect people to ask for it during raids and such.
symbol of persuasion: you'll probably see it a lot less, but some people think it's pretty good, from what i can tell. personally, i don't like the cooldown. i'm slightly suspicious the people who like it a lot are actually used to divine casters who's options for charm include symbol of persuasion, symbol of persuasion, and also symbol of persuasion though.

honorable mention (scroll this)
summon monster VI. the eladrin bralani is nice.

level 7:
otto's sphere of dancing (one of my most important crowd-control spells. don't spam too many, you'll lag yourself to death. it's a will save, which is nice for many mobs, and much like web you can leave it sitting there and force stuff to make the save over and over and over)
waves of exhaustion (many people threw a fit when it stopped slowing down red-names and purple-names. i still think it's quite good, and use it in boss fights and on trash that is web-resistant because of high saves)
finger of death (to many, phantasmall killer was their first death spell. this was mine. i tried to give it up once, and i couldn't stand it)

the runners up:
mass protection from elements. i don't like it, lots of people do. it's something some casters like to throw at the start of a dungeon, but the problem is it disappears quickly and the caster has no way of knowing when. i mean, i can look at someone and see that their displacement has ended. or i can check my buff bar to see if i'm still hasted (or just run a bit) and know that we need a fresh haste. can't do that for this spell though.
delayed blast fireball. damage is not my thing, but it may be yours. delayed blast fireball is kinda like fireball only it has a higher damage cap, and it has a trap function that i've never actually seen anyone use (possibly because it triggers as soon as one monster crosses the edge of it's AOE, thus turning it into a single-target spell effectively, based on my experience). still, i suppose it could have theoretical usefulness as a trap as well.
symbol of stunning. i've had someone tell me this spell was amazing. for me, the nearly 2 minute cooldown makes it anything but. still, i suppose it *is* more useful than mass protection from elements.
banishment. of the runners up, this is the only one i would actually be the tiniest bit excited about if i had an extra spell slot. it's useful for exactly what you might think... banishing stuff. it does hit multiple targets, which is something. it doesn't work on much of anything after vale of twilight, where i can just finger of death stuff (and later wail of the banshee) so it doesn't make the cut, *however* it does hit multiple targets at range, and you may consider knowing it either instead of waves of exhaustion, or for the few levels where it's actually the most powerful spell you can know (basically, when you're running vale of twilight it's amazing)

honorable mentions (scroll these):
mass invisibility. you'll probably never need more than 13 minutes of invisibility. but if you do, guess what? use another scroll.
greater teleport. there will be times when you are asked to teleport someone else somewhere. this is how you do it.

level 8:
otto's irresistible dance (for the trash mob that just won't stop making it's saves, there's the spell that doesn't allow a save. short range, but you'll appreciate having it when you need it)
summon monster VIII (the first summon you can't scroll for the same results. there are no clickies of summon monster VIII, except for roderic's wand which summons random stuff. the bezekira is pretty good, the air elemental is great crowd control in the form of chain-tripping everything, although it will dispel a lot of your own AOE spells with a duration if you use it, and the orthon... well, he's... uhhh... something you don't have to choose to use anyways, pretty much)
polar ray (it's a no-save frost damage spell. single-target, but good damage... it's one of only a very few damaging spells i care enough to know, which should say something. even in the crappy spell levels, i didn't care enough to know the spell, but even *i* know and use polar ray)

the runners up:
sunburst. damages almost everything, can blind trash mobs, looks like you just fired the death star at something. the down side is that unless you're fighting undead or oozes, the damage is pretty low. if you know this spell, expect a lot of pauses, followed by "<exclamation>, what was that?"
incendiary cloud. grants concealment like cloudkill, and deals modest fire damage over time. some people like it, i don't consider it worth the slot.
mass charm monster. as i said earlier, i prefer mass suggestion. many people like other things in their level 6 slots, and you may be one of them, so mass charm monster is a definite consideration.

level 9:
wail of the banshee (it's an AOE, centered on you, of instantly killing monsters. great spell, i highly recommend it)
mass hold monster (this spell is the only reason you don't know any other hold spells. don't leave home without it)
energy drain (important for hitting mobs that have ridiculously high saves. it can also be used for taking away enemy hit points, since it lowers their hit dice. basically, by the time this spell is an option for you, you've probably fought stuff that causes negative levels. you know *exactly* how annoying it is, and you probably hate having the spell cast on you. this should be a good indication of exactly why you want to know this spell)

the runners up:
meteor swarm. some people just like to blow things up. maybe you're one of them. if so, meteor swarm is the spell for you. the impact damage cannot be resisted, and has no save. the fire damage can be resisted, and may or may not allow a save (i'm unclear on that point).
dominate monster. this is kinda like charm monster, only after you win the battle (assuming you do win), the monster will follow you around the dungeon killing stuff that you run across later. personally, i've had the spell, and seldom used it. but you may find it more useful depending on your playstyle.

[omriman123]

10x man !!

[Jaid314]

oh, also... you asked if you should take the spell focus feat for enchantment. my initial opinion is no. you probably don't have the gear yet to make your saves as good as they need to, and you're *probably* going to be better off initially with a bit more focus on damage. for my second life, i am almost certainly going to take the spell focus (and perhaps greater spell focus) feat, but i've had a lot more practice with my sorcerer and even still i'm hesitant. the main problem comes in the fact that sorcerers are really, really, really feat-starved. spending feats on spell focus is a very tough choice. carefully consider what you want your character to focus on, but i think the general suggestion is to not take spell focus, because most people like other feats :P