I'm taking my first serious crack at a magic character in a few years. I've dabbled with Clerics or Paladins, but their spell trees are a lot more linear for what I want. I'm curious as to what people consider must have WM spells, since there seems to be a lot of semi-redundancy coupled with room/elemental restrictions.

I made 10th tonight. My conceptual goal on him is earth centric, so I assume I'll end up taking the whole earth tree, even if MAB isn't amazing. So far I have ES, elementalism, SUF, STS, ANC, Zephyr, and two spell slots.

Zephyr isn't moving my utility great, so I was wondering what to pick up as a secondary for that. STS, ES, and SUF seem to be moving their appropriate skills well, and ANC is good since I'm hunting eels. Should I grab Frostbite or IP so I have a debilitation for when I'm in non-natural rooms?

Since everything seems good, not really sure where to start building up to, since most of the 'next step' stuff I want is 250+ ranks to cast.

At 10th circle all the spells you have are going to train fine. If they don't, add a little more mana until they do.

As a WM the really "you will always want these" spells are:

Sure Footing - balance, parry boost.
Swirling Winds - Evasion, Reflex boost.
Substratum - TM boost

Ethereal Shield - Elemental barrier (meh, usually) but lets you get Substratum.

Tailwind - Ranged boost. If you train Ranged, obviously.

Rising Mists - AOE hiding buff. If you train Stealth, obviously. Though maybe Sorcery and another guild's buff would work better.

Mantle of Flames - Boosts Agility and all melee weapons. Can't be used with Aegis of Granite.

Aegis of Granite - Boosts Stamina, Strength, Shield. Can't be used with Mantle of Flames.

You might want one or the other of the above depending on your playstyle, but you always want to be using one or the other. If that makes sense.

Anther's and IP will do you for single-target Debil in most situations. If you want a disabler that goes vs. Fort instead of vs Reflex take Arc Light.

Tremor is an amazing hunting spell because it puts all your foes at a disadvantage while not stopping them from attacking. That and Thunderclap (to stop everything and give you a breather) will do you for AOE debil. I would skip Frostbite but opinions will differ.

For TM training you want Fireball. For unique utility you want Lightning Bolt in single-target, Shockwave for multi-target. Pick a cyclic that fits you but I prefer Rimefang and Fire Rain to Ring of Spears.

For Warding you want Aether Cloak, down the road.

Mazrian

Because it's hands-down the best TM teacher in the game.

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Thayet
@thayelf // http://thayette.tumblr.com

"But you must know that if corruption is powerful enough, it's not corruption at all — it's law. Unspoken, unwritten, but law." — Robert Jackson Bennett, City of Stairs

I don't like Zephyr as a spell so much. It doesn't train very well - or didn't when I tried it - and I feel like it's a spell you grow out of the need for. I would recommend ignite or AB for utility training. Ignite is slightly more annoying to train with (has to be released before recasting, needs to be cast on a weapon), but has the advantage over AB of being actually useful. Though, I have the sneaking suspicion that the reason it's still a spell is that it's going to be a requirement for any sort of WM planar travel. :D

AEG is incredibly important, IMO, but you're probably getting that anyway. I'll echo to get SW. Remember that you're an elemental mage with a focus on one element or two. It's just not practical to focus on only one element.

My list of spells you really should get are:

Buff: SW, SUF, AEG, Substratum, TW (if you train ranged weapons), Ignite.

Defense: ES (it'll be a really good ward after the barrier review anyway, and it's a req), MAF (until the barrier review goes through), Aether Cloak.

TM: Fireball, Rimefang or Fire Rain, BG. I also like AoE non-cyclic TM. YMMV.

Debil: IP, at least one AoE.

Rising Mists is a requirement if you're training stealth. It's amazing.

Fortress of Ice is a unique utility that we have, and can be pretty useful.

Vertigo I've been disappointed with. I'll probably drop it.


- Saragos

>I don't like Zephyr as a spell so much. It doesn't train very well - or didn't when I tried it - and I feel like it's a spell you grow out of the need for.

Depends on what weapon(s) you heft.

I use a senci maul/spear and even with ~60 stamina find Zephyr quite useful.

I suppose at some future point I may grow out of it...but it's worth keeping for now.

> Don't get the AoE spells for now. They eat up a crazy number of spell slots and you'll be just fine without them for quite a while. Use the slots to get a wider variety of buffs/utility at low level.

You know, I think you're right. I was just roadmapping which I thought were must-haves. But at low levels, stick with single target stuff, get your full suite of buffs first.

> One that no one has mentioned is Ethereal Fissure. It my years away from DR, I had forgotten how painfully awful elemental mana is in most areas. Perhaps it isn't used as much at higher levels, but I always put it up when hunting.

How could I have forgotten to mention that? OMG, get Fissure. Now that it provides some actual in-game benefit, it's great!

- Saragos