Spell Mastery for casters in 3.0

[DreamWayfarer]

Chill Fog, if you plan to master "hard" CC on other levels or use Combusting Wounds a lot. Otherwise, Slicken is better when you need to stop a mob as fast as possible.

[demeisen]

Thanks DreamWayfarer.  What do you mean by "hard CC"?

 

I usually try to use as much CC as I can in most fights, though what works best differs from creature to creature.

[DreamWayfarer]

Thanks DreamWayfarer. What do you mean by "hard CC"?

Prone, stun, paralyze... anything tgat stops the enemy from whatever it is trying to do, no "ifs" or "buts".

[Necrobro]

Slicken no doubt.

Most enemies have high fort in POTD. Don't forget even if Slicken does not have a long duration, it knocks enemies down which is by far one of the most useful debuffs and waaay better than Blind since it completely takes enemies out of the fight (amazing against casters like Ogre Druids). Most enemies aren't immune to prone, in fact I can only recall spirits and some oozes.

I also find Slicken more useful than Chill Fog during the beginning when your tank still doesn't have good deflection and DR. Like in the bear cave for example, way better to knock the bears down than to blind them for 2 secs while they still have a good chance of hitting or even criting Edér for tons.

It's also not hard to crit with reflex based spells, just use Dire Blessing from priest and hobble the enemies with a druid's Tanglefoot before casting Slicken so you get double prone duration.

[Teioh_White]

Chill Fog is the MVP of the early game, when the enemy's tactics are basically 'swarm you with a bunch of dudes'. Then you just make a line with your dudes, toss a Chill Fog in front of it, and everything takes crazy damage and loses 20 acc/def. Just a single cast of that is enough from a Wizard to decide a fight in Act 1.

 

It's not as useful later though, as generally the enemies have nasty stuff they do beyond 'run at you at a shambling pace'. Chill fog won't stop them from doing the nasty to you, casting those CC's or nukes or whatever stuff you'd rather them not doing. That's why Slicken's so good; it gets out quick and stops them from doing anything. And at this point, a caster has more than just 2 to 7 spells, so it's okay it doesn't last that long; it's job isn't to win the fight by itself, but slow the nasties down long enough for the bigger guns to win the fight.

 

And Chill Fog still works great with it. Slicken them down, drop a fog on them, then Slicken them again with their now 28 point nerfed reflex score, as well as taking damage from the Fog. Used to be the old standby when they were all per-encounters. Tactic has to be used a bit more sparaingly now, of course, but it's still there. Can even take both as a per-encounter, if you want, as Wizzy level 2 spells aren't super impressive.

[demeisen]

Cool, thanks Teioh_White.  That's exactly the kind of info I was after: which one will be best later in the game.  I did finish the game after PoE launched, but that was a while ago so I forgot a lot since then, not to mention on Hard (vs PoD now).

 

Thanks!  Slicken it will be.

[Dinky Dino]

 

Well, that sucks. I was planning on playing a cipher for the expansions ... I don't think I've ever seen a non-MMO game have so many radical changes to the gameplay almost a year after release. From reading various forums, this appears to have been going on for some time. One comment seems to be particularly apt, "The Devs just can't seem [to] leave well enough alone." Damn, maybe I'll wait another 9 months to play to see if this lunacy will end so I can play a character and not worry about their abilities being nerfed into the ground a week later.

 

 

The next beta patch should have a lot of positive changes to cipher powers to balance things out; lots of the underpowered powers are getting buffed to compensate for the increased costs. I suspect that as the level cap got higher they had to rework ciphers to keep them from getting crazypowered.

 

 

Where did you read this? My druid feels pretty weak now that I can't throw out sunbeams.

 

Wish the mastered spells WERE buffed so that sunbeams wouldn't do piddling damage. Maybe a 2x damage multiplier on the damaging one's or increased duration on the buffs/debuffs.

Edited March 9, 2016 by Dinky Dino

[Ymarsakar]

I thought it would make sense that they reduce it to 1 per encounter cast from any level 1 for level 9, but the actual change that was in the works was the Vancian master 1 spell deal per level.

 

Might be cool if the talents for the extra spells had provided additional casts. Although it makes sense that they limited per encounter spells to just one, given that many martial classes have small amounts of per encounter abilities. Rogue's blinding strike vs 1 vancian per encounter cast of druid sunbeam that does damage aoe and aoe blinds.

 

Wonder if they'll level up the vancian mastery ranks like the old ADD leveled up wizard spells per levels. That might make more sense than continuing mastery spells to higher levels. Imagine a per encounter devotions 4th level from a priest. That kind of puts to shame the other classes' abilities. 

 

The ciphers gain more focus per point, to make up for lack of drug use. I never used the drugs and food to boost focus gains, so I was having a hard time regaining focus given the paralysis nerf around 2.0. Accuracy buffs was not something I had in my party reliably, given no priest's holy radiance and buffs. Paladin's zealous aura was not usually in the right place either, since I was experimenting with a paladin at the front.

 

Well after the 3.0 changes, the ciphers felt a lot better, maybe because like chanters, I was already using lower level powers more. 

Edited March 9, 2016 by Ymarsakar

[hilfazer]

The ciphers gain more focus per point, to make up for lack of drug use.

More likely to make up for focus cost increase.

 

Nerfing drugs was simply a cipher nerf.

BTW: Obsidian seems to hate absolute numbers per hit. First they removed it from cipher talent, now from drugs. They prefer % because this is, more or less, equally effective with every weapon, while absolute numbers are better with some weapons than with others. Do not let players make mistakes!

[Ymarsakar]

I think if they made ciphers gain focus by a time tick, like the chanter verses, as well as take a partial focus increase from any damage they take like monks, it might make the ciphers much more flexible in terms of their build. 33% from time ticks, 33% from damage dealt, 33% from damage taken. I also think they should stop increasing the spell levels of a cipher, because they really don't need the same spell power levels of a priest or druid. 

Edited March 9, 2016 by Ymarsakar

[Vorad]

I still am a bit disappointed that they never managed to include some decent talents that would interact with spells and change some of the parameters similar to what the metamagic feats used to do. It would be cool to be able to change the shape, duration, elemental type of certain spells for example. There is to hope only for poe2 now but that will take several years...

[Ichthyic]

For those not liking the nerf to focus for cipher ( I sure didn't), there is a mod over at Nexus Mods that changes your resting focus level back to half your max focus level (leaves the nerf to max focus level in), this makes it so you can cast your max level of cipher spell at the start of a fight, before you need to generate focus again.  if you also take the greater focus talent, you will be able to cast your highest level spell, plus a level 1 spell before needing to start generating focus.

I find it very well balanced given how you add 10 focus per level of spell now.

you can't spam your powers, but at least you can USE them when you get them.

anywho, I highly recommend it.

 

[TygerxEyes]

What seems strange to me is the reason you would take an offensive spell.  Instead, Wizard might load spells they are unlikely to need more than 1 of per combat - Shield, Mirror Image, Healing, etc.,.  Personally, I would chose:

 

1st  - Shield (No Question)
2nd - Bulwark Against Elements (Fairly Good)
         Infuse Vital Essence (My Choice In Case Priest Not Nearby)
         Mirrored Images (Okay But Depends On 3rd)
3rd - Delerious Alacrity of Motion (Not Bad But...)
        Llengrath's Displace Image (Since I Did Not Use Mirrored Image)
4th - Flame Shield (My Choice)
        Iron Skin (Good Choice)
        Minor Grimoire Imprint (Not Bad... But I Know Most Spells So, Eh)
        Minor Arcane Reflection (Okay, but how many spellcasters are you fighting)

 

What is my thought process? Simple, I get one per combat and I use offense spells in the main course of a battle, but I do like to protect myself.... protections last a while... so one-off per battle works great and my other 4 main slots are set to hard core offense in the main.

 

1st Level

    Chill Fog, Minoletta's Minor Missiles, Slicken, Thurst Of Tattered Veils

      (MASTER: Shield x1 per Combat)
2nd Level

    Bewildering Spectacle, Bulwark Against Elements, Combusting Wounds, Fetid Caress
      (MASTER: Influse Vital Essence x1 per Combat)
3rd Level

     Choncelhaut's Drainging Touch, Expose Vulnerabilities, Minoletta's Bounding Missles, Noxious Burst

       (MASTER: Llengrath's Displaced Image x 1 per Combat)

4th Level

     Confusion, Minoletta's Concussive Missiles, Ninagauth's Shadowflame, *Open* (Varied Depending On Situation - but more often than not... Minor

      Arcane Reflection, Maura's Writing Tenticles, Wall of Flame)
       (MASTER: Flame Shield x1 per Combat)

I drew this list from my Path of Damned which required heavy crowd control and temporarily increasing my numbers via confusion and bewildering... mixed with damaging spells. 

 

Oh well, to each their own... just my two cents... .

 

[Boeroer]

Minor Grimoire Imprint (Not Bad... But I Know Most Spells So, Eh)

I guess you don't really know how Minor Grimoire Imprint works.

[Jojobobo]

Remember that you can also use one of the higher level masteries for a lower level spell (just select a lower set rather than keeping it on the high set). So you can master one level 1, one level 2, and two level 3s (both Llengrath's and Deleterious Alacrity). Llengrath's Displaced Image and Deleterious Alacrity can easily compete with what's available at level 4, it really depends on the build you have in mind.

 

If you're going solo, either Fleet Feet or Deleterious Alacrity always allow you to get great positioning every encounter, so I'd strongly recommend one of the two of those as they completely negate the need for any other speed item (no one really wants to use Boots of Speed unless you have to solo, and Viettro's Formal Footware - even if you're not interesting in Dexterity - effectively give you +8 Reflex, or you could go for Shod-in-Faith for some healing).

Edited December 3, 2017 by Jojobobo

[Boeroer]

Actually every single target dps melee build wants to use boots of speed. Else you waste a lot of dps potential with running around too slowly. The faster the better.

Edited December 3, 2017 by Boeroer

[Jojobobo]

What I was trying to say is that speed if of course beneficial, but it's good to use other sources of speed (abilities, spells, etc.) so you can use better footware and better survival resting bonuses (i.e. not the speed resting bonus, accuracy/healing). I guess I didn't word it well enough.

[Raven Darkholme]

Actually every single target dps melee build wants to use boots of speed. Else you waste a lot of dps potential with running around too slowly. The faster the better.

Not if you're soloing most enemies come to you.

 

I guess it depends how you define single target dps, I wouldn't use boots of speed on a fighter.

[Natures Bounty]

What seems strange to me is the reason you would take an offensive spell.  Instead, Wizard might load spells they are unlikely to need more than 1 of per combat - Shield, Mirror Image, Healing, etc.,.  Personally, I would chose:

 

1st  - Shield (No Question)

2nd - Bulwark Against Elements (Fairly Good)

         Infuse Vital Essence (My Choice In Case Priest Not Nearby)

         Mirrored Images (Okay But Depends On 3rd)

3rd - Delerious Alacrity of Motion (Not Bad But...)

        Llengrath's Displace Image (Since I Did Not Use Mirrored Image)

4th - Flame Shield (My Choice)

        Iron Skin (Good Choice)

        Minor Grimoire Imprint (Not Bad... But I Know Most Spells So, Eh)

        Minor Arcane Reflection (Okay, but how many spellcasters are you fighting)

 

What is my thought process? Simple, I get one per combat and I use offense spells in the main course of a battle, but I do like to protect myself.... protections last a while... so one-off per battle works great and my other 4 main slots are set to hard core offense in the main.

 

1st Level

    Chill Fog, Minoletta's Minor Missiles, Slicken, Thurst Of Tattered Veils

      (MASTER: Shield x1 per Combat)

2nd Level

    Bewildering Spectacle, Bulwark Against Elements, Combusting Wounds, Fetid Caress

      (MASTER: Influse Vital Essence x1 per Combat)

3rd Level

     Choncelhaut's Drainging Touch, Expose Vulnerabilities, Minoletta's Bounding Missles, Noxious Burst

       (MASTER: Llengrath's Displaced Image x 1 per Combat)

4th Level

     Confusion, Minoletta's Concussive Missiles, Ninagauth's Shadowflame, *Open* (Varied Depending On Situation - but more often than not... Minor

      Arcane Reflection, Maura's Writing Tenticles, Wall of Flame)

       (MASTER: Flame Shield x1 per Combat)

I drew this list from my Path of Damned which required heavy crowd control and temporarily increasing my numbers via confusion and bewildering... mixed with damaging spells. 

 

Oh well, to each their own... just my two cents... .

 

 

 

In my experience it is far more effective to master AoE CC effects (Slicken, Chillfog, Ninagauths Shadowflame). Because when you hard-CC your foes, they can't attack you, so you don't need defense spells. Plus your other chars can kill your foes quite easily. But that depends a bit on your wizard build. I would not choose 4 defense spells as spell mastery, not more than 1 is needed, the rest is overkill.

On 3rd level of spells, I would never choose anything else than Deleterious Alacrity of Motion, no matter the build. It's a no-brainer, one of the best spells in the entire game.

[daveyeisley]

For my spell mastery spells on my Solo expert ToI PotD run I have been having great success with these 4 - many, many fights I don't even get touched:

 

Lvl1 : Chill Fog. Blindness is awesome as they lose 25 accuracy, 20 deflection and 20 reflex which stacks with other debuffs. The movement speed penalty can also be a lifesaver, for example it can stop enemy blights and even slow-moving enemies like Adra Dragon dead in their tracks. All you need is the accuracy to land it.

 

Lvl2 : Binding webs. I know, I know.... it does no damage and doesnt have the largest AoE or longest duration, plus a number of enemies are immune to stuck. However, it still works on the vast majority of enemies, and it is a nice low-level way of keeping baddies out of melee. I usually lead off with this to start the fight, so the enemy front liners can't close with me, and when the second liners try to run past, I will have already self-hasted - and if I have placed things right, just before they get to melee my Chill Fog lands, interrupts their movement, and then the Binding Webs tick and lock them down for me. Then its all about nuking

 

Lvl3 : Deleterious Alacrity. Its a game-changing buff. You may not need it in every fight, but if you get a free cast it is worth it to shorten every fight and reduce any potential incoming damage. This means having to rest far less often. I am not sure if it is a bug, but it appears the endurance loss from the spell does not affect your health total at all, so it makes even more sense to master it with that in mind.

 

Lvl4 : Ninagauth's Shadowflame. Its a very solid nuke in its own right, but it can also bridge the gap in fights where Chill Fog & Binding webs cannot sufficiently lock down the enemy field. Sometimes it will make sense to lead with this and then go Alacrity > Chill > Webs (or no webs at all and just start nuking). Other times because it casts so fast and has little recovery you may want to go Webs > Alacrity > ShadowFlame > Chill Fog or even maybe Webs > ShadowFlame > Alacrity > Chill Fog. In any event this one is so versatile it is a staple for 4th level mastery. 

 

In strategizing how to minimize resting, these spells have been amazing for me. I have also found that since I cannot access my stashed consumables, it is extremely helpful to craft in the field (as crafting allows access to your stashed ingredients, but places the newly crafted consumable into your inventory).

 

The following consumables are excellent for field-crafting:

 

+Potion of Infuse with Vital Essence (get to the last enemy of the encounter, then pop this - when encounter ends you will essentially recover health, which reduces need for rest)

-Potion of Merciless Gaze (mainly for tough fights or boss fights, I don't always have this quickslotted)

-Potion of Iron Skin (same as merciless gaze, don't use it in most fights, unless there is expectation of really getting beat on)

+Scroll of Defense (again, not used in most fights, but I do usually have this quickslotted just in case)

+Scroll of Valor (duration is basically almost twice as long as Eldritch Aim or Potion of Eldritch aim, plus its AoE for party, though not helpful for solo run)

+Scroll of Missile Barrage (Not used much except for really tough or dangerous single enemies like Dragons - cast combusting wounds and expose vulnerabilities first, its hilarious)

+Scroll of Maelstrom (These I get a ton of mileage from. Awesome large AoE, multiple dmg types, heavy overall damage, plus targets reflex which is the defense that most of my mastered spells will debuff heavily, meaning tons of Crits on each scroll I cast. On top of all that, easy to replenish from crafting in the field, so I can save my spell slots and avoid resting).

Edited February 26, 2018 by daveyeisley

[Torm51]

For my spell mastery spells on my Solo expert ToI PotD run I have been having great success with these 4 - many, many fights I don't even get touched:

 

Lvl1 : Chill Fog. Blindness is awesome as they lose 25 accuracy, 20 deflection and 20 reflex which stacks with other debuffs. The movement speed penalty can also be a lifesaver, for example it can stop enemy blights and even slow-moving enemies like Adra Dragon dead in their tracks. All you need is the accuracy to land it.

 

Lvl2 : Binding webs. I know, I know.... it does no damage and doesnt have the largest AoE or longest duration, plus a number of enemies are immune to stuck. However, it still works on the vast majority of enemies, and it is a nice low-level way of keeping baddies out of melee. I usually lead off with this to start the fight, so the enemy front liners can't close with me, and when the second liners try to run past, I will have already self-hasted - and if I have placed things right, just before they get to melee my Chill Fog lands, interrupts their movement, and then the Binding Webs tick and lock them down for me. Then its all about nuking

 

Lvl3 : Deleterious Alacrity. Its a game-changing buff. You may not need it in every fight, but if you get a free cast it is worth it to shorten every fight and reduce any potential incoming damage. This means having to rest far less often. I am not sure if it is a bug, but it appears the endurance loss from the spell does not affect your health total at all, so it makes even more sense to master it with that in mind.

 

Lvl4 : Ninagauth's Shadowflame. Its a very solid nuke in its own right, but it can also bridge the gap in fights where Chill Fog & Binding webs cannot sufficiently lock down the enemy field. Sometimes it will make sense to lead with this and then go Alacrity > Chill > Webs (or no webs at all and just start nuking). Other times because it casts so fast and has little recovery you may want to go Webs > Alacrity > ShadowFlame > Chill Fog or even maybe Webs > ShadowFlame > Alacrity > Chill Fog. In any event this one is so versatile it is a staple for 4th level mastery. 

 

In strategizing how to minimize resting, these spells have been amazing for me. I have also found that since I cannot access my stashed consumables, it is extremely helpful to craft in the field (as crafting allows access to your stashed ingredients, but places the newly crafted consumable into your inventory).

 

The following consumables are excellent for field-crafting:

 

+Potion of Infuse with Vital Essence (get to the last enemy of the encounter, then pop this - when encounter ends you will essentially recover health, which reduces need for rest)

-Potion of Merciless Gaze (mainly for tough fights or boss fights, I don't always have this quickslotted)

-Potion of Iron Skin (same as merciless gaze, don't use it in most fights, unless there is expectation of really getting beat on)

+Scroll of Defense (again, not used in most fights, but I do usually have this quickslotted just in case)

+Scroll of Valor (duration is basically almost twice as long as Eldritch Aim or Potion of Eldritch aim, plus its AoE for party, though not helpful for solo run)

+Scroll of Missile Barrage (Not used much except for really tough or dangerous single enemies like Dragons - cast combusting wounds and expose vulnerabilities first, its hilarious)

+Scroll of Maelstrom (These I get a ton of mileage from. Awesome large AoE, multiple dmg types, heavy overall damage, plus targets reflex which is the defense that most of my mastered spells will debuff heavily, meaning tons of Crits on each scroll I cast. On top of all that, easy to replenish from crafting in the field, so I can save my spell slots and avoid resting).

Holy Helig of Thein (I am in his club now).

[dgray62]

I agree with Torm51's suggestions. For most fights (for which you'll want the mastered spells, strong CC AOE spells are sufficient to win the day. The defensive buffs are most useful for the rare extremely difficult fights (bounties, dragon fights, etc.), so there's no need to master them. Web is a particularly useful spell if you also have a druid who can cast (as a mastered spell, ideally) Form of the Delemgan, as this makes your party immune to the stuck affliction. Infuse with Vital Essence is a great spell to top off your health when it gets low, but there's no need to master it, as you can rely on potions if you run out of level two spell slots.

[daveyeisley]

I agree with Torm51's suggestions. For most fights (for which you'll want the mastered spells, strong CC AOE spells are sufficient to win the day. The defensive buffs are most useful for the rare extremely difficult fights (bounties, dragon fights, etc.), so there's no need to master them. Web is a particularly useful spell if you also have a druid who can cast (as a mastered spell, ideally) Form of the Delemgan, as this makes your party immune to the stuck affliction. Infuse with Vital Essence is a great spell to top off your health when it gets low, but there's no need to master it, as you can rely on potions if you run out of level two spell slots.

I think Torm51 was just making a joke that he had achieved the forum rank 'Necromancer' and I had just necro'ed a two month old thread with my suggestions. At least if I read into his response correctly. Hopefully he can correct me if that is not accurate.

[Torm51]

 

I agree with Torm51's suggestions. For most fights (for which you'll want the mastered spells, strong CC AOE spells are sufficient to win the day. The defensive buffs are most useful for the rare extremely difficult fights (bounties, dragon fights, etc.), so there's no need to master them. Web is a particularly useful spell if you also have a druid who can cast (as a mastered spell, ideally) Form of the Delemgan, as this makes your party immune to the stuck affliction. Infuse with Vital Essence is a great spell to top off your health when it gets low, but there's no need to master it, as you can rely on potions if you run out of level two spell slots.

I think Torm51 was just making a joke that he had achieved the forum rank 'Necromancer' and I had just necro'ed a two month old thread with my suggestions. At least if I read into his response correctly. Hopefully he can correct me if that is not accurate.

 

That being said your group of mastered spells are good.  Binding Web I under utilize but I like it.

[dgray62]

I see that I misread the embedded series of quotes. It is your suggestion, daveyeisley, with which I was agreeing.