Spell "categories" in PoE.

[corrado33]

I'm the type of gamer who likes to dive into the spell descriptions and figure out which spell is best for each situation. Since I've just started playing PoE, I've begun to do that here as well. 

 

I'm currently making a spreadsheet with all of the spells in the game, what they do, damage, buff, etc., and how much of that thing they do. Some of you may call this min-maxing, which may be true, but I've been doing this long before that term was coined. I do this because I HATE trying to look through a spell description in the middle of a battle to figure out if it does what I want. Often times I'll pick a substandard spell for the effect I'm trying to achieve and that makes me... uneasy. (I may be slightly obsessive.) 

 

For some of you, reading that spreadsheet would probably ruin the game. That's fine, you don't have to read it. However, being analytically minded, I love doing this kind of stuff.

 

However, my question is this. How would you categorize all of the spells in the game? I've thought of a few categories already. Many spells fall into multiple categories.

 

• Damage
• Buff (AoE or single)
• Debuff (AoE or single)
• Summon
• Healing (AoE or single)

 

I originally had crowd control as a category, but realized that CC is just a subset of debuff (AoE debuff.) There's really only one other category that I may include, and that's the spells that change allegiance. (Charm spells.) Those don't fall very well into any of the above categories, but I'm not sure. There are still other spells which I can't really categorize. Steal a spell from an enemy and cast it for free? What the heck does that fall into. "Other"

 

What do you guys think. How would you split the spells up into categories? 

Edited April 5, 2016 by corrado33

[Crucis]

You could have a category for mind-altering (allegiance altering) spells, I suppose.

[Achilles]

Here's what works for me: two excel workbooks - one for offense and one for defense.

 

Top row of the first one lists all the damage types (raw, crush, burn, etc). First column lists which defense it targets (deflection, reflex, etc). I have one tab for each caster class and then I plug in the spells accordingly (i.e. Druid tab > Reflex row, Crush column = Hail Storm)

 

Defense workbook looks and feels very similar except top row lists effects rather than damage type and the first column lists the class (i.e. Priest row, Petrifed column = Prayer Against Imprisonment). Currently in the process of adding a row that lists the creatures who can apply said effects.

 

Re: CC I didn't bother because I've pretty much got Aloth's grimoire locked down (and Grieving Mother more or less takes care of CC herself if you build her right).

 

I hope that helps

[Achilles]

Oh and re: "Other" - yes, you want to have both a column and a row labelled other (i.e. Druid tab > Other row, Burn column = Firebrand, or Wizard tab > Fortitude row, Other column = Minor Grimoire Imprint, Major Grimoire Imprint, etc)

[anameforobsidian]

I'm the type of gamer who likes to dive into the spell descriptions and figure out which spell is best for each situation. Since I've just started playing PoE, I've begun to do that here as well. 

 

I'm currently making a spreadsheet with all of the spells in the game, what they do, damage, buff, etc., and how much of that thing they do. Some of you may call this min-maxing, which may be true, but I've been doing this long before that term was coined. I do this because I HATE trying to look through a spell description in the middle of a battle to figure out if it does what I want. Often times I'll pick a substandard spell for the effect I'm trying to achieve and that makes me... uneasy. (I may be slightly obsessive.) 

 

For some of you, reading that spreadsheet would probably ruin the game. That's fine, you don't have to read it. However, being analytically minded, I love doing this kind of stuff.

 

However, my question is this. How would you categorize all of the spells in the game? I've thought of a few categories already. Many spells fall into multiple categories.

 

• Damage
• Buff (AoE or single)
• Debuff (AoE or single)
• Summon
• Healing (AoE or single)

 

I originally had crowd control as a category, but realized that CC is just a subset of debuff (AoE debuff.) There's really only one other category that I may include, and that's the spells that change allegiance. (Charm spells.) Those don't fall very well into any of the above categories, but I'm not sure. There are still other spells which I can't really categorize. Steal a spell from an enemy and cast it for free? What the heck does that fall into. "Other"

 

What do you guys think. How would you split the spells up into categories? 

 

I would say there's cc spells that are more than just Debuffs.  These are spells that have a noticeable gameplay impact beyond the numbers, slicken being one.

 

- So we have damage (minolettas), AoE's (fireball), bouncing (rolling flame).

- Charm (confusion)

- Debuffs (blindness)

- Buffs (citzals martial prowess)

- Summons (essential phantoms)

- Healing (minor heal)

- Crowd control (slicken, turn into pig)

 

There are still some spells that fall outside of that:

- Movement spells: spells that move you and enemies, (dimensional shift, pull of eora).

- Shields: these are substantially different than buffs in that they protect, and that they're limited by attacks, (Ironskin)

- Summoned Weapons or items:  these are substantially different for gameplay than normal summons (parasitic staff, nature's bounty).

- Traps: spells that activate when you walk on them, (priest seals)

- Area altering spells: spells that affect a constant area, but end when you move out (brambles, freezing pillar, walls)

- Counterspells, spells that affect other spells (suppress affliction, Deprive the Unworthy)

[m3m3nt0]

Another completely different way to classify spells, at least offensive ones, is the defense type these "attack" (reflex, fortitude, deflection, will).

At least this is what mostly helps me.

 

Druid for example has more spells that attack fortitude, while wizard has more spells that attack reflex and cipher more that attack will.

 

If I want to CC a group of enemies, primarily I decide to which character this group will be vulnerable. For example a construct, will probably have higher fortitude, because...well it's a construct, so I will not look for a spell in the druid repertoire.

 

Even if you face an enemy for the 1st time, with a little experience in the fantasy pop culture you already have an idea of the vulnerabilities enemies have.