Best spells for Cipher and Wizard

[SFH]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I tried searching the forums for this information but couldn't find a match. I would like to know the best spells for these two classes from lower level to high level.

[Boeroer]

It totally depends how you want to play those. Melee or ranged, beefy or glass cannon, damage dealing or crowd control or a mix... and so on.

 

If you specify your idea of your character we will be able to give more sophisticated advice.

 

Especially the Wizard has so many spells that can be totally awesome in the right situations that it's very difficult to give a general answer.

Edited March 12, 2017 by Boeroer

[SFH]

It's not so much for me. It's for Aloth and Grieving Mother. The character I have is a Deflection based Fighter. I am looking for a way to crowd control large mobs while they are surrounding my Fighter but I also would like to know what spells are good on boss type enemies. I'm not really looking for magic damage as I read a thread on this forum that said something along the lines that nuking in this game was not as good as the one you'd see in a D&D game.

 

I also would like to know the value of charm spells. I discovered this ability at random when I was using Grieving Mother to charm the bears in the Old Queen and the New King quest.

[Livegood118]

Charm/Dominate/Confusion spells are insanely good. They create a buffer between you and your enemies, taking the heat away from you and allowing you to damage the other dudes. Charming/Dominating/Confusing more or less = a chance to cast summon spell in terms of effect, except it has the benefit of taking enemies away from combat. Be a bit careful though with passive/active AoE buffs that your own dudes put out.

 

I went through the spell lists and these are the ones that I tend to cast most often when I use both classes:

 

Wizard

 

Level 1:

 

– Chill Fog (long duration blind, combine with combusting wounds)

– Eldritch Aim (+20 accuracy, to be cast before CC, stacks with devotions for faithful)

– Slicken (AoE prone)

– Spirit Shield (Good if you need concentration in a pinch

– Wizard's Double (With hardened Arcane Veil you'll be more or less unhittable – Combine with Draining Wall!)

– Concelhauts Parasitic Staff (Great in early game)

 

Level 2:

 

– Bewildering Spectacle (Useful in early game before Confusion at level 4, aoe Confuse)

– Binding Web (Combine with Druid's form of the Delemgan)

– Combusting Wounds (Combine with any non-DoT repeat damage spell/ability/attack, loads of damage!)

– Curse of Blackened Sight (Party friendly long duration AoE blind, use when things too messy for chillfog)

– Fetid Caress (Decent single target paralyses)

– Miasma of Dull Mindedness (Good to soften up before will attacking spell)

 

Level 3

 

– Deleterious Alacrity (One of the best buffs in the game, cuts recovery in half – with 0 armor penalty leads to no recovery for spells)

– Expose Vulnerabilities (Better than dropping a fireball)

– Kalakoth Minor Blights (With Blast, Penetrating Blast + Combusting Wounds + Deleterious Alacrity + expose vulnerabilities will pressure cook enemies)

– Llengrath's Displaced Image (Good buff if under duress)

 

Level 4 

 

– Confusion (Great AoE confusion, party friendly)

– Maura's Writhing Tentacles (Very good, keeps dudes locked down)

– Ninagauth's Shadowflame (One of the best spells in the game, fast cast AoE Paralyse)

– Ninagauth's Death Ray (Decent single target damage with good might)

– Pull of Eora (Use to suck people for Barbarians/Citzals Spirit Lance)

– Wall of Flame (great for interrupt/combusting wounds)

 

Level 5

 

– Blast of Frost (Good nuke)

– Arkemyr's Wondrous Torment (For when you really need a will spell to land)

– Call to Slumber (One of the best AoE CCs in the game)

– Malignant Cloud (Good Raw aoe damage, combine with 

– Ninagauth's Bitter Mooring (Good damage)

– Ryngrim's Enervating Terror (Great Debuff)

– Wall of Force (Good for combusting Wounds/Interrupt)

– Citzals Spirit Lance (Has an AoE effect, does great damage)

 

Level 6

 

– Gaze of the Adragan (Probably best CC spell in the game, petrified targets take 2x damage)

– XXX Blunt Wisdom (Insane damage weapon summon, but gotten very late in game)

– Ninagauth's Freezing Pillar (Good damage)

 

Level 7

 

– Concelhaut's Crushing Doom (Insane single target prone, made for messing with dragons)

– XXX Siphoning Image (Very good protection spell, gotten late)

– Wall of Draining (Insanely good spell, can get infinite duration buffs = near invulnerability)

– Chaotic Orb (Good when there's two targets)

 

Level 8

 

– Kalakoth's Freezing Rake (Insane Damage)

– Wall of Many Colours (Insane CC)

 

Cipher

 

Level 1

 

– Antipathetic Field (Insane damage for early game, withdraw a guy at a choke point then do this over them)

– Whisper of Treason (useful from start to finish, fast cast single target long duration charm, messes up dragons)

 

Level 2

 

– Mental Binding (Great AoE CC, cheap with good duration)

– Phantom Foes (Use in combination with vs flanked resting bonus for certain classes, increases spell damage too)

– Recall Agony (Good damage vs single targets)

 

Level 3

 

– Ectopsychic Echo (Party friendly version of antipathetic field, cast on your own dudes)

– Puppet Master (Dominate version of whisper of treason, insanely good, messes up dragons)

 

Level 4

 

– Going Between (Nice defensive boost)

 

Level 5

 

– Borrowed Instinct (If no Priest)

– Ringleader (Great AoE dominate/charm debuff)

– Tactical Meld (Stacks with every other ACC Bonus, great for landing CC against high def targets)

 

Level 6

 

– Amplified Wave (Insane spell, damage and prone in massive area)

– Disintegration (Insane single target damage, doesn't destroy loot!)

 

Level 7

 

– Time Parasite (Will massively increase focus generation, though use deleterious alacrity potion in big fights)

 

Level 8

 

– Defensive Mindweb (Hands down best defensive spell in the entire game, trivialises the late game)

– Reaping Knives (Infinite focus generation, Insane)

Edited March 13, 2017 by Livegood118

[SFH]

Thank you for the time and effort you put into this. I will give these spells a go.

[BigMagicJerk]

I reset my password just so I can login and like this guys reply, lol

[scythesong]

For the record, I think you do get access to almost every wizard spell in the game through looted grimoires. It's more important to get the spells which are immediately useful to you (see list above or similar topics) or spells you can't get through loot.

 

With Ciphers, you can just respec if you don't like something.

Edited May 26, 2017 by scythesong

[MasterCipher]

With Ciphers, focus is a renewable resource during combat, so it's often better to use a high level ability slot on a lower level. Also, some of the lower level abilities have a higher chance to hit and longer duration than the higher level area of effects.

 

10 focus

Confuse and Frighten - amazing fight starter and crowd control

Mindwave - fast and cheap prone

 

20 focus

Amplified thrust - fast cast, highest direct damage ability Cipher has, but it's still usually better to save up for AoE or use a control ability

Pyschovampire or whatever its called- the only Cipher buff you can still cast before combat. As a melee cipher, you want to have higher deflection than your tank so the AI doesn't choose you Pikachu.

 

30 focus

Soul ignition - stacks with itself from same Cipher and with high MIG actually scales to the same damage per second as Disintegration. Rough numbers example you can cast Disintegration for 450 damage over 30 seconds (15dps) or cast 2 Soul ignitions for (225 damage over 15 seconds (15 dps) ) x 2 = 450 damage over 15 seconds (30 dps). Disintegration doesn't scale as well with MIG for some reason. You can cast on something while it's under a long prone/stun/paralyze or double cast on a boss before you put it in Stasis - this takes a lot of focus but creatures continue to take damage over time for pre-existing conditions.

 

40 focus

Silent Scream  - Raw AoE damage and long stun on first target - I cast this every chance I can

Wild Leech - 50% chance of an extreme buff or debuff. CON = -50% HP on target, INT = +50% duration/AoE, DEX = +30% cast speed. The other stats aren't as impactful or can be buffed/debuffed easily by other abilities.

 

50 focus

Detonate - Cast on target under 50% health with the goal of killing in order to trigger the superb AoE crush damage explosion

 

70 focus

Speed Steal - colossal 50% recovery haste (weapons and abilities) and AoE jump debuffs enemies the same - worth casting as soon as possible in encounters

[Ensign]

A couple minor things to add:

 

For Wizard, direct damage spells of a given level tend to drop off in power as you gain levels.  Fan of Flames and Necrotic Lance are beastly at level 3, but kind of meh at level 13.  Use them early, then cycle them out for more self-buffs or CC as you level (Eldrich Aim is not worth a slot at level 3, but is one of your best spells at high level).

 

 

For Cipher, a little wrinkle is that most of your good powers target will, which makes Eyestrike and Body Attunement relevant picks later into the game.  When you on occasion fight something with a strong will defense (or run into Lagufaeth Broodmothers spamming Crowns like it is going out of style) it's useful to be able to target a different defense and still debuff those mobs.

[Boeroer]

Good advice.

 

ROFL for "like it is going out of style". :D