Wizardry 8:What are the best spells?

magerette

Hedgewitch
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I know there are a lot of veteran Wiz8 players here**tips hat to the amazing feats of dteowner**and I was wondering which spells you guys find to be the most effective. I have a caster-heavy party and am at about level ten and it's getting harder and harder to pick.

I have tried to go for a mix-i.e., area effect damage and misc for the mage, buffs and curses for the bishop, ec, but with so many choices and so few picks, it seems crucial to pick the most effective options.

Any suggestions?
 
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Appealing to my vanity is generally a safe bet... ;)

Defensive magic is far more valuable than offensive. Unless I build a "crippled" party that can't cast the spells, I always keep 5 spells running at all times: light, missle shield, magic screen, enchanted blade, and armorplate. The first three I would call "absolutely, positively". As you get further into the game, you'll want access to the portal spells, element shield and soul shield. Other spells that might come in handy are knock-knock and divine traps (depending on your party build).

You should plan on investing in spell books whenever possible. Has anyone showed you the formula for what spells you can learn? I've got a couple spreadsheets I use, one that shows all the spells so I can keep track of what books I should buy, and one that tracks various things that might be considered spoilers. I could email them to you if you so desire, but not until I return home this weekend.

For offense (and as I've mentioned elsewhere, I have a sumo mentality), I like a few, depending again on your party build. Status spells are nice since a paralyzed/insane/asleep critter doesn't attack and gives you double melee damage. Insanity and freeze are good for that. Shrill sound is a good cone spell and there are less critters with air resistance than some of the other realms. It's generally good to have at least one "ball effect" spell (fireball) since that's the only way to deal with the range advantage enemy casters have (they cheat).

Not much of a recipe, I'm afraid, but a lot depends on your party build and the way you choose to develop your chars.
 
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Thanks for the tips, dteowner. looks like a good balanced approach.

I imagine your spreadsheet is exactly what I was talking about--especially if it sorts out the pre-reqs and clarifies a little which schools and realms get strengthened by casting which spells--there seem to be quite a few spells that belong to two spellbooks--and I would be deeply appreciative if you get the chance to send it my way whenever you are able.

I don't mind spoilers too much anymore as I find I generally forget them by the time I get to wherever they are;) -one of the benfits of aging.
 
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Quick summary on spell reqs:
(spell level -1)*15 = threshold to learn
book skill + (realm skill/10) = ability
For spells from multiple books, best score applies.

My spell spreadsheet sorts by book and level. The other one has a checklist for custom item ingredients, "key" items for the easter egg dungeons, a potion mixing guide, and a couple other things.
 
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Sounds very cool--there is also one at this link I am thinking of downloading:

http://www.foerster.cc/wolfie/

(This one looks like it has a profession use guide as well)

Fortunately I just re-installed Excel.:)
 
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Wolfie makes me look like a Wiz8 noob. That spreadsheet is very intricate and informative.
 
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Well, Wolfie's spreadsheet is potentially, awesome, but it won't extract, so I may never know how great it is.
As for you looking like a noob--with 1000 plus hours in the game--I strongly doubt it. ;)

So the best score applies on spells from multiple realms--meaning if your Divinity score is higher than your Alchemy score, when you cast a spell shared by both books, it is appled as coming from the Divinity spellbook?
 
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Believe it. Wolfie is incredible with this game.

Spell-wise, yep, you got it.
 
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Thanks for all the help.
Now go to work, you slacker :p
 
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I have played through Wiz8 (one of my top 10 games of all time) around 5 times and my favorite spells are ones which disable the opponents such as (in no particular order) Sleep, Terror, etc. plus I like the ones which are always on such as Armorplate and Magic Screen. Offensive spells which simply do damage such as Fireball are fairly good but with combat being difficult in general I always like to disable as many of them as I can to avoid getting overwhelmed.
 
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@ dte owner
Wolfie was kind enough to send me his spreadsheet, and I can verify your earlier statement--it is the bomb.

@NFLed
Yes, so far my favorite is Freeze Flesh. It makes things a lot easier.

I like the fact that there are so many spells which I haven't encountered in other games here. Many times it seems the spellbooks in CRPGs are interchangeable.
 
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It's all the variety that gives the game so much replayability. Substitute a psionic in for a mage, keep the other 5 the same, and you end up with a noticeably different experience because of the different spells available. Same thing with bard and gadgy. Melee heavy, or caster heavy. Someone with alchemy to do potion mixing versus doing without. Maybe a 4 char party. Maybe a solo faerie ninja. So many options, indeed...
 
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There's your challenge Dte, a solo FN using Ironman mode!! :biggrin:
 
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Easy does it, there, old man. :p I've got to keep up the enthusiasm to win with my current ironman crew before attempting anything crazy. I've never ascended an ironman game. I suppose you want "difficult" level to boot?
 
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