How useful is invisibility?

[AzuredreamsXT]

The wiki says it's not as good as one might think, but seeing as I've seen a tavern goer who seems extremely knowledgeable say it's one of the best effects in the game, I'm thinking this is one instance where the wiki is not quite on the money?

I have the spell available and already have some hexes skill trained, just wondering how invisibility works in this game

[cerebovssquire]

Well, I assume what the wiki meant is that for non-stabbing purposes, it isn't actually that great. By "not that great" I mean "not as overpowered as in some other games", it is good, but being invisible doesn't mean that monsters without sInv won't know where you are at all or can't attack you. For a character that doesn't want to stab, a lot of other level 6 spells are a lot more useful.
However, for stabbing purposes, once you get decent Short Blades skill and Invisibility, a huge portion of the game can be cleared without taking damage at all, including a surprising amount of late-game enemies (for instance, draconians in Zot can't see invisible). That is why Invisibility is one of the best spells in the game.

edit: if you are unsure how invisibility works, its primary purpose is to approach sleeping, non-sInv monsters to stab them in their sleep; they will hardly ever wake up. Casting it against awake non-sInv enemies and then stabbing them with a short blade is also fine, as you will still get large damage bonuses. Casting it against awake monsters and then doing other things than stabbing isn't very good. Basically, it is a spell for stealthy short blade characters.

If the character you are referring to is the demonspawn you posted recently, getting Invisibility wouldn't be a good idea.

[RBrandon]

Invisibility has a number of very useful effects against monsters that do not see invisible or sense invisible.

First, it makes such monsters much less likely to notice you making sleep-stabs and avoiding awake monsters much easier. If those monsters then become aware of you at some point they attempt to move toward you or attack you using their "best guess" which might be several tiles off of your actual position. What this means is that a monster that has been next to you while invisible (like if you walk up to it) it will probably attack you, but if you run away a bit the monster might seem to start moving randomly. This effect is most obvious when engaging ranged monsters without SInv (Including all centaurs, yaktaurs and stone giants) Even if the monster successfully attempts to attack you, it does so with a lower chance to hit. Finally, you have a chance to stab monsters that can't see you. It is neither guaranteed nor as strong as like a sleep stab, but it nevertheless can be an effective way to combat monsters without SInv.

Some other less obvious effects include monsters with shields blocking your attacks less often and giving YOU slightly less accuracy if you don't have SInv (you can't see yourself) Also most of these effects apply for monsters that are invisible and you can't see, except obviously you might be able to guess where they are better.

cerebovssquire beat me to the punch but yes Invis is best with short blades and can indeed help you breeze through rather large portions of the game.

[dck]

Just want to mention that while most characters who don't stab normally don't have the invis spell in their priorities' list the invisibility effect such as the one a cloak of darkness/ring of invis, wands and potions grant is extremely helpful for basically anyone since the overwhelming majority of enemies in the game cannot see invisible.

[AzuredreamsXT]

Great to know, thanks guys. Yea I was asking for the benefit of my current character, the demonspawn. He has 4 hexes skill and I was wondering if invis or mass confusion or something would be a good investment (would require further training of the skill but I have numerous spell books with mid level hexes within)

[duvessa]

Invisibility is good for non-stabbers...

...except it is mutually exclusive with haste.

[cerebovssquire]

Great to know, thanks guys. Yea I was asking for the benefit of my current character, the demonspawn. He has 4 hexes skill and I was wondering if invis or mass confusion or something would be a good investment (would require further training of the skill but I have numerous spell books with mid level hexes within)

Mass Confusion isn't that great for the demonspawn either. Again, it's a spell that lets you stab monsters with a short blade, and while it is better than invisibility for your character (since confused monsters don't do much even if you aren't getting a damage bonus against them), it requires a lot of exp to get an effect that isn't worth that amount.

[duvessa]

If you're not stabbing then getting hexes is silly (except maybe enslavement).

[dck]

Isn't it a bit optimistic to assume every character who lucks into a cloak of darkness or invis ring also has a renewable source of haste? If you don't have a wand yet or don't have the spell your source of fast are potions which is pretty limiting and using invis can also help a lot in many fights.

[Lasty]

I haven't seen the code for it, but I've heard it said that while invisible, your stealth rating impacts how well monsters that cannot see invisible guess your position. So, the advantage of being invis without stabbing is greater if you're more stealthy -- though ironically, that usually involves training stealth, thus making stabbing more attractive.

Anyone want to confirm or deny that?

[duvessa]

People keep claiming that but I have never found anything in the code that suggests it. As far as I know stealth only helps if a monster is unaware of you or it is out of LOS and pursuing you.

[Baldu3]

Fun fact about invisibility: ghost moths won't drain your mana if you're invisible.

[Bloax]

Fun fact about invisibility: ghost moths won't drain your mana if you're invisible.

Golden/Giant eyes won't affect you if you're invisible either.

Invisibility is generally pretty great if you have a ton of EV, and ranged enemies that can't SInv go completely apeshit crazy (shoot-in-random-direction-including-where-their-allies-are crazy) if you turn invisible.
It takes quite a bit of investment though, and like all spells isn't easy to find. So unfortunately you can't make ranged enemies kill all your enemies all the time.
Although if you find an evocable source then you definitely shouldn't shy away from getting a bit of evocations.

[Wahaha]

Sometimes when not stabbing, using invis is better than using haste. The damage output is lower but it can prevent a lot more damage over the course of the fight than using haste would. Depends on the enemy.