Bolt of Cold v Freezing Cloud

[Aha]

Hello,

I'm running a DrIE (black) of Ash about to do Snake. Would BoC or FC be better in this situation? Or generally? I don't often rely heavily on conjurations so I'm not really sure. With the Ash boosts and the +2 air aptitude it would probably be really quick to get it online.

Thanks.

[Sar]

Get both, they're good in different ways. Cloud for wide AoE and damage over time, bolt for instant damage. Throw a cloud on your enemies and damage them with the bolt.

[Aha]

I thought they might have filled the same niche and since I'm tight for spell slots at the moment I thought one might be better than the other. I don't have much experience with the air conjurations, are any of them worth keeping an eye out for?

[Sar]

Not really.

[Hurkyl]

If you've trained up enough Air skill, Airstrike has a nice niche (e.g. sniping nexoqecs and shining eyes behind other things), but I usually only bother with it when I'm with Sif because forgetting spells is cheap and I can make room for it when it's most useful and forget it afterwards. You can do almost the same thing (but more slowly) with Freezing Cloud anyways.

Conjure Ball Lightning can be really good when used well, but it's hard to use and using it poorly is rather suicidal.

If you want to go the distance, Chain Lightning and Tornado are excellent, although they take a lot of skill points to get online. A lot cheaper than Glaciate, though.

[Aha]

I've got 15 in Spell/Conj/Ice/Air at the moment and I'm rounding out my support magics. If I do end up going the distance would you still recommend tornado as the level 9 of choice given the amount of Ice and Conj? I suppose from here it'd be easier with Ash boost and +2 apt anyway.

[Hurkyl]

I've not actually had the opportunity to use Glaciate, so I couldn't really say.

[Aha]

Ah well, thanks anyway. I think Airstrike is 4 spell slots too many unfortunately. I'm still a long way away from a level 9 so the decision can wait.

[ajon]

Black draconian is rElec? Do they fly too? Might try the ball lightning and chain lightning. Or if tornado is possible. ...

[bel]

A character dump, as always, is useful in giving concrete advice.

I like Freezing Cloud in Snake. It works a lot better if you have some defences and/or melee skills so you can drop a cloud next to you and keep them in the cloud till they die. Also, Snake has a lot of corridors. Just fill them up with freezing cloud.

[Aule]

Freezing Cloud > Bolt of Cold, generally. Former is more broadly useful, and remains so far past the lair branches (in all of which it is quite useful), while the latter is often situational, at least the way I use it. Getting the most coverage for their MP cost, I like to use bolt spells only when I have several lined up, or when it can be reflected back on the enemies. often as the finishing move. I don't use bolts often. Incidentally, if it's available, Orb of Destruction is a real heavy-hitter that can take out what cold alone (and nearly anything else) cannot, but one has to learn how to make use of it effectively. Also, Airstrike is a great spell, especially if you already have a lot of skill invested in Air. Its direct smite targeting is very nice and it does wonders against flying enemies, which include most Hall of Blades denizens, if you're planning on doing Elf. But OoD works great on them, too.

You can pump more skill into spellcasting to gain more spell points. [Edit: math: spell levels available = (XL - 1) + (Spellcasting * 2), so 2 more full skill points in Spellcasting gains 4 more levels to spend.]

What bel said about Snake tactics.

[Blobbo]

I thought they might have filled the same niche

Their utility is almost opposite. Use the cloud on large groups that you can afford to whittle down over time (typically, make them stand in the cloud while you melee the closest ones to death). Use the bolt against single or a few targets at range that you need to kill in a hurry.

Which one you pick first depends on your level of skills. All else being equal I would pick freezing cloud first if both are castable. If only the bolt is castable then don't wait, grab it, and train spellcasting to get the cloud later.

[Siegurt]

Freezing Cloud > Bolt of Cold, generally. Former is more broadly useful, and remains so far past the lair branches (in all of which it is quite useful), while the latter is often situational, at least the way I use it. Getting the most coverage for their MP cost, I like to use bolt spells only when I have several lined up, or when it can be reflected back on the enemies. often as the finishing move. I don't use bolts often.

You under utilize bolt spells then, bolt spells are among the more versitile and generally useful types of attack spells, and BoC is useful all the way to the end of the game. Freezing cloud is no slouch, of course, and is more efficient MP to damage wise, but BoC is damn good as a level 6 conjuration.

[Sandman25]

  Code:

Aiming: Bolt of Cold
Press: ? - help, Shift-Dir - straight line, f - ettin
Aim: an ettin, wielding a great mace and a dire flail (chance 85%)
The bolt of cold hits the ettin.(damage 39)
The ettin is severely wounded.
Casting: Bolt of Cold
Confirm with . or Enter, or press ? or * to list all spells.
Aiming: Freezing Cloud
Press: ? - help, Dir - move target cursor, p - ettin
The ettin is engulfed in freezing vapours.
The ettin takes 11 damage from cloud: freezing vapours.

[Sar]

BoC is useful in postend as well, quickly killing hellions, balrugs, brimstone fiends is useful.

[thevogonpoet]

It can one shot kill tormentors too apparently - had some on my last Orb run.

<3 BoC

[Aule]

I'm sure you're both correct, but I usually have Glaciate by that time.

[Sandman25]

Do you really use Glaciate to kill a single Hellion? I assume you know about noise and mana cost of spells

[Aule]

I don't kill a single anything with Glaciate. Because I don't worry about spell noise, especially when I have Glaciate. Because I usually also have Firestorm before that.

@OP: Listen to them, not to me!

Had a spectator say tonight, "Teach me TrWz." I said, "lol, I've only played 3 so far. Their claws are badass." Then he said, "Teach me OgWz." My paranoia kicked in and said he was someone from here being snarky toward me, but I answered: "I can only teach you bad habits." Which is true.