Spellcaster advice

[xavori]

Hey all, I haven't played Crawl in a while, but I remember the lessons: keep dying 'till you get to the Orb

Seriously though, I've played many melee-based characters, but few mages. I'm interested in playing an elementalist, or maybe just a plain conjurer. Thus I have some questions for you in order to make my experience less painful. That being said, feel free to throw advice based on the topic even if I didn't specifically ask for it


Question 1 - What spells are a must have for a conjurer/elementalist?

Question 2 - What are the must have skills for the mage I want t play (elementalist or conjurer)? In what order should I train them? Please don't list spellcasting skills, save that for question 3

Question 3 - What spellcasting skills should I train in order to overcome obstacles that one skill can't? For example, if I play a fire elementalist, then fire-immune monsters will be difficult unless I have an alternate method of killing them.


That's all I can think of now. All help is appreciated

[rebthor]

Hey all, I haven't played Crawl in a while, but I remember the lessons: keep dying 'till you get to the Orb

Seriously though, I've played many melee-based characters, but few mages. I'm interested in playing an elementalist, or maybe just a plain conjurer. Thus I have some questions for you in order to make my experience less painful. That being said, feel free to throw advice based on the topic even if I didn't specifically ask for it


Question 1 - What spells are a must have for a conjurer/elementalist?

Every school has their own versions, but essentially you need a spammable spell, a big nuke to take out something dangerous and a crowd control spell/multi-target spell. As your character levels up, it's likely that your "big nuke" becomes your spammable spell.

Question 2 - What are the must have skills for the mage I want t play (elementalist or conjurer)? In what order should I train them? Please don't list spellcasting skills, save that for question 3

Dodging, fighting, stealth. Train them when your spells are online and hunger costs low.

Question 3 - What spellcasting skills should I train in order to overcome obstacles that one skill can't? For example, if I play a fire elementalist, then fire-immune monsters will be difficult unless I have an alternate method of killing them.


That's all I can think of now. All help is appreciated

Most classes have an "unresistable" spell in their starting books, such as throw icicle or magma bolt which will help. Long term it's going to depend entirely on which books you find, but the "anti-training" between fire/ice and air/earth means that it's a little harder to get both opposing schools to super high levels.

[banei]

It is best to focus on the magic skill(s) of your main nuke and to turn off all other skills, although leaving spellcasting at normal training is often good. When you can nuke reliably, you can spread out.

These are the important spells for elementalists before spreading out:
air: lightning
earth: Lee's Rapid Deconstruction
fire: sticky flame
ice : Throw Icicle

[xavori]

Thank you both for the replies, they were very helpful.

All of this info made question something new: when should I start branching out to other magic schools? What's a good way to know?

[Happy Corner]

Usually when your go-to spells for your chosen school are reliable.

[Yet Another Stupid Noob]

Thank you both for the replies, they were very helpful.

All of this info made question something new: when should I start branching out to other magic schools? What's a good way to know?

All of this will depend on what spells you have vs. find


If I get Repel Missiles, Swiftness, Blink, Apportation, Summon Butterflies (if getting allies killed does not irritate your god) I will branch out immediately to get castable (and they are all low level so it does not take long).

I will probably branch immediately for Mephitic Cloud, Regeneration, Sublimation of Blood.

Haste deserves special mention. Once I have my main spell online I will usually start heading to that.

One elemental attack is much like another. Since you will generally be skilling conjurations along with your chosen element, once you get IMB (Iskulendel's Mystic Blast) and OOD (Orb of Destruction) you will have untyped damage for foes that are resistant/immune to your specific damage type. Because of this I don't generally branch into other schools. The exception is for the cloud spells (mephitic, poison and icy) because they represent a great damage/mana investment. I'll fill a corridor with a cloud and run away until I get the "you feel more experienced" message. Since spell power does not matter nearly as much, just getting them castable is generally enough.

[TehDruid]

(Iskulendel's Mystic Blast)

[Yet Another Stupid Noob]

(Iskulendel's Mystic Blast)

Laugh it up fuzzball. If the OP is new at spellcasting I'd rather throw out my badly misspelled name instead of just using IMB like everyone else.

[xavori]

Yet another stupid noob ( i feel weird typing your name, its like im insulting you ) thank you for the detailed advice on branching out. It will be most helpful