sanka wrote:Well, I did not interpret the question for just damage spells. Besides the advice for LRD being very useful all game is very good.
You are absolutely right that DMSL cannot be casted without at least some charms/air trainig, not even with wizardry. But I read this part only that you do not need a very good success rate, which is true, you can switch to robe and wizardry items, it works, and it helps a lot. It is just annoying without macroing the whole process somehow.
I think that butterflies is not a tavern meme, and it is not only useful early on. It is very good all game. It especially works well with LRD, since it has smite targetting.
First of all butterflies are only going to block the enemy from getting to you if you are in a thin corridor situation. In an open area the butterflies don't do anything. If you're a blaster mage with a bolt spell in a thin corridor, it's easier to just kill the enemies - it only takes two or three turns to kill all the enemies in the corridor. Casting butterflies not only costs you a turn, it blocks your bolt spell.
If you need the butterflies to escape, there are many more reliable options after the early game: you can cast blink, you can read a scroll of blinking, you can tele, you can read fog. You can just walk away. If you really need monsters to block for you so you can escape, you can evoke a bag of spiders or read a scroll of summoning. If you are playing safely you will have enough of these escape tools that you'd never get down to the last-resort butterflies.
Blink is a spell that I often memorize, but only cast if I make some stupid mistake. Sometimes you can do some tricks with it, that's true.
Sure - or if you get netted or constricted, or if you need to get some space between you and a monster, or if a guardian serpent has surrounded you.
I am personally lazy to cast regeneration outside of Vaults$, Hells, and the orb run. I found it not useful enough in other places. It does converse some piety, true, but that is not very useful for Vehumet. It is not a bad spell to learn tough, you may need it.
It's an excellent spell, moreso for a brute than a blaster because they can just cast it in every combat. On a blaster, in a long fight you still should have regen on - it will give you 20-30 HP you would not otherwise have. Additionally, if you get abyssed or shafted into a dangerous level and need to rest quickly when wandering monsters could discover you at any time, regen gives you a huge survival advantage. I just put it on macro 2 so it's no trouble to cast.
I would not train fire magic on an earth elementalist, unless I am going for fire storm late, late in the game for some reason. I have no idea why it would be good. LRD can damage more than one monsters, and it seemed better to me than bolt of magma, for instance.
LRD is certainly not bad, but it has several disadvantages. LRD only works if the enemies are all next to the same wall tile. This is frequently not the case, enemies may approach you in an open area (plenty of those in shoals, spider, swamp, depths). LRD does poor damage against things with AC such as vault guards in plate. It's also loud as heck, so if you are being cautious in a new level you don't want to cast LRD at first. For example, when first entering any branch you should be wary about casting LRD so things stay asleep, because you have only one stairs back up. Finally, LRD can only be enhanced by a staff of earth or items with archmagi.
Bolt spells can often hit more enemies at a time than LRD can, in addition to piercing armor better. Fire spells are easier to enhance using a ring of fire, staff of fire, staff of conjuration, or archmagi items, so you can get better spellpower on fire spells than LRD (enough to kill almost all enemies in 1-3 hits).
Bolt of magma is not the best bolt spell - bolt of fire is, due to the longer range. With Vehumet it's LOS range. Being able to pick off enemies at edge of LOS that aren't near a wall is a significant advantage of bolt of fire. Bolt of magma is a stepping stone to bolt of fire, or a fallback if you don't find bolt of fire.
Fire spells also obscure LOS in shoals and swamp, due to making steam. This is a substantial advantage that not only protects you from ranged attackers instantly, but also deals extra damage, letting you often kill enemies in a single shot. Shoals is terribly dangerous for most characters, but for characters with Fireball or Bolt of Fire, I will often do Shoals first and find it easiest due to this steam effect.
duvessa wrote:My advice is always based off playing to win without any other goals, unless someone specifically asks for advice on speedrunning or whatever.
I'm not saying that you were intentionally giving him speedrunning advice, but that your views on crawl may be influenced more by speedrunning lore than playing to win.