Which spells do folks consider worth learning or upgrading ?

[Frank]

As a level 22 Warrior, I've used Bless, Weakness, Slow and Haste throughout and I just started on Phantom and Blind (awesome!) recently. At least for my playstyle, Distortion (lvl 2) >> Order (2) >> Chaos (1, used only to burn plants).

I agree with Sandsai that direct damage is less important than tactics in the late game, based on my experience with the Rage Box. I can do a lot of damage with Underground Spikes and Void (or whatever it's called), but it's always best to drop an Ice Ball in front of the enemy's archers instead.

[PHJF]

Fire Rain (infinitely better than fireball)

Ice Snake (for fire resistant enemies like dragons)

Poison Skull (again, for fire-resistant ememies; also potentially does more damage than Fire Arrow)

Pole Axe (really only if you haven't found Ice Snake yet)

Lightning is a massive waste of mana, so ignore it. Damage is actually lower than Ice Snake, yet it costs 15 more mana (and that's WITH archmage's staff).

[maltz]

For warriors, top 3 spells:

(1) Hypnotize (Distortion)

Use it to open a battle and complete waste the enemy's turn. The AI makes it a priority to kill the hypnotized friendly unit. Cast it just after evil beholder's special ability (of the same effect) and you get one more turn of hypnosis.

(2) Phantom (Distortion)

Sometimes it is impossible to hypnotize any enemy unit, but phantom works as well. Just clone your best unit and use it to tank.

(3) Sacrifice (Chaos - lv2 is enough)

Great for growing stacks that's hard to come by. For example, only 22 ever-useful inquisitors were ever available to me in my game. With the spell I've grown it to a stack of 300+ by late game. You need some good intelligence to be able to sacrifice a dragon back at chaos lv 2, but you can just buy them later anyway.

These are the spells that I use > 80% of the time. Dragon Arrow and Dispel are handy but you don't need to upgrade them at all.

[Ryastar]

Originally Posted by maltz

Dragon Arrow and Dispel are handy but you don't need to upgrade them at all.

I disagree about the second half of that statement. I agree about dragon arrows - i rarely need more than the 2 (iirc) that the basic level provides, and the upgrade only increases the number of them you get, not their effectiveness etc. Dispel, however, is practically useless at 1st level. All it does is remove all spells on any friendly troop. It therefore cannot be used to remove a buff from an enemy unit, or remove hypnotize from your own unit etc. At second level, it gains the ability to be used on an enemy unit, which is nice, but at third level it becomes truly amazing. At third level, it dispels negative effects from a friendly unit or positive effects from an enemy unit. This is truly amazing, especially since the cost does not increase from level to level, but stays a low 5 mana. It will remove the debuffs put on you without removing the buffs, and removes the buffs on your opponents without removing the debuffs.

Extra hint with dispel: cast it on any phantom troop for instant death of that troop. But you can only do this to your opponent with level 2+ dispel.

I know it means getting levels in order, but I've had a lot of success with a 3/3/1 o/d/c warrior. As a warrior, you will never need powerful damage spells from chaos, the only reason for more chaos is so you can use sacrifice to gain dragons. Personally, I've never had problems with not enough dragons - there are plenty available for sale, and the inquisitors/timeback/gift cycle will easily res them back, with time, except for blackies, of course, but sacrifice can't gain you any blackies anyways. And the extra order means full power from spells like: res, helplessness, bless, battle cry, dispel, divine armor, etc - mostly spells that are more effective on bigger armies.

[Shadowcran]

Perhaps the topic should be:

What spells wouldn't you upgrade with a gun pointed at your head telling you to?

It's easy to find the really, really good spells that compliment your style of play. I tend to prefer the Phoenix as basically attack absorption for example. Yet, I'm still technically a "noob" and would like to know the spells not worth bothering with at all.

I'm a level 22 Paladin, and it's too late to realize that magic crystals aren't endless so that knowledge will help in my next gameplay.