Favorite spells?

[Holywhippet]

What are everyones favorite spells in TAB? I'd say my number 1 favorite at the moment would have to be the illusion spell. My current army consists of inquisitors, shamans, catapults (with some cyclops that can be swapped in for certain fights), emerald dragons and black dragons. Since I'm a mage with maxxed out higher magic I can cast two illusion spells (level 2) in the first round of combat on the emerald dragons. They in turn can use mana drain to recover some of the points I spent summoning them. The AI seems to prefer the summoned dragons over the real ones which helps keep losses down.

The really cool moment for me using the illusion spell came when I'd just about finished a fight. Figuring it was over I had the inquisitors raise one of the troops that had taken losses. Then the remaining enemy stack hit my black dragon, the counterattack managed to kill one of my emerald dragons who were sitting behind it. I spent half a minute trying to work out if I had to accept the loss of an emerald dragon when I realised my salvation lay with the illusion spell. I just summoned an illusionary copy of the inquisitors and had them use ressurection on the emerald dragons. The fight ended soon after with no losses on my part.

My other favourite spells would be as follows:

Trap - useful for blocking enemy troops from getting at your troops or slowing them down early on.
Plague + helplessness - strips defences down a lot on high defence opponents.
Guardian angel - very useful in boss fights.

[DGDobrev]

For me:

Target + Stone skin combo - battle winner
Evlin - the undead resurrection spell
Death Star - combine with high intellect and you can beat up impossible enemies with ease
Armageddon - combine with Paladin hero with Resurrection skill lvl 3 and Black Kinghts - Judgment Day Paladin FTW

These are the spells I usualy use - unless I'm going for the prerequisites for the medals.

[TemjinGold]

My impossible mage with a 1-troll army loves Fear.

[Zechnophobe]

Phantom is amazingly good. Phantom Ogres can lock down an army pretty good. Phantoming dryads is a surplus of thorns and a lock down on all level 3 and under units. Phantom Red Dragons for significant damage.

Fear is also pretty awesome, especially for a mage. The duration increases, but cost doesn't, when you level it up. This means you can often keep enemy forces locked down for a long time with it. It also prevents an enemy hero from casting on the feared units turn.

Helplessness. It completely dominates against basically any level 5 unit. Huge penalty to armor (Often causing double or tripple damage against the target) and the negative morale for a long duration is good too.

Summon Phoenix: In AP, the 'burning' effect decreases morale. You can also get summon phoenix fairly early, and it has something like a 90% chance to burn targets, so you can use it for good damage, massive debuffs, and as a tank (If you get it to level 3 early). It also is cheaper than any other summon spell.

Stone Skin: Resistence AND defense? Sign me up!

[Zhuangzi]

Spells I use all the time...

Distortion is the school of Magic I use the most:

Mass Haste (normally on turn 1)
Stone Skin
Trap
Target
Phantom
Turn Back Time

Turn Back Time is just insanely good. I normally don't use level 5 creatures, so I only need level 2 of this spell. I have had a lot of success with Hasted Horsemen charging straight into the midst of the enemy, soaking up two turns of damage (enough to nearly kill the stack sometimes), before casting Time Back Time at the level of turn 2.

Order:

Helplessness
Healing (for level 5 units)
Dispel (we all know why this spell is necessary in AP )

Chaos:

I don't bother with Chaos as a Warrior due to low Intellect, but as a Mage with 40 Intellect and Higher Magic, it's a different story.

Fire Arrow (5 mana, even at level 3? )
Ghost Blade (10 mana but no burning. Good for bosses)
Fireball
Fire Rain (if I can find it)
I also use Sheep and Demon Portal sometimes.

[Zechnophobe]

It is weird, but I almost never use damage dealing spells, opting for control ones. Sure, you can do a lot of damage... but Fearing a target for 5 turns basically 'kills' it.

[Elwin]

I think that most common spell books say for themsleves :
Frol left to right:
Mage,Warior, Dark Paladin
ONly one note : batlte cry doesnt count xS it was just spamming to get medal xD

[Newbie1234]

Most of the best spells have already been stated, but I thought I'd add a couple of other ones that have so far been ignored.

Calm Rage - Very important in boss fights to keep your Mana high since you aren't allowed to use the Dragon.

Awaken Dragon - Great spell for obvious reasons. I often use it to open two Treasure Chests in a round.

Mass Battle Cry - A surprisingly useful spell for keeping losses down against enemy high-intellect Heroes. On the last turn, cast this, do your Resurrections, and finish off his units before the opponent gets to cast. It won't be used too often, but it's a good spell to have in your arsenal nonetheless.

[Elwin]

Well .. for that i use fear/blind actually ^^

[Palesz]

Altough it's not a spell, I use both beholders, and if enemy has level one or two units, you can always lull it to sleep and do your resurrecting and medal required castings.