Mark of Flame

[RobinCoyote]

This spell is such an arbitrary spell.

So here's how it works. You press a button and spend 10 mana to mark enemies in front of you. The marking process does no damage. It provides no debuffs. The enemies are just marked.

You then have to hold the button down for a second or two, a process that can be interrupted by an attack, to spend 30 mana to make those marks explode and deal a chunk of damage, and also some damage over time.

Like, what? Why make it two button presses, one of them near functionally useless? Why not just a wave of fire that chunks them and deals damage over time?

Or if you really want it to be two button presses, why not just have the initial mark deal damage over time and then when you hold down the button again it consumes the mark and does a chunk of damage. I mean, then you'd actually have a gameplay mechanic that requires some modicum of thought behind it. You'd have to balance letting the damage over time tick against detonating for a chunk of damage to maximize damage.

Seriously, this spell feels like such a hassle as is.

[mpnorman10]

Yep. I tend to specialize in the electric, but some foes are resistant.

It is fun to, as a supposedly frail mage, to run into the center of several ogres or bogans and blast away with AOE, chaining it until they are done. It is just one way, but I like it.

Like you, I have never really liked the fire spells. Cold is okay but I prefer electricity.

[Mez Koo]

IIRC you can just hold the button down once to essentially cast a cone of fire.

[Leeux]

Mark of Fire is an amazing spell... I used it almost exclusively on my last jack of all trades melee playthrough where I had no other AoE at my disposal (sword only...) and only started to use lightning late game when I had good chances to stun them.

Basically, if you're dealing with a lot of non-grouped enemies, you can go around the battlefield and mark several enemies, since they stay marked for a fairly long time, and then make them explode all together at the same time. If they are closer together, they all damage each other during the explosion too. I.e. you can reposition and gain safety before using the explosion trigger.

EDIT: Also, it's a very cheap way to break pottery and crates that doesn't damage your weapon and can break multiple of them in one go :)

[Nezkeys]

Ive just started playing the game so probably know nothing...but I disagree. Mark of Flame is ridiculous. Yes its a two button cast but the damage is so high it one shots almost everything atm

The only issue is getting it off before enemies can stunlock/perma interrupt you. Packs kf wolves seem to be the hardest enemies for me if I dont get the spell off. The lightining spell is instant but doesnt do as much damage. As for the Ice spell I never put any points back into it after fateweaving.

Tbh im not even sure where else to put the points because i rarely need to attack with melee weapons so all the arcane weaponry and damage to melee weapons seem like a waste. I dont need the fae gorta summon or its heals as alchemy provides potions. In the same regard i dont need the sorcery heal or any of the spheres.

In short all I use is mark of flame and sometimes lightining but the points have to go somewhere before I can unlock meteor. It would have been better imo if you could just soend the points on what you want. Tbh once I get meteor I might put the remaining points into finesse or finesse/might for some otger abilities but ill still do the sorcery only destiny i think

[Valden21]

For me, the usefulness of Mark of Flame lies not in the way it functions, but in it's utility. You can tag multiple enemies with it before triggering it, and every mark will instantly activate. Think of it as hitting multiple enemies with sticky grenades, that can then be detonated simultaneously.

[mpnorman10]

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

The only issue is getting it off before enemies can stunlock/perma interrupt you

I am not claiming electricity is better. Fire experts above seem to be praising its power, but this point I quoted is why I like electricity. Running into the middle of foes and blasting is a single click once in position, then it can be renewed again and again during that brief interval when enemies are momentarily stunned. There is a rhythm to it, not too fast or too slow, which is very powerful once found and practiced. It is possible to kill multiple ogres without them getting a single shot in. It also makes for a fast game pace, which I like. Some enemies are resistant to electricity but not many.

[Paladin Two-Seven]

Like every skill in KoA it is all about timing, it is an interrupt attack. Cast it then wait for a good time to set it off.

[Nezkeys]

Originally posted by mpnorman10:

Originally posted by Nezkeys:

The only issue is getting it off before enemies can stunlock/perma interrupt you

I am not claiming electricity is better. Fire experts above seem to be praising its power, but this point I quoted is why I like electricity. Running into the middle of foes and blasting is a single click once in position, then it can be renewed again and again during that brief interval when enemies are momentarily stunned. There is a rhythm to it, not too fast or too slow, which is very powerful once found and practiced. It is possible to kill multiple ogres without them getting a single shot in. It also makes for a fast game pace, which I like. Some enemies are resistant to electricity but not many.

I like it cause it knocks them back, snd essentially places a bomb on them i can detonate whenever i want. I rarely use the electric spell only on things that resist fire but its better than the ice spell which i see no use for whatsoever

[Leeux]

I agree with @mpnorman that there are more effective spells for killing things! I.e. the lighting AoE (Tempest) that hits multiple targets is way better for dealing with many enemies.

I was mostly talking about hybrid playstyles where you don't put as much points into Sorcery as you would for a pure sorc build... in that case, Mark of Flame is surprisingly effective even with a few points on it, or at the start of the game.

And I'm not an expert by any means of the term :) I've just played this game way too many times and I love it :P

[Nezkeys]

Originally posted by Leeux:

I agree with @mpnorman that there are more effective spells for killing things! I.e. the lighting AoE (Tempest) that hits multiple targets is way better for dealing with many enemies.

I was mostly talking about hybrid playstyles where you don't put as much points into Sorcery as you would for a pure sorc build... in that case, Mark of Flame is surprisingly effective even with a few points on it, or at the start of the game.

And I'm not an expert by any means of the term :) I've just played this game way too many times and I love it :P

I wish the game gave us more freedom with our points. All 3 trees have the same problem of having to waste points to unlock the better stuff. Fateweaving doesnt fix this. So far the only thing i use is mark of flame so with the exception of the conserved casting everything else has been utterly useless. Unless something happens later that allows freedom to choose any abilities but im only a few hours in just reached ysa.

[Leeux]

The base lightning bolt attack is useful too, sometimes. It has a pretty substantial chance to stun your target, the more points you put the better it gets at that.

When fighting those spammy enemies that don't leave to many openings to hit them, like some the Ettins/Bolgans (... or anything that attacks relentlessly and isn't immune to lightning or stuns,) you can stun them with lightning and get free hits that way. Also, the Ice Barrage attack is also good when specced into, specially against ice weak enemies, like the niskaru.

But yeah, all trees have stinkers in all tiers... but Sorcery has really good high tier abilities, though. So it's worth to spent past the stinkers there... Even the barrier is somewhat good when upgraded, since it also randomly trip/interrupt/knockbacks enemies that are attacking you, and also does damage to any nearby enemies when maxed. The con of that ability is its awkwardness during conversations :P

Later you can stack gear that gives you +ability points to spent abilities, so you can redistribute your points around a bit more by only putting 1 in each base ability to unlock it and still getting the full effect, if you want. Still the point threshold to unlock higher tiers of spells is a bit too stringent that even with the gear you still need to waste some points to be able to unlock the next tier...

But oh well, is a form o balance, else you would be able to unlock everything and going Jack of all Trades would not have any detrimental effect at all... it's still powerful in its own way, though.. but after doing a full playthrough as Jack of all Trades, I'd still consider full Sorcery much more powerful and fun, IMO.