Are cast and call gimmicks or useful?

[<:)]

I can't stand using either of these. Cast completely ruins the flow of combat for me by having to run around picking up the gems, and call seems completely unreliable and not very effective for how long it takes to build up. Are they useful / necessary for high heat wins? i.e should i start using them now and get used to them, or can i safely ignore them?

[HunterXCooL]

Cast build need to be build with specific boon in mind... And sometimes it's becomes plain OP or just average at best
Call though is another matter that thing is a beast... despite some call are just plain useless

[GeminiEclipse]

Casts can be incredibly good, but only if you get the right boons for it. I got an Extreme Measures 4 kill with just the Ares cast, but I had multiple buffs to it including the Artemis duo. Didn't have the stacking damage though.

Also had an incredibly powerful 700 damage cast from Dio + Dem with 2 casts but that was just a normal Hades fight. I won using only the cast easily.

I always use the alternate cast mirror option though. They have some incredibly potential but often I find I need some luck with boons/chaos to really be effective.

Calls are just all around great. The immunity ones are often the best, but the straight damage ones can also do some good work, doing damage on the level of a summon multiple times.

[Shamanalah]

Cast and Calls are super useful IMO, it always depend on the weapon and build.

Cast - Dionysus bomb (with 3 pom of power you get in the 200 dmg per hit range, on top of stun), Demeter chilling beam (you cast a chilling beam that slowly tilt toward enemy), Ares scythe (add the bonus that it drags people in and it's phenomenal, it also can duo with Demeter for more slow)

Call - Ares (became invincible, once it's fully charged = 7.2 (or 7.5?) seconds of invincible, Aphrodite (Charm enemy, you can stop enemy attack animation. Including [REDACTED] so really useful), Athena (become invincible + deflect anything), Dionysus (AoE with poison), Demeter (Chill AoE ring)

Having good cast and call will def help. I usually save my call for Ares/Dio/Aphrodite, my cast for Demeter/Dio/Ares/Artemis

Artemis just does crit and seek enemy so it's okay but last resort. (Keepsake for forcing those in the 3 first floor, switch to whatever you want for last boss)

[HypetheKomodo]

both a big YES: both can carry a run if you don't get the rolls you want

Dio cast is one of the best in the game, and with Zues and Dem, is the best cast in the game and can really wreak havoc, Dem with her Chill+Cast extension+Cast herself is really strong (Beam Hell)

Calls, Pos Call is imo the best in the game, folks like Ath's call for survivability but his does damage in addition to immunity, and Ares does huge damage with a few modifications

both are important in a run, don't neglect them

(If you need a reference to Beam Hell, look at this poor folk
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2241699629

[Darth Bokeh]

I remember the first time I got the Smoldering Air duo boon (Your God Gauge charges up automatically, but is capped at 25%).

I had I had Aphrodite's call and my first reaction was "Greaaat, this is going to suck."

This was just before the Hades fight and I didn't want to give up the greater call because it does a huge amount of damage but I picked it up anyway because I needed it for the minor prophecies list.

I ended up laughing half the fight - every couple of seconds Hades was charmed and I could just take pot shots at him.

Similar thing happened when I got Smoldering Air with Poseidon's call.

[<:)]

Originally posted by RC55:

both a big YES: both can carry a run if you don't get the rolls you want

Dio cast is one of the best in the game, and with Zues and Dem, is the best cast in the game and can really wreak havoc, Dem with her Chill+Cast extension+Cast herself is really strong (Beam Hell)

Calls, Pos Call is imo the best in the game, folks like Ath's call for survivability but his does damage in addition to immunity, and Ares does huge damage with a few modifications

both are important in a run, don't neglect them

(If you need a reference to Beam Hell, look at this poor folk
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2241699629

lol wtf, how do you get 4 extra casts?

[HypetheKomodo]

Originally posted by <:):

Originally posted by RC55:

both a big YES: both can carry a run if you don't get the rolls you want

Dio cast is one of the best in the game, and with Zues and Dem, is the best cast in the game and can really wreak havoc, Dem with her Chill+Cast extension+Cast herself is really strong (Beam Hell)

Calls, Pos Call is imo the best in the game, folks like Ath's call for survivability but his does damage in addition to immunity, and Ares does huge damage with a few modifications

both are important in a run, don't neglect them

(If you need a reference to Beam Hell, look at this poor folk
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2241699629

lol wtf, how do you get 4 extra casts?

i got 2 from chaos, and the Hermes reduced cast cooldown, and Dem extended cast

so, Beam Hell happened

[Hakimoto]

Aphrodite's call deals 2500 dmg. IMO the best call in the game as you can end a boss fight quite fast with it.
Casts are eh. There are some nice ones, but none seem to be must haves like Aphrodite's call. The one I seem to use the most is Athena's, as deflecting with them is useful or Dio's because Fog is fun.

[qawal]

Hakimoto's right! You can also use Aphrodite's call to cancel Hades' laser beam move and he'll be stuck trying to cast it over and over till he dies if you have enough call bars xD

[Sekraan]

It's interesting how many different opinions there are. I think it depends both on play style and what level of heat you are playing at. The higher the heat the narrower the range of viable options. Casts are never super important though unless you have an aspect that synergizes and/or you build around them.

As for calls, it depends on your weapon/build to some extent. Zeus is great if you are already investing heavy into him - the add-on boons synergize nicely. Dionysus is also good for melee like sword and fists (good damage and it just needs poms to upgrade rather than other boons). Demeter nice for easy chill application. Aphrodite is fun for getting the Minotaur and Theseus to attack one another, and decent for stun on Hades, but with higher heat I'd take any of the aforementioned ones first.

Ares call is generally bad. You need to invest in multiple boons - including unlikely legendary and/or duo - to get it working well. Until then it is eating up valuable Tight Deadline time to do less damage than you would otherwise and probably get you hit after invuln wears off. Poseidon may be even worse, though it is more helpful for Elysium and Styx rooms.

Athena is solid fallback. The problem with her is that she has so many great boons. Her call is not priority most of the time.

Originally posted by Zara:

I try to stay away from Zeus and Diyonisis calls because the range is mediocre, and the damage has never felt good.

Those are the highest DPS calls in the game. Try throwing some poms on them, or using them when you are focusing them for an attack build and have extra boons.

They both hit multiple enemies. Great for both rooms and bosses.

[Sekraan]

Seriously though, if I see Epic Dionysus' Aid (call) I will it take it at any point in the game. Easily my most used call at this point.

[GeminiEclipse]

The only reason I don't usually use Dio and Zeus calls is the screen noise is a bit distracting. I suck enough as is. But they are great damage.

[Specific Beef]

Casts are good but usually take more than one boon to become truly great, which is a trade-off you may be unwilling to make when you'd prefer to take boons that benefit you more often in combat.

Calls are huge, particularly against bosses and other difficult enemies who have good frontal blocking. The AOE will cause Backstab damage regardless of that, and many give you invulnerability. Again, in raw form they may not be as good as they could be, but will poms (+lvl) and sometimes with certain boon combos, they can become pretty intense. Definitely not just a lightshow.

The recent addition of the LB thing to check the codex is extremely useful and I'd advise you to check the gods' boon lists before you select anything. You'll maximise the chance of finding boons that bolster these aspects, and also dramatically increase the likelihood of finding the boons which only appear if you have certain other boons. Look at the boons with requirements and see which you're close to getting (Duos, Legendaries, etc).

[Supa]

I killed Hades under a minute with casts and sword that detaches gems. And I say minute because some of the time he is just invulnerable. When he was vulnerable I could trigger his shield in less than 10 seconds. Casts just scale so well it compared to anything else I have seen. However getting a chaos gate with a good cast damage increase is a pretty must. And the biggest cast damage wise is from the Arphoseussomething I think.