Is casting bad?

[SpicyCrab]

So based on my experience, have 3 base uses of the cast ability, it seems really useless.

If I build a character around cast, I can make it 'kinda good', but it just absolutely pales in comparison to the builds I have constructed that pretty much just ignore cast altogether.

Out of all the casts, the only one that I have found to be any good ias Ares, and then only if I also have hermes triple cast ability, and even then... it takes a big investment and seems weaker than alternatives.

Am I missing something, or is cast just kinda... bad?

Like... 50 base damage for a 3 time use ability when my base weapon has higher DPS, is much faster, and can be upgraded more easily and to better heights...

[Shamanalah]

Dio cast is my favorite. At level 1 it's 100 dmg already and if you level it up like 2 times you get 222 IIRC. It's insanely powerful. Over 600 dmg in an area just destroys everything.

I also love Demeter cast, insanely useful against Theseus as I always put 2 in a direction and one in the other with Theseus in the middle. That way I always hit him.

Other than that, I feel like a cast is not a "single build" but more of a combo thing. I don't rely solely on cast but I'll start the fight with it and try to fight around the area. Poseidon cast can be useful for bow or gun play, gives some space to work around.

I mostly focus on getting Dio, Demeter, Ares then Artemis (in that order) and if I can't I just roll with whatever I have. Though I've been forcing it with keepsakes so it just always works (sort of)

[SpicyCrab]

I can certainly confirm that Dionysus cast + x3 hermes power + a few pomegranites is pretty sick.

[Grigard]

Casts can be made absolutely broken with the right boons. Use the keepsakes to force boons and get the duos. Take the chaos boons. With Blizzard and Mirage shot I dealt 6219 damage on the final boss with one cast of all 3 stones. Did it once again for 5422. Fastest boss kill I've achieved.

Artemis + Ares for the homing spinning blade of death. Get the upgrade that sucks enemies into the vortex and watch as bosses are helplessly dragged around. Especially funny when the final boss goes down on it's knees and glides around the arena while trying to do a dramatic final quip.

[Zwiebelchen]

I've learned to love Demeter cast. With the right corresponding boons the game plays itself.

[JuRiOh]

Dionysus cast (Festive Fog) paired with Demeter and Zeus duo boons is pretty nuts.
https://youtu.be/Lnw-zOLT5l8?t=30

[Nibbie]

Without a weapon that focuses on them, they are typically just support skills, but my fastest clear ever was focused entirely on casts. Poseidon sword (special dislodges bloodstones)+artemis cast+hermes cast quickly in a row+artemis bloodstones deal damage when dislodged just melted everything I came across. Three casts into an enemy, doing several hundred damage, special doing another hundred damage, dislodge doing several hundred more, pick them up right away to do it again. Also heavily used cast in my hidden aspect of shield run, triple ares cast consistently hit 1000 damage and dropped the stones on the ground to do it again right away. Another random run I got demeter crystal that chilled, fully chilled foes explode, +1 cast from chaos, and i think better tracking. Killed the boss almost solely by placing crystals everywhere.

[plutoburn]

I only really use cast as an ancillary dps helper. But recently I got a combination of boons where I got buffed Are's blade tornado from cast as well as from dash and they were tremendous on boss fights.

[Smart Sheep]

Some cast are really good, e.g., Dionysus, Ares, etc. You can easily do a Dionysus cast build that 300+ damage per cast. You don't need to even have faster cast or +1 cast...1k damage over 1-2 seconds is good enough for any boss.

My personal rankings are:
Demeter (w/ proper build) > Dionysus > Ares > Poseidon > Athena > Artemis > Demeter (w/o build) > Zeus >>> Aphrodite (why this thing even exist)

[Songbird]

Cast gets a hell of a lot stronger when you use Aspect of Poseidon (can retrieve bloodstones immediately, +50% cast damage), Aspect of Achilles (+150% cast damage on next four attacks or spells after pressing special twice, doesn't matter if you even target anything with the special, just remember it's exactly four and you have to use all four before you can charge again), Aspect of Hera (lets you fire spells with a bow to deliver stuff like Poseidon cast directly to enemies and melt them, and you can load all your spells into one shot), or Aspect of Eris (just straight-up gives +75% damage to everything you do once you special yourself).

Some cast builds can be absolutely stupidly broken, like Hunting Blades (Ares + Artemis duo, makes blade whirls seek enemies), or Crystal Clarity (Demeter + Artemis duo, makes Demeter's beams track enemies much more quickly and do more damage). Crystal Clarity in particular gets pretty insane if you use Stygian Soul (cast recharges rather than using bloodstones), then get more casts from Artemis' legendary, Chaos boons, or wells of Charon, and stack as many poms as possible on Demeter's Glacial Glare boon (makes her cast last longer and chill enemies). With enough Glacial Glare and even three or so spell casts, you can end up with 20+ beams onscreen at once.

Dionysus' cast is amazing because of all the ridiculous support it gets as well, but unless you're using Aspect of Hera you'll have a hard time using it for damage. In particular, his legendary boon makes you do 60% more damage to enemies inside the area if they have Hangover, and his duo with Demeter makes the spell go off instantly (meaning no more aiming/missing) and chill everything inside the area so it stays inside forever. Ice Wine is probably the best cast support for a melee focused build in the game. Remember that as soon as you shred enemy armor, all non-boss enemies also just get pseudo-stunlocked forever by the fog anyway.

But even at the most basic level, you should tag everything that takes more than a couple hits to kill with a spell (if you have one that embeds in enemies) because it turns on Boiling Blood's 50% bonus damage. It's a massive difference to your damage output.

[jdavh]

cast builds ive been finding require far more in the way of lucky boon rolls.

most notably getting the apropriate duo for the cast your using makes a big difference in the casts effectiveness.... a really really really big difference.

for the most part so lately ive been taking boons if they lead to a duo im looking for more than anything or if the other options are too low rarity to be effective (if early)

i havent tried the timer cast rather than gem pick up though since if thats maxed it may maxe for a good flow of cast/dps since if at a decent rarity most cast abilities give good damage

[SpicyCrab]

I just rolled a character with the following.

Level 8 Crystal Beam from Demeter
Hermes Quick Cast + 40%
The Duo boon that makes demeter cast track faster.
+56% damage to cast from Chaos
+ 75% damage to cast from Chaos.
4 Cast charges from chaos.
The boon that increases crystal duration.

I also had level 7 legendary Poseidon call which did 650 damage per hit and had extra duration from another boon... and it automatically charged up. This was all gravy I didn't need it at all with how strong the spell was.

This build was so preposterously strong that it killed hades in 3 or 4 volleys and I didn't get hit once. Once it was going it completely trivialized the game, I really didn't have to do anything but put my four casts down and wait to clear each room.
Each of my four crystals was doing 100+ damage per second in addition to all of those multipliers.


So I would say, now, that the most broken builds in the game are cast based but it's kinda hard to set up.

[Ysen]

Another cast build that can work out is Poseidon cast with a lot of other boons that boost knockback effects (rupture, +damage on wall slam, AoE on wall slam, Zeus duo). It's not as strong against bosses but can crush groups of normal enemies, especially in the narrow rooms in Styx.

[Scorch Shot all Snipers]

its useful for killing baby flamewheels and the mirror perk that makes foes with castcrystals stuck in them take more dmg

[pkk]

Theseus is considered a rather hard fight, since he can fully block frontal damage.

However, cast with Artemis bless is a workaround: Fire the cast so that it will circle and hit him from behind.

In that situation I found Theseus much easier to kill than most bosses (I didn't even intentionally kill him, he just happened to die at some point while I was mostly busy fighting the minotaur).

[Specific Beef]

It can be absolutely devastating at the start and end of the game, although I don't necessarily go after it. If I find myself with an unusually strong cast combo in the early part of the run then it makes sense to build on it, but if I don't then I don't necessarily sweat about it.

Strong cast is silly in the Temple of Styx, though. You can be clearing chambers in two seconds just by tapping.

A strong chain effect is great on a thrown cast, but an overlooked one is Cast beam from Demeter combined with the boon that forces the beam to target you. It's instant backstab damage against difficult enemies, since you can lay down the gems and then hop to the other side of your enemy, and either you or the gem will be scoring backstab damage while the other applies frontal damage.