What is magic like?

[Fractured]

I've been wanting a simple coop dungeon crawler action RPG for so long. I'm a bit worried about the magic in a "Survival" game though. Is it literally 1 item casts a single spell? Or is it a catalyst to cast the spells you know?

[Muladas]

There are 2 types of magic: Wands which do a single damage type and are wielded like melee weapons (you can use it with a shield to block). The second is using a staff and spells are like ammo. You will find spell ammo in chests, and one of the NPCs you can rescue (after you also get some of their equipment) can craft more. There are also 'eternal' versions of some spells that are not consumed on use. With the staff in your 'ranged' weapon slot and pressing Q, you can cycle through the spells you are carrying with the mouse wheel. Casting takes time and mana (wands do not consume any resource, but do have durability the goes down with use). Most of the spells the NPC can craft have to be unlocked by acquiring materials that are used in the crafting (pick up a material for the first time, like a tin bar, and a number of recipes at various NPCs and workstations will be unlocked)

[Skywalker]

... in addition, to the staff casting thing (not wands): There are "single target projectile spells" and "area of effect damage spells", which hit multiple enemies or damage enemies "in a cone in front of you" ... and there are 2 healing speils.

[Crow]

i would suggest waiting with spells until lvl 15-20 and find/craft some eternal spells.
magic is rather fun, it deals devestating damage and there are foes who are built like stone walls for physical attacker however a mage using the correct element will melt them like butter ^^

i keep a staff on me at all times even tho low mana reserve it does make combat quite diverse but u need the 50% reduced cast time talent for it to really shine ^^

wands are decent but they feel more like element based short range bows with near limitless ammo only limited by durability

[NinjaShade]

One of my characters is a magic user and it's not that particularly fun to play. It's essentially just magical archery. All the spells inflict damage of some kind or another. There's even spell "ammo" for some strange reason. There are no spells that allow you to teleport, buff, debuff, summon minions, conjure materials, light fires, blast holes or gather resources. I'm hopeful that magic will be expanded in the future.

[Skywalker]

Originally posted by NinjaShade:

There are no spells that allow you to teleport, buff, debuff, summon minions, conjure materials, light fires, blast holes or gather resources. I'm hopeful that magic will be expanded in the future.

There is a teleport/blink spell ... there are spells who buff, like water aura ... there is a skill to summon a minion ... there is a magic potion to light fire ...

[sinsorrow1]

You have 4 offensive spells which you can cast with any staff. That's the magic part of the game. You also have wands which act as unlimited ammo pistols, they fire projectiles but they can't cast spells. Also there are some scrolls but they are pretty late game and useless.

[Halfalfasleep]

Magic feels like an afterthought until like level 20 tbh. The wand's good for fliers but the staff takes ammo AND mana. I can see maybe running it in a group but you'll gimp yourself horribly using it solo.

[Iren!cus]

The magic system is still rather clunky. In groups the issues are less noticeable
but in solo:
- the animations are not abortable. You have wait wielding staff finishes before dodge/teleport is possible
- you need nearly all magic tree skills, before magic is powerful enough to kill the enemy before the enemy kills you. Thats the point which makes magic not feasable before level 20.
- you need mana and spell charges, if you don't have the eternal version of a spell. Most of the eternal spell versions are unlocked very late nearly actual endgame. Upto then its a material sink.
- The defense options are limited, so a single hit can kill you if you not react fast enough...no passive mana shield for example.
- Without the massive "home stamina buff" (runs out after time) you have not enough stamina to dodge multiple times at bigger enemy groups. Even the "magical teleport" needs stamina instead of mana.

[Migromul]

Originally posted by Skywalker:

Originally posted by NinjaShade:

There are no spells that allow you to teleport, buff, debuff, summon minions, conjure materials, light fires, blast holes or gather resources. I'm hopeful that magic will be expanded in the future.

There is a teleport/blink spell ... there are spells who buff, like water aura ... there is a skill to summon a minion ... there is a magic potion to light fire ...

Those are skills, not spells. (at least not in the context of this thread.) E. G. they function automatically and you need to unlock them in the skill-tree. They don't need mana most of the time. (but stamina instead)

And the light is a potion... (as you said) not a spell!

None the less, I find magic pretty good in this game. But it's definitly combat-only. There aren't any utlitily-spells (wielded with the staff.) All utility-magics are skills, not spells.

BTW: crafting spells isn't that bad. You will get at least 20 uses per craft. (stacking up to 100. but you can have even more. This needs more inventory-space then, though.) fire is the most important element in this game. because you will combat 80% miasma-corrupted-foes and ALL those foes are vulnerable to fire. If they aren't they are special or aren't miamsa-corrupted in the first place. (although they may apear there...)

The fire-spell will need resin. You'll get that from trees (of course.) but the trees with colored leafs drop this much more (up to 3x2). Big trees (especialy later, when you're in woods) do also have a greater chance to drop this. So I recommend to chop every colored-leaf tree you encounter at the beginning, because resin is the most rare resource you need for fireball-ammunition. And pick up every wood it drops. You need that! (NORMAL wood. Later, you will get HARD wood and PALM wood instead...)

I also think, that eternal spells won't make the ammunition-spells obsolete (at least not the fire-spells) Because
- eternal ones use up much more mana
- they have more AoE-effect which you might not want.

With the eternal ice, however, you don't need ice-ammunition anymore imho. you even get a second, better one, later.

If you're chopping trees, you might get attacked with seemingly white clouds. Those are insect-swarms and are always one-hitted with any weapon. (they're not lockable, though, so I recomment a wand.)

The spells are listed in the order you put them in your inventory (from top to bottom) Regardless where they are there. So you have an option to order them. (Especially usefull later, when you need to choose quickly.)

[Storm Reaver]

It's like...
Bleep, Bleep, Bleep. Heals...
Mrrrooorr... Boom... Explosions...
Zzzzfft... Shaplow.... Zap.. It Tat...

[Migromul]

Originally posted by Iren!cus:

The magic system is still rather clunky. In groups the issues are less noticeable
but in solo:
- the animations are not abortable. You have wait wielding staff finishes before dodge/teleport is possible
- you need nearly all magic tree skills, before magic is powerful enough to kill the enemy before the enemy kills you. Thats the point which makes magic not feasable before level 20.
- you need mana and spell charges, if you don't have the eternal version of a spell. Most of the eternal spell versions are unlocked very late nearly actual endgame. Upto then its a material sink.
- The defense options are limited, so a single hit can kill you if you not react fast enough...no passive mana shield for example.
- Without the massive "home stamina buff" (runs out after time) you have not enough stamina to dodge multiple times at bigger enemy groups. Even the "magical teleport" needs stamina instead of mana.

1. that's correct, but this is also the case with melee-attacks
2. not true. You can use wands (and that is definitly recommended) and use staff-spells for long-range. With wands, you can wield a shield (and there are also magic-shields available.)
3. true. but it isn't so bad. One spell kills critter mobs in one hit. So you don't need much ammunition necessarily. The staff-spell are also used as first-strike attack, switching to wands after that.
4. true. The defense of a mage is dodging and sometimes blocking with the magic shiled (or a normal one.) But that is the nature of a mage... they're glass-cannons. Hitting hard, but getting killed fast.
5. also true. But this is also the case for every combat, not only for magic.

[Storm Reaver]

Upgrade to Blink. This helps magic combat so much. You use your mana for casting spells, but then use your stamina to blink around. It's quicker then dodge roll, so allows you to setup to charge spells easier.

[Sultryhag]

I find using the staff really cumbersome because of the extra key you need to press to use the ranged weapon. It's very bad in my opinion. Horrible implementation.

[Storm Reaver]

Originally posted by Sultryhag:

I find using the staff really cumbersome because of the extra key you need to press to use the ranged weapon. It's very bad in my opinion. Horrible implementation.

Are you using a controller? Equipping the staff to the Quickbar and using it like the other weapons makes things easier. Just use LT with Y to switch spells.