Heart of Fury: What spells do you consider the best for the sorcer, the cleric at every level?

[DedLam]

and why?

[Armanz]

I started a lvl 1 heart of fury run a couple weeks ago and for the most part i picked the same spells as in usual runs but with a lot more emphasis on aoe debuffs than on aoe damage.
lvl 1 chromatic orb & magic missile (the rest seemed pretty unimportant to me), Identify if you dont have a Bard as well.
lvl 2 & 3 are the most important ones
Web is key. since it lets you trap most enemies. glitterdust to debuff lots of enemies. Melfs acid arrow for trolls. Mirror image for a bit of defense.
Lvl 3: haste & slow still as op as in normal mode. fireball & skull trap i havent even picked up so far x)
lvl 4: emotion courage & hope & greater malison for debuffing again.
lvl 5 cloudkill!!!

Basically what I've done is pick a combat focused party consisting of Cavalier, Archer, Swashbuckler, Fighter/Druid, Skald & Sorcerer. Gameplan is to cast 2-3 Webs & 2 Entangles to keep most enemies at bay. Cast cloudkill & thorn roots stuff into the areas and debuff the ones that escape with slow & glitterdust.
Dunno about cleric spells since i didnt pick a cleric but i think the way to go is to just keep your party & yourself buffed. Damaging spells arent very effective in HoF except maybe for the really damaging stuff like Fireball. My combat heavy group seems to be doing very well so far, but I regret not picking a cleric. Probably should've gone with Dwarven Defender instead of Paladin as my tank instead of the fighter/druid and replaced fighter/druid with fighter/cleric or ranger/cleric.

[DedLam]

Thx, but i speak about high lvl party with 9 level spells, but at start level your choice normal.

[Armanz]

Well then the first levels don't matter as much ofc, but the general way to go is still buffs/debuffs over damage if that helps you.

Web, Glitterdust, Haste, Slow are essential.

[Johndoe101]

I have only ever got up to lv5 wizard spell's . If you have played the table version of D&D 2nd edition , 3rd , 3.5 and 5th edition you know what type of spells to use as a caster for their uses as they have changed very little from 2nd edition except for some minor changes.
lv1: magic missle , protection from evil , idenitfy(very usefull if away from town to identify magic items) , expiditious retreat , shield , shocking grasp
lv2: web , strength , mirror image , melf's acid arrow , cat grace , detect invisibilty , ray of enfeeblement, chill touch
lv3: haste , dispel magic , fireball , slow , icelance , hold undead , the other protection spells at this level of spells slot
lv4: emotion - hopeless , sleet storm , stone skin , confusion ,
lv5:animate dead , contact other plane , cloudkill
When it come to spells base on the party composition for classes. Going with a mix of buff's/debuff's and damaging spells suit best in most situation's on the type of enemy you face.
Generally magic missle , fireball ,mage armor and etc. You will get the most uses out of by such spell's to suit the party.

[solveit.png]

In Heart of Fury, the _only_ decent Cleric spell is Animate Dead. Your summons get the same bonuses as the mobs, so they are great for those long battles of attrition in HoF. Cleric/Thief is the easiest class to solo HoF with solely because of that spell (well 80% maybe, the thief traps help as well).
It's a shame they nerfed it in EE, so you only get skellies and zombies no matter what your level. In the original IWD high level clerics would get Boneguard Skeletons as summons. They also fixed the exploit where if the battle was out of your visual range, only your summons attacked (the mobs just stood there and took it). That made the original IWD trivial to solo HoF as a Cleric (single, multi or dual).

[Black Sheep Inc]

Ooh, Sorcerer's my favorite class and HoF's my favorite game mode! Here are my favorite spells per level, and I'll put a * next to ones I'd recommend regardless of party comp (including for solo runs!)

Lvl 1:
*Chromatic Orb- Useful for stunning enemies once the character levels enough, but won't be very useful against tougher and/or undead enemies.

Identify- Good for, well.. identifying. Useless if you have a character with high enough lore though.

Magic Missile- Decent for interrupting all two of the enemy spellcasters in the entire game. Better than nothing for damage early on, but not tremendously useful.

Burning Hands- trolls

Lvl 2:
*Invisibility- The affected character will be almost completely undetectable and will never be targeted by enemies unless you want them to be if you use it right. (Note: Does not work on Terikan, Bronze Sentries, Tarnished Sentries, and possible a few other very rare enemies that I can't remember atm.)

Stinking Cloud/Web- These spells fill essentially the same function in CCing enemies, and I'll usually decide which one to pick based off of what summons I'll use. Web for large summons that can't be held, stinking cloud for undead summons that can't be knocked out.

Melf's Acid Arrow/Agannazar's scorcher- trolls. Slight preference to Melf's acid arrow since it also does a reasonable job at interrupting casters.

Lvl 3:
Fireball- Decent damage that won't affect fire immune summons.
Protection from Fire/Cold- Allows you to safely send characters into areas that you are intending to shell with their effective damage types, and can pair with further resistance buffs to turn that damage into a healing source. (Note: the fire variant pairs exceptionally well with the Dragon Disciple, allowing for reasonable self healing at higher levels without the need for further buffs.)
Skull Trap- Best Burst damage for its level.
Invisibility, 10' Radius- same as Invisibility, but works on whole party. Must pick if running a group, but redundant in solo runs.
Haste- Yoom yoom good good.

Lvl 4:
*Stoneskin- Fantastic defensive option for emergencies
*Farsight- Allows you to control summons and illusions outside of the party's visual range, enabling you to clear entire encounters without ever bringing your party within sight of the enemies. Wizard eye can fill a similar role, but is a much weaker option due to the fact that it can be destroyed.

Lvl 5:
Summon Fire Elemental- Decently tanky boi you can spam AoE fire damage at without injuring, allowing you to massively sway the damage economy in your favor without putting any characters at risk. There is no reason not to pick it if you're dealing AoE fire damage of any kind.

Lvl 6:
*Improved Haste- Yoomier yooms gooder good.


Lvl 7:
*Project Image- It's literally the most overpowered spell in the series and multiplyies your character's entire spell list, quick items, and equipment abilities with every casting.
Summon Efreeti- Does everything that the fire Elemental does, but better. Also comes with a nice array of spells.


Lvl 8:
*Simulacrum- Not quite as powerful as Project image, but still busted. It's biggest advantage is that the summoned illusion can perform physical attacks, but I'm guessing that's probably not what most people want to use their sorcerers for. (Unless theyre soloing Belhifet, in which case this feature is great when paired with Time Stop and BBoD)
Incendiary Cloud- Insanely good DoT that won't hurt fire-based summons.

Incendiary Cloud- Best DoT in the game, and it won't hurt fire resistant summons.

Abi-Dazim's Horrid Wilting- Best burst damage in the game.

Lvl 9:
*Wish- Full Rest Option OP, and the other's aren't bad either. (Best used with a high wisdom score)
Meteor Swarm- Decent Damage over a large area. Won't hurt fire bois.
*Time Stop- Three rounds of uninterrupted action? Yes pls. Easily chains into BBoD to enable soloing the final boss with relative ease.

Best Item (Bonus):
The Summoner's Staff +3- When used by Projected Images and Simulacrums it does not expend charges of the copy in the character's inventory, enabling its total number of potential uses to skyrocket (up to 165 at max level). Furthermore, it seems to ignore most of the usual rules of quick item usage and you can spam out all 15 of its charges in a single round. Further furthermore, you can do this even after you have already cast a spell or made an attack (please note that this does not work in reverse!) In essence, it gives you access to a small legion of invisible stalkers that can be called with literally no cast delay. (It has monster summoning and flame arrow too, I guess, but they're kind of superfluous compared to the stalkers.)
Oh, and I would heavily advise against expending the charges on your character instead of a copy, since these actually will deplete the item.

Oh... I wrote a bit more than I meant to... hope it helps!

[tommyc434]

I'll take a stab at this. The usefulness of spells can vary based on whether you're doing HoF straight from level 1 or importing, and also early game vs. late game. Some spells scale fantastically, others don't.

Here are some of my favorites/most used. Trying to limit myself to the # per level - a lot of other spells are pretty great too but the list would be way too long. So this list is definitely missing some other very good spells.

I do think the new spells in the EE changed the meta of the game quite a bit.

Cleric Spells

Level 1:
- Sanctuary - good spell to de-aggro enemies on your cleric, great from early till late.
- Armor of Faith - useless early, but scales amazingly later on, tons of damage resistance for a level 1 spell. Must have for Fighter/Clerics in HoF.

Level 2:
- Draw Upon Holy Might - scales well, extra stat never hurts to have. More useful for Fighter/Clerics because they can best benefit from the extra HP. Poor duration though.
- Chant - okay bonus, and you need every little bit in HoF. Best used by mage multi-class via a sequencer.

Level 3:
- Animate Dead - summon spells are OP in HOF (due to stat scaling), and this is one of the best. One of your most important spells in HOF
- Prayer - similar to chant, especially great for sequencers.

Level 4:
- Protection from Evil 10' Radius - nice little stat boost that basically last forever.
- Recitation - better version of Prayer/Chant, best to stack via sequencer. These bonuses really add up.

Level 5:
- Shield of Lathander - takes forever to cast, but any form of 100% resistance is great to have in HoF, even if it just buys you the first couple rounds.
- Righteous Magic - nice damage buff. One of the best offensive buffs for a F/M/C when paired with the Black Blade of Disaster.
- Righteous Wrath of the Faithful - not as great in the EE, but still one of the best buff spells IF you don't have haste / Imp. haste. It cancels Imp Haste though which I prefer to this.
- Chaotic Commands - lasts forever, and helps protect from tons of nasty conditions. Extremely useful when your saves aren't untouchable.

Level 6:
- Entropy Shield - Nice defensive buff, stacks with basically anything and the huge 6 AC bonus is great for HoF.
- Heal - one of the best healing spells in the game. Great candidate for contingency. Long cast time though.

Level 7:
- Greater Restoration - a much faster cast time compared to Heal - making it great to use in combat. Fatigue penalty is manageable, but a downside.
- Regeneration - good spell in HoF to keep help certain classes without 100% damage mitigation (i.e. straight fighters) viable, when you stack it with various resistance items and other "regen" items (i.e. Ironblood +4).
- Greater Shield of Lathander - a bit clunky to use due to long cast time, but 100% damage mitigation is always an asset in HoF. Best used with Chain Contingency.


Mage/Sorcerer Spells

Level 1:
- Find Familiar - one of the key spells in HoF (due to stat scaling). Grants way more HP, and with the right alignment/familiar makes level 1 mage solo more viable in HoF.
- Chromatic Orb - doesn't scale super well, but early on its stun at lvl 5 is one of the most useful tool for a low level party to bypass the crazy high enemy AC.

Level 2:
- Mirror Image - not 100% reliable like Stoneskin, but an amazing layer of extra defense that scales well into the late game.
- Web - one of the best early game CCs, since they are stackable and it helps deal with high AC. Synergizes well with all the Rings of Free Action you can pickpocket.
- Invisibility - great way to deaggro or bypass encounters you just can't deal with. Can use it to cheese the HoW expansion for massive XP early on. Cast it on your Mislead clone to protect it.

Level 3:
- Protection from Fire/Cold - must haves. Spells/elemental damage can one-shot you in HoF. Also great for friendly fire.
- Skull Trap - damage still scales decently well even in HoF, and you can stack as many of them as you need.
- Remove Magic / Dispel Magic - great for certain fights where enemies use buffs. Dispel is great for solo because it lets your Project Image clone delete itself.
- Haste - fantastic offensive buff, but the fatigue limits its use. I usually replace with Improved Haste once I have that.

Level 4:
- Stoneskin - probably the best tanking spell in HoF. Lasts forever, and quick to cast/reapply.
- Emotion Hope / Courage - some of the best buff spells in the game. Adds up to a ton of extra damage for the party.
- Improved Invisibility - a very strong buff, but has the drawback that ally spells can't target you directly either (i.e. heals). Best used on self-sufficient characters.

Level 5:
- Spell Immunity - being able to protect yourself from dispels/divination almost breaks the game, because the enemy doesn't know how to counter that. Makes certain tough fights a breeze.
- Protection from Acid/Lightning - same as Fire/Cold - must haves

Level 6:
- Improved Haste - one of the most powerful buffs in the game. Doubles your attacks - one of the best tools to help you reach the attack cap of 10.
- Mislead - Broken spell - borderline immortality for the caster. Protect your clone with invisibility if needed. Bonkers on a FMT (non-stop backstabs)
- Protection from Magical Energy - similar to the other protection spells.

Level 7:
- Project Image - insanely broken as it basically multiplies your spell book (at least for any spells that can be cast on others). I mostly use it to buff my entire party for the cost of a 7th level slot.
- Spell Sequencer - great for emergency buffs, or used offensively to make a lot of CC still viable in HoF by stacking them.
- Mass Invisibility - basically a group version of the amazing Improved Invisibility. Once again, be aware of the drawbacks - you might want to keep some people out of it.

Level 8:
- Incendiary Cloud - one of the best damage spells in the game that scales well into HoF. Stackable, great with Chain Contingency. Make sure to have fire protection and be careful of dispels.
- Simulacrum - probably the best summon in the game, and scales well since it's based on your level. Can be exploited to use limited items infinitely.
- Spell Trigger - the big brother of Sequencer.

Level 9:
- Time Stop - makes things easy mode. Game was not meant to handle this spell. Especially dangerous on a FMT due to mislead + backstab.
- Chain Contingency - endless combinations, can be used defensively or offensively. At the very least it's an extra casting of spells (since it lasts beyond rest).
- Honorable mention: Black Blade of Disaster - great for FM, FMC and FMT. Be aware though the proficiency is bugged (don't put points in longsword if you want Grandmastery). One of the best backstabbing weapons. Looks super cool too.