What are the best and worst Mage spells?

[Psychoward]

Topic says all, I have 6 cha, 4int, 8 spellcasting and 2 in conjuring. I already have powerbolt iv but open to other suggestions now that I have access to all tiers.

[di eshor ribly]

It will vary based on your personal play style, of course. I stand by Spell Focus: Strip Armor for my mages though. No mage should leave home without Heal 2 (if you are playing a jerk and don't care about teammates, Spell Focus: Blood Siphon is a nice RP choice instead).

Fireball and Flamethrower are very common as well. They do solid damage and not much resists it. Manaball can work in a pinch as well. For the base campaign Chain Lightning works wonders for group damage and AP removal, but it loses effectiveness in the Extended campaign where 70% of the enemies have a JoltAlert arm.

Of the crowd control spells, again, they don't offer much in the Extended campaign if they do AP damage. Blind/Glue/Distraction are amusing replacements if you enjoy crowd control.

[Psychoward]

Huh, would have assumed AP would be valuable, guess lightning bolt is out then. AP damage is a go-to but I guess I'll settle on glue and blind and the like.

[di eshor ribly]

Originally posted by Psychoward:

Huh, would have assumed AP would be valuable, guess lightning bolt is out then. AP damage is a go-to but I guess I'll settle on glue and blind and the like.

HBS added in the JoltAlert since so many people (myself included) were soloing the Dragonfall campaign with AP stripping mages and physical adepts. So you get a majority of stun-immune enemies to shake us up in the HK Extended. For a normal run through of HK, go as AP damage heavy as you want, but be ready to mix it up when you load up the second campaign.

[Psychoward]

Do you get to buy new spells for the extended campaign or what? Don't you import your character?

[di eshor ribly]

You import your character, yes. There is a Quartermaster in the extended campaign's city hub where you can buy new weapons, armor, spells, and such. I don't think there were any new spells though, at least not that you get access to. One of your guest characters has a nice Shield spell (-6 damage for a few turns) that only she and a few other NPCs get. I was really hoping for that one myself.

[Psychoward]

Do you start with enough nyuen go buy the different spells is what I'm saying. Or should I just ignore any ap spells for the HK campaign because they'll be useless in the extended campaign?

[di eshor ribly]

You start the extended campaign with whatever money, armor, spells, cyber, weapons, items, surviving teammates, tattoos, hangovers, or annoying birds you ended the base campaign with.

Oh, and you *can* use AP spells in the EC if you want. Chain Lightning/ Lightning Bolt still do their damage, and removing 2 AP can be helpful, but with the way the JoltAlert arm works, if you knock an enemy out on their next turn they are back at full capacity. You don't get the turn or two leeway of finishing them off at your leisure. I find it far more effective to just "blast them into their component atoms" as your guest puts it.

[frdnwsm]

I haven't used AP stripping spells in the extended campaign, but AP stripping with my close combat adept (sword) seemed quite effective. Of course, close combat hits drive the enemy out of cover, giving your ranged crewmembers a nice shot at them, so that's a bit of a different case.

I used a mage for one Tai Po run, and basically equipped a combination of damage plus buff and utility spells. Flamethrower 4, Fireball 3, Haste 3, Aim 3, Blind, Heal 2 and Armor Stripping 3 (or was it AS focus 2; I forget offhand) were what I carried, and it worked well in that regard.

I'd have loved to try out Haste 4, but there was no way to get the karma for it. I'm bringing up a Shaman right now, maybe I'll finally get a chance to check that spell out.