Journey of a Reddit Wizard - Don't get Mad, get Vlad!

An overview of how I dealt with boss battles using the Reddit Wizard
This content is from my first playthrough. Please see reader combat suggestions in comments as well.

Intro

I would just like to take one line to give you an idea of where I'm going with this guide:
Major Spoiler Warning
Defeating the true boss in most battles will end the fight, even if minions are still alive and on the screen.
There! Moving on...
1) I write this from the perspective of a Reddit wizard, meaning I'm not giving suggestions about the equipment or battle style of other wizards available in Magicka
I also acquire many Magicks, wands, staffs, and swords via "Sherlock Holmes"-ing through the game. In other words, I go through the whole map whenever possible and pick things up. I may or may not explain where on the map you can find these things, but I can assure you it's nothing beyond the abilities available to you at that point in the game, such as Teleporting.

2) Feel free to leave a comment below if you need help finding the Magicks and such, and I will help you.

3) My movesets are fairly limited with respect to the fact I just recently started playing Magicka.
I experiment with the elements as much as possible and am finding new things all the time.
I will not be referencing much about the green element, as it has not proven useful to me in this game.

4) As a reminder, you can "die" twice before you go back to the last checkpoint, which in this case, is the start of the boss battle.

5) I do not hold myself responsible for teaching you the element abbreviations. As a result: this is the only reminder you'll get: QWERASDF
Q- Water
W - Healing/Naturey stuff
E - Shield/defense
R - Cold. Not water. Not ice. Just...cold.
A - Electricity
S - Beam attack & (beam) modifier, adds to the distance covered by other element spells
D - Earth
F - Fire
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These are the ones you start with in the tutorial, and you can go pretty far with just these.
As the guide progresses, I'll explain any other elements that pop up

6) Basic things you should set up in every battle possible:
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Spells
(you can cast anytime unless you are too frozen (Really, really frozen.):
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ED + Alt Fire = Rock armor
SER + RMB = one of several versions of bombs (4 max are spread out in an arc a few feet away from you, sets up fast & immediate triggering, mostly by foot)
Shift + any spell + RMB = Wall-yourself-in self defense (use wisely, careful with bombs. honestly, just do this for forcefields or rock walls) OR outward area-attack (a spell with only 1 of any element, mostly)
any spell + Shift + LMB followed by Shift LMB = enchant sword & release enchantment (works great with bombs and forcefields
E + Shift + RMB = forcefield, so far, look like you can only attack things INSIDE the forcefield. Use wisely. You can enclose an enemy or two or use it for a break to get ready to charge and cast something big
EDF + RMB = volcanoes (exchange F for a different element to get a different kind of "volcano")
SDF + RMB = very painful fireball
Shift + Fire spell + RMB = using a fire spell with low(-er) chance of catching yourself on fire
Some spells (mostly the projectile kind
SD + hold RMB then release = projectile with great knockback
Q + RMB or QS + RMB followed by electric attack = massive damage to most monsters, provided they're still wet when you get to the electric attack
Shift + E + LMB followed by Shift + LMB = Forcefield thrown outward in a straight line. I bet this would be fun in multiplayer!
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Q + Alt Fire = extinguish your robes, they're on fire
ASR + RMB = A nice freeze ray. Slows most enemies with high damage output, great for minions & mini-bosses
RD + RMB or R (hold RMB) = freeze water to pass over it
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Magicks (think of them as temporary buffs. I think you can cast these even if you are too frozen.)
////_elements must be cast using spacebar_\\\\
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ER + spacebar = time warp (helps you buy time to assess the battle and stuff)
SE + spacebar = nullify (removes status effects)
ASF + spacebar = haste (speeds you up for awhile)
SEA + spacebar = Confuse (works great with multiple enemies, don't use with single enemy unless freeze won't work)
WAF + spacebar = phoenix (best used with HORDES of enemies, and Haste - to run away - or when you're frozen, because you'll probably get hit..)
(SEQFS? It'll say under Magicks if you press escape and you own this unlock) + spacebar = invisibility. Great for getting past dwarves. As soon as you bump into an NPC or cast another spell, you'll be revealed.

Boss 1 - The Snake

As much its name is awesome with the pronunciation, I cannot remember it. Forgive me, I love it too.
-Set up defense with ED spell or nullify and replenish to avoid poison damage
Activate Haste
Set up basic rock walls, OR (and I learned this AFTER I beat boss #1) you can add a 3rd element to the rock walls, or put some extra D in the spell to make them thicker. If you add S to a rock wall spell, it gives it some kind of aura. It's not explained, and I don't honestly know what it does. Worth a try though.
When the snake surfaces, hide behind a rock wall. The snake's lunges will only hurt itself. Keep doing this a few times, and replace your broken walls.
Use W to heal SOME damage and poison. Honestly the heal function is not remotely broken and I've abandoned it after the 1st boss fight. It does nothing, if anything to heal me. Oh well.

Boss 2: The Chieftain

Set up rock armor to block physical attacks (which are most of them)
Activate Haste
Set up volcanoes or other rock walls everywhere. Push some enemies out with SD projectiles or Shift + element attacks.
Avoid fire-based attacks because there are too many things at close range and you'll probably burn yourself.
Best way to avoid this is use Shift + F + RMB

Boss 3: The Machine

Part 1 -
Save the King!
Give yourself rock armor.
Set up a forcefield that holds 1) you and 2) the orc on the machine's bike-generator (at least it's green.....).
Spray fire on the bike rider until he's at 0 health. This'll go fast. He's terribly weak to fire.
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Part 2 -
Keep using rock armor.
Activate Haste and Confuse.
Spam the SDF fireball, or frozen chunk projectile (DR)
Keep you distance. Especially with confuse active. The spellcasters will frequently attack each other and lessen your workload while they are confused.

Boss 4: Khan

Easiest boss, IMO.
Very weak to fire.
I set up Rock armor, Volcanoes right next to him, and he had so much fire damage stacking, he went down while I was still setting up more traps to replace what he'd knocked down.
He was kind of fast, so maybe Haste would have been a good choice here. But as long as you limit what spaces he can jump to, he will always end up in front of a fiery volcano.

Boss 5: Grimnir

Part 1 -
SER bombs all the way. Think of it as one of those classic push-'em out of the ring games. Once you knock off the main enemies (usually the spellcasters) off the stage, the health meter will go down and you'll be teleported to the next stage. You may want to pick up an emergency teleportation staff. It'll be useful with the zombies and that guy behind the lava flow.
Enemies will crowd around you on the undead-spellcaster stage. Consider area freeze, then set up some bombs and knock the spellcasters off the stage
You should employ a freeze ray on the lava stage. It'll slow down that guy's casting rate. If you get hit by a single projectile, you loose a life
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Part 2 -
~New checkpoint~
Go ahead and set up Rock armor and strings of thick rock walls to your left (and right, if you have time) to keep the spirit of Grimnir away. Just add some extra D to the spell and actually you can add something extra if you put 1 "S" in the spell. It adds some aura to the wall, not sure exactly what it does though.
Spray Grimnir with fire when his rock walls or forcefield (from my experience, only the hole in the rock wall would give me enough time to do the fire spray) goes down (occasionally lightning hits his wall and breaks it); he will continue to take significant burning damage for awhile and he can't really do much about it. Occasionally it rains, but when it's not, dry yourself and try a lightning beam attack (AS + RMB). Keep replenishing your armor and rock walls. SER sword enchantments are clever, but don't do enough damage to bother with.

Boss 6: The Aristocrats

I hate this one so much.
Rock armor, Haste, Time Freeze....
I used mostly SER bombs for this one, occasional ASR freeze rays (especially on the final round).
On the final round, send ALL the healers flying (is it just me or are they green because they are color-coordinated? Maybe not. I'm pretty sure I saw a pink-coat casting a heal spell).
Then, focus your attacks on the guy with the black robe, because he's the real boss and, "has to do everything around here."
In addition, it appears he has the ability to REVIVE the other on-screen enemies. THIS IS A BIG PROBLEM. Shut him down when you get the chance, or the battle will drag on.
Defeating him will end the battle, even if his minions are still on the screen.
Don't use the Confuse spell, there's too many attackers, and you want them to activate your traps while theey are standing on them for maximum, direct damage and knockback. (Otherwise, they might activate it from a distance where they aren't hit very hard, and congratulations! You just wasted your time setting up traps. Reset them and don't try that again. Believe me, I've done it before. Otherwise I wouldn't be writing this guide.)

Boss 7: Vlad

The Staff of Life from in-town is definitely worth using here (you're kind of stuck with it anyhow).
Cast rock armor and charge pure rock projectiles. If you're having trouble aiming, it's not too harmful to wait 'til he's close to fire them. The projectiles do so much damage he couldn't heal if he wanted to!

Boss 8: Death, Travel Agent

I really didn't see the use of Vlad's glove...I just used Haste through the whole stage leading up to this boss battle. Everything was just too messy. I didn't fight any minions in the boss battle either. I just set up some traps (SER) - which went unused - and waited for the reaper to charge at me to fire a green spell at him. Landing an attack (which always has to include W) interrupts his scythe swing. rock armor is useful, to keep minions from mobbing you badly (if it gets that far). Haste is not necessary, you can just stand and wait for the reaper to make an action. When he starts summoning minions, he has materialized and you can interrupt that, too - resulting in damage to Death and no minions being summoned. Just in case, I kept traps set up... When Death makes clones of himself I thought doing a Shift W spell would make them all disappear, when it actually did...nothing. You have to wait for each individual cloe to come up, attack it with a green spell, then attack the next one that comes up to you. Time Warp probably would have made life easier, but I wasn't going for a perfect run.

More Coming soon!

As I go through the game, I'll keep adding to this guide. I don't know If I'll be getting any DLC, but if I do, I'll write about the boss battles from that content, too. If anything, I'd like the "Other side of the Coin" expansion.
I know there's some expansion-related acheivements in Magicka, and that's something I like writing about , too.

Mission Statement

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[That Wun Wabbit]

@TinyTachyon

[shady]

Q-F-A-S-A On a sword is really, really powerful. Someone mess around and find somthing better.

[tesla firebomber]

When you fight a boss that can do damage to you, don't use SER mines, use ARES on yourself and cast AREA at AOE form and it does some potential damage. Slows, Electrifies, and it does 10000 damage to a troll easy. of bad taste.

[That Wun Wabbit]

i did try using healing mines before but they didn't seem to work. maybe cause I was new to the game and combat in general was very confusing

[shady]

WE is healing mines, really good if your enclosed or your enemies are at max health.

[That Wun Wabbit]

that'll help me get past the dwarves. i really got slammed that level. I got to an area around lava with a bunch of statues and kept dying there. that's when i had to stop writing this XD
Thanks so much! Now, I'll get back on track

[Vapor]

No, W self doesn't, but if you're using a robe with Life Immunity, like the warhammer 40k space marine robes (which, as an aside, has a nice fire damage gun for a sword), then it won't ever heal you... but at least that particular set of robes has an inherent regen.
Otherwise, you just gotta spam one to three W a heal and just keep spamming them.

[That Wun Wabbit]

does W stop self-healing after a point? it hasn't been very efficient when I've tried it, but I've got a slight case of lag, too

[Vapor]

A future note, w on self will heal you if you don't have a shield/armor spell active (like the stone skin/rock armor, ED); it'll still antidote none the less.

[szef]

Great!