SPOILER ALERT
If you are starting Magicka I strongly advise you not to read this post and also to avoid google and try to figure stuff out for yourself. Figuring out new spell combinations really is a very enjoyable part of the game.
With that out of the way I do want to share some of my discoveries before I dive into google myself and realise that everything I have used is pants.
Most useful spell: Probably have to say the Rock Shield (D+E cast on self) . This absorbs a whole lot of damage, can be cast very quickly and can be recast endlessly. It is a real life saver. The one disadvantage is that casting any spell or magick will break the shield but you can very quickly drop a new one on yourself after you cast. So you can drop a rock shield on yourself, set up a powerful beam or aoe spell, unleash it and then drop a new shield. Rinse and repeat until all mobs are dead.
Favourite Beam Spell:
Any combination of Steam (Fire+Water), Lightning and Arcane gives a deadly beam but the following two worked particularly well for me:
Arcane, Steam (Fire +Water), Lightning, Arcane: This produces a very high damage beam with an explosive area of effect.
Arcane, Steam, Lightning, Lightning, Lightning: Similar to above but seems to do even more damage against certain mobs - makes quick work of the dreaded Ice Trolls for example.
Favourite Projectile Spell:
Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock: Very simple but very effective. Charged up to the maximum this can take out any normal mob in the game in one or two hits and it even makes short work of some bosses. Hide behind a rock shield while charging it up.
Favourite AOE spell:
Arcane, Steam, lightning, Arcane: The same combination that makes a deadly beam also makes a killer aoe. Hide behind a rock shield, cast this and then drop a new shield to quickly take down swarms of mobs. Unlike the beam spells adding more lightning doesn't seem to make it stronger.
Favourite Magick:
I actually didn't use the more powerful magicks (like meteor storm) at all because I found that I generally did more damage to myself than to the enemy. However Invisibility (Got in the lower right hand corner of the map with the ice trolls) makes the last few levels of the game a lot easier. You can use it to set up the perfect position for nuking unsuspecting mobs or you can even bypass whole groups of mobs. You can get invisibility earlier in the game from a staff in the goblin caves but it has a longer cool down and is not as good. The summon Magicks (summon undead, summon elemental) also provide useful crowd control. I never figured out the use of summon Death though because all he ever did was kill me.
Favourite Weapon:
Um.. I hardly ever used weapons because magick is much more powerful. The M60 is probably the best of them but doesn't really do anything you can't do with a beam spell.
Favourite Staff: No real favourite and I tended to chop and change but the following seemed useful:
Gnarled Staff - The summon Tree creature spell is very useful for dealing with crowds of mobs in the earlier levels.
Staff of war: Double HP combined with extra physical resistance is not to be sneezed at but the arcane blast active ability is more useful than it appears due to a cheap trick (see later)
Staff of Invisibility: Very handy until you pick up the invisibility Magick
Least Favourite Staff: Vlad's Gauntlet - converts your self heal into self damage wtf. Do not pick this up.
Easy mode cheap trick: Casting any spell normally breaks the rock shield so you will be exposed while you are making a new shield. However some staves (eg staff of war) have an active damage ability which does not break the shield. So you can hide behind your invulnerable shield and kill all round you without risk of taking damage. It isn't very powerful and may not be able to overcome a self healing mob but it can be used in a lot of places.
If you are starting Magicka I strongly advise you not to read this post and also to avoid google and try to figure stuff out for yourself. Figuring out new spell combinations really is a very enjoyable part of the game.
With that out of the way I do want to share some of my discoveries before I dive into google myself and realise that everything I have used is pants.
Most useful spell: Probably have to say the Rock Shield (D+E cast on self) . This absorbs a whole lot of damage, can be cast very quickly and can be recast endlessly. It is a real life saver. The one disadvantage is that casting any spell or magick will break the shield but you can very quickly drop a new one on yourself after you cast. So you can drop a rock shield on yourself, set up a powerful beam or aoe spell, unleash it and then drop a new shield. Rinse and repeat until all mobs are dead.
Favourite Beam Spell:
Any combination of Steam (Fire+Water), Lightning and Arcane gives a deadly beam but the following two worked particularly well for me:
Arcane, Steam (Fire +Water), Lightning, Arcane: This produces a very high damage beam with an explosive area of effect.
Arcane, Steam, Lightning, Lightning, Lightning: Similar to above but seems to do even more damage against certain mobs - makes quick work of the dreaded Ice Trolls for example.
Favourite Projectile Spell:
Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock, Rock: Very simple but very effective. Charged up to the maximum this can take out any normal mob in the game in one or two hits and it even makes short work of some bosses. Hide behind a rock shield while charging it up.
Favourite AOE spell:
Arcane, Steam, lightning, Arcane: The same combination that makes a deadly beam also makes a killer aoe. Hide behind a rock shield, cast this and then drop a new shield to quickly take down swarms of mobs. Unlike the beam spells adding more lightning doesn't seem to make it stronger.
Favourite Magick:
I actually didn't use the more powerful magicks (like meteor storm) at all because I found that I generally did more damage to myself than to the enemy. However Invisibility (Got in the lower right hand corner of the map with the ice trolls) makes the last few levels of the game a lot easier. You can use it to set up the perfect position for nuking unsuspecting mobs or you can even bypass whole groups of mobs. You can get invisibility earlier in the game from a staff in the goblin caves but it has a longer cool down and is not as good. The summon Magicks (summon undead, summon elemental) also provide useful crowd control. I never figured out the use of summon Death though because all he ever did was kill me.
Favourite Weapon:
Um.. I hardly ever used weapons because magick is much more powerful. The M60 is probably the best of them but doesn't really do anything you can't do with a beam spell.
Favourite Staff: No real favourite and I tended to chop and change but the following seemed useful:
Gnarled Staff - The summon Tree creature spell is very useful for dealing with crowds of mobs in the earlier levels.
Staff of war: Double HP combined with extra physical resistance is not to be sneezed at but the arcane blast active ability is more useful than it appears due to a cheap trick (see later)
Staff of Invisibility: Very handy until you pick up the invisibility Magick
Least Favourite Staff: Vlad's Gauntlet - converts your self heal into self damage wtf. Do not pick this up.
Easy mode cheap trick: Casting any spell normally breaks the rock shield so you will be exposed while you are making a new shield. However some staves (eg staff of war) have an active damage ability which does not break the shield. So you can hide behind your invulnerable shield and kill all round you without risk of taking damage. It isn't very powerful and may not be able to overcome a self healing mob but it can be used in a lot of places.
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