Sorcerer spell picks...what to choose...

[Rogue_Sorcerer]

Hi...I was just interested in what you guys think about this SOLO sorcerer's spell picks...they aren't set in stone, so feel free to criticize-I'm looking for as much info as I can get Also, I'll have the Staff of the Magi, so protection from evil and spell trap are taken care of...

Level 1: Chromatic Orb*, Magic Missile*, Friends?, *edit*Protection from Petrification?*edit*, and Spook*.
Level 2: Blur, Knock*, Melf’s Acid Arrow, Mirror image*, and Remove Fear?.
Level 3: Haste*, Melf's Minute Meteors?, Remove Magic*, Skull Trap*, and Slow*.
Level 4: Greater Malision*, Minor Sequencer, Spider Spawn?, Stoneskin, and Wizard Eye?.
Level 5: Animate Dead*, Breach*, Cloudkill?, Lower Resistance*, and Spell Immunity*.
Level 6: Contingency, Death Spell, *edit*Protection from Magic Energy?*edit*, Protection from Magical Weapons*, and True Sight*.
Level 7: Finger of Death*, Mordenkainen’s Sword*, Project Image, Spell Sequencer?, and Summon Hakeshar?.
Level 8: Abi Dalzim’s Horrid Wilting*, Maze?, Spell Trigger*, and Summon Fiend?.
Level 9: Chain Contingency*, Spellstrike*, Time Stop*, and Wish*.


Note1: Items Marked * are vital, and items marked ? are optional (in my humble opinion of course... )

Thanx in advance for any info you might have...

[fable]

This has been done to death, here, but not for at least 6 weeks, now. So it's fresh! I'll jump in by suggesting that Identify is redundant. There's a pair of eyeglasses you can purchase that does the same thing for free, three times a day.

[Littiz]

I'm not experienced with sorcs, I can say though that spells like Imp. Haste are a bit wasted if you are soloing...

Anyway User posted a lot on the subject...
I remember a topic about "schools" of sorcery!
The Summoner, the Cheater, the Blaster, something like this!!!



EDIT: ok, here it is...

and another one by User
If you remove all the cheese, he had even some nice ideas!!

[Bruce Lee]

Level 4 I would absolutely pick Imp Invis instead of spider spawn.
Level 5 Cloudkill, well there is a wand for that. Sunfire is great for a solo sorc as it bypasses MR.
Level 6 I would pick Mislead instead of Prot from Magic energy.
Mirror image can be used instead of prot from Magic energy.
Level 7. I would leave out summon hakeshar and finger of death and go for spell turning and mass invis.
Level 8 Not picking simulacrum would be a big mistake, huge infact. I would drop Maze and summon fiend and pick Simulacrum and either power word blind or inc cloud.
Level 9 Imprisonment instead of spellstrike.
Well your list would do fine aswell I guess... just my opinion anyway.

[Nae'run]

Originally posted by Bruce Lee
Level 9 Imprisonment instead of spellstrike.
Well your list would do fine aswell I guess... just my opinion anyway.

I dont think imprisonment would be a good idea, since you will loose what-ever you could have looted from the victim..... Maze is much better, cus' you can always "prepere" the victims arival! with delayed fireball or symbol >what-ever<.....

[Bruce Lee]

Maze is subject to MR and Imprisonment is not. You can cast freedom if you think you missed out on something, however as a solosorceror you dont need money nor loot that much.

[Nae'run]

Yes, but with a solo sorc. it would be better to use only one level 8 spell, instead of two level 9 spells.... you cant get that many level nine spells, I could easy find to others level 9 spells to use instead of impris. and freedom!

[fable]

Simulacrum is essential, especially for the soloing sorc. It effectively doubles your manpower and firepower.

No Increased Alacrity to go with that Timestop?

[Bruce Lee]

You dont have to pick freedom. You only pick the spells you will use often and use scrolls for the rest like freedom. Project Image with a scroll in the quick slots works wonders.
Improved alacrity would be my first pick of the HLA's.
I still say go with Imprisonment, great against Golems hehe.

[Gloop]

Project Image, wizard eye and chain contingency.. effectively quadruples your firepower. I beat the eclipse party using 4 dragon breaths per round from my 4 images

[Somerset]

spells

I guess it goes without saying that a lot of spells are useless if you are soloing (correct me if I'm wrong but a freedom spell won't do you much good if you are soloing and imprisoned), and I can only think of one spot you would otherwise need a freedom spell.
Similarly, protection from evil, improved hasted, and others are better gained with scrolls, same as those that offer buffing like resist fear - save / buy scrolls, I think soloing requires very careful spell selection, a good combo of offensive, summoning, defense and magic lowering..........

[Xyx]

Mislead is missing. I guess that's just one of those spells you have to try to discover its awesome power. It's unbreakable invisibility. Just keep the decoy away from your enemies and go to town.

Breach is not essential. All "problematic" protections wear off real fast, and you can always Skull Trap the cr@p out of stuff even if it's protected. In Throne of Bhaal, Wands of Spell Striking are very common.

Spellstrike is near-redundant. None of the Spell Turning-type spells protect against area spells. Why waste a level 9 spell on an enemy just so that you can Magic Missile it, when you could evaporate the whole battlefield with a Dragon's Breath instead?

[Wyvern]

Well, here are my picks so far; and I don't regret any of them (note that this is not a solo sorcerer):

1: Burning hands, Chromatic orb, Friends, Identify, Magic missile
2: Blur, Knock, Mirror image, Strength, Vocalize
3: Fireball, Flame arrow, Remove magic, Skull trap, Invisibility 10' radius
4: Greater malison, Improved Invisibility, Spirit Armor, Stoneskin, Wizard eye
5: Animate dead, Breach, Lower resistance, Sunfire
6. Chain lightning, Prot. from magic energy, Prot. from magical weapons, Tender's transformation, True sight
7. Finger of death, Mordekainen's sword, Project image, Spell turning
8. Abi-Dalzim's horrid wilting, Prot. from Energy, Spell trigger, Summon fiend
9. Spellstrike, Time stop, Wish

Maybe I forgot 1 or 2, but that's about it.

Spells that could come in handy sometimes: Chain contigency, Spell trap,Pierce shield/Pierce magic, Improved haste, Spell immunity, Slow, Spook.

[Bruce Lee]

If you are unsure of spell selection why not play as a wild mage. Then you have the best of both worlds and a little bit of gambling aswell
What is the spell you guys fear the most in the game?
For me it is imprisonment so there is no way I would play a mage without using this spell. The only spell you couldn't find in SoA, for a reason.
As a sorceror you can pick it when you reach 3 million XP which you do fairly early.

[Gloop]

You can't find spell trigger in SoA, unless its one of the random level 8 scroll treasures.

And don't forget Chain Contingency. CC - 3 Project Image, at helpless, cast project image, there's four sorcerors for you

[Izgoth]

Definately get flame arrow. Deals heaps of damage and fast to cast at higher levels.

[kopywrite]

Agree about flame arrow; also, put 3 in a sequencer for nasty damage.

[Xyx]

Forget about Flame Arrow; get Skull Trap! Better damage, damages multiple enemies, doesn't get bounced by protections and can be set as a trap.

[Rogue_Sorcerer]

I HAVE skull trap...and I definitely prefer melf's meteors...the loss of "attacking" per round is moot, because you can only cast one spell per round, and you can use the remaining time to attack...in addition, it's easier to distribute among different enemies, (like in Ire's dungeon, when facing many goblins)

[dragon wench]

Hmmmm....I notice you have "Friends." I have to admit, it is never a spell I've selected. How useful is it?