Arcane Discussion: What were the two most powerful offensive spells in the BG Series?

gfm50

I'd have to go with Aba Dazims Horrid Wilting and Time Stop infinite chain combo, when not dealing with undead or magic immune enemies at least.

wissenschaft

Your basic Hold spells. Owns the vast majority of encounters through out the game especially when you have multiple casters casting it at once. :P

The_New_Romance

wissenschaft said:

Your basic Hold spells. Owns the vast majority of encounters through out the game especially when you have multiple casters casting it at once. :P

Regarding BG1, absolutely right. Hold and Charm (and other mind control spells) are horribly overpowered, and even better than straight attack/damage spells if the target doesn't have too crazy saving throws.

gfm50

wissenschaft said:

Your basic Hold spells. Owns the vast majority of encounters through out the game especially when you have multiple casters casting it at once. :P

For BG1 at least, I think you beat my selection by a lot -- and not only because Time Stop and Abi are not even available due to level cap haha. I remember a lot more anti-hold options in BG2 and TOB though.

DougPiranha

Time Stop + Improved Alacrity. Then if you have Robe of Vecna (and of course you do) you can cast another 20 spells and kill everything.

Seldar

The most powerful spell is Imprisonment. Casts fast, has no save and ignores magic resistance.

wissenschaft

They are still very useful for a lot of fights in BG2. It tends to be redundant when you can just use a fireball to 1 shot the enemies. lol Of course Dire Charm, etc enemies to make them kill each other is hilarious. But I tend more toward being a troll with magic. lol

Wolfheart

Wild surge of magic missile (or other single target spell):
roll 63 (roll 4 more times) and then get the rolls 73, 88, 88 and 63
73 Spell cast normally and caster recuperated as if rested
88 Cow falls from sky on the target
88 Cow falls from sky on the target
63 roll 4 more times
88
88
88
88
63... And so on :P

Its as powerfull as its likely to get ^^* Not very practical though :P

Other than that, Chain Contagency (helpless) with 3x project image. Then cast project image... Needs some other spell to use like summon Deva/Planetar (when the projected images cast them, you can have as many as you want, without draining your spells per day).

gfm50

Seldar said:

The most powerful spell is Imprisonment. Casts fast, has no save and ignores magic resistance.

It is really powerful, but I remember it destroying the loot of a lot of bosses if pulled off successfully -- I tried it for fun on Firkraag one time and when he got imprisoned the holy avenger wasn't in his loot. Also, beserked enemies were immune (how I beat Kangaxx with a beserker fighter) and I think that spell trap also blocked it as well.

gfm50

DougPiranha said:

Time Stop + Improved Alacrity. Then if you have Robe of Vecna (and of course you do) you can cast another 20 spells and kill everything.

This is true. Improved Alacrity/Time Stop loop is a better selection that mine I think.

gfm50

wissenschaft said:

They are still very useful for a lot of fights in BG2. It tends to be redundant when you can just use a fireball to 1 shot the enemies. lol Of course Dire Charm, etc enemies to make them kill each other is hilarious. But I tend more toward being a troll with magic. lol

They still have use, just I remember a lot more enemies being immune to charm and hold crap in BG2 and TOB.

AceofWands

Not sure what you mean by 'infinite chain combo' but 'chain contingency' was very overpowered. For a low level spell 'skull trap' is very useful in BG2 (with appropriate care taken or previous castings of 'protection fron magic energy').

If you have the Robe of Vecna and amulet of power then 'improved alacrity' is an absolute blast.

gfm50

AceofWands said:

Not sure what you mean by 'infinite chain combo' but 'chain contingency' was very overpowered. For a low level spell 'skull trap' is very useful in BG2 (with appropriate care taken or previous castings of 'protection fron magic energy').

If you have the Robe of Vecna and amulet of power then 'improved alacrity' is an absolute blast.

Infinite chain combo meaning that you can just cast time stop and whatever spell over and over again until you run out of time stops, but with lots of time stop scrolls and 9th level spell lots, it can take a while =].

Wolfheart

gfm50 said:

AceofWands said:

Not sure what you mean by 'infinite chain combo' but 'chain contingency' was very overpowered. For a low level spell 'skull trap' is very useful in BG2 (with appropriate care taken or previous castings of 'protection fron magic energy').

If you have the Robe of Vecna and amulet of power then 'improved alacrity' is an absolute blast.

Infinite chain combo meaning that you can just cast time stop and whatever spell over and over again until you run out of time stops, but with lots of time stop scrolls and 9th level spell lots, it can take a while =].

*Cough* Project image!

DeathOfNames

Well... neither "Time Stop", "Improved Alacrity", "Project Image" or "Chain Contingency" are really offensive spells, so they are not relevant. Might be the most powerful ones though.

In terms of pure damage, I'd probably go with "Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting" or maybe "Sunray" when facing undead. For single target spells if find "Implosion" to be rather neat. It bypasses magic res, does crushing damage, holds without save, and only has casting time of 5, which means insta-cast with Robe of Vecne+Amulet of Power. Never really used imprisonment... I like my loot, and I like to make sure things are actually dead.

Ulfgar_Torunn

Dragon's Breath + Improved Alacrity w/Robe of Vecna.

At around 55 damage per creature per casting this can typically deal 275+ damage per creature in a single round. Marred by the fact it deals fire damage, but ignoring magic resistance more than makes up for this.

Let's not forget the all important Ctrl + Y.

elminster

Command Word: Die, at least in bg1. You get it right off the bat, it is quick to cast (compared to hold person), you can keep an enemy down with it and it works on a lot of enemies. Haste is also very powerful in that game.

In BG2 probably Horrid Wilting and dispel/remove magic.

Jarlaxle

Maybe is not the powerful combo but "Time Stop + Shapechange/Mind Flayer" is priceless.

Aberdash

I had a sorc in BG2 and just spammed death spell. Worked pretty well.

Cheesebelly

Vampiric touch in my opinion is kind of underrated. I mean, Lower resist a dragon trice, cast 4 or 5 vampiric touches... win. It's as simple as that. That spell OWNS dragons! XD

gfm50

Wolfheart said:

gfm50 said:

AceofWands said:

Not sure what you mean by 'infinite chain combo' but 'chain contingency' was very overpowered. For a low level spell 'skull trap' is very useful in BG2 (with appropriate care taken or previous castings of 'protection fron magic energy').

If you have the Robe of Vecna and amulet of power then 'improved alacrity' is an absolute blast.

Infinite chain combo meaning that you can just cast time stop and whatever spell over and over again until you run out of time stops, but with lots of time stop scrolls and 9th level spell lots, it can take a while =].

*Cough* Project image!

Ahh yes, I forgot =].

Aranneas

Command seconded. Entangle/web are also really sweet tactical boosters.

Space_hamster

Cast: protect from evil..... Cast: gate ...... Win.

Wolfheart

Cast Project Image, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, kill projected image, repeat ad naseum

gfm50

Cast Project Image, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, cast Summon Planetar, kill projected image, repeat ad naseum

Wait, the planetars don't have a party stack limit? I thought they did, projected image or not...

Ken

Feeblemind is proberly one of the strongest in BG1 (lvl 5), save or stand still like a fool! Aka dead..

Imprisonments weakness is the casting range. The single most overpowering spell is Hold Person (lv 2 priest, hold means death) and Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilthing in BG2. Party friendly AND magic damage?

gmazca

I don't know about anyone else but I always avoided the Robe of Vecna because it made everything so easy...was that just me? lol

Ken

gmazca said:

I don't know about anyone else but I always avoided the Robe of Vecna because it made everything so easy...was that just me? lol

Never used it.. I looked stupid too with the casting animation being cut short

lansounet

gfm50 said:

Wait, the planetars don't have a party stack limit? I thought they did, projected image or not...

No summon limit for planetars, their "gender" isn't "summoned"

I have to agree that Hold Person is one of the most efficient spells in BG1. Too many good spells combos in BG2 but if I have to choose one spell then it's Improved Alacrity.

CoM_Solaufein

Multiple Cloudkills followed by Abi Dalzim's Horrid Wilting will bring down just about anything unless they have a high magic resistance.

LREC

Magic Missile! Greatest spell.period