Level 7 Shaman spell picks.

DetroitRedWings25

Hello, I was just wondering if anyone had some suggestions for which level 7 druid spells to prioritize for shaman when leveling up? The first 6 levels were pretty easy but I'm struggling to figure out what to pick at level 7 spells. Thanks in advance!

jmerry

(This post assumes the character is in BG2EE with no changes to the spell system)

To guide the decision, let's start by looking at the spells you'll have no matter what. You will always get the Shaman-specific spells without having to spend a pick, and you'll always get the HLAs eventually.

Those spells:
Ether Gate (Shaman): This one's basically Maze, only with a fixed five-round duration. Single-target, quick to cast, removes an enemy from the fight with no save.
Energy Blades (HLA): Gives you up to 20 temporary magic weapons to throw. That's about two rounds of combat, but you do get a lot of firepower for them. Quick to cast.
Storm of Vengeance (HLA): Deals some rather unimpressive damage to nearby enemies over three rounds, and kills low-level mooks outright. Slow to cast.
Elemental Summoning (HLA): Summons two big elementals to fight in melee for you. Chance to summon an elemental prince instead. Slow to cast.
Implosion (HLA): Immobilizes one target and deals heavy damage to them. Against enemies that aren't immune to the hold effect, it's devastating. Middling casting speed.
Mass Raise Dead (HLA): Raises all dead members of the party and gives them moderate healing. Quick to cast, so it's easy to use in combat unlike regular Raise Dead and Resurrection.
Aura of Flaming Death (HLA): Protects the caster and retaliates against any close-in attackers. Middling casting speed.
Ethereal Retribution (HLA): Deals some rather unimpressive damage to nearby enemies over three rounds, and weakens them on failed saves.

Obviously, if one of those spells is doing something well, picking up a new spell to fill the same role is not recommended.

Now, the spells you can choose from. One at level 14, a second at level 15, a third at level 17, a fourth at level 22, and finally a fifth at level 31 when you hit the 8 million cap.
- Shield of the Archons: Spell defense. It fills the same role as Spell Deflection for mages, but unlike for them it's the only spell priests get to fill that role. Pretty much all of my high-level priests memorize one of these, so I'd obviously rate it a high priority to get.
- Conjure Earth Elemental: Summons. Strictly worse than the Elemental Summoning HLA in the same role, so don't bother.
- Nature's Beauty: Blinds nearby enemies with no save, kills humanoid enemies outright if they fail a save. Somewhat hampered by a relatively slow casting speed. Blindness is a debuff that very few enemies are immune to, so this is a solid option.
- Fire Storm: Deals a lot of fire damage in an area over four rounds. Slow to cast, not party friendly, but it ignores magic resistance so it's very strong if you know what you're doing.
- Confusion: Just like the mage spell, except they get it at spell level 4. And for that matter, so do the nymphs you can summon with Call Woodland Beings. It's a fine spell, but you're just looking for more at this spell level.
- Regeneration: Heals a single target for a whole lot over time. Particularly potent when combined with haste effects, so it can be used as a buff when entering battle.
- Creeping Doom: Just like Insect Swarm at level 5, only it does damage twice as fast for half the duration. Which probably makes it worse, really. But then, "worse than Insect Swarm" is still a fantastic spell.
- Earthquake: Deals moderate physical damage to all targets in an area over three rounds, knocks them unconscious on a failed save in the first round. Also has a 3% chance of summoning a hostile elemental.

Eight spells, of which you'll eventually get five. You're not really making hard choices here. I'd probably take Fire Storm and Shield of the Archons first, while never taking Conjure Earth Elemental and Confusion. For the other four spells and three slots, it would vary based on the character's role in the party and my whims as I played.

Grond0

Just on the elemental HLA, my concern about that is that the duration is only 1 turn (compared to 1 turn/level for the standard elemental summoning spells). With a longer duration I would potentially make use of this, but in practice never do. However, I pretty much always play solo and hence battles tend to last longer. In a party you might perceive more benefit from this HLA, though I still think there are very few enemies where energy blades or fire storm would not do a better job.

lroumen

In my run I would go shield of the archons - nature's beauty - regeneration - firestorm/earthquake - creeping doom.

With my mod install, protection and regeneration is very important, as well as disabling opponents. More often the damage comes from the fighters. Likely firestorm is the first damaging spell I get, although earthquake is tempting as well.

sarevok57

conjure earth elemental is 100% useless because

a) at level 6 you can summon fire elementals that are basically the same power except they are immune to fire and deal extra fire damage, they may be vulnerable to cold but who is threatening long enough for that to be effective?

or

b) even more so, conjure animals blows both elemental spells out of the water, it ALWAYS summons 2 bears, which attack for APR and hit as +3 weapons ( i swear they used to hit as +4, i guess perhaps they changed it? )

so what does the level 7 earth elemental spell have over the previous 2 level 6 spells? not much at best

DetroitRedWings25

Hey everyone thanks so much for responding, sorry it took me so long to get back! Thanks for the help I have a much better understanding of which level 7 spells are useful for my play style.