I'd like to talk a little bit about some of my favorite spells: the summons. Just a little discourse on each of them, really. Most of my opinions are based on Arcade Mode, because Story Mode you can pretty much do whatever.
- Cloud Buddy (Cloud Strike)
Cloud Buddy is the best. Seriously, one point in cloud strike is sufficient for boatloads of free damage that can zot things while you run around in circles. Amazing in Arcade Mode, especially if bought early to deal with bees.
- Snow Buddy (Frosty Friend)
I want to like Snow Buddy. He's cute, fast, deals a pretty good chunk of damage when he attacks, and draws fire away from you. Unfortunately, he's also way, WAY too fragile, and cannot be healed within a room. If he had an auto-resurrect timer on his own (maybe at higher charge levels?) this would probably fx him up completely into a really nice summon.
- Plant Buddy (Summon Plant)
Honestly, this isn't really a summon, but it has summon in the name, so. Also, this spell is flat out terrible. I've tried repeatedly to get use out of it, but the hitbox on the plants is tiny, leading monsters into them before they time out is super ineffective, and the damage is not worth the expense.
- Bug Buddy (Insect Swarm)
Maybe Insect Swarm could be the actual summon skill for the earth tree? Summons a single cloud of bugs that flies around and latches on to enemies til they die. Unlatches and flies elsewhere/another target if blocked or dodged.
- Flame Buddy
Waaaait a minute, there's no flame buddy! How saddening, it'd be nice to have a summon of each element.
- Arcane Collar
This talent needs a numbers buff. Let's say you max it, so 20%. that's 4 EP back from a bronze charge cloud buddy. OR I could put one point in Endurance and get 3 EP right there. I feel like the intention of this talent was to allow you to get more summons out at once, but it just cannot compete with Endurance at all. Even a Silver Charge Cloud Buddy refunds less than a maxed Endurance. Granted, you can stack these, but there's zero reason to get Arcane Collar until after you've maxed Endurance. And probably several other things that are far more important.
- Cloud Buddy (Cloud Strike)
Cloud Buddy is the best. Seriously, one point in cloud strike is sufficient for boatloads of free damage that can zot things while you run around in circles. Amazing in Arcade Mode, especially if bought early to deal with bees.
- Snow Buddy (Frosty Friend)
I want to like Snow Buddy. He's cute, fast, deals a pretty good chunk of damage when he attacks, and draws fire away from you. Unfortunately, he's also way, WAY too fragile, and cannot be healed within a room. If he had an auto-resurrect timer on his own (maybe at higher charge levels?) this would probably fx him up completely into a really nice summon.
- Plant Buddy (Summon Plant)
Honestly, this isn't really a summon, but it has summon in the name, so. Also, this spell is flat out terrible. I've tried repeatedly to get use out of it, but the hitbox on the plants is tiny, leading monsters into them before they time out is super ineffective, and the damage is not worth the expense.
- Bug Buddy (Insect Swarm)
Maybe Insect Swarm could be the actual summon skill for the earth tree? Summons a single cloud of bugs that flies around and latches on to enemies til they die. Unlatches and flies elsewhere/another target if blocked or dodged.
- Flame Buddy
Waaaait a minute, there's no flame buddy! How saddening, it'd be nice to have a summon of each element.
- Arcane Collar
This talent needs a numbers buff. Let's say you max it, so 20%. that's 4 EP back from a bronze charge cloud buddy. OR I could put one point in Endurance and get 3 EP right there. I feel like the intention of this talent was to allow you to get more summons out at once, but it just cannot compete with Endurance at all. Even a Silver Charge Cloud Buddy refunds less than a maxed Endurance. Granted, you can stack these, but there's zero reason to get Arcane Collar until after you've maxed Endurance. And probably several other things that are far more important.