Just a few ideas (and by few I mean a lot) I have on the current state of underpowered spells.
To put into perspective and sort of quantify the weaknesses of the UP spells, we can look at Spirit Slash and Insect Swarm as the standard and set this experiment in boss fights.
Lets start off by examining the strengths of IS and SS.
Insect Swarm-
Can stack dealing separate accounts of DoT damage.
Can be used with minimal down time (as opposed to having to aim)
Has good En efficiency (bounces to next available target)
Not hard to aim
Spirit Slash-
Has a high DPS (About 4-5 Normal attacks worth of damage in the time it takes to swing 2-3 times or cast 1 uncharged spell)
Can be used with minimal down time
Has good En efficiency in that the attacks will continue until there are no available targets left
Not hard to aim
Basically, these two skills are the standard because they are both efficient, easy to aim, and thus allows your character to be mobile which is 90% of this game in boss fights. I don't like to bring in the majority but sometimes they are right. Take a look around the forums, most people use either IS or SS when they are not just having fun/testing other builds.
Skill/Spell Changes
Below there will be a rating from 1 - 5 of each spell's DPS, how easy it is to use (basically no aim required 5 - aim required 1), and Energy efficiency relative to damage, a short description, and improvement suggestions.
Fireball 3/3/2 - This spell is average, close to bad, the quintessential mage spell doomed to almost always be lackluster and replaced.
*Bronze should have 100% burn chance dealing 100% Fireball damage over 3-5 seconds. Reapplying burn should only reset the timer in other words don't let it stack damage. This would effectively make it really good for kiting.
Meteor 2/1/2 - There's no need to pretend to be MLG. Of course, you can figure out a way to aim faster/better with this spell but it would still take 2x/3x the effort to dish out half the damage SpiritSlash could.
*This is METEOR. It should be AWESOME. The spell needs to be -the- skill that murders bosses who don't move (Gundam, Machine, etc.) Let it crater the ground leaving a wake of molten lava DoT whose damage amplifies as you crater the ground more and more. Also might want to increase the AoE range of the impact or at least the crater. Gotta be honest with yourselves, this spell at its current state is not very good.
Flamethower 4/2/4 - Don't let the numbers fool you. Though this may be an extremely high DPS skill, the opportunities to use it to its maximum capacity are very limited. Stationary bosses are easy targets. Stationary bosses with random mobs flying everywhere aren't (like in Hard mode).
*I haven't tried this yet but, maybe with cast speed this skill will be a lot better. Still, the fact remains, mobs in Hard punish you for standing still. The cone could be bigger which would allow you to release the spell at a safer distance. Faster animation would be nice too.
Ice Spikes 2/3/2 - Not very good. A lot like Fireball in terms of its weakness: shorter range and slightly less damage.
*The name of this spell evoke Icebergs. Increase the damage, add a modifier to damage against enemies under cold (maybe 1.5-2x) and for frozen (2x-3x). At Silver, there should be 3 sheets of straight ice or 1 straight and 2 angled (I prefer 3 straight lines). At Gold it should be 5, and so on. Extend the length as well. Extension is probably the best way to enhance most of the spells and I will refer to it many times. As this game is a Grind game, AoE reigns supreme (and viable).
Ice Nova 3/4/4 - Very good spell. Damage is average which is good for balance as it provides slow/freeze/knockback, and is AoE.
*Remember when you were a kid playing an RPG with upgradeable spells? You would always grind for the sake of unlocking the next tier to see how cool the effects would be. Well, this spell could use a little uplifting. Like many of the spells thus far, upgrading them doesn't really make them a whole lot cooler. I suggest removing the knockback in favor of a pulsing nova effect like Whirlslash with each tier adding 1 more pulse. Or better yet, you could make Ice Nova a pulsing aura with Energy storing like the Summons.
Frosty Friend 4/3/4 - This summon is very good on paper but slightly worst in game. The problem with this summon is it dies too quickly.
*The pulsing aura I suggested for Ice Nova, minus the damage, can be a feature exclusive to Frosty Friend (though I'd like to see it on Ice Nova). This ability would give him pseudo-mitigation which he desperately needs. Alternatively, casting Ice spells on him could heal him or give him a shield. This would give this tree very good synergy: CC, some damage, and a Tank Summon; how summoners are played. Also needs HP in Talent tree.
Earth Spike 2/1/2 - Carbon clone of Meteor with an impassable terrain at the end of the cast. The knock-up is nice but realistically speaking, the effect can't really shine on its own via chain juggling (because you need to aim the skill) or some other creative use. Too much effort for little reward.
*It's kinda difficult to suggest anything for this spell as the name leaves very little room for imagination. I mean, you can do damage, knock-up, pierce, cripple (slow), and maybe stun/stagger but honestly no. Changing the name to something like Pillar with a stun effect would make sense. Alternatively, you could name it something to the effect of Earth Prison where two slabs of rock crush a single target (or multiple if they're close enough) with a stun effect.
Summon Plant 4/3/4 - This skills DPS rival's that of Insect Swarm on stationary targets however, as mentioned a few times, there aren't many occasions where stationary targets are alone.
*If I were to suggest a square AoE of plants I would probably be sending this spell on a direct course for nerfs. I think the better suggestion would be to add a Ranged Plant summon at Silver/Gold.
Chain Lightning 4/3/4 - Another deceptively good spell. The cumulative damage and range gives it high scores but at a certain point, doing 150~ damage to stuff that has 1000+ hp just won't cut it. More realistically, with enemy scaling in mind, this spell would score something like 2/3/2. There are two types of "easy" spells in this game, "easy" and "simple". Easy is like something you don't have to aim and simple is like Chain Lightning where you don't need a tutorial to use but its simplicity balances it more for early game.
*This skill needs more bounces, like a lot more. And it also needs be able to bounce back to previous targets if it already doesn't. Bronze should be 5, silver should be 10, gold should be 20, and last should be like 35. The reason being is 150 damage by Seasonne is like 1/5 of your mana to do 1/7 of a Snow throwing guy's HP. That's like 1/75th of the Yeti's HP. Granted you won't be using it on single target, still its a good way to measure how awful the damage is. Either add damage or add bounces.
Cloud Strike 4/5/5 - This spell is really good. Just needs better aggro range/targeting A.I. (maybe hit what you last hit or something).
*Another spell that could use more visual appeal. This spell is 95% perfect save what I mentioned above and the lack of visual effects. This might get annoying but, having flashing screens like real storm clouds would be cool.
Wind Slash 1/1/1 - This spell sucks lol. Takes too long to aim, damage is average at best but considering how long it takes to aim any average damage would be a lot lower.
*All this spell needs is a homing feature. An automatic lock-on to enemies like SpiritSlash. That's it.
I haven't looked too hard in to the Physical skills but I can say without a doubt the 2hand tree needs a lot of help. The only viable skill is Whirlslash and it's lack of damage becomes apparent by the time you reach Seasonne. In the 1hand, Spiritslash is obviously really good, Shadow Clone looks good, haven't tested the others but I think Blade Flurry has better scaling than Flame Thrower.
Feel free to comment/criticize/whatever. All my tests were on Hard Mode with almost the best gear you can get and a level 5 pet with all damage.
To put into perspective and sort of quantify the weaknesses of the UP spells, we can look at Spirit Slash and Insect Swarm as the standard and set this experiment in boss fights.
Lets start off by examining the strengths of IS and SS.
Insect Swarm-
Can stack dealing separate accounts of DoT damage.
Can be used with minimal down time (as opposed to having to aim)
Has good En efficiency (bounces to next available target)
Not hard to aim
Spirit Slash-
Has a high DPS (About 4-5 Normal attacks worth of damage in the time it takes to swing 2-3 times or cast 1 uncharged spell)
Can be used with minimal down time
Has good En efficiency in that the attacks will continue until there are no available targets left
Not hard to aim
Basically, these two skills are the standard because they are both efficient, easy to aim, and thus allows your character to be mobile which is 90% of this game in boss fights. I don't like to bring in the majority but sometimes they are right. Take a look around the forums, most people use either IS or SS when they are not just having fun/testing other builds.
Skill/Spell Changes
Below there will be a rating from 1 - 5 of each spell's DPS, how easy it is to use (basically no aim required 5 - aim required 1), and Energy efficiency relative to damage, a short description, and improvement suggestions.
Fireball 3/3/2 - This spell is average, close to bad, the quintessential mage spell doomed to almost always be lackluster and replaced.
*Bronze should have 100% burn chance dealing 100% Fireball damage over 3-5 seconds. Reapplying burn should only reset the timer in other words don't let it stack damage. This would effectively make it really good for kiting.
Meteor 2/1/2 - There's no need to pretend to be MLG. Of course, you can figure out a way to aim faster/better with this spell but it would still take 2x/3x the effort to dish out half the damage SpiritSlash could.
*This is METEOR. It should be AWESOME. The spell needs to be -the- skill that murders bosses who don't move (Gundam, Machine, etc.) Let it crater the ground leaving a wake of molten lava DoT whose damage amplifies as you crater the ground more and more. Also might want to increase the AoE range of the impact or at least the crater. Gotta be honest with yourselves, this spell at its current state is not very good.
Flamethower 4/2/4 - Don't let the numbers fool you. Though this may be an extremely high DPS skill, the opportunities to use it to its maximum capacity are very limited. Stationary bosses are easy targets. Stationary bosses with random mobs flying everywhere aren't (like in Hard mode).
*I haven't tried this yet but, maybe with cast speed this skill will be a lot better. Still, the fact remains, mobs in Hard punish you for standing still. The cone could be bigger which would allow you to release the spell at a safer distance. Faster animation would be nice too.
Ice Spikes 2/3/2 - Not very good. A lot like Fireball in terms of its weakness: shorter range and slightly less damage.
*The name of this spell evoke Icebergs. Increase the damage, add a modifier to damage against enemies under cold (maybe 1.5-2x) and for frozen (2x-3x). At Silver, there should be 3 sheets of straight ice or 1 straight and 2 angled (I prefer 3 straight lines). At Gold it should be 5, and so on. Extend the length as well. Extension is probably the best way to enhance most of the spells and I will refer to it many times. As this game is a Grind game, AoE reigns supreme (and viable).
Ice Nova 3/4/4 - Very good spell. Damage is average which is good for balance as it provides slow/freeze/knockback, and is AoE.
*Remember when you were a kid playing an RPG with upgradeable spells? You would always grind for the sake of unlocking the next tier to see how cool the effects would be. Well, this spell could use a little uplifting. Like many of the spells thus far, upgrading them doesn't really make them a whole lot cooler. I suggest removing the knockback in favor of a pulsing nova effect like Whirlslash with each tier adding 1 more pulse. Or better yet, you could make Ice Nova a pulsing aura with Energy storing like the Summons.
Frosty Friend 4/3/4 - This summon is very good on paper but slightly worst in game. The problem with this summon is it dies too quickly.
*The pulsing aura I suggested for Ice Nova, minus the damage, can be a feature exclusive to Frosty Friend (though I'd like to see it on Ice Nova). This ability would give him pseudo-mitigation which he desperately needs. Alternatively, casting Ice spells on him could heal him or give him a shield. This would give this tree very good synergy: CC, some damage, and a Tank Summon; how summoners are played. Also needs HP in Talent tree.
Earth Spike 2/1/2 - Carbon clone of Meteor with an impassable terrain at the end of the cast. The knock-up is nice but realistically speaking, the effect can't really shine on its own via chain juggling (because you need to aim the skill) or some other creative use. Too much effort for little reward.
*It's kinda difficult to suggest anything for this spell as the name leaves very little room for imagination. I mean, you can do damage, knock-up, pierce, cripple (slow), and maybe stun/stagger but honestly no. Changing the name to something like Pillar with a stun effect would make sense. Alternatively, you could name it something to the effect of Earth Prison where two slabs of rock crush a single target (or multiple if they're close enough) with a stun effect.
Summon Plant 4/3/4 - This skills DPS rival's that of Insect Swarm on stationary targets however, as mentioned a few times, there aren't many occasions where stationary targets are alone.
*If I were to suggest a square AoE of plants I would probably be sending this spell on a direct course for nerfs. I think the better suggestion would be to add a Ranged Plant summon at Silver/Gold.
Chain Lightning 4/3/4 - Another deceptively good spell. The cumulative damage and range gives it high scores but at a certain point, doing 150~ damage to stuff that has 1000+ hp just won't cut it. More realistically, with enemy scaling in mind, this spell would score something like 2/3/2. There are two types of "easy" spells in this game, "easy" and "simple". Easy is like something you don't have to aim and simple is like Chain Lightning where you don't need a tutorial to use but its simplicity balances it more for early game.
*This skill needs more bounces, like a lot more. And it also needs be able to bounce back to previous targets if it already doesn't. Bronze should be 5, silver should be 10, gold should be 20, and last should be like 35. The reason being is 150 damage by Seasonne is like 1/5 of your mana to do 1/7 of a Snow throwing guy's HP. That's like 1/75th of the Yeti's HP. Granted you won't be using it on single target, still its a good way to measure how awful the damage is. Either add damage or add bounces.
Cloud Strike 4/5/5 - This spell is really good. Just needs better aggro range/targeting A.I. (maybe hit what you last hit or something).
*Another spell that could use more visual appeal. This spell is 95% perfect save what I mentioned above and the lack of visual effects. This might get annoying but, having flashing screens like real storm clouds would be cool.
Wind Slash 1/1/1 - This spell sucks lol. Takes too long to aim, damage is average at best but considering how long it takes to aim any average damage would be a lot lower.
*All this spell needs is a homing feature. An automatic lock-on to enemies like SpiritSlash. That's it.
I haven't looked too hard in to the Physical skills but I can say without a doubt the 2hand tree needs a lot of help. The only viable skill is Whirlslash and it's lack of damage becomes apparent by the time you reach Seasonne. In the 1hand, Spiritslash is obviously really good, Shadow Clone looks good, haven't tested the others but I think Blade Flurry has better scaling than Flame Thrower.
Feel free to comment/criticize/whatever. All my tests were on Hard Mode with almost the best gear you can get and a level 5 pet with all damage.
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