Pillars of Eternity - Best Wizard Spell Choices

[@robertjohnson558]

I am loving your content. Clear and concise. Definitely helping me understand spells. Always struggled with wizards in every crpg, but with you its finally making sense

[@CoredumpedGaming]

I am very glad to hear that :D Enjoy friend, happy that it is being useful!

[@jjabu4]

@@CoredumpedGaming Hey Core, absolutely loving your videos, and want to give you a special shout out for making a game with lots of dialogue/reading still enjoyable to watch. One suggestion: maybe add this video to Triple Crown playlist? Had a hard time finding it in all your videos earlier.

[@PurplePunkeru]

Your video helped me immensely. Thank you so much! Would love to see more in-depth videos about the first pillars of eternity and optimized, spells, talents, levelling and more.

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Thank you kind sir :) Always happy to hear these are helpful! I don't have those kind of guides, but I do have an informative style playthrough of the first PoE on the triple crown settings where I explain everything I'm doing, from combat, quests and level up decisions in case you are interested - kzbin.info/aero/PLg9GM2jv_Yxew2BM6UbedChIQG39G-dQM

[@PurplePunkeru]

@@CoredumpedGaming Oh, that's good to know! I didn't consider your Let's Play could be educational as well. I will definitely use your videos to keep me company during my run. You are the only guy who does really good, not outdated content around this game and your general introduction as well as this video were extremely helpful to me during my first ever run. Especially, since I'm playing on "Path of the Damned". Thank you, I greatly appreciate the effort you put into the videos and your response. :)

[@ensedafustian9872]

A great video, Coredumped! You highlighted several spells that sounded strange - spells I would never have chosen, simply because I didn't understand how they would be useful. Your explanations and demonstrations are great! 👋

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Some effects are not very obvious at first glance, but there are some really good and efficient spells in the game. Have fun with magic :D

[@ch.kv.]

Ayyye more PoE content, love it. I found your channel through the PoE starter guide, excellent info in there.. I actually delayed my first playthrough of Baldur's Gate 3 to finish my PoE PotD playthrough, really enjoyed it.

[@hectamus_]

Yes! More Pillars content! I just started my, hopefully last, run on the series. I played both games but never finished. I wanted to go Melee Wizard but decided to do Cipher (Aloth is gonna be a mainstay on my team), and I’m really liking Cipher so far. Wizard is great tho.

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Both are really fun and very useful. I pretty much always have both classes in my parties :p The wizard is more versatile while the cipher feels more unique.

[@ayhanfedai5013]

didnt expect you to do it , thanks for detailed explanation, i allways go for fighter or rogue because of couldnt decide which spells to choose

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Choice paralysis is a real thing :p I totally understand. Even more so in PoE2 since you're choices are a lot more restricted.

[@alirafati9340]

I usually use two grimoires (using the quick switch talent) that I adapt to two scenarios (boss battles and mobs mostly buy not always) some spells I think you should try more are rays some of them have huge damage potentials although they require good positioning and they can destroy people when paired with combusting wounds I also always use two wizards one for my main character and another one who is aloth this way I can disable enemies (using gaze or anything else) and immediately hit them with my other wizard using an aoe spell one thing that I think could be added is that both paralyse and petrify massively reduce dexterity which means its gonna massacre the target's reflex(they also reduce reflex) what that means is that you are most likely gonna critical with spells targeting reflex (hence why I use gaze on aloth then hit them with an aoe with my watcher)

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Oh for sure that having more than one wizard is likely to mean massacre for your opponents :D I like the idea of the two grimoires, it is something that I like a lot but never actually take that talent. It is a good suggestion though for anyone reading this. As for the ray spells, you are correct, they can deal massive amounts of damage, both the ones from Wizards as well as the ones from Ciphers, but my main problem always is that it is so inconvenient to use, especially since I tend to try and funnel my enemies in some kind of chokepoint, which means I would always be hitting my tank and/or second row damage dealers with it. For that reason alone I never take it.

[@alirafati9340]

@CoredumpedGaming I do agree that they're inconvenient thats why i never used them for a LONG time until i made a challenge run and forced myself to try all of the spells out and use them all regularly and thats when i found out their real potential as for the hard to use part keep reading the descriptions of those spells you're gonna notice a few things about some of them thats gonna blow your mind(and make them always convenient to use) and don't try to hit multiple people with them if you Were able to do so then yeah sure otherwise let it run its course you'll thank me later

[@wickeddrac7489]

So dumb, I am one of those idiots who was not reading the aoe duration and thought that the 4.2 seconds was the duration on spells and chose spells accordingly hahaha Learned something new and on my first playthrough so thanks

[@Dahnnylee]

You and Crpg Bro should make a podcast talking about old school rpgs!

[@hiptwisted5026]

priest and druid spells next, btw anyone wondering kalakoth minor blight + alacrity of motion combo means your wizard switch from wand or specter to AK-47 :D

[@CoredumpedGaming]

AK-47 build that shoots mini fireballs instead of bullets :D

[@DinkSmalwood]

Great stuff mate!

[@letsbegin4584]

I need a good aloth and mc wizard build

[@Dravakar]

Wizard already was a monster in pillars 1....in pillars 2 wizards ascended to godlike lol. Aloth is ok, but doesnt show the true power of wizards because of his low might. create a player character wizard with maxed might and perception and....well you dont need anything else. just blow everything up :D. One spell i would use is mauras tentecles on level 4. i would take that over firewall or spirit shield. reason is, 1 it counts as a pet which means, it has a physical body, but is immune to damage. which means, it can block enemies movement. on top of that they have a hold effect for enemies they hit. and lastly they deal corrosion damage, which is the least resisted damage in pillars 1. essentially you can just cast tentacles on your flank and that flank can not be skipped by enemies. very good for zoning.

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Yep, I referenced the tentacles spell in the video :D It should really have been on the first image shown in the video with the grimoire open but I had it setup with what I was using more on the late game. Tentacles definitely takes priority over that last spell for the majority of the game. I actually had a lot of fun creating a control wizard for PoE1 where I completely dumped his might :p He was all about max dex, per and int. Naturally didn't do much damage, but those control spells landed quite nicely!

[@Dravakar]

Yeah, in PoE 1 Control wizard is really nice. i feel like, in PoE2 it hurts to much to go control wizard, because missle salvo is so utterly broken. 1 salvo on a high might wizard nukes everything to pieces. but in PoE 1, because tier 9 spells are not in the game, control wizard feels equal to damage wizard. I am not saying, control wizard is bad in PoE 2. it's equal to control wizard in poe1. it's just...damage wizard got such an insane boost. i always wondered it the power level scaling was bugged for minolettas spells :D. all minolettas spells scale like nuts in poe 2 because power level increases both damage AND number of projectiles. essentially double scaling all spells with number scaling projectiles lol. a damn level 1 minolettas spell in poe2 on high power level fires 10 projectiles, wtf :D.@@CoredumpedGaming

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Ah, for sure lol PoE2 is a totally different beast. Missile salvo is just insanity xD

[@coot33]

Cipher spells next ?

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Cipher spells is something that I've also thought about doing, though on those my suggestions may be a little bit biased. I say this because in general I don't like domination spells, which ciphers have plenty of, not because they're not good, but just because I don't enjoy the concept. But it is a good suggestion without a doubt, I was already inclined to do it, so if people would like that it's an extra motivation for it.

[@coot33]

​@@CoredumpedGaming The Domination mechanics are also very cutthroat they turn foe into friendly who suddenly benefits from you buffs and that you can't attack. While they usefully when a foe moved in your backline. It get awkward when the domination ends and the enemies turns on you with all the buff you just cast. I mostly used them as emergency when the tank doesn't aggro and on my own party member when they get dominated. There so much more interesting spells like defensive mindweb, phantom foes etc.

[@CoredumpedGaming]

For sure, those 2 spells you mentioned are 2 of my favourite 3 :p the other one being amplified wave. And about domination that is also another issue yes, it gets annoying when you cannot target them while they're turned, plus the interaction with buffs, I don't like it very much.

[@FreeFlow__]

i always try poe but i end up dropping it. The combat is so clunky and the pathfinding makes the game unplayable for me.

[@CoredumpedGaming]

We all have different experiences with these games. Personally I don't mind the pathfinding too much though I remember a few times where it may have gotten on my nerves. I find pathfinding in other games of this style worse than PoE though. As for the combat, it may just be the learning curve. Of course it may not just be your style but I'll share my experience with it - when I first picked up PoE I hated the combat, felt clunky, with a weird system that didn't make sense and the battles all seemed impossible. I did push through that feeling though (which in hindsight I believe was caused by my being so used to infinity engine games based on dungeons & dragons so this one just felt bad in comparison at the start) and found the combat to be actually very very enjoyable. It became one of my favourite cRPGs. As kind of an off-topic but relevant for this discussion: for the longest time I thought total war games would be perfect for me but I hated the gameplay so I stayed away from there for years and years. Recently I pushed through that initial impression, got a better grasp of how combat worked and now all I want is more total war in my veins :p

[@FreeFlow__]

@@CoredumpedGaming It has nothing to do if these games are for me or not. I played dos2 and 100% it, had no problem with it whatsoever. This game has a solid foundation but the animations are stiff, the particle effects lame and the pathfinding terrible. It is a low budget game after all. I will give the sequel a chance to see if those things are better in it.

[@CoredumpedGaming]

The sequel does feel more modern in pretty much every aspect, so it might be more your style. I do enjoy the first one better, but the second is also very good. If you enjoy it, make sure to also try out the "Secret Sanctum" DLC, which is exceptional :D

[@Dahnnylee]

🎉

[@timreed8032]

Can you remove and ad other spells as you level up?

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Yes, in PoE1 you can learn spells from grimoires you pick up during your travels and freely adjust your grimoire how you see fit.

[@whateva1983]

this is a great video but you should have shown the spells.

[@JosephHeller-el8zo]

This is an extremely helpful video. I just started playing POE and have been trying to make things work for me.

[@CoredumpedGaming]

Getting a handle on spell casting is a very important and powerful tool that can very easily turn a battle in your favour. Have fun and enjoy the amazing game that Pillars of Eternity is :D

[@shanekelly3419]

Very good info... Wow. Could you please tell me how to use the wax mold that duplicates an item? I've tried everything but can't figure it out.