I did not complete the main story yet, but I have the detective robe due to the DLC. With that robe comes the Magnifying staff, and its ability is to zoom-in into a certain area. What is the use of this ability?
The magnifying action is only aesthetic and has no other uses. Instead the Detective Robe gives you access to few locations and magicks in The Stars Are Left DLC.
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At time of writing, there are five starting outfits for Magicka. Since hats and robes have no effect and you'll drop your sword for a firearm early in the Magicka: Vietnam rescue mission, only the staff really matters. Which of these five is best for the Vietnam rescue mission?
The Patriot Staff is pretty much objectively the best choice. The grenades do decent damage, and you can even push them closer to your enemies (by casting empty). All other starting staves aren't all that useful.
The Basic Staff has no bonus at all, of course, so it's disqualified.
The Staff +1's attack bonus is laughably low (literally doing just 1 extra damage), and it provides no other advantages.
The Bug Staff's active ability is pretty much useless in any context. The summoned bugs do low damage, can get in your and your teammates' way (damaging you), have a short summoning reach and are very slow. It's doubly useless in the Vietnam DLC, where all the enemies use ranged attacks.
In terms of general usefulness, the Staff of Endurance would come in at a close second; however, if there's one thing you're not up against in the Rescue Mission, it's elemental effects.
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What spells can you create in Magicka using 5 different elements? The goal is to unlock the "I'm the wizard king, I can do anything!" achievement on Steam.
Stone+Steam+Fire+Arcane+Shield should do the trick.
Any combination of 5 elements that don't cancel each other out will work fine.
That means, no combining Life+Arcane, Fire + Cold, or Stone+Lightning. Just about everything else is fair game.
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The gamer DLC pack introduced three new robe, the zombie, the tentacle and the epic. The effect of the first two is easy to understand, but I don't understand what the Epic Sword and Epic Staff does.
The inventory description for the sword say that is has "Epic effects". Right, when I hit with it, there are some white sparks shooting out of the sword. But it doesn't seems to do anything to the monsters I hit, beside normal sword damages.
For the staff, there are no passive effects listed, and the active effect is called "Murmur of Alrond", and when I activate it, I'm surrounded by a dark aura menacing with spikes of darkness. Once again, there is no obvious effect of what this aura do.
So, my question is, does this sword and staff do anything special, or are they just for showing off?
The staff info is hidden away on magickapedia, just need to dig a bit. :P
The Epic Staff allows you to buff yourself with Whispers of Alrond, whereupon a countdown bar similar to that of the Shield spell will tick down underneath your health bar, and a black chaos star appears underneath your wizards feet. The buff lasts longer than it takes for the staff to recharge, making it possible to keep the buff up indefinitely. While Whispers of Alrond persists everything you do becomes roughly 11% more powerful, this goes for weapon damage and heals as well as spells and shields or barriers.
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Everywhere I look for powerful spell combinations says to use the Steam Beam (QFQFAAS), but however powerful that is on those big powerful enemies, it's fairly ineffective on big groups of lesser enemies.
What is a more spammable spell that I could use to deal with these kinds of battles? I've been mostly using QRQRQRQRS, (4 ice, 1 arcane), which shoots out a ton of arcane shards and can deal upwards of 3500 damage if the enemy is right next to me and can kill a bunch of imps at once. Are there any other options? Pressing 9 keys every time I want to cast a spell makes it rather hard to cast in the fray of things.
So, I don't have exact numbers, but I tend to use SDFQ (steam ball), which will get a large number of enemies in a small area wet (and it does pretty good damage). Then I use SDR (frost ball), which will freeze and do a massive amount of damage to any enemies that are wet.
To do the most amount of damage, make sure to use the right-click version of the frost ball. If you really need to get away, or stop a bunch of enemies attacking, you can use the shift-right-click version of these spells. It won't do as much damage, but it will stop most of the enemies around you, giving you a chance to get away.
If the enemies have a small enough amount of health (the normal imps), SDR on its own is usually enough to take them out in two shots.
You can use the beam version of these spells as well, if you are only fighting a single enemy (just remove the D from each spell). Even enemies with a large amount of HP will go down super fast.
TLDR; SDFQ - get baddies wet, SDR - freeze 'em good.
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When finally entering the Jarn mines in chapter 8, you come across an examinable pile of rocks:
Once examined, your character ponders what is behind them, and if there is another way around. Does this simply refer to the other path, or is there some way to get rid of the rocks that I failed to come up with?
No.
It is not possible to get past them by any conventional means, and there is no playable area or easter egg behind them. It may be possible to blast yourself over top of the area with [ARSE] mines, but the level simply curves around to where the tunnel exit would presumably be.
Source: 70 hours played including the "Sherlock Holmes" achievement - Find all secret areas in the game.
It isn't a secret area, and there is no way to get past it, similar to the log blocking the road in Chapter 3.
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Every time I cast this, I die. I have tried constantly casting the bubble shield, but I can't cast it fast enough. Lightning immunity (lightning shield middle mouse) doesn't seem to help at all.
Dome shield is indeed your answer.
The mines not only heal you, but your shield, which starts about only 10% health. It can actually withstand a beating but you need to constantly invest more health in it.
This is a lot easier if you don't move once you plant your shield, or you'll be bouncing all around it from the healing explosions.
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Playing co-op I saw a wicked area of effect spell where large green glass-like shards shot up through the ground in a circle around the mage. How can I cast this or a similar spell? I forgot to ask the guy how he did it.
Obviously I shift-right click to get the area of effect, but I'm not sure what elements are involved. Life could account for the green, although the spell really hurt goblins and life would heal them. I will be able to recognize it from a picture.
Sounds like Life + Ice + Direct target (i.e., Right click, not shift right click. It's not technically an area spell, though it does fire in a frontal cone) - be careful, those shards actually HEAL non-undead targets.
Here's a pretty picture for you:
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There are a lot of spells.
How do you remember/lookup all the other spells? Do you have to find a list online and print them out? Is there a standard rule for how they are 'built' so you can easily 'create' them on the fly if you know the rule system? The rule system they lay out in the short tutorial at the beginning that throws a lot at you at once was confusing, so it wasn't very helpful (for me). Did I miss something that should make this easier?
I'll try to simplify the "Rules" on what a spell will do depending on the elements contained. It's a fairly complex tree, which is what makes Magicka so fun - the diverse ways of blowing everything up.
Self-Cast (middle mouse)
1) Containing Rock [D] or Ice [QR] - Personal Armor, Rock elements increase strength and decrease movespeed. Ice elements do the same to a lesser degree but cause contact damage and knockback when moving into enemies quickly.
2) Any other elements - Magic Immunity Aura that protects against elemental damage and status effects from any included elements. Multiples of a single element increase range and duration.
3) No extra elements (Just E) - Personal Shield that reflects beam spells away and blocks incoming damage. Any physical damage taken will cause a knockdown, and the shield drains quickly, although it can be boosted with healing elements or by pressing [spacebar]
Normal cast (right mouse), AoE cast (Shift+right mouse), Weapon Imbue (Shift+left mouse)
All three cast types create the same effect in a different pattern. Normal cast covers a semicircle in front of you, AoE cast covers an entire circle around you, and Weapon imbues cover a line in front of you.
1) Containing Rock [D] or Ice [QR] - Rock walls have a high amount of health and make strong barriers that slowly degenerate. They spew out sprayed elements (Fire, Water, Steam) and release beam elements (Arcane, Life) when destroyed. Ice walls have very low health and degenerate in mere seconds. They constantly damage the area around them with any additional elements, and release an explosion of those elements around them when they are destroyed.
2) Containing Arcane [S] or Life [W] - Mines that explode with arcane energy when stepped on. Arcane mines include high knockback.
3) Containing Sprayed Elements [Q or F or QF] - Storms hover in place for a while, indestructible, while expending their energy on whatever walks into them.
4) No extra elements (Just E) - Area Shield that follows the same properties of Personal Shield above.
Spells Containing Rock [D]
Spells of this type launch a projectile which does physical damage on contact and explodes upon hitting the ground, releasing any additional elements as AoE damage around the impact. The exception to this is Ice [QR], which causes the projectile to be single target but adds more damage than adding Rock elements. Rock elements increase the size and momentum.
1) Self-cast - Causes a rock to fall upon the caster's head. Typically the best way to commit suicide is to charge 5 Rocks and self cast.
2) Normal cast - Causes the rock to be shot out in a certain direction. Charging time increases the rock's initial velocity, dealing more damage and giving it the momentum needed to hit multiple enemies.
3) AoE cast - Causes an earthquake around the caster, knocking down nearby enemies and removing their handheld shield (if any). Also applies any additional magical elements effects to the area. Number of rocks increases area size.
4) Imbue - Causes a fissure to travel along the ground in a line, causing knockdown and applying effects like the AoE cast.
Spells containing Ice [QR]
Ice-based spells fire multiple small projectiles that deal damage to whatever they pass through based on their speed. Additional Ice elements increase the number of projectiles per shot. They ricochet off of shields and walls.
1) Self cast - Causes the projectiles to materialize above the caster and hit him on the head.
2) Normal cast - Causes the projectiles to be fired in the rough direction of the cursor. There is a high amount of spread. Charging increases velocity and decreases spread.
3) AoE cast - Causes large Ice spikes to rise up from the ground, dealing damage to nearby enemies. Additional Ice increases the size of the AoE and damage. Also applies any other elemental effects to the area.
4) Imbue - Causes the weapon to deal a high amount of piercing physical damage in an overhead swing at medium-long range. Ignores many types of defenses.
Spells containing Arcane [S] or Life [W]
These spells are typically thought of as "Beam spells" although in fact they only appear as beams when cast normally. They are often the spell of choice for new players, as they are fairly easy to conjure and aim.
1) Self cast - Applies a charge of life or arcane to the player, healing or dealing damage. Additional Life or Arcane elements have no effect.
2) Normal cast - Creates a beam in front of the player that will damage or heal. Beam spells can be crossed to increase their power, and reflect off of any shield surfaces. If any opposite elements are in two beams that cross, an explosion occurs at the point of crossing and both casters are flung backwards. Additional Life or Arcane elements increase beam duration.
3) AoE cast - Causes damage or healing in an area around the caster. Also applies any other elemental effects. Additional Life or Arcane increase AoE size.
4) Imbue - Causes a 90 degree swing in front of the player, applying damage or healing and any other elements included in the spell. Fairly short range.
Spells containing Sprays (Water [Q], Fire [F], Cold [R], or Steam [QF])
Spells of this type are often not very effective for damage, but apply dangerous status effects easily. They follow all the casting rules of Beam spells, except that the normal cast comes out in an AoE spray, wider but shorter range.
1) Water Sprays - Have extremely high knockback, no damage, and cause the targets to become wet.
2) Fire Sprays - Have fairly low damage, but inflict and extend the duration of "On fire" damage over time on any targets.
3) Cold Sprays - Have extremely low damage, but cause all dry targets to become chilled, which halves their animation speed, and cause all wet targets to become frozen, which prevents them from moving and triples any physical damage against them.
4) Steam Sprays - Have moderate damage, but cause any targets hit to become wet.
Spells containing only Lightning [A]
These spells cause mini-freezes to targets hit while they are being electrocuted and jump along a chain of targets beyond the original range of the spell. They tend to be short range and duration, although additional Lightning elements increase the range and duration slightly.
1) Self cast - Same as above.
2) Normal cast - Launches a bolt of lightning in the direction of the cursor which jumps beyond the first target if it hits anything.
3) AoE cast - Causes a very short range Lightning effect in an area around the caster, which can jump along multiple targets in multiple directions.
4) Imbue - Same as above.
Sources
Magickapedia - http://www.magickapedia.net/index.php?title=Spell_Combinations
This Steam Forum thread, old but somewhat relevant - http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1733437
And many, many hours of personal experience.
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Whenever I try to cast this spell (EQRQRAS) with shift (to surround myself with it), I get killed every single time. I've seen people on youtube cast it, and stay alive so I tried casting this with various types of shields, but nothing helped, I just get instant death. Is there a way to cast this without dying?
If you're inside that ring when the Arcane explosions go off, you're pretty much always dead.
It does more harm than good and will often end up instantly killing you, but I can confirm from memory that this wasn't always the case. It seems the spell casting system was revised so that spell combination has that unfortunate side effect. Maybe intentionally, it was pretty overpowered. In the video, you can clearly see that the Arcane explosion from the spikes does no damage to the player, which is no longer the case.
Some workarounds you could try:
Use it to enchant your weapon, then do a swipe with it. This casts the spikes in a straight line away from you, so you'll take less damage, or none at all if you run away from it.
Cast it normally and backtrack to avoid the explosion damage.
Cast it as an area effect, then quickly teleport out of the ring using the Teleport Magick (ASA).
Try casting it without Arcane, which makes it not explode (i.e., safe to stand in), but also, of course, weaker. You can add additional Lightnings to make it last longer.
As for your original question: It is actually possible to survive the full blast, but not reliably. If you use the Epic Robe, which has Arcane resistance and increased HP (Gamer Bundle DLC), have full health, cast a self shield at the right time and keep boosting that as the explosions go off, you can emerge from the ordeal, but very much scathed.
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Since Magicka is free to play during this weekend, I thought I'd give it a try after I found the demo quite enjoyable at the time. It appears that this currently-free-to-play version includes quite a few of the many DLCs (maybe all of them?) and so I got a chance to learn the "Crash to desktop" spell.
Assuming the spell would do as the name suggests, I tried to cast it when I actually wanted to quit the game, but instead I simply wound up killing myself with it (there was no body for me to recover after that, which was a tad vexing).
I saw a video of someone using the spell much more successfully to dispatch of monsters instead of himself, and that led me to wonder just how it is this spell works.
So, can someone shed some light on this?
The "crash to desktop" spell "crashes" (kills) a random NPC/enemy, player, or yourself. It's dependent on range.
The most effective way for this spell to work is if there are many NPCs on the screen. It means that there is less chance of the spell affecting yourself.
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I've read that you can get the Teleport magicka on top of that bridge (see screenshot) early in chapter 1 by blowing yourself up with mines and thereby launching yourself into the air and onto the bridge.
I've tried it with different mines, but I only get damages, the mines don't throw me anywhere. Is this not possible anymore or am I doing something wrong?
According to this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0k3iYDfwDU showing how to get it, it is only usable in multiplayer mode, as you can't launch yourself with mines but only other players (if you have a second controller it is doable on a single computer though)
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Oh gravity, thou art a heartless bitch achievement; floating islands, in a game where many spells can throw you across the whole screen; there are some sadistic developers working on Magicka, for sure.
I'm at the end of chapter 6, fighting against successive groups of mages, and mostly getting myself voted off the island, in a very direct and painful way. Are there any way of protecting myself against being thrown across the screen and off the island, except throwing everyone else off first?
Set up wall spells behind you.
Don't use a shield.
Throw them off before they throw you.
Pray.
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Was wondering what the most powerful beam spell combo is in Magicka. I know of a few strong beam combos but it's hard to tell which is the most powerful in terms of raw damage.
My personal favourite is Arcane+Steam+Steam+Lightning+Lightning. It seems to be pretty effective.
Has anyone done some experimenting or some damage calculations? It would be cool to know which is the most powerful. Thoughts?
It's quite a straightforward and well known weakness of Magicka's design - the steam/lightning/arcane beam.
I'm also reasonably sure that since lightning gains the great bonus from wet targets, having it on three instances instead of two would give you a slightly more effective beam. Id est, Steam+Lightning+Lightning+Lightning+Arcane or "QFAAAS".
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Having recently completed Magicka's adventure (enjoying myself quite a bit in the process), I was delighted to see that you can start the game again with all the magicks you unlocked still available.
Seeing how I didn't manage to track down all magicks on my first playthrough, I was wondering if collecting only the ones I missed on this additional playthrough would net me the "I put on my wizard robe and hat" achievement.
That, in turn, got me wondering whether other achievements are tracked across playthroughs. For example, I managed to rack up around 650 overkills. Will I only need 350 more on my second run to get the corresponding achievement, or will I need to collect the full 1000?
You get the gist of things. Which achievements, if any, are tracked across multiple playthroughs?
I believe most, if not all, of the accumulative achievements are tracked across multiple playthroughs. Like the moose finding achievement, I know I have been using several playthroughs trying to get that and so far it has tracked my progress accross all of them.
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One of the loading screen tips in Magicka urges you to notice the elements enemy spellcasters are preparing so that you may use that to your advantage. So far the only ways I've found to take advantage of such information is to set up a shield to reflect beams, or cast a corresponding elemental resistance on myself.
Are there additional, and perhaps more offensive, ways of taking advantage of the elements an enemy spellcaster is planning to use?
If you cross beams of elements that negate each other, you blow up yourself and the enemy.
Also, if the enemy is casting electrical attacks, mostly, you can make him wet so that charging electricity causes him damage.
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Can you replay a chapter in Magicka without losing your current place?
If so, how?
I really want to get that magick I missed...
No. Not without starting over with a new wizard.
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I'm unable to find all of the moose throughout the campaign in Magicka. Where are all the moose located? The goal is to get the "King's Quest" achievement.
The Magickapedia has a list of where you can find each Moose in each Chapter of the game.
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I want to know what the most powerful spells (providing actual metrics) are for each of the following magic types:
I realize there have been questions about parts of this in the past, but none of them have quantifiable metrics. Without data its hard to evaluate the quality of other answers.
All these are sourced from Magickapedia
Bestest Beam: Super Steam Lightning Beam SQFQFAA Damage/sec ~701
Bestest Projectile: Blizzardball D-QR-QR-QR-QR Damage 2304 Changed 10011
Bestest Projectile Barrage: Super Wet Arcane Lightning Express Q-R-Q-R-Q-R-A-S-F Damage ~3000
Bestest Nova: Super Arcane Steam Lightning Nova S-Q-F-Q-F-A-A Damage 2802
Elemental Blades: No hard data, but I know that having a lightning blade helps up the lightning effect, so it depends what off-hand weapon you have
Arcane Blades: Super Arcane Steam Lightning Blade S-Q-F-Q-F-A-A Damage ~2800
Fissure Blades: No hard data, guessing that *Arcane Freeze-Wall Fissure * Q-R-R-E-D-S would be best
Walls: Exploding Electric Ice Wall E-Q-R-S-A-R Damage 1500 - 2000
Storms: Steam Lightning Storm E-Q-F-A Damage 60 - fast ticks
Mines: Three-way tie. 260 damage each: Fire Lightning Mines (E-S-F-A), Steam Lightning Mines (E-S-Q-F-A) , Cold Lightning Mines (E-S-R-A)
Barrier: SuperSuperSuperSuper Stone Shield EDDDD
Also,
Self-cast spell: Rock rock rock rock and rock DDDDD Will instantly kill any shieldless wizard, from memory it does about 1700 damage.
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How am I supposed to kill the orc chief Khan? He is faster than me, just grabs me and pummels me to death. I don't have enough time to really hurt him before he is able to grab me.
My fight with him looks something like this:
Any ideas on how to survive this boss fight?
Bubble immediately to buy yourself some time. Then you can use Time Warp and Haste to slow him down/speed yourself up enough to prepare a devastating attack and hope for a one shot.
Blizzard Balls (1Earth+4Ice) are particularly effective.
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