any of the new spells worthwhile?

[Mirabelle]

So I've only had a chance to get a few of the new spells so far and have been underwhelmed so far.

Amorphic Spikes - Not better than Gob rush despite similar MP and more hits
Quadrastrike - Not better than QC for 5 set points
Orcish Counterstance - decent MP cost but way too short duration for its casting time

Absolute terror - Good terror effect and decent duration but I assume it won't work on anything that matters

Anyone have any experience with the non-Unbridled learning spells as to whether they take up a new spot in your usual spell list?

[selond]

Inside abyssea Quadrastrike smashes all our other spells on damage. however it can only critical hit when its under the effect of either Efflux or CA. amorphic spikes i have'nt been impressed with yet but have'nt really tested it that much either. amorphic apparently has a dex and int mod so i probably wont be setting it but it does chain into darkness with CDC.

[doctorugh]

I've heard some good things on Bloodrake, and it would chain with the new WS for darkness right?

[Mirabelle]

I didn't have razed ruin set when I tried out Quadrastrike so maybe that's why its didn't seem so hot. Had regen atma on as I was in "Learning Blue magic" mode. Will have to try it out with RR.

Any traits that these spells produce or improve?

[Deadvinta]

Any traits that these spells produce or improve?

I dunno, I'm very surprised no one's found anything and posted it yet.

[Prothscar]

Information about traits and the usefulness of these spells has been available for a long time.

Traits:
Orcish Counterstance - Counter
Vapor Spray - Max MP
Thunder Breath - Max HP
Wind Breath - Fast Cast
Barbed Crescent - Dual Wield
Amorphic Spikes - Treasure Hunter (Requires only this + the two Gilfinder spells)
Quadrastrike - Skillchain Bonus



Modifiers, short and subjective descriptions:
Quadrastrike
25% STR, 1.25 fTP
Deals moderate to severe physical damage and can crit while under the effect of either Chain Affinity or Efflux (requires a reasonable amount of TP to crit).

Vapor Spray
HP/2. Poison unknown (broken).

Thunder Breath
HP/1.4823 = damage

Orcish Counterstance
1 Minute duration, 10% counter, no reduction of defense (possibly reduction of M.Def) and a separate effect from Counterstance. Doubles damage done on the counter.

Amorphic Spikes
20% DEX/INT, 1.0 fTP
Deals around the same damage as Quadratic Continuum, if not slightly more, and makes Darkness with CDC.

Wind Breath
HP/4

Barbed Crescent
50% DEX, 2.0 fTP
Decent damage. Accuracy down effect is -30 accuracy for 2-3 minutes.


Absolute Terror
Lasts about 20 seconds. Seems to share the same resistance properties as Jettatura i.e. will not land on any NMs.

Gates of Hades
5fTP, 1.0dINT, 20% STR/DEX
The burn effect is 21HP/tic with -45 INT effect to go with it.

Tourbillion
Moderate to severe physical damage along with a 33% DEF down effect that lasts for roughly 2-3 minutes.

Pyric Bulwark
Annuls a single physical attack, regardless of magnitude, after being cast.

Bilgestorm
Low physical damage along with a 25% Attack and DEF down as well as an untested ACC down. Lasts 30-60 seconds.

Bloodrake
30% STR, 1.1875 fTP
Moderate to severe physical damage that drains HP to the caster for the same amount as damage done.

Quadrastrike - Slashing
Barbed Crescent - Slashing
Amorphic Spikes - Piercing
Bloodrake - Slashing
Bilgestorm - Blunt
Tourbillion - Blunt



More detailed analysis:
Quadrastrike - Best physical spell when paired with Efflux. Critical hit rate ignores dDEX, merits, gear, atma and relies entirely on TP, the TP from Efflux (100TP with no empyrean pants, 125 with +1, 150 with +2) provides a substantial critical hit rate. Critical hit damage from gear and atmas is taken into account.

Amorphic Spikes - Roughly equivalent to Quadratic Continuum in damage for less MP, added bonus of making Darkness with Chant du Cygne, making it our strongest Chain Affinity spell when used in a skillchain.

Barbed Crescent - Utility spell, not graded for damage. While that damage is somewhat decent, the real draw is its accuracy down effect. When coupled with Auroral Drape, BLU has access to -90 accuracy in enfeeble effects. When put to use with an Evasion set, BLU gains Top Three status for Evasion.

Orcish Counterstance - Situationally one of our most potent buffs. With just our native Counter trait set, BLU can have a native Counter rate of +/- 20%. With /MNK, BLU has a Counter rate of 60~70%. While the counter rate is nice enough, Orcish Counterstance also doubles the damage of all countered strikes.

Thunder Breath, Wind Breath, and Vapor Spray - Really can't say these are all that great on anything that matters. Most, if not all, NMs added within the last 3 years morbidly resist breath damage.

Absolute Terror - 20 seconds of Terror is okay, problem is it does not work on NMs. To further compound this weakness, other spells that required Unbridled Learning to be active are more effective than Absolute Terror. This spell would have been better suited as a non-Unbridled Learning spell, or perhaps should not have been added at all.

Gates of Hades - The damage is somewhat unremarkable, however the Burn effect is rather potent. Clocking in at 21HP/tic, it also adds a hefty -45INT debuff on the monster for a pretty substantial amount of time.

Tourbillion - One of our most potent spells, not for the damage but for the defense down effect attached. 33.3% defense down is nothing to be scoffed at, especially for its duration.

Bilgestorm - Would have been interesting if not for the incredibly short duration on the debuffs. Overall will not see much use, if ever.

Pyric Bulwark - Situationally useful. Completely annulling an entire physical attack can be useful for countering certain monster abilities, such as 10,000 Needles. Aside from that, however, will see minor use.

Bloodrake - Another of our most powerful spells. It's one of our most powerful physical spells on top of restoring HP based on the damage done.

[Mirabelle]

Thanks Prothscar, that was a great summary. I'll have to do a bit more testing with Quadrastike and amorphic spikes since i didn't see them really up the ante over old spells but I wasn't in my damage atma set at the time.

[doctorugh]

Thanks Prothscar, that was a great summary. I'll have to do a bit more testing with Quadrastike and amorphic spikes since i didn't see them really up the ante over old spells but I wasn't in my damage atma set at the time.

QC and Goblin Rush > Quadrastrike or A.Strike

[Prothscar]

You're horrendously mistaken.

[dragoon_apprentice]

yes, im am very happy with all the new spells

chante du cynge > amorphic spikes = darkness >> toss in a vapor spray or wind breath after if want, both have a fast cast time. vapor breath is nice dmg, wind breath is much less mp but less dmg

chante du cynge > tourbillion = light

quadra strike and amorphic spikes are nice dmg, and i like to put with quadric continuum (+delta thrust, animating wail, barbed crecent,) you get a nice barrage of spike damage, and daul weild 2 for less points than before
many times when empy farming with linkshell i like minkins razed runes and apoc for the spike damage and backup cure/shadow utility. with new damage spells this atma setup is even better.

not that /war with daul weild 3, triple attack, double attack, and darkness sc, using omnipotent RR apoc inst there to use as well


i like diffusion 1, enchianment 4, assimilation 5
pyric bulwark stacks with diffuse, harden shellga is nice too