MM6: Ice Blast and Death Blossom

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Is it me or those spells are COMPLETELY useless?

I really, really tried to make them work.

Ice Blast looks cool on paper, but the smaller shards somehow never seem to connect. So that leaves you with the bigger shard which is actually a MUCH WEAKER ice bolt spell that just cost you 25 mana.

MM6's Death Blossom is just laughably bad. A slow, hard to aim projectile that hits for 20 + 1 per earth magic skill? And the blast radius is pathetic, I can never hit more than one monster. And that's when I REALLY put some effort in my aim to land it right on the monsters' head.

Fireball, Fireblast, Inferno, Fire Ring, Poison Spray, Sparks, or Rock Blast are all superior options to damage multiple enemies at once indoors. And Meteor Shower and Starburst for outdoors. I cannot think of a single enemy where I would use Ice Blast or Death Blossom over the aformentioned.

MM7's Death Blossom was much improved over it's MM6 counterpart, being reworked to be more similar to Meteor Shower/Starburst with multiple fragments each doing their own damage. But it was STILL hard to use, and somewhat situational, and Meteor Shower/Starburst were still more effective. Well, I guess since some classes don't get Starburst (archer, druid) they can use Death Blossom to hurt the fire-immune devils.

[Mamma Jamma]

I wouldn't say they are completely useless, but I agree they aren't very useful. With one exception, in TCC, where Death Blossom comes in very handy: don't forget that Death Blossom inflicts physical damage, and you can use it (in MM6) against monsters which are immune to certain magic attacks. Look below for more details:

http://telp.org/mm6/tavern/anyboard/posts/44072.html
http://telp.org/mm6/tavern/anyboard/posts/44093.html

In vanilla MM6 however I never use Death Blossom (I prefer Meteor Shower and/or Starburst), and I find that my mages can wield more powerful spells than Ice Blast. But, hey, that's my game style: that doesn't necessarily make them completely useless...

[Macros the Black]

The reason these spells suck, I think, is because of the enemy's AI. Rather than holding back behind corridors they tend to charge in at you. If enemies were to hide behind a corner, you could use Ice Blast to hurt them (shoot at the opposite wall and the blasts will shoot back to hurt the enemies behind the corner). Would still need to be reworked to actually have more of a chance of hitting the enemy (having it aim it's projectiles at the enemies instead of shooting out at a fixed angle).
Another problem with Ice Blast is even though the spell description says it shoots at any direction except yours, it does actually shoot back at you. If they fix that it would theorically work against a more advanced AI that doesn't just always charge you head on.
Death Blossom would be the same thing but against enemies above you. If the games had better AI one place I think of Death Blossom would be useful in is the Bee Hive in MM8. You shoot a Death Blossom at the ceiling on the next level and it hurts the bees there.

But as it is, the AI isn't smart enough to ambush you unless the maps are specifically designed to get enemies to walk in a fixed path, and all this is theoretical.. So these spells are useless.

BTW normally in MM6 by the time you meet magic immune enemies you have access to Shrapmetal, but I guess if your best caster is an Archer or Druid Death Blossom could have some uses..

[UndeadHalfOrc]

BTW normally in MM6 by the time you meet magic immune enemies you have access to Shrapmetal, but I guess if your best caster is an Archer or Druid Death Blossom could have some uses..

Implosion, Deadly Swarm, Blades, and Rock Blast also inflict physical damage, and unlike Death Blossom, work indoors too.

[tolich]

Implosion, Deadly Swarm, Blades, and Rock Blast also inflict physical damage, and unlike Death Blossom, work indoors too.

You forget the Magic Arrow, the spell for free.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Yeah, correct, it deals physical damage too, I forgot it

[Rune_Caster]

Rock Blast works well around corners or inside rooms like Corlagan’s Estate where lots of nasty aging undead await that you would rather kill before they even have a chance to age you...

[GreatEmerald]

Rock Blast works well around corners or inside rooms like Corlagan’s Estate where lots of nasty aging undead await that you would rather kill before they even have a chance to age you...

I used a Black potion instead.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

Black Potions in MM6 reduce all stats by 1 though

[Rune_Caster]

I used a Black potion instead.

Potion of Rejuvenation I assume... Yeah It restores your natural age by removing all artificial age effects but it also reduces all stats by 1 point each...

I only use the black Potions of Might, Intellect, Personality, Endurance, Accuracy, Speed, Luck.

I just wish there was a Healing or Mana restoring potion between + 10 and + 100 (say like a White + 25 Health and Mana Potion)

[GreatEmerald]

By the way, from what I can understand, the potion that gives +100 HP actually adds it even if it goes over maximum HP, right?

[GrayFace]

Rock Blast works well around corners or inside rooms like Corlagan’s Estate where lots of nasty aging undead await that you would rather kill before they even have a chance to age you...

Their aging doesn't do anything bad, because it's too small. The only way to get penalty for age is by casting Divine Intervention several times. I don't remember well since what age there is a penalty to stats, I believe it's 50. It's also cleared out by a fountain in Hermit's Isle, so there's nothing to worry about.

[UndeadHalfOrc]

By the way, from what I can understand, the potion that gives +100 HP actually adds it even if it goes over maximum HP, right?

Correct, but due to a weird bug (perhaps intended?) the HP and MP regeneration items will almost instantly shave it back to the normal maximum. To keep the overflow effect, you first need to unequip all of them.

[Rune_Caster]

Gray Hit Points mean that you could take damage and not worry about it till your hit points turn green, oranage, red or blue.

[Tress]

Personally i really rarely use those 2 spells, although in mm7 it seemed that it have its uses. Earth magic imo is relatively useless generally, and water magic isn't known for its awesome attacking spells(ofc they have their uses but still).

Their aging doesn't do anything bad, because it's too small.

Apart from fact that it is quite permanent debuff to character(well it can be cured but still), to stack it enough for it to have notable harm to character just from aging monsters is quite impossible. If i remember correctly you had to get to age 50 to have first changes, and even then they were rather beneficial. Unless you throw DI around like mad I don't think anyone have gained more than 10 -20 years under normal game play.

[Rune_Caster]

MM4/5 Age
0-35 normal stats
36-50 - 2 Str, End, Acy, Spd. + 2 Int, per
51-75 - 3 Str, End, Acy, Spd. + 3 Int, per
76-100 - 5 Str, End, Acy, Spd. + 5 Int, per
101+ - 10 Str, End, Acy, Spd. + 10 Int, per

[GrayFace]

It's different in MM6-8
>= 50: 75% Might and Endurance; 150% Intellect and Personality.
>= 100: 40% Might, Endurance and Accuracy.
>= 150: 10% of all stats except Luck, which is always 100%.

water magic isn't known for its awesome attacking spells(ofc they have their uses but still).play.

Poison Spray is the best attacking spell in elemental schools (not counting Star Burst and Meteor Shower).

[GreatEmerald]

So old spellcasters are the best spellcasters. Makes sense. Is there a limit at which your party members begin to die when resting?

[Rune_Caster]

If you have a condition that causes a stat to be 0 then the game will say, "Some characters may die." when you try to rest, you get a yes/no answer, sorta like how in Might and Magic 6+ when you don't rest for a long period suddenly you loose all your buffs and your characters are either weakened, Insane or dead. Yet in might and magic 4 - 5 World of Xeen all that happens is you get weakness after being told you need to rest... but it has no side effects of not resting...

Another thing I just realized today it takes a entire day to visit any shop, tavern, guild or training ground in Might and Magic 4 and 5... lol How annoying that is...

[GreatEmerald]

Note: adding things to post subject makes people very unlikely to notice it