More wizard questions.... later level spells

[Cat]

Thanks to all of the help I've received here, my wizard is past his 30th training now.

I played a wizard 15 years ago and I don't remember some of these higher level spells.

425/430 - I have both of these spells and they are pretty straightforward. Should I keep training in the 400's to help these out?

435 - Is major ewave practical since you can injure others outside your group?

525 - Is meteor storm practical for the same reasons?

530/540 - At what level should I be worried about these two spells? 425/430 seemed like better options. Does this sound right?

Were wizards once able cast a stun cloud? I swear I remember it.

And since I'm posting these questions, here's one that probably should go into another folder. Does anyone remember Duke the town dog from the Landing?

Thanks in advance.

[AnticorRifling]

1) Yes keep training in the 400s to increase 425/430.

2) 435 is situational, but not always practical. Use it with common sense and you'll be fine.

3) See 2.

4) 530/540 - I'm no help here, these weren't out when I was active.

Yes we did have stun cloud once upon a time.

[DaCapn]

I rarely use 435. I've never used 525. I don't use 540 unless I'm hunting somewhere a bit tough (the short duration and large mana cost make it a little annoying). I find that spells like 530 are only really useful if you have a grizzled creature or a Grimswarm shaman or something.

In terms of training, I keep MjE at level (AS bonus per rank is equivalent to training in MnE). Also, MjE CS is, in general, way more important than MnE CS. I slacked a bit on MnE training in favor of 50 ranks of fire lore as I approached level 50. The TP cost of increasing DF with lores was slightly more favorable than the AS from ranks in MnE in terms of average crit rank. I posted a (screenshot of a) table which summarizes the benefits here http://forum.gsplayers.com/showthread.php?t=64743&page=2. I'm about 2.6x in SR overall at level 59.

I mostly use the following: 904, 505, 506, 906, 908, 909, 410, 513, and 518.

[Savrin]

540 is a pretty fantastic spell at higher levels of training. The big down side, as mentioned before is duration and mana cost.

530 works pretty good for what it was designed to do. Against an elemental spell caster, you take them from untouchable to impossible to miss in a single cast. Against spirit spell casters, you can knock off one or two high level spells, or strip one or two low level spells. It's typically more mana efficient than 417 though. 530 does not strip prepared spells, so if that is your goal, use 417.

525 can be fun however it's more novelty than useful. To get the best results, cast it outdoors, and make sure everything in the area is stunned. Leave your familiar to watch because this spell will kill you too. If you don't stun/sleep the creatures, they will leave while the spell cycles up.

My personal preference is to keep the 500s at level, the 400s close to level until you realize the maximum bonus from 425, and put third spell ranks that level towards the 900s.

The reasoning behind prioritizing the 500s is to keep your mana leeching ability at it's maximum in terms of major elemental CS, and maximum amount of mana points leeched per cast. Also, 513 is comparable to 425 in regards to the AS bonus, and even out paces it in terms of it's full potential at cap. If you plan on using 519, you'll have another good reason for wanting to keep the major elemental ranks at level.

[Loagan]

540 has saved my life so many times.

EDIT: IRL