D1 Spellbooks: Difference between revisions

===Apocalypse===

* '''Type: '''Special

* '''Min. Damage: '''Clvl

===Blood Star===

A projectile spell most commonly seen being cast by Witches. Each Blood Star moves relatively slowly and in a straight line. There is no splash damage. This is the only viable, magic-type skill to kill targets at a distance, but the fact that it does so much less damage than comparable fire or lightning spells means it is very seldom used, except in special circumstances. (There are no monsters who are immune to Fire and Lightning in but not Magic in Diablo. There are a few in Hellfire.)

===Bone Spirit===

Fires a pink, ghostly creature that moves relatively slowly, but that can home in on the target. The damage is percentage based, making this skill very damaging to monsters with full hit points, but virtually useless on ones nearer death. The damage is resisted, just like any other magic-based spell, if the monster has magic resistance.

===Chain Lightning===

The biggest killing lightning type spell in the game, and a spell that can deal the most damage per cast.  Chain Lightning sends one bolt where your cursor points, and another one for each target in range (range is calculated irrelevant of walls and other obstacles), each time it is cast. The range increases with more points in the spell, as does the damage per bolt. This spell would clear entire levels in a single use if not for the "sprite limit" in Diablo/Hellfire. The game's engine will only display 255 sprites at once, and since each bolt from the Chain Lightning creates quite a few sprites, numerous "gaps" appear in the bolts. As a result, some strategy is required to use Chain Lightning effectively.

===Charged Bolt===

Charged Bolt sends out several small squares of electricity per use. These squares move semi-randomly in the direction the caster is facing, spreading out and usually bouncing off of walls. They are not especially damaging, but can be useful to "wake up" all of the non-lightning immune monsters in a room, bringing them out to fight while leaving the other monsters in the area undisturbed.

===Elemental===

Elemental fires a running, target-homing human-shaped fire elemental. This one is far less useful than it would seem, for while the damage displays the same as Fireball, Fireball is boosted by a buggy, non-displayed splash damage.  Elemental does not deal that splash damage, and as a result it's less than half as damaging as Fireball. Even though it doesn't "splash" like a Fireball, each Elemental can hit two targets if they are very close together.

===Fireball===

The most popular fire spell in the game, and a hugely damaging spell against single targets or tightly-packed groups. Fireball moves very quickly (increasing with Slvl) and its damage increases with Slvl and Clvl, making it indispensible for all Sorcerers and many other character builds as well. Each fireball deals a splash of damage that's equal to the damage of the spell itself. The fireball or the splash can be blocked, but not both, and monsters that can't block always take both, making this one basically double damage against most enemies.  

===Fire Wall===

An extremely damaging spell to any target foolish enough to stand still in it. Multiple Firewalls can be stacked on top of each other, increasing the damage proportionally.  Very useful early and mid-game, especially against monsters stuck on the other side of an obstacle. Most monsters will not advance into the flames, but this AI can be used against them. Simply cast a Firewall in front of them, and then cast one on top of them. They will stand and roast since they're not smart enough to move backwards out of the fire. This is a very popular way to kill Diablo himself.  

===Flame Wave===

This spell basically creates a moving firewall, one that moves across the level until it hits a wall. The extend of the Flame Wave increases with more points in the spell, and it can be wider than the visible screen at high levels.  The killing power of this one is far less than Fireball, but it's a useful way to wake up all of the monsters in an area and bring them out to fight without disturbing the fire immunes in the area.

===Flash===

Flash is a sort of 1-space radius Nova spell, hitting anything in melee range with magical damage. This appears to be a powerful spell, by the damage display, but it's hampered by bugs and does far less damage than displayed. As most players have noticed, when basking in the ineffective version of it cast by monster mages.

===Golem===

A summonable stone man, the Golem is a slow moving but fairly damaging companion, most commonly used by sorcerers against triple immune monsters.  Golems can also be helpful to distract enemies, and to kill targets on the other side of a wall. They benefit greatly from the stone curse spell, since if their targets are stationary and helpless, the golem hits with every strike and takes no damage during the battle. Golems are not useful against higher level melee monsters, who will kill them quickly. A single golem can terrorize entire levels in the Church, though.

===Guardian===

A three-headed, firebolt-spitting dragon is summoned, tunneling up from the ground in the location targeted with the spell. Guardians can only be cast in the line of sight, and not over walls or through doors. These are not especially useful to kill with, on higher levels, but are such fun to cast that many players enjoy using them anyway. They can be useful to shoot into a room you have not yet entered, but they are inefficient. The Guardians only shoot at whatever target is nearest, and if it's fire immune their shots will pass harmlessly.

===Healing===

An essential skill for all non-mana shield using characters, and even those types enjoy it, from time to time.  Higher levels (Slvl and Clvl) lower the mana cost and increase the healing, so it's useful to build this one up even for Warriors, Barbarians, and other rock-headed melee fighters.  

===Heal Other===

This spell is only found in multiplayer. It works much like Healing, except that casting it gives a target for the pointer, and the benefit will be granted to whichever player is clicked on. It can be hard to click on a friend, if they're moving or there are monsters crowded around them, and few players will wait on this spell, since drinking a potion is instantly beneficial.

* '''Spell: '''Heal Other

===Holy Bolt===

A projectile spell that fires a gray Firebolt. This one hits only the undead though, and the damage scales up quite quickly, so most sorcerers find it quite useful in the early going. The utility is quite limited by the fact that Fireball does much more damage as soon as it comes online, but moreover by the fact that there are no undead monsters found in the Caves or Hell. Hellfire added a few in the Hive and Crypt, but Holy Bolt doesn't do enough damage to be very effective in the late game.

===Identify===

In Diablo and Hellfire, items can be equipped and used without being identified. However, all magical and unique items found in the dungeons or given as quest rewards are unidentified, and must be identified (by this spell or by Deckard Cain) before their special properties become active.  

===Inferno===

Inferno looks like a powerful flamethrower of a spell, but it actually emits a fairly weak puff of flame that's less damaging than most other flame spells, and far less than Lightning Bolt.

===Infravision===

Infravision shows every monster on the screen, even those over walls or otherwise out of the line of sight. Monsters in sight display normally; monsters out of your sight show up in bright red. Their names and stats do not highlight, but recognizing them by type is easy enough.  

===Lightning===

Lightning fires a wide strip of lightning at high speed in a straight line. Lightning passed through all soft targets, only vanishing once it runs into a wall or other solid object.  It's the first really useful combat spell most Sorcerers learn. The listed damage isn't that much higher than Firebolt or other early spells, but this one's ability to hit multiple targets, and to hit each one multiple times, makes it quite powerful.

===Mana Shield===

A defensive spell, Mana Shield allows the caster to lessen the damage taken, and causes all damage taken to deduct from the mana pool, rather than from the life. This spell is mandatory for higher level Sorcerers who usually have hundreds of more points in mana than life, but can also be used by Rogues and other characters with moderately high mana who need or want an extra defensive buffer.

===Nova===

A powerful lightning spell, Nova sends out an explosion of lighting in an expanding circle; albeit one riddled with gaps. Nova is more useful than Chain Lightning only when totally surrounded by monsters, when the sprite limits would cut Chain Lightning's effectiveness.

===Phasing===

This spell is a random teleport. Using it instantly transports the player to a random location somewhere on the visible screen. It's only utility is an an emergency escape spell, if your character is surrounded by enemies. Since Phasing is non-targeting, it's thought to be slightly faster to cast than Teleport.

Spell: Phasing

===Resurrect===

Only available in Multiplayer. Resurrect is targeted on a dead character's corpse. It will always bring them back to life, there's no skill or level check. Resurrected characters have 10 hit points (or less, if their maximum life is lower than 10) and no mana.

===Stone Curse===

A hugely useful spell, Stone Curse turns the targeted monster to stone, rendering them statues: helpless, immobile, and defenseless. Immunities are not countered, but stoned monsters have zero Armor Class and will be hit by every attack.

Type: n/a

Duration: 4.8 + 0.8·slvl seconds (12 sec max)

===Telekinesis===

A spell used to pick up items from a distance, or to throw switches, pull levers, activate shrines, etc.  It works over walls on any item or object you can see. Very useful to retrieve items after dying, to open up Diablo's box without entering the other boxes, to use shrines or grab books from bookshelves from a distance. Players must have enough space to hold the item they attempt to pick up with TK.

===Teleport===

One of the most useful skills in the game; teleport allows your character to move to any location you can point to, whether you have a line of sight there or not. Great to move quickly around the levels, to escape monsters, to back up to gain more room to fire spells or arrows, etc.  

===Town Portal===

Players create a blue portal that can be stepped into to return instantly to town. Town Portals remain open indefinitely, until the character who cast it uses it to return to the dungeon from town. If two or more players cast town portals, they can keep them open forever by only returning via the portal cast by the other player.  Each character can have only one active Town Portal, and if a second is cast the first will vanish.