Arcane Spells

Level 1

Although level 1 features a wide range of spells, most of them do not survive the comparison to Magic Missile.

Armor
Very useful early on. The duration is so good you can cast this right after resting. Get one when you don't have a good Robe or Bracers of Defense yet.

Blindness
Not bad for a low-level save-or-else spell, but skip.

Burning Hands
OK damage but no range. It may be called a cone but it's not really an area spell. Skip.

Charm Person
The best kind of save-or-else spell and quite powerful for its level. Unfortunately, the incredibly common immunity and the Save bonus make this the hardest spell in the game to get to work. Skip and try out the easily obtained Ring of Human Influence for a taste of this spell.

Chill Touch
The worst kind of spell; useless and puts the caster in danger. You have to roll to hit, the target gets a save and even if it works this hardly does anything. Avoid like the plague.

Chromatic Orb
Does some damage and may blind, inflict pain (lowering some stats), stun, cause weakness (a 4 point penalty to THAC0), petrify or slay. The damage is not great but has no save. The big save bonus makes it a lot less useful than it would appear to be. Beware of petrifying creatures with good loot. Occasionally memorizing one of these instead of a Magic Missile isn't a bad idea if you like casting Greater Malison.

Color Spray
Deadly in PnP games, useless in BGII; only affects enemies of level 5 or lower and even then with a save.

Find Familiar
One use ever, protagonist only, but make sure you get one. The familiars are quite nice even if only for the bonus hit points. Some of them have Thief skills that may come in handy if you are playing solo but are easily made obsolete by a real Thief. Don't use familiars in combat; stow them in your pack and never let them out.

There's no real need to learn this spell since you won't be casting it more than once anyway. Simply use a scroll instead (one can be found in the De'Arnise Keep).

Friends
Shops will give you about a 10% discount for being such a swell person and a handful of dialogues in the game will give you an extra option if your Charisma is high enough. Might help you out in the beginning of the game, when you're not yet swimming in money.

Adds 6 points of Charisma.

Grease
Could be used to slow down enemies while you shoot arrows and spells at them but is not worth spending a slot on.

Identify
Identifying is a good thing. Memorize a couple, but make sure to get the Glasses of Identification at the start of Chapter 2 to free up these slots. Bards with high Lore will also make this spell mostly obsolete.

Infravision
Great in PnP and totally and utterly useless in the computer game. Enemies are just as visible in the dark without it.

Larloch's Minor Drain
Very unimpressive damage (and even Minsc out-heals this) but it still has some use if you get it as a Bhaal power. A waste of a spellcasting opportunity in combat, but throw this thing out in between attacks to do minor damage and disrupt enemy spellcasters if you don't have anything else to cast.

Magic Missile
The first level spell. Good damage, fast, eats up Mirror Images, not many enemies are resistant to this and it ignores Stoneskin (though skins are not lost). Great anti-spellcaster; will decide most of the lower level mage battles.

Nahal's Reckless Dweomer
Probably the spell with the most potential for power (and cheese) in the game. If you're not overly concerned by Wild Surges this is just about the only spell you ever need. Use your level 1 slots to cast your most powerful spells this way. Benefits especially well from (Improved) Chaos Shield.

Simulacrums get great mileage out of this spell. They still know your highest level spells (they just don't have the slots for them), so they can still cast them through the Dweomers.

See the Nahal's Reckless Dweomer Endless Spells Strategy for more goodness.

Protection from Evil
Good spell since most enemies are Evil. Gives a decent bonus for a decent time. Gated Demons will attack the party anyway if the rest is not protected. Get one if you're playing solo, otherwise let your priests cast the 10' Radius version; that'll help the whole party and lasts much longer.

Protection from Petrification
Lousy. Get (Minor) Spell Turning, the Cloak of Mirroring or the Shield of Balduran to do your Beholder slaying instead.

Reflected Image
Mini-Mirror Image (which is good) but the effect is too minor to warrant a slot.

Shield
Protects much better than Armor but lasts only half as long (too short to cast after resting). It does provide total immunity to Magic Missiles. Useful at low levels. Get either this or Armor, depending on your tastes.

Shocking Grasp
Slightly less horrible than Chill Touch. You must still roll to hit and the item disappears after your first attempt, hit or miss. Pathetic.

Sleep
Great in BGI, useless in BGII; only affects enemies of 4+2 HD and lower and even then allows a save.

Spook
Disabling and surprisingly effective because of the save penalty up to -6. Try one out if you like save-or-else spells.

Level 2

Level 2 does not really add any new types of spells, but provides several good upgrades to level 1 spells.

Agannazar's Scorcher
Inferior to Melf's Acid Arrow in terms of range and damage, but you can catch multiple creatures in the beam (including party members). Fire, then walk in circles around a group of enemies and watch them burn. A fun trick is having two protected mages cast a bunch of these on each other (using sequencers), so you have full control over both ends of the ray.

Blur
Great defense bonuses for a level 2 spell (Armor Class and saves), cumulative with other defensive spells. Get one; very useful during the whole game.

Chaos Shield
Anything that decreases the odds of a Wild Surge messing things up everytime you cast a spell is good. Load up.

Deafness
Pathetic. Affects only spellcasters and won't do anything nastier to them than just about any other save-or-else spell.

Detect Invisibility
Invisibility is not so fearsome, but if you're having problems with it try Glitterdust. That at least has other uses as well.

Ghoul Touch
A substantial upgrade to Chill Touch but still flawed beyond repair. The target still gets a save, so the odds of this ever working are astronomic. Stay clear of this spell and prod it with a sharp stick.

Glitterdust
One of the better low level save-or-else spells. 'Mass Blindness' would have been a more appropriate name for this area spell, as that sums up its best use. It will not affect the party (which is what makes it so great), and immunity to blindness is extremely rare. Get a couple if you have slots left.

Invisible enemies making their save won't be revealed by the side effect either.

Horror
An OK save-or-else area spell since it does not affect the party. Running after panicked enemies is no fun, so skip this spell in favor of Glitterdust.

Invisibility
Always useful. May be cast on others and lasts all day if you don't ruin it. Get one if you like scouting.

Knock
Will open any door that can be lockpicked or bashed in. Always try those two options first and save the spell for the difficult doors. Very important in solo play if you're not playing a Mage/Thief.

Know Alignment
A plot killer in PnP, useless in BGII. Even if you know a person giving you a quest is Evil you're still better off doing the quest. Those quests tend to end with you killing the bastard anyway...

Luck
Nice effect but for only three meager rounds and only one person. Don't waste a slot on this.

The luck bonus is only added to THAC0 and minimum damage in damage rolls for physical attacks, but is also subtracted from damage rolls (as a whole, not just minimum damage) for your enemies' physical attacks.

Melf's Acid Arrow
Does good damage for a level 2 spell, although the damage is spread out over several rounds. That spreading is actually a bonus against spellcasters because there's a chance of disrupting their spells for several rounds.

Mirror Image
Mini-Stoneskin. A great defense and probably the level 2 spell. Does not last long at lower levels, but will protect against many different sources of damage, including weapon hits, additional weapon damages (such as fire or acid) and almost all damage spells (including area spells, unlike PnP).

The number of Images gained is not random but equal to half your level, rounded down.

This spell is not entirely without risk; there's still a chance (1/number of Images) that the real caster is hit instead of an Image. Not fully effective against Magic Missile (one almost always slips through) and the number of Images lost to Magic Missiles does not always match the number of Missiles stopped. If the Images stop a Melf's Acid Arrow, the consecutive acid damage is also avoided (though the Acid icon still shows up).

Power Word, Sleep
It's a bit hard to see if enemies have less than 20 current hit points. Power Words are marked by the fastest possible casting time and the absence of a save. This would be a good spell, were it not any enemy you can get down to 20 hit points is as good as dead anyway.

Ray of Enfeeblement
Although it's funny to see a fighter immobilized by the weight of his armor, there are disabling area spells at this level. Why restrict yourself to a single victim?

Resist Fear
A surprisingly useful area spell. Protects the whole party from a disabling effect for a long time. Get one and cast it when you expect mages, dragons or demons. Watch out for panicked party members running out of its area of effect.

Stinking Cloud
Very effective in most of the lower-level battles. Don't let fighters close in with melee weapons to finish downed foes; follow up with ranged attacks (or stationary area damage spells).

Strength
Lasts nearly all day, so cast this after resting. May be cast on others, so fill up on this if you have any melee characters with low(er) Strength. Allows people like Aerie or Viconia to wear plate and carry loot.

Vocalize
Being silenced is pretty annoying for spellcasters, but carry a Scroll of Vocalize instead of memorizing this, as it will not happen to you on a daily (or even weekly) basis.

Web
This spell is very similar to Stinking Cloud, but slightly more effective. It will affect more creatures, though it will only partially affect the stronger ones. Many creatures are immune to either Sleep or Web, so memorizing some of these and a Stinking Cloud is not a bad idea. Stack a couple of webs to increase the odds of creatures getting stuck or slowed (and your framerate along with them).

Level 3

There are loads of useful spells in this level, including the first installments of summons and area damage. Choosing will be hard.

Clairvoyance
Athkathla is already 'explored', and in the wilderness it's usually nice to know where you have not yet been. Use only if you get bored with exploring.

Detect Illusion
Slight improvement over Detect Invisibility, not worth a level 3 slot. Will also dispel Blindness and Mirror Image.

Dire Charm
An exact copy of Charm Person, except for the save bonus. Still not that useful.

Dispel Magic
Generic dispelling, meaning it will dispel both good and bad enchantments on both the party and your enemies. A bit of a double-edged knife, so be careful. Only a single check is made per creature, and all its enchantments go down if it is failed. Unless you have Throne of Bhaal installed, your chances of success might be a little on the low side when facing the more dangerous mages.

Fireball
One of the more popular area spells, though not justifiably so. Has more range and a bigger area than Skull Trap, but does much less damage at higher levels.

Flame Arrow
An excellent single target damage spell, upgrade to Melf's Acid Arrow.

Ghost Armor
Upgrade to Armor, but lasts significantly less long. Passable for Fighter/Mages and the like.

Haste
Great prep spell for warrior-heavy parties. Besides the obvious melee advantage, it's also good for keeping distance and pelting enemies with spells and ranged attacks. Doesn't do anything much for spellcasters (except runing away faster).

Hold Person
Very small area, but does not affect the party. Good enough for a level 2 divine spell, but not for a level 3 arcane spell.

Hold Undead
Useless. Leave undead handling in all its forms to priests if at all possible.

Invisibility 10' Radius
Useful spell for the whole party. Lasts all day if you don't break it.

Lightning Bolt
Good damage but quite unpredictable, especially indoors. Hope you never see it again after you cast it. If you have mad skilz you could bounce this through enemies several times, but don't bet on it. Not many enemies have resistance to electricity.

Melf's Minute Meteors
A truly wonderful spell. Thrown at the rate of five per round. The damage comes in three parts: normal, the +3 magical bonus, and 3 fire damage. Especially awesome when used with the Cast and Attack trick. Just watch out for the suddenly added weight; they're heavy.

These things will punch through every combat protection in the game except for Protection from Magical Weapons, and damage even Kangaxx and Adamantite Golems. Each Meteor takes three levels off of spell protections (and only the magical part of the damage can be bounced back). Also, the fire damage enables you to finish lots of dying Trolls with only one casting.

Minor Spell Deflection
Lowliest of the spell protections. It will absorb spells that go over its capacity. Not that great.

Monster Summoning I
Lowliest of the summon spells. Still useful as even Wild Dogs keep a dangerous enemy occupied for a round or so.

Non-Detection
Very specific use. The Cloak of Non-Detection does exactly the same, all the time, for free, and is easy enough to get (beat up Mencar Pebblecrusher & Co in Waukeen's Promenade). That should cover all your scouting needs.

Protection from Cold
Cold damage is pretty rare, making this resistance spell particularly useless. Gives 100% resistance to any cold damage.

Protection from Fire
Elemental resistance isn't worth much, but fire damage is reasonably common. This spell will make you 100% resistant to all fire damage, so memorize this if (and only if) you expect to run into lots of enemies with fire based attacks.

Protection from Normal Missiles
Lowly level 1 Shield does almost the same, and also offers some protection against enchanted missiles (and Magic Missiles). Skip.

Remove Magic
A party friendly version of Dispel Magic. Lacks curative uses but you don't have to worry about dispelling your protections and enhancements either. Again, unless you have Throne of Bhaal installed, your chances of success might be a little on the low side when facing the more dangerous mages.

Skull Trap
Much more damaging than Fireball at high levels, but has a smaller area and a very unforgiving range; take a step back after casting. Great when used manually for setting up in preparation of hard battles (Dragons, Liches...). Three of these will serve you well.

Slow
An area spell that hampers enemies quite a bit, has a tough save, and does not affect the party. Decent.

Spell Thrust
Lowliest of the spell protection removal spells, and therefore the cheapest way to get rid of a Spell Shield (the only spell protection really worth dispelling because it protects against Breach). Memorize an extra Breach instead and save your level 3 slots for all those other wonderful spells, or forget about this entirely.

Vampiric Touch
Does OK damage, and heals your wizard (which is rare for wizard spells), but this is a touch spell (though no attack is needed). Multiple castings are not cumulative even if you have already lost all the Hit Points. Be happy if you have one of these as a Bhaal power. Definitely get one if solo.

Use this on opponents that get too close, or (if you're feeling particularly Evil) on cute little bunny rabbits. Heal yourself this way, or save some Hit Point bonuses for upcoming battles.

Level 4

All level 4 spells suffer from the same problem: Stoneskin. Although there are several good spells in this level, none are anywhere near as powerful as Stoneskin. After memorizing several copies of that, only a few slots remain for the other spells.

Confusion
Practically identical to the level 2 spell Horror. Try Emotion - Hopelessness instead if you really must have area disabling. Does not affect the party.

Contagion
Minor effect for a level 4 spell (compare this to Polymorph Other), plus it's a touch spell. Its only advantage is that it lasts forever (literally), and that's only an advantage if you consider letting enemies survive.

Emotion - Hopelessness
Passable. Does not affect the party. Follow up with area damage (preferably stationary) if the situation allows.

This spell has the side effect of a personal Resist Fear, although this does not show in the character record.

Enchanted Weapon
The weapon may (and probably should) be given to party members. You should have a comparable magical weapon by the time you can memorize this spell.

Farsight
Mug enemies with summons without ever showing up yourself! Very effective if combined with the right summons for the job (almost cheesy, but what else could this spell have been designed for?). Lasts slightly longer than Wizard Eye, but is immobile and does not serve as fodder. Use Wizard Eye instead, unless you're planning to fight creatures that throw Dispel Magic. Cast one in large Dragon lairs and send in the shock troops.

Fireshield (Red/Blue)
Pretty useless. It will only give you 50% fire or cold resistance, meaning that you still take elemental damage.

The side effect of it damaging attackers only kicks in if they actually hit you (how many times would you want that to work?) and does pathetic damage. It will hit enemies that cast spells on you at point blank. Save your slots for Stoneskin.

Greater Malison
Very useful if you rely on spells with saves to take out enemies. Can be effective when cast before using spells that rely heavily on failed saves (Blade Barrier, Globe of Blades or save-or-else area spells). Multiple castings do not stack.

Casting this spell will greatly improve all your save-or-else spells, as they tend to have very powerful effects if the save is failed. However, keep in mind that casting Greater Malison itself does not hamper or damage your enemies in any way yet (as opposed to, say, a Fireball). Be sure to memorize this if you cannot resist trying the save-or-else spells.

Ice Storm
The lowliest stationary area damage spell. Give it a wide berth.

Improved Invisibility
Does not last anywhere near as long as the regular Invisibility, but gives some solid bonuses and is extremely effective against spellcasters.

A tertiary use for this spell is to bounce it off of enemy Minor Spell Turnings, since it is of high enough level to negate them (but watch out when going in to touch them).

Minor Globe of Invulnerability
Provides good all-round protection from lesser spells. However, level 1-3 spells are usually the last choices in enemy spellcaster scripts. Go for Mirror Image if you wish to be protected from area damage or Improved Invisibility if you are concerned about targeted spells (such as Spell Thrust). This spell fails to protect against Skull Trap, probably due to a programming oversight.

Minor Sequencer
Spells like these make Mages tough! Always memorize one.

Some tips (two spells of level 1 or 2):

Monster Summoning II
A worthy upgrade to Monster Summoning I. However, Spider Spawn is better, especially at higher levels.

Otiluke's Resilient Sphere
Poor man's Maze (although this is ranged). What makes Maze useful is that it doesn't have a save.

Polymorph Other
The zillionth save-or-else spell. This one is quite allright since it insta-kills (well, almost), and if you slaughter the squirrel you will get the loot. The squirrel cannot attack (try as it will), but still has its original number of hit points. The effect can be removed with Dispel Magic.

Polymorphed creatures can still use spells and innate abilities.

Polymorph Self
While none of the creatures this spell can change you into would have scared you even in BGI, it has some very specialized uses. One shape is actually useful, the rest is worthless:

Memorize this spell only when you need the Jelly and don't try to melee even Liches with this; they'll hand you your, eh, posterior.

You cannot cast spells while polymorphed (unless someone else polymorphed you, but that's another matter), but you can still use quick items (such as scrolls) and innate abilities (including sequencers).

Remove Curse
It's hard to get cursed. Being stupid enough to equip a cursed item is almost the only way. Don't memorize this spell in advance.

Secret Word
Another spell protection removal. Will not dispel Globe of Invulnerability. Save this slot for something less redundant.

Spider Spawn
Compares favorably to Monster Summoning as it summons progressively tougher spiders as you level up. Combines nicely with Web since spiders are immune. Note that Sword Spiders have 5 attacks per round.

Spirit Armor
Another upgrade to Armor. Lasts an hour; pretty decent. You could cast it on your Thieves and the save bonus is OK, but save your slots for Stoneskin if you' re not playing solo.

Stoneskin
This is the spell that keeps wizards alive. At level 4, this spell is cheap! The best combat protection for any spellcaster, and stacks on top of other protections. Lasts 12 hours, so cast whenever you have no skins left. Load up on this.

Teleport Field
Weird spell that is deceptively useful against creatures without ranged abilities. (it will not disrupt spellcasting). It will not affect the party and has no save. The constant teleporting messes up melee attack resolution, because even taking a small step usually resets the personal initiative round. A great spell versus melee creatures. Stack a couple of these to increase the odds of creatures being teleported.

Wizard Eye
A decent scout with all of the near-cheesy uses of Farsight. Scout out half the map in complete safety (it can't open doors or go down stairs). Some powerful creatures can see the invisible; better have them go after your Wizard Eye than your fragile Thief.

This spell seems to have been originally intended to pause the caster. Its script "unpauses the caster when it dies.

Level 5

Again, mostly half-baked stuff with a few powerful exceptions.

Animate Dead
Gets you overgrown Skeleton fodder (between 1 and 3) unless you're level 15+, in which case you get a powerful Skeleton Warrior. The skeletons last for hours. The skeletons are undead, which bestows lots of immunities (such as Poison, Sleep, Panic, Charm, Confusion and Mind Flayer Psionic Blast), but also means you have to be careful in turning undead. The skeletons are rather slow and tend to lag behind. Casting Haste on them negates this and greatly increases their combat prowess.

The Skeleton Warrior is 90% magic resistant and therefore very effective against spellcasters and Mind Flayers, and allows you to cast area damage spells at the creatures they are engaged with. A very good summon if your level is high enough, but leave this to priests if possible (they get more of them sooner) and save slots for Breach.

Breach
Don't leave home without it! The wizard that does not have trigger spells with annoying combat protections is a rare thing (and an easy victory) in the second half of the game. If your favored response to enemy wizards is beating them up (a very solid strategy) this may save you several rounds of eating nasty spells.

Useful though this may be, not all is lost without it. The more annoying combat protections last only four rounds (just run away from the mage and wait for them to wear off) and Stoneskinned mages can still be hit with elemental damage. In Throne of Bhaal you will find Wands of Spell Striking that allow even non-mages to cast Breach, making memorizing this spell redundant.

Breach ignores spell protections but is absorbed by Spell Shield.

This spell also dispels the divine spells Armor of Faith, Barkskin, Blade Barrier (most notable), Chaotic Commands, Death Ward, Defensive Harmony (target only), Free Action, Physical Mirror, Protection from Evil, Protection from Evil 10' Radius (target only), Protection from Fire, Protection from Lightning, Resist Cold and Resist Fire. It will not remove Iron Skins.

Chaos
A slightly tougher save but otherwise equal to Confusion. Does not affect the party.

Cloudkill (Cloud Kill)
Does immense Poison damage over time, which lends itself well for some cheese. Combine with area disabling for maximum exposure. Get a wand to do this for you; it'll do just as well.

Will slay 4 HD creatures outright and 5 or 6 HD creatures (such as trolls and umber hulks) on a failed save.

Cone of Cold
Not really an improvement over lower level area damage spells.

Conjure Lesser Air Elemental
The Skeleton Warrior summoned with Animate Dead is a better warrior. All Elementals are unaffected by +1 or lower weapons, but have too many strings attached to be very useful.

The Air Elemental is the most useless of this bunch: it does less damage than the Earth Elemental and does not have the Fire Elemental's immunity to fire. Its fists strike as +3 weapons.

Conjure Lesser Earth Elemental
Again, don't bother.

Slightly less useless than the Air Elemental; its fists strike as +3 weapons and deal good damage.

Conjure Lesser Fire Elemental
Again, don't bother.

The Fire Elemental has low Strength but is 12 HD, is (of course) totally immune to fire damage, and its fists strike as +4 weapons and deal fire damage. For these reasons, it is probably the least useless of the Lesser Elementals.

Domination
The most powerful charm available, a good save-or-else spell. Will affect any ( non-immune) creature regardless of type and carries a -2 save penalty. Try out for some fun.

Feeblemind
Mediocre save-or-else spell. Leaves one enemy standing around drooling for the rest of the battle, but Polymorph Other already did something like that and Domination does something much more useful.

Hold Monster
Mediocre spell at best, certainly not cutting edge for level 5.

Lower Resistance
A must if you have to rely on spells to take out magic resistant enemies. Beating them up is usually easier, but there are notable exceptions (Dragons, Drow).

This spell will ignore all spell protections and Spell Shield.

Minor Spell Turning
One of the less redundant spell protections (but still...). Will not bounce many spells, but always at least one (up to level 7). Good for Beholder slaying, but you can easily do without this kind of spell.

Monster Summoning III
Bigger is better here. Skip this one in favor of Animate Dead if you're level 15+, unless you're just interested in the quantity of fodder you get.

Oracle
A souped up version of Dispel Illusions. The difference being that this will also dispel the annoying effects of Improved Invisibility and Shadow Door. You may need something like this at some point, but try to get True Sight instead.

Phantom Blade
Only usable by the caster and has a short duration. A typical, pathetic melee spell. The anti-Undead bonus does not change that.

Protection from Acid
Worthless, except for the Abazigal fight. Will still not protect you from round-to-round spell disruption from Melf's Acid Arrow. Pretty sad spell for level 5.

Protection from Electricity
Another sad spell for its level.

Protection from Normal Weapons
Great versus a select number of powerful creatures that do not have a magical attack (Sarevok's Wraith, for instance). Memorize only if you know in advance you'll be meeting said creatures, since this spell is useless against practically all others. Nearly every creature that warrants the casting of a level 5 spell hits as a +1 or better weapon.

Shadow Door
Only very minor differences from Improved Invisibility; harder to dispel, shorter duration, faster casting time.

Spell Immunity
Most enemy spellcasters use spells from too many different schools for this spell to be any good as a conventional spell protection, but it is incredibly powerful in specific instances. Especially solo mages can put its immunities to great use.

The spell offers the following choices:

In solo play, where enemy True Sight or Remove Magic triggers can wipe out all of your precious protections in one go, immunity to both Abjuration and Divination is essential.

Spell Shield
This spell would be useful if the spells it protects were useful... unless you like cheese.

Note that this spell does not only protect against conventional spell protection removal, but also against Breach. It will not protect against Dispel Magic or Remove Magic, which are more common.

This spell will absorb the first protection removal fired at you, even if not doing so would have no effect whatsoever.

Sunfire
Not extremely useful unless you count the cheese. Skull Traps can be used to much greater effect if your enemies are not too resistant.

Sets your Resist Fire to 100% for three seconds. You could shrug off red dragon breath if you have mad timing skilz.

Level 6

Much redundancy on this level, with a few good picks.

Carrion Summons
Gets you overgrown Carrion Crawlers that do not seem any more effective nor last longer than the creatures from Monster Summoning III. Yay.

Chain Lightning
Easy-to-use but not too damaging area spell; aims like a Fireball but does not affect the party. No bouncing this off walls.

Conjure Air Elemental
Will get you a suitably powerful Elemental, but there's still the 'cooling off' period and the chance of the thing turning hostile. OK if you play a solo Mage or Sorcerer (as long as you summon them before combat starts), but try to get the Staves of elemental Control to do this for you for free and without the waiting period. All greater elementals' fists strike as +4 weapons.

Again, the Air Elementals are the worst choice.

Conjure Earth Elemental
Same as Conjure Air Elemental.

The 12 and 16 HD versions are stronger than the Fire Elementals, but not the 24 HD Elemental.

Conjure Fire Elemental
Same as Conjure Air Elemental.

Probably due to a programming error, the 16 HD Elemental has significantly lower Strength than the 12 HD Elemental. The 24 HD Elemental, on the other hand, is pretty strong. Of course, all Fire Elementals are immune to fire damage. All versions' fists deal fire damage.

Contingency
Another installment in what makes wizard battles so annoying. Don't leave home without 'em. Your spell selection is rather limited because you can only use spells that target the caster, but since you're at least a level 12 wizard or level 16 Bard if you can cast this, there should still be plenty of choice.

Some tips (one spell of 1 level / 3 levels the wizard has, only spells that target the caster):

No-one but Fighter/Mages should ever use the 25% hit points trigger if they like to be still alive when the effect goes off.

Don't hesitate to memorize multiple instances of this spell, since it is extremely useful in the midst of combat.

Death Fog
Basically a Cloudkill that works a little faster. Does only 6 damage per round to party members. Go for either Cloudkill or Death Spell instead.

Death Spell
Good versus high level summons (Mordenkainen's Swords, Djinnis, Efreets), most varieties of Trolls, Umber Hulks, some Mind Flayers (such as the bunch you ambush to rescue Phaere) and maybe some other creatures with 8 or less Hit Dice. Will not affect your own summons or party members.

Disintegrate
Insta-kills on a failed save, but unlike Polymorph Other this can waste the loot. Very sad and redundant spell for level 6.

Flesh to Stone
See Disintegrate. You could waste another spell on the target to change 'em back before killing them, but why even bother when there are so many better save-or-else spells?

Characters freed from Petrification (with Stone to Flesh) react as though they were kicked from the party, terminating possible romances.

Globe of Invulnerability
Upgrade to the Minor version, still not spectacular.

Improved Haste
Souped-up single target Haste. Allows more attacks and will not fatigue. The regular Haste may still be preferable if you have a fighter heavy party, since you'd have to cast it only once (and it's three levels lower). Use this one on folks with a high number of attacks to turn them into absolute dervishes of destruction.

Invisible Stalker
Cannot be used as scout (use Wizard Eye), but eats the Carrion and the Wyvern for breakfast and stays for hours. Definitely the level 6 summon, though not a must-have. Has some minor immunities. Its fists strike as +2 weapons.

Mislead
Incredibly powerful invisibility spell and fodder summon in one. Fastest possible Casting Time makes it a great spell for when you are caught off guard. Makes you invisible and improved invisible. You become visible only when the decoy is killed, and even then only partially until the spell's duration runs out properly. Attacking or spellcasting breaks the invisibility for only a split second, after which it is re-applied. Mislead is the only spell that allows you to attack and cast spells while remaining unseen.

Let your Thief/Mage (or Thief with Use Any Item and a scroll) backstab over and over. You're not restricted to a single decoy either, so just cast another Mislead if you think your decoy might get killed.

Pierce Magic
Lower Resistance and Spell Thrust in one (well, almost). Go for Lower Resistance instead and forget about removing spell protections.

Power Word, Silence
If an enemy Mage is really giving you trouble, some of the other spells at this level (such as Mislead, Chain Lightning or Invisible Stalker) should help you much better.

Protection from Magic Energy
Will provide 100% immunity, but only to spells that do only magic damage. Mirror Image does practically the same. Although this can be cast on others and lasts quite long, it is not worth a level 6 slot.

Protection from Magical Weapons
Very effective. Most nasty creatures have attacks that count as magical weapons. Protects not only against base weapon damage, but also against additional (fire, acid, whatever) weapon damage. Combine with Stoneskin for total protection. The obvious workaround here is to hit the wizard with non-magical weapons instead, since it's not cumulative with spells that protect against those.

Spell Deflection
An 'upgrade' to Minor Spell Turning. It is quite durable, will absorb spells of any level, and will absorb spells that exceed its capacity. It is mostly made obsolete by Improved Invisibility, although it will last longer and protect against all traps that throw spells.

Stone to Flesh
Won't be needed very often. Carrying scrolls should get you by, unless you plan on cheesily building up levels with this and Flesh to Stone.

Summon Nishruu
Nasty anti-spellcaster summon. Enemy spellcasters will happily cast spells at Nishruus that get in their face, thus depleting their spells even faster. Although the Nishruu has OK hit points and damage resistance, it has bad Armor Class and will not stand up to any kind of beating. Nishruus have physical attacks that sometimes do damage (3 points). Useful for soaking Beholder rays if you send something else first to deplete their Death Spell.

The Nishruu is a spellcaster itself and so has some secondary use against non-spellcasters.

Tenser's Transformation
One of the few spells that actually turns any wizard into an acceptable warrior, and Fighter/Mages into superb killing machines provided it's used right. Fighter/Mages should take care using this spell. Since new THAC0 is calculated based on Mage levels, THAC0 may actually worsen.

This spell disables your spells and innate abilities.

The bonus hit points will actually heal you. The spell could be used for that purpose alone.

True Sight
The anti-illusion spell; you won't need any of the others if you have even one of these. Will dispel (and keep dispelling!) just about all annoying illusions (including illusory creatures, with the exception of Simulacra). In addition to the ones dispelled by Oracle, this will kill Mislead and Project Image clones (and enemies just love using Mislead). Priests get this cheaper, Inquisitors and Priests of Helm get it for free.

Wyvern Call
Not as impressive as it looks and stays only for a short time. Its attacks strike as +2 weapons, and it will occasionally try to poison its opponent.

Level 7

Level 7 is home to some of the cheesiest spells in the game; wizards attain true power here, far surpassing that of any other class. The spell in question is Project Image. Fill up as many slots with it as you can; you won't be disappointed. As ever, there are also some redundant spells here.

Cacofiend
The lowliest demon calling spell. Gates in a Nabassu; still very nasty. It is unaffected by 'normal' (unenchanted) weapons and has some minor immunities. This thing has no area spell-like abilities, which is an advantage since demons are notoriously unconcerned with the party being in the area of effect. Skip in favor of Mordenkainen's Sword. The Nabassu is a good fighter and strikes as a +4 weapon.

Control Undead
Worthless. Will control undead fodder, but probably not the rest. Evil clerics can do this for free.

Delayed Blast Fireball
Comparable to Skull Trap, which is only level 3... This spell has the very slight advantage of blasting through the Globes of Invulnerability and Lich immunity. It can be placed as a trap and goes off when something steps into range 8 of it.

Finger of Death
Save-or-else suffer some minor damage anyway. Go for Polymorph Other if you like insta-kill save-or-else spells, go for Magic Missile if you like damage spells. Either way, save your precious level 7 slots for something good.

Improved Chaos Shield
Gives a better modifier but doesn't last as long as its little brother. Again, anything that decreases the odds of a Wild Surge messing things up everytime you cast a spell is good. Too bad the two don't stack (unless you use trigger cheese). Load up.

Khelben's Warding Whip
A Secret Word that is slightly slower to cast but fires three times. Even less useful than Ruby Ray of Reversal, as it will not even get rid of Spell Trap. By the time you are able to cast this, you're bound to run into level 18+ wizards (including Liches) that just love to cast Spell Trap.

Limited Wish
Very interesting spell with many different uses. Don't wait for the Dao to talk to you; talk to him first! The Dao offers choices based on the Wisdom of whoever talks to him; this does not need to be the caster! Let your highest Wisdom character do the talking.

Here's the repeatable 'Wish list':

And here's the one-time 'Wish list':

One-time wishes are one-time for the entire party, not each individual wizard.

Mantle
This will still not protect you from the ones you'd really want it to. Go for Protection from Magical Weapons and/or Stoneskin instead for much better (and much longer lasting) protection.

Mass Invisibility
Actually 'Mass Improved Invisibility'. Besides the more obvious uses you would also get from Invisibility 10' Radius, this is the one of the best spell protections against wizards; it is one of the two spells that will protect the entire party (the other being Limited Wish, which is less effective).

Mordenkainen's Sword
The fighting summon. It 100% resistance to all damage (slashing, fire, etcetera) except for pure magic damage, is immune to mind affecting spells, has THAC0 10. It has only 36 hit points and can easily be killed with two castings of Magic Missiles.

Power Word, Stun
Great spell, especially versus spellcasters; there aren't too many wizards with 90+ hit points. Tougher enemies may need softening up a little before you cast this. Boss creatures are often immune to Stun (sometimes for no particular reason).

Prismatic Spray
The cone will not affect party members. The effects can be pretty damaging, but are too random to use in a strategy. There's also a significant possibility that good loot will be destroyed. Skip this.

Project Image
An incredibly powerful clone spell. It has a few limitations, but getting a complete copy of your spellbook and quickslot items is worth all that and a lot more.

The Image will disappear if you take any damage, so either protect yourself (Mirror Image, Stoneskin) or cast when well away from enemies and send it ahead with Farsight or Wizard Eye guidance.

This spell will hold the caster in place; don't cast one during Time Stop! If you set a (Chain) Contingency to trigger on Helpless; it'll go off after you cast Project Image.

The Image is killed by True Sight. Have it cast Spell Immunity - Divination to protect itself against this. It is also vulnerable to Dispel Magic. Have it cast Spell Immunity - Abjuration to protect itself from that.

Protection from the Elements
All-in-one version of the lower level resistance spells, but does not grant 100% protection, making it even less useful. At level 7, this spell is a total loss. Resisting one source of damage is usually enough; stick with the cheaper 100% versions.

Ruby Ray of Reversal
The upgrade to Secret Word here is that it removes Spell Trap. Since Liches tend to cast Spell Trap and are immune to Breach, this may actually have some use. However, even Delayed Blast Fireball is more effective when faced with Spell Trap.

Spell Sequencer
Another progressively powerful trigger spell. Don't leave home without one.

Some tips (three spells of level 4 or less):

Spell Turning
An excellent spell protection, though somewhat expensive at level 7. Buy the Shield of Balduran if you need to kill Beholders, use Improved Invisibility if you need to kill Mages, use Spell Deflection if you need to foil traps.

Sphere of Chaos
Save-or-else area spell that will not affect the party. The beneficial effects are probably short-lived, but this is still way too random and not powerful enough to be worth a level 7 slot.

Summon Djinni
A tough summon, but not as tough as Mordenkainen's Sword. It will cast several spells to protect itself (if the text displays Stoneskin, that is actually Protection from Magical Weapons). The Djinni will assume gasseous form if near death for up to three times. While gasseous it is totally damage and magic resistant. It will heal completely and re-emerge after 20 seconds. Rest during this time and it will disappear (no Experience if it was hostile). Still skip in favor of aforementioned Sword.

The Djinni is a spellcaster, though it will only cast its 'air spells' when left to its own devices.

Summon Efreeti
Slightly better fighter, but otherwise comparable to the Djinni. This one is more aggressive and will cast some offense spells. Unfortunately, these include a Fireball which it will throw with total disregard for the party. The Efreeti will also assume gasseous form on near death. Again, skip it.

The Efreeti is also a spellcaster, and will only cast its 'fire spells' if not given manual orders.

Summon Hakeashar
Slightly tougher than the Nishruu and unaffected by normal weapons. Still not heaps more effective. Go with Nishruu and save your precious level 7 slots for the really powerful stuff.

The Hakeashar is a spellcaster, just like the Nishruu.

Level 8

Again, some powerful spells and some obsolete ones.

Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
The area damage spell. Does not affect party members.

Bigby's Clenched Fist
This spell is partially interesting because the Hold effect has no save (though immunity to Hold is the most common immunity). Can be used in specific situations to keep a single enemy paralyzed with consecutive castings (such as Yaga-Shura in the Ascension battle).

Improved Mantle
Upgraded Mantle, and still not worth memorizing (just look at what else you could put in that slot). Go for Stoneskin and/or Protection from Magical Weapons instead.

Incendiary Cloud
Souped up Ice Storm. Could do more damage than Horrid Wilting if enemies camp out in it (not too likely). All the added hassles of stationary area damage spells make Horrid Wilting a much better choice.

Maze
Save-or-else without the save. Heal, prep or deal with other foes while the victim is away. Not as effective versus Int 18+ opponents (Liches, high level Mages...), and its range (or, rather, lack thereof) means your wizard will have to go in close to cast this, exposing himself to enemy attack. Also, you will not be able disable foes with this spell and then beat them up. You have to wait until they return, still fully functional. If you'd mostly use this spell for offensive purposes, try Power Word Blind instead. Unlike its big brother Imprisonment, Maze does not ignore magic resistance.

The second use of this spell is to get party members temporarily to safety. This is without risk of failure since they get no save. Of course, disabling your enemies instead would ensure you would not have to do this.

This spell may be useful in specific fights against a single, powerful creature (though you'll probably have to use a few Lower Resists to take out magic resistance). Use the "downtime" afforded by this spell to heal, prep, or trap the spot the target was Mazed in.

Pierce Shield
Ruby Ray of Reversal and a weaker Lower Resistance in one. Unless you face an enemy immune to level 5 spells (like the original Demogorgon), just stick to Lower Resistance and save your 8 slots for the good stuff. Use scrolls or Pierce Magic from Wands of Spell Striking instead if you actually need this.

Power Word, Blind
Very useful spell; disables almost any creature in the game. Fastest casting, a small area effect that causes it to ignore spell protections and will not affect party members, and no save. Watch enemies just stand there and do nothing. The anti-spellcaster spell, but great against almost anything. If some nasty boss creature has you stumped, try one of these.

Protection from Energy
Another sad spell for its level. Even less effective than its cheaper brothers that at least provide complete resistance. Don't go anywhere near this spell unless you desperately need elemental resistance across the board (and even then you'd be better off casting all the separate versions).

Simulacrum
Another great clone spell. Not as powerful a spellcaster as Project Image, but you can act alongside your Simulacrum and it's not killed by True Sight or Dispel Magic. It may miss out on the nicest spells but it's rock solid and it still copies your quickslot items. You never have enough clones.

A Simulacrum is implemented as a level drained clone. Its level is not 60% of the caster's, but is determined as follows:

Rounding is unclear for multiclassed mages, sometimes up, sometimes down. Dual classed mages have a clear advantage here. The bigger the difference between their classes, the less levels the clone loses. Note the difference between caster and original caster. This is explained further in the cheese note below.

Spell Trigger
The upgrade to Spell Sequencer. This one is so powerful it's worth using as a mini-Time Stop. Don't leave home without (at least) one of these.

Some tips (three spells of level 6 or less):

Summon Fiend
Upgrade to Cacofiend, and again a waste of a high level spell slot. Leave this to priests. Contrary to what the name implies, this thing is gated, not summoned. This version calls a Glabrezu, a very good fighter. It will throw out Dispel Magic if it sees a spellcaster; don't get in the way. It is unaffected by +1 weapons or lower, and is immune to fire. It strikes as a +4 weapon.

Symbol, Death
Save-or-else area spell that has a rather small area and won't even affect anyone with 60+ hit points (by the time you can cast this, that'll be everyone you meet). Waste of a level 8 slot. Goes off when something comes in range 8.

Symbol, Fear
Tougher save than Symbol, Death, and at least it will affect healty creatures. Still, the effect is disappointing for a level 8 spell. Another waste of a good level 8 slot. Goes off when something comes in range 8.

Symbol, Stun
The only Symbol spell actually worth memorizing every now and then (not too often, though). Affects more creatures than Symbol, Fear and you don't have to chase after them. This spell is OK when set up as a trap, but even then it does not come close to some of other spells at this level. Leave this spell to Clerics; they get it slightly sooner and have much less interesting spells to choose from at that level anyway. Goes off when something comes in range 8.

Level 9

Level 9 holds great potential and still has some blah spells! How do they do it?

If you do not have Throne of Bhaal installed, level 9 spells can be cast in two ways without real cheating:

Absolute Immunity
Decent protection, but does not stop some Throne of Bhaal weapons, Melf's Minute Meteors or some similar special spell created items (such as Slay Living or Harm). Since practically every (even slightly) dangerous creature has attacks that count as magical weapons, this will still not get you much (if anything) that level 6 Protection from Magical Weapons (and/or Stoneskin) won't.

Bigby's Crushing Hand
Its level 8 brother does practically the same, without granting a save in the first round. Feeble damage and a feeble effect. A worthless spell at this level.

Black Blade of Disaster
A melee spell, with all associated drawbacks. Fighter/Mages with Improved Haste and Tenser's Transformation could do some damage with this (the level drain can get otherwise hard to kill creatures). Bit of a specific use spell, though.

Chain Contingency
The ultimate first round firepower (yes, this one can target enemies). Unfortunately, you cannot place level 9 spells in it.

The Chain Contingency sees straight through invisibility.

Some tips (three spells of level 8 or lower):

Energy Drain
This spell is totally pathetic for a level 9 spell, even though it has no save. It is, in fact, so bad that its use is still questionable even if you had it for free. Spend your slots and the time needed to cast it on something that is actually useful. This doesn't even get you the juju zombies the PnP version gets you.

Freedom
Carry a scroll instead (and have your Projected Images use it). Affects the entire area (no kidding) and releases all Imprisoned creatures simultaneously and indiscriminately. Watch out for stuff you've previously Imprisoned.

Gate
The final 'Fiend' installment. Not much more powerful than the previous ones, but even more of a liability. This spell calls in a Pit Fiend that is unaffected by +2 weapons or lower. It has several annoying area spell-like abilities (Fireball, Symbol, Fear and Dispel Magic), so don't get close to it. It is immune to fire. It strikes as only a +1 weapon.

Imprisonment
An extremely powerful spell. Casts fast, has no save and ignores magic resistance, but also has two drawbacks. First, it's a touch spell (no, Kangaxx cannot do this from a distance, he's using an ability called Trap the Soul). This means your wizard has to step into melee range of whatever was dangerous enough to warrant this spell. Be sure to have cast Stoneskin (and preferably Mirror Image as well). The second drawback is that you don't get to keep any loot.

Meteor Swarm
Does comparable damage to Horrid Wilting (assuming enemies save), but hurts party members. Skip and help yourself to another Time Stop.

Power Word, Kill
Finishing off anything with less than 60 HPs is nice. Of course, the trick is getting it down to 60...

Shapechange
Interesting spell that gets you some funny shapes for half an hour. While shapechanged you cannot cast spells, but can use innate abilities and quick items (such as scrolls). The shapes are:

All in all, only the Iron Golem and Mind Flayer seem to have good use that is not easily duplicated with lower level spells (such as Tenser's Transformation).

Spellstrike
The ultimate magic shield removal but not a serious improvement on its level 7 counterpart Ruby Ray. Most enemies cast a single spell protection at a time. That plus the easy workarounds make this a waste of a level 9 slot. Spell Shield will stop this.

Spell Trap
Excellent magic shield. Hard to remove, absorbs huge quantities of magic and gives you spells back, which makes it much more than just an overblown Spell Deflection or Improved Invisibility. Spell Trap recharges only one spell at a time but will still trap a spell that takes it over its capacity.

This spell is instrumental in some Endless Spells Strategies.

The Staff of the Magi casts a Spell Trap that lasts 8 hours and cannot be removed with conventional spell protection removal.

Time Stop
You get three rounds to do something useful. Maximize use of this time by (ab)using the Cast and Attack trick. Throwing Melf's Minute Meteors would do upwards of 135 damage (since all 15 hit), and Improved Hasted Fighter/Mages can go much higher.

While most spells cast during Time Stop will take effect only after it is gone, protection removal pays off immediately. Enemy contingencies still have to wait, giving you the chance to finish the fight before they ever trigger.

This spell won't actually stop time, it just paralyzes everyone except the caster. Spell durations will continue to expire (and True Sight will continue to dispel illusions). The paralysis also means automatic success at attacks, no hit rolls needed. A Cleric/Mage could cast Harm and deliver two blows, ending the fight.

Wail of the Banshee
The ultimate save-or-else spell; insta-kills and has a party friendly area (casting time is long, though). Just don't expect any enemy worth casting a level 9 spell at to fail the save...

Wish
Upgrade to Limited Wish. Has a lot more potential but you're not guaranteed any good options. The better your Wisdom, the more likely you get good options.

The bad options are:

The neutral options are:

The good options are:

Gulp a Potion of Insight before casting if your Wisdom is lower than 18. You still won't be guaranteed only good options but it sure helps.

Level 10

The final level. Lots of good stuff here. Too bad they have to share the level 9 spell slots.

Comet
Almost identical to Dragon's Breath except that it doesn't ignore magic resistance. A clear case: skip in favor of Dragon's Breath.

Dragon's Breath
Quick, party friendly, insanely damaging and bypasses magic resistance! Often the only spell needed. Its only drawback is that it deals Fire damage, to which lots of creatures are resistant (this still pushes them away, though). Demons seem to be immune to this spell. Great spell.

Energy Blades
Souped-up version of Melf's Minute Meteors. Double damage, double rate of fire, double THAC0 bonus, weightless... The best Cast-and-Attack weapon, they'd be absolute bliss if their duration wasn't so short. Not worth a permanent slot for your average party mage, but it can get solo mages out of tight spots with resistant foes.

This spell includes the effects of Improved Haste to allow the extra attacks, with the added bonus of increasing movement rate. This haste wears off when the last blade is thrown.

Dual or Multiclassed mages can pull some nice stunts with these things. The Blades add Kensai and Swashbuckler bonuses (just like the Meteors) and combine nicely with Critical Strike, Smite, Greater Deathblow.

Improved Alacrity
Wonderful spell that allows your mage to unload their entire spellbook in the span of a few rounds if used right. Equipped with the Robe of Vecna (and optionally the Amulet of Power) you can cast most spells instantly. Set the game to Auto-Pause: Spell Cast and hope your graphics card can handle the light show.

Although using items does not count as casting spells (not even reading scrolls), using special abilities does. This allows various fineries otherwise impossible:

Summon Planetar
The best summon in the game. A powerful Solar armed with a vorpal sword that eats the Shadows of Amn dragons for breakfast. The thing's fighting ability compares to that of a level 15 Fighter, has good magic resistance and is immune to various elemental damages, insta-kill effects and weapons of less than +3 enchantment. It enters play Hasted, regenerates and can see the invisible. The Planetar is actually gated instead of summoned, making it immune to Death Spell as well.

The Planetar is a superb Divine spellcaster (with a touch of Arcane) with the following spells memorized:

A one-creature-army and the best first pick for solo mages. Be sure to get one. Good and Neutral Mages only.

Summon Dark Planetar
The Planetar's evil twin. Ever-so-slightly less useful because it gets Unholy Word instead of Holy Word and cannot stand in the blast radius of Holy Smites. Most enemies still tend to be Evil... Neutral and Evil Mages only.