I was debating whether or not it was a worthwhile use of my time to print out a second one of these. But, hey, quite a lot has changed, and I can easily imagine this being helpful for new players pressing the (M)emorization key for the first time and witnessing a quantity of text comparable to War and Peace unfold on their monitor screens. If you find an interesting new spell, Ctrl-F this page to find what I think of it!
Spells are ordered by level. My opinions are unscientific, arbitrary, but reflect the thoughts of a soul which has sacrificed an excessive quantity of minutes on this pixelated frustration simulator - and particularly prefers magical playstyles over brutish ones.
You may notice that A-tier and B-tier are disproportionately large compared to the others - this is good and normal, and is indicative that DCSS is a fairly well-balanced game with many opportunities and options for casters of all flavours and no absolute “META” to follow. No S-tier is an instant win, and no D-tier is completely unusable.
S(if Muna’s Prized Library) tier - will define the run, either overpowered or a capstone to strive for
Diamond Sawblades (7) - Even after the nerf, I still think this is OP. 4 allies which have unmissable cleave attacks every turn will shred any foe in the entire game. If you are fighting in melee with a foe in one of the diagonal directions, just use this spell and watch them take so much damage-per-turn you don’t even need to swing your weapon anymore. Use Nazja’s Percussive Tampering for even greater chainsaw massacre lethality.
Ignition (8) - FLOWCHART: Is your current problem fire-resistant? No? You no longer have a problem. Only stopped by fireproof enemies, otherwise requires no thought or intelligence, only smashing your head on the keyboard and privileging “o” and “p” as impact locations.
Fulsome Fusillade (8) - It’s kind of like Ignition, but instead of being stopped by fire resistance, it gets stopped by the width of your mana bar. Indeed, casting this spell once is all you need for the game to start playing itself, blasting your enemies for you for the next dozen of turns. It’s not as hungry as Dragon’s Call, but you’ll still want a way to keep your reserves topped off, such as with an Amulet of Magic Regeneration.
Fire Storm (9) - Turns the game’s genre into Point-and-Click Adventure. Instead of clicking keys and switches to solve puzzles, you click hordes of enemies to delete them. Any character with this online could win the game using nothing but this spell, but it does have a caveat: if a foe is in your face, you’ll have to gamble on Fire Storm’s range not expanding to include you, in which case you’d be toasted (literally).
Polar Vortex (9) - Cryomancers’ take on the “level 9 giga-blast spell that kills everything” trades away damage/turn for mana efficiency. Unlike its companions, you’ll find beating the whole game with only this quite difficult - but you are free to pew-pew at the hapless souls trapped in your portable washing machine while you wait for the Vortex to complete.
Shatter (9) - Because “winning the game” just wasn’t enough, this spell also demolishes certain unbreakable walls - the best use of this being a free skip of Tomb:2’s “Vaults:5 Redux” and a partial skip of Tomb:1’s “Royal Mummy Torment Tea Party”. However, unlike other low-IQ Earth magic blasty spells, you’ll find a significant portion of the dungeon’s denizens resist it (flying, insubstantial, slimy), which means you’ll need to keep a few neurons firing to occasionally pivot to your other spells.
Platinum Paragon (9) - Puts the power of friendship and anime by your side. This spell’s power is highly dependent on what you give it - usually one of a few select mythical unrandom cyan-blue artifacts. Lochaber Axe, Firestarter, Condemnation, Obsidian Axe and Rift are some of the most OP selections which play the game for you. Consecrated Labrys is also to be considered for the extended endgame. If in doubt, just slap a distortion, antimagic, speed, heavy or holy wrath (endgame only) random artifact into its robotic hands, you won’t regret it. Use its recast power, don’t just let this spell expire!
Death’s Door (9) - It turns losing into not-losing. In a game where stair dancing exists, what stops you from taking out enemies one by one in duels where defeat is statistically impossible?
A(shenzari’s Arcane Knowledge) tier - fantastic, great asset to have
Poisonous Vapours (1) - Potentially THE most OP level 1 spell, would be S-tier if it didn’t get hard-countered by early poison-resistant monsters. It is not scientifically possible to lose runs in D:1 as an Alchemist due to this spell. Point-and-click, instant irresistible damage, poison status effect, what more could you want?
Apportation (1) - Can’t go wrong with the yoink. Jiyva followers get bonus points! This spell is almost free in spell slots and training - and, one day, you’ll find yourself faced with a death trap vault with a juicy item in the middle, and you’ll be glad to have this to trivialize it.
Foxfire (1) - Devastating for its level. Will easily take out D:2 Sigmund (if you don’t get confused…). Clears all of early Dungeon without thought or risk. Can be pre-casted multiple times before turning a corner and unleashing the artillery on an unsuspecting out-of-depth monster. Held back by being trash in hallways.
Freeze (1) - Turn your hand/tentacle/paw into a freeze-branded weapon! The slow on cold blooded creatures is an enticing perk in the Dungeon and Lair (and so is the damage), but keep in mind that any spell that encourages getting into melee range with Attacks of Opportunity being a thing is naturally dangerous.
Mercury Arrow (2) - Because Poisonous Vapours wasn’t solid enough, here’s some more of the same thing, except it does more damage and inflicts the Weak debuff in a 3x3 now. The weakness ignores poison resistance, which makes it fascinatingly even capable of disarming Executioners. Keep it all the way to the extended endgame if you want!
Sublimation of Blood (2) - Will either do nothing or torment you, no in-between. You’ll absolutely want a Regen+ item alongside this. Good for 15-runes endgame characters when you need constant arcane juice refills to fend off the demon onslaught, but also interesting for a quick extra Borgnjor’s Vile Clutch in a pinch in the Lair. Don’t kill yourself with it!
Blink (2) - Disgustingly good for how little investment it takes. Never worry about attacks of opportunity again! Useful from D:1 to Pandemonium. All fun and games until it blinks you next to the enemy you were trying to escape from. Use a scroll of fog to limit possible destinations.
Call Imp (2) - This once mediocre spell has come a long way. The squad of Cerulean Imps dialed up straight from the depths of the four Hells now ensure that Summoners and Hedge Wizards can officially press Ctrl-Q after reaching level 2 and assume the game would have been won anyways. While that may be a slight exaggeration, reach attacks combined with very acceptable damage make for one of the best anti-D:1-8 splat tools out there.
Scorch (2) - Hideously overpowered in the early game, but falls off like a rock. The Djinni special - go Cinder Acolyte, get to level two and spam this until the stars die. Or rather, until you get to Lair and hydras are regenerating faster than you can damage them. Try getting an ally to stand between you and your foes for free spamming.
Searing Ray (2) - Beeeoooww! Deletes hallways of enemies with ease, as if they are patiently waiting in line for an arcane lobotomy. Channelled spells are inherently dangerous, but this one is okay as the damage is so high for the early game the creature coming into melee range will probably be dead before it can cause a problem.
Fugue of the Fallen (3) - +7 slaying? For free? Why thank you, you shouldn’t have. The splash darkness damage is more of a cherry on top than a real perk. Any melee brute dabbling in magic should consider this. Immensely annoying to cast before every fight, in the same vein as Ozocubu’s Armour.
Call Canine Familiar (3) - Will win a 1v1 against D:2 Sigmund 90% of the time (as long as you use its recast mechanic) and make the EXP rain down like candy. The heal-and-cleave recast is extremely adaptable, even in hallways where you need to burst down an ominous foe. Don’t get baited and drain your entire mana bar on it!
Passwall (3) - Fantastic escape spell… when it doesn’t get you killed. An escape spell that paralyzes you for a few turns without being able to cancel it is extremely dangerous. If this was cancellable, it would be much better, but at least, it gives a sizable amount of bonus AC! Great synergy with Death’s Door - learn to never fear the Realm of Zot again.
Swiftness (3) - The anti-attack of opportunity engine, letting one disengage without risk from a dangerous melee enemy. Great for rushing stairs, but watch out for the slowness effect at the end. It’s another one of those escape spells you need to REMEMBER TO USE.
Frozen Ramparts (3) - The elusive movement-restricting spell I will approve of. Ridiculously good damage and remains relevant for a very long time. Defeated by cold-resistant monsters, but otherwise a single-handed carry for the Ice Elementalist. Use an Amulet of the Acrobat and any summon (such as the Ice Beast) for bonus safety!
Ignite Poison (3) - Extremely situational and needs setup, but will carry a three-rune game with the right tools. This + Olgreb’s Toxic Radiance is discount Ozucobu’s Refrigeration. Makes me panic because the full-screen red filter on cast makes me think I just got oneshot. You can use a scroll of poison with it to flood the screen in flame!
Mephitic Cloud (3) - Any on-demand cloud-spawning spell is already really good, but confusion clouds deserve a special mention for utterly neutralizing orc priests or any dangerous early-game caster. Triple-school training is iffy, but worth it. Has a synergy with weapons of draining or other HD-lowering effects (such as Lugonu’s Banishment), as it increases the confusion chance.
Ozucobu’s Armour (3) - Tedious and annoying, especially considering it’s a straight up buff that should be used by every caster constantly. A good way to increase the viability of “stand still while I finish my channel”-type spells. Amazing synergy with Fortress Blast. A celestial blessing from the highest planes of Heaven for low AC species.
Stone Arrow (3) - First of the three boring pew pew pew Earth/Conjuration spells, this is the moment you can stop relying on Sandblast. The damage is extremely impressive for an early game spell, and will delete out-of-depth monsters and uniques in a few casts. Gets really inefficient against death yak/elephant packs, though.
Sticky Flame (4) - This is amazing for Alchemists, as it is their only starter spell that checks something else than poison resistance (still helpless against those pesky insubstantial phantoms and wights…). You’ll definitely want a way to lock down the afflicted (moving reduces the damage) - I like having a simple ally block them while they burn. Or, if you’re some brutish Mountain Dwarf or Oni, you can also just stand there. That works too.
Dimensional Bullseye (4) - Double ranged damage. You only want this on a Ranged Weapons specialist fully designed around using this spell and not much else. If you build for it, however, no longer will you ever fear cackling boggarts hiding behind a wall of summons ever again!
Summon Seismosaurus Egg (4) - THE most OP early-game summon. In Jurassic Park, they knew they could, but they didn’t know if they should - for this dinosaur spell, the answer is YES. Summon it in every fight. Hug it. Use your crocodile to disengage and stay in melee range of it. Once it awakens, it becomes nearly impossible to lose the current battle.
Eringya’s Surprising Crocodile (4) - Who cares about the crocodile? It’s a reusable dash that costs 4 MP. Even in Pandemonium and Tomb, this is great. You can kite berserk melee gigachads for ages across the entire map and never take any damage. In the early game, the summon does do some work, but watch out for its pulling attack, which could easily pull the aforementioned gigachad in melee range of you should you misposition yourself.
Brom’s Barrelling Boulder (4) - This spell is designed around a specific situation: wide open space. Scary dude standing there and menacingly approaching you. Unleashing the power of Indiana Jones proves worthwhile, as this trivializes most 1v1s in the Lair with its strong damage and reliable knockback. It is the Earth’s Elementalist variant of Iskenderun’s Mystic Blast, and proves just as worthy in its disengage potential.
Airstrike (4) - Excellent irresistible damage and the main carry of the Air Elementalist. It costs too much mana in populous screens, though, and sucks in hallways. Immense asset against dancing weapons.
Animate Dead (4) - Reliable meatshield and snowball spell. Pairs well with Anguish and Kikubaaqudgha. Tons of bodies to block the screen - and your vulnerable melee-range tiles - for very little investment, as they will follow you throughout the entire floor reeking of miasma. The only reason to pick Necromancer.
Anguish (4) - Will turn up the heat tenfold in any ally zerg rush build. An anguished enemy firing a bolt through an undead horde is bound to oneshot themselves, even if it’s full of zombie quokkas. Melee hybrids can also benefit. Will still have a great trigger chance despite being a Will-dependent hex.
Fulminant Prism (4) - Already good because it’s an on-demand Line-of-Sight blocker. Fantastic AOE damage, and one extremely rare case capable of getting kills outside of your field of view. Getting blown up by this spell is a rite of initiation to DCSS, but will never happen with careful positioning. Avoid placing it in the walking path of enemies who will pathetically slap it out of existence!
Iskenderun’s Mystic Blast (4) - Extremely valuable disengage tool, and THE solution to early staircase ambushes. Fools will spam this in every situation instead of using Fulminant Prism - the damage is much lesser unless it is used in a fat group. Makes Conjurer one of the best backgrounds. Astounding synergy with Vehumet’s magic range increase.
Olgreb’s Toxic Radiance (4) - The early game screen wiper, and also the midgame screen wiper if you find Ignite Poison. Royally starts to suck when having rPois starts becoming the new way of saying “hello”, but will delete death yaks and elephants with ease. Turns the Orcish Mines into a glorified acquirement scroll, and makes Alchemist one of the best caster backgrounds.
Passage of Golubria (4) - The closest you can get to a reusable scroll of blinking. If you want to meme around, try locking a juggernaut in a Portal-style loop while you blast them every other turn with anything else on this list. Fantastic for escapes, though not always reliable. Chain them together - after using one, you will already be standing on top of a portal, and won’t need precious turns to walk to the next entrance and can just press “>”. Also great at skipping dangerous Ziggurat floors. The only problem with this spell is that you need to REMEMBER TO USE IT.
Forge Lightning Spire (4) - Why do you need Conjurations when this thing just casts one every other turn for 0 MP cost? It does like to sleep on the job and will occasionally stop firing, but when it isn’t procrastinating as much as you are by playing DCSS, it will annihilate the opposition. Cream of the crop when it comes to level 4 damage spells. Remember to Ctrl+Attack it if it ever gets in your way.
Vhi’s Electric Charge (4) - Combined with a high-damage melee attack (heavy weapons, dragon-form), the amount of exclamation points this will print in the message log is positively ludicrous - enough to literally, without hyperbole, oneshot uniques in S-branches with a single tap of the keyboard. However, it will occasionately miss - in which case you will find yourself either celebrating your wisdom to have memorized Blink, or cursing not having done so. Many do not know this, but this spell can stab - it just usually does not do so due to its noise waking up sleeping enemies. You can abuse this with Uskayaw’s mass-paralysis, where this spell becomes a cinematic fighting game combo. Use it with Disjunction for not-exactly-efficient, but hilarious acrobatics, or use it as a weak and frail caster just for the repositioning ability!
Borgnjor’s Vile Clutch (5) - This spell has been constricted to death by nerfs and it’s still somehow good - just not S-tier anymore. It locks enemies in place, it reduces their EV, it has mana-efficient damage-over-time, it goes through allies - it just so happens that when I get that second Kiku gift, I start weighing Anguish and Rimeblight some more instead of spasming my muscles over the Memorize button as fast as possible.
Alistair’s Walking Alembic (5) - To really appreciate this spell, you’ll need allies that actually do things (by which, I mean - not Diamond Sawblades). On its lonesome, it’s just a moderately strong summon with a debuff on-hit in the same vein as Summon Mana Viper. However, if your other allies (or yourself) can allow it to complete its supportive concoction, spreading might and haste all over Death Scarabs and Horrible Things is simply fantastic. In a very RNG-dependent fashion, getting free Haste on your player character once in a while is also a very nice treat. This spell is a cornerstone of any ally-focused build.
Nazja’s Percussive Tampering (5) - Instant, non-elemental, point-and click AOE damage: GOOD. Healing your nearly destroyed Walking Alembic so it can finish its concoction: GOOD. Giving your Lightning Spire 3d11 damage bolts: GOOD. If you have at least two Forgecraft allies, getting this spell is toeing the line between strong suggestion and obligation.
Fireball (5) - The old reliable. Spammable and takes out hordes with ease. Wear hearing protection - the monsters certainly won’t and will converge to your location to file a complaint.
Freezing Cloud (5) - Point and click to create an impassable wall to most creatures. Completely insane if you can send out allies (special mention to Splinterfrost Shell) to block retreat out of the blue clouds of cold death. Could use a little bit less training, though - triple school is brutal.
Irradiate (5) - Let’s take an axe. And let’s make it never miss. And let’s forge it out of uranium, too. This would be S-tier were it not for the massive drawback - contamination. It is dangerous to cast this spell again once the Contam status effect reaches the light-grey level. Unless having a couple of tumours and stress-induced spacetime distortions is your definition of a chill Sunday evening. Use your potions of Cancellation as prevention, and Mutation as damage control if you were too late.
Lee’s Rapid Deconstruction (5) - The elusive Earth spell that actually requires more than 3 Intelligence IRL. Fantastic in hallways and at clearing out pesky summoners hiding behind their army. Annihilates construct-type enemies. Actually fun to use.
Silence (5) - Invaluable for ally spammers and melee-hybrids, who can continue enjoying the effects of their spells/weapons long after their magic has been disabled. Will turn the Elven Halls and the Tomb into a preschool park trip. Turns liches of all kinds into jokes. Unfortunately underused due to the popularity of pure blasters when it comes to spellcasters.
Summon Mana Viper (5) - How does it feel when YOU have to fight out-of-depth enemies, Dungeon and Lair fools? The antimagic brand lets this remain relevant in Orc, Elf, and sometimes even against Orbs of Fire or powerful demon casters. Insane damage for how early it can come online.
Summon Forest (5) - Hmm yes, I’ll take the level 5 spell that summons >20 invincible allies that block line-of-sight and deal such heavy damage they can slay anything in the game. Oh, and let’s add tentacles that inflict constriction, EV-penalties and displacement, why not. And give an extra distraction chance on top. That will be level 10 Summonings/Translocations plus tip, please. If you haven’t been paying attention to the changelogs, the Dryad isn’t suicidal anymore. Turns Swamp into a free rune, but utterly terrible in Shoals.
Yara’s Violent Unravelling (5) - Lee’s Rapid Deconstruction but for magic. Stop Deep Elf Demonologists from spamming endgame Hell demons against you by oneshotting them and erupting radioactive gore on their faces. Declare that you do not consent to being skewered by might-hasted uniques. Turn a Scroll of Summon Butterflies into a minefield. It’s good every game, and might save you a YASD from a summon spammer. Amazing synergy with Discord to avoid dying to your own mind control antics.
Bombard (6) - Iron SHOT!!! Every blaster’s favourite zero-IQ gun had to get a gimmick tacked on to be somewhat intellectually interesting. And it is! Fantastic damage and kiting potential, but you’ll want to avoid the one-tile knockback from bringing you out of position or into a horde of gnashing teeth. Recommended with Spellspark Servitor.
Permafrost Eruption (6) - Fireball, but icy and better. Most interesting of all is how it bypasses armour class (AC) completely, making it devastating against enemies relying on it for protection, such as boulder beetles. Like many other targetless blasty spells, it is extremely tempting to run around and spam o-p and find yourself with no mana remaining - and this one is especially dangerous considering it ignores monsters adjacent to you, who will continue destroying you in melee during the entire period. Regardless, it is another member of the Cream of the Crop when it comes to Vehumet’s selection.
Gell’s Gavotte (6) - Even if this did 0 damage, it would still be good, because it’s a controlled dash. Controlled repositioning in DCSS is so OP players talk about scrolls of blinking like they are Felid extra lives. You do have to be mindful that whichever foe is destroying you won’t follow along, as it applies the dash to all enemies. If you look at the terrain and get the full-length wall-smash, however, the damage is fantastic, and the cooldown afterwards is only a few turns. You can cheese dangerous foes by going down a staircase, smashing them, going upwards, waiting out the cooldown, going down, smashing them, and repeating this until done. This spell is fun, highly strategic, powerful, and a masterclass of game design.
Forge Phalanx Beetle (6) - It’s like Ozocubu’s Armour, but it lets you walk around, which is infinitely less annoying. The way it follows you around has a ton of cheese potential, especially for Cheibriados worshippers: you can run away in a one-tile hallway, and even with your 2.5 movement delay, you’ll still outpace your foes due to them being constantly stuck hitting an eternally running beetle. Felids can actually tank up for once in their (many) lives with this spell, and it has an obvious synergy with Fortress Blast.
Fortress Blast (6) - On the tin, this sounds so weird - how can I get good AC and still cast a level 6 spell? Spellpower only hastens the channel process and does not affect the damage - only AC does, with its maximum reached at 70 AC. I’m not going to sugarcoat it. Forge Phalanx Beetle + Ozocubu’s Armour + 2 rings of Protection + Granite Talisman + Fortress Blast + potions of Attraction = game-carrying power. Or, you can just be a Mountain Dwarf or a Gargoyle. That works too.
Death Channel (6) - Zerg rush. It is unfortunately quite short and tends to suddenly evaporate all your friends out of existence when you most need them - but the sheer mass of allies produced by this spell causes such ridiculous snowballs in crowded screens to the point where it feels like Polar Vortex at its peak. Naturally, a bread-and-butter, simple offensive spell of any kind (the A-tier has plenty to choose from) will assist greatly in initiating the spectre epidemic.
Dispersal (6) - Instant safety. Makes Guardian Serpents very sad. Lets you laugh before ambush vaults. If you have Manifold Assault, Malign Gateway or Summon Forest, you also have this - use it.
Eringya’s Noxious Bog (6) - Underrated and underused. Has never heard of what “poison resistance” means. One step is all it takes for even a black mamba or a slime creature to reach maximum poison status. Devastating with Ignite Poison.
Plasma Beam (6) - Simply amazing. Here’s a list of the best things about this spell: the damage, the name, the aesthetics, and finally the ability to instantly laser-beam those pesky smiters cackling at the edge of your line of sight. The inability to aim this is a severe drawback, but one that is absolutely acceptable for such a powerhouse. Give this to Spellforged Servitor for metric quantities of Fun™.
Starburst (6) - Remniscent of Irradiate, with extra beams, less mutations and elemental damage that can be resisted. It’s the real Flame Wave, and is the moment Fire Elementalists and Vehumet worshippers can really start turning up the heat.
Summon Cactus Giant (6) - Undisputed king of corridors. Will humiliate all melee enemies trying to fight their way to you, and even casters will occasionally weave in a slap or two they will quickly regret. Somehow, even the most infamous o-tabbing uniques like Rupert or Mennas can hardly compete. Annihilates dancing weapons. It still does good work in the extended endgame!
Hellfire Mortar (7) - This is a borderline S-tier spell held back by its XP requirements, which just plain brutal. At least, Vehumet worshippers get the bonus. If you do manage to cast this, it will automatically wipe screens for you with state-of-the-art AI targeting. It needs some degree of open space to work its magic, but no problem - it will create its own open space. You can even use the wall-destroying gimmick in combination with a source of Flight as a reusable wand of digging!
Manifold Assault (7) - This spell is similar to the plot of a certain purple man with a gemstone collection from a superhero movie of questionable intellectual value. It does nothing on its own, but once the pieces are assembled, it erases reality. The most gruesome way to use this is as a champion of both melee and magic of Cheibriados with a heavy-branded weapon, especially eveningstars and giant clubs. The Dark Maul in particular is like having a sphere centered on yourself in which life spontaneously ceases to exist. Due to the unarmed combat nerf, the classic “Dragon/Storm Form + cast Manifold Assault every time something breathes” still works to some extent, it is just recommended to fire up a few extra brain cells when the screen starts to get a little more crowded and opt for a different strategy.
Rimeblight (7) - If you tried this spell in 0.32 and thought it was trash, try this buffed version. This might very well be THE most mana-efficient spell in the game, capable of destroying an entire Ziggurat floor for 7 MP… after a very long time. You’ll definitely want this as an endgame necromantic mage - not only does it decimate packs of popcorn and orbs of fire alike, its 20% HP execute mechanic means it’s a foolproof way to terminate low-HP terrifying melee creatures in your face.
Magnavolt (7) - This is a very narcissistic spell - it wants you to use it and nothing else. Each turn spent not casting Magnavolt is one less combo multiplier for your lightning bolt death rave. For this reason, it is probably the spell most responsible for “I have no MP and I must Magnavolt” situations in your usual o-p spamming noob player. If you have a brain, however, this spell will carry you.
Splinterfrost Shell (7) - Hehe, I am going to hit you in melee with my +9 greats- BLOCKED. Well, I still have my +6 triple crossbow of- BLOCKED. How about this dastardly paralytic hex spe- BLOCKED. Fine then, I’ll just break your wall of- YOU TAKE 90 ICE DAMAGE. Every squishy character with appropriate skills should consider this spell, for it will give a pre-processed, ready-to-use solution against the common diagnosis of “very angry OP dude in my face”.
Haunt (7) - Feels like this is point and click paralysis. Absolutely owns any high-level threat and dishes out Slow status effects like candy. Still interesting in groups as the spectres will attack nearby enemies for a few turns after they have finished handling the grisly mission you have given them. The ultimate chain-reaction igniter for Infestation, Death Channel and Animate Dead.
Malign Gateway (7) - The one true way to eliminate orbs of fire. More resistant to every element than a tardigrade, and damage so insane almost nothing in the game can 1v1 it. Would easily be S-tier if it weren’t for the extreme danger level of it turning against you without warning, and leaving you to the same fate as your enemies - twoshotted into oblivion.
Orb of Destruction (7) - This puts blood absolutely everywhere and has a fantastic sense of spectacle, and has a kick-ass name, so it is already B-tier at the minimum. Then, it will positively expunge from reality any lone threat or unique/caster/archer giving you mean looks from far away. Unfortunate effects may occur in hallways - and most infamously, foes wielding Shields of Reflection will turn this spell into Orb of Self-Destruction.
Ozucobu’s Refrigeration (7) - Ignition’s ice-flavoured counterpart wants the opposite - isolated instead of crowded enemies. The enemy-adjacency damage reduction is very noticeable, and makes this spell much worse inside the Ziggurat and late game mega-hordes - but in most of the game where enemies are scattered rather liberally, repeated usage of this spell will absolutely get the job done.
Spellspark Servitor (7) - Tier placement is highly dependent on which spell you give it. Single-target missiles like Lehudib’s Crystal Spear, Bombard or Plasma Beam are A-tier - borderline S-tier due to the mana efficiency, and Airstrike is commendable as well. Using Conjure Ball Lightning is trolling yourself and will make the Servitor thirst for your blood. Choose Orb of Destruction if you enjoy the game of Russian Roulette.
Maxwell’s Capacitative Coupling (8) - As another one of those spells that require you to stop moving entirely to complete casting, it’s astonishingly dangerous and may just be wasted if some random quokka bodyblocks Gloorx Vloq at the last second. However, despite the downsides, it is quite bluntly an infinite damage spell - extremely MP-efficient (think how many Bombard casts would have been required!), and trivializes any unique bossfight. Pairs wonderfully with ally spam builds, as the effect bypasses your own friends.
Infestation (8) - This spell is like a wildfire - it is all-consuming, but needs a spark to be lit - spawning the allied scarabs at all requires assistance from some other damage source (usually Haunt). Unless you can dial up Kikubaaqudgha and ask them to show you their entomological collection. In that case, it is borderline S-tier. Helpful in the Ziggurat if you are mad enough to go in without a screen-wiping elemental spell. In the Desolation of Salt, will turn the trillions of saltlings rushing to melee you into a blob of purple slime that deletes and assimilates anything that touches it.