Skills/Resisting Spells
Resisting Spells is your shield against magic. Every time a hostile spell hits you, your Resist gives you a chance to shrug off part of its effect, and it takes the edge off a caster's Evaluating Intelligence bonus. Mages, warriors and everyone who fights other players or spellcasting monsters will want it.
At a glance
| Skill category | Magic |
|---|---|
| What it does | Gives you a chance to resist harmful spells, and reduces the bonus damage from a caster's Evaluating Intelligence |
| How you use it | Passively. It works every time a resistable spell hits you. |
| Works with | Magery, Evaluating Intelligence and any fighting skill |
| Skill cap | 100 (Grandmaster), raised up to 120 with Resisting Spells power scrolls |
| Stats it can raise | Intelligence, Strength and Dexterity |
Resisting a spell
When a damaging or harmful spell hits you, the game rolls to see if you resist it. If you do, you'll see You feel yourself resisting magical energy. and the spell's effect is reduced:
| Spell | If you resist | |
|---|---|---|
|
Magic Arrow, Harm, Fireball, Lightning, Energy Bolt, Explosion | Three quarters damage |
|
Flame Strike | 60% damage |
|
Mind Blast, Chain Lightning | Half damage |
|
Paralyze | Three quarters as long |
|
Poison | No effect at all |
|
Mana Drain, Mana Vampire | No effect at all |
|
Fire Field | Burns for 1 damage a second instead of 2 |
Your chance to resist depends on your Resisting Spells, the caster's Magery and the spell's circle: stronger casters and higher-circle spells are harder to resist. Against a caster with 100 Magery:
| Your Resisting Spells | Magic Arrow (1st) | Fireball (3rd) | Lightning (4th) | Paralyze (5th) | Energy Bolt (6th) | Flame Strike (7th) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| 25 | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% | 2.5% |
| 50 | 14.5% | 9.5% | 7% | 5% | 5% | 5% |
| 75 | 27% | 22% | 19.5% | 17% | 14.5% | 12% |
| 90 | 34.5% | 29.5% | 27% | 24.5% | 22% | 19.5% |
| 100 | 39.5% | 34.5% | 32% | 29.5% | 27% | 24.5% |
| 110 | 44.5% | 39.5% | 37% | 34.5% | 32% | 29.5% |
| 120 | 49.5% | 44.5% | 42% | 39.5% | 37% | 34.5% |
No matter how strong the caster, you always have at least one tenth of your Resist as a percentage chance (10% at 100 Resist, 12% at 120).
Weakening a caster's damage
Even when you don't resist, your Resist counts against the caster's Evaluating Intelligence. If your Resist is higher, their spells lose 1% damage for every 2 points of difference; if theirs is higher, they gain only 1% for every 5 points. A warrior with 100 Resist takes half damage from a caster with no Evaluating Intelligence, before any resist roll. See the damage table.
Training Resisting Spells
- Getting hit by spells. Each resistable spell that hits you is a chance to gain, but only while your Resist is below a limit that depends on the spell's circle. Low-circle spells stop teaching early; Flame Strike, Mana Vampire, Chain Lightning and Meteor Swarm teach all the way to 120.
| Circle | Spells | Trains your Resist | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
|
First | Magic Arrow | Up to 35 |
|
Second | Harm | Up to 45 |
|
Third | Fireball, Poison | Up to 55 |
|
Fourth | Lightning, Mana Drain | Up to 65 |
|
|
Fifth | Mind Blast, Paralyze | Up to 75 |
|
Sixth | Energy Bolt, Explosion | Up to 85 |
|
|
Seventh | Flame Strike, Mana Vampire, Chain Lightning, Meteor Swarm | Up to 120 |
- At exactly 0 Resist, spells can't teach you. Buy a few points first (or stand in a fire field).
- Mass Curse cast on you gives you two chances to gain, at any level up to 120, as long as the curse actually lands.
- Fire fields give a chance to gain up to 30 every time they burn you.
- The gain chance is best when you resist rarely, so a strong caster is a better trainer than a weak one.
- Below 10.0 you gain on every attempt, sometimes several tenths at once. Above that, each attempt has a chance to gain 0.1.
- The harder the attempt is for your skill level, the better your chance to gain. Your chance also drops as you get closer to your Resisting Spells cap and to your total skill cap of 700.
- If you've set Resisting Spells to go down (the arrow in your skills list), gains elsewhere can lower it to make room under your total cap. Lock skills you want to keep.
- Reaching 100.0 adds Resisting Spells to the Skills Mastered count on your achievements.
- Mages, mage guildmasters, holy mages, healers, healer guildmasters, warrior guildmasters, ranger guildmasters and monks will train you for gold: up to a third of their own skill, at most 42.0, for 1 gold per 0.1 points. Ask them (or use their context menu) to train the skill, then drop the gold on them.
Stats: each successful use has about a 2% chance to raise Intelligence, a smaller chance (under 1%) to raise Strength and a smaller chance (under 1%) to raise Dexterity by 1 point. Each stat can rise at most once every 10 minutes, and only if it's set to rise.
Suggested path
Resist is best trained with a friend who has Magery and plenty of reagents. Bring bandages or have them heal you between spells.
| Resisting Spells | How to train |
|---|---|
| 0 to about 33 | Buy it from a trainer. |
| 33 to 65 | Have a friend cast Mana Drain on you. It does no damage at all, just costs you mana. |
| 65 to 120 | Have a friend cast Mana Vampire on you (again, harmless), or Mass Curse outside town. Paralyze (up to 75) works too, and Energy Bolt (up to 85) if you don't mind being healed between casts. |
Power scrolls
Resisting Spells tops out at 100.0 unless you use a Resisting Spells power scroll. There are three kinds: exalted (110), mythical (115) and legendary (120). Double-click one to raise your Resisting Spells cap to that number: "You feel a surge of magic as the scroll enhances your Resisting Spells!"
- Resisting Spells power scrolls come from champion bosses: Barracoon, Lord Oaks, Mephitis, Neira, Rikktor, Semidar and Silvani. Each champion boss leaves 6 power scrolls in random fighting, magic, bard and animal skills, handed out among the players who helped kill it. Each scroll is a 110 (60%), 115 (35%) or 120 (5%).
- A scroll only works if it's higher than your current cap. Otherwise: "Your Resisting Spells is too high for this power scroll."
- Champion power scrolls are cursed: they always drop when you die, even from a blessed container. Use them or bank them quickly.
- Raising the cap doesn't raise your skill. You still have to train the extra points.
Tips
- Resist doesn't help against everything. Summoned creatures, Earthquake, Poison Field, Paralyze Field and weapons aren't affected by your resist roll.
- Pick your fights. High-level spellcasting monsters hit far harder against a low-Resist character.
- Cure early. A resisted Poison spell does nothing at all, but a poison that lands keeps hurting until you cure it.