Magicka: Spells Guide and Elements List

Making Your Own Spells and How to Use Them

Magicka has a very unique Spell system. This Guide will teach you about making Spell Combos. This is not to be confused with Magicka, which are special named Spells, such as Grease and Thunder Bolt. In this case, we are combining different Elements to achieve differing effects. There are over 1,000 possible spell combinations however not that many of the spells are unique.

Regular casting involves selecting some combination of elemental runes and right-clicking the mouse. There are two other spell-casting options, however. You can also self-cast by pressing the middle mouse button, and cast an Area of Effect (AoE) around your Wizard by holding Shift and Right-clicking. You can Charge many spells by holding down the casting button. This varies from spell to spell. In some cases it increases range or AoE. For Lightning, it will give additional strikes. Beams can be channeled for quite some time. In the case of Shards, it will tighten the cone, granting more accuracy.

Elements

Below is a list of all elements you can use in your Spells in the Magicka game. There are a few things to note about how I'm laying this out. First, I'll describe its Effects. In a given combination, any Element will make its own unique impact on the end-spell. Combining multiple effects can produce for interesting interactions or added utility. Next is an element's Method of Delivery. Each method of delivery has a priority rating. If one is higher than the other spells, it will be that type of spell which is cast. Shield supercedes everything, but otherwise the order is: Projectile, Shard, Beam, then Spray. If you attempt to use two Opposite elements in one spell, they will cancel each other out.

Water (Q)
Spell Type: Spray     Opposite Element: Lightning

Element's Use in Spells: Water gets things wet. As such, it can put out fires (useful if you self-cast this when your Wizard is in flames). Water is very dangerous around Lightning, so even attempting to summon the Lightning element will do 250 damage to the caster if they're soaked. Casting against wet opponents will result in double damage. If a soaking wet target is hit with cold, they will freeze in place. So, Water provides some opportunities for spell combos. Also, a stream of Water knocks targets back. Adding more of the Water element to a spell will increase its range and the strength of Knockback.

Life (W)
Spell Type: Spray     Opposite Element: Arcane

Element's Use in Spells: Life is used for healing in various forms. You can cast it on yourself with the middle mouse button, stream it onto another player in Multiplayer, or even heal an entire area. Adding more Life will increase the duration your Wizard can hold the beam to heal another, or increase the area of effect. Adding more Life when self-casting does nothing. You'll simply need to press W and press the middle mouse button rapidly to heal to full.

Shield
Spell Type: Shield     Opposite Element: none, but only 1 Shield may be used in each Spell

Element's Use in Spells: Shield can stop physical damage. In fact, many physical attacks will bounce right off. Shields cannot be walked through, thus they create barriers. A regular shield creates a barrier in front of the caster. It can be cast in a large area surrounding the caster as well. Pressing the Space Bar rapidly will reinforce a shield. Shield in combination with other elements will result in some interesting effects. You can produce solid barriers, damaging wall segments and mines, and even mines that heal. In the second chapter, the Boss Jormungandr is weak to Earth Shield, which will cause him heavy damage when he smacks his head.

Cold
Spell Type: Spray     Opposite Element: Fire

Element's Use in Spells: Cold slows enemies. Using more Cold element in a spell will increase its Area of Effect or ranged distance, and tacks on a bit more damage. Just a touch of cold can really help your Wizard against melee attackers. It works in all kinds of ways. You can flat AOE it, cast a 5 cold spell and spray a stream of arctic air in their face. Paint entire hordes with this spell and you'll have them at your mercy.

Lightning
Spell Type: Spray     Opposite Element: Earth

Element's Use in Spells: While Lightning is a spray of sorts, it seems to supercede all others of its kind. That is, there will be lightning bouncing from target to target in a normal spray cast, such as Fire + Lightning. Enough Lightning and you can immobilize a target as it's shocked. This also works when it's chaining to multiple enemies. Adding more Lightning to a spell will increase the range of both the initial blast and its jumps. When casting it either AoE or direct fire, be sure to hold the right mouse button for additional zapping time.

Arcane
Spell Type: Beam     Opposite Element: Life

Element's Use in Spells: Arcane's primary purpose is to increase damage and turn most types of spell into a powerful Beam. Add more Arcane to a spell to give you more time with the Beam, thus dealing more damage over time and subjecting the target to the other nasty combinations you're using it with.

Earth
Spell Type: Projectile     Opposite Element: Lightning

Element's Use in Spells: Earth turns everything but Shield into a Projectile attack. This means you can fire massive stones that deal damage on impact, and in some cases even AoE. Earth + Ice will produce a ball of ice that deals massive damage to a single target. Earth + any other compatible element will deal damage in a radius upon impact. Adding more Earth to a spell will increase boulder size and thus the damage of a direct hit (not AoE).

Fire
Spell Type: Spray     Opposite Element: Cold

Element's Use in Spells: Fire ignites targets and can be used to dry your clothing should you get wet (preventing Lightning from being cast). Adding more Fire to a spell will increase its damage and range. Fire's ignition affect will cause targets to burn and take damage over time. The more fire you've laid on them, the higher this damage will stack. One single AOE fire spell can get the goblins started burning, and a second can set them ablaze and running chaotically for their lives.

Ice (Cold+Water)
Spell Type: Shard     Opposite Element: none, but Ice + Fire = Water

Element's Use in Spells: Ice produces its unique Shard effect. It fires a spread shot, much like a shotgun. Adding more ice will add more pellets to the mix. Ice works great with Cold (Ice doesn't actually slow targets). You can cast a blast of icy pellets that slow all enemies they hit. Up close, this can be devastating. 2 Ice, a Cold, Arcane, and Lightning is a very powerful spell combination, especially against enemies where you're close enough that more of the Shards can hit.

Steam (Fire+Water)
Spell Type: Spray Opposite Element: none

Element's Use in Spells: Newbies often wonder what that symbol in the Meteor Shower spell is. It's Steam, a combination of Fire and Water (either order works). Steam will Wet enemies much like water. Unlike water, it can be used along with Lightning. Yep, you can get your target wet and zap him at the same time. It's good to combine this with Arcane if you're going for the drench and zap, as that will produce a Beam which allows for more total damage if you can concentrate it on the target.

Useful Spell Combinations

I'm going to provide some spell combinations that will be helpful to new players. You can get more creative than this, but I'm going to give you a basic set as the possibilities in Magicka can be overwhelming. Note that I'll use the keyboard combination you're to press, rather than saying Fire, Fire, Water. It's much easier on the player that way. I suggest you play with the default controls as other sites dedicated to Magicka will also list them this way. And no, the spells don't have names, I'm making them up!

Spell Name	Element Combo	Description
Fire Ball	D-F	Deals direct damage to its target and sets everything around on fire. Don't fire near friends! Charging raises damage and AoE
Cold Ball	R-D	Hits a target and slows everything around in a wide radius. Add more Cold for a bigger blast. More Earth = more Direct Damage.
Water Ball	Q-D	Wets everything in an area of your choosing. Follow up with Lightning!
Cold Shotgun	Q-R-Q-R-Q-R-R-R	Hits targets in a cone, slowing any it hits.
Arcane Shot	Q-R-R-S-S-S	Hits targets, slowing them and dealing heavy arcane damage depending on how many Shards hit.
Shocking Shot	Q-R-Q-R-Q-R-F-A-S	Hits targets in a cone, simultaneously wetting them and dealing electrical damage.
Wet Zone	Q-R-Q-Q-Q-Q Shift	Soaks and chills everything around your Wizard, follow-up with...
Shock Zone	A-A-A-A-A	Hold when casting and the Wizard will shock everyone around multiple times.
Seismic Activity	D-F-F-F-F Shift	Knockdown on everything around and set afire. Follow up a second time for more agony.
Supernova	F-Q-F-Q-A-A-S Shift	Hold when casting. All around will be made wet and suffer massive electrical and arcane damage.