Best Gish Spells

[Humble Master]

Gishes are not as powerful as playing a full caster but I find them quite fun. However, what spell do you think are the best/most fun to use for a Gish?

Personally, I think battlefield control works pretty well. Stinking Cloud, Glitterdust and Evard's Black Tentacles have all served me well.

[Zanos]

Wraithstrike to take care of your (usually) crappy BAB issues.

[Amphetryon]

Many of the debuffing options in a Necromancer's repertoire serve a Gish especially well, both personally and as a team player.

[Snowbluff]

Friendly Fire. Become IMMUNE to ranged attack by making them hit something else. As you would be in melee a lot, finding targets for arrows is easy.

I also love Greater Mirror Image, Luminous Armor, and Sanguine Rage. I like the self-buffing aspect.

[Turion]

My absolute favorite gish spell has to be Heroics from SpC. Most gishes are feat starved, so just keep a wand of it on hand. Any fighter feat you qualify for, 30 minutes per day. You can switch from two handed to TWF to archery almost on the fly.

Wraithstrike, as mentioned, is very good. If you have a high lactose tolerance, it's even better persisted.

For a skillgish type character, Hunter's Eye + vinestrike/golemstrike/gravestrike is a lot of fun. Do note that they have to be extended/persisted to be combined.

The Bite of the Werewhatever line is also quite nice, especially with the natural attacks added on.

Arcane Spellsurge really helps out you section economy, as well. Not too useful on a straight wizard, but since you're already doing other things with your standard...

If you're avoiding Wraithstrike, then Shivering Touch can also help with a high-ac opponent. touch range, but then you're already in range. Nice, because it helps everybody in the party hit, not just you. (I personally don't use this, since I don't like books being thrown at me.)

Giant Size and Body Outside Body, from the Wu Jen list, are also good if you can get them. Wu Jens don't have too much going for them in terms of gish spells, as far as I can tell, but these are good. I personally recommend using Wyrm Wizard or Recaster to snag them.

[Maginomicon]

If you can swing sneak attack (such as by being a generic spellcaster and picking up the sneak attack feature option), Wracking Touch, no question. It's the centerpiece spell of my Thri-Kreen "Full-Contact Mage" build.

If you're playing a touch-spell-based gish (like my full-contact mage), Spectral Hand is excellent (and is what makes full-contact magic possible). As a Thri-kreen with 5 natural weapons, I also use Blood Wind (especially if the GM allows touch-range spell charges to be delivered via Blood Wind, which he should).

Critical Strike is also nice.

Emerald Planes (Dragon Magazine #323 page 79) is also an awesome spell. For a 2nd-level slot, you can set up 5-ft square walls of force all around the battlefield to work as cover (or block a corridor or a door). It also has utility in that you can make the walls horizontal to act as steps.

Depending on whether your GM allows you to get it as a generic spellcaster (which he should, as generic spellcaster grants access to all four class spell lists), Wings of Cover.

Parching Touch (Sandstorm page 118) and Corrosive Grasp are also great attack spells.

[herrhauptmann]

I'm personally of the opinion that gishes should be buffing themselves rather than debuffing the enemy (unless they use spells where lowered CL isn't an issue).

There's a homebrew class here, which has a lot of the best buff spells.
http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=212289
List.
1st- shield, protection from good, protection from chaos, protection from law, protection from evil, mage armor (treated as abjuration), mount, true strike, enlarge person, reduce person, magic weapon, feather fall, rhino's rush (SpC), claws of the bear (SpC), nightshield (SpC), ectoplasmic armor (SpC), benign transportation (SpC), blades of fire (SpC), arrow mind (SpC), critical strike (SpC), accelerated movement (SpC), cutting hand (SpC), ebon eyes (SpC), fist of stone (SpC), weapon shift (SpC), lesser deflect (PHB II), burning rage (PHB II), blade of blood (PHB II)

2nd- resist energy, protection from arrows, see invisibility, blur, invisibility, mirror image, false life, alter self, bear's endurance, bull's strength, cat's grace, eagle's splendor, fox's cunning, darkvision, levitate, owl's wisdom, spider climb, daggerspell stance (SpC), balancing lorecall (SpC), burning sword (SpC), veil of shadow (SpC), shadow mask (SpC), fearsome grapple (SpC), swift fly (SpC), ghost touch armor (SpC), heroics (SpC), lively step (SpC), snake's swiftness (SpC), speak to allies (SpC), surefooted stride (SpC), swim (SpC), whirling blade (SpC), wraithstrike (SpC), deflect (PHB II), dimension hop (PHB II), insight of good fortune (PHB II), sure strike (PHB II), master's touch (PHB II), animalistic power (PHB II), lesser celerity (PHB II), lesser energy surge (PHB II), increase virulence (PHB II), share talents (PHB II), stretch weapon (PHB II)

3rd- dispel magic, magic circle against law, magic circle against chaos, magic circle against evil, magic circle against good, nondetection, protection from energy, phantom steed, arcane sight, tongues, heroism, rage, displacement, invisibility sphere, blink, flame arrow, fly, gaseous form, haste, keen edge, greater magic weapon, water breathing, reverse arrows (SpC), greater mage armor (treated as abjuration) (SpC), mass mage armor (treated as abjuration) (SpC), regal procession (SpC), air breathing (SpC), amorphous form (SpC), bite of the wererat (SpC), deeper darkvision (SpC), diamondsteel (SpC), dolorous blow (SpC), dragonskin (SpC), giant's wrath (SpC), girallon's blessing (SpC), primal form (SpC), mass snake's swiftness (SpC), spiderskin (SpC), tremorsense (SpC), weapon of energy (SpC), weapon of impact (SpC), energy aegis (PHB II), dimension step (PHB II), regroup (PHB II), crown of might (PHB II), crown of protection (PHB II), energy surge (PHB II), menacing tentacles (PHB II)

4th- lesser globe of invulnerability, remove curse, stoneskin, dimension door, greater invisibility, mass enlarge person, mass reduce person, polymorph, dispelling screen (SpC), ray of deflection (SpC), greater resistance (SpC), mass resist energy (SpC), battle hymn (SpC), bite of the werewolf (SpC), mass darkvision (SpC), displacer form (SpC), entangling staff (SpC), flame whips (SpC), flight of the dragon (SpC), sharptooth (SpC), spell enhancer (SpC), greater mirror image (PHB II), celerity (PHB II), trollshape (PHB II)

5th- break enchantment, teleport, overland flight, contingent energy resistance (SpC), lesser ironguard (SpC), indomitability (SpC), greater dimension door (SpC), bite of the wereboar (SpC), greater blink (SpC), draconic might (SpC), dragonsight (SpC), greater enlarge person (SpC), fiendform (SpC), mass fly (SpC), gutsnake (SpC), nightstalker's transformation (SpC), greater reduce person (SpC)

6th- greater dispel magic, globe of invulnerability, true seeing, greater heroism, mass bear's endurance, mass bull's strength, mass cat's grace, mass eagle's splendor, mass owl's wisdom, mass fox's cunning, transformation, superior resistance (SpC), gemjump (SpC), howling chain (SpC), bite of the weretiger (SpC), brilliant blade (SpC), cloak of the sea (SpC), stone body (SpC), chasing perfection (PHB II), greater energy surge (PHB II)

7th- plane shift, greater teleport, greater arcane sight, power word blind, mass invisibility, ethereal jaunt, energy immunity (SpC), ironguard (SpC), kiss of the vampire (SpC), bite of the werebear (SpC), body of war (SpC), brilliant aura (SpC), elemental body (SpC), synostodweomer (SpC), mass animalistic power (PHB II)

8th-mind blank, protection from spells, moment of prescience, iron body, superior invisibility (SpC), heart of stone (SpC), ghostform (SpC), chain dispel (PHB II), greater celerity (PHB II)

9th- freedom, mage's disjunction, foresight, power word kill, shapechange, absorbtion (SpC), reaving dispel (SpC), dragonshape (PHB II), perfection*

New Spell, described below

Perfection
(Transmutation)
Gish 9
Components: V, S
Range: Personal
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Target: You
Duration: 1 minute/level

You gain a +8 enhancement bonus to each of your ability scores.