Best duskblade spell list?

[Shadowbane13]

What are the best spells to pick as a duskblade? I know you learn em basically one at a time but what's the preferred ones?

[Troacctid]

Different spells are useful in different situations, so it's not as simple as picking the four "best" spells of each level. It depends on what you're trying to do. Of course, there are some standouts--e.g. you're almost always taking Shocking Grasp for channeling, and Dimension Door and Disintegrate are clear winners for 4th and 5th level spells respectively.

[gorfnab]

Do you have a Duskblade build in mind? Otherwise I would recommend checking out the Duskblade's Handbook (http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=j4rjq3g6ldr7ti5661pd082c61&topic=8696).

[ManicOppressive]

Like others have said, it depends on what your build looks like, but some standouts:

Level 1:

Shocking Grasp - One of the few spells that literally every Duskblade should have. Level 1 spell, adds up to 5d6 damage in a pretty good elemental type to your swings. Always, always, always.

Chill Touch - Doesn't scale like Shocking Grasp, but still viable for its strength damage and the fact that you get more than one hit per cast.

Color Spray - Not a touch attack. Still a very good spell in general. I don't know of many casters who DON'T want Color Spray in their level 1 list.

Expeditious Retreat, Swift - Literally a straight upgrade from another, equally leveled spell, and great for the exact opposite of retreating.

Level 2:

Cat's Grace/Bull's Strength - Whichever covers your primary stat. Buffs are good.

Dimension Hop - The second spell that every Duskblade ever should have. Nothing like hitting someone so hard they fall through the fabric of reality.

Invisibility, Swift - Same page as Color Spray--not in any way uniquely useful to Duskblades, just a really good spell.

Fly, Swift - See invisibility.

Level 3:

Vampiric Touch - Pretty much the only good straight damage spell in 2nd, 3rd, or 4th levels.

Dispelling Touch - Nothing like hitting someone so hard you knock the spell off of them.

Level 4:

Dispel Magic - Another general utility, blah blah not specific to Duskblade, blah blah really important spell. Sometimes you want to dispel an effect WITHOUT beating the crap out of the thing it's affecting.

Dimension Door - Number 3 on the "Yes you are getting this spell, no questions asked, just do it." list. Specifies willing creatures which gives it less straight combat ability than Dimension Hop, but you can still bat objects around at people.

Level 5:

Disintegrate - Last on the mandatory list, because yes, you can cast Disintegrate through your attacks.

Hold Monster - General utility.



Those are the spells that I feel no one is going to contest being good additions. Beyond those, it's just about how much utility casting you expect to be doing.

One little side note, it is definitely worth grabbing Extra Spell: Haste.

[Khedrac]

Cat's Grace/Bull's Strength - Whichever covers your primary stat. Buffs are good.
Usually a waste of time - most characters will have an enhancement bonus item for those stats they need. You only get a few spells so don't waste one that can be replicated by a common item.


Dispel Magic - Another general utility, blah blah not specific to Duskblade, blah blah really important spell. Sometimes you want to dispel an effect WITHOUT beating the crap out of the thing it's affecting.
if at all possibly avoid this spell. It is capped at 10th level for the dispelling level and the earliest you can get the spell is 13th. In short it will very rarely work on your opponent's spells (or your allies). Unless there is no primary caster in the party with this, get something that might work and let them to the ranged dispelling.


Disintegrate - Last on the mandatory list, because yes, you can cast Disintegrate through your attacks.
And while it may be a common house-rule, by RAW no, you cannot cast disintergrate through your attacks - you can only channel touch spells and that is not the same thing as ranged touch (which is what disintergrate is).
This is one of the main reasons why arcane strike is usually a must-have feat for duskblades - pretty much all of your higher level offensive spells cannot be channelled.

[Waazraath]

Given the limited amount of spells known, I'd look for ways to get more. There are quite some ways to do that, for example the bloodline feats in dragon compendium, or the sandshaper class from Sandstorm.

[Troacctid]

if at all possibly avoid this spell. It is capped at 10th level for the dispelling level and the earliest you can get the spell is 13th. In short it will very rarely work on your opponent's spells (or your allies). Unless there is no primary caster in the party with this, get something that might work and let them to the ranged dispelling.

Yeah, there's really very little reason to take Dispel Magic as a 4th level spell when you can take Dispelling Touch as a 3rd level spell. Being channelable makes the 3rd level version just straight better most of the time, and while the range and the counterspell/area dispel options are kind of nice to have, they're not worth spending an extra known spell on a redundant effect, especially several levels after you've hit the caster level cap.