Pyromancy is one of the wizardry disciplines of spellcasting. Most pyromancy spells belong to the paths of fire or creation, but a few belong to other paths. Most pyromancy spells involve fire or lightning in some way, and offensive spells outnumber defensive ones.
Pyromancy tends to be the most destructive of the spell schools, and many enemies throughout the game are susceptible to fire or electric spells that can sweep rooms with ease. Early on enemies with fire weaknesses such as undead are also more common than weaknesses to cold or magic, so Pyromancy makes for an extremely useful skill to train to raise your maximum mana (which is based in part on the highest level of your wizardry skills). Sure, Pyromancy will tend to destroy most of the items in rooms, but this is entirely intentional and its destructiveness simply balances out how Pyromancy is at taking down dangerous targets quickly. If you're worried about collecting items, consider using lightning spells which can be controlled more, or try to take down targets with physical attacks. Or, use other safe options such as Holy Word, Bullet type spells from other spell schools, and so on.
Dragon and fireborn characters seem like naturals for this skill, while trolls and wraiths may wish to avoid it, since their natural vulnerability to fire could make it dangerous for them to use. Devourers are repelled by Fire, so they will be unable to cast many pyromancy spells until achieving a few levels in the skill or forming a party with a pyromancer and sharing experience points (XP).
The pyromancy skill is acquired by learning the skill from a scroll or by having a talisman of pyromancy.
This is a complete list of the pyromancy spells1), sorted by level.
| Level: | 1 | SP: | 6 | Path: | Electricity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, electricity | Sources: | books, rods, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | Fires a small, short-lived bolt of electricity towards a target. Will bounce off walls, damaging the enemy every time it bounces, and potentially going back towards the caster. | ||||
| Notes: | Firing the bolt in such a way that it passes over a target and bounces off a wall will cause it to take massive damage due to the bolt hitting in both directions! While damaging, in the hands of an enemy it's not quite as threatening so long as there's room to sidestep the bolts. This spell can be reflected if the tip of the bolt hits a target with reflection. Note that as with any reflectable bolt or beam spells, if you have an amulet of reflect spells and you step into the middle of an already active bolt, you'll take full damage! | ||||
| Level: | 1 | SP: | 5 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, fire | Sources: | books, rods, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | Shoots a cone of fire in front of the caster that burns everything it touches to a crisp. Pierces through crowds, making it very effective for rapidly sweeping foes in a room. As with all cone spells, the caster can spin around and fire it in a short-ranged circle around them with the “stay fire” command. This spell increases in strength as the caster's level grows, so it remains a powerful spell even at high levels. | ||||
| Notes: | Can't be reflected, and unlike fireballs that explode on the first target they hit Burning Hands goes deep into crowds, making it very effective for rapidly sweeping foes in a room. Also tends to be rather destructive, burning up items quickly! If you're on the receiving end of this spell it's very hard to dodge due to how wide it is, so try to get behind cover, attack from a distance, or use fire resistance to soak the hits. | ||||
| Level: | 1 | SP: | 6 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, fire | Sources: | books, rods, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | A ball of fire shoots in the direction of the caster and explodes when it hits something. Very long range, but can be reflected back at the caster by some enemies. Don't stand too close or you'll get caught in the blast! | ||||
| Notes: | |||||
| Level: | 2 | SP: | 9 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, fire | Sources: | books, rods, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | A thin ray of fire shoots out from the spellcaster, doing fire damage to all enemies caught within. Don't run forward into it, or you'll get singed. | ||||
| Notes: | Note that it's reflectable, and some enemies will bounce it back at you. Tends to be weaker than lightning spells are because it can't bounce back off walls and hit twice, assuming element resists are equal. Because it's more focused compared to Burning Hands or Fireball spells, it's useful when you want fire damage but want to minimize how many items get burned. | ||||
| Level: | 3 | SP: | 10 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, fire | Sources: | books, rods, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | A ball of fire which shoots in the direction of the caster and explodes when it hits something. | ||||
| Level: | 4 | SP: | 10 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | N/A | Sources: | books | ||
| In-Game Description: | Creates a rune which explodes into fire when stepped on. | ||||
| Level: | 4 | SP: | 10 | Path: | Light |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | N/A | Sources: | books, scrolls | ||
| In-Game Description: | Causes all creatures near the caster to glow. It may also have other effects…. This is the only pyromancy spell which belongs to the Light path. | ||||
| Level: | 4 | SP: | 13 | Path: | Electricity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, electricity | Sources: | books, rods, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | A massively upgraded version of small lightning, firing a much longer and more powerful beam of electricity that hits many times. Can bounce off the walls repeatedly for a long time before dissipating. | ||||
| Notes: | Extremely powerful if you get it to bounce off walls and hit the same target multiple times. That's so long as the target doesn't move around a whole lot; wider spells are better for that kind of thing. | ||||
| Level: | 5 | SP: | 16 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, fire | Sources: | books, rods, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | A bullet of fire which shoots in the direction of the caster and explodes into a large area of fire when it hits something. Make sure you have plenty of room to get out of the way. | ||||
| Level: | 6 | SP: | 5 | Path: | Creation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, fire | Sources: | books | ||
| In-Game Description: | Creates a line of fires in front of the caster. Creatures crossing the line will take fire damage. Casting the spell multiple times on the same area will increase the damage to anything crossing the fire. | ||||
| Level: | 6 | SP: | 10 | Path: | Detonation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | physical | Sources: | books, rods, scrolls, wands | ||
| In-Game Description: | Creates a bomb on the ground in the direction the spell is fired. The bomb detonates after a few seconds, causing physical explosive damage to nearby creatures and firing shrapnel beyond that range. | ||||
| Notes: | This is the spell used by wild pyromaniacs, and to evade it you'll need to run a fair distance away to escape the blast area. Effective on a variety of enemies that are resistant to fire and electricity but will take physical damage if your melee capabilities are really weak. | ||||
| Level: | 8 | SP: | 14 | Path: | Electricity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | magic, electricity | Sources: | books | ||
| In-Game Description: | This spell inscribes a near-invisible rune upon the ground. A creature stepping on the rune will take electrical damage. | ||||
| Level: | 8 | SP: | 13 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | fire | Sources: | |||
| In-Game Description: | Like the standard fireball spell, this spell shoots a bullet of fire, which explodes into a large area of fire when it hits something. However, the hellfire is special, being powerful enough to effect even enemies normally immune to the effects of magic. | ||||
| Notes: | Unlike lower level fire spells, it's not considered to be magic and fire type damage, instead being purely fire elemental. This means it can hit things that spells that are fully or partially magic elemental would otherwise be immune to such as beholders, skulls, living trees, and so on. | ||||
| Level: | 8 | SP: | 15 | Path: | Missiles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | weaponmagic (direct hit), fire (flames) | Sources: | |||
| In-Game Description: | The caster generates a terrifyingly large ball of rock and flame, sending it streaking as a comet towards the enemy to detonate in a massive explosion. The comet and the flames the explosion creates are strong enough to damage many enemies otherwise immune to lesser forms of magic. | ||||
| Notes: | The comets produce a hilariously large explosion, far larger than standard fireball spells. The comet itself deals Weaponmagic damage on a direct hit, a special element reserved usually for certain rare artifact weapons that few enemies resist, and the flames deal pure Fire damage, meaning they work against targets immune to weaker spells that deal magic + fire/elec damage. Can be used to sweep rooms full of enemies at a distance, or damage single targets that are otherwise resistant to most common elements. It's difficult to express just how useful this spell is, and it's also obtainable fairly early on if you know where to look and ask about quests. It's also useful for destroying items in a room if the enemies have the habit of pickup up their dropped spellbooks and wands and using them against you! Like other fireball type spells, it can be reflected, but it's still very useful against targets that reflect spells as you can simply fire this at walls to catch them in the flames indirectly. | ||||
| Level: | 10 | SP: | 18 | Path: | Detonation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | physical, magic | Sources: | books | ||
| In-Game Description: | This spell inscribes a near-invisible rune upon the ground. A creature stepping on the rune will take physical and magical damage. | ||||
| Level: | 12 | SP: | 5 | Path: | Creation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | N/A | Sources: | books | ||
| In-Game Description: | Creates a special rune which encapsulates another spell, which is not required to be a fire spell. When any creature steps on the rune, the encapsulated spell is cast on the creature. | ||||
| Level: | 12 | SP: | 13 | Path: | Fire |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | fire | Sources: | |||
| In-Game Description: | The pyromancer channels the rage and power of a mighty dragon to breathe out a giant torrent of flames in a wide cone. The fire is so potent and pure that it can blaze through the defenses of enemies normally immune to magic. | ||||
| Notes: | Pure fire element version of Burning Hands with way more damage per casting. Rather damaging, but Comet tends to be a bit more efficient in terms of the ratio of Mana spent compared to damage dealt if you can hit with the Comets directly. Can't be reflected, so it's useful against targets that reflect spells. | ||||
| Level: | 12 | SP: | 30 | Path: | Missiles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | weaponmagic (direct hits), fire (flames) | Sources: | |||
| In-Game Description: | An exceptionally strong spell that fires multiple comets in the direction you choose. Be careful not to step into the swarm. | ||||
| Level: | 14 | SP: | 40 | Path: | Creation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | N/A | Sources: | books | ||
| In-Game Description: | Creates a wall section that fires lightning bolts. The bolts are fired in the direction the spell was cast. The wall can be torn down by creates, or it will expire after a set period of time. | ||||
| Level: | 16 | SP: | 45 | Path: | Creation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attack Types: | N/A | Sources: | books | ||
| In-Game Description: | Creates a wall section that shoots fireballs. These fireballs behave just like normal fireballs. The wall can be torn down by creatures, or it will expire after a set period of time. | ||||