Timing Guide

Contributed by Bloodsong

Combat in Materia Magica revolves around the concept of timing. Successful fighting tends to require a certain feel for the time elapsed in combat, and knowing if you have enough time left in a round to cast a certain spell can make or break a battle. One of the reasons that ooze evocation, for example, is used so often is that it screws up an opponent's timing, usually makes them overcast one round, and saves that player from a spell in the round after. Even bashing takes a bit of timing - bash too late in a round, and there's a greater chance of losing one or more attacks and/or a defense.

Rounds in Materia Magica come once every three seconds. In order to get any of the attacks in a round, one needs to not be casting during said round. Thus, with proper practice, spells which take one to three seconds can be used between rounds with no offsetting penalties. However, some of the more powerful spells, such as earth invocation, telekinetic explosion, and web, take four seconds to cast, making it so, when cast during battle, they usually do more harm than good, especially the all-important healing spells. This is generally where the donation item 'An Amulet of Spell Delivery' comes in, which reduces the casting time of all four-second spells to three seconds, making them worthwhile to cast during combat.

In Alyria, a tick comes every 15 seconds, or every five rounds. This generally comes into play a couple of ways: telling when effects are going to wear off, telling when other players are going to regenerate, knowing when poison damage is going to take effect. It can also be useful if you're fighting a player that continually cures your plague; if you know how to plague him right before the tick happens, he'll still have poor regeneration, and he'll just waste sp trying to cure it every time. Tick timing, while harder to keep track of than round timing, can still be an important part of combat, albeit one that most people don't keep track of.

The following is a list of spells by timing and class. Note that I've only listed the spells that can be cast while in combat.

One Second Spells

Magic Dart (Wizard, Ranger)

Two Second Spells

Cause Light (Monk, Priest, Shaman)
Chill Touch (Witch, old wizards*)
Counterspell (Paladin, Monk, Wizard, Ranger, Shaman, Priest)
Cure Light (Paladin, Monk, Priest, Shaman, Bard)
Faerie Fire (Ranger, Monk, Shaman, Fey, Sidhe)
Fire Invocation (Druid)
Lightning Bolt (Ranger, Wizard, Bard)
Magma Invocation (Druid)
Ooze Invocation (Druid)
Poison (Wizard, Monk, Priest, Shaman, Witch)
Radiance Invocation (Druid)
Refresh (Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Bard)
Shocking Grasp (Wizard)
Spark (Wizard, Ranger, Monk)
Steam Invocation (Druid)
Telekinetic Bash (Psionic)
Telekinetic Punch (Psionic)
Water Invocation (Druid)


Three Second Spells

Acid Blast (Wizard, Ranger)
Air Evocation (Druid)
Air Invocation (Druid)
Ash Invocation (Druid)
Blindness (Wizard, Monk, Witch, Bard)
Call Lightning (Priest, Shaman)
Cause Critical (Priest, Shaman, Bard)
Cause Serious (Monk, Priest, Shaman)
Color Spray (Wizard, Ranger)
Cure Blindness (Paladin, Monk, Priest, Shaman)
Cure Critical (Paladin, Priest, Shaman)
Cure Serious (Paladin, Monk, Priest, Shaman)
Curse (Wizard, Monk, Priest, Shaman, Witch)
Dispel Magic (Wizard, Ranger, Monk)
Disrupt Sight (Psionic)
Dust Invocation (Druid)
Earth Evocation (Druid)
Energy Drain (Wizard) (assumed to be 3 seconds)
Enervation (Wizard)
Fire Evocation (Druid)
Fireball (Wizard, Ranger, Bard)
Frost (Wizard, Ranger, Bard)
Harm (Priest, Shaman, Witch)
Ice Evocation (Druid)
Ice Invocation (Druid)
Iceball (Wizard, Ranger)
Irritation (Psionic)
Lightning Evocation (Druid)
Minerals Evocation (Druid)
Minerals Invocation (Druid)
Ooze Evocation (Druid)
Plague (Wizard, Monk, Priest, Shaman, Witch)
Salt Evocation (Druid)
Smoke Evocation (Druid)
Smoke Invocation (Druid)
Spook (Psionic)
Steam Evocation (Druid)
Telekinetic Pierce (Psionic)
Telekinetic Slash (Psionic)
Telesmatic Force (Psionic)
Transference (Psionic)
Tremor (Monk, Priest, Shaman, Bard)
Vacuum Invocation (Druid)
Weaken (Wizard, Bard)

Four Second Spells

Calm (Paladin, Monk, Priest, Shaman, Bard)
Chain Lightning (Archon)
Earth Invocation (Druid)
Flame Wind (Wizard, Ranger, Bard)
Hands of Wind (wizard, Monk, Ranger, Bard)
Heal (Priest, Shaman)
Hinder (Bard)
Ice Whip (Archon)
Ice Wind (Wizard, Ranger)
Kill (Wizard)
Leech (Witch)
Mental Disruption (Psionic)
Mesmerize (Psionic)
Reflective Fireball (Archon)
Salt Invocation (Druid)
Silence (Wizard, Monk)
Slow (Wizard, Monk)
Telekinetic Explosion (Psionic)
Telekinetic Wave (Psionic)
Thunderclap (Wizard, Bard)
Vacuum Evocation (Druid)
Water Evocation (Druid)
web (Wizard, Ranger)


Uncertain at this time

Any witch spell not mentioned above
Any other spell not mentioned above

*Necromancers and possibly sorcerers originally received this spell, and any characters present during the conversion to wizard retain the use of this spell, so it's conceivable you could see it at some point from a non-witch.