Effective Communion?

[Cainehill]

So try having a plan for how to use it. Think of all those battlefield spells that normally, the only way you could cast it is with your pretender (or unique summons) because it requires 5, 6, 7 levels in a path : Armies of Gold / Lead, Bone Grinding, Mists of Deceptions, Soul Drain, Master Enslave, Undead Mastery, etc. (Note that some of these are easier to cast with CB 5.2, other spells are now harder.)

Going from being unable to cast a powerful spell to being able to cast it is a pretty effective use of Communion. Likewise, being able to cast more powerful offensive magics, at a lower fatigue cost - especially handy with spells whose damage and AoE both go up with magic power.

[Tom_Scudder]

I think casting Bone Grinding using wimpy communion slaves is contraindicated. (Golems and Gygjas, maybe).

[PDF]

Tom_Scudder said:
I think casting Bone Grinding using wimpy communion slaves is contraindicated. (Golems and Gygjas, maybe).

For that you can use undead mages with slave matrixes

[Oversway]

Remember that another effect of the high spell levesl from communion is you can get a higher penetration bonus on your spells - so spells that can be resisted by MR (soul slay, paralyze, etc.) can be more effective. Also, since you have a bigger fatigue pool, you can cast the spell multiple times.

[Vicious Love]

PDF said:

For that you can use undead mages with slave matrixes

Bone Grinding affects undead, only ethereal troops are resistant. Unless Fog Warriors confers a similar effect, Bone Grinding is one of the few spells that simply should not be cast with communicants. Unless said communicants are uber-tough hybrid communicant/thugs, which get the added perk of being easily buffed through the communion.

[Cainehill]

Which is why you cast Body Ethereal first, making your communicants ethereal - since we're talking the ethereal communicant spell, that's trivial.

[thejeff]

Communion Master, Body Ethereal, Bone Grinding?

If it doesn't affect ethereal troops...

And of course, moments before I push enter on this, Cainehill does the same

[Graeme Dice]

thejeff said:
Communion Master, Body Ethereal, Bone Grinding?

Body ethereal is a targeted effect, and doesn't affect communion slaves unless it is directly cast on them in my experience.

[Oversway]

Yeah body etheral won't do it. Maybe iron will or magic resistance and hope the odds work for you?

Probably communion and bone grinding is a less feasible pairing than most of the other examples given.