Transmuter

[Lujo]

And speaking about Mysteria, I don't think I've used burnin or the resist remove boon since forever. Not sure why, but it might be that her boons are a wee bit too expensive right now.

[Darvin]

Weakening is horrifically overpriced, and Flames is so double-edged that it's rare you'll ever want it. The hardest part is that Mystera is not a god you want to get stuck with in the end-game since she usually incurs significant piety loss during popcorn cleanup, has little in the way of piety gain post-exploration, and her only short-term boost boon (refreshment) can be carried across conversions anyways.

[Blovski]

I've used both those MA boons not too long ago (for PQI runs)... and that was with MA prepped as well... they are very specialist boons but they're still quite useful for specific builds.

[Nandrew]

Flames is a kind of "hey, walk this way, pure casters" kind of boon. I think it makes sense that only full casters get full use from Mystera.

And if you want to actually hop into her religion and just strike quickly with Flames, that's a viable tactic too. It'll even allow you to prep Mystera, because you won't be relying on her gradual piety gain nearly as much.

If we assume you have the luxury:

- Conduct early game worship as you will, being sure to convert to a suitable piety farm at whatever time is appropriate.
- Carry your piety farmer as far as you sensibly can through the boss conflict. Murder as much popcorn as possible, focusing on Magic Attack enemies first.
- You have two options: if you want to get Flames, you can safely convert to Mystera at minimum piety threshold. If you'd like to grab Refreshment as well, try converting at max piety (though it usually helps to have Pactmaker on standby, too).
- Resume the bossfight with a focus on draining your physical resources first (basically health and raw damage, though keep some spare handy if you're going B2P). Non-fireball spells may be used at your discretion, though sapping too much mana this way is wasteful. I'd typically be satisfied with repeat castings of Might (if in assistance of lowering magic resist) or maybe a lone cast of First Strike (used as a last-ditch to "pop off" the burning stack at end of combat).
- At this stage, it's time to click on Flames. You'll have, at minimum, 25 piety, and it should be incredibly easy to pull off a desecration at this point. Literally the only gods who can ruin your shit are GG (as always), JJ (50%), and Dracul (though hardly). Treat yourself to an extra mana point, too. If the situation is favourable, pick up Refreshment as well.
- The only god who needs to be considered really carefully in this is the Earthmother, who would work best as a late-game conversion after a sustained period of Mystera worship.

Among the Vicious dungeons, this tactic is actually quite feasible in Demonic Library and Namtar's Lair. It's not as favourable in Dragon Isles (where physical still has an upper hand, despite Curses) or Naga City (though, uhh, that place is kinda special). It's also decent in a fair number of scenarios Hard and below, though for critical analysis I try to size it up against stress-test dungeons.

[Lujo]

Well, that accounts for flames, although my issue with flames is that other stuff that gives you a +1 DMG per level for fireball (Battlemage Ring, Martyr Wraps) are quite a bit less demanding. Yes, flames can be used as a last-ditch effort, or dmg spike, but what you gainf for what you pay is silly compared to other things. Inventory space not being the issue, ofc. Having a third thing to stack with martyr wraps and battlemage ring is cool, but I'll almost always go for either refreshment or mystic balance if I'm looking to use Mysterea.

However, the Weakening is sort of logical in every respect except the cost, which is why it's easy to get into a habit of not even thinking aobut it being there (some of this has to do with Binlors -res boon being so cheap). Refreshment is also overpriced for what it does - the New EM provides global corrosion AND mana for a lot less effort/piety. Mystic balance... I don't know, it doesn't feel usefull for the investment, especially since you can't convert into MA with 100 and swipe it.

All of this stuff is uselfull, don't get me wrong, it just... costs too much piety for the benefit, and/or is outclassed by other options.

[Lujo]

Incidentaly, I just used Weakening for the first time since I remember. I beat a Grim's Grotto Bleaty with a Halfling wizard dedicated MA worshipper. Had to give up killing magic users, and was only lvl 6 at the end, but it afforded me 3 hits of Weakening and Refreshment with all the glyphs saved up. Yin Yang for the Whoopaz hit, and fireball ftw. Had Martyr Wraps so I didn't need burning (had the Battlemage ring as well, but no money).

Still, weakening could've started at 10 less piety I guess, and even that wouldn't've allowed me one more hit of it. It's really powerfull in the right situation, obviously, but might not catch on easily beause of the prohibitive looking cost.

[Darvin]

The only class I use flames with currently is the Assassin, who can ignore the penalty when it comes time to clean up popcorn. For everyone else, that boon is a total desperation move.

[Abraxas]

I dunno, sometimes it's nice to just go for the full caster route even if you're playing a class that could go for a physical/magical mix. There's value in just being able to forego your physical resources.
I've been playing the Sorcerer a lot lately, and I actually find myself using Flames with him fairly often, despite being a class clearly built for mixed fighting. Though it helps that with the mana shield, the Flames penalty doesn't hit him as hard.

[The Avatar]

I always use it RIGHT after I run out of popcorn. It's actually kind of nice.

[booooooze]

Having just played through the kingdom again, I'd like to applaud the efforts of the devs. Sure, I have my preferred classes, but it was good to get a reminder about everything. That there is any semblance of balance across 15 significantly different classes, 8(.5) gods, and countless items is testament to a whole lot of work. As an example, I hadn't worshiped Taurog in months, but he was the only god I had for a long time in my new kingdom... and you can destroy normal and hard dungeons with Taurog. Mana burn? pssh.

I don't really have a point, just a comment that I've really enjoyed the game, and continue to.