Hipster Mage build

Yeah I just wanted to be sure.

 

After playing around with it for a while, I'm surprised at how powerful Psionics is. Unless my opponent has heavy fire resistance (in which case I can charm them), Pyrokinesis just rips through them.

 

yeah about that build, can you tell me the lvl up order of the main skills?

 

Whichever suits your fancy. There are at least two ways to level that build up well (likely more than just two), depending on your playing style.

 

Sure.
Lv1: Tourist.
Lv 2: Mathemagic
Lv 3-6: Psyonics
Lv 7-8: Magic Training

That's the core of the build, at least how I did it. After that, you can do pretty much anything you want. If you don't share Urthdigger's aversion to mods, I still suggest taking Wild Magic and putting at least 2 points into it, for the 33 Haywire. That plus Certamen Circle plus what you naturally get as you level up adds up to 100 pretty easily. Probably even max it out- you're casting a lot of spells, and those wild magics can be helpful.

 

I finished the game for the first time now with a build that fits your description. First playthrough. No mods, no expansions. Rogue/Permadeath.

Psionics: First maxed out. Staple combo: Nerve Staple -> Pyrokinesis (at later levels -> Pyrokinesis -> Pyrokinesis). Psychokinetic Shove for anything that came close, or to get items on islands.
Ley Walker: Maxed out second. I think I used the teleport total of four times in the game. Two of them was against Dredmor.
Astrology: Maxed out third. Kept all the buffs active all the time. Massively abused Solar Inscription, see below. Only used Blinding Flash against enemies at very low health, or when they were already paralyzed one square diagonal from me. Also never used Stars Aligned with un-paralyzed enemies adjacent.
Magic Training: Maxed out fourth. Thaumoentropic Missile was decent throughout the game, and completely awesome against Dredmor.
Perception: Total of three points, for three squares of trap detection.
Blood Magic: Final two points before I beat the game, since I didn't have anywhere else to put them.
Viking Magic: Never leveled it, so I never used it. Switch out for anything else you might find useful.

When I started getting mana in spades (Ley Walker, Magic Training, Blood Magic + regen on gear) and two points in Astrology, I changed my tactic. Short version: I painted the floor with Solar Inscriptions whenever my mana was >75%. Also all squares around me before opening doors. This had two uses:

1. I could effectively damage enemies while backtracking, as long as I lead them on top of my traps. Apart from unmitigated damage, this also gave a decent chance to stun them.
2. After clearing around 1/4 of a floor, I would regularly start getting XP for enemies I'd never even seen, as they spawned and walked into my random Solar Inscriptions somewhere on the map.

Used a similar tactic against Dredmor. Kept him silenced with Magic Training lvl 2 spell two times, then had him walk through 15-20 solar inscriptions before he was dead. Each of them hit for about 30 righteous damage. He never hit me with anything at all. I would've been decently safe even if the silence had been resisted, had about 80 magic resist and 5 spell reflect.

The reason why I didn't use a more "effective" build was because I wasn't awfully familiar with the game when I made the character. It took me ages to realize I could close doors, and at that point I really didn't need to anymore.

 

Using the ESCRII?