The Depths of Darkhollow expansion has expanded researchers' arsenal of recipes to include some spells for levels 61 through 65. These include spells from the Planes of Power and Gates of Discord expansions. They are not all of the spells from those expansions, but don't miss much. (The most notable exceptions are the imbue spells from PoP, which are still made from the no fail recipes we've been using.) In accordance with the greater power and rarity of these spells, the process for making them is considerably more complicated than those previously available to researchers.

There are five categories of ingredients involved, each of which varies depending on what spell you are trying to make. In general, each recipe has one parchment, one quill, one additive, one thickener, and between one and five inks. A few recipes also call for Highland Sludge Drying Powder. Also, spells which require a reagent to cast also use one of that reagent in the recipe for the spell.

We are loading the precise recipes for these spells into our database as they are reported to us. You can see what we have so far in the Spells for Levels 61-65 recipe list. You can also use our Spell Research forum to discuss with other researchers. If you find something new, please report it to the Data Submissions forum. (Just remember that the Data Submissions forum is only for facts for the database; questions and discussion, including what doesn't work, belong in the other forums like Spell Research.) And of course, the in game books are the official sources of instructions and may have useful hints beyond what's here at the moment. Good luck!

While the properties of the various ingredients are below, I recommend checking the database for the recipe for any specific spell you wish to make before attempting. The ingredients involved have a very diverse range of attributes, so it may be difficult to predict which to use until you are very familiar with the system. As some of them have very similar recipes, using just one wrong ingredient could make a completely different spell.

Spell Research Kit

All of the recipes here for researchers, for both the spells and their subcombines, are made in a Spell Research Kit. This is used by all four classes of researchers, and can be bought from the vendor Merchant Model CGXIV at -359, 186 in Corathus Creep.

Parchments

Of all of these ingredients, the parchments will probably be the hardest and/or most expensive ingredient to acquire, particularly for the highest level spells. The parchment you use is based on the level of the spell (that is, the lowest level at which any class can use it). The parchments drop off of creatures in a raw form and must be cleaned up using the appropriate recipes. Those cleaning recipes follow this pattern:

[finished type] Parchment = [dropped type] Parchment + [finished type] Parchment Solution + Celestial Cleanser

The levels for each type of parchment, plus their dropped names, finished names, and solutions are as follows:

The recipes for the cleanser and solutions are complicated. Click on one to see its details and use the recipe trees at the bottom to see how the subcombines all work. Note that any of the subcombines for solutions that uses Oil of Vitrol will return a Dirty Empty Vial. These can be cleaned into regular Empty Vials again by combining them with Vials of Pure Water, if you wish.

Quills

The quills are very straightforward. Usually, you will need one of the quill that corresponds to the class that uses the spell. The quill names match the level 65 titles for the class. For example, the quill for a bard song is the Quill of the Maestro, while the quill for a shaman spell is the Quill of the Prophet. Where a spell becomes available to more than one class in the 61-65 range, use the class that gets it at the lowest level. If more than one class gets it at the same, lowest level, you will use one of three additional quills: Quill of the Arcane, Quill of the Divine, and Quill of the Knight. Which quill is used depends on the classes concerned.

Quills are made by combining A Quill with two treatments. The treatments reflect the nature of the class that quill will work for, whether caster, healer, or melee (to some degree); and the general types of spells used by that class. The A Quill ingredient (same as used in other research) and treatments are all sold by vendors. You can find the recipes for them by searching for the quill you want in the database.

Additives

The additive you use depends on the resistance the spell uses. They are bought directly from vendors. The additives and their properties are as follows:

Thickeners

Thickeners reflect the general type of spell you are making, such as single target buff, area effect buff, single target heal, area effect direct damage, etc. They are made by combining two gems with a herb. All of the gems and herbs required are sold by vendors. They also are made in batches of 40, so that if you use all of them these end up quite inexpensive. You can find the recipe for them by searching for the thickener you want in the database. The thickeners and their spell types are:

Inks

There are a dizzying array of inks which, like the thickeners and additives, reflect the properties of the spell you are making. They are made by combining various powders and pigments with a Vial of Pure Water. Some inks take only either one powder or pigment, while others use up to two powders and one pigment. The powders and pigments are sold by vendors. You can find the recipes by searching for the ink you want in the database. The general spell properties of the inks are listed below, but bear in mind that spells that don't clearly have these properties may require some creative thinking:

Highland Sludge Drying Powder

This particular ingredient is only used in a handful of spells, usually in cases where the recipe would otherwise be identical to another.

Highland Sludge Drying Powder requires the raw ingredient Sample of Highland Sludge that drops in the higher zones of Gates of Discord. You must have it turned into Sample of Refined Highland Sludge, which can be done either by the alchemy vendor Jorlan Hegeway in Abysmal Sea, or by a shaman who has completed the quest given by Jorlan or his fellow vendor Lita Hegeway. If you have Jorlan do your refining, you will get two refined samples back. A shaman who has completed the quest will produce one, two, or three, depending on how many times they have done it (with either Highland Sludge or Taelosian Sludge). After enough attempts, a shaman will be able to always get three refined samples back, making them the most efficient source of your Samples of Refined Highland Sludge. For more information on this process, whether by shaman or Jorlan, see the Gates of Discord Progressive Quests guide, particularly the alchemy collect and freebie quests.

Once you have your refined sludge, you combine it in your Spell Research Kit with a Gnomish Heat Source (sold by vendors) to get Highland Sludge Drying Powder.

Pet Reagents

In cases where a spell's effect is to summon a pet, and the spell uses a reagent in the process, you will need to include one of those reagents in making the spell. These are common things like bone chips or malachite, and therefore should be easily acquired.