Personally, I think Fire sucks. If I'm going up against the Orcs, I may cosider taking it because of the protection against Red dragons, or if there's lots of lava rivers in
the underground.
I generally stay away from death or life magic. If I'm going against the undead, I'll take at least one sphere to get rejuvination to combat those nasty reapers.
The third level Death spell, Animate Ruins, is awesome because you don't have to wait around to migrate cities. Just raze and rebuild! Plus, your hero gets the experience from the units that appear from the razing.
I always, always, always take at least 1 water sphere for Healing Water spell. This spell should really have been a Level 2 spell because it's just too powerful, but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I also like the other water spells. Liquid Form is fantastic for your melee hero as it provides protection from physical attacks and swimming. The hardest decsion for me is to then take Air or Earth spells? I used to favor air, because I LOVED "Haste" and "Summon Great Eagle" is fantastic for exploring and annoying your enemies by capturing their mines and power nodes. I've been using Earth more lately, though, because I like Gold Rush, Stone Skin and ever since [This message has been edited by Angel Draco (edited 07-20-2001 @ 07:29 PM).]
discovered that you can cast Freemovement on ships, well, that totally rocks! The poor-man's air galley! I also like the Enchanted Roads spell, and flatten earth can be a surprised to your enemies and also increase the gold production of cities against mountains.