Level 8 Spells

Level 8 spells are the ultimate in spellcasting and require expensive components, high levels of skill, and quite a bit of time.  Don't expect to be casting these spells until  you are 180+ or so, partially because of the difficulty, but also because of the difficulty in gathering the necessary components.

What Do You Need?

To create any level 8 spell, you will need a quill, a mana scarab, an ink, and a glyph.  Each component (except for the mana scarab) shapes the finalized spell, determining the type, the target, the damage type, and the manner in which it travels.  Here are the specifics:

Quills

There are four types of quill - Introspection, Benevolence, Infliction, and Extraction.  To be used in spell creation, you will need to use the quill on a mana scarab (available in the Society HQs or at the Black Markets).  Introspection quills are used to create self spells - Life Protects, Creature buffs, and restoration spells.  Benevolence quills are used to create beneficial spells to be cast on targets other than yourself.  Note however that there are no Life Others or Creature Others, so Benevolence quills are only used to make positive Item spells, restorative other spells (Heal Other, Revitalize Other), and dispel other spells.  Infliction spells make offensive spells targeted against others, including war spells, life and critter debuffs, Harms and Festers, negative Item spells (lures, etc), and War spells.  Last, but not least, is the Extraction quill.  These quills make drains.  Introspection and Infliction quills are the most common, followed by Benevolence and then Infliction quills (the last of which is quite rare).

Inks

Once you have an infused quill, it's time to choose which ink you are going to add.  There are a total of 9 inks, some far more useful than others.  The most valuable (to most people, anyway) is Formation ink.  Formation ink can only be used with Introspection quills and creates self buffs and restoration self spells (Heal, Revitalize).  Conveyance ink can be used with any quill but Introspection quills and selects another monster or person as the target, which allows you to make Critter debuffs and Life vulns, harms, and festers.  Objectification ink creates item spells of all sorts.  Nullification ink makes dispels, both self and others.  The other 5 types of inks make war spells.  The most useful are Parabolic and Direction.  Not surprisingly, Parabolic ink makes arcs and Direction ink makes bolts.  The other types, Alacritous, Partition, and Separation make Streaks, Blasts, and Volleys respectively.  Formation, Conveyance, and Objectification inks are relatively common, followed by Nullification ink.  The 5 types of war inks are all quite uncommon, especially the parabolic ink.

Glyphs

Glyphs are rather self-explanatory for the most part.  Use your inked quill on a glyph to complete your spell and produce a scroll.  I'm not going to insult your intelligence by listing the painfully obvious combinations (like introspection + formation + strength glyph = Strength Self), but there are a few spells that aren't readily apparent.  Here are the tricky ones:

• Benevolence + Objectification + Mana Conversion = Hermetic Link
• Benevolence + Objectification + Quickness = Swift Killer
• Benevolence + Objectification + Coordination = Heart Seeker
• Infliction + Objectification + Lockpick = Weaken Lock
• Introspection + Nullification + Life/Creature = Dispel Self (switch in a Benevolence glyph to make the other spell)

So What Do These Spells Do?

How much better are VIIIs over VIIs?  The difference isn't huge, but every little bit helps, right?  The other major change is that VIIIs last for an hour and a half without augmentations.  With augmentations, your spells can last up to three hours!