Many Spells and Traits in Gems of War buff one or more Allies on your team, either by boosting their Skills or by applying positive Status Effects. That sounds pretty simple and straightforward – but I have to admit, I managed to misunderstand it when I started playing. Why? Well, it comes down to one question:
Am I my own Ally?
That sounds deeply philosophical, but it’s not. The question is, when something affects one or more Allies, is the casting Troop eligible for the effect? My immediate reaction was no: allies are the other members of your team; that’s how I use the word IRL. In fact, the game interprets ‘Ally’ as referring to all members of your team. So the caster is eligible. A small but significant difference that in particular makes ‘All Allies’ effects more powerful than they might at first seem.
One very interesting situation is where a Troop’s spell increases the Magic of one or more Allies. Take for example the Epic rarity Troop Isban: This increases the magic of a random Ally. So if the RNG picks Isban as the recipient a few times, you can get a very nice power spiral.