Dice are the resource
In SpellRogue you do not spend mana — you roll dice and place them into spell sockets. Every cast is paid for by dice you choose to commit. The Sockets page is explicit: spells mainly require Dice to cast, with Potions, Rituals and Artifacts as the exceptions that reduce or remove the dice cost.
What a roll can do
A single die can do more than fill one socket:
- Pay a socket — a Mana socket wants a specific value; a Countdown socket accepts any value toward its counter.
- Trigger ‘When Rolling Dice’ effects — Ablution (Defense/Water/Common) reads: Gain 8 Block. When Rolling Dice; Decrease Countdown Cost for next cast of this Spell by 1. So merely rolling progresses its own cast.
- Set up Twin sockets — Dual Twin / Even Twin / Odd Twin sockets need two dice of equal (or equal-parity) value, so you plan a pair, not a single die.
When to spend
- Countdown spells: any die helps, so spend freely to march the counter to zero.
- Mana / specific-value sockets: spend only the die that matches; a wrong-value die is wasted.
- ‘On roll’ spells in your set: rolling benefits them even if you don’t immediately cast, so early rolls are rarely wasted.
When to hold
- Twin sockets need a matching pair — hold one die until you roll its twin.
- Big bosses (Hydra Body at 1000 HP, Umbraxis at 650) reward saving high-value dice for your hardest-hitting spells rather than trickling small casts.
- Rare drafts after bosses give you stronger spells; holding dice keeps options open for the new socket shapes.
Reducing dice cost without dice
Potions, Rituals and Artifacts are the documented ways to cast for less or no dice. Where your build includes them, you can keep dice in hand for the sockets that still demand them.
For the socket shapes themselves, see the socket guide; for building around them, the build guide.