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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8720423" data-attributes="member: 907">IME, direct damage is nearly useless in fights against single strong targets. Magic is great at AOE against lots of mooks, but there are almost no save-based single-target damage spells with focused damage – the only one that really comes close is sudden bolt from the Extinction Curse AP (2nd level, 60 ft, basic Reflex, 4d12 electrical damage, heightened +1 for +2d12 damage) and since nothing close has been released since I'm assuming they considered that to be overpowered. Pretty much every other single target damage spell uses attack rolls and/or has damage on par with AOE spells, and as a caster you should absolutely never use a spell with an attack roll against a higher-level target.The tactics that have worked best for me as a primal sorcerer has been to use AOE damage against multiple opponents, but if we face a single tough one I use slow and/or fear, and possibly some buff on our main melee character if it's needed (e.g. fly to deal with flying creatures). At 11th level, using a 3rd level slot and two of my actions to deprive the boss of one action is probably a better use of my time than using a 5th level slot on cone of cold dealing an effective 25 points or so of damage (considering the significant chance of a save for half damage, and that's before resistances and such).</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 8720423, member: 907"] IME, direct damage is nearly useless in fights against single strong targets. Magic is great at AOE against lots of mooks, but there are almost no save-based single-target damage spells with focused damage – the only one that really comes close is [I]sudden bolt[/I] from the Extinction Curse AP (2nd level, 60 ft, basic Reflex, 4d12 electrical damage, heightened +1 for +2d12 damage) and since nothing close has been released since I'm assuming they considered that to be overpowered. Pretty much every other single target damage spell uses attack rolls and/or has damage on par with AOE spells, and as a caster you should absolutely never use a spell with an attack roll against a higher-level target. The tactics that have worked best for me as a primal sorcerer has been to use AOE damage against multiple opponents, but if we face a single tough one I use [I]slow[/I] and/or [I]fear[/I], and possibly some buff on our main melee character if it's needed (e.g. [I]fly[/I] to deal with flying creatures). At 11th level, using a 3rd level slot and two of my actions to deprive the boss of one action is probably a better use of my time than using a 5th level slot on [I]cone of cold[/I] dealing an effective 25 points or so of damage (considering the significant chance of a save for half damage, and that's before resistances and such). [/QUOTE]

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