7th Ed. Magic Roundup Part 3 - Radial Damage Spells

[Caneghem]

I thought these deserved their own little section, since they are the big "Area of Effect" damage spells that do damage based on a radius and they hit everything in that range. They are different enough from one another that they were easy to place into a ranking. Starting with the least useful and moving up.

Crown of Taidron - 8+ - All units within 12" of the caster - D6 str4 hits, including unit joined
The spell only describes the caster as being immune to damage, so the TG will take D6 str4. This won't do terribly much against the TG, less than one wound on averages. The time I see this being useful is when you are facing hordes of enemies who are fairly weak individually. Take care that any friendly units aside from the TG are either outside the radius of effect or are able to withstand a D6 str4 without much issue. While damage to friendlies is the disadvantage of this one, it is the cheapest radial damage spell to cast.

Synergies - War Drum of Xahutec and portent of far. You'll be rolling a lot of wound rolls if you are effecting a large number of enemy units. You'll also want to be able to march into the thick of things before you let this one rip.

Cleansing Flare - 10+ - All enemy units within 12" of the caster - D6 str5 hits, D6 str6 to undead and daemons
(Special note: most daemons will take the banner of "lore of light kills you instantly", so you will want to pick another lore if this is the case)
Nice reliable damage when you are in the thick of things with the TG. Str5 is very good and will really put some hurt on enemies. It has the ability to wound T3 troops on a 2+, which is always nice. The other huge improvement for this spell over the previous one, is it won't hurt your own stuff. It is great for times when you'll be facing a lot of weak troops, like against VC, to really help thin the ranks and cancel out some of the spam Raising that they tend to do.

Synergies - War Drum of Xahutec and portent, see above.

The Comet of Casandora - 12+ - Place a token anywhere, no LOS required, remains in play. At the start of every turn, 1-3 on D6 is another token, 4-6 multiply this roll times number of tokens for range - 2D6 str4 hits
Placement of the token is important, as there is a 50% chance that the Comet will land at the beginning of the enemy's next turn. The good news is, the enemy won't have a chance to move before the comet impacts. Now the radius just gets ever bigger and you might force your opponent to decide to try to dispel it in his own magic phase, which cuts into power dice being used against the LM. 2D6 str4 is not bad at all, and since you can place the token anywhere on the table, you can make good and sure that whatever you hit will be none too tolerant of that sort of damage. An absolute gem of a spell for attacking fortified positions, as you will either cause them to move away from the comet and lose position, or have them remain where they are and get decimated.

Synergies - I can't think of any, since you never know when the comet is going to hit. A skink priest hiding in the corner of the board can cast this anywhere on the table, so you don't have to worry about positioning a caster.

Drain Life - 10+ - All enemy units within 12" of the caster - D6 str3 hits no armor save
Ah the magic words, no armor save. How could this possibly be better than Cleansing Flare you might ask? Because it kills the things that Temple Guard can't kill. This spell is an opportunity to mimic the Engine of the Gods effect, only I think this one is better. Consider that the range on the EotG is 2D6 inches, while this one is ALWAYS 12 inches. One point of strength is not a huge difference, because with no armor saves involved, it just lets you wound a little bit more often. Cast this spell and Bretonians will cry. Use it against anything really, no armor save is the great equalizer.

Synergies - War Drum of Xahutec and portent, see Crown of Taidron.

24 down, 24 to go. Strange, exactly half of all spells in the 8 big lores are damage spells

 

[Dreadgrass]

Nothing to add Caneghem you've done a great job, your reasonings seem to take all facets of the spells into consideration.

Excellant job, keep up the good work!

 

[strewart]

24 down, 24 to go. Strange, exactly half of all spells in the 8 big lores are damage spells

Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. The problem with comet is since it is RiP the caster can't cast other things until it hits, right? And the skink would need to actually roll it, you cannot rely on it being on the naked skink that hides in the corner rather than the engine skink you want moving forward and casting. I don't like it, and would actually put it lower on the list. But I guess it is up to interpretation.

 

[kroxigor01]

Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. The problem with comet is since it is RiP the caster can't cast other things until it hits, right?

As long as you make sure its the last spell that wizard casts that turn it either come down immediately, in the opponents next turn or at the beginning of your next magic phase 7/8 of the time. So 87.5% of the time it won't be still in play when you get another oppertunity to cast.

 

[Caneghem]

"The problem with comet is since it is RiP the caster can't cast other things until it hits, right? And the skink would need to actually roll it, you cannot rely on it being on the naked skink that hides in the corner rather than the engine skink you want moving forward and casting. I don't like it, and would actually put it lower on the list. But I guess it is up to interpretation."

It would really depend on the way the enemy's list is composed, and the Slann taking Heavens is always a possibility. But really it gets down to which spells your skink priest rolls up. You might roll up Celestial Shield and Comet of Cassandora and be facing an army with no shooting. In that case I'd drop Celestial Shield for Portent of Far, and have the ability to cast the Comet right where the enemy wants to start advancing, thereby pushing him to decide whether to split his line to avoid the damage, or to just take the chance.

"As long as you make sure its the last spell that wizard casts that turn it either come down immediately, in the opponents next turn or at the beginning of your next magic phase 7/8 of the time. So 87.5% of the time it won't be still in play when you get another oppertunity to cast."

I think it may be 75% chance of hitting before the next Lizardmen magic phase, since each time you roll for the comet you have a 50% chance of the thing hitting. And for that 1/4 time when your phase rolls around again before it hits, you just have to decide if it is worth letting the thing impact where it is or just getting rid of it. I'd probably say, "let it ride!"

 

[Sammy the Squib]

I think it may be 75% chance of hitting before the next Lizardmen magic phase, since each time you roll for the comet you have a 50% chance of the thing hitting. And for that 1/4 time when your phase rolls around again before it hits, you just have to decide if it is worth letting the thing impact where it is or just getting rid of it. I'd probably say, "let it ride!"

the probability of it hitting with three attempts is 1-P(all miss)

P(all miss) = (1/2)^3 = 0.125

=> P(a hit) = 87.5%

 

[Caneghem]

I think it may be 75% chance of hitting before the next Lizardmen magic phase, since each time you roll for the comet you have a 50% chance of the thing hitting. And for that 1/4 time when your phase rolls around again before it hits, you just have to decide if it is worth letting the thing impact where it is or just getting rid of it. I'd probably say, "let it ride!"

the probability of it hitting with three attempts is 1-P(all miss)

P(all miss) = (1/2)^3 = 0.125

=> P(a hit) = 87.5%

I was thinking two attempts, you seem to be calculating for three. When the spell is first cast you don't roll for impact immediately, you only roll at the beginning of each player's turn. So there are only two rolls for impact between each of your magic phases.

 

[Sammy the Squib]

I was thinking two attempts, you seem to be calculating for three. When the spell is first cast you don't roll for impact immediately, you only roll at the beginning of each player's turn. So there are only two rolls for impact between each of your magic phases.

oh right, then yeah it's 75%