Battle Mage Combat Arts - Which is better?

[mrg]

I recently purchased Sacred Gold - it will be delivered tomorrow!! - and am planning a new Battle Mage. I am planning on making a mage with emphasis on BATTLE since I really like sword and shield fighting. I am also considering fighting most of the time from a horse.

Anyway - which of the following do you think is better?

Lightning Strike
Fireball
Meteor
Ice Shards

I like each of these because they can really help in a pinch with either hitting multiple enemies or damaging from afar to make the kill easier. If you had to pick one of them, which would it be and why?

Thanks,
Mr. G

[griffman]

My favorite of the group would be Ice Shards. It has great damage, and at higher levels there are (I think) 20 shards. When used correctly I think it is the most powerful spell in the game.

My second choice would be meteor, but I've never actually made a meteor BM. I know it's very damaging and is always cool to see someone play with...

I don't like fireball or lightning strike personally. I know many people make good lightning strike BM's, but it's just not for me. I guess I don't have a better reason than that though. Fireball doesn't attack enough people for me. It has a small splash radius, but again I've seen great builds **cough Schot cough cough** with just fireball.

[Night Ω Wolfe]

I totally agree with Griff.... Ice Shards is just the best spell ever and I love using it with Fire Spiral. You just stand in the center of the Fire Spiral and let them come at you... the ones that actually make it through your Shards will get the bonus damage of the Spiral so it packs a big punch. Plus both work really, really well with Lifeleech.

[Deonhower Colmyne]

Hmm.... well I made a Tank Mage a year ago, but mostly I detached myself from Ice Shards to stay true to the Battle/Melee mode of my Tank Mage. I didn't use any of the spells you are asking suggestions for, but I will almost always recommend Ice Shards because it's the best crowd control with a 20 Arc.

Anyway, my Tank Mage use the following inorder to survive:
Stone Skin
Flame Skin
Whirlwind
Shield of Light
Cataract of Agility

Your crowd control will actually be Whirlwind and Flame Skin. At very high levels they will move to an insta-kill mode. Some dubbed it "Death Skin" because when melee enemies finally get to hit you, you take a hit but they take a coffin. It's HARD to level up these spells to insane level but it can be done. Stone skin and Shield of Light will ensure your survival when you take hits from melee and ranged weapons. Cataract of Agility will allow you to be at least somewhat in par with characters that have Attack, Multi-Hit and that one-hand punch that seems to win the hearts of the Gods (as you lack all these skills). This Mage is the only mage I ever built that survived a heads on with a Dragon. The rest of my builds are frail casters or eekers.

Hope it helps ;D

[carolynhacker]

My personal favorite (based on how much I use it compared to the others) is Fireball, because it's the most controllable. Having said that, for the type of build you're doing I think the one that would be best for you is Ice Shards. You'll have your sword for 1:1 combat situations, so if you only use one offensive spell it should be one that's effective on groups.

I recommend Ice Shards over the others multi-hitters because the aim+timing of Meteor Storm can be tricky to use effectively, and Lightening Strike is somewhat limited in that it can only be fully effective against mobs (AFAIK if there's no other enemies for the strike to bounce to, it one do more damage in the single hit it will do). If you're close enough with Ice Shards, you can get the multiple hits to strike a single enemy.