Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

Its a lvl 5 Evo spell that says it has AoE of 7 and costs 1 death gem to cast, however it only seems to hit a few targets (around 7) to be exact whenever my guys cast it.

Shouldn't a AoE of 7 be a HUGE aoe???

Is this a bug or am I missing something... thanks!

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

This spell is primary for high death level commanders.

Try it out with a level 10 death mage (normally pretenders or communions with some item boost). There are 7+8=15 shadow area effects with 28 damage AN, the MR roll is very difficult to work through the high penetration (+8 to the roll).

The spell is very destructive if cast by high levels.

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

I like to equip a wraith lord with the sickle who's crop is pain and script him to soul vortex, attack one turn, cast shadow blast, attack one turn, cast shadow blast, attack.

the two shadowblasts he unleashes against the enemies around him at point blank tends to have the same effectiveness of, say, flame storm or the like - wiping out huge chunks of an army.

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

Shadow Blast affects 7 battle-squares. In every square, there can be up to 3 humans (but only 2 horsemen or one Jotun). So the area covered by Shadow Blast can hold up to 21 humans. Usually, the spell targeting is a bit off and some of the affected squares are empty. The spell also allows for a magic-resistance roll, so some of those affected survive the effect. AoE of 7 IS huge - but your mages' precision might not be. If you've ever tried out Immolation, you'll have noticed that only few squares of the AoE hit the enemy, because the center is at the caster and not at the enemies.

Like calmon said, a high-level Death mage makes the spell much more deadly. Both the spell's damage and AoE increase with skill, and high-level caster also makes the spell penetrate enemies' magic resistance better, and allows the caster to cast it more times before getting unconscious.

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

hrmm... I dunno, I've cast it against huge groups of melee troops and its landed right in the middle yet still only hit around 7 of them. Grant you I'm using a mage with 3 death but still...

The other reason it seems to not work properly is I will cast other AoE spells with a smaller AoE thans ShBl and yet hit more troops than Shadow Blast does... I'm assuming since you guys have used it and its hit mass #s of troops for you, it isn't bugged but man it sure doesn't seem like its working as it intends for me, especially for the gem cost!

Also, I have been casting ShBl from very close range with my casters to make sure precision isn't as big of an issue.

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

Its most likely the mr check as most other AoE spells dont require one.

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

Equip your shadow blasting mages with penetration items for increased effect.

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

You might also consider Plague if you have a lot of undead troops, or Banefire for those who have easy access (although I usually find that, save for sieges, the Decay effect only really kicks in when people are starting to run anyway - but it's still nice not to have to face them later).

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

The decay effect of banefire is nice but its the huge damage that makes it good imo

Re: Is Shadow Blast bugged?
 

Yeah, it definitely kills whoever you aim it at unless it's a pretender, which was the basis for my recommendation - should probably have made that explicit.