Farstrike a useless spell?

[BigJMoney]

I'm trying to figure out any use at all for the farstrike spell, and I can't come up with one. It is only precision 5, so the change of you targeting a single target with it is too low. It seems to me to be the equivalent of turning your caster into an archer with an bow that does fairly high damage. I initially looked at it, hoping it might be an anti mage spell, but I don't think it would work for that.

BTW are there any good anti mage spells?

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[Frostmourne27]

BTW are there any good anti mage spells?

Spells with high (battlefield is good) AOE are excellent against most mages, since most mages have less than 15 health or so. Wither bones is particularily nasty. Against mindless summons, spells like soul slay will often work well. Nether Darts might work, if you can fire them at the mages (a big if) since they feeblemind and do decent damage. Heat from Hell and Grip of winter do fatigue and lethal damage, though slowly, so if you're playing Caelum, Jotun or Abysia, you could try that... you could try master enslave / undead mastery / arcane domination in late game, against a mage army, capturing even one or two mages would be worth it. Howl and Mists of deception, since they bring units on from behind the enemy might be worth a shot. Touch of madness would be awesome, except that I think mages will only cast it on friendlies. Soul Drain will work, but it's kinda overkill. Wrathfull skies, since it's battlefield AOE, and does enough damage to kill, as does fire storm. Call Horror maybe? and just hope it goes in the right direction...
Considering you started this thread by asking about farstrike, though, I'm guessing you were looking for low level spells, of which few seem particularly mage killing, though a couple of these might be worth a shot.
NB: I made this list by going through the spell list, so I haven't tried them all.

[KissBlade]

Howl and Swarm are both relatively good anti mage spells early game since they tend to fly/attack rearmost most of the time. Rain of Stones (I think that's what it's called, it requires 3 earth and 1 air is also not shabby)

[Cainehill]

As I recall, farstrike is also a pretty sweet spell at times for a mage with high strength - massive damage at range.

[Endoperez]

With a high-srength caster, I quess Farstrike could punch through even heaviest armor. With cheap items like Boots of Giant Strength or Halberd of Might, the damage could become pretty high.

EDIT: I tested it, and while the damage can be good, the low precision really hurts. If there were giants with access to Farstrike, it would occassionally have spesific uses even in the very late game, but as it is, it's just a low-level spell. Against heavily-armored enemiest, it's better than Stone Shards.

[Nerfix]

I've used it on some occasions. I can see using it with the Marverni in future at early game. Eagle Eyes + Farstrike...

[quantum_mechani]

Farstrike has only one, very specific, use I've found- immobile pretenders with a literal punch.

[PvK]

I liked Farstrike from my Shedu early in the game.

[silhouette]

PvK said:
I liked Farstrike from my Shedu early in the game.

This is the only commander I have ever used it with. The Shedu has the right magic, and also combines very high strength and lack of hands, which makes it hard to turn that strength to killing purposes otherwise. And using spells keeps him out of trample range.

Sill

[Nerfix]

Well, E/S commanders aren't that common in Dominions 2 anyway.