Helheim - lets burn some rubber

[Immaculate]

because orb lightning scales with air magic skill?

[Tolkien]

Originally Posted by Immaculate

because orb lightning scales with air magic skill?

The thing is though, if you're reverse sabbathing and put up a mass stormpower, your communion slaves (Vanjarls) have Air-3. Unless you use Hellpower (which is kinda risky if you're using a big sabbath, as you'll likely get swarmed by horrors), of course; it only however gives A5 (or 5 NoE). Air-3 gets you thunderstrikes, which massively outclass Orb Lightning, hands down.
Let's compare:
Fatigue: Thunderstrike (50-), Orb Lightning (10-)
Damage/NoE: Thunderstrike (26+, AN, 1 AoE, and larger AoE Damage+Stun), Orb Lightning (10, AN, 1+ NoE (at A3, 3))
Range: Thunderstrike (100), Orb Lightning (15 {very very low})
Precision: Thundertrike (+0), Orb Lightning (+2)

So in terms of usefulness, Thunderstrike beats out Orb Lightning, all the time. It has an AoE damage/stun effect outside of the actual spell center, and Range 100 is awesome, (certainly when compared with Range 15, which, really sucks). If you choose to Orb Lightning spam, you'll do far less damage then with Thunderstrikes, not including extra AoE damage/stun (far, it would take an A8 mage to outcap damage done by a Thunderstrike in an AoE, 78+ vs. 80 (10*8)). The precision bonus with Orb Lightning won't be too big of a deal, and when the fatigue issue comes up...well, that's why you're reverse sabbathing (i.e. having masters spam reinvigoration). When you include the extra damage done by the extra AoE and stun, thunderstrikes are infinitely more useful in terms of damage/turn and army decimation then Orb lightning, and provides alot more security for you (the massive range allows you to space out your slaves around the battlefield, so they can't all be killed at once), and it also takes full advantage of sabbaths (reinvigoration). The thing about Orb Lightning is, though, that (I think, I'm not quite sure)it may hit the same unit on the same square multiple times. However, to take advantage of that, you'd need to be really close to your target thug or SC (assuming they aren't lightning-resistant). Certainly it's useful if your opponent is sending horrors your way (on your PD), but most thugs you'll find will get a copper plate or something, so it isn't too useful in that regard.

Plus, Thunderstrikes are easier to reach. Evo-4 vs Evo-5.

[Baalz]

Originally Posted by Tolkien

So in terms of usefulness, Thunderstrike beats out Orb Lightning, all the time.

I don't agree with this. To be sure, thunderstike is a great spell, but orb lightning *definately* has its niche. The most obvious being A2 mages can cast it to very good effect if you deploy it properly. Other times orb lightning shines:

If you're fighting guys who are size 5/6 and only one per square, thunderstrike will do 26+ AN damage, while orb lightning for an A4 mage will do 40 AN. Even if you're fighting size 3 cavalry you're still often looking at a very compatible kill count per casting...which is not bad when you consider that you're also not passing out after a few castings.

Orb lightning's short range can actually be very useful for making your mages target who you want them to. Triple blessed sacred cavalry charging straight ahead into your troops? Orb lightning can clear the way so *your* cavalry can waltz up to the enemy archers which is hell of a lot better than blasting the archers with thunderstrikes because they're packed denser so the AI thinks they're better targets.

Orb lightning's fatigue cost for a mage powerful enough to be considering thunderstrike is negligible. You can lay out a lot more damage over a long battle than you could blowing your load on thunderstrikes.

Again, there's no doubt thunderstrike is a great spell, I just object to the assertion that there is no niche for orb lightning. Orb lighting is also a good spell.