Shocking grasp, highest damage spell for lvl 1

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I was messing around with Icewind Dale II, and I noticed something. Shocking Grasp is incredibly damaging for a lvl 1 spell once you start gaining levels.

You do 1-8 + 1 point/level damage. This caps at level 30, meaning that you can achieve a maximum damage of 38.

But wait. If you have Scion of Storms, you receive an extra 7.6 points to damage, pushing you up to 46 damage. Not bad, when Magic Missile's max damage is 25.

 

Thats true, but you would probably cop a smack in the chops for your effort, especially in HoF. Personally, I would prefer to shoot for a measly 10-25 damage and stay out of harms way then run in and get smacked around in the hope for getting a bit more damage done.
Just my opinion though. Does sound good for when your up against the wall though.

 

Yeah, and 31 of those points are guaranteed, whereas MM is only 10-25 pts damage (Luck items/song/spell can get better results). I dismissed it because it's a touch spell, as I'm sure many people have. But maybe that's a bit hasty... This spell may be more useful in Heart of Fury mode, where enemies have much more hitpoints too. Can't remember if it's magic or crushing damage, but either way it's good value.

 

Horrid scroll graphic though..

Just to clarify something, does shocking grasp work as most 'single' touch spells do; either you hit or it's wasted?

 

Yes, I think so. That's a downside, come to think of it. Would a mage with high strength have more success, I wonder?

 

No. This surprised me as well. According to Infinity Explorer Shocking grasp lasts for 4000 (I think that means seconds), during which you can swing away as much as you want. Missing won't discharge the shocking grasp, although hitting will.

Trueblue:

How often do enemies get close to your mage? It happens to me quite frequently, no matter how well I plan. Icewind Dale II has so many encounters where your entire party are placed smack bang in the middle of a group of enemies, or where enemies will spawn behind you. And then monsters seem to have a nasty habit of homing in your character with the lowest constitution.

The only problem is that a mage has a lowsy chance to hit.

 

As impressing as the damage output looks, mages can do more damage in physical combat than using this spell. When you have a level 30 is already 3-4 levels higher than at the end of HoF mode and you have +5 weapons with extra abilities then. A level 22-30 mage late in HoF mode gets 3 base attacks per round, gets big strength, extra attacks and damage bonuses by spells and equipment which allows to do far more than 60 damage per round in physical combat.

 

I'm assuming that he was just pointing out that it's a nice last ditch effort after you've exhausted all the useful spells