Conjure Ball Lightning

[onomastikon]

How do people consider conjure ball lightning? It seems much less straightforward than any other conjuration spell of comparable level, and I am not sure how wise it will be for me to choose it even playing an Air Elementalist (as I am now doing, my second try), and I don't have much room for experimentation (I do not have any scrolls of Amnesia). Vehumet is offering it to me, and not sure if I should take it. I have 7 slots left (was hoping for bolt of fire) so I could. I realize there is no such thing as "good" or "bad" spell, since there are so many different ways of playing and circumstances and conditions, but I would be happy to receive feedback from you as to when you have been pleased with it and when not, when you find it a nice choice and when you choose not to use it.

[tealizard]

It's good damage if you know what you're doing.

[4Hooves2Appendages]

It’s extremely strong, because the damage is very high and it can hit enemies out of LOS.

BUT it is also dangerous and often tedious. It’s dangerous because enemies can shoot the balls, the explosions vary in size and they can do huge damage to you. It’s also very noisy.

It’s tedious because there’s a strong incentive to kill enemies out of LOS, which is fiddly and quite different from ‘normal’ crawl. Also you can’t really use it at short range, or against certain shooty enemies.

I had it on a character recently, but after a while I sort of stopped using it, so I’ll probably avoid it in the future.

To use it I would want to have good HP, rElec and existing investment in air and conjurations.

[onomastikon]

Thanks much.
I'm pretty fragile in the HP department currently, so I may pass, but if I may ask:
- outside LOS? The description and the wiki seem to suggest that the balls dissipate outside LOS, but are you saying that they will explode within LOS even if an enemy is outside LOS? I'm guessing however they are really dangerous to self in cramped corridors?

[4Hooves2Appendages]

Yes, the aim is to get the explosion near the edge of LOS, doing damage to enemies just outside.

Open space works better because the balls can move to their targets quickly. You don’t want balls trapped near you, which can happen in corridors, especially if you have other allies.

[bel]

The usual way to use conjure ball lightning is to cast it in a relatively open area once or twice against an enemy monster or group at the edge of LoS (or slightly outside), and move backwards.

As for its power level, it does a huge amount of damage and few monsters have rElec, so it works against most monsters and groups of monsters (obliterating a pack of caustic shrikes is always a nice feeling). It is somewhat inconvenient to use, and the noise can also be dangerous. Don't try it without rElec.