There are two things about magic in this game.
Unlike weapons, spells depend upon the power for their base damage. Early spells have low base damage. It only starts to catch up to weapons with the level 4 powers.
Magic can use different elements thereby targeting weaknesses and avoid strong resistances. That can actually give spells a lot more damage if an enemy resists penetration.
There are enemies where physical damage is completely useless.
So it's a lot of patience to get the stronger spells and choosing the right spell for the right enemy. Thankfully cunning is a great stat for Black Mages so you should have a slightly less painful sense success rate.
Unlike weapons, spells depend upon the power for their base damage. Early spells have low base damage. It only starts to catch up to weapons with the level 4 powers.
Magic can use different elements thereby targeting weaknesses and avoid strong resistances. That can actually give spells a lot more damage if an enemy resists penetration.
There are enemies where physical damage is completely useless.
So it's a lot of patience to get the stronger spells and choosing the right spell for the right enemy. Thankfully cunning is a great stat for Black Mages so you should have a slightly less painful sense success rate.
It's more a set up spell, since it lowers the resistance of the character. Grand Finale is a great continuation and so is Celestial Smite. It would also really befit from other elemental attackers in the party, though the options for that are rather slim.
Even more since Frost isn't that useful for the current area.
On the public build, I had a pretty good offensive mage build using [Power Wave] [Arc Cannon] and [Smite Evil].
But my new thief build can 1v1 any single target, even mini bosses like the Drider Queen and Bythernia . Especially with that one Kiyoko build that nerfs enemies. I can usually tear most opponents up. Except for selkies with their bullshit [disarm] and the painted demon with their mad lust damage.
Worst thing with both of these builds is that they're glass canons.
If you want a pure damage build and don't really care about role-playing, then I'd recommend a thief build.
But my new thief build can 1v1 any single target, even mini bosses like the Drider Queen and Bythernia . Especially with that one Kiyoko build that nerfs enemies. I can usually tear most opponents up. Except for selkies with their bullshit [disarm] and the painted demon with their mad lust damage.
Worst thing with both of these builds is that they're glass canons.
If you want a pure damage build and don't really care about role-playing, then I'd recommend a thief build.
For role-play purposes I wanted to branch away from being a physical powerhouse. It feels kind of wrong to me for my slutty MC to be a hulking berserker.
Grand Finale can be learned from River and Smite from Sanders. There is another charmer spell that could be interesting as well.