Archmage's Ascension - The Wizard's Handbook (By RuinsFate)

The Beginnings of Power: Heroic Tier Spells (Part 1: Levels 1-5)​

Powers will be listed with their source book, defense they target, keywords (other than the obvious Arcane and Implement) and with an E if they can be Enlarged. General ratings will look at the powers from the perspective of a Controller, with variations noted. I will list at the start of each level what I consider to be the best choices. Usually this will be the sky-blue choices. Remember that some times the blue choices might also be viable or have some situational advantage. Skill Utilities will be found at their respective level. Only class skill utilities will be considered, unless there is a truly standout option, and only highly rated powers will be shown. If it isn't there, it probably isn't worth it.

A note on Wall powers: In my experience, Wall-type powers can be a pain to use if playing online via Maptools or similar, due to having to draw their zones and people forgetting what they do or exactly where they affect. They can greatly slow down play, possibly even at real tables due to inattentiveness. I don't have any experience of Play-by-Post play, but it may be similar there. Be aware of what your group is like if you consider these powers.

At-Will powers: Enchanters should take Hypnotism and one of Beguiling Strands or Winged Horde. Illusionists should take Winged Horde and one of Illusory Ambush or Phantom Bolt. Blasters (Pyromancers and Evokers included) should be considering Arc Lightning, Freezing Burst and Thunderwave. Generalists and Imposers should take Winged Horde, but their other choice is pretty free. Otherwise, look for what will best suit your choice of features and character concept.

At-will Powers:
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Arc Lightning:
(HoFL) Reflex, Evocation, Lightning. A good power for blasters, thanks to long range, a decent damage type and good targetting. Otherwise a bit average. Better with Mark of Storm.

Beast Switch:
(HoFW) Fortitude, Transmutation, Psychic. Psychic damage, proning, forced movement and OA-prevention is a potent package... but it's melee, which you're not. There are better options for back-up spells. Does have a good use with with War Wizard of Cormyr PP which turns it into an MBA, but that's of more use to the Bladesinger and maybe some odd-ball Half Elf builds. Pass.

Beguiling Strands:
(HoFL) Will, Enchantment, Charm, Psychic. A huge blast of minion-popping forced movement goodness. Not enlargeable, and the damage is piddly, but if you're looking at this spell, you're not concerned with those factors. Gets even better in Paragon with Psychic Lock.

Breath of Night:
(HoFW) Fortitude, Cold, Evocation, E. Cold is a decent damage type, and it can be made to cover a large area, but overall, Thunderwave is probably the better power, given the similarities between the two. Being unfriendly doesn't help when it's a burst. You could possibly make use of this power with cold support, but Admixturing Thunderwave will still probably be better.

Chilling Cloud:
(PHB) Fortitude, Cold, Evocation. Again, Cold is a decent damage type, it's friendly, and handing out an attack penalty as an effect is decent, especially in Heroic, but with Psychic Lock in Paragon, Winged Horde starts to outshine it. Take this at lower levels if you want and retrain it later.

Cloud of Daggers:
(PHB) Reflex, Evocation, Force, Zone. If you have a decent Wis modifier and a bit of forced movement, this can do a fair bit of damage, but overall this early-in-the-edition power is somewhat outclassed by later offerings.

Erupting Flare:
(D388) Fortitude, Evocation, Fire. This power might sound good on paper, but what it actually does is give the enemy a fire damage aura to use on your allies. Too risky, and requires far too many other options to line up to actually make good use of it. Do not take this power.

Flame Arrow:
(HoEC) Evocation, Fire. This is a really bad power. It encourages clumping, only works on specific characters, costs you an action you should using to attack, and does less damage than almost any of the other at-wills here.

Freezing Burst:
(HoFL) Reflex, Cold, Evocation, E. A good power, and pretty much a must-have for blasters. Decent damage and area, and slides targets for even more convenient AoE positioning. Even Pyromancers should use this, although that will require converting the damage type.

Howling Wall:
(HoEC) Fortitude, Evocation, Wall. Decent enough by itself as a fairly precise source of forced movement, although be wary of not having a damaging at-will. Better with some forced movement increasers or Agile Opportunist, as it can target allies.

Hypnotism:
(HoFL) Will, Enchantment, Charm. Forced movement or a forced attack with an accuracy boost. Decent, but mandatory and the signature spell for Enchanters, who boost its accuracy even further. You can make an enemy target itself with the forced attack, if you want. Gets even nastier as you go up in level and enemies tend to have nasty basics that inflict conditions. Have I mentioned that I love this spell?

Illusory Ambush, Nightmare Eruption, Phantom Bolt, Phantom Cage and Phantasmal Assault:
(AP, D380, AP and HoFL) Will, Illusion, Psychic.
Illusionists have a number of choices for their at-wills, but Winged Horde should be their primary pick. These five will be competing for your second at-will, and are all fairly similar, so let's compare them all at once. Phantasmal Assault's 2nd effect is redundant with Winged Horde and while it does give your allies CA, they should have their own methods, or just be flanking. So pass on it.
Nightmare Eruption deals a bit more damage than the others, but requires enemies to be bunched up and has no real control to it. Also pass. Phantom Cage's rider effect is okay at low levels, but it doesn't scale and enemies will quickly start ignoring it. If you do choose it, retrain out of it later.
Between the other two, Phantom Bolt gives forced movement and does ever-so-slightly more damage, while Illusory Ambush offers an attack penalty that works in Heroic and stacks with Psychic Lock. Of the two, I feel Illusory Ambush is better once you get to Paragon, but the choice is largely personal preference. If you're Human, you could take both, but you'd be better served either branching out with a different at-will rather than over-specialising, or using Heroic Effort for accuracy.

Magic Missile:
(PHB-HoFL) Force, Evocation, Auto-damage. Changing this power to the 'classic' version pretty much ruined it. Mages get it for free, so it's not as bad for them, but usually using it is a waste of a standard action. The damage is low, and scales very badly, and since the power does not hit and does not have a damage roll, it can't benefit from a large number of damage boosters and other support.
Things MM no longer works with:
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Psychic Lock
Permafrost
WLR
WLMR
Siberys Shards
Academy Master
Critical Effects of any kind
Destructive  Wizardry (granted, was only possible with a Magic Missile Wand)
Elemental  Echoes
Dual Implement Spellcaster
Item Bonuses (you get the idea, any bonus that only applies to damage rolls or on hit)

(Thank you to Alcestis for compiling this list)[/sblock]

Nightmare Eruption, Phantom Bolt, Phantom Cage and Phantasmal Assault: See Illusory Ambush.

Ray of Frost:
(PHB) Fortitude, Cold, Evocation. At-will slowing and a decent damage type, but blasters will probably be better served with Arc Lightning.

Restless Dead:
(Hos) Reflex, Necromancy, Shadow, Zone. Has some synergy with Terrain Advantage to grant you CA, but not against the original target thanks to the 'adjacent' language. The targetting restriction will heavily limit the usefulness of this power as you increase in levels. Flavourful, but very weak. At least it doesn't do necrotic damage.

Rotting Doom:
(Hos) Fortitude, Necromancy, Necrotic, Shadow. The effect line is the good part of this power. Stops regeneration and leader effects on monsters. The rest of it's pretty shabby though - necrotic is a bad damage type and the other effect would be great if it weren't limited to a certain creature type. (Admittedly a semi-common creature type, but it's still a limitation). Better for Necromancers, obviously, but still not great.

Scare:
(Hos) Will, Nethermancy, Shadow, Psychic, E. A weaker, unfriendly version of Winged Horde that only benefits you. If you're close enough for this to matter, you're probably not benefiting from the Nethermancer Apprentice feature, and there are better ways for you to not take OAs. Pass.

Scorching Burst:
(PHB) Reflex, Evocation, Fire, E. Rendered completely obsolete by Freezing Burst, except in certain circumstances: A very low level Pyromancer, who hasn't gotten a damage converter or Arcane Admixture yet, or who is playing in a campaign with low item use or who's DM doesn't allow conversion easily. In those particular cases, it is well worth considering.

Stone Blood:
(Red Box) Fortitude, Transmutation, E. Once again, at-willing slowing is useful, doing so as an AoE is even better. I would have this largely obsolete Ray of Frost, except for one important detail: It's not legal to use in LFR, due to being from the Red Box.

Storm Pillar:
(AP) Conjuration, Lightning, Evocation. After being errataed, this power's usefulness was limited. It can be useful for area denial, especially in narrow passages and bottlenecks. If you have ways to cause forced movement on the enemy's turn (Sliding OAs from the defender, Hypnotic Pattern, etc) then you can get a lot of damage out of this power, but it does take a bit of investment.

Thunderwave:
(PHB) Fortitude, Evocation, Thunder, E. Unless your Wisdom is reasonably high, Beguiling Strands will probably give you more forced movement, but this power has some good selling points - Reasonable damage of a rarely resisted type and it can be Enlarged twice, thanks to Resounding Thunder. It's unfriendly, but blasts are a bit easier to target than bursts. A good choice, especially for blasters.

Unravelling Dart:
(HoS) Fortitude, Nethermancy, Shadow. An odd power. It can do a lot of damage if you or others can bestow vulnerability, and even a mediocre wis score will boost it a bit otherwise. Not a regular choice, but if you have a party that deals in vulnerability such as Radiant Mafia with a Morninglord, then strongly consider it. No control value though, unless you're a Nethermancer, who can use it to get the benefit of their apprentice feature against two enemies.

Winged Horde:
(D381) Will, Psychic, Illusion, E. An amazing power. Friendly AoE, Psychic damage, and lets your allies move as they will. Possibly the class's best at-will, and pretty much mandatory for Illusionists. (Close to it for everyone else while I'm at it).

Witch Bolt:
(HoFW) Reflex, Evocation, Lightning. The sustain standard looks better on paper than in practice. Range 5 makes it hard to sustain, especially when you're not spending standard actions on better powers to slow or immobilise. Sustaining the power does not cause it to hit again, which limits the number of effects it will work with, and means it can't crit. A bad power.[/sblock]
Level 1 Encounter:
Controllers want Charm of Misplaced Wrath, Grasping Shadows, Illusory Obstacles, or Twilight Falls depending on class features and build style. Blasters want Burning Hands or Force Orb.

Level 1 Encounter:
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Astral Wasp: (AP) Fortitude, Conjration. Can be made do a reasonable amount of damage if you invest in Con, but low level fights are often on small battlefields, which will limit this power's usefulness, and the effect is overall relatively minor, and completely ignorable if the enemy can make a ranged attack. Pass.

Burning Hands:
(PHB-HoFL) Reflex, Evocation, Fire, E. A very large area and half damage on a miss make this probably the premier choice for Blasters, and definately for Pyromancers, although do be careful how you aim it.

Charm of Misplaced Wrath: (HoFL) Will, Charm, Enchantment.  The generally solid 'Charm of' line starts off with a great power that dazes and hit or miss forces an attack. A good choice, even better for Enchanters.

Chill Strike: (PHB) Fortitude, Evocation, Cold. An okay power, but outshined for both dazing effect and damage capability.

Conduit of Ice:
(D382) Reflex, Evocation, Cold, Zone. The cold damage in the zone is enemies only, but the difficult terrain isn't. Good at scattering formations, but ideally bunching enemies up to kill them all is more useful. Better if you have an active familiar.

Darkening Flame:
(HoS) Reflex, Fire, Necrotic, Necromancy, Shadow. A bad damage type and the effect can hurt your allies. Improved a little for a Necromancer, but they can do better as well.

Dread Presence: (HoFW) Will, Fear, Necrotic, Nethermancy, Zone, E. Given that many undead have resist 10 necrotic or better, the effect line isn't powerful enough to save the zone damage from being resisted. Ruined somewhat by fear immunity. While it does slow, Burning hands does the damage job better and doesn't force a secondary stat. A bit better for Nethermancers and Necromancers.

Empowering Lightning: (AP) Reflex, Evocation, Lightning. A minor damage upgrade over an at-will, with a rider based on a bad class feature that might not trigger. Not what you're looking for.

Force Orb: (PHB) Reflex, Evocation, Force, E. Not as large an area or reliably as damaging as Burning Hands, but the very long range and good damage type make this a great choice for a Blaster looking to stay at range. The secondary attack says 'Area Burst 1' so it can be enlarged, and is friendly.

Glorious Presence: (HoFW) Will, Charm, Enchantment, Radiant, E. This really feels more like a Cleric power. Close burst isn't the ideal range for you, but it's friendly and does a good damage type. If you're invested in Wisdom and have a party using Radiant support, consider it.

Grasping Shadows:
(AP) Will, Illusion, Psychic, Zone, E. AoE slowing and auto-damage and reslowed if you or others can force the enemy back in. A decent choice.

Icy Terrain:
(PHB) Reflex, Cold, Evocation, Zone, E. Similar to Grasping Shadows, but a little weaker overall. A bit more useful if you Enlarge it and can also slow enemies in the DT created.

Illusory Obstacles:
(HoFL) Will, Illusion. No damage, but used early and on the right enemies this is almost a Stun. A great way to mess up Team Monster's first round. Friendly too.

Leaden Transmutation:
(Red Box) Fortitude, Transmutation. Only really good at making sure a target stays next to your defender. There are better options for slowing. Illegal in LFR.

Orbmaster's Incendiary Detonation:
(AP) Reflex, Force, Fire, Evocation, Zone. Icy Terrain does this better. 2 fire damage is not much of a threat, even at very low levels. A bit better for OoI-users, but not enough to save it. A bit better if you face minions a lot, but you can use at-wills for that, really.

Ray of Enfeeblement:
(PHB) Fortitude, Necromancy, Necrotic. Weakened is a good effect and does half damage on a miss, but Necrotic and targetting Fort is a bad combo. Passable for a Necromancer going into a solo fight.

Skewering Spikes: (D383) Reflex, Evocation. Untyped damage and decent targetting, but short ranged. Lacking the Evocation keyword hurts it a bit. Average.

Staffstrike Corrosion:
(AP) Reflex, Evocation. This is little better than an at-will, and the Staff of Defense rider encourages using it early. Granted that's likely at lower levels when you have less encounter powers, but the added damage is miserably low. Avoid.

Twilight Falls:
(Hos) Will, Nethermancy, Psychic, Shadow, Zone, E. Friendly area, can daze one target and gives your allies concealment. A great choice, especially when Enlarged and with Psychic Lock later.[/sblock]
Level 1 Daily:
Controllers: Horrid Whispers, Phantom Chasm, Sleep, Watery Sphere. Blasters: Flaming Sphere or Fountain of Flame. Summoners: Dust Devil or Dretch.

Level 1 Daily:
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Acid Arrow:
(PHB) Reflex, Acid, Evocation. Good range, and a reasonable amount of damage, but there are better options.

Arcane Whirlwind: (D383) Reflex, Evocation, Thunder, Zone. A large zone which can be made larger, but it's unfriendly and chews up too many of your subsequent actions to really benefit from. Has some synergy with Agile Opportunist, but you do have to ask whether one, maybe two minors and a move plus your striker's immediate is worth granting an attack.

Bewitching Charm: (HoFW) Will, Charm, Enchantment. This feels like a poor man's Sleep. Aoe Dazing and a miss effect are nice, but if you care about or have invested towards failed first saves, Sleep is a far better power.

Charm of Forbiddance:
(HoFW) Will, Charm, Enchantment, Psychic. A new, and not-that-welcome addition to the 'Charm of' naming line. The creatures that would most suffer from the effect (solos) are those most likely to save against it. Pass.

Flaming Sphere: (PHB) Reflex, Evocation, Conjuration, Fire. Requires a bit of tactical positioning to use well, but this power can deal some very real damage. A top-tier choice for Blasters.

Fountain of Flame:
(HoFL) Evocation, Fire, Zone. Friendly, does half damage on a miss, and meshes well with forced movement. Flaming Sphere can do more damage overall, but this power is easier to use.

Freezing Cloud: (PHB) Fortitude, Cold, Evocation, Zone. A larger area than Fountain of Flame, but unfriendly and short duration.

Grease: (AP) Reflex, Zone. A friendly (so long as you are) zone of proning, but that's really all it is. Better if your party is set up to take advantage of prone enemies, but it's average at best and a bit fiddly to use.

Horrid Whispers:
(AP) Will, Psychic, Illusion. Friendly aoe slowing and an attack penalty with prone as after effect, and a condition on a miss. Pretty good.

Phantom Chasm:
(HoFL) Will, Psychic, Illusion. Prone and Immobilised is an annoying combination to be inflicted with, it's friendly and the zone lets you reprone things with forced movement. Also pretty good.

Ray of Fatigue:
(HoS) Fortitude, Nethermancy, Necrotic, Shadow. Weakening is a decent effect, it goes on hit or miss and you can get auto-CA for the attack. Let down by a bad damage type and being single target, but better for Nethermancers and Necromancers.

Rolling Thunder: (AP) Conjuration, Evocation, Thunder. Decent initial damage, but the secondary attack is minor and only likely to go off once. Pass.

Sleep:
(PHB-HoFL) Will, Charm, Enchantment. Unconcious. As in, Coup de Grace, fight over. Requires a little bit of investment in save penalties or being an imposer, but if you can do that, this power will win you one encounter per day, everyday. Just watch your strikers' faces light up when they get to auto-crit things.

Slimy Transmutation:
(Red Box) Fortitude, Transmutation, Polymorph. Hit or miss, not being able to attack means the target will pretty much waste one or more turns. The 'breaks on damage' condition weakens it a bit. Illegal in LFR.

Spirit Rend: (HoS) Will, Necromancy, Necrotic, Shadow. Friendly Aoe immobilisation and decent damage, albeit of a bad type, or turn undead into CA-granting charge-target-dummies. Not bad, but there are better. Necromancers can consider it.

Summon Dretch: (D385) Summoning, Reflex. A reasonably damaging summon, and a decent way to do off-turn damage if you're willing soak up the 1d6 it does back to you. By RAW it actually does 1d6+your mods (enhancement, DIS, focus et al, but not Int mod) so watch out. Only consider this if you have a decent amount of HP or patient leaders.

Summon Dust Devil:
(D385) Summoning, Reflex. Not as damaging as the Dretch, but does forced movement, and the penalty from the Intrinsic Nature is relatively minor to you if you're careful.

Summon Fire Warrior:
(AP) Summoning, Reflex, Fire. A decent OA makes this guy good at threatening areas or ranged attackers, but that's all he does.

Watery Sphere:
(HoEC) Reflex, Transmutation, Zone. An immobilising attack that creates a moveable zone that drags the poor suckers caught in it with it, and you get to repeat the attack (only against a single target, but still). Pretty solid combination for board control.

Wind Blade:
(HoEC) Reflex, Conjuration, Force, Transmutation. (Side question: Why Transmutation for this and Watery Sphere? Makes no sense to me.) Apart from the CA clause, which can be duplicated with Tome Expertise if you're fond of conjurations, this thing is kind of unimpressive, the damage it puts out is barely better than your at-wills, while costing you minor actions on top of the standard to attack. Pass.

Wizard's Fury: (D374) Force. Magic Missile is a bad power you didn't choose, remember? You could possibly consider this on a Mage, who gets that spell free, but even then, there are much better options in this level slot.[/sblock]
Level 2 Utility:
You want Shield. Enchanters can consider Glib Tongue if they don't get attacked often, but should take Shield. Some of the others have niche uses, but Shield will probably be better. Have I mentioned Shield yet?

Level 2 Utility:
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Arcane Insight:
(DMA2009) Reroll a bad Arcana check. Useful for ritual casters and those taking Sage of Ages later on. Not really needed at this end of the level chart.

Charm of Protection: (HoFW) Block an attack that barely hits you, and lessen any damage it might do on a miss. Decent as it covers more NADs than Shield, but Shield's bonus lasts longer, is more powerful for the defenses it covers and the THP here are stat dependant.

Daunting Presence:
(AP) Fear. Not as good as it sounds: Bonus to a non-class skill and the attack penalty doesn't work on ranged attackers or the fear immune. Not being able to use it when needed like Shield weakens it.

Expeditious Retreat:
(PHB-HoFL) It's a lot of movement, but that's all, and it's daily. Pass.

Familiar Harrier:
(D382)
Teleportation. Your familiar gets to bound across the battlefield and be a flank buddy for Team PC. A decent option for those with a Familiar, but be wary of not getting to move yourself.

Feather Fall:
(PHB) This would be great, if it weren't daily. Maybe if you're in Sharn...

Flare:
(HoEC)
Zone. Concealment for both sides that you'll provoke to cast, and you have a cantrip that can be a light source. Or just bring a torch.

Float:
(AP) Cross a lava pit or similar. Could come in handy, but I wouldn't make this your main choice. Wis-keyed, but ignorably so.

Glib Tongue:
(D381) A skill bonus and a conditional bonus to hit, which isn't conditional at all for Enchanters. Worth considering if you don't get attacked often and don't feel you need Shield.

Guardian Blades:
(AP) Fear. A good disincentive to attack you, that works well with the White Lotus feats. I actually really like the flavour of this power, but it's daily and doesn't work on ranged attackers.

Instant Friends:
(HoFL) Charm, Enchantment. It has RP-uses, but I really don't like this power - it feels like a throwback to 3.5e. Still, easy interrogation.

Jump:
(PHB) This can actually be really useful. Get your defender into the enemy line, or yourself to a more advantageous position once every encounter.

Lifetaker: (HoS) Necromancy, Shadow. A daily leader-ish power, albeit with a decent effect and easy to trigger. Probably better for some leader|wizard hybrid than a pure build.

Memory to Mist:
(D381) Another non-combat power. Like Nausicaa said, "punch the king and make him forget the bashing." I'm sure there's been an insufferable NPC somewhere in one of your campaigns you've wanted to do this to.

Moonstride:
(D382) Get yourself away from an enemy and take half damage til your next turn. Useful, but Shield is still a little better.

Mystical Debris: (D383) Has some synergy with Terrain Advantage, but is overall quite weak. Enemies will either leave the square scot free, or jump over the minor amount of terrain created. And there are better ways to gain CA. Flavourful though.

Phantasmal Terrain: (AP) Illusion, Zone. It's a large area and a reasonable movement denier, but usually Team Monster sets the traps for you, not the other way around. Too situational.

Protection from Missiles:
(HoEC) Zone. Non-moveable zone that protects against a keyword monsters tend not to use (Check their statblocks sometime, even the ones with bows don't always carry the weapon keyword). Daily too.

Shield:
(PHB-HoFL) Stop an attack, once per encounter, and keep the defense bonus til your next turn. Simple and powerful. I can't even count the number of times this power has saved my Mage. Take it and love it. As close to Gold as I'll probably ever rate a power.

Simple Animation:
(HoFW) An odd power. Move a statue around for cover, or put on a puppet show for the local villagers. Could come in useful.

Spectral Image: (HoFL) Illusion. Really more an RP power than a combat power, although if your DM RPs monsters according to how dumb they should be, you could get use out of it.

Summon Shadow Serpent:
(AP-HoS) Summoning, Shadow. Or you could just get the Rogue or the Ranger to scout for you, and not waste a utility slot on this overall rather weak daily.

Skill Powers:

Arcane Mutterings:
(PHB3) Arcana. You have cantrips that can do this, but they don't cover Bluff, and this one does all three social skills. A good choice.

Perfect Recall:
(PHB3) History. I don't know how often you'd actually make a plain Intelligence check, but if it is often for you, getting a +5 bonus from training sounds good to me.

Root Understanding:
(D383) History. The etymologist in me likes this power. Pretty much a pure-RP power, but it could come in really handy in the right sort of campaign.

Strategist's Epiphany:
(PHB3) History. Not the powerhouse it used to be, thanks to errata, but still a good way to pump your own initiative 1/day if you don't have much invested in that yet. Lowers in value if you have a stat-swap and feat/item bonuses to init later.[/sblock]
Level 3 Encounter:
Controllers: Maze of Mirrors or Color Spray. Blasters: Cordon of Bones, Fireshroud or Shock Sphere (Or possibly still Color Spray).

Level 3 Encounter:
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Arcane Bolt:
(D381) Force, Implement, Auto-damage. Magic Missile: The encounter power. Bad for all the same reasons.

Blissful Ignorance:
(HoFL) Charm, Enchantment. Guaranteedly slow your enemies and allow your party free movement and attacks without fear of retaliation. Good, but overall I feel Maze of Mirrors is better despite the smaller area affected.

Call The Night Winds: (HoFW) Fortitude, Cold, Evocation, Zone, E. Large area with reasonable damage, but the heavily obscured zone penalises Team PC as much as it does the enemy. Too unfriendly to be really good.

Chill Claws:
(AP) Reflex, Evocation, Cold. An okay effect, but other powers at this level do that better, and Icy Rays completely outdoes it for damage.

Cinderfall:
(D383) Reflex, Evocation, Fire, E. A mediocre AoE, and pop the one minion you missed. There are better AoEs at this level, or even at L1.

Color Spray:
(PHB) Will, Evocation, Radiant, E. Large area, okay if not brilliant damage, but of a good type, and it dazes. A great power, and the evocation keyword makes it viable for Blasters who don't want to completely give up on control.

Cordon of Bones:
(HoS) Fortitude, Necromancy, Shadow, E. The zone damage can really ramp up if you pop enough minions with the attack. A decent option for Blasters with a bit of forced movement, or teamed with someone with some.

Ebony Razors: (HoS) Will, Psychic, Nethermancy, Shadow, E. Good size and damage, but Color Spray has far more control. Nethermancers get concealment anyway, so the effect is a bit pointless for them.

Fireshroud:
(PHB) Fortitude, Fire, Evocation, E. Ongoing damage is a bit rare among your encounter powers at this level, the area is very large, and it's friendly. A must-have for fire-based blasters, and pretty good for all others too. (Best use I've seen of this power was on a weird hybrid Barbarian|Wizard build, funnily enough.)

Grim Shadow:
(HoFW) Will, Necrotic, Fear, Nethermancy, E. Decent enough and with a good effect, but let down a bit by a bad damage type and the Fear keyword. Would be awesome if it did psychic damage (you can convert it).

Hypnotic Pattern:
(AP) Will, Illusion. This power looks good on paper, but I've never found it to be that useful in practice. It doesn't deny enough movement, and if you miss with the secondary attack, it does nothing but look pretty. A bit better if you stack it with other effects like Storm Pillar, but pretty mediocre by itself.

Icy Rays:
(PHB) Reflex, Evocation, Cold. Good targetting and slowing on a miss is good. A bit outshined for control and damage options, but Blasters could give it a look if they're after precision.

Maze of Mirrors:
(HoFL) Will, Illusion. Hit or miss, this power is going to mess up your enemy's first turn.  Unfriendly, but that's a minor issue if you drop it early.

Melting Pool:
(D382) Fortitude, Evocation, Acid, E. There are better options for damage, and the Familiar effect is so minor and limited it may as well not be there. The large area would save its rating if Shock Sphere wasn't also AB2.

Pinioning Vortex:
(AP) Fortitude, Evocation. Single target for an okay effect, but it will do basically nothing to a ranged enemy, or anyone with blasts or bursts. It'll stop a brute charging, but there are better ways to accomplish that. Pass.

Radiant Pillar:
(D380) Radiant, Zone. Another pretend-to-be-a-cleric power. Blind is a decent effect, but it only lasts while in the zone. This power will do a lot of damage combined with a Morninglord and a bit of forced movement, so it can be worth a look.

Shock Beetle Swarm:
(AP) Fortitude, Conjuration, Lightning, E. If it weren't for the 'at least' part, this power could do some great damage with a bit of a Con investment. As it is, it's pretty mediocre, especially being unfriendly. I feel like making some reference to Diablo 2, but this power isn't deadly enough to compare.

Shock Sphere:
(HoFL) Reflex, Evocation, Lightning, E. A very large area of decent damage, and half on a miss. Unfriendly, but still a great pick for a blaster looking for range.[/sblock]
Level 5 Daily:
Controllers: Tasha's Forcible Conscription or Visions of Avarice. Blasters: Acid Mire, Scattering Shock, or Summon Magma Beast. You could also go back and pick the other of the L1 dailies you didn't. Summoners: Imp or Magma Beast.

Level 5 Daily:
[sblock]
Acid Mire: (AP) Fortitude, Acid, Evocation, Zone. Reasonably damaging, and if your party is good at push+prone, it can keep adding up, but it's unfriendly, offers little control other than area denial by itself, and you can't move the zone. Worth a look for Blasters with a fair bit of forced movement on hand.

Bigby's Icy Grasp:
(PHB) Reflex, Evocation, Cold, Conjuration. Okay against a single target, but unless you're heavily invested in Con, your Fortitude will be relatively easy to make escape checks against. Potentially a lot of damage if you have high defenses, but that will take investment.

Fire Mantle:
(HoEC) Aura, Evocation, Fire. This sort of power tends to work better on Warlocks, especially hybridised charger gishes. For you, it's a bit of a waste. That said, the effect is pretty decent, so if you are some kind of odd gish or leader hybrid, it could be worth a look. (Watery Sphere is Transmutation, and this is Evocation? Did someone go into the filing cabinets while drunk or something?)

Fireball: (PHB-HoFL) Reflex, Fire, Evocation. THE iconic blaster spell. But it's only damage, and very unfriendly. A Blaster, especially a Pyromancer, can consider it, but be very careful where you lob the thing. I would probably suggesting retraining it to Acid Mire if you pick up Fire Burst in 2 levels. If you're set on a fire-based power, Summon Magma Beast will generally outperform this. Still, it's traditional, and many of us will have a soft spot for it.

Foe to Frog:
(HoFW) Fortitude, Polymorph, Transmutation. Slimy Transmutation, 4 levels later and LFR Legal. Still likely to waste something's turn, but feels a bit weaker at this level.

Glitterdust:
(AP) Reflex, Evocation, Radiant. Blind is a decent condition, and the effect line will really ruin certain creature types' days. But the small area affected, unfriendliness and short duration keep it from a higher rating.

Grasp of the Grave: (D372) Reflex, Necrotic, Necromancy, Zone. AB2 of friendly guaranteed damage, and dazes on hit. Would be blue were it not for the damage type. Necromancers should definately consider it.

Ice Knife:
(HoEC) Cold, Evocation, Reflex. This feels more like an encounter power. It's pretty weak for a daily, and should be avoided. Cool concept though.

Phantasmal Assailant:
(AP) Will, Illusion, Psychic. The effect is okay, but not spectacular, and it's only single target. Pass.

Savage Transformation:
(HoFW) Fortitude, Polymorph, Transmutation. Since you can't dictate where the target goes, you're effectively granting Team Monster extra attacks, since the OA can be made even against PCs that shift. Do not use this.

Scattering Shock:
(D383) Fortitude, Evocation, Reflex, Lightning. Rearrange the board, clump up your enemies and blast 'em all. You could do worse. An option for Blasters looking for precision and a minor in control.

Stinking Cloud: (PHB) Fortitude, Evocation, Poison, Zone. The effect is okay, but the obscuration works both ways, and poison is a commonly resisted or outright-immune damage type.

Summon Abyssmal Maw:
(AP) Summoning. Play defender for a while. Not bad, and has some tactical use, or if you end up at a Defender-less LFR table, but nothing brilliant either.

Summon Imp:
(D385) Summoning, Poison. Highly mobile, sneaky, and gives you a damage boost. Pity about the bad damage type, but at least its attacks themselves are untyped. The instrinsic effect is ignorable, so use it for off-turn damage.

Summon Magma Beast:
(D385) Summoning, Fire. Slows and grants OGD to those it hits, and like the imp, has an ignorable intrinsic effect so long as you're careful. Just make sure to keep an enemy as 'the nearest creature'. Your defenders will love the Symbiosis effect.

Summon Shadow Servant:
(Hos) Summoning, Shadow. Only selectable by a Mage with Expert Nethermancy or Necromancy. Summons a creature based on your specialisation (or pick one, if you have both for some odd reason). Necromancers can consider it, as the skeleton makes a semi-decent defender-lite, and is obviously flavourful. Nethermancers should probably stay away, as the beast's attack isn't very impressive. The at-will obscuring cloud is okay, but again, works both ways. Errata adding insubstantial improves its durability, although radiant damage will take it apart very quickly.

Tasha's Forcible Conscription: (HoFL) Will, Charm, Enchantment. Stun an enemy for a round and when they wake up, make 'em smack themself in the head. Good first turn power to let Team PC surround something. The fragility of the effect is a letdown, but can be used tactically to trigger the aftereffect. Decent, although the fragility of the miss effect does weaken that substantially.

Thunderstaff:
(D380) Fortitude, Evocation, Thunder. Off-turn attacks like this are a bit more of a striker thing, but staves are good implements for you, and the large push will probably prevent whatever attack they were going to attempt to use on you. Plus it dazes (defeaned rarely has any effect). You could do worse. Does not do Thunder damage as advertised.

Visions of Avarice:
(AP-HoFL) Will, Illusion, Zone. Enormous area of friendly clumping and immobilisation. Pity the secondary attack no longer also immobilises. Great if stacked with other zones, or for keeping enemies in Defender Auras and the like.

Web:
(PHB) Reflex, Evocation, Zone. VoA does this better, and isn't unfriendly. Still, you don't have to sustain the zone, which gives it some use. A bit better with some creative use, or in narrow corridors and so on.[/sblock]

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