We just got ambushed in a courtyard by about 15 enemies standing on a walkway above us, with no immediately obvious way for us to get up there. We were sitting ducks. So Shadowheart cast blade barrier across the entire walkway. In addition to doing a lot of damage every turn, it imposes difficult terrain. All of the enemies stopped firing on us and tried to run to the end of the walkway. Most of them died on the way, but a few seemed to realize it was futile and turned around to run back and attack us, they died on the way back. A single concentration spell turned a dire situation into a complete bloodbath for our enemies. Shadowheart doesn’t shine very often, but when she does, she shines like a diamond.
I just discovered spike growth this playthrough. What an amazing spell! Even cast at level 2, it absolutely wrecks groups of monsters.
Yeah it’s a really underutilized spell because you look at it and you look at entangle, and entangle hard stops them, and on instinct it seems better. Spike growth slows and damages so much though it’s a great way to control a battlefield. At it’s best during that fight where you protect halsins portal in the shadow cursed lands.
It has absolutely annihilated the entire groups of enemies for me. One spell won several encounters. When you’re shooting them with range, they have no choice but to try to escape, and they’ll often walk through the entire thing and kill themselves. It’s pretty crazy. I doubt it would work that well in a table top game since the DM would likely jump out of it, or figure something else out, but the game logic engine will just walk them right through it and kill them all.