Talk:Great Chaos Fireball (Dark Souls II)/@comment-62.31.54.170-20140824172556

This spell and Forbidden Sun have varying advantages and disadvantages, but they end up being basically equal, just useful in different cirucmstances.

GCF has higher total Damage-Per-Cast, more Casts-Per-Slot, and requires less Attunement slots to use. But is slower to cast and travel, with lower Damage-Per-Second and with shorter range.

Forbidden Sun has lower total Damage-Per-Cast and less Casts-Per-Slot, and requires more Attunement slots to use. But is faster to cast and travel, with higher Damage-Per-Second and with longer range.

Conclusions: GCF will usually be better for raw damage output especially in PvE where the lower speed won't matter as much and where targets are more likely to stand in the fire, it also requires less investment into Attunement to splash into your build and has multiple casts right off the bat. Forbidden Sun is better for punishing attempts to heal, but will not provide higher damage output than GCF unless you have multiple scrolls/high enough attunement to chain-cast it, since with only one cast to begin with, if you miss your shot, you don't get another without grazing on some herbs.