Missing Info

Ok, it looks like you just glossed over my question and didn't answer anything. This is, to my understanding, how the damage for Ice/Lightning and Fire/Lightning works: With Ice/Lightning you strike a number of targets equal to the number of charges left with each shot, and each target after the first takes a cumulative 10% damage penalty. With Fire/Lightning at 5 charges you strike 5 targets for 5 * 1.3 times the spell's base damage with a cumulative 10% damage penalty on each target after the first. Because Fire/lightning has higher base damage, has fire's damage bonus with multiple charges, and strikes all five charges with all its damage rather than hitting 5, then 4, then 3, then 2 targets, Fire/Lightning does far more damage than Ice/Lightning.

Total Fire/Lightning Damage: (Both spells rank 1) The sum of ( Base damage * charges * fire damage bonus * lightning multi-hit penalty) for every target hit = (120+150)*(5)*(1.3)*(1+.9+.8+.7+.6) = 7,020

Total Ice/Lightning Damage = sum (Base damage * lightning multi-hit penalty) for every target hit = (80+150)*(5*1 + 4*.9 + 3*.8 + 2*.7 + 1*.6) = 2,990