Ah, cone spells! the shotgun of spells, shortranged but wide area and high damage. I would think Stabbey's Inquisitor would be using them as well since the motif is short ranged spell use and what a speed build on a mage is best for and getting in close.

Wish there was a cone of fire, call it Dragonsbreath and a cone of electricity call it Arcing-shock or something like that.

Not terrible in close combat, I hate the persistent poison effect though so dont use it as much as I use winterblast which I do like, trouble is with the high AP cost on it I can usually get another sword-slash in instead so I only use it occasionally for variety or if I need to hit more than one target of course.