Just nuke everything dead, use every spell slot at level 3+ for fireball, fireball and more fireball.
How boring.
The other side of that coin is me playing as a level 4 bard in a party without Gale and suffering from a lack of AoE damage options - 'option' singular really. It's making fight a real slog and even when I win I'm left with a party that's half dead. Currently considering a respec to sorcerer. I'm willing to accept that I may be playing the bard badly but something has to change.