Darley, worst built sorceress ever

Ok, I know this is an old point for the discussion, but I need to defennd one of my favourite spells.

Magic missile.

While it doesn't do all that much damage - true enough- there are some enemies that only can be wounded by force-energy. But that's not the true defense.
The ultimate use of the MM is in fact that it's a pro-active dispell.
If you enter combat where you know there's a few very efficient mages (like the final battle in the Arena of Heroes) and your mage or sorceror can act first, let him "ready vs spell".
As soon as the enemy mage tries to cast his spell, you let fly your volley of MM's.
Most enemy mages have not the necessary majik-fu to soak up the damage and still be concentrated enough and thus their spell gets disrupted.

This means you did 2 things in one go: you saved your party-memers (and yourself) from a horrible fate, plus you brought an enemy caster closer to death

 

Sorry for bump, but I have some other word about this.
Darley was usable for me at end of the original game (I finished game without co8 mod). I used her at air (that was so short action), water (earth and fire was harder) and final temple, without any skip of her actions.
Now, some of you may laugh, but I found some other things to use than sorceress abilities. High HP, good AC and possibility of using some weapons made Darley also not so bad fighter for me. I gave her some good reserved items I still had (also modified them by crafting), and she hit well as front fighters assistance.
As for spells, I used stoneskin (at close combat) and magic missiles (at first stages with bosses).
Additional interesting experience for me was that most of NPCs didnt want to talk or trade with me anymore, which was nice variety of adventure for me (as its role play).