Spells

Advanced spells can be single target or an area attack- meaning multiple targets.

While Area spells are very good for shortening random encounter battles, they won't help you out in the boss fights.

Stick with a single target when trying to dispatch one super tough bad guy. It will do more damage than an area attack and (almost more importantly) cost less mana (40 for an advanced single target compared with 80 for advanced area.)