[thejeff]

Better than nothing, certainly.

Don't knock Flames from the Sky either. It's much easier to wipe out large armies outside of battle sometimes.

I'm not saying Fire is useless. It's just one of the more limited paths.
It's got great expansion and early war potential, but rapidly becomes less effective than most of the other paths.

Which is why Abysia usually goes off into Blood & Astral.