It seems to me that Potterverse magic comes in two distinct kinds. There are dueling charms that require line-of-sight, and this is what we actually see being cast. And then there are big area-effect magics like the ones affecting Hogwarts, and we don't really know anything about those - we never see them being cast. But we do see that such things are rare, and mostly old. This suggests to me that there's no area-effect combat spells, to be laid on in five minutes before you enter the enemy's house. Rather there are point-and-shoots, and Epic Ritual Magic, possibly lost to modern wizardkind.
Touching Dumbledore's magic against the Death Eaters, note that he doesn't use it until they are defeated and presumably unconscious. This seems to indicate that it's an ordinary point-and-shoot, perhaps even a slow, easily-dodged one that's useless on an active target. A point-and-shoot anti-Apparation jinx is useless to Voldemort; if he can jinx you that way he might as well use the AK.
...It seems to me that Potterverse magic comes in two distinct kinds. There are dueling charms that require line-of-sight, and this is what we actually see being cast. And then there are big area-effect magics like the ones affecting Hogwarts, and we don't really know anything about those - we never see them being cast. But we do see that such things are rare, and mostly old. This suggests to me that there's no area-effect combat spells, to be laid on in five minutes before you enter the enemy's house. Rather there are point-and-shoots, and Epic Ritual Magic
Edit: New thread posted here.
This is a new thread to discuss Eliezer Yudkowsky’s Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality and anything related to it. This thread is intended for discussing chapter 86. The previous thread has long passed 500 comments.
There is now a site dedicated to the story at hpmor.com, which is now the place to go to find the authors notes and all sorts of other goodies. AdeleneDawner has kept an archive of Author’s Notes. (This goes up to the notes for chapter 76, and is now not updating. The authors notes from chapter 77 onwards are on hpmor.com.)
The first 5 discussion threads are on the main page under the harry_potter tag. Threads 6 and on (including this one) are in the discussion section using its separate tag system. Also: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16.
As a reminder, it’s often useful to start your comment by indicating which chapter you are commenting on.
Spoiler Warning: this thread is full of spoilers. With few exceptions, spoilers for MOR and canon are fair game to post, without warning or rot13. More specifically: