Since making the casting animations for my various pixel sprites, I always had the idea in my head of a lightning spell. That's why they point their weapon up into the sky and then cast forwards.
You can of course use that animation for any sort of spell, adding additional charging/particle effects while they are powering up, and then the actual spell when they fire it off.
But the one I always imagined you can now see for yourself on youtube here:
This uses my up coming mini orge sprite and some sounds added for 'dramatic effect' but you can imagine it on any of the other sprites too.
The lightning is just a unity line renderer that changes position over time. Neat right?
Well it will be available as part of the Mini-Heroes pack on unity soon (it's pending review currently) Check it out below: