I've been trying to build an evoker around using two close range spells, flame surge and DR/TR with TOW. Ran into problems with flame surge damage in epic act 5. Looks like a clear warning, if it has issues in epic, it will run into a wall in legendary, and I don't seem to know how to fix it. Or perhaps I do, 2x seals of Hephestos, Eye of Ra, Hesione's Golden Veil, but I don't want to do that. It will ruin resists and other stats and playing melee with poor defenses is unpleasant. I'm not sure it will suffice to fix it either.
TitanCalcFlame surge was buffed in anniversary but apparently is still a poor skill. Its damage is approx on par with ice shards. Ice shards can shotgun, while flame surge hits with one projectile per cast unless the target has a very large hitbox.
Skill has one more infuriating "feature": it can't hit certain mobs that hover above the ground, like valkyries and Hades in final form.