[Touc]

Boom Burst and Shockwave are similar spells, both are intermediate...

However, Boom Burst is 40 RPL requirement of Sound tree, (10 RPP goes off to air attunement too).

Shockwave has a 50 RPL requirement though it's in the base Air tree, and it has knockback feature, as well as 5 additional mana cost (making it 15).

I don't see Boom Burst as a spell that adds anything particularly useful to the sound tree, which is already quite lacking (which is okay since I guess the game design here was supposed to have sound be used in conjuction with other trees), nothing that could be unlocked if you already dipped into Air which has a LOT, lot more better options than Sound does.

So... Yeah, generally, it feels like Boom Burst is akin to sound strike, albeit aoe, and without knockback and confusion. Underwhelming.

It's unwise to compare anything to Shockwave given that Shockwave is one of the game's stronger spells.