Good Sor/Wiz Abjuration spells? (rather lengthy)

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

So I was perusing those oft-maligned prestige classes, the Incantatrix and Initiate of the Sevenfold Veil, and I noticed that (along with both living up to their notorious hyperpower) both seem to be geared towards Abjuration specialization. It's probably been noted on these forums that Master Abjurer works quite nicely with IotSV, for one, and Incantatrix forces you to specialize, anyway.

That got me thinking - Abjuration is one of those schools you can't drop because of a few necessary spells, but it doesn't seem to have enough good spells at every level to be a good specializing school. I've read the Guide, and it doesn't list too many Abjuration spells, especially within core. Does someone want to shed light on good Abjuration spells at each level? This is what I've gathered so far:

Core:
1st:
Alarm - Situational at best if you can use Rope Trick to its fullest extent, which you probably can if your DM is allowing something like IotSV or Incantatrix.
Protection From X - Admittedly useful, but this is more the Cleric's department.
Shield - Situational, since you'd rather be casting something more useful in-combat. But it is a nice pre-combat buff, if you know something's coming in a minute.

2nd:
Protection From Arrows - Good when you first get it, but it gets useless in short order. Especially useless if you have access to Wind Wall.
Resist Energy - Very situational. One of those spells you have in your spellbook, but only want to prepare when you know you're going to need it that day.

3rd:
Dispel Magic - Obvious, though it becomes redundant once Greater Dispel rolls around.
Magic Circle Against X - See Protection From X.
Protection From Energy - See Resist Energy.

4th:
Dimensional Anchor: Very nice, but very situational. See Resist Energy.

5th:
Break Enchantment, Dismissal - See Resist Energy.

6th:
Dispel Magic, Greater - Obvious again.
Repulsion - All right, I'll readily admit 11th level is a good level for Abjurers.

7th:
Spell Turning - I'd whine less if it was hours/level, but it would probably be too good then. Of course, if it was hours/level, every wizard would have it up, and you'd get the lasgun effect all the time. How fun!
Banishment - By this level, you probably are fighting extraplanar beings every day, so I guess this is good, too.

8th:
Mind Blank, Prismatic Wall - Yeah, moving on.

9th:
Prismatic Sphere - Nice, but not always the best ninth-level spell you can cast. Of course, that's just because there are so many stupidly good ninth level spells you can cast... Oh, who am I kidding, it doesn't even matter at this level.

So, anyone want to enlighten me on good non-core Abjuration spells, especially in the 1st-5th level range, or correct me on my (probably horrendously-misinformed) ideas about core abjurations?

[Rachel Lorelei]

You're pretty much spot-on about core Abjuration.

In the Spell Compendium:
-Scintillating Scales (level 2) is devastatingly good... for things with a huge NA bonus, like dragons.
-Anticipate Teleport (level 3) is a must-have for any wizard. You know when something's teleporting into the area, and you can delay its appearance by a round (in which you prepare). You'd think this would be Divination, but it's not.
-Ray Deflection (level 4) is situationally priceless. Forceward is very good if you've already gone ethereal via Ethereal Jaunt or something.
-Duelward (level 5) is very good for mage duels.
-Greater Anticipate (level 6) Teleport lasts 24 hours and lets you delay the appearance by 3 rounds.
-Antimagic Ray (level 7) is absolutely brilliant against enemy casters.
-Ironguard (level 7) is cheesy against weapon-wielding enemy. Immune to all metal, like, say, swords? Check.
-Energy Immunity (level 7) is probably best left to the cleric or druid, but it's a nice option.
-Maw of Chaos (level 9) is an uncapped, no-save, rounds-per-level duration, area-of-effect damage spell that also forces a Will save vs. daze each round.
-Absorption (level 9) is another one of those spells good vs. other spellcasters.

[Saph]

Abjuration is one of those schools that's incredibly powerful at high levels, but a bit lacking until then. Take Dispel Magic; at low levels, burning a 3rd-level spell slot just to have a 50/50 chance of dispelling or suppressing an enemy spell just isn't very impressive. On the other hand, once enemy casters start having more buffs on them than you have characters in your party, then dispels become very important.

Other points:

- Resist Energy is, IMO, better than you give it credit for. Maybe it's just me, but at mid levels I find myself running into monsters that use energy attacks a LOT. The main drawback is knowing in advance what energy type to use, and losing a turn in combat if you don't. If you're playing a gish, a great way around this is the Abjurant Champion PrC - it allows you to cast Resist Energy as a swift action.
- Shield is one of those spells that rewards advance planning. If you're good at predicting encounters, you can often guess when a fight's likely to come.
- Protection from Arrows is probably better than Wind Wall against low-level archers, since it moves with you and lasts much longer. I still wouldn't use it, though.
- Break Enchantment is a "keep it in your spell book for when the cleric gets petrified" type spell.
- Rope Trick requires CL 9 if you want to recover spells in it, while Alarm only requires CL 4 to cover you through 8 hours of rest. So that's a reason to use Alarm instead, especially since, by the time you're CL 9, you've also got Teleport.

As an aside, I've always been dubious about Antimagic Ray because it allows a Will save, which is likely to be tricky against a caster (especially a divine one).

- Saph

[Fishy]

Magic Circle against X is necessary to cast the Planar Binding line- for as much as that's worth.