vamp swarm/unholy feast/etc aoe question

Accordin to the skill description, vamp swarm/feast/stuff like deathly swarm are suppose to hit X damage to 3 or so units in the area. Now, these usual junky skills are compensated by the fact that they are either life steal, have the word "area" meaning they hit a HUGE radius, or both.

Thing is though, today I tried out vamp swarm/feast. They do NOT have huge radius. Maybe I'm using it wrong, or my definition/knowledge of area is flawed, but shouldn't these moves be able to hit targets from your original targets within the range of like a ward? I mean wtf

Just need clarification.

yes it is ward range, try going to the PvP start zone and try casting it on the dummies set up in a circle. It only hits up to 3 people in the area around the target.
"In the area" isn't that large, have you ever dropped a ward?

They're good skills, but have long casting times (vamp/death swarm) and can do some nice damage to enemies. Overall, I generally don't use them b/c it takes too long to get them off and you're easily interrupted.