Awesome units/spells
 

Sorry, I know this has probably been done a billion times before, but there have been a lot of "dud" threads lately and I thought we might as well celebrate some of the cool parts of Dominions also. (Not a criticism of those who post on duds to try to improve them, just an attempt at balance.) What are the coolest units, spells, and combos you've used or had used against you?

I play SP, but here are some reflections to start:

I'm a huge fan of Svartalfs. Legions of Steel/Strength of Giants/Weapons of Sharpness, Magma Eruption, Cloud of Death, Blade Wind, Petrify, skelly spam, Wind of Death, Bane Fire, Aim, etc., etc., all on a recruitable-anywhere unit. (I guess that's why they're getting set to capital-only in the next patch. Sigh.) They can forge owl quills, skull mentors, and lightless lanterns, as well as forging their own earth boots, skulls of fire, and skull staffs, which together with Summon Earth/Phoenix power can give you up to F3, E5, or D4 in combat. I'd be very tempted to play any nation at all if it had recruitable-anywhere Svartalfs attached. Even if its only other national troop was militia. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Sauromancers don't have quite the variety of Svartalfs, but they're also recruitable anywhere, can cast Eagle Eyes for better accuracy, can do Nether Darts/Cloud of Death/Drain Life/skelly spam, Quickening with some items, can forge clams, and have 10 Prot which is pretty decent for a mage. They can forge their own Spell Focuses in a pinch, and Shrouds of the Battle Saint (which gives them 16 Prot plus bless effects like D9 or E9). A couple of lucky picks and you have all the magic you need for Gift-of-Reasoned Tartarians, which gets you every magic path in the game.

Palankashas are incredibly durable and take well to blesses.

Wraith Lords have 0 encumbrance and 22 Prot, and can cast Soul Vortex which makes them last forever.

I'm very fond of the Master Lich. Pretty cheap for a death bless (great for combat mages), nice rainbow capabilities, immortal for healing afflictions. I haven't found the low hp to matter much since I use him as a support mage, though I suppose in MP he might be vulnerable to Dust to Dust unless you bring chaff undead along. (Shatter would be a threat if it didn't have range 10.)

The Phoenix is a really cool pretender, too. Tends to get used naked for artillery spells, which combines nicely with flight and immortality. Just add a touch of PD for an amazing rolling strategic defense--getting killed just lets him restock on gems.

Drain Life is an amazing spell. Good range, 14+ unresistable damage, 100 Prec, and spammable ad nauseum because it restores Fatigue. Even available on an item so you can give it to Communicants. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

-Max

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

Will add more later but for now: decay and phoenix pyre. Decay is absolutely devastating to any SCs/thugs/expensive units without a huge upper age limit. In a test game(vrs myself) recently i had a basalt king with luck, regen, good prot, 100% all resistances, high mr, phoenix pyre(he still died to regular troops sometimes) and upwards of 20 reinvig(with phoenix pyre he was basically unstoppable) get killed because of this little spell. He was basically stomping around a 1000 man army, doing a bit of damage and then dying every few turns as planned. He would blow up, kill a load of guys and then get back to 0 fatigue before he died again but then a single unscripted death mage on the other side cast decay. It hit my king and within a few turns he had a limp, 1 arm missing, battlefright, a chest wound, a never healing wound, was blind, mute and feeble minded among other things and he actually started dying quicker than his reinvig could deal with and was defeated.

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

I get alot of fun out of Wind Ride. It snatches a commander from a far province and delivers it to your lab. If you have an army there, or PD, you can kill it. But if you have mages who can charm its even better (I like having a bunch of blood mages doing Heart Bind). I get a commander I cant make which are sometimes fantastic. And his equipment. AND it leaves his army stranded ripe for a rout if they are attacked. Sometimes I can even end up with multiple prophets by stealing someone elses prophet. (I used to snatch pretenders also but that hasnt happened in a long time so I think they fixed that)

A favorite pretender is Lord of Night. He is a titan-sized pretender, with all slots, and he can fly, has stealth, and he is an assassin. AND he summons help when he assassinates! Deck him out with equipment and let him fly all the way to the enemy and start assassinating everyone.

And thanks for this thread.
Gandalf Parker

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

Now a thread about overpowered units/spells! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

Well, "overpowered" would imply that there's no cost-effective counter. Nominate those if you like, but some combos are just flavourful or fun even if they're expensive or vulnerable to special tactics. Who knows, maybe somebody will speak up who's in love with Lure of the Sea, in the right situation. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif Likewise, game balance-wise it doesn't really matter that all the tricks Svartalfs can play are combined on one unit--it could just as well have been three/four units like the EA Agarthan Oracles--but the fact that it IS one unit adds a lot to the coolness factor for me.

-Max

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

Foul vapors can kill mages in the back of the battlefield even if you loose the battle.

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

Some Extremely Powerful (for cost) Units:

Prince of Death

Niefel Skin Shifters

Helhirdlings/Sacred van with lances

Palankasha

Basic EA Ulm archers

Marignon and low armor indy crossbows

Ktonian Necromancer

Shadow Vestals


Some Extremely Potent Spells:


Tartarian Gate

Summon Skeletons

Thunder Strike

Mother Oak

Cloud Trapeze

Call of the Winds

Summon Air Queen

Summon Water Queen

Forge of the Ancients

Fog Warriors

Body Ethereal

Soul Slay

Bladewind

Summon Earthpower

Flaming Arrows

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

Call of the Winds: I hate knocking down castles. I like small armies of relatively elite units, or else regular units with combat mages, and so having to build a bunch of militia to besiege a fortress irritates me. That makes Call of the Winds a great spell. The hawks you get aren't upkeep-free, but they're not expensive, and they appear anywhere you send them. After the siege you can use the commanders as flying shuttles to collect routed troops, ferry gems, carry Wall Shakers quickly to other castles, etc.

Cloud Trapeze is great because anyone who is capable of casting e.g. Shimmering Fields is also capable of dropping it on enemy armies anywhere, before they get a chance to even move. It's a terrific strategic spell in a school that's already nice tactically.

-Max

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

One of my favorite units are those sacred snakes EA C'Tis gets. They're kind of different from everything else, in that it's an animal, and relatively weak, but still really effective with a strong bless. They aren't the best units in the game, but they're a lot of fun to play with.

Re: Awesome units/spells
 

I really like the crossbreeding spells. I'm not saying they're very good, just that I like the idea behind them. For the same reason I also really like summon animals - the stuff you get in different terrain is very interesting.