Assassin nations?

[Edi]

Lanka also has assassins, the Rakshasi is a seducer/assassin, and they can summon Samanishadas later on (a Rakshasa assassin). The Rakshasi does have the problem of not having stealth in both forms, so if she shapechanges in battle, she will likely get stuck or will attack her current province.

[thejeff]

Since someone mentioned Black Hearts, Jotunheim has easy access to blood and very tough (giant) scouts...

[Ygorl]

Tupilaks may be able to take down mages and priests, but they fail miserably against victims with high defense. Hoburg heroes beat them, and that's just embarrassing.

[Taqwus]

Yeah, not a fan of Tupilaks due to their att/def.

Ah, forgot about the Samanishadas. Vicious, if memory serves. Likewise, the seducers (including the non-national Succubus blood summon) and Sirens can be outfitted as such, although Succubi are slow to work with -- if the seduction succeeds, they have to fly back all the way from the capital.

Aside -- it is probably a bad idea to use Succubi with an underwater nation, although it might be funny from a really really warped POV if she has water-breathing gear on. Talk about a bad date...

[jaif]

Hey all, thanks for the good discussion. I don't get to play much, so I've focussed mostly on nations without assassins up until now, but I just got a hankering to play with them a bit.

I'm curious - what do you guys do against a priest with smite? Smite's 20 points, so that can easily be a one-shot kill.

-Jeff

[llamabeast]

Smite is MR-resists, so give your assassin an anti-magic amulet.

[KissBlade]

Don't forget there's also Mujina.

[B0rsuk]

I'd like to point out Bane Spider is actually pretty good assassin except for his terrible armor. He gets -6 defense just from armor (1 for full helmet 5 for spider armor). So if you want to use them, replacing armor is the first step. I think Marble Armor is very cost effective - 25 protection +4 defense and that's for 10 gems without hammer. Cold vulnerability is not a big deal against most opponents.
I'm still scratching my head why BS cost so much gold - probably bane blades. 14 hp, nice attack and defense, ambidexterous 3. But still...

Can anyone enlighten me what's the benefit of Forest Survival on a commander with strategic move 1 ? I know there are some minor benefits like Swamp Survival units not getting diseased in Miasma, but other than that ?

[Burnsaber]

B0rsuk said:
I'd like to point out Bane Spider is actually pretty good assassin except for his terrible armor. He gets -6 defense just from armor (1 for full helmet 5 for spider armor). So if you want to use them, replacing armor is the first step. I think Marble Armor is very cost effective - 25 protection +4 defense and that's for 10 gems without hammer. Cold vulnerability is not a big deal against most opponents.
I'm still scratching my head why BS cost so much gold - probably bane blades. 14 hp, nice attack and defense, ambidexterous 3. But still...

Can anyone enlighten me what's the benefit of Forest Survival on a commander with strategic move 1 ? I know there are some minor benefits like Swamp Survival units not getting diseased in Miasma, but other than that ?

- resitance to Beckoning
- flavor

[jimkehn]

Also....aren't they less susceptible to starvation in a forest??