How to use blood magic effectively in battles?

[Velusion]

Micah said:
L4L is B3, but only 1 slave, so a B2 mage could get a cast off...not exactly "above average" there. He'll be very much KO'd from it, but L4L is kind of a multiple-caster spell anyhow if you're trying to drop a 200HP SC.

I'm pretty sure the computer won't cast it (it will default to something else) unless you have 3B. I've actually been testing it out in test games the last few days and I can't get the B2 mages to cast it (even when loaded up on slaves).

[Micah]

Well, it wouldn't be the first time the spellcasting AI didn't work like it ought to, so I may very well be mistaken.

[K]

Reinvigoration is the best combat blood spell. Rush of Strength is nice as well. The spells that send dudes to hell are the premier SC killers.

Otherwise, pray your mages don't cast any of the other spells (though Hellbind Heart is almost as good as Charm or Enslave and will do wonders in Assasinations).

Otherwise, blood slaves make good meatshields.

[konming]

I think Hellbind Heart is just like Charm, even longer range, but high fatigue cost and requires blood slave. It certainly is better than enslave. But all these spells tends to work on single more powerful target, as area kill is hard to find.

[AreWeInsaneYet]

why the hell would you ever need the area kill in blood?
just like the blood astral magic also lacks aoe spell and nobody suffers from that. there's not a single nation have no access to nonblood magic, just move your *** and youll be more comfort.

[DrPraetorious]

Water magic sucks in combat except for falling frost, frozen heart, quickness and the various underwater spells which are all sheer gravy (except, okay, the zap spell, that's not much good) - in other words, it sucks except for all the spells it gets, which are good

Blood Rain is often an outstanding spell, especially if you have a bunch of fearless units.
Agony is also more effective than it looks. With the great range and large AoE, you can rout whole armies with it. Falling foo is better but that doesn't mean Agony isn't good.

Blood Vengeance is actually worth casting on a number of units - if you head straight for Blood 9, you can have Jotun Skratti cast it and then turn into werewolves. Instant SCs - this really works, although anything requiring a 9 that just clears chaff is, admittedly, not infinitely exciting.
Might as well cast Pain Transfer at the same time if you're swimming in slaves.

Blood Lust is always worth casting as Lanka.

[Lingchih]

Hellbind Heart, in my experience (very limited... I don't use Blood much), is inferior to Charm. It cost 100 fatigue, requiring you to use Reinvigoration plus a bunch of blood slaves, to cast it multiple times, and does not seem to hit as hard as Charm.

[Velusion]

Yea, Blood Vengeance is another good B9 spell for SCs/Thugs.

Oh and LfL is actually lvl 8, so not quite as bad.

The best are still Infernal Prison and Claws of Kokytos. As someone mentioned before they are the ultimate anti-SC spells.

[sum1lost]

Bloodletting is actually brutal against large armies. One player used it to slaughter my communions and legions very effectively in Chinchilla.

[Folket]

Leech is the single most powerful spell. Just use huge armies of 60-100 gold B1 mages. Against ordnary units they kill 30 gold a turn for three turns. Against other units it will be much more efficient.