Priests and LA Ermor

[Lord_Bob]

I've done some tests with priests vs. LA Ermor, and I'm kinda wondering about the talk about "Priests counter Ermor". Even without buffing, 300 castle undead inflicted 19 kills on the infantry protecting 10 priests with shields.

Given the insane priest/undead ratio, the lack of ANY buffs for the undead, and the presence of 60 infantry, am I missing something, or is this "the sucky strategy" that is supposed to work?

Cause playing Ermor, I can easily see how I'd run this over.

[Lord_Bob]

If I'm missing something about using priests against Ermor, then I really do want to hear it. Is there some specific thing necessary to make them work? If there is some pre-Level 7 spell that is necessary, then please say it.

If this is just another pathetically broken piece of c***, then please admit it so I can realize I have no chance and move on from there.

[VedalkenBear]

Well, using Priests against Ermor is generally a matter of quantity. Regarding your initial post, I'm confused about the second sentence.

Did you kill 300 Undead in exchange for 19 kills on your priest's guards? If so, I would think that's a fair exchange. Any buffs that the undead would get would be minor, since the MR buff is rather hard to 'stick'.

Something you might want to consider is the 'priest raiding strategy'where you send about 20 priests into an Ermorian province scripted with Banishx5 then flee.

Regarding spells, Solar Rays (Evo2 S2) can be very effective. If you have the gems and have researched Construction 4, you can make Herald Lances (S2, 10 pearls) which would let any commander throw Solar Rays.

Almost any Area effect Evocation will be effective. Falling Fire/Frost is quite good. Dust to Dust (D1, Thau1) is very good against undead, and Wither Bones (D3, Thau6) is even more effective. Against chaff undead (especially longdead) Blade Wind (E3, Evo4) is also quite effective.

It would help if we knew what nation you were playing to give more pointed advice.

[K]

In my experience, the Level 1 priests you can recruit are almost useless for this purpose. This is because Banishment's AoE and damage is based heavily on Holy level, and Holy 1 makes a very small Area of Effect and doesn't do much damage.

Holy 2, however, is the real deal. Put five Holy 2's on the field and you will see more killed undead than ten Holy 1s.

Also, when fighting Ermor and blasting them with Banishments, you want to make the combat go longer, so they spend more time dying. Simple infantry recruited out of a Indie province is BS. Put heavily armored and hopefully Lifeless things on the front (I like Statues), but regenerating meatshields work as well. Luck armies are also ideal.

Stuck with Holy 1's? There are several ways to increase Holy level. They are Prophet(one H3), Crystal Shield(E1,S1 for for +1H) or Power of the Spheres(S1 spell and one pearl for +1H), Communions or Sabbaths(easy to get a +2H with four slaves), two artifacts(+1 Hs), Hellpower(B3 and 3 slaves for +2H, beware the Horrors), and summoning Telestic Animations(H2).

Done correctly, you should be throwing down so many kills that your priests will be competing against each other for spots on the Hall of Fame, and you have losses per battle in the single digits. Ermor's real weakness is that you basically know the 6-7 kinds of units it'll use, and you'll see SCs and some summoned crap thrown in for flavor.

Ps. Penetration rules. Eyes of the Void and Spell Focuses are a must to counter a self-buffing Ermor.

[calmon]

What are "castle undeads"? Do you mean the cavalry?

Well Ermor is strong in conventional battles. Priests (Holy 1 in your case?)help but say are not the "all time" solution.

The big disadvantage of LA ermor is the lack of non gem mages. A good build army can defeat thousands of undeads without taking damage. Right build SC's do the same. However thats primary in the mid/lategame so you will have your problems in early game.

[thejeff]

I'm not sure about the uselessness of H1 priests. Sure, H2 or H3 are better, but it's often cheaper and easier to field 10 H1 priests than 5 H2s. And almost certainly not worth boosting standard H1 priests with Crystal Shields or artifacts. If you've got cheap Astral/Blood priests, communion is great for boosting some (No fatigue, so have the slaves banish as well.)

The key to H1 priests is quantity. For a major fight against LA Ermor, you'd want 20-30, along with some real mages and a meat shield.

[Lord_Bob]

That was a real answer. Thank you. I find confort in knowing that the standard garbage answer to dealing with Ermor is complete nonsense.

-They are Prophet(one H3)

Total Number Fielded-1

- Crystal Shield(E1,S1 for for +1H)

Crystal Shield costs 25 astral. So I'm certain you're joking about using this. You are joking, right?

-Power of the Spheres(S1 spell and one pearl for +1H)

Mages that cast "Power of the Spheres" refuse to cast banishment after Turn 5. They instead elect to pass out casting "Blade Wind" against units with tower shields. I'm sure other national priest/mages are similiarly pyscho.

-Works! Communions:

I used "Crystal Matrixs" to get a Communion going, and the priests went insane, cast Banishment twice a turn, and charged the undead. I suppose I'll pen them up so they can't charge, and use this ERROR IN CODE on Ermor.

-Sabbaths(easy to get a +2H with four slaves)
-Hellpower(B3 and 3 slaves for +2H, beware the Horrors),

LA Mictlan undoubtly slaughters Ermor

-and summoning Telestic Animations(H2)

Ok, this is usefull. It has ALOT of problems with it, but usefull.

-Ps. Penetration rules. Eyes of the Void and Spell Focuses are a must to counter a self-buffing Ermor.

Yes, I was trying to give them to Marignon for free, but he has decided he "was dead", and refused to answer any messages.

[Lord_Bob]

-Did you kill 300 Undead in exchange for 19 kills on your priest's guards? If so, I would think that's a fair exchange. Any buffs that the undead would get would be minor, since the MR buff is rather hard to 'stick'.

A single castle/temple Ermor undead generator creates 25 undead a turn.

[Lord_Bob]

-What are "castle undeads"? Do you mean the cavalry?

Well Ermor is strong in conventional battles. Priests (Holy 1 in your case?)help but say are not the "all time" solution.

The big disadvantage of LA ermor is the lack of non gem mages. A good build army can defeat thousands of undeads without taking damage. Right build SC's do the same. However thats primary in the mid/lategame so you will have your problems in early game.

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By all means tell me the "good build". Any LA nation, except no H3 priests.

[Meglobob]

I recently won a MP game with LA Ermor and I must say lvl 1 priests where a very small threat to my undead, even when massed in large numbers 20-30.

I made sure every battle I fought I had darkness, rigor mortis and protection of the sepulchre up. This meant I would often destroy far more of the enemy or equal numbers, which of course means Ermor wins given its huge freespawn every turn.

What did give me trouble was LA Ctis spamming wither bones, I lost many 1,000's of undead to that and LA Tien Chi's anchestor smiths casting multiple rain of stones. Rain of Stones destroyed a 1,500 strong undead army in a mere 4 combats rounds.

If you can destroy 75% of the undead quickly the rest will autoroute, pretty much resulting in 100% casulties for LA Ermor.