Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

I'd rate as the top pretenders:

* Gorgon
* Prince of Death
* Cylops
* Agarthan Oracle
* Wyrm
* Oracle
* Kraken
* Colossal Fetish
* Water blessers (mother of rivers, father of winters, lady of springs)

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

Master Lich is good in a big game. It cannot be targeted. He is not big, or flying. He has a zero encumbrance when casting, and has 3 misc slots.

Though he cannot fight like the Lich, or ctis immortal lizard lich, he starts with 3 dominion, rather than 2, and magic paths are 20 instead of 40.

And he is better against an attack than a combat sc, assuming the attack is backed with many mages. As my pretender in perpetuality for ma ctis, he was devastating with banefire/shadow blast. Since he has low hps, i always take air magic for air shield and eventually a shield of valor(seeking arrow).

In Eh II i started him with 5s and 5d, and a couple other paths. With 5 s and immortal, he can magic duel enemy s mages without fear. And with 3 slots, he can wish without the need for empowerment. In fact with robe magi he can reach s 10 without empowerment, and be quite potent with master enslave
without the need for a communion.

instead of using a wish for magical power, the ML really benefits from a wish for power to give him durability.

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

I'm partial to:

Cyclops - good ol' faithful
Natty - too bad she's not available to more nations
Great Enchantress - rainbow mage for magic-weak nations, plus bonus pearls
VQ - undead pretenders are too vulnerable without immortality

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

Hmm, I'm glad everyone has given such interesting responses. But one thing mystifies me: what is a Natty?

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

Nataraja, most likely.


Out of the human-ish rainbows, Great Enchantress is clearly the best. The others' abilities just don't compare with 1 free pearl per turn.

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

Not just the 1 free pearl, but she has two paths to start with and those two are earth and astral, which are always useful and especially as a combination.

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

CB gives other humans similar starting paths, but also gives the Enchantress etherealness. Even without it she'd be worth it for the pearl.

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

Haven't checked the CBM out yet, because I've had more than enough to do with all the other stuff and my non-Dominions activities. If it's anything like the Dom2 CBM, the pretenders at least will be far superior to the base game. The sorceress actually did have etherealness in Dom2, so it's just been returned to normal, as it were.

What I meant was that in addition to the pearl, she had better paths than any of the other rainbows, so she was a complete nobrainer.
http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

The 'rainbow' Kraken is still my favourite! Being able to expand in early game without wasting money on troops and get a huge gem income very fast combined with a quick research to spam SC commanders is very nice.

Re: Who are the most powerful pretenders?
 

I prefer rainbow pretenders. Your expansion isnt as quick. However you get early research, early gems searching, and if you survive the early game you have a lot more options with forging and summoning later on. You also dont have to worry about losing your pretender in battle.