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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.
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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
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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 |
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Foul vapors can kill mages in the back of the battlefield even if you loose the battle.
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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 |
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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 |
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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.
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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.
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I agree, Crossbreeding rocks! Turmoil 3 Luck 3 is perfect for Mictlan, and you can get super-cool early units with this level 3 spell. Size 5 foul beasts, size 4 MV2/14 spiders, a few Life Drain/Leprosy beasts, and of course a ton of weird chaff, that's a nice return for one casting. Sure you could pop out two Frost Fields for about the same cost, but that means you're not blood hunting or researching with that second summoner. Plus even a lowly Mictlan priest can cast Crossbreeding if you're lucky and get one with B1N1.
I'd also add the Mystic/Communion to the awesome units/spells list. |
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Arssartuts are just a fantastic unit. Perfect medium infantry; if it exists, arssartuts can go out to it and pull it down.
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A good pretender is the Dogon. It starts with water 2 and dominion 4 as stats, has the fear ability and it can trample. It is easy to get water 9, domion 10, and good gold and production scales using it. So you get a good bless, high income, and a power super combatant all in one.
And to comment on something up above. Yes Arssartuts are a great unit, but they are vunerable to crossbows. But the fact they have a vunerabilty makes them an interesting and well balanced unit. It is one of my favorites. |
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Kappas! Underwater, them little fellas rock! Dry land ain't so good though...
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Two global enchantments that I try to cast in (nearly) every game: Gift of Health (GoH) and Forge of the Ancients (FotA).
GoH completely eliminates your main worries about aging. It also allows you to keep those super-elite units rolling without them being crippled by afflictions. Finally, the extra HP in your dominion is very useful for protecting your researchers and support mages from the AI's beloved Seeking Arrows.... FotA is a delightful way to bulk up on magic items in a hurry. The gem savings are astronomical! And the easier forging is nice. (Even if they did nerf it a bit from the Dom1 glory days.) D1 Revenants can spam Skull Mentors with FotA active. 'Nuff said! Other nifty spells: Aim / Eagle Eye - Don't overlook these. The coolest spells in the world won't do much if they never hit anyone. Summon Earthpower - Added Earth magic and more reinvigoration? Yes, please! Nether Darts - Best when combined with a Spell Focus, a Ring of Sorcery, or some other item to smash through MR. Shark Attack - The last word in underwater combat. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif Astral Window - Cheap information gathering. What's not to like? Cast this spell at every opponent's capital ASAP and re-cast as needed. Winged Monkeys / Manifestation / Earth Attack / Infernal Disease - Ranked roughly according to their reliability (with Infernal Disease at the top of the list), these spells are great for whacking nasty enemy commanders and/or stranding their armies. Gateway - The solution to how to reinforce your conquering armies. Faery Trod - Cheaper than Gateway, but often just as useful. Don't ignore this spell! |
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Ghost Riders is awesome. Casting one or two is a nice (and cost effective) distraction for your enemy. And if you have the means to mass cast them (requiring rather steep 6D mages) you can utterly devastate your oponents empire.
Call Horror is similar in principle, but less reliable. One horror can fail to take out 'normal' amounts of PD |
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Call of the Wild - For just 15N gems you get a werewolf thug + 20 wolves if cast in a forest. The werewolf can summon allies as well 2 or 3 more wolves per turn.
Awaken Sleeper - The firbolg does it all, good leader, good melee thug, good sharp shooter, keeps the morale of your army up. 10N gems, a steal. Black Servant - Etheral/stealthy/life drain, what more do you want for 5D gems? Equip with quickness/skull talisman or skullface to get a 1 man army stealthy raider. |
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-Max |
Re: Awesome units/spells
EARTH ATTACK!
I don't get it, is this the best assassination spell or what? Manifestation, Infernal Disease, even the Send Tupilak just seem weaker. That earth elemental can roll right over skele spam or other chaff, even the normally assassination-wrecking dragonflies. He almost always gets the job done. And that's in SP, where mages and such are free to cast whatever they want. I can't imagine how easily he cuts through mages in MP who are all scripted to cast battlefield support, or even (minor) thugs who are scripted to spend 5 turns buffing themselves. |
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UMBRAL.
UmmmmmmmmmmmmmBRAL. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm he's yummy. beefy, etherial, lifedraning, and CHEAP. just add Gift of Reason, and a few well chosen items and you have a nice cheap SC. 3 or 4 can hold a fortress gateway indefinately. they should rename him YUMbral. |
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Leech rocks. Sure, it comes in at research level 7, but what else are you going to research when you've gotten the Const you want, if you are Mictlan or Lanka?
Because of the fatigue restoration in the spell, a lowly B1 Mictlan Priest can get off two of these in a row and still have only 88 fatigue. It does 25 points of AN damage, with no MR roll, has AoE 1, decent range (25), and 100 precision. So it's a great anti-SC, anti-thug, anti-heim spell. Does anyone know if the Leech "Life Drain" damage affects undead, demons, or lifeless beings? |
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Tangle vines
I know, you must be thinking - what, that lowly spell ? Well yes, exactly, it is a lowly spell, only conjuration 1, nature 1, so lots of mages (in particular all the shamen) can cast it. Shamen are available as indies in lots of places. And tangle vines really turns high def armies to sitting ducks, since it halves the defense and stops them from moving at all. It AoE 1, no MR, and can last for several turns (depends on your growth scale). So the fearsome elite troops of the enemy become punching bags. Works wonders on all units, particularly cavalry, glamour units and SCs. Great in conjunction with eagle eyes (also N1). |
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Good point about Tangle Vines. Also in can bring Super-Combatants to their knees (at least for one turn, but) as long as you can cast it on them repeatedly. Also, see other entangling spells and effects such as Vine Arrow, Vine Bow, Fire Bolas, False Fetters, Prison of Fire, Prison of Sedna, units with nets, etc.
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Yes, other entangling spells are great too. A number of the spells you mentioned are resistible though (false fetters for sure, vine arrow too I think), PvK, or not AoE (vine arrow, bow ...). And they are generally more difficult to research and/or find casters for.
Another thing about entangling is that it prevents units for retreating - great for SCs with lots of life that take time to die (dragons, anyone ?) |
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While you're at it with the entangling spells, don't forget Storm of Thorns. Tangle Vines x7, at N2 (Evoc-7). Not quite as fun as Nether Darts but not bad either.
-Max |
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Monthly castings of Clockwork Horrors can build up a powerful defensive force in very little time. True, those killer toys aren't much good in a sustained fight ... but they'll really do a lot of damage to an invading army.
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I have to agree with QM stating that LA Agartha's Ktonian Necromancers are AWESOME. 200 gold, sacred and recruitable everywhere they have E2D2F1 110% EDFS. The low cost, sacred tag and the fact that they are recruitable everywhere means you can get alot of them very quickly for little cost(both long and short term) and with their research ability(8 base+the ability to forge dwarven hammers, skull mentors and lightless lanterns) you can easily win the research race.
They have access to LA Agarthas great national summons(including umbrals, sepulchrals and SC Tomb Oracles) and also have access to awesome battlefield magic such as bladewind, gifts from heaven, the magma spells, petrification and earthquake(E3 with boots+summmon earthpower or lucky E4 with either of those), raise skeletons/dead, nether darts, troop protection buffs, weapons of sharpness, strength of giants ect. |
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In Dom 2 I stopped high-MR SC's with Vine Bows pretty well. They aren't full AoE but I think I have seen them kill one target and entangle another in the same square. Storm of Thorns is nice, though better for hitting groups than for handling SC's.
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Re: Awesome units/spells
If you want to take out a high MR SC try the bow of botulf, suddenly the MR isnt that high http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif
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I agree that Ktonian necromancers are terrific. However, with their low precision (7 including old age penalties) some spells that would otherwise be terrific (Gifts From Heaven in particular) are perhaps less so. I've seen GFH stones deviate 10-12 squares from the target centerpoint when the caster is maybe 15 squares away. I expect Bladewind suffers from this to a lesser extent; it's not really a problem for Magma Eruption or of course Petrification.
-Max |
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I tend to stick with experienced mages when using Gifts from heaven for that very reason but thanks for pointing that out max, its a very valid point.
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Gift from the Heavens =/= Gift of Reason! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/eek.gif http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif
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Re: Awesome units/spells
In theory, Gifts From Heaven can equate to Gift Of Reason...
... if it lands on a feeble-minded mage who can survive bodily destruction in a way which happens to cure the affliction. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif |
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Sorry, what was that about Gift of Reason? I'm confused.
-Max |
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I have several favorites.
The Firbolg from Awaken Sleeper saved my bacon in my EA R'Lyeh SP game I finished recently. Fairly tough with decent leadership and the standard ability really made them shine for me. Dai Onis are just cool! Big and nasty with a good amount of magic and able to throw fire and get dirty in melee, on top of having to be 'killed' twice make these guys rock. Being a demon for anti-demon spells, and the gluttony sting a little (I am not overly concerned about the -research since I don't make these guys for reading http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif) , but these issues are minor to me compared to their value. Mandahas from the Lanka national spell. These guys served me well. Similiar to my Dai Oni comments above and even worse gluttons, and have that nasty fire vulnerability, but so good in so many ways. Demon Knights also have rocked for me. High protection and morale combined with a hard-hitting punch. I prefer Infernal Crusade to get a bunch at once over the single summons of course. Vastness'. All I can say is:Buwahahaha! |
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Re: Awesome units/spells
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Result with a Mictlan Priest: Being Undead does not provide immunity to Leech. (Priest killed a black servant with Leech.) Being Lifeless does provide immunity to Leech. (Priest refused to follow script, cast summon imp at golem instead.) So Life Drain attacks work against all units except Lifeless units. Makes sense! |
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Fang and Fadgamarast (sp?) are my 2 favorite units. Seduce them or charm them, and then steal their scripted commands.
Then you can load up a bunch of cheapy scouts w/ longbows of accuracy or ethereal crossbows and send 'em in against big armies w/ mages and similarly have flying commanders take out enemy commanders. |
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"Steal" their scripted commands? What should that be good for?
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Re: Awesome units/spells
I believe they are some of the rare units with fire commander(so if you save that command you can copy it to other commanders) just like the dark knight who comes with bogus has the script attack commanders(if you get that on an SC who dosnt buff your enemy is screwed).
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Re: Awesome units/spells
They have DomPPP era scripts, which have things like "Attack Commanders", "Attack Mages", "Fire Commanders" and "Fire Mages" available. They are still in the game, just not available to players anymore, haven't been since DomPPP.
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So, is this a bug?
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Re: Awesome units/spells
I would say this is a bug, and anyone who 'saves their commands' is cheating. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...ies/tongue.gif
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Re: Awesome units/spells
I'd say less bug, more easter egg.
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I agree that it's a bug. Have fun exploiting it against the AI in SP, but please don't do this in MP.
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I'm glad to know about this; I've wondered why I had such horrible luck shielding my commanders from the Dark Knight, and thanks to Shovah I know why--the DK is cheating. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif But now I can also counter it.
-Max |
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Well, if anybody is worried about it, it has been reported and we'll see if this avenue of exploitation is going to get a roadblock in the next patch.
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Awesome spell: Magma Eruption.
Everybody enthuses about Blade Wind, but somehow Blade Wind doesn't satisfy my craving for wanton destruction. On the other hand, I love seeing Magma Eruption blow gaping holes in charging barbarian hordes. AOE 5 (+1 per extra level) and dmg 23 (+1), not resistable with fire resistance; it is so very, very satisfying, even with relatively poor precision on the units that tend to be able to cast it. Would you rather moderately wound 10 units with Blade Wind, or kill 6 with Magma Eruption? And the fatigue cost is lower, too. -Max P.S. See the battle in Uglanda, province #122, in the saved game at http://students.cs.byu.edu/~mdw45/late_agartha.trn for an example of what makes me cackle. |
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eh, its been known of since dom 2. can't be that big a deal if it's been brewing this long with no response.
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hmmm... maybe i shoulda kept quiet. lol-
seriously though- capturing bogus and crew is tougher than it initially sounds. you're going to need to a) research the necessary spells to charm them and a few handy items to increase your effectiveness. b) have an effective defense against the heroes who are scripted to kill your mages/commanders while being close enough so that the heroes are w/in the range of your charm spell. c) do all this research while protecting the province against other players who may rather just take the province as well as protecting your nation as a whole. overcome any independents that might've built up over the interim while preserving bogus and crew. not to use high level astral mages, b/c obviously you don't want to enslave the heroes, since you lose all their items and benefits. in a SP, by the time u capture bogus and heroes, you're already on your way cleaning up and it just makes it a quicker finish. |
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