Your Favorite Magic Path
 

It might just be because I'm bored...

But it's time to lay your cards on the table. Which is the path that keeps you picking a favorite nation? Or, if you pick a different nation ever time, which is the one that you wish you had?

Mine is Death. Even when I'm trying out a random new nation or a mod, sometimes I can't help going with a skelly-spamming, Hunger-Arousing, Ghost-Riding, Tartarian-raising something of doom. Add in Bane Lords, Spectral Mages, and the various multipath spells, and it's pretty much all I can ask for from a magic path.

What is yours?

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

astral for sure http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Earth me.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

hmm death or earth depending on my mood voted death though as it is generally more useful

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Earth. Destruction, Blade wind, etc... plus artefacts

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

I voted for Death.

In order of preference to have at 3+:
1) Death
2) Air
3) Fire
4) Earth
5) Astral
6) Nature, Water
8) Blood

In order of preference to have at-least-1:
1) Astral
2) Water
3) Death
4) Blood
6) Earth, Air
8) Fire, Nature

So I guess my least-favorite path is nature http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif. Mainly because it's available on so many independents. If it weren't, 1N would be quite important.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Air, for fog warriors, mistform, mirror image, thunder strike, lightning, wrathful skies, armour negating magic weapons, shock wave, orb lightning, phantasmal army, horror, air elementals, living clouds...err I am bored now. Is there a bad air spell?!?

My favs in order:-

1) Air.
2) Death.
3) Astral.
4) Nature.
5) Blood.
6) Earth.
7) Water.
8) Fire.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

I like Death. It has it all. Combat spells, buff spells, summon spells. Astral is very powerful, Air is devastating until your opponent develops counters, Nature is great for supporting your men.

But Death has it ALL!

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Is it only me liking blood?

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

man. I love nature and water.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Blood baby, blood!

Maybe not as multifaceted as other paths but powerful via sheer brute strength. Getting a slave income of 200+/turn in a MP game is actually feasible, which is not the case for any other types of gems unless we are discussing frickin huge maps. And on that size map I'd have a slave income of 400+/turn!

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Astral; nothing beats it in terms of sheer diversity, and the ability to teleport gives it amazing versatility. Plus, it can be mixed with everything.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Earth.

What do you whant more than Blood Stones and lots of Summons.
Add some army buffs and Earth Attack.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Earth.

Buffs, summons, assasination spell, evocations (okay, the best require a bit in other paths too...), etc...

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

I vote Nature. Whether my nation has it or not I almost always end up using it. Regen and reinvigoration items are great for practically anyone; extra supplies can be awesome in those nasty death dominions (or worse, death *and* an unfavorable temperature); vine ogres are one of the most cost-effective blockers (being immune to banishment); and I haven't even gotten into the possibilities of a poison resistant cheap flier with Snake Bladder Stick, and many other nasty tricks.

Serpent's Blessing + Foul Vapors is a great one; it's *much* cheaper and lower-path-requirement than the Air or Fire equivalents, in a path with easy boosters, *and* both spells of the combo are Enchantment as opposed to an Ench+Evo dual research requirement. This means you can deploy it earlier, cheaper and more often.


Other paths I sometimes think "what am I going to do with these gems?". Nature I'm usually thinking "where can I get more nature gems?". (The answer to both questions often ends up being "Alchemize", which says a lot.) If I don't have it as a national path I'm trying to get it through indies, and if I *do* have it as a national path I use it a lot (even when it's a fairly minor part of my nation, like Yomi). Several of my favorite nations are nature heavy - Man, C'tis, Tir n'an Og, Pangaea, Kailasa/Patala, Sauromatia.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

I agree with Chris, Nature is a great path, great items, solid summons, and great battle field spells.

Blood is my 2nd choice. For nations that are setup to use it, blood has awesome power.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

I like blood- demons from the depths of the abyss, hellfire, and raining toads. What more is there, really?

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

What is my favorite? I a not sure but here is my comment son each of the paths.

Air: I feel vunerable if i cannot cast mist, storm, or arrow fend. Late game needs that air teleport spell. It is one of the paths that I feel that I always need.

Fire: This is probably at the bottom. I can't think of anything in this path that I need other then flaming arrows and rune mashers.

Water: good for the items you can create with it. Super combatnts seem naked without quickness.

Earth: The greatest path I have found for giving you a boost at the beginng of the game. Strength of giants, and the construction armor spell (i forget its name) means a single mage could change the outcome of the battle. And these are level 3 spells.

Astral: Another must have path. This gives you protection against SC's, boosts much needed magic resitance, increases your spell penetration, plus luck and etherialism. In the late game this path is essential.

nAture: Haven't found much use for it yet other then regeneration rings. But I haven't used it enough yet, and determined to find a use for it, because it seems like a fun path.

Death: Is a fun path with a lot that you can do with it. But if your nation does not have it, it is not weakened in any way.

Blood: I haven't used it all and cannot give comments.

For importance of the paths I rate them in the following order: astral, air, water , nature,earth, fire , death

For the fun factor I like death, nature and earth.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Water is my favorite.

What's not to like about freezing your opponents? I've never been much of a pyromaniac, but ice magic? Always a fave.

What's not to like about freezing the very heart of your enemy?

You've got other spells that can be quite useful, such as Sailor's Death, or Cleansing water. And certainly, Jotunheim isn't bothered by cold. But nothing, nothing, is as satisfying as hitting Ctis with the Grip of Winter in Cold 3 provinces, while your Unfrozen Warriors (not that hot, but available at the same time) engage the enemy and Winter Wolves harry their flanks, adding all the while to the chill.

Certainly, the globals are a bit less than desirable, and there are some other issues. But water and ice is my favorite even if I don't always play with it.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

No love for fire yet? I used to play Abysia just so I could bomb my opponents. I guess it used to be different back when troops were less plentiful and battlefield damage was more important. Ah well, at least there's Magma Burst.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

A hail of fire evocations is really powerful I think.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Astral is overall my favorite. R'Lyeh is my favorite nation so it's a natural path for me to like. It's hard to put in an exact order, but Astral, Water, Death, and Earth are my favorites overall.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Death for me, then earth, followed by nature.

Death has the greatest versatility. Earth is best for forging and I always need the regeneration and supply boosts that are nature based. I cannot make any further distinction among the others (I don't use blood).

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

I vote for astral.

My favos in order:
astral
air
nature/earth
fire/water/death/blood

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

My faves:
Air/Astral/Fire
Water/Death
Earth/Nature/Blood

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Aw, come on, who can top:

Banish to Inferno, Life for a Life, Leech, Hellbind Heart, Bloodletting, Blood Vengence, more unique summons than all other paths combined, some of the best troop summons, ability to form a sabbath, rejuvination (youth boots), Hoard from Hell, Rain of Toads, Infernal Disease, blood stones, robe of the magi, blood thorn, Astral Corruption....oh, and did I mention cheap blood slaves?

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

None of the above. While certainly some paths are stronger than others, all paths have at least a viable strategy to pursue.

And typically the race's weakness in magic paths can be alleviated to some degree by a wise pretender selection.

Blood is a powerful magic, but i avoid it if at possible because while i like micromanagement with setting up battles, I find maintaining a blood slave trade to be boring.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Blood's my favorite. Definitely not the most versatile, but fun non-the-less (unless you hate the micromanagement aspect of it...understandable)

The Blood must flow.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

I like blood, not for the combat spells, but because I always was a bit satanic at heart, and it lets me summon all sorts of nasty demons from the underworld and all that. Plus, I love the heartseeker axe

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Air for me.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Fire is just too simple, too direct. It is like magic in every other computer game I play, while the other paths have neat twists and turns.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

One of the things I've always liked about Dominions is Fire's relative weakness. It has uses, nobody is crazy enough to say otherwise, but unlike practically every other cookie cutter fantasy world out there, in Dominions fire magic is one of the low paths on the totem pole.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Earth magic is probably my favourite. It's great all-round path, with anti-chaff and anti-SC spells. It has solid buffs, items and summons. It synergises well with every other magic path.

Fire magic is the weakest path. It has the worst summons, the worst items, poorish buffs and its attack spells are not really much better than air, earth or water. Oh, and it causes your mages to age faster.

I'd promote fire to a full-on buff school, like nature and astral, which would tie in with its leadership effects. Some suggestions:

Valour: Units with this buff always get reduced to 1 hit point before dying. A more bloody version of twist fate. Doesn't work on mindless units, undead or demons.

Giant Slayer: Grants attack and strength bonuses against larger enemies.

Radiance: Increases the damage of the caster's spells by 30%. Chance of aging the caster.

Re: Your Favorite Magic Path
 

Well, falling fires is less fatiguing than thunder strike (and has a larger AOE). Shorter range, though.

Flaming arrows is a great buff.

Some of the standard thug shields, golden and charcoal, out there require fire (along with earth).