use of bane lords
 

hi all,

newbie question here. I just started playing Dom3 and having great fun trying out its endless posibilities, with a lot of help from the posts on this forum.

My question is this. I was fighting C'tis (those bastard lizards), who kept overwhelming me with huge armies consisting of some elite units but mostly low-level militias. I am playing Vanheim. So I thought i would summon some bane lords and give them some equipment, so they could take care of the large amounts of low-level units. So i gave two bane lords the following kit: boots of quickness, swords of swiftness, lucky shield, horror helmet / the helmet that strikes with lighning by itself, and the cloak that makes them ethearal, and each a ring of regeneration and a fire pearl (? the fire thing that gives increased attack).

So off they went, and the first two battles they did exactly what was expected, and killed and routed some huge armies. The third time seemed to go even better. The army C'tis sent (I was now defending) was much smaller but with a lot of strange units, including some type of dragons and what looked like a few huge magical dogs. At first all went well, despite looking fearsome these big units couldn't touch my ethearal (?) / quick bane twins (as i called them), and quickly got killed. However, then some commander in the back started casting 'smite' and 'banishment', combined with 'paralyze'.... it took a few more rounds but that was the end of my bane lords..

So to get to the point (sorry for being so elaborate): what could i have done (if anyting) to make them less vulnerable to those spells? Would increased magic resistance help, e.g. by an amulet of antimagic? I think the bane lords come with standard antimagic of 16, is that low or high?

Any help would be welcome... also because in a few turns i will be able to summon wraith lords which i understand are even more formidable (but being undead have the same weakness for those magic spells)...

Re: use of bane lords
 

Antimagic definitely helps protect undead.

16 is high to start with, but going solo you're going to be targeted a lot. Amulet of Antimagic, maybe also the +S1 helmet, which also boost mr.

Re: use of bane lords
 

Leadened shield has a huge boost to your magic resistance roll.

Jazzepi

Re: use of bane lords
 

thanks for your replies, that's very helpful. I think i have a lead shield lying around already (captured from a fallen hero), so that should be easy. However, then my new bane lords can't have the lucky shield... i could give them a pendant of luck instead of the regeneration ring or the fire pearl... mmmh this whole game is about trade-offs.

How important is luck for an ethearal undead with high magic resistance and regeneration? Does the 50% escape from succesful attacks also apply to magic attacks such as paralyze and banishment? (i guess then it would be important as it would effectively be another boost to magic resistance, right?)

what exactly is the +S1 helmet?

it's gonna take me forever to figure this game out! (that's a good thing:)

if you have any other comments/suggestions on how i equipped those bane lords those would be very welcome too.

Re: use of bane lords
 

I think luck only works for (hp)damage-dealing attacks, but I might be wrong.

+S1 helmet is Starshine Skullcap it requies construction 6 and Astral 3.

Re: use of bane lords
 

Probably the Starshine Skullcap (p276).
I'm unfamiliar with Vanheim, what magic paths do you have available? And what era is this? A dwarf in support could probably get off a couple iron wills at thau3 for +4 MR. You don't need a high level spell like army of lead if you're only buffing a few supercombatants.

Re: use of bane lords
 

I thought Iron Will was Ulm only?

Re: use of bane lords
 

I am playing EA. I think I have ok magic: my mages and top generals (Hangatuns or something) come with air, death, earth and some blood (although i am not using it). My pretender is a Monolith W4F4E4A4. I have empowered/equiped various mages to N3 / F4 / D6, and one of those generals has A5.

Basically the only regular units I build are the Huskarls.

What kind of dwarf is that?

Re: use of bane lords
 

Starshine Skullcap! That's the name I was blocking on. Astral 2 though, I'm pretty sure.

I'd keep the luck. It should apply to banishment (damage), but not paralyze.
Drop the fire pearl.

Fighting against chaff is more about survival and area affect/damage shield than actually killing them with weapons.
Horror helm/Lightning helm and your chill aura are winning the battles as much as the swords are.

Re: use of bane lords
 

Drop the pearl for an antimagic amulet/ring of regen. I would swap the sword of swiftness for a fire/frost/shadow brand too. If the magic continues to be a problem then swap the pearl for a lucky pendant and give your banelords lead shields.