[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Boron:
yeah her immortality is a problem .
so you may chose what she should do :
still be quite dangerous unequipped / only low euquipped in many situations or extremely well euqipped .

Immortality is worth less than subtle behavior tweak that it induces. It's the immortality behavior, not the actual immortality, that makes immortality nifty: Immortals don't rout in dominion. The actual ability to reincarnate is merely "meh", as this implies you intended to lose anyway. Except for the nice, free "death express" ride back to your capitol, flying into a battle with intent to lose is still, well, losing.

she has built in so many things already .
flying , no need for boots of air , so she can take boots of quickness etc.

You pay for this privilege with a high point cost that got even higher, and relatively lackluster and unexceptional physical stats. While the ability to fly and be ethereal is great when you're pummelling indies, most of these attributes are negated or meaningless against another SC or pretender: Etherealness means crap when your opponents all have magic weapons. Flying does jack all when it just means you outrun your screen force and run smack into the line of fire, making yourself the magnet for anyone wanting a shot at something. Immortality is cool, but you're still getting your butt kicked. Lifesteal is nice, but then, anyone with wraithii or thorns can get that, too...and you probably want to give her a weapon anyway unless you want a shiny, new, Knife of the Damned.

the carrion dragon may be more powerful from turn 1 but he has only 3 slots . and with alteration 3 the vq is sufficient enough to expand against all but 5% of the indies and win 99% sure.

The carrion dragon has 3 slots in his dragon form....which is best when you have no item to give him. Later in the game, he can revert to his Carrion Lord form, itself a fairly burly chassis, with full slottage, retaining his sleep vine attacks nonetheless, and wear a full suit of gear.

the allfather is good too but restricted to vanheim only . if you spent lots of points in him it is a waste for vanheims good troops .

and he still may die unluckily.

Unluckily, or stupidly? It takes $20 on a hit-and-run scout to verify anything in the province. If you blindwarp into a province, it's your own fault. A VQ is not immune to this either, as dominion does not spread THAT quickly, and if you want to expand aggressively, you're flying out of your dominion, spreading it on the move. If you can only expand inside your dominion, you are moving more slowly than others can.

with the vq you really can do everything she is the best allrounder .
mid-lategame you can either let her be a supporter by forging / summoning or turn her into at least a top 3 sc with euqipment.

The new VQ is so hideously expensive that she will not really be affordable as such for most nations. The GK has taken over the crown for early SC/retired mage for most nations. You can take my word for this: I was, after all, the most noteworthy user of the old VQ, and most national builds I use are now GK builds instead.