Re: Poll: Most useful path of magic?
If unique blood summons (Ice Devils, Arch Devils, greater demons) were unlimited, or you could keep the horrors you summon, I would vote Blood. But Death summons are just too good and too cheap, and it even has excellent evocations and artillery spells.
Water is certainly the weak path. The underwater-only spells and summons are not all that good, and water magic aboveground is even less useful, aside from the Falling Frost which very few units can cast. The best unlimited summon, Sea Trolls, cost huge amounts of upkeep - which renders them undesirable. Water mages that cannot cast Falling Frost just pick their noses or cast Breath of Winter and kill all your other commanders.
Frostbrands, Swords of Swiftness, and Boots of Quickness are nice but not irreplacable. The Boots are fairly useless unless you have a zero-encumbrance (i.e., Death summon) unit anyway, IMO.
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