[Baalz]

Originally Posted by Micah

I also haven't examined the discounts on the ether gate spell, what is it down to? If it's 60 or less that makes it competitive, 70 is pushing it though, IMO. MotD + cap/coin/ring can gateway, so that's not a great kicker...add a couple of command items to his hand slots to cover his command limit deficiency and he can gate in a respectable force.

While it's true that your ether lord can provide awesome mobile battle pain you're gambling a lot on your opponent not getting a successful duel off. Having your keystone support mage vaporized is a Problem, as darkness drops when he dies and your will of the fates never gets cast. Some spectres with flying boots can fill a similar niche (less awesomely, granted) with a lot less risk, with stealth and flight making up for the teleporting loss.

The ether lords and globals are all situationally useful, of course, but I don't think they merit inclusion in the guide without bringing up that caveat, since I think it's going to come up more often than not, and the risks might not be very evident to a newer player.

Ether lord's at 70 right now, but I think it's fair to put 30 of that cost on the (15) ether warriors. If you're substituting in a MotD with a ring the MotD is more expensive than the lord unless you're not putting the warriors to good use. You're always gonna be looking for dudes with decent MR to plug that hole, and these are some of the better ones.

Oh, another thing your comment about the command items reminded me of was that a couple of low risk soul vortex drops will run that ether lord's experience stars and command rating right into the stratosphere, you should be able to do something similar with a MotD with some of that nastiness I mention above. Hmmm, do you gain experience for friendly kills?