Best - worse magic paths

[sube]

This is a topic that came up already several times on these forums, during Dom2, and very probably in Dom3 too but I might have missed it. But here i go again...

Just curious to know which magic paths people like to play better/less now in Dom3. Me, I like Astral and Death (even separately, not necessarily the combination of the two). I think they perform really well, but I also like them thematically (which for me is also an important part). Air follows close behind.

At the bottom? I dont like playing Water too much, although it's useful to invade uw provinces. Fire's not too strong, but I like the way Dom catches the spirit of fire magic ( = destruction), so I dont mind playing it.

[Twan]

Best - death and earth, living statues, large area buffes and bladewind ftw ; astral, nature after (especially for the charm powers)
Worse - water... I dislike this mix of underwater and cold with too few original spells. I would like to see frost magic being an independant path and the real water magic having more spells related to... water but usable out of the seas (as well as the old effect for water mages)
I also dislike blood... but mostly because of too much MM, it's a great and very thematic path/school anyway.

[dirtywick]

Earth is probably my favorite. It's got a big variety of spell effects and useful spells in all schools.

All the paths have their uses though.

[Teraswaerto]

Air, Astral, Death and Nature come to mind instantly.

Blood can be great, but it's kind of a special case.

Earth, Fire and Water are perhaps less good than the others, but that doesn't mean they are bad.

[curtadams]

My favorite are now Air and Astral. With research more difficult, I'm really focused on early magic, and early magic is about supporting your non-magic stuff. Air and Astral both have good artillery spells (lightning bolt and mind burn) and great back rank commander survival-enhancers (antimissle and luck items).

Fire seems to have gotten it worst from the shifts in Dom3. Before the excellent early-game artillery made up for the inferior late summons. Now though, between aging, slowed research, and more expensive labs, my artillery banks just don't seem worth it.

[Morkilus]

I love how blood magic captures the feel of "black magic" without being specifically about death. But I use it probably the least except for summoning a couple big dudes later in the game. Death magic is probably the most useful (research skull, skellies, Ghost Riders) and easiest to get rolling (Dark Knowledge, Skull Staff, Revenants).

[dirtywick]

I do like Blood a lot too. Battle magic is a pain, as your slaves can get killed easily by archers and make your mages targets too (although they can help in assassination attempts as fodder) and the spells are almost all massive in fatigue. But the summons (Demon Knights at level 4? Yes, please) and items are great, and it's pretty easy to mass slaves quickly and early compared to gems.

But, most nations without blood pick nationals are going to have a really tough time getting blood going, if they can at all without Wish, compared to other schools.