What is the best equipment for an E9 Cyclops?

[Saxon]

Flying will help your retreat from the battle field if you are not fatigued, but it will not help you if the provinces surrounding you are enemy provinces. It is a great way to kill a low HP SC that has a put a decent PD in the province. Once you kill the PD, the SC retreats and dies.

That said, the advantage of strategic mobility is huge, so the Winged Shoes are a very attractive choice. It gives you more flexibility, makes it easier to acheive surprise and makes it harder to predict and counter your unit.

On the items question, it does depend a bit at what point of the game you are at. The later in the game, the more important MR is. As such, the Rainbow armor is almost always going to be more useful than Robe of Shadows, but early on, you might get away with it.

I would think reinvigoration is more important than regeneration. Once you tire, the hits will come in. If you go over 100, you are dead. I took out a high protection Cyclops with a death bless. As the fatigue mounted, I got in more hits, which started afflictions. It was a nice cycle for me, but deadly for them. Regeneration would not have helped, more reinvigoration would have.

Think of the ways people are going to try and kill your SC and prepare for them. Think of Vengeance of the Dead. Late in the game, you want to resist it, not fight it, as you will have killed many, many units. Think Soul Slay or Paralyze, think the other SC counters.

[thejeff]

More reinvig than you spend attacking is, of course, crucial, but having some regen drastically reduces the chances of getting afflictions. Sure it won't save you when you're exhausted fighting death bless sacreds, but what will?

Without it, you're likely to pick afflictions even from the occasional weak hit that gets through.

Especially important for SC pretenders in the early game, when you won't be able to replace them easily and there are less instant kill counters.

[MaxWilson]

My experience has been that regeneration of 5% or 10% reduces your affliction rate by maybe half, which means you will still pick up afflictions from the occasional weak hit that gets through. I don't know if that alters the reinvig vs. regen balance, though, because half as many afflictions is still an improvement.

-Max

[JimMorrison]

The manual states that ANY regen reduces affliction rate by 80%..... Thus a 400% Death bless would put you at normal affliction rate again. Funny how that works.

Sun Tzu would shake his head disapprovingly at the man who sent his cyclops against Death blessed sacreds.....

[MaxWilson]

I believe the manual is erroneous. KO has stated in the past that regen reduces afflictions in proportion to regen %, e.g. a Lamia Queen with a Ring of Regen and Monolith armor will be less afflicted than someone with just an N4 bless. My experience is that he is correct. A regenerating Pretender who is killed by D9 weapons frequently has 3 or 4 afflictions by the time he dies.

-Max

[JimMorrison]

Hmmmm. I'll confer with my roommate on affliction rates. I'm currently playing Fomoria with a N4 bless, and it's quite rare for them to gain afflictions, and they take a LOT of hits. He's fiddling with Jotunheim with a N10, and all of his commanders get Ring of Regen asap, I'll have to see how that's working for him in comparison.

[Coldshard]

MaxWilson said:
I believe the manual is erroneous. KO has stated in the past that regen reduces afflictions in proportion to regen %, e.g. a Lamia Queen with a Ring of Regen and Monolith armor will be less afflicted than someone with just an N4 bless. My experience is that he is correct. A regenerating Pretender who is killed by D9 weapons frequently has 3 or 4 afflictions by the time he dies.

-Max

I've actually played a game where I was using sacred hydras with a nature bless. They had better than 100% regen and still occasionally picked up afflictions.. and that wasn't against death blessed creatures. It was pretty rare, but did happen, even without the hydras being on their last head.

[moderation]

Hmm, since affliction chance is based on the percentage of HP, wouldn't it be a lot easier to cause afflictions on hydras when attacking their minor heads due to the low HP? Unless affliction percentage is based on the unit's total HP, rather than the HP of one head.