Guide to Marverni

[Baalz]

When I tested it out it seems like it autosummoned much less than one per round of the smaller boars, small enough numbers that it was not worthwhile as anything other than a small bonus. It's size 5 so less effective than elephants at trampling, is a leader but with only two misc slots there's not much worthwhile to put on them, they've got low protection so you need many of them to have a chance of survival, and being sacred doesn't help much as you're unlikely to have a good bless. 7N doesn't sound too bad, but when you're talking about summoning 10 of them in order to be effective those gems start adding up fast (smaller numbers than that are going to struggle against even strong PD). I'd rather have 4-5 equipped druids almost any time.

That's just my opinion though, you're perfectly free to hold your own and prove me wrong.

[MaxWilson]

If you happen to have an E9 bless (maybe because of your druids?) you could put Bracers of Protection on the Great Boar for a net +5 or +6 to Prot.

-Max

[Ming]

MaxWilson,

E9 bless would not help the boars as they have no armour but W9 bless would as the boars would then travel twice as far and so trample twice as many enemies (The extra defense is secondary). The smaller boars would trample size2 enemies and occupies the attention of others and so improve the survival rate of the Canute boars. Most opposition would break and flee before they can take down the Canute boars.

Furthermore, the Canute boars should be used in addition to the Druids, not to replace them. In the middle game summoning 10 Canute boars is certainly far easier than getting an EXTRA 4-5 equipped druids, so it is hardly a fair comparison (I would prefer to have 4-5 extra equipped Druids too ) The boars are more effective in combined arms than on their own and when used as such can be quite effective. They are also very effective defending castles.

[JimMorrison]

Ming said:
MaxWilson,

E9 bless would not help the boars as they have no armour ...

I think he was actually saying that for 5E gems you can put on Bracers, which are a piece of armor, and gain the bless bonus. The thing being that while Water bless is probably outright more effective - if you are running a boar focused strat - it does nothing for the casters, while the Earth bless gives reinvig, and the armor.

[Ming]

JimMorrison,

Thanks for the clarification. I actually forgot that bracers count as armour and stand corrected on my previous comments on the E9 bless.

However, I am not sure if an E9 bless provide that much help to the druids. So if one were to invest the points for a lvl9 bless, W9 might be better to give Marverni an extra threat in addition to their druids. The trade-off is not so much W9 boars vs druids, but W9 boars vs a wind guide/fire arrow casting Pretender plus some eye of aiming (mass produced if one gets lucky with indies). Unless one gets lucky with finding indie air mages, it is not clear to me that W9 is inferior - and if one gets so lucky, air mages can be found with W9 through mercs and then air sites too!

At any rate, I think the Canute boars are cost effective even without a W9 bless.

[Ming]

MaxWilson,

On second thought, E9 might be more viable than I initially thought as it also gives Boar Warriors 20 prot when beserk, which is invaluable in the early game.

I wonder if any other player has thoughts on interesting variations on Baalz's excellent guide to play Marverni.

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by Ming

MaxWilson,

On second thought, E9 might be more viable than I initially thought as it also gives Boar Warriors 20 prot when beserk, which is invaluable in the early game.

I wonder if any other player has thoughts on interesting variations on Baalz's excellent guide to play Marverni.

Remember, there's a bug where units which are adding adding protection via items - bracers, and hmm I forget - there are two other items... but anyway - they get double the benefit they are otherwise entitled to from an E9 bless.

Some might consider it an exploit, so be advised.

[JimMorrison]

It's because of the way it's coded - to insure that the blessed get boosted on both Body and Head protection (or only one or the other, if applicable).

This leads me to believe that anything that has a Prot or Def rating (that's not a weapon or shield) would get it - Krupp's Bracer, Cat Charm, and even Stone Bird, Flying Trident, and Gift of Kurgi.

I haven't tested all of those, but since the Cat Charm is purported to give the bonus, and only lists Defense.....

[lch]

Originally Posted by JimMorrison

This leads me to believe that anything that has a Prot or Def rating (that's not a weapon or shield) would get it - Krupp's Bracer, Cat Charm, and even Stone Bird, Flying Trident, and Gift of Kurgi.

It's not a bug, it is WAD. You just don't expect misc items to add an armor like shields, helmets and body slot armors do. These are, exactly, Bracers of Protection (221), Cat Charm (224), Krupp's Bracers (278) and The Gift of Kurgi (296). The Dancing Trident (230), Astral Serpent (250) and Stone Bird (262) all give an additional weapon and thus are unaffected by an earth bless, but they might be affected by other blesses like Fire, Water, Death.

[chrispedersen]

There are bug reports about stone birds and fire blesses... so yes, I'd say fire blesses affect ...