Who are the most powerful pretenders?

[Karlem]

By inmune I mean that he does not care, he is equaly capable of doing his work with those afflictions and without them.

[Ewierl]

Edi said:
He's available to the Tuatha, Eriu and Man. So a restricted pretender, hence not as all around powerful as the enchantress which is available for all nations. The enchantress also has one more item slot that can be used to wear a booster. Mounted units do not have foot slots for items.

He also has the advantage of being stealthy, which is a big boon for human-mage pretenders, since IIRC it protects you 100% from normal assassination attempts.

...Although I believe he normally only produces 1 gem; I think CBM ups the rate to two gems.

[moderation]

quantum_mechani said:
I'd rate as the top pretenders:

* Gorgon
* Prince of Death
* Cylops
* Agarthan Oracle
* Wyrm
* Oracle
* Kraken
* Colossal Fetish
* Water blessers (mother of rivers, father of winters, lady of springs)

Is this is order from most to least powerful? And what is the Colossal Fetish? Is it the same as the Colossal Head that EA Mictlan gets?

[moderation]

Tuidjy said:
My favorites at this time are the Ghost King (when I have a lot of design
points), Adonis (the Lord of Rebirth whose magic wonderfully compliments Pythium
and other sacred mage nations) and Athena (the titan, one of the best fighters)

What's special about the Lord of Rebirth's bless? Is it just the E + N bless, or is there something about his D path that is useful too? I do notice that he is the only E+N pretender for some nations.

And which pretender is Athena? Do you mean the generic Titan with the golden shield and E and A magic?

[Endoperez]

Athena is the female titan, with Owl and I think Nature/Astral picks or something.

[quantum_mechani]

moderation said:

Is this is order from most to least powerful? And what is the Colossal Fetish? Is it the same as the Colossal Head that EA Mictlan gets?

Roughly from best to least, but between some pretenders being national only, and some not being primarily for combat, it's tough to compare. I do think it would be very rare I'd pick something besides those in the base game though. The fetish is a Mackaka only pretender.

[moderation]

Endoperez said:
Athena is the female titan, with Owl and I think Nature/Astral picks or something.

Hmm, the titan with the huge research bonus? Looks like MA Pythium gets her. I can see how she would be useful to start with awake for getting a research lead, but why is she a good fighter? She looks more or less equivalent to the other size 6 titans, which the exception of taking a large opportunity cost penalty for using her in the field since you would not be getting her research. Maybe Athena is something else?

[Endoperez]

Pallas Athena is the Greek goddess after whom the city of Athens was named. She is goddess of wisdom and the art of war, and characterized by owl, the wise bird; she is often described with a helmet and a spear. The female titan is Athena just as clearly as the male one is Zeus and Forge Lord is Hephaestus.

She has att/def 15 (3 better than most titans), and I'd imagine the Owl allows her to repel anything. Astral gives great self-buffs, nature gives regeneration, and early game she's only missing the Air buffs AFAIK. I could be wrong on that, as I'm not good at thugs.

[ArkhanTheBlack]

Actually, every titan shape pretender (Size >= 5 + full equipment slots) can be turned into a top fighter by giving them the trample boots. It's great because you don't have to care about any attack stats and can just focus on making him an invincible fortress. You only need to rush to construction 2 for that at the start.
I'm not a big fan of the low HP pretenders. They die too easily if anything unexpected happens. At least that's my experience...

[thejeff]

Be very careful with the trample boots. You need a lot of reinvigoration, since trample is exhausting.
And if you've neglected regular attacks, you're also vulnerable when you unexpectedly come up against size 6 opponents.