So yeah, I did need all 700 leadership from Glory, and I did need 200 leadership from items (I may have gotten lucky on flags too, dunno). That put me at about 2040 Leadership (enough to get a 5th Engineer too!)

I had the +100 leadership, +2 int armor and the +100 leadership belt to get there. I think I had Strategy 2? (I might have gotten that right at the start of Bolo, I honestly don't remember now).

I just realized that my path is many hours faster than the ones others use, since I don't actually worry about getting back to Debir early to get the items there. All things considered, you should be able to shave off a lot of time knowing that! Also, if I CAN do Reha in one trip, it should be substantially faster...

What can I say, my Mage is just very smart. :)

Wait, that is with Depth of Intellect Wanderer Scroll!

Actually, the funny thing is, I got it purely by luck. I NEVER intended that save game to be my ultimate "intellect" build. It was for 100% critical Demons. That single saved game has been able to net me quite a few fun games since I can replay it with a different bias.

It just happened to have Belt of the Victor, Archmage Staff, Two Dress of the Magess.... :)

I think I just pulled off a minor miracle. I just finished Bolo, completely, on the first visit (debir-scarlet-bolo).

The only way this could happen, is because I found the +2 attack, +2 Defense gloves, since it let me do the arena fight against Yakivik. Also, I DUG UP a Target scroll that let me defeat the robot (Magic shield + target +stoneskin on Cyclopses barely lasted all the way to the end of the fight to keep his 200ish repair droids from massacre-ing me).

Was quite an endeavor I must say. I used 1 (later 2) cyclopses, Engineers, repair droids, 4 archmages, and 1 runemage.

I have to admit the Runemage is a little better than I gave it credit for the first time. The utility of a weak Summons + strong ressurect really keep things moving.

Arrived at Rusty with 3500 Leadership (Grand Strategy +1000). I should walk away from here with 2 Green Dragons, unless something goes horribly wrong. Since I've now got a pretty darn slick fighting force, I should be able to do all the non-hero fights here with ease.

I have never seen the Archmage Staff.

It is interesting that you can play this game for the umpeenth time and still find an artifact you have never seen before.

That's why i like playing random, you never know how handicapped or blessed your game is going to be by what is available in the shops. This time i am using a thorn army for the first time, i have blackthorne and plan to get Dryads, ancient ents - use Rune mages and archmages to go with my Royals.

Plan seems good until i get to Sheterra. :-P

Archmage staff is an upgrade from novice staff.

From the data collected, the maximum int a mage can achieve is 70 (not including ancient knowledge scroll).

That is from items, you could get more int from random shrines I think. Also wasn't 70 based on pre Gift Bag items?

Yeah, I got some from shrines and also the Ring of the Mind (+3).

My maximum natural intellect was 74. Possibly can go higher, but I never bothered to check if other belts/regalia provided intellect boosts.

Elenhel +4
Scale Shield +3
Belt of Victor (if this can be replaced with Belt/Regalia),
Dress of Magess +4
Skull of Death +5
Metamorphic Axel +4
Pendant of Iron Will +2
Archmage Staff +5 (from Novice Staff)
Usurer's Ring +5
Dress of Magess +4
Belt/Glove? (if this can be replaced with something else)
Sandals of the Martyr +4
Ancient Amulet +4

Not much of high score due to my problem with onslaught skill, but it`s funny to see my exp lvl.
Was going 100% crit with Triger, orc range, and paladin/blood shamans as support. In first screen check exp number and know that next lvl is on 1.708.500 :-D
Main dmg dealers were Goblins reason is in second screen.

The game manual says Berserker only raises your attack based off of base value.

So, 125% + Int/2, or maybe 135% or 2.35 * 16 + 38 attack. I guess that is pretty good, but the loss of control sucks.

I would hate it when they would attack so I cannot resurrect all my units in time. :)

Orcs don't really need trigger, unless you really like his slots better. Once a goblin kills a single unit, he gets +10 morale, so you don't need "that" much base critical to increase it to 100% after the morale bonus.