[ckdamascus]

Originally Posted by atlatea

Turn back time never really necessary for pain mirror, i never use pain mirror+turn back, though that is one of its combo.

What lv are you at montero? I usually at 30 ish in my first montero loop.

I don't remember.

True, I just beat Demenion of Verona, 26 arch demons, but it is much easier since I am much higher level now. Also, the higher leadership count for the rune mages makes the phantom resurrection much easier.

Sort of funny, but Pain Mirror didn't do that much for me this time. Mostly because my stacks are so pitifully weak, haha!

I also used the Ice Orb! I can't say it is great, but it helped me kill Driller faster so I tried it in the Demenion battle. I really did not want to do single stack troll to kill driller. It dealt about 5-6K against him, which is much higher than any other summons. I wonder how much damage it will do against Baal from all the way down the field....

Originally Posted by atlatea

Same case here, i was lv 30 and i faced 30 ogres + 12 archdemons, 1k+ skelies, 150 ish ancient beholders, 300 ish goblin axe thrower at that time, i remember this quite well because it is such a nightmare.

My army was almost the same as you, black dragons, rune mages, paladins, inquisitors, champions.

Better criple them with mass spells or summon dragon of chaos, elves doesn't excel at damage, they excel at crowd control, they weren't designed as a good combo for debuffer/buffer mage. This one allow you more room for error, thus less thinking and faster to win (turns needed to win).

True. I think if I had a lot more mana, I would look at it differently. I will happilly re-summon a monster (I have Black dragon wait, so I can re-cast a dying summon, for additional damage, since they can re-act in the same turn!).

I guess because I absolutely hate getting hit, I must make sure I have enough mana to keep re-casting the summons if I need to.

In some battles where there are lots of high priority targets, Black Hole really shines. I agree that it helps a ton there.

In others where I can divide and conquer, I like having a fast way to have my magic "earn it's mana keep". e.g. the Dragon of Chaos will save me the trouble of resurrecting my units often, so it saves me mana and time, plus it can kill stacks... so +10 mana for me!

Originally Posted by atlatea

Dragon of chaos and phoenix really loves the elves, their crowd control make them live much longer. Phoenix resurection, even if it's very weak, is very useful, because they need little resurection due to crowd control.

I don't know why, it still doesn't work as good againts demons, i'd rather use other units rather than dragon of chaos, i mean i'd rather use other type of damage than partial fire damage. Still the dragon of chaos is indeed a good boost for summoner, he is the best summon in fact.

However, i prefer blasting those demons with mass spells + very high int than summoning dragon of chaos, that mass spells criple those demons much more quickly than dragon of chaos + phoenix combined, well, this is only againts demons though. Againts non demons, it seems that depends on army composition.

The reason why my summon build works is because I use dragons which inflict DoT and hurt the enemy morale. Alongside with rune mages which makes sheep, which lets me "shoot through no retaliation" sheep to hit stronger stacks. That's why I illustrate that Oil mist point.

They might take out my ancient phoenix in the first round, but it already did a lot of burning damage. The Dragon of Chaos will do damage while Ancient Phoenix revives.

Basically, as time goes on, the enemy gets exponentially weaker, but my summons are the same attack strength. Summons never lose fighting power as they lose HP, unlike low level stacks which lose tremendous fighting capacity if they lose their numbers. Their high damage to leadership ratio works against them here.

On the same token though, the summons are "strong" but not really damage power houses. My level 5 units aren't really true damage power houses either (few are in comparison). Then again, as a mage, I cannot expect this anyways.

Admittedly, there is a bit of fun in doing the old fashioned flaming arrow and poison skull. I had to actually raise poison skull to level 3 (well I guess I didn't have to), in the Wizard tower to take out that Ogre army on level 4?.

Originally Posted by atlatea

Well, that depends on your army composition.

Yeah i did try the new dragon of chaos in my new game (using scanner this time), i often used him till i got 65 int, and right now i have 65 int, i don't know why using 1x black hole is more quicker to win the battle than summoning him, almost the same mana consumption.

I admit, the new change to summons made mage very fun to play. I just love how those summons work with elves without amelie intervention other than summoning them, thorns, bears, dragon of chaos, phoenix, 4 summons at once, not to mention bears and thorns aren't limited with charges, i guess this is a pure summoner army. I don't use other summoners (rune mage, royal griffin, demonologist etc) because it is best to bring crowd control and tank than using them, well, their summons is also not as strong as dryad/druid with same amount of leadership.

I'm also bored of using dragons (green/red/black).

Yeah it always depends on the army composition!

Well, the summons aren't that super strong in damage. Dragon of Chaos is maybe 2K damage on landing, 3K or so on hit, with shoot through. This is nothing compared to my old warrior 14-19K damage ranged goblins or paladin girl power fairy.

The summons will always last longer if you support them well. In my case, it was dragons, and burning effect lowers numbers every turn, and reduces attack and defense rating due to morale, etc. Oil Mist lowers rating too, etc.

Also, that is why I use both Ancient Phoenix and Dragon of Chaos. Together, they synergize far better than alone. Not suggesting you do it, since you have a real army, whereas I have like 60% of an army, haha.

You have a very strong team to support.

Yeah, Dryads summon a RIDICULOUS number of thorns. Level 3 Summoner Skill and Dryads... a really impressive number indeed. My Paladin Fairy Team was cranking a LOT of thorns. It almost made me want to keep the blackthorne crown.

I think it is a phase. I was sick of Dragons too in the beginning. I decided to re-use them again this game.

I am already planning on an Ogre centric build. Amelie the ShrekMaster.... wait for it!

As one final note to anyone else reading on why we like the Dragon of Chaos, it can solo a lot of weak monsters, no matter what, because if his HP drops below 10%, he will heal back up to 30% when his turn arrives. This is on TOP of his one-time "invincibility". e.g. he can take 9999 damage, but he will always end up with 1 HP. This only works once per casting. If he wins initiative, he will regenerate back 30% HP. Ah so good.