Stuck at Verona...

[basis]

my current map of verona, and yes I did beat the fight to Montero but loss a few units there.


and the other maps I have.


and here's my current 'army' which I do have space for more because my leadership grew while I was off exploring Montero.


well i welcome any further suggestions that'll help me learn new ways to defeat the challenges in this game. I get all cautious when I start seeing all the mobs with the words 'Lethal' and above.

[TemjinGold]

Hey there, thanks for the detailed images!

The way I've built a mage is to always focus on Distortion 3, Summoning 3, Chaos 3 and Higher Magic in that order. For artifacts, I focus on Int, mana, and mana regen stuff. For my dragon, I focus on getting Mana Accel up to make up for my loss of Concentration (I left it at the 2nd highest level, which nets me 19 mana for 16 rage as I find that much better than 25 for 25.) Since Demon Portal 3 costs 35 mana a pop, the couple of points a round that Concentration gets me is peanuts (I eventually get this skill but not till after I've gotten all the spell upgrade ones and Higher Magic first.)

Distortion is the single strongest school by far. My Level 3 trap does up to 5500 damage and poisons while my Level 3 Fireball (regret getting this) only does 2900. With Stone Skin Level 3 and Mana Spring Level 3 (+15 defense!), my Demons/Executioners that I summon can defeat stacks that are 3-4 times stronger than it even though my mage's attack/defense are a crappy 5/1.

My personal opinion is that I find Glory to be a complete waste of runes. Due to my playstyle, I rarely use full leadership to begin with (I'm running around with 1 troll when I have over 8k leadership.) The Attack point in Might is a waste too. 1 extra attack is not worth the 4 red runes you need to spend for a mage due to how few of those you get to begin with. Instead, they are put to better use on Dragon Training and more importantly, Anger (this is important to get rage for Mana Accel.) Holy Anger is also a waste of runes in the beginning (though this is a great skill for later) mostly due to how infrequent Demon/Undead encounters are then. I usually go after Learning 3 as soon as possible with my green runes instead (+xp should be get early or not at all really.) Since they give Intellect, I will get this eventually but the nature of learning is that you benefit from it more if you get it early. Neatness is invaluable to a mage (Level 1 will suffice for a while) due to the crystals you'll need to upgrade your spells. Plus Absolute Balance is the easiest way for a mage to gain rage.

For spells, Berserker is amazing at Level 3 on demon portaled units. You're gonna have them attack AND die anyways, why not add a crapload of damage in the meantime? On my 35 Int, Berserker 3 adds +144% (so the unit does two and a half times normal damage) for FIVE rounds and it only costs 8 mana.

As for your army, I do wonder what the paladin is doing as he seems to be the odd man out. Here's why:

1) You don't have Phantom and your Distortion is at Level 1.

2) The only units he can resurrect are your Archmage and Inquisitors.

3) Your dragon is pretty mobile and I imagine your main tank. That means your slow paladins probably don't see a lot of action.

Your effectiveness would go way up if you replace the paladins with a shooting stack (Evil/Normal Beholders if you can get them due to their sleep attack or Demonologists if you're that lucky.)

[lauvhk]

The cave where Zigzag is guarding/patrolling is the place where you can find the free Emerald Green Dragon, but first you need to complete the Sohaty quest (asking for pirates, robbers and bowmen, 50 each) in order to obtain the key. He is found near the coast outside the cave.

Seeing that you have summoner 2 and order magic 2 I guess you mostly cast Call of Nature and Summon Phoenix?

@loreangelicus

Speaking of Undead, what about Ancient Vampire? They probably serve better than Black Knight in early game but lack the damage resistance to sustain later on. Same for Black Knight though in terms of availability. The chapel in Scarlet Wind is the earliest place that offers sale on one level 4 undead unit in random and the quantity is only in single digit.

[Zechnophobe]

Basis,

Another option, uses your scroll of the wind to Summon Dryads. Dryads are immensely powerful for mages, as they fit the control style that they use. A lot of early battles will allow dryads to buy maybe an entire turn via lullabye.

[loreangelicus]

Originally Posted by lauvhk

@loreangelicus

Speaking of Undead, what about Ancient Vampire? They probably serve better than Black Knight in early game but lack the damage resistance to sustain later on. Same for Black Knight though in terms of availability. The chapel in Scarlet Wind is the earliest place that offers sale on one level 4 undead unit in random and the quantity is only in single digit.

Yes, I actually got 9 of them there at that location, and used them to kill most enemies at Scarlet. But on my impossible paladin game I couldn't use them to tank against melee-heavy "invincible" enemies (hero army of Hector Norbu), even with Eviln support. Thankfully, I lucked out with a Call Colossus and used it to get a Red Dragon.

But you are correct, without Eviln ancient vampires are indeed better than black knights early in the game because they can go bat-mode and "resurrect" themselves.

[lauvhk]

@Basis

I will just add a little bit more. Let's assume you stick to your current army lineup. I would suggest something called "Tank Rotation".

1. Both Black Dragon and Cyclop cannot be healed and resurrected but they are obviously very powerful unit. High defense and good damage resistance in different aspect. Use them aggressively as tank when they are in good health and then turn them into hit and run mode when the hp runs on the low side, say below half.

2. Cast summon phoenix to offer additional support to Black Dragon (your first tank most likely).

3. The Paladin is the unit who should and can afford to take the beating. So charge all the way forward with your Paladin while the Black Dragon and Phoenix thin out the enemies power. Support your Paladin with your Cyclop (Charge forward as well and revert back to pure range unit when hp is low) as your second tank group.

4. Remember your Archmage magic shield and your other spells like stone skin and fear.

5. Maintain your Paladin in full health when the fight is under control.

[joasoz]

If you have Summon Phoenix get it to level 3 asap. This will give you no loss battles lots of times. This spell is almost overpowered this early in the game. I found it on Bolo on my Hard Mage game, and suddenly everything was a lot easier

[basis]

i knew sharing my screenshots would help! wow u guys are amazing - just by looking at the screenies you guys know my (poor) battle strategy.

yeh i use the dragon as the first line offense, while the mages & cyclops was 2nd line long-range. And I use my offensive spells like Fireball, Pole Axe to thin the larger mob numbers. If doing damage isn't good enough, I'll usually summon something in on the first round to give me added numbers on the battlefield, but usually my 2nd Tier summons isn't that great. So I guess either boost my Pheonix to level 3 or my summoning to level 3. Now I realize the cyclops should be front line. Thanks for enlightening me. I guess I could teleport the Cyclops out to the front to get into the thick of things.

As for paladins, because of their low numbers (and because I do not know where else to get them, I drained all at Debir) I don't send them out front line. So even while I can effectively hold more paladins, you guys think I should use them as 2nd offensive team? And yes sadly they were useful only for protecting the mages and casting the 1 resurrect spell which isn't enough to rezz a full team at times

Ok i will try to use Shield and stone skin combo on the paladin. Because I cannot cast them on my black dragon or cyclops.

As for the suggestion to change Paladin to Black / Dark Beholders, yes I actually do have a stack of beholders in my backup, but their low health make them vulnerable to enemy ranged units. But I do like their Sleep and Possession abilities. Would casting stone skin or shield help to keep them alive longer?

Are there other ways to survive a no-loss encounter? Buffing troops or using summoned creatures?