Stuck at Verona...

[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?

[TemjinGold]

1) Why can't you cast Shield/Stone Skin on cyclops? Offhand I know for sure you can with Shield. Can't remember for Stone Skin but I don't see why not.

2) The issue with the paladins is that they are basically not contributing (dead weight.) If you have a tank in their face (either Black Dragon/Cyclops or a summon), the enemy will not go after your archers. You may say, "But they help when the enemy breaks through." However, it's a self-fulfilling prophecy as they are better able to break through BECAUSE you have fewer stacks that are actually killing. For my game, once I hit 1900 leadership and ditched the inquisitors, I've never had to use any form of resurrection. If you are afraid of losing units, Healing is a great spell to get to Level 3 because it's cheap and heals a load.

3) Phoenix is great early game but it is absolutely horrible mid to late game due to how expensive and weak it is. An Ancient Phoenix is weaker stat-wise than ONE dragon, yet it costs a crazy amount of mana to cast. I skipped this spell as I tend not to sink resources into stuff that gets obsolete if I can help it but I cannot deny that it is powerful in the beginning (if you don't mind wasting the crystals, go for it.) Summoning however is useful for the whole game.

4) As mentioned trap does a lot of damage but even if it were weaker damage-wise than fireball/poleaxe/etc., it is STILL superior for a mage because a mage's goal should be to drag the fight out and trap stops units. This is why shooters work so well for mages because you get to do damage without taking any in return. Trap can also increase the effectiveness of your fireballs and whatnot by basically making the enemy stand in a certain position.

In any case, if you have access to Tekron (map should be unguarded in Montero), you should go do the Abyss quest in the Grand Channel. That gives you the Living Book, a 20% boost to Demon Portal and a guaranteed scroll of the spell for 1 crystal. The quest itself only requires that you kite 2 stacks (normal kiting, not map kiting.) With it, you won't need to touch Phoenix again.

[basis]

thx for the advice TemjinGold, I'll probably not invest too much into Phoenix now, but I just tried battling with ZigZagg and I could probably handle his normal units, but what got my units killed the most was his Geyser attack!

Is there any way to deny him casting that spell? Or at least mitigate the damage dealt? I noticed he would change my red mages to sheeps in the first round then follow it with Geyser in the 2nd round.