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! Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic (PC) !
! !
! OFFLINE STRATEGY GUIDE !
! !
! by coineineagh !
! version 1.0 !
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Table Of Contents:
1. INTRODUCTION
2. PLANNING YOUR WIZARD
3. MAP EDITOR
4. GENERAL STRATEGY
- Unit Enchantments
5. THE ITEM FORGE
- Weapon
- Shield
- Torso
- Head
- Ring
- Use
- Forging Requirements
6. CITY DEFENSE
- General
- Choosing Defenders
- Defense Structures
7. RACES & UNITS
-Archons
-Elves
-Dwarves
-Halflings
-Syrons
-Humans
-Draconians
-Tigrans
-Frostlings
-Nomads
-Orcs
-Goblins
-Dark Elves
-Shadow Demons
-Undead
-Priests
-Siege
-Summons
-Aligned Stacks
-Good General
-Good Flying
-Neutral General
-Neutral Flying
-Evil General
-Evil Flying
8. GLOBAL SPELLS
-Life
-Earth
-Air
-Fire
-Water
-Death
-Cosmos
9. OTHER SPELLS
-Life
-Earth
-Air
-Fire
-Water
-Death
-Cosmos
10. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
11. VERSION INFORMATION
___________________________________________________________________________
DISCLAIMERS
This may be not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal,
private use. It may not be placed on any website or otherwise distributed
publicly without advance written permission. Use of this guide on any other
website or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a
violation of copyright. This document may not be bought or sold, or used in
any way for profitable gain.
This FAQ is authorized to be hosted on the following websites:
www.gamefaqs.com
www.gamespot.com
www.neoseeker.com
This guide is copyright 2014 by Thomas de Jong, e.g. coineineagh.
All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by
their respective trademark and copyright holders.
___________________________________________________________________________
<3 <3 <3
Dedicated to my wife Suby, my son Owen, and 2nd son soon to come!
<3 <3 <3
{1} INTRODUCTION
----------------
After picking up this game again so many years later, I was surprised to find
so little material available in the form of informative guides. So, I decided
to compile my own for future reference. With Age of Wonders III out now, there
may be little interest in Shadow Magic. But, since AoW3 has gone down the route
of so many visually appealing modern games, requiring high system requirements,
I believe there will remain a group of regular Shadow Magic enthusiasts such as
myself, who play while they are running other programs in the background.
Shadow Magic is an amazingly deep strategy game, allowing for map creation and
personalization, as well as online play. It is worthwhile to play even now, and
there are a host of hints, tricks and tactics to be conveyed, which this FAQ
attempts to do in condensed form. My play experience is mainly offline, hence
my decision to name this the Offline Strategy FAQ.
For installation, I reccommend you install the official 1.3 patch, as well as
the unofficial 1.4 patch available on heavengames. It is possible to load a 1.3
save after updating to UPatch 1.4 - I have done so myself. Read details here:
http://aow2.heavengames.com/aowsm/Patchproject_14/UPatch.html
{2} PLANNING YOUR WIZARD
------------------------
Rules for magic have changed significantly compared to Age of Wonders: The
Wizard's Throne. In the old game, Cosmos was the all-powerful wizard domain,
potentially allowing you to research almost every spell in the game. Now,
Cosmos wizards must choose a number of spheres from the other 6 domains,
which in turn determines the amount of spells you will be able to research
from that domain:
#spheres #spells for levels 1; 2; 3; 4
1 3,1,0,0
2 4,2,1,0
3 5,3,2,0
4 5,4,3,1
5 cannot choose 5 spheres
6 (not Cosmos) 5,5,5,5
Since there are around 3-7 spells per spell level for each domain, even a Fire
Wizard may never have access to all Fire spells. It's also unclear what will
happen when there are less spells of your domain level than you are alotted.
It's the luck of the draw, really. But it helps if you know you're likely to
make allies on the scenario you will play, so you can trade spells with them.
This is where the editor comes in - you can make your own luck.
{3} MAP EDITOR
--------------
The Map Editor can build randomized maps for you, but you can also fine-tune a
map with every little detail that you'd prefer.
Cities have a minimum distance of 10 hexes from each other when you are making
settlements in the game, but the Map Editor allows you to create cities closer
than allowed in game. You can create all the advantages and disadvantages you
want with the editor, but keep in mind that AI movements are notoriously hard
to predict. I often end up helping a weak ally by defeating an invasion force
headed their way, only to see them launch their own offensive against the enemy
just 10 turns later, defeating the enemy wizard. Keep in mind that the AI can
'cheat'; it can maintain more standing armies than a single city should be able
to pay maintenance for; units spawn faster than could logically have been built
or summoned; and concealment doesn't work against AI opponents: They can always
see you, it seems.
Despite all this, consensus among players is that the AI needs this. Computer
opponents are not clever in their movements and decisions. Even the difficulty
levels of AI opponents doesn't affect their decisions, just their starting
resources and power. So, if you are loading a scenario that you built yourself,
with all wizard's starting resources determined by you already, the difficulty
you choose for the AI likely makes NO difference.
If you plan a long-term battle map, you could make abundant use of the no-AI
map marker. As long as you don't set foot on that hex yourself, neither will
any AI units. This way, you get to decide when it's time to make a passage
traversable by enemy units.
One final word of advice: Map locations will have fixed rewards and defenders
at the moment of creation. This means that spell rewards in magic vaults may be
something you already have, by the time you set foot in it. If you just placed
a vault with random difficulty and reward on your map, it will be deteremined
once you start the map. If you want to increase access to spells by placing
vaults, make sure to choose the actual spell it will contain, too.
{4} GENERAL STRATEGY
--------------------
The trick to getting the most from your units, is to combine the races. Cities
with races different than your own can prove tremendously useful, as they have
strengths that your own race lacks. The units each race creates are varied: Some
are poor, others are very powerful. AI opponents will rarely keep other races'
cities unchanged, and will attempt to migrate to their own primary race straight
away. This leads to AI armies of predominantly a single race, with occasional
exceptions of races with the same alignment. This makes combat against the AI
easier to predict, as you know what most of their units will be like.
Unit loyalty may become an issue when combining Good and Evil races in the same
unit stacks. City loyalty is determined by a number of factors, such as your
primary race, your magic domain, and the prevalence of that race in your nation.
But unit relations are unchanged by all of this. They can only be improved by
the Peacekeeper wizard ability, and Bard's Skills unit ability. On the whole,
it's best to keep units of the same general alignement together, and not to mix
varied alignments in one stack. An Evil unit may not desert on its own, but when
you stack it with 2 Good units, the whole group runs the risk of deserting.
Heroes are important for the wizard domain they carry with them, and are often
among the stronger units in battle. It's advisable to build up their defenses
most of all, preferably with enchantment spells. The basic unit costs no
maintenance, and gains experience every turn on top of any kills. Heroes can
also equip items that you find during play, as well as those you make yourself
with the Item Forge.
--- UNIT ENCHANTMENTS
Heroes are rare, and should be kept safe. For this reason, I reccommend giving
them all the enchantments you can reasonably maintain on them, whether they are
offensive, defensive, mobility buffs or otherwise. Below, I list all the unit
enchantments that I feel are relevant, preceded by their mana maintenance cost:
05 - Stone Skin: +3 DEF. A great protector. Can't be used on flying units.
03 - Bless. +2 RES, +1 DEF and Death Protection.
03 - Dark Gift: +2 DAM, +1 RES and Death Strike.
03 - Enchanted Weapon: +1 ATT melee, +2ATT ranged, +1 DAM and Magic Strike.
The Ranged ATT bonus is an upgrade in patch 1.4.
03 - Fury: +2 DAM and Willpower. (previous versions included +2RES, -2DEF)
02 - Fire Halo: Fire Immunity, Ignite and Fire Strike.
02 - Free Movement: Cave Crawling, Mountaineering and Forestry. Why waste level
ups on mobility bonuses when you can get all 3 for cheap? But be advised
that it's dangerous if you are in an enemy wizard's domain. If the enemy
dispels it when you are traversing MOUNTAINS, your hero will die there.
This enchantment is unnecessary if your unit can float or fly, but if not,
then it's useful to have. Even Rangers (the only hero class that can get
all skills at level ups) shouldn't wait around to get all movement skills.
02 - Shadow Walking: Immune to Shadow Sickness. A situational necessity if you
need to fight in the shadow world with regular units; it prevents all your
stats from being halved in that realm.
Below are enchantments I rejected, mostly because of high maintenance costs:
04 - Haste: Haste Domain does the same for all units, though this may be worth
considering if you can't get hold of that global spell.
04 - Water Walking: Dangerous if you are in an enemy wizard's domain. If the
enemy dispels it, your hero dies of drowning. Items are more reliable.
05 - Mighty Meek: +1 ATT & +1 DAM per level that its target is stronger than it.
Works with ranged attacks. For Mighty Meek, Heroes were counted as level 1
units, but in the new patch, they are not allowed to get this enchantment.
05 - Seeker: +2 ATT & ignore obstacles. Not worth the upkeep cost.
08 - (Un)Holy Champion: Willpower, +2 ATT & +2 DAM vs. Good or Evil. You can get
this through an item. Prior to patch 1.4, it was +3, but the bonuses were
melee only.
08 - Static Shield: Pricy, and this ability can be forged into a ring anyway.
10 - Liquid Form: Physical Protection and Water Walking. It carries the same
risks as Water Walking. Why pay such high upkeep when you can craft an item
instead? Physical Protection is a very effective advantage, though.
10 - Concealment: Completely irrelevant as the AI can always see you.
10 - Wind Walking: The equivalent of Floating is achieved safer and cheaper by
crafting a ring with Swimming and using Free Movement.
15 - Resurgence: This had the potential to make your stack of heroes practically
invincible, but battle would forcibly end after 25 turns even if you were
winning. Patch 1.4 nerfs its effect into a single resurrection, in or after
combat. At this price, Resurgence can't be maintained for long periods, but
you could use it temporarily, and remove it after crucial battles. It's a
very cheesy tactic, not to mention tedious, but a useful last resort. You
can also craft items with Resurgence if you have the spell.
Depending on your situation, available spells, and preference, you should have a
very well protected hero for 23 mana per turn at the most.
{5} THE ITEM FORGE
------------------
The Item forge in the UPatch 1.4 game is slightly different, and crafting is
usually cheaper and faster. Keep in mind that certain weapon enhancements only
become available after researching a related spell. The game does not always
seem to implement this consistently, so there may be factors I'm unaware of.
But this is always advantageous: You might have an enhancement without knowing
the spell, but you'll never miss out on an enhancement if you know the spell.
To Create an army of powerful heroes, I reccommend crafting the following:
WEAPON: Double strike, Energy Drain, Life Stealing. Dark Elves and Undead can
substitute Life Stealing for another enhancement (perhaps Holy or Cold strike),
or just use weapons you found on the map.
SHIELD: Block, Mountaineering, Physical Protection. Paladins, Rangers and
Warriors can select Block at level up, so I suggest they do so instead. These
Hero classes are instead better off using Torso Armor with Physical Protection.
For the classes that can't Block (Rogue, Priest and Ranger), you really should
forge a shield for them; it's a potent defensive ability, particularly against
ranged attacks. The reason I selected Mountaineering, is because it's dangerous
to be on Mountain hexes with a dispellable Free Movement enchantment. Heroes who
have their own innate Block skill can equip a floating Torso armor instead, but
those who need a blocking shield should get dispel protection through a Swimming
ring and Mountaineering shield combination.
TORSO: +1 Defense, Floating, Physical Protection. Getting a Shield and Torso
armor both with Phys. Prot. is redundant, so don't equip both on 1 unit.
You may wish to consider Path of Life as an option, but it depends on what race
you are playing. Units that can learn Block innately do better with this armor.
HEAD: There are a number of beneficial abilities Headgear can grant, which led
me to craft different types of headgear, for different purposes. Leadership III
seems a useful Headpiece, though I feel this uses up the 3 picks too easily. I
reccommend selecting Leadership on level-ups instead. Casting Specialist is an
advantage that builds on the casting power of any unit, except Warriors and
Rogues. (Un)Holy Champion offers ATT/DMG bonuses to both melee *and* ranged, so
this is the best choice for a non-caster class (Warrior or Rogue). Magic Relay
allows your wizard to cast overland spells far from a Wizard's Tower, which may
come in useful. I'm fond of Smoky Haze as a passive defense skill, as Poisoned
status is very effective in weakening enemies. True Seeing is the final option
worth mentioning, to prevent getting ambushed by invisible opponents. It's best
for a unit that is specializing in Vision ability on level ups, and it would be
ideal if that unit also had Night Vision, though this is merely situational. In
case you are tempted to try the Cause Fear ability, let me say this: Willpower
negates fear, and a hero with all the enchantments and items possible has much
better ways of interfering with enemies: Stunned (Static Shield), Entangled
(Entangle Strike), Weakened (Dark Gift), Poisoned (Smoky Haze & Poison Domain),
Energy Drained, Burning (Fire Halo), or Cursed (Damnation).
Casting Specialist, True Seeing, Smoky Haze. Against Concealment/Invisibility.
Casting Specialist, Magic Relay, Smoky Haze. Wizard overland spell offensives.
Holy Champion, Unholy Champion, Smoky Haze. A straightforward attacker.
If you have a group of heroes riding together, consider crafting 1 of the first
2 types of Headgear, and the 3rd type for all your others.
RING: Regeneration, Static Shield, Swimming. Rings offer many abilities, so my
choices are a matter of personal preference. Regeneration speaks for itself,
Static Shield is a useful but expensive enchantment to cast on units, and
Swimming prevents enemy wizards from dispelling Water Walking when you are on
water, which would lead to the death of the unit. Haste may be more relevant to
wizards without access to Haste Domain, though. If your unit can already swim,
then I reccommend Entangle Strike as an interesting substitute.
Units wearing the Torso Armour I described above have no need for Swimming, so
then I'd craft a ring with Entangle Strike, Regeneration, Static Shield. Rings
can possibly also be crafted with Floating, but crafting speed is important.
USE: Marksmanship III. Cheap item to craft, and a great ability to have early
without having to waste 3 level ups on it. Unlike Leadership or Vision, which
can only be forged onto a Headgear, it's easier to forge items with this skill
into a Use item, since you can equip many such items at the same time. +3 ATT
& +3 DAM make a big difference to ranged attacks; just try out Archery (8 ATT,
4 DAM) with this item. You can avoid selecting Marksmanship at level ups, but
be sure to craft these cheap items for your heroes first and foremost!
Dominate OR Drain Will OR Taunt, Fire Cannon, Healing I. Drain Will + Dominate
is also a popular combination, but consider crafting them on separate items;
this will allow you to take control of units without having to wait another
turn. And Taunt ability is amazing for controlling the battlefield and getting
free counterattacks, especially in conjunction with a Drain Will item.
Hurl Lightning, Phase, Resurgence. Hurl Lightning is a handy ability that allows
you to damage and possibly schock a whole cluster of opponents. It's comparable
with Taunt. Phase can be used for ganging up on an enemy, escaping, negating
walls and so on. Resurgence is less powerful in patch 1.4, but greatly enhances
a hero's durability on the battlefield.
Grasp, Pixie Dust, Steam. Grasp is expensive to forge, but the ability does lots
of damage, and moves units away, allowing you to clear pathways. Pixie Dust is
fun to use, and can inflict unforeseen debuffs on enemies. Steam is a roundhouse
attack for when units are surrounded by enemies.
--- FORGING REQUIREMENTS
The following is a reference list of requirements for some of the forge options
in UPatch 1.4. Some have no requirements at all. When I upgraded, I lost the
Fire Breath option I was planning to use. I gained Holy Strike, Energy Drain
and Swimming among other things, without having the prerequisite spells. In
conclusion, the implementation is either inconsistent, or has unknown factors.
http://aow.heavengames.com/cgi-bin/forums/display.cgi?action=ct&f=32,3320,,all
MELEE attacks (for WEAPONS only)
Cold Strike: requires Ice Storm
Death Strike: requires Dark Gift or Death Storm I guess
Fire Strike: requires Fire Storm
Holy Strike: requires Divine Storm
Lightning Strike: requires Chain Lightning
Energy Drain: requires Wither
Magic Strike: requires Enchant Weapon
Poison Strike: requires Poison Domain
RANGED attacks (for USE items)
Black Bolts: requires Death Ray
Black Breath: requires Bone Dragon
Cold Breath: requires Ice Dragon
Grasp: requires Winds of Fury
Hurl Firebomb: requires Fireball
Fire Bolts: requires Blazing Comet
Holy Bolts: requires Shooting Stars
Hurl Stones: requires Stoning
Magic Bolts: requires Magic Servant
Steam: requires Geyser
Pixie Dust: requires Fairy
Turn Undead: requires Turn Undead
Whirlpool: requires Tornado
MISCELLANEOUS
Cause Fear: requires Panic Attack
Concealment: requires Concealment
Dispel Magic: requires Dispel Magic
Entangle: requires Poison Plants or Sacred Woods. (It wasn't Water Sphere but
Life Sphere instead)
Forestry: requires Free Movement
Healing: requires Healing or Healing Showers
Holy Champion: requires Holy Champion.
Path of Decay: requires Darkland
Path of Frost: requires Ice Age
Path of Life: requires Rejuvenate
Phase: requires Unicorn (Water dancers, even though they have Phase, doesn't
allow to add this effect)
Resurgence: requires Phoenix or Resurgence
Resurrect: requires Resurrect Hero
Swimming: requires Water walking
Static Shield: requires Static Shield
Strangle: requires Suffocate
Trail of Darkness: requires Darkness Domain
True Seeing: requires City Spy
Unholy Champion: requires Unholy Champion
Vision: requires Zephyr Bird
Wall Crushing: requires City Quake
Web: requires Dark Spider
Willpower: requires Fury
{6} CITY DEFENSE
----------------
--- GENERAL
Cities are traditionally defended by walls, so you should erect a Wooden Wall
quickly. Ranged units can shoot at the approaching enemies, and don't face much
retaliation until the attacker has broken down the gate and entered inside. For
this reason, you should have a large amount of ranged units defending cities.
There is a glitch in the AI's logic that allows for you to get the most out of
ranged units in cities or fortifications: AI percieves ranged units as weak
defense, so may send insufficient attackers to an assault. If you're defending,
there's a chance your units may weather the assault. Strangely, if you choose
the Quick Battle option, the computer often lets your ranged defenders perform
better in combat than when you control them yourself. So, it is advisable to
allow the computer to handle city defenses for you! But, you should assault
cities manually for the same reason. Keep in mind that since ranged defenders
are seen as weak, enemies will easily be tempted to test your defenses.
--- CHOOSING DEFENDERS
The best ranged units are the ones that start with Marksmanship, and gain ranks
when they are veterans and elites. Elf Archers are popular with innate Forestry,
as are Dark Elf Archers with Night Vision and Cave Crawling. Halfling Slingers
also shouldn't be dismissed. They are slow and have only 8 hit points, but Throw
Stones is 7ATT 5DAM against Archery's 8ATT 4DAM.
Personally, I feel the best ranged defenders are the Dwarven Steam Tank, though
you can only have 1 per stack; the Archon Charioteer, with speed, strong
defenses and melee capability, and the Nomad Horse Archer; the ultimate ranged
unit which you can churn out quickly. Centaurs are worth mentioning because
they're relatively sturdy and start with Marksmanship II, potentially gaining
rank IV at gold medal. But for the same upkeep cost of a Charioteer, they have
no melee capability at close range. Buccaneers are noteworthy because Fire
Pistol is accurate and damaging in comparison with arrows. Taking down weak
units is easier with Archery, but Fire Pistol packs a punch against tough units.
Build Steam Tanks if you can: As machines, they don't influence unit loyalty,
so they are safe for use by evil races, too. Charioteers are often difficult to
keep loyal even if you are just a neutral player, but they are worth the
trouble, and definitely reccommended for Good players. The rest of the city
defense stack can be filled with a decent level 1 ranged unit. I try to build
Nomad Horse Archers if possible, but there are merits to Halfling Slingers, and
(Dark) Elf Archers are very effective.
Siege engines make strong ranged defenders, too. But they have Fire Weakness,
cost significant gold upkeep, and are easily destroyed and slow. I dislike them.
--- DEFENSE STRUCTURES
The following buildings assist in city defense:
Walls: Basic wooden walls. Gates have 20 HP.
Stone WALLs: Stronger walls. Gates have 30HP.
Sanctuary: Fully heals all garrisoned stacks in the 7 city hexes every turn.
Hall of Enchantment: Bestows your wizard's enchantment on all garrisoned units.
Earth previously had the best enchantment type with Stoneskin, but the patch
has updated Enchanted Weapon for Cosmos, giving it +2 ATT to ranged.
Tower Guard: Shoots some Magic Bolts at attackers every turn.
Enchanted Walls: Units that approach walls/gates may suffer damage.
Forcefield: Protects city and garrison (not croplands) against overland spells.
Teleportation Gate: Allows you to teleport to ant city with a Wizard's Tower.
The Teleportation Gate (And by extension the Wizard's Tower) is by far the best
defensive building, allowing your armies to be where they are needed most.
{7} RACES & UNITS
-----------------
This is not a unit-by-unit appraisal of the races; that would be too lengthy.
Many details and specifics are missing, but the most powerful and important
units get mentioned, allowing you to forgo testing them yourself.
ARCHONS: Holy Strike is a useful bonus to many units, allowing them to inflict
Vertigo (-2ATT,-2DEF) in melee. They have many sturdy units, but nothing beats
the Charioteer: Strong, fast and with a ranged attack.
ELVES: All Elven units have innate Forestry, which can be very advantageous in
forest terrain. The high level units aren't very strong, but the Druid makes up
for this with the Entangle ability. Fairy Dragons' True Seeing is also handy.
DWARVES: Sturdy but slow, they are protected against poison attacks and have
Night Vision & Cave Crawling, which makes them well protected against Goblins.
The Steam Tank is the ultimate Dwarven war machine, though the Runemaster is
also a strong opponent.
HALFLINGS: Many of these units have Concealment, allowing them to hide in
vegetation. But the AI can always see you, so it's pointless. The units are
quite slow and frail, making them perhaps the weakest race in the game. The
Slinger's Throw Rock is possibly slightly better than Archery, but they have
only 8 hit points... The Leprechaun is fun and a difficult opponent, though.
SYRONS: Syrons are very weak, but they are immune to Shadow Sickness, so in
their world they should be considerably stronger than most surface races.
They also have lots of lightning attacks, which is a particular weakness of
all but the strongest Shadow Demons.
HUMANS: Humans aren't as boring as they might first appear. The Air Galley
provides superior mobility, the Knight is fast and deadly, and the Buccaneer
has 2 dangerous ranged attacks (Fire Pistol & Taunt). Some players even prefer
to use Buccaneers as ranged city defenders in place of Archers.
DRACONIANS: Draconians and many Dragons are granted innate Shadow Walking.
Though they have a variety of useful units, none of them can hold a candle to
the Red Dragon. When created in a city with a Hydra's Pool, they gain innate
Regeneration. Red Dragons are the ultimate aerial superiority forces. They
are immune to Fire Domain, and a group of them can assault territories far
from your home with little danger of dying.
TIGRANS: Tigrans are considered to be very powerful. The Sphinx can Dominate
anything on the battlefield, and gets Drain Will at Silver Medal. Still, for
most purposes, there are better units available from other races. Tigran AI
opponents are more challenging than most, though.
FROSTLINGS: These units are slow, frail, and many have Fire Weakness to boot.
They get their edge from Cold attacks, and it's nice to add cold damage to
ranged attacks. On the whole, they aren't much good.
NOMADS: Many mounted units for this race, and the aforementioned Horse Archer
is a formidable level 1 unit to build for both defensive and other purposes.
Nomad AIs will build a large number of Rocs, making them very dangerous.
ORCS: This race is comparatively slow, and it can be a serious disadvantage.
The Warlord is among the toughest level 3 units, and the Heavy Cavalry is
very durable for a level 2. Their units can gain Life Stealing from the Blood
Totem building. Despite all this, the race has limited flying and ranged units.
GOBLINS: Goblins are relatively frail, and even with Night Vision and Cave
Crawling, they can't compete with Dwarves in the underground. Their Wyvern unit
is very cheap and fast to create, so they are great scouts/surprise attackers.
DARK ELVES: This race has units that rely on strong attacks and guile to win
battles. Resistances and immunities are present, and they are needed to mask
the low hit points of the units. The Spider Queen's Web allows for battlefield
control similar to a Druid, but is quite frail.
SHADOW DEMONS: This new race has tough units, but with weaknesses against the
Syrons. The Lord is a terrifying unit, but the rest are relatively unimpressive.
UNDEAD: The race of pure evil is difficult to manage with other units. They all
have weaknesses against Holy Magic, and this makes them easy to defeat. Being
Undead offers certain immunities, but these don't compensate for the downsides.
PRIESTS: Each race has its own priest type in this game, with slightly different
traits. But their main attack is always a type of bolt, & they can always heal.
A stack of priests will lose to high-RES opponents, but 1 or 2 in a normal stack
can be a boon to its effectiveness.
SIEGE: Each race can produce Ballista, Catapult, an advanced war craft, ships &
maybe a balloon. Transports are necessary to traverse some kinds of terrain, and
siege engines are usually effective ranged attackers. I dislike the Flame and
Frost Cannons for their short-range attacks, while the regular Cannon has the
strongest ranged attack. Catapults are inaccurate, but can Hurl Firebomb. The
very best siege engines are Dwarf- and Human-specific machines that doubles as
transports, so you are only allowed 1 per stack. If you can't build Steam Tanks
or Air Galleys, though, you should probably add a regular Cannon to beef up city
defenses. Most siege craft are slow, inflammable and fragile, so don't use them
as patrols. Boats, Balloons and Air Galleys are great scouting units, though.
SUMMONS: There are a whole range of recruitable and summoned creatures, with a
variety of benefits. I will mention only the most powerful ones here.
Dragon Hatchlings have Flame Breath and can fly, allowing them to avoid attacks
from many units, which helps them stay alive until they reach maturity. Which
dragon they will become is random, leading to a great deal of uncertainty & FUN.
Bone Dragons aren't very tough, they're not Shadow Walkers, but quite effective.
Angels are very strong and dangerous, and healing makes them very helpful too.
Black Angels can't heal, but their Life Stealing makes them about as strong.
Chaos Lords have plenty of immunities, but pale in comparison with Shadow Lords.
Ice Dragons are not Shadow Walkers, and they have Fire Weakness of all things.
Golden Dragons are Shadow Walkers with Magic Immunity, and one of the toughest
and strongest units in the game.
Black Dragons may be slightly superior to Golden ones due to the added Night
Vision, which combined with True Seeing (Silver Medal)and Vision IV (Gold),
leaves nothing on any map undiscovered. Even underground.
Phoenixes have Resurgence as their main attraction, allowing them to survive 1
combat death. A stack of them is quite overpowered. Undefeatable before patch
1.4 when Resurgence was endless; now they're just extra hard to kill.
ALIGNED STACKS: I offer a few suggestions for strong Good/Neutral/Evil stacks.
I am focused on the late game, and assume full availability of races.
Good General: A Sheriff has Bard's Skill and Leadership to help your stack out,
but his speed is just 32. A Steam Tank (32 speed) is a great help, and Druids
(36 speed) can be included for their useful Entangle. Most of all, Charioteers
are great combatants. Titans have no ranged attacks, and Runemasters and
Leprechauns will slow you down further (unless you make use of the Steam Tank).
Good Flying: The Good races have very poor flyers available, so consider getting
Angels or Golden Dragon summons if you can, or some Neutral flyers if need be.
Neutral General: Air Galleys will boost the speed of the stack on most terrain,
so on the world map, you may feel that unit speed is irrelevant. Remember that
slow units are still slow in combat. A Nomad Chieftain has Bard's Skills and
Leadership. Knights are tough and fast, though you may want to include a Slaver
or two. The units mentioned so far have no ranged capabilities; be aware of it.
Neutral Flying: Neutral races are spoilt for choices when it comes to flying.
An Air Galley can be handy to have in the stack, though if you decide to use it
as a transport for ground units, it may also function as a flying stack for most
purposes. Rocs are very effective with their damaging Grasp ability. Red Dragons
are immune to fire damage, and if you recruit them with Regeneration ability,
they can invade enemy lands very effectively. A number of summoned creatures can
also be used, such as the Phoenix and Ice Dragon, though the latter doesn't work
well alongside Red Dragons. Or with Phoenixes, for that matter.
Evil General: There are no Evil units with Bard's Skills, but I'd still include
a Shadow Demon Brain in each stack, for its Leadership and Magic Relay ability.
The SD Lord is probably the strongest unit in the game, though I wouldn't fill a
stack with only Lords. Trolls have a ranged attack against flying opponents, the
main weakness of Lord. And Warlords (28 speed with patch 1.4) created with Life
Stealing may be more durable than Lords when facing repeated waves of melee
forces. Your Brain allows you to cast Heal on units anywhere on the map, but it
helps if they don't need healing. Due to the slowness of the units, Evil stacks
might want to get hold of Air Galleys from the Humans. It won't affect loyalty.
Evil Flying: The Evil races have very poor flyers available, so consider getting
Black Angels or Black Dragon summons if you can, or even some Neutral flyers.
{8} GLOBAL SPELLS
-----------------
Defending your territory becomes easier when you cast global spells. Whether the
spell is offensive, defensive, movement related, or merely a boost to your city
or income structures in some way or another, they are all great boosts to have.
Naturally it's tricky to get hold of them all, because they are under different
magic spheres. So, trading and exploring may grant you much-needed spells. Just
be prepared for the possibility that you may not get hold of particular spells.
Below is a list of the global spells, preceded by their UPKEEP cost. Mastery was
not included, as it is the same for all elements: 50 upkeep, all nodes change to
your element; nodes expand your domain.
LIFE:
05 - Rejuvenate: Turns your terrain into grassland. Useful for combating the
damage done by other global spells, and area-type magical storms.
20 - Life Domain: Heals allied units 5HP/turn. Helpful but not essential.
30 - Call of the Forest: 1 woodland creature joins you every turn.
EARTH:
10 - Earth's Awareness: Reveals all cities on the map.
10 - Enchanted Roads: Movement cost goes from 3 to 2 while traversing roads. It
also reduces flying units' move cost to 2, but you must direct flying units
along the paths carefully; AI pathfinding seems to ignore Enchanted roads.
The enchantment only applies to actual roads, not any cities or structures.
20 - Poison Domain: Poisons enemy units (-2ATT, -2DAM, -2DEF, -2RES)
40 - Golden Age: Increases city income.
AIR:
20 - Haste Domain: Hastes all your units in your territory.
20 - Ice Age: Turns your terrain to snow & ice. Not reccommended, since this
destroys croplands andreduces income from windmills and water mills.
20 - Watcher: Unfogs domain, reveals hidden units and spies into enemy cities.
FIRE:
20 - Fire Domain: Burns enemies in your terrain (-2ATT, -1HP/turn)
WATER:
15 - Purifying Water: Doubles healing and removes curses & poison every turn.
20 - Wetland: Turns all your terrain into water. I wouldn't reccommend this.
Last time I tried it, my income structures were submerged. It may have been
fixed in this patch, but a water map is monotonous for army movement. I get
no satisfaction from watching enemy cities submerge and drown, either.
50 - Spring Rains: Expands all city crops in your domain 1 hex.
DEATH:
20 - Damnation: Curses enemy units in your domain (-2RES, Death Weakness, no
healing).
20 - Darkland: Turn your terrain to wasteland. Unless you are playing as evil
races, this is a bad idea to cast. Even the Undead can grow crops on
most terrain, anyway.
20 - Domain of Darkness: Hides your domain from enemies (as unexplored).
COSMOS:
XX - Disjunction: No upkeep. Attempts to remove an enemy global spell.
05 - City Spy: Allows you to see inside enemy cities in your domain.
15 - Spell Ward: Your other global spells cannot be removed by Disjunction
before the Spell Ward is removed.
20 - Power Leak: Drains enemy wizard's mana income.
20 - Shadow Lock: Prevents all other wizards from moving to the Shadow World.
20 - Summoner's Aura: Summoned units get +4RES and heal +5HP/turn.
I'd make a list of preferences, but it would be pointless. You can't control
what you'll get; even a full mage has a chance not to get spells of his/her own
element. Get hold of what you can, and cast what benefits you.
{9} OTHER SPELLS
----------------
All the spells, preceded by their CASTING cost. Summons have a maintenance cost
in mana that reflects their unit size: 6, 9, 12 or 15. Unit enchantments have a
maintenance cost that can be found in the chapter General Strategy. In [square
brackets] I list the number of potentially researchable spells of each level
for each element/sphere. Spells preceded with an !exclamation mark can ONLY be
cast in battle, not on the world map.
--- LIFE --- [6-5-5-5]
Level 1:
8 - Bless: Gives the Unit +2 RES, +1 DEF and Death Protection.
! 8 - Shooting Stars: Calls down Holy starfire onto the target.
10 - Mighty Meek: Gives the unit +1 ATT & +1 DAM per level that its target is
stronger than it. Heroes and level 4 units cannot use this.
11 - Healing I: Restores 6HP to target
!20 - Holy Light: Gives Good units +2 ATT & +1 DAM, while giving Evil units
-1 DEF & -1 RES.
40 - Unicorn: Summons a magical horned equine. 6/turn.
Level 2:
!10 - Martyr: Gives the target an extra 100% HP, but it dies once battle ends.
!10 - Turn Undead: Attempts to harm and panic an Undead enemy target.
20 - Holy Champion: Gives a unit Willpower, and +2 ATT, +2 DAM vs. Evil units.
40 - Sacred Woods: Creates a holy growth that attacks anything moving.
80 - Fairy: Summons a mischievous sprite. 9/turn.
Level 3:
20 - Rejuvenate: Causes the terrain in your Domain to slowly become grassland.
!30 - Sacred Wrath: Blasts the battlefield with Holy Light, damaging all enemy
units.
!40 - High Prayer: Blesses all friendly units, and Heals 3-5 HP each.
50 - Resurrect Hero: Brings a hero back from the dead.
150 - Call of the Forest: Calls a creature of the forest to the player's
bidding every turn. The unit emerges in woodlands in the player's domain.
Level 4:
80 - Divine Storm: The Storm turns terrain to lush grassland and harms units
caught within it.
100 - Resurgence: Allows a unit to rise from the dead ONCE PER BATTLE; 25% HP.
220 - Angel: Summons a being of holy might. Can heal. 15/turn.
300 - Life Domain: Bathes your Domain in a glow of life, Healing your units for
5 HP each turn.
500 - Life Mastery: Turns all Nodes to Life; increases your Domain around them.
--- EARTH --- [5-7-4-6]
Level 1:
8 - Stone Skin: Gives a unit +3 DEF. Does not work on flying units.
10 - Free Movement: Gives a unit Mountaineering, Forestery, and Cave Crawling.
!10 - Stoning: Pelts the target with a barrage of rocks.
20 - Clear Terrain: Clears target area of vegetations and roads.
40 - Dire Boar: Summons a large beast of the wilderness. 6/turn.
Level 2:
!15 - Deep Fissure: Fires of the deep earth burn the target, Save for 1/2 DAM.
20 - Concealment: Conceals a unit in vegetation on any terrain.
!20 - Crash Gates: Destroys the gates of a walled structure.
!20 - Regenerate Walls: Partially restores damaged or destroyed walls at the
beginning of each round.
70 - Minotaur: Summons a powerful and unnaturally-conceived beast. 9/turn.
80 - Enchanted Roads: Reduces movement costs for friendly units Walking your
roads. In practice, this sets movement cost to 2 per hex for ALL units
traveling the ACTUAL roads (not cities or structures). Flying & floating
units must be moved along the roads carefully, as AI pathfinding ignores
roads for non-grounded units.
60 - Poison Plants: Creates a poisonous growth that lashes at anything moving.
Level 3:
!20 - Tremors: Shakes the entire battlefield, damaging units and structures.
50 - Level Terrain: Levels the earth to flatlands.
120 - Earth Elemental: Summons a hardened brute made of stone. 12/turn.
300 - Earth's Awareness: Reveals all cities that are not magically hidden.
Level 4:
85 - Raise Terrain: Raises mountains from the earth.
100 - City Quake: Damages the target city's structures and population.
120 - Poison Domain: Infects your Domain, poisoning all enemy units: -2ATT,
-2DAM, -2DEF, -2RES
150 - Golden Age: Increases the income of all cities (5-20gold) in your Domain.
200 - Basilisk: Summons a deadly monster with baleful eyes. 15/turn.
500 - Earth Mastery: All Nodes become Earth; increases your Domain around them.
--- AIR --- [6-4-6-5]
Level 1:
! 8 - Suffocate: Pulls the air from the lungs of a target. Save for 1/2 damage.
!10 - Panic Attack: Attempts to cripple the target with fear.
15 - Haste: Allows the target unit to move at great speed.
20 - Freeze Water: Freezes an area of water, making it solid enough to walk on.
20 - Seeker: Lets the target's ranged attacks ignore obstacles and gain +2 ATT.
60 - Zephyr Bird: Summons a great eagle. 6/turn.
Level 2:
!10 - Winds of Fury: Throws the target about randomly, causing great harm.
!20 - Wind Ward: Makes all enemy ranged attacks suffer a -50% to-hit penalty.
50 - Violent Storm: A violent storm descends on target location for 3 turns,
damaging units.
100 - Northern Glow: Summons a being of pure energy. 9/turn.
Level 3:
!20 - Chain Lightning: Unleashes electrical energy at the Targeted Area.
40 - Recall Hero: Instantly brings a Hero back to their Wizard's side.
50 - Wind Walking: Allows a unit to Float across all terrain.
120 - Tornado: Invokes a Tornado upon the target party, hurling some or all
members far away, or removing lower-level units entirely.
150 - Air Elemental: Summons an ethereal creature of the wind. 12/turn.
150 - Ice Age: Fierce Blizzards blast the lands, but leave your cities unharmed.
Level 4:
80 - Lightning Storm: The Storm devastates Structures and harms units caught
within it.
120 - Watcher: Unfogs your Domain; reveals hidden units; sees into Enemy Cities.
120 - Haste Domain: Haste to all friendly units (not allies) in your domain.
220 - Ice Dragon: Summons a great dragon of arctic birth. 15/turn.
500 - Air Mastery: Turns all Nodes to Air and increases your Domain around them.
--- FIRE --- [6-7-3-5]
Level 1:
! 8 - Blazing Comet: Strikes the target location with shards of burning rock.
! 8 - Skin of Oil: Inflicts upon a unit -1 to ATT, DEF, DAM, RES, and Fire
Weakness.
!10 - Blinding Flash: Blinds an enemy, cutting their Movement Points in half,
and inflicting -4 ATT.
10 - Fury: Gives a Unit +2 DAM and Willpower.
20 - Wildfire: Sets fire to the target area.
40 - Hell Hound: Summons a demon dog from the underworld. 6/turn.
Level 2:
12 - Fire Halo: Gives a unit Fire Immunity and Fire Strike.
!20 - Combustion: Causes all enemy units to burst into flames.
!20 - Fireball: Invokes a burst of Fire upon the target area.
!30 - Mass Confusion: Causes some enemy units to become Confused at the
beginning of each turn.
40 - Wither: Destroys the target city's crops, causing population to starve.
70 - Efreet: Summons a floating spirit of the fire plane. 9/turn.
120 - Forge Blast: Attacks a City's Production abilities, and harms units in
the explosion.
Level 3:
!15 - Swarm: Calls forth angry insects to attack an area.
60 - Anarchy: Attemps to trigger a rebellion in the target city.
120 - Fire Elemental: Summons a burning creature of fire. 12/turn.
Level 4:
!40 - Hellfire: Blasts the entire battlefield with searing heat, damaging all
enemy units.
80 - Fire Storm: The Storm burns the terrain and harms units caught within it.
120 - Fire Domain: Envelops your Domain in an aura of fire, striking enemies
each turn. Burning units receive -2 ATT & -1HP/turn.
220 - Phoenix: Summons a mystical bird of legend. 15/turn.
500 - Fire Mastery: All Nodes become Fire and increase your Domain around them.
--- WATER --- [6-5-5-4]
Level 1:
! 6 - Vengeful Vapor: Damages units by turning parts of them into vapor.
! 8 - Rot: Inflicts upon the target machine -3 ATT & DAM, and -2 HP per round.
!10 - Healing Showers: Heals 3-5 HP to all units in an area.
15 - Water Walking: Allows a unit to travel across Water.
20 - Mist Cloak: Summons a thick mist in target area, concealing all units
within.
40 - Lurker: Summons an amphibious creature of the deep. 6/turn.
Level 2:
!10 - Geyser: An eruption of water lifts and drops the target from great
heights.
!20 - Mud: Slows all ground-based enemies, adding +2 MP to each hex.
25 - Static Shield: Gives a unit Lightning Immunity, Lightning Strike, and
shocks enemies that strike it.
30 - Pestilence: Spews forth a poisonous cloud into the air.
60 - Water Dancer: Summons an enigmatic water sprite. 9/turn.
Level 3:
!30 - Great Hail: Rains heavy hailstones upon the target area.
50 - Liquid Form: Gives a unit Physical Protection and Water Walking.
80 - Purifying Water: All water in the domain has a purifying quality, healing
all units at double rate, removing curses and poison starting every turn.
140 - Water Elemental: Summons a flowing creature of water.
150 - Wetland: Torrential rains flood the lands but leave your cities unharmed.
Level 4:
80 - Ice Storm: The Storm turns terrain to snow & harms units caught within it.
100 - Spring Rains: Expands all crops in your Domain by 1 hex.
180 - Wyrm: Summons a slithering giant serpent. 15/turn.
500 - Water Mastery: All Nodes become Water & increase your Domain around them.
--- DEATH --- [6-5-6-4]
Level 1:
8 - Dark Gift: Gives a unit +1 DAM, +1 RES, and Death Strike.
! 8 - Death Ray: Beams Death magic at an enemy unit.
!10 - Weaken: Inflicts upon a unit -4 DEF and -4 RES.
20 - Unholy Darkness: Gives Evil units +2 ATT & +1 DAM, while giving Good
units -1 DEF & -1 RES.
40 - Black Spider: Summons a giant web-spinning arachid. 6/turn.
50 - Spider's Curse: Creates Giant Webs on target location. Parties spend one
turn per Web making their way through.
Level 2:
!20 - Corpus Furia: Detonates the corpses of the dead to damage units.
!20 - Infection: Forces a parasite into the target, inflicting Physical Weakness
and surviving their death.
20 - Unholy Champion: Gives a unit Willpower, and +2 ATT, +2 DAM vs.Good units.
40 - Evil Woods: Creates an unholy growth that attacks anything moving.
120 - Domain of Darkness: Clouds your Domain, hiding it from Enemies.
Level 3:
50 - City Plague: Reduces the target city's population and Production.
100 - Animate Ruins: Instantly rebuilds the Razed target city.
100 - Darkland: Death seeps from your towers and cities, leaving them healthy
but killing the lands.
150 - Bone Dragon: Summons a dragon whose power did not end in death. 12/turn.
150 - Animate Hero: Brings a fallen Hero back as one of the Undead.
150 - Damnation: Holds your Domain in the grip of decay, cursing all enemies
within. Enemies receive -2RES, Death Weakness, and cannot heal.
Level 4:
!50 - Animate Dead: Raises the corpses of the dead to do your bidding.
80 - Death Storm: The Storm turns terrain to wasteland and harms units caught
within it.
220 - Black Angel: Summons a being of dark powers. Life Stealing. 15/turn.
500 - Death Mastery: ALL Nodes become Death; increases your Domain around them.
--- COSMOS --- [5-4-6-5]
Level 1:
10 - Dispel Magic: Attempts to remove all magical abilities from target unit.
10 - Enchant Weapon: Gives a unit +1 ATT, +1 DAM and Magic Strike.
!10 - Freedom: Frees a unit from all effects that hinder movement.
10 - Shadow Walking: Makes the target immune to the effects of Shadow Sickness.
30 - City Spy: Allows you to see inside all cities within your Domain.
Level 2:
!15 - Magic Fist: Pounds an enemy with violent force.
50 - Magic Servant: Summons a small and obidient spirit. 9/turn.
60 - Alter Node: Converts a Node to your sphere of magic.
80 - *Dire Penguin: Summons the fabled Dire Penguin. 9/turn.
100 - *Chaos Spawn: Summons a lesser creature of dark magic. 9/turn.
XXX - Disjunction: Attempts to remove an enemy enchantment. From my experience,
casting costs can vary from 50-300 mana. You can pay more mana to increase
your success chances to 74% maximum.
Level 3:
!20 - Cosmic Spray: Blasts an area with bolts of random elemental energy.
!20 - Double Gravity: Pulls enemy flying units downl to the ground.
!30 - Banish Summoned: Attempts to banish an enemy Summoned creature.
30 - Shadow Shift: Moves units to and from the Shadow World.
150 - Call Hero: Attempts to summon a Hero to your cause.
150 - Summoner's Aura: Makes your Domain a paradise for summoned units. Units
heal 5 HP each turn and get a +4 to RES.
Level 4:
20 - Shadow Lock: Prevents all movement to and from the Shadow World in your
domain by others. This presumably works wherever your domain is.
!60 - Bind Summoned: Attemps to take control of an enemy summoned creature.
130 - Spell Ward: Blocks the disjunction of any global spells until disjuncted.
200 - Power Leak: Drains the Power Income of enemy Wizards.
220 - *Chaos Lord: Summons a powerful monster that scares even monsters.15/turn.
300 - *Golden Dragon: Summons the most majestic of the Dragons. 15/turn.
300 - *Black Dragon: Summons an infernal Black Dragon. 15/turn.
500 - Cosmos Mastery: All Nodes become Cosmos; increase your Domain around them.
* Spells preceded with an *asterisk are not researchable, and can only be gained
as in-game rewards from quests and exploration.
{10} ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
---------------------
Thanks go to this website for hosting my guide.
The GameFAQs Board is not very active, but contains useful things that will show
up on Google searches.
Many thanks to HeavenGames for providing abundant resources from which I could
compile all the information I needed. HeavenGames has my deep gratitude for
making their resources available, and allowing me to improve my own gameplay,
and write a strategy guide with the info.
The HeavenGames Shadow Magic forum is also very much alive, with helpful people</pre><pre id="faqspan-2">
like naec0, flyguy, and Fanaprimo who are willing to answer questions. I used
the forum to find many useful things that were incorporated into my guide.
I have read most of the online guides and resources avazilable for AoW: Shadow
Magic, and wish to thank everyone for the information they provided.
{11} VERSION INFORMATION
------------------------
Version 1.0 consists mainly of a collection of useful strategy hints and tips
compiled from my offline gaming activities and subsequent web searches. I have
also attempted to offer a condensed list of all available spells, with an easy-
to-reference overview. Information that is difficult to view online was added
to the mix, making for a comprehensive offline strategy guide.
