DARK WIZARD UNIT / STRATEGY GUIDE

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DARK WIZARD UNIT / STRATEGY GUIDE
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By: Chris Orr ( AKA EvilEye )
Version - 1.2
Dec. 2004

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CONTENTS
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1. INTRO - Why I bothered.

2. GAME ODDITIES - Things you probably didn't know, but should.

3. UNIT STAT CHART - Everything you ever wanted to know about the units in DW.

4. LEVELING TRICKS - My own personal bag of tips and tricks.

5. LEADER REVIEW - In depth review of each leader.

6. UNIT REVIEW - In depth review of the units.

7. BUGS - The bugs I have found.

8. CREDITS - Wraps it all up.

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1 - INTRO
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This game is over 10 years old, and there is still very little information on
it. I decided rather then wait for someone else to write this stuff down, I
would. What you see here is the result of several days of hardcore gameplaying /
statlogging. Since there are no cheats for this game ( that I know of ) I had
to find all this stuff the old fashioned way. Most of it was done in the first
scenario ( the one with you vs the warlord ). I got an enemy priest up to level
99 from all the fighting I did.

The point of this guide is to basically cover all the stuff the other guides
missed or glossed over. Specific units stats, cheesy leveling tricks, and what
leader is the best for what.

I hope this will help you enjoy the game as much as I do.

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2 - GAME ODDITIES
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- DEFENSE REDUCES MAGIC DAMAGE!!! -

Okay, what good are those elf mirrors anyway? Turns out, I had a unit with over
300 defense ( Robin of course ) and she only took 1 damage from any spell cast
on her. My other high defense unit ( around 200+ ) was only taking 10 - 20
damage from the same spells. The rest of my units were taking around 70 - 100
damage. So, basically, if you have a high defense unit, they are invulnerable to
damage spells. I have not noticed any increased resistance to effect spells.

- ALL HUMAN WARRIORS CAN EQUIP THE SHINOBI KNIFE -

This includes Robin, Armer and all the warrior sub-characters. The Shinobi
Knife is nice because it adds +1 mobility. "What about my ninja" you ask? Well,
make him a chaotic ninja and he can equip the Swift Axe, which also gives +1
mobility and a little more attack power. It also gives a bonus vs flying
enemies. The Swift Axe can be bought at Niele, among other places.

- NINJAS AND BEAST / DRAGON RIDERS CAN CHANGE ALIGNMENTS -

As long as they are not neutral, they can change alignments back and forth just
like everyone else. Just in case you didn't know.

- TRY TO EQUIP EVERYTHING ON YOUR LEADER -

Leaders are really strange when it comes to what items they can use. You just
never know what might come in handy.

- LEVEL DETERMINES CHANCE TO HIT -

I have noticed that when I have a lot of low level units in my army, my units
miss more often. On the flip side, when all my units on the field are level 99
I almost never miss an attack. I think the formula for whether or not an attack
will hit is averaged from the level of all your units on the field.

- THE FAN SHAPED LETTER ADDS +1 MOBILITY AND CAN BE USED BY ANYONE -

Although the description doesn't mention it, the fan shaped letter ( bought in
the Shinobi village ) adds +1 mobility when placed in a units inventory. The
only units it doesn't seem to work with are beast riders and dragon riders.

*NOTE* Items like the Fan-shaped Letter and the Elf Shoes are not cumulative.
Only the item with the highest bonus counts. If you equipped an elf with both
items he would only get +2 movement.

- ANYONE CAN USE THE H2O SPIDER -

When you visit the ninja village be sure to pick up an extra one of these. If
you pass them from one unit to another, the unit recieving them will gain the
ninja movement ability, which allows you to traverse water and just about every
other tile for 1 movement point! When you start a new map the units movement
will default back to their original movement though, so you have to pass the H2O
spider to the unit every new map if you want them to have ninja movement.

- HIRELING DEFENSE CAN BE RAISED EVERY LEVEL -

*NOTE I have no idea whether or not this is a bug or intentional. Personally I
use it, since I don't think it unbalances the game. Also there is a good
argument that says: "since I will probably reload the game now and then, it will
happen anyway =)"*

After a hireling levels up ( or changes class ), if you reload the game, their
defense will raise. If you wait 2 levels before reloading you still only get the
defense points for one level-up. To take full advantage of this, you must save
the game and reload every time a hireling levels up. This only works for
hirelings. It doesn't work for special classes, leaders, special characters and
monsters.

Humans, elves, and hobbits get 1 defense per level. Dwarves get 2. Another
reason why dwarves make the best warriors in most cases.

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3 - UNIT STAT CHART
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This should save you a lot of time. It will tell you what creature is worth
summoning, and what hireling is worth making what class. This chart only shows
stats from the unit's ending class. In other words, the highest class the unit
can achieve.

NAME - the units name, obviously
A - alignment
C - the highest class of the unit
EXP - experience required for the next level
H - health points added per level
A - normal attack added per level
S - special attack added per level
D - defense added per level
HP= - health at level 1
AT= - attack at level 1
SA= - special attack at level 1
DF= - defense at level 1
MV= - how many squares a unit can move
MT= - the movement type

G - ground
F - forest
H - high altitude
M - mid alt
L - low alt
B - giant
D - desert
W - water
N - ninja

After the name is the alignment.
For the hirelings I added the unit type ( Warrior / Priest / Mage ).

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NAME | A | C | EXP | H | A | S | D | HP= | AT= | SA= | DF= | MV= | MT= |
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Armer | L | 5 | 130 | 4 | 4 | | 2 | 180 | 120 | | 40 | 5 | G |
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Robin | N | 5 | 130 | 5 | 5 | | 3 | 200 | 150 | | 40 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Amon | U | 5 | 140 | 5 | 3 | | 2 | 200 | 120 | | 50 | 7 | L |
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Krystal | C | 5 | 140 | 3 | 2 | | 1 | 150 | 80 | | 40 | 5 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marie | N | 4 | 65 | 3 | 2 | | 1 | 132 | 87 | | 30 | 6 | G |
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Dianna | L | 4 | 80 | 4 | 4 | | 1 | 178 | 145 | | 30 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kail | L | 4 | 60 | 3 | 2 | | 1 | 153 | 111 | | 30 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
David | N | 4 | 100 | 5 | 5 | | 1 | 221 | 153 | | 30 | 7 | G |
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Katrina | N | 4 | 65 | 3 | 2 | | 1 | 146 | 88 | | 30 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marcus | C | 4 | 100 | 4 | 4 | | 1 | 193 | 153 | | 30 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Susan | L | 4 | 65 | 3 | 24| | 1 | 132 | 87 | | 30 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Andrew | N | 4 | 100 | 5 | 2 | | 1 | 177 | 148 | | 30 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ninja | - | 5 | 130 | 2 | 2 | | 1 | 240 | 182 | | 50 | 7 | N |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dragon Rdr | - | 5 | 160 | 2 | 4 | 7 | 1 | *** | *** | *** | 47 | *** | *** |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
W'Horse Rdr | L | 5 | 140 | 3 | 4 | | 1 | 280 | 205 | | 45 | 14 | M |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Griffon Rdr | - | 5 | 140 | 3 | 3 | | 1 | 330 | 180 | | 39 | 12 | M |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human W | L | 4 | 100 | 2 | 4 | | | 187 | 106 | | *18 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human W | N | 4 | 100 | 2 | 4 | | | 160 | 111 | | *12 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human W | C | 4 | 100 | 3 | 5 | | | 212 | 130 | | *15 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human P | L | 4 | 60 | 2 | 1 | | | 150 | 61 | | *9 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human P | N | 4 | 60 | 2 | 1 | | | 156 | 72 | | *9 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human P | C | 4 | 60 | 3 | 2 | | | 168 | 76 | | *9 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human M | L | 4 | 65 | 2 | 2 | | | 145 | 63 | | *9 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Human M | N | 4 | 65 | 2 | 2 | | | 140 | 64 | | *9 | 6 | G |
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Human M | C | 4 | 65 | 3 | 3 | | | 157 | 82 | | *9 | 6 | G |
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Elf W | L | 4 | 100 | 1 | 3 | | | 175 | 87 | | *17 | 7 | F |
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Elf W | N | 4 | 100 | 2 | 4 | | | 163 | 107 | | *11 | 7 | F |
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Elf W | C | 4 | 100 | 1 | 3 | | | 185 | 96 | | *14 | 7 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elf P | L | 4 | 60 | 2 | 1 | | | 148 | 52 | | *8 | 6 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elf P | N | 4 | 60 | 3 | 2 | | | 169 | 78 | | *8 | 6 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elf P | C | 4 | 60 | 2 | 1 | | | 151 | 52 | | *8 | 6 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elf M | L | 4 | 65 | 3 | 2 | | | 153 | 54 | | *8 | 6 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elf M | N | 4 | 65 | 4 | 3 | | | 163 | 70 | | *8 | 6 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elf M | C | 4 | 65 | 3 | 2 | | | 150 | 58 | | *8 | 6 | F |
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Dwarf W | L | 4 | 100 | 5 | 7 | | | 231 | 150 | | *17 | 6 | F |
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Dwarf W | N | 4 | 100 | 4 | 5 | | | 189 | 125 | | *11 | 6 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf W | C | 4 | 100 | 4 | 5 | | | 226 | 129 | | *14 | 6 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf P | L | 4 | 60 | 3 | 3 | | | 174 | 95 | | *8 | 5 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf P | N | 4 | 60 | 2 | 1 | | | 165 | 76 | | *8 | 5 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf P | C | 4 | 60 | 2 | 1 | | | 162 | 65 | | *8 | 5 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf M | L | 4 | 65 | 3 | 3 | | | 169 | 87 | | *8 | 5 | F |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dwarf M | N | 4 | 65 | 2 | 1 | | | 149 | 58 | | *8 | 5 | F |
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Dwarf M | C | 4 | 65 | 2 | 1 | | | 151 | 61 | | *8 | 5 | F |
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Hobbit W | L | 4 | 100 | 1 | 4 | | | 187 | 103 | | *16 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit W | N | 4 | 100 | 1 | 3 | | | 145 | 93 | | *10 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit W | C | 4 | 100 | 1 | 4 | | | 182 | 112 | | *13 | 7 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit P | L | 4 | 60 | 4 | 3 | | | 170 | 74 | | *7 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit P | N | 4 | 60 | 3 | 2 | | | 161 | 74 | | *7 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit P | C | 4 | 60 | 3 | 3 | | | 158 | 78 | | *7 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit M | L | 4 | 65 | 3 | 2 | | | 155 | 60 | | *7 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit M | N | 4 | 65 | 2 | 1 | | | 135 | 46 | | *7 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hobbit M | C | 4 | 65 | 2 | 2 | | | 137 | 64 | | *7 | 6 | G |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fire Dragon | L | 4 | 82 | 6 | 4 | 10| | 424 | 160 | 125 | 37 | 6 | B |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ice Dragon | N | 4 | 82 | 6 | 4 | 9 | | 422 | 160 | 122 | 36 | 6 | B |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dth Dragon | U | 4 | 83 | 6 | 4 | 9 | | 428 | 164 | 127 | 35 | 6 | B |
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Wyvern | C | 4 | 80 | 6 | 4 | 8 | | 420 | 150 | 110 | 37 | 11 | M |
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Skeleton Wa | U | 4 | 75 | 4 | 4 | | | 360 | 143 | | 25 | 5 | G |
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GT Lich | U | 4 | 70 | 2 | | 2 | 1 | 281 | | 95 | 65 | 7 | D |
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GT Manticor | C | 3 | 55 | 2 | 2 | | | 200 | 106 | | 32 | 10 | M |
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GD Chimera | C | 3 | 55 | 2 | 2 | | | 217 | 85 | | 29 | 11 | M |
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Griffin | N | 3 | 56 | 2 | 2 | | | 205 | 99 | | 28 | 12 | M |
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W'Horse | L | 3 | 54 | 2 | 2 | | | 176 | 133 | | 30 | 13 | M |
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Harpy | C | 2 | 45 | 3 | 1 | 2 | | 136 | 48 | 96 | 23 | 13 | H |
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Pheonix | L | 2 | 45 | 3 | 1 | 2 | | 100 | 51 | 78 | 24 | 12 | H |
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Charon | N | 3 | 57 | 3 | 1 | 2 | | 180 | 90 | 80 | 30 | 8 | F |
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Basilisk | C | 3 | 58 | 3 | 1 | 1 | | 222 | 80 | 50 | 29 | 7 | D |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cerberus | U | 3 | 59 | 3 | 1 | 1 | | 236 | 105 | 60 | 28 | 7 | F |
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GT Hydra | C | 4 | 81 | 3 | 1 | | | 423 | 170 | | 25 | 9 | W |
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GT Serpent | L | 4 | 81 | 3 | 1 | | | 415 | 168 | | 26 | 10 | W |
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- alignment can vary

* 4th class hirelings defense is bugged. Defense may be more or less then what
is shown here. See the "GAME ODDITIES" section for more info.

*** Dragon riders get their health, attack, and special attack ratings from the
dragon or the rider, depending on which has the higher rating. Then 33 is
added to the health and 72 is added to the attack. The defense is set to 41
and their mobility becomes 1 higher then the dragons. The movement type is
giant for all but the wyvern rider, whos movement type is mid altitude. To
have the highest stats, use a dragon and warrior who are at level 99.

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4 - LEVELING TRICKS
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The first map is the best to make new units in, since you have no time deadline
to worry about. Also there is a trick where you can make the Warlord skip his
turn ( explained below ).

A BIT ABOUT EXPERIENCE

Experience gain is based on class and level. Hitting a higher level monster
will give you more experience. Hitting a higher class monster will also give you
more experience. Likewise, being hit by a higher level monster will give you
more experience then being hit by a lower level monster of the same class level.
Also, your units will gain less experience the higher their class level. The
amount recieved seems to go down by 1/3 for every class level.

I haven't figured out the formula for this yet but when pounding on a level 99
black bishop ( class level 4, no retaliation ) I got:

39 exp for class 1 , 22 for class 2 , 16 for class 3 , 13 for class 4 and 11
for class 5

For the best results ( fastest leveling ) you should have a unit hit, or be hit,
by the highest level unit, of the highest class. The leveling will be faster the
lower the class level of the unit being hit, or hitting.

THE MAX LEVEL IS 99. There is nothing after that. You just keep gaining exp (
until the experience counter wraps around at 9999 ).

TRICK 1 - Force Walling

Hire a NEUTRAL or LAWFUL unit ( hobbit is fastest ). When he class changes make
him a priest. Level him until he gets force wall. Use force wall right next to
enemies you want to level on. That way you can pound an enemy with lots of units
and the enemy will be barely damaged.

*Note Armer and Robin have Protect, which is just like force wall*

TRICK 2 - Black Bishop beating

Okay, this is on the first map. There is a priest who starts out in the lower
right corner of the map. The priest eventually becomes a Black Bishop. The
priest will naturally follow the skeletons up your way and heal them. There is a
town to the lower right where you should try to maneuver the priest onto. That
way every turn he heals a little and his defense is higher. Kill any other
troops and start hitting the priest down to at least 50% health. He will either
rest or cast heal. Make sure the unit you hit him with can withstand his
counterattack. A class 4 dragon is probably best here, with their high health.
In the beginning just use whatever you can summon. Charons are good. Cockatrices
also work. Eventually the Priest will become a Black Bishop, giving a decent
amount of exp each hit, and allowing you to make new units powerfull in no time.
I had him up to level 99 when I was gathering stats for this guide.

When the Black Bishop gets metamorph he will try and use it on one of your
troops. It is really a pain when it works. To stop this try the following..

Put your leader within range of the Black Bishop's polymorph spell. He will try
and polymorph your leader each turn, and since your leader cannot be effected by
status change, it will never work. That way you can keep him from harming the
troops your trying to level up.

TRICK 3 - What to do with the Warlord

Ok, now you should still have the warlord summoning a bunch of crap to make your
life miserable. If you want to, just let it happen. If not try this..

Be sure and hire a Serpent or Hydra the first turn, and send them eastward in
the water. The warlord will probably be summoning Chimeras and will swarm your
serpent. This is what you want. Just keep smacking them out of the air (
Chimeras are weak to Serpents / Hydras ). Your Serpent should gaint levels
fairly quick. Once he classes up, you can do the trick described below.

Surround the warlord, and have a class 4 monster stay in a hex just out of
range of his fireball. The best spot is 1 up and 4 left from the warlords hex.
The AI will want to cast fireball on what it thinks is your most dangerous
troop, but since it is out of reach it will just end its turn without doing
anything. This way you can completely ignore the warlord and focus on the
priests, or any other troops you have isolated. This is ideal since the warlord
can't heal himself, and if you beat on him he would die anyway.

TRICK 4 - Abusing Arachna

There is another good level up technique you can do on the second map, which
trumps any other technique in existance.

First, the unit you want to level-up must be able to withstand about 120 points
of damage without dying. This is because the technique involves being surrounded
by 6 lich's and getting pounded for around 20+ damage each.

A good candidate is a 3rd class or higher dragon. I have also used this on my
leader, hirelings and sub-characters.

Once you have a candidate to level-up, attack the map with the towns Teote and
Dios. This is Arachnas map. When you start the battle, only summon the unit you
want to level, do not put any other units on the field. Then advance the unit
towards Arachnas castle. You may have to put your unit in the castle for a while
and use your leader to wipe out the starting enemy units untill you have a clear
path. About this time Arachna will probably be summoning class 2 or class 4
liches. This is what you want. Actually you want class 4 liches, but sometimes
he summons class 2 if your unit is not class 4. Now advance your unit towards
Arachna and pick a square with high defense ( forest / castle etc ). Stick your
unit on that spot and let him be surrounded by lichs. Now just sit back and let
the lichs beat on him and heal him when necissary ( your leader should be back
at his castle, with noone attacking him ). If Aracha surrounds him with less
then 6 lichs that means your unit is not close enough ( or sometimes just saving
and reloading the game helps ). If you did everything right, your unit should be
gaining 42 exp per turn. This means 1 level every 2 turns for a dragon, and
every 3 turns for a hireling. If your leveling your leader you can go even
faster by casting melt earth around yourself, since lichs take almost no damage
from it. When I played Robin, I leveled her, 3 dragons, 1 paladin and a
sub-character to 99. The game ain't so hard when your dragons have 1000 life and
attack for 600 damage.

If something screws up just retreat and try again.

TRICK 5 - Hurting you buddies

You may have noticed that when your units are caught in the crossfire of one of
your spells they take damage just like the enemy. But did you also know you gain
experience for hitting your own troops?

So lets say we have 6 of your units surrounding an enemy and we cast Ice Storm
on that enemy ( or maybe melt earth ). You would get experience for hitting all
6 of your units + the experience for hitting the enemy unit. Pretty cool huh?
Its even better if your 6 units are all a high level, which would give you more
experience still.

A great way to exploit this is if your playing Robin and you want to get some
enchanters to a high level fast. Since Robins dragons are highly resistant to
cold, you won't have to worry about them dying so fast ( Death dragons with Amon
are also cold resistant, as are his liches ). Just surround a harpy ( or some
other cold resistant enemy ) with 6 Ice dragons and fire away with Ice Storm.

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5 - LEADER REVIEW
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Alright lets get down and dirty with who is good for what.

INCOME RANKINGS

Here is the starting income for the 4 leaders

Armer - 144

Robin - 152

Amon - 108

Krystal - 92

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ARMER XIII
----------

Armer is probably the easiest if you're just learning the game. He has the
strongest dragons, and the ever-usefull Charons. His income is the 2nd best in
the game. He should not have a problem with having too many hirelings, except in
the very beginning. As you can see from his stats ( see chart ) he is not a bad
fighter either, although somewhat hampered by his measly 5 movement. You can
increase his movement by 2 with the Shinobi Knife and the Fan-shaped Letter,
just give your ninja something else. He also has the 7 hex attack melt earth,
making leveling pretty simple ( just surround him and cast it ).

Armer is considered a lawful warrior in terms of the weapons he can use, and
seems to be able to equip mage armor only.

- SUB CHARACTERS -

Marie - Pretty much the same as any other neutral mage, except an elf would
have been way better. Her map graphic is really dumb looking.

Dianna - Not that great. A dwarven paladin would be almost twice as good,
although a bit less mobile. She only needs 80 experience to gain a
level, as opposed to 100 for other warriors. Her map graphic isn't as
silly as Maries, but still a little goofy.

----------
ROBIN
----------

Robin is an army all by herself. She gains an obscene 3 defense every level,
more then anyone else. At level 99 she will have above 300 defense WITH NO
ARMOR. Give her the Shinobi Knife plus the Fan-shaped Letter and she will have 8
mobility, which is very nice. If you are keeping Robin in your castle, you are
missing the whole point of playing her. Her income is also the highest in the
game, so you won't have to worry about money. As if her stats and income were
not enough, she also has the wind bolt spell. This is basically the leader
version of lightning storm. Its probably the only leader damage spell I have
seen that is of any use other then leveling. Speaking of leveling, she does not
have melt earth or hellfire, so leveling her won't be quite as easy as the rest.
On the down side, Robbin's dragons are only 3rd best. Other then griffins, her
lineup is the same as Armers.

Robin is considered a neutral warrior in terms of what she can equip. *NOTE she
cannot use bows*

- SUB CHARACTERS -

Kail - Kail is so-so. He gets the same spells as any other lawfull priest. His
stats aren't that great though. It's too bad, because his map graphic
looks very cool.

David - David makes an excelent archer. He gains better stats then any hireling
archer and gets 7 mobility. He is a good candidate for the Wind Shot
( Sheenas weapon ) when you get it. His map graphic looks decent too.

----------
AMON
----------

Amon is easily the coolest leader. Being an undead vampire, with low sky
movement ( 7 hexes ) is definetely fun. He is very resistant to many spells
( except fire and holy spells ). Also he gains a whopping 5 health per level
( as much as Robbin ) and has 2 7 hex spells, making gaining levels a definite
option. He is also the only leader that has access to Lich's and Skeletons.
Lich's have their uses. Skeletons aren't that bad either ( see unit review ).
His dragons are the crappiest however. Their secondary attack is an earth
attack, which won't help them vs skeletons and many other monsters. Hellhounds
just suck. Amon's spell selection is pretty good, but he suffers from a poor
economy. His income is the 3rd worst in the game.

Amon is considered a chaotic priest in terms of what he can equip.

*NOTE Amon has a strange damage chart. For instance, he does well against
hydras, who humanoids are weak to, but he doesn't do that great against other
enemies that humanoids should be strong against.*

- SUB CHARACTERS -

Susan - WHOAAAAAAAA bugged out! 24 attack per level? Actually, it was probably
supposed to be 2 like every other sub-caster, however somehow a 4 got
appended to the 2. I guess the programmers were a little tired that day.
Obviously if you were to use Susan as a warrior she would have the best
attack power of any unit in the game. However I think it's a little
cheesy since its pretty obvious the 4 in the 24 attack power is a typo.
As a caster Susan is no better then a lawfull elf priest. Her map
graphic is a little dissapointing for a sorceress.

Andrew - Uh.... What the heck? It seem Susan isn't the only one with messed up
stats. Despite being a warrior, Andrew only gets 2 attack points per
level at class 4. You would think he would get 5 like David, the other
neutral sub-warrior. Well, apparently not, and to top this off he only
gets 6 movement, making him the only warrior sub-character without 7
square movement. He is the worst sub-warrior in the game, hands down. I
recommend you hand the silver sword to someone else. His map graphic is
rather bland.

----------
KRYSTAL
----------

If there is one reason to use Krystal it is to have access to the best dragons
in the game, Wyverns. As for her other troops, there isn't anything better then
what Amon has. Krystal herself is weak, weak, WEAK! Never put her into battle.
Even if you do gain levels she still won't be much help. Keep her at the castle
casting some of those great spells. Her economy is the weakest in the game, so
be carefull how many hirelings you use. Her unique creatures ( Basilisk, Chimera
) are nothing really great. The Basilisk's stone stays forever, until a leader
casts megastore, or de-stone. Personally I would rather just kill a unit then
stone it.

Krystal is considered a chaotic mage in terms of what she can equip.

- SUB CHARACTERS -

Katrina - Nothing great about her. If I wanted a druid I would make an elf druid
since they have better movement ( elf shoes ). Her map graphic looks
like a nurse or something.

Marcus - About the same as Armer's Diana, but takes 100 experience points to
level instead of 80. I guess he makes up for it since he can use the
Swift Axe, which ups his mobility by 1. Still, you'd be much better off
with a dwarf paladin, or even a warlord. Traeger is a pretty strong
sword considering you get it so early. It also has a chance to do a
critical hit ( instant kill ) which seems to kick in pretty often.
Marcus's map graphic looks pretty cool.

================================================================================
6 - UNIT REVIEW
================================================================================

A BIT ABOUT MOVEMENT

The best non-flying movement is forest. 90% of maps have forest tiles, and lots
of them. The non-flying units who don't have forest movement will find
themselves moving slower through most of the game. This is why you should always
choose elves and dwarves over humans and hobbits whenever possible.

Desert movement is the most useless movement type. There is pretty much just 1
map where it will come in handy. And even then there is a road which will take
you the same way, only a little slower.

Ninja movement seems to be the same as forest, except they can move on water.

SPECIAL UNITS

Ninja - Great mobility with the right gear ( up to 9 ). Very resistant to
spells. The levels at class 5 don't bring in much though, so in the long
run he will probably be mediocre in comparison with other units. Still,
you might as well get one.

Dragon Rider - If you do it right ( use a level 99 dragon and warrior ) this guy
can have killer health and attack power. I made one with a level
99 dragon and he had 1000+ life and 600+ attack power. You need
one of these, and even if you didn't they are too cool to pass
up. The dragon rider seems to attack strong vs everyone, but he
also seems to be weak vs everyones attack. Still, with as much
health as this guy gets, he shouldn't have any problems.

W'Horse Rider - Mobile, good vs undead. Thats about it though, he seems weak to
everyone else. This is in spite of the fact that the level up
stats are quite good. The level of the W'Horse or Rider doesn't
seem to make any difference when making a W'Horse Rider.

Griffin Rider - Mobile, can use any alignment. The level gains are a bit less
then the W'Horse Rider. Use a neutral character so you can use
bows. Still not that great because the griffins strengths /
weaknesses are pretty poor.

Paladin - The best close range warrior ( chaos is always weaker ). Dwarves make
the best Paladins hands down. I always get at least one dwarf paladin.

Archer - Better then Knights in my opinion. Thats because an archer doesn't have
to crowd the target ( only 6 hex slots next to an enemy ) to get a hit.
Also, elves make decent archers, and can wear elf shoes ( +2 mobility
).

Warlord - Weaker version of Paladins. Make them dwarf or human. The only reason
to use these is if you want to use a specific item. In that case, just
make a Paladin and then convert him to chaotic at the desired level.

Cleric - The best priest IMO. He gets Force Wall and Star Storm. Both usefull
spells. Hobbits gain the best stats, but have terrible movement. I
prefer to use an elf here. When I give him the elf shoes he has no
problem keeping up with my army. Also hobbits move with ground
movement, which means forests will slow them down. Personally, I don't
care about the stats, since he won't be fighting.

Druid - Supposedly a fighting version of the priest. Well, still not as good as
a hobbit Cleric. The druid gets stun and confuse, which are ok, I guess.
I would rather damage the monster then stun it or confuse it though. If
you can't hire lawful, this is the only way to get a unit with forcewall
( usefull for leveling ).

Black Bishop - Evil Priests. Not so great, but gets metamorph. The only reason
to use metamorph is for resurrecting spells. Other then that,
this is a weaker version of the cleric.

Sorcerer - The Lawful spellcaster. Has good spells, including the all powerfull
lightning storm. Personally I prefer Enchanters though.

Enchanter - The best spellcaster, hands down. Elves make great enchanters, and
elves can use elf shoes, which lets them zip through the forests
casting lightning storms of destruction. 3 of these can gain control
of a map very quickly. Also, if you make them elves ( and you should
) they get some pretty decent health and attack power, almost making
them warriors.

Necromancer - The evil spellcaster. Not much different then Sorcerers except no
lightning storm :( Make an enchanter instead.

Fire Dragon - The strongest dragon in the game. Gains a whopping 10 special
attack per level at class 4. Fire is the secondary attack of this
dragon. Fire damage is the best for taking out units dragons are
weak to ( hirelings, skeletons ). Unfortunately they only get 6
movement, and the giant type is slow in forests. Dragons are
strong to everything except hirelings, skeletons, and lichs. I
recommend at least 3 dragons in any army, they kill the enemies
your humanoids have trouble with.

Ice Dragon - Sort of medeocre as dragons go. Freeze is ok in some situations.
You can make a ranged dragon rider with this dragon type though, so
it's not too bad. Suffers from the same slow movement as most
dragons.

Dth Dragon - Yuck. The worst dragon there is. Has an earth attack as its
secondary. Earth is the most resisted element in the game. This
means that the death dragon has almost no way to deal with
skeletons and lichs, or other death dragons ( Karmac ). The only up
side is they are pretty resistant to most spells, like all undead.

Wyvern - The best dragon, although not the strongest. Can fly at mid alt for 11
hexes. That's almost twice the movement of the other dragons. Also
their secondary attack is fire, the best element. Easily the strongest
flying unit available. Pity only Krystal has them. A flying dragon
rider is really cool.

Skeleton Warrior - High health, almost as high as dragons. Gets a decent stat
gain every level. The problem is they only have 5 movement.
If you don't mind that they can have some uses, like dragon
killing. I like to keep at least one because they look cool.

GT Lich - Highest defense of any summoned unit. The only summoned unit to
actually gain defense at their highest class. That said, they lose
their ability to fly at the 4th class :( and they really aren't that
strong offensively. They can paralyze yes, but, as i've said before,
I'd rather use a unit to kill or damage then paralyze. I did find a
use for them on the first map, mostly to soak up enemy attacks.

GT Manticor - Statistically weak, but they fly. That won't matter much, as they
are weak to mostly everything. In the first map they have uses,
but really not much after that. They just dont gain enough per
level to be of any use.

GD Chimera - Pretty much the same as manticors. Same reasons to not use them.

Griffin - The neutral version of manticors and chimeras. Don't bother getting
one, unless on the first map, or for a griffin rider.

W'Horse - The lawful version of manticors and chimeras. You only need one for a
W'Horse Rider. Good against undead, but thats about it.

Harpy - The only things keeping harpys from being totally useless are:

-They are good against just about every unit.

-They level really fast.

-They fly

A high level harpy can be good for picking off those enemy mages. You
don't really need one though.

Pheonix - The lawful version of the harpy. Has fire instead of freeze. I got one
to level 99, and it was ok. I wouldn't say great though.

Charon - The only ranged monster. Pretty good against lots of things, even
hirelings. Range 3 on the first map really aint bad. A group of these
can clear a level. Cheaper then archers, and more mobile ( until elf
shoes ). I recommend several, they make your life easier early on, and
aren't bad even late in the game.

Basilisk - Blah. Waste of a monster really. Unless you get a thrill from turning
units to stone don't bother. Turning units to stone is permanent
until healed with magic. Since you only get these with Krystal, I can
garantee you would be better off using the unit space for a dragon.

HellHound - Blah again. Seems to be an even worse version of the basilisk. The
stat gains are just as terrible, and he doesn't even have stone, he
has paralyze. If you want paralyze ( one that does damage ) you
should just use a lich, since Amon is the only one that can summon
these.

GT Hydra - Good in the first map, and for holding castle's. Good against
hirelings and just about all flying monsters. They're level gains are
extremely weak though, so after class 4, you should pretty much
forget about them. Also extremely slow on land.

GT Serpent - A little better then Hydras because they're 1 hex faster. Other
then that they're the same.

================================================================================
7 - BUGS
================================================================================

Defense for hirelings is bugged, or seems to be. For more info, see the "GAME
ODDITIES" section.

Force Wall will dissapear when you reload a game.

Enemies will regain their counter-attack when you reload a game. You can use
this to your advantage if your trying to gain levels, since you get more exp for
when an enemy counter-attacks.

The H2O spider is very buggy. When you remove it from a unit during a battle
that unit's movement type may change randomly. This will only last till the end
of the map, or untill the unit is passed another H2O spider ( which resets the
movement type to ninja ).

================================================================================
8 - CREDITS
================================================================================

Copyright 2004 Chris Orr.

If you want to reach me you can e-mail me at: [email protected]

Special thanks to LegalizeFreedom for his excellent FAQ

All trademarks and copyrights contained in this document are owned by their
respective trademark and copyright holders.