1. Ranged is rather weak in this game due to how encounters are structured.
Intent on creating drama and tension, the devs will throw ambush after ambush
that immediately places your party stuck in melee combat.
UPDATE: With the new patch, I'm not entirely sure if ranged is still considered
weak. Changes to this guide are pending.
2. Melee/Might is consistent source of damage, but there a numerous mechanics
in the game you should be familiar with.
For one, be sure to have someone who can at least Master Earth magic and learn
the quickest route to the Crag in order to do so
(Head west after Seahaven to engage the Minotaur+Manticore group on the main
road, then move south into forest and west again).
3. Magic suffers early on from lack of mana issues as well as a need for
familiarity with resistances.
This issues tapers off in the later stages of the game when you have enough
money for potion spam.
4. Assuming you use the scholar hireling ASAP (bonus EXP), plan for about 88
skill points (4 at level 1 and 84 from 28 level-ups)
or 90 for humans (6 at level 1 and 84 from 28 level-ups);
You'll reach about level 29-30 before you reach the final point of no
return.
That's enough to
(i) Max out 3 skills (25x3=75) and expert one skill (7), with 3 leftover
(ii) Max out 2 skills (25x2= 50), master two skills (2x15 =30) and expert one
skill (7)
..and so on.
5. You gain 4 stat points every level up. I will state recommended stats as a
proportion out of 4,
egs. "Magic: Vitality: Spirit = 2: 1: 1" which means allocate 2 points to
Magic, 1 point to Vitality and 1 point to Spirit every level up.
However, it is actually much more worthwhile to allocate purely into spirit and
vitality for the first 15 or so level ups.
Then for the next levels allocate to the other stats.
This is due to how much larger proportion of health/mana you get compared to
your current total in the early game.
Its up to you how you wish to manage your stat point allocation.
6. There are two relics which give bonus to accuracy/attack - one is a
Gauntlet, one is a helmet which is purchased from UPLAY with Ubisoft points.
You can probably stinge of Perception stats with melee folks if you put both
relics on the same hero.
Promotion Feature
Perfect Strike: Free guaranteed crit on full life enemy. (Passive)
Would be very nice, if it worked.
As of version 1.3.1-14561, the Mercenary's Perefect Strike promotion feature is
bugged and does not work.
Windsword's Dash: Use your Windsword's ACTION to move (all mana)
That means your other party members can still take actions, instead of the
whole party commiting to movement.
This would be great on any other character, but is in direct competition with
the mana you need for Flawless Assault.
Skill analysis: Sword or Mace?
While being unable to GM any main melee weapon is a major drawback, the Merc
makes up for it with GM Warfare.
It is HIGHLY recommended to build your merc with GM warfare as a goal as it
gives the Flawless Assault skill which guarantees the first strike is a
critical and the enemy can no longer block that turn. Flawless Assault is
extremely powerful on Swords (very high crit bonus damage AND an extra attack
upon crit) and Maces (lowest crit damage bonus, but stuns enemies on crit). The
real question is if you want pure damage (two-handed swords) or the utility
(Mace). Dual wielding doesn't work as well as two-handed or shields since only
the first strike enjoys the guaranteed crit benefit.
Spears are decent weapons due to all the melee block chances, but I'd still
recommend taking advantage of the guaranteed crits by using Swords and
Maces.
Core Skill Recommendations:
Warfare GM (25)
Sword OR Mace Master (15)
Two-handed (for accuracy) OR Shield Master (15)
Medium Armor OR Heavy Armor Expert (7) (to use the relevant relic)
Stat allocation considerations:
This is a Might hero, so Might is important. You should invest in Spirit so
that you can spam Flawless Assault repeatedly. The other main question is where
do you spend the rest of your stat points? I'd personally skip Perception
completely since Flawless Assault guarantees a hit anyway, at the cost of
sometimes missing the counter attack you get from Dodge GM (which may have been
blocked anyway). Destiny is useful is you want to dodge attacks, but less for
increasing hit chance since you are guaranteed crits once you GM Warfare.
Recommended stat allocations:
Might: Destiny: Vitality: SPirit = 1:1:1:1
or
Might: Vitality: Spirit = 2:1:1
Shopping: The Two-handed sword relic is given as a reward for a quest. End game
swords are sold in Seahaven. End game maces are sold in Karthal. Some folks
recommend mana drain weapons, so you won't need a single point in Spirit.
---
2. BLADEDANCER
High Lord and King of Melee DPS (maybe)
Grand Master (GM) Skills:
Daggers
Swords
Dual Wield
Dodge
Master Skills:
Warfare
Endurance
Expert skills:
Medium armor
Earth MAgic
Bow
Arcane Discipline
Promotion Feature
Cleave: Take an extra action after a kill (passive)
Carnage: Attack all surrounding enemies (50 mana)
Alone, either one of those features are extremely powerful compared to every
other class in the game. Having both is ridiculously overpowered, although it
should be noted that you won't get an extra action from kills while using
Carnage.
Skill analysis: Daggers or Swords?
The general consensus is that the Bladedancer is the high lord and king of
melee dps in the game. There isn't much variety in how one can build the
Bladedancer effectively really. The real question is if you want to use daggers
or swords, but that depends on your party make-up.
a) By themselves, a Bladedancer using Swords will about the same DPS with a
dagger. Daggers do about half the damage of swords, so the extra offhand attack
from GM-ing Dual Wield together with the retaliation from GM-ing Dodge adds up
to about the same dps when wielding swords instead of daggers (total of 3
attacks + 1 retal compared to dagger's 7 attacks + 1 retaliation for half).
This is complicated by weapons of Relentlessness; compare 5 attacks and 1
retaliation with swords to 9 attacks and 1 retaliation with daggers.
b) ...all this changes if you have a Paladin and/or Freemage in the party. The
Paladin's Mandate of Heaven adds additional Light damage per hit. It is just
BEGGING to abused by a dagger Bladedancer. The Dark spell Agony adds Dark
damage per hit, but is less relevant in the endgame (you only get the final
extra attacks from GM dagger very late endgame).
Daggers are also useful for eating up all the enemy's block chances, but can be
a serious liability to the party when facing enemies with Vindictive (they gain
extra attacks when you miss or they block). Keep that in mind when building a
dagger Bladedancer or two.
Core Skill Recommendations:
Sword OR Dagger GM (25)
Dual Wield GM (25) (or perhaps don't bother if you're using daggers?)
Dodge GM (25) (semi-optional)
Warfare expert (for Skullcrack) or Medium Armor (for relic) (7)
Stat allocation considerations:
Might is important. You should invest in Spirit until you have at least 50 mana
after you are promoted so you can use Carnage (AoE melee attack). You probably
need both Perception to help you hit (unless there is no other melee character
in the party and you can dump the bonus to hit relics in him) and Destiny to
help dodge attacks and gain more crit chance.
Recommended stat allocations:
Might: Perception: Destiny: Vitality = 1:1:1:1
or
Might: Destiny: Vitality = 2:1:1
or
Might: Destiny: Vitality: Spirit = 1:1:1:1 (for spamming Carnage)
Shopping: End-game swords are sold in Seahaven. End-game daggers are sold in
Crag. Please use the medium armor relics, and items 'of Protection' for extra
armor or have cast Stone Skin. You'll thank me when you fight 'Pain Reflect'
enemies.
--------
3. DEFENDER
The game's best tank? (sort off)
Grand Master (GM) Skills:
Warfare
Axes
Heavy armor
Shield
Master Skills:
Maces
Endurance
Medium Armor
Expert skills:
Fire Magic
Crossbow
Arcane Discipline
Dodge
Promotion Feature
Shield Wall (passive): Unsuccessful block attempts do not consume block
attempts.
Normally, block attempts are consumed whether the block was successful or not.
(this applies to enemies as well as you). Not consuming block attempts is sort
of useful if you are purposely getting yourself completely surrounded. Not very
good since you were vey likely to succeed ANYWAY, but fortunately its a passive
so don't worry about it.
Skill analysis: Axe or Mace?
Flawless Assault on someone who can actually GM a weapon! But that weapon is an
axe. Hrm. And he can't use two-handed axes. HRM.
Sadly, you may be better off using a Mace in one hand. The one handed mace is
the ONLY weapon whose relic has the Relentless attribute (extra attacks) if I
recall correctly. Considering how difficult Relentless weapons are to shop
for, a guaranteed Relentless weapon cannot be discounted.
Taunt doesn't work on any undead or some nagas and is generally ineffective on
enemies with AoE attacks. Otherwise, it is a somewhat expensive (45 mana!) but
dependable way of protecting your weaker party members. This has some utlity
for parties which try to get itself completely surrounded on purpose to utilise
the Blademaster's Carnage, Air Magic's Sparks, Fire Magic's FireBurst.
GM shields is pretty useful for the high block chance. The ability to block
projectiles for you party members isn't usually a relevant as a bit of clever
positioning prevents enemy ranged atttacks 90% of the time... unless you're
running ranged characters yourself, ironically.
Core Skill Recommendations:
Wafare GM (25)
Axe GM (25) or Mace Master (15)
Shield GM (25)
Heavy Armor Expert (7) (to use the relevant relic)
(option) Fire magic Expert (7) (only if there's no one else to learn Burning
Determination!)
Stat allocation considerations:
This is a Might hero, so Might is important. You should invest in Spirit so
that you can spam Flawless Assault (or Taunt) repeatedly. Destiny is not
important to Defenders since you have heavy armor and good shield block. I'd
personally skip Perception completely since Flawless Assault guarantees a hit
anyway, at the cost of sometimes missing the counter attack you get from Shield
Master (which may have been blocked anyway)
Recommended stat allocations:
Might: Perception: Vitality: Spirit = 1:1:1:1
or
Might: Vitality: Spirit = 2:1:1
Shopping: THERE ARE NO SHOPS FOR END-GAME AXES. End-game maces can be bought
in Karthal, but the best mace for the defender is likely the Relic.
4. BARBARIAN
Consistent and dependable
Grand Master (GM) Skills:
Mace
Spear
Two-handed
Endurance
Master Skills:
Bow
Dual-wield
Warfare
Axe
Expert skills:
Dodge
Medium Armor
Arcane Discipline
Promotion feature
Bloodrage: Extra damage when hurt, based on how much hurt.
NO. You should be topping up his life at every opportunity. At most, let
him/her hit first THEN heal him/her up.
Skill analysis: No brainer
Would you prefer an unblockable spear, or an unblockable mace? The mace hits
consistently harder, except against any enemy that is large. Maces also take
advantage of the Orc's bonus 20% damage feature better due to having higher
base damage. Really, the whole concept surrounding the Barbarian is a melee guy
who hits consistently and takes hits well. Some people consider the Hunter to
be a better choice due to Harpoon and Dodge GM for the retaliation attack.
You'll be suffering a lot from folks who can block up until you get GM
two-handed, so taking expert Warfare is highly recommended for Unstoppable
Assault. Skull Crack is also good anyway.
You may consider using dual-wield instead of two-handed, since the Barbarian is
the only hero who can GM Maces and there is a delicious one-handed Mace relic
(only relic with extra attack I think). Otherwise, there's not much variation
in how to build the Barbarian well.
Core Skill Recommendations:
Mace or Spear GM (25)
Two-handed GM (25) ...or Dual-Wield Master (15)
Wafare expert (7)
Medium Armor Expert (7) (to use the relevant relic)... or Endurance GM (25)
Stat allocation considerations:
This is Might hero seems to need a balanced stat allocation between Might,
Destiny and Vitality. Perception depends if you can spare the bonus to hit
relics to this guy, or if there is someone else who needs it more.
Recommended stat allocations:
Might: Perception: Destiny: Vitality = 1:1:1:1
or
Might: Destiny: Vitality = 2:1:1 or 1:2:1
Shopping: End-game maces are sold in Karthal. End-game spears are sold in Crag,
in the magic shop of all places!
----------------------------------------------
B.2) MELEE HELL: Anti-melee game mechanics
Since you've just finished reading about melee-based Might heroes, a section on
anti-melee enemy abilities is timely.
Vindicative:
-If heroes attack this enemy (ranged or melee) and miss or are blocked, the
enemy gains an extra attack next round for every miss or block.
-This ability is a powerful counter against dual-wield heroes.
-The extra attacks must be used THE NEXT ROUND ON THEIR TURN, or are wasted. So
consider using some means to prevent this enemy attacking on their coming turn
if your melee heroes have missed it or was blocked too much (Gust of Wind, Ice
Prison, Sleep, Time stasis).
-Alternatively, capitilise on their overabundant number of attacks by casting
Fire Shield. ;)
Retaliation:
-If hit with a melee attack, the enemy gets one free retaliation against your
hero who hit that enemy.
-Unlike your hero's retaliation attacks, this retaliation attack ALWAYS HITS
(no amount of evasion/block will help).
-It can be mitigated by armor (and resistances if the attack had an elemental
element) and absorbed by Celestial Shield.
-This attack cannot cause status effects which the enemy would normally have a
chance of causing upon hit.
-Many enemies which have this ability don't hit very hard a single attack (with
exceptions).
Pain Reflect:
-If hit with a melee attack, 20% of the damage done to the enemy is suffered by
the hero who struck it AS PHYSICAL DAMAGE ONLY.
-This damage BYPASSES Celestial Shield and cannot be evaded/blocked. It can by
mitigated by armor only.
-This ability is overly abundant in the end-game, and very deadly if your hero
does not have high armor.
-100 armor negates physical damage completely, btw. ;)
----------------------------------------
C) Hybrid heroes
1. CRUSADER
The true hybrid
Grand Master (GM) Skills:
Sword
Light
Heavy Armor
Arcane Discipline
Master Skills:
Mace
Shield
Warfare
Medium
Endurance
Air Magic
Promotion Feature
Lay on Hands: Fully heal party (all mana)
Mandate of Heaven: Melee/magic focus/ranged attacks do extra Light damage (50
mana)
Both amazing. Take note that the bonus damage from Mandate of Heaven is
affected by your Magic stat and your Light skill levels. Lay on Hands is not
affected by stats and completely heals the party... as long as you have at
least 1 mana to spend. You can get mana for free by resisting spells with GM
Arcane Discipline (currently bugged), but its hard to make sure spells are
aimed at your Crusader.
Take note that:
- Warfare abilities such as Shatter are dependent on Might and Warfare skill
levels.
- The damage from a Magic Focus is not affected by stats.
- The Crusader is the ONLY hero who can GM both a melee weapon and a magic
school, as well as Master another magic school.
- The crusdaer is also the only hero able to use a magic focus (which never
misses and is unblockable) with the Warfare skills (such as challenge which
force the enemy to attack that hero but can sometimes miss and can be blocked).
These facets of the Crusader makes for a huge variety of competetive builds-
It's difficult to cover them all but a few telling examples will give you an
idea of what can be accomplished.
a) Balanced
Sword GM, Light GM, Warfare expert, Heavy armor Expert, Shield Master
Might: Magic : Vitality: Spirit = 1: 1: 1: 1
Uses Unstoppable Assault to attack. Needs bonus to hit items to get mileage out
of Shield Master retaliations.
b) Pure Caster/dagger Blademaster support
Light GM, Air Master, Heavy armor Expert, Shield Expert
Magic : Vitality: Spirit = 2: 1: 1
Mostly throws spells at people. Boasts huge Mandate of Heaven bonus damage to
support melee characters, and surprisingly effective Word of Light in the end
game. Either use a magic focus or a sword (GM it and get Warfare).
c) Mostly Might
Sword GM, Light GM, Heavy armor Expert, Shield expert
Might: Magic: Vitality = 2: 1: 1
Get mana to at least 50 for the occasional Mandate of Heaven. Needs bonus to
hit items to attack anyone. Light GM is useful for extra Light damage when
attacking in melee.
d) Lay on Hands battery
Sword GM, Arcane Discipline GM, Shield Expert, Heavy Armor GM (or Heavy armor
Master and Warfare expert)
Might: Destiny: Vitality = 2:1:1
Surprisingly useful melee attacker who can occasionally heal the party fully.
If you don't have Warfare expert because you decided to GM Heavy armor,
consider having a Merc or Defender open with Flawless Assault or a dagger
Bladedancer eating all of the block chances.
Note: There are reports that GM Arcane Discipline is bugged so as not to ever
give the free mana.
Shopping: End-game swords are available in Seahaven. Master Light trained in
Seaheaven. GM Light spell is sold in Seahaven. Master Air trained in Crag.
-------
2. RANGER
Worst class in the game? (prossibly, but still viable)
Grand Master (GM) Skills:
Dagger
Bow
Dodge
Endurance
Master Skills:
Sword
Dual Wield
Medium Armor
Air Magic
Earth Magic
Point Blank Shot: In melee range, shoot at all your enemies in front of you (30
mana).
Depending on how you build the ranger, you may never use it.
The ranger isn't a weak class, but its presence is difficult to justify when
compared to the Bladedancer. If you don't want to read a wall of text, skip
this section and use the Bladedancer instead. If you insist on using 'the worst
class in the game' but still want the Ranger to thrive, read on. I make no
promises but have tried my best.
Special comment: The Bow
Let's be frank. Used alone, the bow is a pretty poor weapon in this game. You
COULD GM bow to occasionally weaken the occasional mob in this game before it
reaches your party and with some spellcasters can even keep enemies away
indefinately. But you're going to be continually frustrated with the amount of
enemies that ambush you out of nowhere in melee combat. And you can't push an
enemy who has his back against a wall when they ambush you from behind a
corner.
This means that rangers should depend on dual-wield daggers, something that
Bladedancers do better in every way.
What does the ranger offer compared to the Bladedancer?
If the Ranger focuses on daggers but no bow, what does the Ranger offer that
the Blademaster doesn't? Master Air and Earthmagic, essentially. If any party
member melees at ALL, you probably should have someone at least master Earth
magic for Acid Splash. Your Ranger can be that someone as Earth magic isn't
very important to GM (unless you want a high-powered Stone Skin... which you
probably do but don't worry about that for now).
How you build your Ranger pretty much depends on your party composition in that
regard. Air Magic is less useful unless you seriously commit your stat
allocation to magic (otherwise you may as well fire your bow), and even then a
Ranger's Air magic will never be all that great compared to the Shaman or
Freemage. Acid splash isn't important for its damage, so you don't need to have
a high Magic stat when casting it. You may consider getting expert Air magic
for removing Feeblemind from your main casters (but an item of Feeblemind
immunity is better. So is hiring Kaspar).
Any decent builds which utilise that bow?
A hybrid Ranger can depend on their fellow party members to provide Mandate of
Heaven and Agony for their dagger damage needs vs single targets. This frees up
their stat allocation so they don't 'need' to allocating points to Might but
can instead to focus on Perception and depend mostly on their bow to weaken
enemies from afar or shoot a group of melee targets with Point Blank.
BTW, the FreeMage's Terror spell from Master Dark Magic works wonders with a
bow user. You'll also most likely want to GM Dark magic for the resistance
conferred by Darkness ward since you're fighting at range.
Summary:
Essentially, when building a Ranger, you should know what you're doing
especially in terms of party composition. The Ranger is probably your candidate
for master Earth magic support if you have other melee heroes and nobody else
can do it better or you want your mages to focus elsewhere . If you have a
Crusader and/or Freemage, forgoing Might and pushing Perception up high is
viable. Invest in a good amount of Spirit in that case so you can keep using
Point Blank and Acid Splash as needed.
Core skills recommended:
GM daggers
Medium armor expert (for the relic)
(option) Earth Master
(option) Bow GM
(option) Dual-wield Master
(option) Expert Air magic
(option) Dodge GM
Stat allocation considerations:
So, Might-focused dagger Ranger or Perception-focused hybrid? Either way, a
balanced set of stats which include an investment in Spirit may be advisable,
depending on party composition and the role played by your ranger.
Stat allocation recommended:
Might: Perception: Vitality: Spirit = 1:1:1:1
or
Perception: Vitality: Spirit = 2:1:1
or
Perception: Destiny: Vitality: Spirit = 1:1:1:1
or
Might: Perception: Destiny: Vitality = 1:1:1:1
Shopping: End-game bows are sold in Karthal. End-game daggers are sold in
Crag.
-------
3. SCOUT
Grand Master (GM) Skills:
Crossbow
Axe
Medium Armor
Endurace
Promotion Feature
Long range: Extra 2 range with crossbows. (Make sure you use the scout
hireling)
Snaring Shot: Ranged attack immobilizes enemy (15 mana)
Nice if you use that crossbow. Will you?
Skill analysis:
Unlike the Ranger, the Scout DOES offer something unique: GM Axes and
Dual-wield. The Defender, the only other class which can GM axes, cannot
Dual-wield.
Light magic and Fire magic are both useful with zero Magic stat allocation.
Main decision: GM crossbow, or leave it alone? If you're using a balanced stat
allocation, you may conclude that you may as well invest in it for those
(somewhat uncommon) moments you can get mileage out of it.
Core Skill Recommendations:
Axe GM (25)
Warfare expert (7)
Shield or Dual-Wield or Two-handed Master (15)
(option) Crossbow GM (25)
(option) Light magic expert/master (7/15) (if there's no one else to cast
Celestial Shield/Ressurection!)
(option) Fire magic Expert (7) (only if there's no one else to learn Burning
Determination!)
Stat allocation considerations:
This is a pretty simple. You need Might for melee, perception to help you hit
in melee as well as use a crossbow well, Destiny to help take advantage of
those 80% extra damage crossbow shots. Spirit MIGHT be useful if the Scout is
the only hero who can cast Celestial Shield and Burning Deterination, otherwise
leave it alone.
Recommended stat allocations:
Might: Perception: Destiny: Vitality = 1:1:1:1
or
Might: Perception: Vitality: Spirit = 1:1:1:1
Shopping: THERE ARE NO SHOPS FOR END-GAME AXES AND CROSSBOWS.
-------
4. HUNTER
"Come over here!"
Grand Master (GM) Skills:
Spear
Dodge
Arcane Discipline
Endurance
Master Skills:
Mace
Dagger
Bow
Dual-Wield
Two-handed
Air Magic
Expert skills:
Mysticism
Shield
Medium armor
Warfare
Promotion Feature
Harpoon: Attacks at 4 range, drags enemy into melee ranged if not blocked or
missed (10 Mana) (Bugged, always drags)
Crippling Trap: Plant a trap. Enemy takes damage and loses a ranged/melee
attack (min 1).
Who cares about those skills? The REAL reason you'd use a Hunter is for that
Harpoon... or the Trap, for ranged folks. BTW, enemies cannot shoot or cast
spells past their own allies you've Harpooned. ;)
Skill analysis: Poking people with sticks
Spear GM is pretty obvious, as there's no compelling reason to go for maces or
daggers.
Dodge GM improves the Hunter's DPS potential in retaliation attacks.
Arcane Discipline GM is useful but you're probably better served investing in
expert Warfare (since you can't GM two-handed weapons, you don't want to be
blocked)
Core Skill Recommendations:
Spear GM (25)
Dodge GM (25)
Warfare Expert (7)
Medium armor Expert (7) (for the relic)
(option) Two-handed Master (15) (highly recommended for extra attack)
(option) Bow Master (ranged support build)
(option) Arcane Discipline Master/GM
(option) Endurance Master/GM
Stat allocation considerations:
This is also pretty simple. You need Might for melee, perception to help you
hit in melee as well as that Harpoon, Destiny to help take advantage of that
Dodge GM as well as the extra Orc Crit damage feature.
Recommended stat allocations:
Might: Perception: Destiny: Vitality = 1:1:1:1
Shopping: End-game spears are sold in Crag, in the magic shop of all places!
----------------------------------------
D) Magic heroes
Unlike the other heroes, it doesn't really make sense making individual
recommendations for Magic heroes. There are certain spells which are almost
too important not to have, so you should consider if your party as a whole can
provide these key spells rather than the individual spell casters.
Spell schools are MUCH stronger when GMed, so take that into serious
consideration when choosing your classes.
Recommended spell schools and skills:
- At least one Prime Magic expert, ASAP, for Identify.
- At least one Fire Magic expert, before you reach Prom Castle, for Burning
Determination. Strong candidate to be used with GM Magic Focus.
- If your party members melee, at least one Earth Magic master for Acid Splash.
Stone SKin is VERY nice to have at GM level but not vital.
- If this is your first game, consider having at least one Light Magic Master
for Ressurrection. Not vitaly important to GM but strong.
- Water magic Master is VERY useful (Liquid Membrane), but you can live without
it. GM is very important for ranged-based parties for Tsunami.
- Dark magic (Basic) ala Freemages is very useful for Whispering Secrets (to
detect secrets), but there are other options later in the game. The real
benefit of Dark Magic GM is a powerful Dark ward, which will make a huge
difference in the end-game (if not purged :P ).
- Air magic is useful for damage, primarily, but is good support for a ranged
party (Eagle Eye, Wind shield). Possibly the least important school, but
powerful if used with GM Magic FOcus. Please be aware that all human enemies
will resist it well.
- Magic Focus is VERY powerful when GM-ed due to crits, and quite decent when
mastered. You can probably only spare skill points for it however if you have
more than one Magic hero or at least other heroes covering important spell
schools.
If you do GM/Master Magic Focus, seriously consider GMing a damage-focused
school such as Air, Fire or arguably Prime (Implosion).
Based on these considerations, you should be considering your party members and
skill selections based on who can provide what magic.
-------------------
Highly recommended:
Prime Magic Experts+
-Freemage (GM)
-Druid (GM)
-Runepriest (Master)
Summary: Either a Freemage, Druid or Runepriest is highly recommended for Prime
expert. If you do use a Druid, another party member should either be another
Magic hero, a Scout or Defender for Fire magic expert. If you have melee
heroes, either a Magic hero or a Ranger should master Earth magic.
Note: You'll probably be most satisfied with the Runepriest if you want a Magic
DPS specialist.
------------------------
Promotion features
Freemage
Time Stop:Everyone outside of 3 spaces from your current position is placed in
stasis for 3 turns.
Useful on paper for singling out the melee row, especially if you don't have a
Hunter on your team. Not so good if you have a DPS Magic hero in the party.
Shaman
Blood Magic: Gain 1% mana for every 2% health lost.
Sort of useful? By the time you get this, you're probably swimming in mana. Do
you really want to take so much damage? You'll gain more mana for keeping you
Health pool low and Mana pool high, btw.
Druid
Nurture: Lowest health party member healed for impressive amount at beginning
of turn (30 mana)
Harmony: Enemies outside of 1 space from party will not attack for one turn (50
mana)
Folks report that they are very satisfied with Nurture's healing. The fact that
it is 'smart targetting' and sheer volume of healing likely has something to do
with it. If you have a druid, seriously consider jacking up Earth magic to
boost up his promotion feature. Leave your Barbarians at home. ;)
Harmony's useful for supporting melee characters in particular (along with
Earth Magic in general)... but GM Water magic is the best for supporting ranged
characters. Odd combination going on here.
Runepriest
Searing Rune: Place a mine which blows up group of enemies which walk on it and
whoever is around it. (50 mana)
Yet another reason why the Runepriest is the game's premier Magic DPS class. As
if you really needed another! Have fun but try not to blow yourself up. ;)
For this build, we take advantage of dagger Blade dancers's synergy with the
Agony spell (Dark magic) and the vastly overpowered Mandate of Heaven
(Paladin).
Blade dancerx2
-Dagger GM, Dual wielding GM, Endurance Expert/Master, Warfare expert
-Level ups: 1 Might, 1 Perception (or Spirit til you have 50 mana), 1 Destiny,
1 Vit
-So good that you gotta have two! The two bladedancers are our main source of
damage. You would probably be better served trading out one of them for a Rune
Priest who GMs Fire and Earth magic for more powerful buffs.
-BTW, try to get at least one of these Blade dancers to as close to 100 armor
as possible. Otherwise, they'll instantly kill themselves on Pain Reflect
folks.
Paladin
-Light GM, Heavy armor expert, Shield Expert, Warfare Expert, (option) Arcane
Discipline GM
-Level ups: 2 Magic, 1 Vit, 1 Spirit
-The paladin's duty is simple: Healing, tanking, and casting Mandate of Heaven.
Everything else is to help the paladin survive when everyone else falls.
Free Mage
-Primordial GM, Dark GM, Earth Master, Fire Expert
-Level ups: 2 Magic, 1 Vit, 1 Spirit
-Agony of course works wonders with this build, but Hour of Power and Heroic
Destiny are also powerful buffs for dagger Bladedancers. If you have a
Runepriest , drop those Earth and Fire and pick up Magic Focus GM instead.
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The Controllers
1 Mercenary
1 Hunter
1 Crusader
1 Freemage
This team takes advantage of many crowd control effects. This is a little
tricky, but done right however and you'll find that this party has great
survivability and tactical power.
Mercenary
-Mace Master, Warfare GM, Shield Master
-Level ups: 2 Might, 1 Vit, 1 Spirit
-His duty is to stun the enemy with Perfect strike and Flawless assault, and
when surrounded taunt everybody around. Actually has decent dps due to Block
retaliation.
Hunter
-Spear GM, Dodge GM, Arcane Discipline Master, Warfare expert
-Crucial for getting into melee range ASAP. (Harpoon costs only 10 mana!)
Crusader
-Sword GM, Light GM, Shield Master
-Level ups: 1 Might, 1 Magic, 1 Vit, 1 Spirit
-A balanced build to provide some melee damage, healing and a high powered
Celestial Shield: A must for protecting the vulnerable Free Mage.
Freemage
-Dark Expert/GM, Earth Master, Fire Expert/Master, Prime Expert/GM
-Level ups: 2 Magic, 1 Vit, 1 Spirit
-One word: Sleep. Use this spell without hesitation.
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Archer team
1 Scout
1 Ranger
1 Druid
1 Hunter/Freemage/Mercenary
If you're serious about making a ranged focused team, this is how I'd recommend
going about it.
Scout
-Crossbow + Dual axes, Fire expert
-Balanced stats; Might/Perception/Destiny/Vitality.
Ranger
-Bow + dual daggers
-Perception focused
-(option) Air M
-Balanced stats; Might/Perception/Destiny/Vitality.
Druid
-Water GM, Earth GM, Prime GM
-Hunter
-Spear GM, Bow Master, Air Master
or
Freemage
-Air GM, Dark Master/GM
or
Mercenary
-(Whatever, just for the movement promotion feature!)
