DGDobrev
01-22-2010, 03:34 AM
Well, just finished a playthrough in which I set myself a goal to try and outmatch the general troop damage by offensive spell from the spellbook. Suffice it to say, it is a brilliant alternative and it works like a charm.
I started the game with basic kiting to get to Elon (Debir-Scarlet-Bolo-Rusty-Verona-Umkas-Uzala-Elon-Sheterra-Debir), because I really needed Moro right from the start. Freeing him ASAP is really good (even though I didn't use Black Knights up until lvl 43, but more on that later), because it allows you to take Elenhel quickly and utilize his scroll-making abilities.
I know some people may jump on me because of the kiting. Well - it is a real shame that I didn't save the game after I got a Call Collosus spell in the Training mission. That spell alone may could have made a 7-8 day playthrough completely possible (especially if I get a Troll or a Red Dragon). But it is entirely my fault... If there was a way to restart the game, I would have, because I found a second Call Collosus scroll on Scarlet, and a third on Bolo. That would have made the early game way, way too easy without kiting... Not to mention that by the time I decided to spawn myself some trolls and beat up the Driller, I had 8 (!) Call Collosus scrolls. On the other hand, I had only 4 Ancient Knowledge scrolls in my game, which prevented me from reaching higher levels.
Well, I found a black dragon egg in Elon and spawned it right away. That single black dragon was my entire army up until lvl 43 when I managed to beat the dragons in the dragon lair in Montero and bought a few more.. I didn't require another unit at all. With the spellbook (mainly flaming arrow and fireball, along with an occasional geyser or death star) doing most of the damage, I didn't need any other troops. It was in the Dragon Lair siege that the Black Knights had the opportunity to draw first blood. I started using them more extensively from lvl 50 upwards, where enemies are numerous and an army of 4000+ gobots (fear doesn't work on them), 400+ brontors, 400+ Shamans and such can easily drop down a Black Dragon. In the battles where there would be no danger for the Black Dragons, I used them without remorse, because the Black Knights are bound to get surrounded and will start dishing the damage, which should not be a part of a game where the spellbook is dominant :)
Playing with the spellbook required a small tactical change, which is worth noting. Lvl 1 transmute is enough for quite a while, and lvl 3 Concentration should be learned ASAP. Since I had to count on the spells to do the trick, there was barely any time for a last hit in order for transmutation to take effect.
Battles were very easy after I got the stronger spells, but still, it's very interesting to point out that Fireball and Flaming arrow were my main weapon of choice, backed up by Poison Skull (really good against demons and dragons). These 3 spells are cheap and can be spammed easily without running out of mana. Alternating between Flaming Arrow and Poison skull is also good, because it slaps up 2 post-effects on the mob which will drain him quite a bit (and if the stack is huge, the carnage is complete).
Bosses were also easy. The Dersu Frog and the Spider fell down very quickly to the Black Knights. The Driller lost to a stack of Trolls with Stone Skin and Magic Spring on all the time (which allowed me to slap a full-power fireball in the free turns, thus improving the damage done by the spellbook). Gremlion was very easy (I had 50% magic resistance), K'Tahu was easy too. Baal proved to be a small problem due to summoning demons over and over, but that's nothing some Stone Skin, Evlin, Magic Spring and an occasional Poison Skull can't handle. Poor Baal was doing the awesome 200-250 damage on the Black Knights when he threw his sword. Pitiful. I did restart that battle once, though. I used phantoms a lot, which was a bad idea, as they count to the current Amelie's leadership on the battlefield, which forced Baal to summon Archdemons over and over, in the end outweighing my Black Knight stack's leadership, and you know what that means - Half!, Half!, Half! ....
So, I'm adding the end screens and the save just before I finished the game. You will notice a wicked amount of crystals on it, as well as more runes than the usual. That's the result of buying almost every item in the game (I think I missed only 2-3 on Tekron, but there was no time to go back) and utilizing Neatness lvl 3 to its fullest. It is a great skill, one that I easily overlooked. For the price of 27 Mind runes and 6 magic runes I got over 20 of each type (not to mention some 350+ crystals) from breaking the unnecessary items - which also explains why my inventory is so empty. Neatness can easily replace the Alchemy skill, and it should, as skipping alchemy would save you 3 Mind and 15 Magic runes.
You should also check out how many casts I have on the Fire Mage medal (1906) and how many poisoned/burned stacks (2999) there are in the Alchemy medal - a clear example that the spellbook can be utilized to its fullest extent and that the mage description that she will command few units, but her spells can win the battle is completely true.
In the end, Spellbook vs. Troops - 80:20. Could be more, if you're willing to work on it.
In a nutshell:
- Spellbook playthrough is completely viable
- A Call Collosus spell at start helps greatly and saves you from kiting
- Utilizing spells that add post-effects and alternating between burning-poisoning is great to reduce enemy stack size
- Cheap spells work really well, because the mana can be easily gained through Mana Accelerator, Concentration, Transmutation or Magic Spring
- Concentration should be picked over Transmutation for this style of play
- Neatness should be picked over Alchemy, and you should get crystals through breaking items, as it is a lot cheaper
- Treasure Hunter, Mana Accelerator and Ball of Lightning are the only pet dragon skills that this kind of play requires, and should be maximized
- Mana consuming spells like Geyser and Death Star should be used only when there are enough enemies to hit
- Always keep track of you rage and mana reserves, especially in the late game, when you will need to recover units through Resurrection or Evlin
- This playthrough is easily made by using Black Dragons vs. slow armies and heroes and Black Knights against large stacks of ranged units. Trolls vs. Driller are great, because Black Knights can't be resurrected there
- Against bosses keep cool, conserve mana and use mainly stone skin, evlin, magic spring.
I started the game with basic kiting to get to Elon (Debir-Scarlet-Bolo-Rusty-Verona-Umkas-Uzala-Elon-Sheterra-Debir), because I really needed Moro right from the start. Freeing him ASAP is really good (even though I didn't use Black Knights up until lvl 43, but more on that later), because it allows you to take Elenhel quickly and utilize his scroll-making abilities.
I know some people may jump on me because of the kiting. Well - it is a real shame that I didn't save the game after I got a Call Collosus spell in the Training mission. That spell alone may could have made a 7-8 day playthrough completely possible (especially if I get a Troll or a Red Dragon). But it is entirely my fault... If there was a way to restart the game, I would have, because I found a second Call Collosus scroll on Scarlet, and a third on Bolo. That would have made the early game way, way too easy without kiting... Not to mention that by the time I decided to spawn myself some trolls and beat up the Driller, I had 8 (!) Call Collosus scrolls. On the other hand, I had only 4 Ancient Knowledge scrolls in my game, which prevented me from reaching higher levels.
Well, I found a black dragon egg in Elon and spawned it right away. That single black dragon was my entire army up until lvl 43 when I managed to beat the dragons in the dragon lair in Montero and bought a few more.. I didn't require another unit at all. With the spellbook (mainly flaming arrow and fireball, along with an occasional geyser or death star) doing most of the damage, I didn't need any other troops. It was in the Dragon Lair siege that the Black Knights had the opportunity to draw first blood. I started using them more extensively from lvl 50 upwards, where enemies are numerous and an army of 4000+ gobots (fear doesn't work on them), 400+ brontors, 400+ Shamans and such can easily drop down a Black Dragon. In the battles where there would be no danger for the Black Dragons, I used them without remorse, because the Black Knights are bound to get surrounded and will start dishing the damage, which should not be a part of a game where the spellbook is dominant :)
Playing with the spellbook required a small tactical change, which is worth noting. Lvl 1 transmute is enough for quite a while, and lvl 3 Concentration should be learned ASAP. Since I had to count on the spells to do the trick, there was barely any time for a last hit in order for transmutation to take effect.
Battles were very easy after I got the stronger spells, but still, it's very interesting to point out that Fireball and Flaming arrow were my main weapon of choice, backed up by Poison Skull (really good against demons and dragons). These 3 spells are cheap and can be spammed easily without running out of mana. Alternating between Flaming Arrow and Poison skull is also good, because it slaps up 2 post-effects on the mob which will drain him quite a bit (and if the stack is huge, the carnage is complete).
Bosses were also easy. The Dersu Frog and the Spider fell down very quickly to the Black Knights. The Driller lost to a stack of Trolls with Stone Skin and Magic Spring on all the time (which allowed me to slap a full-power fireball in the free turns, thus improving the damage done by the spellbook). Gremlion was very easy (I had 50% magic resistance), K'Tahu was easy too. Baal proved to be a small problem due to summoning demons over and over, but that's nothing some Stone Skin, Evlin, Magic Spring and an occasional Poison Skull can't handle. Poor Baal was doing the awesome 200-250 damage on the Black Knights when he threw his sword. Pitiful. I did restart that battle once, though. I used phantoms a lot, which was a bad idea, as they count to the current Amelie's leadership on the battlefield, which forced Baal to summon Archdemons over and over, in the end outweighing my Black Knight stack's leadership, and you know what that means - Half!, Half!, Half! ....
So, I'm adding the end screens and the save just before I finished the game. You will notice a wicked amount of crystals on it, as well as more runes than the usual. That's the result of buying almost every item in the game (I think I missed only 2-3 on Tekron, but there was no time to go back) and utilizing Neatness lvl 3 to its fullest. It is a great skill, one that I easily overlooked. For the price of 27 Mind runes and 6 magic runes I got over 20 of each type (not to mention some 350+ crystals) from breaking the unnecessary items - which also explains why my inventory is so empty. Neatness can easily replace the Alchemy skill, and it should, as skipping alchemy would save you 3 Mind and 15 Magic runes.
You should also check out how many casts I have on the Fire Mage medal (1906) and how many poisoned/burned stacks (2999) there are in the Alchemy medal - a clear example that the spellbook can be utilized to its fullest extent and that the mage description that she will command few units, but her spells can win the battle is completely true.
In the end, Spellbook vs. Troops - 80:20. Could be more, if you're willing to work on it.
In a nutshell:
- Spellbook playthrough is completely viable
- A Call Collosus spell at start helps greatly and saves you from kiting
- Utilizing spells that add post-effects and alternating between burning-poisoning is great to reduce enemy stack size
- Cheap spells work really well, because the mana can be easily gained through Mana Accelerator, Concentration, Transmutation or Magic Spring
- Concentration should be picked over Transmutation for this style of play
- Neatness should be picked over Alchemy, and you should get crystals through breaking items, as it is a lot cheaper
- Treasure Hunter, Mana Accelerator and Ball of Lightning are the only pet dragon skills that this kind of play requires, and should be maximized
- Mana consuming spells like Geyser and Death Star should be used only when there are enough enemies to hit
- Always keep track of you rage and mana reserves, especially in the late game, when you will need to recover units through Resurrection or Evlin
- This playthrough is easily made by using Black Dragons vs. slow armies and heroes and Black Knights against large stacks of ranged units. Trolls vs. Driller are great, because Black Knights can't be resurrected there
- Against bosses keep cool, conserve mana and use mainly stone skin, evlin, magic spring.