Skull of Pain

[KongMysen]

I found this infameus artefact in Verona, and I thought this time I will use it, since I'm confident, that there are plenty of fights left, When it finally gets upgraded to the excellent Skull of Death.

I just fought twice and it dropped by 1 % each fight. This makes me realize that its the most stupid item ever, since it will never be worth the 100 fights with ½mana.

Is there anyway to make it drop faster? like using or fighting a specific troop or race?

[korben]

I think i read somewhere that you need 66 Fights and upgradefights for artifacts do not count.
And there is no way to speed it up.

[KrazyDocK]

I have not encountered this artifact in AP, so it may be a bit different. But in TL it went down by 1-3% (random) per fight. So it would not necessarily take 100 fights, but possibly as few as 34 (if you are willing to reload many times).

KD

[KongMysen]

I played on a little, and it sometimes drops 3 %, so I'm guessing you're right about your estimation.
Then it wil be around 50 fights if I hit the avarage decrease. The Item is kinda ok. I'm still spamming flamearrow and oil mist to get the medal, and those spells are cheap as it is.

Beside the ekstra 50% rage increase make me able to cast a bunch of mana accelerators, so that I can end the battle with almost full mp.

I was just wondering, because I didn't want to bother if I could just go to Nameless and watch it drop like a plane without wings.

[Zechnophobe]

I actually value it quite highly before It gets changed. +50% rage is a whole fricken lot of it. I got my Dragon to level 58 (or was it just shy?) in my last game because of the amount of rage I could use.

[WhYdOyOuThInKtHaThApPeNeD]

I found it fairly late game. I didn't keep track of the % drop each battle but sometimes it was more than 1%. I got the spell off of it quite fast actually. The boost to rage increase fairly well offset my mana loss too. Combine it with the rage eater, spear of rage and rage sign set.
And it's nice, once the spell is gone you don't have to upgrade it so you can keep the 50% rage boost and don't lose your mana if you prefer that route.

[KongMysen]

I actually value it quite highly before It gets changed. +50% rage is a whole fricken lot of it. I got my Dragon to level 58 (or was it just shy?) in my last game because of the amount of rage I could use.

I agree that the rage increase makes you able to spam mana accelerator. However it doesn't make you use more usable pet skills like the Phantoms or the Ball of Lightning, because you'll wanna gain that mana back before the battle ends.

I just cleared most of Montero and Verona battles except the Driller and castles and the item is complete.
Sure my dragon is leveled a little higher right now, but I haven't once used anything but treasure searcher or Mana Accelerator. In the largest two islands...
And its not that I use the "accelerator" feature to anything with my Black, Red and Bone Dragons

(I got 1 Bone Dragon from the Shield of Recross and it seems the item drops faster with this undead unit. Very rarely by 1 % and more frequently with 4%. I can't confirm this since its still very random)

Bottom Quote: Skull of Pain = +50% pet xp. All skills except Tresure Searcher and Mana Accelerator are disabled

[Zechnophobe]

That's just not true. Do you have any points in transmute? You can get mana via rage even if it isn't directly, and often make up the difference. Mana source for Green dragons as well, and you don't have to wait until mid combat. My no loss Paladin/impossible game used the skull easily, since it had 2 points in transmute. It isn't like you need to drop 60 mana worth of spells each combat or anything (I guess maybe if you NEED to get those spell casting medals?)

[KongMysen]

ok, I agree that you CAN do without the mana casts.
However I'm a mage with just 10k Leadership and a wish to use oil mist and fire arrow as frequent as possible. Also my tactic require a stoneskin on my Red Dragons

I start combats with full mana which is 140. The skull makes it drop to 70. Right now Transmute is lvl 2 and concentration lvl 0, so if I don't use spells at all I will end the fight with 105 mana usually.

I can Easily do with 70 mana, but if I don't use mana accelerator, I will have to wait for the regeneration after each battle.
In a Montero Non-hero fight I usually get rage to cast 2 Mana Accelerators and 3 Treasure Searchers

I guess I could Call Colloseus for some Green Dragons. Except now its a Skull of Death :rolleyes: and I don't have the mana Issue any longer
Imo you need as much max mana as possible as a mage, and if that means -70mana in each fight with the Skull of Pain so be it.
The -20ish mana for a Paladin makes it a little less annoyong I guess

Edit: Does anyone know why my posts have spaces between each line? Only when I edit, I'm able to reove the extra space?