Anyone go through all the Wizard Tower?

[vmxa]

I did the first level, but not sure what I would gain from going further. Are there three levels? Can you keep/learn any of the scrolls or items in the tower?

[gimmeattachments]

Scrolls seem to stay along with you when you leave the tower. So you can go in "buy" all the free scrolls learn the spells in them and sell the rest. I haven't encountered any items for sale yet.

[Zechnophobe]

I've done three or four levels so far. Next level is 'fire' area, and it is stupid. Why? Because it negates all of your item bonus' to fire resistence while there, making it feel like you can't really adequately prepare for it.

[blueshrike]

Spoilers:








The end is against a level 49 guy and provides a pretty cool item (though not overpowered) as a reward. For every level you buy troops that are available, fight the caretaker (who gets more powerful) then move on up. On one later level, believe 5, he opened up with Geyser... nice. You never lose your default units.

To me this seems like an ultra condensed version of the new campaigns. Build your army with what's given and fight according to your leadership and skills. Not that it's a bad thing. But there's a theme running through this here game.

[Zechnophobe]

Spoilers:
The end is against a level 49 guy and provides a pretty cool item (though not overpowered) as a reward. For every level you buy troops that are available, fight the caretaker (who gets more powerful) then move on up. On one later level, believe 5, he opened up with Geyser... nice. You never lose your default units.

To me this seems like an ultra condensed version of the new campaigns. Build your army with what's given and fight according to your leadership and skills. Not that it's a bad thing. But there's a theme running through this here game.

The Axel is a pretty cool item, and he sold some other nice stuff too. The battles with this guy were all VERY odd fights, and almost all rely on doing silly or weird tactics to win. Basically impossible to do no loss, unless maybe if you just go with a single stack of repair droids, that you split after you enter? Only way I could imagine it working.

[john_crapper]

The final battle is extreemely difficult, easily among the hardest battles you'll fight.

The guy (49 lvl ) has 50 attack 30 defense 83 INT 500 mana and 106,700 leadership (on of the stacks is 2134 units x 50 leadership). Thats on Impossible difficulty

Uses 600 demonologists to flood the screen with summons every 2 rounds, and the stage's handicap itself is taking increased damage from demons and undead. Also your Tactics talent is unusable in any of the battles.

I fought him with a 39 level warrior (impossible) who resorted to 20% leadership and 30 mana wanderer scrolls, had 24,968 leadership and it took me 3-4 tries to come up with a tactic and the winning battle took some 30-35 minutes

I found the item reward pretty underwhelming, though it is one that you will definately use.

On that note: the ones who got the rewards, which bonus are you using? i mean barring situations which call for a specific bonus, which one do you generally use?

[ckdamascus]

Whew. I thought I was losing it, because I was thinking "how come this battle seems moderately hard?" After losing in the fire room a few times, I came back later to take it on when I was level 50 as a mage, figuring it was enough to sweep the rest of the levels.

I did it as no-loss. It is doable as an Impossible mage, just tedious. Rune Mages.. Nuff Said.

I actually did it on the first shot, and I regret doing it without using an Ancient Knowledge Scroll. SOOO much xp. Around 24K. Bleh. But the battle was too tedious and mind bendingly boring that I'm not going to do it again for the extra 12K xp.

I think I was up to 30ish turns or so.

[edit]
I see a lot of potential for that item. I will probably use it for +4 int, +2000 leadership, or +1 speed.

[Zechnophobe]

The final battle is extreemely difficult, easily among the hardest battles you'll fight.

The guy (49 lvl ) has 50 attack 30 defense 83 INT 500 mana and 106,700 leadership (on of the stacks is 2134 units x 50 leadership). Thats on Impossible difficulty

Uses 600 demonologists to flood the screen with summons every 2 rounds, and the stage's handicap itself is taking increased damage from demons and undead. Also your Tactics talent is unusable in any of the battles.

I fought him with a 39 level warrior (impossible) who resorted to 20% leadership and 30 mana wanderer scrolls, had 24,968 leadership and it took me 3-4 tries to come up with a tactic and the winning battle took some 30-35 minutes

I found the item reward pretty underwhelming, though it is one that you will definately use.

On that note: the ones who got the rewards, which bonus are you using? i mean barring situations which call for a specific bonus, which one do you generally use?

+1 Speed, or +20 Rage. The speed is an amazing boon to army compositions, while +20 rage can be just stupid good in like, a boot slot.

With Adrenaline, Alchemists Toolkit, and +1 speed axel, my engineers were 4 movements, sometimes 5 (7 if alchemist uses energy drink) and can be in enemy territory shooting multiple stacks at a time for ridiculous damage.

Also made the guard droids significantly more useful.

[atlatea]

I think it's easy to do all tower fights in impossible with no loss. I did it with lv 40 paladins, i just use black dragons, gizmo (to heal black dragons), poison skull+firebolt+fear and spam pet dragons AoE + lightning + mana recharge in all fights except the one with unit copying thing. My life saver items are the scale set and salamander banner + fire bracelet, fire room decrease our fire resistance (about -25% if not -30%), that's why i need fire resistance boost in fire room so that my black dragons can match caretaker's black dragons and phoenixes,.

As for the last fight, as said above, i just use black dragons, use gizmo sometimes for some healing, and poison skull to thin the priests and demonologists stacks, and also spam dragon dive.

The one that i need to reload was the fight with the unit copying thing. I was shocked in the first time when i saw thousand of black dragons, then i reload and switching to inquisitors and buying knights and some other low level units which i forgot, it's funny though, at turn 2 it all turns to low level armies then i teleported my knight which AoE them all with his skill.

Most people seems to think that gizmo is useless because it's too random, however it is not, i mean you can control it all the time, when you want to heal or when you want to attack, but then again i guess it's useless for attacking. Gizmo+black dragons is a combo.

As for the final reward, i think it's one of the best item, it's best for players who like to play blind games (i mean without scanning), and in my opinion it's best for jack of all trade type like paladin class, because you can switch your item build depending on the situations.

[ckdamascus]

I didn't know you could force gizmo to heal units, in particular, the black dragons. Perhaps I should revisit this! Thanks for the tip!

Did you do all this in Impossible as well?

[atlatea]

Yep, on impossible.

Imo the hardest tower fight is the last one due to many demons summoned by those demonologist flooding the battlefield, that really limit my black dragons movement, one wrong move will cause a loss game.

To force gizmo to heal, you need to place it not on the top of your black dragon, if you place it on the same hex as your black dragon, it will 100% attack, you need to place it on empty hex nearest to your black dragon. And gizmo seems to move at the end of the round, so if u want 100% guaranteed heal, i suggest to wait your black dragon till all enemies move, then place your gizmo before you end the current round.

That's because i tried placing gizmo on the nearest hex that will be occupied by the black dragon at the middle of the round, but at that moment, gizmo nearest target is enemy stack, then i tried to move my black dragon both to the nearest hex from gizmo and to the same hex as the gizmo, and the gizmo attack the enemy stack. But if you place gizmo near your black dragon and your black dragon doesn't move at all, at the end of the round it will heal your BD. It seems to prioritize higher lv stack than the lower one, as for attacking vs healing, it depends on the nearest target at the begining of the round.

edit: Another thing i found about gizmo:
That gizmo is buggy, i don't know if the description is wrong, it seems to last much more than the stated charges (LV 3 gizmo = 3 charge), but mine always do like several healing (6-8 charges) before dissapear.

[Kings Bounty Hunter]

How many times have you banged your desk using the single stack of Black Dragons technique?

10 so far

[ckdamascus]

How many times have you banged your desk using the single stack of Black Dragons technique?

10 so far

I end up using a different technique.

Phantom rune mage-> summon illusion...

Ball of lightning to slowly whittle down the enemy forces.

Then I start throwing out mystic eggs.

That said, has anyone tried to good ol solo black knight combination? I figured that 'might' work? :) I guess the inquisitors will blast him a new undead visor... haha.

I was able to beat the last floor in 26 rounds, using a warrior class and rune mages, ball of lighting, mystic egg, somehow I managed to throw in a ancient phoenix too... hm...

[Kings Bounty Hunter]

I end up using a different technique.

Phantom rune mage-> summon illusion...

Ball of lightning to slowly whittle down the enemy forces.

Then I start throwing out mystic eggs.

That said, has anyone tried to good ol solo black knight combination? I figured that 'might' work? :) I guess the inquisitors will blast him a new undead visor... haha.

I was able to beat the last floor in 26 rounds, using a warrior class and rune mages, ball of lighting, mystic egg, somehow I managed to throw in a ancient phoenix too... hm...

Getting my ass handed to me using a single stack of Paladins..gave up on the dragons and using anything more than a single stack is just too much micro managing.

EDIT!

96 rounds lol

ALT between Magic spring and Resurrect basically.

[atlatea]

Well, i always use single BD (need holy anger 3, adrenaline 3, voice of dragon 3 and at least 1 lv of transmute) + gizmo + couple of poison skull and fear for last fight, it never dissapoint me, especially for no loss game, though i don't do no loss game anymore in favor of paladin resurection build (and the choice of troops in no loss game are very very limited ), and because of that it become very easy, almost all enemies (except bosses) are defeatable with single BD (dead BDs are 100% resurected), but i won't do that unless in some circumtances.

Maybe single veteran orcs is great too, though i never like single stack strategy unless there is no other easy option. I begin to love this orcs, they're very powerful (high damage, no retal, counter counter attack, evasion, all in one). Currently trying almost full elven setup, if it weren't for elves hatred to orc, i'd probably add this awesome orc veteran to my army.

[ckdamascus]

Well, i always use single BD (need holy anger 3, adrenaline 3, voice of dragon 3 and at least 1 lv of transmute) + gizmo + couple of poison skull and fear for last fight, it never dissapoint me, especially for no loss game, though i don't do no loss game anymore in favor of paladin resurection build (and the choice of troops in no loss game are very very limited ), and because of that it become very easy, almost all enemies (except bosses) are defeatable with single BD (dead BDs are 100% resurected), but i won't do that unless in some circumtances.

Maybe single veteran orcs is great too, though i never like single stack strategy unless there is no other easy option. I begin to love this orcs, they're very powerful (high damage, no retal, counter counter attack, evasion, all in one). Currently trying almost full elven setup, if it weren't for elves hatred to orc, i'd probably add this awesome orc veteran to my army.

Orc Veterans are great. They can easily get to no-retaliation mode. I even used them against the Driller by doing hit and run and I think the other lower bosses too.

Even before they hit the no-retaliation mode, they do a ton of damage due to the "counter-counterstrike". So they make excellent phantom candidates as well.

Although, I ended up just using straight up orc ranged units.

Yeah, I sort of hate the whole no-loss thing too since it does restrict my unit choices a lot.

I couldn't even bear to do virtual no-loss with the paladin either.

[atlatea]

Regarding loss, i think that it's only natural to have losses, because the developer also planned this path (the other being no loss), if not, they won't give you massive amount of unit for restock. And losses never affect final score (it's losing a battle that affect it not casualties of the battle).

Yup, the most hated thing about no loss is the limit of troop choice. I begin to accept losses (though i try to minimize it) in favor of much more variety of troops, that's why i choose paladin with resurection, so as you said, virtual losses, still count as casualties but i don't lose any troops. But this easily gives me the freedom to use full troop with any troops i want as long as i have target, stoneskin/divine armor and a tank/sometimes secondary tank (well, againts lv 5 some other spells are needed as well). And i think all races have tank, though i usually bring paladin for mass resurect.

Currently most of my games rules are blind game (must not use KBScanner), no map kiting at all (to forces me to use variety of units), limiting reloading (save n reload must be kept at minimum), and finish the game as fast as possible. Not using KBScanner means i must plan according to random situation, and this is the hardest obstacle in my game, though it's the best part of my game.

[ckdamascus]

Regarding loss, i think that it's only natural to have losses, because the developer also planned this path (the other being no loss), if not, they won't give you massive amount of unit for restock. And losses never affect final score (it's losing a battle that affect it not casualties of the battle).

Yup, the most hated thing about no loss is the limit of troop choice. I begin to accept losses (though i try to minimize it) in favor of much more variety of troops, that's why i choose paladin with resurection, so as you said, virtual losses, still count as casualties but i don't lose any troops. But this easily gives me the freedom to use full troop with any troops i want as long as i have target, stoneskin/divine armor and a tank/sometimes secondary tank (well, againts lv 5 some other spells are needed as well). And i think all races have tank, though i usually bring paladin for mass resurect.

Currently most of my games rules are blind game (must not use KBScanner), no map kiting at all (to forces me to use variety of units), limiting reloading (save n reload must be kept at minimum), and finish the game as fast as possible. Not using KBScanner means i must plan according to random situation, and this is the hardest obstacle in my game, though it's the best part of my game.

Actually, that was always my main driver for no-loss. Unit replenishment and gold.

First time I played on Impossible, I ran out of gold and was like... what the? Couldn't buy artifacts, etc.

So, now it is built into my brain to always do that since sometimes my army build won't be the right one, and I have to rebuy an army.

A lot of the times, there are key units that are simply not available to satisfy your leadership, even if I had the money. e.g. like only 4 trolls in existance, etc.

Sacrifice isn't always an option nor fun. At least now with "trophy / training" the options are more open.

Just curiously enough, what new units have you opened yourself up to by using the Paladin and his Mind Skill: Resurrection?

Since the resource situation and the possibility of re-tooling an army is still there, but you are still resurrecting most units anyways for nearly no-loss, what unit are you using to really take advantage of that?

I do find that even though I am not really using the "resurrection" factor of the Mind Skill: Resurrection, that the bonus conferred to my Paladins and Rune Mages is quite nice coupled with the high defense build AND very high damaging units.

I was originally slating my demoness for it, but she is simply too slow. If only she was faster, since her stats are amazing when combining Agvares and the Princess Set + Wedding Dress.

I used to like blind games, but the funny thing is, I found myself even MORE forced into a set of the limited key units anyways. I know it seems counter-intuitive. :)

Mostly because, I can't find or use the less common troops, so I end up gravitating to the usual crew. I can't usually get rid of the Paladin Unit unless I go heavy level 5s and rune mages. Haha.

Also, only after certain item combinations are achieved, do some units become far more viable.

Lately, I have been trying to think of nearly overpowered combinations, then trying to make them supposedly work. Who would have thought about using Goblins, Orc Veterans, and Paladins to bring down Driller? No-losses too! :)

Shooters weren't so popular either for a while, but I saw one guy did it, and I tried to work it in.

I usually like playing for speed. If I take over 30 rounds to win in a tedious manner, I feel really bad and depressed due to boredom.

Now I am using Lake Fairies as my primary killer since I have the Princess Set. I have to say, I am really impressed so far. I doubt they will make it through the bosses though, but who knows. I'll definitely give it a whirl when I get to it though. :)

[crbcpu]

Here's an easy way I found to beat the final incarnation of the Caretaker as a Mage:

Round 1
- Level 2 Soul Drain the Demonologists (Since only 20 mana, can still cast again in the same round)
- Cast Black Hole

Round 2
- Cast Calm Rage to convert rage to mana
- Cast Black Hole

Round 3
- Cast spells as needed

Intellect was in the 50s and I was doing at least 7k damage per cast of Black Hole and it only took a few rounds to beat him.

Hope this helps. :)

[atlatea]

Actually, that was always my main driver for no-loss. Unit replenishment and gold.

First time I played on Impossible, I ran out of gold and was like... what the? Couldn't buy artifacts, etc.

So, now it is built into my brain to always do that since sometimes my army build won't be the right one, and I have to rebuy an army.

A lot of the times, there are key units that are simply not available to satisfy your leadership, even if I had the money. e.g. like only 4 trolls in existance, etc.

Sacrifice isn't always an option nor fun. At least now with "trophy / training" the options are more open.

Just curiously enough, what new units have you opened yourself up to by using the Paladin and his Mind Skill: Resurrection?

Since the resource situation and the possibility of re-tooling an army is still there, but you are still resurrecting most units anyways for nearly no-loss, what unit are you using to really take advantage of that?

I do find that even though I am not really using the "resurrection" factor of the Mind Skill: Resurrection, that the bonus conferred to my Paladins and Rune Mages is quite nice coupled with the high defense build AND very high damaging units.

I was originally slating my demoness for it, but she is simply too slow. If only she was faster, since her stats are amazing when combining Agvares and the Princess Set + Wedding Dress.

I used to like blind games, but the funny thing is, I found myself even MORE forced into a set of the limited key units anyways. I know it seems counter-intuitive.

Mostly because, I can't find or use the less common troops, so I end up gravitating to the usual crew. I can't usually get rid of the Paladin Unit unless I go heavy level 5s and rune mages. Haha.

Also, only after certain item combinations are achieved, do some units become far more viable.

Lately, I have been trying to think of nearly overpowered combinations, then trying to make them supposedly work. Who would have thought about using Goblins, Orc Veterans, and Paladins to bring down Driller? No-losses too!

Shooters weren't so popular either for a while, but I saw one guy did it, and I tried to work it in.

I usually like playing for speed. If I take over 30 rounds to win in a tedious manner, I feel really bad and depressed due to boredom.

Now I am using Lake Fairies as my primary killer since I have the Princess Set. I have to say, I am really impressed so far. I doubt they will make it through the bosses though, but who knows. I'll definitely give it a whirl when I get to it though.

We go off topic.... well, here we go.

I do blind games (without save scanner) and no map kiting. Well i agree, paladin is truly irreplacable, i never able to get rid of this unit, ok, againts non hero and non boss enemy i can easily manage without this guy. I hate long battle too, more than 15 turn is already very boring.

I'm doing no loss untill i get resurection 3, but if good lv 4 artifact spawn in the early 4 island, i'm usually run out of gold too. Until i get resurection 3, i end up with droids (both type), rune mage, green dragon (from rusty), archmage, inquisitor, cyclop or troll (if i'm lucky to get these guys in the first 4 islands)

After i got resurection 3, the combination of units depends on artifacts and spells available, yet if i have target spell, any combination can work with 1 tank (some situations require secondary tank) and 1 resurector (depends on situation) as irreplacable unit, though i usually end up with 1 resurector tank a.k.a paladin and the rest of the crew are heavy damage unit that is either ranged unit or unit that have no retaliation (be it from skill or ability) or unit that has good resistance (depends on the enemy available). That being said, best spells for this are disabler type (like target, fear, blind, pygmy, sheep, etc), especially target, it's really no brainer, just cast target on toughest tank available, and the rest of the crew deal with damage dealing. Pet dragon stone wall also proves to be very useful, contrary to most peoples said that it's the most useless pet dragon ability (why? well for example it can limit enemy forces option of attack), if miss martha sold shovel early (which i tend to buy because of its nice bonus to chest digging), it become much more powerful (7500 health at max level) .

Though againts enemy that is mostly lv 5 unit, target won't work, but other spells and pet dragon (stone wall, dragon dive, other dmg skill) exist that can be used to manipulate those lv 5 so that only your desired unit that will be resurected by paladin class resurection are the one that receive the most damage.

That being said, the one that will be resurected by paladin class skill is not always the tank (depends on the situation), just do the best cource of action to ensure that you will have virtual no loss (only 1 type of stack that suffer casualties).

I usually get resurection 3 by the time i arrive in verona, and untill i get paladin (in temple of love), i avoid heavy int hero, because they love to cast insane AoE spells (like geyser). So i use human army most of the time (with 1 or 2 lv 5 stack) until i arrive in montero. Which unit i use depends on the available spells and artifacts in verona. But it usually beetwen these guys: guardmen, knight, horsemen, royal griffin, archmage, runemage, inquisitor, demonologist, druid, bowmen, another lv 5 unit (can be troll or red/green dragon, these guys rarely appears though especially red dragon), faun with any plants (rarely appear), etc. Inqusitor and rune mage are often irreplaceable (sometimes archmage too), since they're the only non random option for resurecting, though it depends on the randomize results.

After i get montero, paladin, giant and canoner might come into the stage, this also depends on the situation, though i love canoner for its heavy ranged damage and giant abilities to easily fill up rage, as for paladin, no need to explain. After montero, things get much more easier, because i have 2 option now, elon or dersu, i get the insane veteran orc (a type of unit which is suited for this strategy) from dersu, and all types of elves from elon (though i usually stuck with dryad, hunter, elf, unicorn, faun, ancient ent, ent, druid, lake fairy/forest fairy, and yep, no werewolf). Usually i end up with human/elf mix or pure elf (depends on situation), yep, i'm no fan of demon, goblin and undead (because of eviln, easy games is never my taste), though i might try demon after i finish my elf, since this demon is a very good candidate for this strategy. As with elves, divine armor is a must have, especially if ancient ent/ent is used, lest those dragons will toy with you.

Girl power army also work (since three of them are heavy no retaliation damage dealer (the only problem is the dmg is too concentrated towards magic), but the same thing applies, need a tank and disabler (be it units, spells or pet dragon). As for shooter crew, this also works, need at least 1 tank and disabler, by shooter, it's not always archer type, in this case, shooter is any long range unit.

[Minecontrol]

Yup, the most hated thing about no loss is the limit of troop choice. I begin to accept losses (though i try to minimize it) in favor of much more variety of troops, that's why i choose paladin with resurection, so as you said, virtual losses, still count as casualties but i don't lose any troops. But this easily gives me the freedom to use full troop with any troops i want as long as i have target, stoneskin/divine armor and a tank/sometimes secondary tank (well, againts lv 5 some other spells are needed as well). And i think all races have tank, though i usually bring paladin for mass resurect.


They should have increased the power of the resurrection spell, it is ridiculous that no matter how much int you have your stack of paladins will probably still be able to resurrect more.... Near the end of the game during recovery phase in difficult battles like Scrounger i was using Turn Back Time to regenerate my Paladin skill for the resurrections. They also should have made it possible to extend it to include level 5 creatures (say make this dependable on level of magic light (the resurrection helper skill in the mage tree) so that lvl 3 magic light allows lvl 5 resurrection) let order level + intelligence mainly dictate amount of hp restored.

Paladins are crazily overpowered so in any noloss it is hard to have to leave them out of it.:)

[atlatea]

But then again the developer never intended it to be a no loss game.

If you want prove, First, why the hell they give you so many replenishments for your loss. Second, no loss or not doesn't affect final score.

So after doing many no loss walkthrough, i begin to realize that maybe those (including me) who do a no loss are folks that have very plenty of time or maybe they're more foolish than the one that doesn't care about no loss but still trying to keep losses to minimum.