Best boytoy for mage still...?

[Saiko Kila]

I don't have much experience with different armor bearers. In fact, I was using only Elenhel in KBAP, never recruited even Jimmy Kraud or what was his name (the first guy). But there are new bearers now, in Orcs campaign, so maybe one of them is better than pointy-ears? For a mage, that is. I miss Xeona from KBTL, someone with weapon slot would be best, and with two slots even better, and with Regalia too. Is Moron any good for a mage? Maybe one of new bearers?

[DGDobrev]

Moro is rather good for a mage who is interested in employing the Black Knight tactic. I usually ended up with him rather than elenhel in KBAP :)

[BB Shockwave]

You lose out a lot of free slots if you don't get Jimmy, I mean, you don't get to the main continent for quite some time.

After that, it also depends on which Race you want your units to be composed of.

[Zechnophobe]

There aren't any new armor bearers in March of the Orcs, I'm afraid. Not unless they snuck them past me somehow. Only Champion of the Arena has them.

I have never really liked Elenhel all that much, but then again, I don't really think 4 intelligence makes much of a difference.

[Saiko Kila]

Thanks for input guys. I have a 20 lev mage now, and decided to get Elenhel. I have cleared first four islands (Debir, Bolo, two with pirates), can kill most of non-hero armies on Verona and Montero (except some like undead army before prison castle because they have 4 Black Dragons), or orcish-droid guardians of Umkas map, because they love to spam Astral Damage), and have access to Sheterra, Dersu, Tekron, before getting Elenhel. No Elon, so Moro will have to wait for me :(

My mage is somewhat weak comparing to previous games (I had 10 INT when got Elenhel on Level 18, and less than 50 mana), and enemies are somewhat stronger, especially all forms of orcs, so I'm going to experiment a bit. I've been playing HoMM5 recently, and liked their undead armies with phoenix, probably will try to do sth similar here (but without Raise Dead equivalent that could be hard).

I can't upgrade Adept's Staff to higher level still, but I'm going to eventually give that to another armor bearer (and it will give more than INT+4, hehe).

For now, I'm using Royal Snakes (still), Inquisitors, Demonologists, Paladins, Evil Beholders, Engineers and Witch Hunters (witch hunters can shackle even black dragons, hehe), depending on enemy. My pet dragon is a blue one this time, and I probably will have some green dragons in future. But while I'm willing to try orcs, I'm not going to use any Orc-only armor bearer, because I suspect that orcs will suck. There are enemies which are nasty when you fight them, but quite sucky when you have them, and I think that orcs may be such a case. For example, if I'm not mistaken, Goblin Shamans sacrifice themselves to perform their powerful Astral attack, so I'd have to forget about no-loss. And there are other specials seeming to cause loss of units.

[Zechnophobe]

Thanks for input guys. I have a 20 lev mage now, and decided to get Elenhel. I have cleared first four islands (Debir, Bolo, two with pirates), can kill most of non-hero armies on Verona and Montero (except some like undead army before prison castle because they have 4 Black Dragons), or orcish-droid guardians of Umkas map, because they love to spam Astral Damage), and have access to Sheterra, Dersu, Tekron, before getting Elenhel. No Elon, so Moro will have to wait for me :(

My mage is somewhat weak comparing to previous games (I had 10 INT when got Elenhel on Level 18, and less than 50 mana), and enemies are somewhat stronger, especially all forms of orcs, so I'm going to experiment a bit. I've been playing HoMM5 recently, and liked their undead armies with phoenix, probably will try to do sth similar here (but without Raise Dead equivalent that could be hard).

I can't upgrade Adept's Staff to higher level still, but I'm going to eventually give that to another armor bearer (and it will give more than INT+4, hehe).

For now, I'm using Royal Snakes (still), Inquisitors, Demonologists, Paladins, Evil Beholders, Engineers and Witch Hunters (witch hunters can shackle even black dragons, hehe), depending on enemy. My pet dragon is a blue one this time, and I probably will have some green dragons in future. But while I'm willing to try orcs, I'm not going to use any Orc-only armor bearer, because I suspect that orcs will suck. There are enemies which are nasty when you fight them, but quite sucky when you have them, and I think that orcs may be such a case. For example, if I'm not mistaken, Goblin Shamans sacrifice themselves to perform their powerful Astral attack, so I'd have to forget about no-loss. And there are other specials seeming to cause loss of units.

But a few of them also seem to have the 'recruiter' skill that gives you troops after each fight. Sounds pretty useful. I'm totally going to try out pure orc build next time I play through.

[BB Shockwave]

Yeah, it seems a no-loss game will be very hard to do with Orcs. I plan to do a warrior walkthrough later and use only orcs.

[Saiko Kila]

But a few of them also seem to have the 'recruiter' skill that gives you troops after each fight. Sounds pretty useful. I'm totally going to try out pure orc build next time I play through.

In theory yes, but I don't know how it works. I had a stack of Goblin Shamans, not full, and got no units after fight. Maybe I'd need more practice with orcs to get a better grip on them. And orcs seem to depend on synergy - enemy orcs have much higher level of adrenaline than my orcs, even if they don't have a hero. Orc-only army would be better, I think. But there are so many units to try! :)

[ckdamascus]

Goblin Rakush -- supposedly he is the new armor bearer. I wonder what he does.

Moldok seems far more useful now since orcs with +1 init and +1 speed could mean a very powerful combination...

[BB Shockwave]

In theory yes, but I don't know how it works. I had a stack of Goblin Shamans, not full, and got no units after fight. Maybe I'd need more practice with orcs to get a better grip on them. And orcs seem to depend on synergy - enemy orcs have much higher level of adrenaline than my orcs, even if they don't have a hero. Orc-only army would be better, I think. But there are so many units to try! :)

I think they only give units to existing goblin/orc stacks, and only not above your own leadership limit.

[ckdamascus]

I think they only give units to existing goblin/orc stacks, and only not above your own leadership limit.

Wow, I'm surprised you guys didn't get the answers by now, if not by trial and error.

Yes, they [goblin shaman] give it only to existing goblin stacks (not orc). They do not give to themselves, and they DO give you above your leadership limit, as they start filling out your reserve section.

e.g.
I had 3 goblin shaman, 5 goblins, 3 catapults, and 2 other non-goblin units.

I win a battle.

I randomly get +3 goblins which end up in my reserve troop area.

In another battle, I get +2 catapults which end up in my reserve troop area.

To be frank, it's a great concept, until you want to hold other reserve troops and you end up losing slots to these other units.

It can definitely help out early on (which is why I've been saying Crossworlds seems to be FAR smoother, especially for impossible mode games).

[BB Shockwave]

I don't use orcs. My first walkthrough will be with a human army (well those, and Witch Hunter/Royal Griffins), so no, I do not know from trial and error.

And Orc Chieftains do give Orc troops, ckdamascus. Have not used them, but ZagZag (Rusty Anchor) has them so I checked.