New Armor Bearer - Goblin Rakush

[ckdamascus]

Finally got him. Beat the orc mission, and beat the goblin mission, then talk to him and click on the "3rd" dialogue which says "Good bye, Rakush"

(oddly enough, the "4th" dialogue also says "Good bye, Rakush".

I believe if you just defeat him, he will join you.

He no longer will sell you any items, so make sure you buy what you want before you hire him.

Passive Abilities
Catapults inflict 125% base dmg
Little goblins inflict 150% damage on level 5 creatures

It isn't obvious to me if this stacks with the Goblin's "Giant Killer" ability, where they already do more damage against level 5 creatures.

Item Layout
Standard weapon, boots, helmet, belt/regalia

Training
He can train goblin troops for money.
Goblin -> Catapult
Furious Goblin -> Goblin Shaman

Magic Water
He can also sell you magic water which raises your mana and rage by 25 but it will not exceed your maximum. Costs 2000 dollars!

It isn't clear to me if this guy is really that good. I have to see how good catapults can be with their 30% critical hit bonus with adrenaline.

I suppose a goblin with "Zeroing In" over time would scale quite nicely against killing other level 5s, but it seems too situational.

[BB Shockwave]

I knew his name sounded familiar... he's the guy you have to beat to get the stone of Joy in the fountain? :)

Magic Water sounds nice, as for the rest... I forgot what skills the Orc follower gives you - depending on that, it might be worth using Rakush with an all-orc army.

[ckdamascus]

I knew his name sounded familiar... he's the guy you have to beat to get the stone of Joy in the fountain? :)

Magic Water sounds nice, as for the rest... I forgot what skills the Orc follower gives you - depending on that, it might be worth using Rakush with an all-orc army.

Moldok seems MUCH better. +1 speed and +1 initiative.

I have to do the math again. With similar items, and Rakush, the catapult does BETTER than hunters, but do not have the range bonus. Arguably, the catapults and goblins should demolish dragons though... but hunters were pretty good at that too (beast killer).

[BB Shockwave]

+1 speed/initiative rocks, I liked Zombie Rina for the same reason. (PLus, she never wanted kids... :) )

Regular Orcs have some nice abilities now too. Good choice to use before you get Veterans.

[ckdamascus]

Well, Rakush might be good since little goblins are also giant killers, so we are talking about a +80% damage bonus against level 5 monsters.

[BB Shockwave]

The new adrenaline skills made pretty much all orc/goblin units very usefull - it'll be hard to decide which 5 you should take into battle. Even Catapults are usefull (granted their barrell detonation skill is not too helpfull unless there are some on the battlefield).

[Mandea]

unfortunately if you don't have the ressurection spell they are as good as dead :D; I like having all units of the same race for having a high critical hit, but I don't have ressurection spell right now and I lost so many orcs in every fight that I had to disband them.

[ckdamascus]

Yeah, unfortunately, you need rune mages or paladins to make it work.

Worse off is that the goblins and catapults all suffer from range penalties.

Rakush is unique in that he can single handedly handle the Ogre Set by himself. :) Few heros can handle boots (besides Jimmy) and a belt too.

Combined with the +20% damage with catapults items and rakush, catapults do end up being stronger than most of the other ranged units, but not counting range penalties and the simple fact that they start off with such a negative resistance to fire.

This "might" work with a warrior or paladin build, but I find that pure range builds do not work well with mages (I've failed to make it work a couple of times now). Despite the flexibility, there just isn't enough raw damage due to low leadership to make it happen.

And the double cast advantage is nullified by the fact you have to cast so many spells to close that leadership damage gap.