Difficulty in Grey Wasteland

[basilios]

I'm a level 19 warrior and I've just entered the Grey Wasteland. I have 6 Giants, 101 griffins, 390 dryads, 134 Elf archers and 135 royal snakes (not exactly at full force, but almost there), but it seems all the enemy troops around are just as strong or stronger than me. I'm kind of stuck, because I can win maybe a couple of battles but my army is almost anihilated and at this point I just can't find enough cash to replace it.

Also, I haven't been able to beat the Wizard at Magic Valley - I can roughly beat the first opponent and then come the cyclops troop and it seems I can't win this.

Any suggestions?

P.S. : Oh, there's another : in Kordar I found that place (can't remember the name) that you reach by train from the mines. But I haven't found yet any quest related to it. Does that quest appear later in the game? Thanks!

[Zuvio]

Are you using distortion magic such as slow, stone skin, target etc? Use magic to screw the enemy over and kill him with your troops. Maybe use the giant as tank, swap out the elves for hunters, use dragon arrows on the hunter, elves, bowmen against cyclops, swap out the griffon for sprites (you do have Angy's Ruby right?) and get some inquisitors if you have no other means to resurrect. Your units will get killed, so have some means to revive them. Else you are just zerging and losing many units each fight which will drain your resources.

P.S. : Oh, there's another : in Kordar I found that place (can't remember the name) that you reach by train from the mines. But I haven't found yet any quest related to it. Does that quest appear later in the game? Thanks!
Yes, you will get there at some point.

[basilios]

Ok, I see. The problem is, I don't have many spells cause I havent found as many in the adventure map and I didn't purchase any along the way, as I kept investing my resources on troops. I should add that it's the first time I play this game, so probably my strategy isn't very elaborated. Also at this point, massive flying troops such as sprites and dragon flies (2-3.000 strong) are a major problem, since they move through the battlefield in just one turn and then virtually eliminate my archers within a couple of attacks...

What's the Angy's Ruby and where can I get it??? Also, any idea where I can get inquisitors at this stage of the game?

[DGDobrev]

The Anga's Ruby ring is a quest reward. In the islands (western I believe) there is a cursed ship where you can take a quest. You must go to the temple of deceased souls in the marshan swamp and buy an indulgence for them. Not a good quest for a person who tries for a quick victory, but it's worth 4.5k XP and a great item.

Inquisitors are found in the greenwort, marshan swamp and in velarion forest. That's pretty much all you can get. Ther rest of it you'll get through sacrifice. At least I did...

I also think you should try and fight a bit more. In gray wasteland I'm close to 22 on impossible, and 19 seems a bit low to me, especially if it's on a lower difficulty, because on lower difficulties, it's easier to level up.

At this point, you must have at least 2 interchangeable strategies for the battles. At this point I'm going for a tank and multi-thorn strategy, both based on the target spell. Vs big packs of low-lvl units or Dragons I use Dryads + Thorns. Against packs of lvl 3-4 units I use emerald dragons + archmagi for a tank + shield. The dragon doesn't attack at all, save for the mana source talent.

Hope this helps... So far it does for me.

[basilios]

Thanks for your time and help. I just did a search in my quest box and it seems I failed that particular quest (cursed ship), apparently I killed the cursed crew! So, what now? Am I doomed without the Anga's Ruby ring? Thanks again!

[Elwin]

You are not doomed but that change a lot anga's ruby and females are very powerfull but its definetly not the only possible way to win, but actually i finished game 2 times without them. You have griffins so you can move them into enemy end let them atack griffin and he will retaliate them all and do massive damage. At the end of round 2 timeback them to recover loses, even more powerfull if u use demons instead of griffins. Also shaman is a nice unit with dostract damage and heal.

[Zonc]

Best tactics:
Use Demons/Griffins + Target, then cast Timeback
Skeleton Archers + Dragon Arrows = most deadly lvl 5 unit killer
Use Lina's Ice thorns to protect your ranged units in tough fights (start battle with enough rage to cast in 1st turn)
Learn Tactics at least lvl 1, onslaught lvl 2 minimum. Use vampires! (life draining)
Remember Distortion Magic FTW!

[Razorflame]

that is obviously not the best tactic:)

for a real killer combo u can just go

max black dragons+ armageddon

there are HARDLY enemies stacks that can SURVIVE 2 armageddons

so in this CASE
CHAOS level 3+destroyer level 3 and higher magic FTW

would own your tactic easy ^^

[DGDobrev]

I'll have to try that armageddon tactic. However, 2x armageddon is 1200 damage in the best case. With destroyer, the max damage would jump by 50% to 1800 at most. In addition to that, that would mean you must have 100 mana available. I can think of enough enemies that can survive that on impossible :)

[Zonc]

that is obviously not the best tactic:)

for a real killer combo u can just go

max black dragons+ armageddon

there are HARDLY enemies stacks that can SURVIVE 2 armageddons

so in this CASE
CHAOS level 3+destroyer level 3 and higher magic FTW

would own your tactic easy ^^
Did you actually played this game? ever encountered stack of 10 ancient ents? (1000hp each) or 40 Demons with 50% fire resistance? plus it's not that easy to find the spell

[Elwin]

Both of you missed one important thing. Armaggeddon is ASTRAL damage type not fire, it damages alos the blackies ... And yes right armageddon isnt much for large ancient ent stacks (10+) .. I couldnt kill such with 2 armagedons even having 42 int, prismatic helmet and dragon cape ...
About availability of armageddon, i played 3 games and always had it in demonis and in some other places i think its not that hard to find it

[DGDobrev]

Even if it's astral damage, it can't kill much. 80 cursed ghosts (which karador had on impossible) x 60 HP is 4800 hp.

It may actually be an interesting test to stack up on mana, intellect and rage and try to do a 2x armageddon + Black hole combo, but I doubt that a mage can get enough rage to cast a decent black hole anyway.

[Razorflame]

well get more int :>
^^
someone should test some how much INT u can get
i do believe some recorded already an INT of 51
that would mean a 10% increase of damage..

[DGDobrev]

If you get 51 INT, that would mean 70% increase in damage, since for each 7 points of intellect, your magic damage improves by 10% and 7x7 is 49. I don't know how the game mechanics work, but if we assume that the best scenario is that you can get as much as 1800 astral damage from 2 x armageddon + max destroyer, 1800 + 70% = 3060. Still not that big of a bang against the tougher armies in impossible at the cost of 100 mana. Still if you can combine this with some, say, 1000 damage from black hole, although it's doubtful you'll be able to get that much rage, since you'll invest heavily in int and mana... With 4060 damage in the beginning of the first round by spells and rage I can agree that it will most certainly weaken the enemy army enough for your own units to beat the crap out of it.

[Razorflame]

that is still a crapload of damage though ^^
and bare in mind that unit in the center of the map GET MORE DAMAGE:>

[DGDobrev]

It is, I don't dispute that :) However, if the army is strong, I doubt one would want to waste all his mana in just 1 turn, provided he has that much :)

[Elwin]

3k dmg for armagedon? its crap if u ask me .. i had like 4k damge for flaming arrow ~~5,5k damage with pole axe, 7k damage ice snake and armageddon was 9k. and its for 42 int not 52 ~~

[Ryastar]

EACH point of INT adds 10% damage. Every 7 points gives a BONUS 10%. It's been explained multiple times before on this forum, though not in game.

[Zuvio]

that is obviously not the best tactic:)

for a real killer combo u can just go

max black dragons+ armageddon

there are HARDLY enemies stacks that can SURVIVE 2 armageddons

so in this CASE
CHAOS level 3+destroyer level 3 and higher magic FTW

would own your tactic easy ^^


Right, because all level 19 warriors entering the Dead Lands have 49 INT, 100+ mana and armageddon spell at Chaos level 3...

[Razorflame]

it was just an post about his BEST TACTIC there is..

there is no best tactic

[basilios]

A question you may find stupid, but I have to put it (remember, it's my first time playing the game) : How can I raise my intelligence? At this point I have attack 10, defense 21 and intelligence just 4!!! Thanks for your help.

[Elwin]

1. it might be appear to choose on level up
2. altars
3. items
4. some other specific events