New Spells -- Review

[ckdamascus]

Hey there, I never played King's Bounty the Legend, so I have no idea what the new spells are like, especially since they are probably toned down a bit for balance reasons.

Ice Thorns - surrounds enemy with ice, seems potentially very good against fast moving melee attackers and can help a range build tremendously. Seems like only one point is necessary since it is really crystal expensive, and upgrades only lower the mana cost.

Gizmo - I heard it does healing and stuff? I don't want to waste 60 turns to kill driller with my 4 trolls to find out it sucks. [edit] Seems like if you have Black Dragons wait, the Gizmo will heal your Black Dragons. Sounds very handy in those Solo Missions.

Giot's Armor - absorbs damage, but forces a unit to be unable to move. Seems GREAT if you can predict an attack since it works like the old school AD&D stoneskin. No matter how much damage, you will block the first hit, resulting in 0 damage to the target, but losing the armor. e.g. Level 1 Giot Armor on your rune mage which ALWAYS gets targetted by those imbalanced enemy blood shaman... shaman does 9999 damage against a 300 dmg giot armor, 0 rune mages die. Mwhaha.

Dragon of Chaos - seems crappy compared to Call Phoenix. Expensive and weak. [edit] Might be worth it at level 1 to simply raise a demon's army's morale to break into the 100% critical mark

School of Piranha - excellent on the bridges since you will hit all units on it, but I think too situational for me for now. Seems FAR more mana and damage efficient than Stone Rain

Stone Rain - a bunch of rocks fall from the sky, seems unimpressive. Can anyone comment on this?


Feel free to add or help me find out the hidden mojo if I said some of the spells sucks.

Poisonous Spit - a poor man's "pygmy" of sorts. The real key is the 20% reduction in the enemy's attack rating (not the damage), also it counts as yet another negative status affect when calculating negative morale PLUS it does damage alongside with poison skull. Supposedly this can be used against bosses.

Black Hole - What Death Star should have been. Hits all enemies on screen with astral damage, cannot hurt your own units with it. It is like armageddon but better. It seems to do more damage than death star, however, it does not hit buildings and costs 60 mana at level 3.

Ice Orb - somewhat interesting. If used far away, it moves in direct lines (think like a Queen Chess Piece) and it does more damage if you are further away when it strikes. Think - Horsemen charge. Low initiative though so you can't pop it on the fly like Ancient Phoenix. Fairly tanky with 50% physical resists. It does draw a fair amount of aggro though. If any units are next to it, their Attack Rating drops by 25% (probably the base attack rating). It can be cast anywhere. Costs 40 Mana at Level 3.