Need Hard mode mage tips, Never played other KB's.

[tiberiu]

Originally Posted by Zephiroth

I'm playing as a mage now on hard mode, but still can't get it right, how do I pick what armies to fight and leave alone? Should I be looking for int. booster for my equipment over attack and defense? And what about skill tree, should I focus only on magic and not might and mind, or mix it up some?

Attack anything that is AT MOST slightly stronger. You should be able to win the fight.

Choose attack and defense over intelect only if you do not cast damage spells. If you use damage spells, you need to have high intelect.

In the Might tree put nothing until lvl 15 or so, a mage doesn't really need what's there.

In the Mind tree take Learning if you can to maximize you XP intake and level up faster.

In the Magic tree focus on 1 Magic School. Distortion is the best one overall but you should pick what school to specialize in depending on what scrolls you find. If you find Healing and/or Ressurection it is worthwhile to maximize Order Magic. Rune Magic is good if you want to have access to infinite money later on, but costs you more runes then Distortion.

[DeRex]

Actually, Call of Nature spell is great on first 4 islands. After that it is uselles.

Phoenix is overpowered until level 50, probably.

Healing on a Mage (Soothsayer) is great because you can damage undeads with it, 300 + damage for 1 mana.

Stone Skin is a must have for a mage.

For units, best on 4 islands are those that you cannot lose, so you can get 100 victories without losses before fighting with giant Spider.

- Trolls
- Jarls
- Warrior Maidens
- Engineers
- Jotuns
- Soothsayers

For giant Spider:
- Trolls (if you get Sacrifice spell you can create some Trolls up to max leadership)
- Polar Bears
- Jarls
- Warrior Maidens
- Royal Snakes

- Use higher magic, stone skin, heals, hell breath on Polar Bears, ... and win.

[Nevar]

@DeRex: I would actually say Call of Nature 1 is good on Island 1, but not anymore on 2,3, and 4 simply because it costs too much mana for what it does. Sure, a mage can have 40 mana by Island 2 or 3 for Level 3 CoN, but why would you blow all that mana on a possible level 1 creature?

Now, if we were guaranteed a Royal Griff or other Level 4 animal, it might have some use.

[BluePhoenix]

Can someone please tell me a bit about rune magic? I only play as a Mage in KB games. Haven't got WotN yet, but planning to get it this week. How does rune magic work? How is it different from other types of magic?

[tiberiu]

Originally Posted by BluePhoenix

Can someone please tell me a bit about rune magic? I only play as a Mage in KB games. Haven't got WotN yet, but planning to get it this week. How does rune magic work? How is it different from other types of magic?

Well rune magic is not very different from the others. There are damage spells in it, there are spells that give you rage and mana, spells that decrease duration of negative effects from your units. It's an interesting magic school, it can even provide you lots of extra gold. You have to test it yourself to see exactly how it is though.

[Nirual]

Originally Posted by BluePhoenix

Can someone please tell me a bit about rune magic? I only play as a Mage in KB games. Haven't got WotN yet, but planning to get it this week. How does rune magic work? How is it different from other types of magic?

Some spells consume runes on the units you cast them on, either one specific (Gift, Negation etc) or several out of all the runes available (Chargers, Rune Chain). But there is also a bunch of spells (especially damage spells) which aren't anything special but are ice-themed such as Blizzard and Frost Snake (which was a Destruction spell previously).