Impossible, Mage - No unit loss.

[DGDobrev]

I believe that's why Chase is trying to beat the game with no losses as a mage, Razor. He did it as a paladin already. There is no dispute that the warrior is the easiest to play - that's just how this game goes. The same situation is present in Armored princess. Having tons of rage and being able to use the dragon (spirits in KBTL, it's pretty much the same) every turn for massive damage pretty much outweighs the usefulness of 3 geysers because mana is slow to replenish, while the rage is replenished in just few rounds of vicious blows and crits and you're set to go ahead and use your most powerful abilities of your spirits/dragon

[Elwin]

How is dragon now? at demo it was completly overpowered

[Chase]

Hah, is mage the hard one?

I mean sure I can no longer geysir the living heck out of things, but I asumed warrior would be harder midgame as you dont really have that much damage help from spells.

Did you try both classes on impossible?

[DGDobrev]

@Chase

I tried all three classes on impossible, that's why I moved to KB: AP, the russian version. Warrior seems to be the easiest and seems to suffer low or no casualties, because most of his mana is dedicated to buffing/resurrecting and with a proper spell and army setup, he rocks. He also gets big rage boosts while the armies exchange blows, which allows you to time back or use offensive skills from the spirits pretty much every turn.

I'd have to say that the paladin has the toughest going in my opinion, because he can neither multi-geyser or use timeback + underground blades like crazy. Some fights are especially tough on impossible and you need a pretty strong army setup and enough options to resurrect your troops. I can remember my problems with karador even now

As a mage, I left my mana just enough to 3-geyser and built-up some rage for underground blades/time back to a decent level (it's hard to max it without hindering your magic usage) and picked all the rage reduction costs. Still, the geysers were pretty much the thing I used throughout the game.

The thing is that I wasn't bent on doing all the games with no losses, but having the combat experience with both 3 classes, I can have a pretty good idea which would be the easiest... I think that would be the warrior.

@Elwin

The russians don't seem to be doing much on the dragon now. Some skills were fixed or balanced, but I don't seem to find much of a difference. Swooping dive or whatever it should be called in English (the mass-damaging dragon ability that pushes enemies back) still works like a charm. Same goes for the chargers and deadly blow (or whatever it is called, that damages and pushes enemies lvl 1-3 back 2 cells). Those are the abilities I use the most and they don't seem to be affected. Besides, I always have rage for them, since in AP, you have a skill that actually retains your rage in a manner that in can't drop below a certain percentage of your total rage. Even if you use up all your rage in combat, it automatically regenerates to that amount. Pretty neat.

[Vilk]

In impossible mode I don't see at all the mage as DGDobrev, I almost never use attack spell and feel them quite inefficient. Higher magic, more mana, int bonus increasing spell time length are great tools for some tactics a warrior can't apply as well. The point is to reach int 15 and 30 to increase time length of spells, and with more mana this offer much more choice than for a warrior.

For example:

• Start a fight with stoneskin and target at first round is a very strong tactic to use on units like Knights/Horsemen/Archmage/Cursed Ghost and against army with many long range.
• Use 2 traps at first rounds and more during next rounds can be very nice against army with many close range.
• Use Stoneskin on two units at first round, or stoneskin and Peacefulness on one unit, or stoneskin and Divine shield on one units are also very strong choices.
• Teleport plus stoneskin or mass haste and stoneskin can be quite good.

That said I agree with DGDobrev that the rage bonus during fight but also the leadership bonus and warrior skills are tools that seems to make the warrior easier to play. But I'm not sure if it's because I don't exploit well enough mage specific possibilities.

[DGDobrev]

Vilk, I am all too comfortable with the buffs and durations and such as well, but the mage has substantially less troops than the warrior, and on impossible, the buffs + the troops do not always suffice. Even with a good tank+target+stoneskin+magic shield, you need a lot of backup power to beat the enemy army (especially the hard battles vs. heroes and the bosses).

If I am to play with buffs, I would rather do it with a warrior (although I used the same strat with the imposible paladin in the 11 day victory) and go with magic shield + target on the tank on the first round. Depending on the enemy army, the warrior can easily afford glot's armor or soul drain. The tank will take quite a beating, but the ranged troops will get a shot in. Then it depends. If the tanks have lost way too many units (I would take that into account when I see what I'm up against and will not use soul drain but glot's armor) I would use time back + target at the end of the 2nd round (since I didn't cast any spell on the 2nd round) and still have full complement of tanking units, while the enemies' numbers have been reduced.

Generally, there is no need to use a char for something he's not good at - like a mage for buffs + army style of combat - because even if you get leadership upgrades starting from lvl 2, you will end up with up to 23k leadership, while a paladin can go over 28k and a warrior with proper items can go way over 30k (you can view the high scores thread for more info about final leadership values - http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/showthr...ght=high+score), which makes a world of difference. In addition to that, the mage has generally lower atk/def attributes, especially if you go for leadership items and not defensive items. For example, a mage with mostly leadership items will barely make 20, in atk or def, while a warrior will have over 30 def and over 35 atk.

I'm not saying it's impossible to play the mage like that, of course It's just a bit odd to use a char for something he's not good at.

[Quelthos]

At least up through level 20 or so damage spells are very much viable, but only if you use them in the right situations. If an army is bundled up in five stacks of large troops, geyser becomes a lot less effective than manipulative spells (for me these are slow, trap). But if an an army is in 8+ smaller stacks, it's great.

I have only faced a few stacks of black dragons to this point, none higher than 10, but my strategy against them has been to space out all but two of my units, so that the dragon will be enticed for double damage, and lay a trap in front of those units. Then during the turn I rearrange my troops again and lay down a second trap spell. Meanwhile my range/no retaliation non magic users lay into them.

Just as it is important to reshuffle your army in impossible modes, it's important to change up your spell tactics.

[Chase]

Originally Posted by Quelthos

At least up through level 20 or so damage spells are very much viable, but only if you use them in the right situations. If an army is bundled up in five stacks of large troops, geyser becomes a lot less effective than manipulative spells (for me these are slow, trap). But if an an army is in 8+ smaller stacks, it's great.

I have only faced a few stacks of black dragons to this point, none higher than 10, but my strategy against them has been to space out all but two of my units, so that the dragon will be enticed for double damage, and lay a trap in front of those units. Then during the turn I rearrange my troops again and lay down a second trap spell. Meanwhile my range/no retaliation non magic users lay into them.

Just as it is important to reshuffle your army in impossible modes, it's important to change up your spell tactics.

I maxed int and got close to 40 while having 200 mana (hi low def, att and leadership) and it let me use the geysir spam until level 24-25.


Update: Im not clearing out demonis with the help of my new wife Xiona and the poison dagger + the whip. I thought this would be a downgrade, but my lake fairies hit for 11000 now. So even tho I lost alot of int and mana, I now basically only use slow and mass magic shackels to win. Its highly viable vs anything except black dragons. And it seems like the strategy Ill use until the end.

(There is a red dragon army walking around here with no less then 52 red dragons in it. It hurts me and wants to say hi to everyone on the forum)

[Razorflame]

black dragons are a curse for no unit losses :>

[DGDobrev]

BTW, Chase, you should be aware of something. The army setup with fairies and such is good up until the battle with Bagum (the big orc that gets you to the turtle via his flying contraption). Bagum has a lot of hard-hitting lvl 4 Orc veterans, Shamans and other units which makes your army a bit improper for that fight. Although it's still manageable, it will take quite a lot of resurrecting afterwards.

The turtle head battle will be even harder because dragons eat fairies for breakfast... However, with the boost in damage you have (whip + dagger) you may be able to cut it, but the ressing will be long and arduous... But I guess that's why it's a challenge One ancient ent and you'll be set to start with the neat trick with multiple thorns and poison cloud lvl 1 you pointed out