Noob mage

[Suporex]

yeah I do understand, I am just saying which guide I am playing and so far it works, I have put point in all skills leading to voice of dragon, so rather no way back. I will see how it goes and maybe will try seocond play through different.

so what is your mage build? I saw you can do impossible without loss and was wondering if you can share build and army composition for most of the game as I saw you change it for different bosses.

Thanks

[ludak021]

well, I take onslaught and that other thing that gives speed + initiative (on second level) every turn to one unit. I need so I can always play first, otherwise enemy dragons/archdemons get to play first so you can't set traps or other things, makes life more difficult if you want no loss, especially when archdeamons decide to kill a dragon or two of your own...

[Svidler]

Just wanted to state how incredibly overrated I consider
alchemy. Have had all but perhaps 1 or 2 spells in the game at level 3 without alchemy level 1 Must admit I had neatness 3 though..

[magritte]

I'm another beginning mage and worried that I'm messing up strategically. The thing that worries me is that when I was on Debir Island I was able to wipe out pretty much everything with almost no casualties, in part because I could wipe whole stacks out with a level 2 magic pole-axe. But now I'm level 8, I've done all the quests on Debir Island, plus Goodman's last ambush and have cruised around Bolo and Scarlet Wind knocking off the easier monsters.

But everything's at least equal in strength to my army now, so that every combat costs me some troops...not a lot, maybe a couple stacks will lose 10-20% of their numbers, but some, especially if I'm fighting another hero. My direct damage spells don't have the same bite they did early on, and I haven't found the other spells I've got to be all that helpful. Call of Nature can be great but it's so unpredictable whether I get awesome royal snakes or worthless lake dragonflies. I've used helplessness a bit cause it's cheap on high defense critters. Precision and dragon arrows seem a waste because my archers do such piddling damage. My opponents keep casting things like Blind but I can't find it. I was thinking of trying Call of Nature and beef up the summoned troop with stoneskin and sending it out as a sacrificial lamb, but I feel like I need to bring in some of the other ground troops to get some.

My build so far
Heroism 1 rank (probably a waste--should I have gone for rage control and training maybe on my scarce might runes?)
Glory 2
Wisdom 2, Linguistics 2, Order Magic 2, Chaos Magic 1, Distortion Magic 1

My troops: Bowmen, Inquisitors, Ancient Bears, Sea Dogs, Marauders

Ancient bears are tough but seem a bit lacking in offense. I like Marauders a lot but they're a bit fragile, and I have trouble making maximum use of the sea dogs special. But it's the ranged troops that just don't seem to be doing much to me. The Inquisiitors resurrection skill sounded great and in the early game it basically prevented me from taking any losses, but now that I'm losing 5-10 troops in battles, they don't raise enough to make a difference. Other level 2+ troops I know where to find include beholders, snakes, swamp snakes (but no Royal Snakes, sadly), Berserkers, Priests, Bears, Repair Droids, Guard Droids. I can't fill my leadership quota of swordsmen (I think King Frederick only started with 40) and while I have found one source of Archmages, there are only four available.

So--have I spent my runes badly? Should I be casting different spells that I'm not recognizing the value of or are there just spells I haven't seen yet? Am I sweating the casualties too much? HOMM games have kind of trained me to avoid any losses, but maybe I'm worrying about it too much since I don't seem to be running out of money or troops (except for Swordsmen).

[J.B.]

The more the game continues, the more damage or destructive spells become less important for me. I prefer spells like Phantom, Trap, Magic Shackles, Slow, Bless or Teleport. For me it is important to slow down the enemy to take the stacks out with ranged troops. That's why I prefer Distortion Magic. I always try to get this to Level 3 as soon as possible.

Some spells, e.g. the Dragon Arrows become very effective/strong, when you choose a certain skill (Quickdraw in the Might-Tree). Or the combination of Awaken Dragon and the way you skilled you pet Dragon.

Regarding troops, it depends on the way you like to play...aggressive or passive, melee or ranged...weaken all or taking out one by one?

From what I see is, that you have a lot of weak (HP) troops, except the Ancient Bears and the Inquisitors. Do you have the chance to get Archmages and/or Royal Snakes. Griffins might be worth a try, too.

The Bowmen will be very effective with the corresponding skill in the might-tree (Quickdraw), because then, their initiative is higher, they make more damage (esp. with Dragon Arrows) and their Fire- and Frost-Arrows are very useful.

All in all Initiative is everything! There is a skill in the might-tree, Onslaught, that increases the initiative for you troops in the first round, which will often make the difference in losses or not, or in winning a hard battle or not. Secondly have a look on useful interactions/combinations of skills, spells, troops and your pet Dragon....the game offers a lot of them. Just a few examples: Crushing Blow (Pet Dragon) & Trap, Inquisitors & Phantom, Dragon Dive/Fiery Phantoms & Awaken Dragon, (Royal) Griffins & Glot's Armor, Dragon Dive, Teleport & Knights Surrond Attack, etc..

Try to check out the might-tree and the mind-tree as well for useful skills. Playing a Mage does not mean, that you should ignore skills from the other trees.

Maybe this link might help you to plan a little bit ahead the building of your character: http://www.celestialheavens.com/kingsbounty/hs-en.htm

BR

J.B.