Army Composition, Gear Stacks & Strategies

[Smash]

Omg someone is using Ents oO.
+1 for Guts!

[McSwan]

Yeah, a common mistake is thinking this game is based around attack, the best strategies are based around defence.

ie get scale set +20% phy resistence
leather dress +5 resistence to everything (one of the best items for only 4 k gold lol!)
slippery curiass - 10% resistence - you can get 2 of them in some games.

Use black knights with innate 30% phys resistance

Cast stone skin to get him up to 95% phys resistance. So something that would do 1,000 dam in one hit, now does 50 dam (excluding defence modifier).

But for killing power it's not bad. Try adding the princess set too.

[WhYdOyOuThInKtHaThApPeNeD]

Yeah, it's mainly a design for fun and to show some good equipment stack possibilities. Dual Victor belts is just the ideal possibility, not so realistic, which is why the large line-up of other belt possibilities is presented. Actually I just got one of those Victor Belts. Combined with the Cloak of Shadows which I was also lucky to find it's quite a powerful mix.

Yeah defense is the best generally. 500+ Priests shooting a stack of Black Dragons and doing a total of 12 damage is pretty nifty. I felt so sorry for those Priests.

Actually Ancient Ents can be very potent. I'm currently running a Mage game and using Ancient Ents, with a bunch of empowerment's (especially the Botany Diploma) and racial cooperation's they are doing near 100% critical every time. Plus other empowerment's, teleported strategically into the enemies front lines they really crush hard. The regular Ents in this potential lineup is to make use of the plant empowerment's and to support the gang-up infernal exchange.

Notice the text color coding is designed to allow easy observation of similar empowerment stacks.

[WhYdOyOuThInKtHaThApPeNeD]

Been using Royal Griffins a lot this last game and thought I'd present a list of stacks, strats & info to realize the maximum potential for the Royal Griffin.
Everyone is encouraged to include their own information or corrections, this could be a comprehensive strategy guide for Royal Griffins.

Stacking as many of these as possible makes the Royal Griffins one of the most powerful strategies KBAP has to offer imo.

Use of the following spell combinations cast on the Royal Griffin:
Use of Inquisitor & Arch-Mage allows more power-ups combined in the first 2 rounds.
As Mage class more effective & more powerful spell empowerment's per round. As Warrior class higher attack/defense rating.

Bless/Holy Rage (by Inquisitor) (Bless: guarantees maximum damage is always inflicted. Holy Rage causes 150% damage to Demons & Undead)
Magic Shield (by Arch-Mage) (causes all damage suffered to be cut in half, especially good when suffering heavy damage)

Berserker III (increases attack rating, extremely effective on the RG)
Hell Breath (increases damage inflicted, best combined with Bless & Berserker)

Magic Spring (especially good for a RG positioned right in the middle of many enemy units receiving many blows, if mana is needed)
Stone Skin (usually provides better defense than Magic Spring if mana isn't needed, but reduces intitive -1)
Divine Armor (provides resistance to all types of damage, especially good when fighting enemies doing a lot of special damage types like magic, poison or fire. Or when stacking special resistances to achieve almost total immunity from certain attacks)

Target (Cast on the empowered RG, enemy units will make a special effort to attack the RG before other units, further exploiting the empowerment's and always retaliation of the RG)

Use the Paladins Second Wind talent on the empowered RG to get the most out of their spell empowerment's. (2 attacks by a powered up RG in 1 round is ruthless)

Phantom spell the RG. (extra Cheer, Angelic Guards & Attacks)
RG's Summon Angelic Guards.
Do this every round to flood the field with Royal Griffins, Angelic Guards and to keep your human allies "Cheerful".

The 2 essential super excellent griffin items:
Portrait of the King of Griffins (Artifact: +5 defense for all units, +2 morale Griffins) (allows RG's to cooperate with dragons with no penalty)
Griffin's Banner (Regalia: +5 attack of Griffins, -20% leadership of Griffins)

The lesser griffin item:
Golden Feather (Regalia: +1 speed of griffins & 1st level creatures)

The mind skill 'Voice of the Dragon' (up to +2 morale for animals).
The Blue Dragon Pet (+1 initiative for animals)

RG's are Furious (always retaliate). (Especially effective when the RG is thrown right into the middle of many enemies. Makes highly efficient use of the empowerment/defense spells)
RG's have innate +50% Magic Resistance. (Making them excellent for attacking Evil Gremlin Towers or any enemy that attacks with magic type damage)
RG's do Double Damage to Dragons. DDD
RG's provide +1 Morale to Humans & Griffins in the party.
RG Cheer talent +50% attack and initiative for humans & elves, 2 rounds.


With Mage Amelie
Going up against any enemy whose main attack is physical or magic type this empowered RG stack will prove invincible.



70 Royal Griffins eliminate the troop of 62 Black Knights



Some possible move combos for the first 2 rounds:
(just loose basic ideas, certainly many order of operations possibilities)

(1)
Teleport Paladin strategically to enemy front lines
Move Royal Griffin near Paladin
Summon Angelic Guards
Arch-Mage cast Magic Shield on Royal Griffins
Inquisitor cast Holy Anger on Royal Griffins
Demonologist summon demons
Paladin 2nd Wind Royal Griffins
Royal Griffins cast Cheer on Paladin, Arch-Mage & Inquisitor
Inquisitor cast Holy Anger on Royal Griffins
Cast Berserker III or other empowerment's on Royal Griffins

(2)
Move Royal Griffin strategically into place
Cast Phantom on Royal Griffins
Royal Griffin summons Angelic Guards
Arch-Mage cast Magic Shield on Royal Griffins
Inquisitors cast Holy Rage on Royal Griffins
Demonologist summon demons
Royal Griffin (phantom) summon Angelic Guards
Paladin 2nd Wind Royal Griffins (real) for attack or Arch-Mage (for early trance/crit strike)
Move Paladin
Royal Griffin (phantom) Cheer or attack
Royal Griffin (real) move into position
Cast Phantom on Royal Griffin (real)
Royal Griffin (real) attack
Continue Mana Accelerator + Phantom Royal Griffin + Summon Angelic Guard every round for Griffin flood

(3)
A variation can be included in any army consisting of RG's & paladins where Phantom is cast on the Paladin (instead of the RG) with the intent that the Paladins 2nd Wind talent is used on the empowered RG to further exploit the RG's empowerments.



Those poor elves. The noble Paladin shows his remorse for the hopelessness of the situation.



It was destined for doom. The elves have no place to run.

[Smash]

That was how i finished this game first time (and only cuese got bored) as mage.
RG
Shamans
Paladins
Inc
Archmages
my standard army .
Only difference are that you forgot to write about target spell to cast on RG to get full potential of "Unlimited Retaliation" and their buffed resistance.
Phantom spell i was using on paladins instead of RG, second turn for RG and resurrection in one spell? Come on, must use.

[WhYdOyOuThInKtHaThApPeNeD]

That's nice use for target. I haven't got into using it at all yet. I'll add it, thanks.

Yeah I often think about how nice it is to use the Phantom on the paladin to get the extra 2nd wind and if I should do that instead of phantom the RG. I rarely need to resurrect though (1 is enough), I only play on hard so far.
I just get stuck on how nice it is to have so many extra stacks of units flying around and drawing fire, I've got a thing for summoning. Also the Paladin is so slow it misses almost everything too often and so does the phantom.

[WhYdOyOuThInKtHaThApPeNeD]

This strategy requires some form of speed enhancement to really work well. On smaller battle fields it should work well without speed enhancement. It will work to some degree on any map without speed, but not as well.
Also it's only viable for enemy armies that are mostly flightless with fewer action points.

If no speed boosting items have been discovered, these two options are reliably available:
Mana Accelerator used every round it will help to cast a Phantom every round as well. But will use up a Rage Skill casting.
Haste spell will use up a precious spell round. However Haste III only costs 10 mana and gives your entire army +2 speed for 4 rounds. With Mage class higher magic, Haste III + Phantom can be done in round 1.

Speed boosting items (if discovered) will save you spells and rage skills for other uses:
Belt of the Victor (artifact) provides +1 speed to all units but is a very hard to find composite item included in the gift bag. (special mod needs to be installed)
Skates (boots) provide +1 speed to all pedestrians on snow terrain. (gift bag mod)
Boots of the Pilgrim (boots) provide +1 speed to the slowest troop
Ogre Sandals (boots) provide +1 speed to Ogres, Giants & Trolls


The Ogre set is excellent for this strategy and Giants in general.

--- Ogre Set ---
+2500 Leadership (allows 1 more Giant and helps for the next one)

Ogre's Club (weapon) (finding 2 of these is really nice for the 40% damage increase)
+4 Attack
+20% Damage for Ogre's, Troll's & Giant's

Ogre Sandals (boots)
+2 Defense
+1 Speed of Ogre's, Troll's & Giant's (this is the real sweet deal, lucky if you find 2)

Ogre's Belt (belt)
+4 Defense (many better items can fill this slot, but with the set +4 def. is pretty good)

--- end Ogre Set ---

Other items of special benefit to Giants:

Horn of King Borg (artifact)
+5 Attack to all Dwarfs
–10% Leadership requirement for all dwarfs (includes Giants)
–1 Initiatives to your humans and elves

Fighting Pole-axe (weapon) (sorry don't know the actual in game name)
+20% Damage for fighters with melee weapons

Drill (weapon) (always found after defeating the Driller boss)
+25 Physical damage
-1 Initiative
Only affects fighters with melee weapons


Army Composition:
The idea being the mages all have pretty good range attack. Arch-Mage can Magic Shield the main Giant stack. Demonologist, Druid & Royal Griffin all summon free support units. RG is a fast and powerful tank unit.
Several good substitutions might be: Shaman for totem of life to bring defense and healing to the invading Giants + Dancing Axes for healing and offensive strike. Hunters for strong range attack. Trolls for super tank, especially if holding the Ogre set items. Dragons for fast powerful tanks.




The Power of Phantom Giants Strategy


(1) First activate running for Giants, move Giants towards enemy army but don't use the last action point.



(2) Cast Phantom on the Giants and place the phantom Giants 1 space in front of the real Giants so they start as close to the enemy army as possible.
(3) Instruct real Giants to do Earthquake.



(4) Activate running for phantom Giants, move giants toward enemy army, but save the last action point.



(5) Instruct phantom Giants to use Earthquake for their last action point.
If there aren't too many obstacles on the field it's possible to have the phantom Giants in the midst of the enemy army for the 1st Earthquake in the 1st round. If you keep your real army back the enemy army will most likely target the phantom Giants, saving your real army and giving you more rounds to wear them down. (in this photo the enemy is weak so I'm just charging)



(5)At this point it's possible to continue to Phantom the real Giant stack and flood the enemy army with Giant tanks and Earthquakes.
Use Mana Accelerator to maintain mana.



Look at that angry Polar Bear, he doesn't like earthquakes!
In this scene all enemies are attacking the phantom Giants and ignoring the real army which is a bit further back.



The Phantom Giants work really well in this battle against all Hyenas.
Granted this is a very easy battle and almost anything would work well.



Here is a scenario using Mana Accelerator to get the real big Giant stack as close to the enemy as possible before 1st Earthquake.

Giants use run and move into place saving 1 action point. Phantom is carefully placed first. Mana Accelerator is carefully placed 2nd.



Real large Giant stack grabs Mana Accelerator gaining 2 action points (this is later stage MA upgrade, early has 1 action point). Moves 1 more space toward the enemy lines (having gained a total of 2 move spaces plus 1 extra action point remaining). Main large stack uses Earthquake with impressive results.


Hyenas make their move. Luckily most went for the Executioner, the others just ran up to the real Giant stack and did nothing, some attacked the phantom Giants. Now phantom Giants Earthquake.



3rd phantom Giants are made. So far the Giants and phantoms have done most of the work. Ideally I should have had Arch-Mages (Magic Shield) and other mage/range units supporting them. The Dragons and Troll did nothing the whole match but move around or defend.