Mid-game crisis :<

[jwallstone]

@ Vulture
I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "aggro gain". As for AI choosing targets, they tend to target creatures that have a higher damage potential. This usually means large stacks of lower level units. They seem to have a preference however for certain special units, such as inquisitors. I've found that phantoms or summoned thorns also seem to get preference. Finally, if you have a unit next to an enemy ranged unit, if the ranged unit can move away and still shoot, it will almost always shoot the unit it just moved away from. That can be very useful for figuring out how to neutralize enemy ranged units.

[Vulture]

I'm pretty happy with it, too zonc. You're right about a second range unit (with respective gear for them) to be more suitable in this setup than dragons but still I have none of those items and no tolerance (UD+Demons around) so bowmen won't go. I prefer dragons for now for their fire damage and their special ability because in Ellinia multitarget fire damage is way better than single target physical. Took out a stack of sprites and 2 small stacks of ancient ents lined up yesterday with a fine 3x 4k fire breath. But of course for demonis and lotd the blackies will decorate a garrison and I'll go as you advise. Also, I was lucky to get another -rest lvlup for timeback so I'm with 20 rage / 3 turn rest for 1-5 creatures which is perfect as can be. Gives me the opportunity to reduce battle length to a max of 5 turns without kiting around too much waiting for next sacc/tb to work. Is there a chance to get it below 3 turns ? Reaper is only lvl 16 atm so there's much to come. 2 turns would be a blast :>

Funny thing is, I found my 2nd and 3rd sacrifice spell yesterday and my 3rd ressurrection (was even a stack of 3 scrolls of it and I felt very bad selling them ^^). I hope I don't pay for this spell luck in my next game ^^

Thanks again everybody for your help, I've learned a lot about helpful synergies through your comments, especially about skellie archs with DA. I usesd to be disappointed about this spell with hunters until I learned more about dmg increase through defense ignore for big stacks of low lvl archers. It increases the dmg by a much higher amount than with high lvl archers with higher attack rating and higher damage ratio (i.e. 2-3 vs 8-12). I'll keep that in mind for when I get the whip and hopefully find the dagger for the Ls and Ss waiting in Kronberg Castle to finally kick some asses :>

[Elwin]

Originally Posted by Vulture

But of course for demonis and lotd the blackies will decorate a garrison and I'll go as you advise. Also, I was lucky to get another -rest lvlup for timeback so I'm with 20 rage / 3 turn rest for 1-5 creatures which is perfect as can be. Gives me the opportunity to reduce battle length to a max of 5 turns without kiting around too much waiting for next sacc/tb to work. Is there a chance to get it below 3 turns ? Reaper is only lvl 16 atm so there's much to come. 2 turns would be a blast :>

Bah, my reaper with level 16 got only time back 1-2 As i wrote in other thread i still wonder if i did something wrong or its pure random and i am extrelemy unlucky for upgrades of time back Atm got the best rage skill completlety useless ( would work with sprites/dryads but i am happy with my current setup) .
As for demonis i agree blackies are useless i tried it ,did no damage at archdemon and not much to others .However i find them usuefull against Karador in lotd, had royal snake,shaman,emerald,hunter, elf in my team but after first recognizing fight ( which was failure of course) i fount out thats my weakpoint because he was main target for Karador's hypnosis and actualy he was kiling me instead of helping. Replaced him with blackie and problem with hypno dissapeared Karador got defeated . Actually with undead army you will not have problem with hypnosis ^^

About ranged setup you mentioned in first post : elven bow isnt bad, but in my opinion for such setup ale barrel + telescopic sight is a must be, addidional 100% attack and 30% crit make my elves and hunters hell powerfull , could add an elven bow for even more damage but actually i am playing mage and need more items for spells than for units.

[Zonc]

Originally Posted by Vulture

Is there a chance to get it below 3 turns ? Reaper is only lvl 16 atm so there's much to come. 2 turns would be a blast :>

Yes my warrior had 2 turn cooldown so there was only one turn for the assault unit to spend idling. However, it's required to win Bogacho's catle battle ASAP (my record is level 8 ) and have the skill that increases exp for spirits (which is very tough for a mage)

I usesd to be disappointed about this spell with hunters until I learned more about dmg increase through defense ignore for big stacks of low lvl archers.

To maximize damage try to achieve around 25-30 attack for skellies. This way maximum bonus (+200%) is achieved and they do tremendous damage (like 12k regular non-crit even for 5 lvl units). This is why I recommend Dark Commander, Xeona with 2 weapons is also very helpful.

[jwallstone]

Sorry, I just want to point out that the maximum damage bonus is achieved when your attack is 60 greater than the enemy's defense, not 30. Each point is a 3.33% bonus, so 30 gives a 100% bonus, and 60 gives a 200% bonus.

For some reason, this math mistake keeps on showing up on the forums.

[Zonc]

I would some link to confirm this, thanks (I'm curious myself)

[Vulture]

Originally Posted by Zonc

Yes my warrior had 2 turn cooldown so there was only one turn for the assault unit to spend idling. However, it's required to win Bogacho's catle battle ASAP (my record is level 8 ) and have the skill that increases exp for spirits (which is very tough for a mage)

To maximize damage try to achieve around 25-30 attack for skellies. This way maximum bonus (+200%) is achieved and they do tremendous damage (like 12k regular non-crit even for 5 lvl units). This is why I recommend Dark Commander, Xeona with 2 weapons is also very helpful.

Yes, at least 1 point into the rage spirit talent is crucial. Cheap 10% for them is a must-have imho. Yet I decided not to go for more as a 5% increase seemed too expensive for me as a paladin.

Righty about the Skellies. Got my attack up to 15 from former 8 (2 attack lvl ups, many altars of combat and 2 artifacts) and it was remarkable. They go for 6k+ DA shots by now... and that's by far not the end of the line. I am very convinced of them and I won't ever go without 'em anymore unless I am forced to. Heard about the Karador battle requiring melee only.

By the way I saved runes during the last 3 lvls (22 now) and I can go for 2/2 tolerance (still having headache about taking bullshit to get to it but I could now) and 2/3 Dark Commander if I buy a might rune at 100k. Was pretty lucky on doing the whip quest. The Road's Architect Shop unlocked presented me a fine Assassin's dagger and of course the whip <3. The bad part about this is that I can't get Xeona for the weapon slots. So no elf girl action for me now. I don't know if her army is guaranteed to be the same every game but in mine 300 Demonesses (split in 2x 150 ie 2 Infernal Exchange dangers) along with 100 Demons and a good 1k fire spiders, imps and catapults on top plus demon portals from Xeona spawning 4 Arch-Demons is way to much for me atm. I know what you will say about this: mass magic shackles and block the way with summons. Mine is at lvl 2 only for I'm scared of the 40 mana casting costs and it will once again block my cast/turn plannings.
1. Shackle 2. Target [timeback] 3. Target 4. Shackle
leaves no space for mana spring or Dragon Arrows and beats me down to only ~30 mana (3x 6 regen already calculated). Lina's Chargers still unimproved with 1 orb of each, never got asked for a up yet -.-

I felt better having neither whip nor dagger than having both and being unable to use them ^^

Nevertheless, no Sprite/Fairie massacre for me yet so I'll have to rely on the benefits of tolerance. Vamps showed up almost useless in lotd where I'm at right now so I'll try Demons, Skellie Archs, Hunters, Blackies + probably inquisitors. To keep Demons reliable I'll have to find a way to avoid enemy vamps on them somehow. And the Inquis finally can be more than a once-per-battle cast saver but a reliable dps unit as well.

[Zonc]

First 2 turns simply ignore vamps, focus on archers, necros and bone dragons first (try placing your Demons within enemy archers melee range so Demons retaliate). After this in turn 3 vamps die easily under mass fire, then slaughter slow melees (zombies and dark knights). Toughest fights in lotd are in the "dragon section", which I hate them, Karador is almost easy compared to these fights (btw my squad against him was fairies, sprites, dryads + Anga's Ruby, snakes + snake ring and standard Demon + Target + Timback procedure)

[Elwin]

Karador doesn't require melee only( i had 2 archers), however its good to have them to stand on corpse to not ress them, other way could be marauder who can explode corpse or smg like that. There is also another way (but according to what you write another spells is not an option )- using weak necro call on his fallen units, so even if they die again he wont rise like 50 vamps but maybe 10 or so depends on your necrocall power,

Karador armies indeed are much less in numbers than usual forces there, but this rressing all the time make it tougher

[Vulture]

To get my Demons directly in front of enemy archers I will have to go for tactics2 which is IIRC 14 Might runes (definetely can't afford them, not even remotely). Took tactics1 at lvl 6 already for I considered it crucial, but only 2 hexes + Speed3 + running makes 7. AI archers usually are placed 9th or 10th from my baseline.
I seriously want to replace necros and Vamps for further lotd (except for Karador, 3 raise dead charges seem priceless). The other problem is that my Elven Crown keeps going to 0 without elves in my army in the middle of nowhere so I will go with hunters instead of necros.