Shall we start a new high score/info thread? (Spoilers inside)

[DGDobrev]

From lvl 2 to lvl 50, you get the full amount of runes - 48 (4x12) for each class in various combinations. From lvl 51 upwards, you get half that amount, rounded down. So, if you are a warrior and get 5 might, 5 spirit and 2 magic runes (12 total), you will get 2/2/1, respectively. 6/4/2 transforms into 3/2/1. The leadership upgrades are also halved. In essence, at lvl 51, you will get the leadership upgrade of lvl 25, for example. So, rather than getting over 1000 leadership upgrade, you will get only 500 as a warrior.

Still, it is a pretty meaningful upgrade, and one can never get enough runes

The dwarf, Trigger is also great - he will upgrade his special skill several times. It will provide up to +25% critical chance to all archers. This is great for everyone who likes archers.

EDIT: BTW, doubling the attack of the female chars is wondrous. It makes them act not like 4000, but like 8000 fairies. Imagine the crit they'll inflict

[BB Shockwave]

Agvares's special is great, too bad I don't use any of the units he could control (from those, only Knights, Assassins and Werewolves are good anyway).

Btw, there is an awesome weapon for all-dwarven armies that you can get and upgrade easily after getting the Pegasus wings: the Axe of Elements. Depending on what order you touch the three altars in Montero with the Axe, you can get the Axe of Winds Level III. (+1 speed and initiative to dwarves - great with Giants!) , Axe of Ice Level III. (no retaliation attacks to all dwarven units!!!) and... well I don't remember what the Lightning axe does.

[DGDobrev]

Actually the no retaliation trait gained by the Axe of Ice only works on lvl 1-3 dwarven units, and they are only 2 of them - diggers and dwarves. So it's really not that great, although I must admit that Diggers (the basic lvl 2 dwarven unit) can come in the thousands, pretty much like the fairies, but have much better attack, defense and damage, and they also get a +10% Physical resistance thanks to that axe. Besides, it's stats are great:

Axe of Ice, Class 3
+ 7 Defense
Dwarves lvl 1-3 attack without retaliation
+10% physical resistance (absolute) to all dwarven units

Here's the stats of the Axe of Lightning:

The Axe of Lightning Lvl 3
+5 Attack
+10% Critical strike chance
+20% damage to the Lightning Spell
(I'll have to check, but I think it also affects the archmagi's base attack, as it is Lightning-based)

They are all great - but in the end, it depends on your playing style which one are you going to get and use, so do not be hasty in making that decision.

[BB Shockwave]

Originally Posted by DGDobrev

Actually the no retaliation trait gained by the Axe of Ice only works on lvl 1-3 dwarven units, and they are only 2 of them - diggers and dwarves. So it's really not that great, although I must admit that Diggers (the basic lvl 2 dwarven unit) can come in the thousands, pretty much like the fairies, but have much better attack, defense and damage, and they also get a +10% Physical resistance thanks to that axe. Besides, it's stats are great:

I did play around with dwarves for a while - MIners are awesome now even without the Axe, if you use them in tandem with Foremen (and frankly, Foremen are much better then the level 3 Dwarf). Foremen increase the base attack and intiative of miners by 100% just by being in the army, and using the ability "Forward March" they give 3 speed and initiative to Miners! Making those slow little buggers very, very fast.
PLus, during the Miner's strike the Foremen get +1 speed, initiative and 100% critical chance (because he's angry, as all bosses are during a strike... )

Also, don't forget that Droid Engineers are level 3 too. They are ranged units, but they fly, have a speed of 4 and no melee penalty, so they could benefit from the no retaliation bonus too.

Zhuangzi - already on the first Island I found the "Fairy Dress" that gives +3 morale to Sprites and Dryads and +7 to Mana. Also I believe there is another item that boosts them, I saw it on the Elf islands. Generally there are a lot more creature-specific items, for example a Dark helm that reduces leadership of Death Knights.

I found out that there is a good Lizardmen-boosting item that you can get in every game - In Alona, you can do an exam in the Lecture Hall (the headmaster elf is a strange fellow, all courses exam's end in a big battle... ) - if you choose Biology (I think that is it) he wants you to show him the weak points of lizards - in battle! You get a diploma (Regalia) in biology (?) after this that gives +10 Rage, +5 Attack to Lizardmen and +10% critical chance to Tirexes!

The other two options (from what I can tell, translation is quite bad here) are Abjuration and Botany.

Abjuration pits you against a mage army (so you can show how you defend yourself against battle magic) and the Diploma gives you +2 defense, +2 Intelligence and +25% Magic resistance.

If you choose Botany (that's the funniest) Amelie says "Oh I love this, to arrange lovely flowers in a bouqet!" To which the professor says "But how to protect it? Now show me how you protect a lovely bouqet from firey creatures from hell!" and you will be pitted against an army of Demons while your army will consist of Ents and Thorns...
The Botany diploma Gives +10 Attack to Ents, Thorns and Dryads (so that's the other item I remember that boosts Dryads)....

[Zhuangzi]

That's the thing I love the best about these games - the combinations of units and combinations of items. In AP they have worked on the 'sets' of items a lot too - now the item tells you what other items you need to complete the set. Nice.

[DGDobrev]

I wholeheartedly agree with that statement. Not every playthrough must be made to show a great score. There are many combinations that are worthwhile to try. I for one, like this a lot - if you get a Call of Death Wanderers' Scroll, hang on to it - it's great in the late stages of the game. When you use it, it fills out a free spot with units worth the maximum amount of leadership you have. Try to luck out with a couple thousand Skeleton archers, use dragon arrows and drop an entire dragon stack in one blow. Priceless

What I really like about tKBAP is that it provides even more options to mix parties with mutual benefit than in KBTL. What I don't like is the fact that in certain playthroughs, one can get the units he wants at a very late stage, while it's much more fun to try them early on. A good example are the Demonologists, Necromancers and Druids. I like all of those, because the Necro's and Druids are great in utilizing mass attacks, and the Demonoligsts are Human Neutral, meaning they don't harm the morale by mixing up 3 types of units (humans, demons, undead).

A good question is whether you have some means to resurrect the undead armies, besides the Paladin hero Resurrection ability, as it resurrects every stack. In KBAP, Necro Call resurrects dead stacks as undead, and it doesn't work like resurrection. All you can do is sacrifice to regain lost units, and that takes quite a lot of mana and rounds...

[travelingoz]

Demonologists can resurrect undead too!

[BB Shockwave]

Originally Posted by DGDobrev

A good question is whether you have some means to resurrect the undead armies, besides the Paladin hero Resurrection ability, as it resurrects every stack. In KBAP, Necro Call resurrects dead stacks as undead, and it doesn't work like resurrection. All you can do is sacrifice to regain lost units, and that takes quite a lot of mana and rounds...

The "Evlin" spell can resurrect a percentage of them. You need dead bodies for that, but you can get plenty of those with summonings. Also, there is time back!