Royal griffins

[iankhadan]

I've depleted the stock on Debris and Verona, I just got a map to get over to Elon so I'll see if I can sneak a few there, for now I decided to go with Horsemen to replace them, but the first stop on Elon I found my first ripe stock of Archmagi and my fingers are twitching to go back to my last save so I can satisfy my hunger for mages!

[The Rider]

I just love royal griffins, it is a pity we didnt have them in the Legend, with so many fights against dragons (royals do double damage against dragons). In my first game in AP as a paladin I used them until the end of the game (yes, no dragons at all, I dont think their power pays the leadership cost).

[Newbie1234]

I love Royal Griffins.

Phantomed Royal Griffins has got to be one of the best uses of Mana in the game because the Avenging Angels they summon stay after the duration of Phantom. Couple that with the Griffin buff items + Summoner Magic skill and they're just amazing tanks.

The main Royal Griffin stack shouldn't even do much fighting, such that their stack count is always high in case you want another Phantom of them.

[Saridu]

My paladin spent the entire game casting phantom on his Royal Griffins, then both summon guards and even if I lost a couple - no big deal they were rezzed after combat Great unit!

The top paladin skill negates the Royal Griffin penalty (gives +2 morale to animals) so for the Grem-pain-in-the-ass fight I used both Royal Griffins and Black Dragons

I found the Griffin portrait in Reha so everybody except my orc shamans had at least +2 morale!

[loreangelicus]

I haven't played enough KBAP to use the Royal Griffins, but are they really that good as compared to Emerald Green Dragons?

In KBTL I abused the hell out of Emerald Green Dragons + Phantom. The original EGD stack also did minimal fighting (except for some hit-and-run tactics with its two no-retaliation abilities), but the Phantom-ed stack fearlessly jumps into the middle of the enemy ranks and lets loose its mana blast, essentially getting back the 25 mana spent to cast them; in short, free Phantoms. Then just keep on casting Phantom every turn since you sometimes even end up with more mana...

Inquisitors and Time Back are still in KBAP, so EGDs being level 5 is still not that big of an issue.

[WhYdOyOuThInKtHaThApPeNeD]

I also found Phantoming Royal Griffins to be very powerful. Very nice how the Heavenly Guards the RG's summon are permanent. Casting Phantom on the RG's EVERY round the field can get flooded full of ruthless griffin forces very quickly. It's almost too powerful, especially with 100 RG's.

I was lucky to find RG's early on at the same time I found the Griffin Kings Portrait Artifact (+5 def. +2 griffin morale) AND the Griffin's Banner Regalia (+5 attack of griffins, -20% leadership of griffins). Super powerful combo. The location find for that setup was so ideal I got the feeling maybe some things aren't so random.

For a while I thought the +5 def. of the Griffin Kings Portrait applied only to griffins, it was a nice surprise to find it applies to ALL units.

Also, RG's are top of the line for taking down Gremlin Towers often in 1 hit. RG's have 50% magic resistance, Royal Guards have 25% magic resistance, so even if they get a retaliation from Evil Gremlins they don't receive much harm.

Of course nothing kills a dragon so well as RG's.

My first play through I didn't find them until I got to Elon, that smarmy trader guy hanging out on the bridges in the middle of the island had them, thus not accessible until late game.
Two other play through's RG's were found in an identical setup at the Barbarian camp in Verona (with Royal Thorns across the way, and all the same other units for sale both times, so I think it's a common setup).
It's right on the shore of that little island on the West side of Verona. So if they are there they can be acquired as soon as you find a Verona map with no fighting to get to them. Just beware the enemy unit that patrols that area.

[Petwin]

Placement is random. The only way to obtain RG's for sure is to use a Song of the Wind scroll. With a little egg and sprout use that is..

[Zechnophobe]

Well, green dragons are much better for tanking, even in phantom form. Royal Griffs however dish out the damage like little else. Their attack and damage are both quite high, and infinite retaliation helps out well.

Time back is cheaper to cast on them, so it is an option if you want it. Cast phantom first turn, time back turn 2, and get really aggressive with 'em!

[tetleytea]

Two questions about Royal Griffins:

1) Where do you buy them? Demenion's castle?
2) Does the Griffin banner work on royals?

[DGDobrev]

1) You buy them wherever you find them Chances are they'll be spawning on Verona, but I have also encountered them on Scarlet, Bolo, Rusty, Tekron, Montero and once on Elon.
2) Yes, absolutely.