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Fun fact: Tendrel bears more than a passing resemblance to his father Vendrel, since Vendrel was also a completely lazy bastard after a few millenia of nigh-invulnerability. Back in Majesty 1 when you found yourself up against Vendrel he'd flap into town and start incinerating things(including in the first five minutes of the game), but eventually grow bored and fly off to his lair to nap for a week or so, leaving you time to build up your forces and seek out the magic sword that would break through his defenses. Of course you'd probably wind up sitting through several raids of his, which could prove costly to your heroes unless you used skeletons from Krypta to soak up his attacks (dragonbreath counted as a ranged attack in the first game, and Skeletons had something like 80% ranged resistance) or had a similar set of heroes from the other temples (high level paladins and monks from Dauros, for instance, or adepts from Lunord, though you already had solarii from Helia on that map). In the mean time you had to hope that he'd just stick to either going after buildings you could easily repair or peasants that were completely free to replace.wiegieman posted:I am looking forward to how you will overcome the soul-crushing grind that is the endgame. Godspeed, man. I haven't played the sequel yet, but I suspect it's something like going all-in on a heavily buffed Legendary Hero, preferably one with multiple AoEs like the one hero that's even more ridiculous than the demon lord thanks to the fact that he eats armies for breakfast and just doesn't die.
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Aug 14, 2014 02:16
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 01:14 |
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Neruz posted:Warlock II has some even crazier heroes; there is at least one hero that is straight up immune to all forms of damage except life and elemental damage, and hes got base 100 elemental resist After smashing all but one cornered opponent in the first game, I decided to go mess around and farm demiplanes while I waited to see what other high level heroes show up. While not as defensively powerful as some units, Skeleton King cleaves adjacent foes on his regular attack, meaning I could buff him up with spells and stuff and just throw him into a high-level zone and watch him kill three dudes every turn.
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Aug 16, 2014 04:48
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Resurrection and Wolves of Helia? It's a good day to be king.
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Aug 31, 2014 15:54
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There's a saying about how you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. In Warlock, it's the opposite. Buff one dude to gigantic heights and then throw him into the mix. What makes a good beastick? It's a combination of a variety of things. 1) Offensive power. Kind of obvious. You increase this with a variety of spells and buffs, basically anything that adds damage or power. When you level, choose perks that add "+% damage" and "+% power", especially if it adds a percentage of damage of a different type (like the Frost Weapon, Fire Weapon, Life Weapon and Vampiric Weapon spells, or the Warrior's Spirit perk) since adding extra damage types is a good way to bypass heavy resistances. Meanwhile, raw power upgrades boost everything and they multiply instead of add, which is great. 2) Offensive power in AoE format. Only thing radder than killing a dude each turn is killing several dudes each turn. This lets you scythe through armies faster and prevents you from getting bogged down in a treadmill where cities are popping out dudes as fast as you can kill them. There are generally four different forms of unit attack AoEs- a line of the target and the thing behind it (such as with dragon breath weapons), the target plus one adjacent hex on each side (used by many forms of cleaving attacks), all hexes surrounding the caster (some burst powers), and all hexes surrounding the target at range (some big rear end fireball powers). Of note is that when your unit has multiple attacks, some of them might reject damage bonuses of a certain type (so your sword bonuses won't help you with your fire breath or whatever). Due to the weird way that damage is calculated in Warlock, when bonuses are rejected by your secondary attacks, they're added back into your primary attack damage, thus allowing you to get a truly hilariously high primary attack. 3) Defensive Power. All the punch in the world won't help you if your unit blows over in a stiff breeze. Generally speaking, just get as many perks as you can to push your resistances up over 100 or higher- this won't actually make you immune, but it does help slash enemy damage by a huge amount. Immunities are even better, since they completely block damage of a certain type. Spirit damage is the one that's blocked the least for most creatures, especially Dremer, so any resistance you can find helps (as can slapping spirit damage onto your own units). 4) Staying Power. Boosting your defense is good, but in most cases you're probably going to be taking at least a small amount of chip damage in every fight, so you need a way to recover from that so you can keep going. Regeneration is nice, whether it be native to the unit, picked up via perks (Hill O' Win/Power of Herbs) or spell (Elemental Regeneration), but Vampirism is also a great cure for what ails you, especially from Vampiric Weapon- with Vampirism and a solid enough beatstick you should be able to keep yourself topped off, but regeneration can still help you if you're being swarmed with chip damage or ranged units. 5) Mobility. Get into the fight. Easy enough, just boost your movement points with things like Haste and the like. Also be sure you can bypass terrain- Levitation is your best bet, but if you can't get flight on your guys just get good pathfinding abilities (Windwalk/water walk) or just give up and teleport them into the fight (this does cut down on your ability to help in a fight if you're always casting something to haul them around). Flight is the best though, since it also lets you kick dragons in the face. Warlock 2 made it so that certain perk buildings only offer perks to a certain amount of units, but that doesn't stop you from grabbing a handful of the biggest and toughest units you can find and then making them even stronger. Lords are the first dudes you should look towards because they tend to have the most opportunities to gain perks through leveling, plus they can equip artifacts to get stronger. After that, you go for temple units and unique units you pick up through raiding monster lairs, and after that it's down to a handful of promoted elite units that might still be worth using from your normal units if they have something unique they bring to the table (example: Court Werewolves have +50% spirit damage to their attacks, regeneration and an AoE cleave attack, meaning they're still excellent units even if you don't have Wolves of Helia). Don't bring unpromoted units into the battlefield against late foes, they'll just die off too quickly. Even if you don't have the show-stopping power of some of the late-game heroes that cost 2k gp to recruit, you can still make a good show of things with a combined arms force of elite/temple units by having some dudes tank and other dudes shoot overhead. Just make sure that everyone has what it takes to survive on Dremer land. To deal with Dremer land requires terramorphing spells, so you should be fine. It does depend on what the land type is- Contaminated lands can be treated with just about any terramorphing spell, while destroyed lands can only be fixed with Clean the Land and various divine spells (though I don't know how this was changed in Warlock 2). And regarding the conversation earlier about using Raise/Lower lands to screw with the enemy- it doesn't actually kill the unit, but it might prevent them from moving. So you can raise the land under a kraken or lower the land under a donkey knight or whatever. Not super useful, but can be fun if you want some other unit to be able to stab a sea creature and you're not springing for flight/water walk.
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Sep 1, 2014 06:04
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Tehan posted:I always find it very, very difficult to not take Archmage, because if you're lucky enough to get Chanter and Mind of the Ancients, once you research and cast the two regular casting speed spells things get utterly ridiculous - I think the maximum possible is over 300% casting speed, without even taking into account timestones. Aren't those additive rather than multiplicative? So it'd be 100% Base + 20% Archmage + 30% Chanter + 100% Mind of the Ancients= 250% casting speed. Which is still pretty rad. Archmage is a great perk though, since casting speed boosts are incredibly rare and you can't otherwise make up for it in-game.
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Sep 5, 2014 03:39
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Oh yeah, that would definitely do it then. Sorry, I got confused- I just remember using two casting speed boosters (looking at the wiki they're Experienced Mind (+30%) and Agile Mind (+100%), Mind of the Ancients is +150%), so it looks like I missed a bunch. So yeah, 400% casting speed or more is possible with just Archmage plus the Warlock 1 spells. What does Chanter do?
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Sep 5, 2014 05:24
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Steam works fine for DLC in both the Warlock series and Majesty 2, that's where I got all of mine.
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Sep 8, 2014 21:42
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Bloodly posted:Someone did try earlier, but it didn't finish. Yeah, I had been considering how it could be LP'd and reached the same conclusion. Though doing a screenshot LP of the first one is possible since Cyberlore put a bunch of the voicework online. Other problem is that maps tend to follow something of a predictable pattern of development once you've accounted for the mission's gimmick, so while it's fun to play it can get a little boring to watch people go basic economy->basic heroes->expanded economy->advanced heroes->leveling and equipping heroes->point them at the problem. Also Majesty 2 boss fights are pretty drat dull, since it's just "get some tanks and some healers, then chip away at the boss' health until it lets off a knockback AoE at 25%, then reposition and continue."
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Sep 11, 2014 16:11
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Yeah, in most cases the game is about getting a strong opening start. Absolutely the first thing you do is throw down a marketplace as close to your palace as possible and upgrade it with both potions. After that it's usually throwing down a ranger, rogue and then warrior guild and then upgrading them fairly early on because skills are cheap and let your dudes hit hard enough that they can take down early monsters such as winged serpents. I usually wait until my first death to throw down a cleric's guild next to the graveyard and then upgrade it so I can get the cleric's skill that lets them vaporize undead with a high-damage magic attack. If you haven't lost anyone, then just throw it down next to a sewer or something, because clerics are useful. At this point you should be scouting around and following the roads. Places where roads intersect often have trade post sites, so you clear out the area and then set up a trade route to get a convoy of gold to your marketplace every few days. Getting your blacksmith up and running at this point is also a good idea. I don't usually build a mage's guild until I have my first sewer (prime real estate for mages, surprisingly), and I don't hire mages until I've researched fireball and ice arrow (the skill you need to upgrade the mage's guild once to get). Fireball helps mages clear out rats and other trash so they can level, while ice arrow stops dudes in their tracks and prevents them from ripping your face off. By this point you should upgrade your palace to level 2, and have a level 2 marketplace and blacksmith, which allows you to recruit elves and dwarves, both of which are good units. I usually go with dwarves first because they're cheaper and far tougher than fighters, but I'll still get elves later on in the map. Both elves and dwarves have stuns right out of the gate (and elves can get an immobilizing ability on top of that), which is incredibly useful for keeping dudes alive, especially when combined with the rogues' stun when you upgrade the guild to level 3 (a very good investment, and just about always the first guild I upgrade to level 3) plus the wizards' ice arrows. This means you can lock down tough foes such as bearmen, werewolves and dragons for a long time. Just about every standard enemy in the game can be beaten by your basic heroes if they're properly leveled and geared, plus maybe some dwarves and elves to provide support. If you mouse over an enemy you'll see its stats including attack and resistances (the shield icons- shield+sword is melee resistance, +arrow is ranged, +bolt is magic). I don't know how exactly resistance is calculated, but generally higher resistances mean that you're going to do only a fraction of your normal damage. Most enemies have one or more resistances that are not very high, but since there's no real way to pick and choose who goes after what target, your best bet is usually just to have a variety of heroes kicking around. Most of the guild upgrades are skills that multiply your damage in addition to providing some sort of effect, so getting those as quickly as possible means that your heroes can one-shot low-level foes and severely inconvenience higher level ones. For end-game foes such as bearmen, werewolves and dragons I usually just drop a 500 gp or more bounty on them, which generates enough of a dogpile that the target is usually locked down and ground into the dirt. Ogres are a similar high-priority target at lower levels, but at higher levels a fighter or rogue can often solo one, especially if you've got the DLC. If you have the DLC (included in Majesty 2 Complete) there are a few skills that actually make things somewhat easier for your heroes. All heroes get a new ability a level 10 or 15, and several of them are really useful- rangers get a rain of arrows AoE which makes clearing out hordes far easier, and fighters gain immunity to knockback so you can actually have a defensive line without ogres punting them into the woods and then eating your wizards. Wizards get a pet winged serpent that can sort of draw fire a bit, but with other wizard abilities you shouldn't be letting them get that close to begin with. The DLC also includes tier 4 weapons and armor, which are incredibly expensive but turn your heroes into incredible badasses. Once you have a level 3 palace you can start thinking about temples. Holy grounds look exactly like the ones in Warlock and are usually guarded by some form of elemental, so you need a decent bounty to get some tough heroes into the fray, but they shouldn't have too much trouble. Your first temple is pretty much always going to be Agrela because her Priestesses are nice as the only group heals in the game (if you have the DLC then her temple also offers an AoE heal that you can use), and more importantly she has a resurrection spell which only costs 1000 gp regardless of the class or level of the hero, which makes bringing dudes back far, far cheaper (it's usually far better to bring back a higher-level hero than train up a lower-level one). You may be tempted to upgrade one of your existing dudes into a temple unit, but that is almost always a bad idea- since guilds have a finite number of slots you're essentially sacrificing a level 20+ basic hero (warrior, rogue, cleric, ranger) to get a level 20 temple hero, which leaves an open slot in your basic guild. It's far easier to get a level 1 temple hero to level 20 than it is to do the same with a level 1 basic hero since temple heroes start out with great skills and stats, so you're better off just keeping your high level basic hero and hiring a level 1 temple hero who will have little problem reaching high levels. After Agrela, I usually go for Dauros because Paladins are almost impossible to kill with a good healer backing them up (which really helps on any map with a boss unit), but after that it's usually whatever I feel like. Blademasters are always good since they provide strong offense in melee, and Ice Mages are also nice because they provide a lot of AoE and control (the DLC gives them an AoE that also freezes everyone, which is fantastic), but if you want to get Archers of Helia, Beastmasters or Assassins, help yourself. Once I've got a few decent level temple heroes, I usually get a tavern up and form a party. Elves are my favorite party leaders since they respond to flags easily, are good at shooting things, pack two different forms of lockdown and also have a haste ability that they'll cast on party members. I then usually hook them up with a healer of Agrela and a paladin of Dauros, with the final slot going to whoever can bring the heat well enough (often a rogue, but a mage or ranger can be decent, or a Ice Mage if you have one). With two or three of those parties wandering around you can usually take down whatever the map objective is if you haven't beaten it already. Similar strategies work in Monster Kingdom, since the monster heroes are roughly their human equivalents but worse since they often lack valuable skills (minotaurs and koatls don't have the stuns that dwarves and elves have, for example) and their healing aren't anywhere nearly as good since they favor regeneration over burst heals, which doesn't really help you all that much when dudes are about to die. The exception is Noble Werewolves, who are absolutely amazing. They're as tough as paladins if not tougher, come with innate regeneration that stacks with regeneration spells and items, and have a host of skills including stuns, summons, brutal AoE melee attacks. Their only downside is that you only get one Noble Werewolf per manor, so you have to build multiple manors at ever-increasing expense to a maximum of three buildings for three Noble Werewolves, plus three more if you recruit from your Hall of Lords. Six Noble Werewolves will cost you more than 100,000 gp, but they are worth every coin.
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Sep 16, 2014 17:54
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Yeah, retiring the donkey knight is not a bad idea- there are very few tier 1 heroes who offer all that much compared to higher-tier heroes or even temple units. About the only ones of note would be the healer, shaman, and the elder ogre (since it's a siege fighter who cleaves with every single attack, only other fighter with an autocleave is a tier 3). Supreme vampires are squishy when it comes to resistances, but they've got some fantastic abilities such as 40% vampirism and a 40% vampirism aura for adjacent units right out of the gate, plus the ability to upgrade both of those again so you can have 160% vampirism (190% with the vampiric weapon spell, past 200% if you give vampiric weapons as well). Once you pass critical mass you eat foes faster than they can kill you.
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Sep 21, 2014 17:48
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Good game- pity you didn't get too much out of the high-end heroes, but that's how things work from time to time.Neruz posted:Warlock II has some even crazier heroes; there is at least one hero that is straight up immune to all forms of damage except life and elemental damage, and hes got base 100 elemental resist Now that the game is over, can anyone tell me who he was referring to? Of the Warlock 1 heroes Legendary Lords, Skeleton King and Sart de Torvega were probably my two favorites, Skeleton King since he auto-cleaved with every attack he made on his turn, allowing him to buzzsaw his way through armies. Meanwhile, Sart de Torvega comes with regeneration out of the box, can learn up to 4 separate AoEs that you can rotate through, and has a ridiculously high basic attack thanks to the way damage bonuses are calculated. Most of the Majesty 2 end-bosses are represented in Warlock: -Barfor, the Baron of Force, is the brother of Barlog, the Baron of Logic, who you beat in Majesty 2 -The Avatar of Grum-Gog was the end boss of Kingmaker and can be summoned if you piss off Grum-Gog by buddying up to to Krolm too much (which you should, because Krolm is great and Grum-Gog is terrible) -Sart de Torvega is (related to?) the end boss of Battles of Ardania who drew on Lunord's power to become a werewolf mage dragon demigod. Helia apparently took notice of someone who was so committed to bothering her hated husband/brother that she restored most of his power after Torvega's defeat. Sol de Torvega was a Great Mage in the first game who's also part of this family, the one whose fellow werewolves swore allegiance to Helia and became the ever-useful Wolves of Helia -Finally, the Spirit of Kings was your tool through the game and the first two expansions, only to be turned against you by the conclave in Monster Kingdoms, prompting you to go seek out help from the various monsters faction (gnomes, goblins, vampires, liches, minotaurs, koatls and of course, noble werewolves). Looks like the spirit of kings is just running around as a hero for hire with the king out of the way.
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Sep 27, 2014 21:27
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| # ¿ May 18, 2024 01:14 |
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Neruz posted:Upon further investigation I think I got the Spirit of Kings and the Olden Ghost mixed up; the Olden Ghost has the most immunities with immunity to Melee, Missile and Death. I distinctly remember ending up with one that was immune to Spirit as well but maybe that was an item or I was just hallucinating. Olden Ghost also has the "Incorporation" ability to grant Immunity to Death/Missile/Melee to other dudes, and you can pick up Elemental Immunity from Helia (Protection Halo at Rep 50), so you can throw those on the Spirit of Kings and just run around while immune to everything but Life. Then it's just a matter of boosting the rest of your defenses with magic items and spells and such.
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Sep 28, 2014 06:42
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