Contagion is extremely underpowered. Some comparisons:
Contagion: Costs 18 mana. 3 dmg per UNIT, +1 per death shard. Damage repeats every turn, is resistable. Note that this is poison dmg, and every elemental unit is immune to poison. This is so little damage that it's laughable. If the damage was per figure then it might be viable.
Fireball: Costs 30 mana. 6/+3 per FIGURE. Some creatures resist fire but not very many.
Dirge: Costs 24 mana. 6 dmg per FIGURE, +3 per death shard. Damage repeats at 3/+1 every turn and is NOT resistable. Once again this is poison damage. This spell is basically fireball vs. every target on the enemy side, plus ongoing Contagion. This one is completely over the top, and should probably be toned down some. Note it is also Wraith-faction only, and the Wraiths have the means to garner a large number of Death Shards.
In a combat which lasts for 3 turns and has 4 enemy units consisting of one solo and 3 stacks of 3 figures each (think Spiders), the spells above would have the following output. Two death shards and two fire shards are assumed for these calcs.
Contagion: (5 dmg per turn x 4 units x 3 turns) = 60 total dmg output over 3 turns.
Fireball: (12 dmg on cast x 1 solo unit) + (12 dmg on cast x 3 units x 3 figures per unit) = 120 total dmg output. Note in a 3 turn fight you could cast this two more times for similar output.
Dirge: (12 dmg on cast x 1 solo unit) + (12 dmg on cast x 3 units x 3 figures per unit) + (5 dmg per turn x 4 units x 3 turns) = 180 total dmg output.
- Manii Names
