Air magic - an overview

You forgot Tutelage at Air 2.

Air is one of the most powerful schools currently despite the lack of a decent direct damage spell (which isn't random). Right off you get some of the most important spells in the game: Evasion and Haste. These can last you throughout. T2 you get Aura of Grace, which is an incredible city enchantment for warcenters, Tutelage which is incredible for leveling, and another +Dodge spell which would be better if ranged attacks weren't so lacking. T3 is a sort of low-point, although it isn't terrible. Then you get right back into it with Cloud Walk, the teleport everywhere spell that is incredible for its logistic potential. You also get Titan's Breath which is... meh. Then you finally get an okayish late-game Champion Buffer and a late game army stun. The Archmage tier might need some looking at, but overall it's an extremely strong line.

Air tier 1:

Evade - Despite its rather large bonus to dodge, I tend to skip using this. The mana drain is actually quite high for the mediocre benefit. The only time I ALWAYS use this is if I use blindness (death) as well.

Haste - OK spell, good for champions mostly

 

Air tier 2:

Aura of grace - OP spell

Guardian wind - meh. When was the last time I faced an army of archers? Never was when.

Tutelage - Pop one on every champion. Great spell.

 

Air tier 3:

Storm - Great against monsters that rarely have lightning resistance and often come alone. Bad for sieges.

Thunderstrike - Damage too low for me to use it. Since when do you want an air mage hugging enemies?

 

Air tier 4:

Cloud walk - I don't use it because I'm mostly on the offensive.

Titan's breath - AOE prone check? NERF.

 

Air tier 5:

Celerity - same as all these spells - meh

Tornado - this is the reason you suffer through AIr3 and Air4. Tornado will win you any war against enemy factions.

 

Combo spells:

Battlecry - I love this spell, although like many combination spells its useless when I get it and great at lategame

Contagion - I love this spell, the damage potential is great.

Gentle rain - Nerf. If you get this spell you can get any conclave to level 5.

Sunder - Too situational but I guess that is ok for a combination spell. Defnitely not worth aiming for, like other combination spells are.

Air tier 1:

Evade: Useful spell early on.  I don't find it scales well as your champions take on more adept enemies, but that's certainly reasonable given the low cost.

Haste: Properly used, an excellent tactical spell.

 

Air tier 2:

Aura of grace: Cost needs to be increased.  After all, this applies to everything produced in a single city.

Guardian wind: Useful against opposing leaders' archers, but otherwise pretty lame.

Tutelage: Don't leave home without it!

 

Air tier 3:

Storm: Fun spell, and pretty useful against mobs without being overpowering.

Thunderstrike: Senseless.  Damage is poor, and no one wants to stick a mage in the middle of a bunch of enemies.

 

Air tier 4:

Cloud walk: I like it, but I think the cost needs to be increased.  It's too easy to abuse in a very large, sprawling civilization.

Titan's breath: Like it.  Not much damage, just a breather, with a chance of knocking prone.  At level 4, it's sensible.

Note: shouldn't we have an elemental summons, in about here?

Air tier 5:

Celerity: Whoop.  As they used to say in New York City years ago about something that was worthless, "That and a nickel will buy you a ride on the subway."  Of course, subway rides were only a nickel, at the time.

Tornado: Strong, useful spell.

 

Combo spells:

Battlecry: Fine spell that needs to be used carefully.  The AI is overfond of it.

Contagion: Excellent spell.  One of my faves.

Gentle rain: Too, too powerful.

Sunder: Strong, helpful spell.

 

It should also be noted that Air is the only magic you can increase in power from technology. Ereog's Tower makes this entire element much more desirable. 

Haste: It's the best book one spell. Makes cavalry extremely effective, can be cast on most of the army by a weak mage with no other powers for a small mana cost. This spell is really good for every unit and can get you massive amounts of Init. later in the game. It just keeps getting better and better. I would like a Mass Haste for book five. I also want it to be castable on any unit so you can use it on the enemy in combination with a poison attack. 

 

Air tier 1:

Evade - very good, decent as starter to help reduce dmg taken a bit and a must mid and end game once you have a strong tank, maybe in need of a small nerf, because dodge can stack too much in game

Haste - cool spell, helps in many situations

 

Air tier 2:

Aura of grace - very low cost but usually you dont need it, anyway its too specific and fit too much the actual meta

Guardian wind - potentially good but right now ranged is totally broken so the spell is useless

Tutelage too OP, like most enchants could use a nerf and a higher mana cost
 

Air tier 3:

Storm - very good dmg and scaling but random hurts sometimes, but in few situation is quite op

Thunderstrike - low dmg, teleport arguabily not so useful, quite high mana, it doesnt fit in any role, warriors usually can move a lot of tiles and wasting so much mana for their low magic dmg isnt a choice, needd som strong buff
 

Air tier 4:

Cloud walk -very good, more than a nerf it would need a rework
Titan's breath - cool idea but not so useful right now, we still need to see real tactical ai with real movement and kiting etc, right now its all broken, so this spell is useles

 

Air tier 5:

Celerity - dont like the mechanic and maybe its quite op after all
Tornado - interesting concept, maybe on the strong side in some situation

Combo spells:

Battlecry -most of the time useless not cause of its effect but for how the game evolves
Contagion - strong

Gentle rain - another ok enchant
Sunder - op lategame but impossible to evaluate right now for the usual balance problems
 

Yep, there should be more buildings like this.

@Madcatter

Thanks for the reminder, can't believe I forgot tutelage

i find Thunderstrike ( + Storm) to be one of the most powerful spells that a mage sovereign can have.  If you have 'enough' mana, mage with both of those spells is untouchable and can kill any army in the game.  (well, unless opponent is doing something similar, spams archers, but I have yet to see an AI do that).  Damage part of the Thunderstrike  is meh... but, tactical teleport is amazing, ability to go from one corner of the map to the other means that no army without similar ability will ever catch up to your mage, which leaves said mage free to do whatever evil mage sovereigns do to enemy armies.

As for 'enough' mana, if you build your game around such mage sovereign, level up cities with conclave options, get Water 1 for meditation and don't waste your mana on random buffs... single mage sovereign (at least in my games) can keep multiple AIs in check (he will run out of mana eventually, but AIs either surrender or accept peace before that happens (that is part of the strategy)).

I wish tutelage be removed and evade be castable in combat

Air is really powerful as is IMO, a lot of useful tools and most of them available early, I usually find storm deals more damage than Fire Dart. (Oh who cares for a little cast time, I also got haste in this magic tree).

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Air seems very strong to me too, air mages get a great range of spells generally

Tier 1:

Both evade and haste are cheap and have good effects although neither seems OP. Evade in combination with Kraxis' ability is a bit much though, although thats due to fortify giving a really high dodge bonus, not evade.

Tier 2:

Again, air gets a great selection. It's city enchantment provides a nice bonus to trained units and guardian wind is great at dealing with all those ranged units. Tutelage is really great for leveling up your sov too. All of these spells so far are cheap and useful.

Tier 3:

Storm is a really powerful and cheap ranged spell and is fine as is. Thunderstrike only does token damage but the real benefit is a tactical teleport and I think it's priced right as is.

Tier 4:

Cloudwalk is outstanding and it needed a price hike really - I think it's priced at the right level now. Titan's breath is also a great spell, mass proning an enemy army can really help if you have units backing your caster up, it's nice and cheap too

Tier 5:

Air only gets 2 level 5 spells, one is garbage and the other is golden. I think it's easy to figure out which is which. Air is one of the few magic schools that I'm happy to get to level 5 though, with most of them I stop at 4.

Combo spells:

I've already commented on battlecry and contagion in previous threads so I'll skip those.

Gentle rain provides a really nice bonus, air and water get a really good combo spell here. Sunder has really limited use but it is outstanding at what it does - it's basically a boss killer - find an elemental lord in the wildlands, zap him with this a few times, job done

Top to bottom strongest utility school in the game. Rank 3 is a total throw-away, unfortunately, and rank 4 is only worth mentioning due to cloud walk. Titan's Breath? I'm on a horse.

Air tier 1:

Evade - use sometimes

Haste - a lot

 

Air tier 2:

Aura of grace - a lot

Guardian wind - sometimes

Tutelage - a lot

 

Air tier 3:

Storm - a lot

Thunderstrike - sometimes

 

Air tier 4:

Cloud walk - sometimes

Titan's breath - sometimes

 

Air tier 5:

Celerity - never

Tornado - a lot

 

Combo spells:

Battlecry - never

Contagion - haven't tried

Gentle rain - never

Sunder - a lot

Air has no summons and needs more like all branches do.  Could stand to have low level damage doer type spell.  Do not like randomness of storm.

Probably right, but I feel lategame it deals double the damage, or so might just be me, also less creatures are resistant/immune to lightning.
So I think its fair it got some casting time and a random targeting.
Also makes it feel way different than flame dart, and I like that.

I would love if each magic element had useful spells on each level, sadly not

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

Iron Golems take double damage from lightning, as do scrap golems. I like to go Air specialized with Path of the Assassin sometimes the most random damage imaginable. It's like playing as a wild wizard in BG2.