Elemental Forums
When battling it out on the strategic map, what are your go-to spells for victory?
Freeze and Tremor without a doubt! AI should really use these more often as it can really hurt the player wandering in enemy territory.
Edit: pillar of flame is pretty good too.
Freeze and Pillar of Flame. I think instead of getting a bonus the AI should use more strategic spells on challenging, hard, ...
Wither can be devastating with enough death shards. And since death shards can be converted from other shards by a spell..
IIRC -2 attack per shard, no save when cast on strategic. Let's say 6 shards, convert all to death. That's a -12 atk for each figure of a, say 6 man unit. Negligible cost.
I no longer play Ceresa since she can just walk all over the map with Wither.
my favorite strategic spell is tornado (air archmage level i think?). freeze/tremor/pillar of flame are used more often since they are low level spells, but tornado is way more fun if/when you have a caster capable of using it.
Cloud-walking. It's expensive, but it really comes in handy when you want to get the job done and get experience for it, too.
I really like the Raise/Lower Land spells (I'd probably use Tremor more if it worked all the time; it says he's immobilized, but he's still moving). I like cutting a path through the mountains, making a path through a lake, or simply making plains into hills so my enemies are slowed (or hills into plains if I'm not playing with the Master Scouts trait, but I usually am).
My favorite is tidal wave, watching that wave come in is so fun, and it's so cheap. That and I can grab it on the way (edit: I mean grab it right after) to getting mantle of the oceans for cheaper tactical spells 
Aside from that, starfall, tremor then wither.
Also, I would love to see the AI using strategic spells on me (beyond city based ones).... just sayin
Freeze and Tremor all the time. Tidal Wave when I can. Wither if I'm playing Ceresa and converted all my shards to death. I don't think Pillar of Flame is worth the cost, but use it sometimes. Tornado is fun!
I don't use offensive strategical spells much but I do love me some unit buffs, city enchantments and cloud walk. Makes me think back to Master of Magic when you could make godlike units with buffs (like fully buffed War Trolls). Stuffing your sovereign with buffs makes Procipinee's Crown so worth the point.
Enchanted Hammers on my first city. Freeze and Tremor, a lot. It would actually be nice if there was a way for the AI to counter those spells.
As all stated above and Nature's Bounty/Gentle Rain to help speed my Fortresses to Strike Garrison (and first strike Archers of Win). Though in LH, this strategy is not nearly as effective as it once was...
Would love to see specific Strategic Spells/Items/Buildings for different sov professions. I really enjoyed finding a Summoner's Ring with my Summoner Sov and the Azure Collar quest netted me Thog the Fierce an Escaped Juggernaut I was able to tame.
Orzag the Juggernaut with the Sword of the Void is a Trog, while the Escaped Juggernaut is Twisted... is that intentional?
tornado is great, but I don't always have it. pillar of flame because you get it early. Crusade when I have the mana.
Strategic spells I always use:
- Meditation
- Oppression
- Pillar of Fire
- Starfall
- Wither
That's pretty much because the custom sovereign I like to use is death/fire magic and Resoln!
Also:
With steam integration you could probably track this kinda stuff now..... just sayin
Freeze and Tremor pretty much. Cloud-walking is an alternative more expensive option.
Use them to stall for time to get my main stack into place. I don't bother defending cities usually because stacks of doom will beat any reasonable defense.
Empire's Wither is a must have and will become unbalanced as soon as you control ... let's say 3 death shards.
Tremor, Freeze, Tornado and Cloud Walk are very very important on large / huge maps.
As long as the AI don't use them, these 5 spells are all unbalanced anyway.
mass spam arcane monolith... most used strategic layer spell. Especially since you can spam it around someones borders to 'push' them back and grab their resources.
Tornado is a game-winner. No army can survive being completely separated then defeated one at a time. If you have 5+ air shards it also does good damage, making it downright unfair. On top of all that, you can cast it outside your territory.
Mantle Of Oceans is almost as powerful if you've been cultivating mage champions.
Sacrifice at Death 5 is really useful in a pinch.
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