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| Thread: Hero Spell Specialty | |
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excalibur
Known Hero
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posted April 13, 2012 11:23 PM |
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Hero Spell Specialty
Since creature specialty is not something that powerful how would you rate the spell specialty a hero has? What exactly it improves? Damage type spells could possibly improve damage but spells such as Adela's Bless?
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kringled
Hired Hero
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posted April 14, 2012 02:32 PM |
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Some of the spell specialties are quite nice (as the specialty itself), some are just ok, and some are rather useless. In all cases you will have to live with the primary stat distribution for the magic hero class (which can be sub-optimal) and the secondary skill classes that a particular magic hero class gets (which again may not be ideal for you).
My categorizations (my own experience is mostly single player, and some of these are less tested than others):
Essentially useless:
Fortune specialties, since maximal luck is capped out at 3. This goes doubly for Melodia, since she starts with the luck skill.
Cure specialty (assuming that there's a bonus to hp's cured; I have not tested this): Since the effect of cure is limited to healing the top creature on the stack, it's pretty easy to max that out for low level creatures even at low spell power. Most of these bonuses factor in creature level, so you will get pretty minimal bonuses for level 6/7 (say a 9% bonus at level 19 Uland for Unicorns).
Death Ripple specialty: the spell is seldom of much use at all.
Of limited use:
All other damage spell (Meteor shower, Chain lightning, Inferno, Fireball, Ice Bolt): I personally find that direct damage spells often have limited usefulness. Some of these heros may be worth recruiting if you want to either extract the spell from them via a scholar, or if you want to use them with their spell and a minimal number of troops to clear mines etc. Of these, Meteor Shower and Chain lightning are the most useful; Inferno can be useful against wandering monsters when you have very small starting troops so they are spread out in 5-7 smaller stacks. Fireball and Ice Bolt are easier to get in guilds, so those heros are more useful for recruiting early on to clear the map.
Slayer: I rarely use this spell (it's of limited applicability and at level 4 often hard to find; I usually have something else to cast). I frequently recruit Coronius as a secondary hero, though, since he starts with both Wisdom and Scholar, he can quickly level up to be a walking mage guild.
Resurrection: As with the damage spells, but I do use resurrection more often than damage spells. Alamar is a good choice as a secondary again because of starting with Wisdom and Scholar.
Specialties that I like:
Stone skin: +3 bonus for level 1 and 2 creatures, +2 for level 3 and 4, and +1 for level 5 and 6: Not a bad addition. However, all the RoE stone skin specialists start with Learning which is an additional drag considering an already sub-par average skilling tree.
Prayer: Bonus as above. Very nice with expert water magic - an already powerful spell gains a lot of power (so you are adding +7 to A, D, and speed to level 1 and 2 creatures, +6 for level 3 and 4, and +5 for level 5/6). Loynis unfortunately starts with learning, though. If he is in a tavern, and I have a scholar to transfer to my mains but don't have Prayer, I will make a real effort to recruit because I really like the spell.
Bloodlust: Bonuses are probably ok, but Ash starts with Eagle Eye.
Weakness: Bonuses as above. The choices are a bit better here - Mirlanda starts with Adv. Wisdom, Cuthbert with Wisdom and Estates. Olema starts with Wisdom and Ballistics but probably has the worst shot at Water magic of the 3.
Haste: Bonuses as above, so quite reasonable, and haste is definitely a real workhorse of a spell. Terek starts with Wisdom and Tactics and Battle Mages have a more balanced skill set than most magic heroes (very good chances of acquiring Offense and logistics) and is probably the best choice usable in a wide variety of situations. Cyra starts with Diplomacy, which if allowed can be a game changing skill in the right circumstances.
Bless: Since the bonus happens on a per-creature basis, Bless from a high level Adela can really add a very nice bonus to your damage with a large army, and she has very high likelihood of ending up with expert Water magic soon. She also starts with Diplomacy, as above.
I have less experience with the Elementalists and don't know how they acquire secondary skills. Starting skills are always better (Wisdom and a magic school). There are some good threads on the board about how effective Luna can be vs. the map. Brissa with Haste and Labetha with stone skin might be nice; Ciele with a 50% bonus to Magic Arrow can be very spell point economical vs. the map. I find Inteus's special (Bloodlust) to be nearly useless with Conflux, considering that 3 of your creatures are immune to the spell, and 2 of the rest are ranged troops when upgraded.
Overall, though, I would much more often choose a creature specialist as a main than a spell specialist (with a possible exception for Terek). But if you're playing single player and really have a lot more fun with direct damage spells, or some other play style, then go with what seems fun.
Keith
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Peterlerock
Adventuring Hero
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posted April 14, 2012 05:23 PM |
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Don't disrespect the Death Ripple girl! 
I sometimes buy her, give her some zombies of starting heroes (have no use for them anyway), and send her out to creep. As she only has 4-5 zombies, the enemy will split in 7 stacks, death ripple than has maximum potential.
It's kinda like "poor man's Luna".
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Same goes for some other damage spell guys. Nice and easy creeping in the beginning.
But usually I only buy spell specialists to steal their spells with scholar.
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OhforfSake
Promising
Legendary Hero
Initiate
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posted April 14, 2012 05:44 PM |
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Very good post Keith, thank you!
Anyone who can elaborate regarding the mechanics of e.g. extra bless damage and extra cure healing? I imagine Terek can be incredibly useful considering his haste will boost the typical slower troops more than the typical fast troops meaning you can haste earlier if both heroes have expert tactics cancelling eachother out.
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NoobX
Undefeatable Hero
Now, this is a paradox...
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posted April 14, 2012 05:51 PM |
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I don't see why would you buy a hero with a spell bonus. I prefer Sandro with Soccery and Chain Lightning, but everyone has his way of playing.
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Ghost said:
Door knob resembles anus tap.
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kringled
Hired Hero
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posted April 14, 2012 06:11 PM |
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Quote:
Very good post Keith, thank you!
Anyone who can elaborate regarding the mechanics of e.g. extra bless damage and extra cure healing? I imagine Terek can be incredibly useful considering his haste will boost the typical slower troops more than the typical fast troops meaning you can haste earlier if both heroes have expert tactics cancelling eachother out.
An old article that was written by Gus Smedstad that I have a copy of lists the Bless damage as being a bonus (added) of (base damage) * (3%)*(hero level/ creature level). I don't know if the base damage being used is a rolled base damage or the max (since Bless forces base damage normally to the max). So for a level 10/11 Adela, on a level 1 creature you're getting a 30% bonus to damage (similar to expert Offense). The 3%*(hero level/creature level) formula is common to all the damage spell specialists, and I would think the Resurrection and Cure specialists. It's just that with cure, at 5* spell power+ a bonus, will max out for lower level troops at very low spell power already, and those 3% bonuses add up very slowly for the higher level creatures.
Keith
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Bones_xa
Known Hero
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posted April 14, 2012 07:47 PM |
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Yeah no kidding about some heroes like Melodia, how useless her specialty is because she starts with luck anyway.
I've always thought that some heroes should be able to cast their specialty with more reduced cost and for the non direct damage ones they should be able to cast them for free; require 0 spell points.
That way they would almost not be completely useless.
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excalibur
Known Hero
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posted April 14, 2012 10:59 PM |
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Interesting info, thanks!
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