Arcane Wonders Forum
Mage Wars => Strategy and Tactics => Topic started by: tubex on April 14, 2014, 02:02:15 PM
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Hi!
So I've got like 100% loss rate against my friends FM. He uses a battle forge to pop out equipment every turn and going really aggressive. On top of the innate defense he uses temple of the dawnbreaker+defense ring+scimitar.
Last game i tried to beat him with my vampire priestess book as shown below. I had moderate pressure on him with my vampire but since he managed to defend 2-3 times (one before falcon precision on vampire and then after he dispelled i) I never really managed to vampirism heal the vamp. That in turn lead to a quite early death of my vampire and then it was game over with my book being so built around the vampire. I'm thinking about putting a Brogan in there aswell for the unavoidable trait (would be good vs FM).
Would appreciate ANY tips in general on how to beat an eq. heavy FM and also some pointers on my spellbook.
[spellbook]
[spellbookheader]
[spellbookname][/spellbookname]
[mage]Priestess[/mage]
[/spellbookheader]
[spells]
[spellclass]Attack[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1a11]1 x Pillar of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=DNA01]1 x Acid Ball[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1a01]1 x Blinding Flash[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWA04]1 x Hurl Boulder[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Conjuration[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1j24]1 x Temple of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1j08]1 x Hand of Bim-Shalla[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Creature[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1c31]1 x Samandriel, Angel of Light[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c28]1 x Royal Archer[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKC06]1 x Guardian Angel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c26]1 x Necropian Vampiress[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1c22]2 x Knight of Westlock[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Enchantment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1e36]2 x Rhino Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e29]2 x Nullify[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e28]1 x Mongoose Agility[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e33]1 x Retaliate[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e35]1 x Reverse Magic[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e31]1 x Poisoned Blood[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e01]2 x Bear Strength[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e34]1 x Reverse Attack[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e02]1 x Block[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e10]1 x Decoy[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e12]1 x Divine Protection[/mwcard]
[mwcard=MWSTX1CKE03]1 x Healing Charm[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWE03]1 x Falcon Precision[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e03]1 x Bull Endurance[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e09]1 x Agony[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1e11]1 x Divine Intervention[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Equipment[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1q07]1 x Elemental Cloak[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q29]1 x Staff of Asyra[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWQ10]1 x Storm Drake Hide[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1q19]1 x Mage Wand[/mwcard]
[spellclass]Incantation[/spellclass]
[mwcard=mw1i24]2 x Seeking Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i28]1 x Teleport[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i14]1 x Heal[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i18]1 x Perfect Strike[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i06]2 x Dispel[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i15]1 x Knockdown[/mwcard]
[mwcard=FWI08]1 x Sniper Shot[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i12]1 x Force Push[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i07]2 x Dissolve[/mwcard]
[mwcard=mw1i17]2 x Minor Heal[/mwcard]
[/spells]
[cost]Total cost: 120 pts[/cost]
[/spellbook]
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One of the things you need to do against more aggressive solo / buddy mages is control that mages movement. Thing like Walls, Force Hold, Strangle Vine, and Tangle Vine help with this.
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One of the biggest problems with a Force Master is the Force Field I've found. Either Dispel it early or keep the pressure on her to the point it's only blocking one attack a turn(which is still huge.)
A few attack spells like Surging Wave will also slow her down and get past her defense rolls. Failing that then other Unavoidable attacks are a good substitute.
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Wall of Thorns + Force Push to take out the Forcefield. Separate her from the BF with a couple of Walls. Then start summoning level 2/3 creatures keep Mongoose Agility off of her. Along the way bring out a Guardian Angel to guard you. Oh yeah Eagle Claw boots....
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Gorgon Archer or Wraith make her pretty useless too.
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I'm mostly parroting what others have said, but I'd use walls to separate her from her Battleforge if that's a key component of her strategy. They can also impair her movement and can even be used aggressively if they have passage attacks.
You could also use more Teleports and/or Force Pushes to put her where you want her, as well as Tanglevines and/or Force Holds to keep her there.
I might take out the Vampiress all together. She's an awesome creature, and if you like her go ahead and keep her, but that's 12 spell points that could be spent elsewhere. Such as on Brogan. I have a major crush on Brogan and he is always present in my Priest books. When facing a Forcemaster I bring him out as my first summon almost every time.
Putting Aegis on your Mage + Stacking Armor + Agony on your opponent will completely neuter Galvitar. I'm sure you already know this, however, and that's why they're present in your book. An Enchanter's Wardstone Might help if she often dispels your stuff.
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Dont bother with enchanters Wardstone.
Trying to hit a Solo FM on her mana supply is a big mistake. Its just delaying an attackspell ½ a round if any at all.
Try to Abuse her lack of action markers. Make her spend actions to get rid of guards every round.
This means she cannot dispell agony AND get rid of guards AND attack same round.
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Thanks for all the replies!
I'll definately put a few walls in there! And I might actually switch the vamp. to Brogan to make the book a little more versatile.
What do you think of using the Priest instead of Priestess for this book? It might work better with Brogan?
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I would keep Priestess to get ride of Sleep.
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I would keep Priestess to get ride of Sleep.
If you do go with the Priest make sure to have a Wand of Healing.
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As a holy mage, spam light attacks to daze the crap out of her. Put pillar of light on a wand, drop a temple of light and put up the lightning damage barrier. Even with no supporting temples ToL is a 1 mana daze chance or will knock off a Forcefield token without taking up one of your actions.
daze not only gives her melee attacks constant miss chances, but each one also gives her -2 to defense rolls. The damage barrier can stun her mid-attack even.
Also, direct damage bypasses Forcefield. Burns, bleeds, rots, ghoul rot,chains of agony, idol of pestilence and such will keep doing damage even after the shield is up. Stranglevine not only does direct damage but it also immobilizes her and can be cast even while the shield is active.
If you really wanna be a jerk, add in a giant wolf spider. It's psy-immune and can fire ranged stuck tokens on her all day so that she never gets to move into melee.
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Surging wave against the battleforge since battle forge has hydro + 3.
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Surging wave against the battleforge since battle forge has hydro + 3.
Agreed, though I'd prepare a second attack spell of some kind in case one wasn't enough... six dice on a BF sometimes does it for me, but not usually. Either that, or a Force Hammer usually takes care of the BF.
Don't let anyone try to talk you out of attacking it by saying that you are spending more actions or more mana to kill the BF... while this is true on the turn that you destroy it, you are preventing your opponent from taking advantage of all of the actions and mana that he will get out of it later if you don't kill it.
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If you simply want to beat his book then I suggest these things...
First off, destroy the battle forge immediately.
Second, stack your book with 5 dispels, 5 dissolves, 5 blocks, and 5 reverse attacks. Cut out as many enchantments and incantations as you can to make room. If he has no enchantments, no equipment, and cannot hit you, then you win. :D
Dissolve gravitar at least once if not more.
Dispel force field asap.
Daze daze daze.
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also chains of agony on him and keep moving
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Dispel force field asap.
I agree with all of this but this. I think that you should knock it down to 0 in 1 round or 2. It is not that hard to do, a Force Push through a Wall of Thorns is the quick and action efficient way to do this. Else you should have 3-4 creatures out and have them all hit the shield. Once you have it down to 0, the FM now (I have been here several times) has a very tough decision, do I pay the Upkeep +2 or not? If I do I only get one Forcefield marker in return, else (I typically carry two in my books) it goes away and I have to spend another action and a large chunk of mana again. At this point you should be attacking the FM at least once a round to zero out the Forcefield. Now put the hurt on him and it will take long...weapon and creatures with the Unavoidable trait have high value here.
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Dispel force field asap.
I agree with all of this but this. I think that you should knock it down to 0 in 1 round or 2. It is not that hard to do, a Force Push through a Wall of Thorns is the quick and action efficient way to do this. Else you should have 3-4 creatures out and have them all hit the shield. Once you have it down to 0, the FM now (I have been here several times) has a very tough decision, do I pay the Upkeep +2 or not? If I do I only get one Forcefield marker in return, else (I typically carry two in my books) it goes away and I have to spend another action and a large chunk of mana again. At this point you should be attacking the FM at least once a round to zero out the Forcefield. Now put the hurt on him and it will take long...weapon and creatures with the Unavoidable trait have high value here.
I think this plays into the FM's game. Playing blocks and reverse attacks stall rounds and get counters back. If you do beat through the FF, even an extra attack may fail to Deflect/Scimitar, then another FF pops up next round. If one dedicates dispelling every FF put up then it is a back and forth soft-lock on mana. I have cast up to three FF in a game before that made the difference of me winning or losing.
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If my FM is casting Enchantments and such he is not attacking or using his pull ability + Full attack.
Every time I lost with my FM to Charmyna it was because I was distracted from using Galvitar and trying to keep my defenses up.....
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put on falcon precision then your attacks are unavoidable and his force shield is useless
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Forcefield stops unavoidable attacks because its not a defense. It it specifically worded to bypass that mechanic.
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Yeah, FF would be terrible if trumped so easily. It's possibly the FM's strongest card, imo. Hence getting rid of it. In mirror matches I would tend to run a dispel every round with 12 mana free so I could erase it as soon as it hit the table. The fallback was to dispel a charm or MC as soon as it hit.
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I would argue that galvitar is the force masters strongest card, without it he is pretty much useless which is the only reason I can figure that it was given cantrip when no other weapon in the game has it
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I would argue that galvitar is the force masters strongest card, without it he is pretty much useless which is the only reason I can figure that it was given cantrip when no other weapon in the game has it
Check out the "Grizzly" type spell books that don't run it at all. Not that such unorthodox (read: desperate for points and mana) spell book design is healthy or intelligent. :P
The FM doesn't have many options for actions and attacking with her every round closes off a lot of options. I know it seems silly, I know.
Anyway, I promised I was returning to my hermit shack. *ninja smoke bomb*