Priest of Malakai soldier of light build (casual player)

[jayjazz99]

Spellbook points: 120 used of 120 allowed

1 Priest
---  Conjuration  ---
1 Garrison Post
1 Enchanter's Wardstone
1 Temple of Asyra
1 Renewing spring
2 Bloodspine Wall
1 Archer's Watchtower
1 Hand of Bim-Shalla

---  Creature  ---
3 Asyran Cleric
1 Goblin Builder
3 Asyran Defender
2 Knight of Westlock
1 Temple High Guard(promo)
2 Royal Archer
1 Ludwig Boltstorm
1 Brogan Bloodstone

---  Enchantment  ---
1 Bear Strength
1 Eagle Wings
2 Hawkeye
1 Jinx
1 Nullify
1 Divine intervention
2 Healing charm
1 Rhino Hide
1 Divine protection
1 Divine Might
1 sacred ground
2 Block
1 Retaliate
2 Pacify
1 Bull Endurance

---  Equipment  ---
1 Dawnbreaker Ring
1 Dragonscale Hauberk
1 Ring of Asyra
2 Staff of Asyra

---  Incantation  ---
1 Dispel
1 Dissolve
1 Force Push
1 Teleport
1 Group Heal
1 Purify
1 Lay Hands
1 Ressurection
---  Attack  ---
1 Jet Stream
1 Blinding Flash

- I'm a casual player and play with a few friends.  I tend to loose a lot, so I posting here for help.
- This is a build I have been wanting to try for a while, soldiers of light
- My first turns would be : 1) Temple + Cleric, 2) Goblin Builder+cleric, 3) Archer, enchanter's wardstone and Staff or armor. Turn 4 or 5 : Holy Avenger on Knight of Westlock
- I see this build as defensive and letting the enemy come to you.  Using guard, temple high guard to protect, a archer on watchtower to put pressure, a holy avenger knight to destroy.  My  mage mostly cast enchantements to beef my creatures, Goblin builds outposts, enchanter's wardstone, wall (which doesn't block LoS for my archers) etc.
- I'm not into control spells (dispel, dissolve, etc) and I hate using the wands.

What do you guys think ?

[Aylin]

Drop the Temple. It's really, really bad. Only way to increase the mana on it (besides Harmonize) is to use Clerics' full action. Also it doesn't work with your Garrison Post. Best to drop it and the Clerics as well.

Grimson is better than Ludwig.  Switch them.

You need more Dissolve, Dispel and Teleport. They aren't "control" spells, they're "general" spells that keep you alive and help you make your opponent dead. 3 is the minimum number for Dissolve and Dispel, and 2 is the minimum number for Teleport. Whether you are "into" them or not is irrelevant.

You don't need Jinx or Bull Endurance. Drop them. For you, Divine Protection is better than Rhino Hide since it's cheaper to include in your book and the Ring gives you a discount upon revealing it. What you need is more Bear Strength.

No Wand of Healing? You're a Holy Mage! Fit one in; it's amazing at removing conditions. Your creatures might not be in range of the Spring, or you might need their action more than your QC in a particular turn. It's only a single point.

Drop Resurrection; you have so many creatures in your book that you'll never need to resurrect one.

[webcatcher]

I know one person who gets away with a temple using a single cleric and amulet of meditation (she gets so many creatures out she doesn't really use her actions for anything). Other than that, I agree and say drop the temple. I also don't think the goblin builder is doing that much for you, with or without the temple. If you're going to be using that many creatures you might also consider healing spring.

[Aylin]

If you're going to be using that many creatures you might also consider healing spring.

Renewing Spring is already in the OP's book.

[webcatcher]

Oops, I was looking for it under enchantments.

[sIKE]

If your playing Promo's a pair of Temple High Guards, with one designated as your HA, are quite the terror. My other favorite HA is the Unicorn. Add another Ward Stone in and buff her with a Bear Strength, Mongoose Agility, and time permitting Cheetah Speed (same stack works on the THG) and the HA Unicorn become a beast of a killing machine that will inspire fear amongst your enemies in the arena.

[Aylin]

If your playing Promo's a pair of Temple High Guards, with one designated as your HA, are quite the terror. My other favorite HA is the Unicorn. Add another Ward Stone in and buff her with a Bear Strength, Mongoose Agility, and time permitting Cheetah Speed (same stack works on the THG) and the HA Unicorn become a beast of a killing machine that will inspire fear amongst your enemies in the arena.

Why do you like the Temple High Guard as a Holy Avenger? It can't get both it's Guarding Firststrike ability and the Holy Avenger bonus in a single round (unless you want it for the +5 HP?), barring Sweeping Attacks...

I do think it would work well with HA though, guarding it so the HA can get the +2 Melee when it's attacked.

[sIKE]

I position them a zone a part and put the THG in harms way. He gets to it first with 6 dice +1 piercing. If that doesn't do the trick. Remember the opposing creature started this sequence. My HA THG moves in with a 6 dice +2 piercing attack. If within range of my mage and I prepared a <Any Named) Strike I can QC on the HA THG before I activate him if I really want to pour on the hurt, like a Piercing Strike on a Iron Golem, as an example. The stacking ability of the combo, when played well is quite deadly. I am a big big fan of piercing which is why is why I like to run them in tandem.

[Aylin]

Ok, but that doesn't explain why you wouldn't use a Knight of Westlock as your Avenger, since a 7 die/1 Pierce attack > 6 die/2 Pierce attack.

[jayjazz99]

Thanks everyone for your suggestions and comments, very much appreciated.  I will definitely rebuild this spellbook with many suggestions.  Hopefully, I will then win a game against my friends.

[sIKE]

Ok, but that doesn't explain why you wouldn't use a Knight of Westlock as your Avenger, since a 7 die/1 Pierce attack > 6 die/2 Pierce attack.

Have you seen the obscene amounts of armor Wizards are running  (4-5 armor + Voltaric Shield) add in a plus a 5 armor Iron Golem. Give me piercing any day. What makes the Ballista so scary? The piercing IMHO....when you can take an IG from 13 down to 3-5 in one round, its the piercing.

[Aylin]

Ok, but that doesn't explain why you wouldn't use a Knight of Westlock as your Avenger, since a 7 die/1 Pierce attack > 6 die/2 Pierce attack.

Have you seen the obscene amounts of armor Wizards are running  (4-5 armor + Voltaric Shield) add in a plus a 5 armor Iron Golem. Give me piercing any day. What makes the Ballista so scary? The piercing IMHO....when you can take an IG from 13 down to 3-5 in one round, its the piercing.

Piercing is nice, but it isn't worth as much as simply more dice.

Ballista is powerful because of the following:
1. It is a conjuration attack, so it can act right after one of your creatures without giving your opponent a chance to interrupt.
2. It has excellent range and a high-dice attack. The piercing on it is a bonus over a normal 5-die attack, but an 8-die attack with no piercing would be even better than 5 dice/3 pierce.
3. It's cheap to cast or put into (most) books.
4. It's fairly hard to destroy at 8 HP/2 Armor.

I don't exactly feel like explaining why +1 die is superior to +1 piercing at 1 AM, but please take the word of a mathematician. Study fas' table, and if you still have questions tomorrow I'll see if I can explain it then.

[sIKE]

I understand the math and if I were to purely look at the curve as you are suggesting and just did pure math, the averages would totally validate your argument. However, in the games I played people play with the other pieces here, like stacking armor.

Would you rather roll:

6 Dice against 3 Armor 1 Piercing
or 5 Dice against 3 Armor 2 Piercing

Since the Piercing reduces the armor by one we now have

6 dice against 2 armor

2,43       4,31       6,19

or

5 dice against 1 armor

2,37       4,13       5,90

Yes the numbers are better (barely) for 6 against 2, but in playing this game I have had more consistency from stacking piercing than increasing dice. Honestly I do both as in my original statement I also add in a Bear Strength which would go on both, but I like to throw in the Piercing Strike (+3) vs. Power Strike (+2) for the same mana, when properly timed, it can be quite the momentum swing.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Hey Jayjazz that spell book looks pretty fun to play in a casual game! I've been trying to fiddle around with the Priest some myself.

[Aylin]

I understand the math and if I were to purely look at the curve as you are suggesting and just did pure math, the averages would totally validate your argument. However, in the games I played people play with the other pieces here, like stacking armor.

Would you rather roll:

6 Dice against 3 Armor 1 Piercing
or 5 Dice against 3 Armor 2 Piercing

Since the Piercing reduces the armor by one we now have

6 dice against 2 armor

2,43       4,31       6,19

or

5 dice against 1 armor

2,37       4,13       5,90

Yes the numbers are better (barely) for 6 against 2, but in playing this game I have had more consistency from stacking piercing than increasing dice.

Humans are atrocious at understanding statistics, not least because of confirmation bias. You saying that you have more consistency from increasing piercing than increasing dice an equal amount, or any other anecdotal "evidence" isn't verifiable or useful.

Now, adding more dice does slightly increase the standard deviation each time. However, the amount it adds to the average is greater than the amount it increases the standard deviation. We're only talking an increase of about .1 to the SD while the increase to the average is about .2. If you want consistently higher rolls, increasing dice is the way to go.

To answer your question, I'd rather roll more dice.

Honestly I do both as in my original statement I also add in a Bear Strength which would go on both, but I like to throw in the Piercing Strike (+3) vs. Power Strike (+2) for the same mana, when properly timed, it can be quite the momentum swing.

Piercing Strike is only better than Power Strike when (letting defender armour - attacker pierce before either strike is applied = A, number of dice = D)
max{ A , 0 } is an element of Z Union [ 3 , 3 + D/3 ]

In all other cases, Power Strike is superior.