1-i'd say the 2 bests opening would be battleforge + self harmonize/crystal, or pantagram harmonized. burning stuff is expensive.
2-the torment seems super nice, it has just way too much synergy. i find it so strong that i would maim wing myself just so i could burn myself to give it to the other mage. Helmet is purely a swarm thing so it depends on the opponent. Torment helps for both swarm and solo. Just think of the action advantage!
3- Sesyrix is a frail utility. so you need some backup for him to be worth it. alone he's susceptible to die. The spell cast would depent on opponent and state of the game, and maybe he'll just melee too depending on the situation (marked for death gives him +2 dice! 3 if with helm and a burn)
4-Honestly, having blood demon seems weird in a swarm yet its a demon tough to kill, so he's worth it by himself, same for dark pact slayer. If you build swarm and have nothing more, you might end up being defeated by simple strategy. having tough creatures to deal with guards make your imps stay alive longer. They complement each other in their own way. More different tools is always good if its not too expensive.
5-I personally think that you need everything with her. fire is better with curses, curses alone would mean just playing necro is better, kind off... if you play warlock you need fire, so if you have fire you need curses. Thing is the points for each depend on your own strategy and ideas.
6-Combustion is a situational finisher. with a curse, marked for death, and 3 burns, you roll 8 dices for 5. yet you could do the same for 5 mana with flamestrike. so it needs more to finish something. but just imagine the big hit with 4-5 burns on a mage, its insanely big!..... so its super situational. no more then one of it should be in any fire book.
7-The new warlock has just wayy too much synergy with fire, and fire is good vs everything except flame immune stuff. Yet, flame immune can still have a burn on them for melee buffs to demon, burnproof can still have their faces melted by fire, fire destroy plants AND zombies (and ooze). Sure, there are some tools against it, but nothing that can't be dealt with, except maybe iron golem and monolith. These two are the only things hard to deal with by fire, but they are hard to deal with on their own anyway. Golen with a rust can still recieve tons of fire dices from a flamestrike. Monolith cant have any curse on it, but can still burn so its not hopeless. These 2 are the worst yet they can still be dealth with. except if the opponent has 4 golem. then you are screwed, just kill the mage then. have a ton of healing and defensive stuff (vampirism, death link, regen) and the worst vs fire is not that bad! BURN EVERYTHING!!!! BUUUUUUUURRRNNNN!!!!!
Please keep in mind that its all theories for me, gonna buy the game tomorrow (was sold out last week... snif
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