Familiar tactics?

[atljr17]

Last post I wanted touch on spawnpoints now let's learn about familiars. When should you and when shouldn't you use familiars? If you had to rank them what would they be? Which mages benefit more from them and which don't? Defensively when should you try to destroy it or should u ignore it? Just looking for some feedback thanks!

[zot]

spawn points in general are best when you have sufficient object for the to deploy for you. and whether they are crucial to the flow of your strategy flow or not. so you may have to invest extra spell points to protect you sp. sometimes people are so dependent on their sp that destroying it greatly increases your odds of a win. this is especially true of creature sps.

on the flip side knowing this helps you determine whether you need to pursue removing an opposing sp or not.

[littlenog]

For me Familiars are about saving actions and a bit of mana.

So right now I tend to lean towards Nature's (Fellella, Pixie Familiar) and the Dark's (Sersiryx, Imp Familiar).

1 mana enchants even if you don't use them that round are golden and both of these familiars can take advantage of this.  I am also looking at the Warlords familiar for this purpose as he is one of the most Mana starved mages IMO.

[iNano78]

For me Familiars are about saving actions and a bit of mana.

So right now I tend to lean towards Nature's (Fellella, Pixie Familiar) and the Dark's (Sersiryx, Imp Familiar).

1 mana enchants even if you don't use them that round are golden and both of these familiars can take advantage of this.  I am also looking at the Warlords familiar for this purpose as he is one of the most Mana starved mages IMO.

Agreed. Familiars tend to drain a lot of your mana, so I find they're best used if your mage intends to engage in melee (or perhaps bow/boomerang) combat. That is, a Familiar lets you get a quickcast (mage) and full cast (familiar) while attacking (mage's main action). That's why a Galvitar Forcemaster gets a big benefit from [mwcard=FWC16]Thoughtspore[/mwcard]s, and why [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC11]Sersiryx, Imp Familiar[/mwcard] and [mwcard=MW1C13]Fellella, Pixie Familiar[/mwcard] can be great with a hands-on Warlock or Beastmaster, respectively (although I find Sersiryx tends to draw a lot of hate and die quickly). And as littlenog mentioned, Sersiryx and Fellella can be used to buff your mage with Enchantments while your mage does the attacking, which really plays into the hands-on strategy.

In principle, the War school familiars ([mwcard=MWSTX2FFC07]Gurmash, Orc Seargeant[/mwcard] and [mwcard=FWC04]Goblin Builder[/mwcard]) should be good with the Anvil Throne Warlord for the same reason, but since a lot of Command spells require a Soldier target, and the Builder is designed for an Outpost and/or [mwcard=MWSTX2FFC12]Talos[/mwcard] strategy, and since a lot of mana goes into fueling Battle Forge to arm your Dwarven Juggernaut, you don't often see the War Familiars.

And in theory, [mwcard=FWQ09]Sectarus, Dark Rune Sword[/mwcard] should be good, since it is by definition a Familiar that works with a melee mage... but somehow it tends not to be great, probably because you have to plan the Curse spell in the Planning Phase and might have to attack a creature that you didn't want to put that particular Curse on (e.g. plan [mwcard=MW1E24]Magebane[/mwcard] or [mwcard=MW1E19]Ghoul Rot[/mwcard] but then have to attack a level 1 Guard). So it's a little tricky to use since the spell must target the defender of the melee attack. I've had some success with it, but it's limitations make it difficult/awkward to use, and a back-up [mwcard=MW1Q14]Lash of Hellfire[/mwcard] gets used almost as often.

[silverclawgrizzly]

Im a big fan of Fellela and have used Naiya in almost every game I've played with my Siren.

[atljr17]

Yes I agree it seems familiars work well to give you more actions if you moving and fighting yourself. Do people usually do a familiar and a battleforge? If your mage is going to battle I'm assuming your going to gear up. But at what point does all the mana for a familiar and a battleforge set you back?

[Zombie@Heart]

I am a big fan of thoughtspores with the Forcemaster. Essentially,  I treat them as floating mage wands.  instead of attack spells, i prefer to put incantations on them because they tend to be much cheaper on average. Especially battle fury.  This helps the creature poor Forcemaster deal with swarms much easier when combined with her Galvitar full attack action.

I am also a fan of the more poorly received goblin builder. While one of a few familiars that DON'T possess channeling, I feel they are essential for anyone who relies on three or more conjurations, such as either beastmaster, wizard, temple focus priest/priestess, necromancer, or druid(although for the later they are a bit more costly to add to your spell book). They allow your mage to continue to attack and put pressure onto your opponent while also allowing you to build up your resources. Combined with the construction yard, and your mage becomes all about conquering the enemy mages conjurations.
However I can understand the argument that you have two cards doing the job of one (goblin builder + construction yard = any other familiar with channeling), but overall I think it can make for a fun spell book build.
Also not legendary so having two out can really provide a nice advantage(although good luck trying to make up for the manna deficit) 

[Kelanen]

I am also a fan of the more poorly received goblin builder. While one of a few familiars that DON'T possess channeling, I feel they are essential for anyone who relies on three or more conjurations, such as either beastmaster, wizard, temple focus priest/priestess, necromancer, or druid(although for the later they are a bit more costly to add to your spell book). They allow your mage to continue to attack and put pressure onto your opponent while also allowing you to build up your resources.

Mana is not the issue with Goblin Builder - it's that he can only cast them at range 0 and as a full round action - that means he can only ever cast every other round....

He should have been able to cast conjurations at normal ranges.

[iNano78]

I am also a fan of the more poorly received goblin builder. While one of a few familiars that DON'T possess channeling, I feel they are essential for anyone who relies on three or more conjurations, such as either beastmaster, wizard, temple focus priest/priestess, necromancer, or druid(although for the later they are a bit more costly to add to your spell book). They allow your mage to continue to attack and put pressure onto your opponent while also allowing you to build up your resources.

Mana is not the issue with Goblin Builder - it's that he can only cast them at range 0 and as a full round action - that means he can only ever cast every other round....

He should have been able to cast conjurations at normal ranges.

Well, you can use your quick-cast to Force Push or Teleport him into position, but that kind of defeats the purpose of having a familiar in the first place. So I generally agree. Besides, outposts can't be adjacent, so he's often double-moving between building sites.