Different playing style. This build commits you to eight spell picks, and I consider Warlord + 1 extra spell book > Myrran.

By mid-game my mana bank is so large, I can afford to craft only what I need when I need it. And my spell skill has also grown to the point that I can have towns dedicated to nothing but pumping out troops, using Word of Recall to gather them from far and sundry to man the garrison at whatever city I've just conquered. My playing style isn't fast and loose; it's grab and hold.

Where I don't waste mana is on summoned troops; they don't quell unrest, and are vulnerable to spells like Great Unsummoning. Since I don't maintain spells, my mana budget is almost zero; this allows me to use it where it's needed most: in combat, as much as I like.

With my 5 sorc book build and healing over heroism, holding cities has been just shy of impossible with standard troops.

I will have to try the word of recall, or drop a few sorc books for warlord. + war colleges.

Yeah I never really summon anything when playing this build. Other than Magic/Guardian Spirits and Hero/Champions/Torrin. Actually the only time I ever bother with summoned creatures at all is when I play all Death for the Wraith start.

The only enchantments I ever need upkeep for is perhaps Endure, Wind/Pathfinding, Flame Blade and maybe a few others if I ever get them. Oh and early on Resist Elements is great for helping take down Sprites as those damn things are annoying.

I am not really sure how to tell when it's mid game, or more specifically when it changes from begin to mid. I see late game as when most Nodes on Myrror are being taken by comp. I mean since I only play on Impossible the computer cheats like crazy so it's hard to tell at which point most consider it midgame since they expand so damn quick it's not funny.

Another tip: Gnolls, trolls and klackons (oh my!) are horrible at producing mana, as are dwarves. You know what they're good for? Using SC/WoR to feed elven or other settlers into their city, allowing you to take over their continent with a race you can actually use.


I never seem to get Incarnation; with only two Life books, the odds are against me. And in general any enchantments outside of combat go into items; that way they can never be dispelled. I only buff my troops on the fly, in specific encounters as needed.

My definition of mid-game is when I'm ready to go node mining on Myrror for spell books and retorts; which is about the time all the other wizards have introduced themselves to me anyway. And yeah, on Impossible that usually means that at least one of them has already declared war within five rounds of saying hi.

Late game for me is when I'm ready to go on an empire-conquering rampage; this usually consists of all six heroes attacking the biggest PITA* wizard's fortress, then splitting up to grab three or four of their nearby cities before they finish casting Spell of Return. This is when SC/WoR comes into its own; I can stock my land grab with elite shock troops, and fly off to do the whole thing again. And again. And again....

*Pain in the ass, in case you didn't know. ;)


EDIT: Apparently one of the perks of Insecticide is auto-alchemy when your gold goes over 30K. (It may work the other way too; I haven't tested it yet.) This means that by the late game, I pretty much never have to worry about running out of mana ever again! A nice touch, when the patch's creators themselves tell you that Normal = Hard, Extreme = Impossible, and Impossible = Die In a Fiery Flaming Firepit of Flame.

No; it looks like Extreme in Insecticide equals Impossible in the unpatched game. That's what I get for posting without double-checking first. Fixed my post above.

One of the reasons I am not playing the Insecticide patch is they really don't have non confusing list of what is different. I mean yea I can get all the info if I want to read all the notes from every version of it but it's annoying. Especially since some of the notes are fixes to what they added earlier or even features they took back out.

If they do have just a simple list of what's different/added and anyone knows it plz lmk.

Ask and ye shall receive; see my new thread here.

http://www.gog.com/forum/master_of_magic/insecticide_a_listing_of_its_major_features_and_benefits

Personally, Incarnation is one of those spells I 'just have to have' as an Artificer. Nothing beats insanely powerful items like an insanely powerful hero to use them, right? I also try my best to get him a 'Chaos' weapon, if possible....

Sadly, the combination seems to require lots of save scrumming, and is mainly lategame effective.

Hey guys.

I picked up MoM in the big summer sale, and I must say it's great fun. This thread has spoiled me though. Artificer/Runemaster seems to be so much better than anything else. I don't just mean that it's more powerful, but as other have said, it makes the game so much easier when your heroes can zip around the world by flying 10+ moves per turn.

You also don't really need a big empire. I played a game where I only had two cities the entire time. I had Jafar's portrait for my wizard, and I happened to be crammed together on a single continent with Lo Pan and Horus. By the time I had two cities, Lo Pan had already managed six (I think he summoned some hellhounds and conquered a couple neutrals really fast), so things were looking grim early on. I had no more room to expand without ships, so I sat back and developed my cities and crossed my fingers for a hero. Luckily I got one (I think it was Serena, who's actually pretty good for a weakling because she heals herself quickly after battles), and Lo Pan wasted time fighting with Horus. I finished the last piece of equipment for my hero the turn before Lo Pan declared war on me. Long story short, my single hero razed his entire empire.

One thing I like to do is prioritize my artifact attributes, and first make cheap items that have only the most essential powers. Later when my mana pool is huge, I replace them with fully-empowered items. For example, the first item I make for my hero is a "misc" with only +3 bonus move and flight or water walking. Mobility is the number one priority. Later on I'll replace it with another misc with bonus move, flight, and two other attributes. Then you can break the cheap one for mana.

Finally, there's nothing more fun for an Artificer/Runemaker than to find another spell book as treasure.

Has anyone tried a Death-focused build? Or two books in four categories?

I tried two books in four categories (all except death). Took Alchemist, runemaster and artificier (the one skill which gives you create artifact spell with reduced casting cost).

I use this setting on IMPOSSIBLE and LARGE MAP. Usually if I get some good resources at the begining areas I do win with this setup. Impossible is really really hard but it can be done and i did it couple times. Im sure there are others who accomplished this.

For me Alchemist skill is important because you can easily swap all your gold to mana on1-on-1 ratio. And that gives you a lot of resources for all the super items you will be creating for your heroes.

Basically I get a tank like character and creat 6 def 6 attack items with magic resistance on him. With healing spells and all the buffs he/she is usually near invincible.

I've tried that one. Really, any Artificer/Runemaster build can work. The overall strongest are probably sorcery-based, because with enough sorcery books you can make artifacts with flight and invisibility, which is a very powerful combination.

I've probably had the most fun with 6-book starts (the minimum), and lots of retorts. Famous is a good one, because you get lots of heroes offering to join you, and heroes are crucial to A/R builds. Node Mastery is another good one.

BTW, death-based A/R wizards can be quite strong. You can put Phantasmal on weapons so they ignore armor, among other things.

My experience is that with a Runemaster/Artificier combo, waiting on uber heroes is pointless. I just finished a game where my two big "killer" heroes were Gunther the Barbarian and Shuri the Huntress. Once I got them loaded down with some custom artifacts, they were unstoppable.

That said, I got insanely lucky on Myrror and ended up with 7 Chaos books, 1 Nature, 2 Life, 3 Sorcery, Artificier, Runemaster, Warlord, Sage Master, and Charismatic. At that point I could make some really stupid artifacts. Flaming + Lightning + 6 attack +2 to hit axe means not much survives Gunther's thrown attack.

I'm trying this build for the first time, and it's really really fun.

Im using Artificer/Runemaster LLOOSSSSS for the Flight and Magic Immunity.

Hard/4 opponents/Huge/2.5 nodes

Hard is a tad outside my comfort zone, but after surviving the initial waves of enemies trying to wipe me off the face of arcanus, i finally got Morgana equipped with some sweet gear and she is owning everything, i rescued Malleus from a dungeon and almost have him fully equipped too.

Be sure to also check out thread about Malleus hehe.

http://www.gog.com/forum/master_of_magic/all_hail_malleus/page1

We actually ended up discussing almost every hero and giving reasons they were so good.