Straight up James!!! Sometimes Persophone or Stratos and a dash of Pyro. Haven't really touched Charnel though

the first time i played through i went with Charnel most of the way.
he's just great.
but i played this week with some Stratos and a heavy James build. I really like the James ending, and bore is an amazing spell when facing Marduk

For those of you who have never played Sacrifice before, you should know a few things to really enjoy the game:
1) It is possible to beat the game using virtually any combination of missions/gods/creatures. Some combos are easier than others, but you can win if you play to your strengths.
2) There is a steep learning curve, so give yourself time to practice. Once you get the hang of things, you'll be nuking the AI without too much of a problem. (Human opponents will kick the difficulty up a notch.)
3) On the final battle with Marduk, don't give up! If your style of play isn't working with him, try using a different strategy and different tactics. Your methods that worked so well during the rest of the game will have to be adjusted, but you can still beat him.
And yes, the replayability of this game is one of its biggest strengths. In fact, I think I'll reinstall it for another go. )
-Khalaq

I start with james then go either pyro or the dead guy :D.. the have the best spells ever.. hehehe ...

lvl1 - Stratos
Main reason is the "Lightning" spell - super fast recharge, instant hit. The Brainiac is a veeery long range unit actually... with a knock down effect
lvl2 - Persephone
"Eternal form" is short but unique shield that makes you completely invincible for 15 sec and yes, the healing scarab is very helpful throughout the game.
or
lvl - James
"Skin of stone" (I think it was) is the most lasting shiled of all and the Basilisk is a very strategic unit (imagine petrifying a 5-soul flyer above a chasm... yes "it falls like a rock" :))
lvl3 - Persephone
Troll. Very, very good lvl 3 unit, regeneration, good damage, only 2 souls, with haste is an absolute killer. The hold spell is nice too, although it does not prevent ranged units from shooting.
Charnel is a good option too, because the Blight has the life steal ability and the Slime spell which can make any foe an easy pray...
lvl4 - Charnel
Without a doubt Animate Dead is my absolute favourite spell. 300 mana super fast recharge time, can be performed while moving and with a decent range. It's the optimal way to slowly exhaust your enemy in battle. The Netherfiend on the other hand is a poor lvl 4 creature: slow, useless special, average damage, did I mention it's slow?
lvl5 - James
Halo of Earth rocks. Literally. When entering combat this spell usually turns into at least one creature less for my opponent. Great for hunting down retreating enemy wizards or creatures, just add haste to it. The Ikarus is a tough fighter, not worth the three souls... but it could be worse.
lvl6 - Pyro
Both Reign of Fire and Bombard seem to me as an excellent choice. Maybe Flummox and Flurry are preferred by other (and I respect their choice) but for the Bombard is a good unit and most important let's to get to the next level with Pyro...
lvl7 - Pyro
Warmonger - my absolute favorite unit, or at least at number 2. I just love those machine guns. Huge amount of damage! They're fragile though and a group of them can easily turn into a pile of blue souls if caught in the line of fire of any of the long range units one level below them. Otherwise they kick ass, even Marduk's ;)
lvl8 - Pyro
Not a choice here either, but nothing to complain of. Volcano is a spell with a very slow recharge but devastating effect (just like the Pyrodraulic Dynamo :)). This spell can easily wipe out a Manalith along with the 5-soul guardians attached to it.
The Blind Rage spell invokes "rage" into an enemy creature making it unable to recognize friend from foe and attacking first creature in sight. Not as useful as the Charm spell but OK if used on bigger units.
lvl9 - Stratos
A small turn in the game plot opens an opportunity to choose Stratos for the final two missions. And as a token of his gratitude you get the Silverback. A fearsome beast with the freak response after sent in attack: "No survivors!". Freezing opponents has haste. Maybe short ranged and long time between attacks but still a vicious killer in my opinion.
It can't kill any of the other lvl9 units (except the Rhinok maybe, I haven's tried...) in 1 on 1 combat though.
As a summary I can tell it's balanced between spell/units in early stage, then there is a sacrifice to get the Animate Dead spell and in the end is creature oriented. Comments are welcome :)

The silverback is statistically the strongest monster in attack. Apparently.

In most games I play as a good guy. Ultimate good guy. I am walking Jesus.
But in Sacrifice it was just so fun to choose charnel and pyro. Being evil was jut awesome.

How is Stratos one of the goodie-goodies :p?

Ah, so many options. So many possibilities. In fact, there are exactly 1,953,125 possible legal spellbook combinations if you use the multiplayer spellbook editor. That's nearly two million! Goodness . . .
Well, I generally start off with Stratos. His units are terribly weak, by comparison, but Lightning for only 200 mana, and such a fast recharge . . . I can't say no to that! And besides, his units off a LOT of utility if you can keep up with them. It can be annoying to micromanage, but their abilities really do offer a lot of benefit.
The other four Gods just don't really impress me much here, though Troggs are a serious nuisance when I rely on my Lightning. Also, Spitfires are an immense problem with their cone attacks, especially against the poor Frostwolves.
Scarabs are nice, but risky. If they miss, they might accidentally heal an enemy! Sure, that means more experience points when I finally kill the enemy, but such a risk isn't usually worth the meagre reward. Vorticks and Basilisks aren't bad, but when they miss . . . gah, such wastes. Tickfernos deal nice damage and sap Mana, which is a bonus. Necryls are just disasters waiting to happen . . .
Ethereal Form is really insanely powerful, though the shortest lived shield power. Fireform and Protective Swarm just don't cut it, as I don't put my Wizard in to melee that often. I'd rather run or blast the melee attackers with my spells. Airshield is a joke. Skin of Stone is nice for its insanely long duration and immense damage reduction.
Next up I like to switch things around. All five have their merits and weaknesses, as both units and spells. Vines and Freeze offer great utility, Slime isn't bad, and Rings of fire is a nice DoT attack which prevents an enemy wizard from healing herself or entering her Shield Form. Soulmole is cute, but I generally don't bother with it since I will almost always take Charnel's 4th tier.
All five creatures are useful, though I generally rank them Troll, Firefist, Blight, Taurock, Squall. Trolls have an immense usefulness in Guardian'ing a Manalith, and Firefists aren't bad for general mayhem. Blights are weak Lithraiders, but with a little speed boost they can usually get the job done. Taurocks are too slow for my tastes, but they can stand up to some serious punishment. Squalls can be brutal in numbers, but I prefer to use those Souls for something a little meatier.
This is the big one. Charnel. All the way. Nothing can outstrip Animate Dead at this level. Add to that the Netherfiend, and you've got a seriously deadly combination. It's annoying how slow the Netherfiends are, but with the proper support and liberal castings of Animate Dead, they'll get to their target eventually.
All of the other Gods offer some impressive stuff at this level as well, but generally I won't use them unless forced to by playing a "No Custom Spellbook" game.
Demonic Rift and the Deadeye make for some great level 5 damage dealing potential. I just really get a thrill out of hearing those moans as the purple circle opens up, and the range on those Deadeyes is BRUTAL with their fine accuracy.
Explosion and Pyrodactyls offer a nice mix of damage too, but it's usually too much work for too little reward. Halo of Earth is potent and deadly, and the Ikarus are like bigger, tougher Blights, but ultimately this combo isn't near the top of my wish-list. Soul Wind can be a lot of fun with the Lightning attacks it deals, but still not something I'd go out of my way to obtain. And I am NEVER taking Rain of frogs again. What a pointless spell.
Here's where Charnel suddenly suffers from his case of "The Worsts". While Abominations aren't exactly bad, the Wailing Wall is just next to pointless. Sure, it'll sap all Mana from anyone who ventures in to it, but ultimately it doesn't lead to a whole lot of utility. Instead, the Mutant who is almost as good as the Abomination, if not, better, comes with the immensely potent Healing Aura! Cast that sucker on a Manahoar and you'll have plenty of healing for your personal retinue for ages!
But what I really, really like here is James' option. Boulderdash make Deadeyes look like drunk Gnomes when it comes to accuracy, and their damage is exceptional! On top of that, Wall of Spikes makes a terribly rude interruption against enemy Wizards who are trying to cast high level spells.
Why have one wall spell when you can have two?! No, not Vinewall. What a piece of trash . . . No. I mean Fence! This sucker, ESPECIALLY combined with Wall of Spikes, is almost always instantly fatal to anything dumb enough to even approach it. And though I'll probably already have the Netherfiend, it doesn't hurt to have some Yeti too, especially with their ability to freeze enemies they attack.
Alternatively, Plague, Rain of fire, and Bombarment are all spectacular, as are the creatures that come with them. Ents are possibly so powerful and useful, though, that they can make me overlook the weakness of Vinewall.
Next up I like to switch things around. I can never make up my mind which two ultimate spells are the best. Cloudkill deals insane damage and Tornado is immensely useful for telling an enemy to piss off. But when Tornado glitches on the edge of the map . . . ugh, that's a headache I could do without.
Bovine Intervention is both hilarious and powerful, and Bore will obliterate an army AND the Souls used to create them.
I haven't really got the hang of Blind Rage, but Volcano is easy enough!
Charm can cause the game to crash, and so if you're losing in multiplayer with no chance of recovery, it's a really dirty tactic to intentionally cause everyone's game to go "ker-splat". Meanstalks make for some great fun in a Twirl map.
Finally, Intestinal Vapourization and Death make for some brutal anarchy on the battlefield.
And, this brings us to the ultimate creature.
Hellmouths are my favourite, but they have this painful weakness where they have to be close to a strong source of mana, or they will deal no damage.
Dragons make a great suppliment if you don't have Animate Dead, but they're generally so big, they just fly in circles non-stop when trying to attack a smaller ranger enemy.
The Pheonix is like a giant flying Tickferno! Add to that their ability to cast fire spells upon death and you've got something very potent.
The Rhinok may not be able to fly, but it still offers some serious power with its AoE attack and Halo of Earth.
And, the Silverback. These bastards are brutal in dogfights on a Twirl map thanks to their Freezing Breath.
Goodness, what a rant.
Well, hope everyone is having immense fun with this game and I hope you can all drum up enough support for Sacrifice 2 to be created and released!

No one likes Pyro's Volcano???

Stratos has the hardest missions and weakest units (measured in brute strength) in the beginning but gains an impressive array of high-damage lightning spells towards the end. Fence is by far the best wall-type spell. Tornado is probably the most destructive ultimate spell in the game on maps with lots of ledges (and the most fun/frustrating to get caught in).
Soul Wind is a surprisingly good deal:
- Grabs a blue soul without risking your wizard.
- Costs very little mana and recharges in 3-4 seconds.
- Does moderate damage to every enemy near the blue soul.
- Knocks down every enemy near the blue soul (except shielded wizards IIRC).
In fact I sometimes send in a few low-level units to get them killed just so I can use SW on them later. This works really well on guardians or a cluster of ranged units that can sometimes be killed with just a Soul Wind + one or two other splash-damage spells.

I used to like Volcano ALOT! I still do, I'm not sure for Blind Rage though...
As for Soul Wind, I think it costs about 500 mana? Or I'm wrong?
I just played all the missions of Persephone and I can tell you... Thats what I all a: "SELF-RIGHTEOUS B*TCH " lol
I if someone can tell me difference between Gremlins and Seraphs I'll be grateful.

Stratos is the shizzy, plus he sounds the coolest and he flicks his own head around!

No mention of Charm yet? Although the dragon does kind of suck as a level 9 unit, the Charm spell is incredibly useful. I never played MP, so I don't know if you ever really get a chance to use it there, but it makes the last couple levels of the single player game a breeze.
Especially the beginning of the last level where it can be very difficult to get souls because you know who keeps picking them up. Just Charm one of the level 9 units and you're good.
Then when attacking the manaliths, Ethereal form + Charm = super easy to accumulate an army of stolen level 9 units. You can make it through the level easy without converting a single soul. Only bad part is Charm's long recharge time, but that's just a matter of being patient.