Lich-Lord Kel'Thuzad Begins His Dark Pursuit Of Knowledge! | Age Of Wonders 4 - Episode 1

[@Fableheim]

Hello everyone and welcome to Age of Wonders 4! The long-awaited new and improved Necromancy playthrough has begun with my all-time favorite WarCraft character claiming absolute dominance in the most recent poll. In this particular campaign, the infamous Lich Kel'Thuzad will arrived at the peak of Necromancy not through absolute servitude but through dreaded schemes and his very own sweat and blood against Brutal AI with EXTRA Cheats (Advantage). Here are some key timestamps for this first 2 hour episode: Journey Begins - 14:42 | The Memelord's New Form - 47:17 |The Mastermind Behind The Setting - 1:10:38 | Overconfidence - 1:22:50 | Greed Is Good - 1:31:22 | Soon-To-Be Examples - 2:07:11. Thanks for watching!

[@kiriusview9251]

Just a quick note. If you click on Change Appearance on a character screen, you can also rename a character or their title. So you could name yourself "the Necromancer" for the beginning of the campaign and then change it to "Lich-Lord" when you unlock the undead transformation.

[@anomanomom239]

Glad that you have decided to cover the adventures of THE ARCHLICH OF NAXXRAMAS, ESTEEMED LICH LORD OF THE PLAGUELANDS, COMMANDER OF THE DREAD NECROPOLIS, MASTER AND FOUNDER OF THE CULT OF THE DAMNED, FORMERLY OF THE COUNCIL OF THE SIX, CREATOR OF THE ABOMINATION, SUMMONER OF ARCHIMONDE THE DEFILER, BETRAYER OF HUMANITY, HEARTHSTONE ENTHUSIAST, AND MAJORDOMO TO THE LICH KING HIMSELF, KEL'THUZAD

[@gorxela8982]

Ok, we need a campaign where all of the rulers are different Blints and they fight each other to find out who is the blintiest Blint of them all.

[@tracescarlet6365]

This was proposed several times, and iirc Fabe said we need more Blint variants before the grand royale.

[@Fableheim]

That's why the Blints that will appear from this series onwards will begin to be quite different than the ones we've seen before. One day, when all Cultures are represented, when all Blints have been properly beaten and battered, a victor will be crowned. Although to be fair, there is already a Blint chilling in Magehaven. XD

[@joshfoster7420]

I was doing a necromancer focused faction but one of my opponents were major transformers into celestials/angel, so when I defeated their army I was able to raise undead celestials. Now you would think golden skeletons with wings would be very powerful but it turns out the weaknesses outweigh the resistances

[@Fableheim]

I think I've seen this interaction before and, yeah, it's a little scuffed because of their extreme resistances clashing. XD

[@Erligan]

@@Fableheim this was in Dev Stream, there were Skeletons of Angelic Dwarves.

[@p4tkany]

It's crazy how this guy is essentially bringing famous characters to life in a game and roleplaying with the tools that Age of Wonders 4 provides. I freaking love this. I would love to see a character like Darius from League of Legends, or some Alliance character, or even someone evil from the Horde like Gul'dan

[@Zero_5906]

FIRST TIMER HERE, and I LOVE your lowkey RP and frankly GJ on Voice over/acting! Loving this!

[@Doombot221]

Kel'Thuzad was also one of it not THE favorite character of mine from the original warcraft 3 as well. Him as a villain and then advisor who becomes a full on lich was so cool and satisfying

[@Fableheim]

*internet high five*

[@morfmorfeas5713]

that Roleplay you do with your voice, is amazing, i also love that you alternate from your normal voice in to the roleplay voice, Amazing work !!

[@Fableheim]

Thanks for the kind words! 😊

[@TheDannen2k]

Scholomance or cair darrow as it also was called as it was the city Kel'Thuzad hid in and started the cult of damned in

[@Fableheim]

An excellent renaming suggestions for our soon-to-be acquired stronghold! {:

[@ghaine12]

Love the in character voicing

[@RingoRoad]

The depth of both the game, and the modding community allow for such incredible roleplaying!

[@Tiogar60]

with the new eldritch realms dlc you should be able to make a lich like creature :p

[@Kazmodeous]

My latest victory was a weird one. By 10 turns remaining I had to find my very last faction. It was the man, the myth, the legend. BLINT hiding in the bottom corner of the map with one city and a small outpost. He had met no one. I had to put him out of his misery of course.

[@Fableheim]

A merciful end to a pathetic existence! Underground-start characters can occasionally get absolutely robbed with their spawns. Blint being a supreme nuisance despite this disadvantage is a part of his wily charm.

[@kiriusview9251]

20:00 Already forgot about the Jaina playthrough... 1:04:00 A "Blint of an eye"?

[@bramboeshoe905]

I do like that Kel’thuzie needs to make a ‘well-timed escape’ from a very bad decision, like all comical villains should.

[@Snipergod1024]

Well, Fable? There's one city name that must be mentioned, the throne of Kel'Thuzad. Naxxramas is his, after all. Also, can I recommend that we get a Champion hero, a faithful ally and friend? After all, Kel'Thuzad did persuade his old friend Baron Rivendare to join the Cult of the Damned...

[@Fableheim]

The Necropolis of Naxxramas was more or less a charge from the Lich King, but it's a far better city name that Otrovicallus. Consider it done! The good Baron definitely needs to show his face, so I'll look for a suitable Champion to take his name. Thanks for the suggestions!

[@ADobbin1]

SO a lich lord that is all about zombies and death still has to worry about fish and granaries???? Isn't everyone under his rule dead?

[@jesusaurussrex2635]

at some point it may be interesting if you did a campaign where you play a Blint and make it as had as possible and have a revenge campaign where you can't ally with anyone and you have to beat everyone. maybe just you in the underdark vs the surface dwellers or your old rulers

[@scanix100]

I play mystics a lot, 4 scouts are ideal starting point, but I put my scouts on auto, because otherwise you miss a lot of resources, many nodes have spare resources to pick and the human brain is not good for that, it is definitely good to visit nearby towers for initial vision, but then put them all on auto.

[@pakboris2268]

I think book of Frost would be more suited to Kel. I suppose that just like any archmage from Dalaran, he was a specialist of ice magic before necromancy

[@Fableheim]

I do get the Frost Book as my second Tier 1 Tome choice, but you're right that it would've made more sense to start with it. I just wanted to get the Soul economy flowing as soon as possible. (:

[@monsi8161]

I see classic Warcraft references, I like video. Monkey brain happy with nostalgic feeling. WC3 good. Kel good. Kel in this video. This video good. Unga Bunga!!

[@scanix100]

Mysitc has the worst draft, so you cannot lose initial units, I use them and the caged units along with some undead skeletons, but mainly you have to clear the resource nodes at home to get decent draft for later and that means spellbreakers ;)

[@kiriusview9251]

For Ner'zhul!

[@Outpost969]

Oh yes... Got to get those skeliboys. By the way, yes all mystic cultures share and squabble over the same Astral Echos.

[@Fableheim]

Thanks for letting me know! Maybe I should put Antonidas in the trash can sooner rather than later. 🤔

[@kamilszymczak7726]

Death shall reign! Gllad to see another undead playthrough

[@Fableheim]

It has been far too long. 😈

[@ThePoodlesCore]

I love your Age of Wonders playthroughs! Can we have one full order with max vasallization and maybe even an order victory?

[@Fableheim]

Thanks! If you don't mind older series, my second playthrough was with The Stranger and was exactly that, although he didn't pursue Magical Victory. If that doesn't interest you, I'm always open to campaign suggestions, but future series are almost always determined by polls. 😊

[@Nosfentu]

Bro you sound like Jack Black lol. Also love the Warcraft influences

[@Zathurious]

Distrustful locals does exactly what it says. It reduces the allegiance gain of whispering stones by three. The problem is that three is exactly how much whispering stones get you by default. Thus the allegiance is set to zero. To gain it, you need to somehow increase that. I think the only two ways are by paying imperium or increasing their opinion of you. You need either the "might makes right" trait to go with it or learn the order stuffs.

[@Fableheim]

When I tested it out my whispering stone was only providing +2, so I was actually losing Allegiance with Free Cities. I was also evil with Disdain for Evil active, so maybe that was interfering? Either way, I do plan to try it out in a proper Diplomacy-focused playthrough.

[@dylanvolckaert404]

Love your wildhammer clan!

[@alecjordan4180]

This is neat; ive been planning an Arthas game

[@beesknees123]

For Ner’zhul!!!! also I run Distrusting Locals on almost every playthrough, it makes you actually have to play to their favor instead of just sitting a stone on them and waiting. it makes their lil allegiance quests MAJOR and does make the overlooked perks/choices much more valid. strongly suggest!

[@Fableheim]

Hmm, I'll come up with a diplomacy-focused run in the future to test it out. Thanks for the suggestion! For this playthrough, I like the idea of Kel'Thuzad's insidious influence creeping out passively. (:

[@raifthemad]

He didn't become a lich half way through Warcraft The Frozen Throne. That's the expansion, the original game was WC3 Reign of Chaos. 11:50 Edit: (thinking to myself as soon as I saw you do it) Mothafucka, I did not know you could lock spells into research window, and I've played through maybe 5-6 maps. Would have been useful to tell me that you damn tutorial.

[@rojado666]

I would like to see a campaign as one of the old gods from dragon age (dragon lord) or as an archdemon

[@Fableheim]

Two dragon gods have appeared in my campaigns, but I've yet to play as one. I'll consider adding one to a future poll! (:

[@MrFirecam]

Chilling.

[@PreyOnFacts]

AoW4 is a game where there is always that next turn. Before you know it, you've played for several hours. It's addictive and in a good. I created Lion-O, Mumm Ra, Vermaphrax the dragon from Dragonslayer, He-Man and She-Ra, Selene from Underworld and my own sorceress; one of the light the other of the dark.

[@xaviusrecords6815]

Fun fact, there was a book with Timey Wimey shenanigans wherein the whole disrupting of the timelines to stop the Lich King and stop Thrall from freeing the Orcs was an actual thing, it's in Twilight of the Aspects. In this book Blackmoore, Thralls previous slaver, actually ends up turning the Horde into his own army and takes over LBRS and eventually Lordaerson. So the horde is being led by a human. Kel'thuzad ends up becoming his advisor. Not sure if this was inspired by that or not but. *shrug*.

[@Fableheim]

I read the book over a decade ago! It was a leading inspiration behind the explanation of the twisted timeline and Aeonus being the opponent with Major Advantage (as opposed to the slightly two more obvious choices), but I definitely forgot that Kel'Thuzad was in the book. Perhaps I subconsciously remembered; either way, here's an internet high five for being just as much of a nerd as I am! ✋

[@Tubalcain422]

19:26 a “Rickroll”?

[@Fableheim]

I'm never gonna give it up (:

[@cier5158]

Finally some Kel thuzad love

[@NumbingDisasterAnon]

Necromancy is definitely a different beast now

[@Fableheim]

It's been a bit of a rough start, but I look forward to unraveling all of its changes! (:

[@forwenein2669]

I know there are more episodes, but currently watching this one so I'll comment here. One cool idea for the future, if you're rich in gold and souls, is to get a Hero of your race with a good trait, and kill them via self-damage, or just let them die in a fight, to then raise them back as early Wightborn. Your Necromancer will then have a juicy target to keep dumping Strengthen Undead on, and if need be to raise back something better than a skeleton

[@geosama1317]

Lich gonna take your manaaa

[@sergiub4372]

This necromancer is fire!

[@ghostsolidsnake]

Yesss for the scourge!!!

[@blackblade99009]

i found my favorite kung fu panda star impersonator again (because you will never not sound like jack black to me)

[@Fableheim]

Welcome back! I hope you enjoyed Jack Black's recent Brittney Spears cover. ;)

[@seltin1988]

beutifull work! love the stories you create in this game :) love the necromancers in this game, hope you use some frostwyrens (bone dragons) :D

[@Fableheim]

Thanks! Don't worry, I'm going to make so many Frostwyrms that even Sindragosa would be jealous. 😈

[@seltin1988]

@@Fableheim im going to love it!

[@maartenpauwels8970]

Nice, another interesting playthrough. Still hoping on more different skelies, some ghost wolves etc would be magnificent.

[@Fableheim]

Fingers crossed they continue to expand upon this system. 🤞

[@pokelogikx]

Im really thinking of getting this game but idk if I can justify the 71$ price when im so bad at 4x

[@Fableheim]

According to the Anniversary stats, 48% of all campaigns were on Easy difficulty, so I wouldn't stress too much about your skill level. If you grab the game on Steam, you can always hop in to a story realm with a pre-created godir to test things out, and you have a 2 hour window to refund the game. Afaik, it's a pretty unconditional refund as long as you have less than 120 minutes of playtime. Follow your heart!

[@pokelogikx]

@@Fableheim its not like it would be my first AoW game I have 3 and planetfall, and while I enjoy them, I am not very good at them XD But I am tempted by the customization and eldritch stuff coming in this one so hmmmmm.

[@Fableheim]

@@pokelogikx Age of Wonders 4 is basically a merging of 3 and Planetfall, so I think it's safe to say that if you enjoyed them you would enjoy AOW4. You could always wait to see what Eldritch Realms brings, but I'm not sure if the whole game will go on sale again. They've also confirmed that more content will be coming after Eldritch Realms. I'm not sure if that would encourage you to wait for more bundles or entice you to hop in now. XD

[@pokelogikx]

@@Fableheim Welp I ended up getting it and now im on story mission 5.

[@VicM88]

You sound like you could do Tseng's voice from the new FF games.

[@pancakes4193]

Hey there, love your AOW4 build playthroughs because they're super flavorful. Quite new to the game, but why do you say Mystic culture is the worst for Necromancy? I thought a lot of Mana would be great for them.

[@Fableheim]

Thanks, welcome to AOW4! The reason that I think the Mystic Culture is one of the worst for Necromancy is that a large power spike for the Necromancy playstyle is thanks to their Major Racial Transformation. Wightborne turns all of your Cultural units in to Undead, which allows your Culture units to benefit from all of the Undead support you've been building up. The main perks of being Undead is that you have lifesteal and cannot lose Morale, but the downside is that you cannot gain Morale (without Reveler's Heart) to empower Crits. The Mystic Culture - as well as Reaver and High (to a lesser extent) Cultures - have ranged-centric Cultural units, so they don't particularly benefit from the durability at the cost of dps that Wightborne provides. Of course, it is still entirely feasible, but you will have to draw your undying frontline from Tome unit.

[@pancakes4193]

@@Fableheim I see! Thank you for elaborating on that. So ideally, a necromancer-focused playthrough should favor durability over DPS since they can't take advantage of the benefits that Morale provides? If that's the case, what would you say are the better cultures for a Necromancer-focused playthrough? You already offhandedly mentioned High and Reaver being similar to Mystics in terms of the anti-synergy, but I'd like to know which ones you think work best. There's still Feudal, Industrious, Barbarian, Primal, and Dark left after those exclusions after all.

[@Fableheim]

@@pancakes4193 I would say that's a good rule of thumb. It is still possible to get high dps out of the Undead by using the Tome of Artificing for its +Crit weapon enchant, Tome of Devastation for its +Crit weapon enchant, and Tome of Revelry for Reveler's Heart where the Undead can gain Morale at a very slow rate, and I'll most likely grab those Tomes after my Tier 5 Tome. Honestly, any of the remaining Cultures mesh well with the Necromancy, but it really shines when you take a high dps oonga boonga Culture like Barbarian or Primal and make them nigh unkillable. Even if their lifesteal isn't enough and they die, early game Necromancy support skills (like Kel'Thuzad's Raise Undead) can bring back the real unit, and late game spells like Battlefield Reanimation can restore an entire Undead army back to life mid-combat. The differences will really shine in the early mid game when you're trying to get up and running and then again in the super lategame when you're trying to pump out useful armies that don't have Imperium upkeep, but you can really make anything work with a little patience and certain Tome choices.

[@pancakes4193]

@@Fableheim Very insightful tips, thank you! I do like the idea of this necromancer Wizard King ruling over a bunch of oonga boonga orcs and stuff and then turning them into an undead legion. I'll keep that in mind. Do you think it'll be alright to take necromancy-oriented tomes but not go fully into Wightborn for my main race? I like the idea of only limiting Undead-type units towards my enemies, a la other typical fantasy games and the like, but I'm not sure if it works for the context of AOW4.

[@Fableheim]

@@pancakes4193 You can definitely do Necromancy without Wightborn. Necromancy is its own self-contained system; the Major Racial Transformation just opens the door to your Cultural units joining that system. This is primarily useful when your Souls, Mana, and/or Casting Points economy is taxed, so you can use gold to pump out Cultural Undead stuff. It's also worth mentioning that your Culture Units or any other type of Tome unit you plan on using won't benefit from a lot of your support skills, which largely have the stipulation of the target being Undead.

[@tinap8227]

Yeah Hermit Kingdom is very difficult to maintain. Almost finished my Serena playthrough. AI and vassals always encroaching and you have to sacrifice tiles between your cities. Only managed to keep it on my cap and 1 city until after turn 100 when I picked up Metropolitan from Materium which overall is better.

[@Fableheim]

F Hermit Kingdom was insanely powerful before that nerf, which is probably why it was nerfed. XD

[@TheCreationofpeace]

Bro forgot Azjol nerub spans most of the planet

[@Fableheim]

I think in the old lore Azjol-Nerub only spanned about half of Northrend, but you are correct that I forgot about the various insectoid servants of the Old Gods. Give me an Insectoid form, and I'll make sure no ever forgets again. 😈

[@TheCreationofpeace]

Yes please gimme that spider war campaign with daddy Anub’arak

[@Fableheim]

@@TheCreationofpeace All Triump needs to do is copy-paste the Kir'ko from Age of Wonders: Planetfall, and the Nerubians will be first in line. (:

[@wondermog4524]

Please! Quit bullying our boy Blint! lol

[@Fableheim]

NEVER! :D

[@iptf]

I like your voice. It is interesting.

[@Fableheim]

Thanks! 😊

[@Huntath]

Love the content, just one comment as an English nerd, when using 'small words' in titles, such as: of, the, and- unless they are at the start of the title you don't capitalize it. I've seen it happen a few times in your videos lol. Otherwise keep it up!

[@Fableheim]

Thanks! I do enjoy being grammatically correct, but that's my KZbinr variation of having a title in all caps. Maybe one day I'll correct myself. (:

[@AngryGerbils]

I think "Cultists of Eternity" would have worked better as the race name.

[@Fableheim]

Hmmm, possibly. The game has certainly proven that it would make more grammatical sense half of the time.

[@AngryGerbils]

Bigglesworth.

[@Fableheim]

Best boi

[@HjalleCalibursChannel]

Sad you can't have pets, a ghost cat could have been perfect!

[@Fableheim]

I actually looked in to gifs I could randomly insert of Mr. Bigglesworth in post but I couldn't get them to look good. :c

[@Erligan]

Definitely don't like random costumes on heroes, from C4U mods, will stick to those that allow you to create from parts, those also give additional accessories that can be placed on top even with regular costumes

[@Fableheim]

I'm not particularly attached to C4U itself, just what it allows. Are there similar mods that you would suggest?

[@Erligan]

@@Fableheim I use Age of Fashion mods, it allows to pick appearance for different body parts, there are some clipping issues, but, you can find working combinations, plus additional accessory and shoulder pads without capes, for even for vanilla dress. This doesn't have your Kel'Thuzad helmet, but, has some interesting options: Horned Twig Crown from Pantheon unlock and Stag Horns (Head Accessories from mod) look great together, I also created Horned Rat with different horns. You probably can run Age of Fashion and C4U together, could create some really interesting looking characters

[@احمدالقحطاني-ت3ذ]

You are the best

[@Fableheim]

Thanks! 😊