Tier 3 Tomes Tier List - Age of Wonders 4 (MP) Basics

[@wepg]

UPDATED AS OF WOLF PATCH: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pofUpIKCbpmEa68si=gj2sFDEKAdVJprn4 I should have specified that you can haste the Warbreeds with Necromancers *if you make them undead* as they are not naturally, but undead Warbreeds are very cool. Extra cool points for you.

[@smoothbrain8355]

These videos have been great, even for single player I've been finding it really useful hearing how you explain the value of every tome.

[@wepg]

Excellent! I did my best to future proof it and include potential use cases for things in the new patch based off of speculation about the new patch. Obviously with Amplification in T3 now it is very important to update, though I do think that Amplification in T3 is meaningfully later enough that it is a positive change for the game.

[@JaySearson]

Tome of summoning's summoning well is the main feature I like, since it makes defending really easy.

[@wepg]

Yeah, Summoning is a *lot* better as a T2 tome, due in part to how strong it is both on defense with summoning wells as well as offense thanks to your ability to mind control enemy elementals and other magic origin units.

[@yeeterbohlen282]

Now I want the turn Chaos Eaters to Balors xD. Sadly the sleep spell instakills Balor because they explode on death 💀

[@wepg]

Indeed, Balors have some issues due to being weak to something that is strong, and that will 100% be reflected in their grade. Of course, if you can get to them before your opponents get to T4 tomes they can really wreck face.

[@jaredrichardson78]

The warbreed is awesome, especially with a hero who has spur to action! But their regeneration doesn't work and that makes me sad. The wizard's tower gold wonder's siege project does 15 siege damage, which is nuts, so it could make room for both Harass Defenders and Dragon Attack together and that is super interesting Would "incite revolution" be viable on your own outpost work camp to farm high level equipment? On the note of the Keepers Mark not stopping death effects, assuming it works like steadfast, it wont stop it if it has already triggered. But say you go for an assassinate before it was triggered, the effect will stop death. Also, steadfast AND keeper's mark stack very nicely, last I tried it. On the Supergrowth, THANK YOU, I have been talking about the reduced stack size being so good and the increased on spawnkin is a trap. I am SO happy to hear you say that!

[@wepg]

Incite Revolution can't target yourself but if you want to use it at all the best use case is to declare war on a free city and cast it ob the free city a bunch of infestation clears- this is actually a viable way to utilize the spell if you are having difficulty finding good opportunities to creep. On Keeper's Mark, Zombie has it in our current MP game and it definitely does not stop auto-kill effects at the moment, as it triggers on taking lethal *damage*, though this could easily be a bug in the current build. It's still a good effect if you are planning on playing around with Shrines of Smiting, mind you, but definitely not as powerful outside of that due to the ways you can get around it at the moment. Spawnkin was quite good when it increased hero damage, but basically the entirety of the Tome of the Horde has been awful for months now, and even prior to the giant nerfs it was mostly only good for spawnkin and Blaze of the horde. Tier 1 units are just not good outside of team fights, and even there they are pretty narrow.

[@Mickeyshere]

I think one thing you should mention with the time of cycles is a bug with the tier 4 unit it provides. There is a devastating bug with the Druid of the cycle that really kills their value. As you said in the video, the restart the cycle revive ability is only available if the Druid kills a unit. However, successfully using the % chance insta kill ability for some reason does not count as a kill by the Druid itself, and will not unlock the revive ability. It only allows the revive ability if the Druid uses it’s single target blight damage attack to get a kill. So it’s more limited in reality than it is on paper.

[@wepg]

Yeah, the Druid of the Cycle is pretty non-functional at the moment.

[@jonatangraversen7623]

Just a recommendation for future videos like this, you could end the video with a conclusion going through them like "This and this is S, This and that and this is A, Those are B" etc just a quick recap

[@wepg]

Another person mentioned this as they multitask while listening, so I'm going to make a conscious effort to try to do that moving forward!

[@turbanheadless]

Just picked up this game yesterday. Damn the synergies seem wayy more op than in aow3. There seem to be some super broken combos between the books if you know what youre doing. Kind of like heroes 3, just multiply the complexity by 10

[@funakfunak2740]

Also just curious, but after the changes do you think Wightborn is better or worse than it was before?

[@wepg]

Broadly worse, though still technically playable. It's probably honestly B tier though, now that you aren't completely morale-immune.

[@kylbol9568]

I liked it when Teleportation didn't need affinity and I would take it almost every game

[@wepg]

It's still *very* achievable with basically anyone as long as you are willing to juggle your signature skills, and in fact this is what a bunch of the top MP players do (not that I claim to be one, but I do play with them a lot and learn a bunch from getting my face punched in).

[@funakfunak2740]

Not sure why I'm writing this on a four week old video that's barely touching on the subject, but man I do not like the Druids of the cycle, their single action attack is just kinda laughable for a T4 unit, like the damage is okayish, but there's no status effect on hit, something most T2 or T3 supports have. The other abilities are both kinda short range and 3 action points, meaning it takes either multiple turns to cast them or it takes the enemy just running into your range. On top of that, that's like the only thing it does. There's no passive effect buffing the group, no real support abilities besides that 3 AP heal/ress that requires you to get a kill with your 24 damage blast. no meaningful effect from its defense mode or so. It's also not particularly tanky or so either, it's kinda slow. I find it almost impossible to motive the imperium upkeep of it.

[@wepg]

Yeah, Druid of the Cycle is pretty awful. The real crime is that they don't have a natural small heal to remove status effects: in comparison to the T2 and T3 supports, Druid of the Cycle does do a lot more damage, and at least it is technically a support so it has the nice Warding defense mode, but largely you should avoid them.

[@funakfunak2740]

@@wepgIt's just 4 more damage than T3 supports though, wouldn't say that's "a lot" Anyways, the point is that they really should do more, either have a crazy good on hit effect, or just have an actual support skill.

[@blackleon1708]

Phase beast is cool and all, but it always kinda angered me. Its really, on first glance, best summoned unit at this stage of game. Which is counterintuitive in a world where SUMMONING tome exist, and on same technological level. You expect best summon from that, thematically speaking, but it just isn't.

[@wepg]

Yeah, fortunately Summoning got moved to T2 which makes a lot more sense, as that's roughly the power level of the tome anyways.

[@pannychanman]

Did you miss Tome of Amplification or did I miss it?

[@wepg]

This tier list is from ye olden days when Amplification was a T2 tome. As a T2 tome it was busted beyond belief, but as a T3 tome it's a lot more reasonable. Probably like B+ range.

[@Drachenfurie]

I hope Necromancers get a small buff next patch. Skalds have a chance for insanity on attacks. And Necromancers have...nothing? No effect on attacks.

[@wepg]

Necromancers have corpse interaction, which is quite powerful. I think the best way to buff Necromancers is to tone down the fire and spirit weaknesses from Undead; if it was -2/-2 the unit type would be a lot better and Necromancers better as a result.

[@uhhmary]

I swear the a.i hates keeping the young dragons alive more than keeping copper golems alive its so infuriating losing a close to evolving one last second, even with the homework the a.i will just suicide one last minute for fun

[@wepg]

Yeah, the effort to reward calculation is just off on dragons considering how ineffective Young Dragons themselves are.

[@smoothbrain8355]

What is an SPI?

[@wepg]

A Special Province Improvement. Generally the Conduits and Research Posts are pretty good, the mines and quarries okay, the foresters situational (if you need 2 foresters for your scholars guild and only have 1 forest nearby they are worth building), but farms are mostly skippable.

[@zil7692]

When are the updated videos coming? No new updates from you for 2 DLCs now. Its all outdated.

[@wepg]

I don't get press copies so I have to set aside a good chunk of time to actually play around with the new stuff when a DLC drops, but most of the information is still correct in the older lists, fortunately.

[@zil7692]

@@wepg Alright, well I guess that's understandable. Though the reaver update has been out for a while and I don't think I I've seen any of your videos addressing them. MaYbe with primal culture update there is enough content that merits a revisit and review of older videos, especially cultures, Race trait (mounts etc), and maybe even tomes. Would be appreciated since I generally like your videos.

[@bouhbouh9408]

sound is too low

[@wepg]

I can try turning my mic up a *bit* more but if I crank it too much it just records static. That said, when I listen to it back I typically only have my volume at like 26-30% on my speakers; any chance your volume was low user side?

[@joshuawhite9876]

​@wepg Volume's ~%10 lower than other videos, I think. Personally doesn't bother me, but it is there

[@artizak]

Why-vern

[@wepg]

Wi-vern. Wivren?

[@artizak]

@@wepg How-vern

[@wepg]

@@artizak Whenvern?