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

[@wepg]

UPDATED AS OF WOLF PATCH: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pofUpIKCbpmEa68si=gj2sFDEKAdVJprn4

[@randomdudewithnovidz]

Small note on the gremlin ambushers in the Tome of chaos channelling, it isn't just on the defense as it can target cities you don't own as well, may not be a lot but it's a few extra units in offensive sieges and enemy domain

[@wepg]

Yeah, it does make it a lot more flexible, although it doesn't give the gremlins more HP which is the real issue.

[@blackleon1708]

5th tier tomes are done in a such a way, that tomes of 4th are really where most interesting stuff happens. 5th tier just gives you a couple of very powerfull tools to end the game, but 4th tier is where thematic strategies peak. Some of 4th tomes are very interesting, where 5th are just isn't.

[@wepg]

I think I broadly agree, though I do feel that the T5 tomes have some spells that are just as warping as the T4 tomes.

[@R17inator]

8:40 Unfortunately, only bleed and poison will be made stackable according to Jordi in the upcoming update, so Fan the Inferno will still be a waste of mana and casting points, the only merit I see to it is synergy with Searing Blades, and it is quite expensive for that. Gremlin spell in the same tome can actually be cast on enemy cities too, and I wish that were also the case for other "targets friendly city" spells, though the Gremlins are still not useful for anything other than eating a unit action or two (if they are not killed by aoe spells first)

[@wepg]

Oh no, if only bleed and poison stack that's : ( but potentially understandable if they are indeed ignoring resistances (which I have heard repeatedly as a rumor, but haven't heard directly from the devs). Gremlins are such interesting units with their turn around ability, but they are just hilariously squishy. If they were +10 HP +1/+1 the way Inquisitors are supposed to get buffed that spell could get a lot better. I still think the best use case for the tome by a *wide* margin is just get Balors early and crush people though, as the rest of it will inevitably be flavor text compared to the raw power of a bunch of Balors.

[@kylbol9568]

I've always thought that Goldtouched was originally going to be a major transformation, but then the devs decided to make it minor because it wasn't strong enough. It's very similar to Astral Attunement, both giving +2 resources per pop and small combat bonus.

[@wepg]

Yeah, I think Goldtouched is about right for a Minor on a T4 tome tbh. Astral attunement would be meaningfully less miserable if it was just a minor transformation too, but considering how little it gives you right now it's pretty hilarious it is a Major transformation right now.

[@climhazzard115]

I get the feeling you haven't actually tried explosive manifestation? it does not summon astral keepers, ever. It summons either astral siphoner or flow serpent, with full action points. Flow serpent is kind of a joke to kill, but absolutely can't be ignored because of astral pursuit, and the astral siphoner might as well be the equivalent to a tier 3 shock unit, that also has a pull ability, it's an awesome unit. Get the astral amplifier and spell amplification so it's doing a 40 damage AoE, overchannel so not only does the enemy have units with full action popping up in their backline, but also took a heap of damage first. Yeah there are better tier IV spells, lava burst and so on. But it's not near as bad as you make it out to be.

[@wepg]

I tried it on release like six months ago and it was very : (. I should try it out again sometime and see how it plays. The siphoner is a very impressive unit when it comes to assassinating enemy heroes at the moment, though it will be very interesting to see how everything plays in the new patch.

[@wepg]

Tbh this is important enough it needs to be pinned. I still hate this spell in a world with Lava Burst, but Astral Siphoner is a meaningfully better unit to be spawning and definitely makes this spell more castable. Good catch!

[@gloomfiend]

But Astral Attunement DOES give you Ethereal in addition to the listed effects, even though the tool tip doesnt tell you that. Unless they changed that very recently, when I casted it, I always got that.

[@wepg]

They changed it in the patch that came out Tuesday! It was a well-deserved upgrade for the transformation.

[@gloomfiend]

@@wepg weird, I was getting it the whole time even before then. Maybe it was just a tooltip update this patch. Then again, I didnt play since last autumn or so, maybe there was a window where they 'fixed it for some reason.

[@wepg]

@@gloomfiend Were you playing with mods? The vanilla version was literally just overhauled to add ethereal, per the patch notes (as well as just reverting to the previous patch to confirm).

[@yeeterbohlen282]

this gave me the idea to spam ascended Warriors on my young dragons xD

[@wepg]

Yeah, I think if you are going to commit to trying to make dragons work, Ascended Warriors is actually a fine place to be. Only issue is that Shrines and Dragons don't really play well together, so you'll only want a few dragons max, *or* you just have some shrine armies and some dragon armies.

[@LarryJ2022]

The gremlin ambushers can be cast on enemy cities. Doesn't mean much, but it's good to know.

[@wepg]

Yeah, definitely makes them marginally more useful but still immensely skippable when it comes to the way knowledge costs scale up.

[@ictr3ma255]

can you please list best unit enchantements for living fog? because i dont see much of them that synergize with each other. i guess first materium flame weapons?

[@wepg]

If you want to make a living fog kill everything you're going to need a few things. 1.) Ideally Cosmic Overdrive on T5 Astral. Permanent Haste and +30% damage is perfection. 2.) Minimum 2 (Ideally 3+) damage enchantments of varying types, easiest to get are typically Evocation, Cryomancy, and Revelry. 3.) If you want to increase survivability on Living Fog, Tome of Warding for Bolstered Resistance and Tome of Sanctuary for Keeper's Mark are very good here. 4.) Strengthened 5 and Fortune 3. You need to prioritize buffing your Living Fog both out of as well as in combat. Fortune represents the easiest source of crits for Living Fog, but get more stuff for crits for them. 5.) Hero with support abilities. Once you have done all this, however, you will have a unit capable of dealing 100-150+ damage per turn against literally any target thanks to their ability to ignore all defensive stats. The Insanity is basically flavortext if you accomplish this, as the unit you attack will be too dead to insane.

[@alphaxgaming6879]

I transformed my friend's T5 Dragon with devolved at 23% in a 2v2 pvp endgame battle and it made me and my partner fight way easier ahaha

[@wepg]

God tier dice rolling sometimes comes in clutch.

[@alphaxgaming6879]

@@wepg My friend was so mad that he tried to assassinate my hero but failed with a 77% chance to succeed ahah he was so pissed off

[@Mylifeisalie979]

Yeah I have a question, What the hell is age of wonders

[@wepg]

It's a fantasy 4X by Triumph studios and Paradox interactive. Very fun!

[@jaredrichardson78]

Warning on tone of Astral Mirror, at least last I took it, if any of the relections die, at the end of the battle, the hero counts as having died in battle. EDIT: oh, wait, it cant target heroes anymore. Ignore the moron behind the curtain but +7 vision range on a city with true sight is kinda awesome, I'm gonna disagree with you there.

[@wepg]

We all make mistakes! The reason I'm generally so down on the vision stuff is that A.) You *can* build scouts if you really feel like you need it but more importantly B.) If you *really* *really* need it in the late game, Shadow Empire tree and the T5 Nature Tome do it infinitely better than any of the rest. +7 vision is the best not infinity vision effect except *maybe* crows for Industrious/Barbs, but it's still going to be a really expensive spell that doesn't dramatically change the landscape of battle.

[@jaredrichardson78]

@wepg I haven't taken the T5 nature tome, or shadow yet, do I look forward to your video on it!