Academy Strategies

    In the previous Heroes games, the Wizard's town (Tower/Academy) was always a town focused on magic-users and ranged attackers.  Ubisoft has kept that base quality intact in the latest incarnation of Heroes 5.  Where this town differs from the past is in some creature line-up changes and most notably in the Wizard hero development.  In this article I'll attempt to dissect this town and provide some strategies and hero development plans to assist newcomers to the game.  Knowing me, the key word in that sentence was "attempt".  :O)

    Before I get into the guts of this article (hero development) let's take a minute to do a quick review on the Academy town units, their strengths and weaknesses, and how to best use them in combat.

Creatures

Level 1:  Gremlin

As with most level one units, the Gremlin has very meager stats but an excellent growth rate.  Gremlins have a ranged attack that can assist you early in the game with clearing out mines.  Protect the Gremlins as best you can because they will be the heart and soul of your army for several weeks to come.  Using the tried and true method of "turtling" is still a very effective way of protecting your archers.  Gargoyles and Golems make excellent "shells" for your turtle.  But without any noticeable uses other than ranged attacks, upgrading the Gremlins is a very high priority.  Do so as soon as possible. 

Level 1 Upgrade:  Master Gremlin

The Master Gremlin is a huge improvement over the basic unit.  While the statistical changes are modest at best, it's in the unit abilities that this unit really shines.  MG's gain the "repair" ability.  This allows the MG's to rebuild destroyed war machines during combat and to rebuild killed golems during combat, essentially resurrecting them.  Once you acquire Master Gremlins, you should have very little trouble clearing out your immediate vicinity simply by going into combat with just MG's and golems, surrounding your MG's and firing away.  If you begin to lose any golems, just repair away and start firing again.  Enemy spell casters and enemy ranged units will undoubtedly focus their attacks on the MG's however.  This is the reason the hero skills are so vitally important.  But we'll get to that soon enough.

Level 2:  Stone Gargoyle

I can only hope that most people who read this have heard of the term "cannon-fodder" before.  Because that's a perfect description of the Stone Gargoyle.  With virtually no attacking capabilities what-so-ever, very low hit points and defense, the options for using these units is limited at best.  In general, their best use is in either blocking enemy ranged units, thus protecting the Master Gremlins from attack, or in attacking melee units in order to soak up their initial retaliation strike.  Other than that, I'd suggest either leaving them at home to let them accumulate or just sacrifice them in order to preserve your more vital troops.  Namely the Gremlins and Golems.  Gargoyles do, however, come with the enraged ability that increases their stats when an ally is killed.  So breaking off a few single gargoyles and sacrificing them in order to bump up the stats of the main gargoyle force is a viable strategy.

Level 2 Upgrade:  Obsidian Gargoyle

The Obsidian Gargoyle is a slight upgrade on a very poor unit.  The upgrade has only slightly more usefulness than the regular Stone Gargoyle.  This comes mainly from the full elemental immunities.  Archdruids are rather nasty opponents for the Master Gremlins, so leave them (and the golems) out of the battle and just take them on with the Obsidian Gargoyles and your hero's spells.  Its a rather surprisingly effective way of handling an otherwise difficult opponent.

Level 3:  Iron Golem

Iron Golems, and their more colorful upgrades, will provide all the muscle you could want out of a tanking unit.  Like all previous incarnations of Golems in past Heroes games, this one is also a heavily armored tank that moves like a slug.  But when his best use is protecting the MG's, speed isn't that much of an issue.  However, when facing enemy spell casters or ranged attackers you'll want to get your golems across the battlefield as quickly as possible.  Haste, or even better teleport, will be the perfect solution to not losing a ton of MG's to these foes.  Loss of golems isn't a concern due to the repair ability of the MG's.  Preserving the MG's is your prime concern.

Level 3 Upgrade:  Steel Golem

Ahhhh...Steel Golems.  What's not to like about these beauties?  Their speed?  Okay, there's one flaw.  But it's totally compensated for by their great attributes.  With a decent size stack of Steel Golems and Master Gremlins you'll be able to take on such foes as Dragon Utopias if played correctly.  Large attackers, like hydras, griffins, wraiths, etc...will fall like you won't believe to this combination.  With unlimited retaliations, all you'll ever have to do with Steel Golems is defend and repair them with the MG's.  Rinse and repeat.  The occasional haste, divine strength, endurance or righteous might thrown in certainly won't hurt things.  I'll delve into strategies against particular enemies later on though.

Level 4:  Mage

Mages are both a blessing and a curse until you learn the tricks to using them effectively.  First off, they have a limited selection of spells to choose from.  Fist of Wrath and Cleansing.  Secondly, they have a ranged attack that kills everything in it's line of sight, including friendly units.  Hence...the curse.  Due to their fragile nature, you'll definitely want to surround these old men with Golems.  But attacking will undoubtedly kill some (quite possibly all) of your protecting units.  Therefore, the strategy with this unit is to have your Mages and MG's standing side-by-side and surround both units completely with Golems.  While the enemy is at a distance, use your spells from your mages and your ranged attacks from the MG's.  Once you're out of mana, start shooting with your mages and STOP shooting with your MG's.  The Master Gremlin's main task now is to repair the Golems that the mages have killed.  Once we get some different units, these strategies will change quite a bit though.

Level 4 Upgrade:  Archmage

The upgrade into the Archmage grants quite a few improvements.  Most noticeably is the nice bump to the hit points.  They'll still need protection however.  Second is the vast improvement in the spell selection.  Added to Fist of Wrath and Cleansing is both Righteous Might and Fireball.  While fireball is very tempting, you'll be pleasantly surprised at how much difference Righteous Might makes on your MG's and your Steel Golems.  The 3rd change is the addition of the Energy Channel ability.  Anything that lessens the costs of the hero's spells is always welcome. 

Level 5:  Djinn

My beloved Genie was scrapped in favor of this out-of-proportion monstrosity.  But I digress.  :O)  Sadly, the Djinn is extremely hobbled by the lack of sufficient hit points.  Usually one or two strikes by the enemy is enough to take out an entire stack of Djinns.  That doesn't mean they're not worth having though.  With excellent attack damage and random spell casting abilities they can certainly help out.  But anything to boost their defense and hit points is certainly advisable.  Leaving these at home until they grow into a decent sized force is highly recommended though.

Level 5 Upgrade:  Djinn Sultan

With a slight increase to both defense and hit points, the Djinn Sultan is a bit more durable than the lackluster Djinn.  While they still maintain some excellent attack numbers (and the best speed/initiative for all of the Academy troops) you'll still see them dropping like flies unfortunately.  Endurance will help considerably as will deflect missile.  However, trying to keep the Sultans alive without the assistance of magic is nearly impossible. Again, leave these at home until you got a large number of them.  They're simply too expensive to waste in small battles.  Once you get Expert Artificer and a decent stash of resources, things will change rather quickly with this unit though.

Level 6:  Rakshasa Rani

Excellent stats but with a price tag to equal it.  If you decide to start purchasing these cool cats, be prepared to protect them with spells or even better with Artificer.  Poor initiative and speed hamper this unit.  But the "no enemy retaliation" ability is a great asset.  Use with care.

Level 6 Upgrade:  Rakshasa Raja

Like their female cousins, the Raja is a great offensive force but shackled with an equally offensive price.  Gaining the ability "Dash", the Raja can forego his turn to Dash, thus greatly increasing his initiative for the duration of combat.  This vastly improves the usefulness of the Raja.  However, they're still quite vulnerable to direct-damage spells and their lack of speed still hurts them.  Again, Artificer comes to the rescue.  But we'll delve into that later. :O)

Level 7:  Colossus

Unbelievable stats come at a price.  3500 gold + 1 gem to be precise.  That's not chump-change.  So once you start purchasing these giants, make sure you can protect them.  With Light Magic being a focal point for the Academy's Mage Guild, waiting until you've acquired expert Light and Resurrection isn't a bad idea.  But so is waiting for the upgrade.  Lack of any spells or ranged attacks makes the Colossus a glorified tank.  A fantastic tank, but a tank none-the-less.  The only disappointment for this Genie is the decision by Ubisoft to scrap their movement animation.  In the early versions of the game, every step the Colossus took would shake the entire battlefield screen.  A sad loss.

Level 7 Upgrade:  Titan

The pinnacle of Academy prowess.  The Titan has VERY few flaws.  The only weakness they possess is a vulnerability to direct damage spells.  Therefore magic resistance is very important.  The premier ranged attacker in the game needs very little in terms of protection or buffs.  But having a few certainly won't hurt.  With their great attack/defense/hit points, sending them into melee isn't a bad idea either.  To be brutally honest, there's very little you could do wrong with the Titan.  They're a wrecking crew all by themselves.  Once you acquire them...bring them with you.  Period.

Heroes

    All Wizards begin with Basic Artificer automatically, they also begin with 0 attack, 0 defense, 2 spell power and 3 knowledge.  Their main focus is in knowledge and their Mage Guilds are guaranteed to contain Light and Summoning spells.  Spell power will come to a Wizard, but it will lag behind knowledge by a considerable margin most often.  Attack and Defense are hard to come by.  Take it any way you can get it.  Enough of the basics, on to the heroes!

Faiz:  Disrupter

Vulnerability spell not only lowers defenses but it also causes damage.  It's quite easy to succeed with this hero, but unfortunately it's not a sure thing to get multiple Dark Magic spells.  With a bit of luck though, he can really be a force to recon with.

Galib:  Spell Twister

Starts with Magic Mirror and Luck.  While it's certainly a nice starting set, the spell twister special is what really makes this hero shine.  Normally the Magic Mirror ability sends a spell to a random target when it triggers.  But Galib sends it to an enemy target much more often.  Plus with Luck as a starting skill, taking Soldier's Luck will trigger it much more often.

Havez:  Gremlin Master

Begins with War Machine skill and all 3 war machines...and 3 stacks of Gremlins.  This Genie's choice as best main Wizard hero.  A high level Havez makes Master Gremlins VERY potent.

Jhora:  Windspeaker

Starting skills of Sorcery and Arcane Training somewhat hamper the great specialty.  1/2 % bonus per level to her initiative is a very useful special.  Sorcery however is somewhat wasted on a Wizard.  See the Skill section for more details.

Narxes:  Mentor

Boosting the Mages is a nice special, but the starting skill set of Enlightenment and Intelligence does not lead to a solid main hero.  But under the right circumstances Narxes can be very successful.

Nathir:  Flame Wielder

Very effective main hero.  The 50% defense reduction of fireball is lethal is orchestrated correctly.  However, this set up usually means leaving off either War Machines or Logistics.  To realize his true potential, you'll need to focus your efforts into increasing his spell power though.

Nur:  Mystic

Mana Regeneration specialty, Sorcery and Mana Regeneration starting skill set.  Secondary hero at best.

Razzak:  Golem Crafter

If you can manage to get Logistics, Recruitment and maybe even Estates on Razzak, then he's the Academy's best garrison commander.  He's still a nice week one hire though.  With 3 starting stacks of Golems, they mesh nicely with Havez's starting Gremlin group.

Racial Skill:  Artificer

    Upon initial examination, Artificer looks to pale in comparison to some of the other faction's Racial Skills.  But once you delve into the beauty of this skill, you'll come to appreciate all that it has to offer.  Artificer basically allows the hero to create artifacts for the specific use of individual Academy troops once the Arcane Forge building is constructed.  These artifacts cost considerable amounts of resources and the power of the artifacts depends solely on the Knowledge skill of the crafting hero.  Higher levels of the Artificer skill allow for additional attributes to be added on to the crafted artifacts.  These artifacts will become crucial to the success of the Academy faction as we'll discuss later.  For now, let's discuss the complexities of the Artificer skill.

Basic Artificer:  Allows creation of level 1 artifacts.  Level 1 artifacts can have one attribute crafted onto them.

Advanced Artificer:  Allows creation of level 2 artifacts.  Level 2 artifacts can have 2 attributes crafted onto them.

Expert Artificer:  Allows creation of level 3 artifacts.  Level 3 artifacts can have 3 attributes crafted onto them.

Ultimate Artificer:  Reduces the resource costs of crafting artifacts by half.  (this is currently not working properly though)

    Just looking at this, you might think it's a good idea to wait until you max out the Artificer skill before you begin to craft artifacts.  But you'd be wrong.  Because not only can you create artifacts, but you can destroy them as well.  After removing them from the creatures at the Arcane Forge, you can choose to destroy them and gain back the resources you used to initially craft them.  Therefore you lose nothing in this process.  So once you've got the Arcane Forge built...start crafting.  But now comes the big question.  What do I make?

    Artifacts can be imbued with 9 different attributes (with a maximum of 3 per artifact).  The actual stat of these attributes is determined by the hero's Knowledge skill.  So if you have any artifacts on your hero that increase your knowledge, make sure you've got them equipped before crafting.  

    Each of these attributes are linked to a pair of resources.  Below is a basic list of what attributes cost what.

    As I stated earlier, you can have a maximum of 3 of these attributes crafted onto one artifact.  The order in which you add them determine the final cost of the artifact however.  The first level, or slot, on the crafting screen will cost 5 of each of the 2 selected resources.  Level 2 costs 10 of each resource, and level 3 costs 15 each.  For example...crafting a level 3 artifact with attack, then defense, then speed will cost you...

(5 ore + 5 crystal) + (10 wood + 10 crystal) + (15 ore + 15 mercury)

for a total of 20 ore, 10 wood, 15 crystal, 15 mercury

    But if we change the order in which you craft it to Speed, then attack, then defense, it will cost you something different...

(5 ore + 5 mercury) + (10 ore + 10 crystal) + (15 wood + 15 crystal)

for a total of 15 ore, 15 wood, 25 crystal, 5 mercury

    So determining the order in which you craft it will depend completely on how many of each resources you have at the time.  Just don't worry about making a mistake because you can always destroy the artifact and start over at no additional cost.  As for just what the bonuses would be...

    Here are some suggestions for things to shoot for with particular artifacts based on creature stats and needs.

Master Gremlins:  Magic Resistance, Initiative, Health

        (This will help protect them from spells and ranged attacks while allowing them to repair more often.)

Obsidian Gargoyles:  Attack, Defense, Speed

        (Makes them a more formidable force on the battlefield and lets them cross the field in one move.)

Steel Golems:  Defense, Crushing, Health

        (Increases durability and with unlimited retaliations...crushing has a huge impact)

Archmagi:  Defense, Health, Magic Resistance

        (Durability, durability and a bit more durability *grin*)

Djinn Sultans:  Defense, Health, Magic Resistance

        (A bit redundant, isn't it.  Durability is by far the biggest weakness of the Djinns)

Rakshasa Rajas:  Initiative, Magic Resistance, Speed

(Resistance solves their one weakness, while speed/initiative allows you to cross the field on turn one instead of Dashing for a turn)

Titans:  Luck, Morale, Magic Resistance

        (Resistance helps with durability, while the others just enhance the unit considerably)

    With a hero with a high Knowledge skill, these changes will give you the most powerful units in the game as a whole.  As your hero develops higher and higher knowledge, feel free to crush your previous artifacts and re-build the exact same one with higher bonuses and at the same original cost.

 

    Now that most of the basics are out of the way, let's get into the guts of the guide...

 

Hero Development

 

    While certain Heroes restrict your skill set layout, there are still some prime skills you want to strive for and some you want to avoid.  I'll try to break down the main skills into "the essentials", "nice additions", and "hero killers".

 

The Essentials

Artificer:  This one is automatic.  Get this to Expert (or Ultimate if you're lucky) without exception.

Mark of the Wizard:  Incredibly useful ability.  All Wizards should acquire this ability.

Magic Mirror:  Easy to forget you have it, but you're VERY grateful when it triggers.  Soldier's Luck increases chances.

Consume Artifact:  You'll only want this one if it's required by something else important.

 

Arcane Omniscience:  Unbelievably great skill.  Ignore it though, because it restricts your development too much.

 

Comments:  You'll most likely end up with all of these abilities (except for Arcane O.) and they've all got their uses.

Attack:  Greatly helps your Golems, Djinns and Rakshasas.

 

Battle Frenzy:  Nice skill for most towns.  "decent" choice.

Tactics:  Helps with protective placement and allowing melee units to cross field.  "decent" choice.

Archery:  20% increase to the only town with 3 archers.  A no-brainer.

Flaming Arrows:  Greatly enhances the ballista's effectiveness.  Highly recommended.

Cold Steel:  Extra elemental damage for all troops.  "decent" choice.  

Comments:  Great skill overall.  Archery & Flaming Arrows are suggested, then it's a toss-up between the other 3 solid abilities.

Light Magic:  The perfect compliment to the Academy troops, plus there are very few spell power-dependant spells here.

Master of Blessings:  Mass Divine Strength, Area Cleansing.  Highly recommended.

Master of Wrath:  Mass Righteous Might, Mass Haste.  Highly recommended.

Master of Abjuration:  Mass Deflect Missiles, Mass Endurance.  Highly recommended.

Suppress Light:  Limited usefulness.  Avoid.

Refined Mana:  Nice for the Archmagi, but to get it you lose 2 of the Mass skills.  Avoid.

Comments:  Perfect magic skill for the Wizard.  The secondary abilities are fairly limiting.  Stick to the basics.

 

Nice Additions

 

Defense:  30% less melee damage.  Never hurts.  :O)

Evasion:  20% less ranged damage.  This'll help protect your Gremlins, Mages & Djinns.

Vitality:  Somewhat helpful.  But stacks for Academy never get overly large.  "decent" choice.

Protection:  15% magic resistance.  In combination with Luck's Magic Resistance...nice combo.

Resistance:  +2 defense?  I'll pass.

Power of Endurance:  Odds of getting this normally are VERY high.  Avoid.

Comments:  This was a toss up between putting this skill here or in the category below.  But the basic abilities are too useful to completely ignore.  If you're forced to take it, go for the basic 3 abilities.  Otherwise, some other choice might prove more useful.

Destructive Magic:  With a mediocre spell power, this is a "decent" selection.

Master of Fire:  Spell dependent.

Master of Ice:  Spell dependent.

Master of Storms:  Spell dependent.

Sap Magic:  only requires Magic Mirror.  20% reduction in magic damage.  Great ability.  Recommended.

Fiery Wrath:  Extra elemental fire damage on all attacks.  Recommended.

Comments:  With the automatic usefulness of Sap Magic and Fiery Wrath, I'd suggest going for those 2.  With the 3rd choice, wait and see what spells you get in your guild before deciding.  They're all useful.

Logistics:  Always a useful skill.  Speed and movement are usually the biggest keys to success in Heroes.

 

Navigation:  Map dependant.  If lots of water with islands...not a poor choice.  Otherwise...avoid.

Scouting;  Useful, but eliminates the possibility of the combination of the following 3.

Pathfinding:  Always useful.  But the real key here is that it unlocks the next 2 secondary abilities.

March of the Golems:  +2 speed AND initiative.  With this you can avoid these perks with Artificer.

Teleport Assault:  HUGE asset.  Not only grants teleport spell, but teleported troop jumps to the front of the ATB bar.  Perfect for blocking ranged attackers/spell casters with golems.

Comments:  Always a good choice, and it makes your defensive-minded golems into an offensive force as well.

Luck:  Double damage should never be shunned.  Solid choice.

 

Soldier's Luck:  Helps to trigger Magic Mirror.  Otherwise it's of little use to the wizard.

Magic Resistance:  Always a welcome addition.  Recommended.

Resourcefulness:  With the demands of Artificer, this is a great choice for the Wizard.

Spoils of War:  Artificer demands again.  And with a main hero, a solid choice.  Recommended.

Tears of Asha Vision:  Allows room for error when digging for grail.  On a main hero...avoid.

Comments:  Magic Resistance, Resourcefulness & Spoils of War will greatly help you out...especially with Artificer.

War Machines:  With the Master Gremlins you'll never be completely without these, so bolstering them is a great idea.

Ballista:  With Flaming Arrows from Attack, the ballista becomes a HUGE weapon with 2 shots too.

First Aid:  Gains the resurrection ability.  Huge asset for reviving lost Master Gremlins who revive lost Steel Golems and war machines.  Fantastic interconnection that works wonders.

Catapult:  Helps in sieges considerably, otherwise the usefulness is sporadic.

Remote Control:  Nice surprise when it happens, you always forget you've got it.  Limited usefulness.  Avoid.

Tremors:  Catapult handles this quite nicely, and the teleport spell helps too.  Avoid.

Comments:  Surprisingly effective with the Wizard.  Highly recommended for the 3 basic abilities.  Perfect set for Havez.

Hero Killers

 

Dark Magic:  Great spell selection but availability is a roll of the dice.

Master of Curse:  Mass Weakness & Mass Suffering.  Great combo...if you get the spells.

Master of Pain:  Area Decay & Area Vulnerability.  Another great combo...with the same catch.

Master of Mind:  Mass Slow & Mass Confusion.  Fantastic ability.  But without guaranteed dark spells...*shrugs*

Seal of Darkness:  Very limited usefulness.  Avoid.

Dark Renewal:  Requires Destructive Magic as well.  Too restrictive.  Avoid.

Comments:  If, and this is a very BIG "if", you get the spells this is actually a nice choice.  But the odds aren't great.  And even if you DO get them...avoid the secondary abilities.

Enlightenment:  Overall this is a surprisingly great skill, but the secondary abilities don't mesh well with Wizards.

Intelligence:  50% more mana is just overkill.  You'll have more than you need already.

Arcane Intuition:  Most spells that you'd want, you'll most likely get due to the library.

Scholar:  Limited usefulness.

Wizards Reward:  +2 spell power and 1000 gold.  No thanks.

Graduate:  +2 knowledge and 1000 experience points.  Avoid.

Comments:  The basic bonuses of Enlightenment are tempting, but the basic & secondary abilities don't help the Wizard at all really.  Avoid this one completely.

Leadership:  Extra morale is a GREAT bonus, but the abilities....on a main hero....I'll pass.

Diplomacy:  Depending on the map, this could be a great ability, but it's too hit-and-miss.

Recruitment:  The ultimate garrison hero ability.  On a main hero, no thanks.

Estates:  Early on, this seems useful.  By mid to late game, it's a totally wasted slot.

Artificial Glory:  Tempting, but it's not working anyway due to a bug...avoid.

Comments:  I completely hate not taking this skill because of how effective morale boosts are, but the abilities totally label this skill "secondary hero skill".  Not for a main Wizard.

Sorcery:  A magic user who's turn comes around more often.  Great, right?  Not the best choice for the Wizard though.

Magic Insight:  With the library, this is tempting because you'll get an additional spell.  But most level 3's require the magic school to be of much use.  Tempting though.

Mana Regeneration:  Wasted slot for a Wizard.  He'll rarely get below half of his mana usage.

Arcane Training:  Again, with all that mana, is a spell cost reduction going to help much?  Nope.

Counterspell:  Marginally useful.  If going against a Warlock...not a bad choice.  Otherwise, avoid.

Erratic Mana:  More spell cost reduction.  VERY little use to a wizard.

Comments:  Not an absolutely horrible selection, but there are just so many more useful selections that this one had to go down here.  If you're forced to take it, go for Magic Insight, Arcane Training, and Counterspell.

Summoning Magic:  Phantom Forces, Summon Elementals & Phoenix.  "decent" choice.

Master of Earthblood:  Not horrible, just too random.  Avoid.

Master of Life:  For Necro it's great, all others...avoid.

Master of Conjuration:  Opponent dependant.  If facing Inferno, solid choice due to next option.

Banish:  If not facing Inferno or a Summoning expert...avoid.

Wall of Fog:  -10% damage and initiative of enemy ranged attackers.  Great skill, but you're forced to take several things of limited usefulness.

Comments:  If you're forced to take it, go for Wall of Fog.  Otherwise there are better choices.

  

    Overall, it's pretty hard to make a really BAD Wizard.  They tend to be fairly troop-dependent and the skills are just perks for the most part.  But with some careful planning you can really make a formidable force to recon with.  Just for fun, here's my most popular set-up when playing Academy.

Havez:  Gremlin Master

Starts with all 3 war machines and 3 stacks of Gremlins.

Starting skills:  Basic Artificer, Basic War Machines

Skill plan:    

Artificer, Mark of the Wizard, Magic Mirror, Consume Artifact

War Machines, Ballista, Catapult, First Aid

Attack, Archery, Flaming Arrows, Cold Steel

Light Magic, Master of Abjuration, Master of Blessings, Master of Wrath

Luck, Magic Resistance, Resourcefulness, Spoils of War

The last skill slot is dependant upon the mage guild selection.  If it's poor, then it's...

Logistics, Pathfinding, March of the Golems, Teleport Assault

If we've got a nice matching selection, like both ice spells, then it's...

Destructive Magic, Sap Magic, Fiery Wrath, Master of Ice

    To be totally honest, I happened upon this combination totally by accident.  My main hero was killed very early on by some rather ruthless Archdruids, and my current back-up hero was Havez.  He's been BY FAR my most successful Wizard to date.  The effectiveness of the War Machines is phenomenal.  Not only do you get them back at the end of combat if you lose them due to the individual abilities, but with the Master Gremlins the area effect damage spells/attacks aren't quite as effective because you can always bring them back at no cost due to the repair ability.  With Fiery Wrath and Cold Steel I was adding nearly 100 extra points of damage with every attack.  Nice combination IMO.  

    

    Once I have a full army, I like to have my Archmagi in one corner and my Master Gremlins in the other.  Steel Golems protect the Gremlins while the Titans protect the Archmagi.  Djinns and Rakshasa's I leave in the middle.  Gargoyles tend to get thrown in where ever I see fit.  :O)  Rakshasa's get sent over immediately, as do the Steel Golems.  If I have teleport assault, it's used on the Golems to block ranged attackers or spellcasters.  The First Aid Tent is used to resurrect the Master Gremlins, while the Master Gremlins resurrect the Steel Golems.  Titans and Archmagi fire away at the enemy and cut them to shreds.  Resurrection at expert level will help you maintain a full compliment of Rakshasas, while Mass Endurance make it very tough for the enemy to damage your 2 melee attackers.  Obviously, these tactics will change depending upon the situation, but you get the idea.

 

    Certain neutral stacks should be approached in certain ways.  Especially in the early portions of the game.  

• Ranged attackers should be punished with spells and ballistas and Master Gremlins should be left standing on the sidelines.

• Spell casters can be taken on with Obsidian Gargoyles alone, losing a handful of these is a lot less painful than losing your precious Gremlins or Golems.  Spells and the ballista will do most of the work with spell casters.

• Small melee attackers & fliers should be taken on with 3 stacks of Golems and one stack of Master Gremlins.  Surround the gremlins with the golems.  Shoot from a distance, cast spells and let the ballista do its work.  If they get into melee range with the golems, just defend.  Use the Gremlins to repair any killed golems while the spells and ballista take their toll (as do the unlimited retaliations of the golems).

• Against large creatures (other than dragons) go with one large stack of Master Gremlins and one stack of Steel Golems.  Gremlins go in a corner, golems go one step away from them and one step ahead of them.  This completely blocks access to the gremlins from a large combatant.

• Versus dragons, go with one large stack of Master Gremlins and 2 stacks of Steel Golems.  Place the gremlins in the corner with one stack of Golems adjacent to them in the back row, then the 2nd stack next to the 1st golem stack.  You should end up with a solid row of 3 in the back row in a corner.  The middle unit (golem should move forward 2 spaces on his first move, and the golem furthest away from the Gremlins should move forward 1 space.  This protects the Gremlins from adjacent attacks from the dragons AND it protects them from the 2-space fire breath attack as well.  You will undoubtedly lose quite a few golems in the first round (or several rounds) but if you continually repair them you should be able to survive against overwhelming odds.  Spells such as Haste on the Gremlins is a huge help, as is Mass Endurance, Mass Righteous Might and Mass Divine Strength.  If your ballista is destroyed, repair it...but only if you've got enough golems to survive one round of attacks.  Otherwise, just blast away with spells and your golems retaliation strikes.  Oh yeah...and pray...a lot!  :O)

   Obviously there are many combinations you could play with, but hopefully this is a good starting point or a point of reference for players who are just getting their feet wet with the Academy faction.  Until next time, good luck and happy gaming.