dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide
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dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide [2026/07/04 11:06] wigglefig |
dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide [2026/07/05 07:24] (current) wigglefig patrollers |
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| //By Wigglefig// | //By Wigglefig// | ||
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| + | //Special thanks to monkeydew and Cybertron2 for their feedback and suggestions.// | ||
| Ordinary mages draw their strength from places of power hidden in the wild. A volcano brings bubbling magma from within the world' | Ordinary mages draw their strength from places of power hidden in the wild. A volcano brings bubbling magma from within the world' | ||
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| Here is a non-exhaustive list of nations capable of significant blood economies: | Here is a non-exhaustive list of nations capable of significant blood economies: | ||
| * EA: [[berytos ea|Berytos]], | * EA: [[berytos ea|Berytos]], | ||
| - | * MA: [[abysia ma|Abysia]], [[ind ma|Ind]], [[jotunheim ma|Jotunheim]], | + | * MA: [[abysia ma|Abysia]], |
| * LA: Lots! But particularly [[ulm la|Ulm]], [[marignon la|Marignon]], | * LA: Lots! But particularly [[ulm la|Ulm]], [[marignon la|Marignon]], | ||
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| * You'll need patrollers to keep unrest down so blood hunt success chance remains high. | * You'll need patrollers to keep unrest down so blood hunt success chance remains high. | ||
| * These will usually be random independent troops recruited in the province itself and led by an independent commander using the " | * These will usually be random independent troops recruited in the province itself and led by an independent commander using the " | ||
| - | * A good rule of thumb is about 25 patrol strength per {{path> | + | * A good rule of thumb is about 25 patrol strength per {{path> |
| * {{path> | * {{path> | ||
| * Generally you will want to start your blood economy by hunting primarily with {{path> | * Generally you will want to start your blood economy by hunting primarily with {{path> | ||
| - | * Accompany your blood hunters with bodyguards to protect them from the occasional [[blood hunting# | + | * Accompany your blood hunters with bodyguards to protect them from the occasional [[blood hunting# |
| * Avoid hunting in really high population provinces as unrest impacts gold income proportionally and higher population than 7500 does not increase the chance of a successful blood hunt. Especially try to avoid hunting your capital unless you really need the blood slaves - it reduces your gold income by a ton! | * Avoid hunting in really high population provinces as unrest impacts gold income proportionally and higher population than 7500 does not increase the chance of a successful blood hunt. Especially try to avoid hunting your capital unless you really need the blood slaves - it reduces your gold income by a ton! | ||
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| A successful blood economy might look like several 9000-10000ish population provinces set up with 3-4 blood hunters each, accompanied by a force of patrollers. A nation of moderate size can easily be producing hundreds of blood slaves a turn this way, once they have gotten their blood economy properly set up. | A successful blood economy might look like several 9000-10000ish population provinces set up with 3-4 blood hunters each, accompanied by a force of patrollers. A nation of moderate size can easily be producing hundreds of blood slaves a turn this way, once they have gotten their blood economy properly set up. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====What should I patrol with?==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | To start with, patrol with cheap units to get as much patrol strength for as little cost as possible, ideally recruited directly from independent provinces so your forts can produce actual fighting units for your armies. The various types of independent ??Militia?? are excellent for this purpose. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Once you've researched a bit more, you could consider summoning upkeep-free patrol chaff instead. At low research levels, ??Pack of Wolves??, ??Call of the Winds?? and ordinary ?? | ||
| ====Transporting blood slaves==== | ====Transporting blood slaves==== | ||
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| TLDR: | TLDR: | ||
| - | * Combat Blood magic requires a lot of blood slaves to sustain but can do really well into living units. | ||
| * Blood items are really good and probably the majority of your midgame spending if you don't have national summons. | * Blood items are really good and probably the majority of your midgame spending if you don't have national summons. | ||
| + | * Combat Blood magic requires a lot of blood slaves to sustain but can do really well into non-inanimate units. | ||
| * Generic Blood summons are hard to get into early and often not that useful until later in the game. | * Generic Blood summons are hard to get into early and often not that useful until later in the game. | ||
| * There are several great utility Blood rituals for a variety of tasks. | * There are several great utility Blood rituals for a variety of tasks. | ||
| * Blood/ | * Blood/ | ||
| - | |||
| - | ====Combat==== | ||
| - | |||
| - | In general, Blood combat magic has very high fatigue costs - at least 100 for most spells. It is often a good idea to take {{scales> | ||
| - | |||
| - | Finally, rather than mages carrying abstract numbers of gems in their inventory, blood slaves are represented by actual, very fragile units: ??Blood Slave??s. They are easily killed by random evocations, battlefield-wide spells like ?? | ||
| ====Items==== | ====Items==== | ||
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| * ??The Black Heart??: also cannot be removed. Makes any commander into an [[assassin]], | * ??The Black Heart??: also cannot be removed. Makes any commander into an [[assassin]], | ||
| * All of the boosters made with blood slaves: ??Armor of Twisting Thorns??, ??Armor of Souls??, ??Brazen Vessel??, ??Blood Thorn??, ??Blood Stone??, and the very expensive but awesome ??Robe of the Magi??. Blood Thorns in particular are the cheapest way to boost blood hunting success rate after Sanguine Dowsing Rods, though they come a lot later in the research tree. | * All of the boosters made with blood slaves: ??Armor of Twisting Thorns??, ??Armor of Souls??, ??Brazen Vessel??, ??Blood Thorn??, ??Blood Stone??, and the very expensive but awesome ??Robe of the Magi??. Blood Thorns in particular are the cheapest way to boost blood hunting success rate after Sanguine Dowsing Rods, though they come a lot later in the research tree. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ====Combat==== | ||
| + | |||
| + | In general, Blood combat magic has very high fatigue costs - at least 100 for most spells. It is often a good idea to take {{scales> | ||
| + | |||
| + | Finally, rather than mages carrying abstract numbers of gems in their inventory, blood slaves are represented by actual, very fragile units: ??Blood Slave??s. They are easily killed by random evocations, battlefield-wide spells like ?? | ||
| ===Combat spells=== | ===Combat spells=== | ||
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| At Blood 8, ??Damage Reversal?? is a nice (but very late) thug spell that reduces incoming damage by reflecting it back onto enemies, while ??Rush of Strength?? is a battlefield-wide +4 strength for all creatures, not just demons. ??Life for a Life?? is like Leech, but single-target, | At Blood 8, ??Damage Reversal?? is a nice (but very late) thug spell that reduces incoming damage by reflecting it back onto enemies, while ??Rush of Strength?? is a battlefield-wide +4 strength for all creatures, not just demons. ??Life for a Life?? is like Leech, but single-target, | ||
| - | In the Blood/ | + | In the Blood/ |
| ===Sabbaths=== | ===Sabbaths=== | ||
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| ??Cross Breeding?? and ??Improved Cross Breeding?? mostly summons a pile of junk. There are some interesting results but not enough to make this militarily useful. Crossbred units are usable as patrol chaff, though. | ??Cross Breeding?? and ??Improved Cross Breeding?? mostly summons a pile of junk. There are some interesting results but not enough to make this militarily useful. Crossbred units are usable as patrol chaff, though. | ||
| - | ??Dark Vines?? are enormous blocks of hitpoints that aren't terribly expensive, but also don't do much else. Could be used to stand in the way of the enemy, | + | ??Dark Vines?? are enormous blocks of hitpoints that aren't terribly expensive |
| As for actual demons, there are basically five kinds that are actually interesting to summon: the ??Fiend of Darkness??, ??Devil??s, ??Frost Fiend??s, ??Storm Demons??, and ??Demon Knights??. | As for actual demons, there are basically five kinds that are actually interesting to summon: the ??Fiend of Darkness??, ??Devil??s, ??Frost Fiend??s, ??Storm Demons??, and ??Demon Knights??. | ||
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| Succubi (??Summon Succubus??, Blood 5) and Incubi (??Summon Incubus??, Blood 5) are {{path> | Succubi (??Summon Succubus??, Blood 5) and Incubi (??Summon Incubus??, Blood 5) are {{path> | ||
| - | Ice Devils (Blood 6) and Arch Devils (Blood 7) are basically chunky commander versions of Frost Fiends and Devils respectively. They mostly have the same paths that are used to summon them, meaning they don't provide much additional magic diversity. The Heliophagi (Blood 8) have slightly more interesting | + | There are several unique commanders that can be summoned through Blood magic, all of which are powerful mages with durable chassis: |
| - | + | * Ice Devils (Blood 6) and Arch Devils (Blood 7) are basically chunky commander versions of Frost Fiends and Devils respectively. They mostly have the same paths that are used to summon them, meaning they don't provide much additional magic diversity, but they are powerful mages in their respective paths. The Heliophagi (Blood 8) have slightly more interesting | |
| - | ??Pedoseion - Father Illearth?? (Blood 7) is a really cool summon with a huge hitpoint pool and 15% regeneration on top of great magic paths - essentially an Earth King that is a bit easier to summon. | + | |
| - | + | | |
| - | The Demon Lords (??Bind Demon Lord?? | + | |
| ===Remote attacks=== | ===Remote attacks=== | ||
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| Blood rituals are excellent at disrupting the enemy. At Blood 5, there are two distinct Blood rituals which raise unrest: ??Wrath of Pazuzu?? and ??Rain of Toads??. Casting both at an enemy' | Blood rituals are excellent at disrupting the enemy. At Blood 5, there are two distinct Blood rituals which raise unrest: ??Wrath of Pazuzu?? and ??Rain of Toads??. Casting both at an enemy' | ||
| - | ??Plague of Locusts?? summons 8 ??Demonic Locust??s in a distant province. They are fairly dangerous | + | ??Infernal Disease?? is a very cheap assassination ritual, although it requires a {{path> |
| A special mention goes out to ??Send Lesser Horror?? at Blood 5. These Lesser Horrors are capable of dealing with a modest amount of province defence, and also go away after they attack. This is important because they are treated as a neutral force, meaning that if they have killed all of the province defence, you can easily ping that province with a commander on the same turn (normal attacks always take place after magic-phase ones) and take the province that way. Their being neutral also means the victim also technically doesn' | A special mention goes out to ??Send Lesser Horror?? at Blood 5. These Lesser Horrors are capable of dealing with a modest amount of province defence, and also go away after they attack. This is important because they are treated as a neutral force, meaning that if they have killed all of the province defence, you can easily ping that province with a commander on the same turn (normal attacks always take place after magic-phase ones) and take the province that way. Their being neutral also means the victim also technically doesn' | ||
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| ??Blood Vortex?? is a fairly basic gem-generator. It scales based on the population of the province it was cast in and also benefits from increased Turmoil scales, but also raises unrest and kills population, so you could cast it in a captured enemy capital to gain maximum value while protecting your own capital. | ??Blood Vortex?? is a fairly basic gem-generator. It scales based on the population of the province it was cast in and also benefits from increased Turmoil scales, but also raises unrest and kills population, so you could cast it in a captured enemy capital to gain maximum value while protecting your own capital. | ||
| - | ??The Looming Hell?? is an odd defensive global that appears to only target up to 5 enemy units within your dominion to seduce them to your side. According to [[https:// | + | ??The Looming Hell?? is an odd defensive global that, according to its description, |
| ??Astral Corruption?? | ??Astral Corruption?? | ||
| + | |||
| + | =====Strategy===== | ||
| + | |||
| + | So, now that you know your options, how do you actually use Blood magic to win games? | ||
dom6/generic-blood-magic-guide.1783163197.txt.gz · Last modified: 2026/07/04 11:06 by wigglefig