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dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide [2026/07/19 23:07]
wigglefig |
dom6:generic-blood-magic-guide [2026/07/31 00:06] (current)
wigglefig |
| //By Wigglefig// | //By Wigglefig// |
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| //Special thanks to monkeydew and Cybertron2 for their feedback and suggestions.// | //Special thanks to monkeydew, Cybertron2, Naaira, and Blitzente for their feedback and suggestions.// |
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| Ordinary mages draw their strength from places of power hidden in the wild. A volcano brings bubbling magma from within the world's core and concentrates it into fire gems; a bountiful forest produces nature gems as its fruit; an ancient battlefield yields death gems for eager grave diggers; and within mind-bending labyrinths, astral pearls can be found. The enterprising mage sets out from the safety of their laboratory and travels the world in search of gems in much the same way a geologist prospects for oil in the modern day. | Ordinary mages draw their strength from places of power hidden in the wild. A volcano brings bubbling magma from within the world's core and concentrates it into fire gems; a bountiful forest produces nature gems as its fruit; an ancient battlefield yields death gems for eager grave diggers; and within mind-bending labyrinths, astral pearls can be found. The enterprising mage sets out from the safety of their laboratory and travels the world in search of gems in much the same way a geologist prospects for oil in the modern day. |
| =====Introduction===== | =====Introduction===== |
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| Blood magic has a reputation for being a noob-unfriendly system to learn, owing to the blood hunting system and the fact that it is sort of sectioned off from the rest of the magic system in its own research school. In this guide, I'll give you a high-level overview of the quirks of Blood as a school of magic before diving into the blood hunting system and how to make the best use of it. I'll finish by discussing some of the most common ways to use Blood magic outside of nation-specific options. By the end, you'll (hopefully) be able to dive right into your first game with a serious blood nation with some ideas about how to set up a blood economy and how to actually use those slaves once you've captured them. | Blood magic has a reputation for being a noob-unfriendly system to learn, owing to the blood hunting system and the fact that it is sort of sectioned off from the rest of the magic system in its own research school. In this guide, I'll give you a high-level overview of the quirks of Blood as a school of magic before diving into the blood hunting system and how to make the best use of it. I'll finish by discussing some of the most common ways to use Blood magic outside of nation-specific options. By the end, you'll (hopefully) be able to start up your first game with a serious blood nation with some ideas about how to set up a blood economy and how to actually use those slaves once you've captured them. |
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| This guide assumes some basic knowledge of Dominions game mechanics, and focuses on the multiplayer Dominions 6 perspective. | This guide assumes some basic knowledge of Dominions game mechanics, and focuses on the multiplayer Dominions 6 perspective. |
| =====What makes Blood magic interesting?===== | =====What makes Blood magic interesting?===== |
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| Blood magic is a bit more complicated than the other magic paths due to its special method of gathering its "gems". Rather than using gems from magic sites like other paths, Blood magic is fueled with blood slaves captured from provinces (at the cost of some gold) by blood mages using the "Blood Hunt" action. This quirk has a bunch of implications for the way Blood magic is used in Dominions 6. | Blood magic is a bit more complicated than the other magic paths due to its special method of gathering its "gems". Rather than using gems from magic sites like other paths, Blood magic is fueled with blood slaves captured from provinces (at the cost of some gold) by Blood mages using the "Blood Hunt" action. This quirk has a bunch of implications for the way Blood magic is used in Dominions 6. |
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| ====What are the advantages of Blood magic?==== | ====What are the advantages of Blood magic?==== |
| * EA: [[berytos ea|Berytos]], [[lanka ea|Lanka]], [[mictlan ea|Mictlan]], and [[Xibalba ea|Xibalba]] | * EA: [[berytos ea|Berytos]], [[lanka ea|Lanka]], [[mictlan ea|Mictlan]], and [[Xibalba ea|Xibalba]] |
| * MA: [[abysia ma|Abysia]], [[jotunheim ma|Jotunheim]], [[pyrene ma|Pyrène]], and [[xibalba ma|Xibalba]] | * MA: [[abysia ma|Abysia]], [[jotunheim ma|Jotunheim]], [[pyrene ma|Pyrène]], and [[xibalba ma|Xibalba]] |
| * LA: Lots! But particularly [[ulm la|Ulm]], [[marignon la|Marignon]], [[Midgard la|Midgard]], [[pyrene la|Pyrène]], [[vaettiheim la|Vaettiheim]], and [[Xibalba la|Xibalba]]. | * LA: Lots! But particularly [[ulm la|Ulm]], [[marignon la|Marignon]], [[gath la|Gath]], [[Midgard la|Midgard]], [[pyrene la|Pyrène]], [[vaettiheim la|Vaettiheim]], and [[Xibalba la|Xibalba]]. |
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| =====Blood hunting===== | =====Blood hunting===== |
| * A good rule of thumb is about 25 patrol strength per {{path>B3}}-equivalent blood hunter to keep unrest at 0. Make a copy of the [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zMGHWTKg6deY1gKLWCfT6K5pUseWpYuA52wZB9quFIA/edit?pli=1&gid=368329917#gid=368329917|Blood Hunting Analysis Dominions 6]] spreadsheet and play around with the numbers to find the best patrol strength for your situation. You can check the patrol strength of individual units by clicking on their 'Precision' stat. | * A good rule of thumb is about 25 patrol strength per {{path>B3}}-equivalent blood hunter to keep unrest at 0. Make a copy of the [[https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zMGHWTKg6deY1gKLWCfT6K5pUseWpYuA52wZB9quFIA/edit?pli=1&gid=368329917#gid=368329917|Blood Hunting Analysis Dominions 6]] spreadsheet and play around with the numbers to find the best patrol strength for your situation. You can check the patrol strength of individual units by clicking on their 'Precision' stat. |
| * {{path>B1}}s are really bad at hunting, with a max success rate of 40%. {{path>B2}}s are a bit better at 70%. Use ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??s to improve their odds, and add ??Blood Thorn??s later on (or cast ??Blood Moon??) if needed to reach {{path>B3}}-equivalent hunting skill. These items pay for themselves quickly when you factor in the massive increase to success rate they provide to less skilled blood mages. Additionally, higher Blood paths or a [[:blood searcher]] bonus increases the number of slaves found with every successful hunt. | * {{path>B1}}s are really bad at hunting, with a max success rate of 40%. {{path>B2}}s are a bit better at 70%. Use ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??s to improve their odds, and add ??Blood Thorn??s later on (or cast ??Blood Moon??) if needed to reach {{path>B3}}-equivalent hunting skill. These items pay for themselves quickly when you factor in the massive increase to success rate they provide to less skilled blood mages. Additionally, higher Blood paths or a [[:blood searcher]] bonus increases the number of slaves found with every successful hunt. |
| * Generally you will want to start your blood economy by hunting primarily with {{path>B3}} or above mages. Less skilled Blood mages can then be brought in once you have researched ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??s and have a few blood slaves stockpiled to make them. | * Ideally, you will want to start your blood economy by hunting primarily with {{path>B3}} or above mages. Less skilled Blood mages can then be brought in once you have researched ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??s and have a few blood slaves stockpiled to make them. |
| * Accompany your blood hunters with bodyguards to protect them from the occasional [[blood hunting#blood hunting retaliation]] event. Additionally, higher friendly dominion decreases the chance of blood hunting retaliations, so try to spread your dominion effectively using temples and preachers to keep your blood hunters safe. | * Accompany your blood hunters with bodyguards to protect them from the occasional [[blood hunting#blood hunting retaliation]] event. Additionally, higher friendly dominion decreases the chance of blood hunting retaliations, so try to spread your dominion effectively using temples and preachers to keep your blood hunters safe. |
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| Lastly, Pud has had all the blood slaves collected by Shemariah and Ehud assigned to him using Shift + V and is moving back to Gath to deposit them in the local laboratory. Notice how another commander is currently moving back to Gaieta to pick up next turn's lot of blood slaves. | Lastly, Pud has had all the blood slaves collected by Shemariah and Ehud assigned to him using Shift + V and is moving back to Gath to deposit them in the local laboratory. Notice how another commander is currently moving back to Gaieta to pick up next turn's lot of blood slaves. |
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| | Note: Gath specifically may wish to patrol with ??Levite Zealot??s due to their patrol bonus and low upkeep. |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
| For nations without their own special Blood summons, a lot of their mid-game blood slaves will probably go to Blood's great items because they do not require you to spend time researching Blood magic specifically, which could delay your other important techs. Here are a few highlights from everything below Construction 9: | For nations without their own special Blood summons, a lot of their mid-game blood slaves will probably go to Blood's great items because they do not require you to spend time researching Blood magic specifically, which could delay your other important techs. Here are a few highlights from everything below Construction 9: |
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| * ??Ring of the Warrior??: a straightforward attack skill and morale bonus. Great for thugs. | ===Thug items=== |
| | * ??Ring of the Warrior??: a straightforward attack skill and morale bonus. |
| * ??Heart Finder Sword??: instakills non-inanimate enemies if they fail an MR check. Really good for army thugs. | * ??Heart Finder Sword??: instakills non-inanimate enemies if they fail an MR check. Really good for army thugs. |
| * ??Lifelong Protection??: an incredible source of chaff that continues working throughout the whole battle. Slightly nerfed from Dominions 5 in that there is a global limit on the ??Imps?? that can be produced from LLPs in any one battle, but still invaluable for messing with enemy formations or providing extra bodies to assist solo thugs. | * ??Flesh Eater??: makes its bearer berserk when wounded, preventing it from running away. Also creates chest wounds. |
| * ??Flesh Eater??: makes its bearer berserk when wounded, preventing it from running away. A useful item for some types of thugs. Also creates chest wounds. | |
| | ===Utility=== |
| | * ??Lifelong Protection??: an incredible source of chaff that continues working throughout the whole battle. Slightly nerfed from Dominions 5 in that there is a global limit on the number of ??Imp??s that can be produced from LLPs in any one battle, but still invaluable for messing with enemy formations or providing extra bodies to assist solo thugs. |
| * ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??: essential for any established blood economy. Pays for itself quickly and greatly improves the blood hunting success of less-skilled hunters. | * ??Sanguine Dowsing Rod??: essential for any established blood economy. Pays for itself quickly and greatly improves the blood hunting success of less-skilled hunters. |
| * ??The Heart of Life??: cannot be removed from its bearer, but grants a net +5 reinvigoration. | * ??The Heart of Life??: cannot be removed from its bearer, but grants a net +5 reinvigoration. |
| * ??The Black Heart??: also cannot be removed. Makes any commander into an [[assassin]], which can create some really scary assassination battles. Note: if the commander is not already [[stealthy]], you'll need to give them stealth some other way for them to actually be able to assassinate. | * ??The Black Heart??: also cannot be removed. Makes any commander into an [[assassin]], which can create some really scary assassination battles. Note: if the commander is not already [[stealthy]], you'll need to give them stealth some other way for them to actually be able to assassinate. |
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| | ===Auto-sabbaths=== |
| | * ??Slave's Heart??: causes its bearer to automatically become a [[#sabbaths|Sabbath]] slave at the start of battle. |
| | * ??Master's Athame??: causes its bearer to automatically become a Sabbath master at the start of battle. |
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| | ===Boosters=== |
| * 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. |
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| ====Combat==== | ====Combat==== |
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| 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>Ma1}} to reduce this fatigue slightly, allowing a low-level blood mage to get at least one more cast off before falling asleep for several rounds of combat. Another idiosyncrasy of blood magic is that basically every spell that does anything costs blood slaves to use, meaning Blood magic is heavily reliant on good logistics to be effective, especially on the offensive. | ===General notes=== |
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| 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 ??Earthquake??, or even the heat auras of their own mages, so be careful with them! Note that Blood mages can use any blood slave near them, instead of only blood slaves in their "inventory"; this is pretty handy because you don't necessarily need to get a gem carrier to your army and then spend a turn transferring gems for your Blood mages to be able to cast. Just keep this in mind when positioning to avoid one off-script blood mage using the slaves you were trying to reserve for another. | 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>Ma1}} to reduce this fatigue slightly, allowing a low-level blood mage to get at least one more cast off before falling asleep for several rounds of combat. Another idiosyncrasy of blood magic is that basically every spell that does anything costs blood slaves to use, meaning Blood magic is heavily reliant on good logistics to be effective, especially on the offensive. 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 ??Earthquake??, or even the heat auras of their own mages, so be careful with them! Note that Blood mages can use any blood slave near them, instead of only blood slaves in their "inventory"; this is pretty handy because you don't necessarily need to get a gem carrier to your army and then spend a turn transferring gems for your Blood mages to be able to cast. Just keep this in mind when positioning to avoid one off-script blood mage using the slaves you were trying to reserve for another. |
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| ===Combat spells=== | ===Combat spells=== |
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| Early in the game, the premiere Blood combat spell is ??Summon Imps??. For a relatively cheap price, this spell creates flying chaff that can disrupt unguarded mages and break up formations. It is very fatiguing to cast, though. ??Bleed?? can come in really handy against a single durable creature, such as an enemy pretender. Also relatively early in research is ??Blood Lust??, a battlefield-wide +4 strength but for demons only, useful for nations such as Lanka and LA Pyrène. | Early in the game, the premiere Blood combat spell is ??Summon Imps??. For a relatively cheap price, this spell creates flying chaff that can disrupt unguarded mages and break up formations. It is very fatiguing to cast, though. ??Bleed?? can come in really handy against a single durable creature, such as an enemy pretender. Also relatively early in research is ??Blood Lust??, a battlefield-wide +4 strength but for demons only, useful for nations such as Lanka and LA Pyrène. |
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| | Blood 1 also has the spell ??Reinvigoration??, which clears all of the caster's fatigue for the cost of {{gems>1B}}. This is really useful for basically any mage, and especially important for sabbaths - since it targets the mage itself, when cast by a sabbath master the fatigue clearing effect also propagates to all of the slaves of the sabbath. |
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| At Blood 5, ??Hellbind Heart?? is sort of like a lower research level ??Charm?? that costs blood slaves to use. Potentially useful, though expensive to cast repeatedly. | At Blood 5, ??Hellbind Heart?? is sort of like a lower research level ??Charm?? that costs blood slaves to use. Potentially useful, though expensive to cast repeatedly. |
| Sabbaths are a type of communion with a few key differences: | Sabbaths are a type of communion with a few key differences: |
| * Sabbath masters have a normal cast time compared to 25% longer cast time of regular communions. | * Sabbath masters have a normal cast time compared to 25% longer cast time of regular communions. |
| * The ??Sabbath Master?? and ??Sabbath Slave?? spells are very high-fatigue and take a bit longer to cast than ??Communion Master?? and ??Communion Slave??; without intervention, the slaves will begin taking damage from their masters casting almost immediately. Luckily, blood also has the ??Reinvigoration?? spell which can be used to cleanse sabbath slaves of their fatigue. | * The ??Sabbath Master?? and ??Sabbath Slave?? spells are very high-fatigue and take a bit longer to cast than ??Communion Master?? and ??Communion Slave??; without intervention, the slaves will begin taking damage from their masters casting almost immediately. Luckily, Blood also has the ??Reinvigoration?? spell which can be used to cleanse sabbath slaves of their fatigue when cast by a sabbath master. |
| * Sabbath masters gain 50% less fatigue from casting while slaves gain 25% more. | * Sabbath masters gain 50% less fatigue from casting while slaves gain 25% more. |
| * Obviously you need blood slaves to cast the spells needed to enter a sabbath, meaning that any army relying on sabbaths will need a lot of reserve blood slaves to maintain its effectiveness. | * Obviously you need blood slaves to cast the spells needed to enter a sabbath, meaning that any army relying on sabbaths will need a lot of reserve blood slaves to maintain its effectiveness. |
| ===Commander summons=== | ===Commander summons=== |
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| Probably the most notable commanders summoned through Blood are ??Vampire Lord??s. Although they come out late at Blood 8 (??Curse of Blood??), they are immortal, not unique, stealthy, and highly mobile with flying. They are skilled in Death magic, which is a decent path for thugs and a great one for combat magic. In theory, they can also blood hunt and summon more of themselves if boosted with a ??Skull Staff??, though in practice your Vampire Lords can probably be put to better use in other ways. An excellent way to produce raiders that are harder to make go away, and high Death mages for your big armies. | Probably the most infamous commanders summoned through Blood are ??Vampire Lord??s. Although they come out late at Blood 8 (??Curse of Blood??), they are immortal, not unique, stealthy, and highly mobile with flying. They are skilled in Death magic, which is a decent path for thugs and a great one for combat magic. In theory, they can also blood hunt and summon more of themselves if boosted with a ??Skull Staff??, though in practice your Vampire Lords can probably be put to better use in other ways. An excellent way to produce raiders that are harder to make go away, and high Death mages for your big armies. |
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| Succubi (??Summon Succubus??, Blood 5) and Incubi (??Summon Incubus??, Blood 5) are {{path>G2}} mages and dream seducers that are become available at a midgame level of magic. Potentially useful to provide extra glamour mages and a way target enemy commanders. Since Blood 5 isn't //that// late, you could also consider using these to seduce independent mages from tough thrones for some extra magic diversity. | Succubi (??Summon Succubus??, Blood 5) and Incubi (??Summon Incubus??, Blood 5) are {{path>G2}} mages and dream seducers that are become available at a midgame level of magic. Potentially useful to provide extra glamour mages and a way target enemy commanders. Since Blood 5 isn't //that// late, you could also consider using these to seduce independent mages from tough thrones for some extra magic diversity. |
| ??Blood Moon?? (Blood 7) increases Misfortune scales by +2 worldwide but provides a +1 boost to all Blood magic for the purposes of rituals or blood hunting. The Misfortune will mildly annoy people but probably not that much, and a straightforward +1 buff to blood hunting is obviously a huge boon for any significant blood economy. | ??Blood Moon?? (Blood 7) increases Misfortune scales by +2 worldwide but provides a +1 boost to all Blood magic for the purposes of rituals or blood hunting. The Misfortune will mildly annoy people but probably not that much, and a straightforward +1 buff to blood hunting is obviously a huge boon for any significant blood economy. |
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| ??Blood Vortex?? (Blood 8) 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?? (Blood 8) is a fairly basic gem-generator for blood slaves. 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. |
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| ??The Looming Hell?? (Blood 9) is an odd defensive global that, according to its description, appears to only target up to 5 enemy units within your dominion to seduce them to your side. According to [[https://illwiki.com/dom5/user/loggy/misc|Loggy's misc notes]], there is a 5% chance per point of your dominion that one of these 5 "charges" is not used up, allowing it to target more enemy units. This global is more powerful than it seems, however; each of these seductions also triggers an assassination battle against the commander leading the seduced unit by a ??Devil?? and that unit. This is great at stalling army movement into your territory - mundane commanders often don't hold up that well against a Devil assassination - and taking out weaker mages who happen to be leading troops. However, due to the way this global works, mages who are not leading troops are completely safe from the Devil assassination. | ??The Looming Hell?? (Blood 9) is an odd defensive global that, according to its description, appears to only target up to 5 enemy units within your dominion to seduce them to your side. According to [[https://illwiki.com/dom5/user/loggy/misc|Loggy's misc notes]], there is a 5% chance per point of your dominion that one of these 5 "charges" is not used up, allowing it to target more enemy units. This global is more powerful than it seems, however; each of these seductions also triggers an assassination battle against the commander leading the seduced unit by a ??Devil?? and that unit. This is great at stalling army movement into your territory - mundane commanders often don't hold up that well against a Devil assassination - and taking out weaker mages who happen to be leading troops. However, due to the way this global works, mages who are not leading troops are completely safe from the Devil assassination. |
| ====Citadel march==== | ====Citadel march==== |
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| While ??Three Red Seconds?? is expensive, it is much more affordable compared to the other major fort-generation spell, ??Wizard Tower??. You can make use of this to spam magic-phase citadels on top of your armies as you march into enemy territory, making it incredibly difficult for your opponent to take back the land. Of course, it goes without saying that this is also an excellent spell for defending a throne rush. | While ??Three Red Seconds?? is expensive, it is much more affordable compared to the other major fort-generation spell, ??Wizard's Tower??. You can make use of this to spam magic-phase citadels on top of your armies as you march into enemy territory, making it incredibly difficult for your opponent to take back the land. Of course, it goes without saying that this is also an excellent spell for defending a throne rush. |
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| ====Massing demons without going to Blood 9==== | ====Massing demons without going to Blood 9==== |
