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ma-xibalba-baalz-frozen-bayou [2021/02/03 14:58]
joste [Da Boat Parade] |
ma-xibalba-baalz-frozen-bayou [2021/04/23 21:07] (current)
joste [Witch of da Bog] |
| Ok, stretching the metaphor here a little as ??Wo' Muuch?? are clearly toad people, but “toad people” does not in any way capture the explosive power of these sacred giants jumping up out that bayou. Heavy-hitting magic weapons, good hitpoints & protection amphibious with [[swamp survival]] and 50% darkvision, what’s not to love? Well - one thing, they move pretty slow. That’s ok, we’re gonna set stuff up so that our opponents need to come to us on the battlefield, at which point it becomes obvious why I call these guys ‘gators. SNAP! | Ok, stretching the metaphor here a little as ??Wo' Muuch?? are clearly toad people, but “toad people” does not in any way capture the explosive power of these sacred giants jumping up out that bayou. Heavy-hitting magic weapons, good hitpoints & protection amphibious with [[swamp survival]] and 50% darkvision, what’s not to love? Well - one thing, they move pretty slow. That’s ok, we’re gonna set stuff up so that our opponents need to come to us on the battlefield, at which point it becomes obvious why I call these guys ‘gators. SNAP! |
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| These guys are awesome and very much make sense to invest in a solid blessing. There’s several reasonable giant toughness buffing things but I really like the blood bond/regen combo. Not only is it just plain great, but our frozen bayou also has some mighty ??Foul Vapors?? which will be showing up, and having your guys regenerate is very helpful. That said, ??Winter Ward??/??Poison Ward?? is pretty easy to drop for any battle that you need them, so there are a few different ways to set this up. One additional thing to weigh is that ??Staff of Storms?? are extremely helpful for Xibalba, and single-handedly make taking {{magicpath:path_a.png}}A on your pretender worthwhile even if you don’t do a single other thing with it. As long as you’re looking at air though, consider the [[Blesses|Wind Walking]] blessing as it effectively doubles the mobility of your ??Wo' Muuch?? (1->2 movement provinces generally), and stacks with ??Messenger Boots?? to give your mages and thugs a really impressive ability to move around. | These guys are awesome and very much make sense to invest in a solid blessing. There’s several reasonable giant toughness buffing things but I really like the blood bond/regen combo. Not only is it just plain great, but our frozen bayou also has some mighty ??Foul Vapors?? which will be showing up, and having your guys regenerate is very helpful. That said, ??Winter Ward??/??Poison Ward?? is pretty easy to drop for any battle that you need them, so there are a few different ways to set this up. One additional thing to weigh is that ??Staff of Storms?? are extremely helpful for Xibalba, and single-handedly make taking {{magicpath:path_a.png}}A on your pretender worthwhile even if you don’t do a single other things with it. As long as you’re looking at air though, consider the [[Blesses|Wind Walking]] blessing as it effectively doubles the mobility of your ??Wo' Muuch?? (1->2 movement provinces generally), and stacks with ??Boots of the Messenger?? to give your mages and thugs a really impressive ability to move around. |
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| To put out one specific reasonable build look at something like this: | To put out one specific reasonable build look at something like this: |
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| {{:nations:ma:xibalba:Ah_ha_.png?43&nolink |}} | {{:nations:ma:xibalba:Ah_ha_.png?43&nolink |}} |
| With a blessing like this ??Wo’ Muuch?? will give you a very brisk expansion. One tip - for {{gold}} 100 gold ??Ah Ha'?? make great cheap expansion party leaders. One problem with the small amount of ??Wo ‘Muuch?? needed to clear indies is that there ends up being a fair of a chance that the indies just flow around your handful of gators and kill the commander standing behind them. If you make Ench-2 your first research goal DE gives ??Ah Ha'?? the mudman spamming spell which goes a long way towards holding off the odd heavy infantry that went around the side of your gators. One bodyguard is a good idea too. | With a blessing like this ??Wo' Muuch?? will give you a very brisk expansion. One tip - for {{gold}} 100 gold ??Ah Ha'?? make great cheap expansion party leaders. One problem with the small amount of ??Wo' Muuch?? needed to clear indies is that there ends up being a fair of a chance that the indies just flow around your handful of gators and kill the commander standing behind them. If you make Ench-2 your first research goal DE gives ??Ah Ha'?? the mudman spamming spell which goes a long way towards holding off the odd heavy infantry that went around the side of your gators. One bodyguard is a good idea too. |
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| Once you get a bit farther into the game don’t neglect the obvious upgrades your strong {{magicpath:path_e.png}} Eath magic gives you (strength, protection, armor piercing). Later in the game you’re also in a great position to benefit from ??Stygian Rains?? with your magic weapons - properly buffed there’s not a whole lot strong enough to knock these guys down in melee if you just push straight up the middle. With the screening against evocations (we’ll get into it shortly) these guys become a real problem to deal with. | Once you get a bit farther into the game don’t neglect the obvious upgrades your strong {{magicpath:path_e.png}} Eath magic gives you (strength, protection, armor piercing). Later in the game you’re also in a great position to benefit from ??Stygian Rains?? with your magic weapons - properly buffed there’s not a whole lot strong enough to knock these guys down in melee if you just push straight up the middle. With the screening against evocations (we’ll get into it shortly) these guys become a real problem to deal with. |
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| As great as ??Wo 'Muuch?? are as a very strong blunt instrument though that’s not actually how you’re usually going to use them. While you can absolutely smack people around with them without much subtlety, where they’re really just filthily nasty is as the last line of defense scripted as bodyguards while something else takes the front line. This is particularly effective with this [[Blessing|Blood Bond/Regen blessing]] because while your sacred mages are indeed immune to that iconic stray arrow you’re thinking way too small. You’re effectively immune to *anything* from ??Thunder Strike?? to ??Bane Fire?? landing on your mages unless it happens repeatedly in quick succession. As we’ll be dropping ??Darkness?? + ??Mist?? for the big fights it becomes almost impossible to kill your mages from a distance. Wo ‘Muuch’s magic weapons will obliterate air elementals - as well as almost anything flying back to try and get your mages (this is also why we invested in a couple of storm staffs), and everything else is marching through a ??Quagmire??, slimed and stuck in the earth. That’s when the next angle of bayou of death comes in. | As great as ??Wo' Muuch?? are as a very strong blunt instrument though that’s not actually how you’re usually going to use them. While you can absolutely smack people around with them without much subtlety, where they’re really just filthily nasty is as the last line of defense scripted as bodyguards while something else takes the front line. This is particularly effective with this [[Blessing|Blood Bond/Regen blessing]] because while your sacred mages are indeed immune to that iconic stray arrow you’re thinking way too small. You’re effectively immune to *anything* from ??Thunder Strike?? to ??Bane Fire?? landing on your mages unless it happens repeatedly in quick succession. As we’ll be dropping ??Darkness?? + ??Mist?? for the big fights it becomes almost impossible to kill your mages from a distance. Wo ‘Muuch’s magic weapons will obliterate air elementals - as well as almost anything flying back to try and get your mages (this is also why we invested in a couple of storm staffs), and everything else is marching through a ??Quagmire??, slimed and stuck in the earth. That’s when the next angle of bayou of death comes in. |
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| {{:nations:ma:xibalba:camazotz.png?43&nolink |}} | {{:nations:ma:xibalba:camazotz.png?43&nolink |}} |
| {{:nations:ma:xibalba:bacab.png?43&nolink |}} | {{:nations:ma:xibalba:bacab.png?43&nolink |}} |
| One thing we are keeping from EA Xibalba is a fantastic ability to crank out Lifelong Protections. ??Camazotz?? and ??Bacab?? both hit D3 with a staff, which may not seem like that strong to skellispam with but combined with the imps, the reinvig from ??Earthpower/??Summer Rain??/??Messenger Boots?? it’s hard to oversell how effective just a single Bacab is outfit this way - with 5 ??Wo 'Muuch?? bodyguards you can realistically hold off a quite impressive force literally alone. | One thing we are keeping from EA Xibalba is a fantastic ability to crank out Lifelong Protections. ??Camazotz#2719?? and ??Bacab?? both hit {{path>D3}} with a staff, which may not seem like that strong to skellispam with but combined with the imps, the reinvig from ??Summon Earthpower??/**Summer Rain**/??Boots of the Messenger??, it’s hard to oversell how effective just a single Bacab is outfit this way - with 5 ??Wo' Muuch?? bodyguards you can realistically hold off a quite impressive force literally alone. |
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| Ah, but it's not 5 bodyguards, because who would actually just send one Bacab for a real fight? Obviously, those ??Imp?? and ??Longdead?? vomiting Bacab work wonderfully with more than one, but think of them as powerful-but-rare aircraft carriers...you’ve got a lot of smaller ships to support them. | Ah, but it's not 5 bodyguards, because who would actually just send one Bacab for a real fight? Obviously, those ??Imp?? and ??Longdead?? vomiting Bacab work wonderfully with more than one, but think of them as powerful-but-rare aircraft carriers...you’ve got a lot of smaller ships to support them. |
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| If using Dominions Enhanced, The bread and butter support guys are your 100 gold ??Ah Ha'??s who can spam out the deceptively awesome Mud Men. Mud Men may seem like cheap throw-aways at first, but if you look a little closer you’ll see something quite special with high-ish hps, blunt/pierce resistant, regen, [[slimer]], mindless/inanimate, spirit sight, and an AP attack. These guys are actually really fantastic spammed in numbers- and even worth spending effort to buff. With Strength of Giants they’re doing 15AP damage with fatigue damage piled on top - which is enough to be a threat even to SCs, and honestly puts them into the top tier of battlefield summons. Until you see it in action it's hard to understand how effective the whole package is, it's just an entirely different thing than skellispam | If using **Dominions Enhanced**, The bread and butter support guys are your 100 gold ??Ah Ha'??s who can spam out the deceptively awesome Mud Men. Mud Men may seem like cheap throw-aways at first, but if you look a little closer you’ll see something quite special with high-ish hps, blunt/pierce resistant, regen, [[slimer]], mindless/inanimate, spirit sight, and an AP attack. These guys are actually really fantastic spammed in numbers- and even worth spending effort to buff. With Strength of Giants they’re doing 15AP damage with fatigue damage piled on top - which is enough to be a threat even to SCs and honestly puts them into the top tier of battlefield summons. Until you see it in action it's hard to understand how effective the whole package is, it's just an entirely different thing than skellispam |
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| {{:nations:ma:xibalba:de_create_mud_man.png}} {{:nations:ma:xibalba:de_army_of_mud.png}}{{:nations:ma:xibalba:de_mud_warrior.png}} | {{:nations:ma:xibalba:de_create_mud_man.png?500&nolink}} {{:nations:ma:xibalba:de_army_of_mud.png?500&nolink}}{{:nations:ma:xibalba:de_mud_warrior.png?400&nolink}} |
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| Ah Ha spamming out Mud Men is fantastic as they’re also bringing in the critical mass of ??Wo' Muuch?? bodyguards - running into 20 gator bodyguards is a big problem after getting strung out and slimed fighting your way through all that ultra-heavy chaff. What’s even better though is a {{magicpath:path_w.png}} Water random ??Bacab?? with a ??Water Bracelet?? and ??Robe of the Sea?? is {{path>W6}} and makes 15 Mud Men per casting of Army of Mud - and can vomit out a truly absurd 75 of them for {{gems>5W}} gems. This is really gross to think about trying to run through, particularly when you think about those steadily building swarms of imps piling up the whole time. Then you remember those piles of mud men have AP damage and will drag down both giants and also slime those elves before dragging them down too. That’s before running into the pretty terrifyingly strong gators in the backfield. Or rather to the skeletons screening those. Or actually, probably the imps piling up. In the dark. And the freezing cold. Oh, also in a ??Quagmire??. I did mention attacking into the frozen bayou was probably not gonna work out well, right? | Ah Ha spamming out Mud Men is fantastic as they’re also bringing in the critical mass of ??Wo' Muuch?? bodyguards - running into 20 gator bodyguards is a big problem after getting strung out and slimed fighting your way through all that ultra-heavy chaff. What’s even better though is a {{magicpath:path_w.png?15&nolink}} Water random ??Bacab?? with a ??Water Bracelet?? and ??Robe of the Sea?? is {{path>W6}} and makes 15 Mud Men per casting of **Army of Mud** - and can vomit out a truly absurd 75 of them for {{gems>5W}} gems. This is really gross to think about trying to run through, particularly when you think about those steadily building swarms of imps piling up the whole time. Then you remember those piles of mud men have AP damage and will drag down both giants and also slime those elves before dragging them down too. That’s before running into the pretty terrifyingly strong gators in the backfield. Or rather to the skeletons screening those. Or actually, probably the imps piling up. In the dark. And the freezing cold. Oh, also in a ??Quagmire??. I did mention attacking into the frozen bayou was probably not gonna work out well, right? |
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| =====Witch of da Bog===== | =====Witch of da Bog===== |
| Earlier I touched briefly on ??Foul Vapors??, and your N Bacabs can cast that easier than it seems at first glance. A ??Thistle Mace??, {{gems>3N}} gems, then ??Strength of Gaia??, ??Foul Vapors?? - and it’s just plain unfair stacked on top of everything else you’re doing. Yes - you will be doing the C’tis thing better than C’tis can. Speaking of which - your guys have [[swamp survival]] (Miasma immunity) and C’tis guys are [[cold blooded]]...I like your chances in a head to head matchup as masters of the swamp. You’ve got so many more angles of things to stack up on top of each other rather than just shitting out more undead and hoping poison carries you the rest of the way. | Earlier I touched briefly on ??Foul Vapors??, and your N Bacabs can cast that easier than it seems at first glance. A ??Thistle Mace??, {{gems>3N}} gems, then ??Strength of Gaia??, ??Foul Vapors?? - and it’s just plain unfair stacked on top of everything else you’re doing. Yes - you will be doing the C’tis thing better than C’tis can. Speaking of which - your guys have [[swamp survival]] (Miasma immunity) and C’tis guys are [[cold blooded]]...I like your chances in a head to head matchup as masters of the swamp. You’ve got so many more angles of things to stack up on top of each other rather than just shitting out more undead and hoping poison carries you the rest of the way. |
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| Speaking of stacking things up, if your opponent can shrug off your poison and ignore the cold, consider dropping a few ??Curse of Stones?? ahead of your opponent trying to do his best to climb over all your summoned bodies. Lets go ahead to toss in Howl cast by your ??Way?? mages, and consider Summon the Marshland (Thau-6) which not only is yet another way to get ??Quagmire?? up - it summons ??Bog Beast??s at the edge of the battlefield. Stuff summoned on the edge of the battlefield is brilliant at getting the enemy spun all around and tripping over itself while you get up a critical mass of summons. Really though, as I spoiled earlier the crown jewel here is Oozing Marshlands. All (non flying) enemies will be slimed and earth melded, then have their combat speed dropped and have their encumbrance raised. Now, realistically mostly the only things that can hope to have much chance against you at this point are cold/poison/endurance immune undead. Luckily you’ve got an ace up your sleeve for them - half a dozen guys spamming ??Cleansing Water?? will wash away a practically unlimited amount of undead...you know, from behind their practically unkillable bodyguards. You’ve also got reasonably easy access to ??Wither Bones??, so enemy undead generally isn’t too much of a worry. | Speaking of stacking things up, if your opponent can shrug off your poison and ignore the cold, consider dropping a few ??Curse of Stones?? ahead of your opponent trying to do his best to climb over all your summoned bodies. Let's go ahead to toss in ??Howl?? cast by your ??Way?? mages, and consider Summon the Marshland (Thau-6) which not only is yet another way to get ??Quagmire?? up - it summons ??Bog Beast??s at the edge of the battlefield. Stuff summoned on the edge of the battlefield is brilliant at getting the enemy spun all around and tripping over itself while you get up a critical mass of summons. Really though, as I spoiled earlier the crown jewel here is **Oozing Marshlands**. All (non-flying) enemies will be slimed and earth melded, then have their combat speed dropped and have their encumbrance raised. Now, realistically mostly the only things that can hope to have much chance against you at this point are cold/poison/endurance immune undead. Luckily you’ve got an ace up your sleeve for them - half a dozen guys spamming ??Cleansing Water?? will wash away a practically unlimited amount of undead...you know, from behind their practically unkillable bodyguards. You’ve also got reasonably easy access to ??Wither Bones??, so enemy undead generally isn’t too much of a worry. |
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