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rus-ea

EA Rus, Sons of Heaven

Lore

"I never got around to finish my ideas on Rus for Dominions 4. Instead it became the second of the new nations for Dominions 5. Baltic mythology, Latvian in particular, became an inspirational source for the nation." - Illwinter

Rus is a land of harsh winters and short summers inhabited by humans and Chudes, an exalted race of great strength and beauty. The Chudes and the humans have intermingled and neither race dominate the other. The Rusian society is divided into two moieties. The first is composed of hunters and nomads living in the deep forests. They worship the Bear and the Thunder and eat their meat raw. The warriors of the wild moiety are known for their fury and battle prowess. Their most prominent warriors are even able to take the shape of the sacred bear. The other moiety lives in houses of wood and in caves underneath the ground. They cook their meat and practice a new kind of magic. The Chudes of the second moiety call themselves sons and daughters of gods previously unheard of.

Most of the Rusian armies are composed of human infantry, but the elites of the kingdom are mighty Chudes. Yet the humans also field mighty warriors. The axe wielding Bear Warriors are respected and feared even by the warriors of Ulm. The peoples of Rus prefer a cold climate.

General Overview

Rus has an army that's similar to Ulm's with elite human barbarians, but its Magic is a lot more varied with many strong Air mages. Nothing in Rus is too impressive (despite their costs), but you can take it in a lot of directions. many Summon options, recruit from forests, strong sacreds, and spies.

National Features

Race Military Magic Access Priests Buildings
Prefers Cold Scale 2
Snow Move
Minor Cold Resistance (3 - 5)
Average Humans
Chudes:
High stats, particularly HP & MR
Good Infantry
Mage-Leaders
Stealthy Hunters
Berserkers
Shape Changers
Out-of-Fort Recruits
air 33 (rare 4)
fire 33 (rare 4)
nature 22 (rare 3)
astral 11 (rare 2)
earth 11 (uncommon)
Heroes:
air 33water 11death 33nature 22 (one, turn 20+)
air 44earth 11nature 22/air 33earth 22nature 33 (one, turn 15+)
astral 22nature 33 (one)
Summons:
air 22water 11earth 22nature 44 (requires nature 66)
water 33nature 11 (requires water 22)
air 22astral 22 (requires astral 33)
Average (holy 22)
holy 11 off-capital
Flimsy Forts
(Still 2 tiers)
Temples cost Gold200

Flimsy Forts

Rus's "primitive forts" as described on the nation page are actually a bit of a misnomer; Rus gets their own unique fort line, which happens to be made of wood and uses the palisade graphic for both forts. You will be saving 150 Gold and 1 turn to build your Villages to then upgrade to a Fortress. the downside is that wooden forts have worse administration and about half the defenses against sieges. Not a bad trade-off as sieges are more often decided by armies than fortifications, and the ability to get a leg up on fort finishing forts can be more valuable.

Capital Sites

Hall of the Dawn Pine of Skulls Oak of Storms
Recruit:
Son of Heaven
Daughter of the Sun
Produce 1airgem1firegem per turn
Recruit:
Chud Hunter
Chud Skinshifter
Produce 1naturegem1astralpearl per turn
Recruit:
Perkunu
Produce 1airgem1naturegem per turn

Units

Commanders

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Scout
25
5
1
+Foreign Rec
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Stealthy (60)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Better than normal at hiding, so that it maintains its niche over the hunter Chieftains
Rusian Chieftain
40
17
1
Cold Resistance (3)
Snow Move
A 60 leadership commander, more effective than indie commanders but requiring fort turns to recruit.
Rusian Priest
45
2
1
holy 11
Sacred
Cold Resistance (3)
Snow Move
Standard cheap priest.
Rusian Wizard
125
2
2
+Foreign Rec Caves
fire 11nature 11random1100%
13
Cold Resistance (3)
Snow Move
Supply Bonus (10)
Adept Researcher (+2)
Rusian Wizards are relatively efficient researchers in a sea of overcosted Rusian mages. Their combat power is somewhat unreliable, however; the highest they may roll in a single path is nature 22, and only fire and nature magic (not earth!) are available to communions via the astral random. Still, they are enough for light protection buffing and combat magic. They also provide access to Firebirds for the random event memes.
Son of Heaven
270
5
2
Capital Only
fire 11air 11nature 11holy 22random1100%
13
Sacred
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Supply Bonus (10)
The highest-level priest available to Rus and a 120 leadership commander, but extremely pricy for that utility. The Son of Heaven's paths are not focused, and the crosspaths are not particularly useful either, rendering it a bit of a niche recruit.
Daughter of the Sun
285
5
2
Capital Only
fire 22nature 11holy 11random1100%
10%

13
Sacred
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Supply Bonus (10)
Although sharing the same price issues as the Son of Heaven, the Daughter of the Sun does have fire 22 and can potentially random fire 33, giving her much more reliable magic power in combat.
Perkunu
380
5
4
Capital Only
air 33astral 11nature 22holy 11random010%
17
Sacred
Shock Resistance (20)
Cold Resistance (5)
Shapechanger: Werebear
Snow Move
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Recuperation
Supply Bonus (20)
Guaranteed air 33 for Air Elementals & Thunder Strike, combined with astral 11 for Communion Mastery to keep cranking out spells, is the main selling point of these mediocre leaders.
They transform into Werebears instead of dying (as long as the damage doesn't cut through their Werebear's 45 HP as well), but they'll then stop casting spells and go on a murderous rampage due to their Berserker trait.
Rusian Chieftain
45
8
1
Foreign Rec only
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Stealthy (40)
Berserker (+1)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Can lead small stealthy raiding parties.

The following commanders can only be recruited in forests:

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Chud Chieftain
90
10
1
Rec Forests only (Foreign or Fort)
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Stealthy (40)
Berserker (+3)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Ambidextrous (2)
80 leadership outside of forts is good utility, but it comes at a price for the Chud chassis.
Thunder Priest
235
2
2
Rec Forests only (Foreign or Fort)
air 22nature 11holy 11random1100%
11
Sacred
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Supply Bonus (10)
Inept Researcher (-2)
The Thunder Priest provides reliable combat power with air 22, but are somewhat expensive. They require both a land and a temple to recruit, so making use of their foreign recruit status can be risky.

Troops

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Rusian Hunter
10
6
4
+Foreign Rec
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Stealthy (40)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Undisciplined
Essentially indie shortbows, but a bit more strategically mobile and also undisciplined. Rus has access to Flaming Arrows, so these can be useful in that context.
Rusian Warrior
Gold 10
12
9
Cold Resistance (3)
Snow Move
Rus has two human light infantry variants. One wields a spear for lower piercing damage, and the other wields an axe with slightly more slashing damage.
Rusian Warrior
Gold 10
12
9
Chud Warrior
Gold 20
12
13
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Chudes have good stats, but they also cost twice the gold of ordinary human troops. The issue of low protection remains as well, making them somewhat less elite than their other stats would suggest.
Chud Hunter
Gold 25
7
9
Capital Only
+Rec Forests (Foreign or Fort)
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Stealth (40)
Berserker (+2)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Undisciplined
Chud Hunters are skilled, stealthy troops that can be recruited out of forts, but they are comparable with elves for price and lack their glamour as well as any notable protection beyond their 17 hit points. Hard-hitting but fragile and expensive.
Chud Berserker
Gold 35
13
28
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Berserker (+2)
Ambidextrous (2)
Chud Berserkers compare somewhat unfavorably to their Norse cousins, the Einheres, due to costing more for a lower berserk value and protection. Still, they are more than capable of dishing out damage and can do work if you are able to buff them appropriately.
Chud Skinshifter
Gold 65
5
33
Capital Only
Sacred
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Berserker (+3)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Recuperation
Wounded Shape: Werebear
An interesting Sacred troop with essentially an extra life for each battle, which keeps its +3 Berserk bonus and has two attacks instead of its main life's single-but-stronger Battleaxe.
Even with the guarantee to survive a lethal hit, these guys don't tend to last very long without help, due to the way Berserk reduces Defense. Take that into consideration when designing your Bless.
Bear Warrior
18
4
13
Rec Forests only (Foreign or Fort)
Cold Resistance (5)
Snow Move
Stealthy (40)
Berserker (+3)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Undisciplined
Ambidextrous (2)
Your most cost-effective stealthy troops, with two attacks & Berserker to make them better.
Rusian Hunters have Bows, however, while Chud Hunters at least have Javelins.
These guys have a rather small niche since Elfing is more of a side-hobby for Rus than a way of life.
Still decent at raiding and swarming and killing other elites.

Heroes

Sprite Unit Name Special Attributes Comments
Vod - Son of the Bear astral 22nature 33holy 22 15
Sacred
Cold Resistance(5)
Poison Resistance (5)
Shape Changer: Son of the Bear
Snow Move
Stealthy (40)
Inspirational(+1)
Berserker (+5)
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Recuperation
Supply Bonus(30)
astral 22 is pretty rare without this guy!
Perkuna Tete - Daughter of the Thunder
Turn Arrival Limit: 15
air 44earth 11nature 22holy 11 19
Sacred
Cold Resistance(5)
Shock Resistance (22)
Shape Changer: Daughter of the Oak
Snow Move
Mountain Survival
Forest Survival
Recuperation
Supply Bonus (20)
Can flip to air 33earth 22nature 33holy 11 for Rituals and Items that require those paths, at the expense of five levels' worth of Research potential.
Baba Yaga - Hag
Turn Arrival Limit: 20
air 33water 11death 33nature 22 23
Cold Resistance (15)
Poison Resistance (15)
Shock Resistance (5)
Fear (8)
Flying
Forest Survival
Supply Bonus (20)
Fills two holes in your Magic Path lineup, Water & Death, both of which are not particularly easy for Rus to fill.

Magic

National Magic & Summons

One of Rus's selling points is its sheer amount of exclusive summons.

  • Summon Simargl Conjure 2, air 11 1airgem, ( Simarglx1). Too slow if you're trying to amass a significant flying force, but fine as Patrol chaff.
  • Summon Firebird Conjure 3, fire 11astral 11 2firegem, ( Firebirdx1). Mages with the needed paths are not particularly common, but Firebirds are worth spamming for the influx of lucky events in your fort; twenty 2% chances of an extra good event will probably result in a good event at some point. Even if they don't pan out in that way, Firebirds can still be used as Patrollers, Siegers, and ambushers; they'll just be worse at each of those than the Simargl, though their melee Fire attack and their slightly-higher attack density than the Simargl helps with the latter.
  • Summon Bears Conjure 3, nature 11holy 11 8naturegem, ( Great Bearx7) This summons the good bears, the same sort of bears that Chud Skinshifters turn into: Sacred HP bags with High Strength and Morale.
  • Sloth of Bears Conjure 3, nature 22 8naturegem, ( Great Bearx10 + [lv]) This summons regular Great Bears, which have 9% lower HP, 5% lower Strength, and sub-par attack skill. If all you need is Siege Strength, this is the better Bear spell to use, since you get more Strength as a whole; for combat, however, the good bears are superior.
  • Contact Sirin Conjure 3, astral 22 8astralpearl, ( Sirin) Hard to Summon for Rus. A way to steal Male Commanders. If that doesn't work, giving them Handful of Acorns and some other weapon that can be used in the misc slot like The Pebble Pouch can dispatch a variety of problems. If nothing else, they're a Flying Scout.
  • Summon Likho Conjure 4, death 11 10deathgem, ( Likho) Rus lacks national Death for using her, outside of a Hero. Summon and let her sit in a enemy Provence to cause annoyances.
  • Contact Alkonost Conjure 4, astral 22 15astralpearl, ( Alkonost) A Flying holy 33, who can provide +2 morale to a squad of 40. Crossing the Flying utility with the Leadership utility can be tough, given how your only flying troops are Zmeys and Simurgs, but the functions are quite useful on their own.
  • Summon Rusalka Conjure 4, water 11death 11 16watergem, ( Rusalka) Hard for EA to use. Create more Low-level Death mages and a way to expand underwater. Can kill most things with a Water Lens Summon a Water Elemental and then spam skeletons until the assadination target is dead.
  • Send Vodyanoy Conjure 4, water 22 20watergem, ( Vodyanoy) only target Sea province. Conjure a Stealthy Water mage underwater. Decent UW combat mage. She won't Be Establishing a foothold underwater by herself and without gems, but she can raid if you had already created a foothold down there. Is A means of fighting a water war if the ocean nations had failed to conquer most of the independents. They are also will climb water magic for you, getting you into Water Queens and Naiads
  • Send Lady Midday Conjure 5, air 11death 11 10airgem, ( Lady Midday) Basically summons a weak Disease Demon. Is Very fragle. Hard for EA to use.
  • Summon Zmey Conjure 5, fire 22 5firegem, ( Zmeyx1). A cool 3-headed Dragon that, unfortunately, breathes AOE-1 fire balls instead of the giant death lasers Fire Drakes exhale. Zmeys are cold-blooded, which may cause some problems if you aren't running a hellbless with Heat0 or Heat1.
  • Contact Gamayun Conjure 5, astral 33 25astralpearl, ( Gamayun) A Flying air 22astral 22holy 22. The Gamayun is pretty nice for Rus to have in the late-game, as it allows the lucky Hero or astral 22 Perkunu to produce more astral 22 mages after you get a Starshine Skullcap, who can in-turn produce more astral 22 mages. It's also a handy support mage, able to Fly or Cloud Trapeze into battles where it can spam Paralyze and Mind Burn. Last-but-not-least, Gamayun have rp 1919 and high Fortune Teller abilities, so they're even useful outside of combat.
  • Send Bukavac Conjure 5, water 44 5watergem, ( Bukavac) only target Sea province. They are very hard to deal with especially if your having a bunch of Vodyanoy sends several aginst one providence. These are Giant Trampler that will clear out Fishman settlement and many of their armies.
  • Contact Beregina Conjure 6, water 33earth 11 35watergem, ( Beregina) a amphibious Water mage with nature support spells and may to take a decently sized force underwater.
  • Contact Cloud Vila Conjure 7, air 44 40airgem, ( Cloud Vila) Mountain and borders only. Take a Perkunu and make it a flying true Healer Seducer instead of a Werebear. You could be spending those Air gems on Air Queens while having an easier time summoning Mountain Vilas. During assassinations, a air 44 can be overkill for the gems they cost but worthit when the targets are that tough.
  • Contact Mountain Vila Conjure 7, nature 44 40naturegem, ( Mountain Vila) Mountain and borders only. Nature Air communioning, True Healer 2 mage comes prepage with a Vine Bow for going off-script. Mix of Fairy Queen and Ivy King, those too expensive to use recklessly. if you only need a generally strong nature mage, an Ivy King is far more resilient for cheaper.
  • Contact Leshiy Conjure 8, nature 66 60naturegem, ( Leshiy Leshiy) Forest only. Takes a lot of climbing to get a nature mage that can be potalty nature 77 while in forests. Only get so someone, not your pretender can hold up Gift of Health or Enchanted Forests. As long as they are fighting in the forest, they are supercombatents getting all the good buffing paths, including asses to Foul Vapors. Gets natural regeneration to stack with spell regeneration and has a second bear shape to greatly boost its durablity.

Magic Access

Your nation primarily favors Air, but you shouldn't forget your capital Mages' Fire and your secondary Nature. How deep you get into a path as Rus depends on how patient you are, and how long the game looks like it's going to go for.

Your Thunder Priests always have air 22 and a reasonable amount of them have air 33, while 1/30 Perkunus have air 44 and can craft both Air Boosters (The Winged Helmet and the Bag of Winds) for air 66, and then air 77 if you can get a Queen of Elemental Air. You only get one Perkunu for every two turns at most, however, so one-in-thirty is still pretty serious in a perpetually-busy capital (though one of your Heroes has air 44). In combat, you get to use Storm with 2airgem (1airgem with an air 44) alongside Summon Storm Power to turn your air 22's into air 33's, allowing them to drop heavy Thunder Strikes and Air Elementals on enemy armies.

nature 22 is common among your Mages, and nature 22astral 11 on your Perkunus allows you to Forge the Moonvine Bracelet after Forging the Thistle Mace. +nature 22-boosted Perkunus can Awaken Ivy Kings and then climb to nature 66 through having the boosted Ivy King Forge the Treelord's Staff; the +nature 33-boosted Ivy King can then cast Contact Leshiy to get a air 22water 11earth 22nature 44 Mage that can climb up to nature 77 with all of your Boosters. Since you'll be lacking serviceable Earth for most of the game, consider mixing Fire Resistance with Barkskin and its many upgrades.

The Daughter of the Sun commonly has fire 33, which is easily boosted to fire 44 in combat through Phoenix Power. In combat, fire 44 is enough to neuter opposing Fire Nations with Fire Fend, but can also be used for cheeky offensive plays such as Flaming Arrows, Living Fire, a 4firegem Fire Storm, and/or a 2firegem Flame Storm. 1/160 Daughter of the Suns have fire 44 outside of battle, which allows you to Forge a Flame Helmet and climb to fire 55, and then fire 66 if you can get a King of Elemental Fire, but that's rarer than the aforementioned air 44 Perkunu.

Astral is strange on Rus, almost-solely serving as a giant weakness for your Perkunus in the face of Astral Nations (thanks to Magic Duel). 1/30 Perkunus have astral 22, which can then be boosted to astral 33 with the Starshine Skullcap in order to get a steady stream of astral 22 Gamayun; your capital has other Mages to recruit, however, so it's probably better to either Empower or consider having Astral on your Pretender – or you can just go all-in on Luck since one of your Heroes has astral 22.

Earth is even tougher for Rus to climb, but by no means impossible. Though you start out with only earth 11, and even that is restricted to a quarter of your human Mages, climbing Rus's Nature Ladder nets you the grand prize of one bonafide earth 22 Mage in forests. These guys are pretty expensive, but you only need one to craft Earth Boots, giving you earth 33 for the big combat buffs and earth 22 for your smaller & cheaper Mages to spam smaller-but-still-respected combat buffs. Like with Astral, though, one of your Heroes has earth 22 – they can't move while they have earth 22, but they can still Forge Boots.

Water & Death both have interesting Summons for you, but unfortunately you don't start out with either. Aside from your Pretender and Indies, you have two options for Water – you can either finish Rus's Nature Ladder for that water 11 Mage and Forge Water Bracelets for water 22, conquer an Underwater province with the help of some Water Breathing thingy, and churn out water 33nature 11 Vodyanoys who can climb to water 55 with boosters, and then climb to water 77 if you get a Queen of Elemental Water, or you can do that first step with the air 33water 11death 33nature 22 Hero instead. As for Death, the Hero is your only native option.

Combat Magic

Lots of mages are thunder batteries, use Summon Storm Power when Storm is up and you Thunder Strike.

As you have some good troops buffs like Mass Flight, Fog Warriors and Wooden Warriors.

Some Fire gives some clear spells like Sulfur Haze, and Seven Year Fever could Halt an early game thug rush.

Also having Air and Fire are the paths for archery buffs those that don't synergy if your going Thunderstrike spam.

Your going to get a few astral mages as your recruit. Probably save the communions for important battles for those big spells. a mage can also Cast Power of the Spheres to boost up their magic, but you need to put some reinvigoration items on some so they don't fall asleep for most of the battle.

Should also remember that, despite making water in your recruitable lineup, you have several summonable aquatic water magic, so don't sleep on claiming those untaped resources. Foul Vapors does work underwater. if taken above you also have Cold attacks that synergize with your nation's preference for cold.

Air, Fire, Nature, and Astral do have many defensive self buffs, along with their above-average HP, letting them survive specific scenarios if you script them right.

Ritual Magic

You get tons of summoning options. Summon sacred bears to boost your chaff production along with blessed Skinshifters. Lots of situational Seducer summons, but the higher-level ones can be overkill in assinations for the gems. Always remembers you have a Flying throne claimer in the form of the Alkonost.

Late game Cloud Vila as a discount air queen and Leshy as super combaten as long as a lot of the fighting is in forests and using a Skinshifter bless.

Magic Items

No national items or discounts.

You are one of the rare nations that can naturally forge Air boosters.

You don't have good national thugs, with the Perkunu, and Son of Heaven doing better than the tipical mage. If your are not summoning generic thug chassis, then your gearing up to make your lighting batteries more surviable.

the national cross paths you have make resistant items and cheap and lightweight thug gear. With astral making items to boost spell resistance/penetration and Elf Bane.

Strategy

Power Curve

This is probably the most difficult section to get consensus for. Describe how strong the nation is during expansion, the early, mid and late game, and what makes it strong/weak at each of those points. This should give readers an idea of where the weaknesses of a nation lie (if they have not been shown already) and when to take advantage of a nation's strengths.

Expansion Strategies

List some example expansion strategies here. If a strong bless or pretender is required then leave the specifics for the pretender section.

Example Pretender Builds

List some example pretender builds. Try to use the following format to keep authorship and pretender design rationale clear.

Deives of the Sun (Awake): F6N7B8 Dom4Tur3Slo3Hea1Gro1Luc3Dra3. Bless: Fire Shield, Regeneration, Blood Vengeance. Turns your recruitable and summonable sacreds into spicy meatballs of pain. Allows you to summon many Firebirds and Zmeys.

Volla of the Bountiful Forest (Awake): W10N7 Dom4Tur3Slo3Hea1Gro0Luc2Mag1. Bless: Quickness, Regeneration. Similar to Deives of the Sun, makes your recruitable and summonable sacreds very dangerous. Provides with Water gem income and Water path access which is otherwise hard to obtain with this nation. Many of the national Water summons become available.

Demilich (imprisoned): E4D10N10 Dom4Tur3Slo3Hea1Gro0Luc3Mag3. Bless: Larger, 10 x Undying, Regeneration. Allows your recruitable and summonable sacreds to hit harder and survive much longer (20 HP from Undying for both forms is 40 extra HP, plus Larger bonus which also improves regeneration). Increased strength from Larger also helps with taking down fortifications. Pretender has Death access, which is rare for this nation.

See More

rus-ea.txt · Last modified: 2024/07/09 04:28 by johnnydown