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The caster opens a gate to Tartarus and releases a dead Titan or Monstrum imprisoned in that horrible place. The Titans were gods in ancient times, but were defeated and imprisoned in Tartarus aeons ago. The dead Titan once had tremendous powers, but the imprisonment in the realm of perpetual pain might have destroyed the mind of the ancient god.
Tartarian Gate is a Conjuration 9 7 ritual which summons one of a number of non-unique tartarians for 10. The unspecified tortures these ancient gods and titans undergo in Tartarus are not pretty; although all tartarians have the potential to be powerful mages, many are feebleminded and most are summoned as units instead of commanders, requiring a Gift of Reason/Divine Name and healing to unlock their full capabilities. Their shattered soul trait cannot be removed and causes them to occasionally do random actions on their own, leaving you unable to give them orders.
Due to the difficulties involved in making tartarians useful and the high research and magic path requirement, Tartarian Gate is not usually a threat until the late game. Although tartarians can make good heavy thugs, where they stand out is as an alternative to Elemental Royalty for summoning durable, high-path mages that are difficult to assassinate and can reliably cast critical battlefield spells. When human mages are dying in droves to Flames from the Sky and all the unique summons are gone, tartarians can still be mass produced to bring a supply of diverse, big casters to late game battles.
All tartarians have a 50% chance to be feebleminded and an independent 20% chance to be a commander instead of a unit. They then have a 50% chance of gaining a new affliction (equal odds of major or minor) and continue rolling at 50% odds until an affliction is not gained.1) Remedying these issues makes most tartarians much more expensive than the 10 price tag would suggest.
Commanderifying a tartarian is as simple as casting Gift of Reason for 20 or Divine Name for 25, but healing feebleminded is slightly more complicated due to tartarians being undead. The following methods will NOT work:
The following methods WILL work:
The usable healing methods are difficult to achieve; you have to have either planned for tartarians from the beginning of the game or control a pretty powerful global. Assuming these conditions are fulfilled, a tartarian can be made functional for a total price of around 40 gems. This is (in absolute terms) cheaper than the obvious comparison, Elemental Royalty, and tartarians have the potential to be more powerful mages than even the Royalty.
A table of tartarians is included below. As undead, all tartarians have significant cold resistance, poison resistance, spirit sight and a ridiculous hitpoint pool. They also have fear, being scary gods who have returned from the realm of perpetual pain. The shattered soul trait is similar to insane, but allows more destructive random actions; see the dedicated page for more details. Note that the paths will only be revealed once you have removed feebleminded and made the tartarian a commander.
Image | Name | Abilities | Comments |
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Tartarian Cyclops | 23 Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Fear (10) Eyes (1) Shattered Soul (25%) Poor Amphibian Undead Need-not-eat Spirit Sight | Magic phase heavy thug that can also support armies with earth buffs and minor air magic. Both cyclopes are poor amphibians, which broadens their strategic utility. |
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Tartarian Cyclops | 4 Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Fear (10) Eyes (1) Shattered Soul (25%) Poor Amphibian Undead Need-not-eat Spirit Sight | Easily capable of casting all the big earth buffs and Earthquake your enemies. Can thug in a pinch too, though with less panache than its Cloud Trapeze-capable cousin. Both cyclopes are poor amphibians, which broadens their strategic utility. |
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Tartarian Spirit | 32 Regeneration (5%) Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Fear (12) Ambidextrous (5) Shattered Soul (25%) Poor Amphibian Undead Need-not-eat Mountain Survival Spirit Sight | Comes with ambidextrous so it can dual-wield its sick length 4 chains. The death magic allows this tartarian to cast Soul Vortex and be much more dangerous on its own. It also adds a bit of fear, which is nice. Like the cyclopes, it is perfectly capable of army support duty with moderate earth too. Also a poor amphibian and capable of going underwater without gear. |
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Tartarian Titan | 5300% 200% Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Fear (10) Shattered Soul (25%) Undead Need-not-eat Female Spirit Sight | That's right, the titans can random every single magic path. The female titan is arbitrarily weaker than her male counterpart, similar to the twiceborn equivalent. Still, with a guaranteed 3 random in her primary path and a big, beefy body you can be assured that she will be useful in some capacity. Occasionally she will be 5 in a path! |
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Tartarian Titan | 7300% 200% 200% Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Fear (10) Shattered Soul (25%) Undead Need-not-eat Spirit Sight | Just like the female titan, the male titan can random every single magic path but gains an additional +2 random. This titan is probably the most exciting option out of the bunch; not necessarily a reliable way to get paths you need, but you can get a lot of magic power in a durable chassis with full equipment slots. | |
Tartarian Monstrum | 4200% 200% Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Fear (10) Shattered Soul (25%) Undead Flying Need-not-eat Spirit Sight | Has a huge amount of hitpoints, even among the tartarians. Unfortunately it only has a head and 2 misc slots, so it can't wear a Shroud of the Battle Saint and it is definitely not worth summoning tartarians if they can't use magic. It is otherwise quite mobile with flying and has respectable magic paths. | |
Tartarian Monstra | 6200% 200% 100% 100% Cold Resistance (15) Poison Resistance (25) Fear (10) Shattered Soul (25%) Undead Need-not-eat Swamp Survival Swimming Spirit Sight | A compromise between the titan's magic paths and the monstrum's hitpoints. Unfortunately it is only guaranteed 2 in a path, which is not quite enough to cast big battlefield spells but may allow it to be an effective heavy thug or supercombatant with the right randoms. |
Dominions 5 Late-game Strategy: Conjuration by Perun, 29:40 onwards
Notable Spells | ||
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Rituals | Personal Enchantments | Divine Name/Gift of Reason • Transformation • Twiceborn • Cure Disease |
Strategic | Domes • Globals • Magic Phase Movement • Remote Attacks | |
Summons | Cross Breeding • Elemental Royalty • Hidden Underneath/in Snow/in Sand • Infernal Breeding • Reanimation • Release Lord of Civilization • Ritual of Rebirth • Tartarian Gate | |
Other | Wish | |
Combat Magic | Battlefield Enchantments | |
Buffs | Hell Power • Life after Death • Mossbody • Pain Transfer • Phoenix Pyre • Returning • Soul Vortex • Strength of Giants • Time Stop | |
Debuffs | Armor of Achilles • Earth Grip • False Fetters | |
Direct Damage | Divine Magic • Magic Duel • Soul Slay | |
Summons | Reanimation | |
Other | Communions • Enslave Mind |