Now for the very final school of the game, the cold, clammy twin of the divine/deathly pair.
DEATH
Death is the realm of decay, evil and, well, death. Most of its spells either summon demonic creatures, turn foes to its side by raising them as undead, or weaken them. In this manner, it acts as the exact opposite to Life - that realm was all about strengthening itself, this is about weakening the world from within. Thus, it doesn't care about regular units much, choosing to fight either with its summons, or its curses.Cost: 25 MP
Effect: Summons a skeleton unit to the overworld.
Analysis: Death lays its cards pretty early with this summon - it's literally a spearman unit, but undead! Actually, they fight better than spearmen, having more figures, defense, the whole bevy of Deathly immunities(immunity to Death, Cold and Illusions), and Missile Immunity on top of that! That said, their stats are pretty horrid, and they definitely shouldn't be used as the core of any army, though they can fight Sorcery common creatures quite well. Their main purpose is filling garrisons, and they are good at that...well, theoretically.
In practice, casting skill is at a premium, and in most situations the Death wizard will be preoccupied casting other important things. Thus, while the spell is cheap, it's hard to find opportunities to summon them in bulk, to fulfill their intended duty as cheap, disposable units. Also, they don't recover from wounds, making them have a limited shelf life.
I feel like this spell would fare a lot better if it enchanted a town to produce them in bulk, in addition to creating one off the bat. That way, it would fulfill its purpose of creating a disposable mass without clogging up the casting skill "pipeline".
2. Weakness:
Cost: 7 MP
Effect: Attempts to weaken a target at a -7 resistance penalty. Weakened targets lose 3 points from all of their attacks.
Analysis: This is what Shatter wants to be - a cheap, understanded, yet powerful attack debuff. The high resistance penalty means it's basically guaranteed to hit anything not having great resistance, and the debuffed strength is substantial enough to defang most early game and even some mid game units.
Honestly, it wouldn't hurt if this simply always succeeded without a roll , it would remove the needless bit of uncertainty and simply make it a reliable tool that could be used to great effect early and earn a mild advantage in later fights.
3. Zombies:
Cost: 20 MP
Effect: Summons a zombie unit in combat that fights to the death.
Analysis: Zombies are deceptively weak. They may seem sturdy fighters, at 3x6 HP, but having 10% less To Defend makes them very susceptible to damage. They also move slowly and don't have Poison Immunity, unlike most other Death units.
However, they turn most of their victims into undead, and do have enough bulk to keep most combat summons busy and kill off weakened units, especially when aided by a wall and by this school's buffs. They also have the rest of Death's immunities, making them strong against Sorcery and also Nature spells in a pinch. Thus, they are actually very useful, and one of Death's keystone spells. It's just a bit unfortunate that their stats are so misleading, as that causes a lot of overestimation of their abilities.
4. Cloak of Fear:
Cost: 12(in combat)/60 MP
Effect: Scares off units attempting to melee the target, requiring them to score against a resistance roll with a -3 resistance penalty before actually landing their hits. Thrown, gaze and breath attacks ignore this.
Analysis: This is a very potent buff. While it only applies to melee attacks, it does block all of their damage every time it succeeds, making its target far sturdier. It also has a good resistance penalty, working quite often on early game units, and combines very well with any resistance reductions, including one of this school's most prominent spells. A good, if situational buff.
5. Black Sleep:
Cost: 15 MP
Effect: Attempts to force a target to sleep at a -2 resistance penalty. A sleeping target can't take any action, and has no defense against any attacks. A target affected with this can't be turned into undead.
Analysis: It's a pretty straightforward curse. It's annoying that it doesn't instantly kill its target, merely leaves them vulnerable, but it certainly does its job well. Generally speaking, a Death wizard has more impactful or productive spells to cast in battle, but this is still a useful spell to have. Good, if unremarkable.
6. Ghouls:
Cost: 88 MP
Effect: Summons a ghoul unit to the overworld.
Analysis: Ghouls are one of two common summons to get magical ranged attacks. While they aren't amazingly powerful, they work well against most early game units, especially since they also inflict Poison with them.
But their real selling point is that they turn most of their victims undead at range. This makes them insanely valuable for a Death wizard, and they often see use both in defensive and offensive roles. They can fulfill both well, as their defensive stats are actually surprisingly good for a ranged magical attacker, with 3 defense, the Deathly immunities, and 3x4 HP. They even work fine as melee attackers! The only thing holding them back is their cost, but they easily pay it back by turning a lot of enemies to your side. Overall, one of the best Common summons, and potentially one of the best summons with the right support.
7. Life Drain:
Cost: 10 MP
Effect: Drains life from the target, dealing 1-10 HP of damage reduced by the amount of resistance they roll, at a -5 resistance penalty. Most units killed by this turn into undead.
Analysis: As a direct damage spell, it's not too impressive - the roll on damage makes it too unreliable, and even with the impressive looking resistance penalty, it gets blunted too often to rely upon. However, it is Death's only choice for a direct damage spell, and its life draining ability leads to some quirks, like caster units being able to refill HP from their victims and even push beyond their natural max HP. And it does work well with resistance reducing effects, thus fitting with the realm. Not the first spell of choice, but not completely useless either.
8. Wraith Form:
Cost: 13(in combat)/65 MP
Effect: Makes the target non corporeal, letting them move freely through all terrain(unless they are ships) and ignore Web and Crack's Call. Also lets them gain Weapon Immunity, ignore Weapon Immunity, and become immune to being raised as undead.
Analysis: Weapon Immunity is a fairly niche effect, as is the protection from being turned undead or the Nature spells. Its main use is the same as Water Walking - being able to deal with logistical issues - only it has a higher cost while still being a single unit buff, making it harder to employ.
That said, the defense against the aforementioned Nature spells can be nice for certain units that would otherwise be rendered quite vulnerable, such as solo heroes or ranged flying attackers. It's just too situational to rely on, as not every game has Nature wizards, leave alone Nature wizards in a dominant position, and Death usually gets other tools to deal with them eventually.
9. Darkness:
Cost: 20 MP
Effect: Buffs all stats except HP of all Death creatures in combat by 1, while similarly debuffing Life creatures' stats.
Analysis: This is a fairly straightforward buff, Death mostly uses its summons and undead units anyway so this is usually a good buff for massed up fights. Most of its summons are also multifigure, making it fairly potent in effect. The Life debuff is usually not relevant, but not worth dismissing either, as it can soften the bite of many weak and mildly strong Life lairs, and make its units easier to turn undead.
10. Mislead:
Cost: 13 MP
Effect: Attempts to mislead the target. A misled target lowers all stats except HP of all regular units in the enemy army by 1. A resistance penalty is applied based on the number of fantastic units in the casting wizard's army, raising by -1 per unit. Multiple Misleads do not stack. Summons, Death Immune and Illusion Immune units ignore this effect.
Analysis: This is a very convoluted spell, for an effect that ultimately doesn't do much? There are certainly situations where the debuff could turn the tide of battle, especially in the early game, but the constraints make it overtly situational, and thus unlikely to ever see use. Easily the weakest Common on this list.
Uncommon Tier
1. Mana Leak:
Cost: 20 MP
Effect: Drains 5 MP per turn from both caster units and the enemy wizard, and 1 ammo per turn from magical ranged units during combat.
Analysis: A fairly straightforward spell, it is powerful if rather situational(you may notice this to be the case for most Death spells). Most caster units and ranged magical units are fairly dangerous, but there are equally dangerous melee foes, against which the spell does nothing. Thus, it is a great tool in very specific situations.
2. Possession:
Cost: 35 MP
Effect: Attempts to possess a unit at a -3 resistance penalty. A possessed unit fights for the casting wizard, and dies at the end of the battle. Only regular units can be possessed.
Analysis: Like most of Death's spells, this is powerful in the right situations, and powerless out of them. A regular unit turning tail can be quite huge, and with the decently strong resistance penalty, combined with generally mediocre resistance on regular units, it's often guaranteed to land. Problem is, it does nothing on heroes and summons, which tend to be some of the enemy's most dangerous units. So, like many of its ilk, it's great when it works, and bad when it doesn't.
3. Lycanthropy:
Cost: 105 MP
Effect: Turns a regular unit into a werewolf unit.
Analysis: This unit is weird. On paper, it's a really strong unit, with a tough attack, high health at 5x6 HP, and innate Regeneration. But it misses one of Death's most important immunities, Illusion Immunity, and takes a fair bit of damage thanks to its barely passable defense of 3. Also, it doesn't regenerate any HP in battle. Its creation process is fairly awkward too, requiring a regular unit to exist to be created. Thus, it rarely gets a chance to shine.
An entire stack of them can be quite powerful against melee foes, especially with buffs, but it costs a lot of mana and skill to get said stack up.
4. Black Prayer:
Cost: 35 MP
Effect: Lowers stats except resistance and HP of all enemy units in combat by 1, lowers resistance by 2.
Analysis: Given how much Death relies on weakening or cursing its foes, how much these effects rely on targeting resistance, and how resistance tends to be small numbers that are greatly impacted by small changes, it's not hard to see that this spell is extremely important, and probably Death's best spell by far. The other debuffs are not as noticeable, but still decently impactful, especially against massed enemy armies.
5. Syphon Life:
Cost: 30 MP
Effect: Works similar to Life Drain, but with a -11 resistance penalty.
Analysis: It's a better Life Drain. It's actually noticeably more reliable than it, but is still rather underwhelming for a damage spell of this tier. That said, its main use is fishing for undead, and for that purpose it works well enough.
6. Night Stalker:
Cost: 225 MP
Effect: Summons a night stalker unit to the overworld.
Analysis: Night stalkers fill a fairly narrow niche, being deadly, resistance focused assassins. Invisibility is quite a powerful ability, and their gaze has a good resistance penalty on it. Even better, since it's a gaze, it triggers before its victims can attack or counterattack. That said, it's not a very effective combatant in situations where it can't rely on its invisibility - its regular attack is outright bad, and its defensive attributes aren't all that hot either.
It does have all of the Deathly immunities and Weapon Immunity, and those do help it survive, but it definitely has to be used with a fine touch, else it won't last long. Many of Death's buffs thankfully aid it considerably, most notably Cloak of Fear and Black Prayer. Overall a really powerful yet situational spell, something quite emblematic of this realm.
7. Reaper Slash:
Cost: 32 MP
Effect: Deals 42 Poison damage to the target. Poison Immune units ignore it.
Analysis: Probably the worst Uncommon direct damage spell. 42 damage is a considerable step up from both Ice Bolt and Lightning Bolt theoretically, but Ice Bolt has some additional debuffs helping it out, and Lightning Bolt halves defense, making it much more effective than advertised. Further, Poison Immunity is much more common than Cold Immunity or Lightning Resistance, and completely blocks it, making it much more situational.
It does hit fairly hard when it isn't resisted, and is one of the few Death spells to target defense instead of resistance, which can be useful. But Death often has far better spells to cast.
8. Wall of Darkness:
Cost: 30(in combat)/90 MP
Effect: Raises a dark wall around the city square that blocks all projectile damage from outside. Illusion Immune units ignore this effect.
Analysis: This is Death's second anti ranged spell, this time solely applied to city battles. Many dangerous units use ranged attacks, and it takes a lot of bite out of them. However, there are just as many dangerous units that use melee attacks, and against them this spell does nothing. Further, Illusion Immunity is not that rare, being a staple of this realm and also fairly easily available to Life wizards. Once again, Death gets a potentially very powerful spell held back by its extremely situational nature.
9. Blood Lust:
Cost: 50 MP
Effect: Turns a unit undead, and grants them double melee damage against regular units.
Analysis: This spell is handy for when Death doesn't have enough targets to turn undead, as it lets it convert its own regular units to compensate, and they tend to be far easier to create than summons. However, such situations are fairly rare, usually there's a nigh abundance of creatures and units to harvest, with the only trick being getting an army strong enough to defeat them while also converting them to undead. The double damage effect is theoretically useful, but hard to use in practice, as it only applies in melee and can only be casted on the overworld.
It's a good "emergency" spell for the realm, just one very unlikely to see use.
10. Shadow Demons:
Cost: 175 MP
Effect: Summons a shadow demon unit to the overworld.
Analysis: Shadow Demons are a very strange summon. They have decent magical ranged attacks, lots of ammo, good To Hit, innate flight, non corporeal, the Deathly immunities, regeneration, Weapon Immunity, and even the ability to shift planes once a tower is opened. Yet, they are not very good.
They take too long to research, cost a lot to summon, are too slow, and can be weakened quite easily. They don't make any undead either, and while their regeneration offsets that somewhat, that only kicks in when they are part of a victorious stack, which is hard to build for any serious fights. They can make for a decent defensive, and situationally even an offensive stack, but that requires spending so much mana, the game can easily drag to the Rare spell tier. In short, they are an amazing yet impractical summon, often not worth the effort to make usable.
There are situations when the wizard finds them at exactly the right time from a lair, and then builds a few of them to conquer enemies or dominate lairs. The latter especially tends to not have good answers against them, so they can, in a pinch, act like sprites and claim them with little danger. However, such situations are far too rare to feasibly consider.
Death is a tale of extremes - all of its tools look extremely powerful when used in the right situations, only to look extremely feeble outside of them. Thankfully, the range of beneficial situations is large enough that it can usually get by, but it's still a fairly inflexible and lopsided realm. Luckily, it's not too hard to work on its flaws and broaden its general usable range. That discussion, however, shall be carried out next time, when we'll turn to combining these schools. See you then!
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