During the course of my first win as MA Ermor (SP), I had a Dusk Elder win the arena event twice in a row (life drain + magic protection / ethereal combo ftw). The special items I got from the arena, which could not be unequipped, were not well suited for an undead mage commander (ambidextrous buff feels less strong than life drain even with two magic weapons equipped, and the « Luck » effect did not affect the undead, among other examples). On a similar topic, hall of fame buffs often don't matter much when most of your commanders are casters (strong or ambidextrous arch-bishops still won't see melee unless shit has hit the fan...)
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm trying to stick to nations that I have spent some time with/have some multiplayer or extensive single player experience, so they're a little random at the moment as well as with viewer requests, but I'll try and give some more MA nations for you, let me know what you'd like to see next!
47:38 Switching the statue for a demilich is more efficient for that build. You can use the extra DP to pick up a magic path, or pick earth for project + gifts and gnome summoning (in case you're afraid of magic duel), and an extra bless point - maybe swap the MR for 5x Undying, as 10hp on all your sacreds is probably more valuable, especially with regen. You sacrifice only the sturdier chassis, but gain an immortal one, so I think this is a superior choice.
Dope Intro btw , like them very much :D Will we get one overview of EA Fomoria? Is there one planned, or more into the distant future? Keep them coming love your vids and your guides helped me alot to get into the game :)
Never thought about it in such details, but soulless are x3 hp of longdead, so technically even 1/3 of the numbers of soulless to longdead is gonna be half of your army hp in terms of routing. Probably a good idea of never bringing more than that ratio of you dont want to catch a bunch of banishments and run away, loosing all decent-quality troops
Yep exactly, you've got to be careful that they all don't die and then cause your army to run, can cause a lot of pain when you watch the battle replay, same with any high hp unit really!
Well that can be done in a number of ways, one to use the territory you gain through expansion/taking another nations capital, using transmutations to convert gems into gold, or through things like trading gems/magical items for money in multiplayer, I may try and cover that in another video, thanks for the idea!
I haven't messed with them in Dom 6 much but in Dom 5 their sacred freespawn quantity also scaled with the quality of their fort and I assume its largely the same, it was pretty impactful upgrading a palisade but only marginal for the other upgrade you can do nationally iirc. It was a bit weird and you could really only steal them from other people but for some reason the scaling jumped a ton with citadels and they were worth like 2-3 normal forts worth of freespawn. *In my opinion you don't really care all that much about your non-fort spawn so often you'd ideally rather your dominion doesn't cover those areas so you can keep a bit of baseline income but that's not always possible. And I do think you probably should make like 10-20 early indie priests with your first couple temples to help boost your early skele production and it gives you the option to quickly murder provinces by turning them into ghouls to both make yourself look less appetizing early and make it take way longer if they try attacking, you can kill them later if you really don't want the upkeep longer term. The rings of the false prophets letting you get another Lictor per turn in the downtime is pretty interesting too, its not that much more expensive per lictor a turn than making another bishop though actually getting glamour income is a bit hard. For the imprisoned/sometimes for the dormant god option what you do is just empower your first D2 guy once, it definitely feels bad but you do have enough D income that its not the worst set back ever.
The low dominion (say dom 3) version can also be good with experience. It preserves the population a bit longer in neighbouring provinces and annoys the neighbours less in MP. You missed the need to raise soulless after battles to get the armoured variety which is a good substitute for the legionaries from forts, the unarmoured white soulless are basically useless in combat, the armoured are much better.
Oh yeah 100%! Low dominion is a choice you can take to help you learn the core of the nation, especially it's mage core, while keeping your gold income up. I have seen some people do well with low dominion as MA Ermor in multiplayer back in Dominions 4, but that was more due to good diplo and people's aversion to attacking Ermor with other players ready to strike, but if you can get it to work then good on ya! Also yes I did, armoured soulless are great for normal troops, but still have poor magic resistance to help them against priests without your buffs!
Great overview! The magic part of it seems focused on some really later-game stuff, and I'm currently struggling (in an MP game) in getting there. Are there any good tips and tricks for how to survive (?) and thrive (?!?) early on with MA Ermor? What are the most impactful low-level spells? Etc.
So early on you may struggle with your lower mage corps numbers due to your reliance on death gems, your best way to be useful early is to rely on your low level death evocations/enchantment spells to summon more undead or just do damage to your enemies. Remember that your main mages are stealthy, so you can raid with them if you need to. While it may cost you some gems, investing in some bane fire darts/bane fires, shadow blasts or even earth melds or just grips can help you a lot. If you're facing a massive coalition, you have to be sure to play defensively around your labs so that you can keep your armies stocked with gems to cast higher path spells, which will help you a lot in a war of attrition against enemies only setup for a single fight!
22:00 you could also empower your spectator to Death 3 after 2-3 rounds and can summon all the others at round 5, which allows for dormant or imprisoned gods without crippling your commanders. How do you combat money starvation, a strong dominion depopulates areas before I can conquer them so I always lack money to build forts and temples to get my good stuff, at least in early game, but to conquer my still useful enemy provinces i need more then trash stacks.
Yes you can use empowering, I am just loathe to do it because I want to use all of my death gems and spending that many is very aggravating to me, not to mention one time I was playing my only spectator was killed by a random event so I was stuck until my god came online, very unlikely to happen but It's forever left a sour taste in my mouth! So the way to combat money starvation is through conquering provinces far away from your dominion, especially in underwater provinces where your dominion is less likely to get an initial foothold from, they can be nice little cash piles for you. The second way after a bit of research is through Gem Transmutations, while expensive in terms of gems it's more worthwile as Ermor due to the fact you struggle with gold otherwise! The only other tip I could give would be to kill off any living troops or commanders after they've outlived their usefulness, no point keeping them on the payroll if they're not playing a part!
At the spell discussion bit and I think you made a mistake with Stygian Rains - it doesn't affect inanimates, which includes the vast majority of your forces. its primarily a buff to your enemies to use it.
got a question. when i looked up stygian rain it says it only affects living entities. is that a typo or have they changed that from previous additions?
Did lictors get changed in 6? I don't think they are freespawn at all, only summoned, as they were in 5. If not, you should correct that. Also! You mention that dusk elders are vulnerable to magic duel due to their astral, which is true, but you also said that it makes them vulnerable to Mind Hunt. Astral blocks mind hunt, it does not make you susceptible to it. Having a Dusk Elder in an army actually will prevent your commanders from being mind hunted as a result.
@@quartzmech5661 I don't disagree but somewhat unfortunately the slang generally used in many of the dominion's communities is the same for both methods of generating troops. Its not ideal for communication but its stuck like that in my brain at least by this point. For example Sceleria would be considered a freespawn nation by many people and their only way to generate troops is through the reanimation command.
Yes you can, it's true, you can also empower your original mage. I just hate that as an idea because of one time I went misfortune and lost my spectator to an assassination random event and since then I can't do it anymore!
The only experience i have with this nation in Dom5 MP is them balooning to 20+ provinces unchecked, and they solo’d my 5 nation coalition piecemeal
Yep, the Ermor way! Everyone hates an Ermor!
Oh lawd it’s getting SPOOPY in here
The ride doesn't end here!
Ermor MA is my favorite. I love roll playing as a lich who is trying to satisfy the prophet in white mentioned in the earlier age.
Exactly, it's one of the reason I love the nation, they have so much cool lore that interacts with all the other nations!
Hahaha, enjoyed the musical interlude!
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! I can only say sorry for any hearing damage you got while listening to it!
In the words of Cato the Elder : "Ermor delenda est"
We shall salt the sepulchre!
During the course of my first win as MA Ermor (SP), I had a Dusk Elder win the arena event twice in a row (life drain + magic protection / ethereal combo ftw). The special items I got from the arena, which could not be unequipped, were not well suited for an undead mage commander (ambidextrous buff feels less strong than life drain even with two magic weapons equipped, and the « Luck » effect did not affect the undead, among other examples). On a similar topic, hall of fame buffs often don't matter much when most of your commanders are casters (strong or ambidextrous arch-bishops still won't see melee unless shit has hit the fan...)
Spooped!
I honestly liked the singing at the beginning.
So excited you're getting into the MA nations, that's my personal favorite era.
As always, wonderfully informative
Glad you enjoyed it! I'm trying to stick to nations that I have spent some time with/have some multiplayer or extensive single player experience, so they're a little random at the moment as well as with viewer requests, but I'll try and give some more MA nations for you, let me know what you'd like to see next!
47:38 Switching the statue for a demilich is more efficient for that build. You can use the extra DP to pick up a magic path, or pick earth for project + gifts and gnome summoning (in case you're afraid of magic duel), and an extra bless point - maybe swap the MR for 5x Undying, as 10hp on all your sacreds is probably more valuable, especially with regen. You sacrifice only the sturdier chassis, but gain an immortal one, so I think this is a superior choice.
Dope Intro btw , like them very much :D Will we get one overview of EA Fomoria? Is there one planned, or more into the distant future? Keep them coming love your vids and your guides helped me alot to get into the game :)
Thanks, a nice late night inspiration! Yeah of course, I'll put them on the list!
Never thought about it in such details, but soulless are x3 hp of longdead, so technically even 1/3 of the numbers of soulless to longdead is gonna be half of your army hp in terms of routing. Probably a good idea of never bringing more than that ratio of you dont want to catch a bunch of banishments and run away, loosing all decent-quality troops
Yep exactly, you've got to be careful that they all don't die and then cause your army to run, can cause a lot of pain when you watch the battle replay, same with any high hp unit really!
Given that MA Ermor needs forts and temples, strategies on having enough money would certain be helpful.
Well that can be done in a number of ways, one to use the territory you gain through expansion/taking another nations capital, using transmutations to convert gems into gold, or through things like trading gems/magical items for money in multiplayer, I may try and cover that in another video, thanks for the idea!
I haven't messed with them in Dom 6 much but in Dom 5 their sacred freespawn quantity also scaled with the quality of their fort and I assume its largely the same, it was pretty impactful upgrading a palisade but only marginal for the other upgrade you can do nationally iirc. It was a bit weird and you could really only steal them from other people but for some reason the scaling jumped a ton with citadels and they were worth like 2-3 normal forts worth of freespawn.
*In my opinion you don't really care all that much about your non-fort spawn so often you'd ideally rather your dominion doesn't cover those areas so you can keep a bit of baseline income but that's not always possible. And I do think you probably should make like 10-20 early indie priests with your first couple temples to help boost your early skele production and it gives you the option to quickly murder provinces by turning them into ghouls to both make yourself look less appetizing early and make it take way longer if they try attacking, you can kill them later if you really don't want the upkeep longer term. The rings of the false prophets letting you get another Lictor per turn in the downtime is pretty interesting too, its not that much more expensive per lictor a turn than making another bishop though actually getting glamour income is a bit hard.
For the imprisoned/sometimes for the dormant god option what you do is just empower your first D2 guy once, it definitely feels bad but you do have enough D income that its not the worst set back ever.
The low dominion (say dom 3) version can also be good with experience. It preserves the population a bit longer in neighbouring provinces and annoys the neighbours less in MP. You missed the need to raise soulless after battles to get the armoured variety which is a good substitute for the legionaries from forts, the unarmoured white soulless are basically useless in combat, the armoured are much better.
Oh yeah 100%! Low dominion is a choice you can take to help you learn the core of the nation, especially it's mage core, while keeping your gold income up. I have seen some people do well with low dominion as MA Ermor in multiplayer back in Dominions 4, but that was more due to good diplo and people's aversion to attacking Ermor with other players ready to strike, but if you can get it to work then good on ya! Also yes I did, armoured soulless are great for normal troops, but still have poor magic resistance to help them against priests without your buffs!
Great video! Love all the national overview videos you've put out! Any plans for a MA Ind overview?
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it! Of course, I'll put them on the list! Until that point though @AOReaper has a really great video on them, check him out!
@@ChazzyBurger Awesome! Can't wait!
Great overview! The magic part of it seems focused on some really later-game stuff, and I'm currently struggling (in an MP game) in getting there. Are there any good tips and tricks for how to survive (?) and thrive (?!?) early on with MA Ermor? What are the most impactful low-level spells? Etc.
So early on you may struggle with your lower mage corps numbers due to your reliance on death gems, your best way to be useful early is to rely on your low level death evocations/enchantment spells to summon more undead or just do damage to your enemies. Remember that your main mages are stealthy, so you can raid with them if you need to. While it may cost you some gems, investing in some bane fire darts/bane fires, shadow blasts or even earth melds or just grips can help you a lot. If you're facing a massive coalition, you have to be sure to play defensively around your labs so that you can keep your armies stocked with gems to cast higher path spells, which will help you a lot in a war of attrition against enemies only setup for a single fight!
22:00 you could also empower your spectator to Death 3 after 2-3 rounds and can summon all the others at round 5, which allows for dormant or imprisoned gods without crippling your commanders. How do you combat money starvation, a strong dominion depopulates areas before I can conquer them so I always lack money to build forts and temples to get my good stuff, at least in early game, but to conquer my still useful enemy provinces i need more then trash stacks.
Yes you can use empowering, I am just loathe to do it because I want to use all of my death gems and spending that many is very aggravating to me, not to mention one time I was playing my only spectator was killed by a random event so I was stuck until my god came online, very unlikely to happen but It's forever left a sour taste in my mouth!
So the way to combat money starvation is through conquering provinces far away from your dominion, especially in underwater provinces where your dominion is less likely to get an initial foothold from, they can be nice little cash piles for you. The second way after a bit of research is through Gem Transmutations, while expensive in terms of gems it's more worthwile as Ermor due to the fact you struggle with gold otherwise!
The only other tip I could give would be to kill off any living troops or commanders after they've outlived their usefulness, no point keeping them on the payroll if they're not playing a part!
At the spell discussion bit and I think you made a mistake with Stygian Rains - it doesn't affect inanimates, which includes the vast majority of your forces. its primarily a buff to your enemies to use it.
Surely worth 1 Empower rather than wait for Construction 5 if you are Imprisoned?
Mending Bones is surely worth a mention
Great video.
Thanks a lot, glad you enjoyed it!
got a question. when i looked up stygian rain it says it only affects living entities. is that a typo or have they changed that from previous additions?
What’s the intro song?
ty :)
Thank you for watching!
@@ChazzyBurger ty for making such great and helpfull content for a game i just started to explore/understand ! :D
We thought you was a toad.
I will be for the MA Xibalba overview!
Did lictors get changed in 6? I don't think they are freespawn at all, only summoned, as they were in 5. If not, you should correct that.
Also! You mention that dusk elders are vulnerable to magic duel due to their astral, which is true, but you also said that it makes them vulnerable to Mind Hunt. Astral blocks mind hunt, it does not make you susceptible to it. Having a Dusk Elder in an army actually will prevent your commanders from being mind hunted as a result.
The lictors don't spawn from your dominion ever but you can reanimate them with H3s for free.
@@soccrplayr232 Yeah thats very different from the kind of freespawn that Knights of the Unholy Sepulchure are.
@@quartzmech5661 I don't disagree but somewhat unfortunately the slang generally used in many of the dominion's communities is the same for both methods of generating troops. Its not ideal for communication but its stuck like that in my brain at least by this point.
For example Sceleria would be considered a freespawn nation by many people and their only way to generate troops is through the reanimation command.
haha!
You can be imprisoned and get luck to have your hero to get to d3
Yes you can, it's true, you can also empower your original mage. I just hate that as an idea because of one time I went misfortune and lost my spectator to an assassination random event and since then I can't do it anymore!
@@ChazzyBurger that was a Big F
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH😮
Spooked ya!
#2spooky
Very spooky!
Spooked ya!
i need a lore dump where is the lore is it in the huge ass manual.
2spoopy4me chaxxy
Spooped!