Great Spirit Wolf vs Hunting Pack

[Mazer]

In the main campaign there's a mission where Wolfhounds join. These aren't regular summons so you can actually upgrade them. There are these two upgrades available and I'm wondering if 2 liquid mana investment in the spirit wolf is worth it.

Spirit's got a magic weapon with life leech and is one so immune to death-attrition. It also has Spirit (doh) - i.e. 1/2 physical damage reduction, Immune to Psychology and can move through mountains.

Hunting Pack on the other hand has slightly better damage (but non-magic), 1/4 ranged damage reduction, +2 movement for allies in 1 range aura, +1/2 dmg against animals and large, +1/5 dmg in forests and a Tracker ability. Also it's cheap (no liquid mana required)

Any input what to choose from someone who finished the campaign?

[Kaysoky]

There are more opportunities to get wolfhounds. If you play Falirson the Hunter, you can tame more of them easily. If you play Falirson the Warrior, you can sometimes get more wolfhounds by exploring camps (which has a chance of giving you Barbarian or Imperial volunteers too).

In terms of utility, both are very useful.

A Hunting Pack is basically the only way to get the Pathfinder Aura early in the game. The only other ways are random (Blood Oaks in the Sunken lands) or very late game and conditional on story choices (Centaurs, about 20 missions into the campaign, so very close to the end).

However, Hunting Packs are weak. After the early game, they die extremely easily in direct combat (only having some 200-300 HP, and little armor). So you'll find, at the mid-late point of the campaign, that they are relegated to "positioning" duty (i.e. moving next to laggards in your army to utilize that +2 movement) or forest scouting (to keep them hidden).

The Spirit Wolf is stronger in direct combat, but it cannot rest. So generally, you'll want to give it some form of regeneration in addition to magic damage reduction. This makes the Spirit Wolf a heavy investment. But if you do invest in a Spirit Wolf, it has the potential to become a great asset on its own (i.e. capable of holding off armies on its own).

When I played Invasion the first time (Legend, as Warrior), I went for the Spirit Wolf. When I played the second time (Legend, as Hunter), I chose Hunting Pack instead. Both are viable. But I'm leaning towards Hunting Pack. +2 movement is a very powerful option.

[oddball]

Yeah agree, the Pathfinder aura is low key amazing. The imperial campaign centaurs really opened my eyes to how fantastic it is for getting things going.

It's also super nice for keeping cavalry in the back line until you've got the decisive moment, then unleashing them with chain bull rushes to utterly slaughter an enemy army.