Point of Inferno?

[MaGicBush]

So I am a Demonologist this run. I unlocked spells to travel to and return from Inferno. Is there any reason to send my cultist to the Inferno? I am afraid to try it and lose him. Just wondering if it's worth it.

[Draken]

I don't think so.
I mean, there are some resources you can get there. But I think you can't actually summon and bind demons in Inferno. They are already there after all. :D

So it's mainly a thematic thing and an 'escape certain death for uncertain death' thing.

At least that's my impression. Never played Demonologist much.

[I>U]

Oven of Sinners give you 2 sacrifices in CoE5 + you can do minor (demon) summons with them. 10 sinners cost 50G in any infernal citadel or you can undig them at Half-Burried Sinners tile for 2AP (that's not a joke).

Infernal plane is split on 4 parts and here is the issue: Demonologist's summons are not "themed". You can get fire\ice\shadow imps and demons with different resitances. The only conqurable part as I see it is Inferno, if your class can get powerful units with Fire Resistance and non-fire attacks. But Demo-man will always get a mix which needs to be sorted which in turn drains too many Sacrifices.

There is a bonus, though: I was able to charm Belphegor with Enslave of Natraja once. Hellbind Heart can be used on regular demons, though I've never used it on Demon Lords. Also, there are Harbringers who can be enslaved to open Sacrifices collection, buuut Demo-man is already has them. Oh, and there is a portal to Teotl of Death part of Aztlan here (the only reason to get to this place is to kill him, imo, because his kingdom has NO Herbs and NO Sacrifices).

In the end, some classes can get somewhat successful here, but Demonologists chances of surviving are thin, so it's mostly as Draken said (unless you can throw lucky Hellbinds). Celestial plane and Inferno are the worst places for strolls and the only ones when you can be attacked by 3-4AP non-player controlled armies (Horrors receive the same AP's toward horror-marked units, but this very mark has to be casted upon first, so Void is much safer, actually). Prolly, the main sense of these 2 planes is maintaining that end-game event + Demonologist\Voice of El mechanincs.

Oh, and a number of demon lieutenants has hell-themed artifacts, both wandering and stationary.

[MaGicBush]

Thanks guys! Lots of great tips. I think I will avoid it for now lol. Still pretty early-mid game atm anyways. Just use it as an escape route as you guys suggest.

[Agent Wigggles]

You can also sacrifice a cultist by getting them deep into another faction territory and opening up a portal to the inferno and just start flooding their area with wondering demons.

[MaGicBush]

Originally posted by Agent Wigggles:

You can also sacrifice a cultist by getting them deep into another faction territory and opening up a portal to the inferno and just start flooding their area with wondering demons.

lol I will have to try that thanks for the idea.

[Draken]

Be careful with making a portal to inferno. Yes, if you open it up in enemy territory the demons will wreck that enemy first. But then the will also spread everywhere else.

So you probably should only do that if:
1. You have a way to close the gate again after the demons did enough damage.
2. You are confident in being able to fight all of Inferno.
3. It's the last enemy and you can't seem to beat him in any other way.
4. You want to try it for fun. Or SCIENCE!!!

[Red Bat]

He won't be able to beat anything in Inferno unless you got REAL lucky with items, so no. Even then you won't be able to take a citadel so your inferno invasion will never achieve much more than grabbing a poorly defended tile and then bolting.

If you do want to travel to inferno, your best bet is to use an item to bring your army with you. Ironically for Demonologist you won't get a whole lot to make it worth the effort. Just a few places where you can get sacrifices. But there's limited reasons to go there for other classes if they've got a force that can easily take a few locations.

Opening a portal there can be used to flood that part of the map with demons. Not TOO bad of an idea if you have an island citadel. I think this starts the full demon invasion event which also opens a portal to Celestia. Celestia is completely not worth invading if I recall correctly, even with a teleport scroll.

Generally aside from the Sky plain for Cloud lord and Kobold King, the planes are not worth a the effort to explore. Witch has a weird borderline broken lategame exception in that she can just teleport to them with an army and flag a bunch of fungi sites that she'll never lose before returning. Agartha can also merit a single unit exploring with passwall. Necromancer also gets a lot of use in Hades, but it's sketchy if it's worth using hands to try to take over a lot of tiles there.

[I>U]

I used to think myself that Inferno's guards are too tough - if you can actually manage to take a single citadel in Inferno, then you can finish your opponent off and the game with it.

But one vs AI match got my mind changed. Inferno (as the part of Infernal plane; where there is lava and all the hot stuff) has Tower Bridges which are guarded lightly as comparred with Towers and Cities. So, you will need a scroll to Inferno (not Kokytos or anything else), some troops with fire resistance and Demonologist\Goetic Master or anyone with Hellbind Heart\Enslave and an artifact like Firebrand (you can get lucky summon of demon's lieuthenant with that). The most common guards in Inferno are: Bloodsworn, Hell Hounds, Infernal Knights, Devils, Greater Devils and Demons. All of them, if any, use Infernal school of magic, which has the only dangerous spell, and that is Lashes of Pain (does mundane damage).

Next, you need to balance your army with some cannon-fodder placed on "front", because otherwise guards will switch to melee. With every condition met, you might be able to capture your first citadel. Then you can buy screens of cheap Sinners to cover your will-dominating caster(s) and leave everyone else on guard.

Though, as Red Bat Media said, ironically, there is not too much sense to go into Inferno as Demonologist (it's just like invading Aztlan as Priest King - the only thing you achieve here would be killing your own gods). You can get gold, very few iron and sacrifices. And that's it. Enslaved Demon Lord won't come as commander, but rather a unit. And if you lose any of them in Inferno, you are rising the chances of summoning Orcus with Summon Demon Lord rite in Elysium (who is probably not controllable by design).

I won't agree that other planes isn't worth exploring, though. Primal forests cost 1600 (+350) Herbs for Dryad Queen, but, with luck, could be taken easily in Primal plane. Celestial plane has guaranteed portal to the Primal plane by the way and Inferno has a ton of Abandoned Mines which are still great mines and should be able to be linked with Elysium via Dvalyn's Hall network. Plane exploring is yet another opportunity (like capturing the Capital or building ships in Elysium) that can be favourable, but odds are against Demonologist in this case meaning you need an extreme amount of luck for this move to become fruitful.