best specialization for Elven Arch Druid

[Majora]

Im going with expansionist (i def want to take expansionist I think) and I need 2 more specs.

Im thinking earth adept and mastery? What do you think?

[Malaficus Shaikan]

First:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=247323957
Second:
It depends on your playstyle.
I prefeer small (easy to defend) empire's that provide the mana from my spells and summons(sorceror here).
I dont keep the cities i conquer.
So i would benefit greatly from destruction adept.

If you are the kind who wants to expand quickly across the land i suggest looking for spells that keep your troops alive and help you with settlements problems.
For example creation adept has clean land and temperate domain.
While a bit more work then temperate empire it is a good way to solve terrian problems.
Also will you keep the races you conquer or replace them.
All this must be kept in mind.

For elven archdriud i would suggestion creation master for:
Bless(best buff) heal(always usefull) cleance land and temperate domain(helps to keep the town happy)
Bane of the unature is situatinal(only usefull against summons)
But ressurection will help you stay on the offencive longer and temperate empire is usefull to ensure you dont fight on hated terrain.

EDIT:
If you are going to a fast expander build i suggest going thoacrat creation mastery expender.
I found Archdruid spells to situanal to be of use.(most only effect animals and those are few in numbers at the best of times)
Thoacrat has the means and spells to build a quickly growing empire(paid absolution, becon of faith, order of healing etc)

[Majora]

thanks for the reply, indeed I think the 3 classes that interest me the most are Sorcerer, Theocrat, and Archdruid.

I liked the thought of druids because I like summons, and I figured that hunters would go well with elven longbows, but I guess that is just an early game perk. I wonder how the horned god stacks up against eldritch horror.

Im curious since you sound like you know what you talking about, what benefits the Sorcerer(mages are my favorite) has compared to the Druid, or the Theocrat?

Would Elves be a decent choice for sorcerer/theocrat? ( I lthink draconions for their powerful healing are strong? I just like the way elves look)

Also as a sorceror I dont have the DLC so i cant get wild magic atm as one of my specializations. ( I will always take expander spec)


tl;dr
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So elves good sorcerer/Theocrat? Or better to go draconians? (maybe i could enslave some draconians?)

And what benefits of playing a sorcerer over druid and Theocrat (since that is your favorite) / good specs for Sorcerer(I dont have wild magic dlc yet, i dont like halflings really)


Thanks for all the advice, Ill look into theocrat more tomorrow!

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by Chosokabe Seiryu 東方青龍:

Cut

Archdruid:
Archdruid mix well with elves due to archdruids units(hunters and shamans) have the ability to move over all terrian with little to no penaties and have several upgrade that increases the range even futher.

Those who wish to play as an elven archdruid useall do so because there the most moble race/class combo.
The spell:
One with the wild: gives all the archdruid units floating.
Angry viens are usefull for taking walled cities.
And posion domain does a nice debuff to all tresspassers in that cities domain untop of posion damage.
It is has nice defensive spells like thorned wall.
The biggest weakness i found in archdruid is that most spells only affect animals or mounts.
Limeting there use significantly because the amount of animals on even extra large maps is low.
There summons are weak animals easy to kill and the horn god is a good tank(hight health low damage) with a nice ability(lighting storm)

Sorceror:
Sorceror is a magic powerhouse.
Its domain and offensive spells are second to none.
Between chain lighting, cosmic rays, shield and mending(which is even better healing spell the heal from creation adept)
You can turn any battle into your favor.
There domain spells are the best and there summons are awesome.
Rune wards make tresspassers suffer lighting damage every turn.
Magic walll give shock damage to those who touch it.
Wisps are decent scouts.
Sorcerors apprentice are the best support unit in the game and i will feed anyone who says otherwise to my eldric horrors.
Phatasam warriors have 60% pshyical protection and can move straight through walls.
Eldric horrors are even with the heavy nerf still the best tier 4 unit in the game.
Dominate takes enemy units over.
Lighting cone attack.
And the hit like a truck.
The biggest weakness of sorceror.
Most spells are lighting damage.
Meaning if you have 100% lighting resist alot of spells simple dont work on you.
Casting points are limeted and easy to drain.
Sorcerors are mana depended.
If your sorceror isnt present in the battle the spell cost double.
Age of wizardry counter this somewhat but it is still a pain in the butt.
If your sorceror is in the void you are basicly disabled for three turns because 90% of your class units are summons.
And if like me you start without any spells at the begining of a match you basicly are fighting a uphill battle.
Dont mistake the sorceror for weak tho.
A sorceror can do more damage with his spells then two warbands hellbend on killing you.

Theocrat:
Theocrat is basicly the healer and buffer.
It has a few offence spells but those are hardly worth mentioning.
No the strenght of the theocrat are its buff and units.
Theocrat has a spell called paid absolution.
That gives your city 10 exta gold and 200 moral bonus to your troops inside that cities domain.
It is cheap to cast and in large empires you end up overflowing with gold(even small empires get alot of money from this spell)
The theocrat relies on its troops and the devout trait.
For this reason theocrat mixes very well with creation mastery.
Becon of faith gets you a 100 extra population grow in your town.
Order of healing gets all your trained support units(including racial trained like forge priest, storm sisters, and draconen elders) the healing skill.
The crusaders can clime walls be defaut and in combination with exalted(who take damage recieve by target unit on themself) they can basicly just walk right in.
The theocrat has many means to heal and strenghten there followers but the two that i find most interesting is:
Armagadon and holy war.
Armagadon gives everyone execpt your troops spirit weakness and disable there ability to regenerate health, your entire empire ingore negative moral, basicly giving you the ability to fight everwhere and settle everywhere and not give a damm about the negative moral modifiers(it also servers as a nice counter to age of deception cast by rogues)
Holy war gives all your troops 10 extra spirit damage.
I am sure you can see the synergie between armagendon and holy war.
Which brings me to the theocrat main weakness.
The theocrat is compleetly depended on his troops and spells too support eatchother.
Crusaders are nice but without exalted to take there damage and healer to heal said exalted crusaders are just armor warriors.
Likewise with the right upgrade your infantry and cavalry(note not archers) get the devote trait.
Devoted units do extra damage against heretic(mark heretic and denouce city spells)
There angel units(forgot the name) cant die unless the lose the battle(and the fly)
There shire's grow more powerfull the more devote there are on the battlefield.
The strenght and weakness of the theocrat are his devout troops.
With there devout troops theocrat overrun empires twice there size.
Without there devout troops there target pratice.

[MattStriker]

In any case, longbows are not just an early-game bonus. They remain quite viable against anything without resistance to physical damage, especially if you can set up flanking shots. The only issue is that in the late game you'll be up against lots of things that can potentially oneshot Tier I units, but that only means you need to work on your positioning. And as wall defenders, longbow units are absolutely terrifying.

Hunters have slightly better stats than the already great Longbowmen, and they get Martial Arts at Gold level which makes them less prone to getting locked into melee. They're a very useful upgrade to an already useful unit.

[Majora]

Thank you for replies very helpful!

One question, what is "Age of wizardry" is that some kind of mod? or spell?

[MattStriker]

I assume he means Age of Magic, the sorcerer's ultimate strategic spell. +50 casting points, half casting costs for any spell. If you can cast and maintain this thing, you've won the game.

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Originally posted by MattStriker:

I assume he means Age of Magic, the sorcerer's ultimate strategic spell. +50 casting points, half casting costs for any spell. If you can cast and maintain this thing, you've won the game.

This.