Mind hunt - how good is it really?

[athelasloraiel]

and why is it targeting only mages?
I have a couple of Basalt kings a(MR 15,16) and a pair of Yakshas, MR 17, Ive been hitting with 5 mind hunters for 2 turns now.

they resist all the time..
some casters have spell focus and the eye of void, but, tough luck anyway.

I also got my pretender feebleminded (what fun) so am now looking how to cure it (Chalice?)

[fogandsteel]

Never used Mind hunt, so can't say anything on that, but feebleminded should be cureable by the Chalice or any unit that has the Cure ability. Also Gift of Health can be useful if you have extra nature gems and there is a spare slot in the Global Enchantments. However, don't expect to get cured in 1 turn, unless you are really lucky.

[Shrike]

If the enemy has any Astral at all it's not worth it - and EA Kailasa and EA Atlantis have enough astral. If they don't, it's great. It's sort of expensive-ish but I've killed geared guys costing hundreds of gems with that spell, it can be situationally great. It's especially good at killing raiding thugs who might be underequipped and not accompanied by an army with Astral mages.

In general the best nations for doing mindhunt are MA and LA Arcoscophelae - because they can both forge to make easy S4 mages to hunt, and they have healers to heal feeblemindedness, and they can forge Rune Smashers to give it that added penetration bonus. Some ages of hinnom/gath/ashdod can also do it, but with more difficulty.

To deal with Feebleminded pretender, you're looking for either:

- healer units that are not disease healer - Arcoscophelae get priestess, EA Ermor has bishops, Caelums can summon Spenta of Waters, Vanarus/Bogarus get Vila, and Gath/Hinnom/Ashdod get some summons and units. if you are not one of those nations, you can seduce/hellbind heart/charm from one of those nations and pray, or you can spend an entire wish.

- the chalice

- Gift of Healt

[Staythecourse]

I believe, though I'm not certain, that Mind Hunt has been heavily nerfed in magic penetration since Dominions 3, so any guides from that era recommending MH should be considered in that light.

As it is, it should never be cast without all available boosters, and never against enemies with astral presence, and never outside of a larger plan to exploit. It's very unlikely randomly spraying Mindhunt will hurt your enemy more than the casters and gems cost you. But killing a few critical commanders the turn before you engage the enemy in a major battle might be the difference between victory and defeat. Maybe an important spell doesn't get cast, or maybe a general leading half the enemy chaff dies leading the enemy mage blob fighting without sufficient blockers.

Mind Hunt is also the only thing that works against careful stealthy raiders that doesn't involve trying to outguess the enemy player.

[athelasloraiel]

Ive been harvestin g 4 commanders per turn. That turn I got feebled he has NO astral mages there. so Im completely fubbared how the hell it happened? I attacked with scouts to check, and no, just those Kali goddesses (Yakshas) and Basalt kings, noone had astral...strange. But, so far, with 4 mages casting continual, its been 12 dead commanders....really niceee.....

[amuys]

It's great for killing independent throne guardians and nations without any astral.
Remember, Mind Hunt is cheap.
Eventually though, your enemy will probably wisen up and set an astral mage to protect his commanders or just hire a bunch of garbage scouts and commanders to take the shots for them.

[athelasloraiel]

I just wonder about resistance. for 2 pearls, spell is wonderfuly effective.

[Traksimuss]

Well, if you researched soul slay, it casts that spell.
2 pearls/turn is great price, and this spell plus Arrow spell is the reason to have random scouts or simple commanders in your army, so chances of hittinga valuable target are 50:50, not better.

[athelasloraiel]

the thing is, after a cannonade of Mind hunt hits, there arent many lousy commanders left to buffer you...